Football Nigeria -- Eagles Etcetera

Many Nigerians are beginning to put Vincent Enyeama's name at the forefront of Nigeria's All-time best goalkeepers based on Enyeama's performances for Nigeria. Clearly, Enyeama belongs in that conversation. Not only is he approaching a record number of appearances for a Nigerian national team player, but he has been regarded as Africa's best for some years. However, it is best to also look at comparative data to find support for any claim of being Nigeria's all time best. In this piece, we compare Enyeama to two other goal keepers who frequently come up in those conversations -- Emmanuel Okala and Peter Rufai. This is one of such comparisons that we intend to make going forward. In the future, we will compare Kenneth Omeruo (as leader of his defense) against other previous defensive leaders and we shall also compare Emmanuel Emenike against previous top strikers as well as Mikel Obi and Ogenyi Onazi against others. Though both Omeruo and Emenike do not have the...

As it is, Stephen Keshi, may be one of Nigeria's most controversial coaches of all time. After his team's inability to beat South Africa on Wednesday, it appears that the curtain may have closed on his coaching career with Nigeria's national team. Here is a guy who swam against the tide by insisting on inviting home based players for the Super Eagles,  inviting players from little-known leagues, throwing out star players that were previously considered untouchables, battled with his federation bosses, was disengaged and recalled, among others. Yet, he has not only improved the team but won the Cup of African Nations amidst the din. But that is a "century" ago! His final statistics in 31 competitive games appear in graph 8. This piece is not to look at Keshi’s record as a winner or as a loser nor is it to catalog his eventful tenure on the edge of controversies. Instead, it is about looking at the team, under his tenure, in terms of statistics that are often glos...

Nigeria's captain, Vincent Enyeama, is just two games from equaling Joseph Yobo's record 100 appearances. He will get one of those games Wednesday against South Africa in a critical Cup of Nations Cup qualifier in Uyo.  In this piece, we look at Enyeama and nine other players who are likely to reach the century mark in appearances for Nigeria. That Joseph Yobo, at the 2014 World Cup, became Nigeria's first 100-game player was surprising considering that multiple players have achieved that feat in several countries. First, note that it took Yobo a career spanning 14 years and beginning on March 14 of 2001 to get to 100 games.  In our analysis, all the ten players we have selected will likely get to 100 games, barring injuries. We do not include Osaze Odemwingie who already has 65 games because it will take him a projected 16 years in the national team to reach 100 games. It is possible but unlikely and, thus, we do not list him among our ten players. Part of our calculat...

Nigeria's 2-0 win in Brazzaville today was critical and keeps hope alive as the team awaits the next game in Uyo against a South African team that has already qualified for the 2015 Cup for African Nations. Nigeria must now be considered in the driver's seat and on the way to qualification. Nigeria opened the game in dominant fashion but it must be said that very few clear chances was created by the team. The only chances came with headers off corner kicks especially one in which Mikel Obi barely missed the far end in the 20th minute. But as Nigeria became frustrated by its lack of clear chances, Mikel increasingly launched long balls which Uche rarely won up front. Nigeria's lack of ideas clearly gave the home team confidence to take complete control of the game in the last 15 minutes. Importantly, Congo was able to create clear chances where Nigeria failed earlier. Three times, Congo miscued in front of Nigeria's gaping goal. The reality was that Nigeria was saved b...

Last week, Shuaibu Amodu was again asked to manage Nigeria's national team. For the second time, he is asked to rescue Nigeria and earn qualification to the finals of the Cup for African Nations finals. He had previously achieved the feat in getting to the 2002 World Cup finals. This time, he has to win two games to confirm his status as "Nigeria's saviour." What we do here is provide the reader with a reminder of Shuaibu Amodu's statistical record as Nigeria's national coach. He tutored under the great Alabi Aisien and then coached at BCC Gboko under James Peters. Amodu then made his name at the club level where he won four Nigerian FA Cups in a space of six years with both BCC Lions of Gboko and El Kanemi Warriors of Maidugri and then won a continental trophy with BCC. Shuaibu Amodu's coaching efficiency in competitive games is outstanding compared to any Nigerian national coach, except Augustine Eguavoen who coached just 12 such games compared to Am...

Earlier today, the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF) decided, not unexpectedly, to discontinue with Coach Stephen Keshi's service. After the home loss to Congo Republic and then the loss to Sudan in Khartoum, it was expected that Keshi's tenure as coach was at its end. That Keshi's team got back on track yesterday with a 3-1 win over Sudan was too little and too late. Nigeria was still in danger of missing out of the 2015 Cup for African Nations that Keshi's team had won in 2013. However, what was interesting is the text that surrounded the decision not to continue with Keshi's services. One was in statements attributed to the NFF at the announcement and the other emerged in Channels TV interview of NFF President Pinnick Amaju. I focus on the two below: The text at Keshi's dismissal was striking as it included an NFF offer to sponsor Keshi and his assistants to a coaching course.  The question is why and why at the time of discontinuing with his servic...

Nigeria's Minister of Sport,  Dr. Tammy Wenike Danagogo, became the central focus as Nigerian football was torn apart from inside-out. The former demolition man as Rivers State Commissioner for Urban Development and Physical Planning appears to be out of his depth as Nigeria's Minister of Sport. He clearly was on a mission but the question is who's mission? It certainly did not appear to be a mission in the interest of Nigeria's football. Dr. Danagogo appeared either (1) a naive zealot receiving very poor advice, or (2) cunning or conning Minister. It is unclear whether it was (1) or (2), but it appeared that his activities were at the cost of Nigerian football's health. Let's examine how he has helped set Nigeria's football on fire and then went into "Pilate-ism" while attempting to play the fiddle while the fire raged. Naive Zealot Let's for one moment assume that Dr. Danagogo was indeed focused on setting Nigeria's football on the r...

When Christian Osagona appeared with 17 minutes left in the Cup of Nations qualifier against South Africa, he came closest to scoring for Nigeria but his presence in that game was a rarity for Nigeria. He had debuted in a competitive international, a feat matched by only 19 other players in the last decade which has featured as many as 170 debutants for Nigeria. Nigeria rarely debuts a player in a competitive international. On many occasions, the preference is to test a player in a friendly international before the big stage. One may assume that a coach indicates confidence in a player's ability leads to a debut in a competitive international. After all, the risk in debuting a player in a competitive situation is high and thus it is reasonable to assume that players debuted in such an occasion is believed to be a can't miss prospect. But has that been the case? The data will surprise you. We ran the stats on 19 players debuted in such situations since 2004, the last decade....

After Nigeria's 0-0 tie in Cape Town away to South Africa there are things that jump to the mind. Clearly, Nigeria is going through a rough patch and it is not just at the current Cup of African Nations qualifiers where Nigeria has already suffered a historic home loss. There are some notable statistics that jump at you: 1. Nigeria has not won a game in its last four appearances and has only won one game in its last 10! 2. In the last four games, Nigeria has given up eight goals! 3. Nigeria's top striker -- Emmanuel Emenike -- has failed to score in 11 consecutive games for the Super Eagles! While the above statistics may reflect just a rough patch that affects all teams, it could also reflect a downward trend that may not augur well for the defense of the Cup of African Nations. Let's hope that it reflects the former and not the later. What seems to be clear is that this team reflects the performance of its talisman -- Mikel Obi -- whose form has plummeted during t...

It is generally agreed that Clemens Westerhoff and Stephen Keshi are Nigeria's most accomplished coaches as both have won the Cup for African Nations away from home and have reached the Round of 16 at the World Cup. Other coaches to win ultimate laurels at the continental level with the national team are Otto Gloria (1980 Cup for African Nations) and Jorge Penna (1973 All Africa Games gold). Shuaibu Amodu placed fourth with Nigeria at the Intercontinental Cup (now Confederations Cup).  However, there are other ways that coaches can be compared and we do so in this piece. First we determine the top ten coaches through two processes before comparing the selected top ten. The first was to only consider those who have coached at least 10 games. This way we have an appreciable number of games to to evaluate the work of the coach. This eliminated some coaches like Bora and Siasia that did not have enough games under their belt. The next step was to compare all coaches on their overa...

The 2014 World Cup in Brazil leaves us with many questions surrounding representativeness across the globe. Traditionally, the number of berths awarded to each confederation has been determined via political maneuvering even though the larger public naively believes that the number of berths are determined by performance. Sure, performance is usually drummed up as a rationale to justify increase in berths for a confederation but there is no known FIFA formula for determining this increase. Thus, political compromises have often been used to make the determination. That compromise has been reached by merely increasing the number of teams in the finals or in a recent move, denying the defending champion an automatic place in the final. The difficulty in reaching an agreement on who deserves additional berth and who does not is based on the fact that there is no established formula for making the decision. Importantly, UEFA initially held fast to its domination of number of berths in th...

Recently, a Plateau state court declared the illegality of the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF). However, it is not the first Nigerian court to make such declaration and it might not be the last if changes are not made to the NFF’s existence as an institution. What we do in this piece is to briefly explain what has led to this situation and what are the alternatives for escaping this situation. Please understand that there are several pieces to this issue, some complex and others less complex but the intent here is to be brief and clear without being clouded by minor issues that may distract from a clear understanding of the situation. The Genesis By January 2004, FIFA required Nigerian football to comply with FIFA’s statutes requiring affiliate associations to be independent from government interference in local football. Before then, Nigerian football was governed by the infamous Decree 101 which stamped government’s total control over football administration including speci...