The problem with administering sports in Nigeria rests with the fact that those who eventually get the jobs lack the capacity to see through the desired changes being envisaged for the industry. Yes, people learn on the job and perfect their trades. But those who run sports in the country always choose to flex muscles for simple exercises which are easily resolved by looking for what the laws provide for. One isn’t surprised, considering the pedigree of those who influenced their appointments for the jobs.

Otherwise, how do you explain the setting where club owners who claim to be experts in the administration of league football don’t know the body recognised by FIFA to administer the game here? The truth is that the NFF holds the game in trust for FIFA with all the rules and regulations in the confines of the Dankaro House’s chieftains in Abuja.

Club Owners who are representatives of the participating teams shouldn’t also be the organisers of the league competition. Such a setting encourages match-fixing which tarnishes the image of the game here to the world. Of course, you cannot be a judge in your matter. No wonder, we have seen different interpretations of simple laws of the game whenever infringements are committed. For neutrality’s sake, it is appropriate for the owners to hand off the administration of the game for fairness and equity.

The Club Owners’ claim that opting for the abridged league format would amount to taking the game back by ten years must tell us what has happened to the doctrine of necessity. They cannot claim not to know that the year 2023 is an election year in Nigeria, so anyone planning for anything involving the people must factor in their safety within the electioneering period.

Indeed, would the Club Owners say they didn’t participate in the December 21 meeting at the Sandralia Hotel in Abuja, where it was resolved that; ”the IMC will inform the NFF on the decision to organise the draws for the 2022/2023 league on the 28th of December 2022 and that the league will commence on the 8th of January 2023 on Abridged League Format…” Isn’t this what the rules say? Why are they crying wolf where there isn’t now that the NFF has endorsed the agreement by the IMC and Club Owners in their December 21st meeting to adopt the abridged system since there was enough time to run a 38-week league format, knowing the implications if Nigeria fails to field winners of the league across the board by June?

How do we field players to represent those teams if the competition ends after CAF’s stipulated registration period? How would the teams strengthen their squads when there isn’t a transfer period for them to complete such tasks which are done both within and outside the country? If the IMC didn’t recognise the Club Owners’ role in the administration of the game by inviting them for the December 21st meeting, tongues would have wagged. However, it really wasn’t necessary since the Club Owners aren’t recognised in the laws of the game, we have been told. IMC, a body assigned to organise the league this season did the right thing by informing the Club Owners about the NFF in a memo where it was stated that: ”The purpose of this letter is to convey the approval of the NFF to organise the draws on the 28th of December 2022  and the League will commence on the 8th of  January 2023 on an Abridged League Format”.

If the Club Owners doubted the IMC’s information, they ought to have sought NFF’s intervention to authenticate what they were given rather than to show how uninformed the body was about the rules governing the beautiful game here. The owners of the game here are the NFF not the Club Owners whose threat not to participate in this year’s league because of its format is not only laughable but idiotic.

What the Club Owners have done with the erratic conduct is to make Nigeria the laughing stock in the comity of soccer nations in the world. It also shows that they aren’t abreast with the rules of the game. One isn’t surprised because the laws of the game have no roles for them. So, why did the IMC relate with the so-called owners?

The Chairman of the Interim Management Committee (IMC) Hon. Gbenga Otolorin  Elegbeleye told Nigerians in a live radio programme on Kennis Radio: “We met with the club chairmen twice and we told them that we have the mandate to finish the league in May to align with the International calendar so Nigeria will not be left behind among the nations in terms of football activities.” Isn’t this submission for a change in the league’s calendar fair enough since it would ensure that our league is in tandem with other leagues in the world? Can’t we see clearly that these owners don’t know their onions or do they?

Elegbeye disclosed further on Kennis Radio’s Sports Salsa: “We told them to pick any format of their choice, they came back and said they want the league to end in July and gave us 2 options. The first option they (club chairmen) provided, was the league will end in July and when the CAF ask for representatives we should give them the top 4 at the time they ask for the list. But we said how can we nominate teams that will represent us without finishing the league?

”Also the top 4 teams we pick might not even be among the top 4 teams by the time we end the league.  It means we gave slots to teams that did not merit them. The second option is that for those clubs that represented us last season we should give them the automatic ticket to go again. We told them we want competition and a league that would finish in July.

“They said we should go to the NFF, but NFF insists we should finish the league by May which means we should go for an abridged league, by our calculation, we will not finish this league if we go full-blown.”

The Club Owners were either absent-minded during the meetings or just wanted to be mischievous with the empty threats not to attend the draws held on December 28. Thankfully, the draws were held on December 28 with Nigerians eagerly waiting for the January 8 kickoff date. One cannot understand why the Club Owners are resisting change when they know that the league body is indebted to the referees with the figure put between N350 million and N500 million. One is excited to hear that the IMC isn’t making this debt a reason to bandy words with the defunct LMC. The IMC has secured sponsor(s) who would credit the accounts of referees before games are played. One is, however, worried over the stoic silence by the IMC on the issue of ensuring that players’, coaches’, officials’ and backroom staff’s outstanding allowances and wages are paid before the commencement of the competition on January 8.

Players, coaches, officials and backroom staff can’t perform optimally on empty stomach. IMC chiefs shouldn’t gloss over this issue of paying all the outstanding debts before January. After all, this aspect forms part of the club licensing requirements among other factors. This IMC should tell us their plans towards ensuring that the players’ welfare package is good enough for them to play games as if their lives depend on them.

It won’t be out of place for the league to have an official insurance sponsor, and an official medical firm to take care of everyone associated with the league including the fans at the stands during games. Not forgetting the need for the match venues to be adequately secured before, during and after matches. I sincerely hope that the IMC chairman can effectively educate the state governors, the real owners of these clubs to embrace the new  trend of encouraging states from funding clubs. And this dream can’t be achieved by these set of club chairmen. They have no business plan and have refused to embrace change. Chairmen who owe the players, coaches, officials and backroom staff as and when due should be shown the exit door.

I’M not a prophet of doom. I enjoy speaking the truth about the problems of the beautiful game here which has been made to look very ugly and untidy by the handiworks of those who believe that the only way Nigeria’s game to thrive would be for them to either be in charge or belong to the cabal which has brought the game on its knees in 2006 when Nigeria first failed to qualify for the Mundial after her epochal outing in 1994. Our leagues are dead. Where would the new players come from? Europe? You tell me.

Sitting through the 64 matches played at the Qatar 2022 World Cup, what struck me with every game played was that Nigeria won’t be at the next World Cup in 2026. The odds are stacked against us going by the speed of players who played for countries that distinguished themselves at the Mundial until they exited from the competition. Players played with matchless vigour as if their lives depended on each game.  There was a terrific fighting spirit mostly exhibited by those countries that pundits rated as minnows when faced against those with celebrated stars. Thank goodness football is cruel and no respecter of those nations who choose to remain on their high horses rather than bolster their squads with younger, fitter and more enterprising boys hungry for glory.

The average age of countries which gave spectators something to look out for whenever they played was between 19 and 26, with many of the older stars in such countries either playing their fifth World Cup, their last without an iota of doubt or those playing their fourth consecutive World Cup with the aim of exiting the Mundial with a loud hurrah!  Had Nigeria would have paraded the oldest set of players if the Super Eagles had qualified for the Qatar 2022 World Cup.

As it stands today in the Super Eagles, only Victor Osimhen and those Nigeria-born lads would still be around by 2026. These other players would be nearing their mid-30s making them unfit to compete in 2026. Sadly, while other countries that were in Europe would easily replace their spent stars due to the presence of robust nurseries where they groom younger lads, Nigeria would head for Europe for more Nigeria-born players with a dearth of nurseries. What we have in Nigeria are boys’ clubs without prerequisite training programmes and supervision with whose coaches are more of agents to shylock European scouts.

Age crippled whatever skills counties such as Belgium tried to exhibit leading to her abysmal outing in Qatar in spite of the fact that she ranked second on the FIFA Ranking leading to the Qatar 2022 World Cup.   Yet, again, the Belgians as a group are younger than the set of Super Eagles who failed to qualify for the Qatar 2022 World Cup. Another difference between Belgians and us is that they have a factory of talents who have gone through their mill ready to take up the challenge. Belgium’s age-grade players aren’t older than those who were in Qatar. They are already been monitored unlike ours where anything goes.

A twin boy can be 22 and playing for Nigeria while his twin sister is 33 years old and married with kids. Nigeria we hail thee. The orientation for sports in Nigeria is to prepare athletes to attend competitions not for us to host such big-time competitions. It is the reason our infrastructures as rustic and outdated.

 In Nigeria’s case, there is hardly any significant difference in age between the failed Super Eagles and the younger ones waiting to replace them. We have refused to establish credible nurseries whose operations are regularised. Nurseries are catchment areas to fish out talents, groom them and expose them through competitions. It is at these nurseries the boys and girls in the 774 Local Government Areas in the country would be taught the rudiments of their sport, not just soccer.

The biggest advantage of having credible nurseries is that these kids are discovered from age five where it would be difficult to cheat since it would be easy to establish their correct ages. At age five, it would be difficult to tell which sport the kid has proficiency in until he or she is exposed to the sport. What this simply means is that the kids would be exposed to the rudiments of their sport at a very tender age when they are flexible and can be properly trained.

The kids’ biometrics are kept in a data bank such that nobody who has passed through the nursery system would later in life claim what wasn’t recorded in their biometrics. A situation where our players still use sworn affidavits as evidence of their ages in the 21st Century smacks of institutional fraud in a country with a population of over 200 million people.

Interestingly, the wise ones among the oldies such as Hazard have bowed out honourably, except for the stubborn G.O.A.T Cristiano Ronaldo who feels he could give the game a fillip of sorts, the way Roger Mila shown like million stars for Cameroon at the 1990 World Cup. Ronaldo’s emergence as one of the world’s best players arose from hard work, including the extra drills he put himself through to attain such stardom.

Messi doesn’t think he should quit the game now. You can understand why. Messi knows what he passed through the few times he threatened to quit. The pressure from people around the world including his country’s president made him rescind the decision. Henceforth, Messi’s role in the Argentine team is that of mentorship unlike ours where the elders behave like mercenaries instigating disharmony in the camps. Messi while playing for Argentina has been to inspire the younger ones to aim to surpass all that he has achieved.

Soccer teams need depth in strength as it concerns players available to the coaches to prosecute matches.  And with standardised nurseries where the country’s unique playing style is adopted, replacing injured players and the ageing ones if need be would be a piece of cake. Such replacements would easily gel into the senior side at short notice because the pattern can be seen from the bottom, the nurseries to the senior team, the top.

Patterns of play are evolved by competent technical personnel informed by such a country’s players’ comparative advantage. Nigerians are good runners, physically strong and like to dribble the ball using the flanks. So, any reasonable technical crew would adopt a style that would bring out the best in Nigerians no matter what is at stake. Therefore the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) should shop for technical experts who would train and retrain our coaches until they are abreast with modern tricks of the game. Playing soccer at the highest levels, most times doesn’t translate to being a good coach. It isn’t as easy as that.

Renowned coaches with acclaimed expertise could be recruited with instructors on what we want to achieve. This idea of drafting ex-internationals as national team coaches without requisite knowledge in coaching has been the bane of Nigerian teams at almost all levels except for age-graded squads where we parade adults as kids. Indeed, emphasises for recruiting coaches should dwell on getting technical instructors who are still young and can demonstrate the drills or moves on and off the ball for the coaches to assimilate and later teach the kids in the 774 Local Government Areas in the country.

Coaching is literarily the soul of any country’s football industry. The NFF in this instance should ensure that the foreign experts design a synchronised calendar that would embrace taking big coaches regularly to periodic refresher courses both at home and abroad.  Let’s not deceive ourselves because the expertise to lift our game out of despondency can’t be found in Nigerian coaches, many of whom have been accused of being compromised. If we must recruit a foreign coach, he mustn’t be third-rated but one whose recruitment would send tongues wagging, knowing how talented Nigerians are. What stops Nigeria from recruiting Tuchel as Super Eagles manager?

After the Qatar 2022 World Cup tournament Nigeria fell to the 35th position with mercurial Morocco rising u to the 11th position as Africa’s best football nation. Senegal is now 16th in the ranking though Nigeria was better rated than the Ghanaians who participated at the Mundial.

Lionel Messi is one name that would underline the growth of the beautiful game in the 21st Century. Born with a rare medical disease, his mother rejected pleas from those who pitied Messi to free him from the tough rigours of staying alive. Messi’s mum wanted her hitherto deformed innocent boy to live no matter what. That unflinching faith unique to every mother rings so true with all that Messi has shown to the world in football, also called soccer in many climes.

Messi was diagnosed with growth hormone deficiency (GHD), a condition caused by insufficient amounts of growth hormone in the body, leading to impaired growth and development, when he was 11 years old.

What is growth hormone deficiency (GHD), which many readers would want to be educated about it? Medical books define GHD as follows: ”Growth hormone is a substance that is needed to stimulate the growth of bones and other tissues that help kids grow and develop. That said, growth hormone deficiency is a condition wherein the pituitary gland does not produce enough growth hormones, impairing a child’s growth and development.

”There are two types of growth hormone deficiency: Congenital GH deficiency: This is a kind of deficiency babies are usually born with. Initially, their growth may seem normal but the symptoms may start showing when they’re about 6 to 12 months old.

”Acquired GH deficiency: This type of deficiency occurs when the body’s pituitary gland stops producing enough growth hormones for the body to grow normally. This can begin at any time during childhood.”

The most common sign of growth hormone deficiency is growth failure i.e. when a child is significantly shorter than kids his or her own age. This is known as short stature. And Messi has turned this adversity or medical condition into one of his strengths in the game with the uncanny way he shields the ball from his bigger and taller foes during matches. Messi in the course of the World Cup matches showed how talented he was with the way he sat deep to pick up the ball from his mates before spraying defence-splitting passes which made the difference for the Argentines.

Argentina showed dogged character by turning their first game defeat to unknown quantities in world soccer, Saudi Arabia 2-1into a marker of how cruel the game can be, scoring two goals in every game with the Dutch quarterfinals game serving as a warning on the need to play as a group when defending. The Dutch almost eliminated the Argentines with a late reply of two goals to drag the game into extra time and penalties. The Argentines won the breathtaking penalty shoot-out 4-3.

Every game the Argentine was better than the previous one so they went home to study the tapes and fashion out a better way to be cohesive in the three departments of the game. It was apparent that Messi had lost his speed on the ball but quickly improvised with his deft touches and intelligent passes which strung the team’s style of play. Messi didn’t only run the show by scoring goals with aplomb. He also became Argentina’s top World Cup scorer of all time with 11 goals, surpassing Gabriel Batistuta who scored 10.

Messi has already bagged four man-of-the-match accolades during the tournament and he now stands a chance of winning the Golden Ball, Golden Boot and the World Cup trophy itself. Messi, on Wednesday, was quoted to have told TyC Sports: ”A lot of happiness, being able to achieve this. Ending my career in the World Cups playing my last game in a final.

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”Everything I experienced in this World Cup is very exciting, what people lived through, how people are enjoying it in Argentina.” When asked if it was his last World Cup, he added: ”Surely yes. There are many years before the next one and I don’t think I will be able to do that and ending this way is the best.

All-time top Premier League scorer Alan Shearer added: ”What a pleasure it was to be in the stadium commentating for @5liveSport on this Argentina team and fans. Messi and Alvarez are magnificent tonight.”

Gary Neville – speaking on ITV after the game against Croatia had this to say about Messi’s performance and his influence in the squad: ‘I’ve got no sense of how he does that at that speed. 12 years ago he was running past people, now he’s adapting to the latter part of his career.

”Now he can go sleeping for 15-20 minutes. It feels like a mission for him. The rest of the team is so committed behind him.”

Lineker, taking to Twitter after the seven-time Ballon d’Or winner, Messi’s sublime assist for Alvarez’s second goal, insisted the debate regarding football’s all-time most outstanding talent is now over. ”Is there still a debate? Asking for a goat,” he wrote.  Jamie Carragher echoed Lineker’s sentiments, adding: ”The best there has ever been!”And Jeff Stelling, directing his message to Cristiano Ronaldo fan and friend Piers Morgan, added: ”So where are we now in the Ronaldo v Messi debate?”

Rooney tweeted in the morning after Argentina’s win over Croatia: ”Nothing has changed,” with an emoji of a goat, again labelling him as the ‘greatest of all time’. Rooney had in the past sent the tweet on March 7, 2012, on a day when Messi scored five goals for Barcelona against Bayer Leverkusen in a Champions League round-of-16 clash.

Easily the biggest star to anchor the final of the Qatar 2022 World Cup for the Argentines is Messi. The competition’s joint scorer with five goals though he goes into Sunday’s final game which he has decreed is his last as the player with the highest assists – three. Interestingly, Mbappe who has five goals too like Messi has two assists stands out as the match stick to blow away Messi’s biggest bet to become the Greatest Of All Times (G.O.A.T) if he laces his goal-scoring boot properly. Mbappe appears to be playing with an injury, though he tries to hide this fact by trying to run down the flanks to avoid being kicked by rugged defenders.

Mbappe has found good understanding going forward in the search for goals for the French with Antoine Griezmann, Ousmane Dembele and Oliver Giroud with the quartet. It is also likely too that Giroud could steal the thunder if he scores two or three goals with both Messi and Mbappe not being able to score a goal on Sunday.  Messi and Mbappe would be difficult to bet against not finding the back of the net in Sunday’s box office World Cup final game.

France’s manager, Didier Deschamps highlighted how Messi plays in a post match conference where he stated that Messi always stood behind the top striker, preferring to hold on to the loose balls and run the distance towards the goalpost where  possible. Deschamps acknowledged Messi’s immense talent but promised to discuss his observations on how the Argentines play, not just Messi. With Deschamps faced with the chance of being the second country in the competition’s history to win the World Cup consecutively since it last happened in 1958 and 1962 spanning a period of 60 years, not a few are worried over the story that Karim Benzema has been invited to the final game by the top brass of the government, if such claim should be taken seriously.

Didier Deschamps’ demeanour when asked the Benzema question at a conference captured how he would react if Benzema is forced on him to play any role in the final game.

The reporter said: ”There is a report today (Thursday) that Karim Benzema could come back to Qatar. First of all, is it true? And second of all, if it is, is there any possibility that you would be able to use him for a few minutes in the final if you needed him?”

Deschamps appeared to be irked by the question initially as he closed his eyes and puffed his cheeks, before saying ‘I don’t really want to answer that question,’ and letting out a smile as he quickly said: ”Next question.”

He then started grinning as he turned his head and said ”I do apologise.” Would the French press the self distraught button and present the trophy on a platter to Messi on the altar of playing Benzema in Sunday’s World Cup final?

Fifth columnists using their lackeys in the media, unscrupulous Nigerian agents ruing the bad markets arising from Nigeria’s absence at the ongoing Qatar 2022 World Cup and those who think the game here belongs to them have started insulting our sensibilities by creating hallucinating images in their dumb heads of how Super Eagles would have excelled in the hitherto desert region now turned oasis by oil rick shrieks and a thinking Qatari government. Such illusory visuals would have shocked only the players’, officials’, federation’s chieftains’ and those shylock agents’ rustic minds since the four-yearly World Cup isn’t a lottery ticket anyone can pick up anywhere. Truth be told, the  World  Cup  is  the platform  for  serious-minded  countries,  not clowns  who  specialise  in  building  castles  in the air.

Africa’s representatives Ghana, Tunisia, Cameroon, Morocco and Senegal distinguished themselves with each one winning a game. The Tunisians beat the World Cup defending champions, France 1-0, it doesn’t matter if the French rested their best players. Who cares about such sentimental talks? Cameroon gave the Brazilians the shock of their lives by beating the Samba Boyz 1-0, though purists would also argue that Brazil removed nine of their regulars who helped them to win their first two matches, making the last game against Cameroon a deadpan, as they say in football parlance. Cameroon drew 3-3 with Serbia, coming back from a 3-1 deficit to tie the game much to the consternation of the Serbians.

Africa’s number one country, the Teranga Lions of Senegal beat Qatar and Ecuador to place second in Group A. Ghana’s Black Stars completed the continent’s winning streak at the Mundial by beating South Korea in one of the Group H matches.

Africa’s best representative at the Mundial can be said to be the Moroccans going by their results and the fact that they topped their group which had Croatia, Belgium and Canada, with the Atlas Lions beating the Canadians 2-1, shocking the Belgians 2-0, after having earlier drawn the Croatians 0-0, in an end-to-end game. The world stood in awe when the Moroccans eliminated one of the European soccer powers, Spain with the Spaniards finding goalkeeper Bono a difficult man to beat in between the goalposts, losing three of the five penalty kicks.

Moroccan players dedicated their famous Qatar 2022 World Cup win over Spain to former Ajax starlet Abdelhak Nouri, who suffered brain damage after collapsing from a cardiac arrest during a pre-season friendly. The players were photographed with a shirt with Nouri’s name and number 34. Ajax where the Moroccan played his club football paid tribute to Nouri by naming their Talent of the Future award after him and dedicated their 34th Eredivisie title to him – Nouri was No 34 – after the team won the title in 2019.

The eight quarterfinalists (England, France, Brazil, Croatia, Netherlands, Portugal, Morocco and Argentina) have been a befitting citation of how soccer should be played at the World Cup. Their players have played with zest, commitment, and determination and showed tremendous capacity in the way they churned out shocking results which have sent punters to rethink their permutations slips or dockets on bets placed with their hard-earned cash at betting boxes.

The players in the quarterfinals have shown incredible talents and have stuck together during matches while scoring goals with aplomb. The eight quarterfinalists have very good goalkeepers who have held their lines at the rear with panache. Their incredible saves from point-blank shots have helped to restore their mates’ confidence just as they stabilised the squads in the course of their last four games so far. Only Portugal has issues with a disrespectful but ageing Cristiano Ronaldo feeling larger than life but being made to understand that his superstar status is waning by  placing  him  on  the  bench on match  days.  A coach is as good as his last match hence a successful coach won’t flinch in replacing a tired player on the field with a better one. How the player is replaced can’t be the coach’s problem because the job needs to be done successfully.

Who is Goncalo Ramos? Portugal’s manager Fernando Santos deployed Ramos as Cristiano Ronaldo’s replacement against Switzerland and he responded by scoring a hat-trick in his first World Cup start against Switzerland.  Ramos is the first player to score a hat-trick on his first FIFA World Cup start since Miroslav Klose for Germany in 2002, according to Midas.

Santos dropped Ronaldo to the bench not minding his previous contributions to the team. It was a taboo of sorts, a year ago for anyone to imagine that Portugal could drop high profile star and captain of the side, Ronaldo, before a World Cup crucial game such as Switzerland. But Santos axed the country’s superstar against Switzerland, not minding whose ox is gored. It is sickening to note that Ronaldo abandoned his mates’ celebration for God knows where. It shouldn’t come as surprise to ardent followers of the beautiful game, not with his tantrums at Manchester United leading to his sack. Yes sacked, though couched in the termination letter to indicate by mutual understanding between Ronaldo and the club. Nonsense. Who is Ronaldo in the catalogue of great players that have played for the Red Devils?

According to agency reports: ”As a teenager, Ramos made his Benfica debut in July 2020 and scored twice in eight minutes as a second-half substitute. Later that year, he marshalled the Portuguese outfit to the final of the UEFA Youth League against Real Madrid, finishing the tournament with a runners-up medal and as joint-top scorer with eight goals.”

But the manager buckled to good sense when he introduced Ronaldo with the score line at 5-1 following the fans’ chants with the scores of the game at 4-1. Fans went wild when Ronaldo is brought off the bench after they had cheered his face when it was shown on screen pre-match and called for him to be introduced by chanting his name.

Ronaldo won’t understand the damage he is doing to his image rights until his numerous sponsors start withdrawing their deals with the hitherto superstar. Ronaldo’s silly acts reached their head on Wednesday when he refused to train with Portugal’s other substitutes. He forced himself on the playing group which clearly is an affront to the coach. Ronaldo was later pictured on the grass but in trainers and doing resistance-band work separately. It is understood the Portugal camp was ‘surprised’ not to see Ronaldo among the substitutes on the field, admitting that he did not feel any discomfort and was in perfect condition to train.

Portugal’s coach has shown that he is made of sterner stuff by cutting Ronaldo to size without making it a big deal. Of course there can only be one captain on board the ship. The coach has made the Portuguese side highly competitive such that Ronaldo now realises that he has to be humble if he wants to be part of the side to play in the finals of this year’s World Cup on December 18 in Qatar.

Ronaldo is still a great player. Nobody can take that from him. He has to learn how to manage his successes in the twilight of his career. Santos’ decision to drop the icon ended Ronaldo’s streak of 31 matches started at major tournaments.

Did Ronaldo threaten to leave Portugal’s camp? Portugal’s manager denied such a thought coming from his player while calling for a truce in the seeming impasse.

According to Santos: ”I had a conversation with Cristiano Ronaldo. We talked about the Portuguese team but the only conversation I had was before the match against Switzerland to tell him why he was going to be a substitute.

”I told him that he was not going to start in the Round of 16. He was not happy with the conversation, as is normal. But it was a normal conversation where everyone showed their point of view.

”When a player is captain of Portugal and starts on the bench, it’s normal for him not to be happy. When I told him that I wasn’t going to play as a starter, he asked me if it was a good idea.

”Of course he wasn’t happy. But I assure you that he never wanted to leave.”

Good luck Portugal! Be of good cheer, Ronaldo.

Please forgive me, dear reader, if I’m sounding like an alarmist. I should raise the alarm since it has become apparent that those who administer the beautiful game in this country are deaf, dumb and have eyes that cannot see that the world has left us in the trenches. Soon, Nigeria’s green-white-green flag won’t be hoisted among the polity of nations at the four-yearly soccer carnival -the senior World Cup – the platform to celebrate excellence, not mediocrity which is what the Super Eagles represent today.

A more responsive soccer federation would have reacted to the provocative de-marketing of the country’s football by Manchester United FC midfielder Bruno Fernandes with his very unkind words, though he spoke truth to how decadent the game is here. Fernandes pointed to the fact that Super Eagles weren’t competitive enough, clearly indicating the team’s technical crew’s inability to assemble good players in a country whose population is said to be over 200 million. In spite of this high figure, we still ‘steal’ into Europe to shop for talents whose ages can’t be contested to fill leaky positions in our national teams, including age-grade teams.

No country’s football grows at the senior level. Growth in any soccer side starts from the nursery which is situated at the grassroots. Nigeria’s case can be found in the 774 Local Government Areas in the country, only with proper organisation. Sadly, all manner of people including the federation’s chieftains have corrupted the nurseries such that youth clubs now loan players to professional teams in the country. Youth clubs owned by top federation chiefs dominate the country’s age-grade squads with the squad’s coaches filling the few spaces left with their mercantile choices. Isn’t this the reason we don’t know how much the domestic leagues are worth in the country despite the star trek to Europe of our youth who strives to eke a living from playing the game?

Back to the Portuguese friendly against the Super Eagles.  Fernandes in reacting to how poorly the Super Eagles played in a 4-0 loss to their World Cup-bound Portuguese counterparts in a friendly game played in Lisbon said: “Our match against Nigeria was not on the standard we wanted. Their level was not on a world-class required standard. So here in Qatar, we will face the World’s best. We wanted to play a tough national team, but all of them were already occupied. Nigeria was the only one available. They didn’t test us at all”.

Fernandes threw into the lagoon the fact that Super Eagles were handled by another Portuguese with damning words virtually tasked the NFF to dispense with Jose Peseiro’s services for training the Nigerian side to be a team was at the world-class level the Portuguese expected since they would be playing only against world-class countries. Fernandes argued further that Portugal wanted to play against a tougher opponent and thought they had found one in the Super Eagles, regrettably so in hindsight.

One only hopes that the NFF won’t be surprised if in the future they don’t find Grade A friendly games to play when they would have woken up from slumber since they have left Fernandes’ statement unchallenged. His disturbing quotes trended for over four days and one is almost sure that canvassers for friendly matches for the Eagles would be shown it repeatedly to underscore why a game against Nigeria won’t be worth their while.

The Eagles were picking up in the second half with the introduction of Samuel Chukwueze culminating in the penalty kick. It is apparent that Peseiro isn’t the type of coach to take the Eagles to their Eldorado if he has spoken about the banishment of Emmanuel from the team for ignoring pleas to allow the team’s captain Troost Ekong to take the kick since he is the team’s first choice penalty taker. What happened on that was a big shame and showed exactly the kind of coach Peseiro is. Other coaches would have immediately substituted Emmanuel as the first step to his banishment from the team. Nigerians recall how Clemens Westerhof benched Samson Siasia for refusing to pass the ball to a freer Rashidi Yekeni, of blessed memory in an away game between Cote d’Ivoire and Nigeria. Super Eagles lost the tie 2-1 but Siasia sweated before he could get his shirt back in the team. That Westerhof’s action served as a deterrent to anyone who sought to emulate him.

In fact, the critical question to ask the NFF’s technical committee is how Emmanuel found himself in the team after the harrowing experience he put the country into by virtually doing nothing to plead with his now-relegated Watford FC officials to allow him to play for Nigeria, whose team had been weakened by injuries to key players. Granted the NFF didn’t send Emmanuel’s letter of invitation early to Watford’s management, but Emmanuel would have shown patriotism by talking to his coach about his release. Not a few Nigerians prayed for the team’s demotion, though Emmanuel has now jumped ship to join Nottingham Forest in the elite class.

Emmanuel doesn’t look like a model player for the Super Eagles, going by the way he held on to the ball while VAR checks were being conducted was clear that he wanted to take the kick by fire and by force as they say in Nigeria. He is simply an unruly character.  Had Ekong converted the penalty kick, the outcome of the game would have been more respectful and saved Nigeria from Fernandes’ scathing remarks? I digress!

Qualifying for the Mundial since Nigeria recorded her debut appearance in 1994 in the United States has been a battle with Clemens Westerhoff’s relationship with the departed Vice President Augustus Aikhomu being the saving grace. Westerhof had unlimited access to the President and was given whatever he needed to sustain his rebuilding processes. Super Eagles until Westerhof came had become super chickens with jesters having a small comedy where a little child preferred staying with the Super Eagles than his mother for the simple fact that they don’t beat anyone.

Westerhof wasn’t a renowned coach but he knew what he wanted to achieve and went for it from his first assignment against Cameroon in 1989, dropping the big-headed boys. Nigeria lost 1-0, but the lessons learned were such that showed the calibre of players he invited to the team to fight for shirts. Westerhof took risks and wasn’t scared to field a rookie who had the attributes he needed to make the team members fight for their shirts.

Westerhof was the boss. Players knew it and dared not challenge his authority no matter such a player’s pedigree in the squad. Westerhof lived and visited match venues unannounced. He spotted good players in the domestic league and ensured he took them to Europe to hone their skills. Little wonder George Finidi played for Calabar Rovers the previous week only to star for Ajax Amsterdam the following weekend. Friday Elaho, Benedict Iroha, and Uche Okechukwu cut their professional teeth playing for Brondby FC courtesy of Westerhof. What those exported to European leagues rub off on how the team played. Everyone saw a team unfolding and they were eager to see it blossom which is what we saw from 1990 to 1996, though Westerhof never returned with the team after the World Cup in 1994.

Dream Team 1 which won the Atlanta’96 Olympic Games’ soccer gold medal had Westerhof’s signature written all over it. Our administrators who couldn’t stand Westerhof opted for Johannes Bonfrere who was a Lilliputian before Westerhof. Indeed, players who were in the 19996 team attested to Bonfrere’s tactical ineptitude insisting that in many matches leading to the gold medal conquest, they jettisoned the wiry Dutchman’s game plans.

Westerhof’s era would forever be the reference point of our football because he didn’t leave anyone in doubt over who called the shots in the team and his set goals and objectives. He set a benchmark in picking players known to everyone which he stuck to. A player would be exceptional for him to appear from the blues to make Westerhof’s team.  Sunday Oliseh was one of such star boys the Dutchman celebrated with glee. The apogee of our football was under Westerhof. Let’s revisit his templates and implement them. Let’s reconstitute the Super Eagles now, lest we miss out on the next World Cup.

Confessions from the mouths of most stakeholders about how they prayed for Nigeria not to qualify for the Qatar 2022 World Cup slated to begin from November 20 to December 18 simply because of someone’s inadequacies have left me gasping for breath. A few of these stonebreakers swore that Nigeria’s green-white-green flag won’t be hoisted among the comity of nations during the Qatar 2022 World Cup. The shameless ones among them took bets as if Nigeria’s absence at the Mundial would stop her from being a sovereign nation.

Some of them gloated about the impending calamity, for years, months and even before the last game against the Black Stars of Ghana inside the MKO Abiola Stadium in Abuja. Sadly, the majority of them were part of the system they claimed was rotten in the early years of the last administration. In fact, to stretch the argument further, the large mass of these latter-day crusaders against the prior board had served in previous boards, holding key positions, yet they couldn’t provide the structures for Nigeria’s qualification for the Mundial to be our birthright.

Who would miss the Super Eagles infamous for holding the country hostage over money at critical stages of the Mundial, especially if the country is just a game away from an epochal act? Let’s not revisit how the Eagles refused to obey Clemens Westerhof’s informed decision to change the abode of the players from their noisy hotel to a more serene accommodation before the game against Italy. This is a clear case of insubordination.

For Nigerians, our players can do no wrong. Rather than stand with Westerhof, our weary NFF chieftains and the Federal Government officials, humiliated the coach by asking the contingent to remain with the previous arrangement. He swallowed his pride and joined the recalcitrant players as directed by his employers. Need I remind Nigerians about what happened? The irony of Nigeria’s ouster from her maiden appearance at the World Cup in the USA was that Greece which Nigeria beat 3-0 in one of the group matches placed third at the end of the Mundial. Who says that the Super Eagles aren’t a pain in the ass? Nigeria lost the stem of growth for our football when we allowed our players to humiliate Westerhof in America. By that singular act, the Dutchman lost the dressing room he had a firm grip over. He knew it was time to go and never returned to the country with the team.

When our players win their first match at the Mundial, the beast in them comes to the fore. Funny ideas come into their minds, one of which was the pronouncement at France’s 98 World Cup that they should be paid $15,000 upfront before entering the pitch against Denmark in the second round. Where is that done? What would happen if they don’t win the game against the Danes? Would the players be honourable enough to refund the money? This didn’t cross their minds as they stuck to being paid $15,000 upfront. I wouldn’t know if indeed they were paid the money upfront.

Meantime, a top Nigerian newspaper had anticipated that Nigeria would beat Denmark and had projected a Nigeria victory. this reputable newspaper did a preview on the many sides of Nigeria versus Brazil, anchoring their preview on revenge for the Brazilians. Had the Eagles played to their potential, the newspaper would have swept the market clean and our football would have been better for it. Nigeria exited the France’98 World Cup in shame, losing to Denmark 4-1, after raising the hope of the world by beating Spain 3-2 in the opening game.

Where does this writer start the show of shame that characterised the Japan/Korea 2002 World Cup? What this writer would state here is that Nigeria’s trip to the senior World Cup suddenly became a battleground for the Sports ministry’s fight for needless supremacy which divided the team into groups that affected the team’s overall performance. The Sports Ministry chiefs and the NFF men use the World Cup platform to wash their dirty linen in public. I won’t discuss the Japan/Korea 2002 World Cup fiasco because two of the principal actors are dead. May their souls rest in peace, Amen.

The fallouts of the 2002 World Cup dogged the Eagles’ path as both the federation and its supervisory body ran against each other culminating in the fiasco in Kano. Nigeria was missing in Germany and many thought it was enough reason for things to change for the better. Not so, in the Sports Ministry cum NFF tussle such that the Eagles barely made it to the South Africa 2010 World Cup.  The reason Nigeria had one team was because of FIFA’s strict compliance in dealing with its affiliate federations. Otherwise, the government through the ministry would have fielded a team. It was that bad with the government having a Presidential  Task Force for the World Cup. What won’t you see in Nigeria? It didn’t matter if the world made us a laughing stock.

A striking line in Nigeria’s chaotic path to the World Cup has been a frequent change of guards in the team’s technical crew. Phillipe Troussier, the white witch doctor qualified Nigeria for the Mundial in France with two matches to spare. He was dropped for journeyman Bora Milutinovic. In 2010, it was Swede Lars Lagerback who led the Eagles through the Mundial in South Africa. Nigeria exited early in the second round, although those who held sway at the Glasshouse were dragged to face the law courts, with the trio being discharged and acquitted.  The late Taiwo Ogunjobi never recovered from this trauma, though he will tell you then that he played soccer in Kuje during Christmas. Rest in Peace Taiwo.

One would love to skip the embarrassment associated with the Brazil 2014 World Cup because some of the key actors have gone home to rest. And it isn’t good to speak ill of the dead. I wouldn’t have but I have chosen to let go since they wouldn’t be able to defend themselves. It should be stated here that it was a disgraceful scene in which the Super Eagles failed to train a day before the second-round game against star-studded France. Rather than train for the high-profile game, the players and officials spent the ungodly wee hours before the game sharing $3.8 million which was brought in from Nigeria to France to appease them. What was the hurry? Couldn’t they have waited until after the game to share the money? You tell me.

Many people celebrated the second-term feat achieved by the last NFF board’s President. They argued that it would be a departure from the past since they have led the Super Eagles through one World Cup cycle. Not so with matters concerning Nigeria. Rather things went from bad to the worst with the federation and the Sports ministry always at daggers drawn.

Some chroniclers of history argued that Nigeria would always miss out on one edition of the World Cup after going through three. Meaning the country made a debut appearance in 1994 and attended the France’98 World Cup and the Japan/Korea 2002 World Cup. The country missed the 2006 edition held in Germany. Nigeria returned to attend the World Cup again in 2010 in South Africa, Brazil 2014 World Cup and Russia in 2018, our third consecutive appearance at the World Cup. For these chroniclers of history rightly or wrongly, Nigeria was ‘destined’ to miss out on Qatar 2022 World Cup, following the trends. And it has come to pass. Hmmmmm!

I don’t belong to this historical school of thought. Rather, I would blame Nigeria’s troublesome World Cup appearances on our players’ attitude to the country’s assignments. If they handle these assignments with the same seriousness we see them while playing for their clubs, qualifying for the World Cup would always be piece of cake.

I’ve deliberately avoided talking about monies owed to players. How do other countries do theirs? Is it right to pay players cash for every game won, yet pay them World Cup appearance fees? You tell me, please.