Tag: Oliseh

•Members won’t rubber-stamp list

Chairman of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF’s) technical committee,  Christopher Green has stated categorically that the only condition for peace with the Super Eagles chief coach, Sunday Oliseh will be for him to allow the body’s members vet his list of players before he releases it to the public.

Disclosing this to Sportinglife exclusively on telephone on Wednesday night, Green argued that it didn’t make sense for the coach to talk about the techcnical committee’s role in his list not being in his contract stressing that the practice is global and meant to serve as a check on abuses in the process of picking players.

“Let me tell you, the techncial committe members were miffed when Oliseh remarked that he would not meet with us. Like you know, some of the members are coaches, others include eminently qualified ex-international players who shone with several European clubs and tested and trusted Nigerian administrators who are still fuctioning in key roles for the Confederation of Africa Football (CAF) and the Federation of  International Football Federations (FIFA).

“No member has any player in mind. What we are simply asking from Oliseh is to tell us what informed his choice of players so that when anything goes wrong we can explain to Nigerians what truly transpired.

“It is stated in his contract that he should work with the techncial study group, so we need to see if truly their imputs are in his list or not. What we are doing is in line with global best practices. It is not a Nigerian contraption meant to undermine the integrity of the coach.

“The final decision will be Oliseh’s to make, provided he can convince us with his choices. Nobody wants to take over his responsibilities. We just need to do things properly,” Green said.

Sportinglife scooped that Oliseh called Green on Tuesday where they agreed on the way forward after the YouTube rant and the technical committee boss is favourably disposed to giving the coach his best advice along with his members.

Former Nigeria international, Segun Odegbami has warned Super Eagles coach, Sunday Oliseh to expect more criticism on the job, even as he urged the national team handler to learn how to respond to critics.

In a chat with SportingLife in Lagos on Wednesday, Odegbami, who won the African Nations Cup in 1980 with the Super Eagles, said since Oliseh has apologised for his rant over the weekend, he must now show more maturity in handling issues.

“As you know, I’m one of the biggest advocates, supporters of Oliseh to become the coach of the national team. I have never seen him coach before, but I believed in his intellect. I heard him, I read him and I was a witness to his life as a football player. I was his team manager to Tunisia 1994, I was his manager to the World Cup in 1994, so I knew him very well. I felt that the years would have tempered him so that with all the qualities that he has he would make a very good national team coach.

“So I supported him and he has started but he has stumbled and I hope that he would steady himself, bring himself up again and justify the confidence that we reposed in him.”

The Super Eagles will face the Pharoahs of Egypt in the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations double header qualifier in March. When asked if he sees the team going through, Odegbami said: “That is a big question. When Sunday Oliseh came on board, Nigerian football was at its lowest point, we did not have the players, anywhere for him to have immediately raise a Super Eagles that would win everything. So he needed time to start to build a team, look for the players, influence our domestic league as best as he can and do a lot of things. These are things that take time and I thought the mistake he made was that he did not keep telling Nigerians that ‘look I am building a new team, be patient with me’. Rather, he was infected with winning a few ordinary matches and he started sounding as if he could win things and he stumbled.

“His character that we thought must have been tempered came to the fore again. But I know that he is an older person, he is a matured person and he would have learnt from this last experience and not allow it to repeat itself. Once those words come out of your mouth, you can’t take them back. So you don’t allow anger or frustration to determine words that come out of your mouth.

“Rather, when you occupy such a position, you have to be very very patient, you have to answer critics, you have to answer to Nigerians because they don’t have patience. You have to keep drumming it into their ears that you need time while you are doing your work.

“Otherwise I think Sunday Oliseh is a good guy, a brilliant commentator, analyst, he understands the game of football, he was excellent as a player and when you add all of these ingredients together, he has the possibility of being a great coach. This is his opportunity to become a great coach.

Odegbami said considering the caliber of players around now, it will be extremely difficult for Nigeria to qualify for the 2018 World Cup.

“Nigeria does not have the players. Just a few are emerging that starts to give us hope. I think we might still qualify for AFCON. To qualify for the World Cup is going to be extremely difficult this time. And if we do, we will be very lucky. That is my own view.

“I think within the next three to four years then we might have a proper Super Eagles if we do things right. If we look into our domestic league, develop it properly, arrange for our players or support them so that they can go to the right environment, for training. Give them all the motivation they need, take care of them and we pray for luck, then we would have a true national team. But for now, we are still not there,”Odegbami said.

Super Eagles’ Chief Coach Sunday Oliseh has come out to defend his decision not to meet with as well as submit his report to the Technical Committee of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) on the disastrous outing of the Eagles in the ongoing Africa Nations Championship (CHAN), saying he has not flouted any clause in the contract he signed with the NFF.

The Eagles’ handler, who spoke on telephone with SportingLife from his base in Belgium yesterday, insisted that he would only deal with the General Secretary of the NFF,  Sanusi Muhammed which according to him is the only person the contract he signed with the NFF stipulates that he could deal with in such matters.

“The agreement from the beginning I had with the NFF signed and sealed is that I report to the General Secretary and not to the Technical Committee (of the NFF). “The General Secretary (Sanusi Muhammed) has been briefed that we did not do well because we were broke.

“I personally have nothing to do with the (NFF) Technical Committee. The only thing I have to do with them is that they have advisory role that they can play. We were very specific about that (in the contract we signed).

“My brother let’s leave the matter, one thing is that I won’t violate my contract”, Oliseh disclosed to SportingLife from Belgium.

NIGERIA  handler Sunday Oliseh insists Victor Moses is still in his plans despite the West Ham United forward not featuring for the country since he took charge in 2015.

The 25-year-old has scored seven times in 24 appearances for the Super Eagles since making his international debut in 2012.

And Oliseh said the former England youth international is in his plans and could be handed a call-up for the country’s crunch Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against Egypt in March.

“Yes, Victor Moses is still in our plan. All the players who are eligible to play for us are still in our plans aside those who have retired from the national team,” he told Completesportsnigeria.com.

“The truth is that I will put a ‘but’ to it at the moment. This team started with the game against Tanzania and is evolving. We have played 14 games since I took charge of the team and we lost our first official game against Guinea at the African Nations Championship.

“We have like seven or eight players from the CHAN team that are good enough to play for the main Super Eagles. It’s good when you have a large pool of players to pick from, so everyone will have to fight for a place in the team,” he said.

Nigeria are second behind the Pharaohs in Group G’s qualifying zone with four points from two games.

The attitude of Super Eagles chief coach, Sunday Oliseh, is beginning to anger big wigs of the National Sports Commission (NSC) and as such they want him sacked.

A top NSC official told SportingLife yesterday that the Senate Committee on Sports and its counterpart in the lower chamber are backing the “Oliseh Must Go Campaign’ following the manner the coach has been conducting himself since Nigeria’s ouster from the Africa Nations Championship (CHAN).

They felt Oliseh humiliated the Sports Minister, Solomon Dalung who was in Rwanda to plead for the team’s understanding that their allowances and bonuses will be settled.

The former Super Eagles captain publicly blamed the team’s CHAN elimination on insufficient funds and said he was forced to spend on the players from his pocket during the championship.

“Nobody asked him to spend his money because everything had been provided for both in South Africa during pre-season and in Rwanda during the championship.

“He claimed he was buying Nigerian dishes for the players which, to me, was an action that he voluteered to do,” the official said.

SportingLife understands that the sports chiefs have become very infuriated with Oliseh and have since communicated their position to the Nigeria Football Federation(NFF).

“Do you know that up till now, Oliseh is yet to reply the NFF’s query on why he did not return to Nigeria with the team from Rwanda?

“That is the height of insurbordination. He may be saying all manner of things just to defend his action, but I must tell you that he is pushing his luck too far,” said the official.

They want Oliseh sacked before Nigeria’s Africa Cup of Nations double header qualifying matches against the Pharaohs of Egypt in March but the source noted that the Eagles’ handler could be retained if he humbles himself by tendering a public apology.

“That is the only thing that can save Oliseh at the moment. Anything outside this will not be acceptable,” the official added.

Already the NFF has placed former Lille of France manager, Hervé Renard, on stand-by following discussions with the Frenchman to lead the national team.

Oliseh has managed the Super Eagles in seven competitive games winning three, drawing three and losing one. He equally managed the team in five friendly games winning three, drawing one and losing one.

The technical committee of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) are to meet in Uyo today to discuss the country’s failure at CHAN 2016.

The country’s team led by coach Sunday Oliseh failed to go past the first round of the CHAN in Rwanda.

Oliseh is expected to submit a technical report from this tournament, which the committee will deliberate upon as the country steps up plans for two crucial AFCON 2017 qualifiers against Egypt in March.

Media reports have suggested Oliseh is averse to reporting to the committee, which is headed by Chris Green.

He did not return with the team from Rwanda and rather headed back to his base in Belgium to further fuel speculations about his future.

Several top foreign coaches like Claude Le Roy and Herve Renard have indicated interest to take over the Eagles.