Nigerian Corner: Is Amodu Right To Skip August Friendly?

In the second week of August, while several African teams will be engaged in friendly matches prior to important World Cup qualifiers about a month later, Nigeria won't be doing same.

Eagles boss Shuaibu Amodu has stuck to his stubborn view that he would rather his Europe-based stars concentrate on pre-season training with their various clubs, than come together for a match during the FIFA friendly window.

Amodu's argument is that his stars stand a better chance of making the first team of their various clubs that way, which was not the case last season.

In the past season, Amodu's stars were criticised for being bench warmers at their European clubs, and the coach believes that if they are in the thick of pre-season preparations, the story would be different in the coming campaign.

It was a huge gamble for Nigeria to play two friendlies against the Republic of Ireland and France on the eve of the World Cup game against Kenya in June.

Top sports ministry officials even feared that had the Eagles crashed against the Irish and French, it would have impacted negatively on their performance against Kenya in a match that they had to win.

Such was the apprehension among the officials that they even tried to get Amodu to withdraw the team from those two games.

Thankfully though, Nigeria came out of the two games in flying colours, beating 1998 world champions France in Saint Etienne while the Irish forced a 1-1 draw.

The Eagles' showing against the French was most encouraging and went on to galvanise them into flying high over the Harambee Stars 3-0 in front of a packed Abuja National Stadium, thanks to the restoration of public confidence after the France victory.

The friendlies prior to the Kenya match also threw up several fresh faces in the Eagles, none more exciting than defender Dele Adeleye, who will go on to post a five-star performance in the heart of the Eagles back four against Tunisia at the Rades Stadium.

But for these friendlies, it was most likely that the less athletic Danny Shittu would have been preferred to play alongside Joseph Yobo in the middle of the defence.

Adeleye's emergence was a most welcome development particularly as team officials had long agonised that the Eagles central defence was an Achilles heel.

It is also a known fact that despite their armada of Euro stars, Nigeria have struggled to play as a team. More often than not, the Eagles have thrived on some individual brilliance to get by.

Therefore, the more matches, competitive and friendlies, they play together, the better the understanding within the team.

On August 12, Group Two leaders Tunisia will tackle the Ivory Coast as part of their build-up to the all-important September 6 tie in Abuja.

By that date, pre-season for most of the European leagues would have been concluded, all ready for the clubs to begin a new season.

Amodu's argument about getting his stars to be very much a part of their clubs' pre-season training then does not hold much water, except, of course, the coach has taken up this position largely due to the influence of the players.

Officials of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) have confirmed that they have two proposals on the table for friendly matches against Libya and Algeria in August.

Nigeria should take up one of these offers because besides enhancing team blending, this friendly would again afford the selectors an opportunity to discover another Dele Adeleye - a talented player who is willing to make a name for himself wearing a green and white shirt.

It is a welcome development that the NFF do not wish to interfere with Amodu's job, but at the same time, Nigeria can no longer afford to leave anything to chance on the road to South Africa 2010.

Samm Audu, Goal.com