Super Eagles: The Impending Defeats

Tayo Balogun’s Column

Last Friday, someone who claimed to be from a radio station in Ghana which had constantly sought my views on issues related to football in Nigeria called to find out how well I feel our country would perform in next month’s Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) holding in Cameroon. I told him I really don’t know because just about everything is possible. We could top our group which includes Egypt, Sudan and Guinea Bissau, then limp on to the final and subsequently win The Trophy. We may place third in our group behind Egypt and Sudan. He insisted I should make a pitch and say exactly how I see our team performing next month some miserly two weeks away. What I told him forms the bulk of this article.

It appears to me that somehow our country has prepared to do badly in this competition. We sacked our coach less than a month to AFCON, appointed an interim coach who the NFF said would handover to a another one who could be appointed just before the tournament starts. Portuguese Jose Peseiro was confirmed as substantive coach by NFF board yesterday.

There is nothing wrong with the appointment of Austin Eguavoen as an interim coach but no one would excuse the attempt to whittle his influence and authority by helping to appoint ‘ Ambassadors’ for him. It didn’t work when Mark Aku appointed Adegboye Onigbinde and Alabi Aisien to help Amodu Shuaibu in a similar way for Mali 2002 AFCON.

What I believe we should have done is give Eguavoen a free hand to choose and manage his team. As of now, everything about our preparation is late. By now the Abuja camp should have had some players present. Now we are told that the December 28 date is being shifted to Jan 2nd 2022. This is some nine days to our first match against Egypt. Our coach would have slightly more than a week to meet his players for the first time, train them and develop a match strategy! Compound this with Amaju Pinnick’s boast that the new coach could take over from Eguavoen before Cameroon 2022 starts.

I think the NFF should allow Austin to have a free hand. I know he can do well with the team if given the necessary support. He was good enough to win a bronze as coach to the Super Eagles in Egypt 2006. It was a mistake sacking Gernot Rohr when we did. We should not compound the mistake by not giving his interim successor a free hand to swim, not sink with our team.

So how will the Eagles perform in Cameroon? There are two sides to this: First is give Eguavoen a free rein. Give him complete authority and support him fully. Under this arrangement, we possibly could struggle to the finals. Beating or drawing with Egypt and maybe besting Sudan and Guinea Bissau. We could then draw on the ‘ Nigerian Spirit’ of never giving up to get to the finals and possibly win the Cup. Please note that for this to happen, Amaju Pinnick must be demobilized and kept from insulting the coach or the team whenever it appears we are not doing well. Part of the criticism of Amaju Pinnick is that he believes he knows everything.

Things would get awry in Cameroon. When our team falters that is when we need to calm down and not pass pressure on them. I do hope Eguavoen, if he eventually leads the squad to Cameroon, would be able to keep Amaju from interfering. My fear is that it is only Sunday Oliseh who would be able to stop an interloping Amaju. The second part of the equation would be for the present confusion to continue. Get a foreign coach and ask him to lead us to Cameroon. Clemens Westerhof came in a similar circumstance and cost us a World Cup. In 1989 we needed a draw against Cameroon in Yaounde to qualify for the 1990 World Cup. An imperial Westerhof came in change to the DNA of our team and we lost a match that we were good enough to win. Let Amaju get his coach but he should observe and maybe advise Eguavoen in Cameroon. He would then have a good knowledge of the team he would prepare for a winner-take-all knock-out round of the African qualifying playoff for the 2022 World Cup.

To do well at AFCON in Cameroon, I believe we should remove the Super Eagles from all distractions. Those charged with the responsibility of running our football should help our team to perform well in all ramifications. To do otherwise is to prep for failure.

It is inconceivable that Amaju’s NFF would do anything more to derail our preparation for both AFCON and the World Cup. Unless they want to secure impending defeats for the Super Eagles. Our football governing body should today assure Eguavoen that it is his duty to guide the team to a successful outing in Cameroon. And then go on to provide all that he says he would need to do well in AFCON.