Siasia promises a new dawn for the Eagles

By Ifeanyi Ibeh

November 19, 2010 06:42PM

Samson Siasia, the new coach of the Super Eagles, has promised to gradually enforce changes in the national team saying that it won’t be business as usual by the time he resumes as the new Super Eagles coach.

Siasia will resume officially as the team’s head coach on December 1, but his emergence as the new helmsman had long been foreseen and most believed it was only a matter of time before the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) listen to the clamour from the streets that he be handed the Super Eagles job.

He was denied the position back in 2008 when the NFF opted to name Shaibu Amodu as the successor to Berti Vogts.

Now that Siasia has finally gotten the job he has described as his “dream job”, he knows he has to do all within his power to ensure that he does not end up disappointing those who have stood by him all these years.

“Nigerians have never hidden their love for me,” he told NEXT. “Right from my playing days to this day they have made it obvious that I am part of one very big football family and I will do everything I can to make sure that I do not disappoint them.”

Nigerians have been apparently disenchanted with the performance of the Super Eagles over the past couple of years, a time that has also seen the side struggle to attain the lofty heights of a past golden generation.

Nigerian players were a force to be reckoned with globally and the onus falls on Siasia, himself a member of the greatest Super Eagles side ever (the 1994 squad), to rebuild the Super Eagles and transform them into a side capable of resuming a position of world beaters.

There have also been calls from football fans for sweeping changes within the Super Eagles set-up especially as most of the current national team regulars have been deemed ‘too old’ to contribute meaningfully to the team’s long term goals.

Siasia insists he is in tune with “the yearnings of the people” but says changes will not be swift, but gradual.

“I have my plans for the team and there will definitely be changes but I will try to carry everybody along,” he said.

“The World Cup is four years away and four years is a very long time in the life of a footballer.

“If you add four years to the present age of some of the players they may no longer be at their best by 2014, so younger players will have to be introduced into the team, but only gradually.

“That is the only way it can be done in order not to create a vacuum in the team. So the moment I see someone who can fit into the team; who has something to offer the team, we will find a way to integrate that player into the team,” added Siasia, who also laid emphasis on discipline and work ethic as yardsticks for anyone aspiring to be in the new Super Eagles.

Discipline in the team

Indiscipline in the national team has for long been an issue as players have often been accused of not showing enough commitment and the proper level of professionalism when representing their country.

There had been instances in the past when players had been accused outside the field of play of engaging in activities detrimental to the team’s cause and unbecoming of individuals on national team assignment.

It is probably for reasons such as these that it had been suggested that national team players could be made to sign a Code of Conduct by the NFF in a bid to curb the players’ excesses.

“Discipline is synonymous with success. A disciplined side has a much better chance of attaining success than an undisciplined one,” said Siasia. “I would rather have a bunch of disciplined and dedicated players than a bunch of unruly players even if they are the best players on the planet.”

It is a view that is shared by Siasia’s former Super Eagles team mate, Emeka Ezeugo, who believes tough times lie ahead for any Super Eagles player not ready to change his ways for the better.

“I feel sorry for any player who isn’t ready to change his ways because this guy (Siasia) will not tolerate nonsense from anyone,” Ezeugo told NEXT.

“He has a fantastic rapport with his players and is a very friendly guy but he also knows when and where to draw the line, and any player who messes up after this line has been drawn will have himself to blame,” added Ezeugo, who was until recently was Siasia’s coaching assistant at Nigerian Premier League side Heartland FC, Owerri.

Siasia, Heartland and Kalika

Siasia’s continuous involvement with the Owerri-based club, even after securing the Super Eagles job, has been a topic for debate amongst footfall fans lately. But he said the matter will be resolved before he resumes with the NFF on December 1.

“My contract with the NFF hasn’t commenced yet but everything will be resolved before December,” said Siasia who refused to divulge further details.

Another issue is Siasia’s selection of Surinamese coach, Simon Kalika as his coaching assistant. This decision hasn’t gone down well with some individuals who would have preferred a Nigerian in that position.

One of such individuals is former international Peterside Idah who on Thursday on live television spoke against Siasia’s intention to have Kalika tag along as his assistant.

Although Idah was quick to point out that he held no ill feelings towards Kalika, he is of the opinion that a local coach will be better suited for the position; a view that got the backing of former Bafana Bafana of South Africa skipper Lucas Radebe.

Siasia and Kalika have been working together since 2005 when Siasia led the Flying Eagles to a second-place finish at the FIFA Under-20 World Cup in the Netherlands, right up to the football event of the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, China where the Nigerian team returned with a silver medal, and even at last year’s FIFA Under-20 World Cup in Egypt.

And he has no qualms at having his trusted right-hand man by his side yet again.

“We have known each other for quite some time now and have come to appreciate one another,” he said. “We don’t always agree on everything but he is someone I respect; he also respects me, and we work very well together.

“I understand what he (Idah) was trying to say but the truth is I prefer working with someone I know very well than with someone new.”

Nduka Ugbade, a former Super Eagles colleague of Siasia’s, and also a coach, is totally in support of Siasia’s decision to recruit Kalika.

“If I were in Siasia’s shoes I would do the same,” he told NEXT. “The position of an assistant coach is very vital to the success of a team. If you don’t have an assistant you can confide in, an assistant that you trust, then it will be almost impossible for the coach to succeed.

“So, I am totally in support of his decision to bring in Kalika and I believe the NFF have done well to support his decision. I am sure they will not regret it.”

World Cup target

Kalika himself hasn’t been quiet as he was quoted in the media as saying that Siasia has set a semi-final target for the Super Eagles at the 2014 World Cup.

Nigeria’s best at the World Cup were back-to-back second round appearances in 1994 and 1998 but Kalika expressed confidence that the semi-final target was achievable and that it only required “good planning”.

Siasia agrees that with the right level of planning and organisation, the Super Eagles can qualify for the World Cup and go further than they had ever done at the tournament but insists everything has to be taken one step at a time.

“I don’t know about a semi-final target but it will be a great achievement for an African team,” he said. “It won’t be easy but if we plan properly we can go very far.

“With good planning, the right players and the right attitude, we can achieve anything but everything has to be taken one step at a time,” added Siasia whose top priority remains securing a ticket to the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations to be co-hosted by Equatorial Guinea and Gabon.

2012 before 2014

The Super Eagles are currently second behind Guinea in their qualifying group but will need to win the group ahead of the Syli Stars if they want to qualify automatically for the Nations Cup.

This has placed a lot of pressure on Siasia as the NFF, through Chris Green, it’s technical committee head, said that Siasia has been given a mandate not only to qualify the team for the Nations Cup, but to reach the semi-final otherwise the last two years of his four-year deal will not be activated by the NFF.

In response, Siasia said he is up to the task and will do all he can to get the Super Eagles’ Cup of Nations qualification back on track, and thereafter focus on the tournament itself.

“It looks difficult at the moment because of the loss to Guinea but we still have four matches to go,” he said. “After that we can now look at what we need to do at the tournament and plan towards it.

No instant success

Siasia is however quick to warn that success won’t come in an instant. The new coach said taking the Super Eagles back to the level they occupied back in the mid-90s culminating in the 1994 conquest of the Africa Cup of Nations in Tunisia will be gradual.

“It’s not going to be immediate as it will take some time to rebuild and get an ideal team that Nigerians will be happy to associate with, but we will get there.

“There may be some unfavourable results here and there but that is something we have to be prepared for, after all Rome wasn’t built in a day.”

In the eyes of the average football follower in Nigeria, good results will not matter if the Super Eagles don’t play an attractive brand of football to go along with the results. So what does Siasia intend to do about this?

“My football philosophy is attack oriented. I prefer attractive, free-flowing football but I also love to win. Having said that, I don’t think Nigerians will be pleased if we played attractive football only to end up losing games.

“Winning is the most important thing in football. I would prefer my team to play badly and win rather than to please the fans and end up losing, but I know that over the next couple of years we will have a team that Nigerians will love to be associated with.”