We risk repeating some of the mistakes of 2006 

By Ayo Akinfe 

With the race for South Africa 2010 hotting up, 140m Nigerian football fans are full of smiles, with warm glows filling everyone’s stomachs as we look at the league table and see that the Super Eagles have the maximum six points from two matches. However, our lofty position hides a few worrying problems which bedevil the team and could spell doom later on as the qualification series progresses.

Everyone who watched the game against Sierra Leone would acknowledge the fact that the Super Eagles were overran in midfield. Reminiscent of the problems we had in 2006, Amodu Shaibu is making the same mistake Christian Chukwu made by letting his nostalgia and attachment to certain well-loved players cloud his sense of judgement.

Playing Nwankwo Kanu in a midfield where legs, running, enthusiasm, passion, energy and athleticism are the needed requirements, is a recipe for disaster. Mikel Obi picked up a yellow card because he tracked back to recover the ball after Kanu had lost it to a younger and more energetic Leone Star.

Just as Italy recently found out to their cost in Euro 2008 when Holland crushed them 3-0, no team wins anything with old men. At best, your old men must serve as jokers in the pack who can be brought on late in the game to change things, as Roger Milla did to perfection in the 1990 World Cup.

Nigeria is a country of 140m coaches, so Amodu will always be criticised for his team selection whoever he picks but surely, even he must acknowledge that the team he fielded against Sierra Leone is not the best we can offer. Is Amodu really trying to tell us that Kanu offers more in midfield than Uche Kalu or that John Utaka provides more on the flanks than Osaze Odemwingie?

I can go on and on, outlining potential weak spots in the team but there is no point in doing this as at the end of the day, a coach is judged by results. What I find baffling is the fact that Amodu knows that he is weakening the team with some of his decisions but yet he appears not to be bothered by it.

By the time such decisions cost us dear, it will be too late, as the damage will already have been done. In 2005, the necessary changes were not made until after that fateful 1-1 draw with Angola in Kano.

Eguavoen made the necessary changes bringing the likes of Taiwo, Ayila, Oruma and Obodo into the team but alas, it was too late. Is Amodu waiting for a similar catastrophe before acting?

Even the most ardent Super Eagles fan would concede that in Freetown, our Eagles were overran in midfield and a team with a more potent strike force would have wrapped the game up by halftime. Our woodwork was hit twice during the first 45 minutes and against sterner opposition, we would have finished the game empty-handed.

We should not delude ourselves into thinking that we could survive such a game in the next round where we are certain to have at least two crack opponents. Looking at the way the seeding system works, Nigeria is certain to end up in the same group with at least one of these teams – Morocco, Tunisia, Senegal, Guinea and Angola – and one of these too - Mali, DR Congo, Togo, South Africa and Burkina Faso.

If Amodu wants to avoid the same fate as Christian Chukwu, he must summon the courage to drop big name players who do not fit in with the match plan. If the team will play better without Enyeama, Kanu, Aiyegbeni, Nwaneri or Utaka for instance, he must have the guts to drop them.

Amodu should also not shy away from picking youngsters like Lukman Haruna, Rabiu Ibrahim, Chrisantus MaCauley, Oladapo Olufemi, Mustapha Ibrahim, Uwa Echejiele, Efe Ambrose or Kingsley Udoh if they prove to be the best for the job. I for one am still baffled as to why Chidi Odiah is not starting but I will concede that it may have something to do with his fitness.

One of the intriguing things about football is that like corrosion, by the time you realise you have a problem, it has got to a stage whereby drastic action is needed. We need drastic action now, not after we have lost in Malabo.

Also, is Amodu Shaibu convinced beyond all reasonable doubt that 4-3-3 is the best formation suited to our current crop of players? Is he certain that we will not get more mileage out of playing say 3-5-2, 3-4-3 or 4-5-1?

Anyone who has been watching Euro 2008 and noticed the elegance and ease with which the Dutch and Germans are stroking the ball around will know that we still have a lot of work to do to compete with the best. Beating Sierra Leone who are ranked 163^rd in the world by a last minute goal after being under the cosh for 89 minutes is not exactly championship-winning form.

If we do not want to sell ourselves short, our aim should be to win the World Cup in 2010 when Africa hosts the tournament for the first time. As the continent’s giant, that should be a legitimate target. Anything short smacks of a lack of pride and dignity in my opinion.

As things stand, our team does not look like it can win the World Cup in 2010 but the good news is we have two years to get things right. Sentiments, nostalgic attachment to yesterday’s heroes, the influence agents wield, past glory, etc, have no say in team selection if we aspire to be the best.

Amodu has got to redeem our image that was somewhat blackened in Freetown with a sterling performance away to Equatorial Guinea. Malabo is not an easy play to go to and Cameroon got defeated there during the qualification for Ghana 2008, so Amodu cannot afford to be sentimental.

Having a robust midfield with three terriers in there fighting for the ball is a must and upfront, only strikers willing to fight for every ball as Ike Uche and Osaze Odemwingie do can be allowed on to the pitch. How we perform in Malabo will give us a good assessment of how far we have come under Amodu Shaibu.

Another Freetown-like performance is not acceptable.