Sports

…Understanding Odemwingie’s Frustrations

Published

11 years ago

December 28, 2012

A few days after I was named Super Eagles Media Officer, I messaged three players: Joseph Yobo, Vincent Enyeama and Osaze Odemwingie.

My intention was to let them know I’d need their cooperation to build a bridge between the media and the squad.

In Osaze’s case, however, I added something extra. And in his joking reply, he promised me I would get my biggest headache from him. When the headache came, it turned out to be anything but a joke.

The first real crisis I had to manage involved none other than Mr Odemwingie himself.

I was sitting in a meeting at SuperSport when I got a message from a friend in Chicago asking if I’d seen what Osaze was tweeting about then coach Samson Siasia.

The moment I saw the fiery tweets, I rang him up and asked him to take them down. He dug his heels in, but after a few minutes of back and forth, he relented. By then, it was too late, the damage had been done.

And I spent the rest of my brief time in the post managing the Osaze/Siasia rift until it was finally settled in the latter’s final days as coach.

Osaze and I have come a long way. It’s been 10 years and counting. In that time, I have come to know the young man as a combustible fireball crackling underneath wooden floorboards.

Osaze Odemwingie does not do half measures. It is at once his greatest virtue, and his biggest frailty.

When he suits up in that green and white shirt, or any other for that matter, he leaves it all out on the pitch. When he calls someone out for not doing their job, he spares nothing. And when he is backed into a corner, he comes out swinging.

This latest, messy episode with Stephen Keshi is Osaze coming out guns blazing from inside of a corner, ten years in the making.

It is the culmination of years of frustration with the Nigeria set-up, and things he has been continually unhappy about. All catalogued in his initial tweets.

Being left out by Shuaibu Amodu for his first few games in charge despite a fine showing at the 2008 Nations Cup, only for him to speak out, get played and win multiple Man of the Match awards.

That was followed by getting into a tiff with Siaisa at the Olympic Games because he dared to complain about a shortage of kit; then left out again by Lars Lagerback at the World Cup after being named Nigerian Player of the Year for his performances.

Odemwingie’s current scrap with Keshi dates back to a qualifying game in Rwanda, when the forward was first to be hauled off in what was a generally bad team performance.

From what he told me, the manner of the substitution left him with a sense of déjà vu. And so he ignored attempts by the manager to make contact. On this occasion, I was involved, again, in brokering peace.

But with fences mended, both coach and NFF were left unconvinced about the player’s commitment to the cause when he failed to turn up for the friendly against Venezuela in Miami.

Osaze himself offered little to me but to say he opted out for ‘personal reasons’. In any case, both Chelsea’s John Mikel Obi and Victor Moses did the same too.

Odemwingie had hopes of making the Nations Cup squad. He was a striker in form, had mended fences with his coach, had spoken to his team captain and was in regular communication with the coach.

Three days before the squad was announced, player and coach had been on the phone discussing schedules.

With the Odemwingies expecting their first baby, Keshi was not sure about the player’s focus and was giving no guarantees.

Osaze was willing to make adjustments to his schedule. That, unfortunately, did not seem to be enough. And there were rumblings of ‘conditions’ attached to his return. Osaze denies it vehemently.

In the end, the decision was taken. He was cut. Ostensibly because there were doubts about his total commitment to the team.

Whether anyone likes it or not, the final decision on who makes a squad is up to the coach. Not the player, not the federation, not the fans, not the media. The coach. But, in making that decision, it is also in the coach’s unwritten job description to inform at the very least the senior members of his squad who have been axed.

It is a hard task to carry out under normal circumstances. It is even harder in situations like this. But that action defines the man manager. It is a sign of mutual respect.

This is where Odemwingie lost it. To find out in the media that he had not been considered for a 32-man squad was the final straw.

“For me, it was very disrespectful,” he told me. “I’m packing my bags and done with the national team. But I needed to tell them my mind.”

As much as I may fault Keshi for not making that call, I find it even harder to agree with Odemwingie’s route to self-immolation.

In his unbridled tirade, Odemwingie has swung at coaches past and present, his captain, the NFF, the media and even a section of the fans. Going off the reservation doesn’t even begin to describe it.

While we both agree that certain things needed to be said, his method, medium and timing has cost him more than just brownie points. He is reduced to looking like a petulant child throwing his toys out the pram because daddy said no.

The tragedy for me is that, just like Osaze’s fractious rift with Siasia, this could have been avoided.

And Osaze, for his full-blooded, decade-long service in the green white green, deserves better than to be remembered this way.

Unfortunately, I doubt this particular saga is anywhere close to running its course. Therein lies the bigger tragedy.

Udoh writes for kickoff-Nigeria.

Colin Udoh

Sports

Siasia Blames NFF Over FIFA Ban

Published

20 hours ago

April 26, 2024

The Tide

Former Super Eagles Coach, Samson Siasia says the Nigeria Football Federation supported FIFA to have him banned for alleged involvement in match-fixing in August 2019.
In a recent interview with Athlist, the 56-year-old, whose ban ends in a few months, said the NFF not only refused to support him but also carried out FIFA’s instruction not to let him know he was under investigation by the world football body.
“Nigeria abandoned me at that time of need; that’s my own take on how this thing played out,” the former Eagles striker and member of the 1994 AFCON-winning squad, said.
“It’s an allegation; they said bribery. What is bribery? Is it not when money changes hands? Was there any proof of that? There were none.
“I spoke with someone who was trying to hire me as a coach in Australia. I didn’t know the guy was a match-fixer, but FIFA knew this guy. Why would they allow him to be around any FIFA tournament?
“So, when they found out through emails, our correspondence about how this guy would take me to Australia, I played in Australia, so I felt it would be nice to go back there.
“We talked about how much salaries, transfers, bonuses, and sign-on fees were, and that was all.
“When FIFA was looking for me, I didn’t even know. I am not affiliated with FIFA; their affiliation is with the NFF. So, they went to the NFF and told them not to let me know that they were investigating me. But if they didn’t tell me, how was I supposed to defend my self Siasia added, “Then they sent me a letter, but it went to my spam. It was two days before the ban that I found out that FIFA was looking for me.
Siasia added, “Then they sent me a letter, but it went to my spam. It was two days before the ban that I found out that FIFA was looking for me.
“Then we started to see how we could communicate with them to see how I could have a hearing. But they said the time had elapsed and I should go to the CAS (Court of Arbitration for Sport).

Sports

WADA Plans Review Of Failed Tests

Published

20 hours ago

April 26, 2024

The Tide

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) will launch an independent review after 23 Chinese swimmers were cleared to compete at the Tokyo Olympics despite testing positive for a banned substance.
WADA has said it was not in a position to disprove an assertion from the China Anti-Doping Agency (CHINADA) that contamination was the source of the heart medication trimetazidine (TMZ) for which the swimmers tested positive.
Findings of the independent investigation, led by Swiss prosecutor Eric Cottier, are expected to be delivered within two months.
“WADA’s integrity and reputation is under attack,” said Wada president Witold Banka.
“WADA has been unfairly accused of bias in favour of China by not appealing the CHINADA case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
“We continue to reject the false accusations and we are pleased to be able to put these questions into the hands of an experienced, respected and independent prosecutor.”
United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) Chief Executive Travis Tygart said WADA and CHINADA had swept these positives under the carpet, claims WADA described as completely false and defamatory while adding that it had referred the comments to its lawyers.
Aquatics GB said it was extremely concerned by the allegations, which it said threatened “potential loss of trust and reputational damage to sport”.
WADA was notified of CHINADA’s decision in June 2021, ahead of the delayed Games, and said it had no evidence to challenge China’s findings and that external counsel had advised against appealing.
In addition to the independent investigation, WADA said it will send a compliance audit team to assess the state of China’s anti-doping programme and invite independent auditors “from the broader anti-doping community” to join the trip.
WADA director general Olivier Niggli said: “While not one shred of evidence has been presented to support any of the allegations made against WADA, we wish to deal with the matter as quickly and as comprehensively as possible so that the matter is appropriately handled in advance of the upcoming Paris Olympic and Paralympic Games.”
Details of the positive tests were revealed by the New York Times, which shared reporting with German broadcaster ARD.
China won six swimming medals at the Tokyo Olympics, including three golds.

Sports

AFN Lists Strong Squad For Bahamas Relays

Published

20 hours ago

April 26, 2024

The Tide

The Athletics Federation of Nigeria has listed Tobi Amusan, Favour Ofili and Omolara Ogunmakinju among the athletes to represent the country at the World Athletics Relays at the Thomas A. Robinson National Stadium in Nassau on May 4 and 5.
The body shockingly left out Favour Ashe, Nigeria’s fastest man so far this year, who would have helped Nigeria secure a 4x100m slot at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
The Auburn University undergraduate has been in great form this outdoor season, breaking 10 seconds twice (9.96 and 9.99).
The 21-year-old was not among the 29 names World Athletics released on Tuesday in the final entry list by Nigeria for the event, and AFN has yet to give reasons for its decision t Meanwhile, Godson Oghenebrume and Udodi Onwuzurike head the list of eight sprinters listed for the men’s 4x100m event.
Others are Alaba Akintola, Karlingthon Anunagba, Consider Ekanem, Seye Ogunlewe and Israel Okon Sunday.
The team will strive to be among the best 14 finishers to secure a lane in Paris for the first time since 2008, when the quartet of Onyeabor Ngwogu, Obinna Metu, Chinedu Oriala, and Uchenna Emedolu did not finish in the first heat of the event at the Bird’s Nest in Beijing, China.
For the men’s 4x400m, African Games 400m champion Chidi Okezie headlines the list of eight quarter milers listed to return Nigeria to the Games since 2004, when Godday James led the team to a bronze medal finish in Athens, Greece.
Others are Sikiru Adeyemi, Dubem Amene, Ezekiel Nathaniel and his brother, Samson Nathniel, Dubem Nwanchukwu, Samuel Ogazi, who has been improving since his switch to the University of Alabama and holds the Nigerian U-18 record and Ifeanyi Ojeli.