Nigeria Content Online

After
a long period where locally-based players in the Nigeria Premier had
very little chances of making it into the Super Eagles, new tactician
and former Super Eagle Samson Siasia has promised that there will no
longer be a distinction between home-based and professional players.
The new coach who was unveiled on Wednesday, December 1 in Abuja told a
panel consisting of Charles Anazodo, Daniel Amokachi and Colin Udoh, on
Tuesday, on a programme on Super Sports – a cable football channel:

“We need the local
players to change their mentality. This has to be done to wipe away the
memories of times when local players will be invited to national camps
and will be dispersed as soon as the foreign players come in. That is
why we will have weekly sessions with them. Because I remember in our
days, we would report to the national camp on Monday and go back on
Thursday to play league matches for our club sides ­­— we need to get
back to that point.”

Mikel Obi’s role in the Super Eagles

He also addressed
the issue of the seeming feud with Mikel Obi and why the Chelsea
midfielder missed out on a silver medal at the Beijing Olympics. When
he was asked on insinuations that Chelsea spoilt Obi’s game, the coach
replied: “I never said anything like that, never.”

Siasia then added
that the seeming feud with Mikel started when people tried to force the
player on his Beijing Olympic team. “I said at a press briefing that I
do not need to choose Mikel. What I told (Mikel) Obi was that ‘Mikel,
you have to play one game. If you don’t play this game, you won’t go to
the Olympics — as simple as that. He then refused to come for the last
qualifying match and that was the aspect that I addressed. I have
spoken to Mikel and I do not have any grudges against him — he is doing
very well. If Mikel cannot play as an offensive player, we will have to
find another player that will do it. Do we have to force him to play in
that position? We have more than 150 millions Nigerian including young
players that can play that role so must we force him to play it? If he
is doing well in that position (defensive midfield), let us leave him
there.”

Getting new players into the Eagles

The coach also
reiterated his drive to get players, though not born in Nigeria but
doing well in their clubs into the national team.

“There are just a
couple of Nigerians that are doing well abroad,” he said. “But we have
others that we haven’t touched yet; why don’t we go to those guys? We
should go to them and see how well they respond. Let us ask them if
they want to play for Nigeria and if they want, we can integrate them
into the national team, but if not, we will leave them alone. We cannot
force them.”

Siasia has
reportedly made contact with Arsenal youngster, Phillip Aneke,
Sunderland’s on-loan defender, Nedum Onuoha and Emmanuel Emenike, a
striker with Turkish side, Karabukspor. When he was then asked if all
these players that are being scouted will make it into the national
team, Siasia said, “Not all the players will react to practice, to our
system.”

South Africa debacle

It got more
interesting when Siasia was asked on what he would have done
differently with the Super Eagles team to South Africa. “I won’t have
played with three defensive midfielders,” the new coach retorted. “We
all know that Nigeria’s strength is offensive football,” referring to
the 1994 era, when the national team was seriously offensive-minded.

“But because you
are an offensive midfielder does not mean that you will not have to
track back to defend — it is all about the tactics that are employed.
You have to play compact — if you cannot do it the way that I want you
to do it then I have to find somebody else who will. How can you play
three defensive players in a team and expect to score goals? Who will
pass the players to the attackers?”

Siasia was also
confronted with the fact by a caller on the programme that Nigerian
coaches have been known to collect bribes to field players for the
national teams.

“Well, I can only speak for myself — I do not collect bribes,” he
said. “That is why we were looking for the correct emolument.” Anazodo
added jokingly that N5 million (Siasia’s monthly salary) was plenty
enough to dissuade the coach from seeking for bribes.