FRANCE 98 – General Media News Template
Even before the World Cup kicks-off, the job of Nigerian coach Bora Milutinovic is on the line. The vastly-experienced Milutinovic will bring his team to the Stade Beaujoire to face Spain here on Saturday with rumours about his future already circulating wildly.
The axe is poised over Milutinovic’s head following heavy losses in Nigeria’s final two warm-up matches for the Cup. The Super Eagles went down 3-0 to Yugoslavia and then slumped to a 5-1 loss against a rampant Holland.
Not only did the Nigerians lose both matches-they looked terrible in the process; fragile in defence and punchless in attack. The absence of Stuttgart’s Jonathan Akpoborie, who was surprisingly omitted from the squad, looked like a mistake.
Milutinovic refused to comment after the loss to the Dutch, but striker Victor Ikpeba conceded: “We are a little behind in our preparations.” Already the name of Dutchman Jo Bonfrere, who led Nigeria to the gold medal at the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games, has been mentioned as a possible replacement for Milutinovic.
The Nigerians have, in the past, proved themselves ruthless when it comes to disposing of coaches who fail. There have been five previous national team coaches in the past four years, as Milutinovic is doubtless well aware.
The pressure, though, is nothing new for Milutinovic, who will be coaching at his fourth World Cup finals and has built a reputation as a “miracle worker” with less fancied teams. Milutinovoc coached Mexico in 1986, Costa Rica in 1990 and the United States in 1994, all with some degree of success. Mexico reached the quarter-finals while Costa Rica and the United States-both footballing minnows-made it to the second round. Now the Serb faces the test of holding on to his job-bizarre as the possibility of a change would seem just six days’ before the team’s first Group D match against the powerful Spaniards. Nigeria’s other first-round foes are Paraguay and Bulgaria, giving the African nation a real chance of progressing to the second round. In pre-World Cup interviews, Milutinovic has tried to play down talk in Nigeria of the team emulating the Atlanta triumph. “That was 1996 and now it is 1998 — things have changed,” he said. “A World Cup cannot be compared to the Olympic Games. The favourites will be the teams with World Cup experience.” Milutinovic, 53, has said in the past that Nigerian football politics do not concern him. “Since I’ve been coaching Nigeria everyone has been helpful and friendly,” he told World Soccer magazine. “All the intrigue does not interest me.”
But the multilingual miracle man is also well aware that Nigerians expect their team-packed with players with European experience-to challenge for honours.
“These are the most talented players I’ve ever had to work with,” he said. “You don’t necessarily need that much time. With the right mentality, everything is possible. If I didn’t think we could make an impact, I wouldn’t have taken the job. We have the players to make it a memorable World Cup for Nigeria.” More than anything, though, former Partizan Belgrade player Milutinovic is a realist.
“I assume, after the World Cup, that I will be finished with Nigeria,” he said last week. If things do not go his way, the split could come even sooner.