Only Indigenous Coaches Can Develop Our Football
The Korea-Japan 2002 World Cup has come and gone, but the ripples have just begun. Football has become a game of casualties both in the pitch and on the bench. Many national team players and coaches have become
objects for juggling by their various sporting organizations. As one player or coach is been thrown out, so is another coming in to take his place. In Nigeria, the debate is on and heated, for who will go
and who will remain in the national team. Some want Coach Olugbinde to stay, and the reasons presented are numerous. He built a new team in so short a time, and still was able to present a formidable team that made us proud, even though we did not go beyond the
first round, some argue. Others say he must go because, he like other indigenous coaches, do not have the experience required to understand modern day football. The issue of whether to employ a foreign coach
or not has become a major talking point for all sports commentators. There is so much confusion in the air right now, that even President Obasanjo got caught in it. The other day while hosting the Super Eagles players, he said he would not approve the hiring of
a foreign coach, but, barely two days later he shifted position and went ahead and approved the hiring of a foreign coach. The driving force behind all this confusion is the urge for the Super Eagles to win
the Nations Cup, now that we have lost out in the just concluded Korea-Japan World cup. The believe is that foreign coaches are more exposed and better experienced than our local coaches, and therefore, it is only a foreign coach that can take us to the Nations
Cup Final and possibly win the cup. Maybe at this point, one should ask where are our famous 'abundant natural and human resources?' Is it that now that we need these resources we can no longer find them? Or
why is the hiring of a foreign coach so important to the success of the national team and the development of football in Nigeria? Can a foreigner, whether as a coach or whatever, actually help develop Nigeria more than Nigerians themselves? While we look for answers to these questions, let it be understood that no amount of foreign coaches can guarantee our national team a 'steady' growth or a place in all the finals of the World Cup. A foreign coach can only stay for 'x'
amount of time and he will return to his country, leaving us where he met us, and we will start scrambling again for a new coach. Meanwhile, our football would experience a free-fall. Agreed that we need
foreign assistance to enable us develop our football, the sports ministry should hire good foreign coaches to retrain our local coaches and teach in our football academy. This way, our coaches will have the know-how to meet the challenges of modern day football,
and when the foreign coaches depart, our own indigenous coaches would still retain the standard of our football. Nigerian coaches should be allowed to gain exposure by taking our teams to international
encounters, because this is the same way those foreign coaches we are now scrambling for got their exposure. And again, each time Nigeria features in an international competition, it is a golden opportunity for us not only to expose our players, but also to
expose our coaches. That way they would not only save the country foreign exchange, they will help us earn foreign exchange, because, clubs abroad will start shopping for the coaches the same way they hunt for our players.
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