Nigeria: Laloko - Kanu, Aiyegbeni Should Quit Eagles Now
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Vanguard (Lagos)
12 October 2008
Posted to the web 12 October 2008
Richard Animam & Philips Adefioye
FORMER Nigeria Football Federation, (NFF), Technical Director, Chief Kashimawo Laloko, has advised Super Eagles head coach, Shaibu Amodu, to beef up the present Eagles with new players who are at their peak in their various clubs.
Laloko said inability to take risk of introducing new players to build a team to replace the old ones has been the major obstacle to the Nigerian coaches progress.
"I credit Arsene Wenger because he is a man who can take risk. He doesn't care if a player is young or not because he believes in himself and the technicalities of coaching. He brings in new players, coach them well and take the risk which is giving results. Our coaches must learn how to take risk, our coaches must believe in themselves, our coaches must show people that they know how to coach.
"Players like Nwankwo Kanu, Yakubu Aiyegbeni and John Utaka are old and they have to go and rest but each time we say that they are not happy. By now I think we should have done with these old players in the Eagles and get the new ones to continue the journey, without taking the risk we cannot develop."
The one-time handler of the defunct Stationery Stores of Lagos Football Club said that the Nigeria Football Federation and coach Amodu should not wait to be told that some of the players in the team are old, adding that the second stanza of the World Cup/Nations Cup qualifiers is on the way which will be tougher compared to the first phase.
"We should always look at the level of development of our game, nobody needs to tell anybody that Kanu is old. For example Austin Okocha eased himself out of the game. I thought that they should know that it is high time they left the game. If the speed is lost, the power is lost. It is only the brain that is there but you can only play football with speed, power and skill and once the speed is gone forget it and allow other upcoming players to step in.
Meanwhile, the former Stationery Stores coach has adviced national U-23 coach Samson Siasia, who unveiled plans for his football Academy (SIA ONE FOOTBALL ACADEMY) last Thursday at the Lagos Airport Hotel, Ikeja, not to depend on government for the funding of his academy. Laloko who spoke from personal experience as the founder and coordinator of Pepsi Football Academy, said Siasia should not wait till he gets millions of Naira from government before he starts the academy.
According to him, there are people in government who does not want anything good to succeed and would go out of their ways to ensure that they frustrate attempts by government to support such ideas or programme. He gave an example of how, some people in the NSC denied him the opportunity of getting the sum approved by then NSC chairman Alex Akinleye.
"I advice Siasia to start small. He should not be too optimistic about the government or any corporate body. He does not need a million Naira to start an academy. He needs the structures no matter how small it is. Again, I want to advice Siasia not to involve too many brothers or friends. This is business and there is no friendship. Too many cooks spoils the foods," he said.
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Laloko lauded the idea behind the project and appealed to Siasia not to stay away from those managing the academy. "It is very important that Siasia personally oversees this project. If it must succeed then, he must be able to impact a lot of discipline in the boys. If he is too far away from the academy, he might not be able to give his input and that would affect the quality of his products. I implore Siasia to produce players who are better than himself because that would ultimately be the yardstick to measure the academy," he added.
Read comments. Write your own.
All those old guys and Kanu should go home for now. We now need the young blood guys to rejuvenate our Eagles. Those boys that Played in China are fantastic. They are galant losser. They are good guys.
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Honestly, this is not the right way to pay these our football heroes. They had done so much for the country than to expect anyone to ask them to quit for whatever reason. We know that new ones should be introduced and the coach is doing that, not that he should drop all the players on ground as if they are useless. These guys have experience and are still doing well in their clubs, this shows that they have alot to offer. If they will quit, it should be their decison and not that anybody with selfish interest will be… [Read Full Text]