Nigeria’s preparations for the FIFA U-17 World Championship, which it will host, are a cause for concern
By Blessing Ogunli
With barely five months to the start of the 2009 FIFA U-17 World Championship in Nigeria, the nation’s U-17 team, the Golden Eaglets, who are the defending champions, do not have a coach let alone a team. As champions, an impressive outing is expected of the Eaglets. But such lofty expectations appear threatened by the Nigeria Football Federation, NFF, which manages the team.
At a time when NFF should be putting finishing touches to the preparation of the team, the Sani Lulu-led board is still busy firing and hiring coaches. Former international, Henry Nwosu, who was appointed six months ago as replacement to Alphonsus Dike, who failed to qualify Nigeria for the Africa Youth Championship, was sacked on 23 April. Announcing the sack, Taiwo Ogunjobi, Chairman, NFF Technical Committee, stated that Nwosu’s sack was in the nation’s interest. “There is no regret over sacking Henry Nwosu. We sacked him in the interest of the nation. He is not organised and we want a coach who can lead by example,” he said.
Ogunjobi explained that he would not want to reveal the numerous shortcomings of Nwosu as they are capable of hampering his future engagements. Nwosu’s sack, curiously, was preceded by a vote of confidence passed by the same federation that sacked him. A few days to his ouster, Ademola Olajire, NFF spokesman, told Nigerians that the NFF was satisfied with the performance of the Golden Eaglets at the Dubai Invitational tournament. He explained that the team’s showing was commendable because most of the players were young and needed such experience to get better. Olajire stressed that the target of the football federation was not to win at all costs in Dubai, but to expose the players and prepare them for the task ahead- Nigeria 2009.
“Most of those players had not travelled abroad before and so it was a good outing. It is good they went for an event like that and NFF will continue to support them,” he assured. Nwosu’s record is by no means dismal. Of the 27 games the Eaglets under Nwosu, the team won 20, drew six and lost one. At the Dubai Invitational tourney, which was used to judge him, the team’s performance was hardly calamitous. They lost the first game to North Korea 1-2, played a goalless draw with UAE before beating Zambia 2-0. Things went awry for Nwosu when he released the list of 69 players mostly from the Globacom Premier League as players he hoped to work with.
The list drew the ire of followers of the country’s domestic football league, who wondered how Nwosu got footballers who are under 17 in the league. Godwin Enahkana, a sports journalist and keen follower of the league questioned Nwosu’s claims of finding players within the age bracket in the domestic league. He challenged Nwosu on the true ages of the players. Though the noise over the matter petered out, it put a question mark on Nwosu’s integrity. Nwosu, however, claimed that his sack was caused by his refusal to accept players being imposed on him by Ogunjobi. Ogunjobi denied the allegation and challenged Nwosu to produce proof that he indeed wanted to influence team selection.
Still, many football followers believe that there is a need for NFF to critically look into the allegations against Ogunjobi. Nwosu’s sack has attracted diverse reactions from Nigerians. Joe Erico, former assistant coach of the Super Eagles, stated that NFF was bent on firing Nwosu long ago and just used the Dubai tourney as an excuse. The former national team goalkeeper argued that the NFF goofed by its decision to sack the former international. “How can NFF sack a man who has been serving this country since he was 17 just like that? There must be something wrong somewhere. There must be a reason why they don’t want to see his face. He has played friendly matches and you say they didn’t do well in Dubai. That win-at-all-costs attitude must stop. Friendly games are meant to correct faults in a team,” Erico said.
Tunde Disu, former coach of the Flying Eagles, is also critical of the sack. “The decision to sack Nwosu, to me, is a wrong one. I don’t think the man has done anything wrong to warrant the termination of his appointment by the NFF,” he said. Godwin Dudu Orumen, a member of the Technical Committee that fired Nwosu, believes the sack was in the best interest of the country’s football. He explained that the committee arrived at the decision based on the facts available to it. “Henry Nwosu’s removal as the coach of the Golden Eaglets was done in the best interest of Nigeria, considering the facts we worked with to arrive at the decision. We didn’t witch-hunt anyone because the interest of the committee is for whosever was in charge of the team to succeed, he said.
Orumen explained that the committee evaluated the team’s readiness, training programme, level of discipline and the quality of players. He added that after the appraisal, the committee realised that the weight of the responsibility of handling the Eaglets at the global event is beyond Nwosu’s ability. Defending his reign as a coach, Nwosu claimed that he was sacked because the NFF wants to paint him black. He wondered why a coach who won 20 out the 27 games played by his team would be sacked. Nwosu called on the NFF to release the tapes of the games played by his team at the Dubai Invitational, which is being used as the measurement of his performance, to either Nigerian Television Authority or African International Television so that the public can judge.
“We didn’t honour the Dubai tourney to win the trophy. Rather, we regarded it as one of our preparatory matches that will help put the team in shape. If we had won it, it would have been excellent but I am of the opinion that these players needed to blend together with such friendlies,” Nwosu stated. He argued that the team did not play as badly as it is being made to appear. Meanwhile, the NFF has interviewed three coaches for Nwosu’s job. They are Kadiri Ikhana of Sharks, Stanley Eguma of Dolphins and John Obuh, formerly of Niger Tornadoes. Speaking on the shortlisted coaches, Orumen stated that they were picked because of their experience and the youthfulness of their teams. He said with the conclusion of the interview, the committee has made its recommendation to the Executive Committee of the NFF.
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