Former international, Adokiye
Amiesimaka, has warned Nigerians not to expect miracles from
newly-signed Super Eagles coach as the team continue their race to the
2017 Africa Cup of Nations.
Oliseh, a former Nigeria captain, was
unveiled as the successor of Stephen Keshi in Abuja on Wednesday after
agreeing to a three-year deal.
The Super Eagles will travel to Tanzania
in September to face the Taifa Stars in one of their AFCON qualifiers
after winning their first game against Chad last month, and Oliseh is
expected to introduce far-reaching changes in order to strengthen the
team ahead of their next challenge.
“My
worry is not about Oliseh; my worry is about the players he has to work
with. We shouldn’t expect any magic from him because we do not have the
players that are very knowledgeable in the sport. They may have the
desire and the natural talent to play, but they lack the rudiments of
football which Oliseh is not expected to teach them at the senior
level,” Amiesimaka said on Wednesday.
“Our players should have gone through
age grade football where they would have learnt the basics in the sport.
But as it is, none of them have that required knowledge. That’s what it
means to have youth development.
“He, however, stands a better chance of relying on the current Flying Eagles who were formerly in the U-17 team.”
The 1980 AFCON winner said the Nigeria
Football Federation made the right choice is appointing the former
Borussia Dortmund midfielder, insisting that the appointment did not
need ratification from the technical department of the football body.
He said, “Oliseh is qualified to manage
the Super Eagles. You don’t need a coaching certificate to manage the
national team. Franz Beckenbauer, a former West Germany international,
had no coaching certificate when he led Germany to World Cup glory in
1990. It is only in this part of the world that we lay so much emphasis
on coaching certificates.
“Coaching is only needed at the youth
level, where the players are taught the rudiments of football. But at
the senior level, Oliseh will only need to manage the players, manage
their egos and instil a playing concept or philosophy in the team. His
major assignment will be to look for players that can fit into his
strategies for the team.
“For anyone to be an assessor, he must
be better qualified than the person he is assessing. The NFF has a
technical department headed by Shaibu Amodu, but are the people in the
department more qualified than Oliseh himself? Could they have
objectively assessed Oliseh for the Eagles job?”
Amiesimaka also dismissed fears that
Oliseh’s ego could have an adverse effect on the team, saying the new
manager is in the best position to caution erring players.
“We all played pranks as children and
Oliseh can’t be an exception. Once you become an adult, you start
teaching the younger ones about what is right and wrong as if you never
did wrong in your childhood days. But it’s normal,” he said.
“I don’t expect a dummy to be my
national team coach; I would want a man with passion and character to be
in charge of the team. Oliseh may have his weaknesses but the important
point is to know when and how to use his strengths and weaknesses in
any given circumstance. I won’t condemn a man because he has a temper as
long as he knows how to manage it. Nobody is flawless.”
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