The Super Eagles on Sunday defeated arch rivals Cameroun emphatically in Brussels and in some ways, the result will bring some calm and belief to the team after the whole fiasco which erupted between Vincent Enyeama and coach Sunday Oliseh and which in retrospect, may have impacted negatively on the team in their first outing against Congo DRC.
It was an encouraging performance which was aided by the rashness of the Cameroun skipper, Stephane Mbia. There were positives to be taken from the performance on the field of play and there is obviously still room for improvement both on it and off it.
The emergence of Leon Balogun in a central role, the energy and verve of Moses Simon, the assured confidence of John Obi Mikel, the movement of Sylvester Igbonu, and the confidence of Odion Ighalo whose purple patch at Watford continued here are some of the positives to be taken out of the game.
There was without doubt some negatives. The most glaring of which was the handling of the Vincent Enyeama situation. A lot has been said about what transpired in the media and since there has been a lot of unconfirmed statements , I prefer not to draw any conclusions from what has been said.
However, it is clear for all to see that Oliseh showed his managerial inexperience in the handling of the situation and going by what he tweeted recently, there is still a long way to go for him.
Even though there is nothing wrong with being on social media, I find it extra ordinary that Oliseh is on twitter tweeting statements that could be misconstrued by his followers. I'm not aware of any 'top' manager of any team having a twitter account and tweeting thanks to fans and supporters and insinuating some Nigerians are 'true' while others are 'false' or 'liars'.
I doubt you would find a Mourinho, Wenger, Guardiola, Ancelotti and so on using twitter to thank the fans or passing any remarks about anything concerning their teams. It is what press conferences and post match interviews are meant for.
Oliseh may seem a modern Nigerian coach, UEFA certified and a former FIFA instructor or something, but a bit of wisdom is always required when using social media.
He might have the full support of the NFF in these early days but he needs to remember that in football, things can change very quickly. If he is in doubt, let him ask Brendan Rodgers or even the 'Special One' himself, Jose Mourinho how swiftly things can change.
No doubt Oliseh is the boss now even though his lack of managerial experience should raise questions about his suitability for the job. And as such, he needs the backing of the NFF and Nigerians so that there will be no excuses if he fails. However, he needs to learn how to manage the egos of himself and the key players in the team.
The harsh reality of football is, when things get ugly, the manager usually gets shown the exit door while the players usually remain or return. Enyeama and John Obi Mikel have survived different Super Eagles coaches in the likes of Festus Onigbinde, Christian Chukwu, Berti Vogts, Amodu Shuaibu, Austin Eguavoen, Lars Lagerback, Samson Siasia and recently Stephen Keshi but they are still key players for the Super Eagles under Oliseh.
The manner in which Oliseh has gone about in stripping Enyeama of the captaincy and the fact that Enyeama was even considered for selection in a friendly not minding his psychological state shows Oliseh needs to brush up in his man management skills. The mere fact that Enyeama might be grieving the loss of a close family member was enough grounds to excuse him from a meaningless friendly in the first place. If he had done that, perhaps, Enyeama's forced retirement might have been averted.
The NFF chairman, Amaju Pinnick has revealed that the NFF intend to organise a testimonial for Enyeama. As a result, he may have been persuaded to reverse his rather hasty decision to quit the national team. Going forward though, Oliseh needs to show why he is the boss by doing what top managers do in potentially tricky situations and thus, avoid a repeat of the farce that occurred in Belgium. Respect after all begets respect.
This is not to say Enyeama should not shoulder some of the responsibility for the mess, but the coach is the one in charge and he should be able to handle conflict in a manner that will not affect the unity of the squad. Whether he likes it or not, player power is still very much in the Super Eagles like in many teams all over the world.
The Super Eagles will next month start their World Cup qualifiers campaign against Swaziland or Djibouti. Let's hope the problems in Belgium both on and off the pitch are resolved before they show up in the crucial games which if they do, may spell doom for the nation. Nigeria cannot afford to miss out on the African Cup of Nations back to back and possibly the World Cup all because of pride.
