Port Said, Egypt (PANA) - Nigeria's former Super Eagles wing back, and member of the Tunisia '94 winning team Benjamin Iroha, has lamented the absence of Ifeayi Udeze and Yakubu Aiyegbeni in the Nigerian squad at the on-going African Nations Cup finals in Egypt.

Iroha, who is in Egypt as a support staff, told PANA that the presence of the duo would have added more bite to the team and would want the officials to consider them for subsequent tournaments if they still maintain their forms.

"Its most unfortunate that these players behaved the way they did because their presence would have made a good contribution for Nigeria at the competition," he said.

Iroha was particularly lamenting about Udeze whom he said was a reincarnation of his own days in the national side.

"Everybody knows that I was a power player when I was in the national team and same thing applies to Udeze. Each time I see him play, it makes me have the feeling that I am still active on the field because we are both power players. Not having a defender like him in the team is a big minus for us.

"As for Aiyegbeni, I think he needs to mind his utterance and the coaches also need to know more about his mental state as well because I wondered how a player, who is very prominent in the English premiership, could be missing in the national team. I think it will be better to mend fences in the interest of the country," Iroha said.

Aiyegbeni fell out with the national team during Tunisia 2004 over his conduct in camp. Since the exit of Coach Chukwu, the present crew had consistently invited him for matches but the English premiership star has consistently turned the offer down.

As for Udeze, he has been prone to injuries recently and when he finally showed up at the Faro camp in Portugal, he left some hours later for personal reasons.

But most followers of the happenings had reasoned that the presence of Holland 2005 revelation, Taye Taiwo, may have something to do with it.