Football Pundit Calls For Grade ‘A’ Matches

A football pundit in Rivers State, Barrister Faye Dikio, has called on the football authorities to ensure that Nigeria engagae in Grade ‘A’ International friendly matches to enable them blend properly before the 2010 World Cup in South-Africa begins.
Dikio, who stated this recently in an exclusive interview with Tidesports in Port Harcourt, noted that Nigeria is yet to get a cohesive team, but has individual stars.
“I think it is about time the management of Super Eagles looked inward and ensure that the team is properly prepared by organizing some high profile friendly matches against notable football playing countries, and at the same time, inject some fresh bloods into the team to beef-up some weak areas in the team,” he said.
On his view of coach Shuaibu Amodu leading the Super Eagles to the 2010 World Cup, Dikio, who had earlier commended the team over her qualification, said he is not in spport of such an idea.
“I think Amodu is incept and should not even be given the chance to lead Eagles to the Nations’ Cup in Angola next year, not at talk of the World Cup in South Africa.
“In fact, I foresee a situation where Nigeria would be disgraced if Amodu with his low level of technical input, is allowed by the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) to lead the Eagles to the Mundial in South Africa.
“Preferably, I would only advise Amodu, as a matter of fact, to go for refresher course and update his knowledge on the game before Eagles would be enthrusted to him for bigger competitions such as the World Cup,” he said.
It would be recalled that Amodu qualified the Eagles for Japan/Korea 2002 World Cup, but was replaced by Festus Onigbinde, who took the team to the Mundial which saw the Eagles clash out after the first round.