Our verdict, they were not ready: - physically, mentally, psychologically, spiritually, emotionally and professionally! To add insult to injury, they had an incompetent minder, himself another fatso, to chaperon their lame effort in South Africa! Because of the hopeless drab 'slow-motion’ of a performance put up at South Africa 2010 by the Nigeria Eagles, Icheoku, using the powers of a critic vested in us, hereby rename the Nigeria Eagles “Baba Ibeji Eagles!” But no, since they could not fly or soar like eagle, may be some flightless bird’s name will be a preferred acronym, such as “Baba Ibeji Emus” or “Baba Ibeji Ostriches” or better still, “Baba Ibeji Penguins!” Icheoku writes this sequel and final chapter on the Nigeria Eagles South Africa World Cup 2010 squad, maintaining that the root-cause of the abysmal failure of the team in South Africa is an incompetent coach Lars Lagerback and we hereby reiterate our earlier call to have him fired. In an earlier article published in Icheoku.com and Sahara-reporters.com, titled "Eagles Coach Lars Lagerback, send him packing and back to Sweden", our position was made clear and long before yesterday's mediocre performance at Durban South Africa and nothing has changed to warrant a rethinking .
Many rejoinders and commentators alike harpooned Icheoku for daring to "jump the gun" on the fate of the Eagles, arguing that the Eagles still have an opportunity to qualify provided they beat South Korea? Some commentators even went personal and instead of attacking the article attacked the author (messenger), calling Icheoku, a fool for rushing to conclusions? We were tempted to fire back, but mindful of our existing editorial policy and age-long practice, we decided to just leave the thrown bone for the dogs to gnaw at; and boy were they aplenty! The problem with many a Nigerian is that he/she is not usually very proactive nor deploys readily his/her sensory perceptions beyond his immediate reachable periphery; or what does it take to figure out that the Eagles that made appearance in South Africa lacked flight, courage, bravery, motivation, push and were never driven? And these tail-tail ominous warnings were flashing red everywhere, except that most Nigerians would rather wait and see a person dead before they know that such person is dying or is about to die? Or what does it take for any discerning analytical mind to read the trajectory of the Eagles in South Africa 2010 World Cup as they exuded an ill-prepared and ill-motivated side, just playing for the heck of participation in the first ever world cup to be held in mother Africa; but never of the valor with which freedom and success are forged. It was an easily identifiable obvious that this particular Eagles was not ready for the prime-time that was South Africa World Cup 2010 will abort flight WC 2010 and sure they did as predicted. Thus it was the easiest thing to do, deciphering the moribund journey the Eagle as embarked on when they departed Abuja for South Africa 2010.
After their first match with Lionel Messi, Icheoku called it for what it portends, a journey to no where; but came the second match with the Greeks and it became a fait accompli that the eagles were going no where from the preliminary rounds. Some people cursed us out as pessimists; but nay we are not; we are but a bunch of analysts who do not have to foresee the answer to a question before we figure out the answer to a question asked? Icheoku have seen Eagles of yester-years, both the Papa-Eagles and Junior(baby)-Eagles; but sure this bunch of "American NFL players" ain't that brand of Eagles that Nigerians are used to: - the bunch who play their hearts out for the glory of motherland, bringing home soccer laurels, trophies and cups, to show for their effort. These bunch of weight-lifters, with an average estimated weight of about 220 pounds each, had feet of lead infused clay, that made them highly immobile and easily out-paced by the much nimble and more agile South Koreans. A South Korea which were never known for their soccer prowess but who with effort and determination, now made a name for themselves as the nation that ousted the Nigeria Eagles, eliminating them from the South Africa World Cup 2010 preliminary rounds? How about that Nigerians? The absurdity of Nigeria's fall to the lowly rated footballing South Korea is so incomprehensible that Icheoku has refused to accept it as just an outcome of a game, and that it was in the stars? The matter was even made worse as the coach Lars Lagerback failed to keep his end of the bargain with the Maradona-led Argentines; whom he had boasted should do Nigeria the favor of just beating Greece and they delivered a 2-0 win over the kins of Socrates and Pluto and Aristotle. But an incompetent coach Lars Lagerback failed to on the bargain as he couldn't mobilize his boys, some of who are international soccer maestros, to win South Korea? One does not have to be a sorcerer or wizard or soothsayer or even hold a Ph.D in rocket science to intellectually predict the outcome of a Nigeria elimination in the preliminary rounds, having watched these bunch of too-fat-to-play-football/soccer overweight men, heaving around the soccer pitch and panting like a marathon dog? It was not if but when they will be eliminated.
A group of men who have no fire in their belly, no hunger in their stomach, no thirst in their throat, no swift in their legs, no speed in their brain, no drive in their system, no passion in their hearts to win or participate honorably in the first African hosted South Africa World Cup 2010. A bunch of lead-footed "sumo wrestlers" of men, playing the round leather, instead of trying out their hands in the American National Football League (NFL); where they truly and rightly belong? Look at their necks, tree-trunks sized and you wonder how these water-buffaloes of soccer players, could endure the 90 minutes here and there sprint and pacing that playing football entails? Leading the pack of these heavy-men, in the weight category, are Number 6 Daniel Shittu, Number 5 Afolabi Rabiu, Number 20 Dickson Etuhu, Number 8 Yakubu Aiyegbeni and of course Number 12 Kalu Uche. Icheoku asks, where was their weight-watcher and fitness trainer that these men should balloon to such sizes with a soccer match of their life in the offing? Their physique presented an all American National Football League players, which also came between them and the $30,000 match bonus promised each one of them should they trump the Koreans. They were not moved by such handsome incentive and they lost the 30,000 US dollars too, thus maintaining a loosing streak which saw them not win any match throughout their short stint at South Africa World Cup 2010. 
However Icheoku cannot end this piece, without special commendation to the man of the match, Kalu Uche for the opening goal and for all the effort he made throughout the game, including the kick that struck the goal-post? Also deserving mention is the captain of the team, Kanu Nwankwo, who was never allowed prior to this game, to captain his team in the world cup. Admitted he was not the silver bullet Nigeria expected, but hey, at least, he for once led his soldiers into battle against the South Koreans? That Yakubu Aiyegbeni missed a golden opportunity inside 2yards in front of a yawning goal mouth with a displaced goalkeeper waiting to retrieve the ball from inside the net was also beyond pale. Then added the red-card man of the Nigerian side, Sani Kaita, who is being wrongly blamed for the defeat suffered by Nigerians in the hands of the Greeks. Of course, coach Lars Lagerback deserves the front page banner for being the incompetent coach who led Nigerians to their worst international football outing ever. He should be immediately fired since he deserves nothing less. It is also instructive that unlike South Africa which also crashed out but not after defeating the French, a former world cup champions; Nigeria did not record any victory throughout their stay in the competition. Lastly, the amateurish performance of African countries in the tournament also debunked the myth of African juju, and questioned the efficacy of voodoo as both Ivory Coast and Cameroon, noted African science practitioners, were both roundly defeated. Another myth buster of the tournament is that 10 players are not as good as 11 players in a team, as the French scored their 1-goal with ten men and the Australians held back charging Argentines with ten men only; but for defeated Nigeria, Sani Kaita's red card is all to blame for their downfall. Talk about making excuses!
Concluding, Icheoku says since the fabled President Goodluck Jonathan's goodluck did not see Nigeria through in South Africa 2010, at least there is one thing he can help Nigeria do. Set a panel to probe the scandalous Nigeria's outing at and exit from South Africa 2010. Like the French is going to do with their dysfunctional national team that also crashed out of the competition, Nigeria should try to understand what happened with this Eagles shameful and hopeless outing at South Africa 2010. The objective is to avoiding a repeat of such monumental failure in the future; and in order to fix what is broken with football in the once football-rated country. Nigeria should also draw a long term plan to institute a lasting and enduring football legacy in the country. But first of all, Nigeria should immediately fire the damn coach Lars Lagerback, force the chairman or administrator of Nigeria Football Authority to resign or be fired, and the Sports Minister, since he is relatively new at his desk, make him re-organize football in Nigeria. Then and only after then, will Nigeria begin to expect to have a new lease on their football. What a shameful outing to South Africa 2010 World Cup by this flock of flightless Eagles of Nigeria!
Eagles back Lagerback, Odemwingie disagrees
ReplyDeleteTHURSDAY, 24 JUNE 2010 00:00 FROM CHRISTIAN OKPARA, DURBAN
I have played under many coaches since I joined the national team and I must confess that Lagerback brought something different to the team…Yobo
A MAJORITY of the Super Eagles players on Tuesday pleaded with the Nigerian football authority to give their technical adviser, Lars Lagerback, the chance to build a new national team for the country.
According to them, the Swede has shown within a short time that he has the wherewithal to halt the slide in the country’s fortune in international football.
Speaking shortly after Nigeria drew 2-2 with South Korea in a match it needed to win to qualify for the second round of the ongoing South Africa 2010 World Cup, the players absolved Lagerback of blame for their poor performance at the Mundial.
Deputy captain Joseph Yobo told journalists during a post-match briefing at the Moses Madhiba Stadium in Durban that it would be unkind of any Nigerian to say that Lagerback failed the country when the Sweden former coach was not responsible for Nigeria’s elimination.
He added that apart from the results, the coach acquitted himself creditably: “I have played under many coaches since I joined the national team and I must confess that Lagerback brought something different to the team,” Yobo said.
“We did not win our matches here, but any observer with technical knowledge of the game will agree that the current team showed a lot of urgency in its play. Unfortunately, the players did not do their bit on the pitch. Will you blame Lagerback for the lost chances that would have taken us to the second round?”
He added: “It is unfortunate that we always look for a scapegoat each time we fail. We should search ourselves and find out where we faltered and then make amends.
“I want to plead that Lagerback is given the opportunity to build his team with the best players eligible to play for Nigeria because I believe that given more time, the coach will give us the national team we deserve.”
To Kalu Uche, who scored Nigeria’s opening goal in the 2-2 draw with South Korea, Lagerback’s knowledge of the game will give Nigeria a new lift if he is given the opportunity to work for the team for a reasonable length of time.
“I am sad that we could not qualify for the second round despite dominating the game against Korea,” he said. “We created chances that would have made the game end 5-2 but did not score the goals. Now people are blaming Lagerback, why?
“Considering that Lagerback did not have the time to scout for all the good Nigerian players before taking his team to South Africa, I will say that he has done well. Everything depends on the Nigeria Football Federation and the sports authorities, but I will suggest that he be given time to build his own team.”
Kalu added: “The bane of African football is lack of continuity and we have to change that way of doing things. Look at all the African teams at this World Cup, most of them are going home early because they did not allow their coaches enough time to work with the teams.
ReplyDelete“We should for once give the coach time to work in his own way and give us a good team. It doesn’t matter who is in the team as long as the players are Nigerians.”
Skipper Kanu Nwankwo, goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama and Dickson Etuhu also towed the same line, but Russia-based striker Osaze Odemwingie disagreed with his mates, saying that Lagerback has failed Nigeria and should be shown the way out.
According to Odemwingie, who was furious that the Swede did not give him enough playing time, the Swede committed tactical blunders in the game against South Korea game. He said Lagerback allowed sentiment to becloud his judgement, adding that he was left out of the final group match because he questioned the coach’s tactics.
“We played three matches and lost two and people are still saying that we did well,” he fumed. “I have not seen a coach who will instruct strikers not to participate in defending.
“I think that is a big mistake with Nigerian football when we have only one defensive midfielder and one creative in front of him. All our middle was open and that was the problem we had against Greece.
“Today he instructed three attackers not to participate in defence, which left our midfielders in tough job of curtailing the tireless Koreans."
Odemwingie suggested that he was not given enough playing time because he attacked Lagerback’s tactics, adding that leaving out Obafemi Martins and himself was a great disservice to Nigeria. The Lokomotive Moscow striker added that sacking Shaibu Amodu has proved to be a great mistake, which came back to haunt Nigeria at the World Cup.
Odemwingie was among the players that hailed the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF)’s decision to sack Amodu after the Angola 2010 Nations Cup, because he said that, with hindsight, he would have opposed the move.
“I think we made a mistake in sacking Amodu because what we got here showed that the wise decision would have been to go with what we had. Now we have spent so much money for nothing,” he lamented. “Nigerians deserve better than what we gave them and I want to apologise to them.”
Though he admitted that Nigeria did not have the team to win the World Cup, he said the country had the quality to qualify for the second round in a group that had Greece, South Korea and Argentina