Kings and Pawns, Emperors and Fools.

An open letter to the “five wise men”.

It is clear that deep down the NFF board considers itself a failure! This perhaps accounts for the constant march, through their actions and utterances, towards destruction. Their penchant for making strange decisions regarding the national teams(for exampel,appointing Adegboyega Onigbinde and Henry Nwosu to “over see” Okey Emodi’s work with the locally based Eagles team during the CHAN qualifiers) in an effort to stop the slide by the national teams (both male and female) in the past months, no doubt illustrates their despiration.

First they allow themselves to be corned into believing that the Eagles have to get to the semi final of the FIFA World Cup in South Africa to be considered successful(that’s a discussion for another day). This was more or less an “ultimatum” given by the Sports Minister who continues to exert some influence on the NFF, albeit subtlety and sometimes otherwise, as the “supervising ministry”.

This has resulted in their recent failure to protect their employee, Shuiabu Amodu, from the barrage of criticisms hauled at him after the draw with Jamaica (a perceived inferior team) in last month’s friendly.

Every organization has its goals and objectives, the NFF is no different. Thus management and staff work hand in hand to achieve these goals. As such these employers expect some level of loyalty from their employees, while they in return expect some form of protection from those who are trying to hamper their well oiled machine.

Unfortunately, the NFF failed to protect Amodu these past weeks, in fact they (through their technical committee), tried to sabotage him, when they insisted on “vetting” (whatever that means) the squad list for the world cup qualifying match against Mozambique. These actions (or inactions) are most unfortunate given that Amodu’s team has one of the best records in the World cup qualifiers so far (at per with Spain, England and Holland), irrespective of the opposition (England played against Andorra and Kazakhstan). It’s a shame that Vincente Del Bosque, Fabio Capello and Bert van Marwick are not subjected to this same treatment being metted out to Amodu. The latest being the reported appointment of a consortium of coaches by the NFF to “advise” Amodu.

I am sure that Amodu did not ask for this consortium (it will be strange if he did) and surely it will serve as nothing but a source of distraction for him and his assistants. I do not want to go into the credentials of the members of this consortium (reportedly, Kasimawo Laloko, Adegboyega Onigbinde, Monday Sinclair, James Peters, and Alabi Aissien). I am sure they have at one point or the other achieved some success in football, both at local and international levels, but their involvement as individuals or as a group at this point in the Eagles will yield nothing but discord and ultimately failure.

We as individuals always jump at a chance to serve our country. We consider it a privilege, thus we’re always hard pressed take such opportunities. But like everything in life there is the good and the bad sides of any action one intends to take. As such one is expected to consider both sides before taking such actions. If the bad out weighs the good, one is expected to back down. One of such cases is this one.

I am sure the five men appointed into this consortium are honorable men and are expected to act as such. The NFF in its desire to do the “right thing” for the national team, have made a bad decision and it’s up to these honorable men correct it by refusing this appointment.

I know it’s difficult to refuse an appointment that will represent an addition to one’s current income in these difficult times, especially if it means a chance to do one’s “patriotic duties”. One might also argue that there are over 120 million people in Nigeria and if one does not take the chance, they can easily appoint some other person to that position. Yes, but one was chosen because one was considered to be the best among the lot and any replacement will no doubt smack of being second choice. Also the NFF will have to give the idea second thoughts if one says no.

There is a theory that this is a ploy by the NFF to cause confusion in the Super Eagles ( as no doubt this will) and thus provide an excuse to bring in a foreign coach-which translates to some agents with links to board members becoming a little bit richer, at the tax payers expense. If this is so, one would have served as a pawn in the hands of Kings in their mad desire to achieve personal ambition and wealth. Mr. Onigbinde has been there before and the events of 2002, which changed many people's perception of him, are well documented. Only a fool will travel a road known to lead to oblivion twice!

The truth is that the current board of the NFF is on a path to destruction, dragging the whole nation along with it. One can either facilitate this or help redirect them. Instead of being fools for Emperors, one can become the wise counsel for kings and one way is to say NO to this idea.

South Africa On Our Minds

While reviewing the performance of the of the Super Eagles in their debut appearance at the FIFA World Cup® in 1994 the monthly football journal Complete Football predicted that Nigeria will make a habit of qualifying for the FIFA World Cup®, like traditional superpowers Brazil, Italy, Germany and even African power house Cameroun if we can build on that performance and also if we work on getting a few factors right.

This assertion was made based on the credible performance of the Eagles and mostly on the array of talent available to us at the time. Nigerians had just seen arguably their best team ever come within two minutes of eliminating Italy in the second round and qualifying for the quarter final.

Building on that performance the Eagles went on to qualify for the next two editions of the competition in France and in Korea/Japan, as well wining the Olympic football gold, the first by an African team.

Then in 2005, we failed to qualify for the 2006 world cup on Germany, in what many consider a blip in the expected dominance of the African qualifying competition by the Super Eagles. The reasons for that failure are numerous , not least the lack of commitment shown by the players, especially in honoring away matches and the alarming level of ineptitude displayed by the NFA in managing the qualifying competition.

So the question is, can we become consistent qualifiers for the FIFA World Cup® just as was predicted inn 1994? The answer of course is yes, but we have to start with next one to be held in South Africa and forget about previous successes and indeed failures in the qualifying campaign, which were mainly achieved by capitalising on kind draws into weak groups and also the a huge slice of luck in 2002 campaign when Liberia slipped up in the final hurdle. When such luck deserted us in 2006, the result was clear to all, failure to qualify.

So far in this campaign, we have shown that we have learned a lot from the 2006 campaign. The Eagles and NFF have performed their tasks diligently in wining all their matches as well as conceding just the single goal. While we have enjoyed some luck, scoring in the last minute to see off Sierra Leone in the Free Town, as well as wining in Johanesburg after being outplayed by South Africa, we have also been ruthless when they had the chance to be, dispatching Sierra Leone in Lagos 4-1 in a game that should have seen them win by a greater margin but for the referee’s decision to disallow two legitimate goals late on.

As the second round commences in March, 2009, the competition will no doubt become tougher especially as Nigeria has been drawn in the same group with Tunisia, who have a habit of knocking Nigeria out of the FIFA World Cup®, as well a history of qualifying for the three FIFA World Cup® competitions, mostly at the expense of the bookmakers choices for the ticket. They also have a knack for getting the job done against smaller teams in their group, while doing just enough against their main rivals to earn the ticket. What then do we need to do then to make sure that this doesn’t happen?

Do you know?

That Nigeria has lost out to Tunisia on two of the three occasions they have met in FIFA World Cup® qualifying competition. In 1977, Nigeria needed just a draw in Lagos in the penultimate match of the final group stage to qualify for the 1978 edition in Argentina, after holding them to a goalless draw in Tunis, but we lost 1-0 in what remains the last time we lost a competitive in regulation time at home (the other loss was on penalties to Cameroun in the Final of 2000 ANC). Godwin Odiye scored an own goal just five minutes into the match and there was no way back for Father Tiko’s Eagles.
In 1985, Nigeria also lost out to Tunisia, 2-1 on aggregate in the penultimate round of the 1986 qualifiers. Okey Isima scored in Lagos to give the Eagles coached by the late Christopher Udemezue a 1-0 lead going into the second leg, but goals by … and … ensured that Tunisia won 2-0 in Tunis in the return leg to end Nigeria’s ambitions.
The only time the Eagles have over come Tunisia was in first round of the 1982 qualifying campaign.The Eagles won on penalties in Lagos after both legs finished 2-0 to either side.

Nigerian Factor...Again

Over the years the fact the Nigerian nation constitutes of so many tribes and culture has been more of a curse rather than a blessing to our National development. This has resulted in the need to keep everybody happy in terms of appointments to jobs in the Federal government and to an extent in the state government level as well.

Otherwise known as the Federal character, it has come to be known as one of the many "Nigerian Factors", some of those things we just have live with.As a result we are made to live with a system where mediocrity is upheld as more qualified people have been over looked for jobs because their quota has been taken up in other positions. We do not just lose a chance to benefit from such talents and may end up losing them to the private sector or even to other countries, but of course end up with the worst available people for vital jobs.

Football like other sectors of our national life has suffered from this anomaly, especially in appointment of coaches for the national teams. In the last two months, Nigeria has performed poorly in different competitions for both men and women. These performances were all down to poor coaching.

In keeping with the federal character, the coaching job in Nigeria has been distributed across the political zones of Nigeria without putting their abilities into consideration. As such there is no room for respected and successful coaches as long as there quota is already taken up.

Take the women teams, when Effiom Ntiero, who has been the most successful coach in women football in Nigeria was sacked(for reasons still unclear to us), Jossy Lad, who if I recall correctly hasn't done anything significant in football since wining the league with Leventis Utd in 1986, was appointed, in order to make up for the lack of western representation. The result is that the Super Falcons failed to win the African women Championships for the first time since 1991, with the same group of players who won the championships so convincingly two years ago.

Again, after sacking Eaglets’ coach Alphonsus Dike was sacked, the NFF appointed Henry Nwosu, who has no history of working with young players, just to make sure that the Eastern quota doesn't end up in different political zone. Granted we have not really seen him work as yet, but if reports of his approach to the job so far are anything to go by, he has already taken the wrong steps (he is reported to be watching NPL league matches to scout for U-17 players!).

The fact remains that Nigerian football will not make any significant progress if we don't start making appointments ON MERIT.

Is this this Really Love?

The Super Eagles concluded the first group stage of the World cup qualifying campaign on a high, beating Sierra Leone 4-1 and putting up a display that went a long way to repairing their relationship with the fans.

Goals by Chris Obodo,Victor Obinna and Osaze Odemwingie meant the Eagles went in for the interval with a two goal lead. Chidi Odiah completed the rout in the second half, with left foot shot from the 25 yards, after cutting from right.

Nigeria's coach made a few changes in personnel and tactics,dropping Yakubu while handing Chris Obodo a first start in one and half years, in a 4-3-3 formation that suggested an intention to play attacking football.

The Eagles started brightly and had Leone stars keeper Christian Caulker off his line in the second minute to cut out a Taye Taiwo cross, with Osaze odemwingie lurking. Caulker then dropped Osaze's free-kick, but Joseph Yobo's shot was blocked and Osaze missed the right post by inches from the rebound.

In the nineteenth minute, Caulker again denied Nigeria, getting his hand to a Taye Taiwo free-kick to take it beyond Danny Shittu who was well placed to score from three yards.But the break through came from the resultant corner.

Christian Obodo, re-payed his manager's faith in him by side-footing from six yards after Caulker kept out Kalu Uche's initial effort.

Sierra Leone had a legitimate penalty shout turned by Zambian referee Wellington Kaoma after Dele Aiyenugba brought down Sheriff Suma in the box.But they equalised in the thirty-first minute when Yobo lobbed Aiyenugba,under pressure from Kaiansu Kamara, after a mixup with Shittu.

Parity lasted only three minutes.Kalu Uche did well to create space for himself but his shot came off Caulker's right post, but Victor Obinna was on hand to bury the rebound from six yards.

Odemwigie extended Nigeria's lead just before half-time.Obinna's glorious pass cut through the Sierra Leone defence and Odemwingie had just the keeper to beat from twelve yards.

Just after the break,Ike Uche and Chidi Odiah combined well on the right to set up Ike Uche,but Caulker blocked his shot.A minute later a brilliant move involving Sani Kaita,Osaze Odemwingie,Ike Uche and Victor Obinna, saw Ike Uche miss Caulker left post by a few inches.

Nigeria continued to dominate, as the dynamism and constant positional interchange of forwards Uche,Odemwingie and Obinna gave the Sierra Leone defence a lot of head-ache. Full backs Taiwo and Odiah also pushed forward to provide additional width from deep to the Nigerian attack.

With fifty minutes gone,Chidi Odiah cut in from the right turned Ibrahim Kargbo inside out and unleashed a powerful left foot shot to score his first international goal.After that the Leone stars had to apply damage limitation exercises to avoid conceded more goals.

That did not stop the Eagles, Ike Uche had two goals chaulked off for off-side.The first on seventy-three minutes was a tight call,it saw Uche run on to substitute Chinedu Obasi's pass to score from six yards.The second,three minutes later,should have stood,once again he ran on to a wonderful through ball by Obasi, went round the Caulker to score.The flag stayed down,but the referee ruled otherwise.

In the end it didn't matter as the Eagles were comfortable winners on the day, thus going into the next round with maximum points and thus improving their chances of being one of the seeded teams for the draw. It also saw the fans cheering the Eagles' every move and thus suggesting that the fans are again warming up to the Eagles.Or are they?


Do you know?

That this is the first time, since the group stages were introduced for the world cup qualifiers in Africa, that the Eagles have earned maximum points at any stage.
Also Joseph Yobo became the first Nigerian player to score an own goal at home in a world cup qualifying match,since Godwin Odiye's own goal against Tunisia in 1977 in Lagos.

An Old Wound Reopens!

As the Super Eagles prepare for their next match, the world cup qualifier against Sierra Leone, a problem that we have been lucky to deal with over the years has come up for discussion, a lack of competition for our full backs, especially at left back.


Lucky because,since Celestine Babayaro departed the international scene, we've quite had suitable candidates for that position- Ifeanyi Udeze,Taye Taiwo and even Garba Lawal(whenever he deputised). Before him, we had Ben Iroha who was right footed and converted from midfield by Westerhof and of course Michael Emenalo who was recalled from a nine year international wilderness as back up for Iroha at USA '94.

It was so bad that at Senegal 92 ANC we had no proper left back since Iroha was injured.Emeka Ezeugo,Nduka Ugbade and Augustine Eguavone all right footed took turns to fill that position.


The Solution?

I suggest Amodu takes a cue from Westerhof and Siasia and convert someone to that position.This will mean that he will have to apply all the coaching and man management skills he has acquired over the years to get the job done.

The Candidates?

Obvious one is Chibuzo Okonkwo.We all saw him at the Olympics. I think he not international class yet, but he has potential and will surely improve with good coaching. He can also get a look in at right back.Monday James(to my surprise, I must confess) did quite well too when he played there in China, but he will have to work really hard to join the Eagles set up.

The best(and maybe long-term) candidate could be Uwa Elderson Echiéjilé of RC Rennes.He was called up to Amodu first squad, but hasn't returned since.He also missed the cut for the Olympics.Maybe the fact he's not a regular at Rennes didn't help,but I thought he was solid at the WYC in Canada. I think he might benefit(in terms of his confidence) from being in the national team set up now(Samuel Eto'o made his debut for Cameroun while paying in the Real Madrid academy, see where he is today).

If none these guys will suffice then we have to work really hard to solve the problem.

Do you know?

That Finidi George started his career as a central midfielder for Calabar Rovers?
He was converted to a winger by Clemens Westerhof. He reverted to central midfield in the later part of career.

While I was away...

I have been on a long overdue vacation for the past two weeks.I haven't taken one since 2006, so I decided to do this one right...get away from it all.
Well, I'm back!

I did keep track of all the happenings in the world of football and a lot did happen.Charity they say begins at home(a cliche,I know, but I'm allowed one of those once in a while), so I will start with events in Nigeria.

The Amodu/Siasia debate, like most exercises in futility, has died down at least until the Super Eagles play their next match against Sierra Leone in October.I think it will be resurrected, especially if the Super Eagles do not win the match in convincing fashion(by this I mean by scoring more than two goals).

Meanwhile coach Amodu has released the squad for next month's match.The only surprise being that Seyi Olofinjana was left out,given that he has being ever present for his club Stoke City in the EPL.He lost his place to Sani Kaita who was excellent in China.There were also recalls for five other dream team members, while not surprisingly given his current form John Utaka was left out, along with Obinna Nwaneri and Haruna Lukman who have featured in all of Amodu's squad since his return in April.

The national U-17 team,rather to the dismay of whole nation, lost to Benin 3-2 on aggregate to crash out of the African Championships.This has set the alarm bells ringing and there have calls for the coach Alphonsus Dike to be sacked.

To be honest,I think too much is being read into the issue.At the U-17 level, the focus should be on developing players,helping them to improve their technical skills as well improving their tactical approach to the game. Also it is at this stage that they learn the football culture,mentality and style traditional to Nigerian football teams.If they happen to win a silverware along the line, then good, otherwise it should make no difference.

In fact it is in failure that people learn how to win.Four members of the Olympic team-Vanzekin, Isaac, Ogbuke and Solomon Okoronkwo, were also in the U-17 team that went to the 2003 world championships in Finland.The team also included Mikel,Kola Anudi,Emmanuel Sarki and Ezekiel Bala who were part of the Dream Team at some stage during the qualifiers or final stages of preparations for the Olympics. It was the first team from Nigeria that failed to go beyond the group stages at the U-17 level. They were considered a failure, but they since proved otherwise.

I believe in second chances and I think we might be better served in the future if the NFF allowed Mr Dike to complete the job. I believe he would have learned that Nigerians demand nothing but the ultimate prize.Thankfully he has years of experience from managing teams in the football league.

Talking about the league...it kicked off this month...with the return of Warri Wolves to top flight football.They held Gateway of Abeokuta to 1-1 draw in the first match of the season. FA cup finalists in 1969, they have been in coma until the government of Delta State bought former NPA of Warri/Lagos(the Marines? first FA cup winners) and renamed it Warri Wolves.It's a shame we do not actually pay attention these details of our football history, these could be selling points for our clubs.Well that's a topic for another day.

Newly promoted Kaduna United and Enugu Rangers are the early pace setters, both have a 100% record after three rounds of matches.Defending champions Kano Pilars have just one win and are currently in 12th position.Niger Tonadoes,JUTH and Akwa United are yet to earn any points and they prop-up the league.

So far we have seen signs that another exciting season is on the cards, with a few surprise results recorded so far.Heartland FC were held by new boys FC Abuja at Owerri on the first day of the season.They in turn lost at home to Sunshine of Akure 3-1 in the following round of matches.Enugu Rangers and Kaduna also recorded away wins, at Akwa United Niger Tonadoes respectively.

Enyimba are yet to play any league match this season due to their involvement in Africa were they have qualified for semi-final of the CAF champions league.I am looking forward to an exciting season and will like to commend the NFL for a great job done so far.There is more to be done, especially in relation to facilities,curbing match fixing and other corrupt practices in the league.They will also do well to encourage owners to restore some of the more traditional clubs like Stationary Stores of Lagos and Calabar Rovers while we hope Bendel Insurance returns to the top flight as soon as possible. These clubs with their rich history could be key to selling the league.

This leads me to the next major occurrence of the past weeks, the news that a Nigeria consortium is planing to buy Newcastle United.I must say that the only reason why I'm commenting this is the fact that I think that Nigerian football will be better served if they bought one the clubs mentioned above that need a huge injection of cash to come to back to life and transform them into a top club.

While the money is theirs to spend in the manner they deem fit, I do hope they realize what they're buying.The baggage that comes with buying an EPL club is enormous in terms of debt,operational costs etc. If you add the extra baggage peculiar to Newcastle United, you will understand were I'm coming from.

Finally, the UEFA champions league group phase kicked off with only three of the seven Nigerians registered for the UCL playing for their various cubs involved.

Taye Taiwo and Mikel both played the full ninety minutes for as Marseilles lost to Liverpool and Chelsea beat Bordeaux.Dynamo Kyiv's Yusuf Ayinla could not prevent Arsenal from snatching a late equalizer in their 1-1 draw in Kiev,but Emmanuel Okuduwa was out injured. Stefano Okaka Chuka-who was born in Italy,but is eligible to play for Nigeria through his parents-was on bench as Roma lost to Romanian minors CFR Cluj.FC Steaua Bucureşti's Ifeanyi Emeghara was not involved in his club 1-0 loss to FC Bayern Munich. Inter won 2-0 away at Panathinaikos, but youngster Joel Chukwuma Obi not invloved,Victor Nsofor and Rabiu Ibrahim were not registered for Inter and Sporting Lisbon respectively.

Do you know that? Finidi George and Kanu were the first(and so far only) Nigerians to win the UEFA champions league.They achieved this feat when they helped Ajax win in 1995.Since then Jon Obi Mikel is the only player to have gone close to wining it when his club Chelsea lost to Man Utd in the 2008 final in Moscow.Kanu and Finidi also came close again in 1996 when Ajax lost to Juventus in Rome.
Karibe Ojigwe's club Bayer Leverkusen lost to Real Madrid in 2002, but he was not in the squad for the final.
Daniel Amokachi was the first Nigerian to play in the UCL.He played for Club Brugges in 1992/93 season the the first time the league format was adopted.

The Folly,before disaster

To say that Nigerians are an excitable people my be the understatement of the century,more so when it comes to football. This is the major reason why we have current Amodu vs Siasia debate.

After leading the Olympic Eagles to a silver medal finish at Beijing, a lot of people have called for Siasia to take over as the Super Eagles' coach, or as most people put it, to be "drafted" to the Super Eagles and more ridiculously, for for the Olympic team to replace the current Super Eagles team.

As the debate rages on,some people have come up with a compromise,which to have them form a joint coaching team.This was first suggested by former Eagles' winger Segun Odegbami in his column for sports journal Complete sports. This suggestion has also being picked up former coach Paul Hamilton.

In the present age of video games(football manager,premier league manager etc) and fantasy league, we all have day dreams and fantasies of what the national team set up should look like.Sometimes we convince ourselves that these concoction can become realities and if we are in a position to influence things, we can take steps to making it so.

There is no doubting Odegbami and Hamilton's credibility and achievements in football, but with all due respect, I think the suggestion is rubbish.It is nothing but a theory, that can only work on paper.

There are loads of reason's why this will not work. First, the personality of the people involved are too similar. In spite of his "nice guy" demeanor and his apparent willingness to bend to authorities, Shuabu Amodu, like Samson Siasia has a very strong personality who likes to be on top of things.The only difference is that Amodu being older and more experienced in dealing with the NFF has devised subtle ways of getting things done.

He can also be temperamental, just like Siasia showed with his criticism of the Olympic team even after the beat the USA in their last group game in China.It was him who famously(or infamously, depending on how you see it) ,suggested that we employ a foreigner as sports minister when the then minister suggested we hire a foreign coach to replace him.

Again both coaches have different ideas as to how to approach the game.While Siasia is more cautious and likes to have players play exactly to his instructions, while Amodu gives free reign to his players to improvise.

Ultimately the success of Olympic team was due to it a solid defence helped by Siasia deploying two holding midfielders, while Amodu so far has played with one holding midfielder, thus giving the team a more attacking outlook.

Historically, joint management have never been a success.The most famous of these was the appointment of Roy Evans and Gerrard Houllier at Liverpool in the 1998-99 season.
The partnership ended in disaster with Evans resigning a mere four months into their tenure.

Finally, Mr Siasia has stated in several interviews that he has no intention of working under(or with) Mr Amodu. Ultimately if the NFF acts upon these suggestions ,by "well meaning" Nigerians and Siasia declines, there is a chance he will be labeled unpatriotic.Thereby undoing all the good work he has done in the eyes of feeble Nigerian fans.

I do hope the NFF is not so naive as to fall for these follies, as it can only lead to disaster for Nigeria on the road to South Africa 2010. Amodu has done well,in fact better than most expected.It will only be logical to allow him to do his job and if he along the line he decides that Mr Siasia's services will be useful towards acheieving his goals, then he can request for them. It's no use use flogging a dead horse.

Short and simple!