3rd July, 2013
A cross section of Nigerian football fans have asked the Nigeria Football Federation, NFF to sack Coach John Obuh as coach of the Flying Eagles after they were ousted from the ongoing Turkey 2013 World Youth Championship, WYC.
The Flying Eagles crashed out of the FIFA U-20 World Cup Tuesday after losing 1-2 to Uruguay in Istanbul, Turkey and their ouster have prompted some stakeholders to call for the sack of Obuh.
Uruguay’s Nicolas Lopez grabbed a brace in the second half after Abdullahi Shehu was sent off toward the end of the first 45 minutes, with Olarenwaju Kayode briefly pulling Nigeria level.
A grassroots football coach, Hundeyin Hupe faulted Obuh’s tactics especially against the South Americans yesterday stating that Obuh is bereft of football ideas hence he should be shown the door.
A licensed FIFA football agent, who does not want to be named, said he sees no reason Obuh should be retained as coach of the team because he has failed the entire country on two occasions.
According to the FIFA agent “If Obuh fails to resign as coach of the team, I believe the NFF should sack him because he has failed to improve himself.”
Meanwhile, President of NFF, Aminu Maigari commended the fighting spirit of the team, urging them not to allow the setback of their Round of 16 loss affect the bright future that awaits them.
“We wish to commend your performance against Uruguay, but unfortunately one team has to win and another has to lose,” Maigari told the team.
He admitted that the team made some mistakes adding: “You did your best and went out there to win but it was not meant to be. You should learn from the mistakes you made so that next time we will go all the way.”
It appears that Obuh may throw in the towel before he is axed if his statement shortly after the defeat is anything to go by.
Obuh stated that the defeat to the South Americans may be the last time he will sit in the team’s dug out.
“Our target at this tournament was not to leave the stage this early but I hope the next coach will take it from where I stopped,” he said.
Obuh had previously managed Nigeria’s Under-17 team, the Golden Eaglets.
He was also in charge of the Nigeria Under-20 side that reached the quarterfinal at the 2011 FIFA U-20 World Cup in Colombia.
—Adebobola Alawode