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You're a bloody failure
– Onigbinde tells Uwua
By CHIMAOBI UCHENDU
Wednesday, February 7, 2007
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•Chief
Festus Onigbinde
Photo: Sun News Publishing
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Now the bubble has burst, and the storm has paved way for
rains of criticisms to shower on embattled coach Godwin Koko
Uwua, after failing to make a good impression with the Flying
Eagles, at the just-concluded African Youth Championship (AYC)
in Congo.
FIFA instructor and former coach of the Super Eagles, Chief
Festus Onigbinde, is one out of millions of Nigerians who
are not happy with the overall performance of the Flying Eagles.
He told Daily Sunsport that losing the trophy was not the
reason for his call for a total overhauling of the team but
that their performance from their first match called for serious
concern.
He subsequently called on NFA to use it’s discretion
and fortify the team before they depart for the World Youth
Championship billed for Canada later in the year.
“I don’t believe in unwarranted criticisms,”
he started. “But what happened to the Flying Eagles
in Congo calls for the intervention of every football loving
Nigerian.
“Nigeria has not had it so bad in recent times at the
Under-20 level. In fact, this is the worst assemblage of the
Flying Eagles squad I have ever seen.
“From the qualifiers till the show of shame they put
up in Congo. I had never believed in the team but, be that
as it may, I want to say categorically here that I am not
impressed with their performance.
“Let it be said here that Uwua and his team did not
do well, and sentiments should be thrown to the to the trash
can. I expect the Nigeria Football Association (NFA) to take
a decisive action on the future of this team and the coaching
crew, because if the they did well the technical crew would
take the glory...and now that they have failed, they should
be held responsible. Unless the football authorities would
tell us again that their hands are tied.
“I watched them from the first match, uptill the last
day and I could not understand the style the team adopted
as a strategy for success. All I could notice was that some
of the players were there only to impress themselves and the
scouts that had been sent to watch them play."
“From the first till the final match I could not pick
out a single player that could turn things around for the
good of the team. This indicated to me that we never had a
good team, and I only resorted to watching because I had no
power to recall any of them.
“A team that has character will not concede two goals
in quick succession as they did on two occasions against Cameroon
and Zambia. The coaches, I think, did not have the answer
to what it meant for youths to represent their fatherland.
They needed to be psyched up and told why they have to do
better.
“Be that as it may, I don’t want to be seen as
the judge and the advocate, but all I am trying to do is to
amend our reputation before the international community, as
far as youth football is concerned.
“The problem, as I can see, is not with the boys but
with the technical crew. Change the technical crew with this
same set of players and see the fifth wonder of the world.
“A team that plays badly today, if given a good hand
with good programme, will surely be a perfect team tomorrow.
So, as I said earlier, it depends on the NFA and their aspirations
as far as Canada is concerned.
“It is not a personal war but the a collective wish
that our youth football should be returned to where it rightly
belong. There are good coaches scattered around Nigeria and
I hope the NFA would go for them and stop this experiment,
because those that wear the shoe knows exactly were it pinches
them.
“I read in the pages of the newspapers where Uwua was
quoted as having said that he has no apology losing to Cameroon,
to me it is not about arrogance because some coaches will
tell you that they made such statements as one of their strategies
to win a tournament, but for Uwua I think he was quoted out
of context.
“The time to start preparation for the World Youth Championship,
tagged ‘Canada ’07’, is now. Let us not
wait for other qualifiers from Africa to go on training tour
before we hurriedly assemble a team because every day cannot
be Christmas.
“We had used the fire brigade approach in the past and
some times it worked for us, and some times it worked against
us, so let us try and learn from our mistakes because a stitch
in time, they say, saves nine,” Onigbinde advised.
The Modakeke high chief concluded by calling on NFA to beam
her search on Golden Eaglets, who are ready to face the rest
of Africa very soon.
He said to avoid future embarrassment from youth teams, just
like the last Under-17 team to Gambia under coach Izilien,
NFA should monitor the selection of players by coaches, and
that coaches to be assigned to youth teams must have a pedigree
with youth clubs.
“There are differences between a premier league coach
and a youth team coach. We in Nigeria take this fundamentals
for granted because those that make this appointments are
not interested in the development of the game, rather they
are after what they will gain.
“I will like the NFA to beam a searchlight on the Golden
Eaglets to ascertain the kind of team they have and the competence
of the technical crew. The development of the game should
not be a personal thing.
“You cannot appoint me to go and coach a youth team
because I have not been orientated to do so. So, those that
have no business tutoring our youth teams, both at the female
and male categories, should be shown the way out for the sake
of posterity.
“Other countries in Africa are catching up on us when
it comes to youth football, and we are not doing anything
about it. It would be regrettable if we crash out of the Under-17
World Youth Championship for the second season running,”
Chief Onigbinde concluded.
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