SIERRA LEONE COACH: WE WILL SHOCK "BIG MEN" EAGLES
Posted: Feb 10, 2011
Sierra Leone coach Christian Cole speaks ahead of today’s international friendly game with Nigeria, insisting in this interview with JOHNNY EDWARD that they are well prepared for the Eagles
The last time your team played against the Super Eagles in Abuja, they got massacred 4-1, what are you expecting from Wednesday’s encounter?.
The team was ageing then and this time, we have a very young and enterprising team. I built this team out of my own philosophy. It’s a new team I built for the next Nations and World Cup.
Wednesday’s game against the Super Eagles will be a match with a difference, we will shock the Super Eagles with our beautiful football.
What would you say is the age range of your players?.
Well, the oldest player in my team is Mohammed Kallon who is about 32 years and the youngest player is 20 years of age. So, we have a very good blend of young, and experienced and matured players.
Having earned a point each from your last two games against Egypt and South Africa in Group 7 of the African Cup of Nations, do you think your team stand any chance of qualifying for next year’s championship in Equitorial Guinea and Gabon?
If everything goes well as planned, I think we’ll have our ticket to the Nations Cup because if you consider the match we have played against big teams like South Africa and Egypt, the match against your teams (the Super Eagles) is a blessing in disguise as it would put my boys in a competitive mood for our away clash against Niger next month.
We are coming to Lagos to expose our boys, evaluate and assess their output against the Super Eagles before our game against Niger. So that’s why I’m confident that my team’ll have a good game.
So what you’re implying is that you will be lining up a strong team against the Super Eagles?
Of course, that’s the chance friendlies like this give you. I will not present a mediocre team because I don’t want to get humiliated and stain my credibility as a veteran coach. Nigeria is a big footballing nation. You have to give them a very good fight throughout the entire duration of the game.
Wednesday’s game will give us no point if the result goes either way, but we have an eye on the Niger game which will earn us some points if we win, that’s very important.
Meaning that you won’t sit back and allow the Eagles attack you?.
No, we won’t do that, we will employ a tactic that will suit our play and counter that of the Eagles. I know the players very well and their strengths, so we will be detailing specific players to carry some certain duties on the field of play.
What kind of result would you get that might be very dissapointing to you?
The worst result I could get from that encounter is a draw and if it happens that we’re defeated by a goal or two then we’ll learn from it in our preparation for the match against Niger in Naimey, that’s football.
No doubt, coach Cole you’re a veteran on this job and I’m sure you have been watching the Super Eagles for a while now. What can you say is the major problem of the Nigerian team?
First and foremost, taking into consideration the size of the country, it’s a big job for any coach to manage. It’s a very big problem because the population is too much for the handler to go around and search for young talents to stake claim for a places in the team and secondly, all the players in the team are too relaxed. You don’t see commitment in some of them when they play, maybe because they have money and they are now big men. What I see lacking in them is commitment and to some extent, they also lack discipline. But they are skillful players and if they put in a good level of commitment to help the coach, the team would rise again to greater heights.
For the coach, he has a Herculean task to transform the team back to that fearful force they used to be in their Green Eagles days.
But with the coming of coach Samson Siasia, do you think he can turn arround the fortunes of the team?
Of course, he can, because he was once a player for the national team. He knows the players in and out and the terrain where he will be working. As a former player, he knows the problems of the team and the yearnings of Nigerians. Individually, he knows them. He could pick from the pool of players that could be useful to him and those he must do without.
Finally sir, what could you say has been the major problem of African coaches?
Well, their employers don’t give them all the necessary support to succeed on the job due to their over reliance on the foreign coaches, but we are all qualified to do the job.
When a white man is employed, he is given the necessary provisions to succeed on the job but for the local coaches, they are not properly remunerated and they are the ones on the ground.
The African coaches need to be encouraged to do a good job.
They know all the boys and all the terrain. If all these things are done and they are well motivated, they’ll give their best to improve the game.
Don’t you feel under pressure about the fact that former Super Eagles handler, Amodu Shuaibu, was in your country recently for a coaching clinic with an eye on your job?
Pressure over him visiting my country? Not at all. I’m just hearing that from you that he has been contacted to coach the team, but I don’t know anything about that issue.
Thanks for your time and all the best coach.
Thank you.
The last time your team played against the Super Eagles in Abuja, they got massacred 4-1, what are you expecting from Wednesday’s encounter?.
The team was ageing then and this time, we have a very young and enterprising team. I built this team out of my own philosophy. It’s a new team I built for the next Nations and World Cup.
Wednesday’s game against the Super Eagles will be a match with a difference, we will shock the Super Eagles with our beautiful football.
What would you say is the age range of your players?.
Well, the oldest player in my team is Mohammed Kallon who is about 32 years and the youngest player is 20 years of age. So, we have a very good blend of young, and experienced and matured players.
Having earned a point each from your last two games against Egypt and South Africa in Group 7 of the African Cup of Nations, do you think your team stand any chance of qualifying for next year’s championship in Equitorial Guinea and Gabon?
If everything goes well as planned, I think we’ll have our ticket to the Nations Cup because if you consider the match we have played against big teams like South Africa and Egypt, the match against your teams (the Super Eagles) is a blessing in disguise as it would put my boys in a competitive mood for our away clash against Niger next month.
We are coming to Lagos to expose our boys, evaluate and assess their output against the Super Eagles before our game against Niger. So that’s why I’m confident that my team’ll have a good game.
So what you’re implying is that you will be lining up a strong team against the Super Eagles?
Of course, that’s the chance friendlies like this give you. I will not present a mediocre team because I don’t want to get humiliated and stain my credibility as a veteran coach. Nigeria is a big footballing nation. You have to give them a very good fight throughout the entire duration of the game.
Wednesday’s game will give us no point if the result goes either way, but we have an eye on the Niger game which will earn us some points if we win, that’s very important.
Meaning that you won’t sit back and allow the Eagles attack you?.
No, we won’t do that, we will employ a tactic that will suit our play and counter that of the Eagles. I know the players very well and their strengths, so we will be detailing specific players to carry some certain duties on the field of play.
What kind of result would you get that might be very dissapointing to you?
The worst result I could get from that encounter is a draw and if it happens that we’re defeated by a goal or two then we’ll learn from it in our preparation for the match against Niger in Naimey, that’s football.
No doubt, coach Cole you’re a veteran on this job and I’m sure you have been watching the Super Eagles for a while now. What can you say is the major problem of the Nigerian team?
First and foremost, taking into consideration the size of the country, it’s a big job for any coach to manage. It’s a very big problem because the population is too much for the handler to go around and search for young talents to stake claim for a places in the team and secondly, all the players in the team are too relaxed. You don’t see commitment in some of them when they play, maybe because they have money and they are now big men. What I see lacking in them is commitment and to some extent, they also lack discipline. But they are skillful players and if they put in a good level of commitment to help the coach, the team would rise again to greater heights.
For the coach, he has a Herculean task to transform the team back to that fearful force they used to be in their Green Eagles days.
But with the coming of coach Samson Siasia, do you think he can turn arround the fortunes of the team?
Of course, he can, because he was once a player for the national team. He knows the players in and out and the terrain where he will be working. As a former player, he knows the problems of the team and the yearnings of Nigerians. Individually, he knows them. He could pick from the pool of players that could be useful to him and those he must do without.
Finally sir, what could you say has been the major problem of African coaches?
Well, their employers don’t give them all the necessary support to succeed on the job due to their over reliance on the foreign coaches, but we are all qualified to do the job.
When a white man is employed, he is given the necessary provisions to succeed on the job but for the local coaches, they are not properly remunerated and they are the ones on the ground.
The African coaches need to be encouraged to do a good job.
They know all the boys and all the terrain. If all these things are done and they are well motivated, they’ll give their best to improve the game.
Don’t you feel under pressure about the fact that former Super Eagles handler, Amodu Shuaibu, was in your country recently for a coaching clinic with an eye on your job?
Pressure over him visiting my country? Not at all. I’m just hearing that from you that he has been contacted to coach the team, but I don’t know anything about that issue.
Thanks for your time and all the best coach.
Thank you.
ONIGBINDE: IT IS A GOOD START FOR SIASIA
Posted: Feb 10, 2011
Former Super Eagles coach, Adegboye Onigbinde, has commended Samson Siasia’s young Super Eagles squad for their 2-1 win over Leone Stars of Sierra Leone in an international friendly match decided Wednesday inside the Teslim Balogun Stadium, Lagos.
Onigbinde, who is a CAF and FIFA Technical Instructor said the victory marked a good beginning for the team, adding that it portends a bright future for the team I given the fact that the team did not have enough training and despite featuring young and new set of players.
“It’s a good start,” Onigbinde, who led the team to a silver medal feat in the 1984 Nations Cup in Ivory Coast quipped.
“Winning is one thing, another is performance. But when you look at some factors, factors like preparation and newness of the players to each other, then you can begin to feel that yes, there is hope that the team is heading for better days,” Onigbinde said.
The Super Eagles 2-1 win over Sierra Leone on Wednesday marked the beginning of Samson Siasia’s era as Super Eagles Head Coach.
Goals from Ahmed Musa and Ehiosun Ekigho in each half set the Eagles on a 2-0 lead before the Sierra Leoneans pulled one back on the dot of regulation time to bring final scores to 2-1.
Onigbinde, who is a CAF and FIFA Technical Instructor said the victory marked a good beginning for the team, adding that it portends a bright future for the team I given the fact that the team did not have enough training and despite featuring young and new set of players.
“It’s a good start,” Onigbinde, who led the team to a silver medal feat in the 1984 Nations Cup in Ivory Coast quipped.
“Winning is one thing, another is performance. But when you look at some factors, factors like preparation and newness of the players to each other, then you can begin to feel that yes, there is hope that the team is heading for better days,” Onigbinde said.
The Super Eagles 2-1 win over Sierra Leone on Wednesday marked the beginning of Samson Siasia’s era as Super Eagles Head Coach.
Goals from Ahmed Musa and Ehiosun Ekigho in each half set the Eagles on a 2-0 lead before the Sierra Leoneans pulled one back on the dot of regulation time to bring final scores to 2-1.
ENYIMBA, PILLARS OPPONENTS ARRIVE FOR CHAMPIONS LEAGUE
Posted: Feb 10, 2011
Opponents of Nigeria’s CAF Champions League representatives, Enyimba of Aba and Kano Pillars in this weekend’s first round return leg matches arrived the country last night.
St Michel Ouenze of Congo Brazaville, who will battle Enyimba of Aba on Sunday arrived the country aboard Virgin Nigeria at about 9pm.
Similarly, Mighty Barolle of Liberia, Kano Pillars guests on Saturday in Kano hit town aboard Air Nigeria.
Enyimba recorded a 1-0 victory over their opponents in the first leg and will need just a draw to seal their passage to the next round, while Kano Pillars go into the reverse fixture with a 2-1 first leg victory harvested in Monrovia two weeks ago.
Enyimba, known as Peoples Elephant, won the trophy back to back in 2003 and 2004,while Kano Pillars reached the semi final stage in 2009.
Head Coach of the team, Okey Emordi who led the team in their 2004 triumph played
down the first leg victory, saying his squad is poised to take the game as if the first leg has not been played.
“We are working really hard irrespective of the first leg result. In fact,we have put that
behind us as we look forward to the game on Sunday”, Emordi said.
Babangida Tukur, chairman of Kano Pillars echoed the same feelings.
“No match is won until after
the final whistle of the return leg match. So, we are approaching the game as if we lost the first leg tie”, Babangida, a former NFA Head of National Competitions Department sounded.
St Michel Ouenze of Congo Brazaville, who will battle Enyimba of Aba on Sunday arrived the country aboard Virgin Nigeria at about 9pm.
Similarly, Mighty Barolle of Liberia, Kano Pillars guests on Saturday in Kano hit town aboard Air Nigeria.
Enyimba recorded a 1-0 victory over their opponents in the first leg and will need just a draw to seal their passage to the next round, while Kano Pillars go into the reverse fixture with a 2-1 first leg victory harvested in Monrovia two weeks ago.
Enyimba, known as Peoples Elephant, won the trophy back to back in 2003 and 2004,while Kano Pillars reached the semi final stage in 2009.
Head Coach of the team, Okey Emordi who led the team in their 2004 triumph played
down the first leg victory, saying his squad is poised to take the game as if the first leg has not been played.
“We are working really hard irrespective of the first leg result. In fact,we have put that
behind us as we look forward to the game on Sunday”, Emordi said.
Babangida Tukur, chairman of Kano Pillars echoed the same feelings.
“No match is won until after
the final whistle of the return leg match. So, we are approaching the game as if we lost the first leg tie”, Babangida, a former NFA Head of National Competitions Department sounded.
EMENIKE BEGS FOR SECOND CHANCE!
Posted: Feb 10, 2011
Newly invited Super Eagles striker, Emmanuel Emenike is not happy with his average performance in his debut game for coach Samson Siasia’s team in a friendly game against The Leone Stars of Sierra Leone Wednesday night saying he’s hopeful to make amends if given another chance.
The Turkey based striker who recently pledged his commitment to play for Nigeria after much persuasion by the new Eagles coach failed to find the back of the net in what was his first outing in Nigeria colours inside the packed Teslim Balogun Stadium, Lagos, and was substituted midway into the game.
Speaking with Complete Sports after the match, the player who cut his professional teeth in South Africa before moving to Europe said:
“I deserve another chance in the next game. My game today was average and it was disappointing that I did not score as I promised.
“I deserve another chance in the next game. My game today was average and it was disappointing that I did not score as I promised.
It would’ve been a perfect gift for my birthday which comes up on Saturday,” he rued.
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