Kuffour counter Hadji over the absents of the top guns

FORMER Morocco’s captain Moustafa Hadji,also expressed disappointment over the absence of the big four.

“It is disappointing that nations like Nigeria, Egypt and Cameroun are not going to be at the 2012 Nations Cup in Equatorial Guinea and Gabon, because they are big footballing countries,” he said.“When you don’t see these teams, the competition is not going to be the same and you won’t feel it the same way.

“You need these teams to be among the top four at the championship because we had expected them to be at the tournament. I think these nations are now faced with problems because new generation of players are now coming up.

“They are also rebuilding and I believe in the next two years, they will be at the top level again. Nigeria is a nation with lots of talents and what they need is someone to build a new team and give confidence to the players.”He added: “At the last U-23 championship in Morocco, Nigeria was not a big team we used to know in the past but I see that they still have the quality. What they need is to build a new team and I believe they will come out better because they have the potential to become a big team again.

”However, former international, Samuel Osei Kuffour, believes that Nigeria’s absence at the 2012 Nations Cup w ill not take the shine off the competition, saying it shows that other nations are improving in the game.“That these countries did not make it to the 2012 Nations Cup showed that other nations are working to demystify the super powers of the game in Africa,” he said.

“We have to respect teams that qualified for the tournament because they are good to have made it to the last 16 in the continent. If Nigeria did not qualify, they have to accept it in good faith because from 1984 to1992, Ghana did not qualify for the Nations Cup.Ghana could not qualify for the 2004 Nations Cup but made it to the 2006 World Cup in Germany. I think this can also happen to Nigeria that if they don’t feature in 2012 Nations Cup, they can qualify for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.”