Accepting responsibilities

Not many people have forgotten how his two goals handed over the Africa Cup of Nations’ diadem to Nigeria in Tunisia in 1994. Amuneke took this sparkling form to the USA’94 World Cup scoring a goal for the Super Eagles. The ruthless Italians deployed unfair tactics by crushing the bones of Amuneke and Daniel Da Bull Amokachi, a dirty act that effectively weakened the Super Eagles. No prize for guessing right that the Italians won the game 2-1.

Amuneke made it to the Atlanta’96 Olympics and his contributions have been decorated as the Africa Footballer of the Year in 1994, joining the league of Nigerians who had been decorated such as the late Rashidi Yekini, Nwankwo Kanu and Victor Ikpeba. Amuneke’s movement to Europe came through playing for Egyptian giants Zamalek FC. He played for Zamalek, Sporting CP, Barcelona, and Albacete. Amuneke played 27 times for Nigeria, scoring nine goals.

Injuries were unkind to Amuneke such that he usually had a strap around his left knee which didn’t deter him from playing as if the games belonged to him. His fighting spirit on the pitch was unmatched. He wasn’t the flamboyant left-winger whose dribbling runs left his markers sprawling on the turf, yet he was such an impactful player on the pitch who had to be recognised anytime he received the ball.

It didn’t come as a surprise when Amuneke chose to become a coach. His records in coaching are equally as remarkable as his heroics on the football field. After retiring at the end of 2004, Amuneke moved to Cantabria in 2006, where he lived with his Spanish wife, Fatima, and also was taking his coaching courses. At the same time, he was also coaching some youth teams at SD Reocín. After a spell at Saudi club Al Hazm as an assistant coach, Amuneke took charge of the local Nigerian club Julius Berger F.C. in August 2008, according to Wikipedia.

Born on December 25, Christmas Day in 1970, he trained many youth teams after his two years of training courses in Europe where he handled Ocean Boys in Bayelsa State in November 2009, although his records were not stated. Amuneke was an assistant coach to the Golden Eaglets’ side which lifted the FIFA U-17 World Cup for Nigeria in 2015. He was elevated in2017 as the head coach of the Golden Eaglets and retained the World Cup for Nigeria. He was appointed Head coach of the Tanzanian soccer team and qualified them for the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations. He resigned from the job after losing three consecutive matches in search of a new job. Amuneke’s records with the U-20 side are poor no thanks to the deplorable manner in which the domestic league is organised.

So, when the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) brought him into the Super Eagles after Nigeria exited the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations held in Cameroon, those who squeezed him into the team celebrated what they called Amuneke’s technical sagacity (whatever that meant), perhaps to bamboozle the uninformed or should one say to justify his inclusion. The impression of those who brought Amuneke to the Eagles as Head Coach when Austin Eguavoen was tagged Interim Technical adviser was assumed that the technical flaws noticed during the group games leading to the country’s exit 1-0 in the quarterfinals by Tunisia would be fixed, given his technical sagacity (again whatever this meant).

This writer and indeed some others likened the introduction of Amuneke into the Eagles to prosecute the two-legged ties against the Black Stars of Ghana for the group’s sole qualification ticket to the Qatar 2022 World Cup to a subtle vote of no confidence on Eguavoen’s tactical savvy. The NFF kept denying this fact. The NFF’s defence looked like mixing water with oil. It would never mix. Failure starred us on the face but we refused to heed the call and make the right adjustments.

At the training sessions, Amuneke spoke after Eguavoen had spoken, leaving the players in a quandary about who was truly in charge of the team. As experts in papering cracks instead of acting fast by calling Amuneke aside to allow Eguavoen to lead, they allowed things to deteriorate. this writer won’t blame Amuneke. He certainly wasn’t acting outside the script he was given, rightly so. NFF chiefs ought to have told Amuneke to reserve his comments for the classroom lectures held away from the public eyes for Eguavoen’s talk in training. Matters got to a head when news came that Amuneke had better remunerations than Eguavoen. This explains why both men didn’t have a contract to reflect their job description until the team was disbanded. The Sports Minister resolved the problem by approving N6 million monthly for Amuneke and N10 million monthly for Eguavoen. Both men would have received their letters the following day, had Nigeria qualified for the Qatar 2022 World Cup. Is anyone shocked that we didn’t qualify?

Eguavoen and Amuneke didn’t work as friends or colleagues and this setting confused the players who on their part were divided by vernacular. A few of the coaches stuck to Eguavoen who fought for their return to the team after being sacked. It was expected. It didn’t come as a surprise when Amuneke openly faulted the team’s wing play against the Black Stars as if he wasn’t part of the decision-makers to adopt the system. Why Amuneke chose to go public with his other comments shocked discerning minds? I asked on WhatsApp groups I belonged what Amuneke’s role in the team was if the Eagles played worse than they did at the Africa Cup of Nations? Trust our unbridled optimism especially as Nigeria drew goallest against the Black Stars to tag my comments as a needless alarm.

Certainly, Amuneke has a right to express his feelings. But he should learn how to get into the dressing room before venting his spleen. It isn’t appropriate to run players out of their creases as we say in cricket nor is it right not to accept responsibilities for whatever the results of matches. It is the hallmark of good leadership. Amuneke, you may need these players again for future competition. I cringed reading post-match comments by Amuneke blaming Emmanuel Dennis for not marking Partey, a mistake that caused the first goal. What if fans turn against Dennis as they did to Odion Ighalo, Okoye, et al by issuing death threats?

Thank goodness Amuneke has learned how to conduct a post mortem on the country’s Qatar 2022 World Cup fiasco. He told The Punch newspaper in its Tuesday, April 19 edition that ”the Eagles lost Ghana’s matches (did we?) because they lacked sound physical trainer, match reader and video analyst.” Spot on Amuneke. We need to truly reconstitute the technical crew to include all these smaller details if we want to grow, compete and outlast the great football nations. Last week, I ran the 12-man list of the backroom staff in England’s Three Lions squad in this column and suggested that we do the needful. The talk that it is a waste of cash is laughable knowing how many accompany the team to matches who have no business being there.

In The Punch newspaper interview, Amuneke spoke like a team player and addressed the team’s problems unlike in previous interviews when he spoke from the belly.