Port Said, Egypt (PANA) - Super Eagles coach Austin Eguavoen is not happy with the spate of hard tackles on his players by opponents without referees taking adequate punishment that are commensurate with the gravity of the offence.

The coach was reacting to the spate of injuries picked by his players so far in the competition and urged the Confederation of African Football (CAF) to apply more sanction to hiring players if we really want to improve on standard of play.

As at Monday night during the Super Eagles' final work out before the clash against the Teranga Lions of Senegal, the MVP award winner in the clash against Ghana, Wilson Oruma, Christian Obodo, Obafemi Martins and Julius Aghahowa have all picked one form of injuries.

And because of the injuries, Oruma only had a light work out with his colleagues and there are fears that if such attitude persists, Nigeria may be the biggest causality on the injury list of players.

"Aside the fact that we decided to rest Austin Okocha, we have other reasons because the captain could have started in yesterday's match against Senegal, but we don't want a situation that will complicate the problems for him.

"I have not said the officials are biased against my team but I feel that my players deserve more protection from the referees.

"I pitied Martins in the match against Zimbabwe, not because he did not score, but look at the way the defenders were kicking him up and down and all he got as compensation was flashing of yellow cards to the offenders.

"Kanu was badly brought down in the vital area in the same match but the referee did not see it that way. I don't like taking on officials because their job is not as easy as those of us who watch from the stands, but they should be more firm at certain decisions.

"If my team is to play against Samuel Eto'o or Didier Drogba, it would be cruel of me to instruct my defenders to get them out of the game, rather they would be cut off. I think this is positive football, which is what FIFA is preaching.

"If we don't have star players who had made their marks in Europe, the beauty of the tournament would have been lost, I therefore urged the referees to take adequate punishment against offenders," he said.