Why Trapattoni would suit Nigeria

Of all the candidates on Nigeria's wish-list to lead the Super Eagles to the World Cup, one of the names that stands out is that of the vastly experienced Italian coach Giovanni Trapattoni.

The current Republic of Ireland manager is contracted to remain with the Irish until 2012, and would already be heading for South Africa, were it not for the infamous events in Paris in November surrounding Thierry Henry's handball, which saw France qualify at Ireland's expense.

While it would further break Irish hearts to see a man they have adopted as one of their own swap Dublin for Abuja, Trapattoni may see this as possibly his last tilt at a World Cup.

And while the 70-year-old has said that he would ideally like to end his long and chequered career by leading the "boys in green" to the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, he may yet decide that a more immediate challenge with the other men in green may be an opportunity worth grasping now.
The former Italian national coach must feel on a personal level that he still has some unfinished business of his own on the world stage, after the Azzurri were controversially knocked out of the World Cup in 2002 by co-hosts South Korea, after seeing a late goal dubiously disallowed.

That decision cost 'Trap' and his men a place in the quarter-finals of that tournament, which was seen as something of a blot on the Italian's CV.

But there is no doubting what he has achieved with an Irish team that, like Nigeria, were extremely short on confidence and a tactical game-plan when he took them over in 2008.

Trapattoni replaced Steve Staunton as Ireland boss, after the former Irish captain had overseen a disastrous period that would make Shaibu Amodu's reign and treatment by the Nigerian media seem favourable by comparison.

The former Juventus and Bayern Munich boss immediately turned around the fortunes of a team that only months previously had been slumping to results such as a 5-2 battering by Cyprus, and transformed them into an organised tactical outfit that quickly learned how to win again.

Recognising he had a fairly limited group of players at his disposal, with the exception of a handful of talented names such as Robbie Keane, Damien Duff and Shay Given, Trapattoni executed a well-organised game-plan that would see the Irish progress as the only unbeaten team in the World Cup play-off draw.

What followed in Paris is history, but for the fans who watched Ireland dominate the former World Cup winners on their own turf, Trapattoni would remind many that night that he can turn any side into an organised and at times thrilling attacking outfit.