Former assistant coach of the senior national team of Nigeria Daniel Amokachi has hit back at claims made by former Super Eagles midfielder Raheem Lawal on why he was dropped from the team that won AFCON 2013.
The former Osmanlispor midfielder alleged that head coach Stephen Keshi wanted to take him to the tournament but it was Amokachi who blocked it in favour of players he has interest in.
Lawal in a series of rant of social media accused the coach of masterminding his axing from the squad in favour of players that he want to use the tournament as an avenue to trade.
Amokachi who was very influential as assistant to Keshi refuted the allegations saying Lawal who was then based in Turkey lack the discipline the team need to progress at a tournament like that.
“ I showed the news to Amokachi and he laughed over it before telling me that Lawal is being economical with the truth. He said the main reason was indiscipline. Everyone who knows him can testify”, a source close to the coach told Owngoalnigeria.com.
“ Same Lawal played for the team for two years after the tournament with Amokachi as assistant. He knows he is not saying the truth. That team was built on discipline, unity of purpose and togetherness. He lacked all three.
“ It’s not in Amokachi’s style to hit back at spurious and unfounded allegations. Lawal played for Nigeria in 2016, three years after the AFCON triumph and same issue of indiscipline restricted him to just 47 minutes in the friendly games against Mali and Luxembourg respectively. He never got a look in since then”, he concluded.