Category: Ade Ojeikere

Emmanuel Amuneke was the player for the big occasions. He never disappointed the coaches who used him as their joker during matches. Amuneke wasn’t the player to dribble his mates on the pitch to elicit applause from the fans, like Austin “Jay Jay” Okocha. But he was such an efficient player that he could use virtually any legitimate part of his body to score goals.

Amuneke scored goals from diving headers, back-heeled strikes and blasts from well worked crosses. He came forward to score vital goals, such as the brace in the 1994 Africa Cup of Nations against Zambia, the winning goal which fetched Nigeria the gold medal at the Atlanta ’96 Olympic Games, not forgetting the diving header which caught the Bulgarian defenders napping, even though Nigeria won the game 3-0.

Amuneke won’t forget Italians in a hurry as their vicious tackles literarily terminated his career following the injury he sustained in the game against Italy, whose game plan, in retrospect, was centred on injuring Amuneke and Daniel “Dabuu“ Amokachi to cripple the Eagles. And it worked, sadly, with none of those defenders being shown a yellow card.  Had Amuneke and Amokachi completed the game, perhaps Nigeria would have beaten Italy. Nigeria lost it 2-1.

Amuneke’s grass to grace story, through football, is interesting. His decision to become a coach may be his most enduring legacy with the beautiful game, if he matches results with his tactical savvy. From a humble beginning in the dusty and undulating Maracana Stadium in Ajegunle, Amuneke’s meteoric rise in the game was anchored on his exploits in Zamalek FC of Egypt, Sporting Lisbon of Portugal and ultimately in Barcelona FC in Spain, playing alongside some of the best,including Manchester City FC of England’s manager Pep Guardiola.

Not many people remember that Amuneke played for the defunct Julius Berger FC of Lagos (aka Adewale Bridge Boys) in 1991, where he was spotted by Zamalek  FC in 1994. He later joined MSV Duisburg and Sporting Lisbon in the Portuguese league. But it was at Barcelona that Amuneke showed that he could compete with the best by commanding regular first team shirt. Barcelona were star-studded, with Luis Enrique, Luís Figo, Pep Guardiola, Ronaldo de Lima and Hristo Stoichkov.

Injury was unkind to Amuneke, forcing him out of Barcelona to join Albacete FC in 2003 for one year and Al-Wehdat SC (Jordan), retiring from football at 34.

Where did Amuneke develop his coaching skills? In 2008, he spent some time as an assistant coach at Saudi Premier League side Al-Hazm, but left to become a scout for Manchester United. With such a background at Manchester United, coupled with his stay in Barcelona, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that he chose coaching when two of his friends, Enrique and Guardiola, are coaches today. It is on record that both men do invite Amuneke to Barcelona to watch key matches where they compare notes, preparatory to Amuneke’s two World Cup winning shots with Nigeria’s U-17 sides Golden Eaglets in 2013 and 2015. In 2013, Amuneke was the assistant coach to Manu Garba, although there were hints that the team benefited immensely from the former Africa Footballer of theYear’s tactical savvy.

It didn’t come as a surprise when NFF elected to promote Amuneke to chief coach in 2015. Amuneke distinguished himself as the Eaglets played one of the most exciting matches en route winning the trophy. He has taken some coaching jobs that went awry, largely due to the inadequacies of his employers to provide the tools for him to work. On 23 December 2008, Amuneke took over the head coaching duties at his former team Julius Berger, after completing two years of coaching courses in Europe. For a while, he combined this position with the role for the Red Devils, but eventually quit his post in England to concentrate on his coaching career.

Amuneke was sacked halfway through his first season after conflicts with the management, despite saving the team from relegation. The club later claimed he was sacked for “over gross insubordination”. He was hired in early November, 2009 as the coach of Ocean Boys FC. He became coach of Al Khartoum SC in November 2017 and left in March 2018.

Amuneke’s appointment signposts a new dawn for Nigerian coaches that was blighted by the sad tale of the assistant coach of the Super Eagles Salisu Yusuff captured by undercover reporters collecting cash, which he described as a gift, since the inclusion of the players was mandatory. The players whose names were not mentioned in the undercover video were, according to Salisu, his regulars whose contributions to Nigeria’s qualification for the CHAN tournament couldn’t have been enhanced with any bribe. Put simply, the players were his best. TFF President Wallace Karia has assured the former Al Khartoum coach of the federation’s support, insisting  they had picked the right man for the job.

“He has established himself and he has been successful both as a player and coach,” Karia said during Amuneke’s unveiling.

Is Amuneke ready for the job? Yes, if one considers the first appointment he made into the Tanzanian side, with the recruitment of former Golden Eaglets goalkeeper trainer Emeka Amadi, himself an ex-international and a Masters degree holder in Physical and Health Education from the University of Nigeria, Nnsuka.

Emeka Amadi replaced fumbling goalkeeper Angus Ikeji at half time in the historic Damman Miracle tie in the quarterfinals. Amadi remained in goal for the Nigeria side that lost 2-0 to Portugal which had Luis Figo in the final of the U-20 World Cup in 1989. A Member of the Order of the Niger (MON) like his boss, Amuneke, Amadi was in goal in the famous Damman Miracle.

Will Amuneke work with a Tanzanian assistant or opt to make his technical crew a Nigerian set-up for loyalty? Does Amuneke know enough of the game in the East African country to pick one of their big stars as his assistants. Interestingly, Amuneke told the international media after his signing-in ceremony on Tuesday: “I know Tanzania very well, its football, but I won’t promise you to bring wonders as I believe with good cooperation, together we can move it to the next level.”

“I’m ready for the challenge and will give my 100% per cent best on the job. I know they play a particular kind of football here and I won’t try to impose my own philosophy on them. I will just work with what is on ground and try to understand their football and try to bring out the best.”

“I believe I can manage the situation to work together because the main aim of the TFF is to develop at youth level rather than winning at all cost. For our qualifiers next month, to be honest, I’m not under pressure because we have to assess what we have on ground, but I’m optimistic of a positive result.”

Amuneke, Amadi et al have been assigned the duties of overseeing Tanzania’s age-grade team.

‘’We are also in charge of the youth programmes of the country, which is an added responsibility. As a coach, you must have a target for yourself without anyone giving it to you. The prime target is qualification for the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON 2019) and God will see us through. I’m a positive person right from my playing days. I know with hard work and commitment from the players, we can achieve our aim. I must commend the organisation at the FA of Tanzania, they are quite professional,’’ Amuneke said.

‘’We have started work already as we don’t have time on our side. We have an AFCON qualifier against Uganda away from home and we need to start in earnest and that is why I am not going back to Spain for now,’’ he said.

It is good to know that Amuneke feels he could handle the Eagles in the future. He needs to use this Tanzanian platform to prove his coaching mettle. Ironically, Amuneke is at the vanguard of those who kick against the employment of foreign coaches for the Eagles. I wonder what he is at Tanzania. Coaching is universal as with the game. Amuneke didn’t get the job on a platter of gold. He beat European coaches who vied for the job too.

All that coaches need to get jobs is to excel in such assignments to attract new suitors. Indeed, there are two types of coaches- those on the job and those waiting to replace them.

Will Amuneke coach Eagles? Yes, if he does well with the Tanzanian job. He holds better coaching certificates than most of the foreigners we have recruited. What he needs is the working experience. He will be good for the job.

It is all over. A winner has emerged. The winning country is bursting with celebrations from soccer-crazy citizens who spent over 33 days following matches of the Russia 2018 World Cup across the 11 hosting cities. What a showpiece the Russians made out of the biggest sports fiesta in the world. Some level of consolation for the losers, with many of the players happy to have achieved their career dream- playing at the senior World Cup.

For the winners, a new dawn beckons. It was worth everyone’s patience, especially those countries where soccer faithful woke up late to watch the matches. The stress is gone, but there is fulfilment by those who stayed up late to see those spectacular goals that would be talked about for decades.

For Russia, hosting the Mundial without any serious crisis is a bonus. Getting Russians to key into the dynamics of hosting such a big sporting competition underscores why there weren’t too many untoward acts during the events held in 11 cities, every one of them having a historical story to tell about the polity.

Russia can boast of over 14 state-of-the-art stadia which should provide fresh initiatives that will improve their game. Russians can now dream of bigger things at the next Mundial in Qatar. They surprised themselves with a nail-biting shoot-out loss to Croatia which gives them the foundation for growth to become a soccer powerhouse by the 22nd century.

Beginning with their new ranking when FIFA releases it in August, the Russians can dream of becoming a Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo, who both exited the competition in the Round of 16 with Argentina and Portugal.

Ronaldo’s and Messi’s exits raised the debate of who the best player of the Mundial will be, although a few pundits feel that Ronaldo has done enough to win the Ballon D’or award, despite Portugal’s early exit. In four matches, Ronaldo scored four goals, a hat-trick, the competition’s first, in their opening game against Spain. Need I name Ronaldo’s feats with UEFA Champions League winners Real Madrid, for the third consecutive year this past season?

Ronaldo, Messi and the legion of stars who exited the competition early watched the six-goal thriller, whose result was decided when the French scored the fourth goal, with the result on the scoreboard reading 4-1. France’s goalkeeper and captain gifted Manduzikic with a goal to appease for the own goal diverted into Croatia’s net by the lanky striker. It was France’s first goal. The joy it brought did not last for too long as Perisic blasted home the equaliser at 1-1. Fans all over the world sat up with one thought – game on 1-1; we have a game on our hands.

Sadly, the game didn’t go that way because the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) ruled a headed ball onto a Croatian defender’s hand for a penalty kick which Griezmann converted to take the score to 2-1 till the end of the second half.

How different was the penalty offence awarded to the French from  what Argentina’s defender Rojo did against Nigeria in the last group D game in Saint Petersburg? The Turkish referee Cakir in the Nigeria game against Argentina was a kill-joy and a respecter of bigger football nations instead of applying the rules to the letter. No story when the ball touches anyone of the defending side’s players on his hand is a stone-wall penalty, irrespective of what the VAR lens are trying to interpret. I digress!

Two classical goals scored by Pogba and Mbappe, the competition’s revelation, handed the trophy to the French in the second half, making the gifted goal the anti-climax of the final where the Croatians had 61 per cent ball possession while their opponents etched 31 per cent. In boxing, such details count. Not so for soccer since the game winner is that team which has utilised the goal-scoring chances it created. Last Sunday in Moscow, the French were the hungrier of the two sides, largely because they had better players with enough experience in club football. This rubbed off on how they outmuscled the Croatians on their way to lifting the trophy.

The biggest casualties at the Mundial were the Germans but their shocking display was typical of previous World Cup champions. The Mundial is a leveller and a platform for fairytale teams, such as the Croatians. A country of over four million people cherished the fact that their soccer team helped change people’s mindset about their polity. There could not have been a better podium for the Croatians to showcase their president, who showed clearly that what men can do, women can do better.

Croatia’s president defied the rain and the pain of defeat to celebrate the historic final game, which was symbolic with the heavens opening up to water the field after the titanic clash of countries who know how to develop the game without rancour. It was a rare show watching presidents, FIFA chieftains and world leaders being drenched in their designer clothing for the sake of football. Isn’t it true that sports, albeit football, is the biggest public relations tool nations can use to reshape people’s perception of their existence?

Besides, the torrential rains that washed off the pain of defeat and usher in a new belief that hosting big sporting events, such as the World Cup, should be a commercial success.

There were several talking points at the Mundial, but the biggest and perhaps the most controversial was the Video Assistant Referee (VAR), which the match arbiters relied on to decide incidents eyes couldn’t capture. Some countries will rue the introduction of the VAR just as many on the balance of scale want the machine to continue with its verdicts, believing that referees’ interpretation will get better when they are retrained on how to operate the system.

Manchester United FC of England’s manager Jose Mourinho revealed on Sunday night that the penalty kick decision awarded against the Croatians by the VAR machine and interpreted ‘wrongly’ by the centre referee from Argentina ruined the loser’s composure for the rest of the second half.

Mourinho felt sorry for the Croatians, stressing that all the 23 players and their coach must have felt very disappointed with the result. He wasn’t quarrelling with the VAR but its interpretation in this case.

Mourinho argued that until the Argentine referee gave France the penalty kick which Griezmann converted, the Croatians were the better of the two teams in the first half.

Interestingly, Mourinho wished the first half had ended at 1-1, pointing out that it would have brought out the best of the Croatians who he said were a beauty to watch with their fighting spirit, good coordination going forward and dominance of the game ,which was captured by statisticians as 61 per cent for the Croats as against the French’s 31 per cent.

Mourinho didn’t think the offence was a penalty kick, insisting that such situations happen during goalmouth melee – a position also held by another Manchester United FC’s great and goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel, who argued that the referee spent so much time watching the incident on the VAR. This, to him, showed that he was indeed uncertain until he took the wrong decision.

However, Mourinho moaned that what counted in football was the team that won, which in this case was the French, who he congratulated for taking their chances in the game.

Asked what he thought were the high points of the Russia 2018 World Cup, Mourinho revealed that the absence of Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi and the other big names in other countries at the crucial stages of the Mundial showed that the game had grown in leaps and bounds.

The Special One was happy with the avalanche of younger players who emerged during the competition, although he refused to mention their names, preferring rather to pour plaudits on the Croatians, who he hoped would have learned a lot of lessons from playing at the final on Sunday in Moscow.

For winning the World Cup, the French went home with the trophy and $38 million. Runners-up Croatia smiled to the bank with $28 million and third place finishers Belgium were happy with the $24 million. No tears for England which placed fourth because they came to the Mundial with about the youngest crop of players, like Nigeria, thinking about the future. Will you blame the English FA for such plans? Certainly not, having designed templates which ensured England won the World Cup at the U-17, U-19 and U-20 levels. The English got $22 million for their efforts in Russia.

However, the argument by a few purists that Russia 2018 World Cup, which cost the hosts $14 billion, was too expensive holds no water. Comparing the Mundial to the one held in South Africa, which cost $3 billion in 2010, is laughable, given the kind of facilities in Russia. There was a display of the latest technology. Besides, costs of the facilities in 2010 are not the same with what we have now. In fact, what we saw in Russia was the latest form of technology. The South Africans would cringe at what the government did to host easily one of the best World Cups.

The government must be commended for hosting a near flawless competition.

As we await the new FIFA ranking for August, it is instructive to appeal to the Muhammadu Buhari administration to call the sports minister to order so that we can build on the gains of participating at the Mundial in Russia.  For the first time, Nigeria prosecuted the event without tales of the unexpected nor did the players pour odium on the country due to unpaid match bonuses and allowances like in the past.

The Amaju Pinnick- led NFF board raised $2.8 million, a greater part of which came from FIFA’s financial assistance to all the participating countries unlike in the past where the Nigerian government provided funds for things which FIFA had paid for.

Over 210 countries, including England, France, Germany, USA, Spain, Russia, Belgium, Croatia etc, are abiding by FIFA’s rules and statutes without recourse to what their countries’ constitutions represent. Being in FIFA isn’t compulsory, except that such a country becomes a pariah in the soccer world.

Nigerians are holding key offices in FIFA, CAF and WAFU. But the beauty of  some of these offices is that those elected by the Congress won’t be affected by any ban on Nigeria.

Sometimes when things happen, they occur for good. Otherwise, one has been pondering how many goals the French would have posted past an uninspiring Super Eagles bunch, had we crossed the Argentine hurdle. The way the French played with passion, commitment, determination and the hunger for victory, you could tell from their faces that they had scores to settle with the Argentines.

The Eagles’ game lacked intensity and our players were not competitive. They were like feathers blown by the air, falling. They lacked the energy which African players are known for. No coach teaches team intensity and competitiveness. It is an innate skill driven by the players’ urge to excel, which the Eagles lacked. I cherish the way the Japanese rattled highly rated Belgium. It is one of the benefits of hosting the  World Cup. Since the co-hosting of the World Cup by Japan and Korea, the Asian game has grown in leaps and bounds.

The Belgians trailed by two goals but rallied back to win the game at 3-2. But the best goal was initiated by goalkeeper Courtois, who turned a counter attack into the winning goal, with his intelligent hand throw into the midfield. You needed to see the way the Belgians were using passes to break down the Japanese. Yet the leg over by Lukaku made the goal scored by jersey 22, Nacer Chadli, a midfielder in the 94th minute, the easiest in the competition but the most vital. Such moves come from players’ intuition, not necessarily coaching, because had Lukaku being selfish, the goal would have been missed. Brazil’s confrontation with Belgium is a box office clash, not a quarter-final fixture. Blame that on the draws.

No coach teaches passion.It comes with being ambitious to achieve set objectives. It resonates from the players’ attitude. At the senior level, coaches don’t teach players the rudiments of the game. They discuss tactics. The Eagles lack all that the French displayed against the Argentines, hence one has been celebrating that Nigeria didn’t play against France in the Round of 16 last Saturday in Kazan Arena, Kazan.

It is true that no two matches are the same but the character, zeal and will to win exhibited by the French last Saturday would have overwhelmed       our boys, who would have heightened the tempo of the game with their usual pre-match boasting of beating the French, who eliminated  them 2-0 in 2014 at the last Mundial.

The game between France and Argentina has been the best of the Russia 2018 World Cup. It had all the trappings of a final game but it wasn’t. The two countries paraded some of the best players in the world. And they acquitted themselves. For the first time, we saw a midfield quartet that rendered Lionel Messi otiose. Messi was virtually strolling on the pitch, largely because the French didn’t play on the side of the pitch where he likes to operate.

The French were tactically disciplined and they played as a team. Had the French an outstanding goalkeeper, the Argentines would have been drenched in goals. The seven-goal thriller had no dull moment, beginning with the first goal which came from Mbappe’s speed from deep inside his own half, leaving the Argentines for dead as he sped past. An untidy tackle inside the penalty area was rightly given. Griesmann converted it with ease.

The Argentines’ equaliser looked like the routine knocking of the ball around until it got to Di Maria, who looked up and fired the cannon shot which beat France’s goalkeeper hands down. It was an explosive game, with some brilliant goals, not forgetting the deflected goal by the Argentines, their second of the game off Messi’s effort. The man of the match was Mbappe, who cleverly ran into a through pass from Giroud to score the French’s fourth. Many thought the game was over but not so for Kun Ageruo, whose nifty header brought the Argentines’ third goal in the 92nd minute. The last two minutes was routine as the game had been won by the French 4-3 – to the delight of many Nigerians, who savoured the victory like they would have done if it was a Super Eagles’ win. Don’t ask why Nigerians celebrated? Trust soccer fans to stir up controversies. Argentina’s exit rubbed off on Messi, with many pundits tipping Ronaldo to qualify with Portugal over Uruguay. It didn’t happen as Urugauy triumphed 2-1, setting the stage for Messi’s and Ronaldo’s exit in the Round of 16 last Saturday.

The Round of 16 has drawn up exciting quarter-finals fixtures. Hosts Russia bundled out star-studded Spain by penalty shootout, the first since the competition began on June 14. I’m not surprised that the Spaniards exited the competition because their FA chiefs erred in sacking the coach who got them qualified for the Mundial, a few days to the competition on grounds that he had signed to handle European champions Real Madrid. The argument that the coach breached his contract is weak since he joined a Spanish side desperate to get a new manager, following Zinedine Zidane’s shocking exit. With such a divided house and an unprepared coach in Hierro, Spain was just an accident waiting to happen. And it did when the Russians shocked them by scoring all their five penalty kicks, with the former World Cup champions losing two of theirs.

How are the mighty fallen, many would say but the truth is that the game has grown, such that no unprepared country will lift the World Cup. Any defect in the structure of the team will be exposed by the better prepared side. The era of countries depending on particular players for victories are over as coaches now know how to cage such players with superior tactics. Football will never be the same after this World Cup.
It was good the Russians beat Spain because of the fans. The ambience at the match venues, with the fans doing their stuff pumps the players’ adrenalin to give their best. Any time the host nation is eliminated from the competition, it rubs off negatively on the fans. Without the fans, the game isn’t attractive to watch. Empty stands discourage blue-chip firms from associating their goods and services with the competition, which has several marketing windows to help the organisers recoup their investments.

The lesson to be learned by the Eagles from the Russian victory is self – belief, zeal and determination to win matches. No one gave Russia a chance against Spain beyond the home advantage, which was destroyed when Uruguay whipped the hosts 3-0 in one of the qualification matches. I feel strongly that the defeat changed the Russians’ mindset, as they fought like wounded lions to earn the quarter-finals berth.

Who says goalkeepers don’t determine the outcome of matches? What will you say about the showmanship of the two goalkeepers during the penalty shootout which decided the game between Denmark and Croatia? Goalkeepers Subasic of Croatia and Schemichel of Denmark were phenomenal. Their brilliance during the shootout gave the game the character it lacked all through the 120 minutes encounter. I wasn’t surprised that big players couldn’t control their nerves to shoot the ball into the net from such a short distance.

Tuesday’s Round-of-16 fixture between Sweden and Switzerland has been the most boring, with the Swedes securing a lone goal victory. Fans had nothing to cheer. Even the goal scored in the second half was a deflection off the right foot of Nigeria-born Emmanuel Akanji. The Swedes are billed to meet England, with pundits likely to tip the English for victory. But soccer matches are dangerous to predict. The Swedes could raise their game to fight the English to the death. I doubt a Sweden victory over England today, not with this bunch of hungry lads who crave to equal what their age-grade kids have achieved at the world stage.

The clash between Russia and Croatia holding later in the night is the one to follow with a warning – should Russia beat Croatia, then they could give winning the World Cup their best shot. The Russians, suddenly, have self- belief, their roaring fans propelling them to victory with their songs.
This evening’s game is a slippery pole to climb for the Croatians whose tenacity would be stretched to its seams by the hard-fighting Russians.  A semi-final game between England and Russia will get any stadium here jammed. Both countries have the numbers in terms of followership. I pray this fixture comes to pass. It will be a game to test the effectiveness of the security apparatus. I doubt if it will be a problem, with what we have seen here from the first game in Moscow.

Serious football countries know that the biggest soccer festival holds after every four years. This is enough time to plot the graph of success with minimal errors. Such countries learn to build on the lessons of previous campaigns to improve on their achievement.

Their programmes are anchored on the grassroots initiatives designed by the Federation of International Football Associations (FIFA) for all its over 2010 member- countries. It is from these FIFA programmes that the game thrives in such countries without recourse to government funding since their operations do not allow government interference.

In such climes, football administrators think through the business prism by capitalising on the mammoth followership which the game attracts to woo the business community to identify their goods and services with the beautiful game. It is easy for the business world to key into football operations in countries, such as Germany, Brazil, Spain, England, Italy, Belgium and France, for instance, because their administrators don’t run to the government for funding.

These big six countries run independent federations which respect their countries’ extant laws but draws a line where government interference is almost forbidden. Where there are breaches, the laws of the land are applied, no matter whose ox is gored. This is the beauty of such countries’ administration which attracts business-minded people to run for their soccer federations’ elections, held usually after the Mundial.

This business outlay rubs off on their domestic leagues, where they discover, nurture and expose budding players to international competitions. These leagues have youth developmental schemes which ensure that talents are taught the rudiments of the game early through competitions, workshops, cadet or holiday camps etc to further encourage the youth to shun vices and embrace sports, not just football.

Aside, providing the enabling environment to develop the game, these football countries groom coaches, retrain them and assign them to catchment areas where kids are taught the right way to play. With such a foundation, the kids are prepared mentally and physically for the game, particularly those who would want to earn a living from it.

These catchment areas and academies afford these nations the best platform to collate the kids’ data and monitor their progress through the ranks till stardom. This system eliminates all forms of fraud arising from age cheats. In fact, pundits are able to measure the growth of their domestic game by the number of homegrown players who make the national team to big competitions, such as the World Cup.

Only eight countries have won the World Cup in 20 tournaments with the prize going to two continents. Europe has won it five times. Three South American countries have lifted the diadem thrice. The winners are Brazil, England, Germany, Spain, France, Argentina, Italy and Uruguay. And they did so with their nationals as managers, largely because they developed the template that fills the mill which produces players, coaches, officials and administrators. But the Mundial is a leveler, with fairytale countries pulling the rug from under the feet of established nations.

Mexico isn’t a soccer minnow, but could be termed a perennial also-ran in the Mundial. It brought the defending champions down to earth with a lone goal victory that set the pace of surprising results at the ongoing Russia 2018 World Cup. If Germany’s World Cup winning coach in Brazil 2014, Joachim Loew, thought the defeat to Mexico was a blip, his face on the sidelines when Sweden led the Germans in the second game of the group told the story of a man on the verge of falling from grace to grass, especially after ignoring pleas from people to include Manchester City’s gem Sane in his 23-man squad. It took a free-kick in the 96th minute for Germany to beat the Swedish, courtesy of Kroos’ thunderous shot from a side kick from a dead ball.

The World Cup in Russia will surely produce a new winner with the ouster of the defending champions Germany, who were beaten 2-0 by Korea Republic, in the last group game. The Germans lost their opening game to Mexico, beat Sweden with almost the last kick but kissed the trophy goodbye with the loss to Korea Republic.

It is important to state that the Germans have won the trophy four times (in 1954, 1974, 1990 and 2014). Only the Brazilians have surpassed this feat with five winning efforts in 1958, 1962, 1970, 1994 and 2002 in South Africa, the first time an African nation will host the Mundial.

Incidentally, last year’s runners-up Argentina had a nightmarish outing against Iceland, drawing 1-1 in the opening game in Russia, with Lionel Messi’s penalty kick highlighting the bizarre display by the Argentines. The football world stood in awe as Croatia ran a ring round the Argentines in the second game, winning by 3-0 to set the stage for a battle of sur vival inside the Saint Petersburg Stadium on Tuesday evening.

Argentina’s qualification for the group stage was filled with plenty of drama. Messi scored with his left foot after outrunning Kenneth Omeruo late in the first half. Until Messi’s goal, the game was a ding dong, although the Argentines had more of the ball possession than the Nigerians.

The second half expectedly was a reflection of the first, except that the Nigerians realised that they had to chase the game, if they stood any chance of qualifying. First, Rohr substituted Kelechi Iheanacho, who had been struck in the face by an Argentine inside the penalty box in the first half, but the referee Cuneyt Cakir from Turkey looked the other way to the consternation of the spectators. And so when Victor Moses stepped forward to take the penalty kick, not many lovers of the Eagles sat to witness the goal. Many didn’t think Moses will score. But when he did, the stakes rose. The thought of an early exit for the Argentines filled the stands.

However, referee Cakir spoilt the game when he ruled off a glaring hand ball offence committed by Rojo, who eventually scored the winner for the Argentines. Had Cakir given the penalty to Nigeria, two scenarios would have emerged – the shocking exit of a football world power and the likely fairytale story of the Eagles. Indeed, Eagles were gallant in the way they handled the star-studded Argentines so much so that Messi said in the post match interview: ‘‘The Nigerians suffered us before we got this victory.’’

‘‘A huge relief for us. We knew it was going to be a difficult afternoon. We didn’t think we were going to suffer as much as we did.’’

Nigeria should sustain what we have now that it appears we have a template for the Eagles. I had goose pimples listening to Mikel struggle not to say that he was finished with international matches for Nigeria. Mikel literarily held back tears when he was asked to say if Russia 2018 World Cup would be his last for Nigeria.

Mikel bit his lip; his voice was heavy. Slowly, he muttered out the question he was asked without saying categorically if he would quit. The pain in Mikel’s heart was palpable. You could touch it from a distance. He will definitely quit the game. The time is nigh. And he knows so.

A few people have blamed Rohr for not having the strategy to defend the 1-1 result, with five minutes to go. The question is, is attacking not the best way to defend? Had Cakir awarded the penalty, would we be talking about Rohr, since he would have been sent off for the penalty kick offence?

Besides, the argument in some quarters that Rojo headed the ball before it touched his hand, hence the penalty kick wasn’t given is laughable.  Since when did it become a norm to head the ball with widespread hands? Was the ball not headed onto the defender’s hand in the game between Portugal and Iran? A penalty kick was awarded.

So much has been said about retaining the services of Gernot Rohr. I want to stay out of this debate. I intend watching from the sidelines, not losing sight of all that has been said, especially from soccer greats, on the manager and how the Eagles have fared since he was recruited. If Odion Ighalo could accept that his slips were responsible for our ouster, what else is there to be said?

Rohr has given us Francis Uzoho, the goalkeeper. He has assembled a formidable central defence network of Leon Balogun and Troost Ekong. We have young players, such as Tyroone Ebuehi and Ola Aina, among other Nigeria-born kids willing to play for their fatherland. We have seen that with a good manager, Mikel and Moses could play in the central defensive midfield and right wing back positions like they do for their clubs.

Lastly, our players’ comments about Rohr should serve as the basis for retaining him unlike in the past when they openly rooted for the ouster of their manager. Up Nigeria!

Super Eagles’ players have a date with history today as they file out against Croatia in one of the Group D qualification matches. There is one objective – beat the Croatians groggy with goals and ignite the Russia 2018 World Cup with rave reviews of the game.

The Croatians are pundits’ favourites to progress into the Round of 16 with Argentina, based on their pedigree in the competition, including their players’ stature in world soccer.

The history of the Mundial is replete with such permutations based on current form and players’ pedigree. But the beauty of the game once the centre referee sounds his opening whistle is that only 22 players will be on the pitch, with the eventual victor being the side with a stronger hunger for victory.

The players’ sublime skills  and the team’s unity of purpose do play important roles in deciding matches, but it is the side that scores goals the most that wins. This is the basis for the unpredictable outcome of matches, with fans ready to celebrate with the winners.

There are always fairytale teams in big tournaments and it won’t be out of place to tip Nigeria to be one of them, given the presence of Argentina and Croatia in the country’s group. We have the players, who are young and ply their trade in Europe.

Most of our players play weekly against some of the big names at the Mundial. So, they won’t be suffering from any form of inferiority complex. Our players’ exposure will make them conquer stage fright.

When teams win matches, a motley crowd is expected, not before the game as is seen when Nigerian sides participate in such big tournaments. These busybodies come in flowing robes, peddling influence before the players, making unthinkable promises, stoking embers of bitterness around the team for selfish purposes and meddling with the team’s operations, if it loses its first game.

Pushed to the background are the technical officials who coupled the team together and are trained on what to tell the players, having watched the first half from the sidelines. In fact, some disgruntled officials use this platform to incite the players against the federation and encourage mafia groupings among them. Such broken setting affects team unity, which is the edge the real contenders for the trophy have over outsiders, such as African countries and developing nations, at the Mundial.

In fact, video footages of most Nigeria matches reveal a crowded dressing room at half time. This raises the confusion within the team, especially when it is trailing. It is worrisome also when the team is leading, as these busybodies make unnecessary and distracting promises. Examples of some of the things they say to the players to further confuse them include promises of giving them $5,000 per goal or $50,000 for victory. Of course, the promise of $5,000 encourages selfishness , particularly by the strikers and it rubs off on the team’s cohesion.

The regulations allow for 15 minutes interval to give room for the players to rest their limbs. It is during this period that the coaches evaluate the game and plot counter strategies based on what they saw in the first. But with the invasion by these interlopers, the coaches and players hardly have enough time to think through their game plans and seek other ways of dislodging the opponents.

Modern day technology makes it possible for president Muhammadu Buhari to talk to the team via Skype before and after matches. Government delegation members do not have to read out his message inside the dressing room. All promises, especially presidential ones, should be made days before the game, not on match days. The team needs 100 per cent concentration, largely because the task before them is more or less a war that abhors distractions.

We have seen teams lose the first game yet qualified for the semi-finals, ahead of teams which didn’t lose a game in the group stage, a case in point being Nigeria’s 3-0 whiplash of Bulgaria in the first game at the USA’94 World Cup. Bulgaria went on to win the bronze medal at the Yankee Mundial. Nigeria exited in the second round. We need to rally behind the players, irrespective of the result. At the Brazil 2014 event, we drew on a barren note to minnows at the Mundial, Iran, yet we qualified for the Round of 16.

Those who don’t have anything to do with the team must be stopped from getting close to the players. Thank goodness, we don’t have Presidential Task Force (PTF) members, who would force their way to see the players. Visits to the players on match days could be counter-productive. Psyching up the players should be left to the coaches and psychologists – if the Eagles have them. Players give their best when the vibrations from the people are positive. Many critics don’t understand the damage they do to the players with derogatory comments. The world is a global village. The players read these comments which demoralise them. They don’t make mistakes deliberately. They know what they miss when they falter, especially those who need new deals for the 2018/2019 European season, which begins at the end of the Mundial.

The Mundial is the platform to showcase excellence not the podium to celebrate mediocrity. Hence coaches pick the best. Of course, coaches who excel at the Mundial get new suitors who will dangle irresistible deals to recruit them to new teams.

Interestingly, on Monday, Etebo signed for demoted English Premier League side, Stoke City, which the club’s Chief Executive Tony Scholes acknowledged.

“I’m particularly pleased that he took the time to look beyond our current league status and understand who we are as a club before choosing us ahead of current Premier League and Bundesliga club,” Scholes is quoted as saying by the official Stoke City website.

Similarly, manager Gary Rowett is delighted at the acquisition of a player with the potential to blossom at the bet365 Stadium.

“We’re really excited to have got the deal over the line for Etebo. I’m looking forward to seeing him in a Stoke City shirt as I’m sure our supporters are too,” Rowett noted.

Only last month, Leon Balogun joined Brighton FC in the Barclays English Premier League for next season. Austin Okocha dazzled the world at the France ’98 World Cup. His reward was a mouth-watering offer from Paris Saint Germain (PSG) in the French Lique Un. It is a win-win situation for coaches and players who excel at the Mundial.

The Mundial throws up a lot of advantages, some of which Edo State Governor Godwin Obaseki highlighted at a forum in Benin City on Monday. He said: “The World Cup has become a very strong tool for diplomacy and image refresh. I urge our players to appreciate the bigger picture and comport themselves in a manner that befits the new Nigeria that we are working hard to build.

“I am confident that the Nigerian spirit, coupled with the strict adherence to instructions by their technical team, will take our Eagles to victory.”

“The team has our support and we are hopeful that we will make it to the final and win the trophy. All that is required of the players is to keep their eyes on the trophy and approach each match with a high sense of commitment to national duty,” he said.

Well said, Obaseki. Our players should be educated about the opportunities that participating at the Mundial offers our people, which they shouldn’t flunk with selfish displays. The least they can do for Nigerians will be to go down fighting instead of losing matches with ignominy.

For the Super Eagles, everything stops in the country when the team plays. Eagles’ players are icons. They play for some of the best teams in the world. Their popularity is awesome. You marvel watching other nationals show so much excitement towards any Nigerian on match day with many calling them Nwankwo Kanu, Austin Okocha, Peter Rufai etc. Even the exploits of our departed stars, such as the late Rashidi Yekini’s, are celebrated. You see more of the excitement on the faces of our hosts in foreign lands. Talking to Nigerians on the streets, at hotels, malls and at airport lounges brings a lot of fulfilment to these foreigners that you imagine how they would conduct themselves when they eventually see our stars, such as Kanu. Such a spectacle is better imagined than expressed in words.  Such is the popularity of the beautiful game, which knows no bound, creed and tribe.

Come on Eagles, beat Croatia; let’s celebrate. Up Super Eagles. Up Nigeria!