The job of coaching the senior national team of Nigeria is one that usually appeals to former players of the team especially those who have played and also coach abroad.

Such is the lure that of the indigenous coaches who have worked with the team, six out of them of have all been former captains of the team with Austine Eguavoen the last ex captain to have handled the team.

Former captain Joseph Yobo worked with the team for two years without any coaching badge, one of the ills of ex president of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) Amaju Pinnick. So it’s a thing of shock when a former player of the team with a UEFA coaching license isn’t keen on the job in the future.

That individual is John Utaka who represented Nigeria at two different World Cups and presently works as an assistant coach in the Montpellier U19s set up. He already has his UEFA A licence.

As he inches towards bagging a UEFA Pro license that will enable him coach at any level in Europe, his sight isn’t on returning to handle the national team of Nigeria rather he is dreaming of making history as the first African coach to win the UEFA Champions League with a team in Europe.

“If the opportunity comes to coach a team in Europe, I will embrace it,” Utaka said. “My dream is to win the trophies that I didn’t win as a player. I want to win them as a coach. We’ve never had an African coach win the Champions League. That is a goal for me”, he told DW.

“When you get your chances, you have to take them,” said Utaka. “We have to persist, we cannot lose hope. We have to push and push. Football is a team sport, and we have to work together and learn from others.”

Osas Mahawi

The U17 team of Nigeria rounded up preparations for the U17 Africa Cup of Nations with back to back friendly game ahead of their departure to Algeria tomorrow for the tournament, OGN reports.

Drawn in group B alongside the trio of Morocco, South Africa and Zambia, they will be heading straight to the venue of the tournament straight from Abuja following the cancellation of the much publicized training tour of Germany.

Their campaign at the tournament will get underway on the 30th of Aprilagainst Zambia and they fine tuned preparation for that game with two wins in their final two test games ahead of the tournament.

Two days ago, they dispatched AS Roma Academy with a comprehensive 2-0 win and earlier today whitewashed Pride FC 5-0. A sign of how much goal scoring isn’t an issue with the Nduka Ugabde led team.

They will be hoping to pick one of the four tickets available at the tournament to represent Africa at the U17 World Cup later this year. They won the WAFU B championship in Ghana by beating Burkina Faso 2-1 in the final.

Mohammed Mowiz

The decision of the head coach of the senior national team of Nigeria Jose Peseiro to leave out Chuba Akpom from his Super Eagles team has sparked a reaction from the former captain of the team, OGN can exclusively reveal.

Akpom has scored 28 goals in 36 games in the English Championship for Middlesbrough this season, a form which includes scoring in nine consecutive games at home keeping alive their chance of making it into the promotion play off.

However that run of form hasn’t convinced Peseiro who made it known during the last international set of games that he is aware of the 27 year old but for now has no space for him in his team, the coach said he has players in the team who he has faith in ahead of the former Arsenal prospect.

In sharp contrast former captain of the Nigerian team John Obi Mikel wondered why the coach is leaving out the forward, whose form should at least give him an invitation at the barest minimum as club form should be rewarded with national team call up.

” It’s a straight forward choice if you ask me. You doing it for your team then you at least get an invitation. 28 goals and not a chance yet with Nigeria then you have to ask the coach why the top scorer in the championship is not in his team. Even England I believe will take a look at him with the way he is going”, Mikel told Owngoalnigeria.com.

” When you reward players doing well for their respective teams then you are sending a message to others to work hard but sadly I don’t think the coach shares my line of thought. There are several reasons to leave a player out of a team but at first give them a chance”, he rounded up saying.

Osas Mahawi

As Nigeria continue the build up to the U20 World Cup following the opening of their camp in Abuja, invitations has been sent out to some foreign based players to be a part of the team.

Head coach of the team Ladan Bosso has said he wants to improve the team that finished third at the U20 Africa Cup of Nations in Egypt. He has already backed his words with action as they reach the last step of their preparation for the tournament in Abuja.

Bulgarian side Botev Plovdiv announced on their official website that their Nigerian duo of Emmanuel Umeh and Tochukwu Nnadi have been called up to the Nigeria U20 team for the tournament.

Speaking to OGN in an exclusive interview, Bosso said he called up the duo to fortify two key areas in the team, which he thinks requires urgent attention. He explained that the duo will help out in the midfield and attack of the team.

” Umeh is a striker and it’s clear to see that at the AFCON that was one of our problems. For Nnadi he is a midfielder and we don’t have a clear picture on if Daniel Daga will be fit. I don’t want to take risk in that department”, he said.

Mohammed Mowiz

The coach of the U20 team of Nigeria Ladan Bosso has defended his decision to include two players of the current Nigeria U17 team in his provisional list of players for the U20 World Cup in Argentina.

Bosso picked the duo of Abubakar Abdullahi and Michael Emmanuel in his provisional list for the World Cup and the decision has brought mixed reaction from the football family in Nigeria.

Both Michael and Abubakar will be with the Nigeria U17 team in Algeria for the U17 AFCON before joining the U20 in their camp for the World Cup. Bosso told OGN that the duo represent the future of the next U20 and he wants to start the process of fast tracking them to the next level.

” It wasn’t my sole decision because I contacted the president of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) Ibrahim Musa Gusau who gave me the greenlight to go ahead. I also watched the team play in training and test games before settling for Michael and Abubakar”, he told OGN.

” Their coaches also suggested them to me and since we are keen on players progression to the next level. This is the first step towards it and I have always believe that if you are good enough then you are old enough”, he concluded.

Mohammed Mowiz

The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has launched an investigation into the conduct of two senior players of the team over their act of Indiscipline during the last round of international games, where the team engaged Guinea Bissau in back to back AFCON qualifiers games.

OGN exclusively gathered that the portion of the communique released by the NFF which centered on players commitment to the team is targeted at two players who were part of team for the last round of games.

They were accused of arriving Nigeria early but instead of joining their teammates in camp, they stayed behind in Lagos partying at various night clubs before arriving the camp of the team on Tuesday ahead of the game in Abuja on Friday.

Despite taking part in one and half training session as the floodlights went off during the first day they trained with the team , the duo were surprisingly included in the team that started the game against Guinea Bissau in Abuja, which Nigeria lost 0-1 at home.

One of the players was subbed off and he immediately changed into his normal clothes instead of the team’s official wear. He sat behind the bench and was on his phone for the remainder of the game, showing no interest in the game.

The other player lasted longer and started the next game where he was judged as one of the worst players on the pitch for Nigeria. Some even said over both legs he played well below the standard he shows when he plays for his team.

Pressure is now on head coach of the team Jose Peseiro to drop both players from his subsequent squads. Furthermore he has been accused of favouritism towards the duo who he still see as a one of the senior players in his team despite their misconduct.

Mohammed Mowiz

The decision by CAF to amend the policy on the Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) test was seen by many as a way back for four key midfielders of the Nigeria U17 team to get a way back into the team for the U17 Africa Cup of Nations.

CAF amended the rule by saying teams won’t be disqualified from the tournament unless four or more of their players fail the test which is meant to curb the menace of age cheats in African youth football. Nigeria already sent home four players after conducting their own test.

Largely affected was the midfield of the team with key players on grade 5, a step below what is agreed by CAF but the NFF pegged that of Nigeria at 4. The move is due to the fact that players on grade 4 won’t be above 6 even if they end up with more growth between now and then. Something that isn’t guarantee with players on grade 5.

Following reprieve by CAF, the technical crew approached the NFF to at least include two of the players but their appeal was rejected by the NFF. They are however adamant that they will include the players in their world cup team if they progress from the AFCON.

Furthermore, the much talked about training camp in Germany has been aborted and move are underway to have the team spend a week in Morocco before the start of the tournament in Algeria at the end of the month.

Damian Waziri

As many as six senior players of the senior national team of Nigeria have kicked against the much talked about negative vibes around the future of the coach of the team Jose Peseiro, whose contract will expire in June.

Peseiro’s one year stay as coach hasn’t been a success story so far with just three wins in nine games under a period of one year. Heavy 0-4 loss against Portugal in a friendly game and also 0-1 loss at home to Guinea Bissau in the AFCON qualifiers increased the calls for his sacking.

His $70,000 a year deal is supposed to run for an initial period of one year with the AFCON as the determinant on if he will get an extension or not. However the postponement of the tournament which he has been tasked to win to guarantee an automatic extension has brought about a new wave of confusion.

The NFF is mulling over not handing him an extension and with idea of handing the job to an indigenous coach, the consensus decision by most of the executive committee members of the Ibrahim Musa Gusau led board.

OGN spoke to five senior players of the team and they all backed the Portuguese coach to continue in his role as coach insisting that they are slowly coming to terms with his demands and tactics, especially with his all out attack approach, a total departure to what they played in the five years under erstwhile coach Gernot Rohr.

Three of them rejected the idea of bringing an indigenous coach to lead the team pointing out to the debacle and mess that engulfed the Austine Eguavoen led crew, which cost them a spot at the World Cup in Qatar.

In their words, no indigenous coach has stepped up to the level of handling the team with the demands of building a team before the next AFCON, a task they believe can only be handled by an experienced coach like Peseiro.

Osas Mahawi