|
Kanu Now Eagles’ Playmaker —Amodu
July 09, 2009 16:11, 8,838 views
By Taiwo Adelu
Super Eagles’ chief coach, Shuaibu Amodu, has declared that Portsmouth of England star, Kanu Nwankwo, will be given a pivotal role in the senior national team.
Amodu said apart from the captaincy role he has been playing in the Eagles, the former Arsenal of London striker will now be the team’s playmaker. The former coach of Orlando Pirates of South Africa believes that Kanu has been instrumental to the Eagles’ victories in the past and giving him the playmaker role won’t be an oversight function.
“There is need for us to draft Kanu as the Eagles’ playmaker. Kanu is a good player. He will be able to coordinate the midfield. I believe he has what it takes to add more bite to the midfield,” Amodu said.
However, a member of Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) technical committee, Barrister Dudu Orumen, has advised Amodu to play the formation that would always bring the best out of his players. Orumen, a seasoned sports analyst, believes the technical crew of the Eagles should be careful in introducing a new player to the team’s midfield as this may be counterproductive.
“It will be bad for Amodu to introduce a new face to the Eagles’ midfield. Everybody knows that the team need a playmaker, but getting somebody outside the present crop of stars in the team won’t be okay for me. I’ll only advise the coach to always play the formation that can get the best out of the players,” he said.
Meanwhile, former coach of the Eagles, who now handles Enyimba FC of Aba, Austin Eguavoen, has said that Nigeria’s ambition to feature in next year’s FIFA World Cup in South Africa depends on whether the Eagles themselves want to be in the Mundial.
He said the responsibility of the country playing in the World Cup lies solely with the players who have a big role to play.
According to the ex-international, “playing in the World Cup is still within our reach as long as we don’t drop any point in the remaining matches of the qualifying series, after this we then pray for luck to be on our side.”
|
tata
10 July 2009 00:35so all this time na wey kalu dey play?
Jim
10 July 2009 14:23Coach Amodu at it again! Statements like this suggests lack of ideas and unwillingness to be creative and innovative. No wonder the coach sits down watching games like any other spectator, and from the beginning of a match to the end nothing changes. Use Kanu the way he is known by everybody to be effective - as a super-sub for the last 40 or 30 minutes of the game. Remember his age, physiology etc. If Mikel actually turns over a new leaf as he appears to have done judging by his response to the last Tunisia match, he could be trained up to give a central pivotal role especially as an attacking midfielder to spray passes to the strikers. There are other young, fit and good midfielders to choose from, while kanu is winding down to bow out not too long from now.