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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.”