Nigeria Football Federation
(NFF) will meet on Friday in
Abuja, where they are
expected to dispense with
the services of Coach
Shaibu Amodu. The NFF
gave the strongest signal
yet that Amodu will be
shown the door after the
Super Eagles failed to reach
the final of the Africa Cup of
Nations in Angola.
This will be the second time
Amodu will not guide the
country to a World Cup
despite being the man who
qualified the Super Eagles.
“Amodu will not be the man
to take Nigeria to the 2010
World Cup in South Africa,”
declared a top official of the
Nigeria Football Federation
(NFF) to MTNFootball.com
here in Luanda. Amodu made
history as the first Nigerian
to qualify his country to the
2002 World Cup in Japan
and Korea but after the
Eagles failed to reach the
final of the 2002 Africa Cup
of Nations in Mali and added
to a spat between the team
and top officials, he was
replaced by Adegboyega
Onigbinde in time for the
global soccer finals.
Amodu again qualified the
Eagles to the 2010 World
Cup in South Africa, but
after a less than inspiring
display by the team at the
Nations Cup in Angola, his
strongest backers, the
Nigeria Football Federation
(NFF), have agreed that he
be released from his
contract. His contract was to
have ended in July after
the World Cup. He will now
be replaced by a foreign
coach ahead of South Africa
2010. Ten members of the
NFF board met on
Wednesday, January 13, a
day after the
Eagles fell 3-1 to champions
Egypt in an opening Group C
match at the Ombaka
Stadium in Benguela to
finally decide to get rid of
the former BCC Lions and
El-Kanemi coach.
The meeting took place at
the newly-built Catholic
missionary lodge which the
NFF took up for their
guests to Angola 2010. In
attendance at this meeting
were NFF president Sani
Lulu, his vice, Amanze
Uchegbulam and technical
committee boss, Taiwo
Ogunjobi. The other seven
members of the board were
Shehu Adamu, Obinna Ogba,
Taiwo Odebunmi, Aminu
Maigari, Peter Singabele,
A.C Ladan and Patrick
Ekong. Stephen Gyebgon
arrived late for the hour-
long meeting while Sanusi
Mohammed, head of
competitions, acted as
secretary in the absence of
Bolaji Ojo-Oba, who is on
CAF assignment in Lubango.
Lulu presented the situation
to his board and in the end,
it was unanimously agreed
that Amodu should go
because the Egypt match
clearly exposed his many
shortcomings.
Among other things, the
board agreed that he has
insisted on several players
who have failed to justify
their places in the team and
his substitutions against
Egypt were faulty. However,
above all, several top
players had also added
their voice to the national
debate that the coach be
asked to go when they told
the NFF chieftains that they
have learnt nothing from
Amodu.Russia-based striker
Osaze Odemwingie followed
up on his interview that the
Eagles suffered from lack of
tactical variance in Angola
by demanding during a team
meeting Friday night in
Benguela that the NFF hire
a foreign coach.Amodu and
his assistants were in
attendance.
Ironically, the Presidential
Task Force (PTF) led by
Rivers State Governor,
Rotimi Amaechi, appeared to
have been sold on Amodu's
analysis for the Egypt
match with one PTF member
clearly impressed that the
man knows his coaching
onions."Amodu seems to
know what he is doing by
his clear explanation for
the Egypt match. If only he
had been more open and
forthcoming like this, most
of us would have had a far
better perception of the
man," the impressed PTF
chief said.
The team's average
showing against little Benin
was only a reconfirmation
that the coach be shown the
exit door.A day after the
Benin match, the PTF met
with NFF boss Lulu in
attendance with Amodu's
future top of the
agenda.Sports Minister Sani
Ndanusa informed Lulu that
Nigeria Vice-President,
Goodluck Jonathan, has
directed that Amodu be
sacked
immediately.However, Lulu
held on to his position that
no decision should be taken
until after the coach has
failed to meet the semi-final
target he was given.
Topic: NFF met to fire Amodu (Read 1738 times)
