•Simply not good enough — Odegbami
•Flying Eagles did not play as a team — Adepoju

By Jacob Ajom

Nigeria’s underwhelming display at the FIFA U20 World Cup came to an end after a 2-1 defeat to Senegal in Monday’s Round of 16 fixture. Amadou Sagna and Ibrahima Niane’s goals in the first half were enough for Senegal to see off the Flying Eagles as Success Makanjuola’s effort turned out to be a consolation goal.

Flying Eagles

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The defeat in Lodz ended the Flying Eagles campaign in Poland. Nigerians fans are far from happy with the team’s performance and coach Aigbogun’s tactical decisions.

One of the worst performances by a Nigerian team at that level.

Naturally, toungues are wagging as most Nigerians are wondering aloud on what actually befell the Flying Eagles in Poland

The head coach Paul Aigbogun has come under intense criticism from Nigerians as he has been accused of assembling what critics say ‘the worst’ national team at this level.

Football fans have called on the Nigeria Football Federation to sack the coach after their return to the country. The fans also blamed the coach for faulty selection of players.

Senegal defeated the Flying Eagles 2-1 in their Round of 16 clash at Lodz on Monday night to progress to the quarter-final.

The fans expressed displeasure at the performance of the Flying Eagles, saying it was the team’s worst in recent years.

While calling for Aigbogun’s sack, some of the fans wondered if the players were selected on merit.

Adedayo Kofoworade said, “The coach should be replaced right away.”

In another reaction, Valentine Chimelum said, “The coach should be banned from entering any sports centre to watch any match. He did not have any outstanding player, no point man, no game changer,”.

Moses Olimah added, “the coach is terrible and should be dismissed with immediate effect. All the players performed below the standard of U-20.”

Saudi ’89 star, Mutiu Adepoju would rather chart the course of corrective measures, than call for the  outright sack of the coach’s head. “We can only get it right if we go back to development of youth football. “From what I saw, the team was not blended. They did not play as a team.

“It all started well against Qatar, then the match against USA was a loss while they held Ukraine. Against Senegal, they had their chances to have buried the game, but they could not.

“The Flying Eagles did not play well as a team. This brings me back to the issue of youth football development. The method the La Liga and NPFL are partnering on. Nigeria should not run out of players for the U-20 national team if we had a regulated youth system, where every club have a youth team. That is what obtains in La Liga and other European leagues. The youth teams play matches every weekend. They compete for league points and trophies.

“These players graduate from one level to another and national coaches would have access to them.”

Mutiu whose two goals earned Nigeria victory against USA at the Saudi ’89 semi final said he did not see anything wrong with Nigeria bringing young players from abroad to play for the U20 team. If anything, it should be an added advantage because those being brought in are from established systems. But the number should not be much because we need to develop the game back home too.”

Mutiu who is fondly called ‘The Headmaster’ by his teeming fans, however, said the team’s ouster was not a total failure. “I have seen some qualities in the team and some good players, but the problem is that we always want to win; I can say that our opponents, Senegal were better than us.”

In his reaction, Chief Segun Odegbami summed it this way, “Flying Eagles were simply not good enough!”

The former Nigeria striker said the performance of the Flying Eagles in Poland was not good enough and believes the team was far from what the country should have paraded at the tournament.

The 1980 AFCON winner said the team put together by Paul Aigbogun wasn’t good enough and added that coaching was part of the team’s problems.

“Simply not good enough, not representative of our best, coaching was non-existent, and if those boys were all boys, I shall turn 21 this year!” He wrote on social media.

In his assessment of the team, former Green Eagles winger, Felix Owolabi who also graduated from the youth team, said that the team was not that bad as many tagged them.

He said: “In every championship, there must be a winner and before anybody goes for a competition, the likelihood is that they are worthy champions, so everyone has 100 per cent chances.

“At the end, one team will win but what is important from what I have discovered from the performance of our team is that we should rather appreciate them.

“They should be praised for what they have been able to do so far. I have said it several times that Nigeria needs a football culture in a football structure.

“A football structure has to be on ground which will form the basis that we need to start getting them young right from the tender age of six, 12 and 15.”

Owolabi said it was high time the country stopped the fire brigade approach to age-grade competitions, adding that the players would have done better in a more organised structure.

He said: “In a situation where in a few months we engage in a fire-brigade attitude by putting the players together affects the level which they can attain.

“In some fire brigade approaches, we may get some results, but will not be enduring and will not help in the development of the game.

“The boys to the best of my knowledge tried their best which may not be enough, but I want the nation to appreciate them because of their individual efforts.

“Sometimes, we need the expertise of a coach because at this time around we must tell ourselves the home truth. We should not concentrate too much on the competition but the players.”

Atlanta ’96 Olympic gold medalist, Emmanuel Babayaro has called on the Nigeria Football Federation to probe the early ouster of the Flying Eagles from the tournament. “Apart from the very first game we won and we won against a very poor side, we never beat any other team.

“The technical team are not up to speed technically. It baffled me that we will be going for a World Cup without our best legs, it is a shame.

“What stops us from taking the right players to the tournament? The coaches need to be orientated that they should not use their selfish interest to bring the nation down,” Babayaro said.

Amidst allegations of bribery and imfighting among the backroom staff and rumours of imposition of players on the coach, the NFF issued a statement, denying that the coach ever spoke with anybody.

The statement reads in part, “In as much as the NFF understands Nigerians are not happy about the exit of the Flying Eagles from the FIFA U20 World Cup in Poland, it is imperative that the Federation clear the air on the rumors.

“At no time did Paul Aigbogun give such an interview to anyone – formal or informal, and for anyone to suggest such, it can only be the wild imaginations of the writer who despite quoting an imaginary source, never attributed same to anyone.

“The coach and his backroom staff are in unison and worked together in peace. Allegations of bribery, forcing of players on the coach and others are mere fabrications, a figment of the author’s imagination and should not be taken seriously”.