Monday, November 1, 2010

Ogbakiriman: Between Keshi and Samson Siasia

Ogbakiriman: Between Keshi and Samson Siasia: "Stephen Keshi The board of the Nigeria Football Federation finally met on Wednesday and they came out with a lot of decisions. One howeve..."

Between Keshi and Samson Siasia

Stephen Keshi
The board of the Nigeria Football Federation finally met on Wednesday and they came out with a lot of decisions.

One however, that has continued to get Nigerians talking is that of the new Super Eagles head coach.

We know Samson Siasia is the favourite son of Nigerians and we know that the current board had agreed in principle to announce him as new coach but on Wednesday made an about turn to add Stephen Keshi to the shortlist.

According to them, both men applied for the job and will be interviewed next week.

I want to use this piece to give a brief biography of both men and try to figure out how the technical committee will decide.

I will also share on which of the men I prefer to handle the national team. Of course I am not a member of the NFF’s technical committee so what I write here will remain exactly what it is- my opinion.

Then I must warn that I may be a bit biased here because I am a Stephen Keshi fan and I’m making no apologies about that.

Stephen Okechukwu Keshi was born on 31st January, 1962 in Lagos and started his playing career with ACB, a Lagos based club side in 1979. He went on to play for New Nigeria Bank where he won the WAFU Cup in 1983 and 1984, Stade D’Abidjan where he won the Houphoet Boigny Cup in 1985 and 1986, Africa Sports, Lokeren, Anderlecht where he won the Belgian Cup in 1988 and 1989 as well as the Belgian League in 1991, Straasbourg, Mloenbeek, CCV Hydra, Sacramento Scorpions and Perlis FA where he ended his playing career in 1997.

A point to note was that as captain of the Eagles between 1982 and 1994, he was a leader on the pitch and was known as the Big Boss.

He captained the Super Eagles to Africa Cup of Nations silver in 1984 and 1988, Africa Cup of Nations bronze in 1992 and finally the trophy in 1994. He also played at the World Cup in 1994.

After his playing career he moved to the United States of America to get coaching qualifications.

He assisted Bonfrere Jo at the Africa Cup of Nations in 2000 where Nigeria got a silver and also assisted Shaibu Amodu in the Mali 2002 Cup of Nations where Nigeria finished with a bronze before he moved on to Togo where he qualified the tiny West African country for their first ever World Cup in 2006.

In April 2008 he moved to Mali as head coach and led them to the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations in Angola but was sacked after their poor performance at the championships.


Samson Siasia was born on August 14, 1967 in Lagos and played in Nigeria for Flash Flamingos, Julius Berger and Elkanemi before crossing over to Europe.


Samson Siasia
 In Europe he played for Lokeren and Nantes in the French league and then Tirsense, Al Hilal, Perth Glory and Zafririm Holon, his last club in 2000.

In France he won the French League with Nantes in 1994/95 scoring a hattrick in just his second game but was mostly made to sit on the bench by Patrice Loko and was hardly a regular player.

He played 46 international matches for Nigeria, in which he scored thirteen goals, and was part of the team that participated in the 1994 FIFA World Cup and won the 1994 African Nations Cup. He also previously won the bronze medal at the 1992 Africa Cup of Nations in Senegal. He participated in the National Team over a period of 11 years and was recognized in Nigeria as the third leading scorer for the National Team.

As a coach, Siasia took Nigeria’s U20 team to win the Africa Youth Championships in 2005 and then took the team to the final of the World Youth Championship but lost 2-1 to Argentina.

He was then appointed head of Nigeria’s U23 team for the Olympic Games and All Africa Games but while they were knocked out by Ghana for the All Africa Games, Siasia took the team all the way to the Olympic Games and to the final where they again lost to Argentina.

In 2009, he was reappointed head coach of the Flying Eagles but they were disappointing at the World Youth Championships in Egypt the same year.

He moved to Nigeria Premier League side, Heartland but could not take them past the group stage of the CAF Champions League.

It doesn’t really matter that Samson Siasia is the favourite son of Nigerians; I somehow have my mind tilting towards Stephen Keshi.

As a player, Keshi was a leader on and off the pitch and I see him bringing that attribute to bear as coach of the Eagles.

He was known as the Big Boss and he had the respect of his team mates and coaches both for club and country.

Our so-called big name players who take call ups as seriously as a fool with a business plan in his hand will finally be put in their place by the Big Boss.

At least we all agree that discipline has been lacking in the Eagles for a very long time.

Then he is not about discipline as we all know what he can do as a coach.

I just believe that he may do a better job handling the Super Eagles but I will not be interviewing him so I have no power to decide.

But the NFF’s technical committee does have the power to decide.

And looking at the composition of that group they seem like people who will go for Stephen Keshi rather than Samson Siasia and I have my reasons for saying this.

The Technical Committee who will interview the coaches will be inaugurated on November 2, 2010 and comprises of Christopher Green (Chairman), Felix Anyansi Agwu (vice-chairman), Christian Chukwu, Paul Bassey, Adegboye Onigbinde, Garba Lawal, Victor Ikpeba, Austin Okocha, Deji Tinubu as members while Emmanuel Ikpeme is secretary.

I cannot say I have spoken to any of them to ask where they will tilt but names like Christopher Green, Felix Anyansi Agwu, Christian Chukwu, Paul Bassey, Adegboye Onigbinde all seem like people that will go for the older Keshi rather than that “small boy”, Siasia but time will tell.

They seem like people with the “old school” mentality and that is where I smell trouble for Samson Siasia.

Will they let sentiments becloud better judgement?

Now Samson Siasia is Nigeria’s favourite son; at least for now. I do not reckon with his WYC silver in 2005 because we know how Nigerian youth sides age cheat (no fault of the coach anyway), but Samson Siasia took the Olympic team to the final of the football event in 2008 and any coach that does that must be given credit.

But in football, we all know you are as good as your last outing and in 2009 he bowed to pressure to take the country’s U20 team to the World Cup but it was a very poor outing, the team getting knocked out in the 2nd round and their play horrible.

Then three months ago, he agreed to a six month contract at Owerri based Nigeria Premier League side, Heartland after they had qualified for the League stage of the CAf Champions League.

It was a disastrous outing for a side that reached the final a year earlier as they could only win one game.

However, I spoke with my good friend Colin Udoh on Wednesday night and though we may have disagreed on our choice for the new Eagles head coach we both agreed on one thing-

It will be in the best interest of the NFF and Nigerian football if they announce Samson Siasia as new head coach of the team not minding who is better between him and Keshi.

This is simply because for the first time in a long time Nigerians have almost unanimously agreed on one name as new coach of the team.

With majority of Nigerians going for Samson Siasia, any other person who gets the job, no matter how good he is will face the Shaibu Amodu treatment from Nigerians.

Every time he does not win a match he will be criticised; every time the team play badly Nigerians will shout that he must go and most of all they will continue to hound the NFF for once again getting it wrong.

Nigerians will once again channel their energies on a campaign to sack the coach at every poor turn rather than get behind the team.

Amodu suffered that fate, Berti Vogts also did to an extent and Keshi will face the same thing if he gets the job because Nigerians want someone else.

However, if Siasia gets the job, he will be able to work in peace because majority of Nigerians want him to have the job. He will not get the bitter criticisms that followed Shaibu Amodu and most of all Nigerians will make excuses for him even when he fails to win matches or play well.

Remember when the Flying Eagles failed to fly at the World Cup last year? Nigerians had a ready excuse for him that he had little time for the job.

At Heartland this year, Nigerians also made the same excuse for him that he had little time for the job. Even when he failed to qualify the U23 team for the All Africa Games in 2007, there were very few dissenting voices. All these happened because Samson Siasia is like the poster boy of Nigerian football. Any other coach that has had the kinds of failures Siasia has had would have been finished in Nigerian football, but not this handsome Ijaw boy.

The truth is that Nigerians will be quiet with their criticism if Siasia gets the job and he will work in peace. They will also cut the NFF some slack for actually listening to the voice of the people.

So the NFF will be doing themselves some good if they hand Siasia over to Nigerians even though the NFF we know can shockingly come out with a 90 year old Iranian as our coach by next week.

Hopefully by the time this page returns next week, we will be through with our search for a coach and sit down to discuss the Nigeria Premier League.

I know some people wanted me to finalize by saying who should be Nigeria’s next coach, but I was never going to do that.

You judge for yourself- Should it be Stephen “The Big Boss” Keshi, or should it be Samson Siasia?

We shall know on November 8.