Nigerian recriminations fly after another dismal World Cup (Feature)

By Samm Audu Jun 23, 2010, 10:32 GMT

Durban - Recriminations were flying in the Nigerian camp Wednesday after yet another dismal World Cup from the Super Eagles.

Nigeria held their own against Argentina in their opening group game, thanks in no small part to some heroic saves from goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama, but then failed to defeat Greece or South Korea.

Just like eight years ago, they couldn't survive the group stage.

Russia-based striker Osaze Odemwingie was quick to blame the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) for sacking coach Shuaibu Amodu less than four months before the World Cup kicked off.

'It was a big mistake to sack Amodu before the World Cup,' blasted Odemwingie, who previously was a vocal advocate of having a foreign coach lead the Eagles.

The chairman of the NFF's technical committee, Taiwo Ogunjobi, was not impressed.

'I really do not wish to comment on what the player said. But I know he only said this because of what happened,' Ogunjobi told German Press Agency dpa.

But another official, speaking on condition of anonimity, was less diplomatic: 'It is all sour grapes and smacks of inconsistencies on the part of Osaze to be saying what he is now quoted as saying.

'I know for a fact that he was in the fore front of those who wanted Amodu out and now, because he did not get enough game time, (he says) Lars Lagerback was also a mistake,' the top NFF official said.

Inconsistency, sloppy defending and a lack of killer instinct in front of goal have all been blamed for Nigeria's poor performance in South Africa.

Former Nigeria skipper Stephen Keshi said the team did not show enough desire to succeed.

'Just from looking at the players you could tell that they did not have the desire, they were not ready to fight and die for their country. The result of this is what we are now all talking about,' Keshi said.

The team can no longer enjoy the services of top players like Sunday Oliseh, Austin 'Jay Jay', Rashidi Yekini or Emmanuel Amuneke, who were all part of Nigeria's Golden Generation in the mid and late 90s. Rather, they now have average players who find it difficult to pin down regular first-team places at their European clubs.

Nigeria also suffered from their worst ever build-up to a World Cup as Lagerback only met for the first time with his squad less than a month before their first game against Argentina.

And even then, the team could only squeeze three warm-up matches into two weeks against weak teams like Saudi Arabia and North Korea ahead of world football's showpiece event.

When both Bora Milutinovic and Adeboye Onigbinde replaced the coaches who qualified Nigeria for the 1998 and 2002 World Cups, they had a longer time to prepare the team as well as play more friendly matches from which to pick their final squads.

'It was like we (Africa) were only informed three months ago that the World Cup is coming to our continent. South Africa won the bid to host the World Cup back in 2004,' former international Austin Okocha said.

'That was the time when all African teams should have started with thorough preparations for the tournament.

'Chopping and changing of coaches did not make things easy for us in the World Cup,' Okocha said.

The bulk of the team to this World Cup will not be around for the next World Cup, therefore Nigeria needs to be bold to change things and rebuild the Eagles.

'If Nigeria must get back again, we must build a brand new Super Eagles from scratch,' said a pained Lagos fan, Ademola Johnson.

'We need a new team with only a handful of players from this doomed World Cup campaign spared,' the fan said.

The country also needs to improve its domestic league, which provides the foundation on which to build a strong national team.

There will also be a need to draw long-term plans and set targets and time lines so that the next coach can produce the kind of results that befit a football-mad country like Nigeria.