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| The African Mentality We have commented on this many times. Former Ghanaian great 'Sir' Cecil Jones Attuquayefio coined the phrase to bemoan the fact that African coaches are not given the opportunities that they deserve. They are awarded contracts of fear – the sack awaits at the first sign of failure with short term cheapskate contracts, while Europeans receive unwarranted long-term contracts even if they couldn't find their employing nation on the map. With few exceptions the hiring of foreign, 'white' coaches with no understanding of the culture or football philosophy of the African nation, has proved disastrous. Berti Vogts failed miserably. It hardly required genius – foresight even – to predict that. The football was horrible and unsuccessful. Under Vogts the Super-Eagles became the Super-Chickens and to be honest they weren't that super. FC Midtjylland's Nigerian midfielder was kinder in his assessment of his appointment than Vogts deserved. “Maybe he was and maybe he wasn't, because he did good for a while, but they got another coach now – Shuaibu Amodu, so I think we just move on and forget about what has happened in the past and just think about what is coming up and do the good job,” Salami told us. “Actually I don't think I'm afraid at the moment. I've just got to keep my head up and keep on doing the good job and keep playing together. I think we played good in the last match and I think we can do it again.” He wants to play international football – remember the name. Shambles But Vogts was not the real villain of the piece. He was offered a lucrative contract and he brought his own ideas without thinking how they would fit the Nigerian set up. That's not his fault. The Nigerian Football Federation (NFF) was responsible for the fiasco and took no responsibility. Instead it turned to Shuaibu Amodu again. The football remained horrible, but unlike under Vogts, it was effective. Amodu refused to listen to demands to blood young talent – Nigerian youth teams were phenomenally successful, but their graduates failed to win selection under Amodu, who stuck rigidly to the old guard. He fulfilled the demands of the NFF, reaching the semi-final of the African Cup of Nations in Angola, winning third place. His reward – the sack. The Nigerian President Goodlove Jonathan, seems to have dictatorial ambitions. Following the inevitably poor World Cup performance, he disbanded the NFF and tried to take control, backing down after FIFA made it clear that would not be tolerated. While the NFF must take the lion's share of the blame, the coaches, including Amodu, are not blameless. Remember the talented Salami. He wants to play for the land of his birth, but was getting frustrated waiting. Nigeria faces the prospect of losing his services through stupidity without ever benefiting from them. |
