The Lagos State government yesterday hosted the victorious Super Eagles at the Lagos House, Alausa where the state governor, Babatunde Fashola doled out a total of 59 million Naira to the team in appreciate of their winning the African Cup of Nations in South Africa.
The chief coach of the team, Stephen Keshi got N2.5m; Daniel Amokachi N2m; the four assistant coaches got N1.5m while the captain of the team, Joseph Yobo was rewarded with N1.5m. The other 22 players got one million naira each. The 11 back room staff got the sum of N15m while the Nigerian Football and other Sports Supporters Club were given N4.5m naira.
Fashola, while addressing the team, congratulated them on their achievement but warned that rather than resting on its oars, the team’s success should spur it to greater heights. He said: “The question to ask is what next? We have Kenya in a few days. Let us remind ourselves that the immediate defending champions of this tournament that we have just won did not make it to the second round.
So, we have the Confederation Cup in June and I am going to be there with the team. Yes, we have moved from a very abysmal ranking to fourth in Africa which is not good enough, and 30th in the world, but let me remind us that in 1994, we used to be sixth in the world. Some people doubted that ranking then but I told anybody who cares to listen that it was a well deserved ranking and Daniel Amokachi will remember, Bulgaria that we beat in the first round played in the semi final. Italy that eliminated us played in the finals, so it was not a fluke that we were fifth.
n Cup provides us with an opportunity to improve our ranking. What that does is that in the main draw of the World Cup we will not play very strongly ranked team because we will be seeded. It is a building block through process to process. If we go with a lower ranking because we did not do well in the Confederation Cup, and focus only on the World cup…There must be a plan so that we can travel farther through the World Cup and as Mr. Seni Adetu said, let us moderate our expectations.”
So, we have the Confederation Cup in June and I am going to be there with the team. Yes, we have moved from a very abysmal ranking to fourth in Africa which is not good enough, and 30th in the world, but let me remind us that in 1994, we used to be sixth in the world. Some people doubted that ranking then but I told anybody who cares to listen that it was a well deserved ranking and Daniel Amokachi will remember, Bulgaria that we beat in the first round played in the semi final. Italy that eliminated us played in the finals, so it was not a fluke that we were fifth.
n Cup provides us with an opportunity to improve our ranking. What that does is that in the main draw of the World Cup we will not play very strongly ranked team because we will be seeded. It is a building block through process to process. If we go with a lower ranking because we did not do well in the Confederation Cup, and focus only on the World cup…There must be a plan so that we can travel farther through the World Cup and as Mr. Seni Adetu said, let us moderate our expectations.”
The governor frowned at the interference with the duties of the head coach by some football house official saying that the head coach of the national team should be allowed to do his job within the time frame given to him to achieve certain goals and nobody should interfere with his job. His words: “Everybody in Nigeria today is a football expert. Let us respect those people that we have employed to do this job. If we think that they cannot do it, let us set timelines and then change them. I think the practice where people (officials) barge into the dressing room at half time uninvited should stop.
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