Head
coach of the Nigerian national team, Samson Siasia hopes to mark his
first competitive game in charge of the Super Eagles with a big victory
over Ethiopia on March 27.
The game, which
comes up at the National Stadium in Abuja, is a must-win encounter for
the Super Eagles as anything less than the maximum three points would
end the team’s aspirations for a place at the 2012 Africa Cup of
Nations to be co-hosted by Equatorial Guinea and Gabon.
But not just any
win will do for the Super Eagles, because not only do they trail Group
B leaders Guinea on points, the Syli Stars have a considerably better
goals difference than the Super Eagles.
In their opening
game of the qualifying series back in September 2010, the Guineans
secured a massive win over the Ethiopians in Addis Ababa after coming
from a goal down to put four past the hapless East African side.
This was then
backed up just over a month later in the Guinean capital, Conakry with
a shock 1-0 win over the Super Eagles who could only manage a
lacklustre 2-0 win over lowly Madagascar in Calabar in their opening
game of the series.
Although the Super
Eagles still have four games to catch up with the Guineans to claim
Group B’s automatic ticket to the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations, there is
an urgent need to close down the considerable lead already established
by the Guineans; a lead that could even become all the more wider by
the end of the next round of matches.
This is because the
Syli Stars will be away in Antananarivo against a Madagascar side that
is yet to grab a single point, much less a goal since the start of the
qualifiers.
The Barea, as the
national team of the island nation is known, even lost at home to the
Ethiopians during the last round of qualification matches, so chances
are that they could further drop points at the Mahamasina Stadium when
they come up against the Guineans.
Soaring above the Antelopes
With that in mind,
Siasia knows the fate of the Super Eagles lies squarely in their talons
as they will need to be at their devastating best come match-day
against the Walya Antelopes.
Little wonder the
former Super Eagles star has called up as many forwards as he could
possibly muster for the tie against the Ethiopians who, as far back as
1962, emerged winners of the Africa Cup of Nations but who have since
1982 failed to qualify for Africa’s biggest football event.
Siasia named as
many as 11 forwards in his squad list for the game he has not made any
attempt to disguise how he intends to approach the game.
“There’s no other
way we can approach this game; we have to go all out with the intention
of dominating the game from the first blast of the whistle,” Siasia
said.
“It is clear that
we need a win and that is our aim, but we also need to do a very good
job of it so as to close the gap on the Guineans.
“You know they beat
us last time out and there’s also the possibility that they will beat
Madagascar, so we have to look at ways of closing down their lead and I
think that can only be done by winning with a comfortable margin.
“But that doesn’t
mean we will just go out there and attack them without being
responsible at the back. In modern football you can’t do that as even
the smallest side can cause an upset when least expected, so we can’t
wave them off just like that.
“They have got to
be respected but hopefully the players will respond well to the
challenge at hand and give the fans the kind of result they expect from
a game such as this,” said Siasia, who claims to have videos of
Ethiopia’s last few matches.
The Super Eagles
had defeated the Walya Antelopes 6-0 way back, in July 1993 in a 1994
Africa Cup of Nations qualifier decided in Lagos featuring the likes of
Sunday Oliseh, Nduka Ugbade and Peter Rufai, who for a short while
jettisoned his goalkeeping responsibilities to score from the penalty
spot.
Though Siasia won’t
mind repeating the feat, he will have to do it with the likes of
Obafemi Martins, Osaze Odemwingie, Ikechukwu Uche, Peter Utaka, Ekigho
Ehiosun and Obinna Nsofor, who he has included in the squad ahead of
the tie.
Mixed fortunes for strikers
But have these
forwards been productive in front of goal in recent times for the Super
Eagles as well as for their respective club sides?
Although not
considered an outright striker by past national team coaches,
Odemwingie is comfortable when deployed in that position at club level
and has so far this season grabbed nine goals for modest West Brom.
However, he has
been misfiring of late having not scored since the opening day of
February in the 2-2 draw against Wigan and, more recently, being forced
to make do with a place on the bench by Baggies’ new manager Roy
Hodgson.
It must however be
noted that the former Lokomotiv Moscow player has not had a break from
competitive football having competed in the Russian Premier League
since March 2010 before heading off to the World Cup in June of the
same year, and then teaming up with the Baggies in August.
For his part,
Obinna Nsofor has found the back of the net eight times this season in
the colours of West Ham United, including an impressive five-goal haul
in back to back games, and all within a four-day period, against
Nottingham Forest and Blackpool.
But he has since
the beginning of February appeared to have dropped down the pecking
order, following the arrival of Demba Ba, and has managed just a three
minute cameo appearance in penultimate Saturday’s 3-0 thumping of Stoke
City.
Other England-based
strikers such as Obafemi Martins and Victor Anichebe haven’t also fared
any better in the scoring department either with Anichebe, now mostly
deployed on the flanks at Everton, yet to hit target while Martins has
scored twice from five games, including one in the Carling Cup final
win over Arsenal.
Peter Utaka, who is
still looking to establish himself in the Super Eagles, has so far this
season managed to grab nine goals for his Danish outfit OB Odense,
while Ekigho Ehiosun of Nigerian league outfit, Warri Wolves, has
scored seven times for his club.
Solomon Okoronkwo
is yet to play a game for Aalesund as the Norwegian season doesn’t get
underway until March 21 while Ahmed Musa has only managed a return of
two goals for struggling Dutch side VVV Venlo, one better than
Ikechukwu Uche who has only just returned from a lengthy injury induced
layoff, but has already chalked up four appearances for Spanish side
Real Zaragoza.
“I know Ike Uche only just got back from a lengthy injury but everyone knows the quality he brings into the team,” Siasia said.
“He still needs to
get some games but he is part of our long-term plans and we need to do
all we can for him to get back to his best.
“We also need to
work on some of the other guys as I think some of them can do better
but there’s a whole lot of difference between club football and
international football.
“For some reason or
the other they may not be enjoying the best of times but hopefully we
can get the best out of them for the task at hand.”
Super Eagles
veteran Aiyegbeni Yakubu, who is gradually rediscovering his form at
English Championship side Leicester City, and Ideye Brown who has
scored 10 goals this term for French Ligue 1 side, Sochaux, were left
out of the squad.
Siasia, however,
said both strikers, along with a number of other Europe-based Nigerian
players who were excluded from the Ethiopia match, such as Ayila Yusuf,
Joseph Akpala, Sani Kaita, Femi Ajilore and Haruna Lukman, remain in
his plans for the national team.
“Yakubu didn’t have
the best of times at the World Cup and calling him up at a time like
this could cause a major distraction for the team,” he explained. “But
he will definitely get his chance as will Ideye.
“He has got so much
potential and we’ll someday give him and every other player in our
plans a chance but for now the players called up are the ones we need
for the task at hand.”
‘Siasia boys’
Before Siasia’s
emergence as the Super Eagles coach, he had established himself as a
successful coach at youth level with the country’s under 20 and 23
sides leading the U-20s to victory at the 2005 African Youth
Championship in Benin before capping it up with a silver medal at that
year’s U-20 World Cup in Holland.
Three years later,
he led the U-23s to a silver medal at the Beijing Olympics before
returning to lead the Flying Eagles to the 2009 U-20 World Cup in Egypt
where they crashed out in the round of 16.
There were a number
of players who came into limelight during this period while under the
tutelage of Siasia, and who subsequently went on to feature for the
senior team.
‘Siasia Boys’ was
the name coined by the Nigerian media for these players and prominent
among them are Taye Taiwo, Dele Adeleye, John Obi Mikel, Adefemi
Olubayo, Chibuzor Okonkwo and Obinna Nsofor.
They have all been
called up along with other ‘Siasia Boys’ like Elderson Echiejile, Efe
Ambrose, Obiora Nwankwo, Solomon Okoronkwo and Nnamdi Oduamadi, who
missed out of the 2009 U-20 World Cup after picking up a knock on the
eve of the tournament.
But Siasia insists
there is no favouritism in play as all the players were called up based
on what he feels they can contribute to the team.
“Most of these
players had established themselves in the national team long before I
was appointed,” continued Siasia who officially became the Super Eagles
boss at the start of December 2010.
“But over the years a lot of them have shown that they are the best in their respective positions.
“They worked hard to get to where they are today but they are all here because of what we feel they can bring into the team.”
