http://questionmarkmag.com/2010/07/emmanuel-amuneke-lagerback-fooled-us-with-eagles/


“It would have been a big miracle had Nigeria advanced beyond the opening stage of the World Cup.” That was the remark of, Emmanuel Amuneke, the 1994 African Footballer of the Year and the scorer of the goals that earned Nigeria the 1994 African Nations Cup and the gold medal of the soccer event of the 1996 Olympic Games.

The former Super Eagles striker is in South Africa as one of the analysts for the Asian cable TV network, Al Jazeera. “It may be difficult to accept the fact, but I must tell you, Nigerian football has gone backward. We are not putting important attention to planning. Events are just unfolding and we falsely believe we are making progress”, said Amuneke. Continuing, the striker who scored Nigeria’s lone goal against Italy at the round of 16 in the 1994 World Cup, said the composition of the Super Eagles squad of today is largely based on names rather than current forms of the players.

He stated that the performance of the Super Eagles at the South Africa 2010 World Cup was simply a reflection of their current form. “You noticed how we struggled to even qualify. It was sheer luck. Things were not easy for the team. The signals had been there all along”, Amuneke said.

“Lars Lagerback based his selection on names of the players in Europe rather than the current forms of the players. Berti Vogts made a similar mistake when he handled the team two years ago. He even did the absurd by living in Germany while discarding the actual environment where he was supposed to be working.”

He stressed that the result of basing team selection on the big names was that most of the players were not in their best forms. Amuneke pointed at some of the players that did not give optimum performance. “Yakubu Aiyegbeni was not at his best. So also was Osaze Odemwingie”, he said. He further stated that rather than lamenting Nigeria’s poor performance, the NFF should start thinking of the way forward as the qualifying series for the 2012 Africa Nations Cup is just weeks away. Amuneke is urging the football authorities to look inwards by improving the standard of the domestic league as a springboard for the desired development of the national team.

Na the same tori we dey since, until we hear new tori, all this na talk talk.
Anyway, Amuneke has added his mouth to the most criticised team called super eagles.