Amokachi: African coaches can survive in Europe

Former Super Eagles assistant coach, Daniel Amokachi, in this interview with FIFA.com, speaks on his experience as the head coach of second division side JS Hercules in Finland. The 43-year-old former Brugge, Everton and Besiktas star says Nigerian players need a change of mentality.

Cold Weather
Freezing was the not the word, that’s an understatement – it was minus 35 degrees [Celsius] when I arrived!
I was leaving a country that was roasting, about 38 degrees when I left Nigeria. The day before I travelled, I checked the weather forecast with my wife and she joked: ‘Do you really want to go?’ [laughs] I said ‘Of course!’

The outdoor pitches are frozen and everything we do at the moment is indoors. You have a number of other teams using those facilities and it’s hard to get a full pitch to yourself, which can make the program you’re trying to lay down difficult. But I am a Nigerian, an African. I’m used to challenges and I would love to see it through.

Experience
It is my first experience as an African manager coaching in Europe and there are not many Africans who are head coaches in Europe. They are giving me a platform as an African to showcase what I can do and if I do well, it’s an open door for other African coaches

Nigeria AFCON Miss
The players when they return to play in Africa on international duty forget to switch [mentally]. It’s something that we kind of struggle with – not only as Nigerians, but as Africans.

You play in Europe and everything you get is professional from A-Z and then when you come to Africa, the likes of transportation and accommodation can seem a distraction.

The players forget to switch to being an African when they come back and that always makes them perform less than what they do at club level. I’m sure that has contributed to Nigeria not making it to back-to-back championships. Not qualifying for the tournament is not good enough for a country like Nigeria, but that’s football. It makes you sit up and say: ‘We have a lot of work that needs to be done.'”

Read also: Onazi, Simon, Samuel, others paint Europe with goals

Striking gold in ’96
Back then Nigeria was on sanction from the United Nations and the football that we played during the Olympics made Nigerians forget about the problems they were going through by focusing on football. The manner in which we did it made us incredibly happy. Playing the giants of South America, and then coming back from behind against the likes of Brazil in the semi-final and Argentina in the final.

It was an incredible experience being an Olympian and winning a gold medal. It’s something that I’ll cherish all of my life.

RipplesNigeria …without borders, without fears

Join the conversation

Opinions

Support Ripples Nigeria, hold up solutions journalism

Balanced, fearless journalism driven by data comes at huge financial costs.

As a media platform, we hold leadership accountable and will not trade the right to press freedom and free speech for a piece of cake.

If you like what we do, and are ready to uphold solutions journalism, kindly donate to the Ripples Nigeria cause.

Your support would help to ensure that citizens and institutions continue to have free access to credible and reliable information for societal development.

Donate Now