Anger, disappointment, heartbreak and sorrow; were what Nigerians felt after the Super Eagles failed to qualify for the nations Cup for the first time since 1986.Nigerians watched in disbelief as the Guineans scored an injury time equaliser to effectively end Nigeria’s hope of playing at next year’s Nations Cup. Most fans in the national stadium in Abuja vented their anger and frustration by throwing bottles and cans into the stadium and called for the sack of Coach Samson Siasia.
With the elimination, Nigeria joins Egypt, Cameroon and South Africa as the heavyweights to miss the tournament. But who is to blame for Nigeria’s ouster, is it the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), Coach Samson Siasia, or the players?
First, the blame should go to the NFF. The failure of the Super Eagles was a systemic one. The NFF, in their usual way, has absolved themselves of the blame. After Nigeria’s disastrous outing at the FIFA World Cup in South Africa, instead of appointing a coach immediately, they chose to hire Austin Eguavoen on a temporary basis, who lacked the technical ability and mettle to handle the national team, When the Super Eagles lost to Guinea, putting Nigerians on the backfoot for most part of the qualification, Samson Siasia was employed after much clamour from Nigerians and was given the mandate to qualify Nigeria to the Nations Cup.
Since then, the NFF has been busy fighting one court case after another. Allegations of illegality was carried out by the NFF by rival factions, claiming the NFF received money from the government as NFA and operates as the NFF. A rival faction was created and after allegations, threats and counter threats, the minister of Sports, Yusuf Suleiman? brought the warring factions together and they all agreed to work together for the good of the game. Also, the Nigeria Premier League was in disarray. After MTN was awarded the sponsorship rights of the league, GLO protested that the bidding process was flawed and that MTN bidded in the name of Total Promotions, which was against the rules. The chairman of NPL, Davidson Owunmi, was sacked by a court and was eventually replaced by? Rumson Baribote, hence the league? suffered several postponements.
Never in history of Nigerian football have the fans clamoured for a local coach the way they clamoured for Samson Siasia. After achieving? relative successes with the Flying Eagles and the Dream Team most Nigerians felt? Samson Siasia should be promoted to the senior team. But his critics would say he achieved success with the youth teams because Nigeria paraded over-aged players. Samson Siasia? was seen as the messiah and? was given the mandate to restore Nigeria football back to the glory days of the early 90s which he was part of as a player. Coach Siasia’s era will be remembered for rifts with some high profiled players.
Although, a player should not be bigger than the coach, but Siasia was having one rift too many. During the qualifiers he showed that he was technically deficient and lacked the ability to read games and make the rightful substitutions. His preferred formation of 4-2-4 was totally flawed and when he play the 4-3-3 formation, he usually did that with the absence of a holding midfielder, deploying Mikel to a holding role for the Super Eagles even as he has shown times without number that he is arguably the most overrated player that Nigeria has ever produced. Nigerian and
African coaches in general have shown that they don’t have what it takes to be successful at coaching at the highest level. To be fair to the NFF, Siasia was given everything to succeed, unlike previous local coaches. He was given the free hand to choose his assistants? and was the highest paid local? coach in the history of Nigeria. Samson Siasia is not mature enough to handle the pressure and lead the Eagles to the promised land. Some ex-internationals have? also expressed their disappointment at the Super Eagles ouster.
Former Super Eagles midfielder, Garba Lawal believes the mandate given to Samson Siasia was to qualify Nigeria for the Nations Cup and he failed to do so. “ You have to look at Siasia’s contract. If it is in his contract to qualify Nigeria for the Nations Cup, then both sides; the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF) and Coach Samson Siasia should tread the path of honour and his contract should be terminated. Also, former Super Eagles winger, Tijani Babangida, has urged Samson Siasia to resign.Tijani stressed that the team’s performance against the Syli Stars in Abuja was poor and the coach should be held responsible.
“It was a thing of mourning for Nigerians, that the Eagles failed to qualify for the Nations Cup in the front of the home fans. “With this bad event befalling our football today by the so-called Siasia`s Eagles, he (Siasia) should come out as the ship head to apologise and tender his resignation publicly before he is forced to do so by angry football fans across the country”.
“With the Guineans having not gone to the African Nations Cup for years now and then coming to Nigeria to achieve that feat, that was a disgrace on the so-called giant of Africa,” he said.
The former Ajax Amsterdam of Holland striker also advised the Super Eagles players to apologise publicly for their dismal display in Abuja.
“With the missed chances in the first half of the encounter, the players involved should come out publicly and apologise to the nation or face the music from soccer loving and angry Nigerians,” he also warned.
The players should also take some of the for the blame. They played most of the match with no real sense of urgency and as though nothing was at stake. Emmanuel Emenike had no business playing the whole 90 minutes in the Guinea game,Mikel and Osaze, the two focal points of the team failed to step up their game.Only Ike Uche,Nsofor? and Ahmed Musa showed they were worthy of the Eagles shirt.