Monday, October 17, 2011

Super Eagles? No, Count me out – Shaibu Amodu


Amodu Shaibu (MON)

*Slams Eagles for loss to Guinea
*Against foreign coach for Super Eagles
Former Super Eagles coach, Shaibu Amodu, has ruled out fresh calls by a section of Nigerians begging for him to be recalled to come and tinker the national team after the failure of the Samson Siasia led team could not qualify for the African Nations Cup.
Amodu who spoke in his Nicon Luxury hotel suite in Abuja today said: “Me? Super Eagles? No. Please count me out. What is it that I want to achieve there again. You want me to come back and stake all my records and achievements? I have nothing to prove again in the Super Eagles. I am satisfied with the developmental project I am midwiving in the Edo State Football development Agency. but I love my country and I love football.”
Asked how it is for Nigeria to be absent from the Nations Cup, he said, “Candidly, it is painful and sad to realise that the Super Eagles of Nigeria won’t be part of the Africa Nations Cup come 2012. It is unimagineable. It is seriously unthinkable. I have thought about it severally but it is the truth.”
on what he felt went wrong in the Guinea game, he said, “the Super Eagles players didn’t show enough commitment to lead Nigeria to the Africa Cup of Nations 2012. We had a lot of chances begging to be connected. We could have killed the game in the first half of the match. The boys were playing as if there was nothing at stake. The Guinean had their chances and all they did was convert. Nigerians are right to be angry.”
asked to specify the quarters to be blamed, the former Orlando Pirates of South Africa gaffer opined that, “the football administrators in the country are part of the problem. They are the ones killing our football; It is hard to believe the low and unproductive level that the country’s football has been reduced to.’
Shaibu Amodu was appointed coach of Nigeria's Super Eagles in 2008, his third spell as Nigeria’s coach, taking over from Berti Vogts. It was he whom the administrators of the game turned to when the Super Eagles faced elimination from qualifying for Japan/South Korea 2002 after the sacking of Dutchman Johannes Bonfrere. His successful tinkering of the team ensured that Nigeria made the Asian World Cup party but he was sacked after the team’s bronze-medal finish at AFCON 2002.
He repeated this feat in 2009 by leading Nigeria to the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Just like in 2002, the team's third place finish led to Amodu being let go on 6th February 2010 with a backlog of his salaries yet to be paid.
On the idea of foreign coach, he said, “foreign coach to come and do what? Which foreign coach will help us design basic and fundamental programmes of football development? Do we need a foreign coach to tell us to go back to the schools and catch these boys young? Do we need foreign coaches to help us have a reliable and productive league system? These are panacea to real development leaving the national coach with enough room to pick players and watch players graduate from the cadet to the senior national team.”
If Siasia must be sacked, go for the best available Nigerian coach who can do the job. There are several capable Nigerian coaches who have grown enough to handle the national team. What do we need foreign coach for? Samson Siasia is a victim of the wrong football structure in the nation. Bring any coach, the system is a threat. I was able to manage the system to have achieved what I and my assistants achieved during our time.”

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