Samson Siasia - the great challenge - by Segun Odegbami

[kbt]

http://supersport.com/football/nigeria5 ... _challenge

No one has campaigned as vigorously as I have to ensure that Samson Siasia is recognised and given the opportunity to handle the national team of Nigeria.


- Vote for Nigeria's 50 greatest players

I introduced the idea, some 17 years ago, when Samson himself was still actively involved in football as a player and had not thought of what to do with his life beyond being an idolised football player. I saw in him the raw ingredients of a potentially good coach even as a player. He was streetwise, smart, charming, and a no-nonsense personality among his peers.
I believed that his generation of players, led by the big boss, Stephen Keshi, would start what would mark the end of foreign coaches in Nigerian football. His generation was made up of players that had all the ingredients needed to become coaches that can handle any team in the world.

As players they were well-cultured in the African style of play before venturing abroad to get properly honed as professionals. That experience exposed them to obviously more knowledgeable European coaches for years and did well to make them better footballers.

As a result they represented Nigeria well for several years and achieved more than any other national team before and since then. They won the African Cup of Nations back-to-back with qualifying for the Fifa World Cup for the first time in Nigeria's history.

In that same year, 1994, they rose in ranking to an enviable fifth in the world. All that the players of that generation needed after those achievements as players was to choose what area of football they wanted to go into at the end of their careers and their success would be almost be guaranteed.

I considered them that grounded in football. Those that chose to become coaches would only require the training to change their psychology from that of a player to that of a coach, and the best of them would be defined by the strength of their individual abilities.

I predicted that the personality of Samson fitted the bill of a Nigerian that could deal with the intricacies and complexities required to successfully handle one of the most challenging teams in one of the most difficult environments in the world.

That’s why I started to promote the idea. I am not surprised, therefore, that only six years into his coaching career in Nigerian football Samson has done well for himself, crowning a series of successful outings with the chance of a lifetime to coach the Super Eagles of Nigeria.

In six years he earned the right by rising through the ranks, from the under-20 national team, to the under-23 Olympic team and, now, to the Super Eagles. He has now arrived at the moment of his greatest challenge, which I hope will transform into the moment of his greatest triumph.

Samson Siasia now has a responsibility not to blow the chance. Even as I am his greatest admirer and supporter I am not a supporter of the process that offered him the job.

I still see the NFA board and its technical Committee as illegal constructions without the mandate to do what they are doing.

I am also dissatisfied with the process of selecting him that had to pitch him against one of his colleagues and friends, Stephen Keshi, in an unhealthy competition.

Siasia, on his own merit, and because he was the people's choice, should simply have been interviewed and, if found satisfactory, offered the job. Serious football countries do not conduct interviews for a multiple number of seasoned coaches by making them face a panel of people with even less knowledge than themselves about the job they want them to do.

In football, records speak louder than words.

Having said that I will not be part of, or side with, any decision the present NFA Board takes until the matter of its legality is completed and settled by the necessary authorities. In the meantime, however, Samson Siasia has the job and must do what he has to do to build a solid new senior national team for Nigeria.

The Challenges ahead for Siasia

Success for Samson Siasia will be measured with the same yardstick as any other national coach before him -- the Super Eagles must play well and qualify for next Africa Cup of Nations and the World Cup. Beyond that he will be expected to win the Africa Cup of Nations and to get to the semifinals of the World Cup.

Those are huge targets but after the 2010 World Cup experience, the bar of expectation has been raised permanently for the Super Eagles. Nigerians will no longer be satisfied with anything less than the semifinals of the World Cup. Can Samson achieve these targets?

Samson must quickly establish the impression in the minds of Nigerians that his team will be different from the team of the immediate past. He must distance himself from most of the 'failed' players of the past.

His team must start to play with some style and start winning big matches immediately. Yet he must avoid jumping in at the deep end and taking on difficult teams. His choice of a small tournament in the USA in the new year is a right step.

He must go to the Obama Cup tournament in January and make an impression. The barrenness of the past 10 years must tell him that he needs to find more and better equipped new players to do the job for him.

His under-20 team of 2005 that should have formed the core of the 2010 Super Eagles and, indeed his own team now, has disintegrated. Whereas Lionel Messi has grown and developed to become the world's best football player, many of Messi's contemporaries in the Nigerian team have all but 'faded' into obscurity.

Samson's greatest challenge will be that he has no luxury of time. He must hit the ground running.

Samson's next challenge would be his psychology. Has he overcome the shock of his 'faulty' steps after the Beijing Olympics? The assignment of taking Nigeria's under-20 national team to Egypt at very short notice and without much preparation was a huge failure.

It humbled and slightly demystified him. He took coaching for granted and paid a heavy price. Now fate has offered him a second chance. How will he react?

Samson must now engage himself fully in looking for players and building a relatively new team. He must make use of a network of good coaches that would help him with scouting for great players (both local and international).

He must assure Nigerians constantly through the initial period of his work that he intends to present the country with a new team and needs a little bit of time to set things right.

Finally, the team must have a new captain. After that, Nigerians can now do what they know how to do best -- pray.

[Dammy]

http://supersport.com/football/nigeria5 ... _challenge

Finally, the team must have a new captain. After that, Nigerians can now do what they know how to do best -- pray.

The fight with Yobo is still on.

[jamani]

Baba Sege , a very mathimatical write up

I agree with all he said here

[Spicyee]

"Mathematical", well said!

[ugly boy]

Good writeup

[YemiBrazil]

***** Uncle 1naira enters thread..... reads the great Legend's article.... got to the issue of SE captaincy.... now furious, he snapped his fingers at his trusted i486 siemens laptop then reaches for his bottle of well-preserved Tombo that Yobo sent to him through Fedex and a Fela-style jumbo *****

[osita]

This is the type of people that should be running our football.
How many ex-footballers and NFF members can write a constructive and well articulated story on the papers like this?

Good write-up.

[metalalloy]

***** Uncle 1naira enters thread..... reads the great Legend's article.... got to the issue of SE captaincy.... now furious, he snapped his fingers at his trusted i486 siemens laptop then reaches for his bottle of well-preserved Tombo that Yobo sent to him through Fedex and a Fela-style jumbo *****

[balo]

http://supersport.com/football/nigeria5 ... _challenge

Finally, the team must have a new captain. After that, Nigerians can now do what they know how to do best -- pray.

The fight with Yobo is still on.

Well, Kanu was our Captain and he just retired. Yobo was his assistant.

If Sia1 comes out and give him the Captainship, fine. Or if he decides to give to someone else, equally fine.

[zoro]

This is the type of people that should be running our football.
How many ex-footballers and NFF members can write a constructive and well articulated story on the papers like this?

Good write-up.

I don't see anything spectacular that Segun has said here. We have been saying the same since SS became the SE coach. I expected a deeper write up from Segun than this and he is capable of doing that. It could be that he is being cautious to avoid wrong interpretations from certain quaters.

[Talk IT]

This is the type of people that should be running our football.
How many ex-footballers and NFF members can write a constructive and well articulated story on the papers like this?

Good write-up.

I don't see anything spectacular that Segun has said here. We have been saying the same since SS became the SE coach. I expected a deeper write up from Segun than this and he is capable of doing that. It could be that he is being cautious to avoid wrong interpretations from certain quaters.

Our people are easily swayed.

[TonyTheTigerKiller]

Samson's next challenge would be his psychology. Has he overcome the shock of his 'faulty' steps after the Beijing Olympics? The assignment of taking Nigeria's under-20 national team to Egypt at very short notice and without much preparation was a huge failure.

It humbled and slightly demystified him. He took coaching for granted and paid a heavy price. Now fate has offered him a second chance. How will he react?

TTTK says, "not fate but an abject lack of common sense on the part of the NFF and Siasia's cronies"


Cheers.

[Mudi E]

This is the type of people that should be running our football.
How many ex-footballers and NFF members can write a constructive and well articulated story on the papers like this?

Good write-up.

Nigerians don't like good thing now...he (Segun Odegbami) was marginalized out of our football. It's a great shame.

[walesvilla]

Problem is i cannot think of any decent younger long term captain for SE...my shout would have been Enyeama if he been an out-field player.

[balo]

Problem is i cannot think of any decent younger long term captain for SE...my shout would have been Enyeama if he been an out-field player.

Enyeama would make an instant impact as captain. It does not matter that he is a keeper.

Otherwise, TNT is there.

[kulu]

If Yobo is replaced, it is apparent that Vincent Enyeama is the logical successor.

[walesvilla]

Problem is i cannot think of any decent younger long term captain for SE...my shout would have been Enyeama if he been an out-field player.

Enyeama would make an instant impact as captain. It does not matter that he is a keeper.

Otherwise, TNT is there.

i do not like TNT he really disappointed at the last world cup, breaking down every min. He was surpposed to one of the key players of that team.

[anointed]

http://supersport.com/football/nigeria5 ... _challenge

No one has campaigned as vigorously as I have to ensure that Samson Siasia is recognised and given the opportunity to handle the national team of Nigeria.


- Vote for Nigeria's 50 greatest players

I introduced the idea, some 17 years ago, when Samson himself was still actively involved in football as a player and had not thought of what to do with his life beyond being an idolised football player. I saw in him the raw ingredients of a potentially good coach even as a player. He was streetwise, smart, charming, and a no-nonsense personality among his peers.
I believed that his generation of players, led by the big boss, Stephen Keshi, would start what would mark the end of foreign coaches in Nigerian football. His generation was made up of players that had all the ingredients needed to become coaches that can handle any team in the world.

As players they were well-cultured in the African style of play before venturing abroad to get properly honed as professionals. That experience exposed them to obviously more knowledgeable European coaches for years and did well to make them better footballers.

As a result they represented Nigeria well for several years and achieved more than any other national team before and since then. They won the African Cup of Nations back-to-back with qualifying for the Fifa World Cup for the first time in Nigeria's history.

In that same year, 1994, they rose in ranking to an enviable fifth in the world. All that the players of that generation needed after those achievements as players was to choose what area of football they wanted to go into at the end of their careers and their success would be almost be guaranteed.

I considered them that grounded in football. Those that chose to become coaches would only require the training to change their psychology from that of a player to that of a coach, and the best of them would be defined by the strength of their individual abilities.

I predicted that the personality of Samson fitted the bill of a Nigerian that could deal with the intricacies and complexities required to successfully handle one of the most challenging teams in one of the most difficult environments in the world.

That’s why I started to promote the idea. I am not surprised, therefore, that only six years into his coaching career in Nigerian football Samson has done well for himself, crowning a series of successful outings with the chance of a lifetime to coach the Super Eagles of Nigeria.

In six years he earned the right by rising through the ranks, from the under-20 national team, to the under-23 Olympic team and, now, to the Super Eagles. He has now arrived at the moment of his greatest challenge, which I hope will transform into the moment of his greatest triumph.

Samson Siasia now has a responsibility not to blow the chance. Even as I am his greatest admirer and supporter I am not a supporter of the process that offered him the job.

I still see the NFA board and its technical Committee as illegal constructions without the mandate to do what they are doing.

I am also dissatisfied with the process of selecting him that had to pitch him against one of his colleagues and friends, Stephen Keshi, in an unhealthy competition.

Siasia, on his own merit, and because he was the people's choice, should simply have been interviewed and, if found satisfactory, offered the job. Serious football countries do not conduct interviews for a multiple number of seasoned coaches by making them face a panel of people with even less knowledge than themselves about the job they want them to do.

In football, records speak louder than words.

Having said that I will not be part of, or side with, any decision the present NFA Board takes until the matter of its legality is completed and settled by the necessary authorities. In the meantime, however, Samson Siasia has the job and must do what he has to do to build a solid new senior national team for Nigeria.

The Challenges ahead for Siasia

Success for Samson Siasia will be measured with the same yardstick as any other national coach before him -- the Super Eagles must play well and qualify for next Africa Cup of Nations and the World Cup. Beyond that he will be expected to win the Africa Cup of Nations and to get to the semifinals of the World Cup.

Those are huge targets but after the 2010 World Cup experience, the bar of expectation has been raised permanently for the Super Eagles. Nigerians will no longer be satisfied with anything less than the semifinals of the World Cup. Can Samson achieve these targets?

Samson must quickly establish the impression in the minds of Nigerians that his team will be different from the team of the immediate past. He must distance himself from most of the 'failed' players of the past.

His team must start to play with some style and start winning big matches immediately. Yet he must avoid jumping in at the deep end and taking on difficult teams. His choice of a small tournament in the USA in the new year is a right step.

He must go to the Obama Cup tournament in January and make an impression. The barrenness of the past 10 years must tell him that he needs to find more and better equipped new players to do the job for him.

His under-20 team of 2005 that should have formed the core of the 2010 Super Eagles and, indeed his own team now, has disintegrated. Whereas Lionel Messi has grown and developed to become the world's best football player, many of Messi's contemporaries in the Nigerian team have all but 'faded' into obscurity.

Samson's greatest challenge will be that he has no luxury of time. He must hit the ground running.

Samson's next challenge would be his psychology. Has he overcome the shock of his 'faulty' steps after the Beijing Olympics? The assignment of taking Nigeria's under-20 national team to Egypt at very short notice and without much preparation was a huge failure.

It humbled and slightly demystified him. He took coaching for granted and paid a heavy price. Now fate has offered him a second chance. How will he react?

Samson must now engage himself fully in looking for players and building a relatively new team. He must make use of a network of good coaches that would help him with scouting for great players (both local and international).

He must assure Nigerians constantly through the initial period of his work that he intends to present the country with a new team and needs a little bit of time to set things right.

Finally, the team must have a new captain. After that, Nigerians can now do what they know how to do best -- pray.

I dont get the red part

[balo]

I dont get the red part

He probably meant the Gold we won 1994 and the gold in 1996 we never showed up for. Having said that, it was a lie.

[Football Manager]

Any player using is God given age will be good enough for me as the New Captain. This makes Osaze the best prospect for the post. I dont want Enyeama near that position. If Nedum will play for us then he should be considered.

[imehjunior]

http://supersport.com/football/nigeria5 ... _challenge

No one has campaigned as vigorously as I have to ensure that Samson Siasia is recognised and given the opportunity to handle the national team of Nigeria.


- Vote for Nigeria's 50 greatest players

I introduced the idea, some 17 years ago, when Samson himself was still actively involved in football as a player and had not thought of what to do with his life beyond being an idolised football player. I saw in him the raw ingredients of a potentially good coach even as a player. He was streetwise, smart, charming, and a no-nonsense personality among his peers.
I believed that his generation of players, led by the big boss, Stephen Keshi, would start what would mark the end of foreign coaches in Nigerian football. His generation was made up of players that had all the ingredients needed to become coaches that can handle any team in the world.

As players they were well-cultured in the African style of play before venturing abroad to get properly honed as professionals. That experience exposed them to obviously more knowledgeable European coaches for years and did well to make them better footballers.

As a result they represented Nigeria well for several years and achieved more than any other national team before and since then. They won the African Cup of Nations back-to-back with qualifying for the Fifa World Cup for the first time in Nigeria's history.

In that same year, 1994, they rose in ranking to an enviable fifth in the world. All that the players of that generation needed after those achievements as players was to choose what area of football they wanted to go into at the end of their careers and their success would be almost be guaranteed.

I considered them that grounded in football. Those that chose to become coaches would only require the training to change their psychology from that of a player to that of a coach, and the best of them would be defined by the strength of their individual abilities.

I predicted that the personality of Samson fitted the bill of a Nigerian that could deal with the intricacies and complexities required to successfully handle one of the most challenging teams in one of the most difficult environments in the world.

That’s why I started to promote the idea. I am not surprised, therefore, that only six years into his coaching career in Nigerian football Samson has done well for himself, crowning a series of successful outings with the chance of a lifetime to coach the Super Eagles of Nigeria.

In six years he earned the right by rising through the ranks, from the under-20 national team, to the under-23 Olympic team and, now, to the Super Eagles. He has now arrived at the moment of his greatest challenge, which I hope will transform into the moment of his greatest triumph.

Samson Siasia now has a responsibility not to blow the chance. Even as I am his greatest admirer and supporter I am not a supporter of the process that offered him the job.

I still see the NFA board and its technical Committee as illegal constructions without the mandate to do what they are doing.

I am also dissatisfied with the process of selecting him that had to pitch him against one of his colleagues and friends, Stephen Keshi, in an unhealthy competition.

Siasia, on his own merit, and because he was the people's choice, should simply have been interviewed and, if found satisfactory, offered the job. Serious football countries do not conduct interviews for a multiple number of seasoned coaches by making them face a panel of people with even less knowledge than themselves about the job they want them to do.

In football, records speak louder than words.

Having said that I will not be part of, or side with, any decision the present NFA Board takes until the matter of its legality is completed and settled by the necessary authorities. In the meantime, however, Samson Siasia has the job and must do what he has to do to build a solid new senior national team for Nigeria.

The Challenges ahead for Siasia

Success for Samson Siasia will be measured with the same yardstick as any other national coach before him -- the Super Eagles must play well and qualify for next Africa Cup of Nations and the World Cup. Beyond that he will be expected to win the Africa Cup of Nations and to get to the semifinals of the World Cup.

Those are huge targets but after the 2010 World Cup experience, the bar of expectation has been raised permanently for the Super Eagles. Nigerians will no longer be satisfied with anything less than the semifinals of the World Cup. Can Samson achieve these targets?

Samson must quickly establish the impression in the minds of Nigerians that his team will be different from the team of the immediate past. He must distance himself from most of the 'failed' players of the past.

His team must start to play with some style and start winning big matches immediately. Yet he must avoid jumping in at the deep end and taking on difficult teams. His choice of a small tournament in the USA in the new year is a right step.

He must go to the Obama Cup tournament in January and make an impression. The barrenness of the past 10 years must tell him that he needs to find more and better equipped new players to do the job for him.

His under-20 team of 2005 that should have formed the core of the 2010 Super Eagles and, indeed his own team now, has disintegrated. Whereas Lionel Messi has grown and developed to become the world's best football player, many of Messi's contemporaries in the Nigerian team have all but 'faded' into obscurity.

Samson's greatest challenge will be that he has no luxury of time. He must hit the ground running.

Samson's next challenge would be his psychology. Has he overcome the shock of his 'faulty' steps after the Beijing Olympics? The assignment of taking Nigeria's under-20 national team to Egypt at very short notice and without much preparation was a huge failure.

It humbled and slightly demystified him. He took coaching for granted and paid a heavy price. Now fate has offered him a second chance. How will he react?

Samson must now engage himself fully in looking for players and building a relatively new team. He must make use of a network of good coaches that would help him with scouting for great players (both local and international).

He must assure Nigerians constantly through the initial period of his work that he intends to present the country with a new team and needs a little bit of time to set things right.

Finally, the team must have a new captain. After that, Nigerians can now do what they know how to do best -- pray.

I dont get the red part

We for win am 1996 for SA.

[balo]

Any player using is God given age will be good enough for me as the New Captain. This makes Osaze the best prospect for the post. I dont want Enyeama near that position. If Nedum will play for us then he should be considered.

You definitely can't be serious with this post.. What next? Make Shola Ameobi Nedum's vice?

[jamani]

Any player using is God given age will be good enough for me as the New Captain. This makes Osaze the best prospect for the post. I dont want Enyeama near that position. If Nedum will play for us then he should be considered.

You definitely can't be serious with this post.. What next? Make Shola Ameobi Nedum's vice?

Balo why you dey talk like this now ? the guy say him name na Footbal maneger all you have to do is add bear palour or peper soap joint infron of his name