Compounding Errors:

“I would not be surprised if in the course of  time there will be no local coach or African coach there,” Ghanaian football icon Cecil Jones Attuquayefio told us exclusively about his fears for Africa’s World Cup. “Look at Stephen Keshi – what happened to him with Togo. He qualified the team for the World Cup only for somebody else to take over from him.”

It proved prophetic, but Attuquayefio couldn’t help hoping for the best. “We are only praying that the confidence these teams have in their coaches stays,” he said. “We hope they continue have trust in the local coaches and I believe that the football is really growing in that area.”

His hopes were dashed. Shuaibu Amodu must be wondering what he has to do to be allowed to take a team that he coached to the World Cup. He qualified Nigeria for Asia’s World Cup in 2001 and then he delivered a third place finish in the African Cup of Nations. His reward was the sack. “They all get trouble,” Attuquayefio said. “Shuaibu of Nigeria had the opportunity to coach with the team. He went to African Cup of Nations in 2002 and then he was kicked out.”

Amodu was sacked in 2002 for what was termed a disgraceful performance by the Super-Eagles in the African Cup of Nations. He doesn’t play pretty football. It is defensive and far from attractive – not the fare that Nigerians want to see, but it is effective. Former Super-Eagles coach Festus Onigbinde took over and experimented with inexperienced youngsters in the World Cup.

Onigbinde rewarded the faith of the Nigerian FA with what was then the worst ever performance by the Super-Eagles in the World Cup – two defeats and a draw. He was rapidly shown the door and replaced by Christian Chukwu, who lasted until Nigeria was pipped to qualification for the 2006 World Cup by Angola. Augustine Eguavoen and Berti Vogts came and went before Amodu was called back.

He turned the Super-Chickens of Vogts into soaring Super-Eagles once more. They were the class of the first phase of African qualification – boasting a near perfect record. They won all six matches, conceding just one goal – an own goal. The second round proved more difficult. They scraped through in the last round of matches thanks to other results going their way. Amodu was told that he had to reach the semi-finals of the African Cup of Nations in Angola to save his job.

Insults:

Their football remained ugly but effective, but that was hardly surprising. The Nigerian FA began looking for a European coach, claiming that if Amodu was left in charge the World Cup campaign would be a failure. Amodu delivered what was demanded – finishing third – and was once again rewarded with the sack, although it was portrayed as a demotion – he was appointed coach of the home-based Super-Eagles.

The Nigerian FA courted Africa’s greatest coach Hassan Shehata. The Egyptian maestro narrowly failed to guide the Pharaohs to the World Cup, but succeeded in winning the African Cup of Nations an unprecedented third time in a row. Despite this the Nigerians insisted on Shehata attending an interview. They accepted Shehata’s wish that he could hire his own assistants and the Egyptian FA was prepared to release him for the duration of the World Cup.

Having all but got their man the Nigerian FA managed to score a spectacular own goal. Shehata slipped through their fingers and they panicked. They hired the former Sweden coach Lars Lagerbäck even though he had failed to match Amodu’s achievement of qualification with his own country, played far from scintillating football and secured are far better contract than Amodu had.

Lagerbäck claimed that Amodu had picked the wrong players and then relied on the same players. He failed to meet his players and train them until a couple of weeks before the World Cup began. His team looked like strangers in a practice match against Colombia.

A disciplinarian, Lagerbäck asserted his authority, delivered poor football and a failure  matched only by Onigbinde, but without the excuse of youth. Onigbinde had to cope withagroup that included Argentina, England and Sweden – a tough group that found Nigeria wanting. Lagerbäck had to cope with Argentina in fine form, Greece and South Korea.

Lagerbäck had an easier group to cope with than Onigbinde and relied on experienced players, but was outclassed by Argentina, thwarted by Greece and the stupidity of Sani Keita and secured their only point in a draw with the Koreans. Amodu could be forgiven for wondering what he has to do to be allowed to go to a World Cup when he qualified the team and why he has suffered the same fate again.

The Mentality:

So why does this keep happening? Attuquayefio provides an answer. “It’s what I tried to explain,” he says. “It is a policy that African nations. I cannot even imagine how some of the African coaches that qualify the team for the African Cup of Nations only to be relegated to the background and replaced by a different colour about a week to the time of the competition feel.”

Amodu is not an isolated example – just the highest profile victim of it, having experienced it for two World Cups. “I always say we have a lot of other stories like that of people who will not coach the national team for more than a year,” says Attuquayefio. “You have one, two step setbacks and they tell you that you are not fit to do it and then you are out. A lot of my colleagues have had the opportunity – one, two opportunities then they get rid of them.”

Attuquayefio has more to add. “I’m telling you, it’s the African mentality,” he says. They believe that the only people who can save the football is white and the Ghanaians and the Africans who have had the opportunity have been able to prove their worth – CK Gyamfi and Hassan Shehata.”

Ironically there was another victim of the African mentality who deserved to be in South Africa, leading the team that he qualified for that tournament. Despite losing just one match in twenty-four Vahid Halilhodžić was sacked by the Ivorian FA. His football may not have been pleasing to the eye, but it was effective, whereas Sven-Göran Eriksson failed with Mexico and delivered ineffective and unattractive football that sent the Ivorians home without seriously threatening to qualify.

The most successful coaches in the history of African football are two Africans – Hassan Shehata and Charles Kumi Gyamfi – yet African federations continue to experiment with foreign coaches that understand nothing of African football and its culture. This method – tried and tested and found wanting – was tried again at Africa’s World Cup. Unsurprisingly, it failed again.