Sports
Igesund Continues As S’Africa Coach
Gordon Igesund has
been given the backing of the South Africa Football Association to continue as coach of the national football team.
There had been speculation in the media that he would be sacked following a poor performance at the recent African Nations Championship.
South Africa hosted the tournament for locally-based players but failed to reach the second round.
After their exit the team was branded “a bunch of losers’’ by the country’s sports minister Fikile Mbalula.
A joint meeting of the Safa Technical and International Affairs Committees on Thursday confirmed that Igesund will at least complete his contract, that runs until the end of June.
Igesund will announce his squad tomorrow to face five-time World Cup winners Brazil in a friendly on 5 March in Johannesburg.
In a statement released after the meeting Safa acknowledged: “that the Head Coach has failed to deliver on his mandates for the 2014 Fifa World Cup, the AFCON 2013 Tournament as well as the CHAN 2014 Tournament.
“The meeting decided that the Association does not want to act in an impromptu manner but rather, must plan systematically for immediate and future programs of the Men’s Senior National Team and all of the other national teams, men and women.
“In this regard, the meeting decided that the Head Coach must continue with his work and in particular, get the Men’s Senior National Team ready for the match between Bafana Bafana and Brazil scheduled for 05 March 2014.”
It added that further discussions will be held “to ensure that we have certainty around the national team for the next Fifa World Cup cycle.”
The meeting also decided that Safa will appoint a technical director next month to work with Igesund “to ensure full and systematic integration of the objectives and programmes of all national teams.”
A well-known football pundit in the State, Chief Christopher Okonkwo has lauded the efforts and vision of the Super Eagles Coach Eric Chelle for going from one venue of the Nigeria Domestic Nigeria Professional Football League match to the other in monitoring Nigerian players, with a view to invite some exceptional good one discovered into the main stream of the Super Eagles team.
Okonkwo, who made the commendation in an interview at the Port Harcourt Club recently, described the positive move by Coach Chelle as a good step in the right direction, noting that the practice was how its been done in the past among any contracted coach assigned to tinker the Super Eagles team.
“Truly, it has been an old tradition in the country seeing any newly engaged Coach to lead the National team, visiting some our Nigeria League venues during the league matches to spot light some good talents that could be used to beef up some grey areas in the department of Eagles team”
He, however, frowned at the current situation where our coaches had continously been over depending on the use of foreign based players during invitation of players to the National camp, thereby, relegating the domestic home based league players to the background as if they have nothing much to offer to the team.
“I can vividly recall that the likes of great players in the mode of Finidi George, Taribo West, Kanu Nwankwo, Austin Okocha, Richard Owobokiri, Emmanuel Osuigwe among others started from Nigeria football league before they graduated to play in Europe through which they later invited to Super Eagles camp to represent Nigeria”
“Besides, I’m also of the view that going to secondary school football competitive games could equally serves as a a good platform to discover budding talents that could be nurtured to become great stars in near future”, Okonkwo frankly added.
Okonkwo, therefore, prayed that any football coach to be engaged by the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) to tinker the Super Eagles should be told not to confine himself in staying in big hotel alone but to be visiting some of our local league match venues, with a view to discover some good players that can be drafted into the Super Eagles team.
“Indeed, I stand to be challenged that there some young good players in the Nigeria Professional League. If spotted and exposed, could give the some of the invited foreign based players a stiff competitive fight in securing a postion in the team”, Okonkwo emphatically stated.
Ezechukwu, one of the youngest members of the Nigerian contingent at the championship in Ghana, said her ambition was to win the 100m title in style and cap it with a new personal record.
The fresh secondary school graduate explained that she is fully focused on contributing to Team Nigeria’s medal hopes and is determined to deliver strong performances across her events.
“My main objective in Ghana is to clinch the 100m title and the 4×100m,” Ezechukwu told Tidesports source.
“Nigeria can be assured of my very best and my commitment to the Team. I would love to set a new personal best in Ghana, but anything that comes, I will take it. The spirit in the team is high, and I think we are ready to go,” she said.
Ezechukwu, who was part of Nigeria’s women’s 4x100m relay squad at the World Relays in Botswana, said the experience gained from that competition has strengthened her mindset heading into the continental championships.
She admitted that she learned valuable lessons from her previous outing, including a difficult moment during the relay where an early error affected the team’s rhythm, but said she has used the experience to improve her discipline and composure.
“The secret is just being disciplined, training hard and trusting my coach and believing in God, and the result will show,” she added.
The teenager is part of a 41-member Nigerian team comprising 24 female and 17 male athletes competing at the championships, which begin today at the University of Ghana, Legon.
Nigeria are expected to compete across multiple track and field events as they aim for a strong finish against the continent’s elite athletes.
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