Nigeria must progress to save Amodu’s job

If you’re part of the Nigerian set-up right now and are suffering from a case of bewilderment or anxiety, your emotions would be pretty understandable. From the outside looking in, football in Nigeria appears to be in a pretty healthy state. An unbeaten final qualifying group to secure a World Cup berth and an African Cup of Nations semi-final meeting against arch-rivals, Ghana, is not exactly a country in crisis.

Sure! The Super Eagles haven’t set the world alight in reaching those points, but even if coach, Shaibu Amodu, had his team firing on all cylinders, they would still be in the same position they find themselves at now. So what’s all the negativity about then? Well! Apart from the manner that Nigeria has laboured into the latter stages with, they are the victims of one of the most critical media and demanding fans anywhere in the world. And right now those two factors have combined in the interests of one desire – securing a top European coach.

All this is terrible news for Amodu of course. In his fourth spell in charge of the national team, he was mandated with reaching the semi-finals pre-tournament. Now that he attained that goal against Zambia and faced another flood of abuse, you get the feeling that only the trophy itself will spare him a place in South Africa.

Standing in his way, the Black Stars won’t be too concerned over Amodu’s employment issues. What will be of a more pressing nature is the amount of opportunities Angolan forward, Manucho, was presented with to equalise in the quarter-final. Goal scorer in that game, Gyan Asamoah, is currently a doubt. And talismanic players Michael Essien and Junior Agogo are both unavailable.

Agogo scored the winner when these two sides met in the last eight in Accra two years ago, but the Nigerians will feel they have a better chance of taking a Ghanaian scalp on neutral territory. They triumphed in both the 2002 and 2006 CAF meetings, although none of those affairs offered the prize of a place in the Final.

Amodu’s men have failed to reach the showpiece of the tournament since the turn of the century and haven’t lifted the trophy since 1994. They go into the match minus the services of Onyekachi Apam, who was sent-off against Zambia. However, with all their main European stars avaliable for selection, the Super Eagles have the talent to stop the rot.

A fierce West African derby match for a place in the Final of the continent’s flagship competition means this match needs no more glamourising. Both sides have stuttered to this stage of the competition and knocking out the hosts means Ghana probably enter the fray on a major confidence high. However, Nigeria contain plenty of experience in their ranks and more importantly lady-luck appears to be smiling on them. Super Eagles to win by a nose!

Prediction: Ghana 1 Nigeria 1: Nigeria on pens.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 27th, 2010 at 12:13 am by seanbhoy.