Should Oliseh not be watching players in Europe?

[Ayo Akinfe]

Ayo! sorry to say this in my opinion our foreign base will struggle against blended Egyptian team,70 or 80% of Egyptian team play at home.Evidence is there against Swaziland for world cup qualifier 2nd leg when them like mikel and nacho were bench, i believe we only need 40 to 50% pro on the field during African qualifiers,even you said it your self that we dont have enough time to prepare when all foreign pro is invited,even keshi proof it when he started abandoning home based player he fail to qualify and when keshi first started he was given home based opportunities and he was making it,during siasia had his faith with all foreign pro and he failed to qualifier .....THE POINTS ARE NOT ENOUGH TIME AND SOME OF FOREIGN PRO ARE NOT HUNGRY ENOUGH FOR NATIONAL TEAM...

Egypt's best players play at home. Ours do not!

Our local league is made up of undiscovered kids and players who failed European trials. They are not the kind to play for the national team bar one or two. During the Nation's Cup, Keshi only risked Oboabona and Mba in his starting line-up!

NOT TALKING ABOUT FINAL ALONE TOWARDS ALL THE QUALIFIERS,DEFINITELY IF THERE IS ENOUGH TIME TO PREPARE I WILL PREFER FOREIGN BASE BUT IF NOT I WILL GAMBLE ON OUR BLENDED HOME BASE AND WHY DO YOU THINK OUR UNDER 23,21,17 ARE DOING FINE , LET FORGET ABOUT OVER AGE WHICH HAPPEN OLD DAYS AND NOW ARE FEW BECAUSE ANY DAY I WILL PUT MY MONEY ON BLENDED YOUNG TEAM .

How many home based players at good enough to play for the Eagles? Let us leave youth tournaments out of this abeg.

[Black I Ras]

You're kidding us, right, Uncle Ayo?

If not, then I don't know if a description/phrase as self-defeating as colo mentality comes even close to capturing the folly you seem to be advocating. Haba we must ignore the best of domestic talent? Base our future on foreign leagues?

Please tell us you're kidding

[Cellular]

You're kidding us, right, Uncle Ayo?

If not, then I don't know if a description/phrase as self-defeating as colo mentality comes even close to capturing the folly you seem to be advocating. Haba we must ignore the best of domestic talent? Base our future on foreign leagues?

Please tell us you're kidding

He is not.

You just have to understand Uncle wAyo... bobo don improve sef.
Bifor na foreign coach and foreign FA he was advocating for.

He refused to acknowledge that Naija's winning the AFCON was largely in part because we looked inwards and stopped being over reliant on FB pros who will leave you in the lurch when you need them. Whether it be Mikel deciding which games to play of Enyeama having a legitimate excuse not to show up or show up late... or Victor Moses being tired of the unprofessionalism of our FA...

He wants us to rely on FB players...

[YUJAM]

In fact, I recall reading that his contract stipulates that he also works on processes that improve the local league

http://www.espnfc.com/blog/football-afr ... -on-the-up

Part of his role is to come up with a five year plan to restructure local league

Train local coaches too

[Waffiman]

Ayo, Oliseh's job is to build a successful team and if this means using home based players, so be it. I do not care wherever they are based, so long as they are Nigerian.

[anointed]

I'm sure Oliseh's salary allows for a DSTV subscription.

In which country? Rwanda? Belgium? How many matches involving Nigerian players did you think DSTV showed over the weekend.

I honestly agree with Ayo for the most part. I've always been an advocate of having another coach manage the CHAN team. In fact, I think the bulk of the home based U-23 team should have prosecuted this CHAN tourney so we could see it as a means to an end and not the end itself. Once the SE coach is in charge of the CHAN SE, it is almost a distraction to the extent that it becomes a must-win tourney. Even the coach will begin to think that the home based lads can get the SE job done at any level. Keshi fell at this. We need to ask where the players selected for CHAN 2 years ago are today. Why CHAN players would be in the SE and Isaac Success will not be raises some questions.

[Ayo Akinfe]

Ayo, Oliseh's job is to build a successful team and if this means using home based players, so be it. I do not care wherever they are based, so long as they are Nigerian.

Not at the expense of the main task of qualifying for the Nations Cup. His neglect of the players plying their trade at the highest level at this crucial juncture is tantamount to dereliction of duty in my opinion.

Over the weekend, the following Nigerians played in the English Premiership:

Mikel Obi
Odion Ighalo
Kelechi Iheanacho
Osaze Odemwingie
Victor Anichebe
Victor Moses

Did Oliseh watch one of them?

Kinglsey Ehibuze of Zwolle, playing in the Dutch Eredivisie is arguably our best rightback at the moment. He played over the weekend. Isaac Success put in another great performance for Granada over the weekend as Granada beat Getafe 3-2 and Leon Balogun also played for o90 minutes as a centreback for Mainz, while Efe Ambrose also played a full game as a centreback for Celtic.

Oliseh simply needs to be at these games watching his players to know their current form. He will get one or two players from Chan but come on, that cannot be his main priority!

[theYemster]

I'm sure Oliseh's salary allows for a DSTV subscription.

In which country? Rwanda? Belgium? How many matches involving Nigerian players did you think DSTV showed over the weekend.

I honestly agree with Ayo for the most part. I've always been an advocate of having another coach manage the CHAN team. In fact, I think the bulk of the home based U-23 team should have prosecuted this CHAN tourney so we could see it as a means to an end and not the end itself. Once the SE coach is in charge of the CHAN SE, it is almost a distraction to the extent that it becomes a must-win tourney. Even the coach will begin to think that the home based lads can get the SE job done at any level. Keshi fell at this. We need to ask where the players selected for CHAN 2 years ago are today. Why CHAN players would be in the SE and Isaac Success will not be raises some questions.

I am fairly confident Oliseh can get tapes of any matches played in the top Euro leagues. DSTV isn't the only broadcaster on the planet.

Watching them live is good but certainly not more important than what he is doing in SA.

[theYemster]

Nobody has explained why Siasia or Babangida is not handling the Chan team. In my opinion, Oliseh's time could be better spent monitoring his top players in Europe.

For instance, players just returning from injury or still injured include Leon Balogun, Uwa Echiejile, Victor Moses and Ogenyi Onazi. Surely, Oliseh should be monitoring them closely, reading their fitness reports, seeing if they are engaging in full training and ascertaining their preparedness.

He can be given a report about the quality players from the Chan team. They are for the future but with Egypt looming, he needs his senior players.

Actually I think you have it backwards. Babangida or Oliseh's assistant should be the one in Europe watching the games.

Siasia already has his own job...prepping his team for the Olympics.

[cchinukw]

Sorry Ayo, but you are talking nonsense.

Na today?

[Ayo Akinfe]

Oliseh's assistants include:
Salisu Yusuf
Jean Francois Luscuito
Tijani Babangida

He also has at his disposal:
Samson Siasia - U23 coach
Manu Garba - U21 coach
Emmanuel Amunike - U17 coach

No one has explained to me why some or maybe even all of these coaches could not take charge of the team in Rwanda and Oliseh focus on the main business of checking out the boys going to play against Egypt. Do you know we are playing Egypt on March 26 in Nigeria and then again on March 29 away in Cairo?

Common sense should tell anyone that preparing for this game must be Oliseh's number one priority. Someone mentioned the fact that Siasia is busy but his tournament is not due until the summer. Oliseh has two months to get his team ready and he is not scouting his players!!!! Hmmmmmmmmm.

Tomorrow now when things go sour we start complaining and pointing fingers. Take it or leave it but Sunday Oliseh has no business in Rwanda whatsoever!

[vancity eagle]

Ayo! sorry to say this in my opinion our foreign base will struggle against blended Egyptian team,70 or 80% of Egyptian team play at home.Evidence is there against Swaziland for world cup qualifier 2nd leg when them like mikel and nacho were bench, i believe we only need 40 to 50% pro on the field during African qualifiers,even you said it your self that we dont have enough time to prepare when all foreign pro is invited,even keshi proof it when he started abandoning home based player he fail to qualify and when keshi first started he was given home based opportunities and he was making it,during siasia had his faith with all foreign pro and he failed to qualifier .....THE POINTS ARE NOT ENOUGH TIME AND SOME OF FOREIGN PRO ARE NOT HUNGRY ENOUGH FOR NATIONAL TEAM...

When Ghana thrashed Egypt (mainly HB players) 7-1 in a WCQ, did they use HB or FB players ?

This nonsense about blending is the biggest garbage I have ever heard. No national team on this earth that has so many players abroad, will ignore them for players who are not good enough to secure foreign contracts. NO TEAM ON EARTH. It is only in Nigeria that we have this backwards mentality. This is no recipe for success.

And if u think lack of HB players was the reason for missing the 2015 ANC, then you haven't got a clue
When Ke$hi qualified for ANC, he did so with vast majority FB players, when he won ANC, IT was vast majority FB players, when he made the 2nd round in Brazil, IT WAS ENTIRELY FB PLAYERS.

Your way of thinking will only bring us further failure, and I pray Oliseh is not thinking like you, or disaster awaits.

[vancity eagle]

Ayo! sorry to say this in my opinion our foreign base will struggle against blended Egyptian team,70 or 80% of Egyptian team play at home.Evidence is there against Swaziland for world cup qualifier 2nd leg when them like mikel and nacho were bench, i believe we only need 40 to 50% pro on the field during African qualifiers,even you said it your self that we dont have enough time to prepare when all foreign pro is invited,even keshi proof it when he started abandoning home based player he fail to qualify and when keshi first started he was given home based opportunities and he was making it,during siasia had his faith with all foreign pro and he failed to qualifier .....THE POINTS ARE NOT ENOUGH TIME AND SOME OF FOREIGN PRO ARE NOT HUNGRY ENOUGH FOR NATIONAL TEAM...

Egypt's best players play at home. Ours do not!

Our local league is made up of undiscovered kids and players who failed European trials. They are not the kind to play for the national team bar one or two. During the Nation's Cup, Keshi only risked Oboabona and Mba in his starting line-up!

NOT TALKING ABOUT FINAL ALONE TOWARDS ALL THE QUALIFIERS,DEFINITELY IF THERE IS ENOUGH TIME TO PREPARE I WILL PREFER FOREIGN BASE BUT IF NOT I WILL GAMBLE ON OUR BLENDED HOME BASE AND WHY DO YOU THINK OUR UNDER 23,21,17 ARE DOING FINE , LET FORGET ABOUT OVER AGE WHICH HAPPEN OLD DAYS AND NOW ARE FEW BECAUSE ANY DAY I WILL PUT MY MONEY ON BLENDED YOUNG TEAM .

Using a different team to qualify than the one that will play in the tournament proper is a stupid idea. In the long run the main team will suffer as it will not have opportunities to establish itself. The teams that qualify and compete in tournaments must generally be the same.

What other national teams employ the strategy you are suggesting? If there are any, where has it been successful ?

[vancity eagle]

Ayo! sorry to say this in my opinion our foreign base will struggle against blended Egyptian team,70 or 80% of Egyptian team play at home.Evidence is there against Swaziland for world cup qualifier 2nd leg when them like mikel and nacho were bench, i believe we only need 40 to 50% pro on the field during African qualifiers,even you said it your self that we dont have enough time to prepare when all foreign pro is invited,even keshi proof it when he started abandoning home based player he fail to qualify and when keshi first started he was given home based opportunities and he was making it,during siasia had his faith with all foreign pro and he failed to qualifier .....THE POINTS ARE NOT ENOUGH TIME AND SOME OF FOREIGN PRO ARE NOT HUNGRY ENOUGH FOR NATIONAL TEAM...

This will not work. What we need to be doing is what Oliseh is doing, working towards building A TEAM - not dividing us into home based and foreign based.

AM NOT DIVIDING THEM,I PREFER AND SUPPORT FOR OLISEH IS DOING,,ESPECIALLY 2ND LEG AGAINST SWAZILAND...JUST ONLY SAYING WHEN YOU PLAY AFRICA QUALIFIERS IS DIFFERENT BALL GAIN THAN THE ANY CHAMPIONSHIP IT SELF..

The 2nd led vs Swaziland was a mediocre match, and not any game that we should be using as an example of how to build success. Paul Onobi brought nothing to that match, Mikel is 100 times better. Akas was average at best. I saw no improvement from those HB guys.

[vancity eagle]

Ayo, Oliseh's job is to build a successful team and if this means using home based players, so be it. I do not care wherever they are based, so long as they are Nigerian.

Not at the expense of the main task of qualifying for the Nations Cup. His neglect of the players plying their trade at the highest level at this crucial juncture is tantamount to dereliction of duty in my opinion.

Over the weekend, the following Nigerians played in the English Premiership:

Mikel Obi
Odion Ighalo
Kelechi Iheanacho
Osaze Odemwingie
Victor Anichebe
Victor Moses

Did Oliseh watch one of them?

Kinglsey Ehibuze of Zwolle, playing in the Dutch Eredivisie is arguably our best rightback at the moment. He played over the weekend. Isaac Success put in another great performance for Granada over the weekend as Granada beat Getafe 3-2 and Leon Balogun also played for o90 minutes as a centreback for Mainz, while Efe Ambrose also played a full game as a centreback for Celtic.

Oliseh simply needs to be at these games watching his players to know their current form. He will get one or two players from Chan but come on, that cannot be his main priority!

KPOM X 1000

There are so many backwards thinkers on CE. It is a mental disease. It seems Nigerians just cannot see the obvious and always look to silly answers to solve simple problems.

[vancity eagle]

Oliseh's assistants include:
Salisu Yusuf
Jean Francois Luscuito
Tijani Babangida

He also has at his disposal:
Samson Siasia - U23 coach
Manu Garba - U21 coach
Emmanuel Amunike - U17 coach

No one has explained to me why some or maybe even all of these coaches could not take charge of the team in Rwanda and Oliseh focus on the main business of checking out the boys going to play against Egypt. Do you know we are playing Egypt on March 26 in Nigeria and then again on March 29 away in Cairo?

Common sense should tell anyone that preparing for this game must be Oliseh's number one priority. Someone mentioned the fact that Siasia is busy but his tournament is not due until the summer. Oliseh has two months to get his team ready and he is not scouting his players!!!! Hmmmmmmmmm.

Tomorrow now when things go sour we start complaining and pointing fingers. Take it or leave it but Sunday Oliseh has no business in Rwanda whatsoever!

To be honest Ayo it is becoming clear to me that Oliseh is just another coach/agent only interested in which players he can secure foreign contracts.

Why else would he be spending his time here instead of doing the far more important business of scouting abroad ?

Why else would he be calling Prince Aggrey ahead of Promise Isaac ?

Why else would he play Paul Onobi over Mikel ?

Why else would he bring on Bassey over Nacho ?

I am telling you he WILL call up a bunch of these HB guys to the Egypt match who do not deserve to be there.

As it stands only Cikatara and Usmain have any business near SE, the rest no waaaay.

I hope I am wrong but Oliseh is another agent masquerading as a coach. This is why I prefer a foreign coach because it appears all of our guys are compromised.

[YUJAM]

Ayo and yourself are confused. Oliseh's focus should be more on the local league. His contract stipulates that he come up with a plan to develop the league which means he has to understand its weaknesses and strengths. He also needs to scout the upcoming players in that league. Last, as you know, to create a top national team you need a decent and competent league. Pinnick and Co realized this when they structured Oliseh's contract and I agree with them completely. The idea that some coach will spend all his time in Europe and just work a few weeks a year when the NTs have engagements is just ridiculous and should never be repeated again

Ayo, Oliseh's job is to build a successful team and if this means using home based players, so be it. I do not care wherever they are based, so long as they are Nigerian.

Not at the expense of the main task of qualifying for the Nations Cup. His neglect of the players plying their trade at the highest level at this crucial juncture is tantamount to dereliction of duty in my opinion.

Over the weekend, the following Nigerians played in the English Premiership:

Mikel Obi
Odion Ighalo
Kelechi Iheanacho
Osaze Odemwingie
Victor Anichebe
Victor Moses

Did Oliseh watch one of them?

Kinglsey Ehibuze of Zwolle, playing in the Dutch Eredivisie is arguably our best rightback at the moment. He played over the weekend. Isaac Success put in another great performance for Granada over the weekend as Granada beat Getafe 3-2 and Leon Balogun also played for o90 minutes as a centreback for Mainz, while Efe Ambrose also played a full game as a centreback for Celtic.

Oliseh simply needs to be at these games watching his players to know their current form. He will get one or two players from Chan but come on, that cannot be his main priority!

KPOM X 1000

There are so many backwards thinkers on CE. It is a mental disease. It seems Nigerians just cannot see the obvious and always look to silly answers to solve simple problems.

[Ayo Akinfe]

Vancity Eagle, it is sometimes pointless arguing with some of our folks here. They simply do not understand the concept of planning.

Yujam, I expect you to know better. A man of your experience and age should not be talking ignorantly like these green youngsters. Poor planning and organisation has been the Archiles Heel of African teams over the years:

[1] Oliseh should scout for players in the local league with a view to grooming them for the national team. Nobody disputes that
[2] However, football is a results-based business and Oliseh will be judged by how well the Super Eagles fare. Qualifying for major tournaments like the Nations Cup and World Cup is his number one priority.
[3] Oliseh has a make-or-break double header against Egypt in two months time and that should be his focus for now. It should occupy 95% of his time
[4] What Oliseh should be doing now is looking at the players who he will use in the two games against Egypt between March 23 and 29. Everything else must be secondary
[5] He will get one or two players from the Chan squad but how can that be more important that looking at the 20 or so other players he will use?
[6] With Moses, Onazi, Balogun and Oshaniwa recently returning from injury, surely, Oliseh must be concerned about their fitness levels if he is going to risk them in such an important tie
[7] On Saturday, I noticed that Mikel appeared to have either picked up a knock or run out of breath in the last 10 mins against Arsenal. He slowed down terribly. Now, did he pick up a knock or is his fitness in question? Oliseh should be monitoring players like that to know what is what
[8] By now, Oliseh should have a good idea of who his 22 players for the Egypt games are subject to injury and loss of form. How on earth can he do that when he is not even watching the players?
[9] Some new players like Kinglsey Ehibuze at Zwolle and Uche Agbo at Granada need to be looked at before they can be invited. Does Oliseh know their best positions, how quick they are or what their current fitness levels are?
[10] There are over half a dozen coaches who can give him reports about the one or two good players at Chan but no one is scouting the players in Europe, who will form the bulk of his team. Sheer madness if you ask me. We all marvel at German thoroughness and then go and do something stupid like this and expect to compete with them. In life, you seldom reap where you have now sown!

[Waffiman]

Ayo, Oliseh's job is to build a successful team and if this means using home based players, so be it. I do not care wherever they are based, so long as they are Nigerian.

Not at the expense of the main task of qualifying for the Nations Cup. His neglect of the players plying their trade at the highest level at this crucial juncture is tantamount to dereliction of duty in my opinion.

Over the weekend, the following Nigerians played in the English Premiership:

Mikel Obi
Odion Ighalo
Kelechi Iheanacho
Osaze Odemwingie
Victor Anichebe
Victor Moses

Did Oliseh watch one of them?

Kinglsey Ehibuze of Zwolle, playing in the Dutch Eredivisie is arguably our best rightback at the moment. He played over the weekend. Isaac Success put in another great performance for Granada over the weekend as Granada beat Getafe 3-2 and Leon Balogun also played for o90 minutes as a centreback for Mainz, while Efe Ambrose also played a full game as a centreback for Celtic.

Oliseh simply needs to be at these games watching his players to know their current form. He will get one or two players from Chan but come on, that cannot be his main priority!

Ayo, as far as I know, Oliseh has a good scouting network for all his players. He has his links at Arsenal and I'm told he has formal avenues to all clubs in England with our players like any other FA. Oliseh is no JJC, he did coaching badges in England, he knows how the system works in Europe, he is nobody's fool.

[Ayo Akinfe]

Ayo, Oliseh's job is to build a successful team and if this means using home based players, so be it. I do not care wherever they are based, so long as they are Nigerian.

Not at the expense of the main task of qualifying for the Nations Cup. His neglect of the players plying their trade at the highest level at this crucial juncture is tantamount to dereliction of duty in my opinion.

Over the weekend, the following Nigerians played in the English Premiership:

Mikel Obi
Odion Ighalo
Kelechi Iheanacho
Osaze Odemwingie
Victor Anichebe
Victor Moses

Did Oliseh watch one of them?

Kinglsey Ehibuze of Zwolle, playing in the Dutch Eredivisie is arguably our best rightback at the moment. He played over the weekend. Isaac Success put in another great performance for Granada over the weekend as Granada beat Getafe 3-2 and Leon Balogun also played for o90 minutes as a centreback for Mainz, while Efe Ambrose also played a full game as a centreback for Celtic.

Oliseh simply needs to be at these games watching his players to know their current form. He will get one or two players from Chan but come on, that cannot be his main priority!

Ayo, as far as I know, Oliseh has a good scouting network for all his players. He has his links at Arsenal and I'm told he has formal avenues to all clubs in England with our players like any other FA. Oliseh is no JJC, he did coaching badges in England, he knows how the system works in Europe, he is nobody's fool.

Waffi but can anyone really know what he wants from his players. If I were coach, I would want to see the players myself and determine if they have the qualities I want. How can anyone tell me for instance if Kinglsey Ehibuze has the pace and lungs that I am looking for in a rightback?

[mystic]

Ayo and yourself are confused. Oliseh's focus should be more on the local league. His contract stipulates that he come up with a plan to develop the league which means he has to understand its weaknesses and strengths. He also needs to scout the upcoming players in that league. Last, as you know, to create a top national team you need a decent and competent league. Pinnick and Co realized this when they structured Oliseh's contract and I agree with them completely. The idea that some coach will spend all his time in Europe and just work a few weeks a year when the NTs have engagements is just ridiculous and should never be repeated again

Ayo, Oliseh's job is to build a successful team and if this means using home based players, so be it. I do not care wherever they are based, so long as they are Nigerian.

Not at the expense of the main task of qualifying for the Nations Cup. His neglect of the players plying their trade at the highest level at this crucial juncture is tantamount to dereliction of duty in my opinion.

Over the weekend, the following Nigerians played in the English Premiership:

Mikel Obi
Odion Ighalo
Kelechi Iheanacho
Osaze Odemwingie
Victor Anichebe
Victor Moses

Did Oliseh watch one of them?

Kinglsey Ehibuze of Zwolle, playing in the Dutch Eredivisie is arguably our best rightback at the moment. He played over the weekend. Isaac Success put in another great performance for Granada over the weekend as Granada beat Getafe 3-2 and Leon Balogun also played for o90 minutes as a centreback for Mainz, while Efe Ambrose also played a full game as a centreback for Celtic.

Oliseh simply needs to be at these games watching his players to know their current form. He will get one or two players from Chan but come on, that cannot be his main priority!

KPOM X 1000

Ayo and yourself are confused. Oliseh's focus should be more on the local league. His contract stipulates that he come up with a plan to develop the league which means he has to understand its weaknesses and strengths. He also needs to scout the upcoming players in that league. Last, as you know, to create a top national team you need a decent and competent league. Pinnick and Co realized this when they structured Oliseh's contract and I agree with them completely. The idea that some coach will spend all his time in Europe and just work a few weeks a year when the NTs have engagements is just ridiculous and should never be repeated again

Ayo, Oliseh's job is to build a successful team and if this means using home based players, so be it. I do not care wherever they are based, so long as they are Nigerian.

Not at the expense of the main task of qualifying for the Nations Cup. His neglect of the players plying their trade at the highest level at this crucial juncture is tantamount to dereliction of duty in my opinion.

Over the weekend, the following Nigerians played in the English Premiership:

Mikel Obi
Odion Ighalo
Kelechi Iheanacho
Osaze Odemwingie
Victor Anichebe
Victor Moses

Did Oliseh watch one of them?

Kinglsey Ehibuze of Zwolle, playing in the Dutch Eredivisie is arguably our best rightback at the moment. He played over the weekend. Isaac Success put in another great performance for Granada over the weekend as Granada beat Getafe 3-2 and Leon Balogun also played for o90 minutes as a centreback for Mainz, while Efe Ambrose also played a full game as a centreback for Celtic.

Oliseh simply needs to be at these games watching his players to know their current form. He will get one or two players from Chan but come on, that cannot be his main priority!

KPOM X 1000

There are so many backwards thinkers on CE. It is a mental disease. It seems Nigerians just cannot see the obvious and always look to silly answers to solve simple problems.

Yujam,

Oliseh's job of helping to re-engineer the Nigerian League is one thing; while coaching the Super Eagles is another thing altogether. Granted, as the Nigerian League improves, the benefits to the Super Eagles will be immense. But development of the Nigerian League is a long term project whereas coaching the Super Eagles is a win today or else you are gone tomorrow affair. So when it comes to coaching the Super Eagles, Oliseh needs to look at the total picture of where his talent lies, and not just focus on one part of the picture. This means that he not just focusing more on Europe or focusing mostly on Nigeria. Rather, he's got to be paying attention to all the top Leagues where he can potentially mine for talent. Furthermore, on Oliseh's staff Salisu Yusuf is the point man on scouting the Nigerian League, while he concentrates on scouting Europe - so inspite of his brief, Oliseh does not necessarily spend more time focusing on domestic league players.

Also, I think that it is a mistake for folks to frame this in terms of Nigerian League players and European League players. Thankfully Oliseh does not think this way (he does not call the CHAN team 'Home Based Eagles' or 'Eagles B Team', but simply refers to them as 'The Super Eagles'). Indeed, his task is to build a Nigerian national team that we can all be proud of again using the best players at his disposal. Now within this task of returning the Super Eagles to glory he is also looking towards the future - in order to build a team that will be good for a long time. So it is no surprise that he will lean towards young players or look to see what talents are available who ply their trade in Nigeria. That is why we see young players the likes of Shehu Abdullahi, Moses Simon, Dele Alampasu, Wilfred Ndidi, Alex Iwobi and Kelechi Ihenacho, among others, coming into his team. And that is why some players from the CHAN competition will also come into his team.

Now going into CHAN it is safe to say that the Nigerian League players who had broken into Oliseh's thinking in terms of the Super Eagles are the following: Ikechukwu Ezenwa, Austin Oboarakpo, Chima Akas and Paul Onobi. No doubt, the African Championsip will go a long way in determining if these players will remain in the thinking of the coaching staff. It will also throw up new options as we are seeing in the likes of Ifeanyi Matthew, Chisom Chikatara and Osas Okoro.

In any case, whoever emerges from the African Championship as potential national team players, it is all for the better because the idea is to throw up more options for the Super Eagles at all positions. If Chisom Chikatara, for instance, continues to build on what he's accomplished in the first two games at CHAN, how is this not an absolute positive for Nigeria? Assuming he does indeed emerge from CHAN as a future option for Nigeria, does this not then improve our depth at striker for the Super Eagles? And does the experience garnered at CHAN not improve the coaching staff's ability to trust him in future assignments?

In my view, CHAN is part and parcel of the essential rebuilding process that Oliseh has embarked upon. True, folks should not put more weight in it than it merits, but folks should not dismiss it, as well, because it is every bit as important as the U20 World Cup and the Olympic Games (which will be coming up in the summer) in terms of throwing up options for the national team.

So folks should not be writing silly essays about how Oliseh's time should be better spent scouting players in Europe when he has a critical job to do in Rwanda that is essential to rebuilding the team. After all, are we not in the 21st century? Can Oliseh not keep tabs on the progress his players in Europe from Rwanda? Or are we suddenly in the Dark Ages? And has Oliseh not spent his time in charge of the Super Eagles building relationships and developing contacts in Europe who can keep him up to date on certain things when he cannot be physically present? Indeed the argument is so vacuous because it presumes that Oliseh has not been scouting his players in Europe all this while. Indeed, it is only if Oliseh has been playing hooky on the job all this while that one could argue that he could not spare 3 weeks to guide the Super Eagles at CHAN.

Then, of course, there is the FIFA ranking to think of. Nigeria currently lie in a previously unheard of 14th place among the African teams. This is dangerous because when the World Cup Qualifying draw is held later in the year, if we remain in such a position (or worse, drop further in the rankings) chances are we will land in a group that is so tough, that the difficulty of qualifying for the Mundial will be multiplied. Along this line, we basically have 4 results, thus far: a 1-1 draw with Angola and 1-0 win over Ivory Coast in pre CHAN friendlies; and two CHAN games (which also count as friendlies in the FIFA ranking scoring system) a 4-1 hiding of Niger and a 1-1 draw with Tunisia. In addition to these games, we have the rest of the African Championship and ANC qualifying games against Egypt (along with any friendlies that the NFF might be able to squeeze in) to do something about our current ranking and improve our chances in the WCQ draws. So even if certain folks are too daft or simply refuse to see the importance of CHAN, this alone makes it worth Oliseh's time.

[Ayo Akinfe]

Nero is dancing while Rome is burning. If Oliseh has a major World Cup qualifier two months after the Olympics and the season is in full flow, should he also neglect watching his players to go to Brazil because the squad might throw up a player or two? I guess he should do the same with the Flying Eagles too?????

Some of this reasoning just blows my head off. It appears some people have never heard of the word priority!

If Nigeria does well at Chan and Oliseh discovers two great players and Egypt wallop is 6-0 on aggregate and we consequently do not qualify for the Nations Cup, what do you think will happen to him? I guess some of you think that this would be an acceptable outcome and worthwhile. Phew!

[mystic]

Nero is dancing while Rome is burning. If Oliseh has a major World Cup qualifier two months after the Olympics and the season is in full flow, should he also neglect watching his players to go to Brazil because the squad might throw up a player or two? I guess he should do the same with the Flying Eagles too?????

Some of this reasoning just blows my head off. It appears some people have never heard of the word priority!

If Nigeria does well at Chan and Oliseh discovers two great players and Egypt wallop is 6-0 on aggregate and we consequently do not qualify for the Nations Cup, what do you think will happen to him? I guess some of you think that this would be an acceptable outcome and worthwhile. Phew!

The Olympic team has a coach. Oliseh is the coach of the Super Eagles. The Super Eagles current assignment is the African Nations Championship. It's that simple.