Former super eagles captain, Jay-Jay Okocha has returned to super eagles in advisory capacity. Can this medicine after death still fetch us the ticket?
Okocha returns to Eagles


One of the key decisions taken after several hours of meeting between the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) and the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on the 2010 World Cup was that former Eagles captain Austin Jay Jay Okocha immediately join the squad in a new capacity as a technical assistant for the remaining two World Cup qualifying matches. After Sunday’s 2-2 draw with the Carthage Eagles of Tunisia, Nigeria will host Mozambique on October 10 while the Super Eagles will travel to Nairobi for the match against Kenya in November, that will likely decide the winner of the Group B ticket to South Africa between Nigeria and Tunisia. But yesterday, after the storming meeting, it was agreed that the technical depth of the present coaching crew would need to be upgraded if the country still hopes to make it to the World Cup finals next year in South Africa.

Aside Okocha, Greek born football administrator of note, John Mastoroudes who is a member of the PTF has also been incorporated into the technical crew.

We scooped from a PTF source that the initial option was to opt for a foreign coach whose mandate will super-cede the present crew even up to the World Cup in the event fate hands Nigeria a ticket to South Africa 2010, but that option was spurned by Lulu who felt Amodu should be allowed to finish the job he started since majority of the players are used to him.

It was at this point that Okocha's name resonated as an option considering that he was one of the only two Nigerian players to have been to three consecutive World Cup finals in 1994, 1998 and 2002 respectively. It was also agreed that in order to avoid a clash of interest between the technical crew, Okocha and Mastoroudes will be part of the team in advisory capacity and not necessarily be involved in the selection of players for the matches.

"We know the problem this new appointment may generate and this explained why we wanted them to be with the team in advisory role since we will not want to disrupt the unity already in the team," a top official revealed yesterday. The official also clarified that the reason why the Sports Minister ordered the NFF to pay the full $10,000 players winning bonus promised the team was a way to motivate them that all hope is not lost for the World Cup ticket.

"When the Minister met them after the match in camp they were all crying. Every one can see how sober they are which was contrary to the thinking of most Nigerians that they failed to give their best in the match," he pointed out.

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