The Nation Newspaper

Category: Ade Ojeikere

  • Restoring calm at NFF

    By Ade Ojeikere

     

    Driving to work on Tuesday morning where I got stuck in the maddening gridlock along Gbagada (kudos to the Lagos State government for massive work on the roads) in the Centre of Excellence, my phone rang. I normally don’t answer calls while driving. To ease my frustration, I made sure my hear piece was on. I looked at the name on the phone and roared; ‘’Big fish in Nigeria’s football calling?’’ Not any administrator wishing to plead his case or threatening court actions over stories, before you start guessing who must have called this ‘troublesome’ man or like some others have said, this ‘controversial fellow’.

    Back to the caller, who isn’t a frivolous person. ‘’Ade!’’ he exclaimed. ‘’Something is troubling my mind. And I’m not sure what exactly is wrong with me. But deep inside me I’m unhappy with the state of our football.  I’m frustrated,’’ he said. There was dead silence inside my car. Nothing was heard from my caller.

    ‘’Hello,’’ I screamed because such drop calls could be our usual troublesome poor network. ‘’I’m here Ade, go on talking. I stumbled on some vital information about what’s going with our league board and I almost collapsed. I got information from one unhappy fellow among those in the league.  The figures were mind-boggling, making to tarry with caution with them, but raise the alarm for the sports ministry to intervene to arrest the rot.

    ‘Not true,’ I told my discussant, especially as the story was coming from a disgruntled person, who would surely have embellished the scoops to suit his ‘devilish’ intentions. The discussant in his husky voice came alive and said; ‘’ You know I’m not a frivolous person, so please go and check or are you frustrated by the system in place for our football as I am?

    I kept quiet; this time there was quick movement on Gbagada Road, the confused traffic setting caused by ‘mad’ bus drivers, motor cyclists and keke irritants squeezing into small gaps on the queue like wharf rats. I opted to speak with my discussant using an ear piece. The law allows that.

    My caller continued his talk on how to reform Nigeria soccer, stressing that his visits to several countries have left him in on the lurch, wondering if all that the country’s soccer shows are tales of sharp practices, witch hunt and general apathy towards developing the game. He concluded that the game has been governed by people who think through their pockets than to leave their footprints on the sands of time.

    Are these views all that our soccer represents? I don’t like the bandwagon effect. What sticks out like a sore thumb among grumblers of the systems in our soccer, is that they were once part of the NFF or NFA. If indeed they did what they now advocate for during their tenures, the Glasshouse would have been a model of how to administer soccer to the world. Not so here. I would rather say that we have not been courageous enough to change the instrument governing the game – Decree 101 (can you imagine the archaic law used here? Yet, we expect movement forward. It won’t happen.) for a more vibrant rulebook that would throw open the process of getting competent Nigerians to administer the game guided by rules which work in other climes except ours.

    In fact, the rulebook shouldn’t be authored by benefactors of the fraudulent Decree 101, since they would include vexatious laws that would further entrench them in the system. The collegiate system which Decree 101 polluted our soccer ensures that the same people rule our game, no matter how many times we conduct fresh elections. The only difference with each electoral exercise is the change of the members’ names.

    Read Also: NFF advised to reintroduce winning bonuses for youths

    The new rulebook must be subjected to scrutiny to expunge laws which are inimical to the development of the game. The criteria for applying to govern our soccer must be stiff, with emphasis on such people’s pedigree in business and/or experience in running the game at different levels. This setting where some people run the game for over three decades stunts growth in such places. It is important that tenures are defined with dates.

    For the administrative personnel at the Glasshouse, those recruited must pass through a transparent process which should throw up only the best among the equals to run the place.  Such appointments should be tenured. Such durations of employment must be respected. The major reason for the crises at the Glasshouse is the presence of staff who have each spent three terms of a four-year tenured job, which raises eyebrows.

    Staff, who have spent 12 years running our football, should respectfully step aside to allow for fresh ideas. A four-yearly contract with all personnel at NFF, except those who emerged through elections will reduce the high level of suspicion from the public. Indeed, most of the feud that has engulfed the Glasshouse have come from those who were there before.

    If staff know that after two terms of four years each they are ineligible to aspire for office at the Glasshouse, there will be less turmoil in the place. If the entry qualifications for staff into the Glasshouse is raised to level only cerebral people are recruited, lickspittles who have been troubling the country’s soccer space would back off.

    Need I say  the NFF is filled with many jobless people who constitute a nuisance in the place? They are the people who fuel the crises which inhibit good work ethics. The board should prune its staff to effectiveness. The present board, should in moving to their new secretariat, the Sunny Dankaro House in Abuja, prune staff. They should also merge some of the offices for effective management.

    Sometimes I wonder if the NFF chieftains understand what it means to computerise the business of the federation. The analogue structures in the federation encourages sharp

    practices, which underlines the bad image it has outside.

    The first  step towards reducing corruption will be for all transactions in football to be transparent and it should start from now. Transparency should be the new mantra, if the NFF and its affiliates want to do the business of soccer to rake in millions like in other climes. Transparency can only be attained, if the activities of the federation are subjected to routine checks, while those found culpable are made to face the wrath of the law, no matter whose ox is gored.

    No country’s football thrives without the domestic league, which in Nigeria is in a shambles. It is equally shocking that the domestic game is run by four people. I hate to use the word – cabal. Little wonder they couldn’t handle the critical aspects of the Super Sports’ live coverage of the game. If they knew their onions, they should have known that Super Sports were right in asking for some reprieve, knowing that the market rate of the dollar when the deal was struck years ago had hit the roof, making it wise for them to negotiate downward. Fair marketing argument, if you ask me.

    What these four unwise men did, was to reject what was offered, and sadly replaced with it nothing. In other climes, the league board would have been sacked. Not here. The board, or the four unwise men are becoming more powerful, forgetting that all leagues in the world rely on proceeds from television rights , which are mouth-watering.

    The league board would have been sacked elsewhere for not telling us how much it is worth yearly. It is a shame that nobody has asked the league board what it earns from inter and intra club transfers of our players. Players’ transfers are structured to monitor them and relate with those who have issues with the foreign clubs. It is with such indices that countries evolve their football calendars to be in sync with other 211 nations affiliated to FIFA.

    Soccer in Nigeria will soar if we tailor it to business, not the patronage to lackeys that currently is across the country. The advantages Nigeria will derive from running soccer like the business that it is (the way saner countries have been doing for decades), are endless.

    For instance, a 2019 report by EY’s Economic and Social Impact Assessment said the English Premier League and its clubs supported close to 100,000 jobs and contributed £7.6 billion to the United Kingdom (UK)’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

    In 2009, the rugby series between the Springboks and the British & Irish Lions boosted the South Africa economy by almost R1.5billion, a study commissioned by SA Rugby revealed.

    This converts to nearly N36billion. In just one sport alone. The public interest in the ten-match series, and the impact of the arrival of 37 000 visitors from Britain and Ireland, generated R1,47bn in direct and indirect value to the travel and tourism gross domestic product (GDP) of South Africa.

    The six-week tour produced close to a tenth (8,95%) of South Africa’s annual tourism GDP (based on 2008 figures) said the survey prepared by Octagon Marketing in conjunction with Kamilla-SA Sport and Tourism Consultancy and Umcebisi Business Advisors.

    10 years on, why can’t Nigeria, with Africa’s biggest economy and population replicate this success in, football, the king of sports? Why, for instance, isn’t any of our clubs listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange?

  • Not again, Iheanacho

    Nigerian international Kelechi Iheanacho is in the news for not respecting the fair play rule, although the offence wasn’t captured by the Video Assistant Referee (VAR), a mechanical device introduced to world soccer to capture incidents which the ordinary eye missed.

    The essence of using the VAR is to reduce fouls which affect match results, such as the disallowed goal scored by West Ham’s Antonio  against Southampton.

    Antonio ran side-by-side with his Saints’ marker, but stylishly propelled the ball with his left hand to gain advantage, before rifling home a rocket-like goal, which was rightly disallowed, thanks to VAR.

    The referee didn’t see the incident. Antonio was named the Man of the match, even though he didn’t score a goal. Antonio’s assist led to West Ham’s first and only legitimate goal which divided the two sides.

    Before the second half, precisely in the 34th minute of the first half of the game between Leicester and Norwich, a foul happened, making the visitors to throw the ball to Iheanacho based on the fair play rule.

    Iheanacho was expected to kick the ball back to Norwich players or kick it to the sideline or anywhere else, but not into the net. He had to make one of these choices to properly re-start the game.

    But the Nigerian chose the ‘forbidden option’ of trying to score a ‘cheap’ goal.  Iheanacho’s action infuriated the Norwich players which almost resulted in a clash.

    Norwich players’ reaction was meant to get VAR’s attention such that Iheanacho may have been sent off. A quick-thinking Leicester manager, Brendan Rodgers, pulled the Nigerian out in the 38th minute, irrespective of the fact that the game was Iheanacho’s 100th in the Barclays English Premier League over seven years for two clubs, Leicester and Manchester City.

    Rather than keep Iheanacho on the pitch to continue the game, Rodgers chose to remove the Nigerian much to the consternation of soccer faithful, who were bemused at the decision.

    We have seen desperate clubs (especially the losing teams), ignore sprawling players on the turf to score goals. The goals weren’t disallowed. Instead such incidents formed the fulcrum of pundits’ post-match analysis.

    Shouldn’t Iheanacho have known the fair play rule? Given his experience in the game, he should. But so many things happen on the spur of the moment for most players, Iheanacho inclusive, especially if their teams are desperate to win matches.

    Burdened by his past experience where he was excluded from most matches, Iheanacho’s mindset is to score goals like he did in the past three matches as a substitute. Little wonder the starting shirt feat could have increased Iheanacho’s adrenalin, with the goalpost within his shooting range.

    But Rodgers didn’t protect him. He threw the Nigerian out of the game for dubious reasons, which eventually caused Leicester two points, following the drawn game against strugglers Norwich.

    Non-compliance with the fair play rule isn’t a punishable offence. It’s more or less  a moral  issue, which if respected says a lot about the game – a competition, not warfare.

    Great stars such as Di Canio made a show of the fair play rule and received global applause and commendation from the world’s soccer ruling body, FIFA, years ago.

    Di Canio’s gesture in the game between West Ham and Everton was a paradox of sorts because he had previously been banned for pushing a referee to the ground, and in late 1998 he was banned for eight games after pushing referee Paul Alcock to the ground following a red card while playing for Sheffield Wednesday, before he won Fifa’s Fair Play Award for 2001.

    Di Canio’s career was blighted by controversy until he quit the game. Di Canio was without any doubt a skilful player, with a tremendous knack for scoring spectacular goals.

    Di Canio was given the award for “a special act of good sportsmanship” in West Ham’s game at Everton on December 16 2000.

    Everton goalkeeper Paul Gerrard was lying injured in the penalty area when Di Canio received a cross from Trevor Sinclair. Faced with an empty net, Di Canio chose to catch the ball rather than score. A goal then would have almost certainly given the Londoners a 2-1 win.

    Di Canio’s case could be understood for a man with a chain of controversies, who needed to change the narrative around his game before he retired. Not so for Iheanacho who is controversial, but cannot believe what has befallen his game since he rose to stardom playing for Nigeria’s U-17 side in 2013. Not many people know that Iheanacho starred for Nigeria as an under-15 player.

    It is unlikely that Rodgers would have done a replacement if some of the big boys at Leicester had been involved. Rodgers’ action was a humiliation for Iheanacho.

    I’m glad that Iheanacho told his manager how disappointed he was about the change. Thumbs up, Iheanacho. Rodgers’ decision to substitute Iheanacho would have been right, if the Nigerian was shown a yellow card for the incident.

    Besides, the fact that VAR wasn’t consulted in the matter shows clearly how discretional it is in the rule book. Had the fair play rule been sacrosanct, VAR would have been sought to clarify matters and take appropriate action. It was sad that Rodgers chose to throw Iheanacho under the car.

    For Iheanacho, lessons have been learned. Perhaps Leicester’s manager should include talks on fair play with his players, before, during and after matches, instead of what he did to the Nigerian.

     

    Sunday Dare’s missile

    Sports minister Sunday Dare, on Tuesday, disturbed the eardrums of chieftains of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) when he stressed the need to be more resourceful in the handling of the country’s soccer, which he said was comatose.

    Dare also described the country’s domestic game as being on crutches, needing its operators to be transparent and tell the world how much Nigeria’s soccer is worth.

    Dare didn’t say anything followers of the game haven’t read or heard of. What he sought to reemphasise is the urgent need for the federation to deal with the perception that it is a corrupt body, pointing out that this bad image has grossly jeopardised efforts to make NFF solvent.

    Dare’s words were hurting, but that is the best way to talk with people you desire to grow, given the opportunities before them. No firm would do business with any organisation that is dogged by tales of corruption. The only way NFF chiefs can change is to be transparent and rid the place of shady characters.

    NFF’s biggest enemies are those who lost elections to become members. The moment they lose out, they turn town criers. I don’t understand why NFF board can’t expose the ills of these turncoats.

    According to Dare: “The bad image at all levels of our football, including the organisers of the domestic league cannot attract sponsorship, which is the biggest hub of business. In the eyes of the Nigerian public, the perception that NFF and Nigerian football is corrupt is rife.

    I have had cause in the past to speak on how perception is everything and the perception around the NFF is not one that will court new partners and sponsors for the federation.

    “Even though many of the allegations have not been proven, the atmosphere around football is polluted on account of the negative perception of corruption and we must move quickly to sanitise this.

    Agreed, the stigma of corruption in NFF predates this board, hence the need for proper accountability and transparency going forward because we must move quickly to change this toxic perception.”

    Good talk, honourable minister. The present NFF board members are willing to learn and change their ways. They must take everything you said to heart, beginning with your terse words on how the place can be more accountable.

    With proper accountability, blue chip firms will do business with the Glasshouse, only if they interface with credible people, who can boost their image. It is critical.

  • Whither Nigerian boxing

    Ade Ojeikere

     

    What won’t you hear, see or read about when it comes to Nigerians and their passion for sports? From the obscene to the ridiculous are some of the scenarios you are confronted with, which tell the story of Nigeria – only unified by sports – no place for tribe and/or creed. How about this lamentation from an Arsenal fan who was in my office on Monday morning – angry, unable to understand what had befallen the Gunners, so much so any team can beat them, even at the club’s sacred ground – Emirates Stadium in London. Pity.

    Hear the Arsenal fan, dear reader: ” Oga, you see what I have been saying about my team, Arsenal? I advocated long ago that Arsenal’s management should go for Jose Mourinho. They kept faith with coaches who are not winners. See what Mourinho has done with Tottenham? Can you imagine Brighton beating Arsenal at the Emirates?

    ”Look Sir, in that game, Brighton, for instance, the visitors had more of the ball possession, more of the shots at goals, they had more of the corner kicks and free kicks. The only thing Arsenal players did better than Brighton was to get more yellow cards flashed at them by the referee.” I ‘collapsed’, almost choking because this colleague was dead serious and wasn’t in the mood for jokes. Omase o, I retorted and my colleague stormed out angry. He walked away from my office. A case of transferred aggression.

    I’ve brothers (please don’t ask me if they are older or younger than I), who  are avid supporters of Arsenal. One of them wrote on his WhatsApp chat after Arsenal’s home loss to Brighton last week, that he had dumped the Gunners. I couldn’t call him, knowing that it would have caused him more pain. My other brother who supports Arsenal has been bombarded with teasers from his friends. But he is adept in receiving such jokes and knows how to return fire-for-fire to his friends when their teams falter.

    Today’s column isn’t about Arsenal or other teams and how they are faring because the season is just gaining momentum. It would be unwise for anyone to make any predictions. However, the build-up to the Fight at the Dunes in Saudi Arabia last Saturday was very interesting with both boxers entertaining the media with different perspectives to the fight, which, on the hindsight  turned out to be an anti-climax. No knock downs. There was blood and that was the only time that one of the boxers realised that he had to box. He smelt blood and knew the implications on the umpires’ scorecards.

    However, Anthony Joshua drew the support of Nigerians when he entered the ring with one of the songs which endeared music lovers to the late Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, omi o lo ta (water no get enemy) blaring from the loudspeakers. The lyric typified what eventually happened, although most people couldn’t really follow the fight live on television. Indeed, Joshua has shown tremendous love for Nigeria, even though it hurts that he carries a British passport. The one got to represent England at the Olympic Games.

    We want to claim Joshua as a Nigerian, yet no local station could show the boxing bout against Andrés Ruiz Jr. But every TV/cable network in the UK beamed the historic event live across British cities. So, why the noise that he never mentioned Nigeria in his victory speech? How could Joshua mention Nigeria when he knows that over 200 million Nigerians relied on several parties to catch glimpses of his fight? Several supporters from England came to Saudi Arabia for the fight. And the loud noise  from where the fans sang, Joshua, Anthony Joshua , Joshua … took over the entire hall as they celebrated.

    “I want to thank God. I want to say that the first time was so nice, I just had to do it twice. A man like me don’t make no excuses. This is about boxing. I’m used to knocking guys out but I had to correct myself and put on a boxing master-class. You have to hit and not get hit.

    “I stay hungry and humble. Thank you to everyone, I don’t know what to say. So to everyone around the world and in this building – let’s go!

    “Careers are all about experiences, I took my ‘L’ and hit back. I’d do it all again, if you are heard, we going to do a third,” Joshua said in last Saturday’s post match analysis.

    Joshua is expected to be in Nigeria by the middle of January. He will be guest of President Muhammadu Buhari inside the seat of government Aso Rock in Abuja. What this shows is that the President recognises the importance of sports in reenergising the populace. The President has seen the Public Relations tool which sports uses to change people’s perception of the country. It was easy for the British media to tag Joshua a Nigerian in his troubling times with drugs and being on the wrong side of the law. But the moment Joshua became a celebrity, the narrative changed – Joshua became British born. Of course, he has been developed and taken out of his dark past to the part of glory which he presently enjoys.

    Sports minister Sunday Dare has shown remarkable understanding of the workings in sports with some of his decisions so far. Dare could use the interactive session with Anthony Joshua  next year to jumpstart the process of reviving boxing in the country. Joshua emerged from the dark corners where he took drug to stardom because the British government’s sports policy is robust. What the administrators did to Joshua was channel the energy in him positively to boxing. And it has paid off because there were trained coaches in the British boxing system who refined his skills and exposed him to the world at the Olympic Games.

    Joshua was transformed at the corrective centre by a system that works, which is lacking here because of the kind of ministers we have had. Today, Dare has changed the narrative. He has introduced several schemes to ensure that potential medallists are attached to sports friendly firms and individuals, with government’s function restricted to providing the facilities to train the athletes. With functional sports centres and coaches across the 774 Local Government Areas in the country, it would be easier for the budding stars to exercise and take to sports of their choice.

    President Buhari can impress it on Joshua to use his contacts in world boxing to get good coaches to visit the country periodically to train and re-train our coaches while working in our hinterlands to discover potential boxers to win laurels for the country. The new discoveries will open new horizon for themselves.  Nigeria did well in boxing winning medals and belts from our amateur boxers in the past.

    Dick Tiger was a Nigerian-born professional boxer who held the World Middleweight and World Light Heavyweight Championships. Tiger was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1991. The Ring magazine named him Fighter of the Year in 1962 and 1965, while the Boxing Writers Association of America (BWAA) named him Fighter of the Year in 1962 and 1966. In 2002, Tiger was voted by The Ring magazine as the 31st greatest fighter of the last 80 years. Hogan “Kid” Bassey MBE was a Nigerian-British boxer; he was the first man of Nigerian descent to become a world boxing champion.

    Nojim Maiyegun is a retired Nigerian boxer, who won the bronze medal in the men’s Light  Middleweight (71 kg) category at the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan,  Nigeria’s first Olympic medallist. David Izonritei is a former Nigerian boxer. Also known as David Izon, Izonritei won the Heavyweight silver medal at the 1992 Summer Olympics. Duncan Dalnajeneso Danagogo Dokiwari is a retired Nigerian boxer. At the 1996 Summer Olympics he won a Men’s Super Heavyweight bronze medal, together with Aleksei Lezin of Russia.

    Efe Ajagba won a gold medal at the 2015 African Games and bronze at the 2014 Commonwealth Games. As a professional, Ajagba holds the record for the fastest victory in boxing history after his opponent was disqualified for leaving the ring 1 second after the opening bell. there was also Ikemefula Charles “Ike” Ibeabuchi, whose story isn’t pleasant to narrate here. This list shows how well Nigeria could box even though it doesn’t capture all our exploits, especially Isacc Ikhuoria’s bronze medal winning feat at the Munich 1972 Olympic Games. Ikhuoria groomed other boxers, with the most prominent of them being Davidson Andeh. I ask, where is Davidson Andeh? tears on my face. Andeh’s story isn’t pleasant too. I digress.

    Indeed, the Lagos Boxing Hall of Fame anchored by Olawale Edun changed the face of boxing in the Centre of Excellence, without grave cost to the government.  The Lagos Boxing Hall Fame reawakened the fistic trade in state, especially the novel boxing tournament where boxers from Repton Boxing Club in the United Kingdom (UK) came to trade punches with those discovered from the local government areas in the state.

    Nigerian boxers were taken to London to box against their English counterparts in 2013. Imagine how those boxers felt entering the aircraft, possibly for the first time. Imagine the boxers’ gaze  as the bus drove through the streets of London. Imagine how they would felt putting calls across to their parents from London to Nigeria and what transpired in such telephone conversations. Imagine calling their friends to show that the Lagos Boxing Hall Fame is where they should be to learn and earn a living from boxing. Lagos Boxing Hall of fame began in 2009 and has held 107 editions monthly, where boxers were taught the rudiments of the fistic trade. Imagine how the boxers reacted to English meals as against Nigeria’s? Imagine how they coped with the weather and what ran through the minds during the period? Such is the message with sports and how it ought to be government’s biggest Public Relations tool.

    Such visits as Joshua’s help to raise the consciousness of Nigerians towards the sports, especially, those who used their big physique to bully people around the state instead of embracing boxing. It would be easier to convince them to embrace sports, having seen what others have achieved, especially their friends.

     

  • Iheanacho, Ndidi as EPL champs

    Every week I think about what will interest you, dear reader. In arriving at a choice, I always consider Nigerian stars, knowing that in other climes, the local media celebrate their own. This topic was difficult to pick since I support Liverpool, which is at vintage position to lift the Barclays English Premier League diadem after 30 years. As an avid Liverpool supporter, I know that our mantra of ‘Never Walk Alone’ has informed the choice of Leicester City as the likely team to walk with us to the podium, but won’t be decorated as Champions of England in May. Why not? This is just a prediction, with two Nigerians – Wilfred Ndidi and rave of the moment Kelechi Iheanacho – in tow.

    Will thunder strike again on one spot? Leicester is the fairytale team for the season in England. This new toga has arisen from the tactical savvy of former Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers, who narrowly missed the 2013/2014 Barclays English League title with the Reds, no thanks to the slip  by Steven Gerard at Anfield against Chelsea, which Demba Ba scored with the Special One, Jose Mourinho, taking his pound of flesh .

    Rodgers created the once dreaded threesome of Sterling, Sturridge and Suarez (SSS), who scored goals with aplomb at Anfield and everywhere Liverpool visited that season. The trio reminds watchers of the English game of the current Liverpool goal-scoring tripod of Sadio Mane, Firmino and Mohammed Salah, except that the manager is different. The bearded one from Germany, Jurgen Klopp, is reminding everyone of the feats created by SSS, leading to the exit of Suarez and Sturridge in controversial circumstances.

    Perhaps, Liverpool were not destined to win the diadem that 2013/2014 season because Rodgers left Anfield for Scotland and ruled the Scottish Premier League, using Celtic to show that what he achieved with the Reds wasn’t a fluke. Rodgers’ return to the EPL has sparked off a resurgence for the Foxes, reminding their fans about how they shocked the world by lifting the EPL trophy in the 2015–16 season – their first top-level football championship. They are one of only six clubs to have won the Premier League since its inception in 1992.

    They played a brilliant counter-attacking style of football with a fearless frontline of Riyad Mahrez, Shinji Okazaki and former England international Jamie Vardy. The trio had 46goals that season and Mahrez was crowned the Best Player in England.

    Back in the 2013-14 season, Liverpool had their own deadly trio. The combination of Suarez, Sterling and Sturridge (SSS) helped Liverpool to 101 league goals, third on the all- time list of goals ever scored by a club in the top flight. The trio contributed 61 goals but failed to win the Premier League as they finished second, four points behind eventual winners Manchester City.

    Suarez and Sturridge finished first and second on the top scorers’ chart, with 31 and 21 goals. But their individual feats were worth celebrating. However, the tears from the teeming fans caused by a single slip from Steven Gerrard have haunted the Kop till date.

    This season, Liverpool look unstoppable but former manager Brendan Rodgers has built a solid Leicester City side that will pull both the Reds and Manchester City until the very end. Not forgetting Jose Mourinho’s entry into the EPL and his methodological approach to matches, using a team that lost its steam after the finals of the UEFA Champions League, which Liverpool won 2-0 in Spain.

    Leicester are past champions and know how to handle the pressure of leading the league through its tortuous 38 weeks matches. With Jamie Vardy at 33 years still scoring goals and running faster than younger men, nobody should dismiss Leicester in this year’s campaign. Perhaps, when Leicester clashes with Liverpool at the King Power Stadium December 26, we would be able to ascertain if they have what it takes to play against the big boys when the stakes are high. Interestingly, Leicester will be meeting Manchester City, the defending champions, five days earlier, precisely December 21 at the Ethihad  Stadium.

    Back-to-back losses could change the arithmetic at the top and set the stage for new permutations involving Liverpool and Manchester City at the competition’s zenith. If Leicester win both matches, they would have shut the door against the Citizens and recue the points between them and the Reds. The EPL, no doubt, is the best compared with other European leagues where three to four teams contend for the title seasonally.

    Mourinho’s Tottenham are 23 points adrift of league leaders, Liverpool. But that is the beautiful game- highly unpredict able. Soccer is like biscuit, nobody knows where it would crack. A spate of bad results or injuries to key players could drag leaders down and change the narrative of the quest for the league’s diadem. With an adept manager, such as Mourinho, you should always count on him in such contests, more so when there is the January transfer window where he can shop for players to strengthen his squad. So, Liverpool, Leicester and Manchester City, watch your backs. Did I hear you say such a proposition won’t happen, given Liverpool’s pedigree? Hold your breath, dear reader. The league is a marathon filled with ups and downs. We wait.

    Indeed, nothing excites Nigerians most than watching our nationals celebrate in their clubs on the podium after an important achievement. In fact, such pictures, especially those which they take with their family members, make the front pages of most dailies, especially if one of the kids do something special – think about anything that would tickle people’s fancies. I’m looking forward to seeing Ndidi on the podium with Leicester. I believe strongly that such a feat should qualify him for the 2020/2021 Africa Football of the Year.

    It is true that Kelechi Iheanacho isn’t a regular with the Foxes, but cameo shows, such as the one against Everton, can boost his chances of getting another club, if he insists on playing regularly next year, which is when most countries will be playing their 2022 World Cup qualifiers.

    Speaking on LCFC Radio’s Extra-Time show as monitored by Soccernet.ng, former Leicester City star Iwan Roberts said of Ndidi: “What you do without the ball is nearly as important as what you do when you’ve got the ball. It’s not going in ones and twos, it’s going in as a unit. Wilfred Ndidi is a brilliant player and we saw that again on Sunday. He is one of the top tacklers in the whole league and he’s a really important figure for Leicester this season.”

    Like I predicted here last week, Ndidi has been dropped from the list of players vying for the Africa Cup of Nations diadem, leaving Odion Ighalo as the only Nigerian listed. Ighalo will soon be dropped. His being listed resulted from his feat as the highest goal scorer at the last Africa Cup of Nations. Ighalo plays in the Chinese League, which effectively rules him out of the race. With formidable strikers, such as Mane, Salah, Aubameyang and Mahrez, it will be easier for the carmel to pass through the eyes of the proverbial needle than for Ighalo to nick it.

    Did I hear you say “don’t rule out Ighalo”? True, with CAF, anything is possible. But I doubt it.

  • Ndidi and the African Player of the Year

    Ade Ojeikere

     

    NIGERIA’s biggest export to the European game this season is Wilfred Ndidi, who has shown that there are still good things here to celebrate, irrespective of the downturn of  our domestic football in the last six years. Ndidi, a product of FIFA’s youth development programmes, having been discovered at the U-20 level, has made the shortlist of 20 players in the race to be the 2019/2020 Africa Footballer of the Year. The parameters for picking the eventual winner do not favour Ndidi, since marks would be given based on a player’s contributions in his national team and his European club.

    Europe-based players have dominated previous winners’ list, making it imperative for pundits to look towards top performers in Europe. This evident backing for Europe-based stars compelled the Confederation of Africa Football (CAF) to carve out an award for the home-based stars,:but this isn’t as glamorous as the senior category since fans ask questions about the winner unlike the one for the big boys. I digress!

    Ndidi has played over 80 per cent of Nigeria’s matches, missing only when he is either injured or banned due to yellow card offences. Ndidi has dominated his Barclays English Premier League side Leicester City’s matches, drawing rave reviews from pundits and coaches. Other clubs are watching, obviously waiting for either the January transfer window or that of the summer to offer the Nigerian mouth-watering packages. Will Ndidi dump Leicester for a bigger club? Will he remain at Leicester where he has a regular shirt until next season, now that it appears the Foxes can claim one of the four UEFA Champions League slots for the English game in the 2020/2021 season? I don’t envy Ndidi. But his managers are seasoned administrators, who will give him quality advice.

    For Leicester’s management, these are tough times, given the fact that Ndidi has added goal scoring to his tackling prowess. Many pundits agree that he is the closest threat to Chelsea’s defensive midfielder N’Golo Kante, a member of the French 2018 World Cup winning team in Russia. Soccer pundits have not blamed Ndidi for picking yellows cards while playing for Leicester because he does the dirty jobs of marking players, many of whom are in the habit of feigning injuries from such ‘crunchy’ tackles.

    Chronologists have rated Ndidi between first and third among the best tacklers. Those who have not rated Ndidi as the best tackler often get the stick from followers of the game, having seen the names of those listed ahead of the Nigerian.

    Penultimate week, Ndidi’s team mate in Leicester City James  Madison described him as the best in his position  in the English Premier League. Madison said: “What  Wilfred Ndidi does may not get on the back of pages of the newspaper or talked about  moren often. He doesn’t get talked about on match day for example but his teammates and players that play against him realise what a top player he is.” Good talk Madison, that is the prize undertakers of the game get from the media, whose major concern are the goal scorers or naughty players who make the headlines for the wrong reasons. Pity!

    Sadly, Ndidi won’t make the last three, where the eventual winner will emerge. Previous winners have been goal scorers. Indeed, Sadio Mane, Mohammed Salah and Mahrez are strong contenders for the Africa Footballer of the Year, with the Liverpool duo tipped to win the diadem, based on their contributions to Liverpool since last season. The Reds did well last season by lifting the UEFA Champions league and are the holders of the UEFA Super Cup, a trophy meant to decide the best team in Europe last season. Liverpool beat Chelsea 5-4 on penalty kicks after 120 minutes. Last season, Salah and Mane tied on 22 goals in the Barclays English Premier League top scorers’ chat along with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, though the Arsenal captain won’t be able to match the others because his country ,Gabon, is a football minnow. Kudos to Aubameyang for not dumping his fatherland to play for any of the European soccer powers.

    “It will be difficult for the Nigerians to win it. The only Nigerian player with some chance is Odion Ighalo, who was the top scorer at the Africa Cup of Nations.

    “Maybe when you come to the CAF Best XI, Wilfred Ndidi has a chance to make it. Ighalo definitely has a chance to be part of the XI but it’s looking good for Mane.

    ”People might argue that he didn’t win the Africa Cup of Nations but he helped Senegal reach the final and Liverpool to win the UEFA Champions League back in June,” Victor Ikpeba, a former Africa Footballer of the Year (1997) stressed.

    What counts essentially in the race to winning the trophy is the player who distinguishes himself the most. Mane towers over every African since he was runners-up last season, which means that he has been the most consistent player since last year. Mane continued with his sterling form for club and country. But it is Mane’s role with Senegal that should earn him the diadem, more so as Egypt has been tottering. Egypt hosted the Africa Cup of Nations and fumbled. But Senegal lost in the final to Algeria.

    Ordinarily, the odds would have favoured Mahrez, yet his club form has been in-today-out tomorrow. This writer won’t say Mahrez has been a poor performer. Mahrez cannot field himself in a game. Manchester City’s manager Pep Guardiola decides who plays and who doesn’t. If he thinks otherwise for Mahrez, he sits on the bench, unlike Salah and Mane who are pillars in Liverpool’s attacking onslaughts.

    Ikpeba, who voted for Mane, knows that Ighalo doesn’t have the indices to grab the award, given what Mane achieved for Liverpool in England and UEFA Champions League last season. Mane has continued these feats (scoring vital goals for Liverpool) this season.

    Perhaps for 2019/2020, Victor Osimhen can battle for the award with Mane, Salah and Aubameyang, considering the way he is scoring goals for Lille in the French Ligue Un and the UEFA Champions league, even though Lille have been eliminated from the elite class. This Osimhen  proportion is being patriotic because the trio (Mane, Salah, and Aubameyang) have made goal scoring look like second nature. At best, Osimhen can be adjudged the best youth player for this season and even next. but for him to beat the trio, he must do more than the extraordinary. and this can’t happen playing for Lille in the French league.

    Can Osimhen stand up and be counted playing for bigger clubs, especially as Jose Mourinho wants him to join Tottenham in the EPL? Osimhen has no place at Tottenham , with the way Harry Kane and Song are playing. He could be more talented with age on his side. but Mourinho isn’t patient with young boys. Mourinho wants quick fixes, making it impossible for Osimhen to fit into the present Tottenham set – up. Osimhen should remain at Lille or join teams with more tolerant managers for young boys to break into their team during the summer.

    Odion Ighalo being picked as the best African player because he emerged the highest goal scorer is farfetched. He plays in the Chinese league, which is lightweight , compared to the EPL and Champions League in which Mane and Salah are competing. It won’t fly with contenders, such as Mane and Salah. Both men have already added the Super Cup feat to their Champions League laurel of last season. Besides, Liverpool are the current league leaders with high prospects of winning the EPL for the first time in the new era in the last 30 years.

    The only consolation for Nigerians is that Ndidi has grown in stature in his game, a fact he attested to in a recent interview in England.

    ‘He (Rodgers) has given me so much information,’ Ndidi reveals. ‘If I had known this for a long time, the way I think I’m going… I feel comfortable and happy, knowing these things.

    ”What have I learned? First of all, it’s about facing the larger part of the pitch when I receive the ball. Then it’s knowing when to go with one touch, two touches, or when to leave the ball and just go with the body. At first, when I’d been converted from a central defender to a midfielder, I didn’t know these things.

    ”I just went out and played. When it’s a tight situation on the pitch, sometimes I don’t really go and ask for the ball, but this information has really helped my confidence, even to ask for the ball during the game, ” Ndidi said.

  • For Akpeyi, Awaziem et al, it’s time to go

    Ade Ojeikere

     

    Moments after the Crocodiles of Lesotho opened scoring on Sunday in Maseru in one of the qualification games against Nigeria’s Super Eagles for the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations’ ticket, with Eagles wearing the all-green jersey, a superstitious friend of mine said: ‘’ Go and write it down, Lesotho will shock Nigeria with this green jersey. It brings bad luck to the Eagles.’’ I was dumbfounded. I promised him not to watch soccer again, should Lesotho beat Nigeria with our armada of stars.  What has a jersey got to do with winning soccer matches? What won’t some fans say in the name of football?

    I didn’t call my friend after Nigeria whipped Lesotho 4-2. For sure, voodoo has no role to play in football. I can understand jinxes (having jinx teams), not juju or anything else influencing the outcome of matches. I was disturbed that Lesotho could open scoring against a star-studded Eagles side. But that underlined the character of our team’s defence,  which has many bench warmers and a few others who make cameo appearances for their European clubs. I’m still puzzled about Gernot Rohr talking about the inactivity in the domestic league. Yet, he keeps inviting benchwarmers and/or recuperating players from European teams to man the Eagles’ defence.

    The National team isn’t meant for average players, but the exceptional ones  who make their marks once they are fielded.Players, such  as Daniel Akpeyi, Chidozie Awaziem, Brian Idowu, Tyronne Ebuehi, Shehu Abdullahi, Jamiu Collins, et al, should be eased out to allow for new recruits, preferably from the local league. Why not? Friday Elaho, Benedict Iroha, Uche Okechukwu, Isaac Semitoje, Finidi George et al played for the Eagles as home-grown prospects before Clemens Westerhof  took them to Europe to sharpen their skills. Westerhof took most of them to Europe where they became instant success stories.

    What the Westerhof experiment did to the domestic league was very instructive. It challenged the equally talented boys in the league to aspire to playing for the country. Unlike now when they know that sneaking out to any country qualifies them to be invited to the national teams since their designation will read foreign-based – even if they play in Ghana or some of these novelty leagues in Europe.

    The national team isn’t a rehabilitation camp for recuperating players who don’t play regularly for their European teams. Injury-prone players should be allowed to remain with their clubs instead of using Nigeria’s matches to get new clubs. The National team isn’t the platform to teach players the basics of the game. It is the platform for the very best  who do things on the bench on impulse to the delight of fans. A classical example of a national team player is Victor Osimhen, whose performance with the Eagles has been exciting, beginning with his ball skills and the seamless manner in which he has struck an unbelievable understanding with established stars in the team , such as Wilfred Ndidi, Troost-Ekong, Samuel Chuwkuweze, Joe Aribo and Alex Iwobi.

    It hurts when one sounds like a cracked record weekly, looking at the Eagles and not finding the squad to take our football to the level where only big football nations will scramble to have international friendly games with them.  We cannot continue to develop our game from Europe and expect to dominate soccer competitions in the continent and the world.

    The Eagles side is handicapped by the few good players in the team and with our  population of over 200 million, Rohr doesn’t need to stay permanently in Europe to monitor Nigeria-born lads when they exist in the 774 local government areas here.

    The Humbled One indeed!

    Jose Mourinho is an enigma. He knows how to raise the stakes during press conferences, leaving his critics admiring him after such sessions. Mourinho knows his rights and insists that his boundaries are kept when it comes to evaluating his coaching achievements. He knows when he is being ridiculed and isn’t scared to walk off such press conferences to press home his conviction. Mourinho’s theatrics on-and-off the pitch makes him the reporters’ delight.  He throws jabs as much as he receives. But, he appears wiser now, given his utterances on Thursday.

    Mourinho’s English isn’t the best. But he leaves you without any iota of doubt what his mission is. He has no space for apologies. But he surprised many on Thursday when he accepted some mistakes while at Manchester United. The football community welcomes Mourinho to the most popular European football league.

    Tottenham Hotspurs have chosen the right coach, if their target is to win trophies. Mourinho is a serial winner, no matter what anyone says about the way his team plays. What counts in football is the result – winners are always celebrated. No excuses for Mourinho. Indeed, Spurs’ stock will increase geometrically, except that the club’s management must be prepared to meet Mourinho’s ambitions by splashing good cash on talented players. Coaches are as good as their last game and Mourinho knows this doctrine so well.

    Celebrity managers, such as Mourinho, are bound to ruffle feathers, thereby incurring the wrath of the owners of the game. Many call Mourinho controversial, but one would rather see him as the catalyst needed to raise the game’s profile. On Thursday, in his typical manner, Mourinho declared himself The Humbled One, with many doubting if he can ever be humbled. Many have predicted that he would be sacked soon, when things go awry for him and Spurs’ owners won’t be looking the other way, having spent a fortune.

    The pain on Tottenham’s owner would be the nuisance value Mourinho’s utterances would bring on the team, unwittingly. Press conferences will be battlefields for the owner, if he isn’t given grand rules on how to approach such situations.

    Asked on Thursday if he had learned from his Manchester United spell, Mourinho said: ‘I think so. These last 11 months have been used to think and to prepare. You never lose your DNA.

    ‘’You are what you are – for the good things and the bad things. I know in my career that I’ve made mistakes. I am humble. I am humble enough to try to analyse my career. Not just the last year but the problems and the solutions. The principle of my analysis was not to blame anyone else. I was always humble. The problem was that you didn’t understand that. I was always humble but it was in my way.’’

    He was then asked if he had his ‘mojo back’ . Mourinho jokingly replied: ‘’I have to go to Google translate to know what “mojo” is.’’

    He went on: ‘’When I don’t win I’m not happy. I cannot change that. If you are happy by losing football matches, it’s difficult to be a winner in any moment of your career. But the emotional control to keep the self-esteem and confidence and in those around you is very important.’’

    One thing no one can take away from Mourinho is his resolve to do things he is convinced about. Since his appointment as Tottenham boss, the ever critical English press have made an issue about how the Portuguese takes the jobs of his friends. Could this be a coincidence? Why have his friends not taken his? Well, Mourinho said at Thursday’s press conference when this matter was raised: ‘’I do it with a bit of sadness but I have to speak about Mauricio. I have to congratulate him for the work he has done. This club will always be his home. This training ground will always be his training ground. The door will always be open for him. He (Pochettino) will find happiness again. He will find another club again.’’

    Mourinho won’t leave such a momentous event without throwing jibes at those who made him uncomfortable in his last job. He  said sarcastically: ‘’Yes, that was before I was sacked! I hope there is not a bigger [Spurs] fan than myself. Chelsea is past – just the past. Two periods of titles but that is past. No one will want to win more than me.’’

    Isn’t Mourinho an interesting character? He is. His appointment at Tottenham signifies new things for the London side, especially after losing in the finals of the most prestigious European football competition, UEFA Champions League. Spurs lost 2-0 to Liverpool in the final game.

     

     

     

  • Celebrating mediocrity

    Ade Ojeikere

    If Nigeria must consider herself as a soccer-crazy nation, then Super Eagles must qualify for the quarter-finals of the 2022 World Cup, to justify our massive population of over 200 million people, with vast potentials to reach for the zenith in any profession. Anything short of a quarter-finals ticket in Qatar would make a mockery of the quality of players available to the country and their exploits with their European clubs.

    Our players have grown in stature in Europe, wresting shirts from other nationals in their clubs. They enjoy weekly rave reviews based on their performances, with many wondering why these boys can’t replicate their clubs’ form playing for Nigeria. Whereas our players have grown in geometric proportions, our administrators and coaches are tottering arithmetically, thus creating a lacuna which ought to have been fixed after the country did well in her maiden World Cup appearance in United States in 1994. Nigeria didn’t make it to the quarter-finals in 1994, but our second round ouster came with a lot of gains, chiefly among them was Nigeria being ranked the fifth best playing nation in the world.

    The rebirth of the USA’94 World Cup Super Eagles side came with radical changes which pitched Clemens Westerhof against his critics, most of whom wanted a predictable team of players based on their pedigree, not their current forms. Westerhof wasn’t going to be stampeded into sticking with unruly players simply because they rescued the country in previous competitions. Westerhof thought about the future. He visited the domestic league centres. Took pride in living with us here, eating our food, learning to cook some of them and seeing games by himself, not relying on newspapers’ reports or jaundiced commentaries in the electronic media.

    Westerhof’s revolutionary changes ensured that Nigerian won the gold medal in 1996 at the Atlanta Olympic Games, with the bulk of the players he discovered doing the country proud. Many may not know that it was Westerhof who spotted Nwankwo Kanu in the domestic league and recommended him to Golden Eaglets’ Coach Fanny Amun. Kanu was part of the players used to reinforce the World Cup winning Golden Eaglets in 1993. In fact, the last set of players used before picking the USA’s 94 squad were members of the side that picked the Olympic Games gold in Atlanta, including Taribo West. Many have credited the feat to Johannes Bonfrere. But Westerhof did the spade work, not forgetting that Bonfrere was part of the instruments the Dutch used to reinvigorate the Eagles to winning ways.

    Westerhof’s side played with zeal and passion. They lasted the 90 minutes and walked tall out of the field to rousing applause because the fans knew they gave their best. Rebuilding the Eagles under Westerhof had its twists and turns, but it was apparent that the squad  would shock the world like they did in the US. Westerhof read the riot act to players who played for top sides in Europe, leaving the task of filling the existing vacancies in the team to home-grown players. This policy gingered the good ones in the league to give their best. Need I name them to save space?

    I’ve sat through Super Eagles’ matches under Gernot Rohr dispirited. I would only applaud his ability to spot talents in Europe. Rohr did well in a few games in terms of his tactics. However, he doesn’t look like the coach to qualify Nigeria for the quarter-finals in Qatar, irrespective of what he said about his penchant for making late changes in Eagles’ matches.

    This writer can’t understand what Rohr meant with his claim that he used goalkeeper’s experience with African nations in picking Daniel Akpeyi ahead of Maduka Okoye, who distinguished himself against the Samba Boyz, a game Nigeria were held to a 1-1 draw by the Brazilians. Akpeyi was very poor at the Africa Cup of Nations, bringing him back is a big minus on Rohr’s path and it shows that the coach doesn’t want to develop the game at the domestic level. Rohr should tell us what African experience became a determining factor to pick goalkeeper to man the goalpost against a soccer minnow nation such as Benin Republic? Or is Rohr saying that African football would affect a goalkeeper, Okoye who plies his trade in Germany? If so, why did Rohr not pick an entirely home-based squad for the Benin game? How would Okoye gain the so-called Africa experience when he is kept on the bench? This is the way we watch in awe and allow European coaches destroy our game under the guise of giving them a free-hand to pick their players. What Rohr’s laughable Africa experience portends is that Akpeyi has been given a lifeline to return to the Eagles, making Okoye and Ezenwa benchwarmers for a goalkeeper who shouldn’t be in the squad following the law of averages playing for Nigeria.

    In reviewing Rohr’s contract, the coach should be told to  pick at least three home-based players. This idea of inviting 23 foreign-based players for a game that won’t require more than 14 men to prosecute is the easiest path for coaches to cut deals with agents and European club scouts. Besides, the remaining 10 Europe-based stars who don’t get fielded in particular matches just earn free cash doing nothing. Some of these benchwarmers have clocked over four consecutive games sitting on the bench watching games and celebrating with mates when goals are scored.  This writer would rather have at least two talented home-based players sitting on the bench, which is possible than foreign-based. The experience of training with stars they watch only on television is one experience that will linger for a very long time. Of course, such privileges to home-based players will spur those at home to aspire to sit on the bench, possibly play the game.

    More worrisome is the fact that Rohr may have surrendered the national team to players and if this was not the case, why would the German admit seeking the consent of players before fielding them. Ahmed Musa told reporters after the match against Benin Republic that he advised Rohr to use the same line up that started the Brazil friendly for last Wednesday’s game in Uyo.

    Indeed, Rohr told us that he wouldn’t field Joe Aribo because his trip from Scotland to Nigeria was sapping leading to his late arrival – hours to the game. Yet, Rohr handed the first team shirt to Aribo because he came with his father aside telling Rohr that he could play. What a football coach. It is also important to remind Rohr that his team’s defence is weak.

    Rohr said: “Joe Aribo told me he was not tired, despite the long flights to get here and I have confidence in my players when they tell me they are ready to play.

    “Also his father was here at the stadium and this was only his second time coming into the country, so it was important for him to play. And I think we can all be happy he was able to play because he contributed a lot to this win.”

    All attempts to fill the void with foreign-based stars have gone haywire beginning with Ebuehi, Idowu et al. Perhaps, he needs to watch league games here to pick big, strong and skilful defenders for the Eagles, the way Westerhof selected Uche Okechukwu, Benedict Iroha, Isaac Semitoje alongside midfielders, such as Edema Fuludu. These home-based players were part of the Eagles’ squad that lifted the Africa Cup of Nations trophy in Tunisia.

    When players start to suggest to coaches what they want, how the team should play and who should start matches, the coach has lost the dressing room as he will be courting chaos if he rejects others’ wishes. There can’t be competitiveness for shirts if a few people can influence how the team sets up for games. Gradually, such players constitute themselves into a mafia which would ruin the team’s structure and unity in the camp.

    Should Rohr go at the end of his contract? Rohr told everyone in Uyo in a post-match conference on Wednesday that: “I have to work, the contract is not a problem. I think by the end of the year, I’ll discuss it with the FA. No distraction for me, but it’s time to have a new project to win the next AFCON.

    “I start now with the AFCON qualifiers and don’t know if I will finish it but it’s not really a problem but our project must be made for at least three years because what we want to do is to also go to the next World Cup and also have a good philosophy too,” Rohr added.

    But will Nigeria retain Rohr’s services after June 30, 2020? Read my lips.

  • Our league organisers are wrong again

    I’ve no grudge against anyone organising the domestic league matches. I’m just a stickler to doing things properly. Footballers aren’t the kids of the rich; they are mainly the sons and daughters of the downtrodden who look forward to their wards doing well to change their status. Today, the Okochas, Kanus, Ayegbenis et al have gained international prominence due to the exploits of their wards in football. These families’ living conditions have changed for good.

    This writer’s angst against the system rests with the dearth of talents in the 774 Local Government Areas, arising from the lack of facilities and absence of competitions to discover new players. The popular thinking is that without coaches, kids can’t do well in the game. Not exactly so. All you need to get kids to play soccer is to bounce the ball on the pitch. In fact, soccer is the cheapest game to run. It is one where even the fans will be willing to contribute their cash to satisfy their passion. Surprisingly, playgrounds which produced stars in the past have been built up as schools, such that many of the educational structures have no playgrounds for the kids to recreate.

    It seems to me most strangely that Nigeria Professional Football League organisers could begin the new season with postponed matches for our representatives (Enugu Rangers International and Enyimba FC of Aba) in the CAF inter-club competitions. If there was a clash in dates, wouldn’t it have been better to shift the games to either midweek or by one week so that all matches are held  same weekend? After all, the fixtures of the continental competitions had been known since the draws were made.

    For instance, during the European Champions League or Europa competition, clubs travel with the senior and junior teams. The youth teams play earlier in another UEFA competition before the main event, which features the big boys. Now, that is what proper planning looks like. It must be deliberate and systematic. It is not something you achieve overnight. Can we boast of having a league for the U19 or U21’s like we see with the Premier League youth league and across Europe? This is sad.

    What it simply shows is that the organisers don’t watch how other soccer-crazy countries begin theirs with pomp and ceremony. How then would they expect corporate support when they lack the vision of packaging a product which they will showcase to the world on such an opening day. It is sickening to note that the league could commence without a sponsor and a television rights holder, in a country where there are many public and privately owned television and radio stations.

    At the beginning of the Barclays English Premier League for this season, the league board published the new rules with vivid explanations, knowing that they were going to introduce the Video Assistant Referee (VAR). They also interpreted the new laws as they concern everyone. There were reviews well documented  at a press conference. This exercise ensured that nobody claimed ignorance of the new developments to infringe on the rules.

    Nigerian league organisers have toiled to get the take-off cash for this competition but they should ensure that they package the competition in such a way that it will attract sponsors.  They should showcase the league on all media platforms, stating what sponsors can benefit from tying their products and services to the league. They should replicate what the Europeans have in place, beginning with recognising outstanding performers every week with prizes, where sponsors’ insignia are placed at the background while the media engage them. Such pictures downloaded in the media will raise the awareness of soccer lovers to troop to the stadia to watch games.

    The organisers should tell Nigerians the type of competition they are playing. Subjecting teams to long haul trips round the country over 38 weeks is the standard practice. However, it doesn’t make sense for the four top teams to be asked to play another round robin series under the guise of Super Four. It makes a mockery of the entire process, if another competition is still required to determine the eventual winner of the league.

    Read Also: Don’t delay election into Nigerian league boards, member tells NFF

    The organisers know that the 38-match league format is fraught with sharp practices. This rubs off on the type of champions it produces. Instead of hiding behind one finger, which is what the Super Four contraption indicates, the organisers should correct the flaws by putting the right personnel in such critical aspects of the competition. The level of officiating should be top notch. Erring referees should face sanctions, including being stopped from handling games in the elite class.

    The organisers should never allow the clubs pay for the referees’ indemnities and allowances. Club owners engineer the touts to intimidate the officials when things are not in their favour. Hoodlums and urchins are no spirits. They are known supporters of the home teams, who think it is their birthright to win – no matter how poorly their team plays. The organisers should visit all state police headquarters to get security operatives who will to man match venues. This system ensures that the referees are safe and can do their jobs without fear or favour. The organisers should not give the responsibility of protecting match officials to the home teams whose fans could go wild if they don’t win.

    Referees will officiate well if they know that their safety is guaranteed. Yoyos who constitute themselves into nuisance and become security risks should be arrested and prosecuted to deter others.

    Growing up in Benin City in those days, it was the fad to listen to our domestic league games’ commentaries on radio, even if you were watching a game live inside the Samuel Osaigbovo Ogbemudia Stadium. Let me not waste space to dwell on these commentators’ prowess. I also won’t name them since their past contributions speak for them. For those who have gone to rest, may their souls find peace.

    Without live broadcast of matches and radio commentaries, only God will save match officials, if the clubs are allowed to pay the referees’ match indemnities. That organisers may have quietly told  clubs to foot this bill raises the alarm over the quality of officiating since the referees know that the only way they can be treated fairly by some unscrupulous club owners is for them to ensure that such teams win their matches.

    The world is technologically driven, such that things that the human eye cannot capture are caught on camera and used to enhance the quality of the game. It is a shame that our match venues have no CCTV to pick out people who break the laws of the game. It isn’t enough to task the two clubs to come with their video cameras. We have seen instances where the home side’s fans destroy the video recording of the away teams. If our stadia have CCTV, touts will think twice before attacking officials since they will easily be fished out for punishment.

    There is also insurance of match officials. What insurance cover do match officials get? When a referee senses danger, he is forced to do the bidding of the home side. Indeed, the confidence that match officials in European leagues exhibit cannot be separated from the fact that they are insured.

    Importantly, the economic status of those chosen as match officials needs to be considered. Will a well paid engineer who chooses refereeing as a hobby sell his integrity? This, to a large extent, assures us of the integrity of the referee because such officials see themselves as ambassadors of their professions. They are also aware that any embarrassment they bring to their profession will attract sanctions and other disciplinary measures. Such don’t exist here.

    Perhaps we have also failed to examine the emotional stability of the referee. What is the psyche of the referee before the start of the match? What is his affinity to the opposition club who’s fortune may affect that of his own football club in relation to position and standing on the league table?

     

  • Nurseries for Nigeria soccer

    SOCCER crazy countries in Brazil for the FIFA U-17 World Cup are not there essentially to lift the trophy. They are there with the products from a structured plan to spot talents early. No kamikaze approach. Players being paraded by these countries are from renowned academies whose duty is to discover, nurture and expose kids from around them to play in such big stages. These nations’ nationals don’t have to ask their neighbours who the players are during games.

    Academies which are nurseries for warehousing the game have been standardised to protect the sector and backed by law for effectiveness. It is at this level that countries’ playing patterns evolve depending on what the coaches feel could bring the best from their nationals.  Standards are set for owning such academies including their curriculum to shut out quackery. These academies are registered by the country’s FA with the right synergy struck where players’ movement in and out of the country are documented.

    The serious-minded soccer nations expose players from academies who also have the template to monitor those who did well and have juicy packages in big clubs in Europe, Americas and the Diaspora. These academies ensure that the players’ career path are cut to fit their ambitions. Those of them eager to combine playing soccer with going to school are enrolled to be educated. They also have drawn up training schedules to suit their schools’ curriculum, knowing the importance of education when their career as soccer players is over. Nothing happens in such countries like an accident.

    Viewers of the game on television shouldn’t be surprised if commentators say some of the boys in Brazil are products  of big European clubs. In such climes, it is like second nature for big teams to have youth teams from ages six to 20, who are grilled throughout the season like their senior sides. Aside, grooming them, these clubs register them for the age-grade competitions in their countries. It isn’t a case of using them as training materials.

    The beauty about this system is that it also provides the platform for coaches to be trained and retrained on how to handle kids until adulthood. In fact, many of these coaches end up specialising in training young ones. They won’t be persuaded to handle clubs since they enjoy doing the job. it is, therefore, easy for these countries to name age-grade teams’ coaches, not  guess work or sentiments but by their achievements in the local competitions in such countries. This academy system ensures that players’ data are accurate. They are stored and used in subsequent editions as the players grow.

    Not so for Nigeria. We have kids selected from the 36 states of the federation and Abuja. It is laughable that kids were drawn from an open camp, hastily done for this competition. The coaches who taught them the game in the hinterlands have been left in the lurch. If we had competitions and clinics for the youth, we won’t embark on the archaic system of going to the grassroots to bounce the ball on playgrounds and get kids to scramble to spaces in the national team. No prize for guessing that many of those discovered have been dropped for those who didn’t go through the tedious process.

    This flaw predates this current federation which has tried to change the narrative with several youth football programmes anchored on support from the corporate world, especially the banks. We are being told that close to five players of one of NFF’s youth programmes are in the current Golden Eaglets in Brazil. This isn’t the point. the difference is that most of the serious countries have theirs from different academies or programmes, yet they play the same system. Hence the cohesion when they play.

    The first thing one noticed from the Nigerian side is the deliberate attempt to field truly young boys. A few of them are Grade 5 class in terms of the MRI records, but good enough to play the competition since they will be under 17 years during the competition. Nigeria has five of such cases, including the hat-trick scorer Ibrahim Said, who also scored a goal in Nigeria’s 4-2 come back victory over Hungary in the opening game.

    This set of Eaglets have not been fantastic. We have not seen any outstanding player in the class of Victor Igbinoba, Phillip Osondu, Nwankwo Kanu, Victor Osimhen, Kelechi Iheanacho et al in the Eaglets days. What this squad has shown is resilience and power to overcome the two countries so far, with many purists saying that the Hungarians and Ecuadorians tired out hence the comeback wins. Who cares? Is football no longer a 90 minutes  game? Matches end only after the referee’s final whistle?

    Pundits cannot understand why Coach Garba Manu instructed the boys to play high balls instead of playing a closely knitted passing game. Manu’s boys resort to keeping possession of the ball and make clever penetrating runs when they trailed in the two matches. this system won’t take them to the Promised Land, especially as other countries are watching their matches and taking down notes which they will use against the Eaglets at the appropriate time.

    Pundits are aghast that Manu could adopt a three-man defensive model when the boys have shown tremendous speed on-and-off the ball.  A three-man defensive structure is alien to the kids culminating in the cheeky goals we have conceded. Manu should play a flat back four which encourages man-marking when we lose the ball. The left-back loses concentration while he drifts too far up front making it almost impossible for him to track back when we lose possession of  the ball.

    Playing the high balls into the opposition’s defence renders the midfielders otiose which isn’t the right approach.

    Happily, Manu told FIFA.com on Wednesday that: “I am not happy with the errors in the (team’s) defence. And I hope to make the defence more formidable in the next game against Australia.” Good talk, dear Manu. Marking in a game starts as soon as you lose the ball. High balls alienates the midfielders and reduces their job to chasing the ball instead of running into space to collect the passes and continue the attacking onslaught

    So far, at the ongoing U-17 World Cup, the Golden Eaglets of Nigeria have a perfect record. But how impressive is the Manu Garba side? They are full of energy and aggressive in their approach. They have the stamina to last 90 minutes with high intensity play. The Coach even deployed a 3-4-3 formation against Ecuador and they won 4-2 to qualify for the second round of the competition.

    The above shows efforts made by the Coaches to develop a new football philosophy but the truth must be told. This Golden Eaglets side are not showing finesse in their play. The boys depend too much on their physicality to overpower opponents and rush their play too often which is largely responsible for so many loose passes. Technically, they are lacking in many areas but it is understandable because they are U-17’s.

    Despite beating Honduras and Ecuador, the Golden Eaglets’ approach play was disjointed as they depend on individual brilliance. Watching the teams we defeated, you will know that they have a system of play which flows across every level of their football. The U-17’s and U-20’s can’t adopt a different pattern of play to the senior team. The system is created to suit all levels. So, when a player graduates into the senior national team from the age grade teams it won’t be a strange environment for hm.

    The beauty about the new NFF leadership is the insistence that only eligible players will participate in age grade soccer for the country. So, when the controversy arose over Said, NFF’s First Vice chairman Barrister Seyi took to FUBS’ Whatsapp platform to shed light on what transpired.

    According to Akinwunmi: ”Ibrahim Said took the first MRI test and was on Grade 5 (the highest acceptable grade) so was dropped by the coaches because they were careful not to pick too many players on  Grade 5. They already had 4 players on Grade 5,Tijani, Shedrack, David and Abayomi. Ibrahim Said never repeated the MRI as a result of the allegations as was insinuated.

    He was dropped from the team to Tanzania but returned when the squad resumed for the World Cup preparation, worked very hard and was deemed good enough. At the MRI test before the World Cup he maintained the Grade 5 and was therefore taken to the tournament.

    ”On giving and taking credit, it is strange that it is coming only after the young man scored a hat-trick last night. I wonder though what happens if you break into someone’s house with a view to retrieving an art work on the basis of you accusing him of being a copyright in finger, but upon enquiry you are proved to have wrongly accused him.

    Furthermore if in the course of that entire incident a thorough review is done and it is discovered that other works found in his house which were presumed pirated were indeed not pirated works and one of those works becomes a best seller, do you take credit after the break in and wrong accusation? I think not.

    ”I do not know what credit falls but what i do know is that no fraud was established and it is unfair for anyone to come to this forum to call out people as fraudulent and then say he will bring evidence later. I head the NFF youth development committee and can categorically say that i have never been involved in covertly aiding the exclusion or inclusion of any child into the U17 National team nor am i aware of such act by any of my colleagues on the board or by any of the Technical staff in the office. If anyone has any evidence he should feel free to bring them forth, but loose and potentially libellous accusations and name calling should not be for a forum such as this, ”Akinwunmi wrote.

    Good talk Akinwunmi. Up Nigeria! Up Golden Eaglets!

     

  • A wake-up call to our league managers

    By Ade Ojeikere

     

    Nigeria sports is a huge joke. Everything is possible. Nobody wants to quit even if the roof of the place rests on their shoulders. Our leaders are very forgetful; otherwise, why should the organisers of the domestic league still be thinking of supervising another season, with the deluge of problems in the system? They met a league with title sponsors, television rights holder and other marketing windows, which yielded revenue, but they frustrated the sponsors with vision-less policies, which turned match venues to theatres of violence.

    Nothing works in the league. The only predictable thing about the organisers is their penchant for postponing games abruptly, most times with the away teams already in town. Members are efficient in attending meetings and taking themselves to European tours to see how the game is run. Yet, nothing changes. Perhaps, they slept off when being driven in posh cars around such European countries.

    Pitches are like pigsties, sometimes; other times, they are just good enough for cattle grazing. But the organisers don’t care for as long as there are two goalposts, the two teams are ready to play and there is a referee at the centre. Of course, there won’t be anything to cheer under this setting, especially with the players playing on empty stomachs, occasioned by outstanding wages and allowances prevalent in most clubs.  Players’ welfare packages seems abnormal, with many telling the players and coaches to be happy that they earn a living in a country where millions are unemployed.

    Hitherto, no club was registered for the new season without settling outstanding salaries for the previous season. The rule was adhered to. But the organisers couldn’t effect it because there wasn’t a title sponsor; nor did they have a television rights holder, whose cash accruing to the clubs was deducted at source and used to pay all outstanding debts. A dilemma ensued.  Rather than meet with  the governors whose states own the clubs, the organisers relied on lackeys of the governors, some of whom may have fallen out of favour.

    Yearly, these state-owned teams get budgets allocated to them. But the players and coaches get mere pittance. They dare not grumble; otherwise, they get fired. Club chairmen operated like monsters, preferring to exploit the inefficiencies of the organisers to do what they like with the clubs’ funds. Today, nobody can say how much our clubs are worth. Nobody dares ask how much players earn since many cannot remember when they were last paid.

    With this setting, the organisers had no product to sell to investors beyond trying to use their friends in high places to broker a deal. Simply put, no arm of the league is functional, culminating in the easy exit of most of our continental representative, beaten by clubs from less prominent football nations as Nigeria. Since the league was always in abeyance, the home-based players couldn’t compete with their foreign-based counterparts whenever they are invited to fight for shirts in our national teams. They are used as training materials. Ironically, the few lucky ones that get to Europe return as kings to get shirts – just because of their change of residence.

    In the absence of a soccer calendar, domestic league players resort to heading out of the country to all manner of leagues in the name of being foreign-based to attract an invitation to the national team. Such moves are shady, as shylock agents trade them into slavery. Many of such moves have also seen our young stars lose their form or go into oblivion.

    The list of such lost stars is legendary. Where do I start? Who will I ask why such destructive moves still persists? Of course, when good players leave the country, those left are those still eager to bolt away to  Europe or the Diaspora, knowing that they have no future remaining here. And with a system that worships discovered stars, attention