Sports
NFA Chides Oliseh Over Stand On Keshi
The Nigeria Football Federation on Monday said it was disappointed by recent comments by former Super Eagles’ captain, Sunday Oliseh, over the interview process that produced Stephen Keshi as new Head Coach of the senior national team, insisting that the comments were unfortunate.
“Oliseh’s coaching pedigree and assumed capabilities have not been demonstrated; they exist largely in the media. He has to demonstrate those assumed qualities at appropriate levels. As far as we are concerned, he did not react like a true sportsman,” said Barrister Chris Green, chairman of the NFF Technical Sub-Committee.
Green further said “you would expect someone like him, whom we suppose has a sense of maturity and decency, to simply congratulate his former captain, Mr. Keshi and gracefully accept the decision of the NFF, which has been hailed by the vast majority. Instead, he is saying the wrong things and trying to run the NFF down.
“How can Oliseh imagine that he will favourably compete with Keshi in an interview for senior team coaching position? How can anyone reasonably compare someone who has qualified a team to the FIFA World Cup finals and coached two different teams at the African Cup of Nations, at senior level, to someone who has only been dealing with junior ones and pupils?
“The NFF is proud to have appointed Keshi and we know he has capacity to take our football to the very top. Oliseh should work harder in the years ahead to earn some stripes in order to qualify to be considered for senior team coaching”, said Green.
Green also wants Oliseh to be definite and resolved about the role he wishes to play in Nigeria football.
“At first, he contested the position of Head Coach of Super Eagles with Keshi and Siasia, and lost. Siasia got the job based on his achievements with the junior and intermediate teams. Oliseh has nothing like that to show or to stand him in good stead. Months later, he wanted to be Technical Director. After the Eagles failed to qualify for the Cup of Nations and it was apparent Siasia would be asked to go, Oliseh suddenly reverted to wanting to be Head Coach.
“This should not be so. He should first sort out this confusion before trying to condemn others.
“The NFF Technical Sub-Committee is made up of eminent Nigerians, with several former captains of the Super Eagles and other highly qualified coaches and technical persons. At every point in time, we know what we are doing. No one can pull wool over our eyes,” stated Green.
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
