Gabros Players Too Inexperienced to Win League Title, Says Okonkwo
One of the foreign legions that returned to the Glo Premier League and pitched tent with Gabros International, Chibuzor Okonkwo, believes the team has the quality to finish well this season but is not having any illusions of their winning the trophy.
Chibuzor is the younger sibling of Obiora Okonkwo, now a Police Divisional Officer who had featured alongside Mutiu Adepoju in the 1989 FIFA U-20 World Cup that produced the famous Damman Miracle. Gabros as presently composed is in his estimation a team of the future as most of the players still have to acquire the experience of competing at the highest level.
“We have a very youthful side mixed with a handful of experienced players like myself but the young ones lack the prerequisite experience to win this highly competitive league this season”, he volunteered shortly after his side subdued a non-league club, Chuson FC 2-0 in one of the Federation Cup round of 64 fixtures decided at the Dan Anyiam Stadium on Wednesday.
Gabros had in their last league game played out an explosive 3-3 draw with FC Taraba at the Jolly Nyame Stadium in Jalingo.
A member of the Nigeria Olympic team that won silver, losing in the finals of the Beijing Olympic Games to Argentina with Lionel Messi as captain, Chibuzor however believes Gabros International are good to pick one of the three tickets from the league for continental representation.
He told www.npfl.ng that “Gabros will have to mature to aim for the league title which is beyond our capabilities now.
“Honestly, I do not believe we can win the league this season and that is my honest opinion. What we need now as a target is a continental ticket. That to me is achievable but to say we will win the league l think is rather a tall one. For me, we should just concentrate on winning a continental ticket as a target”, Chibuzor submitted.
He further argued that Gabros parades a good number of talented young players who are yet to garner sufficient playing experience.
“The truth is that most players in the team don’t have the league experience to win the title yet. Most of the players have never played in the top flight league before and will need time to garner sufficient experience. What I’m doing now as one of the experienced players is to guide them. I have always urged them to have confidence and play their game because the players they are playing against don’t have two heads. It has worked sometimes and they will keep doing that until they become mature”.
With 14 points and in third place, Gabros returns to Nnewi this Sunday to play Sharks of Port Harcourt that have struggled so far and are neck deep in the drop zone.
Going by their form, it can be confidently counted another three points for the home side that have won all their previous four games at the Beverly Hotel Stadium in Nnewi.