By Richard Animam
With six days to Nigeria’s first group match with Argentina in Johannesburg,  the composition of Lars Lagerback’s  team for the World Cup  is still raising a lot of dust in the country.
The exclusion of  Real Zaragoza’s Ike Uche and Everton’s  Victor Anichebe and the inclusion of Atlanta’ 96 gold medal winning captain, Nwankwo Kanu in the 23-man list for the 2010 World Cup which kicks off on June 11, has attracted a lot of flaks for Swede’s Super Eagles manager.
Former  Eagles manager to the Korea/Japan World Cup, Adegboye Onigbinde stylishly washed his hands off the issue, stating that only Lagerback could say why he included Portsmouth’s striker, Kanu in his team to the detriment of two of the country’s finest players, Uche and Anichebe.
“I have always believed that the  issue of selection is entirely that of the coach and now Lagerback is that man. And he is the only person who can defend Kanu’s inclusion in the team.  He knows what he wants to achieve and has gone ahead to select those he believes can help him achieve his set objectives.
I will call on Nigerians to let him to do his job and also let him reap the reward or bear the brunt should he succeed or fail in South Africa,” Onigbinde said.
But Port Harcourt based lawyer and former Green Eagles winger, Adokie Amiesimaka  towed a different line. He said that as far as he is concerned, Lagerback is a fraud and those who made it possible for him to be there, have a lot to explain to Nigerians.
“They made us believe that he would change the situation of things and bring in more home- based players and also introduce those based in Europe who have not been given the opportunity to play for their  fatherland.

He claimed that he knew our players better and was going to introduce fresh faces. But from the team list released recently, it is obvious the man does not know as much as he claimed.  I am disappointed with Patrick Ekeji who was bamboozled with Lagerback’s power point display during the interview and hired him.

As far as I am concerned, Ekeji had a score to settle with Amodu as far back as the 2002 Mali Africa Nations Cup. We have seen Lagerback’s team and I can tell you that there is no difference in the style or players, compared to Amodu’s team.  We have spent close to N300m on Lagerback, do you know how many coaches that money would have helped to train and prop up their profiles?

Lagerback himself said he would be playing Kanu for only  five minutes. Kanu is well known to other players and they are also aware that he is a slow player, one who lacks energy and pace and  they also know how to mark him out.  The inclusion of Kanu in the team shows the lack of knowledge on the part of Lagerback”,  Adokie said.

The Port Harcourt based lawyer however warned that Nigerians should not expect any dramatic twist  from the Eagles in South Africa. “I do not see them go beyond the first round”, he affirmed.


http://www.vanguardngr.com/2010/06/04/don%E2%80%99t-expect-much-from-lagerback-amiesimaka/

If Chief Patrick Ekeji is carrying over the bitterness of Mali 2002 to 2010, then there is unforgiving spirit in him, he should remember that Amodu was his student, he should be proud of his product at NIS. I pray that Nigeria football will not suffer for it. #300m use in hiring Largerback that could not qualify his country for WC would have trained many Nigeria Coaches which we can later fall back on later.
It was the same bitterness and unforgiving spirit that brought Onigbinde in 2002, Nigeria had a woeful performance in that year's WC.
The same bitterness and unforgiving spirit is at play again.