3 days to the start of AFCON 2021, there is hardly any Nigerian that expects that the Super Eagles will not get to the tail end of the championship. Such a high expectation is justified.
Nigeria can be counted amongst one of the most consistent and most successful countries in the history of AFCON since the country started to participate in Africa’s most prestigious football championship in 1963.
A quick glance at the statistics of the country’s performances since 1976, in particular, to date, explains why the Super Eagles are always considered by many unbiased pundits as one of the favourites despite all the kata kata (crisis) that often surrounds the team, particularly, as in the present instance, poorly handling the technical content of the team so close to the championship.
This seeming exalted status was first earned on the field of performance in 1976. At Dire Dawa, Ethiopia, the Green Eagles emerged fully unto the top echelon of African football. Nigeria’s national team coach, Yugoslavian football teacher and coach, Yelisavic Tito, assembled a team of individually gifted players for the different positions on the field, and gave them the freedom to express themselves and to play to their natural strengths. He gave them a simple overall team strategy – attack, attack and attack through the flanks. He did not try to complicate matters with patterns and systems that could not have been mastered on the poor grounds of domestic Nigerian football.
Also Read – AFCON 2021: Profiles Of All 24 Teams – Star Players, Coaches, Tournament Feats
The players whose chance to play in the national team came because established stars failed to respond to the invitation to the national camp and held the country to ransom, seized the opportunity, determined not to relinquish the positions, and played like spiritually-possessed persons. They followed Father Tiko’s strict but simple instructions, and started to shine brilliantly. These unknown gifted players soon became the toast of African football.
From the 1976 championship, the continents two best wingers on the right and left sides of attack were discovered – Kunle Awesu and Baba Otu Mohammed.
One of Nigeria’s greatest midfield players, Mudashiru Lawal rose to the top of African football awareness. The talents of Thompson Usiyen blossomed brightly.
It was in 1976 that Nigeria’s real football identity was carved and first put on display in Africa. It was the first step in the proper development of a style for Nigerian football built on the back of players’ natural skills and ability, and maximally utilized without too many complicated technical or tactical instructions.
Throughout the 1970s, Nigeria’s football system on the field was not well organized. It could not be because the country lacked good grounds for consistent training and rehearsals.
So, Father Tiko looked for natural talents for every position on the field and made the players to play in accordance to their strengths.
Super Eagles in training session ahead AFCON 2021
At the end of that championship, from no records of previous achievements, Nigeria established its unique style of physicality combined with individual expressiveness, speed and one-way traffic of always going forward and ceaselessly attacking opposing defenses. The team had no time for backwards and sideways, endless ball passing!
That style took Africa by storm. Only the organized play of North African teams could de-code it and neutralize its impact.
The team came out of AFCON 1976 in Third-place. With a little bit of better organization and tactical discipline it had the talent to have won the championship.
1978 merely reinforced the ‘discovery’ in 1976. Tiko did not change his style. He made the players master it. His organized defensive strategy was to use strong and hard defenders to neutralize opponents. His team spent most of the time launching waves of attacks time, and mostly down the flanks.
When it worked, it often resulted in great goals, and was a delight to watch.
The team could have won the 1978 AFCON but missed it narrowly due to that deficit of tactical depth at one critical moment during one a quarter-final group match. The Green Eagles got to the semi-finals.
Playing at speed and using empty spaces behind defenses became the hallmark of Nigerian football, ‘beauty and the beast’, the ‘beauty’ being the team’s attacking flair with almost ‘reckless’ abandon, and the ‘beast’ the deficit in overall defensive organisation.
In 1980, the country won, despite the team’s known weaknesses, by reinforcing the team’s strengths with some new South American flair and flamboyance, and by sustaining the established simple strategies and style, and deploying both to maximum use playing on home-ground.
It would have been a major set-back had the team failed to win.
What did the additional transformation were the three months spell training and playing matches on the lush green fields of Brazil, taking lessons from losing many of the matches against Brazilian teams, and using them as stepping stone to higher ground. That transition became the bedrock of Nigeria’s most successful era, one that has made Nigeria the powerful force that the country’s football has become in global football today, a team that can only be taken for granted by teams seeking defeat. The Eagles became capable of defeating any team on earth on their good day.
Also Read: ‘Eagles’ Attack Still Needs To Be Worked On’ –-Eguavoen
In the 1980’s decade, the team got to the finals 3 times, always a difficult opponent to play against, and were always on the periphery of success.
Into the 1990s, despite the arrival of distractions by the conflicts in football administration and incursion of politics into football affairs, the country climbed to the top by winning the 1994 AFCON most emphatically, and playing the best brand of the new Nigerian brand of football.
Two years after that, they dropped to the bottom of the heap, a fall that was the product of political interference. The country foolishly withdrew from one the 1996 championships that she could have won, and was barred from the next in 1998 as a consequence. The hara-kiri that set in affected the next three editions into the 2000s, and the team’s established structure was destroyed.
The country did not find its feet again properly. Led by a Nigerian, and amidst crisis that had become a recurring decimal in Nigerian football administration, the country won the 2013 version. Since then, with foreign coaches in charge that not grounded in the fundamental philosophy of Nigerian football, and introduced all manner styles into the team, the country’s football floundered, oscillating between bad and worse through the AFCONs in that era, to date.
In Egypt, at the 2019, AFCON, the team got to the semi-finals, but was almost unrecognizable from the free-flowing, all-attacking team that was the culture of Nigerian football. The national team since then has been mostly influenced by players drawn from European clubs without proper grounding in Nigerian football.
It has been looking more and more like a team lost in limbo, with foreign coaches from Europe, players mostly bred on the foundations of European football trying to play in Africa. The teams have been neither here nor there.
That is the setting going to AFCON 2021 that starts in 3 days’ time. No one is sure of what would happen.
A Nigerian interim coach has been hurriedly put in charge, with a foreign coach ungrounded in Nigerian football breathing down his neck and waiting to take over irrespective of the outcome of the championship.
It is a perfect setting for Augustine Eguavoen to fail, even as he has limited time to imbibe in the mostly ‘foreign-bred’ players the Nigerian football culture and spirit. Despite that, he must not fail.
What is certain, on the eve of the championship is that, as has been the practice, and knowing the natural place of the Super Eagles in African football, no matter the circumstances, the Eagles shall be at the tail end, stretching out to breast the tape in a ‘photo-finish’.
Will the Super Eagles win it? Can they win it? The answer is blowing in the wind.
Good luck Super Eagles.
Segun Odegbami
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COMMENTS
A bloody mess of a hara kiri.
The withdrawal from the 1996 Afcon, the same year that we won the Olympic gold, was indeed foolish, even catastrophic. Nigeria was the strongest football nation in Africa at the time, and could potentially have won both the 1996 and 1998 editions! Proof of this is that Nigeria got to the final of the 2000 edition, and almost won it.
The Eagles are at it again, looking to swoop down from the skies and snatch the coveted trophy.
Can the SE win it? My answer is a resounding YES! It is possible.
Will they win it? How badly do they want to win? It’s up to them.
Odegbami brilliantly chronicled Nigeria’s progress to the top of African football as measured by Afcon outcomes. But for me he only made sense up till 1994 when Nigeria won the cup a second time. The following paragraphs revealed his bias against foreign coaches and Europe based players.
I wonder how one would expect Nigeria, in 2021, to compete with top footballing nations using home based players. Considering the poor state of our league! Isn’t that delusional? We need to fix our league to a level where home-based players can measure up to their foreign based counterparts. However, the irony is that once the home-based players become that good, they themselves would seek to play abroad. It’s a vicious cycle. We can’t continue deceiving ourselves with empty sentiments. Every serious soccer player desires to play in the best leagues in the world, the same way we desire to work in the best companies and business environments.
Also, I find it distasteful that Odegbami is giving the impression that Nigeria voluntarily withdrew from the 1996 Afcon. How can he call it foolish? It was clearly a political issue. Nigeria was ordered by Abacha not to participate in that Afcon. The then NFA had no say in the matter. Considering how our country was miraculously delivered (in 1998) from political bondage, blaming anyone for our non participation at the 96 and 98 Afcon tournaments is quite disingenuous, and smacks of ungratefulness.
Listen to yourself. Was Abacha not no1 Nigerian at the time under reference? If Abacha volunteered, it meant Nigeria…Lolo!
What was the reason for pulling out of the 1996 competition? Whatever the reason was, were the other countries that participated in the tournament that year not interested in the cause Nigeria was championing? Why did Nigeria have to carry the problem on her head all by herself?
Our opponents in 1996 perhaps laughed at us behind our backs, while they went ahead and prepared for the Afcon. And to add insult to injury, CAF banned us from the next Afcon also.
Many of our Olympic-gold-winning players back then could have participated in, and potentially won, the 1996 and 1998 editions. Thanks to that decision, these guys can only sit back now and wonder at what might have been!
“A Nigerian interim coach has been hurriedly put in charge, with a foreign coach ungrounded in Nigerian football breathing down his neck and waiting to take over irrespective of the outcome of the championship.”
“It is a perfect setting for Augustine Eguavoen to fail, even as he has limited time to imbibe in the mostly ‘foreign-bred’ players the Nigerian football culture and spirit. Despite that, he must not fail.”
Those quotes are the most intriguing for me. I rest my case. Irrespective of all the hullabaloo with just a day to the start of the AFCON I still believe my SuperEagles can make a huge impact until the tail end of the tournament. I wish Eguavoen all the best and good luck with this NFF. It’s quite unfortunate that he’s got to be the one to carry this load. If he can succeed all well and good. We will all celebrate him, but if he fails it will seem as if he leave him own load carry somebody else load put for him head. Either way Papa Ajero too will share in the blame Lmao!!! Well let’s enjoy the AFCON! VAMOA ARRIBBA SUPEREAGLESSSSSS!!!!
The father Tiko who introduced the ‘Nigerian playing style’ was he a Nigerian or a foreign coach?football is a global game with global technics,tactics et all.It has nothing to do with where a coach comes from as long as he is good.let us stop this hate.
@Moses Inyang, it is not true. Tito didn’t introduce Nigerian playing style. READ CHAPTER-4 OF THE WRITE-UP: Yugoslavian football teacher and coach, Yelisavic Tito, assembled a team of ‘individually gifted players’ for the different positions on the field, and gave them the freedom to express themselves and to play to their natural strengths. If we have individually gifted players way back, it then means the country is blessed with local players waiting to be unearthed.
So in other words….all we just need to be doing is to be “…assembling ‘individually gifted players’ for the different positions on the field, and giving them the freedom to express themselves and to play to their natural strengths….” right…?
People should learn to give honor to whom it is due. We always had individually gifted players before Father Tiko, yet we never qualified for AFCON. Or did we not have individually talented players before 1976..? The likes of Haruna Ilerika, Usiyen, Etim Enya, Okala etc who had been on the national stage way back then werent individually talented…???
Father Tiko did not only qualify us for the 76 AFCON, but went ahead to finish on the podium in our debut tournament. He sure must have done something different, something others did not do before, something more than mere “…assembling ‘individually gifted players’ for the different positions on the field, and giving them the freedom to express themselves and to play to their natural strengths….”
In his usual element, Chief Odegbami successfully interrogated the who, what, where, when and why of the concise history of our football story with a great emphasis on indigenous playing pattern/players.
Looking into the paragraphs, it became obvious that we got to the apogee of our football when in 1980, a 3 month training programme was organized for the local players which saw them camped in Brazil for the duration. It paid off as they won the cup of nation for the first time in that year. The import of this is that if given time, our coaches can source for players locally, train them to buy into their philosophy and they can be sure to deliver.
In resume, Odegbami like many other football enthusiasts dotting our landscape are saying we should look inwards, believe in our own, give them more time to harness in areas of strength, only then can we be expectant of the results we do desired.
Relatedly, the Super Eagles interim head coach, Austin Eguavoen who has shown interest in both our foreign based and local league players (considering his recent actions), should be allowed
to go on with his plans. Besides winning his first match with the current squad, though a friendly, he is etablishing a common bond with his players. For the first time in a long while, let’s have continuity in the process.
Good luck Super Eagles.
God bless Nigeria.
THE MATHEMATICAL UNCLE SHEGE, ALWAYS ON POINT… I CANNOT AGREE LESS… JUST LIKE BRAZIL WILL ALWAYS DO WELL AT THE WORLD CUP, IT IS ALMOST A CINCH THAT THE SUPER EAGLES OF NIGERIA WILL BE AMONGST THE LAST 4 TEAMS STANDING … WE HAVE ONE OF THE BEST NATIONS CUP RECORD AMONGST AFRICAN TEAMS… IF ONLY WE CAN RETURN TO OUR FAST PACED WING PLAY … ENOUGH OF ALL THIS EXPERIMENTAL EUROPEAN STYLE …
Another disorienting piece with the same agenda.
Pray thee, the mathematical one give this a rest. This write up is basically unnecessary and ill timed. To what purpose?
@Moses Inyang stated; it doesn’t matter the nationality of the coach, as long as they are professional and get the job done.
Every Nigerian no matter where, foreign bred or local based is entitled to the National team based on merit. We simply need the best legs.
Right now we should be focus on supporting the team through the Afcon.
I wish the Super Eagles all the best. I definitely believe they can succeed in winning the trophy. Taking every game as it comes. It’s time for battle and our special forces are ready to go.
Hush: See yourself? What about late Shuaibu Amodu who on two occasions in the 2000s qualified Nigeria for the World Cup and the late Stephen Keshi in 2013 winning the Afcon Gold, they were local coaches. We could build on all that. I feel our football administrators should see the impetus to look inwards by engaging our local content resource. Results would eventually come but it requires time.
So which one of your local coaches have the sort of credentials Amodu and Keshi had when they were given the SE job at the time they were given the jobs.
Which of your current local coaches, especially your overated 94 squad has won multiple domestic and continental club titles like Amodu or which one has coached the likes of 2 different National teams after being SE asst coach for 4 years like Keshi…?
Amodu won the FA Cup five times (YES FIVE SOLID TIMES) with two clubs: BCC Lions and El Kanemi Warriors, as well as the WAFU and CAF Cup Winners Cup in 90s. He also got to another cup final in his 1st year as Orlando Pirates of South Africa coach and yet another cup final with Sharks of Port-Harcout in 2004 or thereabout after guiding them from the 2nd division back to the NPFL 1st division the same year.
Keshi on his part bided his time to serve as an Asst SE coach for 4 years before taking up a job with the Togolese national team and leading them to 2006 world cup. He didn’t sit down in his parlor crying around in newspapers for NFF jobs and waving “ex-international player” card all about. From Togo he moved to Mali and missed qualifying for the WC again to Ghana on the last day
What you guys should understand is that both Amodu and Keshi did not get the SE based on the ‘local coach sentiments’, they got the job because they had the type of CV that could rival any other foreign applicant for the same position.
How many of your current local coaches can boast of either Amodu or Keshi’s CVs before they were appointed SE coach…?
Tell your current local coaches to start applying for coaching jobs outside Nigeria, where sentiments wouldnt play a major factor in selection and lets see how many of them will get employed.
Even with your noise, was late Amodu a foreign Coach? What about Keshi and Christian Chukwu? Those who are reading are considering facts of the matter. Lol!
Amodu and Keshi were not foreign coaches, but they had CVs that could rival those of foreign coaches and at a point in their careers where foreign coaches.
With all your own noise, name your current local coaches can boast of the depth of the CVs either Amodu or Keshi’s had before they were appointed SE coach…? You are still struggling to find them…LMAOoo…you are just barking local coach local coach up and down as if it is a CV…..LMAOoooo
You that “considers facts of the matter”, tell us any of your current local coaches who have better CVs than Amodu and Keshi had…….LMAOoooo…tell us which one of them can use their current CVs to get a job as coach of TP Mazembe or Orlando Pirates or Alhaly of Egypt…LMAOooo…before even thinking about using it to get a job as SE coach…..LMAOoooo.
If not for NFF in the life of most of your exinternationals, using sentiments to give them jobs, they have next to nothing in their coaching CVs.
COMPETENCE, MERIT above SENTIMENTS.
You’re missing the point. There should be criteria for getting SE coaching jobs beyond just being former SE player. Keshi and Amodu proved themselves outside and built resumes that can rival any coach in the world for SE’s job. The current local coaches should do the same, at least achieve something at club level before looking to experiment with SE. The same can be said about almost everything in Nigeria, qualifications and experience above ethnic background
I totally agree with @DrDrey on this one. National team should not be an experimental playground for aspiring coaches. We fans can’t simply afford the pain that comes with that. It should be an avenue where ready-made coaches, not only make ready-made players better, but also forge them into a team with a unique, attractive brand of football.
Let the NFF develop a well articulated, well coded playing philosophy for the country. They should put in place a functional technical department to oversee the execution of this philosophy and come up with a plan to spread the ideals to every nook and cranny of this country.
Let our different national teams imbibe it. Let our club adopt various aspects of this philosophy. Let’s have a platform, eg a Performance Centre where coaches will be thoroughly trained on this playing philosophy. There could be a number of variations but for sure , if we are consistent and methodical in the approach and execution, there will be a common denominator that will give our national teams a unique International identity!
South Africa is gradually getting there. Most of their national teams play possessive , free flowing football. I’ve watched Bafana Bafana, Bayana Bayana, their age grade teams, clubs (male and female); they all have a new unique, very interesting pattern of play.
Japan has done this too. A lot of their national teams have a common pattern of play, very similar to what we had in Barcelona under Guardiola.
From this Performance Centres, coaches will emerge with very unique sense of direction, similar tactical orientation and insatiable hunger to raise very interesting teams.
With time, club will begin to engage these coaches. Some will go to national teams as well. And a unique brand of football at every level of our national life will surely evolve.
I’ve been watching a lot of local club matches in Nigeria. You sometimes wonder what their coaches teach them in training. So many tactical problems. Same thing with Nigeria national teams dominated by professional club players. No pattern of play. No sense of direction. They know how to attack , but don’t know how to convert chances. You will see a Nigerian club or national team dominating a game, but mess up unbelievable chances in front of goal. That’s purely a result of tactical incompetence.
So, when we’re taking of local players not being good enough for the national teams, should look at the coaches taking them through the rudiments in training. It’s so funny.
A lot of things have changed, seriously.
Dear Uncle Mathematical,
Nigeria won the 1980 AFCON partly because in the final match against Algeria, Otto Gloria recognized the flaws inherent in all all-out attack and brought in an extra defensive midfielder in the person of Godwin Odiye. He dropped the number 9; Ifeanyi Onyedika, and pushed the versatile and hardworking Mudah Lawal forward. You also utilized your customary latitude to move infield from the right flank whenever necessary to very good effect.
Getting the balance right between attack and defence has often been one of the banes of the Super Eagles.
Kola Ajakaiye.
You are not far from what the Uncle Mathematical is saying. Odegbami is concerned about a time tested exploration of our local players with an established result. The Godwin Odiye, Ifeanyi Onyedika, and Mudah Lawal you listed were all locally sourced. Our sports Ministry really have to look into building a strong and formidable Super Eagles for the future.
You are not far from what the Uncle Mathematical is saying. Odegbami is concerned about a time tested exploration of our local players with an established result. The Godwin Odiye, Ifeanyi Onyedika, and Mudah Lawal you listed were all locally sourced. Our sports Ministry really have to look into building a strong and formidable Super Eagles for the future.
I have avoided this man’s articles for a long while because just like our President, he ceased to make sense long time ago. But I and forced to comment on this his heavily racially biased and misinforming article.
So in essence, Cheif Odegbami is trying to tell us foreign coaches and foreign based players destroyed our football…..LMAoooo.
“…amidst crisis that had become a recurring decimal in Nigerian football administration, the country won the 2013 version. Since then, with foreign coaches in charge, not grounded in the fundamental philosophy of Nigerian football, and introduced all manner styles into the team, the country’s football floundered, oscillating between bad and worse through the AFCONs in that era, to date….”
“…It has been looking more and more like a team lost in limbo, with foreign coaches from Europe, players mostly bred on the foundations of European football trying to play in Africa. The teams have been neither here nor there….”
I guess we won lots of trophies and played tiki-taka combined with jogo bonito under the likes of onigbide, chukwu, amodu et al, down to oliseh using home based players in the same era……LMAOooo.
This man must still be living in the 60s. Rather than focus on the main crux and problem of Nigerian football which is Administration, he chooses to tow his usual racist school of thought….LMAOooo.
Left to him a Joseph Yobo with zero coaching credentials whom the NFF doesnt trust to even lead our CHAN team to ordinary friendly invitational against Congolese homebased teams would be the current SE coach….LMAoooo. That is how racists and sentimentalists think.
Someone should please remind him that our “best” homebased players now need trials and plenty of media priming and marketing to play in leagues like the South African and Tunisian league, our clubs now struggle to reach group stages of CAF club competitions and that all the competitions we have failed to qualify for in the last 2 decades (AFCON 3 times and WC 1 time) were under the tutelage of Nigerian coaches who are supposed to be “grounded in the fundamental philosophy of Nigerian football”
We should be talking about getting people WITH THE RIGHT AND BEST AVAILABLE CREDENTIALS to run our football and manage our national team……..not just putting skin colour on the front burner ahead of competence.
I have said it times without number, we wouldnt look at any foreigner carringy the sort of empty CVs “our owns” are carrying about twice for a managerial job of our SE.
Imagine the CV of a certain Zladko Jankanovic reading for example
– Tanzania, Al khartoum, Al Maqqasa
Or the CV of a certain Tim Laggerman reading
– SSV Metreitch (Belgian 4th Division), Roda JC (Dutch 2nd dvision)
Or a certain Klaus Muller with a CV reading
– Sunshine stars, Rivers United, Gombe United (all bottom of table), COD Utd, Bendel Insurance etc
I can bet we will NEVER play close to these sorts of coaches to manage our national team, but the CVs of most of “our owns” are not any better than the analogies I presented above. However those CVs are good enough for them to be appointed as SE coaches. Please who the hell do we think we are deceiving…? How does something become not good enough when its from a foreigner but becomes acceptable once it comes from “our own”s. Is there another worse form of Xenophobia than that…? Who the hell are we deceiving?
Mr Mathematical was quick to point out that
“….In Egypt, at the 2019, AFCON, the team got to the semi-finals, but was almost unrecognizable from the free-flowing, all-attacking team that was the culture of Nigerian football……It has been looking more and more like a team lost in limbo….”
simply because it was a foreigner in charge….LMAOoo, but unsurprisingly jockeyed around telling us what our teams looked like when we managed to miss 3 out of 4 consecutive AFCONs with “our owns” in charge.
Once again, who do we (especially Mr Sege) think we are deceiving?
@Dr Drey: Point of corrections, Odegbami didn’t say foreign coaches players destroyed our football but rather wanted our football managers to involve our local resources. We once had Late Shiuabu Amodu, Stephen Keshi and even Christian Chukwu who is about 70 years now. They were are local materials. It high time the sports ministry looked inwards. That’s the message. Good luck Super Eagles!
Error…were ‘all’ local coaches..
Odegbami did not say foreign coaches and players destroyed our football…?
Please kindly explain what these 2 quotes mean…
“…amidst crisis that had become a recurring decimal in Nigerian football administration, the country won the 2013 version. Since then, with foreign coaches in charge, not grounded in the fundamental philosophy of Nigerian football, and introduced all manner styles into the team, the country’s football floundered, oscillating between bad and worse through the AFCONs in that era, to date….”
“…It has been looking more and more like a team lost in limbo, with foreign coaches from Europe, players mostly bred on the foundations of European football trying to play in Africa. The teams have been neither here nor there…”
Do people just get coaching jobs because of the color of their skin or their geographical origin or because of what they have in their CVs is better and demonstrates more competence that what other fellow applicants for the same job have in theirs…?
I simply dont get your clamor for people with near blank CVs being “rewarded” with coaching jobs because they are your owns. When its not ministerial or other sorts of political appointments….?!
It is your choice of words and even at that, Odegbami is right. Didn’t the country’s football floundered, oscillated between bad and worse during the said era?
Philippe Troussier, Bora Milutinovic, Thijs Libregts, Berti Vogts, Las Lagerback and Gernot Rohr whose highest achievement was an Afcon bronze, not mentioning qualifying us for Russia 2018 where we lost out on the group stage.
Considering the foregoing, the country needs a totally different approach than wasting her resources on foreign coaches who even when given eternity, hardly deliver on our expectations. This is no rocket science.
Hahahahaha…simple question they will refuse to answer..LMAoooo.
I copied Odegami’s words verbatim for your to explain its meaning to us and you are dancing from left to right.
So did the performance of your team flounder from better to best under your local coaches…?
2002 world cup was a disaster under onigbinde. We almost failed to qualify for 2004 AFCON under Christian Chukwu and ultimately failed to qualify for 2006 under him.
Amodu’s 2008-2010 era was characterized by high blood pressure football….you need to go and rewatch those games to see how even Amodu himself was always almost dying of high BP on the SE bench in those days.
We might have won the 2013 AFCON under Keshi by a combination of grace and the desire of the players to raise their game. But history will not forget that we played so poorly in the group stages that even the NFF already handed flight tickets back home to the players before the qfinal game was even played….that was how horrible we played. Otherwise before the qfinals vs CIV and after the final vs Bfaso, we played terrible football under keshi so much that people like omo9ja even coined the name “gather and play” for the brand of football we played.
The less said about your guadiolaic eras under Eguavoen, Siasia, Oliseh, then back to Siasia and Amuneke combo the better. We couldnt even as much as qualify for ordinary AFCON and slid to 16th place in Africa. I dont think we were ranked 16th in Africa even before Father Tiko qualified us for our 1st ever AFCON.
So tell us, did your performance flounder from better to best under your local coaches…?
What we should be asking for is the right set of coaches with the right CVs (white or black), merit and demonstrated competence. Not some local content bull crap, be it in the selection of coaches or the selection of players for the National team.
I asked you another simple question above, please name your current local coaches can boast of the depth of the CVs either Amodu or Keshi’s had before they were appointed SE coach…?
Name your local coaches whom you are confident an Alahly or an Orlando Pirates of an Esperance of Tunisia can appoints as their coach…? Anybody who cannot be appointed as coach of any of these clubs shouldn’t even come up as suggestion for the SE coaching job.
We cant keep lowering the bar in terms of experience, competence and profile because we want to force a local content agenda. Rohr was not good enough in the eyes of many of you because he was former Bfaso, Niger and Gabon coach (despite leading the later 2 to their best AFCON final placings till date), but Amunike who was sacked in Tanzania and demoted to academy coach in a small Egyptian club is super qualified to be SE coach. Who the hell are you deceiving….? Would a certain European Willian Anderson who couldnt get 1 point in AFCON as coach of Tanzania and was demoted in a minute clubside in Egypt be good enough for the SE job in your eyes…? I doubt it…? But Amunike is super qualified. Once again who do you think you are deceiving…?
If your CV cannot get you a job as coach of TP Mazembe or Orlando Pirates or Alhaly of Egypt, why should it get you a job as SE coach….??
Thank you Henry for that point of corrections. Maybe Dr. Drey need to patiently read the article with unbiased mind.
My fat finger. Point of correction is it.
Av been searching for another word for someone who still sulks and licks his wounds just because his preferred coach got FIRED!!!
That won’t be a big mess with the eagles
@Henry
It seems you didn’t get my point as simple as I made it.
@Dr Drey ( correctly so) has emphatically buttressed on the point,explaining as well as stating where you erred.
Simply put;
It doesn’t matter where a coach is from as long as they are qualified and skilled for the job.
We want the best man for the job.
My focus (so should everyone) right now is supporting the Super Eagles through the Afcon and hoping for success.
Noise making is allowed, continue.
Yea….noisemaking is allowed. That is why you havent been able to say anything sensible since 4 hours ago when you made your 1st comment on this thread.
Simple question, please name any of your current local coaches can boast of the depth of the CVs either Amodu or Keshi’s had before they were appointed SE coach….? You cannot.
Simple question, Name your local coaches whom you are confident an Alahly or an Orlando Pirates of an Esperance of Tunisia can appoints as their coach today should there be a vacancy….? You still cannot
You are just ranting local coach, local coach all over the place as if that’s supposed to be a CV or a profile…..LMAOoooo.
Noise making is truly allowed, so you are free to continue making your aimless noises without basis to back them up….LMAOoooo
What else do u expect from a parrot than to be ranting here and there. You should have know henry that his wings as been clipped, since his oyinbo boss has been kicked out. When it comes to speaking the truth, it doesn’t sway him. Looking for excuses here and there. What has odegbami said that is wrong. Look at someone asking which Nigerian coach can be selected for a vacancy. Mr parrot let me make something clear, before a Nigerian can be considered, they would have made sure an indigene is not capable of doing the job. How many of ours were allowed to go far when given the super eagles job?
Who invited this senseless donkey here…..LLMAOoooo. Pls what is the meaning of all the sewage you have just vomited.
So an indigene was not capable of doing the job when Alahly went to south africa to appoint Pitso Mosimane as their coach abi…?
An indigene was also not capable of doing the job when Orlando Pirates came to Nigeria in the mid 90s to poach our own Amodu…?
Maybe all the indigene in the Mali were dead when Mali picked our own Keshi as coach of their national team….LMAOooo. Or maybe all the indigenes of South Africa were on exile when Keshi was about to go and resume work there a few weeks after his untimely death.
Common sense you dont have.
I was hoping you will help your clueless noisemaker brother Henry answer the simple questions I posed to him, but since you are even more senseless than him, Im not surprised you couldnt.
Simple questions:
1. Name any of your current local coaches can boast of the depth of the CVs either Amodu or Keshi’s had before they were appointed SE coach…? You cannot.
2. Name your local coaches whom you are confident Alahly or Orlando Pirates or Esperance of Tunisia can appoint as their coach today should there be a vacancy…? You still cannot
All you can do is open long mouth like that of pig to vomit senselessness….LMAOooo.
Better tell your local coaches to go and upgrade themselves so they can compete for jobs outside Nigeria like their counterparts across the continent instead of fooling yourselves lazily with your indigene nonsense…..LMAOooo.
Ogbeni go back to your cage if you don’t have anything sensible to say. ANd you asking funny question. How many AFrican coaches are holding jobs in Europe. What happened to your so called Egbo. How many clubs have come calling for him. I would have expected clubs in Africa to be rining his phone by now. Even the North Africans have called him to date. Shouldn’t tell you something. Asking me to furnish Nigerian coaches that are qualified to coach outside of the shore. Ladan Bosso is one. Since he has all required licenses. Even Aigbogun as the required license to do the job
Hahahahaha…ode. See donkey that has something to say…LMAOooo. Simple questions he cannot answer….LMAOooo. See him summersaulting to Europe….LMAOoooo. Who mentioned Europe here now….? Simple question, tell us which of your local coaches have the profiles of Amodu and Keshi that can be sought after on this continent…..mumu is mentioning Europe….LMAOooo.
Bosso, Aigbogun….LMAOooo. I always knew you were daft…..only that I never knew you were this daft….LMAooo.
You think it was because of coaching license alone Alahly hired a South African right….LMAoooo. No Egyptian has coaching license…..LMAOooo.
Ngwanu NFF, over to una o. Kenneth has said Aigbogun and Bosso should be he next SE coaches…..LMAOoooo
You really have something sensible to say….LMAOOoo.
Please guys, I apologise for all the nonsense and BS that I has been spewing for the last few years on this site and others, it was not my intention but just a phase I was going through, I has now been admitted and is coming back to my senses, Everything he said in the past is wrong and I apologise for running my mouth like a bitch but now it wont happen again.
let’s enjoy the AFCON! VAMOA ARRIBBA SUPEREAGLESSSSSS!!!!
Continue deceiving yourself trying to be relevant. Lmao!!! Everything he said in the past not everything I said?? Lmaoo!! Look at how you’ve messed yourself up. When you finish ridiculing yourself let’s know how much you’ve made from blackmailing people. Oloribuku ma Ṣanfani ọmọ irankiran. Continue with your blackmail hopefully it will take you to prison in Jesus name.
Gbam @ Dr Drey! You just said the truth. We don’t have an experienced high level coach of Nigerian origin at this time. No Nigerian coach presently will be hired to coach a team like Zamalek, TP Mazembe or Sundowns. Nigeria Super Eagles should not be a place to train coaches.
@KENETH thanks for your brilliant submission and advising @Henry not to waste his time replying or correcting @ Dr Drey. I want to assume that @Henry is very new in the platform to have known that @Dr Drey has not yet gotten over from the trauma of the sacking of the clueless Rohr a.k.a (Belmadi’s trainee).
@ Christians Ministry ; why wasting your time asking @Dr Drey to read Big Sege article again ? Tell me any past articles written by Uncle Segun Odegbami or anyone that air his sincere opinion on the gross incompetence of the senseless 6 years waste of directionless of Rohr that Dr Drey have not criticized in this platform.
The likes of @ Ayphillydegreat have since move ahead after the end of the Rohr’s senseless longest ever reign with his business partner NFF that predictably ended in abrupt end with the booting out of Rohr that was only leaving on “Awuf” in Nigeria, but @Dr Drey is yet to come to the reality that our allegiances should be to Nigeria football and not a quack or average foreign coach.
Big Sege Odegbami ; thanks for the usual great article, had other were speaking their minds , Nigerian football would have been better . The ex Internationals are taken over their football and even running of FAA with great results but here in Nigeria, Football is run by the corrupt officials
@Osedeigbon ; that is the absolute way to go , big Sege have just dissected the Nigerian football situation from the memory lane for the great minds to appreciate.
Though I am never a fan of Eguafon, as he is a local version of Rohr , an average Coach just above Rohr with same Afcon bronze medallist. I am of the opinion that while looking inwards , merit should be given priority ; our best local coaches should have been selected, from Chief Coach to the assistants including goalkeepers Trainner .
Nevertheless, I believe Eguafon ought to have been given total support to succeed
So with all the cluelessness and senselessness of Rohr Eguavoen is still a local version of Rohr?? Lmao!! After all, our allegiance should be to Nigeria that means Eguavoen is from Togo Abi?? Lmao!! Confusion jamboree. Therefore, if Eguavoen perform well and win the AFCON with mostly Rohr’s team he will still be known as a local version of Rohr? Lmao!! Yes we’ve moved on from Rohr and we have a new foreign coach to look forward to in the year. If local coaches are to be trusted they don’t need to involve another foreign coach na. Picnick in one of his recent interviews said since Eguavoen has been given the interim job agents everywhere have been calling him like crazy to include their players in his team going to the AFCON. He further stated that no one can do that with a foreign coach and that is what we stood by Gernot Rohr for after missing back to back AFCONS. Now we have another foreign coach to support irrespective of the outcome of the AFCON. We have a team on ground and there should be no excuse whatsoever not to bring home the cup. However, I’m a realist and history tells me what will most likely happen in Cameroon, but I want my SuperEagles to go all the way as most of our players have been together for the last 3 plus years and beyond.
Hahahaha…your response is epic.
After vomiting all his feaces insulting Dr.Drey up there and congratulating his senseless servant kenneth for a “brilliant” submission, he goes ahead to corroborate what Dr.Drey has been saying all the while about Proven Merit and Competence over Sentiments……LMAooooo.
I even thought the pathetic despot will assist his fellow rabble rousers Henry and Kenneth in answering 2 simple questions I have posed for over 12 hours now….LMAooo
Oga DeStar, pathetic pathological liar…..chairman CEO liars Utd. GM 4/5 = 95% Nigeria Limited….LMAOoo. Pls answer the following questions before you exhaust your derangement:
Name any of your current local coaches who can boast of the depth of the CVs either Amodu or Keshi’s had before they were appointed SE coach…..LMAOooo. I am sure you too cannot…LMAOooo
Name your local coaches whom you are confident Alahly or Orlando Pirates or Esperance of Tunisia can appoint as their coach today should there be a vacancy……..LMAOooo. I am sure you too cannot…LMAOooo
Name any of your current local coaches who have CVs that can compete with that of a even Peseiro………LMAOooo. I am sure again you too cannot…LMAOooo
Pathetic street urchins. All they know how to do is make noise all over the place….LMAOooo
Once y’all can answer those questions, I will show you a local coach that Merits the SE job.
Thank God it is your own that is there now, we are already seeing the results….LMAOooo.
Pinnick was one of those who attacked Keshi after he won AFCON in 2013 and took us to 2nd round of the World Cup. Incidentlly matching performance of Westerhoff. These are the most successful coaches in Nigerian history.
Good and successful Nigerian coaches? Samson Siasia with 2nd in 2005 under 20 and Silver at the Olympics, losing both times to a Messi inspired Argentina. Amunike won under 17 and took Tanzania to Afcon; first after a very long time and 2nd time ever.
I don’t agree with Pinnick’s fixation with foreign coaches.
Keshi was undermined, to detriment of achievement of Nigerian Super Eagles.
We didn’t qualify for AFCON because the NFF was divided. The team was not managed in all the matches by the same coach. How many defending champions did not qualify for next tourney?
The AFCON after that the shenanigans at the NFF and the coaches and technical supervisors continued. After a slow start, we played the last match in Abuja needing a draw. We were on track but Technical supervisors told team we needed a win. Shocking, people cannot add up! Odemwinge confirmed team thought it needed a win, which it went for. Opened up defence and we conceded a late goal which knocked us out. Earlier, we had lost 2-3 at home to South Africa, our first ever competitive loss to them. That team had two NFFs and the coach took charge late, because of patriotism. But it was the coach that was blamed, not the officials.
I can go on and on. That’s why some observers have commented that African football does need foreign personnel – Administrators. Not necessarily coaches.
@ Ayphillydegreat I am in full support of Eguafon, although he is an average coach , and not the best among the locals falling behind the likes of Amunike , Egbo, Manu Garba and Siasia ( if Siasia is off the fifa hook ) but he is just average above Rohr , but it is much better than the 6 years directionless waste on Rohr.
Eguafon except @Omo9ja that tagged him Mr No-Nonsense, I have not read from any football followers revering to Eguafon as Mr NoNoneeense ; Eguafon is typical average coach that can be easily manipulated without strong policy and never a great local coach.
Eguafon wouldn’t have been given employed as Technical Director if he were great coach with policy , but he is a typical yes sir of the corrupt NFF .
Tell me a sensible Coach that will take 4th goalkeepers to a tournament at the expense of other departments ( deserving attacking players as Amoo , Dessers and Akpaguna etc) ;
Tell me a Coach that will call up non deserving reserved goalkeeper John Noble ahead of his better goalkeeper that permanently benched him for 6 months and ahead of the best goalkeepers in the local and foreign?
Tell me a great coach that would dropped a great young complete player as Amoo , Dessers and rather shamelessly playing games with a retired Igahalo that is playing Sunday-Sunday football in Saudi, whose output in his last match against minor Cape Verde was so embarrassing even to Rohr that; Oga Rohr was shamefully pleading to give him more time with senseless alibi that his shambolic performance was because of being absent in the team for 2 years ?
My brother, Eguafon is just an upgraded local version of Rohr , while we wish him the best ahead while not expecting the corrupt NFF can ever come up with a right decision.
All the things you’re complaining about are the same things all of you complained about Rohr. At least at the National team level not underage football where some players are actually not 17 or 20 at the Nigerian youth level Eguavoen has won Nigeria bronze at the AFCON. Siasia and Amunike failed to qualify for the AFCON in fact it’s on record that Siasia couldn’t qualify Nigeria for the AFCON twice.
Eguavoen already has a track record with the SuperEagles therefore, all those names you’re brandishing have nothing tangible to offer the SuperEagles at this point in time. That’s why they employed another foreign coach to continue from where Rohr stopped.
As a reasonable individual I don’t thinks Rohr’s time was a waste. From 2014 to 2018 we couldn’t qualify for the AFCON back to back that’s a fact until he came and qualified us for 3 major tournaments including the WorldCup. Most of the players he assembled are the ones going to the AFCON. Maybe you can give me another definition of waste when you couldn’t achieve anything after winning the AFCON in the previous years till he came. At least over the last half decade a lot of our players are playing mainstream European league. If that is a waste maybe you can lecture me more about what is actually a waste and why everyone is panicking since he left?? Even those who can’t wait to see his back are panicking Lmao!! Some are saying the players are going to sabotage the team. Some are already sacrificing the tournament while some have already accepted to fail with their own Lmao!!