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Months after his engagement, Siasia admitted that he was yet to have a team that could conquer the world in Egypt. "I have not gone far with the team at all because when most of the players came back from their various clubs after the end of the season in Europe, they had to rest. I believe without resting they cannot perform well and this prompted the 10 days holiday given to them. With the pre-season training, most of them have since returned to their clubs in Europe. At least while we were together, we tried to see if we can get a team and the boys started responding gradually until when they disappear again to Europe. Hopefully, if we can get good number of the foreign players in Qatar, that will give us the opportunity of having the players together.

He continued: "My aim in Qatar is to ensure that the players stay in camp together and play matches to try to effect my idea and see if the players can actually make us proud in Egypt. If we don't stay together there is no way we can have a team. Right now we don't have a team, we just have individual players and if we don't put them together, how will you get a team? No individual can strive in a team because he needs others to play with him to understand what he is trying to do. I think it is going to help if we have the players that we need in Qatar," Siasia said.

Despite this shortcoming, Siasia believes that nothing can stop him from pursuing success in Egypt. "There is no big secret to my success, I love my job and I want to succeed. How do you succeed? You have to work hard and if you find yourself in a difficult situation, you have to find a way out of it. You have to do something to ensure Nigerians are happy and for me I will do everything within my reach to have a good team that will represent the country. Having done what will make Nigerians happy, I believe one will keep going higher and before you know it I am going to get somewhere bigger than where I am at present, as my present job is a stepping stone. For you to be relevant, you must have to prove yourself first. I have tried two times I failed in the finals. Hopefully this time around, I might win. But for us to win, it is not going to be easy, as we need to have the right players. I am not going to play, I can say all I want but the players are the ones that will make me and the nation proud."

The coach admitted that Nigeria is in tough group, saying, "Having Spain, Tahiti and Venezuela in our group make things difficult. I want people to know that the Tahitians are no

push-overs despite being debutants at the championship. We all witnessed what happened at the FIFA Confederation Cup where the Americans beat the Spanish team. So, I want to say that there are underdogs anymore. If you look down at other teams, you will fail. We are going to take every game as if it is our last game. We are going to take it one game at a time and we are not going to look down at Tahiti at all. We know the Spanish team is the favourite. But any team from South America should not be underrated."

Even as Siasia loves to make Nigeria proud, the coach could not hide his displeasure over the treatment national team coaches face while on duty. His words: I want to say that the most frustrating aspect of coaching is getting funds to implement programmes in the build up to major championship.

"The biggest challenge for me is this team because I have been in final twice in 2005 and at the 2008 Olympic Games. If I cannot win it then I have not done anything special even if I make it to the final. I know how difficult it is but life is all about taking risk sometimes you must take such risk as a coach. I am working for this country and I will do my best not to disappoint."

Siasia also admitted that Nigeria is blessed with talented players, but indiscipline has been their bane. "The problem of Nigerian players is mostly indiscipline. Some of them allow the success recorded at the Under-17 World Cup get into their head. Under-17 is for youths and Under-20 is for adult because some of them are at present playing in the national team already. If they do well they will make it to the senior team like others that went through the system. For me anybody that want to play in my team has to be very serious, if not you cannot be part of it," he affirmed.

Acknowledging the tedious nature of choosing players for the team, Siasia said: "It is not easy selecting players but I always look out for a player who can help me win trophies. If players have the potentials, you still have to build them up to a level that can make them do well for the country. In this present team, we have fantastic players, what we need is to be together to build a formidable team that will compete favourably for the trophy in Egypt."

In the last five years, Coach Samson Siasia has taken Nigeria to finals of two major competitions with the last being the final of the football event at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games in China. The Super Eagles former striker who took over the Flying Eagles team few months back told OLALEKAN OKUSAN at the team's Abuja Millennium Hotel camp that leading the team to victory in Egypt in September would be the biggest challenge of his career. Coach Samson Siasia loves his job and he will stop at nothing to put in his best to make Nigerians happy. Even when the necessary things needed to succeed are not provided, he never allows that to dampen his spirit and this has endeared him to his countrymen.

His credentials prompted soccer loving Nigerians to call for his appointment after Ladan Bosso's side not-too-impressive performance at the African Youth Championship (AYC) in Kigali, Rwanda.

Coach Samson Siasia

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Again, Siasia walks tight rope to Egypt