ONIGBINDE: ‘KESHI DESERVES COMMENDATION’



Veteran Coach, Adegboye Onigbinde Hails Big Boss For Looking Inwards...



The curtain was drawn on the 2012 African Cup of Nations in Gabon/Equatorial Guinea last weekend. Can you give us your assessment of the tournament?
The Nations Cup went very well and it was generally a successful tournament. I want to commend the two host countries for putting up a good organization. Although, the tournament kicked off on a slow tempo especially in the group stages, but things picked up as the competition progressed, leading to a very dramatic climax. The competition was also very keen amongst the participating teams and in the end, you couldn’t ask for a better final which would be remembered for a very long time to come. In technical terms however, one might say the general standard of the games was not too encouraging but the surprise element that characterised the competition adequately made up for that.

You mentioned the surprise elements. What do you think accounted for the crash of all the traditionally top teams in the competition. Do you share the opinion that African football is witnessing a power shift?
Football is very dynamic and that is one of the beauties of the game. Virtually all the African top teams found the going tough at the AFCON this year but if you look at it critically, you’ll realise that it is very difficult, if not impossible, for some particular teams to continue to dominate the scene decade in, decade out. The fact of the matter is that African football is fast developing and most of the countries we used to consider as minnows are catching up. That fact was proven when countries like Egypt, Cameroun and Nigeria failed to qualify for the competition in the first instance. The fact has also been proven when pre-tournament favourites like Ghana, Senegal and Cote d’Ivoire all failed to claim the top prize, even in the absence of the other top teams that failed to qualify at all.
Therefore, any team that endeavours to remain as a top team must be proactive. Developmental programmes must be in place to discover and nuture new players to stardom. Teams are made up of players who can only remain on top of their games for a particular period of time. So if there is no structure to evolve new players to take their places at the right time, then you don’t need a soothsayer to tell you what will eventually be the outcome.

Zambia emerged as the surprise champions after defeating a star-studded Cote d’Ivoire team in the final. What would you point out as the strength of the team and would you say the Chipolopolo are worthy champions?
Of course, Zambia are worthy champions and they truly deserved winning their first ever African Cup of Nations title. Although they were regarded as the dark horse prior to the competition, but you’ll agree that they were the most consistent team all through the competition. I can say that the Zambians finally reaped the reward of their consistent developmental programme over the years. They paraded a team made up of largely home based players who are young, talented and hungry. They had the right attitude and they were very resilient.

If you compare the Zambian team to that of Cote d’Ivoire, you’ll see one team that’s on the rise and another that has reached its peak. The Zambian team played what is popularly described in lay man’s term as total football while the Ivoriens largely depended on their star players most of whom are past their prime anyway. The Zambian team, with younger players, were very compact and that’s what gave them the slight edge over the experienced but aging Cote d’Ivoire side. One could argue that the final could have gone either way since it was decided by a penalty shoot-out but then, you can’t beat the attitude and resilience of the Zambian team.
In restrospect, would Nigeria have done well at the Nations Cup if we had qualified, considering the fact that the Super Eagles defeated Zambia 2-0 in a pre-tournament friendly on November 15th last year.

That is being purely sentimental. Just because we beat Zambia in a pre-tournament friendly doesn’t mean Nigeria would have won the trophy. The fact of the matter is that the Super Eagles were just not good enough and that was why we didn’t qualify in the first instance. There is big difference between a friendly game and a competitive one. The Eagles lacked consistency in performance all through the  qualifiers and logically, it means they would have lacked that consistency in performance needed to win the competition even if they had managed to qualify. You don’t win competition of the magnitude of Nations Cup on ‘one-off’ performance
What lessons can Nigeria learn from the Zambian triumph, considering that this was the team we beat in 1994 to win our second Nations Cup trophy?
That is a very good question. As you rightly observed, we beat Zambia in 1994 finals to win the Nations Cup for the second time and 18 years after, it was Zambia that emerged as champions in a competition Nigeria could not even qualify for. Then, what did we do right in 1994 that we’ve not been doing presently? And what has Zambia done well over the years culminating in winning their first Nations Cup title? I don’t think the answer is far-fetched. It is all about having a developmental programme in place.

I have a good relationship with Kalusha Bwalya (former Zambian skipper and presently the FA Chairman and about a year ago, I was in Zambia to conduct a coaching clinic. When I got to the country, I was surprised at what I met on ground as the local instructors had done a good job already and all I did was to round up proceedings. This is because, they have a good developmental programme in place which has helped their football to grow. I have talked severally on the need for us to have such programmes in place here back home but nothing is forthcoming so far. If we must get our football back on track, we must stop paying lip service to developmental programmes and be ready to pay the price. We should stop being satisfied with the occasional successes we used to have every now and then in the past which - fortunately or unfortunately - has even eluded us presently.
As far as African football is concerned, Nigeria has under-achieved if you have to consider the potentials we have but it appears we are just content with living in past glories. But if we truly desire to maximize our potentials towards achieving more, we must burn the midnight candle of having proper developmental programmes in place.

The belief that African coaches still have a long way to go is further strengthened judging by Zambia’s triumph at the Nations Cup where an expatriate coach led a team made up of largely local players, to triumph over a star-studded Cote d’Ivoire team handled by an indigenous coach. What is your take on that?
Let me answer the question in the Nigerian context and for obvious reasons. Most times when our teams don’t do well, we usually blame the coaches for the poor results, without sometimes considering the circumstances on ground. While I’m not contesting the global phenomenon where coaches are held responsible for their team’s performances, but the fact remains that there are certain circumstances under which a coach might not be directly responsible when his team records a poor result. Be that as it may, the question is what have we done to develop our coaches? Do we have the structures in place to ensure our coaches are regularly updated as regards knowledge of the game? You can’t give what you don’t have.

The developmental programme I have been calling for is an all-encompasing one which should cater for development of our players, coaches and even administrators. Everyone that has anything to do with the game must know what is required and expected of them. For instance, our administrators here have abandoned their primary responsibilities of developing the game. What they are focusing on is competition. There is need to put structures in place to develop our local coaches.
The popular notion that a coach is as good as his players is not totally true. You could have a good collection of talented individual players but they would still need the complement of a good coach to maximize their potentials and achieve good results as a team. That has been proven severally and the Zambian triumph is just another reminder that big names doesn’t always win in football matches.

Coming back home, would you say Super Eagles coach, Stephen Keshi is on the right track, having demonstrated his readiness to carry the home-based players along in his rebuilding process?
Yes, Keshi is on the right track and he has started well to begin the rebuilding process by looking inward. It would be foolhardy to think of building a truly strong national team solely on foreign-based players because that would mean the team doesn’t have a foundation. The local league is the foundation of any national team and that is why it is important for the domestic league to be verile and competitive. However, it is important for Keshi to ensure he picks the right home-based players who are well developed at the club level for the national team.

The home-based Eagles defeated Liberia 2-0 in an international friendly match played in Monrovia during the week. Would you take that as an indication that Nigeria will come good against Rwanda in the upcoming 2013 Nations Cup qualifier billed for Kigali by this month’s end?
Well, judging by the 2-0 scoreline and the fact that the team played away, it is certainly a good result but what about the performance? I didn’t get to watch the match to assess the standard and quality of the opposition which is also necessary. However, I want to believe that the result is a good omen ahead the Rwanda game, but that doesn’t mean we should take things for granted. We must prepare our team very well not only tactically, but psychologically. The players must imbibe the right attitude needed for such games which to some extent has been lacking in the past. Then, of course, necessary logistics must be put in place especially as we’ll be playing away from home.

Keshi invited just 11 foreign-based players for the Rwanda game. What is your take on that?
Well, it is okay and I must say it is a clear departure from the past tradition of bringing foreign-based players in excess for a particular game. I think it is a very courageous move by Keshi which must be commended but at the same time, we must support him. He has been working with the home-based players for quite some time now and it would have been surprising if some of those players don’t get a look-in for the coming game.

Are you not surprised at the recall of the likes of Yakubu Aiyegbeni and Sani Kaita, who were formerly blacklisted from the Eagles on account of their poor displays at the last World Cup in South Africa?
These players are Nigerians and if the coach thinks he has need of them in his team, why not? Besides, a Yoruba adage says if we don’t forget yesterday’s quarrel, we might not see who to play with? We have to forget the past, learn from it and move on. Keshi is in charge of the team and I want to believe he knows what he is doing. At this point, let’s pray for him to succeed rather than try to teach the coach his job.

Thanks Chief for speaking with us.

You’re welcome.