Keshi’s sack and NFF’s appetite for foreign coaches

Last week, the Amaju Pinnick-led Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) finally showed the Super Eagles’ gaffer, Stephen Keshi, and his coaching crew, the door. Reacting to the development, the head coach, fondly called the “Big Boss”, insisted he was not sacked because his contract with the federation ended after the 2014 FIFA World Cup Finals held in Brazil. Technically, Keshi was right. He should have been allowed to go after the Mundial but the former NFF chieftains and the sports minister impressed upon him to stay ostensibly because the time was short to hire a new chief coach to prepare the Super Eagles for the 2015 AFCON qualifiers.
The new NFF leadership has not hidden its displeasure with the Super Eagles’ dismal outings in the race for the 2015 AFCON Finals billed for next January. Pinnick dropped the hint to dispense with Keshi’s services in preference for a foreign technical adviser shortly after his election in Warri a few weeks ago. The former NFF leadership under Aminu Maigari did not also hide its disappointment in Keshi and his team at the last AFCON in South Africa. Nobody expected the team to go beyond the group stage, and plans were afoot to engage a foreign coach until they braced up and eventually won the trophy. Winning the AFCON 2013 and securing the qualification ticket for the last Mundial were the targets set for Keshi which he accomplished. He went as far as taking the team through to the second round, a feat last accomplished at the USA ’94.
Keshi had the opportunity to bow out of the stage after AFCON 2013 when the ovation was loudest. There were indications that some African countries like South Africa wanted his services. But he dithered on the wings of patriotism to serve his country until he was “fired” last week even after grabbing a 3 – 1 victory over Sudan 48 hours earlier. That did not change anything. In his place is Amodu Shuaibu, the perennial gaffer of the Super Eagles. He is to hold the fort and secure the 2015 AFCON ticket for Nigeria by winning its next two crucial group matches, one away to Congo and the other at home to South Africa to salvage the reputation of the reigning African champions.
Many have blamed Keshi’s management style for the lacklustre performances of his boys after the 2013 AFCON victory. He sidelined or ignored some of the best legs like the  Uche brothers on personal grounds. It was this kind of problem his predecessor, Samson Siasia, had with goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama that cost Nigeria’s qualification for the 2012 AFCON co-hosted by Gabon and Equatorial Guinea and he was promptly fired.
Shuaibu Amodu has been brought back to tread on a familiar path. He has been in and out of the Super Eagles’ circle since early 2000s. His last assignment was when he took Nigeria to the 2010 AFCON in Angola and won the 2010 World Cup ticket. But he was sacked in preference for a foreign coach. His successor, Lars Lagerback, who promised a semi-final ticket, was a colossal flop at the Finals in South Africa. He could not even win one match in his group. The return of Amodu, even in a temporary capacity, speaks volumes about the dearth of good coaching materials in the country.
Nigeria’s senior national team has been groomed by many foreign technical advisers at various times since the mid-70s. Very few of them were successful in their assignments. They included the likes of Father Tiko, Otto Gloria and Clemence Westerhof. In contrast, coaches like Bora Milutilovic, Berti Vogts and Lar Lagerback were a disaster to our football. We have no quarrel with the NFF engaging a competent foreign technical adviser provided it would get our football out of the woods. But the fundamental issues of re-jigging our domestic leagues in order to produce fantastic players of the 80s and 90s should be addressed.