When you see kids of the same age bracket participating in any sport, what strikes you are the younger ones among them whose talent raises the hope of a greater future for watchers of the game. These younger ones tickle your fancy with how they struggle with their playing kits while playing games. The Italians at the ongoing FIFA U-20 World Cup reminded me of their ages. Nigeria beat Italy 2-0 at the group stage but it was apparent that the Italians were the better side technically, given the way they despatched the Brazilians 4-2 in the first Group D game.
The Flying Eagles bullied the Italians, especially with how we scored the second goal. It was almost the same Nigeria scored her second goal against Argentina. Flying Eagles which beat the Italians are at home while the European kids are improving on their game with every match. The price you pay for fielding adults as kids in a kiddies tournament. Would I be surprised if the Italians get to play in the finals of the World Cup in Argentina? No.
Listening to commentaries during the matches, one is thrilled, informed and educated about the composition of most of the nations who partook in the World Cup and those still there until the end of the competition. The commentators repeatedly give you a brief history of the players particularly those who transited from U-17 to U-20. These commentaries help identify who the young lads, especially those taking after their fathers who are legends of the game.
The beauty about those kids of football stars is that they necessarily didn’t play for the fathers’ clubs, although a few of them did. The simple implication is that there is hardly any club in Europe without thriving soccer clubs or should I say sports for cadets – meaning getting young boys and girls to learn the rudiments of the sport peculiar to where they come from. A few of these soccer clubs also have basketball teams, hockey teams etc using their academies as the foundation to assemble the junior boys and girls for training. These academies strikingly encourage the kids to combine school work with playing the beautiful game, for instance.
The commentators drop the names of the clubs the young boys play for including those who have played for the countries as fringe stars. This kind of reminder helps listeners to realise that such countries have a pool of talents which they identify, nurture, train and expose to big tournaments such as the World Cup. One wasn’t shocked to hear that one of the Nigerians plays for Yum Yum FC. The cynical laughter among the commentators told the story. It could have been that the commentators typical of their jobs would have fact-checked Yum Yum FC and discovered that such a name is strange to the annals of Nigeria football. Did I hear you say what was it about, dear reader? As for this writer, Yum Yum FC has come to stay. It is the only good thing about Nigeria’s expedition to Argentina.
The Nigerians and the Brazilians are out of the competition. Still, my appetite to continue watching the games arose from the clinical manner in which debutants in the competition, Israel ran the rule over the junior samba Boys. The Israelis came back from a goal down twice before clinching the win with final scores of 3-2. It was a game filled with drama with the theatrics getting to its crescendo, six minutes to the end of the game which ran into extra time. The rookies from Israel had a penalty in their favour. Twice the kick was missed which incidentally was missed by two different players. The two boys who missed the penalty kicks were naive and couldn’t control their nerves. Will you blame them? No way.
On Thursday evening the Israelis showed clearly by their ball distribution and cohesive style of play that beating Brazil wasn’t a fluke when they held the Uruguayans to a barren draw in the first half. Of course, the Uruguayans raised the game to ward off the Israelis’ attacking forays otherwise they would have been eliminated. When the Uruguayans scored the goal that separated both countries in the 61st minute, they ensured that they blocked off the Israelis with every Uruguayan on the pitch covering the spaces knowing that their opponent on the night have a rich history of cancelling slim leads such as the 1-0 difference.
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Definitely, European clubs’ scouts enjoyed every moment that the Israelis played knowing that they won’t be paying too much to lure them to the European leagues. Again, this new squad member has raised the pool of talents available to the head coach of Israel’s senior team. He also doesn’t have to persuade any big star to play for the country. Mention must be made of the witty decision of the Israeli FA chiefs to look for a coach, Ofir Haim with a good pedigree in handling club players to pick a good team at the cadet level. Some food for thought for NFF board members on how to recruit coaches for Nigeria’s soccer teams. The tardy idea of recycling failed coaches by the NFF should be stopped forthwith.
Coach Ofir Haim has opened a new vista for the game. It wouldn’t be inappropriate to ask Ofir Haim to graduate with his boys to the senior level, especially as the next edition of the senior World Cup is just a few years away. Besides, Ofir Haim could also assemble a slightly older team by infusing into this squad much older boys who qualify to participate in the football event in 2024 in Paris. The prize for hard work and proper planning, if you ask. For all that anyone would say, Ofir Haim is a World Cup coach and is available to the highest bidder. Indeed, the essence of the FIFA age competitions is to take the game to the grassroots to occupy the youth and take them off the social vices.
Again, the transition of players of one lower age grade to the bigger boys group fulfils one of FIFA’s goals and objectives. The Israelis have a future. What they need is exposure to competitions and getting to believe in themselves. Certainly, Israel isn’t a rookie in the game at least in the U-20 category. Congratulations welcome to the club.
With Uruguay playing in the final game of the 2023 FIFA U-20 World Cup against Italy in Argentina on Sunday, the Uruguayans can heave a sigh of relief that their ageing senior soccer team can be re-energised with some of the emerging stars in this U-20 side. The Uruguayans will play in the final against Italy, with the junior Azurris beating South Korea 2-1.
I don’t intend to write anything about how Nigeria fared in Argentina nor do I want to praise or chastise anybody for his role with the team.
In the last week, there has been nothing outstanding to celebrate in Nigeria’s sports. Sports have been taken to the courts while the participants wait in abeyance. Of course, the scheduled competitions must hold whether Nigeria is ready or not. Unfortunately, we remain a country without a football calendar which makes the game rudderless. For us to have a seamless soccer season, the organisers should develop a calendar that can’t be tampered with.
