The Nation Newspaper

Category: Ade Ojeikere

  • They have started again

    They have started again

    The air within sports circles in the country has been fouled. The stench emanating from the broken calabash is suffocating with stampede, arising from people clutching their nostrils while they search the surroundings for unpolluted areas for breath of fresh air. As people ran for cover, having inhaled a high dosage of unhygienic air, the recurring question has been, ‘who dun nit?’ NFF, NSC or the Federal Government? Is anyone surprised that Nigeria won’t be at the 2026 World Cup?

    Serious soccer bodies who would be at the competition began their preparations since the last edition four years ago. They only heightened their plans after grabbing the individual qualification tickets, including knowing who their group opponents are. In between these preparation periods, real title contenders have played highly competitive friendly games and have used several training sessions to correct flaws noticed in their teams before another friendly game. That is what is called planning, not what we have here – failure of leadership at the NFF and NSC. Not again.

    Those who sang, drank and backslapped each other howling at the top of their voices in Morocco mid-November, sneaked into the country in batches without the fanfare arising from grabbing the intercontinental playoffs’ ticket for the 2026 Mundial in the wee hours from Morocco. These hitherto experts of world soccer now snake their way around the country with sealed lips. In their characteristic style of buck passing,  their hitherto conference aimed at stealing the thunder from the NFF had Nigeria returned with the intercontinental ticket to fight for the remaining two slots for the 2026 World Cup, became a platform to mock Nigerians. So, they knew what to do for the good of the game here? Of what use would the solutions offer us when we won’t be at the Mundial? How do you discuss the 2026 World Cup in any form with the soccer federation chieftains absent? What struck one here is that the quest for the next set of NFF board members may have begun. But it should be stressed here that any soccer federation election without resort to the suggestions of the 10-year development plan for the game would be a façade.

    Are we not tired of organising a post mortem after each shambolic outing? What the game in Nigeria needs today is a complete departure from the past in terms of those to help find the proper template for the game to be beautiful here anytime it is being played. We are perhaps the only country in the world without a discerning pattern of play unique to us across genders and age cadres. And flaws come from the fact that we don’t have standardised soccer academies with qualified coaches, trainers, teachers of coaches and less self-serving administrators driven by the desire to change the face of soccer from its present ugliness.

    The dearth of credible soccer nurseries in the 774 Local Government Areas in the country is one of the reasons coaches employed in the country insult our sensibilities by inviting as many as 24 foreign-based players to our national teams. For instance, Super Eagles Head Coach, Eric Chelle has invited ten new players for the country’s AFCON preparations with only Sporting FC of Lagos’ goalkeeper, Ebenezer Harcourt as the known face sprouting from the domestic game here. Yet, our administrators at the federation and their supervisors expect the blue-chip companies, deep pockets and sports lovers to support the sports industry with their goods, cash and service. It won’t happen. No chance.

    The names being bandied include Anthony Dennis (Goztepe SK, Turkey), David Moses (Slavia Praque, Czech Republic), Chibuike Nwaiwu (Wolfsberger FC, Austria), Rafiu Durosinmi (Viktoria Plzen, Czech Republic), Dapo Afolayan (St. Pauli, Germany), Ryan Alebiosu (Blackburn Rovers, England), Tochukwu Nnadi (Zulte Waregem, Belgium), Onuche Ogbelu (Esperance, Tunisia), Tebo Franklin (Crvena zvezda, Serbia) and Ebenezer Harcourt (Sporting Lagos).

    The obvious question would be why we worry ourselves trying to run our domestic league matches around the country, if its products can’t be chosen to represent the country in big competitions such as the World Cup, AFCON, Olympic Games, CAF inter-club competitions e.t.c . All the catch-them-young programmes targeted at the youth in the grassroots are extinct. Our administrators aren’t worried. They have forgotten that these catch-them-young competitions serve as the package to document the data of participants which could be referenced in the coming years.

    Sadly, our nurseries have been hijacked by shylock agents who can’t be challenged since those who can, already have their hands soiled as players’ scouts or agents. In many cases, both. Kids who represent us in age-grade competitions in the 21st Century use sworn affidavits as attestation of their ages, not original birth certificates. The win at all costs mentality of our officials has made it impossible for us to right the wrongs of our sports.

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    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 some of 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 coaches filling the few spaces left with their mercantile choices. Isn’t this why we don’t know how much the domestic leagues are worth in the country despite the Star Trek to Europe of our youth who strive to earn a living from playing the game?

    We can’t be talking about growing talents at the nurseries without standardising the academies that abound in the country. The fraud committed by some disgruntled folks in the name of soccer academies can only be curtailed if the NFF through its state affiliates compel all such bodies to register with it. That way, the authorities can identify who the fraudster is if such allegations arise.

    The countries that excel in sporting events have systems that guarantee enough funds for the sportsmen and sportswomen to compete with the best, such as tax rebates on sport-friendly firms, lotteries, and businesses owned by wealthy nationals who know what is in such a sponsorship that benefits them by the sitting government. Such financial taxes are spelled out to companies and wealthy citizens after agreements have been reached. These cast-in-stone policies are binding to all the parties to such an extent that breaches are adequately addressed to allow either of the parties to seek redress in court.

    We have lost budding talents to mismanagement, even after the Federal Government had directed that past soccer federations nurture their future. Our administrators bask in the euphoria of being recognised in the world, leaving the game’s development in the lurch for shylock European scouts to exploit to the disadvantage of our young ones.

    Civilised countries develop their sports through the neighbourhood system where facilities are built to engage the youth and push them away from social vices. Nurseries serve as the bases for storing the data of those discovered. Such information helps to nurture and monitor the good ones to stardom. Besides, nurseries lay the foundation where the athletes are taught the rudiments of the game. It is at such factories that playing styles and patterns unique to such countries are evolving.

  • Dream is dead

    Dream is dead

    I’m not a seer. I don’t claim to be one either. I enjoy speaking the truth to constituted authorities no matter whose ox is gored. As a watchdog, which is what journalism professes, I strive to raise the alarm over impending problems early, especially those that stare us in the face like a sore thumb. My heart bleeds when mundane suggestions are being applied to problems which can be solved only if those in authority are eager to rationalise a bit on solutions offered by discerning people. I dare to be different.

    Here in Nigeria, we thrive on demonising the messenger, leaving the message and its content unattended to until they consume us. The death knel for the game here began in 1994, in the United States, when our players with the backing of our officials refused to leave the noisy hotel where we were camped for a more serene place  to train ahead of the second round tie against Italy. No prize for guessing right that the Azzurris beat us 2-1 to exit from our maiden appearance at the senior World Cup in the US.

    For all that Clemens Westerhof did to repackage the team to greater heights, he was humiliated by the boys he assembled, nurtured and exposed to global football. I knew back in the days that we were going to pay dearly for it. Sadly, it has come to pass. The World Cup holds again with the US co-hosting with Canada and Mexico with Nigeria’s flag not among those in the comity of World Cup nations to be hoisted in the three countries in 2026. Add Westerhof’s humiliation by those he made to the pain which Johannes Bonfrere experienced after he guided the country to the Atlanta1996 Olympic Games, winning the gold medal of the boys soccer competition, you will agree that what hit us in Morocco on November 16 was karma waiting to happen.

    For the records, the gold winning team returned to Nigeria without Bonfrere, who in tears with his whole body pink with rage boarding one of the KLM flights from Atlanta to Amsterdam – alone, all alone. I was at the airport live to witness this traumatic moment with the late Chris Eseka patting Bonfrere’s back to take heart. Yes, I reported this story for Thisday newspapers back in 1996.

    Super Eagles players became absolutely unruly choosing the coaches they wanted to play with and literally picking the players they wanted. Again, the 1998 World Cup was a fiasco, so much so that we had an injury laden assemblage of players who got selected not by their present form but by their pedigree in the game and for the team. It got so bad that holidaying players among them joined the team in Amsterdam after Holland annulated us in one of the friendly games before the Mundial.

    Renowned telecommunication giants intervened by sponsoring six wise men to interview coaches in London to pick the best as the next Super Eagles Technical Adviser for the 1998 World Campaign. This exercise was fruitful as it chose the white witch doctor, Frenchman Phillipe Troussier. Troussier introduced the 3-5-2 formation which sought to bring in new players to compete with the USA 1994 World Cup star and the Atlanta 1996 Olympic Games gold medallists. These spoilt brats ensured that Troussier was replaced in spite of the fact that Nigeria got the ticket with games to spare. In concert with a cantankerous top sports brass, they booted out Troussier with Nigeria going to the Mundial with half fit players.

    Point here is that our players found companionship with top sports brass in government to hijack the system. This systemic problem is one of the banes of our game. The White Witch Doctor returned the following year to guide Japan U-20 boys to win the silver medal after losing 2-0 to Spain at the 1999 FIFA U-20 competition hosted in Nigeria. I won’t forget to add the late Shuiabu Amodu who qualified the nation twice (2002 and 2010) for the World Cup but was dropped for reasons best  known to those who took the decision.

    For this writer, Eric Chelle should be paid off because he is a mono track coach as evident in the second half of the game against D.R Congo. The coach watched in awe as the Congolese tossed the ball around the pitch with no counter tactic to stop them. You could see from the way the Congolese played that they had practised for the penalty kicks by bringing their substitute goalkeeper who shone like a thousand stars, stopping Nigeria’s first two kicks and the last one taken by Semi Ajayi, much to the consternation of the Nigerian coaching crew. Many had thought that Chelle would have introduce William Troost Ekong for the penalty shoot-out. He didn’t but chose to chase the juju carrying official.

    Chelle made the subject for his removal tenable by being concerned with the sprinkling of water by one of the Congolese officials each time our players were going to take a penalty kick.

    “During all the penalties, the guy of Congo did some voodoo every time, every time, every time,” Eric Chelle told ESPN Africa, while demonstrating the action by raising an arm.“This is why I was nervous and went after him.”

    What a shame! I reckoned it was part of the Congolese mind games. After all some of our players scored theirs, even with the official sprinkling water. Those saying it is too close to ease off Chelle on grounds of the forthcoming AFCON starting from December 21 are poor students of history.

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    Yes, the internet never forgets. It revealed that: ” Brazil used four different coaches during the entire campaign (qualifying and the final tournament) for the 2002 World Cup.

    ”The coaches were: Vanderlei Luxemburgo (coached the first 8 qualifying games). Candinho (coached for a single match). Émerson Leão (coached for 3 games).

    ‘’Luiz Felipe Scolari (took over for the final 6 qualifying matches and led the team through the World Cup final tournament, which they won). Luiz Felipe Scolari was the sole coach during the final tournament in South Korea and Japan, where Brazil won all seven of their matches to lift the trophy.”

    Howzat Sir, as we appeal in cricket. Indeed, England gave German coach Tomas Tuchel the Three Lions’ job very close to their qualifiers.  Tuchel has guided them to eight victories on the trot without conceding a goal in eight matches. Need I waste space to list out Tuchel’s coaching exploits? Football’s greatest nation, Brazil have chosen an Italian manager Carlo Ancelotti as their coach to the 2026 World Cup. Here in Nigeria a few arm chair analysts disturb our ear drums with cheap talk that no foreigner has won the World Cup. True, who says it won’t be broken soonest? Yet these people have their kids schools everywhere overseas but in Nigeria.

    Super Eagles’ major problem is with coaching arising from poor selection of players. Until we jettison our penchant for players with experience for those doing well on current form, we will always rue our losses. We need to dust up the 10-year master plan drawn by the former Sports Minister Sunday Dare and implement it to the letter. That way, we would have provided the platforms for any Nigerian interested in being in the NFF. Not this dubious pattern where the 36 States and the FCT’s chairmen having the voting advantage to install one of their own into the board.

    The government should direct that funds approved for the NFF are paid directly to the federation’s account. If there are allegations of misapplication of cash, then the EFCC and ICPC officials cab be directed to do their jobs.

    One would have asked the NFF to reveal how much they paid to prosecute this failed dream? A staggering figure which could also have been used to recruit a top level functional manager like England and Brazil have done? Both managers were club coaches making their World Cup debuts in 2026.

  • Wake up Super Eagles!

    Wake up Super Eagles!

    Most of us think that participating at the four-yearly fiesta for the biggest and enthralling games is a tea party. Aside, many others feel strongly that playing at the Mundial was as simple as buying a lottery ticket from the shop. In fact, there is a dismissive tendency of thinking that all that we need to be part of the comity of nations at every Mundial is just walk up to FIFA headquarters in Zurich to say ”We are Nigerians,” and we would be handed the qualification ticket without stress. No plan.

    The sports administrators’ approach to Nigeria’s participation at the Mundial is such that you would think the competition is our birthright. It doesn’t matter how well the real contenders prepare. Getting the cherished ticket should define the growth of the  game at the domestic front for the next four years.

    In plotting our illusory chart for the World Cup ticket, we rely on God’s divine favours, as if other nations don’t believe in ”Our Father who art in Heaven, Halloweth be thy name…”.  We forget the biblical phrase of Heaven helping those who help themselves first. Truth be told, we allow our emotions to rule our thought processes, leaving us in the lurch groping over how we missed it. We leave it late and expect to qualify by the snap of our fingers. Pray, when will we learn? Other 211 countries don’t have the right to dream about playing at the senior World Cup? No, only Nigeria. Indeed.

    Until the government starts disbursing funds to run the game here directly to the NFF, the show of shame where players demand for their entitlements in foreign lands will continue unabated. It amounts to good governance when each level does its job without overlaps. It is ethically wrong for the supervisory body to do the disbursement of funds which pass through them. The supervisor must learn how to discharge his functions and allow others to do theirs.

    Otherwise, how do you explain the trip to Rabat by the hierarchy of the supervisory body taking foreign currencies to the team 24 hours to a crucial competition after telling the world they had given the soccer federation all that they asked for to prosecute the World Cup playoffs for the African continents.

    Of course, the supervisory body’s penchant for holiness is laughable because till date we don’t know the correct medals’ table to capture what happened at the last National Sports Festival held in Abeokuta, Ogun State. No one holds the supervisors accountable publicly, but through laid down procedures. A situation where the supervisor becomes the servant says a lot even when both bodies have accounting experts deployed to handle such an exercise.

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    Perhaps, the government should in the future get the finance ministry officials to handle the NFF’s financial transactions except those from FIFA which the international body knows how to detect excesses and abuses including misapplication of their cash.

    Taking the cash to Rabat meant that the supervisory body didn’t do its job to ensure that things were done tidily instead of the disgraceful resort to self help by the players, coaches and team officials. The impression being created when there are strikes is that the soccer body is incompetent. It always turns out to be the failure of leadership by the supervisor.

    One world has suggested that the Federal Government should constitute a World Cup Task Force to handle the country’s campaign. But previous ones had their members overreaching their briefs, leading to crises of shameful dimensions. The soccer federation should be given their funds directly, with the EFCC and the ICPC officials tasked to look into the federation’s books to identify misapplication of funds, and those found culpable made to face the full wrath of the laws.

    Certainly, the obvious question would be how do the other countries handle their qualification plans without problems? Do these countries agree with the players, coaches and team officials on the mode of payment which could be handled directly by the finance ministry by transferring cash directly into their respective accounts after due diligence has been done? The bigger picture could be for the government to release cash to the NFF, with the finance ministry officials doing the disbursement after vetting the payment vouchers. This idea of bringing odium to the country must stop. The supervisory body must be told in strict terms not to disburse cash to the players, coaches and team officials as if they are labourers. After all, they play for clubs who remit their entitlements to them seamlessly through their bank details. A stitch in time saves nine.

    Watching the game on Thursday night showed that the players must begin to take the reporting date to camp seriously. Practice sessions mustn’t be tampered with on the altar of flight difficulties. Most of the players ply their trades in European countries where airlines have schedules to different parts of the world. Bookings for such flight schedules can be done at individuals’ discretion.

    Victor Osimhen needed the first half of woeful misses in front of goal to regain his goal-scoring sharpness in the second half, culminating in his brace which sank the Gabonese. Again, Osimhen is too exposed as a professional to know that it is awful to take off one’s shirt in celebration after scoring a goal. Besides, our players must be punished over needless yellow cards. Frank Onyeka ought to have known that retaliation is a punishable offence which in most cases translates to such players being shown a straight red card which could have affected the team’s performance. The Eagles must now play against D.R Congo without Wilfred Ndidi who was shown a yellow card in the sixth minute in Thursday’s match, making it his second yellow card in the competition.

    Coach Eric Chelle goofed when he removed Nigeria’s goal scorer Akor Adams. One has been trying to process the reason for the change. Dear Chelle, Super Eagles have been conceding late goals. Please fix the problems. At senior World Cups, games are won from the bench through informed substitutions which rub off on the game almost immediately. In the likely event that Nigeria gets one of the two playoffs’ tickets, the NFF and their cantankerous supervisors should ensure that Chelle attends good coaching refresher courses to update his knowledge about the modern tricks of the game which is dynamic.

    In a post-match statement by the president’s Special Adviser on Communication and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, on Thursday night via a tweet, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu described the performance as a clear expression of the Nigerian character that rises, adapts, and prevails.

    “This is the true Nigerian spirit of resilience against all odds. Do not stop until you secure a qualification. Super Eagles, keep soaring. The nation stands with you,” the president said.

    Chelle’s post-match comments raise hope when he said: ”I am very proud of these guys, because every time they are focused on what I ask them to do and they do what I want. They always show what I want from them, and they can prove why I believe in them.”

    “The difference in this game was the passion these guys had. They had focus, kept the ball together and held the same thinking. We are happy, but we can’t celebrate just yet. Maybe after the second game, we can smile.”

  • 2030, too far for Osimhen

    2030, too far for Osimhen

    I love my country, Nigeria. I love being called a Nigerian. Forget about all the seeming negatives about the Country. I will remain here and exit this world a happy man. But the few times I’ve had to do a little rethink was on how badly our soccer teams play in spite of the huge talents we parade seasonally. Then where is the problem with our soccer rooted? Simply. Every succeeding soccer federation seems worse than their predecessors and it is very unfortunate.

    Ordinarily, we ought to have been talking about a talent that Nigeria would be unleashing to the world full blown after being exposed as a member of the Golden Eaglets at the 2015 FIFA U-17 World Cup, which Nigeria won. The world would be standing still waiting for Victor Patrick Osimhen in the country’s green-white-green jersey with applause.  It is important to note here that Osimhen won the competition’s Golden Boot award. He made his senior international debut in June 2017, and played at the Africa Cup of Nations in 2019 and 2023, reaching the final of the latter competition.

    Indeed, on Wednesday, Osimhen scored a hat-trick in 19 minutes against revered Ajax FC in Amsterdam  which earned Galatasaray a 3-0 victory, their third consecutive UEFA Champions League win this season. Galatasaray last recorded his feat during the 2012/2013 season. No prize for guessing right that the Nigerian was given the Man of the Match diadem, not for the first time this season.

    With the feat on Wednesday, Osimhen became the Nigeria with the highest number of goals in European competitions with 25 goals, surpassing Obafemi Martins’ hitherto 22 goals record. On 29 May 2023, Osimhen was made a Member of the Federal Republic of Nigeria by the late President Muhammadu Buhari in Abuja.

    Osimhen said in a post-match comment on Wednesday night: “I’m also very happy about the goals, of course, but I’d like to thank my teammates again.

    “We’re going to put it on top of that pace.’’

    ”We’ll continue to build on this momentum. I believe we’ll be very happy at the end of the Champions League campaign, and we’ll  continue to work on that.”

    Asked about the possibility of winning the Golden Boot, Osimhen said he believes it’s achievable with the help of his teammates.

    “Of course, I think I have the quality to do so, but I do it with the support of my teammates. They love giving me the ball, just like they did today,” he said.

    “It’s a team effort, and I believe that with my teammates and their support, such a possibility is definitely possible. I will fight for it.”

    Osimhen is currently the top scorer in the UEFA Champions League this season with six goals. The 26-year-old scored his first UCL hat-trick as Galatasaray beat Ajax 3-0 on Wednesday night. Osimhen becomes the second Nigerian to score a UCL hat trick, and is currently Nigeria’s all-time top scorer in the competition.

    Osimhen’s records are intimidating, making him the future world  soccer if he keeps his form playing for both his European club and the country, in this case, Nigeria. But, the snag would be with playing for Nigeria at the 2026 World Cup to be co-hosted by Mexico, Canada and the United States (US).

    Rather than rue the miss by direct qualification for the 2026 World Cup in Group C which Lesotho, Zimbabwe, Republic of Benin, Rwanda, South Africa and Nigeria, the NSC’s and NFF’s chieftains are celebrating the fickle synergy between them. Pity! What they don’t understand is that there won’t be any form of permutations beginning with the African zone’s playoff where the Super Eagles must win her two matches, first against high scoring Gabon on November 13,  and the winner of the cracker between DR Congo and the Indomitable Lions of Cameroon to qualify for the Intercontinental playoffs in March 2026.

    Already, the Confederation of Africa (CAF) officials have informed Nigeria, Cameroon, DR Congo and Gabon that the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) machine would be used to adjudicate in controversial incidents during matches. Recall that the African continent didn’t use the VAR machines in all its 2026 World Cup qualifiers.

    According to agency reports: ”The introduction of VAR for the playoffs could be a game-changer for Nigeria. It means that every single situation will be scrutinised.

    ”For example, if there was VAR, Calvin Bassey’s goal for Nigeria against South Africa in the return leg would have been cancelled for handball.

    ‘On the other hand, Nigeria have been on the receiving end of some terrible tackles in recent months. Case in point was the situation that got Osimhen injured against Rwanda in August. There could have been a red card in that situation, but the referee did not call it back.

    ‘’The Super Eagles will be hoping that the introduction of VAR favours them in Morocco.”

    It would be a travesty if Osimhen watches the 2026 World Cup as a spectator and not one of the players of the competition playing for Nigeria.

    The playoffs would be very tough laced with high wired politics, especially if some established countries fall back into the intercontinental zone of the playoffs. My heart freezes over the likelihood of Italy requiring the playoffs to qualify for the 2026 World Cup. That will be the day.

    Sadly, Nigeria has fixed her resumption date for November 10 in Morocco with the Super Eagles Head Coach talking about the presence of new boys to strengthen his squad. He is the coach but many people are of the view that he ought to have known those he saw from previous camping periods to pick replacements from instead of inviting new kids who may not have visited the country. They consider these kind of players as luxuries, except Chelle is tacitly telling Nigerians that he is preparing for the next edition of the Africa Cup of Nations holding in December in Morocco.

    Chelle has a supporter in the team’s first team goalkeeper, Stanley Nwabali who is already talking about Nigeria lifting the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations diadem in Morocco in December. Call this part of the mind games for the 2026 World Cup ticket chase by Nwabali and Chelle, you could be right. After all it is good to aspire for greatness. But why do we like releasing our team lists after others have done theirs? Gabon released theirs on Thursday.

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    Leading the Gabonese25-man team is captain Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, who will spearhead the attack alongside Denis Bouanga, the in-form striker who has scored eight goals in the qualifiers. Midfield general Mario Lemina also makes the list, reinforcing Gabon’s spine with his leadership and tactical intelligence.

    Aubameyang and Bouanga have formed a lethal partnership throughout the campaign, combining for 15 goals that have taken the Panthers to the brink of a maiden World Cup appearance.

    Coach Mouyouma expressed confidence in his team’s readiness, highlighting the careful balance of experience and youthful enthusiasm in the squad.

    “This is a defining moment for Gabonese football,” Mouyouma said. “Our players understand the magnitude of this opportunity, and we are going to Rabat with full determination to make history.”

    Interestingly, the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has formally lodged a complaint with FIFA over what it describes as “a clear conflict of interest” in the appointment of South African and Benin Republic officials to handle Nigeria’s crucial 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifying play-off against Gabon.

    According to the appointment list signed by Gordon Savic, FIFA’s Head of Qualifiers & International Matches, South Africa’s Abongile Tom will officiate as the centre referee, assisted by compatriot Zakhele Thusi Granville Siwela, who will serve as Assistant Referee 2.

     Another South African, Akhona Zennith Makalima, has been named head of the two-person Video Assistant Referee (VAR) team.

    The politics of the playoffs have begun with the choice of match officials. It remains to be seen if the NFF can stand on their feet to make sure there is always a level playing field in the playoffs.

  • Killing Nigeria Pro-League slowly

    Killing Nigeria Pro-League slowly

    The Nigeria professional league would continue to be a hard sell to the private sector with the way our federation chieftains relegate the budding talents that abound the 774 Local Government Areas (LGAs) in the country. I have spent the past six days reading the interview the wing gazelle of yore,  Mathematical Olusegun Odegbami had with the incumbent Super Eagles Head Coach, Eric Chelle. Chelle informed us that he monitors 80 players weekly from an unknown location resulting in the bogus 500 players list which he has. No wonder the team totters during matches without the fully home grown talisman, Victor Osimhen.

    We have lost budding talents to mismanagement, even after the Federal Government had directed that past soccer federations nurture their future. Our administrators bask in the euphoria of being recognised in the world, leaving the game’s development in the lurch for shylock European scouts to exploit to the disadvantage of our young ones.

    It should worry the current NFF executive committee members that no Nigerian club has won a continental trophy in their three years reign. Are the members waiting for the time when state governors would decline to sponsor their clubs because of their ill-preparedness? The way things are going, a year would come where there would be winners but no sponsors, with our opponents coming to Nigeria to walk over our teams. It may seem unthinkable now, but it would happen if we continue to allow foreign coaches in the Super Eagles relegate products of the domestic leagues.

    Civilised countries develop their sports through the neighbourhood system where facilities are built to engage the youth and push them away from social vices. Nurseries serve as the bases for storing the data of those discovered. Such information helps to nurture and monitor the good ones to stardom. Besides, nurseries lay the foundation where the athletes are taught the rudiments of the game. It is at such factories that playing styles and patterns unique to such countries evolve.

    One would have thought that a breakdown of the 80-member and 500 players would have shown the trajectory of his choices beyond the revelation that Chelle also deploys his assistants in the monitoring. My view is that Chelle’s claim of working his assistants is far-fetched, going by the visuals we see on television where his Nigerian assistants sit on the bench like the team’s substitutes. Having handled the Eagles and CHAN sides through competitions, one would have thought that Chelle’s monitoring ought to have been targeted at plugging the loopholes in the squad, not to begin other trials.

    For instance, Fredericks has shown that his favourite position is in the centre back. He should be allowed to master his acts than being deployed through the entire defensive positions to hold forte for absentee or injured mates. The grand rule in picking squads is to have at least two equally likely players per position. The versatile ones such as Frederick serve as bonuses, just as they give the coach the leverage to invite younger players to camp to train with the big boys.

    If one must be frank with Chelle, he still needs another better and faster central defender than Calvin Bassey who is more of brawn than brain in his game. A clever player such as Nwankwo Kanu in his playing days would have mesmerised and dragged Bassey on the turf with his deft dribbling. I feel strongly that Bassey will function better as a left wing back because he is too tall as a central defender. It would have been better if Bassey leaps well to compensate for his height when contesting aerial balls.

    Let me use this opportunity to caution Chelle and his backers at the NFF to be wary of flooding the Super Eagles with Nigeria-born players, otherwise they would soon infringe on the rules of eligibility which will haunt us now or in the future. It hurts watching most of the Super Eagles players unable to recite our national anthem on match days. The reverse is the case with our opponents who sing theirs lustfully to show that they understand the meaning of what they sang and leap into the air punching and holding themselves warmly. One always cringes when our opponents celebrate their national anthems.

    My angst increased listening to the bland arguments that Chelle should be allowed to pick our best players even if it means the coach going to the moon to bring them into the team. What this simply means is that we should shut down our domestic league so that the boys, especially the good ones can change their nationality to qualify to play for new countries of their choices? Again, what is the essence of playing domestic football across genders if those on the streets, schools, academies and the neighbourhoods cannot showcase their talents because they don’t live in Europe? After all, most of Super Falcons’ players started their game here, although our football federation members are gradually ‘corrupting’ the female teams with Nigeria-born girls. Pity.

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    The domestic league would be clinically brain dead if fans can’t be assured that those layers they watch weekly end up playing for our national teams because the NFF and the NSC chieftains are fixated on quick fixes. Planning for successes is alien to them.

    The NSC and NFF chiefs must be reminded that football is the game for children of the poor. Who are the parents of our footballers? The hewers of wood and the drawers of waters in the hinterlands? Their kids use their innate skills to play for Nigeria and invariably change the narratives of their families for life. Which one of these so called sports administrators has his kids playing football for a living? Yet, they sit in matches moping as foreign coaches parade boys and girls who don’t live here under the guise of strengthening our national teams? Foul. It won’t happen. We can’t snatch the game from the poor idle kids on the streets on the altar of ensuring that Nigeria’s flag is hoisted among the comity of nations at the World Cup.

    It is one of the reasons why Nigeria is a big for nothing nation in soccer where only one stadium (the Nest of Champions in Uyo) was accepted by FIFA to host their matches. The lack of sporting infrastructure is also another reason our domestic league representatives are all but one team, Rivers United of Port Harcourt, out of CAF’s inter-club competitions. They all played their matches out of their original home venues. Rivers United play theirs in Uyo for the records.

    Yes, I was shocked to the marrow reading Odegbami’s total condemnation of our local players and coaches. What has happened to the argument that no country that parades a foreigner as coach has ever won the senior World Cup?

    Great football nations such as England would be at the 20026 World Cup with a German manager Thomas Tuchel whilst the Kings of world football Brazil would have an Italian manager Carlos Ancelotti barking out instructions from the Brazilian bench to the Samba Boyz at the 2026 World Cup to be co-hosted by Mexico, Canada and the United States (US). Ancelotti, for the records was born on June 10, 1959 in Reggiolo, Reggio Emilia, Emilia-Romagna, Italy. He is an actor, known for The World of Don Camillo (1984), L’allenatore nel pallone 2 (2008) and LaLiga (1929). He has been married to Mariann Barrena since July 2014. He was previously married to Luisa Gibellini.

  • Beyond the limits

    Beyond the limits

    I’ve never met billionaire sports entrepreneur Soname face-to-face for any reason. But I’ve followed his antecedents in sports business with bated breath to see if he can be trusted. Yes, my discreet submission on Soname is that he is an honest businessman who doesn’t punch above his weight. I was bowled over by the fact that he owned a club in Portugal and was deeply involved in the business of football at the nursery level. I probed further and realised that he wasn’t in the nursery business to pluck flowers. He chose to build structures which created the platform to discover, nurture and expose the budding talents that litter the streets in the 774 Local Government Areas (LGAs) in the country.

    It isn’t ease to run soccer business in an environment like ours where the administrators run the game by their hunches. The game needs proactive businessmen and women such as Soname to look at the game from the prism of giving back to the community where he has chosen to make his abode. Who won’t choose the community of his birth like Soname has done. Indeed, the tiny Remo land has international acclaim each time Remo FC plays a game either within the country or as our soccer ambassadors. But what thrills me the most is that analysts can at least say that Beyond Limits FC is the genuine nursery of Remo FC both in theoretical terms and practical terms.

    The difference between Remo Stars and Beyond the Limits FC is that the owner, Soname faces the latter with all the trappings of any thriving business concern, leaving Remo Stars FC as the platform to give back to society – create a means of getting young Nigerians and the older active ones to earn a living, which is sacrosanct. But there appears to be a growing conflict between Remo Stars and Beyond the Limits FC which only Soname can resolve.

    If I were in Soname’s shoes, I will shop for either a credible buyer(s) for Remo Stars or get a business-minded management committee of sports loving people to run it as a thriving concern while I sit back with the Beyond Limits cradle which already has international acclaim in Portugal. If I were Soname, I will get Remo Stars very good Portuguese coaches who would also function as trainers of our domestic league clubs during the off seasons. If I were Soname, I will recruit Barrister Amobi as the CEO of Remo Stars with one resolve – win the CAF Champions League diadem in 2030. I will suggest, dear Soname, the recruitment of Toyin Ibitoye to work with Ameobi to rebrand Remo Stars. I would have suggested Davidson Owumi but he is with NPFL as the C.O.O. We need a few teams to serve as models for other Nigerian clubs to emulate, if we truly want the game to be a beauty to watch across league venues weekly.

    I’ve chosen to write about Remo Stars and Beyond the Limits FC  because of the unacceptable 5-1 drubbing Remo suffered in the hands of Mamelodi Sundowns FC of South Africa, which has caused uproar among the uniformed. Truth be told, Mamelodi Sundowns and Remo Stars are no mates. Only two weeks ago, the South African side spent $1 million in the transfer of a player. How many Nigerian sides can do that? Certainly not with a shrewd business mogul as Soname who can trade one exceptional good kid from his academy for six or more times that one million dollars.

    Nigeria’s champions in the league shouldn’t be beaten 5-1 and we want people to just sigh over it or rein curses. I would rather proffer solutions without trying to curry anyone’s favour. I like the way Rivers United FC of Port Harcourt is been run.

    However, I was taken aback by Soname’s claim about the Nigerian economy. I ask the proprietor if his club is quoted on the Nigerian Stock Exchange? Or is that task also burdened by the country’s economy, Sir? Has the proprietor bothered to find out what European clubs in football crazy nations contribute to their respective country’s economy? They took a plunge into the money spinner that the game is based on well thought out plans. For these clubs, it wasn’t a case of guesswork. Clubs in Europe didn’t wait on their federations’ promptings to seize the bull by its horns. The private sector talk in Nigeria is cheap. The Americans own clubs all over Europe.

    According to agency reports: ‘’In the 2023/24 season, the Premier League generated a record £6.35 billion in revenue, contributing to England’s economy through job creation, significant tax contributions, and substantial investment in the football pyramid, according to reports from theesk.org and the Premier League. This record turnover was driven primarily by rising commercial and matchday income, with commercial revenue surpassing £2 billion for the first time. This financial success allows for reinvestment, supports grassroots football, and maintains the league’s global competitiveness.”

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    ‘’In the 2023/24 season, La Liga’s standardised revenue exceeded €5 billion, a record high that signifies a strong post-pandemic recovery and a significant boost to Spain’s economy. This revenue growth was driven by record stadium attendance, strong commercial income from new sponsorships, and broadcast revenue. The increased financial performance contributes to the sustainability of the Spanish football ecosystem through club investment, but also saw the league’s net debt rise, largely due to long-term financing deals.”

    The story is almost the same in other European nations; growth in soccer.

    When in 1990 some respected Nigerian soccer administrators conceptualised the Nigeria Professional League body, they were responding to the new trends in the beautiful game in other climes. These men couldn’t stomach the mediocrity associated with the Nigerian game. They wanted a departure from the tardy past to embrace the new dawn where very good players could earn a living outside the country. The wise men foresaw the future where with a new mentality to matches, the country could one day play at the senior World Cup.

    The quasi-professional league witnessed a lot of improvement, except that the ownership structures didn’t quite change, with most of the teams owned by the government. The few private clubs (Leventis United FC of Ibadan, Abiola Babes FC of Abeokuta, New Nigeria Bank FC of Benin City, Flash Flamingoes FC of Benin City, Julius Berger FC of Lagos, Iwuanyanwu Nationale FC of Owerri, etc) left their marks, although they were eventually emasculated by the government teams which had tremendous cash which their administrators used to corrupt the system. The thought of having four teams in Benin City didn’t excite the fans as much having only their darling team in the elite class. The private clubs’ owners soon dropped their sponsorship initiatives when they couldn’t cope with the malfeasances of the league.

    The conspiracy against the privately-owned teams brought back the sharp practices of the competition, leading to the dearth of new talents. These private clubs couldn’t enjoy the support of the fans in those cities where the state-owned teams operated. Leventis had to manage its relationship with the Ibadan fans. Flash Flamingoes FC went through hell playing inside the Samuel Osaigbovo Ogbemudia Stadium in Benin. The fans’ favourite was Bendel Insurance FC. The defunct New Nigeria Bank FC had a similar problem of acceptance. In fact, games involving these teams and their traditional local rivals threatened public peace, as the security operatives had to be at their best for peace to reign before, during, and after matches. In one of such needless skirmishes, Bendel Insurance FC’s chairman, the late Major Ojo lost his life in a car crash very close to the stadium while trying to rescue the match referees from being lynched by irate fans. Gallant soldier, if you ask me. May his soul continue to rest in peace.

  • Tortuous path to glory

    Tortuous path to glory

    There is sufficient celebration in the land. The country is in a frenzy with everyone offering tips on how the hitherto soulless Super Eagles can play at the 2026 World Cup to be co-hosted by Mexico, Canada and the United States (US). Yes, talk is cheap; hence there is the urgent need to remind the NFF chieftains and their supervisors at the NSC that the time to tell us their plans is now, especially when the playoffs for the African continent to produce a sole winner from among Nigeria, Gabon, Congo DR and Cameroun is November 18, in Morocco.

    Our soccer chiefs and their supervisors must stop their backslapping, walking majestically like overfed peacocks and pumping of their chests simply because Nigeria beat Republic of Benin 4-0. Given our players’ talent and pedigree in the game, thumbing Benin with goals should be a stroll in the park with good coaching. It is the administrative tardiness of the NFF and the NSC that has kept us in this tortuous path to glory.

    It hurts to note that there is the probability that the Eagles would be beaten groggy if any good team can cage Victor Osimhen. Osimhen’s goals are made out of half chances and good positioning. I’m not too sacred of Gabon, Cameroon and DR Congo. My fears stem from the nations that the Eagles would face at the intercontinental level who have tested and technically efficient players.

    Pray, Osimhen is an internationally acclaimed striker, which means that he would be policed through fair and foul means by opponents, starting with the November 13 teaser against Gabon in one of the CAF playoffs, the other game being between Cameroon and DR Congo. Osimhen’s contributions to the Eagles are such that it is clear to the opposition that to beat Nigeria, Osimhen must be taken out of the game completely; the way the Italians stylishly took out Daniel Amokachi and Emmanuel Amunike, thus making our dreaded USA’94 World Cup team otiose.

    Already, Osimhen wears a face mask and Europeans at the intercontinental level would throw their elbows high enough to scratch Osimhen’s face. How the Nigerian would react to such crunchy tackles would go a long way to determine how well the Eagles would play thereafter.

    In fact, Eagles manager Eric Chelle should find how he can speak to Osimhen to be of good conduct on and off the pitch, otherwise teams would deliberately provoke him to earn a red card for retaliation. And Nigeria’s quest for another World Cup appearance would have been blown away. Osimhen’s treble had his trademark of latching on to good passes and rising higher above his markers to bury crosses inside the net. It should be on everyone’s mind that there are two matches to be played in the Four-Team CAF Playoff Tournament for the 2026 FIFA World Cup finals. Perhaps, Chelle needs to either bench Stanley Nwabali or speak with the goalkeeper daily in camp; Nigeria would soon be red-carded over his outlandish behaviour during matches. I almost laughed my heart out watching Osimhen plead with Nwabali to relax over a post-match brush with a Benin player. It was a good sight. One only hopes Nwabali can also plead with Osimhen, I digress!

    The winner in Morocco will proceed to the Six-Team Intercontinental Playoff, scheduled for the Mexican cities of Guadalaja and Monterrey in March next year, where two teams will emerge and qualify for the finals in USA, Canada and Mexico.

    The winner from the African playoff will be joined by Bolivia, New Caledonia and two teams from Central America, and one from Asia. Not a piece of cake fixtures.

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    Two teams from Concacaf and one team apiece from the AFC, CAF, CONMEBOL and OFC will meet in March 2026 to decide the final two qualifiers for World Cup 26. The FIFA Play-off Tournament will see six sides fight it out for the final two places at the FIFA World Cup 26 in Canada, Mexico and the United States.

    The matches will take place during the international fixture window which runs from 23 – 31 March.

    In the CAF Play-offs, Nigeria will take on Gabon’s Palancas Negras in a ‘first semi-final’ on Thursday, 13th November, with Cameroon taking on the Democratic Republic of Congo in the ‘second semi-final’ on Friday, 14th November. The two winners clash on Sunday, 16th November in the ‘final’, with the winner to proceed to the Intercontinental Play-offs scheduled for the Mexican cities of Guadalajara and Monterrey in March next year.

    From the six teams who qualify, the four lowest-ranked nations in the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking will meet in bracket semi-finals. The two highest-ranked teams will go directly into the finals. The winners of the two bracket finals will reach the FIFA World Cup 26. Tortuous path to glory for Nigeria. Do we have the players to clinch one of the two tickets at the intercontinental series? This writer’s response would be ‘if Osimhen would be fit and free of any form of competition injury. Otherwise, it is worrisome to accept the match fact that the team cannot win games without Osimhen.

    Besides, the NFF and NSC eggheads may have forgotten that qualifying  for the World Cup and doing well in the competition progresses attract huge sums of money which could make a debt-ridden NFF to become solvent or at the least settle a lot of their verifiable debts.  Obviously, one would have thought that the NFF would have learned a lot from not participating at the Qatar 2022 World Cup to prepare properly for next year’s edition to be co-hosted by Mexico, Canada and the United States (US). Not so, here. Grouped with South Africa, Republic of Benin, Zimbabwe, Rwanda and Lesotho, Nigeria required a breathtaking performance on the last day of the qualifiers to grab one of the CAF playoffs’ spots.

    According to FIFA, each victory in the World Cup playoffs is valued at $1.938 million, while a draw attracts $1.008 million.

    The Super Eagles ended the country’s campaign with five wins, four draws, and one loss, placing them among the top-performing teams on the continent.

    In addition, FIFA confirmed that every African nation that qualifies for the 2026 World Cup will receive a massive $9.6 million participation bonus.

    If Super Eagles win all of the country’s four matches in the playoffs (two in Africa World Cup Playoffs in Morocco and another two games in the FIFA Intercontinental playoff in Mexico in March 2026), the NFF will pocket the total sum of $9,607,320 an equivalent of N14,118,341,032.

    Aren’t these figures by FIFA mind-boggling enough to motivate the NFF members to do the right things to make the Super Eagles the toast of the world in every edition of the Mundial? The NFF is populated by distinguished academicians who ought to apply their vast experience to bear on the team’s preparations. Yet, they showcase a shambolic outing with every game for the Eagles.

  • Shopping for points

    Shopping for points

    I love watching the beautiful game. It isn’t a respecter of people with bloated egos. It is a game that rewards hard work, not a prayer ground where unserious people run to for succour. Soccer is a leveller, one in which things well planned for manifest themselves effortlessly. It is good to know that those entrusted by the government to administer our soccer have woken up late in the day asking if Zimbabwe can beat Bafana Bafana in South Africa? Only dreamers would ask this question. Not after South Africa hosted the senior World Cup in 2010 for the first time in the African continent. Would it also come as a surprise that Zimbabwe’s assistant won’t be sitting on the bench for Friday’s deadpan game between Zimbabwe and Bafana Bafana in South Africa?

    According to an agency report: ”Reports say Takesure Chiragwi has stepped aside from his Warriors duties after slapping one of his own players (in Ngezi vs Dynamos) live on ZBC Jive TV. Meaning Zimbabwe will be without head coach Michael Nees’ trusted assistant, Chiragwi, on Friday. However, Nees says they will head into the game full of confidence and give their all despite the setback and the fact that they are no longer in position to qualify for the World Cup.” A case of a house divided against itself, isn’t it?

    Why our football chieftains had another episode of visa entry acts remains a puzzle yet to be fixed. It becomes more disturbing considering the fact that the federation’s international department staff went through this path to secure entry visas for players, coaches and backroom staff who prosecuted the September 9 World Cup qualifier between Bafana Bafana and the Super Eagles in South Africa which ended 1-1. What was it that these people didn’t do right to avert another round of controversy resulting in Olusegun’s absence from the October 10 clash against Lesotho?

    Expectedly, beating Lesotho wasn’t going to be a piece of cake, except our players didn’t give their best during the game. But in football every option is possible for the team desirous for the designated three points at stake.

    What is revealing itself like a sore thumb is that Nigeria football at the male level, going by the elimination of the Flying Eagles from the ongoing FIFA U-20 World Cup by four unreplied goals scored by the Argentines on Wednesday evening, is on a downward trajectory.

    Outclassed, outpaced, and outscored, the defeat marked one of Nigeria’s heaviest in recent U-20 World Cup history. The Flying Eagles — two-time runners-up — exit the tournament with a bitter taste, undone by Argentina’s ruthless precision and their own defensive frailties. For the Albiceleste, it was not just victory — it was vengeance delivered in emphatic style.

    One post match comment on the Argentines thumbing of Flying Eagles read thus: ”Just like Brazil did to the Nigerian Flying Eagles 38 years in Concepcion, Chile, so has done rampant Argentina as they humiliated Nigeria 4-0 in the Round of 16 of the ongoing Under 20 World Cup.

    ”The six-time champions Argentina did not waste much time as they began scoring just two minutes into the match in Santiago. By the time the dust settled, the Flying Eagles had conceded two goals in each half.” Simple and short. No ceremonies. Pity!

    The heart-wrenching report read further thus: ‘”From the very first whistle, it was a nightmare unfolding for Nigeria. Barely two minutes in, Alejo Sarco silenced the West Africans with a crisp opener that shattered their early rhythm. Things went from bad to worse in the 23rd minute, when Maher Carrizo curled in a brilliant free-kick after Nasiru Salihu’s mistimed challenge at the edge of the box — a goal that left Nigeria’s defensive wall and goalkeeper rooted in disbelief.”

    Clearly, the Nigerians were no match to the Argentines – a factor which could be traced to the absence of unified football academies of soccer nurseries regulated by the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) with qualified coaches whose speciality would be in teaching the young lad the rudiment of the game. The cradle of our football has been corrupted such that anybody who can afford a tracksuit no matter how outdated and scruffy can confidently pick boys from the streets to play the game daily. At no time during the rigorous training on empty stomachs is the game stopped by the untrained coach to show the kids how the game is properly played.

    It is the reason for the dearth of talented kids in the 774 Local Government Areas (LGAs) in the country. Rather than create workable templates geared towards developing and equipping the carefully selected academies, our soccer buffs prefer to junket the globe in search of Nigeria-born kids groomed and exposed by better equipped football nations around the world to change their nationalities to play for Nigeria – shameful.

    Nigeria’s pride in global soccer competitions, Golden Eaglets is literally dead, so much so the team couldn’t qualify from the group stage in West Africa, having also failed the previous year at the group stage.

    We can’t be talking about growing talents at the nurseries without standardising the academies that abound in the country. The fraud committed by some disgruntled folks in the name of soccer academies can only be curtailed if the NFF through its state affiliates compel all such bodies to register with it. That way, the authorities can identify who the fraudster is, if such allegations arise. This collegiate arrangement will eliminate age cheats because a kid discovered in Edo State, for instance, Ikponwonsa Ikponwonsa in 1988 as a 12-year old, cannot be Etim Etim in 2008 claiming to be 16. The details of his data from his first registration in Edo State will give him out even as Etim Etim.

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    We have lost budding talents to mismanagement, even after the Federal Government had directed that past soccer federations nurture their future. Our administrators bask in the euphoria of being recognised in the world, leaving the game’s development on the lurch for shylock European scouts to exploit to the disadvantage of our young ones.

    Civilised countries develop their sports through the neighbourhood system where facilities are built to engage the youth and push them away from social vices. Nurseries serve as the bases for storing the data of those discovered. Such information helps to nurture and monitor the good ones to stardom. Besides, nurseries lay the foundation where the athletes are taught the rudiments of the game. It is at such factories that playing styles and patterns unique to such countries are evolving.

    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 employment. We need to cultivate business concerns to embrace sports, but with a caveat -transparency and accountability.

    There was the need to create an 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.

    Is sports all about funding and administration? Not exactly. Without the athletes and the coaches, no sports events can be held. Athletes and coaches form the fulcrum on which sports thrive.

  • Walking into an ambush

    Walking into an ambush

    They have started again. They are busy backslapping themselves as if the points deduction translates to getting the Group C’s 2026 World Cup qualification ticket. Nigeria’s game against Lesotho will be taking place in the next four days, precisely next Friday in Durban, a South African city, with no counter plans to ensure that fans depart the country to support the Super Eagles. They have forgotten that the bad blood arising from the three points’ deduction would play a definitive role in the outcome of the penultimate game between Lesotho in Durban.

    In their wild jubilations, it is important to remind our football chieftains that the South Africans are planning to appeal the deduction of three points and three goals from Bafana Bafana’s hitherto 17 points tally to its 14 points, which will see them to the second position in Group C’s World Cup qualification table. Trust our federation chiefs to wave off any fruitful results from SAFA’s protest without critically perusing its contents to the letter. Getting lawyers to advise them on the appeal’s merits won’t be a bad idea. Certainly not in our administrators’ character. What would shock you would be the laughable undercurrents employed by many of them to get FIFA to take a decision which the South Africans are saying was taken by one member rather than by the disciplinary committee. Isn’t this a likely case of walking into an ambush?

    SAFA members, in an official letter, have said they were disappointed with the decision and will launch a formal appeal within the next 10 days stipulated by the FIFA disciplinary rules.

    “As SAFA, we are deeply disappointed with this unprecedented outcome noting, that it was delivered by a single-member panel without reasons, and without affording the association an opportunity to present legal arguments,” read the official response in part.

    “The association confirms that we have requested written reasons for the judgment and intend to lodge a formal appeal with the FIFA Appeals Committee within the prescribed 10-day period under the disciplinary rules.

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    Could it be true that only one FIFA member decided the decision to deduct three points and three goals from Bafana Bafana’s hitherto 17 points instead of the disciplinary committee members as required? Are the South Africans saying that they ought to have been asked to defend themselves for an issue expressly stated in the rulebook by FIFA? Of course, these posers by South Africans and many others to be submitted in their must be completed in the next 10 days.

    The pertinent question to ask FIFA chiefs would be if the appeal would be dealt with quickly, such that it doesn’t set the stage where the Group’s decider would be played on different dates and not simultaneously as stipulated on such matters for fairness?

    Bafana Bafana will face Zimbabwe for the crucial 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifier at Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban on October 10. The Peter Mokaba Stadium in Polokwane, South Africa, will host the 2026 World Cup qualifying clash between Lesotho and Nigeria’s Super Eagles, also on October 10. The other poser would be which of the two matches in Durban and Polokwane would the South Africans want to watch? Isn’t this where the Super Eagles would be walking into an ambush in Polokwane with South Africans trooping out in their numbers to root for Lesotho?

    With exactly six days to the October 10 clash against Lesotho, it is quite refreshing to note that Osimhen will be playing the two matches. Super Eagles have tottered in all the matches that Osimhen was missing. It easily explains why we are in this precarious level where every second in the last two qualifiers could bring celebrations or grief, depending on our players’ attitude in the course of the two games.

    One would have thought that after missing the Qatar 2022 World Cup, our football chieftains, the players, coaches, and the sports commission members would have learned their lesson. Not so here.

    Shettima must hear this!

    Grapevine news around sports, especially in the football circle, is filled with tales that Nigeria’s Vice President Kashim Shettima Mustapha is the reason Golden Eaglets’ Coach Manu Garba wasn’t sacked after a shambolic outing with the team last year. I have chosen to bring it to Shettima’s notice because he is too busy to be identified with the dubious acts of idle people around the beautiful game.

    The more ridiculous thing about this nauseating tale is that Garba didn’t do well again with the Golden Eaglets this year. One would have thought the NFF chieftains would have sponsored Garba to yearly coaching clinics to brush up his knowledge of the game since he guided Nigeria to lift the FIFA U-17 World Cup diadem in 2013, which is what other soccer climes’ administrators do when such feats are achieved.

    In football-efficient countries, the FA members would have kept the winning coaching team of Garba, Emmanuel Amunike, and Nduka Ugbade intact and make sure that they upgrade their knowledge yearly, especially when Amunike and Ugbade guided another crop of brilliant Golden Eaglets players to retain the FIFA U-17 World Cup in 2015.

    Rather than smear the Vice President’s name with this mess, talebearers should persuade their trumpeters of falsehood to assemble Amunike and Ugbade to start the process of assembling a new set of Golden Eaglets for next year, while Garba is sent on a two-year course to update his rustic soccer tactics.

    The Vice President is too civilised, focused, and busy with other national issues to be involved in such dubious tendencies of encouraging failures to remain in positions that require qualified coaches, in this instance. Those dropping the name of the Vice President should back off! A coach is as good as his last game. Indeed, there are two types of coaches. Those waiting to be sacked and those already sacked.

    The period between now and 2013 is 12 years. Only remedial courses and upgrading of coaching licenses can make a football coach be in sync with the new trends of coaching that are always dynamic. In fact, in 2013, Ugbade and Amunike functioned as assistant coaches to Garba. Need I mention what Amunike received from reputable European managers during his soccer career, including being crowned the Africa Footballer of the Year? Recall that it was Amunike’s nifty chip in the Atlanta’96 Olympic Games’ soccer finals that gave Nigeria the 3-2 victory and gold medal. He also scored a goal at the 1994 World Cup, including other feats. It is also on record that Amunike has attended several coaching seminars, clinics, and has functioned in different Technical Committees for FIFA and CAF.

    Ugbade was captain of the Nigeria U-16 male soccer team that won the 1985 FIFA U-16 World Cup in China, beating Germany 2-0, with the intercontinental ballistic missile (apologies to the late commentator Ernest Okonkwo) shot from the left foot of Victor Igbinoba being the second goal. Ugbade was also a member of The Miracle of Dammam team, the name given to the result of a quarter-final football match between the Nigerian U-20 football team and the USSR U-20 football team at the 1989 FIFA World Youth Championship in Saudi Arabia in which the Nigerian team came back from four goals down to level up and go on to win on penalties. No disrespect to Garba’s records as a player. Indeed, being a great player doesn’t translate to being a successful coach.

  • Super Eagles: story, story…

    Super Eagles: story, story…

    I broke the story of Eric Chelle‘s appointment as Nigeria’s next Head Coach two weeks before it was made public. I knew he wouldn’t rescue our 2026 World Cup quest because those responsible for our precarious outing so far were also the brains behind his recruitment. I thought we would have truly gone for a grade A manager, and tell Nigerians that his recruitment was to reinvent the team, not to salvage our World Cup from its abyss. It would have made a lot of sense if those who brought Chelle had left him where they found him after his voyage in Mali didn’t lead the Malians anywhere.

    A grade A manager wouldn’t have been assuring us of the World Cup ticket. It would be apparent to everyone that he is rebuilding the team with every game the Super Eagles play. The grade A manager would introduce new players whose contributions would excite Nigerians during matches.

    Yes, I wrote off Chelle after the CHAN Eagles’ shambolic outing, one of which was Sudan beating Nigeria 4-0. Our team was clueless. It lacked character. Most of the players failed the basic test of trapping the ball, just as they could hardly string together six passes progressively. How can Sudan beat Nigeria using a Ghanaian coach, with due respect to the Sudanese? It is absolutely unacceptable for an age group that is awash with boys playing on grounds and streets all over the 774 Local Government Areas (LGAs) in Nigeria. All you will need to do to attract people’s attention is to bounce a brand new ball on any empty school field and see the number of people who would rush out eager to play the beautiful game.

    Drive around the country during election days, public holidays, environmental days, and see what kids and adults do on the streets playing football after voting. The CHAN age group category is where the nursery of our football resides. How do you keep a coach who couldn’t qualify out of the group stage of an age-group tourney? It is like asking an adult without a primary school certificate to teach medicine in the university because of his physique? Need I name Nigerian coaches who got to the finals of CHAN in their first attempt, though some others were awful. They were like the last group that won one group stage game?

    Had Chelle been a clever coach, then he ought to have whispered into his employer’s ears to allow the Nigerian coaches who qualified the team for the CHAN competition to complete the job and not steal their thunder. Having worked with coaches at the Super Eagles, Chelle ought to have had enough confidence to allow our coaches do the job, even if our federation’s chieftains insisted. At best Chelle should have stood his ground. He didn’t. He chose to write the rule over the Nigerian coaches. Pity.

    This is the reason we are always in Europe searching for Nigeria-born boys and girls for our national teams. However, Chelle gets my applause for introducing Benjamin Fredrick ahead of Troost Ekong in the last game in Uyo, which Nigeria won 1-0. I was, however, taken aback that Ekong started the away game against Bafana Bafana in South Africa on September 9. I had also thought that Chelle would have started his second-half team in Uyo in the next away game against  South Africa, especially with the way Tolu Arokodare played.

    Nigeria lost the best chance to beat a seemingly frightened Bafana Bafana side when Chelle didn’t stick to his winning team. The tales that he was forced to play Ekong by some people or senior members of the squad are laughable and show the quality of the coach he is. Again, we need to ask Chelle who stopped Arokodare from starting the September 9 clash against Bafana Bafana in South Africa. We need to know the other details ahead of a post-mortem. We also need to know how well or how badly Super Eagles prosecuted Nigeria’s 2026 World Cup qualifiers.

    Speaking on Nigeria’s recent qualifier against South Africa, former Nigeria international, Jonathan Akpoborie questioned the planning and logistics.

    “We played our game on a Saturday, why not on Friday? South Africa played on Friday and were already waiting for us at home. We had to travel on Sunday, then trained just once on Monday, and played on Tuesday. That’s not preparation.”

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    He dismissed complaints about the quality of the pitch in Bloemfontein: “It’s not about the field. South Africa took us to the hottest part of their Country because they know our boys play in Europe and can’t cope with the heat.

    “When we were playing, if we had a game in Zambia, we’d camp in Kenya for 10 days to adjust to the climate. What’s missing now is proper planning. These are all management issues,” Akpoborie waxed lyrically.

    May I humbly ask Akpoborie, whose duties it is to prepare the team’s plans for competitions and insist on its full implementation? Clemens Westerhoff, Johannes Bonfrere, White Witch doctor, Phillipe Troussier chose their different camping sites, with Troussier opting for Sol Beni. Westerhof made Papendal, the Netherlands, the Super Eagles’ abode in preparation for the 1994 FIFA World Cup. Papendal was Nigeria’s magical hub during his reign as the country’s Head Coach.

    Players competed for first team shirts because the parameters for picking the final 22-man list for the Mundial in 1994, were known through the rulebook. Of course, Westerhof held court in Papendal and kept his employers at arm’s length when in camp. The hallmark of good tacticians is their strength of character that drives everything they do. What drives Chelle to succeed isn’t enough to lead Nigeria to the Promised Land. Coaching Nigeria isn’t one for lilliputian managers. Most Nigerians are ‘fantastic’ coaches. To stop their tantrums, the Super Eagles’ outings must show signs of improvement. The present crop of players are lucky that Nigeria no longer plays soccer matches in Lagos. Otherwise, they would have been served the wrath of the fans in matches where their outings were awful. They got a dose of the fans’ angst after Nigeria led Sierra Leone 4-0 at half-time, only to finish the game at 4-4 inside the late Samuel Osaigbovo Ogbemudia Stadium complex in Benin City. It took the effective security architecture set up by the Edo Government and the alertness of the Nigeria Police Force to evacuate the players, coaches, and officials out of the stadium unhurt.

    One isn’t an advocate of crowd violence, but our players’ lifeless performance over time needs that kind of wakeup call for them to play with zest and determination. Nigeria has lost the fear factor associated with the Super Eagles before matches, such that minnows in African football come to Uyo to mesmerise the Super Eagles during games with Nigerians watching in trepidation. We need to use the October games to reconfigure the Super Eagles with our target being to lift the Africa Cup of Nations diadem in Morocco in December. It is doable, but not with the people ruining our sports.

     If we organise ourselves and run our soccer in a transparent, business-minded way, it will thrive enough to attract juicy corporate sponsorships. Then those firms whose sponsorship offers don’t hit the mark with soccer, could be enticed to sponsor other sports such as basketball, athletics, badminton, tennis, table tennis, to mention a few, which are also money spinners in other climes.