Amodu and the ‘evil genius’ in Nigerian football

All eyes were focused on the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) yesterday for the naming of a foreign technical adviser for the Super Eagles. However, the call to retain Shaibu Amodu also heightened, as football buffs believe that the coach gave his best to the team even though the NFF, Presidential Task Force (PTF) and the National Sports Commission (NSC) failed to honour their part of the agreement entered with Amodu. GOWON AKPODONOR and KAMAL TAYO OROPO write that the achievement of Amodu should have been considered before he was relieved of his duty arguing that the decision to edge out Amodu by managers of Nigerian football would pose a great danger, especially to qualified indigenous coaches, who may find it difficult to believe in contracts signed with the NFF or the NSC in time to come.

One man who is not happy with the decision to hire a foreign technical adviser is the Executive Director of Cable Soccer Academy, Coach Edwin Onovwotafe. He based his conviction on the fact that Amodu did his best despite the unfair treatment he got from those running football in the country. He told The Guardian from his base in Delta State that the nation had no business hiring a foreign coach for the South Africa 2010 World Cup.

“To me, the man (Amodu) should be one of the country’s major export, after the Nobel laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka. Sincerely speaking, Amodu should have the highest award available in the country. He should be walking tall on the streets, giving talks at seminars and be feted by government and non-governmental agencies. He is a man the Minister of Information and Communication, Prof. Dora Akunyili should have adopted as a goodwill ambassador for the Re-brand Nigeria project.

“I am saying this because of what is likely to happen to our football in the nearest future. It is very surprising that a man could achieve so much for his fatherland and yet the people that are supposed to be praising him are the ones perpetually seeking to paint him a failure. This is sad. It is against all logics known to man. I don’t know Amodu as a person, but in this game of football, it is the results that count.

This is a man who met all the targets set in his contract. He was asked to qualify Nigeria for the World Cup and take the Super Eagles to the semi-final of the Nations Cup in Angola. He met the targets, yet some people have tagged him a failure. What are the yardsticks used?” Onovwotafe queried.

Speaking further, the National Institute for Sports (NIS) graduate said: “If half of those privileged to lead the affairs of the country in one capacity or the other manage to achieve the same success like Amodu, the country, apparently, will not be in this sorry state it has found itself.

“It is indeed very rare to find another Nigerian, not even dealers turned leaders, who has succeeded in retarding the nation’s growth, so much vilified by the ‘public’ as Amodu. Yet, here is a man whose job had always been on the line the very first day he was employed. The powers that be in the Nigerian football and so-called public commentators appeared to pray for the failure of Amodu anytime his wards filed out for a game. People openly, on radio and television, prayed for the Super Eagles to lose so that Amodu could be declared a failure. But God has always granted the man favour. To me, Amodu is the most successful coach in the country.

To me, the man (Amodu) should be one of the country’s major export, after the Nobel laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka. Sincerely speaking, Amodu should have the highest award available in the country.

He continued: “On matters of colorfulness, flamboyancy and showmanship, Coach Amodu may score abysmally low, but when it comes to delivering the good, no Nigerian, dead or alive, rivals him. It is true that he has never won a Nations Cup, but then, no Nigerian coach has. But what he lacks in Nations Cup triumphs, he has done twice in qualifying the country for the World Cup,” he said.

Before leading the Super Eagles to the Angola 2010 Nations Cup, Amodu had prosecuted 30 competitive games as Head Coach of the national team, out of which he lost just once. That was the Mali 2002 Nations Cup, when Amodu’s Super Eagles lost 1-2 to their Senegalese counterparts.

In that year’s edition of the Nations Cup, the Super Eagles did not concede any goal until that semi-final clash with Senegal. The Super Eagles went ahead to beat the host, Mali to clinch the bronze medal in the third place match.

The emergence of Amodu as coach of the Super Eagles to Mali 2002 Nations Cup was by circumstances, as the man was originally contracted to handle Super Eagles Team B, comprising of only home-based footballers. He was given the mandate to guide the team through the 2002 Nations Cup qualifiers. As at that time, qualifying matches for Nations Cup were played differently from that the World Cup, unlike now when both a lumped together.

Then, the man in-charge of the Super Eagles Team A, which comprises of foreign-based stars, was Dutchman, Jo Bonfrere. His task was to qualify the country for the Korea/Japan 2002 World Cup. This period coincided with the time when Nigerian football prowess was at its peak, as many Nigerian footballers were short listed year in year out in the top ten ranking of Africa’s Footballer of the year. When the list of ten is released, at least six Nigerians often made the list. Then, Nigeria had appeared in two previous World Cups and made it to the second round. The players were much more matured and had a realistic dream of getting to at least, the semi final of the World Cup.

However, while the foreign coach (Bonfrere), with his array of international stars, was busy losing to war-devastated countries like Liberia (1-2) in Monrovia and Sierra Leone (0-1) in Freetown, indigenous coach (Amodu), with local legions, won all his qualifiers without dropping a point.

When it became apparent that Bonfrere was not going to make it to the World Cup, a majority of Nigerians called for a change of guard. Their thinking then it was a big waste paying through the nose to keep a failed Bonfrere in the saddle. They reasoned that Amodu, who had already finished his task, should mop up the remaining World Cup qualifiers. So, entered Amodu.

By the time he took over from the ‘foreign technical adviser’, Nigeria was trailing group leader, Liberia and needed a miracle to qualify for the 2002 World Cup. Nigerians were praying for Ghana to beat Liberia in Freetown, having lost at home in Accra earlier. But to achieve it, Amodu’s led Super Eagles must win all its remaining games.

The rest is history. Amodu did not just guide the team to the 2002 World Cup, but led the Eagles to beat Sudan 4-0 in Ombudsman before recording a 2-0 victory over Ghana and posting a 3-0 victory over Liberia 3-0 along the way. Of all the teams in the group, Sierra Leone’s case was the most hopeless, followed by that of Ghana, while Sudan and Liberia had strong chances of qualification.

So, the talk of possible ‘mobilisation’ of other countries to ‘drop’ for Nigeria’s qualification may not be entirely strong. Besides, every member of the international system at one time or the other plays international politicking. As in Angola 2010, where Amodu’s Super Eagles had to compete for honours in the Nations Cup before the World Cup, so it was in 2002.

Then, Nigerian football had so much risen in international pedigree that emphasis was no more at winning the Nations Cup, but posting a respectable appearance in the World Cup. That was the thinking in the heads of some of the players as captured by George Finidi, who was once voted as the best winger in the world ahead of Portugal’s Figo, Spain’s Raul and England’s David Beckham. Finidi said: “At our level now, our concentration is on the World Cup. The Nations Cup is just like a dress-rehearsal.”

Before the Mali 2002 Nations Cup, some incidences happened, which may have affected the team’s preparation. Worthy of mention was the events leading to the boycott of a Nigeria versus Egypt friendly match, which the Super Eagles players masterminded in protest against salary arrears being owed coach Amodu by the football authority. Consequent upon this saga, the authority eventually paid the six-month salary it owed Amodu and the team went for the Nations Cup competition. It was the beginning of trouble for Amodu.

In Mali, the team went about its business, topping its group ahead of the host. But on the eve of quarter-final clash with Ghana Black Stars, a Sport Ministry official walked on to the team’s skipper, Sunday Oliseh, requesting him to prevail on his colleagues to accept a cut in their winning bonuses. His reason: “You guys are not playing well”, not minding that team had not lost a match or even concede a goal.

Oliseh refused and reportedly asked the official, who is now a key figure in the NSC what he won for the country during his (the official) football playing days. The captain was branded ‘indiscipline’ and was subsequently displaced from the World Cup team alongside Finidi George and other key players. But some other players ‘swallowed’ their prides and played along for personal reasons.

There was another tale of how coach Amodu threw into waste bins a piece of paper containing names players said to have been sent by Coach Festus Adegboye Onigbinde, directing Amodu to use for a particular game. There was another story in Mali of how Amodu pitched his tent with his players against the sport authority.

As it was at the just concluded Nations Cup in Angola, where Amodu’s bronze effort was reduced to ashes and eventually threw out of the World Cup train, so it was in Mali 2002. Onigbinde, with his ‘sweet talk,’ was handed the coaching job for the World, but what happened in Japan/Korea? Nigeria had its most disastrous World Cup appearance, losing 0-1 to Argentina, 1-2 to Sweden before managing to draw 0-0 with England.

That our people could even seek to replace Amodu with foreigners, who have failed in similar task of qualifying their respective countries for the World Cup is what I cannot understand. For me, this is pure wickedness on the part of our administrators. Look at the amount of money being wasted in looking for the replacement. I read on pages of newspapers the other day that some football officials went to London to interface with foreign coaches

As if under the influence of a course, the country could not also repeat Amodu’s 2002 feat in Germany 2006 World Cup qualifiers with only Angola as the strongest team in the group. And even with foreign technical adviser, Berti Vogts, the country could not go beyond the quarterfinals at the 2008 Nations Cup appearance in Ghana.

As the case in 2002, the nation again ran to Amodu for the South Africa 2010 World Cup qualifiers and like a man anointed with spirit of success, he came and delivered again. The prosecution was not smooth, but Nigeria was able to grab the ticket ahead of Tunisia, which was in a better position of sealing through.

Again, there were talks of ‘mobilising’ some countries to ‘drop’ for Nigeria to qualify. That again was a complete hogwash, as it was quite obvious that Kenya, Mozambique and Tunisia were all in position of making something much more than the ‘Nigerian money’ could offer them.

Amodu went to Angola with 60 percent of the players playing at that level for the first time and with injuries worries for the team experienced legs. Besides, if the truth must be told, Nigeria football is no more what it used to be in the 1990s and early 2000s. Today, the domestic league is dominated by players, who have traveled everywhere in the world seeking to play for even 3rd division club sides without luck. They are more like stranded players in Nigeria, who only have their legs in the country but their hearts outside the country. Even those playing abroad are not like the ones in the 1990s. The Aiyegbenis, Martins, Olofinjanas, Yobo, Mikel and so on, though still our best, are, however, at best average players in global ratings. Today, the name of Nigerian player is hardly found in a list of 20 African footballer of the year.

Any coach that takes such average and mediocre players to clinch a World Cup ticket and a Nations Cup bronze, where Cameroon, Cote D’Ivoire and Mali (countries with better quality players in their folds) could not progress beyond the quarter final, deserves not only respect from rational and legal minds, but also a hero status.

To coach Onovwotafe, the Super Eagles may have played ‘badly’ in Angola, but: “In the game of football, it is better to play badly and win instead of playing beautiful football like some clubs in England and win nothing? Zambia played better than Nigeria in the quarterfinal, but lost. Nigeria played better than Ghana in the semi-final, but lost.

“That our people could even seek to replace Amodu with foreigners, who have failed in similar task of qualifying their respective countries for the World Cup is what I cannot understand. For me, this is pure wickedness on the part of our administrators. Look at the amount of money being wasted in looking for the replacement. I read on pages of newspapers the other day that some football officials went to London to interface with foreign coaches. I think such wasteful trip should deserve the intervention of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). Since this search for foreign technical adviser began, how much insult has the country stomached from these foreign coaches and at

what financial cost? What kind of a people are we?” Onovwotafe quarried.He was not alone, as former Super Eagles defender, Efe Sodje, has equally harped on the need to avoid the circumstances, which led to the Eagles’ poor outing at the World Cup in Japan/Korea eight years ago.

The Eagles crashed out of the group stage at the Korea/Japan World Cup in 2002 and critics blamed late change of coaches for the woeful performance.

Coach Amodu, who helped the team qualify for that World Cup, was dropped for coach Adegboye Onigbinde a few months to the World Cup and Sodje, a member of that squad, fear the present Eagles may suffer a similar fate.

The NFF, in its search for a foreign manager for the Eagles, had interviewed coaches Glen Hoddle, Bruno Metsu and Ratomir Dujkovic but Sodje believes the chosen coach can only succeed with the right conditions of service and support from Nigerians.

Also, former Green Eagles player, Ifeanyi Onyedika, faulted the ideal of hiring of a foreign coach for the Super Eagles, saying the action was a belated one by the NFF.

Though, Onyedika said that he was not against the engagement of a foreign coach for the team, but said that he would have preferred a situation whereby the NFF had sealed the deal months before the Nations Cup in Angola.

“It is sad that our administrators are not seeing things the way they are,” the Wikki Tourists coach said. “We have about three months to the World Cup and we are just naming a coach. The NFF should look at a long-term deal with the new coach instead of just planning for the World Cup. I don’t see the coach performing magic with the team in South Africa.

“Amodu should have been left in charge to continue with what he started. He led the team to qualify for the tournament, a feat many top coaches around the world could not accomplish. The problem of the Eagles is not about coaching but the attitude of the players. If the players are in their right element, they will do well in any competition.

“The foreign coach will have to start from the beginning learning how to deal with the players while he also searches for those who are fit to be in the team. The time is just too short for a foreign coach to do all these,” Onyedika warned.