Goodbye Amodu
Even before the end of the match against Egypt on Tuesday here in Benguela there were whispers among baffled top officials about what should become of the coach of the Super Eagles as they capitulated against an understength Egyptian side before over 33,000 cheering fans inside the Ombaka Stadium in Ombaka.
Eagles Nest Goodbye Amodu Even before the end of the match against Egypt on Tuesday here in Benguela there were whispers among baffled top officials about what should become of the coach of the Super Eagles as they capitulated against an understength Egyptian side before over 33,000 cheering fans inside the Ombaka Stadium in Ombaka.
One could only but imagine what it was like back in Nigeria as the country's team got off to a losing start at the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations in Angola.
In Benguela, there was a strong presence of the Presidential Task Force (PTF) led by Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi, who two weeks ago were generous enough to reward coach shuaibu Amodu with a car gift for qualifying Nigeria to the World Cup in South Africa.
Moments after the 3-1 defeat, a London-based sports consultant was besides Sports Minister Sani Ndanusa, openly selling himself as the man to get a foreign coach for the World Cup-bound Eagles.
And inside the commentators' box of the Ombaka Stadium was former Cameroon coach Claude Le Roy, one of several European coaches who have been linked with taking over Nigeria ahead of the World Cup.
While in the stands was yet another European coach, Mart Nooij of Mozambique, who has also been touted as a possible replacement for Amodu. He will later say he was surprised at the ease the Eagles were grounded.
Politics is to blame for what has expectedly befallen the Eagles. Such is the struggle for power and relevance that the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) and the PTF do not even share the same hotel in Benguela.
Rather, they work in cross purposes with the end result being that nothing gets done and so the rut continues to bite deeper and deeper.
Privately, several top NFF officials share the view of the PTF that the Eagles deparately need a better tactician than Amodu and a man who will take a chance on younger, hungrier players, rather than limit himself to the squad that won the country the ticket to the World Cup. The NFF, who have already perfected a plan to return to office whatever becomes of Nigerian football even after the World Cup, have insisted they, and not the PTF, should hire the coach for the country so as to control such a man.
But if the truth be told, they do not even have a hold on Amodu as the recent episode concerning having players from the local league to be part of the training camp in South Africa clearly showed.
Following the superb run of both Kano Pillars and Heartland at last year's CAF Champions League, the NFF were desirous of at least six players from the domestic league to be part of the Nations Cup build-up in Durban.
First, Amodu would have none of this, before he finally agreed that they could pick three players from the league to be part of his training ahead of Angola 2010. And in the end, none of these players made it to even the airport in Lagos for the flight to South Africa. There are no saints either in the PTF with some members of the ad-hoc contraption armed with their own personal agenda - at least two of them will give their right legs and arms to unseat Sani Lulu as NFF boss, while another has his eyes fixed on becoming team manager of the Eagles in South Africa. It is all a dog-eat-dog thing, but unfortunately, the one thing that gives 150 million Nigerians joy is at the receiving end of this dirty power play.
We can only pray that for the good of the game, both the NFF and PTF will be, at least for once, united to show a clueless coach the door before further embarassment in South Africa.
