The Nation Newspaper

Tag: onigbinde

  • Onigbinde charges Eagles: Play Swaziland tie as Cup final

    Onigbinde charges Eagles: Play Swaziland tie as Cup final

    Former Super Eagles manager Adegboye Onigbinde has charged the side to see as a cup final the clash against the Sihlangu Semnikati of Swaziland.

    The three-time African champions will engage the Southern Africans in a World Cup qualifying match at the Somhlolo National Stadium in Lobamba.

    Onigbinde reminded the Sunday Oliseh-tutored side that there are no more minnows in the round leather game.

    “I will want Super Eagles to regard the clash against Swaziland on Friday in Lobamba as a cup final that must be won.

    “There are no minnows in football anymore, not even Swaziland should be seen in that light as I’m aware of the level of football development in that country.

    “In fact, at a point in time CAF was angry with us because the height of football development in Swaziland was higher than our own.

    “Though things would have changed for both countries I sincerely believe we must err on the part of caution by taking the side serious.

    “Every match is a big match and if we have learnt any lesson from the past mishap in the hands of supposedly minnows we must approach the duel with more purposeful attitude.

    “I want to believe that no coach goes out in a match to lose. The intention is always to win and that’s the way to go against Swaziland.

    “As a coach I never bordered myself with the strength of my opponents but to take extra care to prepare the team for every eventuality.

    “I want the best for my country and I strongly believe we will come back victorious in the clash on Friday,” said Onigbinde to supersport.com.

    The reverse fixture clash will be held at the Adokiye Amiesimaka Stadium in Port Harcourt on Tuesday, November 17 which will see the aggregate winners move to the group stage of the qualifying series.

  • Onigbinde points way-forward for Nigerian football

    Onigbinde points way-forward for Nigerian football

    •Preaches well-structured NFF Technical Department               •Wants Eagles to play many Grade A friendlies

    FormerSuper Eagles team handler Adegboye Onigbinde has made some vital suggestions to the leadership of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) as regards the things to do to make Nigerian football bounce back in the New Year 2015.

    “Firstly, it depends on the programmes of the NFF for the coming year 2015 that would determine the level of improvement of football for the New Year. You cannot have something from nothing. It is only God that can create something out of nothing”, Onigbinde told SportingLife yesterday while ex-raying Nigerian football in 2014 and it can be improved this new year.

    “Nigerian football will definitely bounce back in 2015 if the leadership of the NFF can do the needful to ensure that the Super Eagles start churning in impressive performances again with the development of the game being taken into serious consideration in the first place.

    “I have preached and told you  a lot about the development of the game and I will be repeating the same thing over and over again if we start now. So the NFF should take the bull by the horns to start real and meaningful development of the game from the grassroots. The Technical Department of the NFF, as it is now is none-existing and the set-up is wrong.

    “I have also said it time without number that the Technical Department of the NFF should be structure well to make it functional. This area is the heart and engine room of football in any nation. So our own in Nigeria should not be different.

    “The Technical Department is the live wire of football in any nation. The Technical Department of the NFF if it is properly structured should be made up of several divisions. There should be a seasoned and qualified Technical Director who will oversee other sub divisions in the department. The other sub divisions should have Controllers as the head of the divisions. There should be Controller, Training section, Controller, Development, Controller, National Teams, Controller, Equipment and Controller, Medical all which would be supervised by the main Technical Director on top. This is how it is done in developed countries that have made progress and are still progressing in the game.

    Finally, just to talk on three major factors for now, it is very important for the NFF to look the way of the Super Eagles and make the team very busy this year (2015) when Nigeria is missing out of the African Cup of Nations tournament.

    ‘Top football playing countries in the world should be approached for friendly matches. What some people don’t understand when they start crying out and lamenting Nigeria’s slide in FIFA rankings is that FIFA rates counties not only with the number of matches played but importantly rate a country according to the FIFA Grade A teams such a country played against.

    “So the NFF should stop arranging friendly matches against lowly-rated countries like Sudan, Niger, Congo DR etc., but should organise friendly matches that would pitch the Super Eagles against top countries like Germany, Argentina, Brazil, France and others which would have very positive impact on the team and as well help Nigeria’s rating in FIFA’s football rankings”, the erstwhile FIFA and CAF advisor told Sportinglife.

  • ONIGBINDE: I was misquoted on Keshi’s sack

    ONIGBINDE: I was misquoted on Keshi’s sack

    Former Super Eagles Coach Adegboye Onigbinde has put record straight as regards the controversy surrounding the retention of coach Stephen Keshi as the Super Eagles handler.

    Onigbide was recently quoted as saying that Keshi should quit his decision to fight for retention of his  coaching job and look for a job in another African country.

    But the Modakeke, Osun State High Chief has told Sportinglife that he did not actually ask Keshi to forget about coaching the Eagles but advised him to study the situation on ground very well before jumping into renewing his appointment with the Nigeria Football Federation(NFF).

    “Firstly I will tell you sincerely as a very close friend that I was misquoted by the said reporter that wrote that story in the first place. When I heard that President Goodluck Jonathan had ordered that Keshi should be retained as Eagles’ coach, I sent him a text message to advise him on the issue.

    “I sent a text message to him to thank Mr. President for the gesture and politely beg the President on why he shouldn’t retain his job with the Eagles.

    “To me it would be very difficult for Keshi to succeed on the job since the NFF has once sacked him before President Jonathan’s order. Keshi would still need to work with the present NFF administration that first sacked him and the relationship to me has already been soured. So, this is what I told him as a concerned colleague in the coaching business not that I told him to quit for failing as a coach.

    “As regards the Super Eagles ouster for the 2015 African Cup of Nations, Onigbide said Keshi should not be singled out as the major culprit. He said that the Big Boss should not take the blame alone and the blame should also go to the NFF.

    “I know Keshi very well. He has his good and otherwise attributes as a coach. But it is wrong for anybody to put the blame on Keshi. It should be on our football administrative set up. The whole set up is wrong and faulty”, Onigbibnde blasted.

  • Quit Eagles, Onigbinde advises Keshi

    Quit Eagles, Onigbinde advises Keshi

    Former Super Eagles caoch, Adegboye Onigbinde  has personally written to out- of-contract Super Eagles coach, Stephen Keshi to quietly seek greener pastures elsewhere.

    In recent times, severall  Nigerian managers have  advised the erstwhile Mali and Togo coach to leave the Super Eagles’s job after the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations misfire with the latest calls coming from Christian Chukwu, Shuaibu Amodu, Kashimawo Laloko, among others.

    Onigbinde said he will not like to be seen repeating himself on Keshi Eagles’ job as he has specifically asked him to politely thank the president for considering him worthy for recall and bow out honourably.

    “On the very day the presidency asked him to return to his job I personally sent him a text message to politely thank Mr president for the offer and bow out honourably and quietly.

    “Keshi respectfully replied the text message thanking me. That was as he went ahead with the two remaining 2015 African Cup Of Natinons (AFCON) qualifying matches against Congo and South Africa, I’m sure the rest is history. I adviced Keshi because I understand that he won’t work with the presidency but a different set of people as well as an entirely different environment.

    “Now that others have picked up the calls, I won’t like to engage in an exercise that will appear repetitious so that I won’t be accused of having interest in the whole matter. I’m not used to presssurising people to act in certain ways, I’ve passed my view directly to him, I don’t need to pressure him further on same thing,” said Onigbinde to supersport.com.

    Onigbinde insisted that administration is the bane of the nation’s football development while he condemned the football house for half-heartedly implementing his suggestions on match analysis.

    “The major problem of our football is administration, I’ve written several papers on the need for a virile technical department which is key to football development. In other lands, it’s called technical and development department because without development then everybody could as well go to sleep.

    “I suggested that some people be trained as match analysts but the persons I saw on NFF list are out of place. The major mistakes we keep repeating are to assume that ex-footballers are automatic administrators, it’s quite wrong.

    “Jose Mourinho and Arrigo Sacchi weren’t star players but you can’t rival their administrative and technical finesse. Being a star player doesn’t make you a sound administrator or technical expert, it’s clearly a special calling,” said Onigbinde.

  • Onigbinde sure of victory in Sudan

    Onigbinde sure of victory in Sudan

    Former Nigerian manager, Adegboye Onigbinde is hopeful the Super Eagles will overcome the Sudanese opponents, Falcons of Jediane in tomorrow’s Africa Cup of Nations qualifier at the Khartoum Stadium.

    Unarguably, a make-or-mar encounter for both sides as far as Maroc 2015 AFCON is concerned as Nigeria and Sudan maintain an uncomfortable third and fourth spots respectively on Group A log behind leaders, Congo and South Africa.

    Onigbinde said it will be sad for him as a person if the 2013 Afcon champions failed to qualify for the biennial football showpiece in Morocco.

    “We’re most likely to expect a result befitting our performance as well as preparations for the crucial game.

    “I don’t know the team quite well at the moment but I’ve always wished them well in their endeavours.

    “So I sincerely hope and pray they come out tops against Sudan in Khartoum as well as in Nigeria and go ahead to qualify for the Afcon final in Morocco.

    “For several reasons I won’t be happy if Nigeria don’t qualify for the 2015 AFCON as it would be a huge dent on my contributions as well as sacrifices for the development of the game.

    “We had it a bit rosy against Sudan in 2001 because our game was more organised then than what it’s at the moment.

    “However, we still owe it to ourselves to be concerned and prayerful that Nigeria gets it right in the remaining four matches on the 2015 Afcon qualifying calendar,” said the CAF and FIFA instructor to supersport.com.

    Nigeria occupy the third spot on a poorly one point from two matches while opponents, Sudan sit at the base with no point. Group leaders, Congo have six points and second-placed South Africa are on four.

  • Onigbinde: Nigerians should help Pinnick to succeed

    Onigbinde: Nigerians should help Pinnick to succeed

    Former FIFA and CAF Instructor, Adegboye Onigbinde has called for support for Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) president, Amaju Pinnick who succeeded Aminu Maigari at the federation’s Elective Congress in Warri, Delta State on Tuesday.

    “Amaju Pinnick has been elected as the new president of the NFF and there is nothing else anyone can do but to rally round him to succeed. It is Nigerian football that we are talking about here. So, we all need to help him in whatever way we can to move the game forward in the interest of Nigeria,” the respected football tactician said.

    Onigbinde also had words of advice for the Delta State indigene. “I want him to come up with a standard that will move Nigerian football forward,” he said. “At times we like deceiving ourselves in this country. Many people were talking as if the last regime of the NFF was the best ever tenure in the history of football in the country. But everybody is entitled to his/her opinion.”

    Onigbinde continued: “You know I am an apostle of development football and I have not witnessed any administration of football in the country that has touched or dwelled on that.

    “They were only concerned about competitions and results gathered from such competitions were used to measure the success of such administration. But that is not the yardstick. Development is the key to football successes anywhere in the world.”

  • Onigbinde fears FIFA hammer

    Onigbinde fears FIFA hammer

    • Ogunjobi keeps mum 

    Fears that Nigeria faces suspension by world’s football governing body, FIFA  after the board of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) and its President, Aminu Maigari were restrained from running the affairs of the game has surfaced.

    High Court judge, Justice P.L. Lot sitting in Plateau state  granted an Interlocutory Injunction to the  board in absentia following a suit filed by the owner of Nembe City Football club, Mrs Ebiakpo Rumson Baribote on Thursday.

    The executive committee were airborne when the ruling was delivered. They have been in Brazil for the World Cup.

    This is coming four days after the country’s elimination from the tournament.

    FIFA frowns against football matters been settled in  courts of law and have warned of the consequences.

    Against this backdrop, CAF administrator, Adegboye Onigbinde  foresees the hammer descending on Nigeria if the issue is not resolved on time.

    “Well let us see what will happen in the coming days and furthermore what will be FIFA’s reaction in the whole matter. It is possible that FIFA may see it as government interference and decide to suspend Nigeria because it is a violation of their rules. But it will also depend on the situation,” he said.

    But while Onigbinde tried to be neutral amid the crisis, he however accused the NFF of running foul of FIFA’s regulations over the years, but reasoned it was irrelevant with the turn of events.

    “If the country is suspended, FIFA can go on to appoint an interim board to oversee the game pending the election of a new board,”” he explained to SportingLife. Meanwhile Former NFF board member, Taiwo Ogunjobi “when contacted by SportingLife refused to comment. “So many people have called me but l would not talk for now,” said Ogunjobi who was suspended by the board.

    Four years ago, President Jonathan pronounced a two-year ban on football in the country with the excuse of restructuring the sport following its World Cup first-round exit in South Africa in 2010. He later reversed it.

    FIFA would have sanctioned the country from international soccer if Jonathan didn’t rescind his decision.

  • Onigbinde, Erico hail Super Eagles’ brilliant start

    Onigbinde, Erico hail Super Eagles’ brilliant start

    Some notable football Stakeholders across the country have commended the Super Eagles for their brilliant opening at the ongoing Confederations Cup tournament in Brazil after their 6-1 victory against Tahiti.

    The stakeholders, who spoke with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos on Tuesday, urged the team to build on the performance.

    NAN reports that the Super Eagles overwhelmed their Tahitian opponents by a whopping score line to top Group B of the 2013 Confederations Cup in Brazil.

    Following their brilliant start, Adegboye Onigbinde, a former Super Eagles Head Coach, charged the team to build on the momentum that their victory had generated.

    “I think we should be happy for the Super Eagles and the Technical crew, but I implore them to build on this. I have always said this that there is no limit when it comes to possibilities; there is always room for improvement and I want to see a better Super Eagles in every match,’’ Onigbinde said.

    In the same vein, Joe Erico– a former Green Eagles goalkeeper– described the match as a good step to greater development. Erico added that the Eagles should put the victory behind them, and face the Uruguayans squarely, because they will be tougher than the Tahitians.

    “Good we won the match and it is a stepping stone to greater achievements as the competitions progresses. The players should put the victory behind them and concentrate on our next match against Uruguay, because it will not be an easy one,’’ Erico said.

    Tayo Balogun, a sports analyst told NAN that the Super Eagles’ performance against the Tahitians was no big deal. He described the match as one between the Super Eagles, playing against a selected set of people who believe they know how to play football.

    “It was good that they won the match and got the required three points to put them in a comfortable place, but their ability is yet to be ascertaineded in the competition. When they meet Uruguay we will be able to affirm their abilities and what they posses as the competition progresses,’’Balogun said.

    Ex-international midfielder, Thompson Oliha, said that the match had proved that the players and technical crew were prepared for the competition. Oliha added that Nigerians should support the team, rather than attacking the players unnecessarily.

    “Such negative talks will dampen their spirit and I want the coach to continually work on the players to ensure that their emotions are intact. When they don’t have things bothering their minds, they will be focused– because the ultimate thing needed in this tournament is concentration,’’ Oliha said.

  • Confederations Cup: Don’t blame Eagles if … – Onigbinde

    Confederations Cup: Don’t blame Eagles if … – Onigbinde

    Former Super Eagles coach, Adegboyega Onigbinde, has declared that the players should not be held culpable if the team fails at the 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup in Brazil.

    Nigeria is in group B of the Confederations Cup alongside Spain, Uruguay and Tahiti but preparations of the West African have been rocked by a row over bonuses between the players and officials of the Nigeria Football Federation.

    Supersport.com reports things escalated badly on Thursday with the players refusing to travel following Wednesday’s FIFA World Cup qualifying game against Namibia in Windhoek.

    Onigbinde has now voiced his sentiments on the issue explaining that the players cannot exclusively be made to share the blame in the face of failure in Brazil.

    “When a team does not do well, we all (blame) the players and the coaches, whereas the causes of some of these things might be administrative,” Onigbinde told Supersport.com on Friday in a thinly-veiled attack on the NFF.

    Onigbinde, a former member of the NFF’s technical committee further stated that he was “sidelined” by the current NFF chiefs “for always standing for the truth.”

    “I was sidelined for always standing for the truth. Anyway, they (NFF) are in charge and they should sort out this issue (over bonus disagreements) but like I said earlier, if the team fails in Brazil, people should understand that these failures could be as a result of administrative negligence and not put the blame squarely on the doorstep of the players and coaches,” he concluded.

    Nigeria will face Tahiti in its opening game at the Confederations Cup on June 17 at the Estádio Mineirao, Belo Horizonte.

     

     

  • Onigbinde calls for viable adminstrative structure for football

    Onigbinde calls for viable adminstrative structure for football

    Adegboye Onigbinde, a former Super Eagles Head Coach, said on Tuesday that the only way football could thrive unhindered in the country was through a viable administrative structure.

    Onigbinde told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos that the ongoing rancour between the League Management Company (LMC) and club owners was needless. The veteran coach urged the contending parties to sheathe their swords and close ranks for the long overdue improvement of the country’s domestic football league.

    Onigbinde, who is also a CAF and FIFA instructor, attributed the early exit of the country’s clubs from CAF competitions as a symptom of the problems afflicting domestic football.

    NAN recalls that Heartland FC of Owerri, Lobi FC of Makurdi and Kano Pillars FC of Kano, were all sent packing from the preliminary round of the competition.

    The only club left in any CAF competition is Rangers International FC that dropped to the CAF Confederation Cup from the CAF Champions League. Rangers International got trounced 3-1 by CRD Libolo FC of Angola in Luanda, after battling to a goal less draw in the first leg in Enugu.

    The defeat effectively consigned the 1977 winners of the then African Cup Winners Cup competition to the lower rungs of continental competitions.

    “Everybody will now heap the blame on the club, but it goes beyond the players and it is not just about kicking the ball on the field. We keep saying the same thing over and over, but nothing is being done. I am beginning to sound like a broken record,’’ he said.

    Onigbinde urged the authorities to be steadfast in its bid to repackage the NPFL for a better and more conducive atmosphere for players and the clubs.

    “There shouldn’t be any rancour between the LMC and the club owners; they need to comport themselves in a manner in which more sponsors will be willing to do business with them. We do our things upside down . There is no cause for the rancour, the administrative set up is terrible. A house divided against itself is not a marketable brand.

    “If we get our administrative structure right, there will be development at all levels, including our clubs. It is bad that clubs now fight for players and these are shameful developments,’’ the former Super Eagles Head Coach added.