Football Nigeria -- Eagles Etcetera

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...