Heartland FC Boss Makes Case For Siasia

The General Manager of Heartland FC of Owerri, Fan Ndubuoke, has appealed to Nigerians to give the Super Eagles Coach, Samson Siasia, a second chance.

Ndubuoke’s appeal was contained in a statement made available to newsmen by the club’s Media Officer, Cajetan Nkwopara.

The general manager was reacting to public call for Siasia’s sack in the wake of the country’s failure to qualify for the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations.

“We do not need to sack Siasia. For continuity sake, let’s leave him there.

“Do not forget that we have the World Cup qualifiers coming up soon, just as there is another Nations Cup in 2013,” he said.

Ndubuoke, however, urged Siasia to place premium on the home-based players and ensure that the national team was built around them.

“We did not need more than five or six foreign-based players in that team,’’ he said, stressing “the boys I saw against Guinea lacked commitment”.

Ndubuoke described the Eagles’ failure as a collective responsibility on the part of all Nigerians.

He said: “Our failure was a collective one. All sectors of our football administration did not seem to do the right thing.

“On the eve of the match, I was at Transcorp Hilton until late in the night and I saw the players loitering about receiving visitors.

“It was not the responsibility of Siasia to keep those players in their rooms.

“The team has a camp commandant who should ensure the enforcement of camp rules.’’

Ndubuoke, however, said that he was not exonerating Siasia from the failure.

He faulted his selection, which left Ike Uche and Ahmed Musa on the bench.

According to him, their absence gave the Guineans the leeway to frustrate the Eagles in the first half.

“When they were able to contain our players in the first half, they had the job half done and only delivered the killer punch in the second half,’’ he said.

Ndubuoke noted that Siasia should have fielded his strongest team from the blast of the whistle.

It will be recalled that the Nigeria Football Federation queried Siasia after his failure to quarlify the country for the 2012 Nations Cup and on Thursday, the NFF’s Technical Department met over his future, with recommendations made to the Federation’s Board.