Nigerian Players

UEFA Says Nothing About Russian Racism

2010-09-01T13:04:00.000-07:00

The deafening silence from UEFA about the obvious displays of Russian racism undermines the integrity of the sport of football. The sign in question is that displayed about Nigerian player Osaze Odemwingie, who incidentally has a Russian mother ...

Take a long look at the sign above ... look at the jeering fans ... it shows a banana (often thrown at black players) ... pretty pathetic.

This would not be hard to understand when you look at the event that occurred one week later in Russia, where concert-goers were attacked by over 100 skin heads, and child was stabbed to death ... horrific!

Who organizes and orchestrates these things? This is extreme racism, xenophobia and seems to be common place. If a 14 year old girl can be murdered in cold blood one week later, is this a place where we would want FIFA to host a World Cup??? I think not. Who can guarantee the security of fans around the world, if these people would readily murder a child?

Maybe these thugs are mutates from Chernobyl or Dzerzinsk ... who knows ... there are so many of them ...

Back to football, UEFA and the Russian Football Federation have not made any comments about this display of racism at the Lokomotiv Moscow match. UEFA though has taken considerable effort to issue a ban on vuvuzelas, which have never been an in issue in games across Europe ...

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The World Cup Misses Ali Sibai - The Greatest Fan

2010-06-23T17:29:00.000-07:00

The Late Ali Sibai … The Greatest Football Fan from Africa … The Troubadour of Football …

All football fans have seen Sheik Ali Sibai … the Egyptian in the red fez … supporting fans at all the big FIFA games … Ali Sibai was from Egypt … a trained engineer … he arrived in the USA in 1994 for the World Cup and he stayed behind … and eventually became a US citizen (so the story goes)!

The video was recorded on a chance meeting in Paris ... a very interesting moment ... an hour spent following Ali Sibai around Paris while he is constantly entertaining local people in Paris.

His story from a brief conversations is as follows - He was an engineer in Egypt and a fan of Al Ahly ... After coming to America during the World Cup in 1994 he stayed behind ... he said he drove taxis in New York for little while, did some work as an engineer but he loved people and he loved football … he had other jobs, but traveling and football were his joy … so he returned to Egypt and so his journey began … the guy in the red fez wherever football matches were played … He was often seen at African Nations Cup matches, Gulf Cup Matches, Arab Champions League … He enjoyed the patronage of wealthy sponsors and was flown to matches across the world!!! He was truly a man of the world, he held Egyptian and American citizenship ...

Sadly Ali Sibai died in June last year (2009) after a brief illness just as the FIFA Conferderations Cup was beginning … The World Cup in Africa is incomplete without Ali Sibai … if you are going to South Africa, wear a red fez in honor of Ali … hold up a picture of him or play a guitar … Sheik Ali we miss you! وداع !!!

Sources: http://www.mbc.net of Cairo and video interview in Paris, France.

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World Cup Post Mortem - A Collective Show of Shame

2010-06-23T12:30:00.001-07:00

These were the headlines that followed the Nigerian National Team (aka the "Super Eagles") from yahoo.com ...

The purpose of this article is not to chastise the players who represented Nigeria. It is to highlight the lack of collective and personal preparedness. It also should highlight the misguided firing of Shaibu Amodu ... the wasting of $2,000,000 on a 3 month coaching stint for a new coach and the external meddling of a governmental body (the so called "Presidential Task Force").

Anyway about the performance of the Super Eagles - The mistakes made on the field revealed that this team was not a good team ... they did not play well together. The mistakes made were surprising at this level. I shall list some of them.

* Losing the ball in our own half - creating final 3rd situations for the opponent. This happened against Argentina and South Korea ... in both instances the losses resulted in goals. Poor passing in our own half ...

* Selfish play - A constant problem ... which told me that Nigeria was not using video replay as a coaching tool. Osaze, Obasi and Yakubu ... in many cases Martins was a victim (and was a victim of Kaita's foolish foul).

* Kaita's foolish foul - This is still beyond belief. We shall consign him to the Football Manager ...

* Yakubu's miss - Yakubu started ahead of Obafemi Martins, yet he failed to justify his starting spot. Yakubu's game has spoken for itself - I need not say anything.

* Nigeria tied at 2-2 with South Korea and Obafemi Martins misses a 1-on-1 ... at the club level the pressure of the situation could have caused more composure on the part of the player ... his mind was not in the game ...

All that can be said is that this team was very poor. Kanu came in and played as a midfielder - he was in control, though slow he helped us mightily ... we are still dependent on players from the 90s era ... the current crop play very undisciplined soccer. If Obasi or Osaze or Yakubu had made ONE pass instead of shooting we would have had 4 points (a tie against Argentina and a win against South Korea).

Some high points were the play of Kalu Uche, the on field play of Danny Shittu, the ball winning of Lukman Haruna, and some good play by Kanu in his final game ...

However for our group we must be thankful that the best teams qualified, we were one of the worst teams in the tournament.

Much work remains for the Super Eagles and Nigeria (Not missing friendly dates, having a good local league, building up local coaches) ... but this is an article for another day.

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Belated Thoughts on Nigeria vs. Greece

2010-06-23T11:49:00.000-07:00

The problems experienced in this World Cup can be traced back the problems that surfaced during the ANC. My concern (and I vocalized this) was that our progress was derailed by the ANC.

I said Amodu's mistake was not taking a page from the St. Etienne experience, where Nigeria successfully took down a bigger team. In the ANC we faced another big-team in Egypt, with a very conservative Makalele-ized squad (read 4-5 defensive midfielders) ... we lost comprehensively. The Egypt loss effectively killed Amodu's chances of coaching ... I warned him ... he did not listen. If he had studied all this and put together a preparation program, he would have been here ... but Amodu was Amodu and he was conservative to the end.

In looking back at the St. Etienne game where Nigeria defeated France. I notice that Nigeria played Olofinjana, Etuhu, Kanu and Kalu Uche ... this game revealed some strengths of Nigeria and some weaknesses of France.

The strength of Nigeria is in talismanic players like Ike Uche. His ability is seen below in the video below.

This particular effort highlights some key skills.

1. Stamina to chase down a ball.
2. Controlling the ball and beating your marker.
3. Out running your marker.
4. Shooting with force accurately.

It is in these areas that we really missed Ike Uche. Though Obasi is similar to Ike Uche ... he is (and no disrespect to him) not YET as good as Ike Uche. He cannot do what Uche did in the video above. Uche has done this same move against Real Madrid and other La-Liga teams ... Furthermore Uche has deep football intelligence and has scored against the best players. Argentina was very very very very very very HAPPY that they did not see Ike Uche anywhere on the field - They ALL know him - They ALL fear him ... what a pity for us.

So the ANC only introduced uncertainty and confusion. In came the back-slapping Presidential Task Force, and a few weeks after the ANC and after $2,000,000 changed hands in came Lars Lagerback with a 3 month contract in hand ... Amodu was now gone with 1,000,000 Naira and a Kia Jeep as a severance package.

In light of the ANC debacle I advised bringing on Siasia to partner Amodu. Which may have helped with some selection issues, but very likely we would have STILL seen this Kaita situation.

The progress we had made were with the Olympic games of 2008 and the St. Etienne game was a possible path to success. The U-17 and U-20 tournaments also produced some ingredients to fortify the team ... but Lars Lagerback had 3 months to study this and to quickly put together a preparation program.

I had reminded the Nigerians that Siasia, 2 years earlier had ALREADY conducted a tour of South Korea and Malaysia with the Olympic team. Comparing this to Lars Lagerback efforts, we witnessed Lagerback struggling to put together an effective camp, trying to delegate the arranging of friendlies to the NFF and muddling around hotel arrangements. Siasia having learned from past experiences usually set up his camping independently from the NFF (Faro, Malaysia, South Korea, Holland).

So after many hiccups Lagerback was able to get some meaningful games against Saudi Arabia, Columbia and North Korea ... all looked good and he firmed up his line up. When he got to South Africa, somehow the tires came off the car and the team did not seem so composed. The glaring issues have been individualism and indiscipline, coupled with a good dose of stage fright.

The discipline problem - Our problem has been discipline, we know this to be true. Largerback has mostly got a good 23-man squad ... where he is troubled is the lack of discipline.

Game 1: Ordiah makes square pass across the face of our goal. The ball is intercepted! No discipline.

Game 1: Goal comes off of an unmarked player from the turnover mentioned above. No discipline.

Game 1: Osaze not making the relevant through pass (see the same play in Argentina - Korea). No discipline.

Game 2: Sani Kaita bringing bush football antics into the World Cup. No discipline.

Yakubu's miss was understandable because the Argentinians and Greeks were getting that too from Enyeama ...

With respect to the discipline issues, we can also reflect back on the lack on on-field composure was also evidenced in the Tunisia game when they quicky equalized (the WC qualifier for clarification).

We do not have a creative midfielder right now, but that SHOULD NOT prevent us from playing good, tight football.

Bright spots in the Greece game were: Danny Shittu (To CE member Yaya, Shittu saved us too much in this game), Enyeama, Kalu Uche (good possession, sometimes too much). Whereas the Nigerian defense has been good ... the discipline issues are like malfunctioning parts on an imported 1970s Citroen ... a bit too hard to tie down.

Remember with BOTH Taiwo and Echiejile going down and after the sub of Osaze, we had used up ALL of our subs ... this game was cascading series of disasters caused by one stupid mistake ...

The best thing we can do is to field our strongest players against Korea. This will mean starting Obafemi Martins, Osaze and Kalu Uche. This will also mean playing Utaka in place of the errant Kaita ... the best we can hope for is something like a 4 goal rout of Korea ... I have faith in this sort of line up ... to actually think that Kaita has been decamping Utaka all this time is actually hard to imagine. Despite Utaka's poor season, we should reflect on the seasons of Podolski and Klose and remember who John Utaka actually is!

The good news is that Argentina WILL have some incentive to DEFEAT Greece because Messi is yet to score and Milito and Aguero have not yet scored. I do not think Messi will want Higuain to run away with the scoring title.

For Sani Kaita, his red card could be a 2, 3 or 4 game ban depending on what FIFA says (if Nigeria had made it further). However his Eagles career at risk, which is a shame ... this incident is worse that the Kingston Lariya incident and he has already made international headlines. His redemption will have to come at the club level ... redeeming himself will be very very hard.

Siddon look mode has been activated.

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Migrating CyberEagles Posts

2010-06-23T11:46:00.000-07:00

So I have started migrating some of my posts on the CyberEagles forum ... along with that I will be posting the much delayed Ali Sibai tribute ... Ali Sibai was the Egyptian with the red fez who played guitar at big football games.

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Korea Defeated Nigeria Before

2010-06-23T11:17:00.000-07:00

In 2005 the BBC reported on the FIFA 2005 WYC Game ... I copied some excerpts of the article ...

Nigeria in shock defeat

Link to BBC article

Nigeria coach Samson Siasia saw his side lose the match late on

South Korea scored two late goals to beat Nigeria 2-1 in Group F of the World Youth Championship in Holland on Wednesday. Captain Baek Ji-hoon scored in the first minute of injury time, three minutes after Park Chu-young had curled in a free-kick.

"My players lost concentration in the last five minutes," Nigeria coach Samson Siasia said. ...

... Nigeria had the lead through an 18th-minute goal

After the game this is what the South Korean coach said "We'll have to concentrate on the counters, but my players have got more confidence from this win"

... Well they did take confidence from the win ... they defeated Nigeria in much the same way - set plays and counting on the Nigerian to lose confidence ... here is the Scouting report on Nigeria from a South Korean Newspaper: Link to South Korean article

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2009-12-10T12:30:00.000-08:00

Nigerians and the Winter Transfer Window

With the Winter transfer window approaching, it will be interesting which Nigerian players make upward transitions to new clubs. Nigerians have done well in the last few FIFA youth tournaments and the Olympic Football Tournament.

Also Nigerians have been doing well across Europe. An interesting factoid that I discovered was that every Nigerian that was signed to a Segunda (Spanish Second Division) club, led to that club being PROMOTED that year. A list of these player are:

Bartholomew Ogbeche - Valladolid
Abdul Razak Ekpoki - Gimnastic Tarragona
Ike Uche - Recreativo
Kalu Uche - Almeria

That said, it will be interesting to see which Nigerian players move to new clubs. I generally think that Nigerian players are very underrated. Something has tainted the perception of Nigerian players and all the good results in the recent FIFA tournaments has done little to raise the value of our players.

Without further adue here are the players I hope to make positive moves in the Winter break.

1. Osaze Odemwingie
Osaze Odemwingie is a well rounded player. His passes are good, he is healthy, he plays defensively (hard tackling and chasing), he shoots and most importantly he is experienced. To me, he is one of the most underrated players in professional football ... he is in my opinion an awesome player.

Despite this he has racked up medals and major wins throughout his career. Starting in Belgium where he won the FA Cup, to his recent Olympic silver medal.

In June of 2009, Nigeria played a friendly game against France. Osaze Odemwingie tormented the entire French team. When he was not running passes, he was giving out hard tackles and defending. He particularly gave Patrice Evra a torrid time. It got so bad that while the referee was not looking, Patrice Evra ran up to him and kicked him from behind (the ball was very far away on the other side of the field). He

Here is a video of this incredible player:

2. Rabiu Ibrahim
Rabiu has been anointed as the next Jay Jay Okocha. He is a bit smaller than Jay Jay Okocha, but he has a lot of skill and a lot of endurance. What is interesting are his no-look passes. I have not really seen a player do so many of these, but he has passes going all over the place.

He has been anxious to play for his club Sporting Lisbon, but his coach has confined him to the reserves. For the news reports I have read he is on an expiring youth contract (which expires this month). I think he will move!

3. Edward Ofere
To some people he is the next Nwankwo Kanu. He is more like an Emmanuel Adebayor. A tall striker, well spoken and very confident. He played in the Nigerian league with the likes of Nduka Ozokwo and Kelechi Osunwa (well known local champions), but now he plays for Malmo in Sweden. He is a unique player, tall, athletic, skillful and fast - there is some talk of a Newcastle move, but I think he could do better.

4. Michael Eneramo
A fast moving truck is the best way I could describe Eneramo. Michael Eneramo plays in Tunisia for Esperance. He has led the Tunisian league with double digit goal hauls for the past two seasons. It got to the point that Tunisia wanted to cap him. Fortunately Nigeria capped him and he scored an important goal in the 2010 World Cup qualifiers.

The word is that he is moving to Standard Liege. I think this a great move and if he does well, especially in the Europa or Champions League, he could move again!

5. Sam Sodje
Perhaps not a well known player. However one should watch his game against France in June. He is a hard playing, physical player, who should be playing in the EPL. Lower ranked EPL teams would do well to add a defensive player like Sodje who is not intimidated by supposedly bigger teams.

6. Patrick Ogunsoto
The Nigerian wild-man. This player has scored every type of goal imaginable. His goals are like a highlight reel. He was a top scorer in Greece, and then he moved to Belgium where he was the top scorer, he then moved back to Greece. The only thing I can say is watch his goals on youtube. If he were in La Liga (which suits his style) he would be a living nightmare for opposing defenses.

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The Way Forward - Part II

2009-12-09T23:33:00.000-08:00

Shaibu Amodu and the Super Eagles
Shaibu Amodu is a well known coach in Nigeria, having coached the Super Eagles many times in the past. Currently his position as the coach of the Super Eagles is being threatened (AGAIN!) by numerous bodies, such as the pseudo-governmental Presidential Task Force, former players (Akpoborie and others), many Nigerian fans and some journalists ... What a tough life! It is tough to please people ...

For the record, I feel that he has earned his job and should be retained. I will state though the path to World Cup success is a rough road, and it would be prudent of him to HIRE his own advisers who will give him insight on his opponents. I will elaborate on this and I think that what I propose may be amenable to the many Nigerian football fans.

Amodu's history is well known, but for the record it shall be duplicated here:

CAREER HISTORY
1982 -1985 Mighty Jets [Assistant] Nigeria div I
1986 - 1991 BCC Lions [Assistant] Nigeria div I
1992 El Kanemi Warriors Nigeria div I
1993 - 1994 BCC Lions Nigeria div I
1995 Shooting Stars Nigeria div I
1996 Super Eagles Nigeria
1997 BCC Lions Nigeria div I
1997-98 Orlando Pirates South Africa div I
1998- 1999 Super Eagles Nigeria [Assistant]
2001-2002 Super Eagles Nigeria

In his last stint as Super Eagles Coach in 2002, Amodu was replaced by Festus Onigbinde after a 3rd placed finish at the African Nations Cup DESPITE having qualified Nigeria for the World Cup (sound familiar?). Nigeria subsequently failed at the World Cup, coming last in the group stages after Onigbinde fielded a wide array of questionable players, that can only be colloquially called jam-bodies. In hindsight it would have been better to leave him in place in 2002. Onigbinde did not really bring anything to the table.

A close look at his career (which is beyond the scope of this write-up) will show that he has had a very good coaching career with a lot of success. Despite this success, praise has been hard to come by. Much of his success has been at the club level, starting with the rampaging performances of BCC Lions of Gboko, a club from a small town in Nigeria, that completely dominated the Nigerian League in the late 1980s and early 1990s. His subsequent club coaching roles in Nigeria and South Africa also showed similar successes.

Where Amodu has had some challenges is at the International Level. In tournaments such the African Nations Cup, the Gold Cup, the Confederations Cup and in International Friendlies. His record in these tournaments would be best termed as 'okay'. Despite this, his claim to success is that he has qualified Nigeria twice! Not a small feat. However it is his performances at the international level that have his detractors clamoring for a foreign technical adviser.

Africans view the Foreign Technical Advisers (read ... European Coach) as the solution. Typically a local coach will qualify a country to a major tournament and then be immediately sacked and replaced with a European Coach of questionable pedigree. Perhaps the most disgraceful case was when Otto Pfister replaced Stephen Keshi as the coach of Mali (see ) ...

As evidenced in the Keshi case, historically there have been many problems associated with foreign Technical Advisers ... basically (any coach that tries to reap where they did not sow):

* The Foreign Technical Advisor (henceforth abrieviated TA) is usually paid more than the local Coaches. So much more, that what the TA makes in a month is what the local coach (like Amodu) makes in a year! The carpet is rolled out, they are given a cash advance, a house, a car, a driver and all kinds of benefits and they are often allowed to live in their native country ... all rather pathetic if you ask me, but a great gift for the beneficiary!

* Foreign TAs have had a very poor record. From Carlos Alberto, This Libregts, Berti Vogts and the list goes on. One would have thought that Nigeria would have achieved MORE with all this investment ... but no. The exceptions were the achievements of Father Tiko, Manfred Höner (1988 ANC, but not the Seoul Olympics), Clemens Westerhoff, Jo Bonfrere and Bora Milutinovic. Their successes were due to REAL HARD WORK. They took the the time they had to familiarize themselves with local players, they were based in Nigeria and they had time to mold the team, also in the later years the exporting of several players to Belgium and Holland helped a lot. They worked hard at the grass roots.

The other group generally did not have much interest in LOCAL players and often preferred to fly in from Europe, they also had little tolerance for the common problems such as intermittent pay. Tiko, Höner, Westerhoff, Bonfrere and Bora understood Nigeria well, and knew they could proverbially raise a team from stones on the ground - and they did.

Can Shaibu Amodu Improve?
There is some merit in Shaibu Amodu exploring the weaknesses of his teams, since his qualifying run did not inspire much confidence.

It is well agreed that Amodu's teams tend to be very very conservative and they tend to score very late in the game. This has been a consistent pattern at the International level, exemplified most notably in the 2002 ANC where Julius Aghahowa scored some late goals and the 2010 WC qualification run which was a pain to sit through ...

Thus the way forward may be for Amodu to employ a different approach. I have a few ideas that I will elaborate on these in the coming weeks. But here are my ideas:

1. Hire a professional assistant
Many coaches hire a professional assistant with whom the work closely with. Samson Siasia has Simon Kallika (a Dutch Surinamese trainer), Juergen Klinsmann had Jogi Löw and Mexican-born American assistant coach Martin Vasquez, Sir Alex Ferguson had Mozambique-born assistant coach Carlos Quiroz (now coaching Portugal). As you can see, all of these coaches had very competent (and highly coveted) assistants.

This is perhaps one of the most critical areas where Amodu could set himself up for victory. Hiring an assistant could be helpful in bringing on the necessary experience needed when facing opponents. My suggestion would be for Amodu to bring on Samson Siasia and Hen Ten Cate. Siasia would be helpful in that he has met Lionel Messi twice and has not been able to defeat Argentina. He also has experience playing against Korean sides - In 2005 Nigeria LOST against the South Koreans at the 2005 World Youth Championship in Holland and in July of 2008 Siasia led the Nigerian Olympic squad on a two and half week training tour of South Korea. They played against two local sides, winning both matches before heading on to China.

Henk Ten Cate because he has coached at Chelsea and Barcelona and is very familiar with Nigerian players (Mikel Obi, Ike Uche) and is very familiar with Lionel Messi and European football. Some might argue that the NFF could just hire Ten Cate, however I disagree. Merit must be rewarded and it should be Amodu's role to hire his assistants. If I were Amodu - these would be the two I would try to bring on board. There would be challenges (namely cost), but if not Ten Cate, then perhaps another coach who is familiar with Nigerian players and the foreign opposition.

2. Bring on a talisman
One of Amodu's problems is that he has stuffed the midfield with a wall of defensive midfielders. This fits in with his conservative philosophy. These players are primarily ball winners and defenders whose role is to stop the oncoming attack.

These players are Mikel Obi, Dickson Etuhu, Ayila Yusuf, Sani Kaita, Seyi Olofinjana and Femi Ajilore. These players are all great in their role, but I dare say that they (with the exception of Mikel Obi) would struggle to unlock the Argentinian defense single handedly on June 12th. His conservative philosophy also makes him reluctant to try out new players, as seen in his comments about Dickson Etuhu (discussed further on ...)

A player in the role of a talisman aka a creative midfielder, would provide the necessary link for our strikers. The requirement here is NOT experience, it is simply pure inate skill. There are several players who could fit this role, namely Rabiu Ibrahim, Stephen Worgu and Obiora Nwankwo. Amodu simply needs ONE of these players.

3. Changing his conservative philosophy
In an interview with the Vanguard Newspaper in Nigeria, Amodu commented

"Dickson Etuhu is not on my list because I don't know him and he has not featured in any of the matches I have co-ordinated since I came on board. The devil you know is quite better than the angel you don't know. For now I would make do with the players I'm familiar with".

However a few months later in June, Nigeria played France in France and Amodu was forced to play without a few key starters. In came Sam Sodje, Joseph Akpala, Michael Eneramo and Uwa Echiejile. Interestingly enough Nigeria won this game! I think this game was a huge confidence builder for Amodu, and perhaps a lesson that taking some risks does pay off. Some of the regular players are perhaps too predictable and tend to play 'safe' football.

In summary, I think Amodu MUST be retained, however in a 32 team World Cup, 31 teams lose. If he wants to have an edge over the other 32 teams, it would be prudent for Amodu to select his coaching team carefully ... perhaps by bringing on Siasia and Ten Cate who have experience with the opponents that Amodu will face.

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The Way Forward - Part I

2009-12-09T23:23:00.000-08:00

With the Nigeria Super Eagles Qualifying for the African Nations Cup and the World Cup, what is formula for success?

Nigerians have a habit of wildly celebrating while neglecting important priorities. For us as Nigerians, the World Cup must be viewed as a gift. We must own our current domestic challenges and create an environment so that 2010 can be a year of goodwill.

Nigeria has domestic challenges in the areas of education, healthcare, security, law and order, poor roads, and water and power challenges. Despite this Nigeria will still likely waste a lot of money on the World Cup in South Africa. It is this sense of misplaced priorities that is a concern. At a high level Nigeria should set goals for success at the most basic level and then work its way towards other matters and not the other way around.

Problems along the road.
However as it stands now, our soccer mad nation has already employed (surely these people are being paid) a Presidential Task Force, to ensure the success of Nigeria at the World Cup. I am puzzled as to what this so called task force can do. One of their high level goals is to hire a foreign technical advisor to REPLACE the qualifying coach Shaibu Amodu.

The Presidential Task Force has already been assembled and has its supporters fully engaged cheering its every pronouncement. This so called The Presidential Task Force should be roundly questioned by all honest Nigerians. What is the purpose of this organization, and how are important funds being allocated to this when there are pressing priorities in Nigeria?

The statements reported to be coming from this organization are concerning and more importantly against the rules (if true) of FIFA.

The problem with this organization is that it is actually a deeply intrusive Governmental arm, which contravenes FIFA rules. If allowed to exist, their actions could involve meddling in player selections, player substitutions, player bonuses and more troublesome activities. It would do more to hurt Nigeria than help.

The other problem is the Nigerian government has created a high profile task force for this, when they could have created a task force for any of the numerous domestic challenges in the areas of education, healthcare, security, law and order, poor roads, and water and power challenges.

Well the World Cup will always create a way to irrationally spend money ... I just hope someone does an accounting in August of 2010.

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The so called Presidential Task Force (PTF)

2009-12-09T22:44:00.000-08:00

The so called Presidential Task Force (PTF) tasked with helping Nigeria make it to South Africa should be roundly questioned by all honest Nigerians. I am suspicious of the purpose of this organization. It certainly is NOT a transparent organization. It seems to be an organization with a big check with self serving interests. What is the purpose of this organization, and how are important funds being allocated to this when there are pressing priorities in Nigeria?

The statements reported to be coming from this organization are concerning and more importantly against the rules (if true) of FIFA. These statements are:

1. The replacing of the current NFF Chariman Sani Lulu ( see link: ).

2. The selecting of a foreign coach (too many articles to count).

Article 2 of the FIFA Regulations state that:

Government interference of any kind in the electoral process or composition of the elective body (general assembly or congress) of the association is not permitted. Consequently, government rules on elections shall not apply to the elected internal bodies of the association and the electoral rules of the association shall not require the approval of any government body.

It seems clear to me that this Presidential Task Force is trying to usurp the role of the Nigerian Football Federation - who is the organization that should select coaches and the like.

I think it is prudent for honest Nigerian to head-off this troublesome development. The NFF is NOT a Government ministry and should be free to carry on its business without the potentially parasitic activities of the PTF.

The PTF should not in any way shape or form duplicate the work of the Nigerian Football Federation.

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Nigeria is Grouped with Argentina, South Korea and Greece

2009-12-09T22:41:00.000-08:00

Of these teams Argentina has been a perpetual nemesis. The rivalry was re-started in 2005 when Nigeria met Argentina in the finals of the U-20 FIFA World Youth Championship. Lionel Messi has generally had his way with Nigeria and the harassing defenders that Nigeria throws his way (2 penalty kicks so far and innumerable freekicks). Our record against Argentina has not been good in recent memory. To defeat Argentina, Nigeria will need Ike Uche, Obafemi Martins, Mikel Obi and Taye Taiwo on the field at the same time. God help us!

South Korea will be problematic for Nigeria. In 2005 Nigeria LOST against the South Koreans at the 2005 World Youth Championship in Holland. Chu Young Park proved to be troublemaker scoring in the 89th minute ... a late South Korean goal in extra time saw Nigeria losing this game. So what we can take from this game is that the South Koreans will fight until the final whistle is blown. With the pedestrian performances of the Super Eagles, this is not encouraging news!

We should also remember that in February 2007, South Korea defeated Greece 1-0 in an international friendly played in England. In this game Lee Chun-Soo scored the only goal, South Korea won!

Greece could be an enigma. Nigeria last played Greece in 1994. Greek soccer is very different since that time. Greece won the European Championship in 2004 and are known for highly defensive football. This is a game that Nigeria has to tackle head on ... it could be a roll of the dice.

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2010 World Cup Draw

2009-12-04T09:05:00.000-08:00

We are here ... let us await what hand Nigeria will be dealt.

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Olympics Redux

2008-08-26T23:25:00.000-07:00

The Olympics have come and gone ... and as a Nigerian I thoroughly expected Nigeria to medal in this tournament, but when we made it to the finals I expected a scalp. Alas ... we lost to Argentina ... they were not going to allow a repeat of 1996.

There are many things that happened in that game, but working backwards from the goal scored by Angel Di Maria, I would like to look at a few of those events.

Angel Di Maria scored from a through pass from Lionel Messi off a Nigerian turn-over while Nigeria was attempting to counter-attack. The pass streamed over 40 yards untouched by a single foot, directly into the path of the dangerous midfielder.

One would have noticed that Argentina was attempting through passes all game long ... they only needed one to get through!

The Nigerian defense at this point had pushed too far up, and was thus unable to stop this goal opportunity. The matter was further compounded by a failure to communicate between Vanzekin and Adeleye. Adeleye could have stretched his hand out to say "STAY" and while attempting to challenge Di Maria ... but things were happening too fast. Vanzekin panicked and was made to look amateurish ... goal for Argentina.

On the Cybereagles forum some of the forummers said that Vanzekin should have stayed put and waited for Adeleye to challenge Di Maria. Di Maria could have scored with a well placed shot, he could have missed, the goalkeeper could have saved the shot or Adeleye could have caught him (very iffy).

That said we did not score any goals, even though Isaac Promise missed two sitters in the 33rd minute ... his reaction time was much too slow.

So what to take away from this game? There is a post on the cybereagles forum that I feel says everything. It is written by a forumer named TXJ and his comments are quite amazing:

txj wrote:

When the U-23 team lined up at the Olympics soccer event final, the profile of the players could not have been more different from their Argentine counterparts.

At CD Argentina had Ezekiel Garay of Real Madrid, Nigeria had Dele Adeleye from the bench of dutch basement club Sparta Rotterdam. Just over a year ago, he was at Shooting Stars, oscillating between Division 1 and 2.

At LB, with the responsibility of marking Messi; yes Lionel Messi of Barcelona, was Okonkwo from Bayelsa United, a right footed player converted to LB.

In CM, where Argentina had Riquelme, Gago and Mascherano, arguably the best DM in the world, Nigeria presented Ebenezer Ajilore of Mydjtilland and from the bench at Sparta, Sanni Kaita. A few years ago, Ajilore plied his trade at Ebiede Babes, a Lagos youth club.

But as the game unfolded, the confidence of the Nigerian players and the cautious approach their opponents showed, belied the reputation and CV of Argentina's players.

This effectively proved two things:

(i) that the club status of the Nigerian players does not accurately reflect their real quality; and that

(ii) a new measure is urgently required to determine the quality of our players; one that is not entirely dependent on the judgement of European club managers whose philosophy of the game and needs, vis a vis their clubs, may not necessarily be in alignment with the development of the average Nigerian player, or the SE.

Such a measure will however be determined individually by each coach. It requires that such a coach have both the self confidence and the clarity of ideas to see the Nigerian player in his full context, and the experience (european & s. america) to build his team and develop these players within the context of the modern team game.

It in effect means that the SE eligible player could be found in Emeka Ezeugo-coached Churchill Brothers SC of Goa, India; Talata Mafara FC of Sokoto, or AC Milan.

A new generation of Nigerian coaches has emerged from the european exodus pioneered by Stephen Keshi. The challenge for Nigerian football administrators is to facilitate a transition from a decadent past to a new era.

While the likes of Amodu, Abdullahi, Ikhana and Emordi may have done well at the levels they operated, the truth is that a cursory look at their body of work typically reveals evidence of severe limitations, often from half education on the subject....

and I mostly agree!!!

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Feed The Yak!

2008-03-02T22:47:00.000-08:00

Today, March 2nd 2008 Yakubu grabbed a brace to help give Everton a 3-1 win over Portsmouth. Many soccer fans have mixed feelings about Yakubu and are not attracted to his playing style. However when the end of the season rolls around he usually posts big numbers and his club is usually in a nice spot on the table. The bottom line, the Yak delivers.

Yakubu has been around for a long time. He was part of the 2000 Olympic team and scored some important goals during the qualification matches. He was a favorite of the Olympic and National Team coach Shaibu Amodu. Amodu played Yakubu whenever he could ... meanwhile the rest of us fans were NOT sold on this guy. I can say now that the proof is in the pudding and Yakubu has proved his doubters wrong.

He is a striker that relishes the one on one chance. In these situations he will always win. So note the the Super Eagles - FEED THE YAK!

Nigeria vs Mexico

2007-10-14T20:36:00.000-07:00

I tuned into Channel 52 ~ the local Telemundo and settled in to watch the game. Mexico started out aggressively but Nigeria also had a few early chances too.

My excited was based on my belief that the lineup looked like the most exciting lineup in many many years. That said after watching the game I have come to the following conclusions.

Firstly if we cannot hold on to a 2-0 lead then we are in BIG trouble. I have mixed feelings on Apam … some of you guys loved him, but he and Taiwo were racking fouls like air miles … anyway a few ramblings …

Mikel Obi ~ While a gifted player, his game today was rife with indiscipline and a growing spectre of nonchalance … Obi was slow, was dispossessed several times and made some bad passes. What was most glaring was his failed attempt to impose a pedestrian pace in the midfield … something that Carlos Valderama was a master of. The Mexicans swarmed him and he lost the ball on several occasions. On seeing this he should have run at them and changed his style. My solution to this is to have Obi work on his fitness … his running and his shooting …

Ishiaku Mannaseh ~ This is the guy I wanted to see. He really got no service today, and he had he had a badly taken shot in one instance … however his hustle and work rate opened space for Martins to operate … he tackled and won some balls. He will get another chance.

Ike Uche ~ This guy is pure wahala for any opposing team. He came on, won a penalty and then flubbed it. Very very uncharacteristic of him, my consolation is that God loves the Mexicans too, and he was not about to allow them to suffer an indignity at the hands of a Guatemalan ref on the eve of their game against Guatemala :D … that said a one legged woman should have been able to put that ball on target.

Olofinjana was ok especially in the first half, however Taiwo and Apam were racking up many fouls and Taiwo has somehow lost form … I no know wetin do am.

In light of this game I have a few ideas. I like some of Ayo’s ideas but I will deviate a bit. The solution to the midfield is to bring in Oludapo Olufemi and Uche Kalu. I will NOT shoo in Rabiu Ibrahim yet, because he may not be mature enough … I would NOT discard Mikel Obi, but I would certainly try out Olufemi AND Kalu Uche. These two would make a positive difference.

On Olofinjana, not many players can compete easily for his position. We have players like Moses Adams, Sunday Stephen, Sani Kieta and a few others … Moses Adams is an easy favorite, but is still very green. Sunday Stephen is good but I have to observe him more

Midweek Report

2007-07-06T14:54:00.000-07:00

So far it has been a long week. I had a very good time meeting the coaches, and I actually ran into a flurry of NFA official including the Chairman, Vice Chairman, the Secretary General and many others.

The first game against Costa Rica was a real test. The match started off and both teams were very cagey … Nigeria was getting a feel for who their team chemistry as well as getting a feel of their first real opponents. The Nigerian team list was only finalized a few weeks prior on June 15^th and the team was slightly tweaked with the addition of a few new players like Akeem Agbetu and Bello Komformata. In essence this was their first real competition.

The Costa Rican trio of Rudy Dawson, Dave Myrie and Pablo Herrera proved to be a bit troublesome. Particularly the defender Rudy Dawson, whom I think will be a solid international player after this tournament. Nigeria had trouble getting past Dawson and Myrie proved to be a challenge as well. Pablo Herrera seemed tireless and seemed to have one trick after another.

Fortunately Nigeria was able to contain the Costa Rican attack and score off a set play, but it took well into the second half for this to occur.

Day 4 in Victoria BC

2007-07-05T01:12:00.000-07:00

I should have been updating this blog throughout my trip here ... I have been trying to post news but I have been so on the go ... I will recap ...

Thursday ~ Drove up to San Jose ... all was good slept in.

Friday ~ Picked up the car, loaded up and made the drive to Port Angeles ... +15hrs to catch the Coho Ferry ...

Saturday ~ Arrived at Port Angeles and was completely wasted ... I drove 8+ hours ... my friend drove the rest ... wish I had taken some pictures here. I was able to catch up with Coach Ladan Bosso and James Peters.

Very cool guys ... Coach Bosso is the man on the right, James Peters is the man on the left ... Peters role is to watch the match and provide detailed advice and constructive criticism. For this role he uses metrics to detail strengths and weaknesses of the team in a formal report ... he showed me one ... it was quite cool.