Cooreman:Vogts 'll Fail without Nigeria Assistant
By EMMA NJOKU
Saturday, February 10, 2007

•Maurice Cooreman Photo: Sun News Publishing

More Stories on This Section

New Super Eagles’ Technical Adviser, Berti Vogts, has been told to choose his assistant from among the Nigerian coaches if he hopes to succeed.

Belgian tactician and Enyimba International of Aba handler, Maurice Cooreman, who gave the advice, warned that the German tactician must be ready to fail if he makes the mistake of taking his assistant from outside the country.
“I think Vogts is a good coach and he is on the high level,” Cooreman began in an exclusive interview with Saturday Sunsport in Aba.

“But he must not make the mistake of taking his assistant coach from another place outside Nigeria. If he does that, then he should be ready to fail,” the former Lobi Stars of Makurdi tactician went on.
“Vogts needs to work with a Nigerian coach, because there’re good coaches here. I see Daniel Amokachi as a good coach and he is my good friend. I believe that Vogts can work with him.

“There’re other good coaches around. I don’t think that Vogts knows what obtains in Nigerian football. It’s his first time in Nigeria. So, as a beginner in the country, he must work with a Nigerian coach until such a time he would have understood the terrain, he can then decide to go about it in his own way. But if he fails to work with a Nigerian now, then he should be ready to have problems,” the Belgian explained.

Cooreman cited the example of Kwara United’s new Swede tactician, Roger Palmgren, who he said was having problems at the Ilorin Premier League side, because he preferred to work with another foreigner instead of an indigenous coach.

“Look at what is happening to Palmgren at Kwara United. He came with his assistant coach instead of working with a Nigerian. And he has been having poor results in the domestic league.
“I prefer to work with a Nigerian coach, because he must have known the terrain better than I do. When you work in an environment you don’t know very well, you’re bound to have problems,” he stated.

Cooreman, who could not hide his disappointment at the performance of the Flying Eagles, who played at the last African Youth Championship (AYC) in Congo Brazzaville, observed that the team lacked quality players, while some of the good ones in the squad were played outside their best positions.

“I was a bit disappointed when I watched the final match at the AYC between Congo and Nigeria because the standard of the Nigerian Flying Eagles, who played two years ago in Benin Republic was by far better than that of the team we saw in Congo,” the Enyimba tactician revealed.

“Samson Siasia had better and more quality players like Taiye Taiwo, Mikel Obi and the rest of them unlike the players we saw in the current team. They did not play good football and the only way they would have beaten Congo was if they had played good football. They needed to possess and pass the ball and I did not see that.”

Although he admitted that the Congolese team enjoyed the advantage of home crowd in the final match, Cooreman noted that the Nigerian team lacked good pattern of play.

“You must understand that the Congolese team played at home before their over 40,000 fans. That motivated them to play better. But having said that, if you don’t have a good system and you fail to put your best players in their positions, then you have problems. That was what I noticed with the Nigerian team.

“If you had watched the Super Four playoffs last season, you would have noticed that I always played Blessing Okardi on his best position. I know his capability on the pitch. He is a player who can run. He can support both the attack and the defence. So, you must let him play in his best position, which is in the middle. He is dangerous in front of the goal. He organises the team from the midfield. So, you must let him run, run and run, because he has the stamina.

“But when you put him on the left side or right side of the pitch, you reduce his capacity by 50 per cent. And I don’t understand why that should be the case for a team that prepared well for a championship.

“I expected that the coach should have known every of his player and their individual capabilities; what each of them can do on the pitch. But I did not see that in the Flying Eagles in Congo.
“I was also disappointed at the captain, Friday Iyam. He failed to show class. I expected him to carry the rest of the team along. He happens to be one of the new signings in Enyimba. When he comes back, I must teach him how to play.”

Cooreman, however, expressed confidence in the technical abilities of Coach Godwin Uwua, even though he said that the Flying Eagles’ handler made mistakes by dropping some of the players who could have made the difference at the tournament in Congo Brazzaville.

“I know Uwua is a good coach. The problem he had was perhaps, he did not select the best players in Nigeria to make up the Flying Eagles’ team. I know some players in Enyimba who were in the team’s camp but were dropped. I also know other good players in other teams, who were dropped from the team. I think Uwua made a little mistake. But for me, he is a good coach.
“It is easier to talk after a championship. Just because he lost the trophy, everybody is now saying that Uwua is not a good coach. It is always easy to pass such verdicts.

But had it been that he won the championship, everybody would have passed him for a very good coach,” the Belgian observed.
Cooreman had dreamt of coaching the Super Eagles someday upon arrival in Nigeria some eight years ago, but that dream has died a natural death. Instead, the Enyimba tactician said that he wished to concentrate on his job as the helmsman of the ‘People’s Elephant’, but would not mind handling either the Nigerian Under-17 or Under-21 team if given the opportunity any day.

“I have said it many times that I would love to coach the Nigerian team. But Nigeria is blessed with younger coaches like Austin Eguavoen, Samson Siasia, Daniel Amokachi and others, who have played football at the highest level in Europe. That is why I said that with them, Berti Vogts can achieve something at the Nations Cup in Ghana next year and at the World Cup in South Africa in 2010.

“My ambition is no longer to coach the Super Eagles. That was my dream when I first arrived in Nigeria, but sometimes dreams don’t come true. For now, I will concentrate on my job with Enyimba. Maybe one day I would be privileged to handle the country’s Under-17 or Under-21 side. That is my ambition now and no longer to handle the senior national team.

“It’s rather unfortunate that Nigerian football authorities do not have confidence in my technical ability. They expect me to prove myself again and again that I can get the job done.

When I won the Globacom Premier League with Ocean Boys, everybody was surprised. Even now that I am handling Enyimba, the confidence people have in my ability is still not 100 per cent. It is as if I must prove myself every time and I am prepared to do that. I have no problem with such challenges. I know I can prepare a team very well,” Cooreman maintained.