Finidi George was a great player in his playing days. He was a delight to watch. He was a very intelligent player and played for the team not for himself. He was very humble and an interviewer’s delight when answering questions. I will score Finidi eight out of ten points. Finidi was the quintessential gentleman both on and off the pitch. However, it hurts badly that his coaching Curriculum Vitae (CV) as Super Eagles Head Coach won’t surpass or match what he achieved as a fantastic player for all the clubs he played for and Nigeria.
Finidi exposed his underbelly when he revealed that he didn’t believe in any formation and would rather play the mass attack and mass defence style. This system underlined the era he played the game. One was rudely shocked by Finidi’s position on tactics to adopt during matches, knowing that he played for some of the best European clubs, including winning the UEFA Champions League with Ajax Amsterdam FC in the Netherlands.
Indeed, Finidi was such a technical player that one would have thought he would have built his team’s style of play on the Ajax format, especially as the Eagles distinguished itself under Dutch coaches such as Clemens Westerhoff and Johannes Bonfrere. What was Finidi going to sell to the players? Salesmanship, having played the game at the top level, including scoring goals at the country’s debut appearance at the FIFA World Cup in 1994 in the United States (U.S.A). Rather, what we heard were tales of the unexpected from the benched players in the two international friendly games he handled as an interim coach against Ghana and Mali.
We were told of how some big boys refused to shake hands with him after the friendly games for daring to bench them. Finidi ought to have rubbed minds with the big boys telling them about his objectives with the two matches. They would have understood and given him their maximum support. Of course, how do these boys explain to their mates and coaches in Europe that they were invited for their national team’s assignments only as unused substitutes? This is part of the problems with the local coaches learning how to massage the big boys’ egos.
Many would argue that Finidi ought to have declined the offer to become Super Eagles Head Coach since it was already looking like a poisoned chalice, given the fact that Nigeria had drawn her first two games against Lesotho and Zimbabwe. The odds were against Nigeria considering NFF’s delay in naming a replacement for Jose Peseiro. Perhaps, if Finidi had one or two friendly games, he would have had a better understanding of his players who were mostly foreign-based stars who were locked in dicey European club fixtures which further burdened them.
It is difficult to write off Finidi looking at his experience as an international player. But when he discusses the game, he leaves his audience dumbfounded. For instance, how could Finidi have said he didn’t believe in team formation which is the key good coaches such as Pep Guardiola, Carlos Ancelotti, Jose Mourinho Alex Ferguson, Arsene Wenger, et al use to dislodge their opponents during matches?
It is also difficult to say that Finidi isn’t well-schooled not to know how to handle media men who set out to annoy coaches at press conferences. It smacked as an act of arrogance on Finidi to have said that nobody could tell him when to make his substitutions.
Finidi ought to have known that as a public servant which is what the Super Eagles job represents, he is answerable to everyone seeking answers to posers which trouble their minds. He is a gentleman and should remain so with his utterances.
What I expect Finidi to do henceforth is to get the tapes of the four games he had handled, see what he did rightly or wrongly, and make amends immediately. I had thought that Finidi would have apologised to Nigerians over the loss. He could have pleaded to be given time to recover from the defeat at the press conference, not to embark on the tardy option of blaming everyone else but himself who picked the players for the matches. Some of the statements he has been credited with shouldn’t come from someone who played the game at the highest level. Which coach doesn’t lose matches? You tell me, Finidi?
NFF should retain Finidi on the saddle. He should be given a boss who would be ready to work with him to avoid friction. Our target now should be to win the next Africa Cup of Nations. If it turns out that our new plans get the team back to its groove, we can then plot how to cease the momentum, from the results the Group C World Cup qualifiers throw up at every stage. NFF should resist the temptation of employing those journeymen European coaches who have traversed the African continent. We need young coaches hungry for glory to tactically rebuild the Eagles using every game to put their imprint on how the team plays. NFF shouldn’t make the mistake of recruiting any European Coach who didn’t qualify his team for the final game of the last Africa Cup of Nations as our next Eagles Technical Adviser. We are tired of Tokunbo coaches. You don’t engage a car in reverse gear and expect it to move forward.
If you ask me, a few players in the Super Eagles need testimonial matches for their past contributions. These players can’t be motivated anymore to give their best, given their ages. If the Eagles must reach the Golan height which we envisage, then at least seven of them shouldn’t be part of the team going forward. If we don’t stop inviting them, it would be difficult to effectively replace them with younger players who are Nigerians.
I was excited to read NFF’s communiqué from their June 12 board meeting which it was stated that: ”4) Notwithstanding the challenges that attended the team’s preparations for the Day 3 and Day 4 games of the FIFA World Cup qualifying matches, owing to a 38-hour nationwide industrial action, the Board expressed displeasure with the poor attitude of some of the players to the National Assignment, and unanimously decided in favour of a more robust scouting programme of outstanding Nigeria-eligible players from across the four corners of the universe, who can add tremendous value to the nation’s flagship team.”
So, the board members could openly accept the absence of quality players within the country’s soccer circle to comb the universe for Nigerian-born kids. Isn’t this the reason for the lukewarm attitude in the team? What a pity! How does it sound now that the board members who refused to employ a foreign coach in the first instance, are now turning full circle to recant? What a shame!
One thing our administrators know how to do best is to make proclamations at the spur of the moment hinged on nothing. They are experts in thinking after they have spoken. Whenever the country’s soccer teams win trophies, a deluge of promises and pronouncements are made. One such wild talk is the Federal Government’s decision to keep fresh winners of the cadet world Cup to nurture them to bigger glory. Need I waste space to dwell on the failures associated with government’s directives?
Sadly, all manner of people including the federation’s chieftains have corrupted the nurseries such that youth clubs now loan players to professional teams in the country. Youth clubs owned by top federation chiefs dominate the country’s age-grade squads with the squad’s coaches filling the few spaces left with their mercantile choices. Isn’t this why we don’t know how much the domestic leagues are worth in the country despite the Star Trek to Europe of our youth who strive to earn a living from playing the game?
