By Amos Etuk
It has been almost three weeks since the sacking of Stephen Okechukwu Keshi as senior national football team coach of the Super Eagles and about two weeks since ‘’ the chosen one’’ ,Sunday Ogochukwu Oliseh stepped into the saddle.
By now, Oliseh must have realized that his new job is no FIFA analysis schedule but a practical reality of the new hot seat of his new career where controversy and criticisms will trail him.
The new Super Eagles Coach already knows the terrain of our football politics especially the administrative limitations and frustrations and the truancy of the players and by now should come out with his own plot on how to steer a crisis free tenure.
By now, issues of his house allocation, official car and domestic staff should have been finalized.
And we have seen that in the last one week, Sunday Oliseh has hit the ground running on his future plans especially with the immediate notice that he will keep faith with the old brigade and the return of goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama as team captain.
Oliseh has also stated that in the next two weeks, the list of players invited for the Nations Cup cracker against Tanzania will be released with few additions. He has also told us that while in Europe, he, alongside his foreign assistant will work to contact outstanding Nigerian players in Europe while Salisu Yusuf will consolidate on the home based players.
The former Super Eagles international has also stated that he will transform the Eagles under the terms of his contract and will not be involved in any clash with his employers. He also realizes the renewed expectations on him in a country where football runs like blue blood in the veins of over 170million Nigerians and where all the citizens can become coach over night.
He knows that his next game against Tanzania in far away Dares Salam in September will be a litmus test on his technical prowess and that the match will be a must win for him and he we do not care how he does the magic but we expect a senior national team that will play attractive football and win convincingly.
Sunday Oliseh realizes also that the battle to climb out of a poor FIFA ranked ladder begins immediately and our current 57th ranked position is a national shame and true reflection of his predecessor’s failure.
He must work to avoid his predecessor’s failures especially his poor match tactics, poor reading of games and low quality of below average club players that had found their way into the Eagles.
He must stamp his authority as the man in charge with his players but must relate with them with respect and show belief that he can abide with their skills and precise delivery on the pitch.
Oliseh has a message he must share with his team and that is team work, that only when they play as a unit can we achieve positive results and make the nation proud.
He must also know that he must quickly establish a good rapport with his players and begin to mould a player that will have the mercurial skills to be the heartbeat of the team or a field commander to motivate the players during games.
Our new Super Eagles under Oliseh must fashion a new on field star leader that would draw world attention to the team including rave reviews in the likes of Segun Odegbami, Austin Okocha, Etim Esin, Kanu Nwankwo, Muda Lawal, Stephen Keshi, Joseph Yobo, Samuel Okwaraji,Rashidi Yekini,Humphrey Edobor, Adokie Amasimaka just to mention a few of our world class internationals. We must build a glorious Super Eagles that will gun for world attention and the future belongs to the class of stars in the present Flying Eagles and the Olympic Team. That is where our football future lies and we must build that successful future under the Oliseh years.
Also, as the draws for the 2018 World Cup qualifiers has been done over the weekend, Oliseh must realize that failure to qualify for the World Cup would end his romance with Nigerians and an abrupt loss of confidence by our passionate fans.
Our qualification for the World Cup in my opinion is our birthright and he must work to succeed because we believe in him as a leader and great gaffer with much to offer.
Oliseh must work to make the fans and sponsors have faith in the team and I want to assure him that history will be on his side as our games roll by.
The most critical arm of his tenure will be the media especially the sporting press.
The criticisms will surely come especially where the team remains unconvincing.and slow to excel and that would be his major test on how he responds or avoids the scrutiny of an ever critical press.
If he decides to fight with lethal replies, then it may end up a frosty relationship all through his tenure. So, we expect that his depth of intellect will chart a more matured relationship beyond his predecessor.
Our grassroots talents we hope will thrive under Oliseh especially discovering new talents which his assistant Salisu Abubakar must achieve and the inclusion of home based players will be a great milestone for the growth of our local football.
Oliseh must realise that his tenure will be beyond the television analysis and the new dawn starts from the training pirch to the dressing room and the interpretation on match day. There will not be frequent excuses on our failures.
Sunday Oliseh, may have been a successful player in his prime football years but the success of being a great coach is a different ball game and only few coaches in that fold have achieved any success, he should make a reference with Diego Maradona.
Sunday Oliseh knows that he must deliver. He wanted this job and Nigerians will have little patience in the nearest future if things do not go as planned, he will not abandon ship, he must fight to succeed.
The task ahead can be achieved and Oliseh must study the lines of his new career well to achieve his set targets as the countdown begins for him.
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