Sports
…As Confusion Reigns Over Coach’s Future
A top Nigeria Football Federation official says Lars Lagerback, who led the country to the 2010 World Cup, will not continue as Super Eagles coach.
Dominic Iorfa, who heads the technical department which is in charge of hiring coaches, was speaking on a local radio station in Lagos.
Last week another official told the Tidesports source that reports that Swede Lagerback would not return, were ‘baseless’.
But Iorfa has said that there was no indication Lagerback is coming back.
“The coach said he is not coming back, so it is very likely that Siasia will take over the job,” Iorfa said on Thursday, referring to ex-Nigerian international Samson Siasia who is now favourite to get the job.
Lagerback’s reign has been blighted by criticism in the local media over his salary, team selection, and tactics.
Nigeria failed to go past the group stage at the World Cup finals in South Africa prompting calls for a change in the playing and coaching staff by angry fans.
Siasia, who is in charge of local side Heartland FC, is highly favoured to land the job of turning round the fortunes of the faltering Eagles.
“The best of Nigerian football is what we aim to achieve as demanded by the fans, media and major stakeholders,” Iorfa added.
“There is just too little time left between now and the start of the 2012 African Cup of Nations qualifiers.
“We’ll soon start discussion with Siasia.”
Meanwhile, Emeka Enechi, who is Lagerback’s Nigerian agent says the coach is not keen on a return to the job.
Enechi said he had spoken to Lagerback, who explained that it will be extremely difficult for him to work in the present environment at the NFF.
England captain Harry Kane netted a hat-trick to guide Bayern Munich to an impressive victory against Stuttgart.
Kane’s goals, plus one from Kingsley Coman, helped Bayern end a three-game winless run in all competitions.
They faced a tough task against a Stuttgart side who sat back and limited their chances, leading Vincent Kompany’s side to enter the break frustrated and with the deadlock unbroken.
Bayern eventually found a way past Stuttgart’s steely defence when Kane drilled a low effort into the bottom corner from around 30 yards out after Joshua Kimmich overturned possession.
Former Nigeria goalkeeper, Dosu Joseph, is full of thanks to God after he miraculously survived another life-threatening automobile accident recent at Kara, along the Lagos-Ibadan Express Way, where a heavy-duty truck ran into his SUV.
Narrating his ordeal, the 51-year-old, who guided Nigeria to gold in the Men’s Football Tournament of the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, broke the news in a statement on his social media handles on Friday.
“To God be the glory, another death escaped by Grace and Mercy of God. Me and my friend SM were at Enyo Filling Station after Ojodu Berger bus stop to get fuel on Wednesday, October 2, 2024, around 6 p.m. when this MACK truck fully loaded with iron, with registration number LND 470 XX, left the road and crushed my car beyond repairs. Thank God for life,” he stated.
This is the second time the soft-spoken club proprietor will cheat death by a whisker, having been involved in an accident in 1997 that ended his career at 23 and left his spinal cord in bad shape.
He helped Julius Berger win the Nigeria FA Cup in November 1997 shortly a memorable Olympic outing by keeping a clean sheet in the finals against Katsina United. The following year, he was involved in the auto along Ikorodu Road, Lagos, which not only cut his career short but also left him almost paralysed, ending his spell at Serie A club Reggiana.
The former Nigeria international, who also kept goal for Julius Berger FC, said the case has been reported to Isheri Police Station, Ogun State, where the driver is currently detained and the truck also seized.
According to him, the owner of the truck said he can’t fix the badly damaged SUV until after a year.
Ex – Super Eagles of Nigeria, Okwuchukwu Waobikeze has observed that sports development in Nigeria is going down.
According to him, grassroots sports is very important, without it, the administrators cannot get it right. So everybody should key into grassroots sports development, he said.
Waobikeze said this last Wednesday in an interview with sports journalists shortly after the Port Harcourt All Stars Independence football festival (OCTOBERFEST) at the Port Harcourt club, Rivers State.
He explained that for sports administrators to get it right, grassroots development is key. “They should be organising competition at the grassroots level to fish out the young ones for different sporting activities.
“Grassroots sports is very important so the administrators have to go back to the grassroots.
” Sports Development in Nigeria is going down we need to go back to the basics.
“Look at the just concluded Paris Olympics, Nigeria did not win any medal.
” Our football team did not even qualify for the Olympics. We are going down.
” If they should go back to the grassroots, they will get young ones in the games and talents will be developed.
” I started from school games, to youth games before playing for the national team. Now everybody wants to fly board to play professional football and a lot do not know the basics of the game.
” A lot of people did not know the little things about the game, they just want to play. It is not done so,” Waobikeze stated.
Kiadum Edookor