Nigeria Content Online

Coach Samson Siasia has given his Super Eagles wards the weekend
off to play Nigeria Premier League matches for their domestic clubs.

“You should go back to your clubs and help them in the League
matches this weekend; but you must be back here by Monday. Whoever is not here
on Monday should count himself out of the running for a shirt,” said Siasia as
the players had lunch at their Bolton White Apartments camp before dispersing
to different parts of the country. This came after the team had played a 2-2
draw with the national U-20 side, Flying Eagles, in a knock-around at the
artificial turf of the FIFA Technical Centre, Abuja.

On Wednesday evening, Chris Green, the Chairman of the NFF
Technical Committee; Felix Anyansi-Agwu, the Vice Chairman; and acting
Secretary General, Musa Amadu, watched the Eagles in their evening training
session at the Technical Centre. After the session, Green addressed the
players: “You must be ready to listen to the technical crew headed by Coach
Samson Siasia at all times, because if the coach says you are out, you are
out,” he said. “Discipline is important in everything you do, and be assured
that the Nigeria Football Federation will give the team the needed support at
all times.”

A total of 27 players featured in the training, which resumes on
Monday.

Siasia as technical
director

Meanwhile, Green has revealed that Siasia would act as technical
director of the federation pending the appointment of a substantive coach.
“Siasia’s position as the head coach of the Super Eagles qualifies him to act
as the technical director,” he said. “He will do that for now until we appoint
the right candidate for the job.” He said the arrangement has been made
expedient because of the crowded schedule of the NFF this year. Nigeria will be
involved in a number of international football competitions beginning with the
Africa Youth Championship in Libya in March.

If the Flying Eagles do well, they will feature in the FIFA U-20
World Cup coming up later this year. Also Nigeria’s senior women’s national
team, the Super Falcons, would be participating in the FIFA Women’s World Cup
billed for Germany in June. For their part, the Super Eagles would continue the
qualifiers for next year’s African Cup of Nations. The Eagles are currently in
camp preparing for an invitational international football tournament, ‘Obama
Cup’, taking place in the United States next month with Siasia fully in charge
of training sessions. The former Eagle striker has warned players to comport
themselves in a manner befitting of national team players.

Unearthing talent

Green says with someone in the saddle as technical director,
these and the federation’s development programmes would not suffer: “We want to
ensure that the programmes we drew up are systematically implemented in addition
to the various competitions lined up this year. Now is the time to actualise
the promises we made about the development of our football and we must move
beyond lip service to achieve these objectives,” he explained.

Green, who is also Chairman of the Rivers State Football
Association, has attributed his re-election into the board of the NFF to hard
work. He said that he intended to embark on an immense sponsorship campaign to
garner more sponsors for grassroots football in the state.

One of such grassroots development programmes is the forthcoming Governor’s
Cup which is sponsored jointly by the Rivers FA and the Shell Petroleum
Development Company. The tournament begins on 20th January. Green hopes that
such programmes such as this would “unearth more football talent in the
different local government areas of the state.”

No serious Chelsea fan would have believed it if he were told
that at the beginning of 2011, the Blues would be outside the Champions League
placing, especially going by the way the team started the season. In the last
10 weeks, it has gone horribly wrong for Carlo Ancelotti and his men. Chelsea
host Blackburn at Stamford Bridge on Saturday with just one need – get all
three points against Rovers. The fans will not mind the manner the victory is
procured as long as three points are secured. This will help the team leap-frog
Tottenham, which is in fourth place, at least for 24 hours.

Team captain, John Terry, has made another rallying call to the
players after describing their current form as being unacceptable. “Our recent
performances have not been good enough,” he said in the Daily Star. “We’re not
playing at the level we can and we’re slipping further behind the leaders with
every point we drop. That’s unacceptable for a club like this, where we expect
to win every game, and now we have to start to put things right. This squad
should be challenging at the top of the league, winning games and pushing hard
in every competition.” And despite the 7-0 mauling of Ipswich Town in
third-round FA Cup match-up on Sunday, the team will not be lulled into false
state of over-confidence. Ancelotti had said after the match, “I’m not going to
get carried away.

Morale booster

The result was good and we did a lot of things well in this
game. We have to give the same performance next week against Blackburn.” But
one thing the result will have done for the team is boost morale in the team.
Another plus was that young striker, Daniel Sturridge, got a chance to show the
coach that he can score goals and Salomon Kalou might be given a rest to allow
the England U-21 striker to continue his rich vein of scoring form. He scored
five goals in a reserve match against Aston Villa last week. “He played well,
scored, and is a good player and a good striker, very dangerous,” said
Ancelotti. “In the future, he’ll have opportunities. We have a lot of games in
this period coming up. I think he has to fight with the other strikers, but
everyone has to fight. There are a lot of players in competition up front.”

Though Chelsea has not completely given up on defending their
title, Terry said his side must firstly start winning games. “Even if we have
gone off course recently but, before we start thinking about silverware, we
have to concentrate on starting to win games again.” Ancelotti faces the
dilemma of dropping either Didier Drogba or Florent Malouda to accommodate
Sturridge. Drogba and Malouda have been out of sorts over the last eight
matches and Drogba has scored just one goal in eight for the Blues.

Blackburn, under caretaker manager Steve Kean, can themselves
move into the European spots with a win at Stamford Bridge though the team
selection and performance may be hampered by the absence of some key players
due to suspensions and injury. Former England goalkeeper, Paul Robinson, leads
the casualty list, joined by giant midfielder, Steven Nzonzi, centre back, Phil
Jones, who is out for the season, Keith Andrews and Vincent Grella. A piece of
good news is that Jason Roberts has returned from injury and should start in
the absence of Nikola Kalinic, who is suspended.

Basement side seek
Arsenal reprieve

There is no other way that West Ham can go but to seek to beat
Arsenal on Saturday. And with the Gunners’ coach complaining of fatigue in the
0-1 loss to Ipswich Town on Wednesday, there will not be room for excuses as
the Hammers also had to play on Tuesday. Arsene Wenger described his side’s
loss to the championship side as an act naivety. “We were too naive; I said to
them if you can’t win the game at least don’t lose it,” said Wenger on BBC. “I
was very disappointed. We had no spark, no creativity. But I’m confident we
will turn it around at home.” But his attention on Saturday will be turned to
the pursuit of the Premier League crown that has evaded the Gunners for six
years. Wenger also said after the loss at Portman Road on Wednesday that his side
had no excuse for losing and they will have no need for excuses on Saturday
afternoon as they confront Avram Grant at Upton Park.

Saturday could be Grant’s last as manager of the Hammers and that could in
itself lift the home side unless the manager has inadvertently lost the
dressing room. There is already a short-list of candidates ready to replace
him, from former Aston Villa manager, Martin O’Neill to recently sacked
Blackburn coach, Sam Allardyce. Arsenal will have to do that without the
presence of defenders, Thomas Vermaelen and Sebastien Squillaci, who are
sidelined with Achilles tendon and hamstring injuries respectively. Obinna
Nsofor is suspended for the Hammers because of the red card he picked up
against Birmingham in the first leg 2-1 win on Tuesday.

The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) is considering changing
the name of the National Amateur League to one that would reflect its
grassroots nature.

Musa Amadu, the Acting Secretary General of the NFF, said on
Thursday in Abuja that he believed a change of name would help in attracting
more sponsors and glamour to the competition. “The name ‘Amateur League’ makes
it sound as if players there are inexperienced and less relevant,” he said.
“Already, our marketing department is looking into it and we will come up with
something as soon as all approvals are received.”

Noting that the National Amateur League is very important a
segment in Nigerian football because most players in the country would have
played in it at one time or the other, Amadu said: “The League has about 128
clubs in all its three divisions and has more national coverage, thus giving
the sponsors more mileage. From some of the matches I have witnessed in the
league, it has raw talent and you can see the players’ dedication.”

Playing fair

Amadu also promised that the league would become better
organised with the election of a National Amateur League board, stating that
the interest of the League would be protected as it would be given a fair
hearing as a member of the NFF Executive Committee. He urged clubs in the
league to play fair and called on referees to make sure their officiating was
free and fair so that everyone involved would be satisfied. “Clubs should abide
by the rules and regulations guiding the league and ensure that their fans do
not take laws into their hands by encroaching on the pitch or being violent,”
he said.

The acting NFF Secretary General advised club owners on ways of ensuring
prosecution of matches at home: “When matches are being played, you must have
medical personnel on board and on ground in case of any casualty. It is also
necessary that clubs conduct periodic check-up on their players and officials
to make sure they are medically fit,” he said.

Now that we are
about to play in or should I say compete in an age-grade – U-20 –
championship again, there is a strong need to address pertinent issues
concerning a festering sore in our football, age-cheats and the
age-bending tactics. There is always the lazy and jaundiced argument
that we are not the only nation that cheats. The point is cheating is a
misdemeanour and howsoever or wherever it manifests, it’s a crime.
Granddads’ masquerading as youth is fraudulent.

Perhaps it would help here to re-state the main objectives of age-grade competitions in the first place.

In 1974, Brazilian
lawyer and businessman, Jao Havelange was elected President of World
Football Governing body, FIFA at the FIFA Congress in Germany where the
World Cup was held. Africa’s champion and lone entry at the Mundial
suffered heavy and embarrassing defeats in all the matches they played
at the opening round.

Havelange’s new
Executive Board sought to find reason(s) for the heavy defeat suffered
by the African Champions at the 1974 World Cup. Amongst other findings,
it was revealed that the African Champion suffered from inferiority
complex. Such psychoanalysis propelled the thought and eventual resolve
that lesser platforms be created to afford African and third World
countries opportunity to compete with the rest of the world before
getting to the World Cup proper. It was also resolved that the
championships so recommended, U-16 (later U-17) and U-20 be hosted by
third world and developing countries.

That is why the
maiden edition of the U-20 World Cup was held in Tunisia in 1977. In
1979, Japan hosted with Argentina winning, throwing up an all-time
great, Diego Armando Maradonna. Since then Nigeria has participated and
hosted without really recording outstanding players or players who
lasted ten years after participating in either U-17 or U-20
competitions.

Nigeria failed to
go to the Tokyo in 1979 even with talent like Sylvanus Okpala, Henry
Nwosu, Adedeji Obe, Lucky Imafidon, Franklin Howard, Humphrey Edobor,
Edema Benson etc.

Note that Edobor
and Edema played in U-20 from 1978 to 1983, in the team that played in
Mexico! In the 1983 team, Samson Siasia and Andrew Uwe played again in
U-20 in 1985 Russia edition. That is how we have been doing it even
when the Mexico ‘83 team had talent like Wilfred Agbonavbare, Yisa
Shofoluwe, Amaechi Oti, Tarila Okorowanta, Deinde Akinlatan, Yemi
Aderanijo, Alphonsus Akahan, Paul Okoku, Chibuzor Ehilegbu, the
Olukanmi brothers, Femi and Segun, Dahiru Sadi, Christopher Anigala,
Ali Jeje (Captain), Tajudeen Disu, Edema Benson, Humphrey Edobor
(again), Wahab Adesina, Patrick Udo etc. The team to Russia ‘85 was
loaded to hilt with Aloy Agu (Keeper) Mark Odu, Andrew Uwe (Captain),
Osaro Obobaifo, Waidi Akanni, Ndubisi Okosieme, Titus Mbah, Niyi
Adeleye, Wasiu Ipaye, Godwin Eke, Christian Obi, Uche Ikeogu, Augustine
Igbinabaro, Mark Anunobi, Michael Dominic, Monday Odiaka, Kingsley Onye
(Mature), Samson Siasia (again).

Never mind that
bronze boot winner in that competition, Monday Odiaka did not claim an
Eagles shirt, he could not hold a first team shirt at his club, ACB FC
of Lagos in the 1986-87 season.

Missing the point

Monday Odiaka and
his types represent premature retirees and the negative impact or lack
of growth of our youth players. To be honest, apart from the 1983 U-20,
who Adegboye Onigbinde had the balls to blood, and who made the nucleus
of the Eagles for the African Cup of Nations in Cote d’Ivoire ‘84, the
percentage of graduation to the senior national team has dropped
sharply. The team had players such as Yisa Shofoluwe, Paul Okoku,
Chibuzor Ehilegbu, Femi Olukanmi, to join other relatively young and
little tested Peter Rufai, Patrick Okala, Kingsley Paul, Charles
Yancho, Rashidi Yekini, James Etokebe, Clement Temile and tested horses
Muda Lawal, Stephen Keshi, Bala Ali, Humphrey Edobor.

The decline is
such that out of the very talented and on the face of it a young
looking squad to Japan ‘93, Celestine Babayaro and Nwankwo Kanu are the
only real benefits of that edition. In Wilson Oruma and Mobi Oparaku,
we have two other players who looked good enough but only had a handful
of caps between them. The drop became more apparent in subsequent years
when football administrators lost the essence and spirit of age-limited
competitions. Pressure to win and justify their stay on the job forced
not so ready Nigerian Coaches to recruit grandfathers from Pro-League
Clubs for even the U-17 team.

Nigeria’ 1996
Olympic Squad: Emmanuel Babayaro, Celestine Babayaro, Taribo West,
Nwankwo Kanu, Uche Okechukwu, Emmanuel Amuneke, Tijani Babangida,
Wilson Oruma, Teslim Fatusi, Jay-Jay Okocha, Victor Ikpeba, Abiodun
Obafemi, Garba Lawal, Daniel Amokachi, Sunday Oliseh, Kingsley Obiekwu,
Mobi Oparaku and Dosu Joseph, all full internationals apart from Mobi,
Dosu, Obiekwu, Emmanuel Babayaro and Obafemi before the Olympics on
paper had an average age of 23 years. Ten years later, only Wilson
Oruma, Jay-Jay Okocha and Nwankwo Kanu could still play big-time
football. U-23 players indeed.

Of Samson Siasia’s
famed Holland’ 2005 just Taiye Taiwo, John Obi Mikel, Sani Kaita
(loaned to just about every team in Russia), Chinedu Ogbuke Obasi,
forever injured, Solomon Okoronwo, Dele Adeleye, Olubayo Adefemi, John
Owoeri, Onyekachi Apam have graduated to the Super Eagles even when
there are not many good players around. So what happened to team
Captain Isaac Promise, Kennedy Chinwo, Monday James, Yinka Adedeji,
Daddy Bazuaye, Daniel Akpeyi, Soga Sambo, Kola Anubi, Kola Ige, Ambrose
Vanzekin?

Then scan through
the U-17 of 2007 if you will recognise any top flight player in it
still plying his trade at home or abroad: Laide Okanlawon, Ganiyu
Oseni, Usman Amodu, Azeez Balogun, Kingsley Udoh, King Osanga, Kabiru
Akinsola, Rabiu Ibrahim, Matthew Edile, Oladele Ajiboye (Aji boy!),
Yakubu Alfa, Lukeman Abdulkarim, Sherif Isa, Mustapha Ibrahim, Uremu
Egbeta, Ademola Rafael, Saheed Fabiyi, Lukman Haruna, Uche Okafor and
Macaulay Christantus, hailed as the new Jay-Jay Okocha.

As we now know, he is the new Phillip Osondu.

You all know that
story, no need to bother readers with it. Like his Ghanian equivalent,
Nii Odartey Lambtey, Phillip Osondu never grew. But how could he?
Osondu, known as Zanza played in the football League for Falcons of Aba
in the 1979 – ‘80 season and played U-17 for Nigeria in 1987. Such is
the level of fraud in age-grade football in Nigeria.

Adokiye Amiesimaka
aka Chief Justice, ex-Eagle and Cup of Nations 1980 winner screamed
loud before the U-17 championship in 2009 that the players we were
parading are overage particularly the team’s captain and that it’s a
disservice to the country, opinions were divided as to the propriety of
his action. I supported him at the time and still support his position.
Now let’s save that agony and national embarrassment and do it right
for now. Choose real U-20 please.

Hopes of any
home-based player yet to be invited to the Super Eagles camp making it
to the United States Invitational tournament was effectively ruled out
yesterday as the team’s coach Samson Siasia said there would be no new
players till after the tournament.

Siasia who recently
invited 12 new players, said he was content with the number of
home-based players presently in camp and would focus solely on them
till after the tournament in the United States.

“There is no more
time on our side. We have barely two weeks to round up our preparations
so I would focus on the players I have now,” he said.

At the resumed
training camp yesterday, only 14 players took part in the training
session which was handled mostly by Siasia and his assistant Simon
Kalika.

Those in training
include Sharks striker Victor Ezeji, as well as goalkeepers Rotimi
Sunday and Bassey Akpan. Others include Cletus Itodo, Wasiu Sowemimo
and Yinka Adedeji.

NEXT learnt that
the rest of the invited players were at the team’s Bolton White Hotel
base after returning from their respective club sides.

Meanwhile, the
Super Eagles will on Thursday take on the Flying Eagles in another
friendly match. The first time both teams engaged themselves last week
ended in a 2-2 draw.

Despite the result,
Siasia said he was impressed with the players’ output while hoping they
would improve on their performance in the upcoming game.

Siasia also said he
was impressed with the attitude of the players towards training, and
that none of the players is guaranteed a spot yet in the team ahead of
the tournament in the United States.

In a related
development, goalkeepers’ trainer, Ike Shorunmi has said there will be
no goalkeeping problems for the team as he believes the goalkeepers
called up for the tournament are more than capable of doing the country
proud.

“They are learning fast and I am happy with that,” said Shorunmi, a
former Super Eagles goalkeeper, before adding: “I can assure you
goalkeeping will not be a problem for us.”

Africa’s youngsters
yesterday began their quest for honours in the African U-17
Championship; Rwanda 2011. The tournament which runs through January
22, 2011 also serves as the continent’s qualifiers for the FIFA Cadet
World Cup and for the umpteenth time, Nigeria is missing in action.

It would recalled
that the Golden Eaglets failed in their bid at qualifying for the event
after being knocked out of the race by the cadet team from the
Democratic Republic of Congo, the tie which they lost 3-1 over two legs.

The country was
also in a similar situation in 2008 as it failed to make it to the
Algiers 2009 edition under coach Alphonsus Dike who after winning the
first leg 2-0 in Port Harcourt surprisingly lost 0-3 to Benin Republic
in the return leg and thus crashed out of the qualifiers only to
qualify for the World Cup by virtue of being host.

For many, the
continuous ouster of the U-17 national team from the African tournament
is unacceptable going by the abundant talents that abound in the
country and the exceptional performances recorded in the past at this
stage both on the continent and in the world. Nigeria and Brazil have
the highest number of FIFA U-17 World Cup titles (3) and the Golden
Eaglets have two African titles to their credit.

Playing by the rules

While accepting the
responsibility for his team’s failure, coach of the Golden Eaglet’s,
Monday Odigie, says he still prides himself for daring to do things
differently by sticking to strictly football players who were under 17
years of age.

“Tournaments like
the U-17 is a developmental programme in which talents are to be
discovered and nurtured, it shouldn’t be all about winning. That, I
believe, is the only way we can find capable replacements for our aging
players. My ambition was to qualify the team but as it turned out, we
were not able to make it at the long run,” he said.

He continued: “For
the very first time, we had a team of players majorly drawn from
secondary schools and academies across the country and there was no
single player playing in the league as it used to be the case before. I
would have been happy to see them showcase their talents at the Africa
Championships like their other mates.” he said

Looking ahead

Already, Odigie
revealed that he has submitted his new set of programmes to the Nigeria
Football Federation and only expecting their go-ahead to begin
preparations in earnest for future engagements.

“I am always an
advocate of early preparations and that I believe is the key to
succeeding. We have seen and learnt from the mistakes of the past and
we would want to guide against that in our future endeavours,” he said.

Despite the earlier
setback, Odigie maintained that he would stick to playing by the rules;
which is to use only players still within the specified age-limit.

“If you know me
well, you would see me at different locations where youth tournaments
are been played like the Principals’ Cup, Shell Cup etc, those are
examples of tournaments where one can get genuinely young talents and
that is what we will be doing not just going for old players all in the
name of getting results,” Odigie reiterated.

Previously touted
to assist Super Eagles coach Samson Siasia, Odigie says he has been
using his time to better his knowledge of the game with refresher
courses here and there.

Defending the crown

Meanwhile, as the
ninth edition of the CAF U-17 Championship finally kicked off in Rwanda
yesterday, Lamin Sambou, Gambian U-17 coach, says he has no doubt his
team will retain the African crown. The Baby Scorpions are the
defending champions of the biennial cadet championship, and following
an initial triumph on home soil in 2005, Sambou says his charges are
ready for the challenge backed by a 10-day training camp in Egypt.

For the Baby
Scorpions trainer, the preparations in Egypt has placed them in a good
stead to complete a hat-trick of triumphs, making them the first-ever
country to achieve that feat.

“This is a strong
team in all departments. I have been working with these boys day and
night and I know what they are each capable of giving for their
country,” Sambou was quoted by West Coast Radio, a local radio station.

“We have great confidence in our team and our chances in Rwanda,” he added.

The Gambians will
begin their defence against Congo today; play Mali 72-hours later
before engaging Cote d’Ivoire on January 15 for a place at the next
round.

Knowing very well
that a place at the last four automatically earns them a spot at the
FIFA U-17 World Cup slated for Mexico later in the year, Sambou assured
that his charges will go all out to realize that dream.

“We will certainly qualify,” he declared in a confident tone. In the other match for today, Cote d’Ivoire will take on Mali

Kim Clijsters came through a major test of her early season form
to reach the Sydney International final with a 4-6 6-3 7-6 victory over Alisa
Kleybanova on Thursday.

The 27-year-old Belgian is favourite for the Australian Open but
required all of her expertise at winning clutch points in a ding-dong battle
with the big-hitting Russian at a windy Sydney Olympic Park. The U.S. Open
champion clinched her place in the final when Kleybanova went long with a
backhand after a hard-fought two hours and 38 minutes, maintaining her record
of not having lost a semi-final or final since coming out of retirement in
2009.

In Friday’s final, Clijsters will meet China’s Li Na, who
continues to suggest she might match or even better last year’s breakthrough at
Melbourne Park. The 28-year-old, who made it to the semi-finals at the year’s
first grand slam in 2010, came back from a break down in the first set to beat
Serbian teenager Bojana Jovanovski 7-6 6-3. “It wasn’t easy, she’s young but
she’s playing well,” said Li, who was at a loss to explain her great start to
the year. “I just came in, and then finally I was in the final. I was
surprised. I always play well in Australia. I don’t know why.”

Gilles battling back to
form

Former top 10 player, Gilles Simon, continued his battle back
from a serious knee injury to reach the last four in the men’s tournament with
a 6-4 6-3 win over Ukrainian Alexandr Dolgopolov on a windy day at the Sydney
Olympic Park. The French baseline hustler, who was ranked as high as sixth in
the world at the start of 2009 after beating Roger Federer, Rafa Nadal and
Novak Djokovic in 2008, said his mobility was improving. “My physical trainer
is 47-years-old, and when we were running he was faster than me,” he said.
“He’s still fit, but still, I was one of the fastest player on the tour. Trust
me, I’m moving far better now than three or four months ago.”

His semi-final opponent Ernest Gulbis was, by contrast, feeling terrible
after his 6-4 6-4 quarter-final victory over another Ukrainian, Sergiy
Stakhovsky. “Bad,” the Latvian said when asked how he felt. “Yesterday’s match
killed me physically. It was really humid and I lost a lot of fluids, so
straight I went to the hotel and I went to sleep. I didn’t feel good. Going to
be okay tomorrow? I just can’t go really long matches. Don’t tell Simon.”
Fourth seeded Frenchman, Richard Gasquet, plays Serbian Viktor Troicki; and
German Florian Mayer takes on Italian Potito Starace in Thursday’s evening
matches to decide the make-up of the other men’s semi.

Coach Samson Siasia has given his Super Eagles wards the weekend
off to play Nigeria Premier League matches for their domestic clubs.

“You should go back to your clubs and help them in the League
matches this weekend; but you must be back here by Monday. Whoever is not here
on Monday should count himself out of the running for a shirt,” said Siasia as
the players had lunch at their Bolton White Apartments camp before dispersing
to different parts of the country. This came after the team had played a 2-2
draw with the national U-20 side, Flying Eagles, in a knock-around at the
artificial turf of the FIFA Technical Centre, Abuja.

On Wednesday evening, Chris Green, the Chairman of the NFF
Technical Committee; Felix Anyansi-Agwu, the Vice Chairman; and acting
Secretary General, Musa Amadu, watched the Eagles in their evening training
session at the Technical Centre. After the session, Green addressed the
players: “You must be ready to listen to the technical crew headed by Coach
Samson Siasia at all times, because if the coach says you are out, you are
out,” he said. “Discipline is important in everything you do, and be assured
that the Nigeria Football Federation will give the team the needed support at
all times.”

A total of 27 players featured in the training, which resumes on
Monday.

Siasia as technical
director

Meanwhile, Green has revealed that Siasia would act as technical
director of the federation pending the appointment of a substantive coach.
“Siasia’s position as the head coach of the Super Eagles qualifies him to act
as the technical director,” he said. “He will do that for now until we appoint
the right candidate for the job.” He said the arrangement has been made
expedient because of the crowded schedule of the NFF this year. Nigeria will be
involved in a number of international football competitions beginning with the
Africa Youth Championship in Libya in March.

If the Flying Eagles do well, they will feature in the FIFA U-20
World Cup coming up later this year. Also Nigeria’s senior women’s national
team, the Super Falcons, would be participating in the FIFA Women’s World Cup
billed for Germany in June. For their part, the Super Eagles would continue the
qualifiers for next year’s African Cup of Nations. The Eagles are currently in
camp preparing for an invitational international football tournament, ‘Obama
Cup’, taking place in the United States next month with Siasia fully in charge
of training sessions. The former Eagle striker has warned players to comport
themselves in a manner befitting of national team players.

Unearthing talent

Green says with someone in the saddle as technical director,
these and the federation’s development programmes would not suffer: “We want to
ensure that the programmes we drew up are systematically implemented in addition
to the various competitions lined up this year. Now is the time to actualise
the promises we made about the development of our football and we must move
beyond lip service to achieve these objectives,” he explained.

Green, who is also Chairman of the Rivers State Football
Association, has attributed his re-election into the board of the NFF to hard
work. He said that he intended to embark on an immense sponsorship campaign to
garner more sponsors for grassroots football in the state.

One of such grassroots development programmes is the forthcoming Governor’s
Cup which is sponsored jointly by the Rivers FA and the Shell Petroleum
Development Company. The tournament begins on 20th January. Green hopes that
such programmes such as this would “unearth more football talent in the
different local government areas of the state.”

No serious Chelsea fan would have believed it if he were told
that at the beginning of 2011, the Blues would be outside the Champions League
placing, especially going by the way the team started the season. In the last
10 weeks, it has gone horribly wrong for Carlo Ancelotti and his men. Chelsea
host Blackburn at Stamford Bridge on Saturday with just one need – get all
three points against Rovers. The fans will not mind the manner the victory is
procured as long as three points are secured. This will help the team leap-frog
Tottenham, which is in fourth place, at least for 24 hours.

Team captain, John Terry, has made another rallying call to the
players after describing their current form as being unacceptable. “Our recent
performances have not been good enough,” he said in the Daily Star. “We’re not
playing at the level we can and we’re slipping further behind the leaders with
every point we drop. That’s unacceptable for a club like this, where we expect
to win every game, and now we have to start to put things right. This squad
should be challenging at the top of the league, winning games and pushing hard
in every competition.” And despite the 7-0 mauling of Ipswich Town in
third-round FA Cup match-up on Sunday, the team will not be lulled into false
state of over-confidence. Ancelotti had said after the match, “I’m not going to
get carried away.

Morale booster

The result was good and we did a lot of things well in this
game. We have to give the same performance next week against Blackburn.” But
one thing the result will have done for the team is boost morale in the team.
Another plus was that young striker, Daniel Sturridge, got a chance to show the
coach that he can score goals and Salomon Kalou might be given a rest to allow
the England U-21 striker to continue his rich vein of scoring form. He scored
five goals in a reserve match against Aston Villa last week. “He played well,
scored, and is a good player and a good striker, very dangerous,” said
Ancelotti. “In the future, he’ll have opportunities. We have a lot of games in
this period coming up. I think he has to fight with the other strikers, but
everyone has to fight. There are a lot of players in competition up front.”

Though Chelsea has not completely given up on defending their
title, Terry said his side must firstly start winning games. “Even if we have
gone off course recently but, before we start thinking about silverware, we
have to concentrate on starting to win games again.” Ancelotti faces the
dilemma of dropping either Didier Drogba or Florent Malouda to accommodate
Sturridge. Drogba and Malouda have been out of sorts over the last eight
matches and Drogba has scored just one goal in eight for the Blues.

Blackburn, under caretaker manager Steve Kean, can themselves
move into the European spots with a win at Stamford Bridge though the team
selection and performance may be hampered by the absence of some key players
due to suspensions and injury. Former England goalkeeper, Paul Robinson, leads
the casualty list, joined by giant midfielder, Steven Nzonzi, centre back, Phil
Jones, who is out for the season, Keith Andrews and Vincent Grella. A piece of
good news is that Jason Roberts has returned from injury and should start in
the absence of Nikola Kalinic, who is suspended.

Basement side seek
Arsenal reprieve

There is no other way that West Ham can go but to seek to beat
Arsenal on Saturday. And with the Gunners’ coach complaining of fatigue in the
0-1 loss to Ipswich Town on Wednesday, there will not be room for excuses as
the Hammers also had to play on Tuesday. Arsene Wenger described his side’s
loss to the championship side as an act naivety. “We were too naive; I said to
them if you can’t win the game at least don’t lose it,” said Wenger on BBC. “I
was very disappointed. We had no spark, no creativity. But I’m confident we
will turn it around at home.” But his attention on Saturday will be turned to
the pursuit of the Premier League crown that has evaded the Gunners for six
years. Wenger also said after the loss at Portman Road on Wednesday that his side
had no excuse for losing and they will have no need for excuses on Saturday
afternoon as they confront Avram Grant at Upton Park.

Saturday could be Grant’s last as manager of the Hammers and that could in
itself lift the home side unless the manager has inadvertently lost the
dressing room. There is already a short-list of candidates ready to replace
him, from former Aston Villa manager, Martin O’Neill to recently sacked
Blackburn coach, Sam Allardyce. Arsenal will have to do that without the
presence of defenders, Thomas Vermaelen and Sebastien Squillaci, who are
sidelined with Achilles tendon and hamstring injuries respectively. Obinna
Nsofor is suspended for the Hammers because of the red card he picked up
against Birmingham in the first leg 2-1 win on Tuesday.

The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) is considering changing
the name of the National Amateur League to one that would reflect its
grassroots nature.

Musa Amadu, the Acting Secretary General of the NFF, said on
Thursday in Abuja that he believed a change of name would help in attracting
more sponsors and glamour to the competition. “The name ‘Amateur League’ makes
it sound as if players there are inexperienced and less relevant,” he said.
“Already, our marketing department is looking into it and we will come up with
something as soon as all approvals are received.”

Noting that the National Amateur League is very important a
segment in Nigerian football because most players in the country would have
played in it at one time or the other, Amadu said: “The League has about 128
clubs in all its three divisions and has more national coverage, thus giving
the sponsors more mileage. From some of the matches I have witnessed in the
league, it has raw talent and you can see the players’ dedication.”

Playing fair

Amadu also promised that the league would become better
organised with the election of a National Amateur League board, stating that
the interest of the League would be protected as it would be given a fair
hearing as a member of the NFF Executive Committee. He urged clubs in the
league to play fair and called on referees to make sure their officiating was
free and fair so that everyone involved would be satisfied. “Clubs should abide
by the rules and regulations guiding the league and ensure that their fans do
not take laws into their hands by encroaching on the pitch or being violent,”
he said.

The acting NFF Secretary General advised club owners on ways of ensuring
prosecution of matches at home: “When matches are being played, you must have
medical personnel on board and on ground in case of any casualty. It is also
necessary that clubs conduct periodic check-up on their players and officials
to make sure they are medically fit,” he said.