In the early hours of Saturday, June 11, 2016, family members in Benin City went to check on Shuaibu Amodu and found him dead in his sleep. He was 58 years old. Last night, his colleague Godwin Izilien complained of chest pain after going out on the town, reports ThisDay. Stephen Keshi had died in the same city a few days earlier.
Nigeria has lost two national team coaches within a week. The then president of the NFF, Amaju Pinnick, called it “another tragedy” and said words were at a loss.
| was born | April 18, 1958 |
| died | June 2016, Benin City, age 58 |
| buried | Okpella, Etsako East, Edo State |
| Super Eagles spells | 1994-1995, 1998-1999, 2001-2002, 2008-2010 |
| Qualified for the World Cups | 2002 and 2010, before both were dismissed |
| Nations Cup | Third place in 2002 and 2010 |
| Highlighting the club | African Cup Winners’ Cup with BCC Lions, 1990 |
| Last post | NFF Technical Director |
Gboko, Maiduguri and Soweto
Before the Eagles, there was the BCC Lions of Gboko. Former striker Amodu, whose playing days with the Niger Tornadoes ended with a broken leg, established his name in the Benue side, winning the African Cup Winners’ Cup in 1990 and reaching the final again in 1991 when Zambia’s Power Dynamos beat them 5-4 on aggregate. At home he was the FA Cup man. Obituaries from ThisDay and the BBC noted his wins in 1989, 1992, 1993 and 1994, more than any other manager in the competition’s history, plus a league and cup double in 1994 and three Super Cups. He also coached Maiduguri’s El-Kanemi Warriors. Then came South Africa. Amodu managed Orlando Pirates in 1996-1997. The club won the African Champions Club Cup title in 1995 under the management of Joe Frickleton and assistant Ronald Mkhandawire.
Four spells and an example
He was 36 when he made his first call-up to the national team in 1994, the golden generation succeeding Clemens Westerhoff after winning the Nations Cup in Tunisia. This first internship ended in 1995. He returned in 1998, again in 2001, and again in April 2008.
The 2001 campaign showed the work that is usually assigned to him. He arrived midway through the campaign and sealed Nigeria’s top of the group on 29 July 2001 in Port Harcourt, where Victor Agali scored in the first minute and Tijani Babangida scored twice in a 3–0 win over Ghana.
Eight years later, the finish was even tighter. On 14 November 2009, Obafemi Martins scored twice and Yakubu once in a 3–2 win over Kenya at Kasarani in Nairobi, while Tunisia lost 1–0 to Mozambique in Maputo; Nigeria will go to South Africa with 12 points and Tunisia with 11 points.
Two qualifications. Neither ended with him on the bench at the World Cup.
After the job was over, he was fired twice
In February 2002, a few weeks after Mali’s third-place finish at the Nations Cup, Sports Minister Isaiah Mark Aku announced that “the team’s technical staff has been disbanded and the national team disbanded”. Festus Onigbinde will take a new team to Korea and Japan. Amodu replied: “I have no regrets. I believe the officials know why they made such a decision.” His assistant that year was Stephen Keshi.
Onigbinde later admitted that he regretted some of the players he took.
History repeated itself in 2010. Nigeria lost 1-0 to Ghana in the Angolan semi-final, then finished third again in Benguela on January 30, beating Algeria 1-0 through Obinna Nsofor. On February 6, the NFF sacked him and published a shortlist of foreign replacements. Lars Lagerbäck was appointed on February 27 on a five-month contract that ran through the World Cup and the team left South Africa winless in 2010.
Capital FM noted at the time that the demonstrations in Angola were widely criticized by the press and public.
The last years of the firefighter
He never left. The NFF appointed him as the national Technical Director in May 2013. In October 2014, he briefly led the Eagles until Keshi returned two weeks later. “We’ve done it before; we’ll do it again,” he said as Nigeria qualified for the 2015 Nations Cup.
They couldn’t.
In February 2016, the NFF Sunday offered Oliseh the position of head coach again after his departure. The federation said he had declined due to health concerns related to hypertension. A month later, he told BBC Sport: “I have to admit that things are not good structurally and financially in Nigerian football.”
Tributes came quickly. “He was a disciplinarian, a father and a mentor,” wrote Elderson Echiejile. Joseph Yobo said his heart was bleeding. “First Keshi and now this. God help us!” Oliseh tweeted. A statement from the NFF put it simply: “You can’t talk about the history of the Super Eagles without Amodu getting prominent chapters.” He was buried that day in Okpella according to Islamic rites.
Our vision
Shuaibu Amodu was not the most stylish coach Nigeria has ever employed. He was most reliable at one thing: getting the Super Eagles through the qualifiers when the campaign looked shaky. The Federation accepted this ability as a one-time use.
After doing the job he was hired for, he was fired twice. None of the substitutes won the final.
No one can prove that Amodu will be better and his Nations Cup sides have often been difficult to watch.
But Nigeria’s fire-fighting attitude to call him and then fire him speaks volumes about the NFF. He deserved the World Championship.
This article was last revised and updated 5 seconds ago