Onigbinde calls Ikhana scapegoat
by Humphrey Njoku 14 November 2012, 10:46
Former Nigerian manager, Adegboye Onigbinde wants NFF to look beyond manager, Kadiri Ikhana to reverse Super Falcons' dwindling fortune in Africa.
Ikhana reportedly resigned his appointment on return from the African Women's Championship in Equatorial Guinea on Monday where he guided beaten Cup holders, Falcons to her worst record at the biennial football showpiece.
Onigbinde said the former Enyimba manager prosecuted the Africa Women's Championship with the material available to him.
"I'm not making excuses for Ikhana over his team's show of shame at Equatorial Guinea. I'm disappointed that Super Falcons didn't come back with at least bronze but not surprised because we've failed to explore the abundant material available to us.
"Ikhana is not the problem of our failure at Equatorial Guinea, he went to the championship with what was available.
"The decay in women football didn't start with Ikhana. The men and women's game is the same with one set of rules but for their chemistry and psychology I agree there is difference.
"We must ask ourselves whether we've developed the game to the height obtainable in other lands. Have we spared a thought on administration.
"We've to take sit down to redress the problem but it must go beyond Ikhana. This is not the time to play the blame game or search for an escape goat but time for soul searching. If we limit it to Ikhana's exit from the team we would've missed it," the Fifa technical instructor said to supersport.com.
The NFF technical committee member said failure or success in football competition is self-induced.
"If you failed to plan, you would've deliberately planed to fail. Success or failure is a deliberate act, so when we fail as the case at hands points to we must be bold to tell ourselves the truth," he said.
