There is fire on the mountain! The matter of qualifying for the first World Cup to be held in Africa is creating abnormally high temperatures in Nigeria. There is now a real emerging fear and threat that the country may not be in South Africa when the world assembles for the Mundial in 2010. Only a few months ago, I was one of those who felt at the time, looking at the teams in the same group as Nigeria, that qualifying would be a stroll in the park for the great Super Eagles. One match into the series of final qualifying matches, the people’s confidence has been badly shaken to such an extent that the matter has become one of national discourse. I have received more calls and text messages this week from many close associates in the football industry than I have done since the last NFF elections some years ago, all of them demanding to know what I think should be the way out of this quagmire in which the country now seems to find itself. This past week the House of Representatives committee on sports invited the leadership of the NFF to a meeting where the issue was raised and the football body was told that there is no room or excuse for Nigeria’s failure to be at the 2010 World Cup. One of the most respected daily newspapers in the country, the Guardian, wrote a powerful editorial on the issue during the week expressing concern and pointing out that everything must be done by the football authorities to ensure that Nigeria is represented at the World Cup. Indeed, the Maputo match has changed the landscape of Nigerian football and escalated Nigeria’s qualification to the front burner of national discourse.   How shall it be explained that Nigeria, with an awesome global reputation for the quality of its footballers and enviable records of achievements in major football championships at all levels of football in the world (many of them recently achieved), one of the countries tipped by pundits as dark horses for the first African World Cup, may not actually qualify!

As the temperature of discussions is raised and answers are being sought, it is apparent to me from the few discussions I have had and arguments that I have followed that even as the country totters on the edge in fear and worry, sentiments, the very issues that brought us to this position, continue to dominate discussions and thinking in high places, particularly on the issues of the players and the coach for the senior national team.  In the past 4 days I have discussed with two of the most respected analysts I know in this environment. They both said two things that shocked me. The first is that they are even giving an iota of consideration to the idea of resurrecting Clemens Westerhof from the ‘dead’ (forgive the pun) and bringing him back to coach the Eagles. The second is that they think if we do not hire a foreign coach at this time we might as well forget about going to the World! In short it is either Westerhof or a new foreign coach! Since then of course I have also read the reaction of the NFF President, who has declared that his board will sink or swim with Amodu Shuaibu!

Even as I appreciate the various positions and options of choice as to what to do, I see them all as products of pure sentiments! We need to be pragmatic and dispassionate at this time and forget about personal interests, friendships and pedestrian considerations that would take the country nowhere. What not to do is to panic and take desperate decisions that would upset the applecart!  What would a Westerhof or a new foreign coach do at this time that will produce a different result from what we are presently faced with? Let us (dispassionately now) examine the critical issues once again!  

There are three main actors in this quest for qualification. The first is the administrators. We can do nothing about this group.

The second is the players. We all have nostalgic recollection of the players that made up the great Eagles of the 1990s, the team that was distinguished by its refreshingly simple and direct attacking style of play, a team described by analysts then as one of the most exciting teams to watch in the world.  The reality is that the present generation of players is not of the same class and quality as the Finidis, the Jay Jays, Olisehs, Amunekes, Kanus and so on, all truly outstanding players that emerged in the early 1990s in one swoop from Nigeria’s domestic league which had then not started to suffer from the irrational and uncontrolled mass exodus of players from the country to the wilderness of professional football in different parts of the world, many of them not caught by the web of observers and coaches, and left to waste like a beautiful flower in the desert. This migration, more than any other factor, decimated the domestic league so much that there are now not enough exceptionally gifted players coming from it.  So, at this point in time Nigeria is parading close to the best players the country has assembled from all parts of the world. No coach in his right senses would discover an exceptional player somewhere and choose not to invite or use him. The question is: where are the truly gifted players outside of those being presently invited? I hear a few names (I will obviously not reproduce them here) but we all know they are really more or less the same ten and ten pence!  Of course, there maybe one or two of such players out there in the football universe that may have escaped the attention of Amodu and the technical committee, but they would be in the minority and would only make a dent on the team’s present strength and style.  What this means, therefore, is that there is not much that can be done about the present crop of players at this time. The one thing that can be done, however, is to do what I had always advocated from the start of this campaign – assemble a team of players with the right attitude and psychology, players that are ‘ hungry’ and ‘angry’, ready to give everything , run and fight till the end! We have such a team of players in the country that have demonstrated such traits, a team that the country invested in and  deliberately started to build 5 years ago. We took the team through the crucible of fire in 2005 and again in 2008. They came through both tests in flying colours, with a huge reputation and respect even if many of them were no where comparable in skills and flamboyance as those we had come to know and idolise in our football as the standard. I am once again (and for the last time I hope) referring to the team tutored by Samson Siasia, the team that started as Under-20s in 2005, that constituted the under-23s in 2008, and took us to within touching distance of the two most important championships after the World Cup! Both teams were made up of players not of class or individual brilliance(even if there are a few that fit that description), but of uncommon dedication,, hard work, discipline, determination, team spirit, fighting spirit, and endless-running!  I suggested at the start of the World Cup campaign that we should build the new Eagles for 2010 around Samson Siasia’s team and add a sprinkling of the old Eagles to give it depth.  I warned that building the new team around Amodu’s Eagles with a sprinkling of Siasia’s players, which is what we have now, would not produce the same result, even though some of the players are in both options.  A good team is defined by its character! The present Eagles have not demonstrated they have the character of a team that will crush all opposition en-route South Africa and even challenge for the World Cup in 2010! That is the simple fact and truth!

The second issue is that of coach! I have great respect for the technical crew of Amodu, Amokachi and the others.   But football is not about what we think a coach can do, but what he does with a team to earn the people and players’ confidence in him. The team must reflect his input defined by its character, the players’ attitude and the style of play! If Amokachi is able to infuse 50% only of his own character when he was a player into any team, that team would play like a well-oiled fighting machine! The present Eagles are not fighting machines. They try to remind us of the era and style of Jay Jay, Taribo,  Kanu and the rest of the ball artists and make a poor show of it. At the risk of offending my friends, particularly Amodu, I want to remind us all about the developments after Berti Vogts  ‘voluntarily’ left his job as manager of the Eagles.  Following discussions and debates in the media, it was the national consensus that Nigeria had had enough of foreign coaches. With the achievements of Stephen Keshi and Samson Siasia there was now the feeling that their generation of Nigerian coaches had come of age and that we should give them a chance. A new coach was sought for the Super Eagles and it was the overwhelming choice of Nigerians from all the debates and discussions (reflected also I am told in the result of the interview conducted by the NFF) that the job ought to go to Samson Siasia. The only reason why Samson was not immediately offered the appointment was because he was already handling the Olympic team compromising most of his players from the under-20 team of 2005, and the NFF had a good reason to say he should not be distracted from that assignment since it came first. The assumption then was that he would move up as soon as that assignment was over, again with the bulk of the team that was to form the core of the next generation of Super Eagles. Although, eminently qualified, Amodu was settled for only because the NFF were able to settle the matter of Siasia diplomatically. Samson went on to do a great job taking Nigeria once again to the finals of the Olympics with a rag-tag team of hardworking football fighters! After that Siasia should have should have moved up with his team, not down, a move that dismembered the new team in progress.  I warned that not offering Siasia the job then would come to haunt the country if the country suddenly found itself needing to offer him the job with Shuaibu still in place before the World Cup begins. Such a decision would now be considered politically inappropriate and impractical – I mean to bring in Siasia (even as the country would need his team and his psychology and his past experience at a similar level) to join or take over the national team.  That informed also my call for his inclusion in the technical crew of the Super Eagles when he was offered the lesser job of coaching the country’s Under-20.  I believed his presence would add a new dimension and added value to the team. He would bring his street wise ways in dealing with difficult players as he did going to the Olympics when he left out the country’s best player at the time, Mikel Obi, for reason of indiscipline, just so that the team he was building was not disturbed by any player no matter his reputation! That action defined the man’s strength and  character. Mikel Obi was a great individual player, but what Samson wanted was a team! That’s the key to Nigeria’s quest both in qualifying for the World Cup and during the World Cup proper itself – a team, not great individuals.  That’s the difference between what we have now and what we could have with the calibre of players at our disposal!

 As for the Westerhof option, I just can’t believe that anyone would even be considering such an option. The arguments are too spurious and fragile. The elements that made Westerhof succeed in the 1990s – time, world-class players, a free-hand, money and access to the highest authorities in the land - no longer exist. Without them he could not cope everywhere he went after Nigeria. Yet, he is my friend and I like his persona and his way with players. But for this assignment, please no!!! I love this country too much than to allow sentiments determine my position on the matter. Some argue that Samson is too young and inexperienced to handle the Super Eagles.  They forget the man is as old as many of the foreign coaches that will be at the World Cup. Anyway, what is wrong with going to the World up with the youngest coach ever if he will deliver? Samson is not quite as young as many think he is!  

The foreign coach option. It will be a waste of time and resources. Nothing significant can be achieved in the short time left to the world cup for one just coming to understudy Nigerian football and find a way to navigate through the numerous minefields that exist in it. However, if that’s what the authorities choose to do, I charge them to get one with an impeccable reputation, one that will be willing to forfeit his huge salary should he fail to deliver on the mandate that will include not just qualifying but taking Nigeria to at least the quarter-finals of the World Cup. Otherwise, let us leave Amodu alone and reinforce him the best way we can.  

Finally, I still strongly believe that Nigeria will qualify for the 2010 World Cup even if Amodu is left alone. The country may ‘wobble and fumble’ but it will happen because I can foresee how the rest of the matches will go. The factors against the Eagles in Maputo made the team look worse than it really is. But it won’t happen that way again. The matches against Tunisia will be very decisive and that’s where the Eagles will triumph. The match in Tunis is likely to end in a draw and will be the Eagles best match.  Victory in the second-leg at home would be sufficient to take us to SA 2010.

My worry is what would happen in South Africa when the calibre of teams and coaches rises. I see the ‘roasting’ of the Eagles should we keep on the present track.  To avoid that we must act now and decisively  too.  

My final thought is that the key lies in the pocket of our sokoto, why are we going to Sokoto to search for it?