Yakubu Wants Siasia Sacked, Westerhof Blasts Eagles

Blackburn Rovers of England star, Yakubu Aiyegbeni, has told Samson Siasia to leave his job as Super Eagles’ Chief Coach now as he has failed Nigeria.

Yakubu said that a coach is as good as the success of his team, hence the need for Siasia to take the path of honour by bowing out after his Eagles failed to qualify for the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations which will take place in Equatorial Guinea and Gabon.

Yakubu, who was speaking on Brila FM early today from his base in London, said that Siasia’s time as the coach of the Eagles has not added value to the national team, unlike when Shuaibu Amodu and Christian Chukwu were handling the team.

According to the former Portsmouth player, Amodu qualified the Eagles for both the FIFA World Cup and the Nations Cup, while Chukwu in his time qualified the Eagles for the Nations Cup as well.

“Results of a team determine the life of a coach. Siasia has failed the country and he must go now. We all saw what Amodu and Chukwu did when they handled the Eagles. It is on record that these coaches qualified Nigeria for the World Cup. But Siasia has failed to live up to expectations and I don’t think he has any reason to stay on as the coach of the Eagles because the team did not do well under him,” he said.

Yakubu noted that the players will experience the pain of missing the Nations Cup when the competition gets underway in January next year.

Rather then blame Siasia for losing the Nations Cup ticket, former technical adviser of the Eagles, Dutchman Clemens Westerhof said that soccer-loving Nigerians should hold the players responsible for the unfortunate incident.

According to Westerhof who won the Nations Cup for Nigeria in Tunisia in 1994, the players are no longer committed to national duty.

“These players are not hungry for goals and they are not committed to the cause of the nation. They are not playing for the Eagles as they usually do at their different clubs abroad. Some of them are injured and are not fit to play in the team, but they hide this from the coach. It’s rather so unfortunate that Nigeria will be missing in the Nations Cup,” he lamented.

—Taiwo Adelu