SO much is happening in the field of sports across the globe with Nigeria winning laurels using two (Favour Ofili and Tima Godbless who competed in the 100 metres race for girls at the ongoing World Athletic U-20 Championships holding in Kenya) of the ten athletes alleged to have failed dope tests, hence were banned from the Tokyo Olympic Games. Ofili and Godbless are in Kenya competing in a World Athletics sanctioned competition. Were they truly banned for drug-related offences? The long knives of critics reigned supreme without interrogating the circumstances stated by the letter stopping them from participating in the games. Rather than blame the ineffective Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN), the armchair club members chose to attack the sports minister, with many calling for his sack.

The lesson from this unfortunate incident is that both the athletes and the federation’s members should make it a point of duty to know the rules of their sport. The federations must allow their sub-committees to function. Had the AFN a functional medical committee, the members ought to have known those who have undergone the Out of Competition Test (OCT) and those who haven’t. That way, the technical committee would be effectively guided when picking athletes to be invited for trials. The AFN in conjunction with the federation’s medical team ought to have done due diligence on the athletes selected to represent the country to know those eligible and those who aren’t.

Now that our athletes are winning in Kenya under a newly elected AFN board, shouldn’t these critics praise the sports minister in the satanic manner in which they pilloried him when things weren’t going well in Tokyo? In Nigeria, we vent our spleen on the wrong people to settle cheap points. Even those who in previous AFN board turned experts as if they were better. Well, the minister must take the jabs on his chin. He must right the wrongs of our sports before he leaves office. I really don’t like the probe mentality we have imbibed when we know where the shoe pinches. The minister should insist on world-class standards, not half bakes in our sports administration no matter whose ox is gored.

The current AFN board should ensure that these new kids on the bloc are monitored, retrained, and given the best treatment in terms of their welfare packages, training grants, and those things others do to motivate their fresh kids on the tracks. The next Olympics is in Paris in 2024, meaning the federation has barely two years to institute programmes that make the kids winners again at the Olympics in the proverbial city in France which anyone sees and dies. Good to know that something can come out of Nigeria that is good for the world to celebrate. I cherish listening to Nigeria’s anthem is sung at victory ceremonies. It has always been my best moment outside this country covering sporting events.

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The Olympians returned to the country deservedly to a warm reception in Abuja donning a silver medal and a bronze medal. Curiously, our physically challenged athletes (I hate tagging them disabled. God forbid) because there is joy in disability. Our flag bearers at the Tokyo Paralympics feel that they shouldn’t be pitied but treated like the rest of us. I share in this position and wish that Sunday Dare lists them for national Awards at the appropriate time. Our physically challenged athletes at the Paralympics are serial world record holders, which means that they are not just the best, but ones the athletes from the rest of the world must beat to make podium appearances.

According to Team Nigeria Paralympics Captain, Lucy Ejike, “We have been training seriously to make sure we meet up with the standard we set at previous games. Everything is going on well. We are confident we will bring glory to Nigeria. We  have world records, so we hope to maintain the records and create new ones.”

Para Powerlifter, Nnamdi Innocent stated too that:” We are grateful to the Minister for his support and encouragement.  What he did for us during the lockdown will motivate us to excel in Tokyo. We have many world records and our target is to go there and make Nigeria proud”.

My pain for these physically challenged athletes is that previous governments have used and dumped them. I feel a tinge of pain seeing some of them at the National Stadium, Surulere running things at the Stadium via Barracks and Ojuelegba Roads’ parks. World champions who others cherish left to do menial jobs, only to be remembered four years or two years later when there is an Olympics or any international meet. My challenge to the sports minister is to ask the federation chieftains of the physically challenged athletes where their training grounds and equipment are? The minister must insist on seeing their games field where their train. The minister would be shocked to meet rustic facilities which are now obsolete.  The time to treat our physically challenged athletes like others is now, dear Sunday Dare.

The Paralympics stars deserve befitting facilitates to keep them busy. This way, the sport could discover new physically challenged Nigerians, especially the young men and women who are stationed on streets notorious for traffic gridlocks in Lagos and other parts of the country. We would do a lot to the game’s development if the government could recruit coaches in this specialised sport through bilateral relations with Nigeria to fast track their employment. Paris 2024 Olympics is just two years away. It would be a travesty if these gold medallists and world record beakers are allowed to return to the motor parks as touts and Danfo bus drivers. Such things only happen in Nigeria. The time to stop such inglorious acts is now. A documentary on how Paralympics’ world record holders are left to do the menial jobs when other countries create employment for theirs would be a monumental embarrassment for the government and followers of the sports.

Winning laurels at big events is a project structured on workable models used by renowned sports polities. In fact, most of these models are anchored on sports institutes which train the coaches and sports managers. It also provides systems which are adopted by these countries’ teams during competitions. It is the reason we see certain countries play the same way with a few adjustment informed by how the opposition plays.

Countries such as Australia, America, Britain and recently Jamaica have models which developing countries like ours can adopt, if we truly want to make the industry the business that it is in other climes. Our administrators made so much noise about adopting the Australia model after the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games. They were particularly fascinated by the feats achieved by the Australians. Several visits were made to Sydney to study the system. Some Australians came here. Our administrators raised hopes that the National Sports Institute (NIS) will be redesigned with the Australian model in mind. It never happened, largely because of the policy summersaults.

A blueprint is sacrosanct for sports to thrive and it must be anchored on the dire need to resuscitate moribund grassroots competitions that engaged the youths, take them away from the vices of society.

The emergence of a sports policy endorsed by the government will create jobs such that this industry could in the next 10 years become the highest employer of labour.

The policy should challenge local government chairmen to build at least four mini-sports centres that would serve as playgrounds for their constituents in the absence of such structures in the schools in the 774 local government areas.

 

Sports federations

The beauty about sporting events is that there are markers to determine the winners quite distinct from the losers. This index rings so true with the performance charts of the sporting federations in the country. Those Olympic Games regulars in the past for Nigeria such as boxing should quietly walk away. Those federations where members have served more than two terms should bow out. they cannot offer anything different from what they have exhibited in the last four years.

The diabolical way in which some people remain in the federations simply because they are members of their international federations is unacceptable. They were able to contest for such positions because Nigeria made them members of her federations where they sought and won elections. Sports cannot be lying prostrate while those who volunteered to revive the industry sit-tight in the place on the altar of being international federations’ officials.

If the athletes aren’t competing for laurels in sports, there can’t be officials. So, if the officials have outlived their usefulness by failing to discover, nurture and expose our athletes to represent Nigeria in big competitions, they should go.

By Ade Ojeikere

FOOTBALL is back. The fans are back. The excitement is back. The rave reviews and commentaries are back. Wives don’t have to wait endlessly for their husbands to return home. Daddy hurries back to stay with the family to watch the most exciting of the European Leagues – The premier League. Some other wives know where their husbands are – with the boys in a known friend’s house. Many homes are either divided among the teams or cajole by the leader of the house, most times to back his team. For such daddies, no room for his family members to pick their clubs when he calls the shot at home.

But the real fun resides in those homes where Daddy’s club is Arsenal. The first son backs Chelsea with the mother tacitly identifying with her son – daddy mustn’t know. The daughter likes Manchester United while the last child prefers Manchester City. The house is on fire anytime any of these teams lose. It gets worse if Daddy’s club loses to the kids’ clubs. No peace for Daddy. He takes the jokes on his chin, knowing that his days hover around the corner – preferably the next game. Real fun and the families are now united by the most beautiful game in the world – football. Some call it soccer. Others refer to it as the round leather game. Whichever name you choose to call it.

This new season is different because the fans would throng the stadia to watch their favourite teams which would invariably increase their revenues from the gate-takings not forgetting revenue from merchandising, television rights and other avenues for recouping cash spent to big buys ahead of the new season. Last season was a marketing disaster for all the clubs with many of them going bankrupt while others are still ruing the loss of revenue, which hopeful could be recouped this year, barring a fourth surge of the Covid-19 pandemic. Players, coaches, backroom staff, and anyone connected with the teams’ operations have taken mighty salary cuts to stay afloat. Clubs such as Liverpool depend a lot on the energy from their teeming fans at the stands to propel them to victory. Surely one of the beneficiaries of the return of the fans to the stadia.

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The La Liga, Bundesliga, and EPL’s major games would be played today and tomorrow with some other fixtures of the first week on Monday. But two of the big European leagues (Premier League and Ligue 1 began yesterday, with the English game being adjudged the best in quality of players who crave to play in England. Chelsea’s emergence as the Super Cup winner by beating La Liga side, Villarreal 6-5 on penalty shootout after a pulsating 1-1 draw after 120 minutes showed the depth in strength for the UEFA Champions League winners.

The English game is anchored on the tremendous media coverage by the English laced with records of events with the television stations anchoring their football shows with legends of the game sharing their experiences and educating viewers on controversial decisions. There is never a boring moment watching the English. In fact, this 2021/2022 season is expected to be one of the best given the way big teams strengthened their squads with quality players. They were careful in picking who they wanted not just crowding the camp with big stars as in the past.

From the Nigerian perspective, this season looks like one to remember for our players considering the fact that two Super Eagles players, Wilfred Ndidi and Kelechi Iheanacho played key roles in Leicester City’s emergence as the winners of the Community Shield, beating Barclays English Premier league’s defending champions Manchester City 1-0. The winning goal was scored by Iheanacho, not forgetting Ndidi’s mercurial displays in the heart of the Foxes’ midfield. What makes Iheanacho’s resurgence in scoring goals very interesting is that he isn’t seeing Vardy or Daka as rivals to his position. He is now being judged by the goals he scores for the Foxes. It shows that he has matured which is good for him and the country.

There are other Nigerians in the EPL such as Alex Iwobi, Oghenekaro Etebo (Watford, on loan from Stoke City), Isaac Success (Watford), Troost Ekong (Watford), Frank Onyeka (Brentford), Denis (Watford), Tom Dele-Bashiru (Watford) but currently at Reading on loan), Balogun (Arsenal), Shoretire (Man United), and Michael Olise (Crystal Palace) who should utilise the platform to write their names in the annals of world soccer.

Yes, nobody was shocked to read that Lionel Messi’s shirt sold out 30 minutes after he was unveiled as a PSG player. Messi’s stock with PSG is one of quantum growth with the club’s owners ready to sift every dollar out from Brand Messi to improve on their revenue. Already the owners are projecting a Messi cum Cristiano Ronaldo attacking pairing for the year 2022. That will be the day, although it won’t translate to the type of scoring ratios the owners are envisaging. These two scorers are aging progressively and have almost lost the spark which distinguished them from others.

The French league like the EPL started on Friday with the Bundesliga expected to begin today.  The biggest transfers for now in the English game are Jack Grealish (£100m) and Lukaku (£98m), with words rife that Manchester City could snatch Harry Kane for a whopping fee of £130 m. If Kane crosses over to Manchester City, the Citizens’ jigsaw puzzle would have been fixed to rule the English game again. Nothing compares with Messi’s reluctant move to PSG from FC Barcelona, 21 years after a meritorious career.

Messi has trained. He did so on Thursday where he met with Mbappe and others in training. The young ace shared a photo of them greeting each other on his own Instagram account, with the caption: ‘Welcome to Paris, Leo.’ Messi revealed that he informed his coaches that he would to be part of today’s game against Strasbourg. According to a report from one of the journalists who watched the training session: ”In the footage shared by the club on Instagram, Messi was seen sprinting down the pitch and carrying out some drills on his own. Despite only arriving in Paris on Tuesday, he is reportedly already desperate to feature this weekend.

”His return from downtime was marked with simple exercises, with Messi’s workload set to gradually increase while he gears up for the new season. The run-out caught on camera saw him race towards some cones and high-five a coach.” The world waits in bated breath.

Messi’s signing has raised the profile of the French game with Paris Saint Germain (PSG’s) matches a compulsory watch for ardent lovers of the beautiful game wherever they reside. Venues, where PSG plays, would be box office sales for the home teams when the Paris side visits. No wonder Messi has spoken to the team’s coaches that he would love to play some part in today’s fixture against Strasbourg.

Any team in world soccer which parades Neymar, Sergio Ramos, the world’s best tackling central defender, no hyperbole intended would be a compelling combination of silky skills, breath-taking speed anchored on their enchanting style of play such that would elevate PSG’s stature in the game to the rooftop.

Messi has left a club he never wanted to leave for one he didn’t want to join. So, as Barcelona loses one of their adopted sons after 21 trophy-laden years, can he learn to love Paris? Messi’s smiles amidst flashes from the cameras before boarding the private jet made the headlines in the media. Messi was happy although he didn’t want to leave, to play for a club he didn’t want to join, and relocating to a city where he didn’t care to reside. Messi was living the dream: as envisaged by accountants, marketing men, contract lawyers, Qatari sheiks, and the fans who gathered outside Charles de Gaulle airport, hoping for a glimpse. He wasn’t living Messi’s dream, though, for we all know what that was. To continue playing for Barcelona, and winning trophies for Barcelona, and remaining, with his family, in Barcelona. Even on the day he tearfully announced he had no option but to leave, he was already talking about the day he would return.

For PSG, the time to rule European football is this season. PSG could learn the bitter lesson that blending making teams play with cohesion and inevitably perform better, not just the acquisition of star players.

By Ade Ojeikere

PLEASE forgive me. I thought that the Italians were only famous for the beautiful game – soccer. Italy isn’t really an unknown quantity in others sports such as athletics – they were, however, alien to the 100 metres with due respect to their nationals. Okay, let me put it this way. Nobody would have placed a bet on any Italian being the fastest man in the world in 100 metres in a field of eight finalists having Americans, Jamaicans, Nigeria (why not) etc. But it happened at the final of the male 100 metres at the ongoing Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games showing how fluid winning laurels in sports can be with articulated preparations.

Lamont Marcell Jacobs is the fastest man in the world with 9.8 seconds in the men’s 100 metres race. A few athletics guru have stated that Jacobs has an American father and an Italian mother. Bottom line is that Jacobs chose to represent Italy. Well done, knowing he stood no chance to break into the American athletics team. Probably.

Did I hear you say that the Italian, Lamont Marcell Jacobs placed third at the qualifiers in the group where Nigeria’s Enoch Adegoke finished first? Please don’t start any form of comparison. Part of the problem with the country’s sports federations – not being abreast with the new tricks of the game. The Italian just ensured he qualified for the next stage in the road towards being the fastest man in the world. Talk about a lad saving his best performance for the last. Lesson for our athletes, coaches and our sit-tight administrators.

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The most dramatic of all the events at the Olympics was in the men’s high jump where an Italian, Tamberi and a Qatari, Barsham scaled the 2.39 metres height, leaving the officials to declare the event a draw with each credited with a gold medal. The Italian’s joy knew no bounds as he leapt on the Qatari, happy that his rival had accepted the draw verdict in the high jump event. Sports unite competitors. The big question is how this medal would be represented on the medals table. Would it be for Italy? Would the same event be credited to Qatar as a gold medal? What happens to the silver and bronze medals? Is it that the silver medal wouldn’t be counted or tagged a gold medal while the bronze medallist at the jumping pitch keeps his medal? Different strokes for different people. It shows how fluid the rules are in sports and how dynamic the events can be. I know for a fact that the next edition would decide the rules for such ties in the 2024 Olympic Games.

The biggest joy in Nigeria for the neutrals is that Nigeria’s name is among the comity of nations that won a medal at the Olympics. Blessing Oborududu lost to her American counterpart, who was beating her for the fifth consecutive time. No prize for guessing that the American is the best wrestler in the event in the world. As for Ese Brume, it didn’t come as a surprise that she made a podium appearance in the women’s long jump, having dominated the scene at the youth level. her leap of 6.97 metres tied with the second-placed jumper though Brume had to console herself with the bronze, which looked like gold considering her age.

As Brume ran towards the jumping pit, my mind raced back to August 2 in Atlanta in 1996 watching Chioma Ajunwa jump to glory in an event the Americans had dominated. the Americans were beaten to their game right in front of their nationals – it wasn’t a pleasant sight to sit inside the stadium for the hosts as Ajunwa reached for the country’s green-white-green flag held by a little girl in the crowd to embark on her lap of honour as an Olympic Games gold winner. Yes, it was a borrowed flag because nobody gave Ajunwa a dog’s chance to upset the applecart. But she did in style.

This writer feels strongly that Nigeria needs to invest in Brume, if we want a repeat of Ajunwa’s feat in 2024. It is possible. That is the way other countries plan and succeed to win gold medals at the Olympics.

In her post-match reaction, Oborududu said “I am just super excited and I want to say thank you to all my supporters and the Federal Government of Nigeria for the encouragement.” She also changed her mind from retiring from the wrestling mat. She has chosen to undergo knee surgery, which goes to show the level of risks our athletes take to win laurels for this great nation burdened by poor leadership in all spheres of human endeavour here.

Not many Nigerians would want to discuss how the wrestlers fared in Japan, without shedding tears for Odunayo Adekuoroye, who lost to a Moldovan via pinfall, despite leading 8-0 before the unfortunate technical knockout decision, as they say in boxing. Hard luck Odunayo because you gave the preparations for this Olympics your best shot. It wasn’t going to be your Olympics. See you on the mat in 2024.

Oborududu’s silver medal signposts how infectious good leadership can rub off on any group. More so, when the leader is a former Olympic gold winner such as Nigeria’s team had in Dr Daniel Igali. Igali partook in the training sessions and got the wrestlers to trust him, hence they gave everything to make him happy.

Igali shared his thoughts on reasons Nigeria can celebrate the silver medal by praising all the Bayelsa State governors for their contributions. Who says that sports shouldn’t start from the states? The states own the schools, the stadia and have the cash to pick one sport akin to their areas and support it.

According to Igali in one of his writings said: ” Honestly, as I have stated elsewhere, sports is not cheap.  If we want to reap medals that befit the status of Nigeria, we must ensure that all Olympic sports federations in Nigeria are given the needed funds quarterly to prepare its teams. We must also ensure that we have the needed manpower to support the federations in administration and at the technical level.  There are no shortcuts. Money and planning are what matters at this level.

”Two million dollars is more than 1 billion naira today. The United States wrestling federation’s budget over the last quadrennial was between 12-16 million dollars annually. That’s about 6-8 billion naira yearly. That is probably the whole budget of all 28 Olympic sports federations and other non-Olympic sports federations budgets yearly for Nigeria.  Mind you we pay the same flights, the same affiliation dues, buy virtually all sports equipment at the same price (since we hardly produce anything anymore) and we are expected to compete and beat them.

”Take a look at the top 10 nations with the highest gold medals at the current Olympics and compare the sports budgets, you will then see the clearer picture. I know we will go back to Nigeria and continue the normal cliché about starting preparations early for 2024. Individually and collectively, we must put our money where our mouth is,” Igali said.

Countries such as Nigeria have gone to Australia to study their model, culminating in the need to improve on the facilities inside the Nigeria Institute for Sports (NIS) to attain the standard required. Sadly, policy somersaults arising from frequent changes in sports ministers have left the NIS in ruins, only producing half-baked coaches, whose certificates are not better than the foil used to wrap bread, only to be flung out the moment the content has been eaten.

Of course, with a government that pays lip service to corporate sponsorships for sports, the blue-chip firms are not inspired to take the initiative. Even the few sports federations that seek sponsorship from these firms are unconvincing to a prospective sponsor when asked what a sponsoring company stands to gain from such investments. This will even be worse now considering the tightened noose on the economy- a development that has left many firms rethinking their spending portfolio. And for such firms, every kobo for sponsorship must be worth their while for their return-on-investment.

In other climes, government has incentives for firms that support sports such as tax holidays and/or rebates. Most of our federations are handicapped by the kind of members they have who are mainly self-seekers, craving to get into their federations’ international bodies. It doesn’t matter if the sports they superintend don’t organise one competition in their four-year tenures.

If Nigeria must excel at the 2024 Olympics, then most of the federations should be swept clean.

By Ade Ojeikere

SPORTS minister Sunday Dare is a realist. Dare is a voracious reader of printing materials and other pieces of literature. Discussions with Dare can only be sustainable if you can match his reservoir of knowledge. Today, Dare knows that his mission to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics with Team Nigeria is a realistic approach towards tilling the soil for a better outing at the Olympics in the future. The case of the 10 barred Nigerian athletes from participating in the Olympic Games serves as the best way to wield the big stick on Athletics Federation on Nigeria (AFN) and Nigeria Olympic Committee (NOC). It was an administrative blunder.

In athletics, it is the federation, who as custodians of the laws should prepare the athletes by picking the best who should be eligible for the multisport competition based on their records. These records provide all the information which the IOC and other international bodies would need in the course of clearing eligible participants. This is where the AFN is culpable. As for the NOC, who are recognised owners of Team Nigeria, they are culpable because they didn’t crosscheck the information submitted by AFN by asking critical questions on eligibility, especially as it concerned doping and the Out of Competitions Tests (OCT).

If the NOC did its due diligence on Team Nigeria’s members, they would have discovered that the 10 athletes hadn’t submitted themselves for the OCT tests. Is it not laughable that the AFN chiefs are asking athletes at home to submit their whereabouts forms? Medicine after death. How come these 10 took part in the National trials in Lagos without showing their records for OCT obligations? Another clear example of incompetent people in high places.

With a 58-member contingent, Dare in his wisdom wasn’t expecting too many podium appearances for the Nigerian contingent. If he had doubts, he hid them to get sponsors to identify with the team. Dare’s last-ditch efforts towards sourcing for sponsors for the athletes coupled with his laudable initiatives were pointers to his thought processes for the sporting industry in the future. In fact, Odunayo Adekuoroye was the surest bet for podium appearance for Nigeria given her world ranking in wrestling. There was also female long jumper Ese Brume who had shown promise with her outings in tournaments leading to the Olympics. Perhaps, the surprise winner in the spirit of the Olympics could be Blessing Okagbare only if she improves on starting bloc flaw. Okagbare could explode out of the starter’s bloc and rule the world, typical of the Nigerian whose back is on the wall.

The other 50 athletes are at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games because they met the qualification marks or earned their ticket after a hectic qualification series against other countries. They emerged from the qualifiers but may not be good enough for a podium appearance in Tokyo. Indeed, Dare must have seen through the tardy performance of the team with most of it coming from the failure of the federations to match their plans with adequate sponsorships. Athletes need competitions to improve.

Thirteen years old Japanese Momiji Nishiya took gold in street skateboarding – new to the Olympics in Tokyo. Love and laughter filled the fencing venue when a marriage proposal was accepted by the young girl, who rejected the proposal a decade ago. The Olympics no doubt is the platform of opportunities. Nishiya’s feat underscores the fact that early discovery of athletes, nurturing and exposing them to competitions are the fundamentals needed for podium appearances at the multi-sports events.

Nishiya’s gold medal shows that you don’t need a pilgrimage of Olympic Games outings to win a medal let alone a gold. Proper planning, good coaching, the provision of the facilities by such a country’s government no matter how recent the event was introduced to the Olympics are the benchmarks for success in sports. Nishiya, a schoolgirl, was introduced to the game at age six. Now at 13, she has a gold medal around her neck. Trust the Japanese to have models for athletes like her to master her sport to greatness.

Only very good coaches can spot talents such as Nishiya. The coaches are routinely exposed to the modern tricks of the game regularly. Coaching courses and clinics are organisers for the coaches by renowned people in such games to help develop the athletes. No quota system in picking coaches who handle the teams or athletes. Only the best get picked and trained and retrained.

In tournaments leading to the Olympics, it was obvious Aruna didn’t have a coach worthy of reputation in the ping pong game. Aruna ought to have learned from his professional mates who have a retinue technical staff who took care of their professional demands. If Aruna had such staff even if they only joined him two or three months to crucial competitions such as the Olympics, Dare would have assisted him to get sponsorship. Aruna’s feats in table tennis and the opportunities he had to be a guest of highly placed Nigerians are legendary. He ought to have seized such visits to source for cash to pay for a coach.

If Aruna doesn’t address the issue of getting a coach to sit over his matches, he would sooner than later not be the poster boy of table tennis in Africa and the world at large.

Good coaches like to work with potential winners, knowing that it would improve on their Curriculum Vitae (CV) for better coaching jobs in the future. Can Aruna win again? Yes, but with the right technical staff not his former mates in the game. Sports and its rules are dynamic hence the urgent need for a renowned coach.

For the older order of table tennis players, their early exposure to the kings of the game in China brushed off the rusty aspects of their games beginning with the way they handled the bat, the toss of the ball, and the part of the bat to deploy for different strokes. They have to date relied on this preliminary training to dominate the younger ones who copy some of the things they exhibit in matches, which at the podium of excellence as the Olympics – they falter.

One of the best federations in the country is the table tennis federations – easily the federation that has a calendar of activities that keep the kids busy. What is missing in this deluge of competitions is adequate training and retraining of the coaches who teach them. When pitched against better-exposed stars, they start the process of losing games from the way they stand behind the table. Every stroke offered is decoded by the opponents who have taken their time to watch past tapes of their foes, a practice we hardly do her.  No one goes to battle blindfolded, not knowing what to expect. This is the biggest problem with Nigerian athletes. Too much guesswork. No proper grooming.

It is important to stress here that immediately after the 1984  Los Angeles Olympic Games, the Jamaicans went back home to restrategise eyeing the American models of grooming athletes from the schools. The Jamaicans  sent their sportsmen and women to America and even brought the good coaches in America to create the structures for growth which they stuck to religiously.

One of the greatest female sprinter in the world, was a Jamaican Merlene Ottey before the Jamaicans took the challenge to the Americans. In the 1980 Moscow Games, Ottey became the first female English-speaking Caribbean athlete to win an Olympic medal when she took the bronze. In the 2000 Olympics, at age 40, Ottey became the oldest female track and field medalist when she anchored the Jamaican women’s 4×100 metres to a silver medal. With the disqualification of Marion Jones, she was awarded the bronze medal in the 100 metres, making her the oldest individual medallist.

Today, the Jamaicans have stolen the thunder of the Americans in the sprints and even other track and field events. The myth surrounding the Americans in world athletics (track and field events), especially in the sprints was broken by the Reggae boys and girls.

This is the kind attitude Nigeria’s athletics needs to adopt if we truly want to return to the glory days of yore.  Would there be love in Tokyo for Nigeria? There won’t be love in Tokyo for our athletes. But medals could come from wrestling; possibly Brume or/and Okagbare.

By Ade Ojeikere

NINE years ago in Birmingham, this writer had the lifetime opportunity to carry the Olympic Torch for the London 2012 Olympic Games. When I saw the invitation to be part of a chosen field of Olympians, I thought it was another of those naughty boys’ antics. For some strange reason, I didn’t delete the message. However, one inside voice kept telling me to interrogate the message through the links provided.

Behold, it wasn’t a scam. It turned out to be a reward for ‘good writing’ quoting the voice of the person who confirmed the message. I began the process of securing an entry visa to England. It wasn’t difficult. I went through the routine chats at the embassy successfully. And the dream of carrying the London 2012 Olympic Games’ torch ran through my mind’s eye. The trip out of Nigeria was fun-filled since we sat in the first class.

The experience inside the aircraft was out of this world. The endless supply of everything. Unfortunately, I don’t drink. I wish I could so that I could sleep. No matter the hours of the flight, I hardly sleep inside the aircraft. The five hours forty-five minutes flight from Lagos to England was very interesting as my thoughts went wild, pondering over what to expect. Out of the airport, we were driven straight to Birmingham with the cream of distinguished Nigerians in all fields of human endeavour.

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We were issued our kits inside the hotel the night before the event by the organisers. Looking at the all-white tracksuits spread on my bed reminded me of the days when we were issued our cricket kits for a game the next day. The D-day came and my adrenalin was normal, except that I took the warm-up exercises seriously, knowing that I had not gone near any sporting field or pavilion to train or compete for over 15 years.

Pronto, we boarded the bus to drop us at different spots waiting for our turns to light the Olympic Games’ torch. As one of the torchbearers wearing the tracksuits number 089 ran towards me with the torch, I didn’t panic but had run the race in my mind. Little wonder I lit the torch without easily, knowing that there was procession behind me comparison of those who had lit the torch and a few others who could cope with the exercise. It was an epic moment for me when I ran towards an American Olympic great, a woman who had conquered cancer. She was excited to be back in the groove. You needed to see tears roll down her cheeks as we lit our torches. Her number was 091 but mine was 090. She ran through her path with grace because I went into the bus as soon as she took off.

Inside the bus when the American had done her beat, she told her story and wished she could still compete again. I’ve deliberately left off her name as I promised her, although she wanted us to continue our communication which I tried to sustain. It was short-lived since she was happily married. We returned home with the replica of the Olympic Games’ torch but the lessons behind the essence of the multi-sport event weren’t lost on me. I imagine that other torchbearers feel the same.

What stood out of the discussions with my American female friend until we went our different ways at the Heathrow Airport was her message that winning a medal at the Olympics takes 12 years for the average athlete and between four to eight years for the exceptional ones. She talked about spotting the talent and knowing which events he or she is best suited for. She talked about mentoring stressing that sports stem from the neighbourhood system which provides the first seed support when the talent is first spotted. She talked about a symbiotic relationship between the athletes, coaches, and the administrators which she said was built over time. It was the hallmark of sports in America built on trust. Perhaps, because most of the coaches and administrators were renowned athletes so they knew where the shoe pinches. She revealed further that participating in sports at the grassroots is built on the solid foundation of school sports unlike in Nigeria where previous sports grounds have been built up and converted into classroom blocks as if sports isn’t a recreational activity at the schools at all levels.

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 help 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 evolved.

I returned to Nigeria after the torchbearer’s event and did a column here under the headline ”Clapping for our opponents”, a scathing column that showed clearly that Nigeria wasn’t going to enter into any podium appearance in London 2012 Olympics, weeks later. It didn’t go down well with the administrators. I couldn’t be bothered, having been enlightened by my American friend (God bless her wherever she is). Many tagged this columnist as a prophet of doom. I had a date with destiny when the Games began. No prize for guessing right that Nigeria returned empty-handed. For this columnist, I was doing my job which was sacrosanct.

Nine years ago, I wrote here that our athletes shouldn’t be made to rely on philanthropists and sports-loving governors when they require funds to prepare themselves for national assignments. Other countries have several avenues to source funds, such as the Sports Lottery Schemes and fund-raisers where the President sits at dinner with the corporate world to show the level of commitment towards such an exercise. Blue-chip firms are given tax incentives for what they pay into the projects’ coffers. The president’s speech will spur others not at the ceremony to join the queue.

Trust Nigeria’s fire brigade approach to such woeful outings. Major stakeholders came together inside Aso Rock in Abuja to proffer solutions. One thing about Nigerians is that we enjoy listening to ourselves. We mouth over everything forgetting that perfection isn’t a gift but a habit imbibed over time. We broke into committees. I was shocked when our team reader read something different from what we all agreed was the problem. This protest song rang through most of the groups. Quickly, it struck me that an agenda had been perfected by those who arranged the meeting in Aso Rock, the seat of government and that what we did was just a rubber stamp of what had been decided. Nigeria, we hail thee!

Is anyone, therefore, surprised that nothing has changed since the parley in Abuja, nine years ago? Only the soccer team got a bronze in Brazil in 2016 and need I remind Nigerians of the scandals which trailed that side? It is still a misery how a Nigerian side could get to Brazil a few hours before her first game. The country’s men basketball side has shown promise with the way they played the pre-Olympic Games’ exhibition games beating the Americans and a few world powers in the dunking game until the Australians drew the line of superiority.

Don’t wake me up from this dream when it comes to Nigeria’s chances of winning a medal in basketball. No doubt, our game has improved, but it is not enough to stop the Americans in the dunking game. Good to know that this is our fourth appearance at the Olympic Games’ basketball event, yet the majority of our players ply their trade in the NBA; but this makes the task of beating us easy for the Yankees. True, they know them but when push comes to shove, the Nigerians would be lacking in technique and tactics. These are the hallmarks of champions developed over time and not through the fly-by-night approach by the government and sports administrators.

This columnist’s only hope is that the sports minister Sunday Dare is in Japan with his notebook scribbling down his observations including the new trends in the game albeit officiating and the dynamism in the industry. I really don’t see Dare being in this position in the next four years. I wish he would. We could have seen remarkable chances because he wants to learn.

Sadly, in Nigeria, governance isn’t a continuum. If a new minister comes, he would immediately throw into the dust bin whatever Dare leaves behind and starts afresh using his new advisers. No wonder we are retrogressing while others are progressing in sports. Pity!

By Ade Ojeikere

What happened inside the LA Coliseum in the State of California last week was a representative picture of the deplorable state of Nigeria’s soccer beyond the facade that organisers of the domestic game try to force on us. Last Saturday, the Mexicans thoroughly exposed the underbelly of our football such that in four minutes, a pitiable Nigerian side was trailing by two goals with the technical crew unable to decipher what the problems were. The Mexicans could easily have spelled Nigeria with goals but for the remarkable performance of the home-based goalkeeper, Stanley Nwabali, who plays for Lobi Stars of Makurdi.

However, the goalkeeper was also poor when it came to defending his goalpost in the third and fourth goals. He left his goal line on both occasions unguarded and the Mexicans easily capitalised on it. Jersey number 20, Tope Olusesi and the goalkeeper were identified by the Mexican coach as Nigeria’s best performers in a game where we fielded 14 players, an average which told the story of how poorly and miserable we looked on the night in Los Angeles.

The others escorted Olusesi and Nwabali to Los Angeles raising posers if they were the best players in the domestic game and if the team wouldn’t have played a little better with just the leaders of the league Akwa United FC being fortified with three to four players. Perhaps, Nwabali and Olusesi. Prior to the game, league followers faulted the list of players selected for the exercise and it appears their fears are after all not unfounded. But the one which struck me most was the stoic silence from the top contenders in the league seeking to postpone their matches because some of their regulars were part of the travelling party for the Mexico clash in Los Angeles.

A list of players released for such an assignment that did not attract protests from leading clubs isn’t a representative picture of the best in the domestic game. Perhaps, if the league organisers were alive to their responsibilities, followers of the game at home would have known the difference and raised the alarm over the exclusion of the home-grown stars they would have loved to see them at the international platform based on their performances on live games shown on television. If the league organisers knew their onions, they would have perfected the weekly and monthly awards to deserving league clubs’ players which would have served as the pointers to fault any mercantile list, no matter whose ox is gored. This exercise was once sponsored by one of the soft drinks giants in the country, Pepsi, with distinguished Nigerians serving as panellists.

What happened in Los Angeles was another massive failure to expose our best domestic league players to the world and probably make our country the new Mecca for shopping for raw talents to Europe at cheaper rates. What made our performance pitiable was the absence of quality coaching from the Nigerian bench as the game progressed. The substitutions showed clearly that the coaches were either watching another game or they just didn’t know what to say to the boys to change the way they were playing for improved performances. This, without a doubt, is the fundamental problem with the local leagues irrespective of their nomenclatures. And the NFF, the supervisory body for soccer in the country must remedy the situation, lest our players would just be good enough for the novelty leagues in the world. Need I list the countries where the game isn’t anything other than a novelty?

The decision to deploy some of our former players to serve as coaches without prerequisite coaching knowledge from schools and being graded by FIFA and CAF is grossly affecting the way our local teams play the game. Coaching is a much more serious business to be left for any player to transform from being a regular to become a coach on the altar of being injured or aging or both. Such a player should be encouraged to attend coaching courses. he should always attend FIFA and CAF courses regularly to update their coaching techniques. Coaching, like all disciplines of learning, is dynamic – always evolving with new tricks of the game from the manual to the digital platforms.

The coaching methodologies of our domestic trainers are obsolete. Our coaches train our players as if they are preparing for marathon races. I always laugh watching our players run endlessly around the pitches before training begins. The ones perceived to be unfit are made to do a few laps. The players try to add humour to the exercise by singing religious songs to lift up their spirits. You wonder if this is the way renowned coaches drill their players. You need to watch tapes of how Pep Guardiola conducts his pre-match and halftime chats in the dressing room using the boards. Guardiola virtually dances his way through explaining what he wants to be done even in his smattering English.

Modern-day coaching is about cones, dummies, and other devices found in the club’s gymnasium used to keep players fit. Match preparations are about tactics and roles assigned to special players based on tapes of the opposition’s style of play charted for easy explanation. As matches progress the better side is known through its depth in talents and how the coaches deploy them in his line ups to achieve the desired results. The two semi-finals games in the Euro 2020 competition at Wembley on Tuesday and Wednesday capture the essence of having good coaches who are alive to their responsibilities.

Two years ago, the Confederation of Africa Football (CAF) wrote Nigeria stating that only CAF A should be appointed as head coaches of clubs in the Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL). You would think that such a request was a piece of cake for the country, given her achievements in world soccer from the kindergartens to the senior cadre. No prize for guessing right that we were found wanting. Virtually all the clubs in the top flight in Nigeria are headed by CAF B licensed coaches with a sprinkle that have their CAF A licenses.

Nigeria Football Association Coaches’ President Ladan Bosso wrote back to CAF chieftains revealing that: “We have only 43 certified licensed CAF A coaches in Nigeria with a large number of these coaches lecturing in various higher institutions in the country and not domiciled with professional football clubs”. Interesting. Of course, couldn’t provide the specifics in order not to further, expose the decadence in the system.

Bosso expectedly pleaded with CAF to give his Association time to effect this new rule which he described as a great idea because for a long period, we have not had CAF A coaching courses in Nigeria pointing out that this has greatly stunted the anticipated progression of our coaches from the CAF C to CAF B and CAF A certifications. Have things changed for the Nigerian coaches since Bosso’s apologetic response to CAF? Read my lips.

NFF President Amaju Pinnick in his first two years tried to take senior coaches in the system to England for training courses. He was shocked to find out that many of them couldn’t even put on the computers given to them nor could they develop programmes with them. They were mostly analogue coaches. It was that bad. The problem with most of our coaches is that have refused to attend FIFA, CAF, and WAFU coaching courses. They shun those courses held in Nigeria on grounds that they have seen it all in the coaching field. Pity. Dear Nigerian coaches, learning is a continuum. The day you stop learning, you are dead in such a profession.

Nigerian coaches are rustic in their style of coaching. And it permeates through all the levels hence the dearth of talents here. The country’s football needs holistic retooling for it to compete with the best in the world. No sentiments. What we have done in the last three years is to paper the cracks in the coaching industry.

In the past we had trained Coaches such Alabi Aissien, Adegboye Onigbinde, the late Willy Bazuaye, Monday Sinclair, Eto Amaechina, Josiah Dombraye, Godwin Etemike, Carl Odywer, the late Joseph Ladipo a.k.a Jossy Lad, the man who made defunct Leventis United FC of Ibadan, the greatest brand in our country, having emerged from the third tier till the top, Sebastine Brodericks-Imasuen, Amusa Shittu, Ufere Nwakwo, Charles Bassey, the late Solomon Ogbeide, Ben Duamlong, Lawrence Akpokona, the late Kelechi Emetiole including foreigners such as Kowalick (I hope I got the spelling  right),who handled Enugu Rangers, Allan Hawks, whose off-side tactics was a delight to watch as it caught unprepared teams to their consternation. In fact, coaches of the Eastern team (Enugu Rangers, Spartan of Owerri, Vasco Da Gama, Sharks FC, Blue Angels), made the competition among teams keener and exciting.

By Ade Ojeikere

I’m not an alarmist neither am I a prophet of doom. But blood stains are found at league venues with the organisers and their bosses casting an indulgent eye on the abnormalities in the domestic game. We don’t want to provide adequate security at venues before, during, and after games across the country. Urchins, thugs, beasts have taken over the venues to unleash mayhem on unsuspecting players, coaches, fans, and referees. What makes these unholy acts unacceptable is that the host clubs and State Football Associations are making these evil people look like spirits whereas they are known supporters of the home teams.

No person’s blood is worth being spilled at match venues before relevant changes could be reflected in the domestic league. Weekly matches are marred by violence with the culprits (hoodlums, urchins, etc) made to look like spirits due to inadequate security. Referees are beaten to a pulp regularly because the league venues don’t have close circuit televisions to track the beasts. When a referee is killed, we will constitute panels to find out how it happened, who did it, why, and how? Innocent souls will be arrested while the roughnecks will be walking the streets, free as air, with instructions from their principals not to be seen around any stadium. Of course, the noise over the dastardly act won’t last long; it will be buried with the victim whose family will be left to bear the burden of losing their loved one.

On Sunday in Jos, players of Enyimba FC of Aba was beaten groggy by fans of Plateau United for daring to hold the Jose side to a barren draw result. Enyimba’s players went home with broken heads, body injuries, and with many carrying injuries arising from the impact of sticks used to whip them like cattle as they ran away to safety. Sadly, no arrests were made. The idiots are roaming free on the streets while the victims are in severe pain. Where were the security operatives inside the stadium? Does the rule book of the league make provision for the presence of security people to prevent such violent conducts?

Whose duty is it to invite the security operatives to match venues? Or are we waiting for us to remove corpses from match venues like we have seen at Sambisa forest before we take the desired decisions to disband the organising body and stop the league until all the flaws are corrected? God forbid, if souls are lost, would these late decisions bring them back to life? No way. Why are we so cursed to always act late to issues which concern lives and properties?

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Accounts from players of Enyimba stated that the irate fans wanted to attack the referee for not awarding a perceived penalty kick in favour of Plateau United. Having failed to vent their spleen on the match officials, the urchins turned their frustrations on the People’s Elephants’ players inflicted them with injuries. It is quite encouraging that security operatives prevented the beasts from attacking the match officials. Nobody has told us how the fans were allowed into the stadium premises, knowing that fans have been banned from watching matches at league venues.

The NFF had reiterated the fact that fans were barred from the stadium when incidents of crowd violence reached a disturbing level across the country in the leagues. Why did Plateau State FA chieftains allow fans into the premises if truly there was a circular barring them by the NFF? The argument that the fans overpowered 50 security operatives is weak because the FA chiefs ought to have locked the place up after both teams trained at the match venue. If the Plateau FA locked the premises, the fans wouldn’t have invaded the pitch after overpowering the operatives.

Who was the match commissioner of this game? Didn’t he see the fans inside the stadium before allowing the match’s kick-off? If he did, what was his reaction? If the match commissioner had refused to direct the referee to start the game on grounds of fans’ presence, the irritants would have been walked out of the place. Most of the league officials have been compromised by the kind of hospitality they get from the host teams. Hence they look the other way to breaches of the league’s rules and regulations.

The fans didn’t start entering the stadium after the two teams and officials had commenced the game. Of course, the teams and their officials saw the fans inside the stadium. They also would have seen them trooping into the stadium on the streets. If this wasn’t the case, what did the match commissioner do to ensure the second half began without the fans having seen them in the first 45 minutes of the game? The story that the fans broke the fence of the stadium only to chase the referees around the pitch until the security men intervened is idiotic. How did the irate fans know that the referee ought to have sounded the whistle for a penalty when they were not inside the stadium?

Until some of the chairmen of clubs and key officials of the state host FAs are arrested and charged to court, the menace at the venues would continue unabated. These chairmen and the State FA chieftains know some of the hooligans since they reside in such cities where they wreak havoc. These heartless club officials and soccer association men constitute some of the problems with the league.

In saner climes, football albeit sports is run as a business, not the circus which our football administrators have turned it.  Club owners who depend on 100 per cent patronage from the government are threatening to seize the league from the wobbling organisers, if they fail to get the league a sponsor. Rather than call the jesters’ bluff, a meeting has been scheduled between the owners (boys of the state governors) and the NFF. No word has been heard over what happened in Jos. It won’t come as a shock if we are told that the game ended. So what happened after the game could be overlooked and culprits, if any, punished later. This is the reason for the endless mayhem at venues. Justice delayed. Pity.

According to the club owners (how much can they muster without government funding): “The meeting observed with deep concern that in the last four seasons the NPFL had no sponsors which have indirectly affected the progress of the league, it, therefore, tasked the LMC to ensure that it secures sponsorship for the League before the end of the season, otherwise the club Owners would have no other choice than to step in.” Hahahaha! They have just woken up with seven matches to the end of the season. Why can’t the owners ask for their yearly stipends (N10 million per club and they are 20) running into billion which haven’t been paid in the last three years? Do this arithmetic and ask the club owners where they hope to get sponsors when they don’t have sponsors for their matches. They drive around the country most times in buses which have gone up in flames on the highway without any warnings. Need I waste space listing vehicles conveying players which have been burnt to ashes on the highways en route honouring matches?

The owners’ communiqué also stated further that: “The Meeting condemned in strong terms the spate of violence at some league venues and enjoined the LMC to strictly apply the rules accordingly.  That state Football Association instead of clubs should be held accountable for any breach of the peace at league venues since they are responsible for the provision of security.” These club owners can’t be serious. Who do these thugs support during matches? Are the clubs’ owners not bigger than the State FA chairmen and their members? Those who beat up the referees, players, and visitors are the owners’ clubs. What have they done to fish out the urchins for punishment or are they saying they don’t know these beasts?

NFF would be foolish to sit in a meeting with these owners when they know the clubs’ financiers – the state governors. NFF should engage the governors with the problems, not these representatives who may not have seen their governors for God knows how long.

“The Club Owners after a Critical examination of the schedule provided for the 2021 Aiteo Cup, paucity of funds and congestion in the league fixtures, unanimously resolved to withdraw participation in the Aiteo cup except if otherwise provided with intervention funds.

“It further called on the NFF to immediately pay to Kano Pillars FC the outstanding prize money for the last Aiteo Cup.”

These club owners are clowns otherwise, how come chronic debtors like they are seeking outstanding payment of the Aiteo Cup be paid whereas they are still indebted to their players, coaches, and officials.

These club owners are clowns otherwise, how come chronic debtors like them are seeking the payment of Aiteo Cup’s outstanding prize money to be paid whereas they are still indebted to their players, coaches and officials.

By Ade Ojeikere

NIGERIA’S soccer has a date with destiny on July 4 in Los Angeles, the United States of America (USA) when the country’s senior team, Super Eagles faces better-ranked Mexicans who are 11th in the world compared to the Nigerians who are 32nd in the last FIFA ranking in an international friendly meant to keep the Mexicans busy. The country’s opponents are preparing for the South American version of the Nations Cup meaning they would be confronting the Nigerians with their armada of stars. Many have written off the Nigerians based on how poorly managed the domestic game has been in the last decade.

Conversely, the South Americans would be playing against the former African champions with products from the country’s domestic game who have been in limbo in terms of been exposed to top-flight football at the international levels. The domestic league has been lying comatose making these players and coaches unable to compete with their counterparts in the African continent despite the deluge of potentials abound in the 774 Local Government Areas in the country. Aside from the fact that those who would file out against the Mexicans are greyhounds, they would be playing together as a team for the first time, making them vulnerable for whiplash from their superior opponents. Clearly, this is an unfair challenge but football is a very cruel game when it comes to churning out results from such lopsided pairings.

But the game must be played with players and coaches who are being owed salaries, match bonuses running into billions  of naira, no proper welfare packages, medical facilities for the players and coaches are nothing to write home about, not many can tell who the insurance firm of the league is  nor can anyone vouch for the insurance policies of the clubs in the event of death, permanent disabilities, etc to the participants just as the quality of coaching in the team being of the lowest standard. Match venues for the local game turned into battlefields with referees dragged on the turfs by urchins of the home teams with some players being made to jump over high stadium fences for their dear lives.

Sadly, the disciplinary body for the league has churned out verdicts which leave much to be desired. In one breath the homes side are indicted for bringing the game to disrepute without commensurate application of the rules on such matters as crowd encroachment. Clubs are punished but the real hosts of the games, the States’ FAs walking away with a smile. The punishment for crowd encroachment is clear. Why the disciplinary body chose to say that a game that was goalless before the fracas ended 1-1 after the unruly acts remain laughable because video recordings of the game didn’t show any goals scored during the ill-fated match.

What the Mexico friendly offers to home-based players if the organisers in Nigeria knew their onions is a platform to attract attention from foreign scouts without recourse to the country’s managers who are fixated on the players they have selected as if the pool of talents available for selection must come from Europe and the Diaspora. Need I waste space to mention many great Nigerian players who did well for the Super Eagles through their efforts to here before heading to Europe?

Picking home-based players for the July 4th game wouldn’t have attracted such resentments from league followers in the country if we had organisers who did the weekly and monthly awards of the past where the best players were selected for the period by a group of renowned soccer experts. This exercise had Pepsi sponsors and the coaches, players administrators, and journalists looked forward to the verdict from the panel. Winners cherished their awards and it was easy to pick the best 16 players at any period for selection.

The lucky 25 home-based players who would wear the country’s jerseys would be driven by their individual desire to change their fortunes by giving their best against the Mexicans. It is good to know that NFF’s Technical Director, Austin Eguavoen has been chosen to lead the team on July 4. Eguavoen isn’t a stranger to home-based players. He routinely watches the domestic game venue before he was picked as the federation’s Technical Director. Eguavoen’s choice is faultless having won the domestic league and the country’s longest soccer competition the Challenge Cup as coach of Enyimba FC of Aba.

The home-based players should be reminded that the Mexican game won’t be points scoring, meaning that they should freely express themselves when they get the ball. Football is like biscuit, nobody knows where it would crack, according to the Sierra-Leoneans. A few have questioned the rationale behind NFF not asking Gernot Rohr to handle the team on July 4, since he is the national team’s manager. What does it matter for as long as we seize the opportunity to open a new vista for our best players and coaches through such friendly games as the Mexicans’.

However, Rohr told the media here on Tuesday that: “That’s a team for CHAN and is good preparation for them, it will be difficult to ignore Mexico because they are a wonderful team, I have to go there and see if I can get new players for the Super Eagles.

“I think they have a chance, I’m not the coach of the CHAN I’m only an adviser to the team, I call in Austin Eguavoen and two other coaches from Nigeria, it’s actually the technical director of the soccer federation that selected 25 players with the help of Yusuf and former coaches, club coaches and Imama who gave advice after watching a lot of games to select the best players,” he said.

“The game against Mexico will not count for FIFA ranking, it’s not our A team, friendly in the Summer do not count for FIFA Ranking, so, for me as a coach to win isn’t vital in the friendly game but trying and testing new players, change the system and tactical style. This is what I want to do as a coach and not go there for the result, we want to progress and in this year matches is not the result that’s important.”

Rohr is a funny man. He hates defeats. He likes to err on the side of caution by relying on foreign-based. Yet, when they are not doing well, he is first to remind us that he has average players to pick from as if he didn’t know that before he applied for the Eagles job. Rohr’s submissions on his team when things don’t go well further exposes his inabilities making it imperative to ask why he is still on the job. Not been on the bench on July 4 would affect the boys psychologically knowing that he is the main man in the Eagles. Of course, Rohr doesn’t look like one to rely on anyone’s verdict to pick his players. If he can afford to be in Los Angeles, he should sit on the bench to bark out instructions to the boys.

The obvious question would be if Rohr is Eguavoen’s boss or not to pick the matches he should handle? Rohr said he isn’t the coach of the CHAN team making one ask the NFF who the coach of this side is? Is it also right to have the same backroom staff if the coaches are different? The game must be played while the posers remain unanswered if one is to follow how things work here.

Indeed, Rohr told the CHAN team what he expects of them pointing out that: “What I want to see is collective football, not to do a one-man show. I’m watching out for players that would play for the team.” Yet, he isn’t the coach of the side. One isn’t shocked that questions have been raised about how the players were selected. But Eguavoen has stated that: “It was a bit difficult because the information came a bit late but even at that, it is our country.

I have been to few league games in the NPFL, the NNL, and even the NLO and I pencilled down a whole lot of players. I had to rely on information from fellow coaches that are in the league. It wasn’t that easy because I have seen a lot of criticism in the pages of newspapers and electronic media as well.” Fair enough. I hope that Rohr can emulate Eguavoen if in the future he is asked the same questions by concerned Nigerians.

By Ade Ojeikere

Any time the Super Falcons are involved in either friendly games or real competitions, I create time to watch them no matter how late. The girls fascinate me with their sublime skills and their urge to play the game to excite their admirers. Even when the Falcons’ game is ugly to watch, you can’t miss out on their can-do spirit which has been the team’s secret weapon over time. For this writer, Nigerian girls are magicians when they play the round leather game. I usually wonder where they find the time to train here in Nigeria. Don’t remind me of the girl-child setting here. I love girls.

Well, the Aisha Falode-led Nigeria Women Football League (NWFL) board has done the unthinkable by making sure that they showcase the women’s game with pomp and ceremony. Falode’s board isn’t shy to take decisions when there is one to be taken. They mete out real punishments not the slap on the wrist options which the better to be forgotten NPFL adopt. One isn’t shocked that there is a seamless integration of the home-based and foreign legion in the Falcons.

Watching the Falcons early Monday playing against the Portuguese, what struck me was their improved style of play when viewed against what they exhibited in their clash with Jamaica. The Falcons were ordinary against the Jamaicans. I had the sneaky feeling that we underrated the Jamaicans otherwise, the Nigerians ought to have beaten the country famous for athletics, not football. Forgive my arrogance, dear Jamaica. I looked forward to Nigeria’s next game against a football nation, Portugal.

Bookmakers ruled out the Falcons of getting anything to celebrate in Monday morning’s game, given the Portuguese pedigree in soccer without recourse to the fact they aren’t world-beaters in female football. Well, an average Nigerian excels when his or her backs when faced with tough obstacles.  Listening to views on television and commentaries in the print media, I told a few of my colleagues that Falcons won’t be beaten twice on the trot. I hinged my faith in the team’s American coach Randy Waldrum whose technical savvy ranks him among some of the best coaches in America – permit me to say the home of female football.

History was made in the women’s game in Nigeria when two sisters played at the same time for the Falcons in the historic 3-3 draw against Portugal. Such take away in friendly games are rare but worthy of being celebrated as the  Payne sisters, Nicole and Toni achieved this feat with their parents in the stands at the brand new Q2 Stadium, cheering them on as they did for the first two games.

Sevilla striker Toni told ESPN: “It feels amazing to be the first sisters playing together on the same pitch for the Nigerian side. I didn’t realise until I got to the hotel that Nicole and I had accomplished something great.

“It is very difficult to have two people from the house making the national team, especially the Nigerian national team because the program is so competitive.”

Toni, who made her Super Falcons debut in February, told ESPN: “The fact that we are both here together in our home country playing in a really big tournament is such a big deal for us. We are both really grateful to have had this opportunity and we are looking forward to the game, soaking up every second and every minute of it.”

According the female football guru, Colin Udoh:  ”The pair became the first set of sisters to play together for the Nigeria Women’s National Team, and only the second set of sisters, after Eberechi and Ugochi Opara, to represent the country.

”The Opara sisters played for Nigeria, but on different occasions and were never on the pitch at the same time, unlike the Alabama-born Payne sisters, who also shared the pitch a game later against Portugal.”

Playing against easily one of the best women soccer nations in the world, America didn’t give the falcons any chance for an upset which looked likely, except that in friendly matches, coaches are favourably disposed towards seeing every player perform than marking the result sheets as winners. This is not to say that the Falcons didn’t give the Americans something to play for in the wee hours of Thursday.

The Payne sisters, Nicole and Toni, having represented America from U14 through U20 levels looked forward to facing their home country in the final game of Summer Series tournament  in Austin, Texas and it didn’t come as surprise to soccer pundits when Falcons manager Randy Waldrum presented the captain’s band to Payne.

”I was shocked when I was handed the captain’s band,” Toni Payne revealed in a post-match interview to the international media on Thursday morning, Nigerian time.

The act was historic for chroniclers of soccer history, especially with women’s game but a norm in coaching under the circumstances, and that decision shocked Payne, although she was excited. Ten players from the NWFL (Let’s hope that Super Eagles manager Gernot Rohr reads this piece) played the Summer Series in Austin. Four of them featured so far with Bayelsa’s Joy Bokiri impressing Coach Randy Waldrum, according to reports from Nigerian officials watching the games in Austin. This takeaway is the fillip the female game needs in Nigeria, with Falode and her board members worthy of being celebrated. For this writer, Waldrum has earned his mark with the team.

Interestingly, Nigeria’s Super Falcons were the first soccer team to train at brand-new Q2 Stadium in Austin, Texas, the venue of the US Summer Series four Nations Tournament. Before the USA Summer Series, Super Falcons in February in Turkey handed a 1-0 win to Uzbekistan and 9-0 wallop to their African sisters, Equatorial Guinea. The nine-time African champions had lost 0-1 to Jamaica before a surprising comeback that earned them a point in the dramatic 3-3 with Portugal.

Friendly matches are meant to guide coaches about the strength of their players, the formations suitable for them to be at the best and most importantly to expose the team’s weaknesses. The results don’t really count although it doesn’t also mean that such games shouldn’t be won. they should because it helps to boost the players’ confidence. The USA Summer Series had a lot of positives for the Falcons. But sore thumb in the team’s matches was in the defence which should be solidified either by getting new players or changing the way the team defends for better performances, especially with their game against their rivals Black Queens of Ghana.

Curiously, Falcons manager, Waldrum informed the international media that he was satisfied with the way the Falcons played. Wise manager. He would rather make his observations known to the girls in the dressing room than spill the bean publicly which could have dire consequences.

Waldrum said Thursday morning in Austin USA that: I’m proud of that performance. We obviously have to defend more and we knew we would against the US. But considering where they are and their preparation – they are a few weeks away from the Olympics and they are in top form.

”We are a team that is just beginning and considering, the lateness of players getting here, not having a full squad here – the professionalism of our players in the entire tournament is something that I’m extremely proud of. And I thought we gave a great effort out there.

”We gave up a goal in the 46th minute and a goal late in the 94th minute. We played a very competitive game against a top team in the world, so I’m extremely pleased with them.”

”It was a difficult game to attack because they had so much possession and pin you in. So, we are defending for most of the time. It was difficult to counter efficiently. Having said that, we had a couple of opportunities in the game. Asisat’s pass to Payne which came off the crossbar then Asisat had one chance herself. Understanding that we weren’t going to have too many chances, I think they got about the best we could with the way the game went and with the team we had tonight.”

Indeed, Waldrum didn’t lose sight of top performers in the team such as the goalkeeper, who he said: ”She was very good. There was one shot that they hit from range and it was driven hard but she held it. She came up big on a couple of balls and played through an injury. So, absolutely she was fantastic.”

Waldrum also had very kind words for Alozie stressing: ”She did a good job. I thought, for the most part, she held them in check there. She is a good young player. Her first national team experience. She is certainly a player that will help us in the future, so we look forward to working with her more.