Glo-CAF Nominees emerge on Thursday

THE race for the 2009 Glo-CAF Player of the Year has narrowed down to the final selection of five nominees as the Media, and Technical and Development committees of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) have sent in their votes in line with the procedure for the selection of nominees for the prestigious award.

CAF Director of Communications, Suleiman Habuba, said the nomination forms sent to all the 12 members of the Media Committee and 17 members of the Technical and Development Committee have been returned. The committee members vote for players in scores of 5-1, with five being the highest and one the lowest.

The five players with the highest points will be announced at a Press Conference in Lagos on Thursday, December 10. He said that as usual, the nominations were based on players' performance for club and country from January 2009 till date and that nominations cover all African players in European and domestic African club leagues.

"The nomination is just the beginning of the process of selecting nominees for the prestigious Glo-CAF Awards ceremony as the five highest scoring nominees will be forwarded to all the national team coaches of CAF member-federations for their vote," Habuba explained.

Togolese international and Arsenal's former forward, Emmanuel Adebayor, who now plays for Manchester City, is the reigning Glo-CAF Player of the Year. Adebayor, who was crowned in Lagos at a colourful ceremony attended by FIFA President, Sepp Blatter, and other world football leaders, piped Ghana's Michael Essien to second place.

The awards ceremony, sponsored by telecommunications giant, Globacom, has been held in Abuja, Accra, Lome and Lagos. The venue for the 2009 edition will be announced at the Press Conference.

I am ready to lead S'Eagles, says Mancini

THE hope of coach Shaibu Amodu leading the Super Eagles to both the Africa Nations Cup in Angola and the South Africa 2010 World Cup appears threatened following declaration yesterday by Inter Milan's former coach, Roberto Mancini, that he was ready to coach Nigeria after receiving an unofficial approach for the post.

Mancini confirmed yesterday that he was asked about his interest in the job should the position become available. The Italian said he would negotiate a deal with the Nigerian FA if it was serious about the interest. Mancini told La Gazzetta dello Sport: "I was asked about my willingness to take over in an unofficial way and I said I was willing because the prospect of an Africa Nations Cup and a World Cup appeal to me.

"Nigeria is rich with excellent players who are not well known. If they really want me, I'll sit down and negotiate."

Nigeria is currently managed by Amodu but is believed to be interested in a foreign coach after the Super Eagles qualified for the World Cup finals in unconvincing fashion. The country had to beat Kenya in their final qualifying match and hoped on Mozambique defeating Tunisia to progress to the finals.

A brace from Obafemi Martins and a Yakubu Aiyegbeni goal gave Nigeria a 3-2 win, while Mozambique ran out 1-0 winner. Amodu's side was placed alongside Argentina, South Korea and Greece in Group B for the finals in South Africa and Mancini could be in line for a return to management after being sacked by Inter in May 2008.

He led the Italian giant to a third consecutive Serie A title before losing his job and opted to take a year away from management. But the 45-year-old said: "Since July, the decision to rest off has no longer been mine," adding that he would consider taking Marcello Lippi's post should the Italy manager step down after the World Cup.

Meanwhile, Super Eagles' former defender, Ben Iroha, who played an important part in the team's run to a second Africa Nations Cup win at Tunisia 1994, has said the current management team has some questions to answer regarding the playmaker role if Nigeria is to triumph in Angola next January.

"We need a playmaker to direct things in the midfield," Iroha told Complete Sports. "Without a commander in the midfield, it will be difficult to achieve much. You don't expect the strikers to put up a good performance in such a situation.

"The likes of Martins, Osaze and Yakubu need somebody to feed them or do you expect them to go dropping into the middle to get the balls? If they do that, getting the goals will be difficult.

"We also need to work on the defence. That aspect has also been shaky and I will want the coaches to get the best four players to tidy up that position in Angola."

Iroha's overlapping runs from deep played a big part in Nigeria's success in Tunisia. He also scored a crucial goal in the semi-final victory over defending champion, Cote d'Ivoire.