P.M. News (Lagos)
Lanre Olaleye
18 February 2002
Lagos — Chief cocah of the Super Eagles, Shuaibu Amodu, appears to have gone into hiding following the disappointing performance of the national team at the recently concluded 2002 Africa Cup of Nations in Mali.
P.M.Sport observed that the Eagles' chief tactician since arriving the country almost a week ago, has made himself unavailable to sports writers, most of who have made several futile efforts to reach him.
A pointer to this is the fact that over a week after the conclusion of the Nations Cup, none of the daily newspapers has been able to speak with the former BCC Lions of Gboko coach.
Apart from this, Amodu rather than arriving Lagos from Mali, chose to arrive Nigeria via Abuja fueling speculations that he was trying to lobby some National Assembly members in order to keep his job.
It was gathered that the embattled coach, aside avoiding the press, has also been keeping himself out of public glare for fear of being mobbed by soccer fans.
P.M.Sport made repeated efforts yesterday to reach Amodu via the telephone but all proved abortive as his mobile was permanently switched off, even as his close aides disclosed that the erstwhile Orlando Pirates' sweat merchant sneaked into Lagos last Friday.
However, his two assistants, Stephen Keshi and Joe Erico, have fielded questions from reporters and have also been spotted at some public places including the National Stadium, Surulere.
In his defence of the team's poor outing, Erico averred that the technical crew should not be blamed for the Super Eagles' poor outing, adding that it only followed its programmes.
Keshi declined to comment on speculations that his job and those of his other colleagues are on the line. Rather, the erstwhile Eagles captain said he is not aware of the speculations.
Meanwhile, the NFA board is expected to meet today at the glass house in Abuja, where issues ranging from the Eagles' Nations Cup outing to the next line of action as regards the team's technical crew will be discussed.
There are, however, rumours that the FA may be looking out for a foreign technical adviser to lead the national team to the 2002 Korea/Japan World Cup. The soccer authorities are expected to come out with a definite position on this after today's meeting in Abuja.(ACONS)
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