Super Eagles B coach Daniel Ogunmodede has expressed his team’s disappointment following the Confederation of African Football’s (CAF) decision to postpone the 2024 African Nations Championship (CHAN) due to infrastructure challenges, Soccernet.football reports.
CAF this week announced that the CHAN 2024 will no longer kick off on February 1st, with its new commencement date fixed for August.
Ogunmodede had guided Nigeria to beat Ghana and qualify for the CHAN for the first time since 2018 and the Remo Stars coach was keen to lead the home-based Super Eagles to a first triumph at the competition.
The team has been in camp in Ikenne, Ogun State, over the past few weeks and showed their progress with a 3-2 friendly win over Sunshine Stars on Wednesday – a game that had new Super Eagles coach Eric Chelle in attendance.
It was only a few hours before the match that the team found out about the CHAN postponement.
Ogunmodede acknowledged the emotional toll on the players who had worked hard to prepare for the tournament.
“The players felt disappointed. Psychologically, everyone is not happy considering the amount of work we’ve put in during preparations. During the festive period, we could not see our families because of the competition, and all of a sudden it’s being postponed,” Ogunmodede told 54footballX.
Despite the setback, Ogunmodede urged his players to remain focused and maintain their fitness levels while returning to their respective clubs. He emphasized that competition for places in the squad would remain fierce when the team regroups.
“Our job is to remain focused. The players have to go back to their clubs and maintain the same intensity, same ideology, and same consistency because coming back is not automatic, so they have to be prepared,” he said.
Ogunmodede also revealed plans to resume camp after the conclusion of the Nigerian Professional Football League (NPFL) season in May to ensure the team is well-prepared for CHAN, which has been rescheduled for August.
“Of course, we will be looking at the logic of having them at the end of the season to make sure they are being camped immediately after the season ends. That will take a lot of logistics from the Federation, but in the end, it will be worth it,” he added.
The CHAN tournament, which exclusively features players competing in domestic leagues, was initially set to take place earlier this year but now faces further delays.