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Following the Super Eagles’ group stage
exit at the last World Cup, Lars Lagerback embarked on a two-week leave
that was approved by the Nigeria Football Federation.

Weeks after the tournament in South
Africa, the Swede is yet to return to Nigeria, much less give a report
on the national team’s performance at the tournament.

The question now on everybody’s mind is whether the 62-year-old has dumped Nigeria for good.

On Friday, it was reported in some
Nigerian newspapers that Lagerback had turned down an offer to continue
as Nigeria’s coach. The reports, which quoted acting Nigeria Football
Federation (NFF) boss Aminu Maigari, said the Swede had informed him
that he did not wish to continue in his post despite being offered a
four-year deal by the federation.

When contacted, Lagerback’s agent,
Emeka Enechi, who handled the Nigeria deal, said the status of the
Swede’s job is unclear to him. Mr. Enechi, however, promised to speak
on the matter when he visits Nigeria on July 31.

Mixed reactions

The Eagles’ performance under the Swede
has evoked mixed reactions with most Nigerians casting the NFF for
spending so much on a coach who delivered so little. Many say the
Eagles’ performance in South Africa was no different from that of the
squad under Adegboye Onigbinde at the 2002 World Cup in Korea/Japan.

They insist the Eagles should have done
better given that the usually vexatious issue of match bonuses and
allowances for players had been sorted out in advance by the NFF.

However, there are those who believe
that Lagerback did his best given circumstances that prevailed in the
build up to the tournament. These circumstances included a number of
issues notably the inability of the football federation to organise
matches early enough for Lagerback to get a feel of his squad and
bickering over a camp base for the Eagles in South Africa.

“We did not prepare well for the World
Cup,” said former Super Eagles defender Nduka Ugbade, who holds a UEFA
Grade-A coaching license.

“The preparation was terrible but if
Lagerback could handle the team for 30 days and do the job he did I
think he deserves a second chance.”

Indeed, the Eagles were pathetic in
South Africa playing second fiddle and depending on goalkeeper Vincent
Enyeama for the greater part of their game against Argentina, before
handing Greece a historic win in a game that saw Sani Kaita losing his
cool when it mattered most.

Their profligacy in front of goal also
cost them a second round ticket in their last group match against
Korea, a development supporters of Lagerback believe resulted from his
not having enough time to tinker with the squad.

“I wanted Lagerback to stay for the
sake of continuity,” said Chukwuma Akuneto, who is the coach of the
U-18 side of FC United, the side that broke away from Manchester United
a few years ago.

“Argentina, despite their poor outing,
are retaining Diego Maradona, England are keeping Fabio Capello, so
continuity is the word that is synonymous with success.

“He is a well respected guy and the
World Cup had given him an opportunity to understand the Nigerian
football player culturally, psychologically, mentally, technically and
tactically,” added Akuneto, who has in the past four years also led
Manchester College to nine national titles.

Looking inwards

Ugbade disagrees with Akuneto on the
propriety of retaining the Swede. Despite his view that Nigeria’s
failure in South Africa should not be blamed on Lagerback, he feels
that given Nigeria’s style of play differs substantially from the
European style, we need to look inwards for a coach for the Eagles.

“Nigerians must learn to take their
fate in their own hands. Even Lagerback said this after our exit in
South Africa,” continued Ugbade, recalling the Swede’s statements
urging African countries to have indigenous coaches rather than
expatriates in charge of their national teams.

“All the African countries that were at
the World Cup with foreign coaches, with the exception of Ghana, all
crashed out in the first round,” he added.

Former Super Eagles defender Andrew
Uwe, also now a coach, has never been in support of a foreigner
handling the Nigerian national team despite spending the better part of
his Super Eagles career playing under the likes of German national
Manfred Hoener and Dutchman Clemens Westerhof.

“Germany had a German coach and his
assistants consisted of former national team players,” said Uwe. “It
was also the same for the Dutch team who had the likes of Frank De Boer
and Philip Cocu assisting the coach.

“Most of these big countries made it
big in football because they developed their own coaches and we can’t
afford to be any different,” added Uwe, who captained the Flying Eagles
to a third-place finish at the 1985 FIFA U-20 World Cup in the former
USSR.

Siasia resurfaces

In the period that Lagerback has been
away, pressure has mounted on the leadership of the NFF to pick a
Nigerian coach for the Eagles.

Many names have been bandied in the
media in the last few weeks. The names include Augustine Eguavoen, who
was Lagerback’s Nigerian assistant in South Africa, Samson Siasia and
John Obuh, present coach of the Flying Eagles.

In the last few days, however, Siasia
has shot to the top of the list with former teammates in the Eagles
calling on the NFF to hire him.

“I don’t know why people keep asking
who should be given the Super Eagles job when we have somebody who has
been tested to handle the job without any problem,” said Tijani
Babangida, Siasia’s former teammate.

Another former teammate, Thompson
Oliha, added: “We all know the qualities in Siasia and everyone who
really wants the best for Nigeria will know that he has what it takes
to coach the Super Eagles.”

By Friday it was looking like Siasia
may clinch the job as NFF boss Maigari was quoted as saying that: “We
have had talks with Siasia. The talks have been fruitful and all things
being equal, he will put pen to paper next month subject to
negotiations,” said Maigari.

“Siasia is the coach Nigerians want and we shall give him all the support to succeed in this new job.”

Whether this will materialise remains
to be seen as Siasia is seen as thorn in the flesh of federation
officials for his stubbornness. Two years ago when a new coach was
sought for the Eagles following the exit of German Bert Vogts, Siasia
was in pole position to clinch the job after emerging top candidate
following interviews conducted by the federation. At the last minute,
the job was handed to Shuaibu Amodu, the coach replaced by Lagerback in
February.

Siasia, currently technical adviser of
Heartland FC of Owerri confirmed he has had discussions with the NFF
over the Eagles job: “I have had discussions with them but we can only
wait and see,” said Siasia. “It will be a great honour handling my
country’s national team. It is the biggest job in the world as far as I
am concerned but if I do get it I will do my best not to disappoint
Nigerians who have placed so much trust in me.”

If Siasia, as expected, becomes the
next Super Eagles coach, his service will be divided between club and
country as he still has a deal with his current employers Heartland.

The former Nantes forward, who won a
French league title with the side back in 1995, however, disclosed that
he had the Super Eagles job in mind when negotiating with the
management of the Naze Millionaires.

“I will be able to divide my time
between the club and the national team,” he continued. “I knew at the
back of my mind that there was always going to be the possibility of
that happening and that was why I told the club to bring in Emeka
Ezeugo.” Ezeugo, who played with Siasia at the 1994 World Cup, is
Siasia’s assistant at the Owerri based side and had previously coached
in India.