The Nation Newspaper

Category: Ade Ojeikere

  • And the beat goes on

    It’s exciting being with soccer fans during matches, with their rib crackers targeted at outstanding players and the fumbling ones. After the game between Chelsea and Swansea, a colleague sent us all reeling when he said John Mikel Obi’s bench role had assumed a new dimension – “Look, wetin una dey talk? Which kind bench warmer be Mikel sef, since how many years now? Mikel bench role don get seat belt; abi una no get eyes to see say dem don strap Mikel for the bench? Abeg no tell me say Mikel wan make im contract end jare! Na so he go siddon look so tay this season go end.”

    Indeed, the seriousness with which this colleague lamented Mikel’s serial presence on the bench sparked the debate on his stay at Stamford Bridge instead of joining Al Ain, like his Super Eagles mate, Emmanuel Emenike.

    Another colleague took on this Mikel critic, insisting that the Nigerian international shunned Inter Milan to remain at Chelsea. Not one to run away from challenges, the Mikel critic fired back, referring to the internet to buttress his facts. If you think that was the end of the debate, Mikel’s apostle also went to the internet to show the story where indeed the Chelsea star was mentioned in an Inter Milan transfer rumour. Yes, this will be the trend anytime matches are played until the end of May 2016.

    My take on this Mikel-at-Chelsea saga is that we should respect the player’s decision. His plans are close to his chest. He will quit at the appropriate time. Not playing regularly for Chelsea is a function of the type of tactics Jose Mourinho has for each game. Besides, Chelsea has over 50 matches to play this season – if they play to their strength. It is only fair to expect Mikel to play enough of these matches, injury permitting. I would rather have Mikel play for Chelsea than to be a regular in smaller European teams.

    Mikel will learn more on the intricacies of the game under Mourinho’s tutelage than with any Lilliputian manager. Mikel’s game has improved since he joined Chelsea. The only difference is that he ceased to be an offensive player. Mikel has played for every Chelsea manager since he joined The Blues. And this says a lot about the quality of his talent. Who says Mikel cannot retire from the game after his contract at Chelsea next year? Must Mikel play the game forever?

    I thought I had seen the last of such post-match debates until I was confronted by a fan of Arsenal who screamed: “Oga, una wey dey talk for television, make una tell Mourinho make e come return our money wey we pay for Cech o! Cech kill us against West Ham. I never see that kind thing. Wo, I never enter my house since Sunday. I dey run from my friends. Dem go kill me.”

    I was awed because this raving Gunner was really pained by his team’s home loss to West Ham. Sadly his message amounts to shouting in the desert because I couldn’t help him. Of course, his rants wouldn’t get to Arsenal’s management in London. But I can bet that that angry man would be the first person to watch Arsenal’s away game against Crystal Palace.

    Fans must understand that every game has its own strategy. Gunners have lost their opening ties before. What counts at the end of the 38-match league is where each team finishes on the log. For Arsenal, they have been consistent in grabbing the UEFA Champions League ticket. Gunners have their own stadium and rank among the richest clubs in Europe. Losing an opening game shouldn’t be a problem for their aspirations. Arsene Wenger knows his onions.

    I wasn’t shocked that Victor Moses didn’t play for Chelsea against Swansea. He was elbowed in a mid-week friendly at Stamford Bridge against Fiorentina FC of Italy. He could have been benched for this Sunday’s cracker against Manchester City at the Ethihad Stadium. I also won’t be surprised if at some stage in the all-ticket game against Manchester City if Mikel is introduced – that is if he doesn’t start with Moses.

    Looking at the reviewed matches since last week, I felt happy about the exploits of Odion Ighalo at Watford. I wasn’t shocked by the uncanny way in which Ighalo waltzed his way past two Everton defenders before delivering a pile driver, which went into the net. Of significant importance is the cheeky way Ighalo dribbled John Stones, the defender that is causing transfer palavar between Everton and Chelsea to score for Watford. I admire Ighalo’s confidence on and off the ball. He showed that he is a technical player with the way he changed his team’s tempo of play when he was introduced in the second half.

    Osaze Odemwingie returned to Stoke’s squad as a closing stages substitute. He did quite well, trying to create openings for his side through his decoy runs, but it appeared Liverpool players were ready for Stoke, having lost this fixture last year 6-1. Though rusty, Osaze exhibited traces of brilliance, which could count in his favour in subsequent matches. Sadly, Osaze is out of this weekend’s match for Stoke, according to coach Mark Hughes on Thursday evening.

    “Unfortunately Peter has got a hamstring strain and is likely to miss the next couple of weeks. It’s disappointing for him because he has worked tremendously hard throughout pre-season,” Hughes said at the pre-match press conference.

    I was excited when Jordaan Ibe revealed that he would decide his international soccer future with Nigeria in 2016. It could be Nigeria or England. I pray he plays for Nigeria, irrespective of the abundance of talents at the grassroots. Eagles need players who can distinguish themselves, not those to be taught the rudiments of the game.

    At 21, Ibe is better prepared than any true 21-year-old at the grassroots. The ones from the grassroots are raw and may not have been drilled in the rudiments of the game. He may also not have played in any stadium. At best, such a lad from the grassroots is used to playing on school grounds with bamboo goalposts or at public fields where fans invade the pitch with every goal scored.

    The true 21-year-old in Nigeria wouldn’t have played before 20,000 spectators, let alone 60,000. But Ibe, having been through the mill in England, isn’t frightened by the crowd. Ibe won’t be struggling to use good soccer boots, unlike the grassroots chap.

    We have had brilliant young boys play for our age-grade teams. Yet, many have asked where these boys are especially when their contemporaries at the age-grade levels of other countries blossom. I plead with Oliseh to get back to Ibe for his decision, even if it means convincing him to opt for Nigeria. Ibe’s lifespan in the game barring injuries would be longer than any grassroots player in Nigeria.

    It’s great to report that Taiwo Awoniyi will soon be a Liverpool player. He has joined his Golden Eaglets mate Iheanacho in the quest to shake the Barclays English Premier League in the next two years. Awoniyi, we are again told, will be loaned to Dutch club SC Heerenveen. Report on Friday suggested that the Dutch club denied this arrangement. That is how most celebrated transfers start. Awoniyi will use the Dutch club’s matches to polish his skills ahead of making the biggest impact by any Nigerian player, since Nwankwo Kanu rocked the English game. With Awoniyi and Iheanacho in Europe, my dream of the Super Eagles being the Cinderella of the Russia 2018 World Cup is looking real.

    I wasn’t shocked on Monday night seeing Kelechi Iheanacho sitting on the bench. For me, it was a great improvement from the past where he watched Manchester City’s matches from the stands. Those picked ahead of Iheanacho are clearly better strikers, with rich pedigree of scoring goals at the top level. With time, Iheanacho will mature into a great player at Manchester City. Argentine star Aguero is an injury-prone player and I expect Iheanacho to take his chance any day he plays in Aguero’s place.

    It is not all sweet tales for Nigerian players in England, with the shocking news that two former Eagles players Brown Ideye and Victor Anichebe could be sacked by West Brom. It is rather ironic for Ideye because at this time last year, he joined West Brom as the club’s biggest buy. What could have gone wrong with Ideye’s game in 12 months? That is the way the cookies crumble. Anichebe joined West Brom from Everton but he has been troubled by injuries. We only hope that manager Pulis gives the Nigerians another chance.

    “People will look at Victor and Browny and think they have to move on, but they have wanted to play more regular football anyway. Does bringing Salomon in hasten their move from the club? We’ll have to wait and see,” Pulis told the Express & Star.

    The Scottish Premier League is on. Indeed, two Nigerians, Ambrose Efe and Juwon Oshaniwa, have made their marks playing for Celtics and Hearts. This season looks like one in which Nigerians will shine in Europe. We only hope that their performances should be enough to get them on the shortlist for the 2015 African Footballer of the Year award.

    It is been a long while Nigerians got the award. Let us pray!

     

     

     

  • Our dream Super Eagles

    The Super Eagles will be the Cinderella at the Russia 2018 World Cup, going by the indices available. Pointers to this dream are the novel changes in the system, starting with the conscious attempts by NFF President Amaju Melvin Pinnick to run the body’s affairs differently.

    Pinnick’s insistence on scientific approaches to the way things are done at the Glasshouse is chiefly responsible for the new dawn in the Globacom Premier League, where referees have been exemplary in the manner in which they have handled matches. There have been startling results, with home teams losing games and the fans walking freely out of the stadia.

    Of significant importance is the new drive for getting the biggest sports brand solvent through interactions with the business sector in and outside the country. Gone are the days when NFF chiefs look towards the Federal Government for cash to fund all its programmes.

    Eagles chief coach Sunday Oliseh is billed to ring the bell at the Stock Exchange on August 17. Is this not the new dawn people have canvassed for? Oliseh’s presence at the Wembley Stadium last weekend to watch John Mikel Obi, Victor Moses and Alex Iwobi is also remarkable.

    Seeing pictures of Oliseh and Moses raises the hope that the coach knows where the shoe pinches in the team. Gone are the days when Eagles coaches and key players quarrel over little things.

    If the players are happy and feel wanted, they will give their best. Coaches must be told that without the players, they cannot function. Only the players enter the pitch to play. There isn’t anything a disciplined coach can do if the players choose to play badly to frustrate him. Therefore, Oliseh’s visits to key players set the tone of what to expect from the players when the matches begin.

    I can see the light at the end of this tunnel, but Oliseh must be sincere in his choice of players. He must adopt the right strategies for the team to excel. Teams that have won the World Cup are not spirits. They are human. They achieved this feat using scientific methods, buoyed with good planning and adequate funding. We are not lacking in getting the players to actualise our dream of watching Nigeria play at the finals of the Russia 2018 World Cup. Please, don’t wake me up from this dream.

    Am I being too ambitious? What is giving me this conviction that Nigeria will shake Russia at the 2018 World Cup? Have I considered the troublesome NFF and its coaches? Have the players changed their attitude towards playing for the country? Who are the players in the Super Eagles who have given me this confidence? Or do I think the World Cup is another bazaar for everyone?

    The World Cup is the platform for excellence. It is the big stage for new kids eager to redefine their careers and expand the frontiers of the game in their countries. Besides, the Federation of International Football Associations (FIFA) has sustainable developmental programmes meant to discover, nurture and exposed budding talents across the globe.

    Indeed, most of the new lads discovered at the senior level most times have made their names in FIFA’s age-grade competitions.

    Other discoveries have come from the integrated programmes found in the 209 countries affiliated to FIFA. The mill to produce talents is enduring for those who apply the extant rules to the letter – those aptly tagged the soccer nations.

    Countries serious to make an impact at the World Cup don’t do so with a pilgrimage of appearances. For instance, Senegal hit the quarter-finals of the 2002 Korea/Japan World Cup in her debut outing, losing because the players lost focus and we were contended with what they had achieved.

    A star such as Lionel Messi hit our consciousness with his exploits at the 2005 World Youth Championships held in Holland, defying his morphological deficiencies to dazzle the world with his silky skills. Messi hasn’t disappointed soccer fans with his breath-taking performances since that time, churning out sterling performances which have earned him all the accolades that there are to be won in the beautiful game. Sadly, Messi hasn’t won the senior World Cup, even though he is being rated alongside the game’s greats, such as Erantes de Nascimento, aka Pele, and Diego Amando Maradona.

    Africa is always being tipped as the best outsider to lift the World Cup outside the Europeans and South Americans. Those who hold this view have it reinforced anytime African countries win the world cups at the cadet levels. Not a few cynics have sneezed at Africa’s feats in age-grade competitions, largely because the products fade away when the world waits for them to blossom.

    Nigeria has been champions at the cadet levels, producing great lads such as Nwankwo Kanu, Celestine Babayaro, Victor Ikpeba, Jonathan Akpoborie, John Mikel Obi, Taye Taiwo, Tijani Babangida, to mention a few. Kanu and Ikpeba went on to be crowned African Footballer of the Year.

    Indeed, Kanu won this diadem twice. One player the system under-developed is Akpoborie – no thanks to the coaches that have handled our senior team. After he shone at the 1985 WorldU-17 Championships in China, Akpoborie became Nigeria’s biggest export in Europe. That Akpoborie isn’t one of the lads whose exploits with the Eagles we would not talk about, tells the story of our coaches’ fixation. Scoring goals yearly to rank among the top five in the strong German Bundesliga was enough to earn Akpoborie a regular shirt in even the German side. Not in Nigeria. This explains why the cabal ended late Rashidi Yekini’s meritorious career with the Eagles. A few players felt that the late Yekini was earning the glory of their collective efforts and shut him out. The Eagles died, their careers ended abruptly and new stars were discovered.

    Many have forgotten that Mikel and Taiwo fell behind Lionel Messi in 2005 World Youth Championships held in Holland. The difference then wasn’t as alarming as it is now, given the incredible manner in which Messi has transformed into one of the world’s greatest players.

    Attempts to change the face of the game here have been politicised. At other times, sentiments ruled decisions, such that we seemed to take a step forward only to realise that we have indeed engaged the reverse gear, crashing into the ditch. With every fall came the corrupt phrase – going back to the drawing board. For the coaches, rebuilding became a lingo, even when the teams were winning matches and trophies.

    Under such settings, what we recorded as pyrrhic victories came back to haunt us as we lost out in big competitions that opened new vistas for better prepared nations. However, the changes being put in place to ensure that the Eagles return to winning ways are such that throw up Nigeria-born kids, such as Jordaan Ibe, Alex Iwobi and Chuba Akpom as the missing links in the team. Our players’ attitude to matches must change now that we have an NFF that is willing to make them comfortable and resolve their complaints.

    Ibe (forget about the cheap talk that he has dumped Nigeria) Iwobi, Akpom and indeed the legion of Nigeria-born kids’ inclusion in the team will bring back the required mentality of playing for the country to win laurels, not playing because they think they are doing us a favour. This new mentality will eliminate the sickening tradition of protests and revolts that belittled us in the polity of football nations.

    Oliseh knows that the Eagles are a jaded side, especially as most of the players cannot make the Russia 2018 World Cup. He needs to get young boys into the team to increase its speed, endurance and zeal to excel. Most of the players are no longer motivated to give their best, having won the Africa Cup of Nations in 2013, been to at least three uneventful World Cup and honoured with MON, OON etc. The presence of players who are in the twilight of their careers explains why it is easy for them to be swayed into revolts. They have nothing to lose anyway.

    A top Green Eagles player told me how at half time during one of the Seoul 1998 Olympic Games qualifiers, the late Samuel Sochukwuma Okwaraji asked three big men in the team why they were not passing the balls to him. The late Okwaraji walked up to them as they sat together. He held his shirt and asked: “Is there any difference in the jersey that I’m wearing and yours? Let me know so that I can tell the coach to give me another one since I cannot understand why nobody passes the ball to me, even when I’m unmarked.”

    The former player said he was deeply touched by the late Okwaraji’s statement and talked with the clique to ensure that he got passes. The defender said Okwaraji scored in the second half and was awesome in the game and subsequent matches until his death on August 12, 1989 at the National stadium in Surulere, Lagos.

    This defender was buttressing the fact that the Eagles had cabals that determined those who should play and those who shouldn’t. Oliseh must crush them all. Players must accept to play for us without conditions or stay in their clubs. No player should be indispensable. Anyone who misbehaves should be shown the door and quietly dropped from the team until he shows remorse.

    Oliseh’s search for new kids who have been developed in other climes is because he wants to hit the ground running, knowing that coaches are as good as their last results. The Eagles’ camp isn’t for learners. Rather, it is a place where certain things are given. Players are told what tactics are to be played and when they need to change as the game progresses. Since systems are universal, it is expected that they know what every strategy demands. This is why Oliseh is insisting on those who play regularly and for top teams.  Isn’t he right?

  • Waiting for Moses

    Waiting for Moses

    Women cherish the opening of the European football league season. Their men sit at home to watch their favourite teams fight weekly for the points required to play in the prestigious UEFA Champions League competition next season.

    From this weekend, beginning with the Charity Shield “London derby” tie between Barclays English Premier League champions Chelsea and the English FA Cup kings, Arsenal at Wembley Stadium, till May 2016, soccer-crazy families will be broken by the clubs they support during the 90 minutes duration of matches. Winners laugh; losers frown.

    The scenario is most exciting if the kids’ teams beat the ones supported by their fathers. The kids tease their fathers, who momentarily surrender the right to discipline them. It gets very interesting if the mother is a supporter of the kids’ clubs. Indeed, my colleague Emmanuel Tobi of the New Telegraph named his first son Fabregas. No prize for guessing that Tobi is a Gunner. I wasn’t surprised that his wife didn’t object to naming their first child after an Arsenal great. She too is a Gunner. I wonder what they would tell their son, now that Fabregas plays for Chelsea. Such is the awesome power of soccer. But I digress.

    These weekly sessions further unite families, especially the homes where the fathers are engrossed with the demands of their jobs. But, somehow, they find a way of getting home early to watch the matches with their families. The women however love this period most because they are sure where their husbands are. Even when they watch the matches with the boys, their wives know where they are and could pay surprise visits to such centres.

    Nothing is spared to ensure a hitch-free session. People don’t rely on the regular supply of electricity because they don’t want to miss any moment in a game. Power Generators are pressed to service. Fridges are stocked with drinks. Family members sit to watch the games, wearing different jerseys (for fathers who allow siblings and their wives freedom to belong to teams of their choices).

    For those who love to “conscript” their wives and kids, the fun is lost when their favourite team loses. The fun is best appreciated if family members are divided among the teams. Indeed, the zero moment is here after the hectic European transfer windows where teams strengthened their ranks with quality players. The fans cannot wait to see the game and share in the sighs, joy and sadness of each weekly game.

    Again, the fans, mostly the youth, throng viewing centres on match days to watch their favourite teams. The atmosphere in most centres can be tense, depending on the placing of both teams on the league tables or the trophies at stake. At the business centres, you will marvel at the fact that many of the fans wear jerseys bearing the names of their idols. Some others wear theirs with customised names. It is really a spectacle to behold.

    But, there have been terrible incidents, leading to deaths in many instances. People have wondered how people could kill themselves for teams who know nothing about their existence.

    But for journalists and national team coaches, this is the period to monitor our nationals to see those who prosecute the country’s international soccer matches ahead of continental and global football competitions.

    Perhaps the best way for Nigerian journalists and coaches to begin the monitoring will be on Sunday at the Wembley Stadium where we ex

    pect two Nigerians – Victor Moses and John Mikel Obi -to star for Chelsea in the Charity Shield game against Arsenal.

    Until recently, the rumour mill had speculated the movement of Moses to Stoke in a swap transfer for goalkeeper Asmir Bergovic. But Moses sneezed at the arrangement, insisting that he would rather want a proper transfer from Chelsea to Tottenham Hotspurs, another Barclays English Premier League side than any demeaning deal to Stoke, where he played last season on loan.

    Moses has played three matches, lasting 45 minutes in each game. And Mourinho has spared no adjective in describing Moses’ exploits. Moses can raise his chin up from Mourinho’s comments because it paves the way for him to shake the world with his sublime skills. Moses has what it takes to tie down a regular shirt, except that most Nigerians who ply their trade in Europe, usually cannot string five good outings together, raising fears about their ages.

    For Moses, this argument isn’t tenable because he is a young man. But he must concentrate for the 90 minutes and play to the tactics rehearsed at the training. Indeed, Moses’ knack for goals underscores why he would command a regular shirt, only if he boycotts the social vices that have ruined many Nigerian players in Europe.  I also hope that Moses can whisper to Mourinho’s ears the need for him to play for Nigeria, whenever there is a clash between club and country’s matches. Besides, Moses must change this penchant of reporting late to the Eagles camp, even when he is released early by Chelsea.

    Again, Moses must return to Chelsea after Eagles’ matches instead of remaining in Nigeria and getting back late. Moses and indeed Mikel Obi are guilty of these traits and it is the reason why they lose their first team shirts.

    At 24, Moses should be the pivot of Chelsea’s games, having played for England as a junior international. Moses went through the coaching regime that most of the English players were exposed to. He, therefore, has no reason being benched by players who looked up to him to win games, when they were much younger playing for England.

    As Chelsea file out against Arsenal on Sunday, most Nigerians will want Moses to grab the headlines with a meteoric outing reminiscence of what Nwankwo Kanu did for Arsenal several years back, when he rose from the bench in the second half to score the hat-trick that decided the game in Gunners‘ favour. Arsenal beat Chelsea 3-2 and Kanu’s name reverberated in the media for months. That spectacular outing by Kanu forms some of the landmark ties of the English game, which his kids now cherish now that their dad has retired from the game.

    If Moses doesn’t start the game, he would be introduced as a second half substitute they way Mourinho did in Chelsea’s last game. He needs to seize the day with a stellar performance. Moses looks like our best bet for the 2016 African Footballer of the Year diadem if he remains focused and enjoys an injury-free season unlike what happened to him at Stoke last season.

    Where does one start to write about Mikel and Chelsea? The cheery news that Mikel is second on the log to replace John Terry as the next Chelsea captain says a lot about his contributions to the team. Mikel needs to score goals for the Blues. This has been the distinguishing line between Mikel and those who bench him. Ivanovic’s choice ahead of Mikel has to do with his spartan fighting spirit, playing for Chelsea. Ivanovic is a flank defender, yet he has scored goals that have earned Chelsea cherished victories. Ivanovic doesn’t sit back to play defensively. He moves forward to score goals when teams appear to have caged Chelsea’s strikers. No coach will have Ivanovic and not give him the captain’s band when the need arises. Ivanovic is a fighter and a winner any day. These traits are lacking in Mikel’s game. Common Mikel, grab the headlines by being Chelsea’s captain by exhibiting the typical Nigerian can-do spirit this season.

    If Mikel plays for Chelsea on Sunday, it would be for tactical reasons. Yet, he needs to play the Ivanovic way because he has what it takes to be the most exciting player at Chelsea only if he dares to be ambitious and score goals. Goals win matches and coaches don’t joke with scorers.

    It’s interesting that Mikel is being considered to captain a big side like Chelsea. It underscores the abundant talents in the country. Pundits hope that NFF chieftains get the puzzle right, with the recruitment of Sunday Oliseh and the other facets of his contract, meant to produce truly young lads from the grassroots.

    I expect Oliseh to be at Wembley Stadium to watch Moses and Mikel. I expect Oliseh to use this visit to rub minds with his former team mate Michael Emenalo. He could use Emenalo to establish a rapport with Mourinho. They could sit in a meeting to streamline how he hopes to effectively use Moses and Mikel without clashes in fixtures between the two parties. A synergy between Oliseh and Mourinho will foster better a relationship. A picture having Mourinho, Emenalo, Oliseh, Mikel and Moses walking out of the Wembley stadium after the game will headline most Nigerian newspapers, especially if Chelsea beats Arsenal. Please, I have not tipped Chelsea to beat Arsenal. The better side should lift the Community Shield on Sunday.

    I also expect to see Oliseh and his men at the stands, watching our players during matches, instead of relying on views from partisan agents and scouts to pick players for Nigeria’s games. Oliseh should learn how to interface with the coaches of clubs where our players earn a living. That way, he can find out why they are being benched or relate with them when they are injured. This idea of using boys to prosecute our matches and not care about their welfare must stop.

    Our players must feel wanted by Nigeria. It starts with taking interest in what happens to them in their clubs and how we respond to their difficulties. When these two parameters are met, the players will give their best.

  • A word for Oliseh

    A word for Oliseh

    All hail Sunday Oliseh, the new Super Eagles chief coach, ex-international who Segun Odegbami ‘mathematician’ describes as the intellectual face of the Nigeria’s game in the 21st Century. Oliseh becomes the first Nigerian coach to assume the position with the certificate most European coaches have. So, nobody is talking about a foreign coach when there is a Nigerian, who is eminently qualified.

    Oliseh is accepting the world’s most difficult job. Yet he could write his name in gold, if he picks new players for the national team. It won’t be easy. He needs time to clear the mess of the past, including winning the confidence of the home-grown players who would cease to be training materials, if they possess the skills to displace the foreign legion.

    The best way to rejuvenate the Eagles is to create competition among the players. Such a setting would come from picking our best at all times, irrespective of what such players did in the past. The Eagles must be an embodiment of our most talented players here, in Europe and the Diaspora. The Eagles should never be a work- in- progress because we have the players to do the job. Those who were perpetually building the Eagles did that to satisfy players’ agents and scouts. This is the only team that we keep rebuilding even after winning trophies and matches.

    Traditionally, when a set of players wins trophies and matches, they are allowed to prosecute the next game to gel through matches, although with little additions for those who may have lost form or are nursing injuries. A wholesale dismantling of winning teams is the hallmark of a confused coach. This shouldn’t be Oliseh’s portion.

    Competition for places in the Eagles will be best espoused if players who fumbled in the previous game don’t return in the next match. It amounts to fixation on the part of the coaches if such fumbling players return, especially for a country like ours, which filled with talents waiting to grab an opportunity to wear the green-white-green jersey.

    In fact, any player dropped for poor performance will work harder to improve on his weak points. Such change of attitude would help him to regain his jersey. Of course, the player who replaces him would strive at all times to keep the shirt, like the other regulars.

    Happily, Oliseh said during his unveiling that only those who play in the elite leagues in Nigeria, Europe and the Diaspora would be invited to the camp. Good talk. But I must remind Oliseh that Obafemi Martins was picked from Inter Milan of Italy’s B team, although he had cameo appearances for the senior team. The coach should be flexible to accommodate exceptional talents. I also hope he doesn’t recant on this declaration when European scouts and agents pressurise him.

    The players will give their best to ensure that Oliseh succeeds, if he treats everyone equally and makes the right decisions- no matter whose ox is gored. Indiscipline starts when there are double standards. Disputes within the team should be handled internally. The coach will instill discipline in the squad when he obeys his own laws. These players are adults, who expect to be treated with decorum. He mustn’t be influenced by scouts and/or agents in picking his squad.

    Nigerians expect to see signs of his technical savvy on September 6 in Dar es Salaam when the Eagles file out against Tanzania. We expect to see changes the way the Eagles play- positively, not the boring first half and half-hearted second half performances that have characterised the team’s outings. Nigerians want to be excited watching the Eagles play. They want to celebrate goals scored from team play, which will be the result of what they practised in training. Nigerians want to see the Eagles score goals from set pieces. They want to leave the stadium or sit back in their homes recounting how the goals scored happened. Nigerians are discerning people and would clap for the Eagles if they play as if something is at stake, not in the lethargic manner in the past.

    The Eagles shouldn’t be the platform to teach players the basics of the game. Any player invited to the camp must be ready to fit into the opening which his inclusion is designed to fill. It is for this reason that Oliseh must have benchmarks with which his team can be evaluated.

    I giggle when I hear people talk about Oliseh’s conduct. I’ve confronted him many times and we’ve joked over my columns. What Oliseh doesn’t like is falsehood. He would be the first tell me, ”Ade oni jungbon. O mo pe football shoro gba (troublesome Ade; you don’t know football is not easy to play). We want to win not for the fans but even to boost our careers. Sometimes, it happens in football. You win some, you lose some. We don’t go out on the field to deliberately play badly or lose matches. We want to win all the games, if it is possible.”

    Who isn’t quick to temper? We all are when in foul moods or when we are taken for a ride. We must understand people and learn how to live with their shortcomings.

    I’m pleased that Oliseh has addressed his relationship with his employers creditably. It is the reason why Eagles have problems with the NFF. I have challenged people who allege that NFF chiefs take bribe from the coaches. Till date, no coach has told us what he gave to any NFF member during his tenure. Therefore, Oliseh’s foresight in accepting that a greater percentage of his ability to succeed in this daunting assignment rests on his relationship with his employers. It is disrespectful for any employee to discredit his employer.

    Oliseh said during his inauguration in Abuja on Wednesday: “I have come to serve, and the NFF has promised to give me all the support I need to succeed. They are the employers and I am the employee. That distinction has to be appreciated at all times.”

    “One thing I will say, dear compatriots, is that I am not a Messiah. I have come to do my very best, give 150%, to take Nigeria football to the next level, with the support of my assistants, the NFF and relevant stakeholders. I am optimistic that we will lift the Nigeria game to a new height.”

    Well said Oliseh. It is, however, expected that coaches should ensure that their contract is not a one-way document. If any employer fails to pay his coach, for instance, there should be sanctions.

    We don’t expect Oliseh to run to the media over salaries because of the federation’s antecedents on such matters. His contract must contain sanctions against the NFF if they default on his salary.

     

    Remembering Yekini

     

    When you appoint knowledgeable people into any endeavour, you expect changes. And so, when the new League Management Company (LMC) decided to name the gold trophy for the highest goal scorer in the domestic game after Rashidi Yekini, I unwittingly shouted “Eureka!”

    I’m sure that Yekini would sneeze, if it is possible, wherever he is. He was the goal merchant for all the teams that he played for.

    From Nigeria through Cote d’ Ivoire to Portugal, Yekini was renowned for scoring goals. Little wonder, he was the first to score a World Cup goal for Nigeria. He achieved that feat in 1994 against Greece.

    I hope that LMC men would allow Yekini’s kids, not some Agbada-wearing politicians, to do the presentation to the winner. That way, they would know that their dad didn’t die in vain.

     

    Thank you Falconets

     

    When the news broke a few weeks ago that Ebola had returned to Liberia, my heart skipped a beat. I nursed a serious fear for Super Falconets players who were billed to visit Liberia for the first leg of an elimination game.

    Would it be worth the effort for the Falconets or will CAF consider a rescheduling of the game to another country? The Falconets soldiered on with their preparations, leaving the logistics for CAF and NFF. The Falconets made the trip to Monrovia, whipped their hostesses 7-1and returned home hale and hearty. Quickly, I tried to guess the scenario if it had been Super Eagles’ turn to play a game in Liberia under the same circumstances?

    Where do we start Eagles complaints? Is it from goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama whose voice would be the loudest, even if he has not been to Liberia in two years? Or would it be the noise from football fans crying more than the bereaved? Or is it the vituperations from habitual NFF critics over the propriety of playing against Liberia, in a place where “fresh” outbreak of Ebola has been reported? How about the National Sports Commission (NSC) warning the NFF against honouring the game? What won’t the NSC chieftains do to show that they are in charge when it concerns NFF? Do they really care for other sports? Eye service merchants, if you ask me.

    Many questions with no answers. But these questions weren’t applicable to the Falconets? We seem to over-pamper the Eagles, yet they give us more pain. Falconets went to Liberia, won and no one remembers about the Ebola outbreak in Monrovia.

    I doff my heart for those brave girls. I hope the Eagles can emulate the girls by playing the game and leaving other jobs for those whose duty it is to do them.

  • Oliseh and the new mentality

    Oliseh and the new mentality

    It is increasingly clear that Nigeria is indebted to the class of footballers who got us our first World Cup appearance in the United States. We have them in all our male national teams. Unless we are told our level of indebtedness to this class of 1994, our football will stand still, recording arithmetic growth than geometric, despite our huge population. But can we make the right decisions to give the game the desired fillip?

    I hope that Sunday Oliseh’s appointment would be the last from this class. Oliseh is coming with one or two foreign assistants, who would interpret his tactics to the players. I hope he doesn’t come with a French-speaking assistant with passable English. I don’t want to believe the Belgian name being bandied in the media. I feel strongly that a big country like ours should have her new coaches heralded by the international media because of their pedigree in the game.

    I don’t want to be a spoilsport in this matter but I shudder to ask if Oliseh can fix our game that has fallen to its worst rating ever at FIFA. Nigeria is ranked 57th in the world and I’m not surprised. It is our worst placing with FIFA. It hurts because we were once ranked fifth on that FIFA ladder. How are the mighty fallen. But, doesn’t it serve us right?

    For the purpose of analysis based on NFF’s decision on Oliseh, which is irreversible, it is seems to me that something good is about to happen to Nigeria’s football. I hope I’m not hallucinating. Our soccer chiefs appear to know where the problem with the beautiful game lies. And I’m tempted to be excited because a new dawn for football in Nigeria, at this time, is the elixir other sports need to blossom.

    When our football is run seamlessly by the private sector, firms that cannot compete for the marketing windows in football will fall back on the other sports. The spiral effect of such a new dawn for soccer is that sports would be taken as the real business that it is in other climes rather than the recreational slant which has seen our governments and their officials using sports to siphon cash rather than as a life-changer for the youth at the grassroots.

    I wholly welcome this new dawn if it can be sustained because it simply means that the youth in the hinterlands would be effectively engaged in sports. This will invariably take them out of societal vices.

    In many villages there are no recreational grounds. The spaces in the primary and tertiary institutions have been built up. Yet the standard of education is falling. Perhaps with a new mentality towards sports, using footballas the litmus test, the private sectors and rich individuals and possibly local governments would see the need to invest in the industry. That will be the day. I digress!

    Oliseh is expected to come up with a five –year developmental plan, fashioning a unique playing and coaching philosophy for all the national teams, and will for this purpose, interface regularly with coaches of those teams.

    Current stand-in Coach Salisu Yusuf will also be in the new team, but with greater devotion to the home-based boys, otherwise known as Super Eagles B. He will be the interface between the technical crew and the home boys.

    “We are also looking at how he will periodically organise clinics and seminars for coaches of clubs in the Nigeria Professional Football League, probably once in a month, so as to strengthen the playing philosophy across board. A robust youth development programme, elite player development strategy and performance programmes to drive higher standards, among other core sustainable development programmes, are also part of the proposal,” Anyansi-Agwu added.

    The new mentality that I have craved for our football lies not with the recruitment of Sunday Oliseh or with NFF’s grandiose plans. Rather, the thought of getting two foreign coaches as Oliseh’s assistants is the clincher in this new arrangement.

    The key change in mentality in the Eagles rests with the mandate that the assistant coaches have – their job description will be development programmes and working with Clubs’ Youth Teams and certified academies towards developing the game from the grassroots.

    This has been the missing link with the Eagles, making the team’s performance look like pouring Andrews Liver Salt into a glass of water. Many players in the Eagles lack motivation. They have seen it all. They are not motivated by Nigerians’ quest for an all-conquering Eagles team. They are interested mostly in what they can get playing for Nigeria than giving their all to ensure we win games. Even if we lose games, our players’ effort could still make the fans applaud them as gallant losers as they walk out of the pitch.

    I’m excited. The foreigners would insist on the tenets of their contracts. There won’t be cutting of corners. The foreigners will insist on having all they need to perform because they have a reputation to protect. Oliseh, having lived overseas most of his adult life now thinks and behaves like the foreigners. It won’t cost him anything to shake hands with the NFF president and walk away if promises are not met instead of instigating players’ revolt or standing aloof when players refuse to train.

    Most importantly, NFF will respect Oliseh with the presence of the foreigners, who can return to their countries without recourse to the NFF, if things go awry. NFF know they have no reputation in terms of meeting with agreements. So, they would strive to prove their critics wrong.

    It won’t be business-as-usual. There will be written criteria for everything. No player will see himself as bigger than the coaches since they know their pedigree. This new plan promises to churn out new boys to fight for places in the Eagles. The Eagles would no longer be the platform for showcasing bench warmers in a country with over 170 million people. The Eagles would no longer be the rehabilitation centre for recuperating players nor would it be the platform for unsung players to increase our blood pressure with their uninspiring performance. Not a few Nigerians have died watching the Eagles play so unintelligently on the pitch.

    The Eagles we have watched in recent times think they are doing us a favour. Yet they hit the limelight playing as rookies for our kindergarten teams before making it to the big clubs in Europe and the Diaspora. We have seen players stroll on the pitch when they lose the ball instead of fighting back to gain possession. Yet when they get back to their European clubs, they do what is expected of them when they lose or gain possession of the ball. These instances of lack of seriousness on the part of the players lie with the absence of leadership from the bench, with our all-knowing coaches.

    The tardy arrangement of the past between the NFF and the coaches occurred because most Nigerian coaches sought the job on bent knees and never insisted on documentation of their contracts.  A hapless man cannot negotiate when faced with the chances of getting a good job. What counts is the fact that he can earn some bucks. At all at all na winch, like we say in the local parlance.

    One wasn’t surprised when Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) President Melvin Amaju Pinnick told the international media that the Eagles weren’t friends. The world was shocked to hear that none of the players had John Mikel Obi’s telephone numbers or contacts, including some who were his mates at Chelsea and those who play the game in England.

    Equally baffling was the story of Mikel not picking the telephone calls of one of the coaches who was then in London. Couldn’t such a coach head for Stamford Bridge to see his ward? What would it cost such a coach to insist on seeking audience with either Michael Emenalo or even Jose Mourinho, as coach of Africa’s biggest country?

    What do you expect of players who greet themselves on the pitch, only when they are wearing Nigeria’s colours? This explains the lackadaisical manner our players approach most games, most times after making promises to Nigerians in the media. I look forward to watching a new crop of players giving their all to make Nigeria regain her giant status in the game, beginning with the African continent.

    I look forward to the days ahead when 12 Nigerians would make the Confederations of Africa Football (CAF’s) Africa Footballer of the Year shortlist. I would be thoroughly enthralled watching a Nigerian beat two other Nigerians to win the award.Three Nigerians on the final list won’t be a bad idea. It won’t also be a dream but a manifestation of the workable templates that the new mentality would bring to our game.

    With a new dawn and the target given to the foreigners to develop the local league by discovering and nurturing rookies at the grassroots, it won’t be long we have European clubs doing business with our local leagues as we have in South Africa, for instance.

    I hope I haven’t beaten the gun. Let’s hope that Oliseh and his two wise men accept the job and all things promised them given for the good of the game in Nigeria.

  • Heartaches for Eagles

    It’s the transfer period in Europe. Players, coaches and club officials who did well in the previous season get lucrative offers from clubs in dire need of reinforcement. Mind boggling figures are being offered to strikers, mostly, although midfielders, such as Paul Pogba, who plays for Juventus in Italy, may surpass what many strikers could get in this new season’s transfer window.

    Goalkeepers and defenders are not excluded from the crazy figures being bandied to lure them out of their former clubs. Goalkeeper De Gea of Manchester United, for instance, wants to play for his home country’s team Real Madrid in Spain. But Manchester united’s manager Louis Van Gaal has rejected anything like that, even though he has Valdes on the team’s pay roll, who could fill the void if De Gea quits. But Van Gaal is an old fox in this business. He knows that allowing De Gea head for Spain could haunt him when the chips are down for the 2015/2016 European Champions League matches.

    Real Madrid chiefs know that Casillas has passed his prime. He conceded cheeky goals last season that cost Real Madrid many games. They want De Gea, knowing his recruitment will effectively seal one of its weak links and set the stage for an all-season chase with bitter rivals Barcelona FC, reigning UEFA Champions League winners, not forgetting the other tittles that Barca grabbed in its treble feats last season.

    Goalkeepers who did well last season are enjoying the free season, although many have opted to remain in their old clubs, knowing that it guarantees them a regular shirt. For some others, such as Petr Cech, who has seen it all with the European game, winning every title that there is to be won in Europe, the move out of Chelsea to London rivals Arsenal was one that the team’s cantankerous manager Jose Mourinho won’t want to happen. Mourinho has a running battle with Arsene Wenger.

    Mourinho recruited Cech. But Mourinho’s second coming to Chelsea is one Cech wants to forget about quickly, largely because of the second fiddle role he played last season. Mourinho recalled Thibaut Courtois, who was on loan at Athletico Madrid, back to Chelsea, for effective competition. That annoyed Cech. Courtois became the number one choice, leaving Cech with cameo appearances, most times, if Courtois was injured or fumbled in the preceding game.

    Cech is a Gunner and has spared no word in getting back at Mourinho. Interestingly, Cech has the best opportunity to hurt Mourinho, when Arsenal meets Chelsea in the Charity Shield game at Wembley Stadium in August.

    It hurts to look at the transfer trends in Europe without highlighting how Nigerians are faring in it. In the preceding season, goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama had several news items on his likely movement out of the French Ligue Un. He was arguably one of the best goalkeepers in Europe, if not the world, given his incredible performances both for the French team and Nigeria at the Brazil 2014 World Cup tournament.

    Today, the story isn’t the same for Enyeama, not his fault though. The Super Eagles and indeed his French side have been appalling this last season. This has affected Enyeama’s rating and the quest from teams with goalkeeping problems to look in his direction. Enyeama is still a very reliable goalkeeper, commanding the number one shirt for club and country. No mean feat, by any stretch of imagination.

    Big moves for defenders are far and wide apart as the dentition of a 90-year-old. The game is essentially about scoring goals, leaving defenders with short end of the stick in any transfer season. Only Real Madrid’s Sergio Ramos is involved in a meaningful discussion. He is being chased by Manchester United. But the English side must bow to Real Madrid’s quest for their goalkeeper De Gea, if they hope to get their man. Again, the transfer rules are such that give the players the final say on where they want to be. So, Ramos may insist on joining Manchester United at his terms in the same way as De Gea is heading for Real Madrid. Let’s see how these two transfers play out for the game.

    Where do I start from in evaluating Eagles defenders in Europe? Only Juwon Oshaniwa appears to be in the transfer net with Hearts of Scotland being his next bus stop. For a boy who cut his teeth in European football in 2012, going to Scotland from Israel is a notch-up.

    Others, such as Godfrey Oboabona, Ederson Echiejile and Efe Ambrose are stuck with their European clubs. Will they drop into the reserve bench? With sparing appearances for their European clubs last season, the trio lack the bargaining power in the current transfer market. Their poor records make them a hard sell for even the best managers.

    Kenneth Omeruo needs divine providence, if he hopes to play in Europe from next month. His game has dropped that he isn’t sure of a place at Middleborough FC, where he was loaned to from Chelsea. He cannot return to Chelsea for any look-in; he must wait, perhaps on the new clubs promoted to the Barclays English Premier League for succor or those relegated to the second division, who may wish to scout for defenders who have played in the elite league. Such is Omeruo’s stand in the transfer market that he needs plenty of prayers. May be, his ‘regular’ appearance with the Eagles could serve as a clincher for European clubs looking for internationals in Africa to export. Ordinarily, the kids who lifted the U-17 World Cup in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) ought to have been the subject of major transfer moves, had they done well at the U-20 World Cup in New Zealand, which Serbia won. Those boys have fallen into the obscure leagues for this season, except those who had European league jobs before the intermediate World Cup in New Zealand.

    Kelechi Iheanacho is in Owerri awaiting the next directive from Manchester City. Lucky boy. Chidera Eze is in Porto in Portugal. Flying Eagles captain Musa Mohammed has finally signed a three-year contract with an option for an additional year with ambitious Turkish club Istanbul Basaksehir FK.

    It is in the midfield department that the Eagles have players being mentioned in the transfer market. For instance, John Mikel Obi, has decided to stay at Chelsea until 2017, when he can walk away from Stamford Bridge, a free agent to any club of his choice like Frank Lampard et al have done. Inter Milan want Mikel, but Chelsea won’t sell the Nigeria because Mourinho feels strongly that he is part of his highly criticised defensive formation during matches.

    Another Nigerian in the transfer market of note is Victor Moses. Moses loaned to Stoke for the last season. He had an uneventful loan spell with Liverpool, the previous season. But at Stoke last season, injuries kept Moses on the sidelines.

    Interestingly, Moses feels slighted by the talk that he should be used in the sale of Stoke’s goalkeeper Asmir Begovic to Chelsea in a swap deal.  Vexed, Moses wants a move to Tottenham FC, another London side who want his services. Take a bow Moses for such a courageous move. He feels he can play at Tottenham, which is playing in this year’s Europa League than returning to Stoke as a make-good player. At least we have a Nigerian player who knows his worth and isn’t ready for pittance to survive. It remains to be seen where Moses would be if he fails to land the Tottenham deal.

    Joel Obi, who plays for Inter Milan FC of Italy, has been sold to another Italia Serie A side Torino, for 2.3 million pounds. He underwent a medical on Thursday. Easily one of Nigeria’s most skillful midfielders after Austin Jay Jay Okocha, he has been unable to lift his game to Okocha’s level due to a recurring injury. It is expected that he makes the breakthrough to show the world what it has been missing, when the new season starts for Torino, aka Old Lady, another alias for Juventus. I can’t wait to watch Joel strut his trade against Juventus!

    Sadly, the Nigerian whose goal gave the Eagles the Africa Cup of Nations diadem in South Africa, Sunday Mba, is now in oblivion with his move to a second division side in Turkey – wait for it Malatyaspor. Anyway, Mba moved from a third division side in France CA Bastia, a promoted side from third division to second division in the Turkish league. Some form of movement abi? I dey laugh o! See how Nigerian coaches ruin some of our best players. I will leave the Mba story for another day.

    Who are the strikers for the Eagles in Europe and how many goals did they score last season to merit any meaningful transfer? A difficult question, if you ask me. But the answer is best seen with how they are being excluded from the big movements in Europe now.

    Ikechukwu Uche has moved downwards from Spain to Mexico to play for UANL Tigers. This is looking like a retirement move than a career clincher which Villarreal FC offered Uche with regular qualification for the UEFA Champions League. This Mexican move effectively rules Ike Uche out of the Eagles. But you never can tell with these Eagles coaches.

    Osaze Odemwingie could be counted as one of the few Nigerians who have scored goals in Europe. He has just recovered from a long term injury playing for Stoke. He will be with the club this new term. We hope he plays regularly. He renewed his Stoke deal by another year deal on Thursday. Ahmed Musa has been our best scorer in recent times. He did well for CSKA Moscow last season. He is still there. He can repeat his goal-scoring form for both club and country.

    Come in Emmanuel Emenike, Nigeria’s hottest striker until the goals dried up for both the Eagles and Fenerbache FC of Turkey.

    We cannot forget fledgling Odion Ighalo who is making his debut in the elite league in England with Watford United. Ighalo’s goals helped Watford seal a place in this season’s Barclays English Premier League. He opened his goal account with the Eagles against Chad in Kaduna from the penalty spot. Ighalo was literarily wrestled to the ground by his Chadian marker, prompting the referee’s intervention.

    Until this period, the rumour mill suggested that Swansea wanted Ighalo to strengthen its attacking options. But that story has melted away like ice cream in the scorching sun. Ighalo is condemned to make his mark with Watford in the elite class.

  • Return of Iheanacho

    I have never met Kelechi Iheanacho or his father. But I have been enchanted with the sublime skills Iheanacho displays during matches. The world watched in awe as Iheanacho showed tremendous abilities on and off the ball. His deft dribbles, quick interchange of passes with his mates and his telegraphic vision in releasing thunderbolts that left many goalkeepers sprawling on the turf, made Iheanacho, the kid that big clubs wanted to have in their academies until he attained the age to play the beautiful game at the top.

    Two years ago, Iheanacho was the world’s best kindergarten player. European teams struggled to sign the new kid with some of his coaches allegedly angling to be his agent. Some have even said that some of the federation chiefs were part of the managing Iheanacho saga, until the boy’s dad rightly demanded to be his son’s manager. Nothing wrong with that decision by the father, but it ruffled feathers of the coaches who felt they brought Iheanacho to limelight – as if they bought him the first ball that he kicked around his father’s house.

    This writer started feeling worried by comments of top brass in our football over Iheanacho’s conduct since he joined Manchester City. Listening to them, I wasn’t convinced but the bile in their utterances showed that why Iheanacho must not play for Nigeria. I was sad but prayed that God should touch these folks’ hearts and allow the boy achieve the feat of transiting from U-17 through U-20, U-23 and the Super Eagles.

    Indeed, I thought that no coach would drop Iheanacho from the Nigerian side, if he wants to win trophies. It didn’t come as a shock that Iheanacho was dropped, until he resurfaced in New Zealand. I wanted to see if his replacements were truly better. I had no doubt that the grassroots have many Iheanachos and would have celebrated if the coaches discovered one better than Iheanacho.

    Of course, any adventure done with malice falls flat on the faces of the executioners. I hope that the coaches and their cohorts now know better. It is pertinent to remind these national team coaches that they can’t discover any player at the grassroots because the national camp is not a nursery to groom players. Players at the national level were discovered by the local coaches. It is, therefore, wrong for any national coach to claim ownership of one, except he has an academy that nurtured such a player.

    I’m excited that Iheanacho will not be another Chrisantus Macauley, the Nigerian U-17 at the 2007 World Cup, who earned all the accolades like Iheanacho but couldn’t play for other national teams because of coaches’ biases for their discoveries.

    The talk by the team’s assistant coach Nduka Ugbade that Iheanacho lost form during the World Cup is a lie. Ugbade has forgotten that we watched the matches of the B sides in England. Iheanacho was spectacular, leading to rave reviews of his exploits in the last season. It would pay Ugbade a lot if he goes online to watch clips of Iheanacho’s last six matches before coming to the Flying Eagles camp to appreciate how inappropriate his submission is. How can anyone call Iheanacho a brat when he was the first to report in New Zealand, immediately after a crucial game for Manchester City in England? The Nigerian contingent met him in New Zealand.

    Thank God Manchester City So many contrasting reasons have been given for sidelining Iheanacho. Those who said he was big-headed must understand that he knows as much as they do about the reason for their unbecoming conduct towards him. The coaches have pushed Iheanacho to the wall by their antics. He fought back, knowing that he is appreciated at Manchester City. Our coaches must understand why some of our big players don’t like playing for Nigeria.

    These exposed players qualify to play for their European clubs when they play regularly for their countries. So, keeping Iheanacho on the bench reduces his value before his employers. And with such a competitive platform, it is only fair that our coaches field players they have invited to the camp on current form and not bench them because of issues that would later haunt them like we saw at New Zealand.

    I hope that Manchester City releases Iheanacho to Samson Siasia for the country’s 2016 Olympic Games’ campaign in Rio de Janerio, Brazil – to allow him prove his mettle and show everyone that he was victimised in New Zealand.

    Enyeama must change

    The big news this week has been the startling revelation from Vincent Enyeama that he wasn’t sent any letter to appear before any disciplinary panel. Ademola Olajire’s counter claims that the letter was sent to Enyeama through his club is laughable because the European leagues are on break. Players have embarked on holidays outside their bases.

    This shocker puts a line on arguments from cynics that Enyeama shunned the meeting, thus setting him against the Nigeria Football Federation’s (NFF’s) eggheads. It showed that if Enyeama received such a letter, he would have appeared before the NFF panel. Thank you, Enyeama for showing that you are a disciplined person.

    Again, I was bowled over by the panel’s decision not to aggravate the matter by advising the NFF to handle the issue internally. The panel warned about the ripple effect of any harsh decision against Enyeama in order not to jeopardise our chances of qualifying for the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations.

    It simply means that the NFF men learned a lesson from what befell the country when Samson Siasia rigidly stuck to his decision not to invite Enyeama to the camp, following his botched attempt to rally his mates not to board a small aircraft to Europe.

    Many pundits still believe that Nigeria would have qualified for the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations, had Enyeama manned the goal in the last group game against Guinea, which ended 2-2. This is debatable though, but it offers a platform for many to hinge their submissions on why Nigeria didn’t qualify for the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations. But Enyeama must learn to behave like one whose certificate reads that he has been found worthy in character and learning.

    Wise decision Chelsea

    I’m excited that Chelsea FC of London’s chiefs rejected Al Ain FC of United Arab Emirates’ bid for Nigeria international John Mikel Obi. Mikel sought for an exit from Chelsea because of his lack of first team shirt. This is a wise decision by Mikel, especially as he wants to be a true professional by playing regularly.

    But the big snag in my view and perhaps that of Chelsea would be the choice of a team in UAE. Manyplayers who go there are in the twilight of their careers. Not for Mikel, who could easily play for teams like Liverpool, Southampton, Tottenham etc in the Barclays English Premier League.

    Mikel still has some more years playing at the top level for other clubs with very few quality players. Mikel should emulate goalkeeper Petr Cech who crossed over to Arsenal from Chelsea. Such horizontal movement is what Mikel should aim at, not a sharp slide to irrelevance which is what the UAE move represents.

    June 27, 2004

    June 27, 2004 was the saddest day of my life. No prize for guessing right. On that day, the least news that one expected to hear was the demise of my mother Abigail Isevbua Ojeikere. No premonition that something bad would happen later in the day. But it happened at about 5.45pm when my phone rang.

    Looking at the phone, I recognised that it was an international call. I wasn’t taken aback because such calls came from my sister Aima and then conversations with my ailing mum and my dad who was also in Philadelphia, US.

    I picked the call but this time it wasn’t Aimalohi but her husband Tolu. My heart sank but I braced for the worst. And when Tolu asked me if I had eaten, I knew it was a script that had not been perfected or was being poorly delivered. Tears rolled down my cheeks when the phone went dead.

    When Tolu called again, I asked him if mum had passed on. He paused and confirmed my fears. Abigail Isevbua Ojeikere had gone home to rest. She died at the University of Pennsylvania Hospital. The conversation was short. It had to.  Quietly, I packed my things at work and headed for the Managing Director’s office to break the sad news. I couldn’t tell him what happened as I broke down in tears. The MD didn’t need any more word from me as he consoled me. We talked about my mum’s condition regularly. And so when I cried, he knew that the worst had happened.

    Eleven years; just like yesterday. My mum and I shared the same birthday – September 9 – and each time the day comes, I remember her.

    As she rests in the bossom of the Lord, it is important that she is celebrated by those she left behind. May God in His infinite mercies continue to keep our dad S.J Ojeikere as fit as a fiddle. As for my brothers (Oare, Ejemai and Imonike) and sisters (Ronke and Aimalohi), today is one day we should spare a thought for our wonderful mum.

    Mehen nosen, the late Dame Abigail Isevbua Ojeikere.

  • Burning out before Olympics

    Blessing Okagbare brings joy to sports-loving Nigerians whenever she hits the tape in astonishing fashion. As she strides off the starter’s bloc, many a Nigerian literarily run the race with her in their homes and at the stands.

    I really don’t care where she places after every race these days, having beaten the big-stage winners from the United States and Jamaica. What excites this writer is that the Nigerian keeps telling the world that we are world beaters and should be taken seriously.

    But with about a year to the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janerio, it has become expedient that officials of the National Sports Commission (NSC) visit Okagbare to congratulate her but most importantly plead with her to cut down the number of events, if she doesn’t want to burn out before the biggest multi-sports event in the world.

    Okagbare is comfortable. It would therefore be wrong to say that she participates in those events because of the cash. I feel strongly that she enjoys running against the others to measure her progress in the event.

    However, it is important to remind Okagbare that it would be an irony if she stops racing in the future without the tag of being an Olympic Games gold medalist in the women 100 metres. Being the best woman sprinter in the world is one title she must earn. Okagbare has beaten virtually all those who have won it before.This explains why she should cut down her races subsequently and participate in races meant to serve as build-ups to the Olympics. She could use some of the races to correct some of her flaws, such as how fast she gets off the starter’s bloc, what she does if she is left on the bloc and perhaps how to stride past her rivals towards the tape.

    I’m not a coach and I reckon that Okagbare is guided by her manager’s plans. But, I feel she is running too many races. If Okagbare must exit from this stage, it has to be as an Olympic gold medalist. And it would be awesome seeing her cut the tape in Nigerian colours.It will open a new vista for athletics, given the huge endorsements that Okagbare would attract as the world’s fastest woman.

    As an Olympic gold medalist, Okagbare will pick the races she would love to run. Things will be done at her behest. Race organisers will listen to her. Her wish will be their command. And it will be the most appropriate way to bow out of the tracks.

    Okagbare is Nigeria’s Olympic Games medalist. Not just any medal for that matter- gold. NSC men must sit down with Okagbare to plot the strategies that will ensure she becomes the gold medalist next year in Rio.

    Most countries that have Olympic gold medalists plan over four years. Happily, Okagbare has been around. She only needs to correct her mistakes, which I dare say includes participating in too many events leading to big competitions, like the Olymipics.

      Enyeama’s yellow card

    Vincent Enyeama has been exemplary for the Super Eagles since his meteoric outing against England at the 2002 Korea/Japan World Cup. The game ended on a barren note. But many people still talk of how Enyeama saved David Beckham’s free-kick from being a goal. Fantastic. He hasn’t looked back since that debut, acquiring 101 caps with the senior national team.

    Enyeama’s mien doesn’t suggest he could be troublesome. He is seen clutching the Holy Bible or reading books during the free periods in the camp.

    So, when the story broke that Enyeama led four players to protest against the small aircraft the Eagles were to fly by to Europe, many thought that it was another attempt to give a dog a bad name in order to hang it.

    Coach Samson Siasia dared Enyeama and his cohorts to sustain their threat by instructing those prepared for the trip in the small aircraft to head for the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja.

    Sensing that his protest had failed, Enyeama and his gang hurriedly left for the airport in a taxi cab. Enyeama travelled with the aircraft but Coach Samson Siasia dared Enyeama and his cohorts to sustain their threat by instructing those prepared for the trip in the small aircraft to head for the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja.

    Sensing that his protest had failed, Enyeama and his gang hurriedly left for the airport in a taxi cab. Enyeama travelled with the aircraft but Siasia dropped him from the game. Enyeama was dropped from subsequent Eagles matches. He returned after Siasia lost the Eagles job. For Siasia, Enyeama was a bad influence in the camp. He had to be dropped for discipline to reign in the camp. Siasia is looking like the wise one now, given Enyeama’s tantrums since he returned.

    As the Eagles captain Enyeama interfaces with the NFF and NSC. He tells them the players’ demands. But his uncompromising stance in matters even after the players have agreed to shift grounds on national issues, have left much to desire.

    Enyeama’s role in the two protests prior to the 2013 Confederations Cup competition in Brazil and the unfortunate incident before the game against France in the second round of the 2014 World Cup are not pleasing. But in these two instances, I have asked about the role of the coaches.

    Enyeama couldn’t have been acting alone. What did the coaches do to stop him? Did they put their feet down like Siasia? Indeed, Enyeama could have exploited the prevalent indiscipline in the Eagles’ camp to become the tough guy that he is.

    Interestingly, Enyeama doesn’t behave this way in his French side. At home, he led the campaign to postpone the hosting of the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco due to the outbreak of Ebola, even when Nigeria had not qualified for the competition. Enyeama wasn’t the only big player expected at the Africa Cup of Nations. It was good that he had reservations. But such decisions are not meant for players. The government should know what is good for her sports ambassadors.

    Sadly, no one called Enyeama to order. He may have thought he was speaking for everyone. Little wonder he saw nothing wrong in declaring Kaduna a security risk, less than 48 hours to the game against Chad, which Nigeria won 2-0.

    Enyeama should have known that nothing unites Nigerians better than soccer, especially when the Super Eagles are involved. The biggest brand in Nigeria is the Super Eagles.

    As a renowned international footballer, Enyeama ought to know that security is of utmost importance than the game itself. Government must give the visitors a guarantee that they will be safe in Kaduna before, during and after the game.

    What Enyeama literarily did with that pronouncement that Kaduna wasn’t safe was to give the Chadians the biggest weapon not to play the game. Other troublesome African countries would have bought the newspapers and presented them at the pre-match meeting last week Friday.

    They would have insisted on having the “impossible” just to buttress their fears about Kaduna – no thanks to Enyeama’s uncouth utterances.

    I won’t join the legion of people calling for Enyeama’s head. I would rather urge the NFF to use this opportunity to get all the players, coaches and backroom staff to sign the Code of Conduct which should spell out the dos and don’ts while in the camp.

    I don’t think Enyeama can talk to the press about Lille the way he does about the Eagles. Enyeama should know that as Nigeria’s captain, his utterances are weighty. He is at liberty to talk about his family and career. But he must consult with the NFF before talking about sensitive issues in the Eagles.

    Flying Eagles and Falcons

    Nigeria’s Flying Eagles and Super Falcons players are some of the best, in the game in their categories. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have been Africa’s best going to the two World Cup tournaments for male and female.

    If both teams had better coaches, Nigeria would have at the least reached the finals of both competitions. It is instructive to note that the Flying Eagles beat Mali and Senegal at the continental stage. Both countries didn’t change their squads that much. They retained the bulk of the players that Flying Eagles beat and strengthened their weak areas. But in our case, our coaches were busy massaging their egos, forgetting that without the players, there won’t be the coaches.

    NFF must as a matter of urgency reinvigorate the school football competitions – Principals Cup; Governors Cup and all inter-zonal soccer fiesta to throw up new talents. They must improve on the body’s scouting system for players to be invited to the camp. They must train the grassroots coaches to teach the kids the basics of the game.

    NFF should insist on having only trained coaches to sit on the bench during football games. This idea of any ex-footballer becoming a coach without requisite training isn’t acceptable. The NFF must know that these coaches cannot give what they don’t have. And nobody is waiting for the Nigerian coach to update his knowledge of the game.

    In the interim, I support the move to get foreign coaches for short term to re-engineer our teams but such managers must have the culture of developing soccer academies to discover new players and train our coaches. If we must compete with the best, we must do what they have perfected. Otherwise, we would return empty-handed like we have done in New Zealand and Canada.

    Is anybody listening?

  • Winning at all cost

    I’m sad. Why are we spending a fortune to prosecute today’s Africa Cup of Nations qualifier between Nigeria and Chad in Kaduna? It hurts that some kind of justification is being made about the choice of 15 foreign-based players for the game on the altar of not wanting to take Chad for granted.

    Why should anyone justify why we must spend close to $8,000 on each of the 15 invited players? If Nigeria cannot beat Chad using home-based players, we need to reinvent the game in all its ramifications. Even if the foreign legion wants to play the game because it falls in their holidays, they should do so as gratis, otherwise they could be at the Ahmadu Bello Stadium to watch our second team maul Chad.

    We cannot assemble 27 home-based players in camp, train them for weeks and pick only eight. It doesn’t make sense. Some cynics are saying that the invitation of foreign-based players ensures that payment would be done in foreign currencies, not naira. What a shame! Where is the spirit of patriotism? Forget the talk of giving to charity what they earn from today’s game or the fulfilled promise of N500,000. Cheap publicity.

    Today’s game against Chad would have been celebrated if the guest of honour is Vincent Enyeama. The spectacle would have been awesome; his senior colleagues filing out to shake hands with their younger mates. Not a top government official in flowing agbada taking the kick-off, his shoes flying in different directions.

    This setting would have instantly told the Chadians that we are on the same pedestal. Having gone for five senior World Cup competitions, it amounts to an insult to our sensibilities for anyone to justify the presence of 15 Europe-based players in today’s game.

    The argument that the Chadians have foreign-based players is laughable because not many would remember any renowned Chadian in Europe. Chad is not yet a soccer power. Nigeria should show strength by confronting them anywhere in the world with our second team.

    Must we always win matches with grave consequences to the finances of the ruling body? When do we hope to make profits from games if we insist on parading our best, even if it means playing retirees? Our game can’t grow this way. Growth is measured by the presence of new names. Besides, the rookies at the grassroots won’t be challenged to give their best when they know that only a selected few can play for the Super Eagles.

    Games such as the one against Chad ought to be used to test those on the fringes of   making the main team and new lads from the domestic game. Nigeria didn’t cease to be a sovereign nation when we missed the last edition of the Africa Cup of Nations. And it wasn’t for the first time. We are static because our coaches cannot take risks. They like to err on the side of caution. And such acts kill the game. When will the new players get their breakthrough when we keep recycling those who brought us pain in the past? Is it by playing in their domestic clubs that they would garner experience? The mistakes the coaches are making is that when the big boys start to shun away games to countries with baling and undulating pitches, the domestic players won’t have the confidence to replace them since they have been made training materials.

    Recall the battle of Omdurman during the 2002 World Cup qualifiers, where Coach Shuiabu Amodu had to fall back on home-based lads sprinkled with a few Europe-based stars to beat the host 4-0. Most of our big boys dodged the game, thinking that our World Cup chances were in ruins. In fact, most of them avoided the game because of the pitch’s bad surface, leaving the home lads to do the dirty job. That win gave the Eagles the impetus to rescue Nigeria’s World Cup dream, ably supported by the generosity of former Rivers State Governor Dr. Peter Odili.

    Before that win over Sudan in Omdurman, the Eagles had lost 1-0 to lowly rated Sierra-Leone, largely because of Coach Johannes Bonfrere’s fixation on particular players who he felt were responsible for his return to the job. In that match, Nigeria, with a population of over 80 million people then, couldn’t raise a team of 22 players to confront the Sierra-Leoneans at home. Nigeria had 14 players dressed, two of them goalkeepers, including the one who watched the ball slip in-between his legs for the only goal. Yet that goalkeeper prides himself as an ex-international.

    We headed for the 2002 era where players started with a protest, then the ultimate battle ultimate battle with NSC officials at the Africa Cup of Nations, the disbandment of the unruly group and the invitation extended to Coach Adegboye Onigbinde to rescue the team from its free fall.

    Onigbinde steadied the Eagles by introducing new players, such as Vincent Enyeama, and took Osaze Odemwingie to the 2002 Japan/Korea World Cup as a mascot. Need I waste space to highlight the contributions of Enyeama and Osaze to the Eagles?

    We appeared not to know the reason our game nosedived after the pyrrhic Atlanta ’96 Olympic Games’ gold winning feat. That victory turned out to be a curse, given the way we couldn’t build on it. It became impossible for new players to break into the squad. Attempts by Philipe Troussier to inject new players into the game, using the 3-5-2 formation, caused his sack, even when the Eagles qualified for the France ’98 World Cup with one match to spare. The Atlanta Olympic stars got the former loquacious Sports Minister Jim Nwobodo to sack Troussier.

    In came journeyman Bora Milutinovic. The Serb was interested in his juicy contract, not our World Cup fortune. What he did was to re-assemble our fading stars, including those who were out of their clubs, injured. It didn’t matter because they were names that brought us glory in the past. It got so bad that we invited a holidaying Peter Rufai, injury-hit Daniel Amokachi, Nwankwo Kanu, Ben Iroha et al.

    Nigeria was at the France ’98 World Cup with the best of our unfit players. We didn’t know until Denmark tore us apart in the second round game. Before the game against the Danes, our national psyche had been tailored towards watching another Brazil versus Nigeria match, not minding the high level of indiscipline in the Eagles camp in France.

    When it comes to football, we live in the land of illusions. Denmark had great players, but we felt any collection of our past stars would whip them, even when we were beaten groggy by Holland in one of the build-up games to the France’98 World Cup. We made excuses for the so called big boys. We were blinded by the rustiness shown by our players. There is always a Nigerian way of doing things.

    Super Eagles died in 1998. We borrowed a kidney to keep it alive by bringing back Bonfere in the year 2000. Yet we didn’t stop the rot in the team. Little wonder we couldn’t lift the trophy at the 2000 Africa Cup of Nations- in Lagos. Bonfrere became the undertaker that exposed our weaknesses, with the 1-0 loss to Sierra-Leone.

    For the Eagles, 2002 was very eventful. The late Mark Aku disbanded the innocuous squad. He called the bluff of the big boys and recruited Onigbinde to instill discipline. Why Onigbinde’s services were dispensed with remains a misery till date. It didn’t come as surprise that we missed the 2006 World Cup, which marked the era of the most troublesome set of Eagles players.

    Have we learned any lessons? We don’t seem to have. The cup winning team in South Africa 2013 Africa Cup of Nations remains the index for picking our Eagles. I hope this doesn’t haunt us again. Certain people must play for the Eagles, even with crutches. The Eagles camp is still the rehabilitation centre. It is a platform used to expose benchwarmers for greener pastures. What a country.

    Flying Eagles’ cries

    Nigerian coaches don’t shock me. They are bereft of ideas, yet they refuse to develop. They think playing soccer is based on luck, not tactics. The simple task of picking good players is often riddled with sentiments and vendetta. Otherwise, how would the coaches justify the exclusion of Kelechi Iheanacho from the Flying Eagles during key matches? Iheanacho was the soul of this squad at the U-17 level. He singlehandedly ran the team’s attacking onslaught, culminating in his Manchester City contract.

    In other climes, Iheanacho would have anchored the Flying Eagles’ attack. Not so for us as coaches who ought to be happy that they discovered Iheanancho. They wanted to manage his future. There is nothing wrong with that if he doesn’t have someone to play that role. Once Iheanacho’s dad offered to be his son’s agent like in other countries, Iheanacho became the target for slaughter. Many have not asked why we have refused to invite Iheanacho for Flying Eagles’ matches. Since he signed for Manchester City, he became a bad boy.

    I told everyone that the Flying Eagles won’t soar as long as the coaches are nursing grudges with Iheanacho. If they have given him the role that he truly deserves, Iheanacho would have won the Germany game for Nigeria. We needed an extraordinary talent to keep us in the competition but our coaches chose to keep Iheanacho on the bench to the detriment of the country. I wish the NFF chiefs could sack the coaches. No stories.

    I was shocked that our coaches adopted the same tactics they used for the group games in the knockout game. Once the Germans went ahead, our coaches ought to have introduced Simon Moses and Iheanacho to the game.

    Until Nigerian coaches learn how to manage our big players’ egos and idiosyncrasies, they wouldn’t lead Nigeria to win any big soccer competitions, except age-grade series. Please don’t ask me why, dear reader.

  • Kanu scolds Mikel?

    Not many Super Eagles’ players would make the kingdom of God if the divine gate’s password is patriotism. Tales of our players’ untoward attitude to national team invitations are legendary. From late arrival to the camp and holding the country to ransome over unpaid entitlement to choosing matches that they want to play, the stories are bad.

    Nothing shocks me about the Eagles. But they may yet disappoint me – if, for instance, they refuse to collect their entitlements. And that seems unthinkable, largely because many of them are benchwarmers. Even routine things, such as helping their former Nigerian teams with cash or kits, look like tasting the forbidden fruit. Yet, their contemporaries have made it a habit to give back to the system which produced them.

    So, when Nwankwo Kanu advised John Mikel Obi to show more commitment to the national team’s assignments, I chuckled because it sounded strange. First, Kanu isn’t one to chastise his ex-mates in the media. Even in the report credited to him, he wasn’t talking directly to Mikel. But the timing was such that made newshounds celebrate it, since it was coming after the story of Mikel not picking the Eagles chief coach’s telephone calls.

    Again, I’m not sure Kanu has the moral right to scold Mikel, except he is a poor student of history. Kanu showed more commitment to national team assignments than Mikel, yet not many have forgotten how he ditched the country’s Sydney 2000 Olympic Games squad to play for Arsenal.

    Kanu couldn’t muster the courage to tell the Dream Team II coaches that he had agreed a deal with Gunners’ Arsene Wenger not to go to Sydney. He kept reassuring Nigerians that he would be there. So strong was Kanu’s promise then that he was included in the squad, yet he didn’t show up at the Olympic Games city. It is a one-off stuff but that in itself disqualifies Papilo from talking about any player who picks his European club ahead of Nigeria’s matches.

    “One thing they (players) always forget is that the Super Eagles, and by that I mean the national team, is bigger than a club side. And I think it is high time we let whoever comes in to understand the importance of wearing that National shirt,” he told SL10.ng.

    “They have to understand that whenever they do that, they are carrying the hopes and expectations of 170 million Nigerians on their shoulders, which is a very big task. We don’t ever want to come second because it is not a good mentality and that is the way we can get them to get results for us.

    “Whoever is coming in there, has to understand that wearing that National jersey is bigger than wearing your club colours. Whoever you are and wherever you are coming from, even if you play for the biggest clubs in the world because the National Team is bigger than that and there is pressure there,” he said in an apparent reference to the Mikel situation.

    Good talk Kanu. Let’s hope that those concerned will imbibe the message and turn a new leaf. Indeed, most of our big players enter top European clubs with little pedigree. Those with big feats, such as Kanu, refuse to include the clause of playing for Nigeria instead of the European clubs, if there is a clash of fixtures.

    The cheap talk most times is that these European clubs pay them bigger wages which they strive to protect. What those in this school fail to appreciate is that most of these stars emerged in the foreign scene playing for Nigeria. They are the privileged few, which doesn’t make them the best. Nigeria didn’t pick them after playing for European teams. Interestingly, other nationals, especially Africans who are big, do have such clauses inserted in the contracts which these European clubs respect.

    The other cynical school of thought that Nigeria uses and dumps such foreign-based players in their twilight stands logic on its head because most of those dropped are not playing in Europe any longer. In fact, European clubs don’t joke with players who are internationals in their countries. They have a limited quota for foreigners, hence they insist on having the best players at all times. Football is big business. It is the platform to showcase excellence, not to celebrate mediocrity. You are either good or past it. Whenever a player loses his form, he gets the chop no matter how good he was in the past.

    The problem with our players is that they don’t inform the NFF about their contracts before signing them. If they do, like others, such clauses which would address the problem of club vs country clashes would be resolved amicably. We have seen where countries and club coaches have an understanding on featuring key players in their national teams and for club assignments. It is just a telephone call away, once the deal is struck.

    But would the NFF punish Mikel for shunning the coach’s calls? It is clear that Mikel wanted to play Chelsea’s post-season matches. It would be unjustifiable if he returns to the Eagles without an apology to the coaches. Mikel dares not ignore Jose Mourinho’s call. If Mikel sees Mourinho’s missed call or hears the coach’s voice on the answering machine, he will reply immediately; that is if he doesn’t go to the manager’s house to explain why he missed the call – if Mourinho will permit such a defence.

     Flying Eagles’ banana peel

    I wonder what Nigerian coaches tell our players at half-time. Do they surrender the pep talk sessions in the dressing room to top Nigerian officials, who know nothing about the game? Or do they just urge the players on without telling them their mistakes?

    Sitting through Nigeria’s shambolic 4-2 loss to Brazil on Monday morning, one thing was clear – the team whose coach x-rayed the first half won the game in the second half. It was apparent from the moment the Brazilians scored their first goal in the fourth minute that the Flying Eagles defence would be its albatross. In fact, the defence’s left side was turned into an apian way by the Brazilians, culminating in two second half goals. Put simply, the Nigerian side wasn’t organised. It showed that our coaches didn’t study tapes of their opponents. If they did at all, they offered the wrong therapy.  Equally disappointing was the awful appraisal of the Brazilians with the way we prosecuted the second half. We lost to Brazil because our coaches went to sleep.

    A more responsible technical crew would have replaced the team’s left full back or at best get the winger on the left side to always fall back to assist the defender, anytime we lost the ball.  Goalkeeper Enaholo had an off day. His absent-mindedness gave the Brazilians very cheap goals. He ought to have been the first substitute, especially when he couldn’t hold on to the ball effectively. Forget the nonsense that wet balls forced him to concede those goals.

    Our boys played as if there was nothing at stake. They played as if they knew the result of the match. They were sluggish on-and-off the ball. They had the temerity to make short passes among themselves deep inside our penalty box. At some point in the game, I kept asking where Kelechi Iheanacho was until he was substituted.

    What happened to Iheanacho? Where was Taiwo Awoniyi? What was the coaches’ strategy to effectively utilise their skills? Are NFF technical study group members in New Zealand?

    The Flying Eagles struggled through the first 45 minutes. They did better in the second half, although much of it had to do with the players’ fighting spirit. At the World Cup level, talents alone don’t win matches. Strategies do. The coaches must be prepared to adopt strategies which should change as the game rolls through its course. Football is a game of wits and it is the team with best thinking coach that wins. Luck only comes in when the game is on its seams. And it doesn’t come often.

     Who better than Sir Alex Ferguson?

    He needs no introduction. He is easily the most successful manager in England even though a Scot. He made Manchester United FC of England a global brand.

    This column stumbled on this revealing detail in the “Times” of London; it is, perhaps, meant to teach young managers how to build a successful team. Of course, no other manager than Sir Alex Ferguson has such tactical savvy to share with the younger ones. Enjoy Ferguson’s lesson.

    Eight Rules for running a football team by Alex Ferguson

    When Ferguson became Manager of United in 1986 the team hadn’t won the league in 20 years. By the time he retired in 2013, they had won 13 titles.

    Rules:

    1. Start with the foundation. Bring in young players and build a youth system that will sustain the club for years rather than signing veterans for short-term success.

    2. Dare to rebuild your team. Don’t be afraid of being fired, make decisions based on what the team will look like in four years.

    3. Set high standards and hold everyone to them.

    4. Never, ever cede control. Get rid of an employee if he’s creating discord, even if he is the best player in the world. Don’t worry about whether employees like you.

    5. Match the message to the moment. When to criticise players and encourage players depends on the context of the situation.

    6. Prepare to win. If you are down 2-1, you might as well put on an extra offensive player and lose 3-1 rather than play conservatively and lose 2-1 anyway.

    7. Rely on the power of observation. Delegate managing practices to assistant coaches so you can simply watch and observe each player.

    8. Never stop adapting. I believe that you control change by accepting it.