Of sycophants, Amodu and Super Eagles

@Olukayode, your sentiment taken, however, the problem runs a lot deeper than Amodu in my opinion. The Nigeria FA could have promoted siasia, brought in the likes of Okocha to Assist, encouraged a strong team of ex- internationals of which Nigeria has many to form a very strong coaching team, but it chose a coach who-lets be honest in limited in technical skills. I fail to see the point of being critical of coach Amodu when he did not appoint himself. For Nations Cup level, he has shown he can actually get to the final. On the part of the players, they have to play to formation. Aiyegbeni has encouraged the coach to play him in every match (????-no comment, no money exchanged hands) and he simply should not be there. However that is what Nigeria has at present. I think the Nigeria FA has a lot of questions to answer. How is it that majority of the players at Nations cup are struggling at their local teams. Is the Nations Cup an opportunity for players to get fit or an opportunity to discover new talent al 'a Okocha 1994, al 'a Ghana nations cup team? Coach Amodu is similar to george graham of Arsenal-horrid football but results count (Africa Nations Cup level). I do however believe the nation should support the national team as they are playing a semi final! But don't be suprised if the Nigeria FA appoint Paul Gascoyne (England and on medication) manager! Maybe they should consider a few politicians!

I think this journalist is being "too,too critical" of the team. The argument isn't balanced, the efforts put in by some of the players not recognized. Also linking it up with Nigeria's present issue of a sick president too is not proper. You can't say Nigerians are just looking, there's always a build up for every revolution/ movement.... we are beginning to see it today in Nigeria. You've ignored so many considerable issues when being critical. This is too imbalanced!!!

It was really pitiful to see an Amokachi put his hand over his head caressing it back and forth and sleeping back on the bench in apparent want of what to do. This is the same product of one of the most successful sides Nigeria ever assembled. It's unfortunate how we lose it and never ever want to pick it up. Amodu's proponents will tell you he has performed. That Zambian side was simply not good enough to hold even a Nigerian u-21 on a good day. Removing Etuhu for Ayila was an unimaginable change. Amodu should simply go, after all it's the same as going to the world cup to be disgraced with him or with someone else. At least he and his lacklustre players have already earned themselves millions at the expense of the poor tax-payers who get nothing but heart-attack from watching people that should heal them of same.

that' ur own side of it. u better watch ur mouth b/4 it put u in troblem.may God help u

Just wasted a few minutes of my life that I would never get back reading this diatribe. Winners do not need sycophants. Unfortunately, perhaps only in Nigeria would someone who has lost merely a single competitive game in two years be branded a failure. But then again, like little kiddies, many Nigerians are overly fascinated by flash over real substance.

Mr writer, winning is the most important thing in football. A foreign coach can't do better than what Amodu had done and mind you the teams that had lost in this tournament have foreign coaches to their credit. Let us atleast give thanks to God.

if your description of the game is true, then our coach is the best thing on earth, because, the zambians should have given us 12 - 0....we have a lucky coach NOT a good one...let us ride his luck until he fails...do you know that even if amodu wins this cup, there would still be some people asking him to be fired...

@jb and lukmon This writer is not a Nigerian and does not have a clue. Nigeria is in the semi-final and that is all that matters. It really is a crying shame that we always like to negate our own. One must learn to be objective and not let personal vandetta oe sentiments cloud one's better judgement.

I totally agree with the Kayode, i think we have a big problem with our people and administrators, how come we see what is bad yet hail it as good; i have just read one of the honest piece about our performance by kayode. I hope all our administrators could reason like him, and then we will be on the right track, but no trust Nigerians, they will think the other way, only when we are disgraced or befell with disaster that we will all agree that something ought to have been done. My Kenyan friend told me that if we don’t change our coaches and some of these boys we will be a disgrace to Africa at the world cup, i knew that he was right, the way we play points to that. The team playing pattern have not changed since Amoudu took over, we have always been playing with the fans praying for luck each time, is that a way a team should play?, cant we appreciated good football, if we play well and loose at least we are sure that we have a team. Look at Zambia (with 16yrs old player) outsmarting us both technically and in every department of the game, we were just chasing them round the field, what a shame. This is the time to make a change, SACK AMOUDU AND OVERHAUL THE TEAM

Everything is wrong with Nigerian as a nation so football can't be an exception.Riots all over the country,fuel scarcity,murdering of politicans,failed banks,looting of treasury,419,kidnapping in the East,emergenance of terrorist and worst of all an ailling President.My brothers e go better one day. Things will continue like this in a long while till we put our acts together and elect leaders that are God fearing and truthful.Amodu or whatever u call him is not the problem because there are people whose responsible is to hire/fire coaches just like the honorable members that said their hands are tied.

@Sam @JB I think you are a true picture of what the writer is talking about, doyou expect us to go to world cup with this kind of team and a no experiance coach, you guys should think again pls.

It's disheartning to see people react wrongly to a positive criticism. The team is zero. I bet u all will change ur stand when the result is different. That's why Nigeria has a long way to go, what a pity.

@ lukman, no body is agitating a foreign coach rather acoach that is technically sound and good, pls let us face the fact , the nations cup is to show us how prepared our coaches and the team players are , clearly we have seen nothing,and we are running in luck, we willbe highly exposed by the time we go tothat world cup.

@lukmon, i quote u- "A foreign coach can't do better than what Amodu had done and mind you the teams that had lost in this tournament have foreign coaches to their credit" do u think that ferguson or the great one of inter would have a squad like wat we have? just because a coach has white skin doesnt make him foreign in the sense of it. Amodu is a fittnes trainer. He lacks every coaching ability,always atributing play on the field to miracle and luck.Imagine the Amodu man calling Keshi for assisitance in the World cup. where's siasia, or any other reasonable person. he lacks technical ability to take a team. No strategy, just play it the way you(players) know.Our country doesnt have a president or he has become a rig worker so wat do we expect to have in other sectors?

@ FRANK, why would any intelligent person not "change their stance" when results are different? The very nature of intelligence infers an ability to change one's opinion based on changing facts. With all due respect, it is only the obtuse who insist on making changes to a winning team. @ JOHN C, good teams make their own "luck" and one is reasonably certain that the coaches of CIV and Cameroun wished that they were so "lucky". Of course, it is unfortunate commentary on the mentality of some Nigerians that a coach who has consistently gotten the requisite results (including two WC qualifications) has been reduced to merely being "lucky". How one wishes that our leaders were so "lucky"!

I have to say that Shuaibu Amodu is an unimaginative coach who is unable to adapt to changing conditions particularly during fast paced matches. In my opinion he selects names and not players and this is what has been responsible for the disjointed performance of the Eagles. He should borrow a leaf from the Egyptian coach who I believe is the best in Africa for good reason. For example during our match with Egypt he pulled his players back in the first half and let us do all the work including unproductive lateral and back passes. In the second half when we ran out of steam and lost concentration he hit us with two devastating and clinical counter attacks and made Suya of the Eagles, whose defenders were ball watching instead of man marking the Egyptians. He again did the same thing with Cameroon in the quarter finals. Amodu, this the sort of thing what we expect from the coach of our beloved team, and not someone whose key contribution is to keep the coaching bench warm. And believe me, if you deliver we will praise you.

I was just about to accuse JB of being unduly harsh on Nigerians until I came across Freddrick's pronouncement that "if we play well and loose at least we are sure that we have a team." Shikena! So there are really Nigerians out there who prefer to lose playing pretty football than to win in whatever manner possible? Kai, my people are truly special. LOL!

Now i can see why Nigeria is the way it is, if the truth is staring @ us and yet we see nothing wrong with this team simply bcos we are winning, i weep for my country. This is a true refelection of the rot we are in.

coach plus players should be sacked after the tournament.period

I watched this game, my comments about this bunch of players are worse than the the writers. We played the game with no urgency, purpose or direction. Our passes were going back to our own goalie most of the time. Our attempts at the opponents goal was few and far between and when it happened the attempts were feeble, we hard 2 corner kicks as oppose to 100(exergeration but it seemed like it) by the Zambuans. Let us face it, these players are older than they claim to be, that is why they tired out. We were schooled by the younger Zambians, we can't keep up with the pace. They were playing for the extra time and go for penalty kicks, no wonder Shaibu took out Etuhu and replaced with a defensive midfielder Ayila(he saved 2 sure goals). For a World Cup bound team playing the likes of Zambia, they were looking for the referee to save them. What an embarassing way to steal a win(the best team went home). Let us face it, most of our players are bench warmers at their respective European clubs and we call these average players our best in a country of over 140 million(has our sporting standard gone that low?). Yes I do blame the coach who fielded these kind of players, he does not really understand the game, games are not won by the club u play for, but the understanding of roles by the players. Let us borrow from the Egyptians, Zambians and Ghanians that are fielding mostly local players. Afterall, our local teams performed exceptionally at the various African competitions. They face all these players and win(Kano Pillars defeating Al Ahly of Egypt, Al Ahly players make up 40 percent of the Egyptian squad). Anyway, these bunch of players are not World Cup calibre players. We have benefitted from a good draw at the World Cup qualifying matches and the current African nations cup. We do not neccessary need a foreign coach, but we need a technically better coach. My 2 cents.

We Thank God that we won that match agains zambia.what i want to say about our coach amodu or what ever they call him. he did't know his job as a coach.we need foriegn coach 4 2010 worldcup.i dont know y nigeria critcise mikel obi may be because he was a lucky boy

JB, when i refer to luck it is akin to someone saying a lucky general, it does not mean that he does not have the training, men and materials, but certain things favour him, lucky leaders are difficult to come by, because their assignment is for a longer duration...generals and coaches are hired to carry out a campaign and when there is any sign of failure they are relieved of their post...amodu is our lucky coach...take my advice...lets ride his luck for the time being...

@ cochito, so the egyptian coach plotted that ricochet off taye taiwo's backside for the go-ahead goal that effectively changed the complexion of that game (by compelling us to push forward and open up ourselves for counters). that is true ingenuity that does not involve any "luck" whatsoever in getting results. how unfortunate that this genius of a coach will be watching the sa 2010 wc from the comfort of his beanbag at home, while the lucky amodu unimaginatively secured our participation.

process doesnt count, only results do. That's why we venerate politicians and our sons adore cultists and yahoo-yahoo boys. It's not necessary to be competent and hardworking, not neceessary to put your best feet forward as long as you get results. Same kind of thinking that makes some idiot promise to deliver 6,000MW pere. He didnt deliver, he has not apologised and nobody is asking for his head. It's okay this is Naija. God is a citizen of the state, we'll keep winning. Who needs a structure.

I wonder why people think we can solve our soccer problems alone when we have failed in every other area. Football is not a mutually exclusive sector of our lives; our woes are interwovened and until we recognise that our house is sinking, it will be a waste of time. In that light, I even think the Super Eagles have tried. Yeah. Did u hear how Best Ogedegbe died? Have u seen many ex-super eagles who are living in poverty. Some ended their careers from injuries suffered while playing for Nigeria. If Mikel picks an injury now, Chelsea will pay for the treatment. These are all fundamental flaws and could be linked to the same rot we see in our everyday lives from health, infrastructure, electricity, education etc. In fact, I pray the team fall so we can have nothing to celebrate. When we keep winning with mediocrity, a false sense of greatness will continue enveloping us which doesnt help at all. The last thing that makes us happy is football. Maybe when football totally fails; then Nigerians will wake up and know the game is up. Maybe then they will rise up and protest against Yaradua, his corrupt aides and all vices going on in this country.

@ JIBS, although much of Nigerian public discourse and commentary rarely elevate itself above the polar extremes of the alternate canonization and demonization of individual persons (as this article so poignantly does), real life is much more nuanced and rarely that black-and-white. There are actually several things wrong with this team but there are also several things right with it (of which WINNING is probably the most important of several). And truly smart people do not throw away the baby with the bathwater -- only Nigerians do. lol!

Olukayode Thomas, you are a great critic.Your type can mess up peoples carrier. Amodu and his boy's the super chikens as you named them, are clueless fine, they are, but let me remind you that your boot size is in the market your jessy and short size are all in the market you are very free to go and get them and start training so that you continue from where they stopped and do more than they have done. What nonsense do you think its easy to run round that field for 45 minutes or do you think they are playing that game with women. my friend its man to fellow man.so stop that your pointless criticism. It means if you were to be the president at BENABEU you will sack the coach because they lost against BARCA or sack PEP GUADIOLA because they lost against that nonsense club in the champions league group stage. if the super eagles were able to reach this stage they are really super.

Out of the four coaches in Nation's cup semi finals (3 are indigenous coaches). You people shout too much about getting a coach with "experience".......what better can a foreign coach do? For your info, if NFF/PTF choose a coach now...it will be a lame coach. can you imagine them thinking of mozambique's coach or zambia's coach. If you can't get a Guss Hiddink or a Mourinho.....forget it!!!...let Amodu take them for world cup.

Tosin, please ask for your change! LOL! Because those home- based players you seem to think will set the WC alight could not even qualify for the home-based African Nations Championship. And of course if you actually live here in Nigeria with the rest of us, you must know that most of those same home-based players travel out virtually every month for (often unsuccessful) trials at such places as Slovenia, Vietnam and Malta. PS: If the "best" team could neither score over 120 minutes nor convert all of its PKs, then it truly deserved to go home.

nigeria is hopelessly useless team that should not go to the world cup,never seen a team so poor and disjointed yet they qualify,but soon they,ll run out of luck...and they lose massively.I have been a supporter of Nigeria national team since 1994 .but truth be said this is the worst team i have seen,they simply lack self belief ,and after along spell the coach dooesnt know who to include in first eleven

@ OLUMIDE, no need to resort to emotionalism (by dragging in cultists and fraudsters) where rationality fails. Is Amodu a cultist? With all due respect, any process that does not lead to an ultimate result is merely a self-indulgent luxury.

Amodu's mandate from his employers was to get us to the semi-finals and he has done so. 'Unfortunately' his employers did not say anything about playing attractive football to achieve this. Most Nigerians love their teams to play attractive football, whilst also winning matches My advise to Amodu and the NFF is that they should inject fresh young blood into the team, preferably from the local league to boost our chances at the forthcoming world cup and, most, importantly scout for a creative midfield player.

Dayo, shuu, u truly belief just because Enyeama caught a shot and scored a goal all is well with Super eagles, don't worry, frankly, they do not even deserve to qualify from their group but God knows best. Shuabu is not competent technically simple. And we have good local coaches, try Siaisia

Amodu's mandate from his employers was to get a semi-final ticket which he has done. "Unfortunately", the NFF did not say how or what brand of football his team should play. Seriously speaking, Amodu clearly needs to beef his team up with some of the best local lads in the land and by all means, the team needs to get a creative midfielder. If Amodu has kept his part of the bargain, then he should be allowed to take the team to the world cup. If you must blame anyone, blame the NFF.

what a good and truth write-up! I had been saying it for uncountable times, are we cursed as a nation for always puting a square peg in a round hole?can any reasonable human being tell me wether we have a coach or a magician?since we are too short sighted as a country that out of millions of coaches in Nigeria, Amodu(vodoo coach) is the best for us, we will all face the consequence. only, there is nothing some of us can do, even if we win nations cup, that team together with football authority not only need to be banned but to face a panel for a tresonable offence for toiling with emotions of 150millions Nigerians. thank you a lot Mr kayode, we don't know we still have a decent & truth sport writer like u in this country of ours where coruption is the order of the day from head to the toes.

@ JB. i think a simple poll of opinion so far is evident what people generally want from this game - ENTERTAINMENT. The Angolan team was kicked out in the qtr finals yet the country celebrated them. why? because they were entertained and they understand is just one cup. Nigerian teams have also lost games in the past and were not criticised because we were satisfied with their effort. This game brings every corner of this country together and can be an instrument of reconciliation and peace. I imagine the day an Okocha, Kanu, Osaze or any of these guys with huge followership embarks on a mission to reconcile tribal/religious differences that challenge us today. the audience will be great. so you can understand why is important that we get it right.

Amodu has a history of playing horrible football. He played horrible football against a young and determined Mali in ANC 2002 and eventually his luck ended at the semi final stage. The problem with the team is not the players it is the coach. The SE need an injection of a Siasia not a Keshi.

football is played with light.a country that has no light [power] as the white men call it,how will they play.didnt you see Obafemi Martins runining over the ball against Zambia on several ocasions.you train for darkness and play in the light in competitions.no light in a country like Nigeria....Its the begining of our every day fall till we realise and wake up from our slumber.How many Nigerians watched that match?or had light.Amodu u try .kudoos to ur crew.....

"what would it benefit us if we played ,good entertainining football, or play to the gallary but lost each game?" we want the winnig points irrespective or play or game pattern. SO LETS BE HAPPY WE ARE IN THE SEMI-FINAL. Coach Amodu and his boys would strategise and take care of the likes of Argentina when the time comes.Lets not be faster than our legs.

Olukayode's comment on Amodu and Super Eagles assessment is welcomed both in magnitude and direction. Amodu should not use the national team to compensate his relations as well as those who shows appreciation after match bonous. we want hium to feild in players based on fitness.yakubu has no bussines in this current ANC.

This writer has made my day! i watched the game via Eurosport in German language where the comentator was lambasting the super chickens for playing without direction, even though they all play in big clubs in Europe, and some Nigerians in this blog and at home finds no fault with the team. It´s a fact that country called Nigeria has no future with the level of sycophancy in it.

This is the most childish unprofessional piece I have ever seen. Its so unfortunate how a piece like this ever got pasr editorial. I am not for praise singing or sycophancy. But for god sake there are ways you can write a piece and make your views know without resorting to name calling. It makes me feel this piece was written by some 12 year old kid. I would like to bring out some issues which many of our so called analyst failed to see. - Having Europe best players is now a course in disguise Eever wonder why the west African region of Africa a region where many describe as the power house of African Football where 80% of the High profile players in Africa come from. Yet the last time a country from west Africa won the Nations cup was 16 years ago when Nigeria won it in 1994. Ever since neither of Senegal ( with their failed golden generation) Ghana, Ivory Coast, or Nigeria have lifted Afcon inspite of producing some of the best players in the world. Ever wondered why the nations cup in recent times have been dominated by countries with strong domestic league where 80% of the team are home based? South Africa in 1996, Egypt in 1998, Tunisia in 2004, Eygpt in 2006 and again in 2008. Do you see a trend. With the exception of Cameroon every country that have won the nations cup in the last 16 years are countries with strong domestic leagues where 80% of national team players come from the domestic league. The big* countries with 95%-100% Europe based players have all fumbled and wumbled (tm). The problem is simple to understand. Football is a team sport and it require that players most have played together for a long period of them. The players know each other, off the pitch there still maintain a close friendship which is always important for team spirit and cordination. The advantage you get with this setup is that your national team players are easier to assemble and train for longer period of times without any limitations. Compare to countries where over 95% of players play abroad were its not always easy to get clubs to release players even for major Tournaments the required 2 weeks rules which require clubs to release a player before every major Tourney is never obeyed and players arriving 3-2 days to a championship is now the norm. In such a sinerio what you have are 11 super star strangers on the pitch. There all come from different style of football. and are required to gel in such a short period of time? No football doesn't work that way. It is a team sport and there is no miracle that any coach can perform which would make 22 players suddenly develop a rhythm after playing together for just 3 days it just doesn't work that way with football. The result is a situation where so called smaller team (small because majority of their players play in their domestic league.) start to upset the Bigger teams. There was a time in African football where it was an advantage to have Big* players in Europe. This was a time when the profile of african players is not as big as it is now. Were many african players always warmed the bench or where just squared members and most play for smaller European teams (mostly in Belgium and france) Hence players can leave their club for weeks and would not be missed. times have changed friends. African players are now hot cakes and clubs want to hold on to them afor as much as possible. making them less and less available for their national team. Take alook at the trend in this nations cup Mali: The country with the best mid field in Africa on paper based the number of High profile players who play in their midfield. They didnt even make it past the first round. Ivory Coast: On paper the best African Country ATM. there were roundly beaten by Algeria a country many of us cant even remember the name of one of their player before the tourney. Cameroon: Another huge african country with top players playing in many big leagues in europe. there were beaten comprehensively by an Egyptian side largely made up of home best players Nigeria: Another country that took 100% foreign based players to Afcon was on the ropes for most of their games against Zambia and had to result to penalties to win their game The facts speaks for themselves friends. The problem of Nigerian team goes beyond just the Coach. Amodu may not be the best coach in the world. But given the situation I think he has done a good job and we should all praise him for that. In other to ever make an impact in Afcon we have to put our house in order and fix our domestic leagues so that we can produce a team largely based on home based players who have time to get to train and know each other. add one of 3 experience players from Europe and you have a killer recipe for Afcon. Blaming the coach is really just trying make him a scape goat for a much more bigger problem. Many people say that Siasia is the best coach we have, forgeting that on 2 occassions when he took laurels for the nations he used players who have been playing together for over a year. In 2005 he took a bunch of largely unknown players to the u21 tourney and there got a silver. what many didnt know what the fact that Siasia boys had been playing together for clsoe to 2 years preparing for the championship same time happened in the olympic were he took roughly same players and got a silver. What happened when we was drafted to a team in just less then 4 months to the championship? his boys failed. why? lack of consistency. I end my rather long post with this saying I player that makes the team great is better than a great player

Ahmodu no good, Ahmodu no good... yet he is giving you favorable results.; Ahmodu no good, Ahmodu no good...yet we recruited him for the 4th time to handle the national team!; Ahmodu no good, Ahmodu no good...yet he has played about 17 matches and only lost 2! (That is more than 98% success rate.); Ahmodu no good, Ahmodu no good... yet he has given u the world cup ticket; Ahmodu no good, Ahmodu no good...yet he gave u nations cup ticket; Ahmodu no good, Ahmodu no good...yet he has taken you to the semi-finals! If E come good nko? C'mon guys give the brother a break.!!!

I HEREBY WITHDRAW MY COMMENT AGAINST KAYODE EALIER ON. I HAVE COME TO REASON WITH HIS ARTICAL. AND EVERYTHING HE HAS SAID IS POSITIVE. AFTER THE TOURNAMENT AMODU SHOULD GO. LET US FORGET BIG NAMES AND PLAY REAL FOOTBALL, AT THE MOMENT WE ARE PLAYING NAMES. WE NEED PURE RESHOFFLEMENT IN OUR NATIONAL TEAM. KAYODE I WILL LIKE TO HEAR FROM YOU AFTER THE GAME AGAINST GHANA. THANK YOU

Nigerians are too critical when it comes to soccer! Be objective in your assessment. You cannot play a good game every time. However, if you find a way to win on an off-day, thank your stars and be kind to the players who do the job. The gap in soccer is a lot closer than you think. Italy win urgly games that is why they are the defending champions1

@bigbrovar. Your piece is obviously 'matured' but you'll be shocked to know that Amodu do not agree with your views. Coaches are asked to submit their plans before the tournament and i wonder if Amodu had submitted a plan saying he wants to groom lacal players 5 or 10 months before the tournament. he had said on national media he lacks confident in local players. You said the writer was childish yet you agreed that the performance of the team was bad but with your so-called reason. A spade is A spade. gbam.

Please NFF, sack Amodu now before it is too late. Bring in Samson Siasia, to rearrange our super Eagle.

I VE DECIDED 2DO DIS WRITE IN CAP LETA 4 EMPHASIS N DISTINCTION.I AM NOT A PROPONENT OF D WRITER NIDA AM I AMODU'S VANGUARD.I AM ONLY WRITING TO BRING PPLE IN D KNOW ABT SM AWESOME DAT LL HELP KNW IF WE'VE REALY DONE UNDA AMODU OR NOT.WHILE I WRITE,I LK PPLE 2CONSIDA D FOLLOWIN STATED FACTS WT BIASE BT ON D BASIS OF TRUTH,EQUITY &JUSTICE. 1994-AFTA WESTEROFF LEFT D MANTLE FELL ON AMODU BASE ON IS EXPLOIT WT BCC LIONS & AM SURE WE ALL AGREE DT D SE OF 1994 WS A COMPLETE TEAM.ON NOV 14TH WE HD A MATCH WT ENG IN WCH ENG WERE OUTPLAYED@WEMBLEY BT WE LOST TNX 2 A GOAL BY DAVID PLATT.THOUGH WE LOST BT D WHOLE NATION WS HAPY WT DRE PERFORMANCE UNDA AMODU.1995-DEN CAME D CONFEDERATION CUP WEN AMODU WS PRESENTED D OPPORTUNITY 2 SELECT A TEAM 4 A MAJOR TOURNAMENT 4D 1ST TIME BT NOT WT OUT CONTROVERSY-TRADE MARK AMODU BEEN A SENTIMENTAL BUSINESS MAN DAN A COACH DECIDED 2REVIVE D CAREER OF HIS BOYS OR HW DO U EXPLAIN D INCLUSN OF BARNABAS IMENGA SAM PAM & MANGA MOHAMMED.RECALL DT IT WS D SAME AMODU DAT SED OUR HM BASE R NT GD 4 ACN YT DEY WORTHY OF A BIGA EVENT BK 1995 WEN OUR LIGUE IS NT AMONG D TOP 5 IN AFRICA.TO B CONTD...

@Pasito, thanks for the commentary but in English or broken please! laugh

@enyi i support ur comment as stated,I listen to same commentary on eurosports.Our team is a joke and i think the under 17 boys will even win them in any competition.Both the coach and players should be sacked and new blood brought in.We Nigerians always fail to face the truth in everything that is why our leaders get away with everything,because we support d wrongs.Mr Olukayode you said it all and God bless you for the write up.Our term is a joke period.

Bugsy Mcgraw, you are a good man. I was beginning to wonder myself.

I am not fond of Amodu's tactics. That being said, his record is impeccable. This man has one of the best winning records of any National team coach on any level. The style might not be impressive, but it brings results.

What a beautifully written article! The points are well made. In football, there should be tactics and technicality with a little bit of luck. It is totally wrong to be dependent on luck alone as Amodu does. Let me say it once more that we will surely lose to Ghana tomorrow. The Ghanaian players cannot squander chances like the Zambians. Anybody who doubts what I am saying should personally responde to me after 7:00 PM tomorrow. Even if we win the cup (which will never happen) Amodu must go.

By the time Amodu arrives Nigeria with the nations cup, then all the skeptics will shut up! One wonders what will be their reason for him to be sacked then. That his team didn't play well and yet won narrowly? It is only in Nigeria that a coach delivers on his targets and he gets sacked.e.g Phillipe Troussier. One must also mention the excesses of sport journalists in sport reportage in Nigeria. Every sport writer in Nigeria is a coach. Yet it is obvious 99% of them know next to nothing about coaching. But they run their mouth recklessly on radio,TV and other media condemning coach after coach forgeting their agenda setting function comes with a responsibility.

Winning counts and thank goodness we are ino the semis with a possible final,but truths be told,super eagles for the past two years have played below par excellent football with alot of heartache for Nigerians,were football is a tonic ,vital drug that heals wounds and temporary make you forget worries,Our coach is not the best,but lets ride the luck that comes along with him.The future growth of our football should be on drawing baord right now,forget the world cup,sure we are there already,lets get capable ,sound and a technical coach with advance experience,to help us build and raise a better thing for the future and good of Nigeria football for the good of the game,Ghana is already ahead on this level by building a strong and youthfull team.

@Big Boss..Thanks for seeing the light with me jare. The problem with the team is that there are 150m nigerian coaches(including those who don't know the difference btw a ball and a goal-post!!!) Haba! If you have given a man a job to do then, for crying out loud, let him do it.

Please fellas stop all these criticisms...Amodu is Good n the players are encouraging.....pray for them n wish them well...the word of man is the word of God....how do we expect to reap good whereas we are busy conceiving troubles, fallacies, ingratitude....that always gives birth to evil...

Arusi, you are the kind of patriotic nigerian we need. If everyone thought like you, Nigeria would have carried the world cup by now. Before i start, let me make it categorically clear that i am not an amodu fan, so all my comments should be viewed as my subjective opinion. Let me ask the journalist that wrote this article a question. Has he ever coached in his life? Does he know what we call "pressure". Amodu is not a magician. Although the experience of a foreign coach is needed, the corruption and greed of our country has made our so called leaders are using the our national team as a political tool. That is why most of the good coaches who actually consider taking the job are fumbled failures like Berti vogts, who coached Scotland and recorded one of the worst losses in the history of the country. Yet, it was immediately after the his woeful defeat, we stupidly hired him. The few good ones have packed their bags and have promised never to come back. Wake up and smell the coffee. We are supposed to be the giants of Africa yet we have leaders that are too selfish to pay for a world class coach. Good coach= Success, Bad Coach= Failure, But we never know who is good or bad because we are too quick to judge. Leave Amodu to do his job. NFF, well done, you guys are motivating our boys paying the boys, even when it is not your responsibility, Thumbs UP. Presidential Task Force(PTF), PAY THE PLAYERS THEIR ENTITLEMENTS, STOP USING THEIR MONEY TO MAKE BANK INTEREST. BE PATRIOTIC

JB, I see that you are one of those that has held this country back from progress. How could you support Amodu's stay when it is obvious that the result the team is getting is not by his effort? Are you not aware that he was impressed upon to field some players when it became obvious that he would stick to those that would never get the result? Did you not see that he was the players were using their own experience and tactical knowledge to play the matches? Common we should all learn to celebrate holistic performance and not just result. After all why soccer regarded as the Beautiful Game. We saw how the Eagle lost games in the past with accolades from even their opponents. I felt proud each time an airport security refers to our national soccer team as 'good' at the point of boarding from any airport outside Nigeria (before Mutallab). We need good footballing and not just the result because that is what the Nigerian National team is known for. How can a Kanu go to settle rift in crisis-torn areas when he has not made the people happy by showing those skills he is known for. The team is just surviving on flukes, not even luck, although I believe the players could decide to play for themselves and not Amodu and still get the results.

Amodu is not a coach at all. NFA should do some thing before it is too late. We need a new coach in Nigeria to take Super Eagle to S/Africa.

ode (USA). I see you are an American football coach. You prefer to loose (like Zambia) and get accolades. Well, in Nigerian football, we prefer to win. Right now we are winning and we shall keep it that way your criticism or not.

Mr Kayode, you need to remove sentiments and your personal issues with Amodu from your reports. If you care to recall, Amodu took over a SEs side that failed at the quarter finals in Ghana, a side that lost to Uganda during the ANC qualifiers and a team that was coached by a white world class coach. He has taken the team this far playing some uninspiring football but with the right results. Against Zambia, we played and won. If you want to play well and lose then you need to realise that football is about results. You want the team to be overhauled, where in the world do you overhaul a team 5 months to the world cup? Where? Siasia took over the FEs some months to the U20 in Egypt and we saw the end product, we replaced Amodu with Onogbinde in 2002 and that change is still haunting us till date. What this side needs is support, tactical and technical support and we can build on the backbone of the present team. Your piece is really funny, in your bid to rubbish the work done so far in bringing the SEs from the depths the white world class coach took us, you end up shooting yourself in the foot, so you just realised that African football is mediocre really? I am sure if you had your way, no African side will play at the world cup. I can only say you are worse at your job than Amodu is at his own. I am sure you dont wish the side well, so you will come out to tell us you were right all along, but you fail to realise that in a competition only one side comes out tops and that side might not be Nigeria. If Nigeria falls to Ghana today, you will do a piece on how Ghana used young players while we are using old and tired legs. Funny writer.

Nigerians are very sentimental about football, especially when it concerns our National team. Granted that the Super Eagles did not play well against the Zambians-is that enough reason to denigrate the team by calling them Super Chickens? These boys are representing our country and I do not believe that name-calling would serve any useful purpose.A lot of commentators talk about our home-based players...the truth is that if they were good enough, they would be in one European league or another. What we should suggest are regular friendly matches to make the team better...I believe honestly that we are fielding our best players. Our motto should be 'My country, good or bad'.

I concur with Bigrovar's piece. You need consistency with players who know each other. Siasia needs to come in and be the technical advisor because the only players that know each other seem to be from his teams. NFF GET SIASIA TODAY!

NEXT sport you guys are good, I spoke with the devotees of SATGURU MAHARAJ JI they still insist that Nigeria will not carry the cup to teach T.B. jOSHUA A BIG LESSON. they say the Eagles will lost the semi final come what may

@patriot: The devotees of guru said we would not qualify from the first round, so I would take their posturing with a pinch of salt. How are they using Nigerian football to teach TB a lesson?

Nigeria futbul is not progressing.firstly,d so called NFF should b blame 4 any mistake dat any Nigeria national team made bcos wat happen at U-17 final was part of there mistake.why should d NFFpromise d players millions of naira 4 any goal scorer in d final?d players is does not av enough money,dats y u see d players(okoro n co) playing selfish game.About d sorry eagles,u cant blame d players.there coach statue amodu does not av brain,he lacks tactics,he doesn't know d appropriate players 2 pick 4 d tournament.so,how do u xpect d players d 2 perform wit d qualities of coach dey av.eagles cannot go beyond grp stage in d world wit d qualities of players n coaching crew dey av.suggestion: d coach should be sacked with d likes of yakubu,nwaneri,kanu.God bless