Soccer in Nigeria is ugly. Indeed, the game is dead here if one recalls that not a single home-based player was considered good enough to either sit on the bench or taken to th 2025 Africa Cup of Nations holding in Morocco as a mascot. Yes, mascots are those budding young talents taken to major competitions for exposure. Indeed, Gernot Rohr literarily took Victor Osimhen to the Nations Cup ahead of Kelechi Iheanacho. Look at what Osimhen has become, dear reader?
One only hopes we are sincere in our deliberate efforts to reinvent the Super Eagles with truly younger boys not age mates of some of the retirees. One must commend William Troost Ekong for quitting the international scene with Nigeria when the ovation was at the highest. Being voted the best player at the last edition of AFCON held in Cote d’ Ivoire is massive for a defender. It won’t be out of place to write here that Ahem Musa may have taken a cue from Ekong’s decision to also bow out of the Super Eagles. Musa deserves all the applauses that he has received, particularly his decision to decision to return to the domestic league to play for his Nigerian club, Kano Pillars FC. We need many of our retired players to play for the local clubs to give the domestic league the fillip of growth since the NFF are satisfied with having 28 players representing Nigeria at the ongoing AFCON in Morocco without a single home-based player as mascot.
It is unfortunate that we haven’t cultivated the culture of sending forth our elite players from the Super Eagles. The send forth organised for Austin Okocha in the past inside the Warri Township Stadium was laughable as players had to lift the ball a bit to kick it. The refurbished playing turf ended up being waterlogged the as channels constructed for the water to pass through to designated outlets were blocked. It still hurts that Okocha’s greatest moments in the game are recordings from the international media.
I’m happy that Alex Iwobi proved his mettle in last week Tuesday victory over Tanzania which was scrappy. The manager may have found his rightful position as Iwobi’s passes were accurate, especially the one that resulted in Nigeria’s first goal. One is still scratching his head to find out the reason Chelle substituted Chukwueze. Nigeria’s biggest problem would rely how well Chelle reads the matches and the quality of substitutions he makes from the benh in the course of the game.
In the game against Tanzania, Chelle’s changes did little to improve the team’s performance because the Tanzanians trouble our defenders with their swift counter attacking style of play. Back home here, most Nigerians watched the closing stages of Tuesday’s game with bated breath. The Tunisians are better players and could hurts us badly if we fail to track back to mark them a soon as we lose possession of the ball.
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I ask Chelle again here what informed his decision to substitute Victor Osimhen in the last ten minutes with Onuachu? This isn’t to say that Onuachu isn’t good enough for the role. My grouse rests with the fact that Osimhen’s exit from games always changes the rhythm of our matches with attacking foray melting away like ice cream placed underneath the scorching sun. No African side would see Osimhen upfront on the field and discount him.
One had thought Osimhen had a knock and wanted to leave the game in order not to aggravate he injury. My thought was wrong going by Osimhen’s countenance as he walked off the pitch. Dear Chelle, there shouldn’t be any margin for tactical error in tonight’s game against the Carthage Eagles of Tunisia. Nigeria should aim to top Group C by beating the Tunisians. It is the only option for the Eagles going by our low goals aggregate of one compared to the Tunisians plus three goals with no goals against.
Against the Tanzanians, two o our goals were ruled out as offside offences largely because Osimhen and Adams Akor didn’t time their runs perfectly like the Tanzanians did with theirs. Chelle’s instructions to the boys to play the ball from behind is good our players must show sufficient hunger for goals by opening up chances towards the flanks since our strikers are fast runners. Those needless passes backwards not kills the attacking forays but exposes our players as inefficient dribblers of the ball.
Nigeria shouldn’t lose tonight to the Tunisians. We need to be happy in our World Cup misery with any form of victory than a defeat which would translate to a double jeopardy. Even if our football is the ICU, we restore hope of a sustainable revival by beating the Tunisians. That way the last game be a befitting ceremonial game for Chelle to tested other players ahead of the much difficult fixtures beginning with the Round of 16 games next week. Good luck Nigeria.
However, we cannot allow foreign coaches through our administrators who recruit them to kill our joy with the chain of bad results recently. Let it be known to Chelle that his contract won’t be renewed if Nigeria fails to lift the winners’ trophy at the 2025 AFCON currently holding in Morocco. No half measures anymore.
In Europe, the game of soccer is beautiful to watch. You can spend hours watching games live at home or at Stadia. You can equally be excited watching recaps of major matches at home or any gadget you choose to watch the matches, yet you will derive the same excitement as if you are watching a live game.
For the soccer game, the end of the season throws up certain puzzles surrounding who the best players, coaches, etc are with different parameters used in picking different winners. Such subtitles as the best striker, best defender, best goalkeeper whose prize would be a golden glove, best midfielder, best winger, highest goal scorer (men and women), young player of the year, you name them. But it is the best footballer of the year male and female that attracts the fans’ applause and attention the following season.
If we must achieve excellence and meet the objective requirement for the rapid development of our sports industry, then we must broaden the finance base of the industry and create the right conditions for private sector funding and investment in sports.
We must accept that there is the need for us to have the political will to make sports a big business, which inevitably will create the platforms to unemployment. We need to cultivate business concerns to embrace sports, but with a caveat -transparency and accountability.
There was the need to create enabling environment for business concerns to key into sports patronage, first to change the way it is run in Nigeria and then to get Nigerians to know that sports help increase the country’s G.D.P as seen in other climes.
Grassroots development can be actualised through the hosting of international and continental sporting events. Most countries use these big competitions to woo the blue-chip industries to identify with sports. Besides, these competitions open up the hinterland with the facilities constructed creating jobs in the locality. The facilities would attract the villagers to learn the games and, inadvertently, improves their health.
Big sports competitions generate revenue, create jobs, improve financial bases and provide the best opportunity for foreigners to have first hand interaction with Nigerians. Such competitions improve tourism, a sure money spinner. Need I state the benefit that business concerns will gain from the volume of foreign exchange during such competitions?
Merry Christmas and a prosperous New Year, dear reader.
