[size=14pt]Okocha: Nigerian Squad A Disgrace[/size]

Author: Date: Jun 18th, 2010.

As Nigeria continues her miserable run at South Africa 2010 World Cup, immediate past skipper of the Super Eagles, Austin ‘Jay Jay’ Okocha, has given the Coach Lars Lagerback squad a hard knock, saying the bunch are a disgrace to the country.
Okocha, one of the African legends invited to South Africa 2010 by the LOC, said he watched in utmost disbelief yesterday when the Eagles gave away a winnable second Group B match to Greece at the Bloemfontein stadium.



Ex-Eagles', J. J. Okocha.


Greece did not just defeat Nigeria 2-1 in the pulsating encounter, the Europeans brightened their chances of making it to the next round, making history by scoring their first ever goal and victory in the FIFA World Cup.
The outcome of the match, in Okocha’s opinion, speaks volumes about the rot in Nigerian football and he castigated the Nigeria Football Federation, NFF for bringing the Swede Coach, Lagerback and the current squad to embarrass Nigeria in the first World Cup to be held in Africa.

“All of us back home in Nigeria knew that this group of players would not get anywhere from the start. Their preparations were nothing to write home about while the Swede manager was brought into the fold too late. The performance of the Eagles in South Africa is disgraceful and not acceptable. I feel very sad that the majority of Nigerians are here watching the Eagles in this terrible condition,” Okocha said.
The former PSG and Bolton Wanderers midfielder, said the red card, which sent Sani Kaita out of the match, further confirmed the poor level of football administration in Nigeria.

“I don’t believe in permutations. Those who think the Eagles are still in contention must be dreaming because Kaita and his team-mates blew their opportunity. We were leading by a good goal, which Kalu Uche luckily scored.
“But, Kaita’s attack on the Greek player was unnecessary. He was not threatened, so why kick the player? It’s really bad that Nigeria did not live up to her reputation in international football.”



•MAN OF SHAME:Colombian referee Oscar Ruiz (l) hands a red card to Nigeria’s midfielder Sani Kaita after the latter kicked Greece’s defender Vasilis Torosidis (unseen) during the Group B first round 2010 World Cup football match Greece vs. Nigeria yesterday at Free State Stadium in Mangaung/Bloemfontein. PHOTO: AFP.



The Eagles’ tactical approach to the game also came under Dwight Yorke’s hammer, blaming Lagerback’s team for being too defensive throughout the match.
Yorke, a former Manchester United striker said: “I’m surprised that the Nigerian players were taking the ball back to themselves instead of putting pressure on Greece. I saw some great moves that the Eagles started from the midfield several times, but they sent back the ball each time they got close to the third line near Greece’s box. Their style was too defensive, and no team can win a top level match with that strategy.”
Greece scored their goals through Dimitrios Salpingidis and Vasileios Torosidis to grab the three points in the game while Group B leaders, Argentina, Nigeria’s conquerors in their first match, beat South Korea 4-1 in Johannesburg in the earlier match to take their tally to six points.
South Korea, Eagles’ last group opponents are still in the race with the three points they had from the 2-0 defeat of Greece in the opening match.
Nigeria’s Eagles are yet to secure any point in the event.

—Tunde Oyedele/ Johannesburg

http://pmnewsnigeria.com/2010/06/18/okocha-nigerian-squad-a-disgrace/

Why should he shut up? He said the truth, just like those who equally said he was one of the reasons we failed to qualify for Germany 06 when he failed to play in a few of our qualifiers, after assuring Chukwu that he'll make the games.

Now that is another debate in general, but when Okocha actually played for Naija, along with Oliseh, Finidi George, Adepoju and co, was he not among the world's best? Was he not an inspiration player and leader on the pitch--unlike Yobo ,  unlike Yakdudu.

I hear Okocha is interested in contesting the upcoming NFF elections so I'm not surprised he's making public pronouncements, but all the same, he's telling the truth. Everyone from every corner of this world, from every profession watching this tournament, every newscaster, every school kid, every African, German, American, is saying that Naija is playing shitty, except of course, many Nigerians who are living in self denial, who will say, "lets support IBB", lets give Lagerback more time, lets, BULLSHIT!!!

One American friend of mine said Nigerians are either progressive, cowards, or children. Of course I said his family members are cowards, but people, Our actions speak for themselves

Okocha should go screw a dog !

His comments come with diluted malice . . .lets qualify 1st b4 u yap rubbish!

Dr Kitaun:

Okocha should go screw a dog !

His comments come with diluted malice . . .lets qualify 1st b4 u yap rubbish!

For once Dr. Kitaun, i disagree with you. I always support your arguments especially the ones you had with Sagamite. But in this case, you're wrong.
Okocha is right in every aspect and the thing is, he did more than well when he played for Eagles.
So he's in the right position to say they played like crap.

I don't see any reason why anyone should ask him to shut up?
We hate the truth in Nigeria. Is it not the likes of Okocha, Segun Odegbami, John Fashanu and other and progressive minded people that should be running our football?

[size=18pt]God bless Okocha[/size]

I hope more ex-players will come out openly and hard on NFF. NFF corruption is responsible for this failure in South Africa and it is time for their own failure to sweep them away.

Okocha should continue and other ex-players like Oliseh, Garba Lawal, Mutui Adepoju, Taribo West, Okechukwu should all speak out against this madness by NFF. They can build grass-roots support for the movement and take the momentum to lobby Jonathan through Okocha's connection to overhaul football in Nigeria once and for all.


Folks Ignore Dr Kitaun, the guy is on Sani Lulu's payroll. Imagine someone saying Sani Kaita was bribed by Amodu to kick the Greek player. How ridiculous can anyone get?

mikeansy:

[size=18pt]God bless Okocha[/size]
Okocha should continue and other ex-players like Taribo West, should all speak out against this madness by NFF.

He has always been out there speaking the truth, speaking out against the nff, listen to Brila fm, he's mostly there.

He should be motivating them and not putting them down. Let him dofor the super eagles what Beckham is doing for the English national team.

Aloy+Emeka:

He should be motivating them and not putting them down. Let him dofor the super eagles what Beckham is doing for the English national team.

He will do that when the Nigerian FA begin to do for the Eagles and our football in general what the English FA does for its people.

Untill then the truth has to be said.

Until farmers are no longer handling our football, i don't see us getting it right.

It's only farmers that would employ a coach 3 months to the worldcup

only farmers would replace a coach with someone who hasn't achieved anything in football.

Only farmers

Only farmers

Cantell

Okocha CANNOT do f.ckall at the helm of affairs . . .even more learned people like Odegbami couldnt do shyte at Gateway neither has Adepoju done anything with 3SC !

We need technocrats that understand the game not NECESSARILY ex-players that have no administration pedigree.

honeric01:

Until farmers are no longer handling our football, i don't see us getting it right.

It's only farmers that would employ a coach 3 months to the worldcup

only farmers would replace a coach with someone who hasn't achieved anything in football.

Only farmers

Only farmers

exactly!!!

Largerback just has long history of being at various places in the game. There is no evidence he has won anything major. Gold, silver or bronze. Nothing !!!!!!!!!!!!!

Dr Kitaun:

Cantell

Okocha CANNOT do f.ckall at the helm of affairs . . .even more learned people like Odegbami couldnt do shyte at Gateway neither has Adepoju done anything with 3SC !

We need technocrats that understand the game not NECESSARILY ex-players that have no administration pedigree.

You can't judge him if he hasn't been tested. Your emotions are beclouding your judgment now.

Okocha has said the truth; we all are so ashamed at the evil going on. Africa as a whole is going backwards while the rest of the world is moving with the speed of light. Take a cue from the South American teams.

Aloy+Emeka:

You can't judge him if he hasn't been tested. Your emotions are beclouding your judgment now.

the guys problems is more than emotion.

The way he defends the shame going on in NFF, it can only be that he gets his daily bread from the current set up.

anything else does not make sense.

He even claims Amodu bribed Sani Kaita to commit that red card offence in order to undermine Lagerback.

Aloy Funmi

test what ? Why should he be tested ?

Let him show his basic qualifications first, even RUFAI HAS AN MBA, OLOFIN MSC CHEM ENGR, ENYEAMA B. ADMIN ! Let OKOCHA show his O'levels . . .even Odegbami that is their super grandfather failed at club level, Adokiye was just a shade better . . .

Guys, forget the fact that these people are press-friendly, ask them WHY THEY HAVE REFUSED TO GO AND STUDY SPORTS-RELATED COURSES TO UPGRADE THEMSELVES !

Dr Kitaun:

Aloy Funmi

test what ? Why should he be tested ?

Let him show his basic qualifications first, even RUFAI HAS AN MBA, OLOFIN MSC CHEM ENGR, ENYEAMA B. ADMIN ! Let OKOCHA show his O'levels . . .even Odegbami that is their super grandfather failed at club level, Adokiye was just a shade better . . .

Guys, forget the fact that these people are press-friendly, ask them WHY THEY HAVE REFUSED TO GO AND STUDY SPORTS-RELATED COURSES TO UPGRADE THEMSELVES !

Please stop announcing your ignorance to the world. How many MBA's and PHD's does Maradona possess?. Only socrates of Brazil became a world class player after wasting years in the university. How many of those players with fancy degrees played consistently for 10 years?. Nigerians and their penchance for paper qualification befuddles me. Having a degree does not equate to experience. Is that why you attach DR in your name?. You think it adds anything to your personality and experience?.

Oponu !

Explains why u are an illiterate . . .

Maradona is a coach, what is OKOCHA ?

Some of these ex-footballers cant even write a sentence correct !

Paper qualification has shown Nigeria can be more stable under learned leaders i.e G JONA and Yaradua

Aloy+Emeka:

Please stop announcing your ignorance to the world. How many MBA's and PHD's does Maradona possess?. Only socrates of Brazil became a world class player after wasting years in the university. How many of those players with fancy degrees played consistently for 10 years?. Nigerians and their penchance for paper qualification befuddles me. Having a degree does not equate to experience. Is that why you attach DR in your name?. You think it adds anything to your personality and experience?.

Ask him oh!!!!!!1

LOL. . . . . untill Maradona was appointed Argentine Coach what other known experience does he have except playing football itself?

Was Pep Guardiola not a rookie manager when he won everything in Football?

Jurgen Klinsman what other experience did he have before leading Germany to world cup?

What experinece did Dunga have before leading Brazil to world cup?.

Kitaun thinks he has achieved anything by acquiring a PHD. ask him what his contribution to life was his PhD. His thesis is perhaps gathering dust somewhere because it has no use to anyone. That is if he truly completed a PhD.

look at all these "wanna be black americans" you think sey it dey easy to get phd all these idiots cannot even get high school diploma na phd den dey critisize

12large:

look at all these "wanna be black americans" you think sey it dey easy to get phd all these idiots cannot even get high school diploma na phd den dey critisize

Nobody is saying that it is easy getting a PHD but it does not equate to the required qualification to do anything in life. There is no guarantee that a PHD holder will perform better as Nigerias president over a GCE holder. The truth is that both are capable of doing the job but the other factor needed cannot be acquired through degrees. To be honest, you don't need a degree to be successful in life after all the process of getting a degree requires one to study what brilliant people who do not have degrees did. I can't remember whether Einstein, Galileo and Descartes completed their degrees or even attended colleges yet these paper carrying mugus in Nigeria waste their formative years studying their theorems.

Isn't that what is retarding our ability to think for ourselves and make discovery like them?. Foolish Kitaun, Galileo later became a maths professor even though he had no degree. Is Sunny Ade not a music professor in OAU?. Will you push him aside because he has no degree over someone who has paper qualifications on how to play saxophone?

Dr Kitaun:

Oponu !

Explains why u are an illiterate . . .

Maradona is a coach, what is OKOCHA ?

Some of these ex-footballers cant even write a sentence correct !

Paper qualification has shown Nigeria can be more stable under learned leaders i.e G JONA and Yaradua

Nigeria was even more stable under Obasanjo who has no paper qualification than Yaradua. You don't need to write correct sentence to kick a ball, duh. Football is a practical rocket science. Can Messi write correct sentence in his native language?. How many degrees does Zinadine Zidane have?. The truth is that by the time you finish acquiring college education, you will not be young enough to squeeze out the best in your soccer career. Michael Emenalo who spent the years he should have used to play soccer in American university studying law because he got a scholarship is a good example.

Dr Kitaun:

Aloy Funmi

test what ? Why should he be tested ?

Let him show his basic qualifications first, even RUFAI HAS AN MBA, OLOFIN MSC CHEM ENGR, ENYEAMA B. ADMIN ! Let OKOCHA show his O'levels . . .even Odegbami that is their super grandfather failed at club level, Adokiye was just a shade better . . .

Guys, forget the fact that these people are press-friendly, ask them WHY THEY HAVE REFUSED TO GO AND STUDY SPORTS-RELATED COURSES TO UPGRADE THEMSELVES !

Sincerely i do not want to digress from the topic, but let me ask you one question. Is it the Education that one acquires that determines whether you will be successful at anything you do in life. Give me your answer and ill know whether to reply you or not.

Now to the topic, why should he keep quiet when the game he Loves is gradually dying. Not that every ex footballer have been good administratively or as a coach. but the fact remains that they still PLAYED the game, THEY PLAYED it at the highest level and they definitely have every right to voice out their opinions. Now, every opinion is open to criticism, but we must criticize sensibly and no ton bias. Is it too much for OKOCHA to say this team is a disgrace? We are human beings and at times we say things out of anger only to come back and realize that our words may have been out of place. Sebi you can see how many people including you and me that were so pissed at KAITA for what he did. But then he is human and he acted stupidly, but should his team mates not be able to save his blushes like ENYEAMA has been doing lately? It could happen to anyone but we all just got pissed because it happened at the wrong time. I played the game and still play and when i look at the likes of Rooney, Dos Santos, Zigic, and some other players at this tournament.I see passion in the way they play, commitment, players that work so hard offensively and defensively even when they are played out of position. teams that are not afraid to play high up an put pressure on their opponents no mattter who they are. (BOUGHERA vs ROONEY). Its only a tournament of win seven games and be crowned as WORLD Champions. Its not a long seven or eight months season, and it only comes once in FOUR YEARS, So we must always face this type of HUMILIATION every FOUR YEARS, If we know we are not ready or the players are not ready to play for pride and passion with the Country at heart regardless of the CORRUPTION. then we should just give our slot to other WILLING TEAMS.Eto bought how much worth of jewelry to motivate his fellow team mates whom we all know also earn good money. Its not to show off but he knows situations peculiar to his country and FA and for THE SAKE OF PASSION PRIDE DESIRE AND LOVE for THE GAME OF FOOTBALL, he did this kind gesture. you also remember when he said he will pay his fellow players bonuses just to get them motivated to win their qualifiers some time ago. HOW many times have we seen such individuals on the team or in the NFF.How Many times. Remember GEORGE WEAH, don't have to say too much. Seen how URUGUAY and MEXICO are playing from a PASSIONATE Footballers point of view? A lot of passionate peeps are really upset right now, so i won't be surprised to hear more of such now and in the future until we start getting it right. Listen to RADIO and TV and hear what concerned people are saying, Even neutral spectators expect so much from us given our exploits at USA 94 and the type of players we have produced over the years. Is this how that reputation of the HIGHEST ever RANKED AFRICAN TEAM.(5th) and one time most entertaining team in the world be brought to disrepute and SHAME. If you know the game truly and you are not just this , Watch football for watching sake type of person with no real interest not even to the point of being an EXTREME FAN!, then you will never know how it feels, NEVER!

Nawao . . .

Are we talking about ADMINISTRATION as if we can afford to have pry sch graduates run our footie ?

Its simple lets beg RASHIDI YEKINI to chair a new NFF!

Are you telling me Sunday Oliseh does not have the brilliance, exposure or leadership qualities to run the NFF?

deb:

I don't see any reason why anyone should ask him to shut up?
We hate the truth in Nigeria. Is it not the likes of Okocha, Segun Odegbami, John Fashanu and other and progressive minded people that should be running our football?

John Fashanu a progressive
are you kidding me?
that guy is a born hustler.don't ever wish for him to be anywhere near NFA.there would be no money to pay the coach by the time he is finished.
never fall victim for his accent and grammar.
he is not it at all.

Aloy+Emeka:

The truth is that by the time you finish acquiring college education, you will not be young enough to squeeze out the best in your soccer career. Michael Emenalo who spent the years he should have used to play soccer in American university studying law because he got a scholarship is a good example.

The same Michael Emenalo is now Director of football at Chelsea so what are you talking about?

Anyway, we dont care about paper qualification, football qualification etc. We only need a man who would be honest and forthright.

Get Okocha, Oliseh, Adokiye Amaesimaka and such together, let pros run our football, not Godfathers like Sani Lulu.

Ibime:

The same Michael Emenalo is now Director of football at Chelsea so what are you talking about?

Anyway, we dont care about paper qualification, football qualification etc. We only need a man who would be honest and forthright.

Get Okocha, Oliseh, Adokiye Amaesimaka and such together, let pros run our football, not Godfathers like Sani Lulu.

Emenalo ko, director ni. He is a common scout for Chelsea.

Which common scout? Head scout na common scout to you? The man has done well. Give him his kudos!

Mike has done well for himself oh!!! it is not easy

ME for Michael Emenalo

folks like this should come to our help.

Negotiating deals on the signing of folks like Kaka, Torres no be moi moi oh!!!!

Ibime:

The same Michael Emenalo is now Director of football at Chelsea so what are you talking about?

Anyway, we dont care about paper qualification, football qualification etc. We only need a man who would be honest and forthright.

Get Okocha, Oliseh, Adokiye Amaesimaka and such together, let pros run our football, not Godfathers like Sani Lulu.

i no expect this kind yarn from you.
you are better than this.

mikeansy:

Mike has done well for himself oh!!! it is not easy

ME for Michael Emenalo

folks like this should come to our help.

Negotiating deals on the signing of folks like Kaka, Torres no be moi moi oh!!!!

dude, he is head scout.
his job responsibility entails travelling around the world finding obscure players that fit the manager (or Abrahamovic's taste) and notifying the club.
If the reserve team is deficient in a certain area,they give him the requirement of what they want and he goes and runs the rule over certain boy's that fit that bill in youth competitions and distant leagues.
he does not negotiate anything and he is not involved in signing top first team players.
do you need a scout to sign Torres?

it is not a small job being chief scout of Chelsea and i am not running him down but that is not a reason to throw him into the mix as a saviour of our football administration.
on a final note, like every thing nigerian, NFF is rotten because of the system.even a saint would be demonised there.
na runs full the place.