There was some excitement around the news of Amas Obasogie getting a call up to the Super Eagles this week.

Indeed it’s a big deal nowadays as it was before to get a Super Eagles invite and particularly when you are based in the struggling Nigerian Premier Football League.

Obasogie was handed the invite as a late replacement for Maduka Okoye – without an official reason stated – asked the Football Federation and Coach Jose Peseiro to be excused for the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers this month.

Without a doubt, Okoye’s will be a big miss for his quality and the competition he brings to a lean and dodgy goalkeeping department.

In the light of that, should Obasogie’s inclusion be considered an even competition or the tokenism that caters to the groans and moans of having another NPFL protege in the Men’s Senior National Team.

Peseiro already has Olorunleke Ojo in the squad, the captain and first choice goalie – of course – from the NPFL champions, Enyimba.

However, the league winner has yet to get a chance to earn his first cap, in spite of the numerous invitations – even for dead rubbers.

If Ojo, the third choice regular, isn’t getting a look in, what then are the chances of Obasogie?

Last season, the Bendel Insurance goalkeeper was credited with keeping the most clean sheets, albeit the stats didn’t show the number of saves made.

Although his quality isn’t in question, the choice of Obasogie seems very much cliche and celebrations premature.

A mere mention seems enough for the acolytes of the “Local content” advocate groups, but what confidence does that inspire from the system if it’s only responding to protests, but not for productivity’s sake.

While it is almost certain that Uzoho will keep his spot, in wrangling spite of his poor form, it’s now almost counter productive to the Super Eagles if the clamors aren’t about improving the squad, but rather, it is spiraling into the pursuant of interests.

A major concern about the overall quality of the Super Eagles is that it is lopsided, and that imbalance leaves the team short of meeting a competition-standard favorite tag for a group chanting the mantra of “doing it again” at the Africa Cup of Nations.

Over the years the undoings of the Super Eagles at the Cup of Nations have been primarily down to everything, but chiefly poor coaching/preparation and favoritism in player selection.

These concerns aren’t undocumented; accusations from Coaches against the FA on one hand and Players pointing fingers at Coaches on the other.

Seemingly, the in roads for NPFL players into the Super Eagles without saying must be based on merit and value to the team – if it’ll improve the squad.

Anything less and that’s plain mediocrity that will hurt team’s growth and Jose Peseiro’s tenure in the mid and long terms.