Super Eagles - The Way Forward PART 1: BUILDING THE SUPER EAGLES OF THE FUTURE As the bitter -sweet leadership of Stephen Keshi comes to an end , The NFF/NFA and the footballing fans in Nigeria are now in a very crucial situation , We are faced with making the decisive decisions that would make or break the future of the Super Eagles. A change of approach is desperately needed and we must take timely decisive steps to ensure a fruitful future. Time is of the essence .I have taken sometime to review the national team and have made some possible suggestions on how the team could positively change. These are my personal opinions and you dont have to agree with them. I would however welcome constructive criticisms / Alternative opinions. But atleast take time out to read through before commenting. STRUCTURING THE TEAM SET UP FOR NEW TECHNICAL TEAM: The selection of the new coaching crew should be based on 3 qualities: Merit, Experience and qualification With an 8 year long term plan. A structure of continuity where by assistant coaches can successfully take over from the head coach without the cloud of animosity hovering around the technical crew. CANDIDATES TO BE IN THE NEW TECHNICAL TEAM SHOULD BE: Manu Garba, Sunday Oliseh , George Finidi. In my opinion these are undoubtedly the most qualified, and seemingly the best we have to offer. ANALYSING THE CANDIDATES MANU GARBA: Manu Garbas experience with the U17 and currently U20 side gives him an edge as he would successfully oversee the transition of his hugely sucessful U17 (currently U20 ) side who would inevitably form the larger part of the future Super Eagles. Manu has successfully worked with the U17/ U20 boys so the transition from U20 to the senior team should be smooth (although the unwanted intervention of external forces like the NFF and Government officials could come to play due to his close relationship with them). Personality: Calm, Works silently ,stays away from media publicity , chooses his words carefully. He is in the mould of Manuel Pellegrini of mancity, A father figure of some sort. SUNDAY OLISEH: Oliseh has years of experience as a player , and a hugely impressive qualification (spent years studying the intricacies and nitty gritty of football , earned the following coaching qualifications in the process : U.E.F.A “PROFESSIONAL” COACHES LICENSE , THE U.E.F.A “A” (ADVANCED) COACHES DIPLOMA , THE U.E.F.A “B” (BASIC) COACHES DIPLOMA. I dare say and stand to be corrected, he is out rightly THE MOST QUALIFIED of all coaches we have (Within and outside the country). FYI these certificates are well documented, & accounted for and not made in Toronto . Personality: Places emphasises on hard work, Strict disciplinarian , Eloquent , Confident, Out spoken, Pro active, Educated, Intelligent and matured. Some qualities we havent seen in recent years. FINIDI GEORGE: Years of experience as a player, one of the most technically adept players Africa has ever produced. Spent most of his career in the Spanish La liga and at one time was regarded the best crosser/winger in the world. A man of few words, Georges qualifications include Uefa B coaching license, as well as currently being the youth team coach at Real Betis. Personality: Humble, Discipline, Shys away from the media, Tranquil and placid in nature, he comes across as one who is an astute thinker kinda like Pep Guardiola who also started as a youth coach. Not saying he is our Guardiola, just saying they have similar traits. 9 Likes PART 2:HOW THESE MEN COULD IMPACT THE FUTURE The future SE are still young and with proper guidiance and continuity they can be molded into the frame of the SE greats of yesteryears (94/98 team). MANU : Just has to keep doing what he did with the U17 boys . The U17 boys were known for their style of play (clustered up Midfield, short precises passes, quick transition play from defense to attack , A play pattern that is very similar to that of Borussia Dortmund). OLISEH : Since Oliseh left the SE , 2 disgusting traits have been dominant in the national team : 1, Unpatriotism 2,Disregard for hard work / Nonchalant attitude towards representing the National team. I believe with Oliseh in the techincal team our lost values for hardwork and disciplne would be restored in the SE of the future (Whom i believe we should develop now that they are still young , hungry for greatness and havent been poisoned by the big boy syndrome of pride and arrogance ). Our team hasnt had a true midfield enforcer for over a decade now . Some of the U17 boys were promising and i believe under the tutorship of Oliseh we can have a DM in the mould of Oliseh/Makalele. Oliseh studied football from the european prospective (lung busting runs, hard tackles , counter attacks, long shots and tactical discipline) and I believe our midfield could do with some of these qualities. FINIDI: Has a slightly different footballing Philosophy compared to that of Sunday Oliseh. Emphasizes on speed , technicality and flair . Findis football philosophy could be likened to that of the spaniards. and this is probably why he was handed the responsibility of grooming real betis youth team, He also got his Uefa coaching certification from europe (Spain I would assume) and so he would probably appreciate the values of european football (speed, tackles , set pieces, tactics). A technical team comprising of Oliseh and Finidi would see both men take charge of the position either one knows best and would probably result in us having a balanced team with rugged midfield and lots of attacking flair up font. FAST TRACKING YOUTH PLAYERS/ CREATING A BALANCE: If we take sometime out to look at the REAL super eagles (the key players , not these clowns Keshi called up) you would find out that the age of the average of the SE player is about 27/28 (footballing age, that is). What this means is that by 2018 most of our current players would be 31 or 32 years old in FOOTBALLING AGE. This calls for immedite injection of youthfullness to the team. As of now the only youth team worth considering is the U20 boys (although more stars could emerge within the 4yrs from now till 2018, Nevertheless i would base my analysis on the CURRENT rising stars from our youth ranks).Players like Awoniyi, Who i believe could be a perfect striker if properly groomed, Ihenancho, Nwakali, Yahaya, Success and Alampasu should be fast tracked into the SE besides players like Moses, Omeruo , Musa , Onazi , Mikel , Mba , Oshaniwa , Emenike (common sense would let you know that these players are our youngest players in the SE , Others wouldnt be here by 2018 regardless of the false age the choose to claim.....Taye Taiwo comes to mind). 4years is still a long time and i believe our youth teams we have the raw talent to build a compact SE team ahead of 2018 , They just need to be properly guided and as of now i CANNOT think of any other group of persons to take up the task other than Manu, Oliseh and Finidi . 9 Likes PART 3: IDENTIFYING THE ROT IN THE NATIONAL TEAM DANIEL AMOKACHI: Amokachi has been around the Ngerian footballing technical team for quite a long time now and has either led or been a part of the national team on various levels (youth, homebase , senior levels ) and the outcome has always been the same - FAILURE. With our abysmal performance at the world cup I think it is safe to say that amokachi is hard headed, tactically and technically inept and that doesnt surprise me as he has NEVER been known for his intellectual capacity. Amokachi was one of the senior players (alongside the big boss keshi) to have started what is now known as the Super eagles Mafia . A group of indisciplined senior players who called the shots. In order to totally rebuild the future of Nigerian football , Amokachi has to be seen as a festering rot that has to be cut off immediately. STEPHEN KESHI / BIG BOSS: A nick name that perfectly fits his persona. Keshi is a hard headed power drunk dictator with a larger than life ego. Keshi would be better of as the tyrannical leader of a dictatorial military junta somewhere in Africa but being the coach of the SE or any other team as a matter of fact is an absolute NO, NO. One only needs to look at his relationship with the teams who have unfortunately had him as their coach. Mali: The malians had a crunch match , a match they desperately needed to win at the AFCON some years back YET keshi decided to bench his best players. Mali were down 4-0 and with barely 20minutes left , Keshi decided to throw in the players he kept out of the starting team. The game eventually ended as a 4-4 draw with Kanoute and Keita scoring. When asked why he left the players out, Keshi gave the same reason we have all been so accustomed to hearing from him: THEY WERE INDISCIPLINED AND DIDNT PLAY TO INSTRUCTIONS. He was immediately shown the exit door by the Mali Football Federation but before leaving he claimed that the Mali Football Federation dont give you room to do your job. He did the same thing in Togo , starting a power struggle with Adebayor , that ended in a sour note and he gave the same excuse : THE TEAM WAS INDISCIPLINE . Fans of Keshi would always say a player cannot be bigger than the team while this is correct, We must also know that a coach cannot be bigger than the team as well. Theres a wise saying that goes if its not broken , dont fix it. The AFCON team successfully lifted the trophy and yet for some trivial personal grieviances , Keshi kept on tinkering with the team and dropping players.He took his best players to the AFCON tourney, lifted the trophy , took the same side to the Confed cup in Brazil , The players built a perfect understanding of each other and then with barely 4 months to the worldcup, he SHOCKINGLY replaced some of these key players with mediocre players like Uchebo, Azeez, Gabriel, Azubuike and Ameobi, and then took these clowns to the WORLD CUP! The WORLD CUP for crying out loud!!! If that doesnt constitute insanity then what does ? We had IK UCHE, a player who scored 18 goals last season , His goals guided the newly promoted Villareal to their highest placed finish in recent years and they even came close to snatching a slot for the Europa championship yet the big boss refused to call him up, A wise coach would have noticed that the weak link in our team was our atacking options. Last season the goals tally of Osaze , Emenike , Musa and Moses combined wasnt up to 20.We created chances at the worldcup , sadly we lacked decisive finishers like IK UCHE. Keshi while trying to maintain his image of being the big boss (a poor imitation of the special one Jose Mourinho) refused to call up the right players , Instead he placed his personal interest ahead of the 160 million Nigerians he incoherently spoke of in one of his cringeworthy adverts . He seemed more concerned about endorsement deals and being a star in the limelight than his job. LAST WORDS The future SE technical crew should comprise of hardworking , disciplined, learned and QUALIFIED men, Silent workers who have spent years studying football and are licensed coaches like their European and south american counterparts. Gone are the days when coaches were hired because of their footballing background. Now you need to MERIT the position , You need to be QUALIFIED for the job and i think its time Nigeria learn this . We dont need a dictator , we dont need a big boss, All we simply need is a coach to diligently do the job of a coach as every other right thinking , rational coach would.
Posted on: Thu, 03 Jul 2014 07:06:09 +0000
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