The Nation Newspaper

Category: Ade Ojeikere

  • Who will advise our stars?

    It is the third day of a new year. It is a season of resolutions in which many people wish away spells and look to God for a new direction. January is the period where plans are made with the firm belief that a greater part of the wish list is achieved.

    This New Year will usher in good tidings for all the readers of this column. The Lord will answer those wishes that are worthy in his eyes because we know that even before we kneel down before God, asking for anything. He already knows those things that we truly need. May the good Lord bless us all this year.

    Most times when some of our ex-internationals complain about how they are being treated in the twilight of their careers, I wonder if they have bothered to ask themselves what they did with their fortunes. They blame everyone but themselves, forgetting that when the going was good, they splashed good cash on vanities such as cars, shoes, necklaces and bracelets, to mention but a few of their frivolities.

    In their opulence, not a few of our stars thought of engaging financial experts who could plan their future for them. Our stars likened the quantum cash to a broken oil pipe from an endless ocean. They apparently thought the cash would flow till eternity. I wish they asked what became of their predecessors.

    Those who ten years ago flew in jets across the country for owambes are struggling to rebuild their future, pursuing national team jobs. Indeed, in one of my trips to Uyo in November, many people inside the aircraft couldn’t fathom the loss in weight of some of our big stars who stopped playing in the year 2000. Many inside the aircraft couldn’t reconcile the difficulty in seeing those stars in the past and now. A few argued about their identities.

    They had emaciated. No bouncers around them anymore. They walked up to greet you now, not the other way round. Things have truly changed. The jets are grounded. Many who had major cities named after them are loafing and holding on to anything to show that they played the game. Many of them in their heydays moved around at breakneck speed in convoys of the best cars. Now, they sneak into smoky jalopies, hiding their identities by wearing big hats.

    When will our stars start to plan for their future? When will our big boys enjoy the kind of rave reviews that megastars, such as David Beckham, Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi et al, get from the media in terms of their emoluments? We are tired of the rag-to-riches and then riches-to-penury of our players who earned hefty figures playing the beautiful game in some of the countries where some of these megastars played. This writer is surprised at the penury in which some of these former stars live. They appear to have forgotten where they were discovered. They were street-wise kids, whose absence from their homes brought relief to the family since they would cater for less the number, as a means of punishment to them.

    I cringed when I saw another Nigerian feeling cool inside a 2015 Roll Royce car worth £250,000 (N46.2 million). What struck me was how much he was worth to make such a purchase? I reckoned that he didn’t know what to use such cash for? I wish I could tell my readers his background to find out if such hefty cash wouldn’t have been better spent. Our stars have a right to satisfy their fantasies but they must remember that the life span of an athlete is short, making it imperative for them to keep much of their windfall for the future. Some of our past stars are inscrutable in their appearance when you see them now. You can tell that they have lost it all.

    This is a clarion call to the so called Nigerian Players Welfare Union to contact some of them who are likely to go astray to look back at others before them and do the needful. If any player has so much cash to handle, he can seek advice from his banker. He could also reach out to the players union to help assist others who are bedridden and need to get back on their feet.

    What will it cost our players to return to the grassroots to rejuvenate the playing grounds that produced them. They could also provide the cash to encourage the kids in the hinterland to play the game, using them as role models instead of this lascivious life style. 

    January European transfer window

     In Europe, this is the period where clubs rush to the transfer market to fortify their stock of players. These clubs go for players that they know will make immediate impact in their teams, having languished in relegation since the season began in August, last year.

    Most of the European club managers will be sending their scouts to Malabo, Equatorial Guinea to watch the matches of the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations. Sadly, Nigeria, winners of the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations, will not be in Equatorial Guinea.

    When the matches begin, it will dawn on our players and coaches the level of grief that they have brought to soccer fans in Nigeria. They would have lost the opportunity to affirm their supremacy in the continent. As for the players, they would understand why every game should be taken seriously, especially when new players from the continent use the games of the Africa Cup of Nations to get lucrative contracts.

    When the window opens, one expects that Nigerian stars in Europe who have been confined to the bench should walk up to their managers, seeking to move on to other clubs, if the opportunity beckons. It must be said that the biggest reason why Nigeria isn’t at the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations is because our Europe-based stars spent the period before these matches on the bench in the European clubs. This match rustiness greatly inhibited the Eagles’ performance, with the coaches having few options to pick players from.

    The media have been awash with the interesting story of CSKA Moscow’s Nigerian import Ahmed Musa going to Tottenham Hotspurs this month. CSKA is a very good club in Moscow. The club is a regular feature in the UEFA Champions League. Musa must consider the fact that he plays regularly for CSKA, hence it will be tragic if he rushes to Tottenham and ends up sitting on the bench or watching the game from the stands.

    Playing for Tottenham offers Musa the best platform to show his talents because of the tremendous media coverage of the Barclays English Premier League. But Musa must understand that if he takes the leap into Tottenham, he loses value in the transfer market if he is dumped on the bench. And with the 2018 Africa Cup of Nations and Russia 2018 World Cup qualifiers set to begin by the middle of the year, one would plead with Musa to opt for the club where he would be first choice in his position.

    Another player in the transfer radar of European clubs is Oguenyi Onazi. Onazi plays for Lazio FC in the Italia Serie A. He is on the wanted list of Liverpool FC. In fact, the media splashed the story of a swap deal between Liverpool and Lazio with Onazi and Boronini walking in different directions.

    Onazi’s purported move to Anfield is to understudy Liverpool legend Steven Gerrard, who many pundits believe should be given less games to play next year. It looks like a proactive idea but my fear is that what happens if Gerrard continues to churn out top performances for Liverpool? My candid advice to Onazi is to remain at Lazio to fight for his shirt.

    Thank God John Mikel Obi is back to reckoning with Chelsea. Chelsea’s manager Jose Mourinho knows that Mikel can play alongside Matic instead of the earlier option where Mourinho played Matic ahead of Mikel. I wish Mourinho realised this arrangement earlier in the season. Mikel would have influenced Nigeria’s AFCON campaign better than he did because he wasn’t playing regularly for Chelsea.

    Emmanuel Emenike has resolved to remain at Fenerbahce FC of Turkey instead of running to England to play for Tottenham or Chelsea. And it is the best decision. My candid advice to Emenike is that he cannot find a shirt in present day Chelsea side. Chelsea attackers have struck a ruthless chemistry playing together, culminating in their awesome goal-scoring record in the team’s matches this season.

     Home-based Eagles’ transfers

     Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) President, Melvin Amaju Pinnick must today call for the files of the movement of our domestic league players to Europe. This idea of a particular agent doing the business of the transfer of our local stars is unacceptable.

    Such an agent has a right to do the business of transfers for our local boys. But when he takes charge of all movements, it is worrisome. Most of the local boys sign for one of these agents because he fronts for most of our national team coaches. His offer isn’t the best. But the players must join his camp if they hope to play for Nigeria.

    Amaju must be told that transfer of players isn’t the exclusive prerogative of a particular agent. He must work in tandem with the NFF, especially national team players discovered here. NFF should help guide these new discoveries in the national teams, such as Super Eagles.

    It is ridiculous for a Super Eagles player to undergo screening in novelty leagues outside the country. Our league may not be paying the best wages but our players in the Eagles can get better deals playing against bigger teams in the country’s international friendlies at their own terms rather than kowtowing to the whims and caprices of greedy agents working with our national team coaches.

    This slavish movement of our best local players into obscure leagues in the Diaspora explains why there isn’t any transition from one national team to the other.  Amaju, please this trend where one agent takes charge of all our discoveries is wrong. It is foolhardy for a Super Eagles player to undergo screening in Belgrade, for instance.

  • Clap for Mourinho

    Clap for Mourinho

    It is Christmas; plenty to eat and drink. A lot of visitors stream into the house to share in the Yelutide tidings. I almost didn’t want to write this column. It is always written on Thursdays, which meant doing this piece was on Christmas Day.  What would I be telling readers of this column? So, let me start by wishing them all a Merry Christmas and a prosperous New Year, devoid of bombings and other insane acts.

    Back from church, kids jumping all over you and your wife’s frowning face eager to be told that you won’t be at work on Christmas Day, even if it is Thursday, it was almost like climbing a slippery pole as I punched the computer keys to fulfill all righteousness to my dear readers. Let me confess that I sneaked out of the house on such days. I was always prepared for the backlash whenever I returned home late. It was not always a pleasant sight but I knew that such sulky faces from those at home wouldn’t last long.

    Penultimate Saturday, I chastised Chelsea FC of England’s manager Jose Mourinho for blaming the team’s sickening 2-1 loss to Newcastle on Mikel Obi’s mistakes. Mourinho rued the absence of Matic from the game and reckoned that had Mikel scored via a header, Chelsea would have led the game before conceding the first goal.

    My angst against Mourinho stemmed from the fact that Cisse has always scored against Chelsea and it was his duty to fashion out how to stop the Senegalese instead of slamming Mikel. I’m waiting for Mourinho’s comments over Diego Costa’s wastefulness against Stoke on Monday. Mourinho showed his displeasure over Costa’s missed chances by pulling him out of the game. I thought that would have been the most appropriate thing to do to Mikel, if he thought he underperformed in the game against Newcastle.

    It is true that Mourinho has the right to chastise his players. But one would love to ask those in this school if that is the way others do theirs? I’m glad that Mourinho answered those in this school by substituting Costa and lashing him inside the dressing room instead of in the media. Mourinho’s comments drew a lot of flak from people in the social media against Mikel.  Many of them who scolded Mikel were, sadly, Nigerians.

    On Tuesday, the media were awash with what I would like to tag an afterthought by Mourinho who praised Mikel thus: “The first time he played (from the start in the premier League) was Newcastle and he was our best player.” I hope that those English pundits, such Alan Shearer, can back off Mikel by recanting their potshots against the Nigerian, apparently taking a cue from Mourinho.

    It is, therefore, appropriate that one commends Mourinho for his praises on Mikel even before the game on Monday against Stoke. Besides, Mourinho’s recant is coming several days after he lashed Mikel, but it is good that he has eaten his words. Chelsea will lift the Barclays English Premier League diadem. My dream for Mourinho is for Chelsea to lift all four trophies (EPL, FA Cup, league Cup and UEFA Champions League trophy). Mourinho is the best manager that I have seen because of his positive influence on the team from the bench. His body language on the bench tells his boys if the manager is happy or not with their display. Mourinho’s biggest attribute rests with his ability to read matches and make flawless substitutions that result in victories for Chelsea.

    However, I only hope that Mourinho’s plaudits will help Mikel lift his game to a level where many rated him highly in 2005 in Holland during the FIFA U-20 Championships which Nigeria lost 2-1 to Argentina. In that competition, Messi was adjudged the best player with Mikel and Taye Taiwo finished in second and third positions.

    It is equally heartwarming that Mourinho has seen the wisdom in playing Mikel along with Matic, not comparing one with the other. His statement on Wednesday lifted my spirits when he said after Chelsea beat Stoke away from home 2-0 on Tuesday: “We decided to play Mikel and Matic, so we lost one creative player. We had stability in the team. They put themselves in every situation and I think the kids were fantastic.” Master of the mind game Mourinho is. But I ask Mourinho, which of the two kids are you referring to in your last statement? Mikel or Matic?  Read my lips.

     

    Crowd violence in stadia

     

    I was excited reading a statement credited to the president of the Nigeria Referee Association (NRA), Ahmed Muade, on the need for the domestic game to have not more than 23 referees to handle the matches at the professional level.

    Muade told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Monday: “They hardly promote three to four referees to the Premier League in a year in England, unlike what we have in Nigeria. You must be exceptionally good before you come to the premier league.

    “We must identify the best and restrict the number (that gets promoted), so that the more they officiate, the better they become. If you only officiate once in five weeks, how good will you be?”

    Good talk Muade; evidently one of the benefits of exposing professionals to refresher courses. But Muade must be reminded that his committee is in charge of promotions and punishments for referees. They have failed in these tasks. We have seen referees found guilty of poor officiating return to the league in the same season. Some others return the following season. We also have reported cases of one referee handling games involving particular teams for over 24 matches in a 38-week league competition. These devious acts are perpetuated because the referee’s committee plays god, largely because its decisions are final and no other body can dictate to it as decreed by FIFA.

    Muade must be reminded that his NRA encourages quota system. Excellence has no room for such mediocre indices as quota system. Any referee who fails medical test must not be allowed to officiate in matches again. This idea of bringing them back because they have shown a referral letter from any doctor should be discouraged. The reports turn out to be fake. We don’t get to know about these fake documents until they either collapse on the pitch or die during the routine FIFA medical tests.

    The president hinged his submission on what he found in the English game during their training in England last month. He argued that there was the need for one referee to handle at least two games in one month.

    The NRA president is the problem with officiating in Nigeria. His men have accused him of favouritism. And the only way that the president can implement all that he learnt in England is to officially publish the list of referees for two months. That way, we can monitor the list of referees. The president cannot justify how certain referees handle only away games of certain rich clubs in the league. Club chairmen, such as Dominic Iorfa and even the current NFF president Melvin Amaju Pinnick, have accused the Referees’ Committee, which he heads of lopsidedness in the list of referees for the domestic game.

    I’m surprised though that Muade didn’t comment on match commissioners. Some of them are part of the mess. Most of the time these match commissioners are former referees whose previous records are nothing to cheer. God help any team that has such match commissioners with an incompetent referee.

    In fact, the centre referee from Bayelsa State who handled last year’s FA Cup finals in Delta State should never be allowed to go near any football field. If Muade doubts what I have written, he should ask the current NFF President to produce the match’s final tape. That referee is a disgrace to association football. He was grossly incompetent. He was not bribed because there was no need for such ignoble acts. The two teams were already in the national draw, having qualified for the finals.

    If the Maude committee can implement all that they were exposed to in England, league venues will be safer and Nigerians can come and watch the domestic games. Muade holds the key to stop crowd violence at match venues due to terribly biased performances from our referees.

     

    All hail Okagbare, Oparanozie, Oshoala

     

    Three names top my list of Nigerian athletes who excelled. And they are all women, not for the first time. Take a bow Blessing Okagbare, Asisat Oshoala and Desire Oparanozie.

    Okagbare is the Commonwealth Games’ fastest woman in the 100 metres and 200 metres. She has been Nigeria’s brightest medals prospect in any multisport competition, but that we have federation chieftains who don’t know how to manage her affairs for her to be best in the world.

    Thank God that the Delta State governor Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan developed interest in Okagbare, bankrolling the little details that would help her attain the height that pundits had predicted that she would hit.

    Shortly after Okagbare’s poor outing at the 2012 Olympic Games in London, Uduaghan sought a parley with the queen of the tracks to find out what her training programmes were and how to make them compare with those of world stars such as Usian Bolt.

    The blueprint submitted by Okagbare was financed by the governor. And, like they say, the rest is history. Uduaghan didn’t stop his support with just providing the cash. The governor was at the stands, cheering Okagbare as she dusted the pack of sprinters twice to win the 100 metres and 200 metres races in style.

    Okagbare could get Uduaghan’s support because she is a Deltan. Oparanozie plays football in France. She is a professional earning a living through salaries from her club’s coffers, unlike Okagbare, who must finance her expenses with pittance from the smaller athletics prix that she attends. Oparanozie sprang from the dusty streets of Owerri, playing the game (soccer), which many feel is for boys because it is a contact sport.

    Thank God, Nigeria’s brightest moments have come from Nigerian girls’ exploits in soccer for women in Africa and at the world stage. If our boys had done as well as the girls in soccer, we would have broken the banks. Not so for the girls, but it hasn’t deterred them from winning laurels for our dear country.

    The grassroots in Nigeria is filled with raw talents. It has raised a new star in Oshoala, who emerged from the robust grassroots projects that the Lagos State Government has to effectively engage the youths to shun the social vices and face sports. Bravo, worthy girls.

  • Probe panel my foot!

    Probe panel my foot!

    Super Eagles are moving towards extinction. We are watching; mouth agape, unable to take the crucial decision for change. Influence peddlers have introduced politics into the running of the Eagles by dropping the name of President Goodluck Jonathan to reverse a decision that would have given the team its desired fillip.

    We are 43rd in the world and it doesn’t matter. It has just dawned on our legislators to probe Nigeria’s ouster from the Africa Cup of Nations. A committee will be constituted to find out what happened. The problems of the Eagles are commonplace, except those who are asking haven’t been in the country in the last two years.

    Our legislators must understand now that sports cannot thrive in Nigeria with yearly fiscal budgets. Major competitions have four-year calendar settings. So, if we want to do well at the 2018 World Cup in Russia, government should be now have provided the cash in NFF’s coffers to run their programmes towards achieving that feat. As I write, we are already one year behind. If we fail to qualify for the 2018 World Cup in Russia, this is one of the major reasons, dear legislators. I also don’t need an oracle to tell me that Nigeria will fail at the 2016 Olympic Games, with Blessing Okagbare changing her marital status.

    If we want the Eagles to improve, we must break away from our old ways and announce a new technical crew for the team. If we insist on keeping those there, then we shouldn’t expect much. And it would be tragic, given the depth of talents at the grassroots, waiting to be discovered, trained and exposed to the big European markets.

    Let me attempt to highlight some of the problems of the Eagles. It may interest our legislators to know that Nigeria and four other African nations – Ghana, Algeria, Cameroon and Tunisia – partook in the Brazil 2014 World Cup with mixed results. But three of these countries -Nigeria, Cameroon and Ghana – became notorious because their players and coaches were involved in the show of shame protests demanding their entitlements.

    Nigeria’s case was more ridiculous because our players and coaches asked to be paid their share of the country’s 2014 World Cup largesse. They wanted to be paid their appearance fees. There is nothing wrong in players asking for their rights. But when such demands defy logic, the obvious question we ought to have asked the players is if others have been paid theirs? We ought to have asked other countries what the rules are on such matters. We didn’t because we play politics with everything. Instead, the players’ and coaches’ refusal to train in Brazil compelled the President to discuss with everyone on telephone in Brazil, promising to release $3.85 million.

    It wasn’t the first time that the Eagles and their coaches held the country by its balls to demand their entitlements. The week before the 2013 Confederations Cup held in Brazil, the Eagles refused to board the chartered aircraft provided to airlift participating teams by FIFA in Johannesburg by remaining in Windhoek. Rather than deal with those who caused the shame, we patted the players and coaches on the back, even when it was apparent that cash was not disbursed to the NFF.

    It took the President’s intervention and the swift transfer of the cash to the Nigerian Embassy in Brazil before the team went to Brazil. Former sports minister Bolaji Abdullahi’s plea to the players and coaches to rescind their decision fell on deaf ears. It took the president’s plea to convince them. This can only happen in Nigeria, where impunity is now a norm. Nothing was expected from such a divided house. It might interest the legislators to know that since 1992, all such protests by the Super Eagles started from the days when the present Eagles technical crew members were players. We had forgotten about players’ strife until these coaches returned to the team. The legislators should save us the cash of running a committee, only for people to say what we already know.

    Indeed apperance fees are only paid after the World Cup. The reason for this delay is to allow FIFA accounts department make deductions arising from yellow and red cards and sundry fines like fans’ misbehavior as the case may be.

    But how did Ghana and Cameroon deal with the dissidents in their World Cup squad culminating, in their qualification for the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations slated to hold in Equatorial Guinea?  The two countries’ Football Federations’ chieftains analysed what transpired in the two camps in Brazil and immediately removed the unpatriotic players and coaches. Without any fanfare, they replaced “rebels” with dedicated and determined younger players. They recruited new coaches since the old ones worked in tandem with the ousted players. These changes ensured that there was change in attitudes in the team. It also improved the quality of coaching that the players received. Little wonder both countries are being tipped as likely successors to the Super Eagles, when the curtails of the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations falls on February 8 in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea.

    The matches of the 2014 World Cup in Brazil exposed the technical inadequacies of the Eagles. If our coaches did their job during the game against France, we would have qualified for the quarter-finals – for the first time – and joined the league of African countries that have achieved that feat at the World Cup. The game further revealed the fact that the Eagles needed new players as it became evident that our players were not competitive enough, perhaps, because most of them warmed the bench with their European clubs in the build-up to the Mundial.

    The games provided the need to ask the coaches the parameters they used in picking those who played for Nigeria at the Mundial. Indeed, it became apparent that it was wrong to give the coaches the freehand to arbitrarily pick players for the national team in the future.

    Today Cameroon and Ghana are in the Africa Cup of Nations. Nigeria, which did better than the two countries at the Brazil 2014 World Cup, are at home, with her citizenry ruing the miss. We expected the coaches to resign honourably instead of showing them the exit door like we did with other coaches.

    There is a lacuna, which is being exploited by the coaches ad their henchmen in government to emasculate the NFF. And with the general elections being paramount in the minds policy makers, the choice of a new Super Eagles chief coach looks as far and wide apart as the dentition of an elder.

    We are being told that one of the assistant coaches has picked a 24-man squad of home-based players to play two friendly matches against Cote d’Ivoire and Mali in Abu Dhabi. I hope we haven’t taken the wrong decision. I also hope that this would not set the assistant coach against his boss in the future. I smell trouble because this assistant coach won’t be welcome in the team when things are sorted out. Can the NFF chiefs impress it on the boss to retain the assistant? I doubt it. And it would rock the Eagles with the players loyal to each of the coaches seeking to show supremacy.

    Shortly before the painful 2-2 draw against Bafana Bafana of South Africa at the Akwa Ibom International Stadium, Uyo,  one of the assistant coaches tutored a home-based side that played exciting football against Ghana’s U-23 side. The Nigerian team won 1-0 but the fans were impressed with their swift interchange of passes among the players and the can-do spirit exhibited by the homegrown players. This had been conspicuously missing in the Super Eagles side.

    A week later, many pundits looked forward to having some of the home-based stars play for the Eagles based on their performance against the Ghanaians. Not so for the boss. His squad is constant, even if it means fielding orthopedic players, such as Kenneth Omoeruo. Omeruo’s poor performance yielded the two goals that the South Africans scored in Uyo. Had the boss opted to take the risk in parading the home-based players’ defensive quartet, maybe Nigeria would have qualified for the 2015 AFCON tournament?

    Global best practices allow for the assistant coach to take charge of the team, if the boss is slow in renewing his contract. We didn’t do that. Amokachi’s return to the Eagles will not solve the team’s problems. My interactions with some of the players suggest that ‘Da Bull,’ as Amokachi is admirably called, is the catalyst behind some of the draconian decisions that the coaches took against some players. Most of the players finger Amokachi as the man behind all the crises between some of them and the chief coach. Amokachi would be worse than his boss, given what I gathered. We need a clean break from the old order to return the Eagles to winning ways.

    It is good that the NFF has started to rebuild the team, using home-based players. Equally significant is the NFF’s insistence that the coaches must work with the technical study group, comprising some of our brightest former internationals. But the biggest joker is the NFF’s resolve to train them in the basics of the game that set the European coaches apart from the local ones. All these changes would amount to fetching water with a basket, if the coaches refuse to use the information gathered to improve on the team’s tactics and playing style.

    My worry though is that the chief coach will scheme himself back to the Eagles to make a mockery of these new developments and it would be tragic. He appears not prepared to work with this new NFF, like others before it. And with the coach securing the ears of those in government, a road block seems imminent for the Eagles, irrespective of the changes.

     

    Emenike’s parcel of land

     

    Emmanuel Emenike must be smiling now. The Enugu State government has returned the disputed land. Did I hear you say the power of the media? Of course, the battle axe of the oppressed.

    The good news is that Emenike has been given 17 plots of the land, four more above what was in dispute. So, the Emenike Football Academy is back on track Enugu.

    So, if you are a young boy or girl who wants to play the game, run to Emenike’s Football Academy and ask for the other details.

  • Amaju, watch your back (4)

    Amaju, watch your back (4)

    WHEN jerry cans bearing urchins run after vehicles on Lagos streets, one thing seems certain – it is Christmas time. In December, you find roughnecks selling petrol in Lagos. They are the ones who buy the products at odd times, most times when we are sleeping. These yoyos run this racket with petrol attendants while the suffering masses wait hours at bus stops for vehicles to take them to work.

    Worst hit are owners of vehicles who have the misfortune of patronising these hawkers. They end up losing the car engines because the petrol that these hooligans sell is often adulterated, most times mixed with water or kerosene – or both.

    Sadly, here we are having another panic buying season, largely because there is always a cabal waiting for rumours of either a looming scarcity or price hike to unleash their devilish acts. Did I hear you say, “is this sport?” Well, pardon my digression. It’s just that I feel the pain, like others. Who will fix Nigeria’s problems?

    It appears Samson Siasia wants to rebuild another future Super Eagles squad with the assemblage of truly young boys for the country’s U-23 Olympic Games side. Siasia has invited 47 foreign-based kids for screening. There is the temptation to question this decision and the number. But the caveat that they would pay their way to Nigeria for the trials raises the hope that such boys are eager to play for their fatherland, even if they have never been here before.

    It is good that a deliberate attempt is being made to ensure that those who will play for Nigeria at the 2016 Olympic Games in Brazil are not more than 22 years old. What this simply means is that a lot of them will graduate into the Super Eagles and would have at least eight productive years for the senior team. The present bunch of Eagles cannot do better than what they exhibited at the Brazil 2014 World Cup when the next edition holds in Russia in 2018. We need a new team. We need players who understand what it means to play for the country. We don’t want players who think of what they can get and not how they can win matches to enliven Nigerians’ hearts.

    Some members of the current Eagles are no longer interested in playing the game at that level. Having won the Africa Cup of Nations in 2013, most of them are no longer hungry for glory. We need determined, dedicated and hungry boys to wrest the Africa Cup of Nations for Nigeria in 2018 and then shock the world in Russia later that year.

    Perhaps the biggest advantage in Siasia’s new vision is the fact that those who will make the team will be well grounded in the basics of the game, having been introduced to it by renowned academy coaches. I’m also glad that Siasia has plans for the grassroots talents. They may not have been exposed to proper training like their Europe-based mates, yet they could learn from them and what Siasia teaches them in training. The bottom line is that the pool of players to pick future Super Eagles players from would be increased.

    The difference between our grassroots rookies in the hinterland is that they are raw, energetic, determined, but lack the finesse which comes with good coaching, which is found in the developed football communities where these Diaspora players come from. Indeed, if the NFF are serious in their drive to get boys whose ages they can vouch for, then they must consider getting foreign coaches to come here on exchange programmes to train our coaches and provide the template to routinely train the good ones. This is the only way we can make our coaches to improve and get them to teach the young boys the techniques of the game at younger ages.

    These young boys coming for the developed leagues in Europe are discovered as early as ages 5-12. They are taught the rudiments of the game and taken through competitions until they have perfected their skills for the bigger clubs. Besides, these young boys are exposed to competitions and most times they get to play weekly league matches to show how well they have imbibed what they were taught in training.

    These routine competitions and league matches provide the platform for the country’s football federations to collate data on the kids. From these competitions, the exceptional ones are encouraged to join bigger clubs’ academies until such a time when they would have mustered the courage to play in the tougher leagues with the bigger boys. It’s from the data collated from the competitions that such countries pick their national team players across the board.

    Indeed, the NFF must get all our domestic clubs to have age grade players, preferably from ages 6-10. You don’t need to study rocket science to know a six-year-old. Where there are doubts, checks could be made on when he first went to school, if his birth records are also doubtful. The cheapest game to run is football. What we need to sustain this campaign is for the NFF to create a unit whose leadership must be passionate in getting the kids to embrace the game and play it properly.

    It’s about time the NFF created a platform to redefine how we should play at the national team levels. This robust approach to reinvigorate the domestic game is all that we need with the NFF to effectively monitor how it pans out. Except our coaches are challenged with these holistic programmes, we would never be able to grade them and reward those who are eminently qualified to handle the national teams.

     

    No Mourinho, no!

     

    I admire Jose Mourinho. I like his can-do spirit. I also identify with his penchant to be the best of any team that he handles. I like his love for African players. I may not be a fan of Chelsea FC of London, but I follow the game and know what each player, team and coach does weekly. It is on this score that one is forced to disagree with Mourinho’s insistence that Super Eagles midfield pearl, John Mikel Obi, was chiefly responsible for  Chelsea’s 1-2 loss to Newcastle last weekend.

    Mikel did his best, although many have joined Mourinho in his views. Yet, a cursory look at the two goals conceded by Chelsea against Newcastle showed that England international Gary Cahill’s poor clearance caused the first goal and not Mikel’s mistakes. It is true that Mikel missed a header inside Newcastle’s six-metre box before the goal was conceded, yet many players have missed clearer chances than what Mikel missed and never got Mourinho’s flak.

    Mourinho has never beaten Newcastle. So, why does he think that Mikel’s mistakes caused the team’s defeat because Nemanja Matic didn’t play? Chelsea is lucky in the preceding game against Sunderland at the Stadium of Light. Had Sunderland predatory strikers, such as Cisse in their team, they would have been the first to beat Chelsea not Newcastle.

    If Mourinho knows that he doesn’t want Mikel any longer, he should say so, rather than make the Nigerian the laughing stock. Such despicable utterances go a long way to limit the chances of Mikel in getting another club. I’m looking forward to the day when Chelsea is beaten with Matic playing.

    Now that Mikel has shamed Mourinho by scoring in Wednesday 3-1 victory, I hope the coach will have the courage to applaud the Nigerian as much as he derided him over last Saturday’s loss to Newcastle.

     

    Special talent indeed

     

    The news from the blue side of Manchester in England where City plays in the Barclays English Premier League is heartwarming. Reports on Wednesday night suggested that the management of Manchester City have submitted a request to the Home Office in the United Kingdom (UK) for the work permit of Nigeria’s kid sensation, Kelechi Iheanacho, who dazzled the world at the 2013 FIFA U-17 World Cup.

    Ihenanacho was the best player in the series, culminating in several requests for his services despite his age. Many a pundit quarrelled with Iheanacho’s decision to join Manchester City as a kid, citing the laughable fact that the English side isn’t renowned for grooming talents. What these uninformed few didn’t understand is that youth academies are ingrained into the system for any club of Manchester City’s stature.

    Now the club has shown that they know how to use a good player and have subsequently sought to use the Special Talent clause in the British game to get Ihenanacho to play for the senior team.

    Again, like John Mikel Obi in the past, Iheanacho will be playing at the senior level for his club instead of his country. Soon, we would expect Iheanacho to pick Nigeria ahead of Manchester City when there is a fixture clash. Iheanacho’s loyalty will be to the club than Nigeria. It is for this reason that Mikel hardly played for Nigeria in the past.

     

    God bless Emenike

     

    Emmanuel Emenike is my most admired footballer. He understands what it takes to give back to the society when the need arises. Emenike’s philanthropy is phenomenal. The beauty about his ability to assist the needy is that he doesn’t like it advertised. He stands out as the only Super Eagles player who kicks against some of the shameful acts of the squad and makes his views known. But that isn’t the reason for this short take on him.

    Emenike spent $50,000, yes you are free to convert it to naira to buy bags of rice and other foodstuff which he wants distributed to motherless babies homes, orphans and to the widows across Imo and Anambra states. 550 bags of rice have been taken to Imo State. Otuocha (in Anambra State) will have 300 bags with other undisclosed items.

    The star spent $60,000 last year while giving out to widows, orphans and the less privileged in the eastern zone of Nigeria, has mandated his family to distribute over 900 bags of rice to some local government areas in Imo and Anambra states as part of his annual charity work. Apart from the donation, a football match will be played in Anambra State to honour the Super Eagles star.

    Each year, Emenike quietly shares his wealth with the needy. In fact, one fan, who was told of Emenike’s magnanimous acts, cornered him at the Nnnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja and showed him photographs of his distressed wife in the hospital.

    Desperate to prove his innocence, the crest-fallen husband made a video call to his wife in the hospital, where her plight was highlighted to the Eagles’ start by excited hospital staff.

    Emenike immediately gave the bewildered husband $10,000; his winning bonus in the game that he came for. He also exchanged telephone numbers with the husband. Emenike bought a piece of land in Enugu worth N30 million, which he wanted to use for a football academy. But that matter is in the court because some funny men in the Enugu state government want to acquire the land by force. God will not allow them achieve this. This is a promise. I will find out how far the matter has gone and relate it in subsequent columns.

  • Rewarding failures

    If I have the opportunity to return to this planet again, I want to be a football coach. In fact, I want to coach the Super Eagles. I will strive to have the ears of the president. My friends would be those in government – governors, senators, security operatives who can reverse decisions slammed on me by overbearing employers.

    I also would want to have a minister who would pay me when my employers are being funny. Not forgetting having the president to revoke my dismissal, with my employers pleading with my successor to reject the job. I would resign my appointment in a foreign land and the whole country would beg me to return to the job with full national honours. I would coach the Eagles because there is always money to be shared after every game.

    My choice of Super Eagles is that other coaches are pushed out of their jobs without the president asking. Those sacked coaches run to the media to cry foul. Nothing happens. The best that they get are comments from concerned citizens. That is where it ends. Soon, the story is flashed in the media – the indebted coach is dead. Another great man is wasted. A page or two is published in the newspapers on the departed coach. That won’t be my portion as the Super Eagles coach, if I return to this planet.

    Our leaders surely don’t love us. They do things that suit their fancies. It doesn’t matter if such decisions run ultra vires to the laid down laws. Otherwise, how was it possible for the sports minister to arbitrarily pay a coach N14 million as salaries for two months, even as there is no contract?  For a coach whose previous salary was N5 million, what informed the increase by N2 million without the consent of the employer?

    Wouldn’t it have been appropriate for the minister to pay the coach what he earned last? Isn’t there a limit to how much the minister can arbitrarily approve? Nobody would have questioned this inappropriate decision here if the coach had excelled in his assignment. But for a man whose team failed to qualify for a big competition where we are the dethroned champions, the best the minister should have done was to pro-rate what the coach should get.

    If those who brought back the coaches had allowed NFF’s new coaching order the opportunity to rescue our qualification, maybe it wouldn’t have cost us this staggering N14 million. Add this N14 million to what was used to fly the team to and from Pointe Noire, not forgetting all the sundry expenses, then we will appreciate why the decision to repeal Decree 101 must have a clause that forbids ministers from spending NFF’s cash before it gets to the Glasshouse chieftains. Already, even before the NFF gets FIFA’s $9 million accrued to Nigeria for participating at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, the body has lost $3.85 million and N14 million. This explains why the NFF is always cash-strapped and unable to account for what it gets to run the game.

    The argument from National Sports Commission (NSC) chieftains that the N14 million was paid to the coach for his colleagues is laughable. Is that how the other coaches get their pay? Don’t these other coaches have their own bank accounts? What was the ratio of payment and who ensured that they got what was approved? So many intriguing scenarios have been raised over the presence of one of the caches in Malabo. Sometimes when these government officials speak, they assume that we are all fools; otherwise since when did the coach become the team’s bursar?

    Incidentally, one of the assistant coaches whose salary ought to be part of the N14 million told The Guardian on Thursday: “I don’t know anything on the two months salaries said to have been paid to Keshi by the Sports minister. After the Eagles’ last game against South Africa, Keshi and I have not really been together. I’m ready to serve the Eagles anytime I’m given the chance.”

    So, who do we believe? Truth is the coach was paid N14 million for two months.

    Many would have thought that with the payment of the coaches’ salaries, they would stick with Nigeria. To imagine that one of the coaches is in Malabo says a lot about the hire-and-fire theory with coaching. It would be tragic if the coach sits on Equatorial Guinea’s bench next year while Nigerians sulk, watching the matches of the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations. I pray that it happens so that the true story about the change of decision would be known.

    The payment of N14 million ought to have shown the aforementioned coach that Nigeria is ready to do his bidding, except he is there as a guest of the Confederation of African Football (CAF). He richly deserves to be CAF’s guest, having won the Africa Cup of Nations diadem as a player and as a coach. It is true that the coach has a right to be where he chooses, especially as no deal has been struck with the NFF. Yet, he ought to have considered President Goodluck Jonathan’s directive to restore his job by shunning Equatorial Guinea’s FA chiefs’ quest for his services. He always told us that he could do anything for the president aside, the fact that he loves Nigeria so much.

    Some have argued that the coach is a friend to the head of government’s son and could have been invited by him. Correct deductions, if the argument is hinged on the fact that he still wants to work for Nigeria, having collected N14 million. But, the flipside to this poser rests with the fact that the coach travelled to Malabo without telling his employer that he would be there. If he told his employers, his travelling ticket would have been done by them and the trip made official.

    On the hindsight, he deserves to shun sentiments in deciding his future. But such sentiments informed his return to the job after his sack. He has had several running battles with his employers. He needs to move, if any opening beckons. We just hope that Nigerians can bear the pains of watching him run his new team while our dear Eagles sit at home.

     

    The President must hear this!

    The Nigeria Amateur Boxing Federation (NABA) is in the news for the wrong reasons. In the past, NABA produced boxers who distinguished themselves inside the ring, wining laurels for Nigeria. Many likened their exploits to athletics and we looked forward to watching them outpunch their rivals.

    Those glorious days are gone. The boxing gymnasium can be recognised only by the rusty equipment inside the place. The gym is home to rabbits, reptiles, rodents and other dangerous animals due to lack of competitions and practice.

    But, there is some form of resurgence in boxing here. The intrigues have been swept under the carpet. A new dawn beckons. With these new dawn have come medals at the 2014 Commonwealth Games. And President Goodluck Jonathan rewarded the athletes and coaches with cash and national honours.

    For the boxing coaches, the president announced N1 million cash reward. However, this writer was shocked to hear one of the coaches, Tony Konyegwachi, tell the world on television that he was paid N500,000 instead of N1 million. What could have gone wrong? Administrative charges?

    Why was such cash paid through the Boxing Federation? Why couldn’t the athletes and coaches send their account details for the money to be deposited? Who handled the cash reimbursement?

    One hopes that the minister can intervene and get those who did that ridiculous deduction to return the coach’s N500,000. It wouldn’t be a bad idea if those who tampered with the cash are reported to the EFCC. Or what do you think minister?

    Madness in the Glasshouse

     

    I thought these spurious arithmetic calculations where five people would impeach the speaker of a House of Assembly is restricted to politicians. I always have a good laugh when such topics are discussed at editorial conferences.

    I was therefore shocked to read on Thursday where a minority report has been made to cancel an election where the majority of the members voted. Four out of five members of the NFF Appeals Committee signed a document endorsing all that transpired at the body’s elections held in Warri. In this majority, the members informed us that the chairman’s minority report would be made public on Thursday.

    Since the majority upheld the elections, the media went to town with it. The aspect of the chairman’s minority report was included. Sadly, we are now faced with another round of controversy that should attract FIFA’s immediate sanctions, having been told by the world body that the last threat was our last warning.

    Why do we like to make Nigeria the laughing stock in the world? You don’t need rocket science to know that decisions taken and duly signed by four people out of five should be upheld. Can’t somebody call this man to order? We are tired of this madness. We must move forward. We are still ruing Nigeria’s failure to defend the trophy which we won last year in South Africa. Many have traced our ouster to the instability at the Glasshouse. This is the time to start working, otherwise, Nigeria will not be at the Russia 2018 World Cup. This is a warning.

  • Let’s face facts

    Nigerians are interesting when it comes to supporting the beautiful game. They spare no words in celebrating our soccer teams, especially the Super Eagles. Woe unto you if you dare express any form of warning anytime the Eagles are flying.

    For the Nigerian soccer fan, victory, no matter how it comes, is essential for the Eagles in every game. They are not concerned about details. This writer has been on the firing line since the Eagles began their campaign three years ago under this coaching crew.

    Yes, the results came, culminating in the famous Africa Cup of Nations feat in South Africa on February 10. But, there were flaws in the team, which pundits tried to highlight. If curses could kill, this writer wouldn’t have lived a second after the first tirade against the Eagles. The invectives came in torrents. The Nigerian fan is quick to commend anyone who dares to differ from popular views, if the Eagles stumble. Indeed, when such warning signals are ignored and the Eagles falter, many of them retract their comments and identify with the new trend. The team’s performances have been a disaster waiting to happen.

    The pertinent questions from readers who have lampooned me have been – Who is the Eagles chief coach? When will the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) name a new coach?

    Soccer-loving Nigerians must note that should we allow this lacuna in the team’s technical crew to continue till the end of the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations in Equitorial Guinea, Nigeria may as well forget about qualifying for the 2018 World Cup in Russia. This is a warning. By the time the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations ends, at least eight countries would have a team in place to prosecute their World Cup qualifiers while Nigeria will be rebuilding with a jaded technical crew that has lost its direction, exhibiting poor knowledge of the game.

    How else can we accept the fact that Eagles’ coaches have failed when Nigeria is the only country out of the five that represented Africa at the Brazil 2014 World Cup that will be missing in Equatorial Guinea next year? So, who is insisting that the coaches should stay? One thing is clear – if we allow the coaches stay, we have prepared the stage for crowd violence at the stadium, if the Eagles continue to totter.

    Before the game against Sudan in Abuja, some fans pelted the coaches with stones, sachet and bottled water. Around the stadium were placards stating that the coaches should go. Supporters of these coaches alleged that the fans were rented to cause commotion.

    Some fans carried placards inside the Akwa Ibom International Stadium in Uyo. Those who were in Uyo when Nigeria crashed out of the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations told of the motley crowd crying over the loss. Others threw objects unto the field.

    Are these not enough evidence to show that the coaches are not wanted anymore? Is it until the fans invade the pitch to stop the match in a bid to vent their anger on the players and coaches before we ask these men to go? Have we sat back at home to watch Eagles’ last two home matches to see placard-carrying Nigerians at the stands?

    Poor fans! They storm the stadium to watch the Eagles only to have their blood pressure raised by appalling displays.  Then we launch into useless post mortem.  Why can’t we be proactive? my advice to the NFF is for them to focus on our U-20 and U-23. They have started well by getting the right coaches to groom the squads for the FIFA U-20 World Cup, the All African Games and the Brazil 2016 Olympic Games. They must not allow these coaches field players older than the stipulated age brackets.

    The players must be drawn from the domestic league. This can only happen if the NFF can insist on good officiating, which will come with adequate security at all the stadia before, during and after matches. NFF chiefs and indeed chieftains of the League Management Committee (LMC) must meet with the Inspector General of Police (IGP). It is about time we had security men trained specifically for crowd control at the stadium. This is the norm in other climes.

    How can a referee be protected when the security operatives in the stadium are wearing the home club’s jerseys? This is main reason why our domestic league is unsafe, even with the LMC’s laudable initiatives.

    Referees are human and they are prone to mistakes, so the NFF must ensure that they are exposed to courses where they can learn the basics. They are an integral part of the game. With adequate security, referees can handle matches properly. I could also task the NFF and LMC to ensure that all the domestic league games are televised either live or recorded. There must also be a platform where all the games are previewed and reviewed on television where the highlights of the good, the bad and the horrible are shown.

    Sanctions should be meted out without fear or favour. The NFF and the LMC must lobby the National Assembly for a law against beating up referees or causing a breach of peace. Until such a law is enacted, home clubs will continue to mobilise urchins in their areas to beat up referees. No stranger can invade a pitch to cause mayhem. Club chairmen and secretaries are culpable in this act of organising roughnecks to threaten referees before, during and after matches, in a bid to secure three points.

    The Barclays English Premier League is the most watched in the world because it is connected to the people and the corporate world through incisive television coverage. People sit in their homes around the globe to watch the Barclays English Premier League games. They also can contribute on skype, e-mail and on telephone to topical issues on the competition’s official television station. With this type of packaging, it is difficult for the big spending firms in the world not to network the goods and services on such a station since the people are the ultimate consumers of their wares.

    The NFF and the LMC must ensure that the coaches who handle the league clubs are eminently qualified. They must institute a system where renowned tacticians school our club coaches periodically about the new training methods in the game. This idea of former players becoming coaches is chiefly responsible for the poor standard of play in the domestic league. The LMC must from this new season ensure that the domestic league coaches are badge. Those unqualified ones should be shown the way out. Coaching is not an all-comers job. Great players often times don’t make great coaches. Therefore, ex-internationals must go to school if they want to transform from being players to coaches.

    They are talents at the grassroots. The problem is that Nigerian coaches are lazy. They are fixated. They don’t understand that the game is dynamics. They are all-knowing and don’t think it is right for them to undergo refresher courses to equip themselves in coaching. Indeed, Nigerian coaches are bane of the game here. But for the game to really grow, the pitches must be lush green grass. The pitch must be well laid to enhance the players’ performance not these bumpy pitches which make ball control difficult.

    Sunday Oliseh, (you remember him?) summed up the precarious state of Nigeria’s football on his blog; saying: “Most of us played football as kids; we all have an opinion or idea about football. This, however, leads some to think they are experts of the sport. This is not only wrong, but dangerous.

    “Should you want to be a top coach, football administrator or technician, you have to study and get your certified qualifications and, even then, you are not guaranteed success.

    “Spain’s Football Federation recently banned Real Madrid’s second-team coach, Zinedine Zidane, from coaching because he doesn’t have the right qualifications.

    “If they can ban such a legend from coaching the second division, why should we hand over our national teams and first division club sides to people who just attended two-week seminars and pretend to be qualified?

    “It takes two years minimum to be a qualified UEFA-licensed coach via theoretic and practical exercises. It is a crime to air your opinion, give advice or suggestions on how to better the Super Eagles without the handlers throwing insults at you or crying out that you seek their job.

    “They probably do this because they got the job by back stabbing, hence they fail to understand that not everyone wants to coach the Super Eagles.

    “When you lack ‘raw’ quality in your team, you advocate and build success via team work, team play and a regular team to compensate for what you lack in individual quality.

    “The uncoordinated way in which the Super Eagles play, which triggered our recent elimination, is borne out of the fact that there were too much line-up changes. Not only does the team not play well or succeed, it is a ‘foreign’ and unknown team to Nigerians.”

    These views are coming from one of the most decorated Super Eagles player and ex-captain, Sunday Oliseh. Need I say more?

  • Now … the future

    How can Nigeria be so big, yet so foolish? Who do we tell that a country with over 170 million people cannot qualify for the Africa Cup of Nations from a group that had Congo, South Africa and Sudan? How are the mighty fallen?

    Who can quantify how much would be lost by Nigerians, firms and others in the business of sports now that Nigeria is out of the Africa Cup of Nations? When Nigeria has a soccer game, the streets are empty. If we win, the talk everywhere the next day is on the victory. Everyone becomes a pundit. Nigerians put aside their religious inclinations and creed to embrace one another when the Eagles score goals. For the 90-minute game, Nigerians are united in their quest for victory. The urchins and roughnecks leave their vices to watch the matches. What would all these people be doing next year when the competition begins without the Eagles?  How would the domestic league grow when our national teams are populated by Europe-based players? Who would watch the local games without our idols?

    Women are excited anytime the Eagles are playing because they are sure that their husbands would come home to watch the match. Kids look forward to watching the matches with their parents. Young boys and girls use the viewing centres to rake in cash. All these are gone – no thanks to this avoidable ouster from the 2015 edition.

    So, Nigeria couldn’t beat Sudan and Congo home and away? Ah! Is it not a shame that we could garner only eight points from the designated 18? Is there any difference in the coaches’ World Cup matches where we secured four points from the possible 12? Rather than sack the coaches then, we pampered them and hounded the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) men.

    Countries have sacked their fumbling coaches and reconstituted their teams, midway into World Cup qualifiers and secured the ticket. Brazil used five coaches and 99 players during the qualifiers to the 2002 World Cup co-hosted by Korea and Japan. They eventually won the trophy. So, what was that foolish talk about sacking ours with two matches left in the qualifiers? How has the reversal given us the ticket to defend the trophy we won in South Africa on February 10? The new NFF helmsmen wisely sacked these fumblers. Just when we were celebrating the soul-lifting change, the tide changed.

    Look at what a reversal of decision has done to the psyche of Nigerians. Nigerians are now forced to watch the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations slated for Equitorial Guinea on television; so sad.

    Sports, the only thing that unites us, is being used sadly to cause us pains because of our incompetent coaches and their players who made us a laughing stock at the Brazil 2014 World Cup, when they shamelessly refused to train until they were paid their appearance fees. Luck, which has been the basic ingredient in the Eagles’ past feats, eluded the team after sharing our collective wealth ($3.85 million) till the wee hours on match day against France.

    Super Eagles under these coaches have been living on the edge, a team bastardised by the inclusion of bench warmers, injury-hit players and recuperating ones. Indeed, the team has not been a platform to showcase our best. Rather it has become a rehabilitation centre.

    There was so much hoopla about the Super Eagles’ “comeback” from the dead in terms of the country’s chances of qualifying for the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations slated to hold in Equatorial Guinea, simply because we beat Congo in Pointe Noire. We forgot that the Eagles are the defending champions. We were celebrating a feat where we are ninth in Africa and 42nd in the world. We did not see anything wrong with this euphoria in a group that had Congo, South Africa and Sudan.

    Imagine Sudan beating Nigeria! Just imagine. Sudan is the last team in the group table. We couldn’t grab all the six points allocated to this fixture. South Africa (our former wives, they say in soccer parlance) did. They won two of their three away games. Is there any reason for us to celebrate? Shouldn’t this period be for sober reflection, if we are truly the African champions? When would we stop this hail ‘him today, crucify him tomorrow’ style of running our football?

    It did not matter that South Africa beat Sudan and Congo at home to top the group. We were pleased with the fact that we beat Congo. But, did we take the pains to find out why we tottered all through the qualifiers? Indeed, we started the competition by losing 3-2 at home to Congo, though many have ascribed the loss to the impasse at the NFF.  What a weak excuse, especially as the Falconets emerged runners-up at the FIFA U-20 World Cup held in Canada. It is important to stress here that the Falconets barely made the trip because Nigeria was cleared for the competition by FIFA, less than five days to the tournament.

    Eagles’ campaign in the qualifiers was shambolic, unworthy of true champions. Swept under the carpet were the coaches’ poor tactics, their refusal to subject their players’ invitation list to scrutiny and the continuous inclusion of half-fit and recuperating stars in their squads. Is it not laughable that we invited Kenneth Omeruo for the two games against Congo and South Africa, in spite of the fact that he had not played a game for four consecutive weeks for his English Championship side Middleborough? Shouldn’t the coaches have asked Omeruo’s manager what the problem was? Omeruo was the worst culprit in the game against Bafana. He knew he wasn’t fit, yet he couldn’t tell the coaches to leave him out of the game. Today, his rating has fallen and it could affect his place at Middleborough. Omeruo shed crocodile tears after the game. Too late!

    Godfrey Oboabona’s in-and-out appearance for the Eagles is worrisome. Is it not time we asked him to undergo a surgery to solve this recurring injury, if we think he is integral to the coaches’ permutations for the team? Oboabona is our best defender. His absence due to suspension exposed the Eagles’ defence against South Africa on Wednesday.

    Word was rife that the coaches wanted to move Efe to the central defence position. Is it now that they have realised that Efe functions better in the position? Is that not where Efe plays for Celtic in the Scottish Premier League? So, why did the coaches settle for a rusty Omeruo? One of the sins of Nigerian coaches is the fixation about where players should and play and who does what. They are scared to take risks.

    Looking at the Eagles today, it is apparent that Ambrose Efe has lost form. The coaches must scout for his replacements. And the immediate place to find them will be from the youth teams, especially those who are now in Europe, pending when they would have come of age to play the game there.

    Credit must go to goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama for saving our blushes of not qualifying for the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations. His timely penalty save changed the face of the game in Pointe Noire. No team can win laurels if its best performer is the goalkeeper. Our coaches need to evolve systems that would invigorate the Eagles’ midfield to produce the passes for the strikers to score goals. The beauty of football rests with the goals. Only goals win matches.

    My problem with the Eagles is that the coaches have refused to use their matches to tacitly rebuild the team by introducing younger players. Hope Akpan is a wonderful addition to the Eagles but the coaches need to visit Arsenal to lure the Nigerian-born kids under Arsene Wenger’s tutelage. They also need to integrate some of our age-grade stars, such as Kelechi Ihenacho, into the team.

    The coaches must begin the process of getting the Eagles’ squad to represent Nigeria at the 2018 World Cup competition in Russia. They need to watch how other countries are replacing their ageing stars with younger players, ahead of the World Cup qualifiers next year.

    Enyeama’s heroics are heart-warming because goalkeepers get better as they age. But can we say the same for our strikers, defenders and midfielders? I don’t think so. This is the puzzle that the coaches must fix immediately, instead of waiting to restart the rebuilding next year.

    The coaches have no deals. They can take a walk, but we must ensure that only players who play in the European and domestic league make the country’s squad. No coach should be given the freehand to pick Eagles players. Coaches’ players’ lists must be vetted by the relevant people, if we must avert what caused our ouster from the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations. The reasons are the same when we also crashed out from the 2012 edition.

    I’m a fan of foreign coaches. We need one, but he must be prepared to live with us. He must have a culture for soccer academies to fish out talents in the grassroots. Such a foreign coach must be prepared to train and re-train our coaches. The European coach should be allowed to come with his men. They must work with our age-grade teams’ coaches as their Nigerian assistants. The reason for this change is that these Nigerian coaches (Samson Siasia, Manu Garba and Emmaneul Amunike) can take what they learnt back to their teams. This way, we can have a football culture and a playing style. This arrangement will settle the problem of replacing ageing players. I look forward to seeing Kelechi Ihanacho playing for the Eagles against Brazil on March 25 in Uyo.

    Our coaches are not knowledgeable enough for the Super Eagles. The talk of getting our past stars who played in Europe to handle the Eagles has caused us more pain than glory. Eagles is definitely too big for Nigerian coaches, especially ex-internationals.

  • Going to Pointe Noire

    Today is significant in our quest to defend the Africa Cup of Nations’ diadem that we won in South Africa on February 10, 2013. It is not enough for the players to make promises. It is important to ask the coaches if they have reconciled the warring factions in the team.

    Has the chief coach truly forgiven Ikechukwu Uche? How would Uche feel today, if the coaches place him on the bench? Will Uche give his best if introduced? Is it true that Emmanuel Emenike and the coaches don’t talk to one another? The coaches have to face the fact that players must be prepared to play.

    Aggrieved players cannot give their best. The coaches and the players must, therefore, embrace peace. No squabbles. What Nigerians crave for today is victory. We must leave the pitch today with the same seven points as Congo. This will only happen if we beat them. It is possible only with a united house. It will be a big shame if Nigeria doesn’t qualify for the Africa Cup of Nations from a group that has Congo, Sudan and South Africa. More ridiculous will be that we couldn’t finish among the best two.

    My poser to the players and coaches: What will the 2015 edition of the Africa Cup of Nations look like without the defending champions? It certainly won’t be the first time this is happening. But the Super Eagles have their last chance to qualify for the next competition. The coaches and the players must forget about their internal problems and stop the Congolese at home in Point Noire today.

    Is this an insurmountable task for the Eagles? No. Our players have been through such tough terrains before, for club and country. We have many big stage players, who know how to raise their game when they need to. Now is the time for them to win a game for the teeming fans, many of whom will be fasting so that they can watch their Eagles shock the continent again, like they did in South Africa on February 10, 2013.

    Have the players and coaches thought about what they would be doing, if Nigeria fails to qualify for the 2015 edition? What would they be telling their admirers, if asked what happened to the Eagles? What do they want Nigerians to remember them for? Wouldn’t pundits sneer at us when the games begin next year and the Eagles are not part of the best 24 teams in Africa? Is that what the players want to bequeath to their successors?

    Our players’ scorecard for their European clubs last weekend was awful. Vincent Enyeama conceded the 12th goal in 13 outing. Austin Ejide conceded the seventh goal. If the coaches are to judge Chijoke Agbim’s outing last week Friday at the Akwa Ibom International Stadium against Ghana’s U-23 players, they would be apprehensive. But with the Eagles, Enyeama has been outstanding. It shouldn’t come as a surprise that Enyeama has been listed in the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) African Footballer of the Year’s nomination.

    How can Enyeama be talking about an injured shoulder? Where did he sustain the injury? He mustn’t be risked for the game. Only very fit players should wear the jersey today. Ejide is an efficient goalkeeper, except that he is prone to injuries. Don’t ask me about Chijoke Agbim being asked to start the game in Pointe Noire? Many Nigerians won’t watch the game. Look at the way Agbim was fidgeting in the ceremonial game to open the Akwa Ibom International Stadium last week Friday in Uyo.

    Until recently, the Eagles’ defensive four-man group had been the pivot of the team. Not so any more with the silly goals the team has been conceding, especially in the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations’ qualifiers. Efe Ambrose and Kenneth Omeruo have been sidelined by their clubs for weeks. Not many can vouch for Oboabona’s form. Only Juwon Oshaniwa is playing for his Israeli club. Many have, however, asked about the quality of strikers in the Israeli league to give Juwon the type of challenge that he will face today. The flipside is for the coaches to rely on experienced Elderson Echiejile, who, incidentally, has played for his French side in the last two weeks. Again, the coaches will be happy that these bench warmers are not nursing injuries.

    Eagles’ leaky defence makes a mockery of the commanding display of the team’s chief coach, Stephen Keshi, when he played for Nigeria. Could it be the absence of regular first team shirts in their European sides that has affected their sterling performance, like we saw in at the South Africa 2013 Africa Cup of Nations? Keshi was awesome. He managed the team on the pitch. He took responsibility by stepping forward to score vital goals. Keshi ‘arrested’ troublesome players in the opposition, a trait missing since the Big Boss was appointed.

    Whereas our opponents plot how to mark out our dangerous players, Eagles stars just strive to win matches without planning to stop the opposition’s best. Congo has a dangerous striker who plays for Almeria in the Spanish La Liga. He scored a breath-taking goal against Barcelona last weekend. Indeed, he scored against the Eagles in Calabar, which makes it imperative for the coaches and the players to take him out of the game before 45 minutes.

    Fair and foul means are employed to stop our big players. The Italians took out Emmanuel Amuneke and Daniel Amokachi at the USA’94 World Cup; remember? Should I remind you about how the French roughened out Michael Babatunde and Oguenyi Onazi at the Brazil 2014 World Cup? The exit of these players at accounted for Nigeria’s early exit at both World Cups in 1994 and 2014.

    If Keshi and his crew fix the Eagles’ defence, victory in Pointe-Noire would be achieved with plenty of goals. The Congolese need a win, even though a draw would still fetch them the qualification ticket. But an early goal would do the magic for the Eagles, provided the defenders stay with the Congolese. If they do that, the hosts will be frustrated. They will be struggling to even the score. This panicky setting will expose the hosts at the rear. We just hope that the midfield arrangement will have boys who can be selfless during the game by giving the balls to those who are free to score goals. Goals alone win matches, not fanciful displays or selfishness by any player(s).

    Will the coaches have the courage to bench either Mikel Obi or Oguenyi Onazi? Both players play in the same defensive positions for their European clubs. We, however, saw a better playing Mikel in the country’s last victory over Sudan, largely because Onazi was deployed to play at the right back position. I hope the coaches can stick to this game plan so that younger boys can do the marking in the midfield for the Eagles while Mikel sprays the passes like he does at Chelsea.

    Most games are won in the midfield. Besides, coaches use the midfield to plot their counter strategies, especially in the second when the opposition would have given all that they have to offer. Our coaches leave the changes too late. I hope that the coaches have jettisoned the archaic 4-2-4 formation. Our players know how to play in the 4-4-2 format or 4-5-1 or the 3-5-2 style depending on what the coaches want them to adopt. Modern day soccer is played in the midfield by the team that outnumbers the opposition with thinking boys in that department, who create openings for their strikers to convert.

    Eagles must learn how to effectively utilise Ahmed Musa’s pace by giving him the passes early. Such early release of passes gives Musa the edge to outrun his markers. Musa, happily, has started scoring goals. Musa has grown to understand that he can be the team’s undertaker where designated strikers have been marked out of the game.

    Given Emenike’s status as a prolific scorer, no country pitched against Nigeria ignores him. He is a marked man. But Uche’s return is the coaches’ trump card. Having been out of the team for two years, it is only proper that Uche starts the game from the bench so that he can observe how his new mates play.

    I hope that the coaches have perfected set pieces with the players in training. We have failed to utilise our corner kicks, free-kicks and set plays into goals. Well executed set pieces can catch the Congolese off guard. The beauty about goals scored from set plays is that they are indisputable.

    Incidentally, Keshi and Daniel Amokachi were in the Eagles squad that beat Congo in Pointe Noire. The winning goal was a long pile driver by the late Rashidi Yekeni. Unlike then when the pitch was bumpy, what the Eagles will see today is a synthetic pitch. It shouldn’t be the reason for any excuse at dusk today. The Congolese are used to playing on astro turfs, but they came to Calabar and inflicted the first defeat on the African champions playing on a grassed pitch. Good luck Super Eagles; up Nigeria. Oba khato Okpere, Ise!

  • Eagles’ coaches as lords

    THEY are back. Yes; they are. Our cantankerous coaches are back in the Super Eagles saddle. Is anyone surprised that the Dr. Goodluck Jonathan administration can embrace a coaching crew that was the world’s laughing stock in Brazil, where they spent the night before the game between Nigeria and France sharing their $3.85 million appearance fees?  It means the return of revolts by the Eagles in foreign land. We must prepare for a season coaches scolding their erstwhile employers with ignominy. I hope it doesn’t dovetail into beating up NFF men, now that they coaches take orders from the Presidency. Aren’t these coaches blessed?

    What you need to have to coach the Eagles is to have friends at the Presidency, get the ears of the Senate President, shout loud enough for the Secretary to the Government to hear, call any governor of your choice and, of course, get the attention of the Sports Minister to ridicule your employers. These are not easy targets but when everyone calls you big, it doesn’t matter if your team has won one game out of 13. What counts for the coaches’ friends in high places is that they have broken records last achieved some donkey years ago. It doesn’t also matter if the mantra for coaches of being judged by their last matches runs against your recent achievements. Eagles’ coaches cannot be assessed by the team’s performances on the pitch because the NFF is perpetually enmeshed in crises. But our girls win trophies and play in the finals of the women World Cup. Will Nigerians sit up at night to watch the Falcons or Falconets like they do for the Eagles? I can hear those in government retort as they read this: Is that so?

    Who cares if the Eagles are 42nd in the world or even ninth in Africa? The Eagles can be 100th in the world and rock the bottom among African teams. The coaches must stay. They are untouchable. After all, there is the unseen caveat by the government that no foreign coach should be appointed. So who is that Nigerian coach to dethrone our immutable ones? Those in high places have forgotten that these coaches took the job from others. Let them continue to peddle influence in the corridors of power. Our football will be the loser. I hope it won’t be too late. I digress!

    I have watched in awe how these Eagles coaches have smuggled themselves back. But if these coaches have any self esteem, they ought to walk up to those influence peddlers at the corridors of power to politely reject the job. Would they do it? How can they? Where in the world would they secure such mouthful deal for their poor tactics? Indeed, the talk of having seven offers on the table is cheap. They dropped those deals because Nigeria has better players to sustain their mercantile tendencies for selling players to the European markets. That is the hidden truth; not patriotism; not the love of the game. No.

    But my joy stems from the fact that they are not beating their chests to celebrate this unholy return. Nigerians are not fooled by this senseless decision which has left the NFF as the inferior partner in an agreement where it should be calling the shots. I don’t believe that President Goodluck Jonathan ordered the coaches’ return. If the President did, he ought to have directed that their contracts be sealed and payment made upfront if that is what they want.

    I hope those at the Presidency understand the import of keeping quiet while this tale reigns in the minds of Nigerians. If the coaches succeed, which I doubt very much, the purported presidential fiat would have worked. However, if Congo beats Nigeria or secures a draw in Pointe Noire, then the masses would descend on the President, whose hands are full with the myriad of problems besetting the country. Those peddling this presidential directive don’t like President Jonathan. They need to speak up because nothing has changed since the coaches returned.

    The team list for the two games against Congo and South Africa has Ikechukwu Uche as the only meaningful addition. Even at that, Uche still needs more than this game to blend with the others. I know that Uche will be pilloried if he fails to excel against the Congolese. But that is expected after being sidelined from the squad for two years. It means that the coaches don’t know the problem with the Eagles. I hope that the coaches know that the game will be played on synthetic turf, which gives the Congolese significant advantage. The argument of playing on artificial pitch is untenable because the Congolese beat us on a grassed pitch. Football hardly has anything to do with the playing surface, if the players are fit and know what to do. The coaches must give them the right tactics to run the opposition aground. But where we have half-fit and bench-warming players in the Eagles, only divine intervention can rescue them from imminent defeat in Pointe Noire.

    The 25-man squad doesn’t represent our best in Europe for the months of September and October. It is despicable that Victor Moses is being dropped by the coaches because we are playing on artificial turfs. Shouldn’t they have asked Moses if he would want to play on such turfs? Moses is the most exciting Nigerian player in Europe today. He attracts rave previews and reviews in the Barclays English Premier League, including the backlash from Swansea’s Manager Monk for diving.

    Is it not also ridiculous that Chinedu Obasi isn’t on the list? Obasi has been a jewel for Schalke 04 since Di Matteo joined the German Bundelsiga. Obasi has also been outstanding playing for Schalke 04 in the competitive UEFA Champions League. He has scored goals in this competition. Shouldn’t such a player make the Eagles list based on his club form? I really don’t know what the coaches have against Obafemi Martins’ inclusion on a list that has players who have been perpetual bench warmers in the Eagles in the last three years? Can anyone ask the coaches what crime Sunday Mba has committed? Why is Obasi excluded? As it is now, the NFF dare not ask these coaches? They take orders from the top.

    Part of the problem with the Eagles rests with the arbitrary manner in which the list of invited players is drawn without recourse to certain basic ingredients, like we see in other countries. John Mikel Obi isn’t fit, with less than one week to the battle in Congo. In fact feelers from Chelsea’s Stamford Bridge grounds suggest that Mikel may not play until the next two weeks. Yet, our all-knowing coaches picked him for the two matches to be played within five days. Oguenyi Onazi isn’t also too fit. Ambrose Efe has lost his first team shirt at Celtic FC of Glasgow. Elderson Echijile scored a goal last weekend after a spell on the bench. Kenneth Omeruo hasn’t been able to tie down a regular shirt at Middleborough. We must thank God that Emmanuel Emenike has started scoring again. Only Ahmed Musa is a sure bet in terms of his current form. It is for this reason that our coaches ought to have invited Moses, Obasi, Martins and Anichebe. Even Kelechi Ihenanacho.

    The Congolese would panic seeing all our big stars doing well in Europe in our line-up. It would give us the psychological advantage that such big players need to bury the hosts. The 25-man list doesn’t inspire me. It is good the coaches are told the truth so that they don’t return with tales of sabotage by some Nigerians. Again, the coaches are not complaining now that they cannot train the boys on synthetic pitches. I hope they don’t return with tales of the unexpected.

    As for the game against Congo, it is my fervent wish that Nigeria wins. Victory will improve our FIFA ranking, except that it will make the coaches more powerful than they were until their reinstatement by the Presidency. It is only with the Eagles coaches that the employee is bigger than the employer. What that encourages is indiscipline. It also sets the coaches against their employers and Nigeria football is bound to suffer as either party strives to show its importance.

    Already, the coaches have won the battle to recall Slyvanus Okpala, just as they have succeeded in reversing NFF’s decision to drop the team’s former media man and coordinator. Will this victory party for the coaches continue? I hope this trend doesn’t dovetail into the situation where the coaches would wake up one day to say that the NFF board should be sacked?

    Now that NFF men have become Lilliputians before the coaches, who then will pay the cash they will demand if we eventually qualify for the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations? Or will the coaches’ friends in high places provide the cash? Time will tell.

  • Sports without a minister

    Sports Ministers are the problem with Nigeria’s football. They come with jaded mindsets about what is happening in the GlassHouse in Abuja. For most ministers, the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) is the most corrupt body in the universe. So, they always come for the jugular of its president, not minding if he is achieving results or not.

    Every new minister visits the NFF secretariat first, even when all the stadia are in ruins. Rather than ask National Sports Commission (NSC) officials where all the cash budgeted for stadium development goes, he listens to their advice and calls for a change immediately without following the due process.

    Ministers want to run NFF budgets, even as no NFF board has been found guilty of corruption. Since ministers deal directly with the President, they tell tales about what they see as the administrative tardiness at the Glasshouse. Our shambolic outings in the other 43 sports do not matter. Till date, the NFF is the most successful federation among the others, yet this is where the most bizarre changes are made.

    Many sports federations don’t attend major competitions as important as the Africa Cup of Nations and nothing happens. Members fight themselves and provide evidence of corrupt practices in their sports, but such incidents are treated with levity.

    Indeed, most ministers divide the ranks in our football anytime our male footballers raise any dust. The women understand why such things happen and win laurels. Super Eagles and ministers are the cancer in our football. Eagles have embarrassed us twice in Namibia and Brazil. Rather than disband the team, we are busy trying to smuggle the coaches, who couldn’t get the boys to travel back, into the team.

    For instance, majority of the countries at the World Cup have not received their appearance fees. Our Eagles have, alongside Cameroon and Ghana.

    Our girls’ teams (Falconets and Super Falcons) have shone despite these crises. The Eagles are struggling to qualify for the Cup of Nations – a competition in which they are the defending champions.

    It is the eagerness to remove everyone in the GlassHouse and install the minister’s men that has always set Nigeria against the constituted authorities in FIFA and CAF. Some 208 countries abide by FIFA’s simple rules; Nigeria won’t. Ministers see the window in Decree 101, which gives them the power to intervene at any time they feel that things are not going well with our football. Sadly, the Aminu Maigari-led NFF qualified for all FIFA’s competitions, earning the body accolades from the world football ruling body. Nigeria was the only country out of 209 – our country inclusive – to achieve that feat, yet our minister hounded that board out with ignominy.

    In a desperate attempt to remove Maigari, all manner of people were recruited and promised positions at the NFF. Perhaps, the minister thought he could muscle in Giwa. But the insistence on doing the election on the basis of the FIFA statutes scuttled an effort which would have sailed through in the past where the minister would have invoked Decree 101 to install Giwa. The minister’s tacit support in the kangaroo election that ushered in Giwa left much to be desired. Again, the swiftness in implementing the initial court verdict gave an indication about what the government wanted.

    Had the minister withdrawn from the illegal attempt to enthrone Giwa, especially when the legitimate NFF held its congress, first on the road and then inside one hotel in Abuja, maybe Giwa would have seen reason to give up his ambition in the interest of Nigeria.

    The spates of arrest of key functionaries of the NFF gave the now de facto group some hope that their dreams would soon be realised. Now that they are left holding the short end of the stick, they have no other option but to play the spoiler role or become the monster that could consume the minister, if he isn’t careful.

    The minister encouraged the charade at the court by immediately implementing the judgment. He appointed an interim secretary for the NFF – an action which negates the statutes. The Jos court ruling was unnecessary when the end of the Maigari-led board was less than 30 days away. Pundits wondered why the minister was in a hurry to sack a board on the verge of finishing its tenure.

    Had the minister listened to submissions from stakeholders and perhaps bothered to speak with FIFA men, he would have known that only the Congress can do what he had in mind. Besides, the minister also refused to deny the fact that he was supporting Giwa to replace Maigari. His body language gave him away and set other stakeholders against Giwa – if to prove to the minister that he is human after all.

    How the minister blew the chance to redeem himself still baffles this writer. He could have divided the Maigari-led camp than muscle them through needless harassment. The minister would have stopped the kangaroo elections, the moment some aggrieved people stormed out of the hotel to conduct their meeting in one of the streets in Abuja.

    Again, the second meeting should not have been in Warri, not Abuja. FIFA’s insistence on having Maigari to supervise the last congress ought to have shown the minister where the pendulum was swinging. It is, however late, in the day for the minister to do CAF’s and FIFA’s biddings, having allowed Giwa to spend money on the elections. No one will blame Giwa, if he tries to play the spoilsport, if that is what he needs to show that he cannot be taken for a ride. Again, had the minister being neutral in his disposition to the two sides in the impasse, he could have pleaded with Giwa to shift grounds, having known that the earlier arrangement would not be accepted by FIFA.

    Interestingly, it has dawned on the Nigerian government that FIFA can ban us, unlike after the South Africa 2010 World Cup when the defunct Presidential Task Force (PTF) advised the president to withdraw the country from all soccer competitions for two years for us to reinvent the game here. FIFA threatened a ban and the president, after reading the wise counsel from his Facebook fans, reversed his decision.

    CAF President Issa Hayatou said Nigeria has become an embarrassment to both FIFA and the continental body. Indeed, Hayatou revealed that he begged Sepp Blatter not to stop the final game between Nigeria’s Falcons and their Cameroonian counterparts stating that if he didn’t do that, he would have been accused of helping his country to lift the trophy without kicking the ball. That is true Hayatou. One hopes that Nigeria will utilise this window to get the illegal NFF off our backs in the interest of the youth who play this game to eke out a living.

    We are in this quagmire because certain key government men who dabbled in the peace moves earlier played politics with the matter. Rather than tell all the parties to abide by the tenets of the FIFA statutes, they were interested in stopping the previous board from staging a return. It will be sad if FIFA bans Nigeria. Falcons would have laboured in vain as they would be prevented from participating at the World Cup slated to hold next year in Canada. All our national teams would stop all their playoffs. We would be declared a pariah nation. Even the domestic games’ results wouldn’t be regonised because they would be handled by referees not recognised by FIFA. So, those rooting for the ban so that we can redefine our game must know that for the locust period, nothing would be valid.

    It would be sad if the government shuns this disturbing trend because many of our good players would seek new nationality in a bid to earn their living for the period when we would be banned. Thank God Giwa has withdrawn the case from court. I hope he won’t drag us back to it, if his demands are not met?

    Let’s boo these fumbling coaches

    The story of the return of the Super Eagles technical crew is laughable. In this crew is a man who told us before his sack that he had seven offers, now being asked to rescue an assignment that has placed our chances of defending the trophy we won in South Africa last year in the cliff hanger. Some say it is a presidential directive. Hmmm! Nigeria, we hail thee. Nigeria jaga, jaga.

    Change, ordinarily, is meant to retrieve something that has lost its course. Indeed, when changes are made, the best gauge to find out if the decision is good rests with how people receive the news. When the technical crew with jaded tactics was eased out of office, the ovation was very loud round the country. Till date, no player has openly supported the return of the technical crew. Their silence means consent and that is where the decision to recall these coaches may further ruin our chances of making it to the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco. These Eagles don’t want to help these coaches to succeed because of what has befallen their colleagues who lost out after feuds with this vindictive technical crew.

    Besides, the person who persuaded the NFF to reverse its decision must stand up to accept that he made a mistake if we fail to get the qualification ticket. I also hope that the coaches would be made to sign a code of conduct, where they would be mandated to submit their team list to the NFF for scrutiny before it is made public.

    Part of the code of conduct for these coaches is the need to guard their utterances that have made Nigeria a laughing stock in the soccer polity. I hoped that the returning coaches know what they are doing because it would be foolhardy for them to complain about late payment of their salaries. Now is the time to reject the offer because I don’t see how this federation can pay coaches N5 million monthly, if Nigeria isn’t at the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations.

    If Nigeria fails to qualify for the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations, I hope that the coaches would resign honourably, now that our Ogas at the top have given them a lifeline to rescue the Eagles. I wonder what they would tell Nigerians when they return. What a pity. Let’s boo these fumbling coaches.