I don’t envy Gernot Rohr at all, given the daunting tasks he has on his hands. The Russia 2018 World Cup is just five months away. Rohr carries the hopes and aspirations of over 180 million Nigerians on his shoulders, with many setting unbelievable targets for the Super Eagles, even if the team’s preparations for the Mundial have not begun.
Funding for the team has not changed, Sport Minister Solomon Dalung has vowed to meet the players’ needs without recourse to Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) chiefs. The minister cautioned the soccer chiefs that he would insist on seeing the cash before March, the proposed month to begin payment of all outstanding wages to the team. Dalung knows the World Cup script already. He must be given a pat on the back for shunning the wasteful Presidential Task Force (PTF), hitherto peopled by interlopers who increased the problems in the team’s camps instead of resolving issues. Most times, these PTF members take over the roles and functions of the NFF, thereby creating divisions between the NFF members and the players.
These PTF members, especially those who know a little about coaching, seize the duty of the coaches and technical crew by asking to be part of the selection of players, in the event that the team didn’t play well in the first game. They become auxiliary coaches, dishing out instructions from the state box as if the players would hear them. They are the ones who storm the players’ dressing room in flowing robes to give irrelevant pep talks, leaving the coaches with little time to tell the players their flaws and how to play in the second half.
I wasn’t surprised when Dalung told the international media that Nigeria saved N7 billion in this year’s World Cup campaign in the absence of the PTF. Little wonder there wasn’t much rift in our World Cup campaign, except for the usual minister’s enquiries which centred on knowing how the government’s cash is spent as if that shouldn’t be sacrosanct.
Rohr is back with his plans, which he unveiled in an interview on Monday in Supersports’ Monday Night football show monitored in Lagos. It was nice listening to Rohr talk about sending a coach to Spain to work with Deportivo da La Corona’s Nigeria-born goalkeeper Francis Uzoho. He was silent on his moves to get former Super Eagles goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama back to the squad. Rohr gave conditions for having Enyeama back. It appears Enyeama may not meet those conditions since he isn’t active with any team, except for a game with Lille’s U-23 side, where he saved a penalty kick.
Uzoho, from the way Rohr spoke on Monday, is sure of having a shirt in the Eagles. What isn’t certain is if he would be the first choice goalkeeper. But if the manager decides to send a coach to train the goalkeeper, it is almost certain that Uzoho will step out against Croatia on June 16 as Nigeria’s first choice goalkeeper.
Enyeama is history, not because of his competence, but his attitude and conduct. Those who don’t want him in the team talk about his influence on others. They argue about a likely rift with Captain John Mikel Obi. Enyeama’s problem with the football chiefs isn’t personal, but with his unbending stance on matters concerning his mates whom he often intercedes.
For Ikechukwu Ezenwan, Dele Ajiboye et al, the matches of CHAN competition holding in Morocco offer the best chance to compete with Uzoho. Ezenwan was in goal during Nigeria’s Russia 2018 World Cup qualifiers. But some of his elementary errors have created doubts about his ability to handle more critical situations on bigger stages, such as the Mundial in Russia. Will Ezenwa garner the required confidence when he reads comments from Rohr about the search for a new goalkeeper?
Rohr needs to have a psychologist in the team who will spend time talking to Ezenwa on how best to be confident during matches. It is the psychologist’s duty to prepare players psychologically for matches from the time they are in the camp. Such a psychologist will have nothing to do with team selection. A situation where Rohr doubles as the manager and psychologist has effectively ruled Ezenwa out of contention for the first team shirt. Rohr’s mind is made up on having the CHAN Eagles captain in goal at the Mundial and it is unfair because with a trained psychologist, Ezenwa could bounce back by regaining his confidence.
Interestingly, Rohr revealed in the Monday night interview that he had recruited two trainers and two scouts to look out for new players for the team, with five months to Nigeria’s first game against Croatia. I waited for Rohr to talk about having a psychologist in the team to no avail. I don’t think Rohr would be a better psychologist than a Nigerian. Our players are not that sophisticated. They need to be talked to in the language that they understand. Rohr would be too emotionally attached to the team to know how to psyche up his players if things go awry during matches.
Ezenwa’s problem isn’t his ability, but how to handle little things about goalkeeping which come with experience through exposure during matches. It is true that Rohr’s deal with NFF gives him the free hand to pick those he wants to work with. But the NFF should tell Rohr that there is no country where the manager doubles as the psychologist. The psychologist’s job is not coaching, especially in football. NFF chiefs must insist on getting a psychologist for the Eagles. Two top NFF workers have PhD in psychology. What can be better than that, especially when they were active sportsmen in their youthful days. One of them is a multitalented sportsman who played volleyball and soccer. The other lectured in the university and coached before joining the football federation.
By his or her professional training, a sports psychologist understands the mental and environmental factors that affect a player’s performance. Such factors include anxiety, tension, stress, pressure (from press, spectators and fans) etc. The sports psychologist is trained to teach the players the skills to handle these factors and thus maintain an optimal performance. The coach lacks these skills (training).
Where a team is trailing behind or is being led in a match, it becomes very difficult for the coach to detach himself from its fate. More often than not, the coach finds it extremely difficult to maintain his mental balance and composure and to focus on his task of passing the right instructions. It is the psychologist’s duty to prepare the coach(es) on such possibilities or occurrences and how to remain effective!
Rohr touched the nerve of his team’s fortunes at the Mundial when he urged Kelechi Iheanacho and Ahmed Musa to dump Leicester City during this January transfer window for other teams, where they could be playing regularly, if they hope to secure a World Cup shirt. What Rohr didn’t reckon with was the players’ mind-boggling wages which not many teams can afford. Those teams which can pay for their services won’t go near them since they have been benchwarmers since the season began in August 2017.
Simply put, Iheanacho and Musa are not marketable. Clubs shopping for players in the January window look for quick-fixes to their problems. These can’t be players who are playing for average teams, such as Leicester, with due respect to their recent feats.
Soccer legend Segun Odegbami feels strongly that Iheanacho and Musa are good players who may be suffering from the biases of their manager who prefers others to the Nigerians. He insists that both players couldn’t have lost form under one year not to command regular shirts in an average side, such as Leicester. Odegbami believes that Iheanacho, if fit, could complement Victor Moses’ efforts in Nigeria’s campaign in Russia.
‘’Moses plays better for Nigeria than with Chelsea. Iheanacho could have been one of our aces at the Mundial, if he was playing, but he is still a good player and I tip him to do well in Russia. With another coach, Musa and Iheanacho could have been playing regularly because I don’t see those that Leicester’s manager is parading in their places as being better,’’ Odegbami said.
He went on: ‘’It is true that Wilfred Ndidi is playing regularly for Leicester in the English Premier League. But he isn’t in Moses’ class. Ndidi plays better for Leicester than with the Eagles. Ndidi marks well, his ball distribution is good but he isn’t that all round player like Moses.’’
So far, the plans by NFF and Rohr for the Eagles are laudable, especially the top notch friendly matches. These games can help the team’s blending and elevate the players’ morale, if they win the four matches ahead of the Mundial.
We hope that no player sustains injuries that could rule him out of the competition. One is excited that Henry Onyekuru’s injury doesn’t require any surgery. Onyekuru has returned to Everton FC of England’s medical crew for proper treatment. It means he could still make the country’s 23-man squad to the Mundial. Good luck Super Eagles. Up Nigeria!
