Nigerian ex-international, Chief Patrick Segun Odegbami and veteran soccer buff, Barrister Godwin Dudu-Orumen have slammed youth national team, Flying Eagles’ coach, Paul Aigbogun for the squad’s poor form at the FIFA U-20 World Cup in Poland.
Following the Flying Eagles’ 2-1 loss to Senegal in Monday’s round of 16 fixture, megasportsarena.com reports that Odegbami and Dudu-Orumen were unanimous in their verdicts that Aigbogun’s technical and tactical depths were not good enough.
While also raising eyebrows over the ‘exact’ ages of the players, who they insinuated could be beyond the under-20 category for the ongoing competition, Odegbami and Dudu-Orumen added that there was no sign of good coaching, team building or developmental ideals in the squad.
They both went on to call to question Aigbogun’s qualifications, noting that the papers he might have acquired during courses in England and USA, plus that his previous jobs with Black Aces of South Africa, Warri Wolves of Delta State and Enyimba of Aba did not reflect in Poland.
Both gurus of Nigerian football, who together run a weekly programme on national television, Sports Parliament, expressed in separate posts to comments on facebook their discontent with Aigbogun’s performance and slammed him for embarrassing Nigeria at the Youth Mundial.
In his assertion, ‘Mathematical’ Odegbami concluded that Aigbogun’s team was simply not good enough, and ‘Football Aficionado’ Orumen affirmed that the coach should be blamed for building a very poor squad.
Odegbami stated: “Simply not good enough, not representative of our best, coaching was non-existent, and if those boys were all boys, I shall turn 21 this year!
“Paper qualifications count for nothing in sport when a team plays so poorly and without imagination.
“Age matters little at this level, but when you use older players it defines a coach’s values system and personal integrity.
“Qualities that tell a lot about who we really are as individuals and our sponsoring motivation.
“As an Olympian I can’t identify with such inauthenticity. It is simple cheating. To fail on top of that is to bear painful consequences.”
Dudu-Orumen, who is now the chairman of Edo State Sports Commission added: “Blame the Coaches who can only come out with a squad like that with all the talents that abound within the age bracket in the country.”
