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Does Onigbinde know what he is saying?

Does Onigbinde know what he is saying?

By Steve Alabi
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If he was not in football, Chief Adegboye Onigbinde would probably have chosen boxing. The Modakeke man, who turned 82 last Thursday, does not hold punches. He says what he means in a direct way. His is a voice that carries quite a lot of authority when he talks about football. He has twice coached the national standard, once when it was still known as Green Eagles, and later when it had metamorphosed into Super Eagles. He spoke again last week, criticizing Coach Gernot Rohr’s team list for the next two Super Eagles’ games.

“There are so many things wrong with the way the game of football is being managed in this country. The much talked-about team list released by Coach Gernot Rohr is not encouraging. He selected 23 foreign based players and the 24th player was picked from the local league. This is not good enough. The nucleus of the National Team should be made up of home based players. You see, all the 23 players he selected are playing for different teams abroad and they all have different orientations. How can he come up with a real team with this kind of arrangement?,” Onigbinde thundered. Does the old man know what he is saying?

Let us look at Rorh’s list. Ikechukwu Ezenwa of Heartland of Owerri is the only home-based player on the list. Five of the rest 23 are based in Spain. Another five ply their trade in England, three play in Germany. Another three chase their career in France, Italy has two. Five countries have one each –  Daniel Akpeyi of Kaizer Chiefs in South Africa, Abdullahi Shehu of Bursaspor in Turkey, Joseph Ayodele-Aribo of Glasgow Rangers in Scotland, Ahmed Musa of Al Nassr in Saudi Arabia and one of two debutants, Cyril Dessers of Heracles Almelo in Holland. The other new invitee is Kingsley Ehizibue in FC Koln.

Chief Onigbinde’s main grouse with this list is that Rorh did not find more than a single player from the local league worthy of national call up. What did he do in his own time? Does he have the moral rectitude to criticize any coach for not patronizing the home-based players? In his second stint in charge of the national team, the configuration of his squad to the 2002 World Cup in Japan and Korea was not too different from what he is criticizing. Of the 24 players he took along, only three came from the local league – Austin Ejide of Gabros, Vincent Enyeama of Enyimba and Femi Opabunmi of Shooting Stars. The rest were from abroad, including such farfetched places as Qatar (John Utaka of Al Sadd) and China (Benedict Akwuegbu of Shenyang Haishi).

But the veteran coach is really a man of his conviction. The team he took to the World Cup was hurriedly put together upon being called upon to salvage the situation after the NFA thoughtlessly sacked the duo of Amodu Shaibu and Stephen Keshi for the “offence” of winning bronze, and not gold, at the AFCON in Mali prior to the global showpiece. He did not have time to scout for new talents as he was wont to do.

His first time in charge of the Eagles is remarkable for the daring of taking a squad made up mainly of school boys entirely picked from home all the way to the final of the 1984 AFCON in Ivory Coast. Muda Lawal was the oldest at 29, followed by Keshi at 22, and the trio of Rashidi Yekini, Peter Rufai and Henry Nwosu who were 20. The rest were teenagers, including Sunday Eboigbe and Yisa Shofoluwe who were just 16. In contrast, only one player was below 20 among Indomitable Lions of Cameroon, his opponents in the final. His schoolboys became the linchpin of the Eagles for over a decade. Even though it can be argued that Nigeria was yet to graduate to having players abroad, no one can deny that he had the courage to dare.

Chief Onigbinde’s position is undoubtedly superior and more effective than Rorh’s perpetual voyage to the backwoods of Europe, America and Asia to look for new legs. Majority of the greatest players ever in the Super Eagles are from the local league. Check the list – Keshi, Yekini, Kanu, Finidi George, Celestine Babayaro, Joseph Yobo, Vincent Enyeama, Austin Okocha, Mutiu Adepoju, Taribo West and Mikel Obi. Even the current team – majority of them were discovered from the local league before Rorh came – Wilfred Ndidi, Ahmed Musa, Kelechi Iheanacho, Kenneth Omeruo, Etebo Oghenekaro, Victor Osimhen and Samuel Chukwueze.

Amazingly, Rohr does not do any scouting within our shores. All he does is to gallivant all over Europe, and he tries to justify it. On his two new recruits, he said, “We try to build a good list and we could approach these two players (Cyriel and Kingsley). We met them, we spoke to them and explained how the spirit in the team was, how we play and they were okay with it…We had good observation of all the players, the scouting team did a lot of work and I saw them play myself. Last week I was with the agent of Kingsley in Koln and I also met with Dessers in London.”

May I counter him with these wise words of Chief Onigbinde, “There are two functions of a coach and they are identifying a talent and turning that talent into a star. But are we doing that anymore, the answer is no.” The old man sure knows what he is saying.

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Does Onigbinde know what he is saying?

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