Amodu Shuaibu: The Man The Gods Didn’t Favour

 

It was in late 2001 and I was sitting in the comfort of my room pondering about the situation of things as regards Nigerian football. The country was on the brink of losing out of qualifications for the 2002 world cup in Korea-Japan. The situation the Super Eagles found themselves was precarious to say the least. After a drab goalless draw with Liberia in Port-Harcourt, the super eagles with the full compliment of stars- Kanu Nwankwo, Sunday Oliseh, Austin Okocha and co unexpectedly lost to Sierra- Leone in Freetown courtesy of a Mohammed Kalon solitary strike; thus the hope of 120 million soccer-loving Nigerians hung in the balance. As usual, Nigerians were on their feet praying that our rivals in the group stumble on the way with football enthusiasts clutching calculators to check and balance the permutations that will get us to the world cup. As if the god of soccer was a Nigerian, the Black Stars did Nigeria a great favour by defeating Liberia in Monrovia after Nigeria had romped to a 4-1 win against Sudan in Khartoum; and so the pendulum of qualification was swung in our favour. The Super Eagles only needed to avoid defeat and of course defeat Ghana by at least three goals for a third consecutive world cup qualification.

I remember that the team was boxed into the tight corner by a certain tactician from the land of the orange men named Johannes Bonfrere – and the name Amodu Shuaibu goes down as the man who rescued our world cup ambition after the Dutch coach was booted out. It is now history that Amodu qualified us for the World Cup and subsequently led us to the 2002 nation’s cup in Angola.

The scenario of 2002 played back in 2010, after Amodu and his team returned home from the Nations’ with the bronze medal in spite of high expectations from Nigerian soccer lovers. In 2002 however, a host of factors worked against Amodu and he can be blamed for his own misfortune. Inability to stamp his authority on the team, indiscipline amongst players with some members of the first team breaking camp rules to engage in frivolities around Bamako, Mali. And so when the NFF decided to relieve the coach of his job and disband the team after the controversial outing, not many Nigeria argued with their decision.

Amodu was clearly a victim of his own shortcomings both on and off the field. The NFF went to the shelf, dusted the dossier of Coach Adegboye Onigbinde and gave him the task to build a new team for the world cup. The Modakeke born FIFA/CAF instructor quickly swung into action recruiting a host of hitherto-unknown players- the likes of Opabunmi, Barthelomew Ogbeche and bandana-wearing Sodje were all given a chance to stake a claim to a world cup slot.

Well, Nigeria paraded a team of inexperienced players at the 2002 mundial and what did we get? First round elimination after losing to Argentina, Sweden and managing a face-saving barren draw with England. Since then, Nigeria football has not really recovered; with series of coaches at the helm of affairs and little joy to the ‘‘critical Nigerian soccer fan’’. The height of the decay in Nigerian football was headlined with the country’s failure to qualify for the 2006 world cup in Germany. Not only were Nigerian soccer followers left regretting what could have been, the reality that our football was taking an alarming dive downhill stared us all in the face.

The NFF in their usual habit got into the next flight to UK to interview prospective coaches and before Nigerians had finished pondering on the list, the man Berti Vogts was presented as the technical adviser of the super eagles. The choice was unpopular among soccer fans owing to Vogts’s failure with the Irish national team.

After posting a series of unconvincing performances and eventual elimination in the hands of Ghana, Nigerians began calling for Mr. Vogts’s head and the annoying fact that he coached the team from Germany didn’t help matters.  The NFF succumbed to popular demand and terminated the suspicious contract with Berti Vogts. He joined a list of foreign coaches who have coached Nigeria: Otto Gloria, Gottlieb Goller, Manfred Hoener and Clemens Westerhof.

In 2008, the rejected coach once again was summoned to wave his magic wand. Coach Amodu returned again to lead Nigeria’s World Cup campaign, initially winning many fans with the Eagles brushing aside adversaries in the first qualification phase. Things however took a sharp contrast during the group stages as the team struggled to match the more technically adept opponents.

The 2-2 draw with Tunisia at the Abuja national stadium in September left Nigerians looking at the prospects of missing out of another World Cup ( the first on African soil). Interestingly, either by divine intervention or perhaps a stroke of luck, Nigeria grabbed the sole ticket after defeating Kenya in Nairobi; and Mozambique coincidentally defeated Tunisia in Maputo.

Qualification by the whiskers only added fuel to the calls for Amodu to be axed but the NFF declined instead choosing to give him a final chance to come good at the Nations’ Cup. Prior to the tournament, talk of the coach choosing players on sentiments rather than current form was widespread in the media. It wasn’t surprising that the eagles lost to Egypt in the first game of the competition. It wasn’t long before news filtered in that the presidency had given the NFF a directive that Amodu should be sacked with immediate effect. The NFF denied the news calling it unnecessary distraction to the aspiration of the team.

And so the ‘‘super chickens’’ managed to ride on the back of luck (struggling to beat Benin by a lone goal and managing to edge out a dominant Zambian team) to the semi-final where they were defeated by a Ghanaian team full of youngsters from the victorious under 20 team.

The NFA or NFF egg-heads who had been singing the tune of either swimming or sinking with beleaguered coach Amodu Shuiabu suddenly changed their tune saying that the coach needed technical assistance. Not even the ‘golden bronze’ could make them change their mind, they vowed to ring changes or perhaps overhaul the whole team.

Within two weeks of concluding the nation’s cup, the NFF demoted tactless Amodu to the home based eagles (to the relief of Nigerians) and released a list of five expatriate coach shortlisted to interview for the vacant Super Eagles technical adviser’s post.

Losing out of the chance to lead Nigeria to the 2002 World Cup was greeted with indifference but this time around, many Nigerians see Amodu as the architect of the team’s (and ultimately his own) downfall.

So I’m wondering, will it be out of place to ask: is Amodu a man cursed by the gods of soccer?

 

RECENT RESULTS

Nigeria 1        Egypt 3

Nigeria 1        Benin 0

Nigeria 3        Mozambique 0

Nigeria 5        Zambia 4

Nigeria 0        Ghana 1

Nigeria 1         Algeria 0