Nigeria Content Online

After
a lot of suspense and intrigue, the new board of the Nigeria Football
Federation chose Samson Siasia ahead of Stephen Keshi on Thursday as
the new coach of the senior national team, the Super Eagles.

Firstly, the new
board has to be commended at the speed with which they laid down their
plans and the also the speed of execution. Lars Lagerback went AWOL
after the 2-2 draw with South Korea in Durban on June 22 and since
then, Augustine Eguavoen has been interim handler with a record of two
losses and one win but the team now have a new coach and the 14th local
handler of the national team.

The board had to choose between the former U-20 and Olympic coach and Stephen Keshi, a former captain and coach of the team.

Before the
interview, football fans, former players and even past coaches had been
divided over who was best suited for the job. While the likes of Tijani
Babangida and David Ngodigha chose Keshi because of his experience in
helping Togo qualify for the 2006 World Cup and leading Mali to the
last Nations Cup in Angola, fans were more in tune with a Siasia –
because of his antecedents with junior players. That may be linked with
the clamour for an infusion of younger players into the national team.

After the appointment

Samson Siasia was quick to state the criteria that will be used to make up the national team.

“We can’t change
the team overnight, but we have to make sure that there is competition
for places,” he said. “I will undertake a scouting trip very soon, and
only players who are playing regularly for their clubs will be part of
the national team.

“Any player, who is
not doing so, will have to show exceptional reason for not playing, and
we will see if we can help to resolve those issues.”

Siasia also promised that the Super Eagles will be re-constructed to play more offensively.

“The manner of team
you will see on the field of play would be offensive minded, free
flowing football. There will be a difference.”

But all this will be on the back of gradual changes to the personnel in the squad.

“During my
interview with the NFF Technical Committee, I told them my short and
long term visions for the Super Eagles as well as the 2012 Africa
Nations Cup.

“I also told them
that we have to look at the areas we have to inject new players. We
don’t want to say we are going to ask all the old players to leave. But
we have to look at the areas we think we have to inject new players.

“We all know the
nature of the team right now. The team is not in a very good shape. The
next friendly we have on November 17 against Iran will help us assess
the team we have right now.”

Siasia is expected
to follow the team to Iran on November 17, when interim coach,
Augustine Eguavoen will handle the team for the last time.

“That will be when
I watch their matches again and also go around scouting for other
players that I think I have to put in there.”

The way forward

Germany was in a
similar dilemma in 2004 after a woeful European Championship in
Portugal. They did not win a single match and the German football
federation had to take drastic actions. They did so and boldly, by
appointing a relative coaching novice in former national team striker,
Jurgen Klinnsman, a man living in the USA and involved in grassroots
soccer development (a story akin to Siasia’s own). The first thing he
did was to try and foist a new identity – an attack-minded one – on the
team.

Germany has since
recovered from the 2004 slump with a final appearance at Euro 2008 and
two third placed finishes in the 2006 and 2010 World Cups.

Football pundit,
Sola Aiyepeku said, Siasia needs all the help he can get; both form the
administrators and the coaches of clubs in the NPL. He continued with
the example of Klinnsman.

“Klinnsman sought
the help of every Bundesliga coach through the DFB’s backing to
influence and imbibe the attacking playing style,” he said.

“I advocate the
same for Nigeria based on our history, strength, skills and physique.
That decision is reaping great benefits today from greatly increased
Bundesliga television rights value and stadium attendances because fans
attend matches expecting to see attacking football and goals; they are
not disappointed and the Bundesliga is again popular on television. If
this success can be repeated here, it will contribute a great deal to
the NFF’s financial independence from government.

“Siasia must show
great character, savvy, pedigree, desire for attacking football and
experience to implement the task and take the Super Eagles out of the
doldrums the team currently resides in.

“Siasia has the
right mix of these qualities never mind his recent club management
experience which I think he has learnt valuable lessons from and will
be a popular choice. We wait and see in expectation of a significant
positive change in Nigeria football.”

Popular choice

On a lot of radio
programmes monitored in Lagos and a lot of responses on websites show
that Siasia is being seen as the messiah of the game in Nigeria maybe
because of his exploits with the U-20 team in 2005, where he led the
team to the finals and they were only defeated by the Lionel Messi-led
Argentine team.

He also coached the U-23 team to the final of the 2008 Olympic football tournament, where his team was also beaten by Argentina.

Former Super Eagles
technical adviser, Johannes Bonfrere said Samson Siasia deserved to be
named as the Eagles’ coach even before the interviews were conducted on
Thursday.

“If the Nigeria
Football Federation has decided to go for a local coach and have indeed
shortlisted the duo of Siasia and Keshi for the job, then I think they
should not waste much time in giving Siasia the job.

“Siasia is a better choice. The NFF should never give it to Keshi because he is not what people think he is.”

Frank Ilaboya,
former president of the Sport Writers Association of Nigeria, Lagos
chapter, said: “It is clear today that Siasia is the people’s choice.
Because football is a game of the people, why not go with the people
and give the job to Siasia. After all it is said, the voice of the
people is the voice of God.

Earnestly between
Siasia and Keshi, there is nothing one can point to that makes Keshi a
superior candidate to Siasia. Siasia has the good will of the people”.

The process

Majority of the
countries that did badly at the 2010 World Cup already have new
helms-men and the surprise in the Nigerian case was that it had to take
such a long time to choose a new coach. Argentina, France, South Korea,
etc have all had a change of coach.

The Nigeria
Football Federation called both Samson Siasia and Stephen Keshi to be
interviewed for the vacant post and also said that the new coach will
be unveiled on November 8, 2010.

Meanwhile Keshi has
come out to express his dismay over not getting the job. He spoke to
reporters in Abuja shortly after the announcement of Siasia as the new
coach.

“Honestly, the
result was surprising to me and it’s a shame that this has happened.
Siasia still remains my brother and friend no matter what but one
question I would like the Technical Committee to answer is, ‘what
criteria did they used for his selection?’” he asked.

The head of the
technical committee, Chris Green had said: “The interview process will
be recorded and it is strictly meant for reference purposes. We have
made a pledge to be transparent but the tape will only be made
available on account of contention by any aggrieved party.”

After the
interviews and the choice of Siasia made known, Green said: “The
decision to choose Siasia is in the best interest of Nigerian
football.”

But Keshi insisted that his interview ‘went well’.

“I must admit again
that it’s still shocking to me but this is Nigeria for you, anything
can happen. I would move on from this. This issue would make me rethink
on so many issues I must confess to you but there’s no problem. I will
move on from this,” the Big Boss said.

Siasia is expected
to work with two assistant coaches and one goalkeeper trainer. In the
terms of the contract, he is allowed to choose the first assistant
coach.

One NFF official gave the details of the contract.

“We agreed at the
interview that he will select the first assistant coach, while the NFF
will pick the second assistant and the goalkeeper trainer. The NFF also
approved the addition of a specialist physical trainer for the Super
Eagles squad.

“We have noticed
that a lot of players lack physical fitness when they come to the
national team. We need to address that, and we will be appointing a
physical trainer for the team in due course.”

Samson Siasia, will sign a four-year contract and is expected to earn N5 million as his monthly wage.