There are very strong indications that the Nigeria Football Association (NFA) is ready to put the fate of the nation’s football in the hands of Samson Siasia ahead of more established names like Stephen Keshi.
Although FA brass are keeping their choice close to their chest, talk around the Glass House in Abuja and the National Sports Commission (NSC) is for the current U-23 sweat merchant to be given the hottest job in the land.
Over the past two days 12 coaches have been in Abuja undergoing rigorous screening from the Technical Committee of the association to determine which of them is suitable to be considered to take over from Berti Vogts, whose position became untenable after Eagles’ poor outing at Ghana 2008.
Some of those put through the meat grinder, which included an aptitude test yesterday, are current Togo coach Keshi, Shaibu Amodu, who took the team to a bronze finish at Mali 2002, Fatai Amoo, a former international, and Sunday Oliseh, who had a torrid time with authorities at Mali 2002.
But what is going for Siasia is the fact that apart from showing that he has a keen tactical brain, the bulk of his squad are expected to be the team that will take part in Nigeria’s quest to stun the world at South Africa 2010.
The thinking is that should this be the case it was only proper for Siasia to tinker the team because the players having been in his team since the U-20 days will be ready to play for him unlike the team to Ghana 2008, which did not appear ready to play for Vogts.
Those pushing the idea, point to the situation in Cote d’Ivoire where the Olympic team handler, Gerard Gili, was drafted in to take charge of the Elephants barely a fortnight to Ghana 2008 when the substantive coach Uli Stielike quit to take care of his sick son.
The Elephants might have come unstuck in the semi finals but they were still one of the best teams in the competition under French man Gili.
However, with a lot of intense lobbying going on, technical committee members are under immense pressure and might be forced to suggest a compromise candidate to the full board, which is meeting tomorrow in Abuja to take a final decision on this highly charged issue.
The Board is also aware that with the Nations Cup/South Africa 2010 qualifiers beginning in May, they have very little time to get it straight and not make the same mistake as they did with Vogts.
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