Gamegist.com » NFF http://gamegist.com Our Game, Our Passion, Our Gist Fri, 13 Aug 2010 21:33:05 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0 Siasia to be named as new Super Eagles Coach http://gamegist.com/2010/07/23/siasia-to-be-named-as-new-super-eagles-coach/ http://gamegist.com/2010/07/23/siasia-to-be-named-as-new-super-eagles-coach/#comments Fri, 23 Jul 2010 20:30:15 +0000 Eduoku http://gamegist.com/?p=461 At last, the big heads in the NFF have realised that what we need is a sound indigeneous coach who knows his ways around the quarkmire that is Nigerian football.

Samson Siasia will next month be named as the new boss of the Super Eagles. This will gladden the hearts of Nigerians who have been clamouring for the Bayelsa born tactician, and former Super Eagles darling player to be appointed as the Eagles coach.

Meanwhile, former coach Lars Lagerback has formally turned down the offer of a four year deal to continue as the coach of the team.

This much was confirmed by NFF president Aminu Maigari, here isthe excerpt from supersport.com.

NFF president Aminu Maigari said that Lagerback told him he did not wish to continue in his post despite being offered a four-year deal, with Samson Siasia being lined up as a replacement.

“Lagerback told me he could not continue as the coach of the Super Eagles because he feared that he might not be able to pen a four-year deal that would keep him in Nigeria for that long,” Maigari told sports daily Soccer Star.

“He thanked the NFF for the opportunity given him to take the eagles to the World Cup. He said the experience was worth it and that he would always remember Nigeria and her good people.” Maigari added that Lagerback told him that his family played a big role in his decision not to extend his five-month contract.

Lagerback was in charge when Nigeria finished bottom of their first round group at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

However, the NFF agreed to hand the Swede a long-term deal on the evidence of the work he put in within a short time.

The NFF top official also disclosed that Siasia will next month be confirmed as the country’s new coach on a four-year contract.

“We have had talks with Siasia. The talks have been fruitful and all things being equal, he will put pen to paper next month subject to negotiations,” said Maigari.

“Siasia is the coach Nigerians want and we shall give him all the support to succeed in this new job.” Siasia led the national team to the final of both the 2005 Fifa Under-20 World Cup as well as the 2008 Olympics.

The former Lokeren and Nantes striker is currently handling Heartland FC of Owerri in the CAF Champions League.

The NFF also announced that caretaker coach Austin Eguavoen will lead Nigeria to next month’s friendly against South Korea in Seoul, before taking over the Olympic team.

]]> http://gamegist.com/2010/07/23/siasia-to-be-named-as-new-super-eagles-coach/feed/ 0 NFF, Soccer Administrators or Jokers http://gamegist.com/2010/02/26/nff-soccer-administrators-or-jokers/ http://gamegist.com/2010/02/26/nff-soccer-administrators-or-jokers/#comments Fri, 26 Feb 2010 10:52:40 +0000 Eduoku http://gamegist.com/2010/02/26/nff-soccer-administrators-or-jokers/ I cautiously jumped with joy when finally, Nigeria’s soccer governing body, the NFF announced that Shaibu Amodu was demoted to the home based Eagles, and that a foreign technical adviser was going to be hired to take the Super Eagles to South Africa for the world cup.
I said cautiously because, in Nigeria, we take everything for granted. And i would say that once again, the NFF has let us down.
I was one of the many Nigerians that never like Amodu. The man just does not have what it takes to coach a top class team that the Super Eagles can be. He does not read the trend in a match, technically and tactically, the man isn’t there. Well, enough of him.
The question of Amodu’s successor has no doubt generated a lot of debate. Like it or not, Super Eagles is many Nigerians’ favorite team.
First the NFF came up with a list of so-called world class coaches including Louis Van Gaal, Guus Hiddink and Peter Taylor. Later, they came up with the likes of Giovanni Trapatoni, John Barnes, and the list got longer by the day. And while they busy writing names, Guus Hiddink and some others claimed they had not even been contacted officially. Needless to say that Hiddink had since signed for Turkey.
I asked myself severally, why would the NFF publish names of these high profile managers without first asking them if they would like the chance to coach Nigeria. It looked more to me like a failed exercise in publicity than a honest attempt to get our darling team the right manager.
My personal opinion in this issue is this, getting a foreign technical adviser is a good thing, but so close to the world cup, and searching for a good is the wrong thing to do. He has to settle down and get to know the players, drop the players he does not want and then bringing in the ones who will do battle for him is no mean feat, that in a country like Nigeria.
Getting a Foreign TA after the world cup, but giving the team to Samson Siasia for the world cup would have been the right thing to do. Siasia would then work with the TA as an assistant after the world cup.
It will be very painful if Nigeria don’t do well in the mundial on account of all of these distractions.

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