AS the agitation for and against Super  Eagles Chief Coach, Shaibu Amodu rages, his assistant and former Eagles forward, Daniel ‘The Bull’ Amokachi has advanced reasons why the criticisms against his boss is fierce.

In an interview with a group of Vanguard Editors, Amokachi volunteered reasons why the Eagles must be in the 2010 World Cup even though he appeared sceptical about their chances which became dicey after the painful barren draw against the Mambas of Mozambique in Maputo last month.
Daniel ‘The Bull’ Amokachi According to Amokachi, who, apart from being a member of the Super Eagles technical crew, also analyses football on a pay television, a lot of people are lobbying to take over from Amodu if he is sacked but failed to name those involved.

“I think it is the name (Amodu) that people do not want there. A lot of people are lobbying for that same position and that’s the problem. People only talk when we lose a match (but) nobody talks about the sacrifices we make to achieve good results. 
When a player is so much criticized, he has problems likewise the coach. If Amodu is not strong, he would have gone cripple,” he said in the interview published in this edition of Saturday Vanguard.

Amokachi said following the draw, he told Amodu that a lot of criticisms will come from Nigerians but wondered where in the world  a coach who played seven games and won six is  vilified except in Nigeria.

“I told Amodu that the critics will surely come. Show me anywhere in the world where a coach will play seven games, win six and lose one, then you are asking for his head. It’s not done anywhere as far as football is concerned,” he said.

Stressing that the problem with the Maputo game was that the Eagles played a crowded game, the former Everton of England player said that the team must qualify for two reasons, one, because they didn’t qualify for the 2006 edition in Germany and two, because the 2010 edition is happening on African soil.

“They (Eagles) have to do everything possible to be there and possibly win the cup because in football everything is possible. We have Nigeria, Ghana, Cameroun, Cote d’Ivoire. At any day or time Cote d’Ivoire can win a World Cup. Same to Nigeria, or Cameroun. So I believe that the cup is not leaving Africa,” he said.

Disclosing that he was among the people that recommended either Amodu or Stephen Keshi be given the Eagles job, Amokachi said “Nobody is happy with the team right now. Our target now is to focus on the next game and make sure we win. All he (Amodu) needs now is our support and not cutting of his head for a foreign coach.”

Amokachi who told the Vanguard Editors that everything would be done to qualify the team for South Africa including inviting Dickson Etuhu in subsequent matches said that “In Nigeria coaches are not given enough time and support to groom the players. We’ve gone to Maputo and all the players are back to their clubs. Few days before the next match they’ll all gather again and still we’ll have less time to prepare for Kenya.” He said his personal opinion would have been that the country forgets the 2010 World Cup and concentrates on the 2014 edition scheduled to hold in Brazil

http://www.vanguardngr.com/content/view/34337/170/