Sports

Yes, Nigeria Needs A Foreign Coach

Published

8 years ago

July 1, 2016

We are looking for
the best man for the job, not the best English man” – English FA chief, Martin Glein on the next Three Lions coach.
What else do I need to buttress my position than this quote? These are the inventors of the game but for the third time in recent times, they are not ruling out the possibility of a foreigner taking charge of the national team.
There is a proposal to have U21 coach Gareth Southgate on interim basis for about a year to supervise the World Cup qualifiers.
He could land the job on permanent basis afterwards, but the FA know his limitations and the odds against him. They have Claudio Ranieri and Arsene Wenger on their wishlist in the long term.
But here we are contesting the rationale behind NFF’s decision to hire a foreign coach. You could argue against the delay in hiring the foreign coach given the enormity of the assignment at hand; you could also contest the quality and qualification of the in-coming coach; but you can’t contest the fact that we need to look beyond these shores this time.
Nobody can comfortably argue in favour of an indigenous coach being at the helm of the national team during these World Cup qualifiers. We have stood behind them for eight years now.
Yes, beyond the four months Lars Lagerback was on the saddle in 2010, local coaches have been in charge since 2008. During this period, we have used six of them namely Shuaibu Amodu, Austin Eguavoen, Samson Siasia, Stephen Keshi, Sunday Oliseh and Salisu Yusuf. But where is our football today?
In six AFCONs during this period (if you include the already bungled AFCON 2017), we have missed four. We have not been to three of the last four and for the first time, we are missing AFCON back-to-back. So, from being the traditional bronze medalists at AFCON, we are no longer guaranteed a ticket which the likes of Cape Verde now secure with more ease.
This is where the confidence reposed on our indigenous coaches for the last eight years has placed us. So if you were the NFF president today, would you still go for an indigenous coach? What indices would you be relying on to take such a decision?
If you keep doing something the same way and it is not working wouldn’t you do it differently and see if it works. If you persist on that faulty formula, that is the definition of FOOLISHNESS.
Most of the countries bossing us on the continent today have foreign coaches. We keep sticking to what we have and keep retrogressing. At the risk of being lampooned by the indigenous coaches and their apologists (as if I hate them more), the truth must be told.
We have exhausted all we have here and nothing seems to be working. There is a new generation of coaches coming up like Emmanuel Amuneke, Imama Amapakabo and Kennedy Boboye. We have to wait for them to develop but before then, a foreigner should be on the saddle.
We need somebody who doesn’t know anybody here; that will not take recourse to any players agent. We need somebody to eschew sentiments; extend invitations and make selections on merit and bring us back to winning ways.
Yes, our football is at that point when we must get our playing personnel spot on to move on. May be I’m being so blunt; but the fact is that questionable selections, biased invitations fueled by ‘paddy paddy’ players’ agents have been the bane of our national team for the past eight years.
That is what has brought us to where we are today. That is what has brought this GIANT down to its knees. That is what has made this ELEPHANT a prey for ANTS.
At some point, England fell back on the likes Sven Goran Erickson and Fabio Capello. Now they have failed again with an indigenous coach and have not ruled out the possibility of hiring a foreign coach.
Perhaps, we will also argue that we have better indigenous coaches than England. Will we also contend that we have more established internationals than a country that has the likes of Alan Shearer, Rio Ferdinand and Garry Neville also eyeing the job. But they are simply being frank with themselves.
I’m more concerned with how soon this new foreign coach will be unveiled. The argument to allow a local coach execute the October World Cup qualifier doesn’t hold water. Our group opponents Algeria just signed on a Serbian coach. This announcement should not go beyond next week. Three months is ample time to prosecute a World Cup qualifier and get a result.
Of course, he will have the formality AFCON qualifier against Tanzania to get a good look at his boys in a competitive setting.
We also have to be concerned about the qualifications of the coach. We are not looking for a Pep Guardiola or Jose Mourinho, but we could get a decent enough coach. The fact is that the Guardiolas don’t come to Africa. Most of the coaches who come to this continent hone their stuff here. We may not get a Grade A coach but we can get a grade B or C+ but not a D. Once we sort out the timing and the quality of the coach, it’s okay.
Let’s do what we have not been doing for the past eight years – hand a foreign coach a long-term contract.
We will come back to our indigenous coaches, they are here with us. But we need a revolution.
Nwankpa Jnr is a sports analyst

Clement Nwankpa Jnr

Sports

Chess Championship: Dan-Jumbo Emerges Best Female Player

Published

2 days ago

April 30, 2024

The Tide

The third edition of Naphtail Chess Open Championship which ended on Wednesday in Port Harcourt saw Rivers State born Queen Dan-Jumbo emerged best female player in the tournament following her impressive performance.

It was clash of the Titans as top Chess players in Nigeria gathered to chase honours.

The three days competition was held at Vee Hotel, Trans Amadi ,in Port Harcourt and over 80 players in Nigeria registered for the tournament this championship was recognised by International Chess Federation (FIDE).

Speaking with Tidesports in an exclusive interview on Saturday, Dan-Jumbo said her dream was to become Grand Master in Chess worldwide.

According to her, she started playing Chess at the age of 15 but went into it professionally in 2009 as she represented Rivers State in National Sports Festival (NSF) in Kaduna, the same year.

“I started playing Chess in the early 2000s. I picked the interest through my my elder brother as him and his friends always play Chess in our compound so I began to learn it.

” In 2009 I went to National Sports festival in Kaduna represented Rivers State and I won a silver medal on my board.

“In 2011 and 2012 NSFs I won two Gold medals each hosted by Rivers and Lagos States respectively. While in Edo NSF I won bronze medal” Dan-Jumbo said.

The Asari-Toru, in Rivers State born Chess player use the forum to advice upcoming Chess players to be focus, saying losing a game is part of every competition but the most important thing was that you don’t lose hope.

“My advice for upcoming chess players was that don’t lose focus. Even when you lose, find a way to adjust and get back out”, she added.

Tonye Orabere

Sports

Siasia Blames NFF Over FIFA Ban

Published

6 days 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

6 days 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.