AFCON 2017 ouster: Nigerians heap blame on Oliseh

By Taiwo Adelu

Soccer loving Nigerians could not hold their anger against erstwhile coach of Nigeria’s Super Eagles, Sunday Oliseh when the country failed to make it to the Africa Cup of Nations in Gabon in 2017.

The Eagles failed woefully in the double header qualifying matches. They were held to a 1-1 draw in Kaduna on Friday, while a 65th minute goal from Egypt’s Ramadan Sobhy gave the Pharaohs a 1-0 victory over the Nigerian team in the return fixture decided Tuesday night in Alexandria, Cairo.

The win in Alexandria signified the end of the road for the Nigerian team, who garnered two points far behind Group G leaders, Egypt who have 7 points.

Immediately the match ended, Oliseh began to trend on Twitter with many Nigerians pointing accusing fingers on him for not doing enough during his brief spell as the Eagles’ handler. They posited that Oliseh’s incompetence ruined Nigeria’s chances in the qualifying race.

Tweeting ‏@Terence_Nwachi, Terry Nwachi said that “Pinnick should be punched for calling Oliseh the Guardiola of Africa. What a useless coach.”

Lako ‏@redjinobo said: “Pinnick and his board owe us an apology for appointing a wrong coach in Oliseh. I hope they have something to list as achievement at end of their tenure.”

David Titiloye ‏@DavidTitiloye said that “The NFF is to be blamed for appointing an I.T student “Oliseh” when we had  chartered and professional coaches to select from.”

“It is obvious Oliseh was a huge mistake by @thenff,  he shouldn’t have been hired in the first place gaskiya,” said @josites.

Bode Bruno ‏@bodebruno82 recalled how Oliseh was praised after he drew against Tanzania, a team he was supposed to defeat. He tweeted: “I remember Oliseh was praised for picking up a point at Tanzania… Hmmm!”

Ekemode Olatunji ‏@heymode slammed Oliseh for chickening  out few weeks to the game against Egypt calling him a coward. “So @SundayOOliseh is also a coward.

@Omaakatugba said that “Oliseh saw this defeat coming,  that is why he sharply picked race and ran away”.

@PoojaMedia noted that “It’s funny if you exonerate Oliseh from this. He drew at Tanzania, ran off two weeks to a crucial game and you want us to kiss his forehead?”

Dada Leye ‏@olaleyedada was furious that Oliseh failed to concentrate on his coaching job rather he was busy with other things. He tweeted: “Siasia made the team look better in two games jare. All Oliseh did was fight with players, fight with NFF, played “yeye” football and shoot video.”

@sephoru said: “Sunday Oliseh saw this coming. Baba just tender resignation and then he blamed witches & wizards in NFF.”

Sawyerr ‏@MrSawyerr recalled that “Someone went on TV to state Oliseh would implement the German team-building pattern. I laughed so hard at the ignorance. All to justify crap.”