Sports
Hiddink, Mancini Not Interested In Eagles Job
Guus Hiddink and Roberto Mancini, two of the top candidates whose names have been bandied around for the Super Eagles job, are set to snub the country.
UK newspaper, The Guardian reports that Hiddink is preparing to make a return to Chelsea as Technical Director, while his place in Russia is favoured to go to the former Inter Milan coach, who has been out of a job since leaving the Italian champions in May 2008.
In any case, Hiddink’s current stratospheric $8-million annual salary would lead to a huge outcry in Nigeria, unless he is prepared to take a monumental pay-cut to lead a fourth team from a fourth continent to the World Cup.
Berti Vogts, Nigeria’s last foreign coach, was paid $50 000, less than a tenth of the Dutchman’s current monthly wages of around $667 000.
That was still enough to cause national outrage, even though the tab was picked up by a private telecommunications firm rather than with tax payers’ money.
Hiddink has a contract as Russia’s head coach until the end of June 2010, but sources say the Dutchman will almost certainly quit and take a job at Chelsea.
On Saturday, Hiddink told Russia’s Sovietsky Sport newspaper that his future will be sorted soon. “I think my future will be decided relatively quickly,” he said.
The Dutchman expects a formal decision to be made as early as next month but no later than January.
A source close to him did not even mention the Nigeria job in those plans: “He would go back and would be in position [to assist] if something is going not that well.
The Chelsea players like him. He’s already been at the club. There is a proverb in Russian that you can step twice into the same water. It is something he is capable of.”
Ancelotti said yesterday that he would be happy to work with Hiddink. “Guus Hiddink is my friend,” he said before today’s game at home to Wolverhampton Wanderers.
“If he has free time, he can come to Chelsea and we can train together. It’s not a problem.” Jokingly, he added: “Maybe I could take a little holiday.”
There is no question that Hiddink would be welcomed back at Stamford Bridge as he remains on good terms with owner Roman Abramovich, who finances his astronomical wages in Russia.
The 63-year-old had a successful spell as Chelsea’s temporary manager last season, stepping in after the departure of Luiz Felipe Scolari and winning the FA Cup.
Heartland Technical Manager, Emmanuel Amuneke has praised his players for not losing focus at the crucial moment in Sunday’s 2-1 home win over Shooting Stars in a NPFL Matchday 24 fixture in Owerri.
The Naze Millionaires defeated the Oluyole Warriors through Chukwuma Agor and John Bassey goals in the 31st and 88th minutes with Mustapha Adam’s 80th minute spot kick a mere consolation for the visitors.
Amuneke while speaking to journalists shortly after the encounter, said his boys showed the zeal and determination to seal the three points and that despite the shenanigans of the centre referee, Kolawole Emmanuel, the boys were never troubled.l
“We were eager to get the three points and we were aware Shooting Stars are a good side and won’t allow us to have our way easily,” Amuneke told journalists in Owerri.
“We planned for them and almost throughout the entire game, they were never a threat to our team. We were able to control the game from the beginning. It was unfortunate how the game ended. We were just focussed on the three points and we are thrilled we got it. It was a very good game from both sides but we subjected them to constant pressure almost throughout the game.”
While he was asked if he believed his boys could finish the season impressively, Amuneke was evasive but noted that he and his players would continue to work harder.
“Everything in line is possible but we know that nothing happens without hard work. We will continue to work harder and continue to see how we can grow as a team. We have a lot of young players in the team. Some of them just got their topflight breakthrough.
“We didn’t lose focus at the time of the controversies. We continued to do the same thing we have been doing and taking the game to them.”
Former President Goodluck Jonathan, on Monday, turned the sod of the new Olympic-standard 25,000-capacity Bayelsa Stadium project at Igbogene, Yenagoa, as part of the activities marking the fifth anniversary of the Senator Douye Diri administration.
The former Nigerian leader performed the ground-breaking ceremony as Governor Diri restated his appeal to the federal government, the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), oil firms operating in the state and the private sector to join hands with his administration to develop sporting talents.
The Federal Government through the National Sports Commission (NSC) and the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) equally thumped up Governor Diri for initiating the project.
Dr. Jonathan expressed delight over the project, saying as a Bayelsan, he was duty bound to celebrate with the state government for the progress so far achieved.
He lauded Diri’s developmental strides, urging him not to rest on his laurels and that the contractor and the state government should ensure the project met the highest standards.
Jonathan also called on the state and federal governments to set up a sports fund to cater for sportsmen after their active days and encourage younger ones to be involved in sports.
He said: “This is my state and I have to celebrate with the government for the progress so far made. This is an iconic project that will develop the state. Please do not rest on your laurels as we want this stadium to meet the best standards.
“I am happy with the presence of relevant federal government officials. I hope they will guide the state well and support where necessary.
“As a country, we must have a fund to care for sportsmen. The federal and state government can think about it so that the younger generation will be interested in sports.
“I am happy that you gave a target of 24 months and I hope that by that time I will escort President Tinubu to Bayelsa to inaugurate it.”
The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has condoled the family of former Nigeria international midfielder, Ayo Ogunlana, who died in Kaduna on Friday after observing his early-morning walk.
NFF General Secretary, Dr Mohammed Sanusi, showered tributes on the departed midfield pearl, who was a star attraction during a number of important Nigeria FA Cup battles in the 1980s and held sway in the middle for the Super Eagles in the late 1980s, and at the 1990 Africa Cup of Nations finals in Algeria.
“We are very sad to learn of the sudden passing of Ayo Ogunlana, only a couple of weeks after the demise of another former Eagle, Moses Effiong (a member of the 1980 AFCON-winning Green Eagles squad, in far-away USA). Ogunlana was a great midfielder who made playing football look so easy with his majestic touches and turns, and his magnificent free-kicks.
“We pray that the Almighty will grant both of them eternal rest and grant the families they have left behind the fortitude to bear the losses.”
Ogunlana was magisterial in the midfield as Nigeria overhauled Guinea and Zimbabwe to qualify for the 1990 Africa Cup of Nations, and was imperial against Cameroon in a 1990 FIFA World Cup qualifying match in Ibadan that the Super Eagles won with an emphatic 2-0. He also played in the 1990 ECOWAS Cup competition that Nigeria hosted in Kaduna.