By TUNDE LIADI
The chief coach of the Nigeria Under-23 team,Austin Eguavoen and the Chairman, Technical Committee of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) recently combed Europe to seek audience with clubs that have the national U-23 players of Nigeria in their pay role to be release for the London Olympics Qualifiers in Morocco come November. The duo also visited Italy where they had discussions with AC Torino midfielder, Nnamdi Oduamadi and two other Nigerian players.In this interview with TUNDE LIADI, Oduamadi assured that the Dream Team V will give Nigerians something to cheer about and what the visit means to the foreign based players in their quest to qualify the country for the quadrennial event. EXCERPT
Torino lost its unbeaten start to the season in the last match against Gubbio. What really was responsible for the loss?
Well I will say there is nothing much responsible than the fact that we had a bad game and we lost 0-1. We did all what we could to win but it wasn’t our day. It is football for you. It is either you win, draw or lose. We were at the receiving end of the latter and we have taken it in our strides to get prepared adequately for our next match. Another important thing is that we still keep our first position intact with three points over our nearest rival.Torino will bounce back from this defeat to go on to record further excellent outings and at the end of the season pick one of the tickets to the Serie A.
Coach Eguavoen and the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) Technical Committee Chairman, Barrister Christopher Green were in Italy on Wednesday to see the technical directors of your club and those of others that are members of the Under-23 squad. Did they see you?
Yes I saw them when they came but I couldn’t join them immediately because we were having training session by then. I later went to see coach Eguavoen later in the night and we talked on some issues that are not for public consumption. In all, I will say it was fun seeing the two men coming to our clubs to discuss ways that will make the Under-23 assignment a success considering the recent losses we have been experiencing in our football.
What would you say transpired between your club and the two officials from Nigeria?
Well for now I don’t really know and can’t explain what and how their discussion panned out but I will get the full gist of their discussion after I see my coach here. But I believe everything will be hitch free between them and the fact that they came down to see the various clubs showed how esteemed we are valued back home.
How important will you describe the visit of the Dream Team V chief coach Austin Eguavoen to Europe in order to facilitate the release of you and your colleagues for the CAF 8 Nations Under-23 Championship?
Yeah! It meant a lot to us and not just me that the Under-23 team coach and an official of the NFF came all the way from Nigeria to seek our release for the Olympics qualifier. We know we are in the team and the fact that the foreign based players need to work harder in the team to make qualification possible makes it imperative for this kind of trip to be made.
The foreign based players are very vital to the Under-23 team quest to qualify since we constitute more than 90 percent of the team hence the need for the coaching crew to work round the clock to facilitate our release. I am not saying that the home based players are not good enough but the experience of the foreign based players will make the team whole and solid. From the defence starting with the goalkeeper everyone in that team is mostly professional and since the tournament in not taking place within the FIFA free days, proper audience with various clubs which harbor these players is needed for them to be released since they cannot come of their own volition.
Virtually all Nigerian representatives in national and international football competitions have been eliminated. Does this put the Dream Team V players and the officials under pressure?
Yeah! It is really disheartening and it is trying time for Nigeria football and something must be done to halt the unpalatable results. I heard about the Super Falcons’ loss to Cameroon last week and that of the Super Eagles’ failure is still very fresh in our memory. I will say it is football for you. You can only have three eventualities in the game called football. Sometimes we have been winning but we lost this time around. We need to pick up the pieces and see ways by which we can forge ahead as a country. We cannot continue to dwell on our bad experiences things must be done to focus on the future.
I just hope we shall be able to make Nigerians happy again. Everyone’s hope is on us and we are promising that we are not going to fail the nation. We will go there and do our best. We are not panicky in any way. We are assuring Nigerians not to get panicky and that they should leave the job to us for us to do. We would everything within our reach to qualify for the Olympics come November 26th through December 10th in Morocco.
You have a Nigerian counterpart in Torino by name Angelo Ogbonna. Can you tell us more about him?
Angelo Ogbonna is player of the Italy national team and it is unfortunate that even though he has Nigerian roots he has been lost to the Azurris and there is nothing one can do about that.
Do you both talk about Nigeria at all?
Yes we do talk about Nigeria and some other things that join us together. Ever since he made up his mind to play for Italy I know it will be a difficult task changing his mind. We have never discussed the prospect of him playing for the Super Eagles because he already has his mind made up.
