The Nation Newspaper

Category: Ade Ojeikere

  • A word on tactics

    Nigeria’s Olympic Games’ soccer squad’s chief coach Samson Siasia has raised the alarm that he doesn’t know much about our next opponents, Zambia. He feels that he needs to have tapes of the Zambians’ matches for him to study and plot counter strategies to win both legs like he did to the Gabonese.

    This is crucial because no serious country approaches its big games without knowing its opponents. Nigeria is the only country that plays ‘blind’ football where our players are only told what to do when the coaches have seen the opponents play for 45 minutes.

    This is why we play badly in the first half of most of matches, except we are clearly better than our opponents because of our players’ experience in European soccer. Team cohesion comes from knowing what to expect, planning for it and executing the plan. Uncoordinated teams, as we have always seen, would wait until half time to make changes. Most times, the game has been lost because the opponent has found its rhythm, having planned for us by exploiting our weaknesses. It really hurts because fixtures are not drawn 24 hours to matches. They are drawn months, sometimes years for serious countries to plan.

    The NFF technical committee needs to have a unit that monitors all the teams in Nigeria’s group for competitions. Besides, there ought to be people assigned to watch our group opponents’ matches to get tips on them which the designated coaches should use to plan how to set their players against them.

    Our players and coaches will benefit more if they can watch several tapes of their opponents to see how they play. Indeed, knowing who to police in a game can be very helpful just as it can rattle the opponents since their game plan would be forced to change. It isn’t easy to change plans perfected during practices during matches.

    Information on how teams play could also be got from monitoring them on television. Or by tasking our embassies to fetch their host countries’ teams’ tapes from television stations, if need be.

    If such countries are handled by foreign coaches, it becomes much easier since these tacticians are renowned for certain playing patterns, provided our coaches and technical experts know how to unlock such formations.

    Nigeria’s quest to join the league of frontline football nations should include upgrading our coaches and technocrats in the science of the game which evolves in geometric progression. And I feel strongly that Adegboye Onigbinde has a role to play in this new endeavour. Onigbinde is revered at FIFA and CAF. We need his expertise, irrespective of what people say about Onigbinde’s outspokenness. People must learn to take criticisms, if they must improve. Our sports administrators must learn to embrace the message and leave the messenger. It must be said here that without the athletes, in this case the footballers, there won’t be any administrator.

    Kashimawo Laloko has shown mastery of the age grade teams through his Pepsi Soccer Academy. It may shock many a Nigerian fan that Laloko discovered John Mikel Obi in Jos, through the Pepsi Soccer Academy. Laloko, who has a doctorate degree, can still be of immense benefit to our soccer, considering his practical experience.

    Monitoring of players could also be done by watching them play for their European clubs. If we must compete with the best countries, we need to always play them, trying to exploit their weaknesses to win games. Except we beat the bigger football nations routinely, they won’t consider us for friendly games whenever they are preparing for big competitions, such as the World Cup, for instance.

    “My brother, my eyes were opened to so many things at the training programme. It was very good quality education for all of us in the group and I can say the new NFF administration is getting it right.

    “I spent several years playing in England and in other countries, and at the top level internationally. But what I have learnt over the past week in the United Kingdom is prizeless,” Austin Okocha told thenff.com in London.

    Okocha has seen it all in the game. His ascension into administration best explains why he was bowled over by the new things he was exposed to. That is the way forward, if we truly want to rub shoulders with the best. And it starts with encouraging our best players to become administrators. Welcome to the club, Okocha.

    It is commendable that the NFF sent out ex-internationals on a course for match reading and related matters. We only hope that they return to translate all that they learnt to the Nigeria concept. We are tired of the Nigerian way of doing things. It is why we are tottering when we should be exploding to the next level.

    “My brother, my eyes were opened to so many things at the training programme. It was very good quality education for all of us in the group and I can say the new NFF administration is getting it right.

    “I spent several years playing in England and in other countries, and at the top level internationally. But what I have learnt over the past week in the United Kingdom is prizeless,” Austin Okocha told thenff.com in London.

    Okocha has seen it all in the game. His ascension into administration best explains why he was bowled over by the new things he was exposed to. That is the way forward, if we truly want to rub shoulders with the best. And it starts with encouraging our best players to become administrators. Welcome to the club, Okocha.

    It is commendable that the NFF sent out ex-internationals on a course for match reading and related matters. We only hope that they return to translate all that they learnt to the Nigeria concept. We are tired of the Nigerian way of doing things. It is why we are tottering when we should be exploding to the next level.

    Those who have attended the course should also internalise what they learnt by organising seminars at home for those in the domestic league. The literature distributed during the course can serve as the curricula for the domestic coaches and administrators who need to be routinely refreshed with what operates in other climes.

    The commendable aspect of these training courses by the NFF is that they were outsourced by the federation, showing clearly that the corporate world are prepared to develop the game only, if the NFF can bring such noble aspects of the game to their notice.

    Coaches Samsson Siasia and Garba Manu have raised hopes about the future of the beautiful game, with the resounding victories recorded by the Dream Team VI and the Flying Eagles. We are encouraged by the fact that the NFF scrutinised the squad members to fish out age cheats. It simply means that we have a large pool of players from which we can pick the Super Eagles squad for the 2018 World Cup in Russia.

    Siasia and Manu have not held the NFF hostage with needless demands. Even the things that are the rights of the coaches have been played down for the bigger picture- getting Nigeria’s flag hoisted at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janerio, Brazil and the New Zealand 2015 U-20 World Cup.

    Our Super Eagles players cannot benchmark our future in Russia in 2014. Most of them are benchwarmers in their clubs. Others get cameo appearances, which wouldn’t translate into strength for the Eagles because their fitness will be questionable.

    Nigeria has three years to use the crop of players at the U-20 and U-23 levels to decide the future of our game. With coaches Siasia and Manu, all that the NFF needs to do is to scout for a competent foreign manager for the Eagles in Russia.

    Many a Nigerian laughed at Sports Minister Tammy Danagogo’s order to the NFF to immediately recruit either Chelsea FC of London’s loquacious manager Jose Mourinho or Bayern Munich of Germany’s tactician Pep Guardiola for the Eagles, if the yet-to-be employed coach Stephen Keshi must go.

    Danagogo’s order showed where the problem in the NFF/ Keshi saga laid. The minister showed again that he isn’t adept in sports news or doesn’t read newspapers. Otherwise, he should have known that Mourinho and Guardiola are not national team coaches for any price in the world.

    Mourinho and Guardiola signpost the new generation of coaches in the world today, eager to make their mark and raise the standard of the game. They enjoy the pressure of weekly football matches with the clubs, not the bit by bit national team assignments.

    Even if the duo want to handle national teams, certainly not Nigeria, where ministers run the show to suit their whims and caprices. Mourinho and Guardiola are used to working with organised people. They don’t bother themselves with players’ entitlements. Nor do they have to wait until the minister has shown that he is the NFF’s boss before their salaries are paid.

     Attack on Kano Pillars

    Kano Pillars’ robbery experience at Abaji in Kogi State isn’t news. That five players received treatment for gunshot injuries isn’t news. The visit of the Kano State Governor Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso is remarkable and his decision to foot the bills of those in the hospital explains why he has pumped cash into the club to make it the team to beat in Nigeria.

    I have read the concerns from the clubs in Nigeria over the dark event. I was excited about the visit of eggheads of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) to the players and the deputy governor.

    Sadly, the first visitor to these players has not shown up. Ordinarily, the club’s insurers ought to have visited the players and coaches to commiserate with them and lay bare their package since no death was recorded.

    One begins to wonder how club proprietors expect the players to take risks during matches when their future in the event of injuries, permanent disabilities and death (God forbid) hasn’t been insured.

    The League Management Committee (LMC) must tell us what they have done to insure the lives of the players, besides what the clubs have. Little wonder these players languish in their homes when the toll of their injuries gets to them at old age. What are these players, especially those with injuries entitled to? NFF, LMC, we need an answer to this question.

  • Born again Siasia

    Born again Siasia

    Today in Abuja, Samson Samson is on the verge of attaining the height which many a Nigerian battled to hit. He has been our best. Many looked forward to seeing Siasia shout out instructions to our players at the senior World Cup competition. Having guided Nigeria to the silver place in FIFA’s U-20 Championships held in Holland in 2005, soccer purists were not shocked that Siasia led the country’s 2008 Beijing Olympic Games side to another silver placing, losing for the second time in the finals against Argentina.

    His rookies in 2005 in Holland had begun to make their marks in European clubs. It was only wise the players grew with their coach, especially after the back-to-back final appearances. But that decision turned out to be Siasia’s albatross. To be fair to Siasia, he controlled the players. He didn’t connive with the players to hold us hostage for spurious reason like we have seen recently in the Super Eagles. It would be recalled that he asked the bust to head to the airport when Vincent Enyeama, Victor Anichebe and two others complained about the size of the aircraft billed to take them to Europe. They went to the meet the team at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja in chartered taxis.

    Fresh from his sojourn in the United States where he trained kids in soccer, Siasia understood what it meant to go round the country to scout for talents that he could mould into stars. He did the scouting very well, culminating in the exciting U-20 side that thrilled the world at the Holland 2005 World Youth Championship. Nigeria clinched the silver medal, losing to Argentina 2-1 in the final. That team produced Mikel Obi, who was adjudged the second best player of the championship behind the best Lionel Messi. But another Nigerian, Taiye Taiwo was adjudged the third best. I can still spot goose pimples, ten years after, because it was quite a novelty for one country to have two players ranked among the best three in the championships. Such was the depth of very talented players that the furore that surrounded Mikel Obi’s movement to Europe was no surprise, with two of the biggest clubs in Europe, Chelsea and Manchester United, battling for the Nigerian’s signature. Chelsea eventually won the battle.

    Rather than continue with his personal scouting system, Siasia chose to use proxy. He didn’t reckon with the fact that the prox Things turned awry for Siasia at the senior national team level. True, most of his boys at the U-20 and U-23 levels had graduated to the senior side, they also had grown in the game, with many of them being fathers with responsibilities.

    Siasia enforced discipline the way he knew best. It backfired. He would have applied some diplomacy and had a heart for forgiveness. If he had these two qualities, he would still be the Super Eagles chief coach because Nigerians loved and trusted his tactical savvy. Siasia literarily surrendered his team selection to scouts using the information he got from them. Had Siasia come down from his high horse, he would have picked better players and joined the league of players who won the Africa Cup of Nations as player and coach.

    Siasia’s teams played exciting football, until he handled the Super Eagles and turned himself into a tin god. I won’t blame Siasia.

    He got excited by the accolades from people who were satisfied with his turnaround of the Eagles. It however became difficult to get Siasia to listen to suggestions about how his team should play and those who should be paraded without necessarily dictating to him.

    His hard stance on discipline even after pleas from concerned Nigerians when it came to forgiving Vincent Enyeama led to his eventual sack as the Eagles coach. Had Siasia listened to the pleas of Nigerians and fielded Enyeama against Guinea in Abuja in 2012, we would have qualified for the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations.

    The slips from goalkeeper Dele Aiyenugba caused us the ticket. We could also have lost if Eneyama was in the goalpost. But if Enyeama was in goal and he made those slips, Siasia would have kept his job. Although many would argue that Siasia also didn’t know the rules of the competition. Had he a full grasp of the rules, he could have directed the boys to keep possession of the ball, since we were leading 2-1. Instead, Siasia, based on prompting from some equally uninformed people at the Glasshouse, asked the boys to go for more goals. That was the wrong thing to do and we paid the price with a last minute equaliser from the Guineans. Having incurred the wrath of soccer-crazy Nigerians by not securing the qualification ticket, Siasia had no hiding place. Besides, he had issues with the big boys in the Super Eagles.

    Today, Siasia is back in the saddle at the U-23 side. He led the boys to beat the Gabonese at home 4-1, making today’s game a mere formality. But has Siasia learnt his lessons? I think so. He monitors his players. He visits the league centres. This affords him the best opportunity to see his boys physically, not relying on scouts who misguided him.

    Siasia is born again. He wants to do things differently. He brought back his trainer Odigie. He has capable assistants and has told the NFF pointedly that he doesn’t need the services of Silvanus Okpala. His players are regulars wherever they play. His tactics have never been in doubt. It remains to be seen how he integrates some of the exceptional Flying Eagles stars into the team as the qualifiers go on.

    Interestingly, Siasia belongs to the school of players who played for both the senior and intermediate national teams. Nigerians need now a well groomed squad of future players. An amalgamation of our bests at the U-20 and U-23 is the future of our game. The U-20 stars, for instance, are the defending FIFA U-17 World Cup champions. The world awaits those who excelled in 2013 to see how they would transform into the big boys to rule the world in the next decade.

    The two teams are in safe hands technically, but they should not allow their success get into their heads. I don’t expect such to happen again to Siasia, considering that he went through those troubled times alone. Siasia felt the pains alone. Those who flocked around him then deserted him. They aligned with the new helmsman. No prize for predicting if those interlopers are back with Siasia.

    There must development programmes that would utilise the services of Siasia, Manu and Amuneke. They have shown potentials to be great coaches. They must be kept busy through coaching attachment with clubs whose style of play is in tandem with what they want to adopt. These age-grade coaches must be told that the target of the federation is to discover, nurture and expose budding talents whose ages we can verify. The growth of any country’s football is measured by the number of players drawn from the domestic game into the senior team. It is sad that Nigeria, with a population of over 150 million, still relies on foreign players for the Eagles.

    Part of the reasons why the domestic league is tottering lies with the fact that the local boys know that the only way that they can be tagged internationals is to head to Europe. Those who cannot find European clubs head for obscure leagues where their game is destroyed. We must stop this.

  • Lessons of Eaglets’ loss

    EMMANUEL Amuneke must be sulking now. He must be wondering where he got it wrong against the South Africans on Wednesday in Niger. He will be scratching his head to figure out how the Golden Eaglets couldn’t score the equaliser against the Amajimbos despite his half time talks.

    Take heart brother. That is the baptism that you need to appreciate the fact that coaching goes beyond being a great player, especially after excelling at Barcelona FC in Spain. Coaching is a different gamut. It involves spying on your opponents religiously to know who they set up against different opponents.

    Here is the lesson of the Golden Eaglets’ loss – the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) should immediately send Amuneke for refresher courses or attachments, preferably at Arsenal with Arsene Wenger. We have been told that Wenger is ready to re-train our coaches. And Amuneke should be his first student, given the importance of the Eaglets in the development of the game here.

    Wenger would be excited to hear that Amuneke played brilliantly for Barcelona – if he didn’t watch Amuneke play. Wenger would happily teach Amuneke the basics of the game, knowing that he couldn’t have fitted into Barca’s seamless pattern if their coaches didn’t grill him in the act of trapping and passing the ball, shooting etc.

    Wenger would know that Amuneke won’t be left mopping, if thrown into Arsenal Academy to see how coaches prepare teams for matches. The Nigerian coach won’t be inferior to the coaches at Arsenal. Many would look at Amuneke with awe, knowing that he played for Barcelona FC that had its present coach Luiz Erinque as Amuneke’s captain.

    Our coaches don’t do enough homework on opponents before games. That is because we don’t have technical study groups trained for such an exercise. What these groups do is to dig out all the data of the coaches and the players, if they are the popular ones, and fashion out strategies that would render them otiose during matches. But, we approach matches blindfolded. Nigerian coaches gleefully announce that they don’t know enough about their opponents.

    I’m glad that NFF chiefs won’t sack Amuneke. It shows that they understand what the problems are. I want to see what they would do between now and the World Cup with the coaches and how the team prepares. It isn’t enough for the Eaglets to play a string of friendly games. We need to also evaluate the coaches and see if they have learnt anything from the refresher course they underwent, if they do.

    Coaching is a practical job. This Eaglets’ ouster provides the best platform to integrate all the soccer academies to chart the way forward for our football. Teaching kids or should I say younger ones anything in life requires special skills. It is from these academies that we should normally pick our age-grade coaches. The registration of academies will also provide the basis for organising Local Government Areas (LGAs), states and national soccer competitions which would help uncover the raw talents at the grassroots.

    Our academies should be structured in such a way that pushes out quacks and those set up by shylock agents to transfer Nigerian kids outside the country for pittance. This initiative will help the NFF collect the data of players, coaches, agents and owners of soccer academies.

    Soccer academies shouldn’t be left in the hands of untrained people. If the kids are not taught the proper way to do things at the level where they mostly copy their role models, it would be difficult for them to change their style of play at adolescence. This is the major problem of most of our domestic league stars. They only start to embrace how the game is played properly when they go to Europe. Those who are not lucky end their careers without actualising their dreams.

    If the foundation of our football is right, then the production line of talented Nigerian kids ready to shake the world would be phenomenal. In the past, European agents stormed the country to fish out talents themselves. Those they cannot spot they see whenever Nigeria registers for any big competition. We appear to have lost that era, largely because the NFF has paid lip service to this aspect of regularising soccer academies.

    The future of the Eaglets and Amuneke should be seen as a wake-up call for Manu Garba and the Flying Eagles, not forgetting Samson Siasia and the U-23 Olympic Games squad. If Garba and Siasia are not busy, then they should be taken for refresher courses or attachments to big European clubs. I digress!

    I have been very reluctant to discuss former Super Eagles chief coach Stephen Keshi in this column. I reckon that having served his term as Nigeria’s coach, one had to close his file until he renews his contract.

    I have decided to talk about Keshi this week following his seeming malicious jibes at the NFF President Amaju Pinick on Wednesday night. Keshi threw caution to the wind when he said: “I heard also Amaju said he has paid us everything, that he isn’t owing us. It is a lie, big-time lie. He is owing us two months, plus our winning bonus for the game against Sudan.

    “What is he talking about? Is it because I am keeping quiet? I don’t want to talk. Now if they want me to talk, I will start talking and let Nigerians know what is happening.

    “I will let Nigerians know what is happening. I don’t understand; how can Amaju, who says he is the president of Nigerian football, be lying to Nigerians? Is that how he wants to run Nigeria football?

    “They are owing us money, they have not paid and instead of him to say okay there is no money yet or something, he is telling everyone he has paid everything.”

    My first reaction wasn’t to glorify Keshi with a response. But I changed this view because when lies are allowed to go unchallenged, they are termed the truth. I know for a fact that Keshi and his assistants were settled all their claims till July 2014, when President Goodluck Jonathan gave out $3.8 million to the Eagles in Brazil for all outstanding issues before the second round game against France, which Nigeria lost 2-0. In fact, the players and coaches spent the wee-hours to the France game sharing the $3.8 million.

    What this simply means is that NFF had paid Keshi et al their entitlements because the caveat was for the National Sports Commission (NSC) to deduct that $3.8 million from NFF’s account at source.

    Indeed, by the end of the Brazil 2014 World Cup, Keshi’s contract had lapsed, awaiting renewal by the NFF chiefs who were being hounded by the government with the NFF President Aminu Maigari arrested on arrival at the airport in Lagos from Brazil. The furore at the NFF continued, culminating in the partial burning of the federation’s Glasshouse in Abuja. There was the campaign that the Maigari-led board should be removed by those purporting to be close to those in the seat of government.

    This “arrest today and release tomorrow” saga continued as the days drew nearer for Nigeria’s qualification series for the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations held in Equatorial Guinea. Need I say that Nigeria lost her first game to Congo DR, with members of the Maigari-led board not watching the game?

    Pained by the loss, the Sports, Minister Tammy Danagogo, decided to handle the affairs to guarantee Nigeria the qualification ticket, which turned out to be a mirage. As Danagogo took charge, words filtered out that Keshi was paid N14 million sequel to the deal he struck with the minister to handle Nigeria’s qualification.

    The minister was lampooned for giving out such huge sum to the coach, especially as he was being paid N5 million monthly. Those in this school of thought  felt strongly that since the coach was out of contract, it was wrong for him to be paid such a lump sum rather than pro-rate his entitlements. But the minister didn’t want any reason for failure; he gave the coach what he demanded. Bottom line: Nigeria didn’t get the ticket and everyone wanted the technical crew out.

    One is, therefore, miffed that the coach could be talking about being owed October and November salaries and entitlements. He also went on to say that he wasn’t paid his allowances for the victory over Sudan.  Keshi must tell us who paid him during the period when we had no NFF? I feel strongly that is the body that should authorise the payment of the outstanding salaries and allowances. Keshi must be told that this is the fallout of his insistence on dealing with constituted authority not his immediate bosses.

    The immediate question to ask is- what was the N14 million paid to the coach for? His salaries and allowances or what? Is it right to pay a man who is out of contract salaries? Thank God Danagogo is a Phd holder in law. He should be able to tell us what the rules say, especially against the background that the coach was paid N14 million. Except that payment was never made. Who do we believe? NFF, Amaju, Keshi or the minister? I hope all the parties know that Nigerians won’t forgive them, if we don’t qualify for the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations.

  • Lessons from the Elephants

    I’m excited that the country with the best players starring in Europe clinched the Africa Cup of Nations in Equatorial Guinea. The Elephants of Cote d’ Ivoire have always been the favourites to lift the African diadem from the time the golden generation emerged in 1990. That generation had Didier Drogba, who must be sulking that he doesn’t have the gold medal of the Africa Cup of Nations in his wardrobe. But that career minus by Drogba doesn’t take anything away from the awesome contribution of easily the best African to have played in the Barclays English Premier League.

    Cote d’ Ivoire ranks among the few African country to have many of their nationals playing regularly in Europe. The difference between the Ivoirens and Nigerians is that they appear more committed than our boys to playing for their national team. Drogba, Yaya Toure, Salmon Kalou et al don’t hold their country hostage for trivialities. It isn’t a surprise that they have the Africa Footballer of the Year in Yaya Toure, who, with the way things are going in Europe and in Africa, will become the first African to be decorated as the best for five consecutive times.

    If Yaya Toure was a Super Eagle, maybe NFF chieftains would have been lying on the ground for him to walk past. Yaya walks away from Manchester City’s matches when it clashes with his country’s games. He plays no games with his English team to join the Elephants at his terms. Yaya hasn’t compelled the Ivoiren FA chiefs to give him concessions that make his English side bigger than the national team. No special arrangement for Yaya to fly in-and-out of competition venues like some of our big boys did with the Eagles in the past.

    The Elephants are as troublesome as the Eagles during competitions. But theirs isn’t about holding the nation hostage over allowances. They enjoy themselves during competitions. But in Equatorial Guinea, it dawned on them that this was going to be the last active appearance for most of their players and they made it count by winning the trophy. That is the difference between the Eagles and the Elephants.

    The flipside to this attitude is that Yaya reports immediately after his country’s matches to play for Manchester City in the next game. What this signifies is that he is a disciplined player. With such a man as captain, it is easy to explain the seeming stability in the Elephants side despite its bumbling at the Brazil 2014 World Cup. Yaya is such an incredible person to both club and country that it would be difficult to sideline one for the other permanently.

    On the pitch, Yaya is exemplary. He fights for the ball, directs his mates to give their best and doesn’t fail to watch the sidelines to take instructions from the bench. The synergy between Yaya and the coaches is notable. This explains why the team held its own during the penalty shootout against the Black Stars of Ghana, despite losing the first two kicks.

    Yaya kept motivating the next penalty taker that the game was retrievable, especially when they lost the first two kicks. He also held those who lost their kicks under his towering height to console them. Yaya kept talking with his elder brother Kolo Toure. That was emotional. The Ghanaians, also had two brothers, the sons of legendary Abedi Pele.

    The Elephants had a leader in Yaya, who led by example. The players respected him and listened to his counseling on the pitch. Having no leader on the pitch is the Eagles’biggest problem. Those who led did so because they were the oldest in the team, in terms of the period spent playing, not because they were the best. The captains who performed couldn’t control the others because the team, most times, was broken between those in the coaches’ camp and those who were oppressed.

    The only time the Eagles stuck together was when issues bothering on their welfare arose. Such a divided group cannot win laurels. It is true that the Eagles clinched the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations, yet it must be said that the events thereafter seem to suggest that the feat in 2013 was a fluke, given the abysmal showing of the team less than 10 months after.

    The Ivoriens did as well as the Eagles at the Brazil 2014 World Cup.  But they returned home to appraise their performance and took drastic decisions, which helped to rejuvenate the squad to what it is today- champions of Africa. The Ivoriens changed their coach, introduced younger players into the squad and, most importantly, picked their best players on current form. Little wonder they improved with every game, largely because the new Elephants side was “work in progress.” A colleague of mine marvelled at the calibre of European clubs that the Ivoirens were chosen from. He noted that all of them played regularly for their teams.

    The Ivoriens went for the former Zambia coach who didn’t get the Zambians a World Cup ticket. But Renard had guided Zambia to lift the Africa Cup of Nations, a trait which showed that he understood the African terrain. Renard did the basic with the Elephants. He picked the best and made spot-on changes that strengthened the team during matches. Put simply, Renard is a good match reader, a trait Super Eagles coaches lack.

    Thank God the NFF has started exposing technically-minded people to refresher courses. It has also developed a programme that will integrate all that these people on refresher courses have learnt into practice with all our national teams.

    We expect to see the impact of these refresher courses soon. One only hopes that the Eagles coaches don’t jettison the information provided by these eggheads on grounds that they call the shot in the team and would be held accountable whenever things go awry.

    Can the Eagles coaches and indeed the NFF use the two friendly matches against Bolivia in Uyo on March 26 and the one against the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations runners-up Ghana’s Black Stars in London on March 29 to overhaul our senior team?

    Will the coaches invite only those doing well in their European clubs for the two matches? Can our coaches shun sentiments and invite Brown Ideye and Odion Ighalo, who plays for Watford FC in England and those young boys in Arsenal e.t.c to play for Nigeria?

    To whose benefit would it be if we parade the bulk of players who failed to get us to the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations? We don’t need to camp 60 home-based players for months before major competitions, only to pick the same five players for the real team. We must do things differently, if we hope to improve on our poor past, otherwise we will achieve the same result- failure.

    It is barely 33 days to the two international friendlies against Bolivia and Ghana, yet no word on who will lead the Eagles. My advice to NFF chiefs is for them to allow Dream Team and Flying Eagles’ coaches to pick the best in their groups for the two matches.

    If this happens, Samson Siasia and Garba Manu will take charge of the team. What Siasia and Manu could do is to include those Eagles players doing well in their European clubs, such as Ighalo, Ideye, Ahmed Musa, skipper Vincent Enyeama, Victor Moses and Emmanuel Emenike. We need to introduce new players into the Eagles and it should start with the two matches on March 26 and March 29 in Uyo and London.

    One must commend NFF President Melvin Amaju Pinnick for touring Europe to speak with the parents of the Nigeria-born lads who have played for age-grade European countries on the need to play for Nigeria. The first advantage such a move gives to our football is that it guarantees growth, since we know the true ages of these Nigerians. The other gain is that they are well grounded in the rudiments of the game, making the job of grooming them very easy for the coaches. Again, these Nigeria-born lads will be coming with a new mentality that should rub off on our local players. One cannot but agree with ex-Green Eagles midfielder Friday Ekpo who said: “The national team cannot be dependent on a few players abroad. We are more than 150 million people in this country. The camp will not be in Europe, the camp will be in Nigeria. If Europe-based players are good, they will be brought in, but if the best players are in the local league, we should stick with them.”

    With adequate competition for shirts across all our national teams, no one will hold us to ransome nor would any group have the temerity to play pranks with invitation letters to play for Nigeria. NFF chiefs, please, let us turn a new leaf.

  • The Super Eagles of our dream

    It’s Saint Valentine Day. It’s Lover’s Day. No celebration because I will be remembering my son Oloruntoba Falode, who was killed in Dubai in one of the most bizarre circumstances on February 15. My son, you must be wondering? Oloruntoba Falode is Aisha Falode’s son who was pushed down from a 17-storey building in the aftermath of last year’s Valentine Day.

    Sad to think it is already one year with no trace of Oloruntoba’s killers. But on Sunday (February 15), I will attend the special one year thanksgiving/remembrance service for Toba at trinity House, Zion Centre, Water Corporation Road, off Ligali Ayorinde Street, Oniru beach Area from 9.30 am. I’m still in shock even though it is over a year since Toba’s demise. I hope I can find the courage to meet with Toba’s mother’s Aisha. Take heart Aisha. Toba is in safe hands and resting in perfect peace. I digress!

    Most of our players and indeed coaches think they are doing us a favour by playing for the country. The players reckon that they are leaving their European clubs which have better match bonuses to play for the country for pittance, which is what the $5,000 or $10,000 they get amounts to. Many would have dumped the Super Eagles for their European clubs but for the international clause which makes it mandatory for them to have played at least 75 per cent of their national team’s matches to qualify for a new deal.

    Eagles have been tottering because most of the players are no longer motivated to give their best. Many of them have been through two World Cups; others three. These groups have won the Africa Cup of Nations, played in the semi-finals and have at least two bronze medals in their wardrobes from third-place finishing at previous Africa Cup of Nations.

    As for the coaches, they have seen it all for club and country. They feel that the country is perpetually indebted to them, simply because they played football in their youthful days. How about the other athletes? What of the soldiers who get killed defending the country? What of the policemen and women who get killed by bandits in their duty posts?

    What our players fail to understand is that most of them rose to stardom using our national teams. Rather than damage the podium through heart-wrenching performance, isn’t it advisable that they bow out honourably?

    Indeed, it is about time chieftains of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) planned send forth matches for our ageing stars. It is ridiculous and unfair that stars, such as the late Rashidi Yekini, Stephen Keshi, Sunday Oliseh et al were not pulled out of the national team with pomp and ceremony, given their awesome contributions to the game. It is also laughable that the ceremony designed to send forth Austin Jay Jay Okocha from the Super Eagles turned out to be a water polo game than a soccer match because of the waterlogged pitch at the Warri Stadium.

    Except we celebrate our stars through such send forth games, those deserving of such a ceremony would remain in the Eagles, not to contribute but to influence the younger players. These long-serving players are the ones who introduce the bad things of the past into the team. Truth be told, Eagles are perpetually enmeshed in crises because of the “landlords,” who remain in the team because of their past contributions, not what they exhibit now.

    Except we clear the Eagles deck of its rot, nothing enduring would be achieved. We must punish those who held us hostage at the Brazil 2014 World Cup. It is the only way that we can show them and indeed others that what they did was unacceptable. The bane of the Eagles is indiscipline. They are quick to protest for reasons that bother on a systemic failure. The leaders of these crises should know now that things cannot change. So, if they must be members of the Eagles, they should be made to sign codes of conduct to guide their activities in camp, just as it is done in their European clubs.

    The NFF must offer what it can easily afford than playing to the gallery. It is foolhardy to tell the players that they would be paid $10,000 each for matches won and later pay $5,000. And the only way the players/NFF feud can be resolved is for the Glasshouse chiefs to disclose the details of the Code of Conduct to Nigerians. This way, it will be easy to apportion blames during crises.

    Nigeria is blessed with talents at the grassroots. The problem starts with having the template to fish out the players through competitions and training programmes. It is through such programmes that games masters are trained to teach the kids the right way to play games not only soccer. With such awareness around the country, it becomes expedient for the NFF through the state FAs to have data bases for the players discovered.  Those exceptional ones can be nurtured and exposed to all the national teams.

    We have wasted seven months since our exit from the 2014 World Cup trying to find out what went wrong with the Eagles in Brazil. The government chose the wrong option by hounding the last NFF President, Aminu Maigari, out of office. The fallout of that decision massively impacted on how the Eagles prosecuted the qualifiers for the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations, which the Elephants of Cote d’ Ivoire lifted in Malabo on Sunday night by beating Black Stars of Ghana 9-8 on penalties after the 120 minutes encounter.

    Seven months on, nothing has changed for the Eagles, with no one sure of the next man to handle the team for the friendly games in March. NFF’s Technical Committee boss Felix Anyansi Agwu told the media in Abuja on Tuesday that he body recommended the retention of Stephen Keshi as the chief coach. But the Big Boss said he had not been spoken to about the decision – as at Tuesday.

    Agwu ought to have told us if the contract with Keshi is a continuation of the N5 million monthly salary or the improved one of N7 million, which was paid to the coach by Sports Minister Tammy Danagogo? Agwu should have told us the duration of the contract. Will NFF go ahead with its plan of a pay cut for Keshi since the team isn’t busy now? How will the coaches’ salaries be paid? He should have told us these – and more.

    Whispers from the Glasshouse suggest that Keshi won’t be given a freehand to run the team, like in the past, as he would have to work in tandem with the NFF Technical Committee. Again, Keshi won’t pick his lieutenants. He will work with assistant coaches picked by his employers. These are very tough conditions. Will Keshi accept the offer?

    My suggestion to the NFF is for them to give Keshi the job since they are stuck to him but all our age-grade coaches should serve as his assistants. Keshi won’t frown at the decision to work with Samson Siasia as his assistant coach. Garba Manu will be the second assistant coach.  Emmanuel Amuneke should also be in the Eagles’ technical crew since he monitors the youth in our domestic league. A quartet of coaches – Keshi, Siasia, Manu and Amuneke – is one many African countries don’t have. They excelled as Eagles stars and played the game at the highest level, especially Amuneke who played for Barcelona. What this setting does for all our national teams is that the coaching techniques will be the same and it will be easier for the Eagles to fill gaps noticed in the team, using the exceptionally good players in the age-grade teams.

    An Eagles bench that has Keshi, Siasia, Amuneke and Manu putting heads together will get results. I also think that Keshi will not discard suggestions from Siasia and/or Manu in the course of matches since he knows their level of competence.

    There won’t be any leadership tussle under this arrangement because everyone has his team. What happens is that if the Eagles have a competition and the others are not busy, they will join Keshi in preparing the team. The essence of this arrangement is that the Eagles need a player in any position, Siasia and Manu will contact the player(s) who can fill that position at short notice.

    Nigeria is the only country where the senior national team is not measured by the number of domestic league players in it. This doesn’t encourage growth since the exceptional players in the domestic game fall easily for slavish contracts from shylock agents, all in the name of being tagged foreign-based players.

    In the event that any of the coaches isn’t comfortable with the arrangement, the NFF should wield the big stick because they are in the national team jobs because of their pedigree as ex-internationals, not because they are not eminently qualified to hold such exalted positions. None of them has a UEFA Grade A licence, which they could acquire if they truly want to be professional coaches. NFF could enroll them for the course and ensure that they complete.

    The Eagles need a thinking bench not a docile one from which the players cannot draw inspiration when a game is going awry. A thinking bench is never bereft of ideas to unlock any stubborn opposition.

    Nigeria is the only country without a home ground for its national teams. This idea of playing our matches around the country is good, but it doesn’t give our players the home advantage which other countries’ players enjoy when they play in front of their nationals.

    One of the things that worked against the Eagles in grabbing the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations’ qualification was the frequent change in venues. When the Eagles made the UJ Esuene Stadium in Calabar home, they never lost a game. The Eagles may have lost to Congo DR at home in the one of the games of the qualification series, but that wasn’t enough reason for the change of venue because that defeat was the fallout of the coach’s clash with the officials of the former NFF, who boycotted the game. Are we set for our dream Super Eagles?

  • A bad dream

    Tomorrow in Malabo, a new Africa Cup of Nations champion will be crowned. Will it be the Elephants of Cote d’ Ivoire or the Black Stars of Ghana? The winner won’t be Nigeria’s senior soccer team, Super Eagles. And no reference has been made about the Eagles since the Africa Cup of Nations began in January beyond being the defending champions. It has been a bad dream for soccer-crazy Nigerians.

    Many people don’t watch the AFCON matches because it would remind them of the Eagles’ shambolic showing in the qualifiers. Some have taken solace in celebrating the fall of Congo and South Africa to massage their egos since both countries ensured that the Eagles watched the competition on television.

    Despite the Eagles’s absence, the continental soccer tournament didn’t lose its excitement – the upsets, suspense and drama. Winners celebrated. Losers took their fate on the chin, except for the Tunisians, who have been the spoilsports of the competition with the way their players and officials have handled the controversial penalty kick awarded the hosts, Equatorial Guinea, to tie the game at 1-1 in one of the quarter-finals.

    The Tunisians took the law into their hands by beating the referees, their opponents and their fans. They destroyed properties within and outside the stadium premises. The organisers of the competition, the Confederation of Africa football (CAF), are toying with banning the Tunisians from the 2017 edition. CAF chiefs also want to ban the guilty players and officials.

    The Tunisians alleged that the Equatorial Guineans were favoured by the referee because they are the hosts. Very interesting, if you ask me, given what happened in favour of the Tunisians in 2004. Let me remind you, dear readers, that Tunisia hosted the 2004 edition of the Africa Cup of Nations. And what happened last week Saturday was the diabolical replay of the injustice which the Tunisians enjoyed in 2004, when they hosted the championship.

    So, it hurts, dear Tunisians? The Tunisians have forgotten how they refused to play Nigeria’s national anthem before the semi-final game between the Super Eagles and the Carthage Eagles at the Rades Stadium. The Tunisians played our old anthem “Nigeria we hail thee, our own dear native land…” We were all shocked because we had played matches before that semi-final game with the correct anthem “Arise o compatriots…” But this isn’t the story I want to tell, dear readers.

    In that semi-final game, Austin Okocha shot a depleted Nigerian side ahead in the 64th minute after Nwankwo Kanu had waltzed through the Tunisian defenders only to be brought down inside the 18-metre box. Okocha stepped forward to convert the kick into a goal. But Republic of Benin referee Coffi Codja had other ideas when he whistled for a dubious penalty kick in favour of the Tunisians, which resulted in the equaliser. The equaliser came in the 76th minute raising the poser why the referee was in a hurry to save the Tunisians.

    History has an uncanny way of repeating itself. The Tunisians have by the conduct shown that they are bad students of history; otherwise, they should have taken what happened against Equatorial Guinea with equanimity.

    Codjia was condemned by the international media, with tapes of that game going viral. Dear reader, you can still watch this game on You-tube to see what happened on that ill-fated night. The decision highlighted major discussions for a very long time because Codjia at that time was rated the best African referee. Nigerians didn’t take the laws into their hands. We left the stadium for our homes while our players still exchanged jerseys with their opponents. Nwankwo Kanu, Austin Okocha et al took the

    traditional photographs and signed autographs.

    The tape of Codjia’s show-of-shame in favour of the Tunisians must be in CAF’s archives. I wish CAF chiefs could show the Tunisians the tape to show them how their fans misbehaved during the game. The fans had whistles, which they blew to confuse our players. Aside, these fans had laser torchlight, which they flashed into the eyes of the Nigerian players during the better-to-be-forgotten game. Indeed, each time a corner kick was to be taken, the rays from several torch lights which the fans hit the eyes of the Eagles goalkeeper. It was part of their ploy to score a goal as the game went through its course.

    I still feel that the penalty kick which Osaze Odemwingie lost was because of the tense atmosphere inside the stadium and the unsportsmanlike conduct of the home fans using their whistles, cat calls etc to distract him. If Nigeria hadn’t sent home Yakubu Aiyegbeni, Victor Agali and Celestine Babayaro for indiscipline, Eagles would have won the game because these three lads would have ignored the fans’ antics to score their penalty kicks, like Okocha did.

    Nigeria lost the game on penalties. Most of us (Nigerians) in the stadium were ironically happy that the Eagles lost because that was the reason why we left the premises without injuries and even deaths. Yes, it would have been that serious, given what we faced entering the stadium and what we encountered in the course of the game, starting with the Tunisia FA chiefs’ refusal to play our correct national anthem. Many people argued that the act of playing the wrong anthem was a ploy to insult out sensibilities since we had played three group matches and a quarter-final game in the competition before the Tunisian tie. For the Tunisians, all was fair in warfare. Rightly so, Nigeria protested to CAF on two grounds; the organiser’s refusal to play our national anthem and the Tunisians’ conduct before, during and after the game.

    Nothing happened from CAF; nor was there any apology for not playing our national anthem. The referee (Codjia) continued handling matches until he retired, despite that ignoble penalty that helped the hosts tie the game against Nigeria. If you ask me, it serves the Tunisians right, what happened to them in the game against Equatorial Guinea. When referee Cudjia favoured them 11 years ago, the Tunisians called it human error and celebrated. I wonder why they are not seeing the referee’s decision now as a human mistake. Different strokes, you may say, dear reader.

    Recall again in 2006 AFCON semi-final in Egypt where the hosts locked horns with Senegal. No prize for guessing who the hosts were. The Egypt versus Senegal game had a Cameroonian referee Divine Evehe, who overruled himself after pointing to the penalty spot for a kick to be taken against the hosts Egypt.

    It was a blatant foul play on Senegal’s Diomansy Camara in the dying minutes of the game with scores at 1-1. Egypt eventually won the game 2-1. So, why are the Tunisians trying to make what happened to them in Equatorial Guinea look like a deliberate attack on them?

    Expectedly, CAF’s disciplinary board has fined Tunisia $50,000 for “insolent, aggressive and unacceptable behaviour of the players and officials of the Tunisian team” during the quarter-final match against host country Equatorial Guinea. They will also pay for the damaged property at the Estadio de Bata last Saturday.

    CAF ordered Tunisia to send a letter of apology, or provide evidence of the unfairness of CAF and their officials, before midnight Thursday. Failure to do so will lead to additional sanctions, including a possible ban from the 2017 Cup of Nations, according to the communiqué to the Tunisia FA. But the Tunisians refused to apologise. The world is watching to see what CAF chieftains will do to the Tunisians. CAF also condemned the conduct of Tunisian Football Federation President Wadie Jary, who entered the pitch to criticise the referee.

    Perhaps the difference between what happened in 2004 and 2006 is that the Referees’ Committee of CAF has suspended Seechum Rajindrapasard for six months, following his shambolic handling of the quarter-final game between hosts Equatorial Guinea and Tunisia.

    The decision was taken at an extraordinary meeting held at the CAF headquarters in Bata, Equatorial Guinea on the 2nd February, 2015, where the CAF Referees Committee reviewed the performance of the referee.

    The Referees Committee noted with regret the poor performance of the referee, including an unacceptable failure to maintain calm and ensure proper control of the players during the match.

    The suspension is immediate, which means Rajindrapasard will no longer officiate at the Orange AFCON 2015. His name will also be removed from the CAF “A” Elite Referees panel. Good decisions, no doubt, but I hope this would be the last of a referee’s inefficiency at the Africa Cup of Nations.

     CAF chiefs must be praying for an end to the competition’s bad dream following the appalling conduct of the Equatorial Guinea players and officials over a purported bad call from the referee in the 82nd minute in the second semi-finals against Ghana’s Blacks Stars on Thursday night. The Ghanaians were leading comfortably. The conduct of the players and coaches instigate their fans to storm the pitch in search of the referee’s head. The game was held up for 20 minutes during which the fans rained all manner of objects unto the pitch.

    The referee commenced the game in line with the rules to allow for the remaining eight minutes and Ghana held their 3-0 lead till the end. Another big decision for CAF for a troubled competition which had to be shifted to Equatorial Guinea, when the previous hosts Morocco backed out of hosting the event because of the deadly disease Ebola.

     The first backlash at Nigeria’s absence from the 2015 edition is likely victory for Yaya Toure as the next Africa Footballer of the Year. His first goal in the tournament came in the semi-final game and it was a thunderbolt that left the DR Congo dumfounded. If Cote d’ Ivoire lift the AFCON trophy and Yaya continues to steer Manchester City through its matches in the Barclays English Premier League, then he will be the obvious choice for the award, his fifth consecutive feat.

  • Pace, strength but no stars

    Pace, strength but no stars

    Equatorial Guinea has shown that Africa has what it takes to host big soccer competitions at short notice, with the remarkable manner the matches of the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations have been played without hitches.

    The few hitches so far have resulted from the pressure on the pitches in two centres, no thanks to the hurried manner in which the facilities were completed. Consequently, two matches will be played today and tomorrow. Indeed, today at Bata, hosts Equatorial Guinea will seek to grab a quarter-finals ticket by beating Tunisia. The game had been slated for Ebebiyin but was moved to Bata. And Sunday’s quarter-finals between group c winners and Group D runners-up would be played in Malabo instead of Mongomo.

    Interestingly, the Confederation of Africa Football (CAF), in a statement on Tuesday, said: “The two matches (in Ebebiyin and Mongono) have been adversely affected by the combination of wear and tear from six games played or to be played in each of them and the unstable weather conditions seen lately.”

    Good talk CAF.  This is a departure from the buck-passing of the past. CAF knows that the hosts saved it the embarrassment of postponing the event, had they opted out of hosting it like Nigeria and two other countries did.  Until the competition began, some Europe-based African players launched subtle protest about the possibilities of hosting the event in Malabo and its cities because of the fear of the dreaded Ebola disease. Most of them asked CAF to postpone the competition. Others demanded another country should host the event at a later date.

    But CAF stuck to its guns. The event has turned out to be a thriller and easily the most competitive Africa Cup of Nations, with the closeness in the qualification race. A couple of games will be decided by the toss of the coin, one of the technicalities used to determine eventual winners of competitions when all the known indices fail to produce a winner.

    The results have been very close, even as pundits have marvelled at the pace of the matches. These purists point at the fighting spirit of the players, their passion as well as their determination and dedication. Countries with big ego players have been taught the lessons of their lives as they have been made to dig deep to secure draw results in games where they were tipped as favourites.

    The classic between Cote d’ Ivoire and Cameroon must have told the Ivoirens that they need to rebuild their team if they hope to make any impact in the game. Players, such as African Footballer of the Year Yaya Toure, can no longer produce the form that we see him exhibit with Manchester City while playing for his country. No disrespect to Yaya, who tries to give his best during matches for Ivory Coast. But there is a limit to what a tired body can give.

    The Cameroonians may be out of the competition but they have a new team that can reproduce the golden era of the country’ football, if the new boys are kept together and exposed to quality matches. What this trend shows is that there are a lot of players in the continent. The problem with local coaches across Africa is the difficulty in picking these rookies at the grassroots in preference for the established stars. Our local coaches have refused to update their knowledge to complement the players’ skills, especially those of them who are in Europe.

    Little wonder we are talking of Equatorial Guinea, Congo Dr and Congo Brazzaville Little wonder we are talking of Equatorial Guinea, Congo Dr and Congo Brazzaville qualifying for the quarter-finals. What this also shows is that the game is growing in Africa, more so when some established countries, such as Senegal, are at the African soccer showpiece without some of their celebrated stars, most of whom were dropped because of their attitude, loss of form or being bad influence on the budding youths in their squads.

    Besides, most of the countries that qualified for the quarter-finals were coached by foreigners – a fact that lends credence to the claims that African coaches need to undergo refresher courses to learn the tricks of the game. It also shows that African players have grown in their trade, making it absolutely impossible for our domestic coaches to impact the kind of knowledge that they are exposed to in their European clubs.

    The dearth of players at the grassroots is also traced to the fact that African coaches don’t take the time to teach the young boys and girls the basics of the game. The result is that most of the new lads that we have seen in Equatorial Guinea have pace, strength and the will to give their best but no skill to excite the fans. This lack of skills – except for a few of the players – has accounted for the low score results of matches.

    I’m not surprised by the glut of foreign coaches among the African countries. The trend is in sync with global best practices where if you don’t have the men to do the job, then seek quality tacticians until such a time when your nationals can compete favourably with these better exposed foreigners.

    It must be noted that most of the countries with foreign coaches have had them take charge for the first time in this competition. What it means is that these countries could get better, especially those countries that have qualified for the quarter-finals, making the race for the five tickets allocated to Africa for the 2018 World Cup in Russia one to follow with keen interest.

    It is difficult to state categorically the best African team in this tournament. But countries like Algeria and Cote d’ Ivoire have built on the gains of their participation at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. They either changed the coaches or dropped bad influence players or both to rejuvenate the sides that we are watching. They may be slow to find their rhythm during the three games they have played. But you could see a bright future. The Ivoirens would be happier for it watching their coach change Yaya Toure in the closing stages of the game against Cameroon, yet the Ivoriens still won. Such an action would have been tagged a taboo in the past.

    On paper, Algeria looks like the odds-on-favourite to replace Nigeria as the next Africa Cup of Nations winners. Both they have to beat Cote d’ Ivoire, easily the game of the four quarter-final matches. If the Algerians win the trophy, their template will serve as the model for confused countries like Nigeria to copy. The Algerians have rebuilt their team from a fallen dynasty of spent stars which they held on to. It dawned on the Algerians that something radical had to be done with their senior national team when they were beaten by hitherto rookie football nations in Africa.

    But is anyone missing the “big-for-nothing” Super Eagles in Malabo? Who will miss players who specialise in protesting against everything without thinking of the odium such acts pour this country? Who will miss players who cause their nationals heartaches enroute winning matches? Who will miss the Eagles whose coaches are all-knowing and impervious to change? Who will miss the team where coaches sell wrist watches to players at exorbitant rates? Who will miss players who love to mix the serious business of playing soccer with attending discos?

    In Malabo, we have not heard of cases where football federation chiefs and the players or coaches are quarrelling? We have not been told of instances where players are talking on telephone with their country’s presidents before and after games? We have not read stories where players and coaches bar their countries’reporters from reporting their activities the way ours do?

    No stories of players jumping the hotel’s fence to boogie at night clubs. No football federation chief is keeping vigil to prevent players from sneaking into other rooms to visit girlfriends like our Eagles did at the Tunisia 2004 Africa Cup of Nations. There are no threats of players and coaches seeking audience with the FA chiefs, sports ministers and highly placed government officials to know how much they would be paid for matches not yet played. No scenes where coaches blatantly wear sports apparels in conflict with the country’s attires at training sessions and pre-match and post-match conferences. Not at all. Oh! How we miss our dear Super Eagles.

    Everything emanating from Malabo and the smaller cities where the matches are being played bothers on football. Government officials are not flying into Malabo in droves to support their national teams.

    Have we learnt a lesson from missing out on the Africa Cup of Nations? No. We have spent the last three months toying with the simple task of sacking the team’s coaches. A lull exists that may continue until a clearer picture emerges on the political scene. By October when the 2018 World Cup qualifiers begin, we will still be rebuilding when the last eight nations at the quarter-finals stage at this year’s edition of AFCON would have found their range, scoring goals with aplomb.

    These quarter-finalists will spend the next six months correcting the flaws they have noticed through international friendly games while Nigeria will be struggling with who should coach the Eagles or not.

    If Nigeria is to participate in the crucial soccer competitions for 2018, beginning with the Africa Cup of Nations, then the government must allow the NFF pick a coach it can control. This is the key to success as a ship cannot have two captains.

  • Okocha and soccer’s future

    I’m really excited. We are beginning to emulate what most football-loving countries do in preparing a potential for key offices in their soccer administration. Charting a new dawn for anything isn’t a one off task. We need to identify charismatic people, expose them to assignments as assistants to competent people and then allow them grow on the job.

    Football administration in Nigeria today is comatose because at the state level, jobbers, influence-peddlers and lackeys of the ruling party occupy key positions with one goal in mind – share the proceeds, not minding if the game is on its knees.

    With such empty vessels at the state levels, nothing happens at the grassroots. Structures meant to discover talents become moribund and funds meant for the local government areas are either been misappropriated or spent on funding meetings that have produced no results.

    In the past, several primary and post primary soccer competitions were held. In fact, prominent citizens sponsored competitions either in their names or on behalf of the kings of the local government areas. Indeed, the state FAs sent their coaches routinely to teach the games masters or physical education teachers the rudiments of the game. These re-trained personnel then teach the kids. Such programmes were not restricted to soccer. All other sports got the same treatment, depending on the plan for such catchment areas.

    I recall being introduced to cricket for the first time on January 27, 1972 as a class one student in Government College Ughelli. This orientation didn’t start with using the conventional cricket bats and balls played using jute mat on concrete pitches. At GCU, we improvised with carved wood as bats and empty tins of milk served as the balls. God help you if the edge of the tin cuts your fingers or your palms while trying to catch it. But it was fun and GCU became famous for playing cricket in the old Midwest and Bendel states. Don’t ask me what the practice is today. Indeed, at GCU, we knew the sports kits to come with every term. I digress!

    When the Delta State Football Association (DFA) elected Austin Okocha as its vice chairman, my inner instinct struck me that we are on the verge of actualising a dream of grooming a former Nigeria international for the President of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF).

    In the last four years, Okocha has worked meticulously with NFF President Melvin Amaju Pinnick in Delta State. Amaju is smart. He must have reckoned that running the game should be anchored on robust marketing initiatives. And there couldn’t have been a better person to serve as one of the faces of the game in Delta than legendary Okocha.

    Please, make no mistakes about my intentions here. I don’t want to pitch Okocha against Amaju. Rather, I feel that they enjoy a symbiotic relationship in the way that they think the game should be administered here. I also know that Amaju is not s it-tight leader. He is ambitious and would love to do bigger things with the ideas that he has. Amaju doesn’t like one to do two terms as NFF president. I will be shocked if he does.

    That Amaju and Okocha worked seamlessly as key men in Delta football in the last four years shows that they have struck an understanding on how to work in tandem to make the game grow, which is sacrosanct. I digress!

    There isn’t any firm in Nigeria desirous of identifying its goods and services with Nigeria football that wouldn’t throw its doors open, if the management chieftains are told that the delegation has Okocha.

    There would be temporary pandemonium in such complexes if Okocha steps out of the vehicle to be ushered into the office. Anxious soccer lovers in such offices would rush for autographs and photographs with Jay Jay. The marketing officers in such offices would be grinning, knowing that any idea anchored on Okocha will fly like hot akara in any Nigerian village. Little wonder Delta FA has been the most innovative in the country, with its businesses driven by the private sector. Amaju, its president, tells anyone who dares to listen that accounting for cash received from firms is part of the body’s DNA.

    However, what happened in Delta was small. Now Amaju and Okocha need to understand that marketing is beyond fame and who you know. There must be a discerning template that will answer all the questions that the firms will ask them. And such templates can be created by those who are in the business. Light weight guys cannot handle such processes because they would be thinking of what will come into their pockets, not what the sponsor stands to gain from the sponsorship. What NFF has is a marketing partner who understands the rudiments of the trade.

    Besides aggressive marketing for sponsorship, NFF must probe the internal revenue generating system in the Glasshouse. The cash coming from inter-club and intra-club transfers is one of the biggest revenue items of soccer-loving countries. But, in Nigeria, it is a racket for shylock NFF chiefs need to get the clubs to pay their dues on the gate takings of games hosted by them. Except the NFF insists on collecting its royalties, domestic league clubs won’t take gate fees collection seriously.

    Did I hear you ask if Okocha is equipped for the job? Yes, in terms of exposure and the fillip his presence as the head of the football association will bring in any business transaction. No firm will flinch to give Delta FA good cash, knowing that Okocha won’t want to tarnish his reputation. Is Okocha ready for this job? Why not? What does it take beyond nursing dreams and getting technocrats to crystalise your vision into working documents to be presented to the bodies concerned with such an exercise?

    If Okocha is really serious – I know he is – he would attend seminars and get the best brains in the world to fashion out a blueprint that would make Delta FA the model for the 21st Century football administration.

    Again, imagine an NFF where Nwankwo Kanu is a member along with other cerebral Nigerians; I can’t wait to see this happen. The problem with our game rests with getting cash to do its business. There is also the phobia of the corporate world not trusting eggheads of the NFF to judiciously use cash. Many firms still rue the lack of proper accounting at the Glasshouse, just as their chiefs lament the NFF’s inability to convince them why they should invest in the game.

    Of course, no company would want to do business with a body that is eternally enmeshed in controversies. No firm will be willing to give money to a body that doesn’t think it is expedient to account for cash received until it is asked to do so. Indeed, it is about time we stop this idea of allowing a few disgruntled people hijack our football administration and turn it into a casino.

    Football is big business – not Nigeria. Why? We have refused to head-hunt people who can do the job. We must therefore get Okocha to go through the mill that would terminate in his being the next NFF president, if we must bring our game to be in sync with global best practices. Thank you Amaju for deeming it fit to allow Okocha take over from you. Not many leaders would allow such succession exercise.

    What we need to make the NFF buoyant is for the public to trust its members. It is what the public discusses about the calibre of people on the board that helps the big firms to associate with the Glasshouse’s businesses.

    Already, NFF has a credible marketing partner who has brought most of the cash that the body has relied on to run its business; only the government has provided more. We need to stop this tendency of relying on government money. NFF needs to organise more international friendly matches in Nigeria to attract more cash and, invariably, showcase the teams that it wants the corporate world to support financially.

    Thank goodness, Nigeria has an international friendly game against Brazil at the magnificent Uyo International Stadium. I look forward to seeing how the new NFF would handle the build-up to the game and eventual packaging of the event before, during and after the match, irrespective of the result. I will look out for the look-and-feel around the stadium. I would like to see how the NFF packages its sponsors and the mechanism put in place by NFF to shut out ambush marketers.

    I also hope to hear the NFF tell the public how much it spent on organising the game and how much it realised from the gates. This is the RCM that would-be sponsors would looking out for to see if it would be worth their while to put their cash into the game.

    I expect to see radical changes in the composition of the team. I expect to see new players who would be the integral part of the Super Eagles’ campaign at the Russia 2018 World Cup.

    The matches of the Africa Cup of Nations holding in Equatorial Guinea tell the story of the need for Eagles coaches to discard those benchwarmers in the team. The pace of the games has been amazing and I have been asked by concerned Nigerians what my views are, had Nigeria qualified for the tournament. Big question – indeed.

  • Quiet please, Hayatou

    Confederation of Africa Football (CAF) President Issah Hayatou likes playing pranks with Nigerians wherever he is here. He enjoys revisiting bad decisions taken against our senior national team Super Eagles and leaves us with the impression that he had nothing to do with the fate that befell us.

    Hayatou speaks English fluently, but he comes here to speak French, no doubt his mother tongue as a Cameroonian. But Hayatou uses this code switch to hit us below the belt. Of course, Hayatou has a right to express his views, but such comments must not unearth a disappointing past like his last opinion on Austin Okocha’s loss at the CAF Awards in 1998 and 2004. We don’t need any reminder of the past since it is irredeemable.

    Hayatou was here for the 2014 CAF/Glo Africa Footballer of the Year award. His salvo this time is that regrets not seeing Austin Okocha decorated with the award. This insult on our sensibilities reminds this writer of the goal scored by Henry Nwosu against Cameroon in the final of the Africa Cup of Nations in 1984. A very good goal, but it was controversially disallowed, with many pundits suggesting that the referee may have done that in awe of the CAF president.

    In 1998, despite Nigeria’s shambolic outing at the France’98 World Cup, Okocha was easily the most exciting player to watch. His breath-taking dribbles earned a mouth-watering contract at Paris Saint Germain (PSG). Pundits thought that Okocha would without doubt be the default winner of the 1998 Africa Footballer of the Year award.

    Not so for CAF. We were bored with the diabolical machination of having voters coming from Francophone countries voting their own. Where were these Francophone voters when Victor Ikpeba, Emmanuel Amuneke, the late Rashidi Yekini and Nwankwo Kanu won the award? When these Nigerians won the award, they were as exemplary as Okocha was during the 1998 World Cup but they were not as skillful as the one also called Jay Jay. Indeed, Morocco didn’t qualify for the next round of the World Cup. Nigeria did, losing 4-1 to Denmark in the second round.

    Okocha’s deft dribbles could rock a skeleton. His silky skills and wizardry leave his markers sprawling on the turfs. His footwork left spectators yelling for more. So good was Okocha that he was named twice BBC Africa Footballer of the Year. Many still yell watching clips of Okocha playing for Bolton Wanderers FC in the Barclays English Premier League. In fact, in one of the footages, the then Bolton manager Sam Allardyce imitates Okocha’s dancing steps after scoring some terrific goals.

    How CAF came up with Moroccan Mustafa Hadji, the pony-tailed striker, as the continent’s best player in 1998 confounded the world. Had CAF crowned Sunday Oliseh, who placed third in that year, there would have been the silent grumbling from football’s aficionados. Not the loud disapprovals that trailed Hadji’s choice.

    At the 2002 World Cup, El-Hadji Diouf rightly got the award because of his meteoric outing for Senegal at the 2002 World Cup, which was co-hosted by Korea/Japan. The Senegalese hit the quarter-finals in their maiden appearance at the Mundial, with Diouf being the Teranga Lions’ undertaker. Sadly, Diouf was a very bad advertisement for the African game with his conduct in-and-out of the field. He hit the headlines for the wrong reasons, earning the bad sobriquet of ‘spitting cobra.’

    It was clear to everyone in 2004 that CAF and its clan didn’t want Okocha among the winners when they shamelessly denied Jay Jay the award, in spite, of being voted the player of the tournament, again in Tunisia. Without any doubt, Samuel Eto’O is a gifted player not as skillful as Okocha, even as he is a ruthless finisher.

    But what ought to have swayed the 2004 award in Okocha’s favour was his awesome display against Cameroon to qualify for the semi-finals. Many still savour the beauty in the curly free-kick that Okocha took to earn Nigeria the semi-final berth. The selectors opted to crown Eto’O as Africa’s best. No grudges though, considering the way the Cameroonian held the world spell-bound with his knack for goals playing for FC Barcelona in Spain.

    Hayatou should save us his regrets. History will judge his body better when clips of African stars who shone in Europe and the Diaspora are watched by discerning people. Perhaps, it is this pain that Hayatou wants us to forget by saying: “Players like Jay Jay Okocha would have been very worthy to feature in the list of winners. But the technicians decided otherwise; it is the law of the game.” Hmmm! If Hayatou is convinced that they did the right thing, he should let us have some quiet. Nobody asked him to remind us of this decision.

    We have forgotten about it, except for occasions when Okocha rightly captures this denial as his biggest regret, like he did some time ago when he said: “If I have any regret, that will be not winning the Africa Footballer of the Year award. But I don’t think I was meant to be because I gave my best, but at the end, it wasn’t good enough.”

    Vintage Okocha; he isn’t one to rock the boat. A good sport – if you ask me. But when you look at those who got the crown in those years when Okocha was not favoured by CAF, you shudder because in one of those instances, Okocha was playing in the French Ligue Un for PSG. Would these technicians say they were not watching those games, if not physically but on television? God help us all!

     

    Crocodile tears

    Daily, the media is inundated with lamentations of Super Eagles players over Nigeria’s elimination at the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations, which begins today in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea, without defending champions Nigeria.

    The players feel that Nigerians are gullible. They are hoping that their pleas will sway the fans to forgive them. They must be joking because the losses incurred by Nigerians transcend the ardent football followers. Various facets of the football industry are counting their losses, with many pledging not to do business with the NFF, if these bunch of Eagles stars continue to play for Nigeria.

    These disappointing Eagles are the reason why manufacturing giants Adidas don’t want to renew our kits contract. Their refusal to do business with Nigeria is germane because our players found it difficult to respect the terms of the Nigerian deal by wearing Adidas kits during the country’s assignments.

    From the coaches to the players, they breached the rules, with one of the coaches dressed for pre and post-match conferences in Adidas kits but wearing a blue Nike fez cap. It was that bad.

    The essence of having such international brands associated with our football is best seen with Adidas’ resolve to fund Manchester United FC of England’s £200 million quest to sign Lionel Messi. £200 million is chicken feed for Adidas, but they recognise the fact that having pictures of Messi wearing Adidas kits further raises its profile in the kitting industry, especially with a big football brand such as Manchester United.

    Why would Adidas want to splash as much as $750 million on a jersey deal for Manchester United, with the caveat of getting Messi to Old Trafford? Simple; brand war. Did I hear you say how? Here is it; Messi plays for Barcelona FC in Spain, which wears Nike jersey. Yet, Messi is the poster boy of the Adidas brand, and they have long hoped to be able to help move him away from Barcelona – who are sponsored by main competitors Nike – and place him with a club sponsored by Adidas.

    So, you can see why our coaches and players in the last set of Eagles should not humiliate us further by shedding crocodile tears for missing the AFCON 2015. Nigerians are worse off for our absence than they think. It would pay them to keep quiet. They have caused us enough pain.

    Again, no brand worth its onions will do business with players and coaches who don’t see anything wrong with holding the country hostage over their entitlements. True, they have a right to demand their wages but with a lot of decorum not this style of making us the world’s laughing stock.

    I hope that many of these disgruntled players know that they have no place in the Eagles as we rebuild for the 2018 Africa Cup of Nations and the 2018 World Cup in Russia.

    NFF chieftains must warn the Eagles coach not to go near most of those who were at the Brazil 2014 World Cup, especially those who are not playing regularly for their European clubs.

    We should rebuild the new Eagles, using the country’s Olympic Games team, the All Africa Games team and the Flying Eagles squad members. Those who were in Brazil have lost the appetite to play for glory. Rather, they are interested in knowing how much is in any game for them, largely because they know that they are in the twilight of their national team appearances. This is why whenever they assemble, what tickles their fancies most is what they would be paid for matches won, lost or drawn. They even have the audacity to ask to be paid upfront and such ridiculous requests of being paid for ‘lost’ game because they played their heart out.

    Would it shock readers of this column to hear that each Super Eagles player got $5,000 for the drawn game against South Africa in Uyo? Their coaches received theirs too. No record of any coach or player rejecting the cash because Nigeria didn’t qualify for the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations. Yet, they are shedding crocodile tears in the media, thinking we are fools.

    Whereas shell-shocked fans around the country couldn’t eat, sleep or do anything reasonable after the game, the Eagles and their coaches hurried to the Government House to collect another $200,000 from the Akwa Ibom State governor, which they shared while we mourned. Enough.

  • Wielding the stick

    Nigerian football needs a breath of fresh air. We need proactive approaches to resolve the problems. We need to apply scientific methods to formulate a new roadmap for the game and its actors. Except we take drastic measures against fraudsters who have brought the game to disrepute, novel changes meant to give it the desired fillip will melt away like ice-cream under the scorching sun.

    Football is big business in countries which understand its dynamics as the largest vehicle for employment. No aspect of football is wasted – from players who graduate to coaches and others in other facets of the industry.

    Imagine the volume of artisans who make the stadium a beauty to behold and those who manage the players – as physicians, doctors, dieticians and physiotherapists; bus drivers, gatemen et al. How about the mammoth crowd that watch games? How about those who bet in the pools, casinos, lottery, etc? We should not lose sight of the insurers, those who exploit the various marketing windows in the game to make the billions that attract the stars, who lure the fans to match venues. How about those who rely on the incomes made by players, coaches and officials for their upkeep, not forgetting the domestic staff of these people? The chain is endless, depending on how profitable it is to the practitioners. Football is a huge money spinner- if effectively utilised.

    So, why is the game trouble in Nigeria? We have made it a platform for settling political jobbers who would do anything to remain relevant, even if it means destroying the game to stop others from exposing their inadequacies. Our football is run without a discerning template, largely because sports ministers and commissioners ensure that only their lackeys get into key positions at the national and state levels. These lickspittles around ministers, commissioners and high ranking officials in government cause all the confusion that attracts FIFA’s interventions, especially after every World Cup. We spend quality time trying to resolve the mess such that we enter a new term always rebuilding our teams. Gains acquired from previous expeditions are lost on the altar of change even where the previous order had tremendous achievements.

    Officials see the football federations as an avenue to siphoning government cash since accounts are never rendered. Whenever a team wins a trophy, it is assumed that money was well spent. And so, these officials ensure that quantum cash is splashed on the game but they don’t create structures that can make the game run seamlessly without government funding in the long term.

    With ill-equipped men running the game, nothing works because they are thinking of when the next tranch of government cash will come. As the different tiers of government, officials are willing to splash the cash to serve as a distraction from the ills of the society. Of course, when Nigeria is doing well in football, everything is taken for granted. It is the opium of the people.

    We are feeling the pain now because our jaded style cannot outfox other countries that have applied science in trying to rejuvenate their game. And the biggest calamity before us is the absence of the Super Eagles at the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations slated to hold in Equatorial Guinea from January 17.

    We must move. And it starts with changing the way we do things here. Thank goodness NFF President Melvin Amaju Pinnick has set the ball rolling, sending referees and other key managers of the game on a refresher course in England. They are back and singing new tunes. It means that they learnt some lessons, but can they implement the ideas acquired in England. They can if the supervisory body (NFF) has the guts to take drastic decisions against

    defaulters. We must stop playing politics with key aspects of the game, if we must attain the heights where Nigeria would be default winners of big soccer tournaments like our age-grade teams.

    Amaju has vowed to investigate, blacklist and prosecute erring referees who bring the game into disrepute. The best security in any game is the presence of unbiased referees who are ready to interpret the laws of the game to the best of their knowledge. But Amaju must ensure that the referees get the right environment to handle the game properly. Match venues must be adequately secured with security operatives whose loyalty mustn’t be to any of the participating teams.

    Hoodlums caught disturbing public peace at match venues should be arrested, charged to court and punished for their unsportsmanlike conducts. Such punitive measures help in convincing soccer-loving Nigerians to leave their homes to watch the domestic league games the way the throng viewing centres for European matches shown on big screen television sets.

    The influx of fans into the stadia brings increased revenue for the clubs to settle their players and officials’ bills. No player or official can give his best during matches on empty stomachs. And when the matches are exciting, with winners emerging from their performance on the pitch and not on pre-determined acts from the referees, the corporate firms and wealthy individual would want to identify their goods and services with the clubs of their choice.

    Of significant importance is the recent trip of some coaches to England for refresher courses, which I know would improve the quality of matches in the local league. There is the need to challenge the NFF and indeed the League Management Committee (LMC) to ensure that games are shown live to Nigerians in as many television stations willing to pay the requisite cash for such coverage. Such games should be shown repeatedly, as it is done in Europe. Erring referees would even be ashamed of themselves when their relations and friends call them over their shoddy handling of matches.

    My worry here is what we will do with the new discoveries when we get things right. I must state here that most European clubs thrive on cash earned from inter and intra club transfers. I shudder each time I hear Nigerian teams cry over inadequate funding. Yet there is a yearly mass movement of players among clubs here and in Europe.

    The NFF must insist on due process in the transfer of our players. This way, they would be able to keep tabs on our best. Our players must be encouraged to join teams outside Nigeria not on bent knees like most of these shylock agents and scouts present them but on the basis of their outstanding performances in our national teams.

    Interestingly, FIFA has outlawed third party ownership of players. This gives the NFF, for instance, the power to only issue International Transfer Certificates (ITC) to our players after scrutinising the documents that they have signed.

    Part of the problems of our players is their limited education. There is also the urge for fast cash, having been playing the game at the local scene either on empty stomachs or delayed salaries.

    Last week, I wrote about the shenanigans in the transfer process here. Thankfully, the Emen Eduok case will help the NFF discover some of the loopholes that greedy agents and scouts exploit to enslave our players in obscure leagues in Europe and the Diaspora.

    I’m glad that the NFF president expelled Eduok from the Eagles camp. Being in camp is the peg that most unscrupulous agents and scouts use in luring gullible players out of the country. The next step is to find out who took him to those places. Eduok is also culpable for failing to inform the new club that he had signed a deal already.

    The NFF and the LMC need to educate the domestic league players on the need to read documents presented to them before appending their signatures.  Both must start this campaign by insisting on seeing what each player has signed with all the 20 Globacom Premier League teams.

    Every club must have a legal department that would make it impossible for any irritant player to sneak out of the country to fall into the kind of trap Uduok may have found himself. Perhaps, if the Nigerian club had a concrete contract with Eduok, it could nullify what the greedy agent lured him into because it can be tendered in court.

    Youth clubs and their managers should be told that their players don’t attract transfer fees. Youth academies are only entitled to developmental fees for discovering such talents, with the acceptable figures stipulated by FIFA.

    Thumbs down for Amokachi

    Psychology is one of the greatest tools of warfare to motivate people to give their best. Leaders urge their followers not to be scared of the opposition but to follow their strategies. So, when the leader starts to instill fear in the led and surrenders even before the first salvo is fired, such a leader ought to be sacked.

    Daniel Amokachi has failed the first test of coaching the Super Eagles by raising the alarm over players he wants to use to prosecute two friendly games against Cote D’Ivoire and Sudan. Amokachi has been all over the media complaining about the boys’ fitness and telling anyone who cares to listen that the team is Stephen Keshi’s not his. If Amokachi isn’t sure of his players, he should just opt out of the two matches.

    Amokachi must be told that Nigerians are not fools. They know that friendly games are meant to expose new players even though it is also appropriate that a team wins matches. Nigerians know that home-based Eagles can beat the Ivorians, if the coaches tell them what to do. If they don’t, soccer fans would be interested in watching out for the new stars. They also would love to see how the coaches have been able to integrate the age-grade players into the senior team.

    Soccer fans are not enthusiastic about the outcome of the two friendlies meant to rebuild the Eagles. Many are still ruing Nigeria’s exit from the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations.