TexMex:

But lets not allow statistics to fool us, and do a reality check instead. Football isn't Arithmetic, and hence any attempt to compare statistics drawn from AFRICAN qualifiers with Global (or top Leagues) is self-serving. Below, I present a global perspective and why it is AMODU has been 'fortunate' (not lucky) thus far and his lack of tactical nous isn't too glaring.

Statistics is more important than opinions and perceptions

TexMex:


1. Quality of opposition.  In a match between NIGERIA and ERITREA, who would you expect to win? NIGERIA, of course. So AMODU winning against minor opponents ain't a big deal. What is upsetting NIGERIAN supporters is that the team struggles to win. Hence the victories have been dubbed 'unconvincing'. But then, the statistics doesn't mention that.

Who do you want us to play in the African qualifiers? BRAZIL?

By the way, I thought Mozambique beat Tunisia. This is the same Tunisia people say is better than us.

TexMex:


2. SAGAMITE even conceded that ODEM's individual brilliance fetched the first goal against TUNISIA. This should tell us that AMODU hasn't built a team yet in the period he has been in charge.

ODEM's individual brilliance fetched us a goal against Tunisia tells us Amodu hasnt built a team?      

Whats wrong with your player conjuring up a great goal. That is why you need very good playes.

TexMex:


3. No value-added. AMODU has been more of a presence than an impact. He hasn't added any value to the team. The players would still have played the way they did without AMODU present. And could have played better under a good coach.

Thats an opinion and not a fact.

During the 2002 world cup qualifiers, we were almost out when Bonfrere was messing up. Amodu
came in and qualifies us. This time round, he started the qualifiers and went unbeaten. What impact
are you talking about?

TexMex:

That a team made up of players without any pedigree and without a coach could so confidently take the game to their more renowned opponents with a 'World class' coach should speak volumes about the credentials of the said coach.

That is a poor argument.

Every week, we see small teams take the game to bigger opponents and sometimes cause
upsets. We've seen instances where coaches get sacked and then the assistant takes over
and gets a couple of decent results against bigger teams. Does that speak volumes about the
credentials of the coaches of the top sides as well?

TexMex:

^^^
honeric01,

Is that sarcasm? A coach that says he doesn't have time to build a team after 2 years in charge, should be expected to do so in just 6months? Let's wait and see. Already, people are giving excuses for his performance in ANGOLA. Did you read ODEGBAMI's reasons? I just pray they know something we don't.

The time issue came up because people were clamouring for the grooming and nuturing of
home based players for the Nations cup and world cup. He says there is no time for that and
I agree.

What performance are we actually looking for in Angola? We talk like we win this cup every
2 years and that if he doesnt win it, he's a failure.

Even when we hosted in 2000, with a foreign manager and with our pool of talent, we did not win.

Semi finals is decent enough.

^^^

Take it easy mate.

akinalabi:

Statistics is more important than opinions and perceptions

My fear is that by the time real statistics come in, it would be too late.

Who do you want us to play in the African qualifiers? BRAZIL?

By the way, I thought Mozambique beat Tunisia. This is the same Tunisia people say is better than us.

Result of friendlies against quality opposition would be a better barometer. Forget that FRANCE friendly. FRANCE's coach isn't better than AMODU,.

ODEM's individual brilliance fetched us a goal against Tunisia tells us Amodu hasnt built a team?      

Whats wrong with your player conjuring up a great goal. That is why you need very good playes.

Please don't take what I wrote out of context. This was what I wrote:

That NIGERIA doesn't play well is an understatement. They play badly without any pattern. Just kicking the ball to any available player. SAGAMITE even conceded that ODEM's individual brilliance fetched the first goal against TUNISIA. This should tell us that AMODU hasn't built a team yet in the period he has been in charge.

ODEM's goal goes to buttress my point that they don't play with any pattern and bank on some individual brilliance or positioning.

Thats an opinion and not a fact.

During the 2002 world cup qualifiers, we were almost out when Bonfrere was messing up. Amodu
came in and qualifies us. This time round, he started the qualifiers and went unbeaten. What impact
are you talking about?

A lot of things happened in 2002 WCQ. Then we had Sierra Leone and LIBERIA in our group. Both ganged up against NIGERIA. I remember a top professional Sierra Leone player saying NIGERIA has had her time at the WC, and LIBERIA should be encouraged to qualify instead most especially as they were just coming out of a civil war. It is interesting to note that NIGERIA's match against SUDAN was what proved decisive. If TUNISIA and MOZAMBIQUE had collaborated and said TUNISIA should qualify for the World Cup, the SE would be in the doldrums by now.

That is a poor argument.

Every week, we see small teams take the game to bigger opponents and sometimes cause
upsets. We've seen instances where coaches get sacked and then the assistant takes over
and gets a couple of decent results against bigger teams. Does that speak volumes about the
credentials of the coaches of the top sides as well?

The SE consistently struggled against below-par opposition. BTW, that was why MARK HUGHES was sacked. The various draws against low-lying Premiership teams made his employers forget he secured 7 points (out of a possible 12) against the Big 4.

~Sauron~:

What about England?
They won 9 out of their 10 WCQ amassing 27 points out of 30 with +28 GD.
Surely, that is better than Germany, Italy and CIV.

I am focusing on unbeaten teams.

~Sauron~:

@ topic,

U have valid points with the Amodu analysis but your theory has only proven Amodu is the best in Nigeria. . .He is not world-class.
Nigeria must go to the world cup with a manager that possesses a vast technical/tactical nous. A manager that can change the course of a game with smart substitutions and tactical approach - I am not convinced Amodu can outfox Dunga, Maradona, Domenech or Capello.

How can you say a manager that has not lost a game in 90 minutes out of 24 competitive games has no tactical nous?

How can you say a coach that his team scores most of their goals in the second half and especially after his substitutions has no tactical nous?

Has he not outfox Domenech in France with a sub-par SE team?

~Sauron~:

Let's not be deceived with what Amodu has achieved yet. Nigeria used to be a super power in Africa.
By default, Nigeria should be qualifying for World Cup tournaments/ACN with or without a manager.
The Nations Cup should be used as Amodu's litmus test. If he fails to deliver, then he should be fired. A manager that fails to excel in Africa will fail tremendously when the World Cup kicks off next summer.

Thank God you said used to be. Now we are no more because our players are just not good enough. Amodu is doing well with the above average players he has at the moment. He has turned them into an unbeaten team.

No, we should not be qualifying by default because we do not have such good players.

- None of our players can command a first team shirt in the big clubs like Man U, Barca, RM, Chelsea, Liverpool, Inter, AC Milan etc.
- None of our players can even carry or be the key man in their average clubs.
- None of our players even is considered in the top ten in AFoY.

So can you see that Amodu is not our problem? Our players are not like the players in the 90s when we used to have about 4 players in the top ten in Africa, hence we could dominate Africa. The new reality is different, we are not in the Top 3 footballing nations in AFRICA.

IbrahimB:

Thank you Sagamite for these stats.

And did Spain, Germany, Holland, Italy, CIV and SK give their countrymen the high blood pressure the SE gave Nigerians?

Secondly did Spain, Germany, Holland, Italy, CIV and SK wait until the last day, only qualifying because the favourite team surprisingly lost their last game?

Amodu should remain as coach ONLY because it is barely 3 weeks to the mundial.

The key point mate is that, apart from Spain and Holland, none of  those teams played particularly any better than Nigeria.

- The conceded the same kinds of goals
- They had shakier (if that is a word) defence.

Nigeria was unfortunate with the timetable of the qualifiers. If we had not had to play Mozambique first before Tunisia, I doubt we would have had to wait till the last day to qualify.

CIV too could not beat Mozambique when they played in the first round and CIV have far better players than SE.

CIV even drew with Madagascar and Botswana. If I gave you an atlas, can you even identify these two on the map?

Germany could only manage a draw home and away with Finland, a team they are far better than despite paying their coach over £1m.

Italy could only draw with Bulgaria in Italy and had to wait till the 92min to win Cyprus. This is a coach they pay over £2m a year.

So what if Amodu drew with Moz? So what if he drew with Tuinisia that is a team equally as good as SE?

Qualify last day or not, they qualified, topped their table and had good stats.

If it was England or any other nation that had players scoring vital goals in the last 5 mins to qualify for WC, their players and coach would be heros. But we Nigerians have our arrogant heads up our arse and think oppositions should lie down for our average players so we can walk over them.

~Sauron~:

Sagamite, connect online make i beat una small.
I hope y'all have improved.

See you mouth, you don't know your masters?

El says that online aint that good as their is a delay impacting more negatively on the non-host.

TexMex:


My fear is that by the time real statistics come in, it would be too late.

You have the right to fear.

TexMex:


Result of friendlies against quality opposition would be a better barometer. Forget that FRANCE friendly. FRANCE's coach isn't better than AMODU,.

Then, lets wait for the friendlies.

BTW, why should we forget the FRANCE friendly. Whether we like it or not, FRANCE is one
the biggest teams going to the world cup. And its NOT because of past glory because
Uruguay get better past glory.

TexMex:

Please don't take what I wrote out of context. This was what I wrote: ODEM's goal goes to buttress my point that they don't play with any pattern and bank on some individual brilliance or positioning.

I didnt quote you out of context. You typed it yourself.

SAGAMITE even conceded that ODEM's individual brilliance fetched the first goal against TUNISIA. This should tell us that AMODU hasn't built a team yet in the period he has been in charge.

Like i said, you typed that yourself.

TexMex:

A lot of things happened in 2002 WCQ. Then we had Sierra Leone and LIBERIA in our group. Both ganged up against NIGERIA. I remember a top professional Sierra Leone player saying NIGERIA has had her time at the WC, and LIBERIA should be encouraged to qualify instead most especially as they were just coming out of a civil war. It is interesting to note that NIGERIA's match against SUDAN was what proved decisive. If TUNISIA and MOZAMBIQUE had collaborated and said TUNISIA should qualify for the World Cup, the SE would be in the doldrums by now.
The SE consistently struggled against below-par opposition.

Whats all these. . .

The eagles were not getting the results. Bonfrere got fired. Amodu took over and fired us to the
world cup. That was what happened. All these ganging up you're talking about is off the mark.

TexMex:

BTW, that was why MARK HUGHES was sacked. The various draws against low-lying Premiership teams made his employers forget he secured 7 points (out of a possible 12) against the Big 4.

Hughes was not hired to get results against the BIG four. He was hired to get points from all
the premiership teams. You get 3 points per game, big team or no big team.

It might interest you to know that last season, out of the 4 top teams Man Utd had one of the
worst resultst against the others.

Who won the league?

supereagle:

Dear Sagamite, You know Amodu's pedigree more than I. I did not know that he achieved these in SA when he was there. What was the achivement  of Westhanhorf when he was in SA. Some Naijas want him back. Amodu is far better than Westhanhorf . But Keshi must go with him to SA 2010.
We need your unbiased analysis of the ANC matches of SE in Jan. I will not read any other apart from yours. Most of the people we have here are too sentimental.  

Thanks, bruv.

People need to start being objective with analysis rather than being sentimental. It still shocks me people want to castigate a man that has never lost a game in 24 matches and has won 17 of them whilst hardly conceding.

To my understanding, Westerhof only won some Charity cup with Mamelodi Sundowns that he managed for 1 year in 2000. They were Champions when he took over and were 3rd by the end of the season.

The other club Westerhof managed in SA (Bush Bucks) sacked him when he won only 1 game in 7 and they were second to last on the table. They actually then placed him in charge of their youth team, so it was not a full sack.

folly24:

good analysis, but soccer have change, we are talking of world cup, where the game have gone mathematical, the Tunisia match in lagos show amodu technical deficiency,he can be part of the coaching crew, but there is need for a technical person

How did it show his technical deficiency?

~Sauron~:

Are you sure about this?
I cannot remember the last time the SE played with any formation or tactics.
Everyone just seems to be running with the ball with no plan A or plan B.
That we managed to scrape through to SA with the margin slimmer than the skin of ma teeth does not make Amodu decent.

No, SE played some beautiful football if you looked at it objectively especially in Abuja and the first round of the WCQ. They dominated mostly apart from the game against Tunisia in Rades that they were complete rubbish and Mozambique in Maputo (although they had a lot of better chances to win the game).

What formation and tactics does England use? Capello just brought grit, they play no exciting or entertaining football, all they do is win. Not much different from Amodu's SE despite England having at least 6 world class players.

Your world class coach might not add much to SE. Hiddink took Russia to Slovakia and they had no meaningful attack (I mean none whatsoever) in the first half. His team could only conjure one very very lousy shot on goal from 25 yards in the first half that the keeper did not even have to dive for and they lost the game and are not going to the WC. Where was his world class tactics then? If that was Amodu, he is a dunce? 

I have always believed the SE needs a foreign coach, not just any kind but a very good one. Look at England for instance; they are the founders of football, they've got a very good league, but it's a foreign coach handling them. It doesn't mean England lacks good coaches n.b .

However, credit must be given to Amodu for qualifying the SE . I watched the match against Tunisia and I can't heap all the blame on him for the result, in fact he read the game very well and made the right sub that brought the goal. Was he the one who asked TT to be absent minded ? Did he ask the mid fielders not to tackle their opponents ? They players were busy dancing to the gallery and entertaining the fans when Tunisia equalized.
I think he has done well. I also believe he's the best indigenous coach we have. And i'm sure he's better than Berti Vogts and some other foreign coaches.

We still need a foreign coach but not now. Time is too short for him to make a significant impact. And also i want us to actually see what Amodu is made up of.

TexMex:

SAGAMITE has taken the pains to set out why he believes SHUAIBU AMODU should remain in the saddle as SE coach. It is imperative that those of us in the opposing camp present a counter-argument. I will like to admit here that the NFF has left things too late for any change (on the eve of a major tournament) to be anything but positive. But that should not preclude us from entertaining the thought of having a real World Class coach for the Super Eagles.

SAGAMITE painted such a rosy picture of AMODU that I was nearly persuaded AMODU is the best man for the SE (not that SAGAMITE said that, but based on the statistics he posted, it can be assumed). But lets not allow statistics to fool us, and do a reality check instead. Football isn't Arithmetic, and hence any attempt to compare statistics drawn from AFRICAN qualifiers with Global (or top Leagues) is self-serving. Below, I present a global perspective and why it is AMODU has been 'fortunate' (not lucky) thus far and his lack of tactical nous isn't too glaring.

He is 'fortunate' by winning 9 out of 12 games and drawing 3 and losing none? So he was 'fortunate' in the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th up to the 12th game?

He is 'fortunate' by not conceding in 9 games?

He is 'fortunate' by scoring 20 goals in 12 games and conceding only 5 in 3 of the 12 games?

Puhlease.

TexMex:

1. Quality of opposition.  In a match between NIGERIA and ERITREA, who would you expect to win? NIGERIA, of course. So AMODU winning against minor opponents ain't a big deal. What is upsetting NIGERIAN supporters is that the team struggles to win. Hence the victories have been dubbed 'unconvincing'. But then, the statistics doesn't mention that.

So what do you say when Lippi (a world cup winning coach) takes Italy to draw with Bulgaria and had to score an injury time goal to be able to beat Cyprus IN ITALY?

So what do you say when Scolari (a world cup winning coach) takes an all star Portuguese team of Ronaldo, Deco, Figo, Maniche, Carvalho, Ricardo, Pauleta etc to draw 2-2 ^{(note the opposition scored these stars twice)} with Leichenstein - a village, I blatantly refuse to call it a country, with a population of 35 thousand?

So what do you say when Brazil lose to Paraguay and Bolivia? What do you say when they cannot beat, Colombia, Bolivia and Venezuela IN BRAZIL with players like Kaka, Robinho, Elano, Lucio, Dani Alves, Maicon etc?

I bet you think CIV is good? So what do you say when you realise CIV with all their superstars could not beat Mozambique as well? What would you say if I informed you that the same CIV could only draw with Madagascar and Botswana with Drogba, Toure, Kalou, Eboue, Yaya etc that dwarf our players?

So what, if Amodu draws with Mozambique then? So what, if he draws with Tunisia that is a team on par with SE?

Are all these other teams' coaches also not good enough or does this standard only apply to Amodu?

Mate, that is football for you.

Please lets try and be more objective rather than base judgements on emotions.

TexMex:

2. Pattern of play. That NIGERIA doesn't play well is an understatement. They play badly without any pattern. Just kicking the ball to any available player. SAGAMITE even conceded that ODEM's individual brilliance fetched the first goal against TUNISIA. This should tell us that AMODU hasn't built a team yet in the period he has been in charge. And that should be unnerving. AMODU's policy is to hold/keep the ball, no plan as to what to do with it and when.

I suggest you watch eagle's games without negative passionateness.

A team that scored 20 goals in 12 games where none was freekick and the barest of barest minimum was from PK or corner kicks have no pattern?

A team that scores bundles of goals from passing the ball has no pattern?

Puhlease.

Tell  me what pattern England has. From scoring from freekicks and corners? From scoring from long range shots of talented players? Then we say Capello is a genius.

TexMex:

3. No value-added. AMODU has been more of a presence than an impact. He hasn't added any value to the team. The players would still have played the way they did without AMODU present. And could have played better under a good coach. KENYA played without a coach in the last qualifying match against NIGERIA. The SE were awarded an off-side goal in the said match, and that was what allowed the SE to qualify because without that goal, NIGERIA would have played a draw and TUNISIA would have qualified ahead of us. That a team made up of players without any pedigree and without a coach could so confidently take the game to their more renowned opponents with a 'World class' coach should speak volumes about the credentials of the said coach.

(to be continued, )

Mere conjectures, mate.

Please lets stick with facts.

^^^
Ahn Ahn SAGAMITE, don't you sleep? I was waiting for you to go to bed before releasing Part 2 of my post so that I can convince one or two folks before you wake up.

This is continuation of my earlier post wherein I presented AMODU as incompetent to be SE Coach. I have touched on quality of opposition, play pattern and value-added as reasons behind my belief. Please read on.

4. Leadership. I 'm reminded of 2002 ANC when we were regaled with news of indiscipline in the team. News reports had it our players were visiting night clubs and spending precious time braiding their hair. All these was under AMODU (and KESHI) who, reports had it, was in the know but didn't descend on the perpetrators. The result is the awful show NIGERIA put up. I remember then that the SE could not honour a friendly against EGYPT due to a row over bonuses, and AMODU did nothing. I have heard of coaches who quell disquiet in their team and make the team focus instead of row over money. AMODU doesn't inspire discipline. He aids and abets indiscipline. His leadership quality's weak.

5. Players Discovered. AMODU has not unearthed any new players. The players he's using are those already established. No harm there, but a coach that recognizes his team is not world class can help his case by discovering new players to help him prosecute his campaigns. FRIDAY ELAHO, EMMANUEL AMUNEKE, FINIDI GEORGE, SUNDAY OLISEH etc were players introduced into the SE by WESTERHOF.

All said, I wish AMODU the best in all his football campaigns in 2010.

Merry Xmass my dear Sagamite. It seems you have time to reply these members who hate Amodu, many of them dont look at facts on ground before their arguments . The truth is most of our players are average, CAF did not consider them good for nomination for two years running , for a long time , we have not had any of them in CAF best 11, Amodu used these average players to produce the tickets without losing a match. Yet he  is not a world class. Westahof lost some matches on his way to USA 94 with the best players then , we did not criticize him.
If an Oyinbo coach achieved what Amodu got for us with Average player, pro oyinbo coach will start shouting and singing praises of him.
We should be celebrating our own.

@Sagamite:
9ce post. This is rare especially on Nairaland, I mean someone doing a detailed job but it would have been better if your stats have sources.

While its ok to thread the "end justify the means" line, there is always a problem with that school of thought. It encourages lazy jobs, and it sometimes gives false achievement.

Its just like saying someone is brilliant because he passed jamb with flying colours without evening considering the possibility of cheating.

On the other hand, I will hate it maybe not as much but quite close if you are on the "means justify ends" train but has nothing to show for it. But if you ask me to pick one, I'd rather work with the latter and probably modify it to ensure I achieve my goal. Even if Amodu stats says he's doing fine, the methods are far from convincing.

May be if Amodu is given enough chance may be his overall coaching dexterity will improve (which I naturally think shld) but then Africans culturally relaxes when they feel they r number 1 and complacency kicks in.

To state exactly what the problems are:

Those boys are not disciplined (Watch the last few minutes of Kenya vs Nigeria's match and compare with other matches in d qualifier or the first few minutes of Tunisia vs Nigeria). They lose the ball easily (Not that I want to kill them for that) but atleast if you lose the ball try and fight to get it back. Thats what Nigerians want to see, that you are trying your best.

Back in the days, when Italy used to allow you to knock the ball around, and they will end up scoring the goals (Things r not like that again). The only team that does that today are teams with exceptional shooting accuracy with dead ball specialist which we have none of. In fact if there is anything, we dont create chances (cos we can string passes together plus misplaced tactics) and we dont have good shooter and dead ball specialist and above all, no creative player.

In this type of situation, we need discipline/dedicatn/motivatn in the team and any coach handlin the team shld preach that. This is synonymous to an average student he has to study hard (He should not try to crash his exam, in fact he shld start readin from resumptn), compared to a talented student ho just need to start readin few weeks before exam.

Nigeria's style was (yea it was) fluid passing, they cant even string up 3 accurate passes without losing the ball? Someone has to get that blame.

And I have also noticed that Amodu has played more African opponents in all his games as a Nigerian coach. I am not sure he has played up to 5 non-african teams (which is why I said it would have been good if you have a detailed stats with sources).

Lets see what he will do againts european opponents and then against south americans, then we can conclude on him.

Anyways, very good post by sagamite cos ve never judged Amodu from this perspective before (even though I subconsciously recognise he has more achievement than failure)

TexMex:

^^^
honeric01,

Is that sarcasm? A coach that says he doesn't have time to build a team after 2 years in charge, should be expected to do so in just 6months? Let's wait and see. Already, people are giving excuses for his performance in ANGOLA. Did you read ODEGBAMI's reasons? I just pray they know something we don't.

He used that 2 years to qualify us for nations and world cup respectively, so after the nations cup, he won't have any excuse again because 6 months is enough to have a play pattern, he should be able to play friendlies, at least 8-10 friendlies, we should be able to see his play pattern by then.

@Sagamite

Thumb ups!! Nice write up there

I agree with you 100% let him take the SE to Nations Cup and World Cup, like Amodu said we shouldn't expect much from the nations cup because playing with africans is different from playing other countries from various continent.

World cup is the main target.

ho many times have u ever seen ur coach going to all these countries where his players are plying their trades to watch them? how many local players are in our team to prove that he even watch our local league?
such low rated coaches can only work in nigeria where incompetency is not a crime rather loyality to the criminal heads of the football governing bodies.
in the fifa ranking, where did amodu meet us and where are we now? in all his achievements mentioned so far, are we growing up in the rating or going down?
if we want to be straight, nigerian football is going down by the day and that joy of atching the super eagles is dying by the day.
we need a revelution in the football department.
this particular super eagles lack zeal. amodu has a lot of jobs to do in the team.

TexMex:


4. Leadership. I 'm reminded of 2002 ANC when we were regaled with news of indiscipline in the team. News reports had it our players were visiting night clubs and spending precious time braiding their hair. All these was under AMODU (and KESHI) who, reports had it, was in the know but didn't descend on the perpetrators. The result is the awful show NIGERIA put up. I remember then that the SE could not honour a friendly against EGYPT due to a row over bonuses, and AMODU did nothing. I have heard of coaches who quell disquiet in their team and make the team focus instead of row over money. AMODU doesn't inspire discipline. He aids and abets indiscipline. His leadership quality's weak.

None of these allegations were proven. Just rumours.

As for rows over money, that is the second name of the Eagles. Its been before
Amodu and it will be there after Amodu. I'm not saying its a good thing but dont
make it sound like its Amodu that started it. You will mislead those that dont know.

Besides, what awful show did Nigeria put up in Mali? We came third remember? Why
are you sounding like we win it every two years and Amodu coming third is a taboo?

TexMex:


5. Players Discovered. AMODU has not unearthed any new players. The players he's using are those already established. No harm there, but a coach that recognizes his team is not world class can help his case by discovering new players to help him prosecute his campaigns. FRIDAY ELAHO, EMMANUEL AMUNEKE, FINIDI GEORGE, SUNDAY OLISEH etc were players introduced into the SE by WESTERHOF.

Is the Westerhof the standard?

I ask because we have had countless other coaches since then.

Bora, Berti Vogts and so many more. Tell me the players these ones have discovered. Why
go back to as far as Westerhoff.

Listen. Its not the job of the National team coach to discover player. This is a national team
my friend. Not a youth tournament or Arsenal acadamy 

chidichris:

ho many times have u ever seen your coach going to all these countries where his players are plying their trades to watch them? how many local players are in our team to prove that he even watch our local league?

Read the papers and hear the news. Immediately after the draws, he jetted to Europe to
monitor the players. He does that regularly.

chidichris:


in the fifa ranking, where did amodu meet us and where are we now? in all his achievements mentioned so far, are we growing up in the rating or going down?

He met us as a team that failed to qualify for the worl cup. He took us through the qualifiers
unbeaten. Great!

chidichris:


this particular super eagles lack zeal. amodu has a lot of jobs to do in the team.

If we want to put up a decent shouw in SA, I agree there is a lot of work to be done.

in the land of the blind one eyed man will surely be the king that is just the issue with super eagle and who coach them. what a pitty

This your write up only goes to prove that Nigerians can never stop deceiving themselves.but i know that somebody paid you to come and desecrate nairaland

I was not a fan of Amodu Shuaibu until recent times. I feel he should be allowed to take the Eagles to the World Cup. Let us see what a local coach can do @ SA 2010. Moreover, Amodu is a product of the system that obtains in Nigeria. We do not have people in the NFF who are visionaries and highly innovative. I believe if Amodu was given all the resources he needed to carry out his work, he would be a better coach by now. Amodu should be left to handle his team without undue interference from people with vested interests and desperate football agents. I know the coach will find it tough selecting players for his Nations Cup and World Cup Squads. Some players will also try to use their Godfathers to get them places in the national team. Remember, every player wants to be at the World Cup

Westerhof succeeded because he was in full control of his team. He brought in players like Chidi Nwanu, Michael Emenalo and Emeka Ezeugo to bolster the Eagle's defence and people saw the wisdom in what he did. Westerhof also had the backing of the country's number two man, Augustus Aikhomu. We have a clueless Football Federation who have failed to chart out a blueprint for the revival of Nigerian footie. We cannot win the World Cup, mates. It is also too late to get a foreign coach for the Super Eagles. Let us allow Amodu take the Eagles to Angola and South Africa. After coming home to lick our wounds from these tournaments [ except God decides to become a Nigerian again], we can then start planning for the 2014 World Cup. Cheers.

emiwanlee:

This your write up only goes to prove that Nigerians can never stop deceiving themselves.but i know that somebody paid you to come and desecrate nairaland

It is Xmas. So I will not respond to this kind of lame, mo.ronic, stupid, evidence-of-poor-education, beer-parlour, insightless contributions.

Just remember that everyday is not Xmas.

@Sagamite

You have done a very good job with facts and figures. I just wonder why some people will just refuse to accept.

Do they consider the quality of players we have and their commitment before jumping on the coach? Or is it that for them football begins and ends with the coach.

Maybe Amodu would have gone in to score the 2 goals in the last match if Obefemi (for any reason) where absent.

Amodu would have been sacked if Yakubu had missed the 2nd goal which he scored after hitting the bar even thogh he could have done better in the first attempt. Can you imagine?

People just don't want to get it right.

Thank you Sagamite for these stats.

And did Spain, Germany, Holland, Italy, CIV and SK give their countrymen the high blood pressure the SE gave Nigerians?

Secondly did Spain, Germany, Holland, Italy, CIV and SK wait until the last day, only qualifying because the favourite team surprisingly lost their last game?

Amodu should remain as coach ONLY because it is barely 3 weeks to the mundial.

Thank you sir
These undying Amodu supporters are failing to realize that it is Mozambique that qualified us for world cup and not Amodu

I'm just getting into the groove of this thread Amodu Shuaibu happens to be the coach of the Super Eagles at a time when we don't have many good players around. Our players are not top performers at their clubs unlike way back in 1994. Then the likes of Rashidi Yekini, Ben Iroha, Samson Siasia, Stephen Keshi, Peter Rufai et al were all in the first 11 of their clubs and were getting good reviews in European Soccer Magazines. This is not the case today. I have not seen an outstanding Nigerian player in Europe in recent times. Mikel Obi is just trying at Chelsea FC. His contemporary at Holland 2005, Lionel Messi, has just been crowned the best footballer in the world. I think there is something wrong with our soccer system in Nigeria

We need to address the issue of fielding over-aged players in FIFA organized youth tournaments if we want to go back to our pre-1994 days. Our players fade out quickly these days and that is why we don't have exceptional players in the Super Eagles. Lets take a peek at the past:

1993 Golden Eaglets Squad to Japan: Apart from Kanu Nwankwo, Celestine Babayaro and Wilson Oruma, there were other gifted players in that squad. These were the players that were really doing the hardwork on the field. What happened to Emmanuel Okoneboh? He was the goalkeeper of the team and he was very good that he benched Emmanuel Babayaro several times. What about Blessing Anyanwu who was really the midfield maestro of the team? Anyanwu was the one giving the ghanaians a lot of problems in the final match which the Eaglets won 2-1. Anyanwu was one of the youngest members of that Squad alongside Celestine Babayaro and Festus Okougha. I wonder what happened to the creative midfielder What would have happened if some other players in the team were much younger ? Some of them would not have faded off easily and would have made the 1998 world cup team.

2001 Golden Eaglets Squad to Trinidad and Tobago: What happened to Victor Brown and Temile Omonigho? The duo were a delight to watch in the carribean tourney were they got beaten by France who were inspired by a youngster called Sinama Pongolle. And What happened to the tourney's highest goal scorer, Femi Opabunmi? All these guys faded off shortly after. I heard Brown and Temile are still playing footie in obscure European countries. Opabunmi made it to Korea-Japan 2002 courtesey of Chief Adegboye Onigbinde. However, he was a shadow of himself at the mundial.

I can go on and on. What I'm saying is this: We need to start searching for and fielding talented youngsters at the grassroots in international soccer tourneys. We also need to send scouts into Europe, Asia, North America and Australia [ Oceania ] to look for teenage players with Nigerian parentage or origin who have grown up in systems where there is order and monitoring. We might not win the U-17 and U-20 FIFA titles but we'll be breeding future Super Eagles players who will shake the World again and possibly win the World Cup. We need a blueprint for the development of Nigerian football and the present crop of NFF members cannot deliver the goods. It is a systemic problem, mates. Ghana has been following my way of thinking since 2005 and things are getting better for the country's national teams. The problem does not lie with Amodu Shuaibu. It lies with the leadership of the Nigerian Football Federation [NFF ] and the Nigerian Media.

Amodu should remain the coach but we need a technical person in that crew

deb:

Thank you sir
These undying Amodu supporters are failing to realize that it is Mozambique that qualified us for world cup and not Amodu

I couldn't agree more. I just need to add that it was:

- Turkey that qualified Spain, not Del Bosque
- Azerbaijan that qualified Germany, not Lowe
- Scotland that qualified Holland, not Van Marwijk
- Bulgaria that qualified Italy, not Lippi
- Saudi Arabia that qualified South Korea, not their coach

This is a nice debate and am gratified to see that no insults have been hurled (happens on most threads and puts me off)
I just wan to correct a popular misconception about our WC squad to USA 94. People often say that they players were in "top" clubs in europe. That is not exactly true. Check out the team list :

No. Pos. Player DoB/Age Caps Club
1 GK Peter Rufai 24 August 1963 (aged 30) Go Ahead Eagles
2 DF Augustine Eguavoen 19 August 1965 (aged 28) Kortrijk
3 DF Benedict Iroha 29 November 1969 (aged 24) Vitesse
4 DF Stephen Keshi 23 January 1962 (aged 32) Molenbeek
5 DF Uche Okechukwu 27 September 1967 (aged 26) Fenerbahçe
6 DF Chidi Nwanu 1 January 1967 (aged 27) Anderlecht
7 MF Finidi George 15 April 1971 (aged 23) Ajax
8 MF Thompson Oliha 4 October 1968 (aged 25) Africa Sports
9 FW Rashidi Yekini 23 October 1964 (aged 29) Vitória de Setúbal
10 MF Jay-Jay Okocha 14 August 1973 (aged 20) Eintracht Frankfurt
11 MF Emmanuel Amuneke 25 December 1970 (aged 23) Zamalek
12 FW Samson Siasia 14 August 1967 (aged 26) Nantes
13 DF Emeka Ezeugo 16 December 1965 (aged 28) Budapest Honvéd
14 FW Daniel Amokachi 30 December 1972 (aged 21) Club Brugge
15 MF Sunday Oliseh 14 September 1974 (aged 19) FC Liège
16 GK Alloysius Agu 12 July 1967 (aged 26) FC Liège
17 FW Victor Ikpeba 12 June 1973 (aged 21) Monaco
18 FW Efan Ekoku 8 June 1967 (aged 27) Norwich City
19 DF Michael Emenalo 14 July 1965 (aged 28) Eintracht Trier
20 DF Uche Okafor 8 August 1967 (aged 26) Hannover 96
21 MF Mutiu Adepoju 22 December 1970 (aged 23) Racing Santander
22 GK Wilfred Agbonavbare 5 October 1965 (aged 28) Rayo Vallecano

Apart from Ajax they others were all small clubs in a big league or big clubs in a small league. Our players moved to top clubs AFTER the world cup. They were just getting regular football at thier clubs.They were good players no doubt but they were not "big stars" before the world cup as some claim. In fact Yekini was playing in the second division but his goals propelled his club to the first division in th world cup season. The problem with our present team is that most of them are i small teams and STILL warm the bench so they are not even match fit.

Let the man go to ANC and WC. Sad thing for me is that we are going to the ANC and we are content to "play well" and are happy with "getting to the SF". It shows how low our confidence is. Really big shame.

Even with Westerhof and three ANC's we won once. Nigeria has won the ACN twice which is poor for a supposed 'BIG' team.

@stanloski

The difference between 94 eagles and these present chickens is the mentality. In 1994, These SE players had hunger for success and surprise element in their kitty. 2009 Eagles are no longer seen as a small team and the players have big men mentality with the lazy passing and attitudinal problems.


Amodu has done a job and I have NOT seen an area where a foreign coach would do better at this point. NFF CANNOT pay Hiddink, Scolari or Hughes. Who would NFF call if Amodu goes today?

stanloski:

Let the man go to ANC and WC. Sad thing for me is that we are going to the ANC and we are content to "play well" and are happy with "getting to the SF". It shows how low our confidence is. Really big shame.

Mate, it is not low confidence, it is facing reality.

If Nigeria meets CIV with Hiddink as coach, what percentage of you would be sure we are definitely going to win?

If Nigeria meets Cameroun with Hiddink as coach, what percentage of you would be sure we are definitely going to win?

Reality: We just do not have the quality of players some other teams have and on paper they should thrash us even with Hiddink as coach and Trappatoni as assistant.

@stanloski and ow11

The differences between the SE of 1994 and 2009 are:

- The 1994 set had played together for 5 years and could read each others minds.

- The 1994 set did not have unrealistic expectations placed on them hence they could relax when playing

- The 1994 set might have not been playing for big clubs but they were still fantastic players that were normally the stars of their small teams, they were not bought by Big clubs then, not because they were not good enough, but because it was not the culture then. Clubs were myopic and stuck with locals for their teams. You could count the numbers of Africans in English and Italian league on all fingers and toes.

- The 2009 set with all the opportunities that were not there before for 1994 set can not command a first team position in any big club and unlike 1994 set who were stars in their small clubs, the 2009 set are mostly just ordinary in their small clubs.

- In the 1990s you could count the number of African countries with players exposed to top flight leagues on one hand as most teams were poor and used home-based players that were not of the highest quality. Even CIV of 1994 that was one of the best teams in Africa was 99% home-based, today I doubt they have 3 HB players in the national team. Today you can name CIV, Cameroun, Ghana, Nigeria, Tunisia, Egypt, Algeria, Senegal, Mali, Burkina Faso, Guinea, Gabon, Togo, Benin with at least 7 players playing in the top 10 leagues in Europe (and another 10 are foreign-based or in the case of the North Africans, they play in their strong league). Some of their players are actually born abroad, and unlike the 90s when they would refuse to play for their land of origins, now most are too eager despite being born in France/UK/Holland/etc to play for their country of origin. Also FIFA now provides technical support to virtually all teams. Hence teams are stronger (no more kwekwe local carpenters in national team), more competitive, more technical and not as easy as before. The reason you rarely see 5-0s or 7-1s like before.

- The 1994 set had hunger, unlike the bigmen-on-pitch we had sometimes in 2009.

Summary: 1994 SE were better, more committed, less pressured players (than 2009 SE) playing weaker teams than the teams in Africa in 2009.