The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Oliseh

  • Enyeama mulling Eagles retirement after row

    Enyeama mulling Eagles retirement after row

    Super Eagles captain, Vincent Enyeama, is considering his international future after a bust-up with coach Sunday Oliseh on Tuesday night, ESPN reports.

    Enyeama arrived at the team camp on Tuesday, after attending his mother’s funeral last Saturday in Akwa Ibom.

    Reports said Oliseh was unhappy about his captain’s late arrival and demoted him at a team meeting after dinner, naming CSKA Moscow forward, Ahmed Musa, as the new captain.

    “I was surprised,” Enyeama, who has 101 international caps, told ESPN FC. “So I stood up to explain my position and ask for an explanation, but the coach asked me to sit down.

    “I insisted on speaking because I felt that with the years of dedicated service I have given to the country I deserve at least the respect of giving my own side. But he told me that either the whole team would leave the room for me, or I would have to leave the room for the whole team.”

    The Lille goalkeeper was later expelled from the camp.

    It took the intervention of Nigeria Football Federation president, Amaju Pinnick, to resolve the matter and Enyeama was allowed to remain with the squad.

    However, the goalkeeper has indicated it is unclear if he will continue to represent Nigeria.

    “There have been several incidents these last few months,” he said. “I don’t need it, the team does not need it, so maybe the best thing might be to step aside in the interest of the country so that the team can focus on football instead of distractions.”

  • Eagles won’t miss Moses, says Oliseh

    Eagles won’t miss Moses, says Oliseh

    •Omeruo too

    Super Eagles coach Sunday Oliseh has said that Victor Moses’ absence in the double header international friendly matches against Congo DR and Cameroun in Mons and Denderleeuw will not affect the team.

    Moses, who was in action for his London club West Ham United in a 2-2 draw against Sunderland at the Stadium of Light in Saturday’s English Premier League for 55th minute, said he was pulling out in a precautionary move against injury.

    Earlier, Turkey–based defender Kenneth Omeruo was ruled out of the matches owing to injury.

    Oliseh, while regretting this setback, assured that the team have enough good quality options to fill the gaps left by both players.

    “We have no choice now but to work with the other players who are available,” Oliseh said.

    “The fact that the other batch of players from home were not issued their visas last week is also setting us back because we would really want to take advantage of the time to put in a lot of work.”

    Meanwhile, reports from Turkish club Kasimpasa suggest Kenneth Omeruo will be out for just two weeks, allaying fears in certain quarters that the injury could keep the defender out for a long time.

    Omeruo is, therefore, expected to be back in the Super Eagles group in November for Nigeria’s 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifying fixture against the winner of the Djibouti/Swaziland first round fixture.

  • UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE: Oliseh glad to see Moses Simon in action

    UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE: Oliseh glad to see Moses Simon in action

    SUPER Eagles coach Sunday Oliseh was happy to see former Flying Eagles player, who featured for the Super Eagles recently, Moses Simon start for KAA Gent in the UEFA Champions League Wednesday night.

    Moses Simon made his debut in the money spinning UCL for his Belgian club, KAA Gent and the Super Eagles manager, Oliseh was glad to see him start against French club, Olympique Lyon.

    Oliseh’s tweet on Wednesday night after hostilities began in the UCL reads: “Glad to see Moses Simon start for Gent as they take on Lyon in the Champions league. A good week for our Super Eagles players so far.”

    Moses Simon saw 69 minutes of action as his club, KAA Gent drew 1-1 with Olympique Lyon but two other Nigerians weren’t that lucky on the night. Former West Bromwich Albion record signing, Brown Ideye and Nosa Igiebor who play for Greek club, Olympiacos and Israeli club, Maccabi Tel Aviv respectively got bashed in their respective games.

  • Oliseh tests more players against Niger

    Oliseh tests more players against Niger

    Coach Sunday Oliseh will get a good chance to test more players when the Super Eagles of Nigeria welcome next-door neighbours Niger in a friendly today in Port Harcourt.

    “We need to play more friendly matches like the one against Niger as this will help the players fully understand the new system the coach is bringing to the Super Eagles,” said top team official Tijjani Babangida.

    The disappointing draw by Nigeria in Tanzania was worsened by the 5-1 spanking Egypt handed down to home team Chad on Sunday to open a two-point gap at the top of the qualifying series for the 2017 AFCON.

    The midfield remains a big concern for Oliseh after Obiora Nwankwo and Izunna Uzochukwu failed to rise to the occasion in Dar es Salaam at the weekend as they did not carve out chances for the strikers upfront.

    That explained why Bature Yaro (Nasarawa United) and Paul Onobi (Sunshine Stars), both midfielders, were handed late call-ups to the squad.

    But the search for top-class midfielders will continue as Nigeria now play catch-up with group leaders Egypt in the race for an automatic place to Gabon 2017.

    The return of Lazio youngster Ogenyi Onazi, who was suspended for the Tanzania match, and the injury-prone Joel Obi will be most welcomed.

    Home-based Chima Akas, Usman Mohammed and Prince Aggreh are all expected to have run-out against a Niger side, who are still smarting from a 2-0 loss in an AFCON qualifier in Burundi this past weekend.

    Foreign-based Godfrey Oboabona and Rabiu Ibrahim will also get a chance to prove themselves to the new boss after they saw no action in the Tanzania game.

    Nigeria plan a top friendly against the Indomitable Lions of Cameroon next month and Oliseh will therefore play the Niger game with an eye on this proposed clash of rivals in Europe as well as a CHAN qualifier against Burkina Faso also in October.

  • Fanny Amu to Oliseh: Scout for more talents for Eagles

    Fanny Amu to Oliseh: Scout for more talents for Eagles

    FORMER  Secretary General of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFA) Fanny Amun has advised the coaching crew of the Super Eagles led by Sunday Oliseh to search for more players to strengthen the squad for subsequent matches.

    Amun, who discovered the likes of Kanu Nwankwo, Celestine Babayaro and Wilson Oruma at the Japan 93 FIFAU-17 World Cup was impressed with the performance of Carl Ikeme and advised  Oliseh to discover more talents for the country.

    “I would advise Oliseh to continue in the good way he has started most especially scouting for good and talented players which has now brought to limelight goalkeeper Carl Ikeme”, Amun told Goal.

    “As a coach I am particularly happy about this because if you have abundant talents on ground blending won’t be a problem. Oliseh should go out of the shores and spend more time in Europe and other parts of the world where Nigerians are playing and bring them back home to form a solid national team.

    “Whoever will believe that we have a player like Carl Ikeme waiting to be tapped in England and nobody has ever thought of giving him the call up before Oliseh did so.

    “The solution is to search for new talents and I am in total support for Oliseh to go all out in search of quality new players for the Eagles. He should look inward too and what I mean by looking inward is that he should spread his tentacles and dragnets to the Golden Eaglets, the Flying Eagles and the U-23 national team to get as much as possible talents that would form a pool which he would work on to give Nigerians the team they would be proud of.

    “For now as I see it there is no pressure on Oliseh in the qualifying race for the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations. As it is now the former coach Stephen Keshi commenced the race for him by picking the first three points and with the one he got in Dar es Salaam had made it four points in two matches.

    “He just needs to work hard on the team and make sure the Super Eagles collect the three points at stake in their next home match,” he said.

  • Oliseh guarantees improvement

    Oliseh guarantees improvement

    Nigeria SuperEagles coach, Sunday Oliseh has described the 0-0 draw against Tanzania as satisfactory considering it was his first game in charge of the Eagles.

    Oliseh speaking with Supersport seemed relieved that his debut as coach had now come and gone, and called on fans and the media to rally behind the team in their subsequent matches promising better results.

    “I can describe the match as a game of two halves because we struggled in the first half but came back strongly in the second half containing the Tanzanians who also played very well.”

    “We only had two days to train together and I am impressed with the way we played even though the striking was blunt but I am optimistic we will work on those mistakes step by step.

    “Our midfield was not covered properly that is why I decided to do some early changes but I don’t want to point at any players,”Oliseh told supersport.com but obviously talking of Lukman Haruna.

    On keeper Ikeme’s performance , Oliseh was full of praise for the Wolverhampton keeper .”I am very happy with Ikeme’s performance; he was brilliant and he kept the Tanzanian strikers at bay. It was a very important debut for him.”

    Prodded to explain why he decided to replace Haruna Lukman very early in the game and the long time effect on the player, Oliseh was diplomatic in his answer

    “Things did not work as planned that’s why I decided to make the change but I don’t want to be negative because I will have time to talk to the player and see how we can correct the mistakes we saw but if we hadn’t made that early change we would have lost.”

    It is  back to the blackboard for the ex Dortmund man and his new team as they  take on the Niger Republic on Wednesday.

    But first they will be watching with baited breath the cracker between Egypt and Chad later today to see how the Group standing will unfold after the completion of matchday two. Needless to say they will all be cheering for Chad.

  • I told Oliseh about my mum’s death – Enyeama

    I told Oliseh about my mum’s death – Enyeama

    Super Eagles Captain and  goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama, who just lost his mother has exclusively told us that he can not be “Fighting” his superiors, the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) as well as the Super Eagles coaches with his late mom yet to be committed to mother earth and while he is still yet to come to terms with the  turn of event.

    Enyeama, Eagles most capped player ever with 101 international caps over the past weekend lost his mother and revealed that he was completely devastated but that he called coach Sunday Oliseh as well as Team Secretary Enebi Dayo Achor to tell them of the development.

    His words:

    “I was completely devastated on hearing of the death of my mum that my mind went blank, it was totally unexpected.I immediately told my coach at LILLE and he informed the club management and they  immediately called me to sympathise with me. I also called up coach Sunday Oliseh to tell him about it and I also called Dayo Enebi to tell him about my situation that I am not really sure I am strong enough to make the game.

    “I asked Dayo to tell the NFF President, Pinnick and he said no since we didn’t want to disclose the situation but I could not call new goalkeeper coach Alloy Agu because I do not have his number. I communicated with them as they tried to persuade me to come and I guess that was when they bought my flight ticket to Nigeria but eventually I could not make it.”

    “My mind can’t just make it, this is a crucial game and I am not psychologically strong enough and can’t jeopardise our chances. How can I be fighting my superiors when the body of my mum is still cold, these things don’t happen to you daily, its not a normal challenge. I thought I have notified those I am supposed to because that was the normal procedure.

    “We deal with the coaches so it’s not about calling the federation president but informing your coaches. I am sorry for what ever inconveniences all these might have caused but right now football is the last thing on my mind, losing my mum is the worst thing to have ever happened to my life and I have never travelled this road before, I am too sure that my commitment to Nigeria is 100 per cent and I respect my superiors,’” said Enyeama.

  • Oliseh monitors Ideye

    Oliseh monitors Ideye

    Super Eagles coach Sunday Oliseh has hinted that new Olympiakos signing Brown Ideye will be invited to the national team in future matches.

    The former West Brom and Dynamo Kiev man has not played for Nigeria for close to two years and missed out on the 2014 World Cup though he assisted the team qualify for the tournament in Brazil.

    “Ideye is one of the players that I will immediately watch. He is in my plans and I want to see him playing for Olympiakos,” said Sunday Oliseh in an interview with Greek media, sdna.gr.

    “His movement in Greece will be good for him and for Olympiakos. Of course this will help me enlist him to my options.”

    Oliseh has no doubt that Ideye is a talented forward and has been tipped to be a Super League hit by the Nigeria manager.

    “He is a fast striker. He is strong in the box and has the ability to score a lot of goals. This is something that I believe he can prove with Olympiakos, now that he has the chance to play in the Champions League.

    “Premier League is a special championship with many difficulties. The level is different from the the other leagues.

    “He did not play much in West Bromwich and this didn’t  help him,” Sunday Oliseh added.

  • AFTERMATH OF TANZANIA DRAW: NFF, Oliseh, Siasia meet again

    •Glasshouse chiefs insist Nations Cup bigger than All African Games
    •Want five Dream Team VI boys back in Eagles
    •Cast doubts over Eagles’ midfielders
    •Board meeting holds today in Port Harcourt

    Sportinglife can reveal exclusively today that eggheads of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) are unhappy with the quality of players in the Super Eagles and have directed that the coaches of the senior team Sunday Oliseh and Dream Team VI’s tactician Samson Siasia must sit in a heart-to-heart discussion, if the country must qualify for the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon).

    In Saturday’s post-match discussions outside the National Stadium in Dar es Salaam, Nigerians including NFF board members were miffed over the decision to deplete the Eagles to strenghten the country’s quest for a gold medal at the 2015 All African Games (AAG) holding in Congo.

    The arguement in most circles after the game hinged on the fact that the five players (Ogenekaro Etebor, Kingsley Sokari, Christian Pyagbara, Chima Akas et al) could have been allowed to participate in Saturday’s barren draw game against Tanzania and join Dream Team VI in Congo after the game.

    Those in this school of thought argued that Afcon is a bigger competition compared to the AAG stressing that even if Siasia needed the boys for his matches, he could have agreed for them to play the Tanzanian game before coming to Congo.

    This school of thought posited further that Siasia pressed the panic button to strenghten his team when he knew that the Dream Team VI’s game against Egypt wouldn’t hold.

    The other school of thought were livid with the way the midfielders played in the game. They challenged Oliseh not to invite all those who manned the midfield, describing them as being sluggish and unprepared to give their best in that game.

    “Siasia knew that the game against Egypt wouldn’t hold, he ought to have released the five boys to the Eagles when the full training began in Abuja with the arrival of the foreign-based stars instead of taking them to Congo. If there was synergy and cooperation between Siasia and Oliseh, the dream team coach would have released the boys to the Eagles.

    Sportinglife scooped that a line may have been drawn which favours the presence of our best players at all times in the Eagles, especially as the age grade teams are meant to discover new players.

    Consequently, a board meeting of the NFF would likely hold today in Port Harcourt where an overview of the Tanzanian game will be discussed just as the strategies for the Eagles’ remaining games would be studied.

  • Pinnick calls for patience, canvasses support for Oliseh

    Pinnick calls for patience, canvasses support for Oliseh

    NFF President Amaju Pinnick refused to be despondent following Saturday’s 0-0 draw between the Super Eagles and Taifa Stars of Tanzania. Rather, he saw a lot of positives in the result and has called on Nigerians from far and near to exercise patience as new Head Coach Sunday Oliseh gradually steadies his ship.

    Nigeria were expected to take three points away from Dar es Salaam on Saturday, but came away with a point as the race to the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) finals in Gabon gathered steam. Even with the draw, Pinnick remains confident the Eagles will get there.

    “It was a good match in the sense that Oliseh has now seen his first set of players, and he has seen the good and the bad ones. If we had been able to play a friendly match before this game, he would certainly have had greater knowledge of each of his players.

    “However, a lot of lessons have been learnt here. The coach  would have wanted so much to win, but that is football. I believe the team will get better as we go along.”

    Pinnick called on football –passionate Nigerians to remain in solid support of Oliseh as the NFF intends to organise several friendly games to engender bonding among the new players and entrench cohesion and telepathy.

    “On our part, we will do our best to arrange a lot of friendly games for the team. I believe the team will be better against Niger Republic in Port Harcourt on Tuesday.

    “When you are rebuilding, you have to exercise patience because you have to bring in and take out as the process requires.”

    The NFF President hailed the discipline and organisation that he saw in the Eagles’ camp in Dar es Salaam.

    “As we keep saying, it is not always only about winning. The building of a sustainable football culture is paramount in our administration’s programmes. We want to win matches, but we also want to see attitude that projects the nation positively. I am happy with the discipline in the team camp and the organisation.

    “When there is discipline and dedication, and patriotism, the results will come,” he said. Pinnick pointed out that there were so many debutants in the Eagles’ team that drew in Dar es Salaam.

    On a day that Mauritania spanked Bafana Bafana of South Africa, Liberia beat Tunisia and South Sudan earned victory over Equatorial Guinea, the Super Eagles drew 0-0 with Tanzania and now have four points in the Gabon 2017 race.