Nigeria Content Online

Former
Super Eagles teammates Samson Siasia and Stephen Keshi will be out to
outwit each other today when they face the technical committee of the
Nigeria Football Federation (NFF). The committee will be interviewing
them for the Super Eagles coaching job.

While Siasia had
been deep in negotiations with the former – interim – board, with
remuneration the only grey area, Keshi only joined the race when the
present board decided to advertise the position for interested
applicants.

Chris Green,
Chairman of the technical committee, has assured football fans that the
process for selecting the new manager will be very transparent.

“Of course there
are no sentiments; the committee is made up of people that have
integrity and would want to protect their names. We are going to be as
transparent as possible in our selection,” he said.

Apart from Green,
who is head of the technical committee, others that will decide who
becomes the next Eagles coach includes Enyimba boss, Felix
Anyansi-Agwu; former national team coach, Christian Chukwu; Paul
Bassey; Garba Ibrahim; Deji Tinubu; and Austell Elumelu.

Other members of
the committee include ex-internationals Austin Okocha, Garba Lawal, and
Victor Ikpeba with Emmanuel Ikpeme as secretary.

The NFF will unveil the new coach on Monday, November 8.

Meanwhile, there have been diverse opinions on who the cap fits between the two men.

For many, both contemporaries have impressive resumes having played together in the most successful Super Eagles team ever.

While Stephen Keshi
was captain of that highly talented side that won the African Cup of
Nations in 1994 and then played in the country’s first World Cup in the
United States, Samson Siasia played an important role up front and he
scored a famous goal against Argentina in the World Cup.

Keshi, 48, help
Togo qualify the World Cup in 2006. He was later to relinquish the
position after the dismal performance of the Hawks at the African Cup
of Nations in Egypt. He has also coached the Malian national team which
he led to the Cup of Nations in Angola this year.

The Malians were knocked out of the competition in the first round without a win and Keshi left the job.

Siasia, 43, has
seen a bit more success. He was the coach of Nigeria’s U20 side that
won the silver medal at the World Youth Championship Netherlands 2005
as well as the U23 side that won a silver medal at the Beijing Olympics
in 2008.

However, as coach of Nigeria Premier League side, Heartland FC,
Siasia failed to match his predecessor feat; he failed to make it
beyond the group stage of the African Champions League whereas his
predecessor, Kelechi Emetiole, made it to the final last season.