Apart from
the legend Segun Odegbami and probably a few other optimists, very negligible
number of Nigerians gave Sunday Oliseh any chance of appreciable success when
he was appointed chief coach of the Super Eagles by the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF).
In
fact, a columnist in one of the Nigerian national dailies had foretold outright
that Oliseh was not going to endure the test of time; given the operational system
we all know that runs at the Glasshouse in Abuja.
The sport
editorial commentator had gone ahead to insist that “No indigenous coach can
survive the abstract system, which is the more you look, the less you see ….”
At the
appointment of the affable prolific player and former captain of the Super
Eagles, Odegbami and fellow teammate of the glorious Green Eagles day,
Aimesimaka, had thumbed up the choice of Oliseh for the job as decided by the
NFF but to the chagrin of his admirers and all those who had believed in him,
Oliseh woke up a few weeks ago and announced that he had thrown in the towel on
the job. Talking with an admixture of surprise and disappointment Odegbami said
“for a coach to just wake up one morning and resign from a job that was giving
him between N5m and N7m a month is not normal.” In fact, the football veteran
has insisted that there must be something behind the matter beyond the eye; the
truth of which Odegbami believes will be revealed someday.
What many
Nigerians seem not to know about the peculiarity of football management in
Nigeria is that it takes a wizard coach with the “third eye” to sail it smooth
to the shore of success with almighty Glasshouse, the players who are usually
in cliques almost akin to cults in which they decide to make a success or otherwise
of their coach, depending on which side of luck he (the coach) falls with the
most influential clique in the team, then the fans and the journalists some of
whom are paid horn blowers for certain
powerful interest groups against or in support of the football governing body
in the country.
Perhaps, Coach
Oliseh would have made some success with the Eagles, but he seemed to have been
under panting panic in the face of NFF president, Amaju Pinnick who, most
likely, did not disclose to Oliseh in clear terms what NFF actually desired of him.
Hmn! The
truth is always bitter. But if it must be told everybody who has some
rudimentary knowledge of football like this writer; not to talk of giants like
Odegbami and his contemporaries, should know that though, Oliseh was very good
and reliable as a player, he was just not the next candidate for the coaching
job of the Nigeria national side without a proven coaching profile in his
kitty; given the ever rising competitive dimension which international soccer has
assumed today. The earlier we make away with all manners of sentiments in our
team and coach selection, the sooner we begin to see the lofty results we have
ever desired from the round leather game.
Yes, it is
not bad to give chance for indigenous coaches but when we have to take deliberate
risks that look stupid from the outset, then, there arises a question tag as to
whose interest is being protected whether national or individual? By the way,
did it not sound rather absurd to have expected Sunday Oliseh, a total
greenhorn in the coaching business to have surpassed Stephen Keshi’s
performance
Keshi had
taken the Togolese national side to the world cup among other achievements
before he was considered for the coaching job of the Nigerian Super Eagles and
even his arch enemies and critics would agree that Keshi was not a failure on
the job when the scorecard needs to be tabled. The records are there. So, where
is Oliseh?
It is however, believed in some quarters that
the fact that Oliseh did not win the African Nations Championship (CHAN) tourney could not be a
sufficient reason why he took his unceremonious exit from the plum job, which
he had boasted to handle better than any other coach who had ever coached the
national team. But the truth has now told itself as Oliseh has apparently lost
out of the game of success for so much poor management of media relation, ill
temper, arrogance, ineptitude, and fear of failure which he had developed
against the yet to be played Eagles-Nigeria cracker in Kaduna.
However, to
bring back Eagles from the woods, the NFF should look beyond Coach Samson
Siasia, who had once been sent packing from the same team some years back for
not qualifying the team for Nations Cup of that year as the Guineans dealt with
his Eagles in a manner not to be easily forgotten.
Siasia, no
doubt, is a good coach for the age-grade teams, particularly the Dream team,
which he has handled as the African Champion and has led to qualify for the Rio
Olympic in Brazil this year. This success, however, may not be the whole
yardstick needed to be used in returning him to the national team, unless of
course, as a stop-gap which his choice really looks like in the current
circumstance. Otherwise, this Pinnik’s NFF will be gunning for another big
goof.
While one
advises that Coach Samson Siasia stand in the gap for the Egypt’s two-legged
match respectively after which, the NFF should go shopping for a sound foreign
coach. The question remains, when shall we get it right? Or do we declare a
state of emergency in the Nigerian football so that we can at least minimize
the recurring loss in finance and national image?
Nigeria’s
football position in FIFA’s has become too poor, in CAF, it is nothing to write
home about. Come to think of it, the Eagles can hardly boast of one spectacular
player that could be considered a threatening terror to opponents like Egypt
which is known for its compactness and ever business-like posture against opponents,
especially when Nigeria is involved.
Should our
present situation force the NFF to look out for the hiring of a foreign coach,
so be it, if only to get this crooked terrain smoothened up once and for all
that our once robust soccer will come alive even again!
Banji Boye/GEE
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