Politician foresees doom at EGYPT 2006

A board member of the Lagos State Football Association, Alhaji Agboola Dabiri, has warned that Egypt 2006 Nations Cup finals might turn out to be the worse outing for the country despite the array of stars it posseses. Dabiri, who is equally the Vice-Chairman of Surulere Local Government, based his argument on the state of preparation of the Super Eagles towards the biennial soccer fiesta.

"I am really worried about the preparation of the team as nothing is on ground to show. It will be a shame if we fail to perfom at the Nations Cup having failed to qualify for the World Cup in Germany," he fumed.

He advised the Ministry of Sports and Social Development to set up a task force imediately to see to the country's preparation towards the Nations Cup.

Dabiri added that the preparation was necessary because Nigeria did not no longer enjoy the respect it used to command in international soccer circle again.
The polictian however, gave the coaching crew led by Austin Eguavoen a pass mark to lead the team to Egypt. He said what the crew needed was thenecessary encouragement from the government.

"Eguavoen is capable if you support him. If you give the best coach to Chelsea or Manchester United without support you cannot get result, " he pointed out.

On the forthcoming elections into the Nigeria Football Association's board, Dabiri urged the government to give the job to those who have the interest of the sport at heart and not politicians and businessmen.

"What we need at the football house are honest and upright people who loves the sport and will be willing to spend their money before government responds to certain issues," he said.

The politician who has been supporting grass roots soccer for over a decade asked the outgoing board to gracefully bow out of office because it had failed the country by not qualifying for the World Cup.

He supported the invitation of Super Eagles captain Austin Okocha for the Nations Cup citing the fact his prescence alone could be the weapon Nigeria needed to overun its opponents."Okocha has the experience and skill to still appear at the Nations Cup," he added.

Dabiri also enjoined the soccer house to fall back to grass roots development and possibly organise a junior league to discover potential players," he explained.

.Adeolu Johnson