Has Berti Vogts Lost Control?
After two games without a win, and under pressure from the Nigerian football authorities, media and fans it was looking bad for Berti Vogts. And with Nigeria drawing 0-0 against Benin at half-time both team and manager looked finished. But then the Super Eagles came out for the second half against Benin, scored two goals and (thanks also to Cote d’Ivoire’s goal rampage against Mali) scraped into the quarterfinals. So you’d think it would be all happy days again, right? No, no and no. If anything, things have gotten worse between Berti Vogts and his bosses.
According to Logos newspaper Vanguard, Nigerian sports minister (and executive member of both CAF and FIFA) Amos Adamu marched into the Nigeria dressing room at halftime with the score against Benin still 0-0 and gave a team talk, with tactical instructions and everything. He also apparently told Berti Vogts to “shut up” when the coach interjected and then invited injured captain Nwankwo Kanu to inspire his teammates.
“Adamu had to do what he did because we were in a messy situation and Vogts appeared consumed and Benin Republic were running away with a draw,” the paper’s unnamed source apparently said. The paper also claims that Kanu was shouting instructions to his teammates from the bench in the second half, implying that the Portsmouth striker had usurped Vogts.
So either Vogts has lost control of the dressing room, or the Nigerian media are out to get him. Maybe even both. Certainly Vogts thinks it’s the latter, and has both stopped talking to the Nigerian media and has accused them of racism: “If white journalists handled a black manager like this, I think you would call it racism,” he told Eurosport-Yahoo! “I don’t need to put up with what has been going on there. I talked to the international press and I am still open for requests of other media representatives.”
Whatever happens, I think it’s safe to say Berti Vogts and Nigeria will be parting ways once the Africa Cup of Nations comes to a close.
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Comments
By Inara | January 31st, 2008 at 6:39 pm 
Dissent among the Super Eagles is good for Ghana. But I gotta feel for Vogts. He might have a point.
Posted from 
United States
By Jan | February 1st, 2008 at 1:53 am From an outsider’s perspective it seems like Vogts’s plan was to run Nigeria like a European national team. Not necessarily out of naivety but thinking that this was the missing ingredient to turn a group of highly talented individuals into a winning team. But that’s a rather favourable view of his job. Looking at how Nigeria played so far, he just doesn’t seem to be a great coach.
Posted from 
Germany
By Daryl | February 1st, 2008 at 9:50 am Jan,
What’s the view of Vogts in Germany? I know he won Euro ‘96, but I wondered if he was still respected after what happened with Scotland and beyond.
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