By Lolade Adewuyi
Despite the problems that have bogged down Nigerian football in recent times, the country has much to be proud of. In the long list of coaches that have handled the national team in the past five years, three of the men have come from the 1994 World Cup squad, the often highly-praised golden era of Nigerian football. A trio of national team coaches from the same generation is more than most countries can boast about.
The world of football was at the feet of the Super Eagles in 1994. In January, they won their second ever Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) title in Tunisia after coming from a goal down to defeat the Chipolopolo of Zambia 2-1.
Later in the summer, they made their debut at the World Cup in the United States, where they defeated Bulgaria and Greece 3-0 and 2-0 respectively. Although they lost 2-1 to Argentina, they nonetheless qualified for the second round. A late collapse in their game against Italy meant that they fell short of the quarter-final place, but they made an immeasurable impact on the world of football and will forever be remembered for their beautiful playing style.
Seventeen years after that experience, a number of members from that golden squad have started to make their impact felt from the bench. Many have taken to coaching and have had measured success, but none have been able to win the coveted Afcon trophy as coach.
| AUSTIN EGUAVOEN |
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Postion: Defender
Caps: 53
Coaching period: 2005-2007, 2010 (interim)
The former defender was the first of the trio to take up the job of head coach of the Super Eagles, and in 2006 he led the team to a third place finish at the Afcon in Egypt. Eguavoen, who was the stand-in captain in the absence of Stephen Keshi in the final against Zambia in 1994, is now the coach of the Olympic team. He was caretaker boss of the Eagles after the World Cup in 2010 when Lars Lagerback failed to renew his contract after their disastrous outing in South Africa.
Eguavoen’s time in charge of the senior team was in the middle of the Bronze Era, when the Super Eagles had a run of three back-to-back third-place finishes from 2002 to 2006. This was broken in 2008 when they lost out in the quarter-finals, but resumed in 2010. It was a period when it was thought that the worst fate that could befall the Eagles in a Afcon tournament was a bronze finish.
Now in charge of the Olympic squad, Eguavoen’s tenure has been mixed as he failed to qualify for the All Africa Games football event earlier in the year when his side lost to Ghana. He is expected to secure Nigeria a ticket to next summer’s Olympics in London when the Caf Under-23 Championship begins in Morocco in late November. Already, he has the challenge of going to the competition without his key foreign-based players who are being held back by their clubs as the tournament is not played during a Fifa international break.
| STEPHEN KESHI |
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Position: Defender
Caps: 66
Coaching period: 2011-present
Known fondly as the Big Boss, Stephen Keshi is perhaps the most influential captain in the team’s history. He was one of the first players from Nigeria to secure a club in Europe in the 1980s when he moved to Belgium via the Ivory Coast. It was the era when football began to be more than just a pastime for many young men and when African players were becoming respected in Europe.
Playing under Clemens Westerhof, Keshi became part of the golden generation of Nigerian footballers as they won the 1994 Afcon in Tunisia and reached the second round of the World Cup at USA ’94. So great was his influence on the team that he became known as the head of the 'Mafia', a crop of players in the national team that determined who the coaches chose to play. They were also said to have influenced the decision to invite new players into the squad.
Keshi’s coaching career started with the national team in 2001 when he was assistant to Amodu Shaibu, but was sacked, along with the technical crew, after their third-place finish at the Afcon 2002 in Mali. He later took the Nigeria Olympic team to a quarter-final place at Melbourne 2004 and achieved his greatest feat to date when he ensured World Cup qualification for the little-fancied Togolese team in 2006. He has also coached Mali and took them to the Afcon in Angola.
Keshi has said that he will not promise to take the team to heaven but he will give his all to ensure success. As the most influential man in the golden era of the Super Eagles has taken over the reins with the mandate of leading the team back to greatness, many Nigerians will be hopeful that this will not be another false dawn.
| SAMSON SIASIA |
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Position: Striker
Caps: 51
Coaching period: 2010-2011
Call Samson Siasia the 'great big hype' and you will not be wrong. The man who became coach by popular demand had everything going for him to recreate a golden era, but failed to deliver. He had an impressive time handling the Under-20 squad in 2005 when they won the African Youth Championship and silver at the World Youth Championships in the Netherlands. Later in 2008, he led the Olympic team to a silver medal finish at the Beijing games. Siasia was destined to become the country’s senior team coach and it was only a matter of time before he was crowned.
By popular opinion, the former striker, who scored a World Cup goal against Argentina in 1994, became coach in December 2010 and promised to take the team to great heights. He began well, winning all his matches and bringing new attacking zeal into the squad. He was able to defeat the Argentines for the first time in a friendly match in Abuja, but lost a replay in Bangladesh. He was also able to find players of Nigerian origin in Europe and convince them to commit to the country. However, his tragic flaw was his inability to manage his men properly as dressing room arguments became media headlines. He had public spats with star players as he tried to cut down their enormous egos.
When it mattered most though, Siasia failed to secure a win against Guinea in their final Afcon qualifying game and he was shown the way out. It was the first time in almost 25 years that the Super Eagles would miss out on qualifying for the tournament that they had come to be an important part of.