The Nation Newspaper

Category: Ade Ojeikere

  • Eagles going, going…

    Eagles going, going…

    When shall we learn from our mistakes? Why hurry to disband a body whose life span is scheduled to lapse on August 26? Couldn’t we have employed more diplomatic methods in easing out this body, if we truly had evidence against its leadership? If the evidence was damning, isn’t there a body responsible for such an assignment? Since when did this body become a pariah?

    Members of a body that has celebrated its achievements with our soccer teams six times with President Goodluck Jonathan shouldn’t be blown out of the nostrils like catarrh. A body that received a commendation letter from FIFA for being the only country to qualify for all its competitions deserves a pat on the back than being hounded like common criminals.

    How do we feel when FIFA asks us to explain processes that we should be conversant with? What was the reason for going to Brazil to meet with FIFA, if they can still ask us to explain why Aminu Maigari was impeached?

    In an August 4 letter to NFF General Secretary Musa Amadu, signed by Deputy Secretary General Markus Kattner, FIFA demanded a more detailed explanation of Aminu Maigari’s sack.

    They asked for the agenda of the executive committee meeting that sacked Maigari, the conditions for the amendment of the agenda and whether the president was given the chance to defend himself.

    FIFA also stated that the dismissal of any executive committee member was the prerogative of the NFF general assembly and not the executive committee. The world football ruling body also expressed surprise that despite the lifting of the suspension on the country, the situation in Nigeria has become “so inextricable”.

    What I really don’t understand is how the current board has found the majority votes to take the decisions it is churning out. Where were these new voters in the past regime? What is the secret behind this change of gear? These are some of the reasons why FIFA is curious.

    Some people have turned the NFF into an oil well. When they are out of the place, nothing works. They must tell us what they have forgotten in NFF; otherwise we will be back here again in 2018.

    It is absolutely impossible for one man or a troika to be responsible for the mistakes noticed in our Brazil 2014 World Cup campaign. I find it difficult to understand how in one breath we are celebrating the players and coaches for qualifying for the Round of 16 while lampooning the body that took charge of the team’s preparations.

    When Nigeria lifted the Africa Cup of Nations diadem, the coaches and players got the plaudits. The federation chiefs stood aside like orphans. Yet, when the team is adjudged not to have lived up to its potential, those who were sidelined during the happy times are being fingered as the culprits. Our football needs structures to develop and it should start with the immediate abrogation of Decree 101.

    The draconian decree gives the sports minister the power to intervene anytime he perceives any infractions in the system. Most times, ministers unwittingly fight the battles of some disgruntled elements in the soccer family, anytime he/ she decides to invoke the decree to “correct” the flaws in the system. I sympathise with Dr. Tammy Danagogo, because he seems to me like a man desirous of surpassing the novel achievements of his predecessor, Bolaji Abdulahi.

    Danagogo admitted that he was learning the ropes of the industry. He promised to use good advice to correct any mistake that he makes, provided they are objective. I remember asking him at a press conference in Lagos, before the World Cup, what his plans for the post-Brazil 2014 World Cup were. I also asked him how he hoped to cope with the pressure of lickspittles who would bombard him with ‘quality’ advice meant to re-engineer the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF). I, again, asked him what stage the abrogation of Decree 101 was and what it required to become an Act of parliament.

    I recall hearing Danagogo say that he had a few problems with the NFF chiefs but he would treat the issue with care in order not to disrupt our preparation for the World Cup. Danagogo wasn’t committal. I didn’t press further because he was still new then on the job. And he showed that he was reading the notes from all the arms of his ministry.

    So, when the news broke in Brazil that the NFF was in turmoil, I asked why? I knew that Danagogo had been hijacked by the hawks in the sporting industry. I also knew that Danagogo had taken his consultation too far, hence such a horrible decision to sack the NFF board without any recourse to the FIFA statutes.

    President Goodluck Jonathan’s financial intervention in the show-of-shame in Brazil underlined the fact that the $3.850 million wasn’t with the NFF men or the minister. I had thought that the minister ought to have tackled the problem from that point, even if he didn’t want to rock the boat back in Nigeria.

    It would shock the minister to note that Nigerians know where the problems of the game are. And we won’t be able to correct them with the defective Decree 101. We would be deluding ourselves to think that we can run the NFF with the decree after dragging FIFA eggheads to conduct the elections that brought Sani Lulu into office as president.

    Besides, prior to the World Cup, NFF board members beat their chests to say that all was well within their rank and that the Super Eagles would lift the World Cup. Not one member voiced any complaints about how the NFF was being run, aside those suspended by the members at board meetings.

    In Brazil, the members showed no sign of discontentment. Some say that is the hallmark of politicians. Not for our football, because we ought to build on the gains of the Mundial and not destroy it, which is what the brouhaha indicates.

    On August 13, most of the countries at the Brazil 2014 World Cup will be engaged in friendly games, geared towards seeing how some of the new things that they have introduced to their sides have yielded dividends. Some of them would strive to improve their new ranking after the World Cup in order to have the guts to seek to play against better ranked teams.

    Sadly, the Eagles won’t be playing any game because no federation among the 2009 recognised by FIFA would accept a game. Many of the countries that have games on August 13 struck them during the Mundial. For others, agents established links with such federations based on how well their teams played to strike good friendly games with top finishers at the Mundial. Even if our NFF men struck such deals, no federation would feel comfortable doing business with those who were not part of the initial arrangement.

    We are tired of hearing our coaches describe the Eagles as work-in-progress. After such outing in Brazil, we expect that those who didn’t perform should be shown the exit, especially as there is a glut of talents at the grassroots to replace them. The essence of playing international friendlies is for the other 208 countries to see that we can give them the challenge they desire from such big games.

    We have lost that chance of moving up the ladder by not playing in the next FIFA-free window on August 13. The immediate repercussion of such a painful slip is that our FIFA ranking for the month of September would fall. And no country would want to invite countries in the bottom half of the ranking for big games.

    Except we start doing what others have perfected to get to where they are, we would never get big countries like Brazil, Germany, England, France and Portugal to play in Nigeria, like we see them do in South Africa, whose players cannot compete with Eagles stars. Friendlies are the biggest windows for sponsorship. They also encourage firms to invest in the game. Self seekers shouldn’t be allowed to drag us back with their intrigues. Those who have served in the NFF before must be stopped from returning to the place.

    Corporate firms would only appreciate the advantage of investing in the game when Eagles start playing big countries either in Lagos or Abuja. Visits to Nigeria by a Portugal side that has Cristiano Ronaldo or an Argentine side with Lionel Messi will be a box office hit any day, with Nigerians filling the stands to watch and touch their idols.

    A troublesome NFF would not get any serious FA to do business because they won’t be sure of who to deal with. It is good to read that the coaches would be retained. What about the reasons for the coaches’ antics in the past? Can this NFF pay N5 million monthly, for instance? Our football problems transcend impeaching Maigari, suspending Chris Green and Ahmed Fresh.

    The abrogation of the Decree 101 and the full implementation of the FIFA statutes will correct the lapses and define the electorate for subsequent elections. Danagogo holds the key to resolve the imbroglio. We will remember him as the man who gave the game the fillip anytime the draconian Decree 101 is abrogated. Danagogo must not allow FIFA impose another ban on us due to the bungling of some sit-tight administrators in NFF. Oba Khato Okpere, Ise!

  • For Blessing Okagbare

    For Blessing Okagbare

    The urge not to write about soccer this  week is strong. I wish I could do without  writing about Nigeria’s king of sports. I cannot because of the season we are. It is the transfer period. We expect to see young Nigerians earn a living playing the game. With such a setting, it is only appropriate that the exploits of some of our kid stars in Europe come to the front burner at a time like this.

    Today in Manchester City, Kelechi Iheanacho reigns supreme. His exploits in two friendlies have compelled the club’s scouts and coaches to consider him for the main team when the European season opens in England with the Charity Shield game against Arsenal at the Wembley Stadium.

    Iheanacho was the best player at the last FIFA U-17 World Cup held in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), playing for Nigeria’s Golden Eaglets. After his dazzling moments for Nigeria, European scouts struggled to get his signature, culminating in all the stories leading to his picking Manchester City ahead of others.

    So much was said about Iheanacho’s move to Manchester City, especially after his father chose his son’s career path. Iheanacho’s acrimonious movement to Manchester City set him against the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) chiefs and the country’s senior team coaches, leading to his exclusion from the Super Eagles squad to the 2014 World Cup.

    A few people felt Iheanacho’s decision to join Manchester City was wrong considering the club’s penchant for signing celebrated players in its fold. But the beauty with the game is that it creates the platform for immensely talented players such as Iheanacho to exhibit their silky skills for the world to appreciate.

    Manchester City’s manager Pellegrini’s comments about Iheanacho’s abilities lifts the spirit at this time when the Super Eagles need new stars to elevate the team to the world class status it truly deserves.

    Pelegrini was so impressed about Iheanacho’s performance that he told media men after the citizens’ 5-1 thumping of Italian giants AC Milan at Heinz field, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on Sunday that: “ we have a lot of young players here with us. We have Kelechi Iheanacho, Greg Leigh, Jason Denayer and several others. Kelechi has stood out. He’s on fire at the moment. He can’t stop scoring; he’s very calm in front f the goal. It’s an important chance for them to show what they can do, and maybe this moment is their moment.”

    One only hopes that Pelegrini’s wise words would tickle the imagination of Eagles coaches to quickly include him in their plans for the country’s defence of the Africa Cup of Nations diadem, which the Eagles clinched in Johannesburg, South Africa on February 10.

    Such mundane talk as Iheanacho not fitting into the Eagles’ plans because of his age must be jettisoned because we saw several young lads exhibit tremendous skills that left their markers sprawling on the turf. Young boys can only improve if fielded in matches. They will never get a big break if they are left at home. Iheanacho could have done better than many players that our coaches picked as our best at the Brazil 2014 World Cup.

    Iheanacho’s talents remind one of the glorious moment at the Hampden Park Stadium in Glasgow on Monday night when Nigeria’s speedster, Blessing Okagbare, ran a terrific race in the women’s 100 metres to fetch the country the prestigious gold medal. Okagbare also set a new Commonwealth Games record of 10.85 seconds to become the fastest woman in the Commonwealth this year. On Friday night, she clinched the gold medal in the 200 metres for women, the fourth person in the Commonwealth Games’ history. What a feat. What a moment for the girl with a humble beginning bolstered by the financial support of her state governor Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan, who was in Glasgow to watch the worthy girl justify the trust placed in her to develop into the world class star that she is.

    Uduaghan has been there for Okagbare through thick and thin. He lifted her spirits two years ago after Okagbare failed to sparkle at the London 2012 Olympic Games. Okagbare’s exploits in Glasgow underscores the essence of investing in our kids, who most times need financial assistance to raise their game to the heights where our national anthem would be sung at international competitions, such as the Commonwealth Games.

    Uduaghan’s monitoring of Okagbare’s growth should serve as a wake-up call for companies and public spirited Nigerians to invest in potential greats such as Okagbare, if we truly want sports to be the business that it is in other climes. Uduaghan left pressing official duties in Delta to identify with his young kinsmen and women, who he had provided state-of-the-art facilities to train.

    Uduaghan said in Scotland: “The important thing is that they are serving Nigeria. And I’m happy that they are from my state and all efforts in building these facilities are not in vain. In Delta, we appreciate and reward all our athletes who bring honour to the state. You can see the marvelous job they are doing for Nigeria and Delta. It is in our character to welcome them home as heroes and heroines.”

    Well said, Uduaghan. One only hopes that other governors will emulate Uduaghan by using sports to reunite the people and create jobs for the youths. Sports can be used to rebuild Nigeria, only if those in charge can deploy the cash to develop the industry and not their pockets.

    The government would continue to bankroll sports, if it doesn’t provide reliefs that would encourage corporate firms to invest in the industry. It is about time brand ambassadors are made of budding talents, such as Okagbare. Had Uduaghan not stood by her as she developed, what happened on Sunday night in Glasgow wouldn’t have occurred.

    Okagbare has been through the worst and best of times in her career. But she has this irrevocable belief in her talents. She easily puts behind any bad tournament and plans for the next. She accepts that she is prone to mistakes. She accepts corrections, hence her steady rise to the top.

    Many would want to ask who Okagbare is? She told her story to the BBC in 2011, before the London 2012 Olympic Games. There were plenty of interesting twists, including the fact that she spent over nine months in her mother’s womb.

    Many had given up on her birth and expected the worst, but the family trusted God for a miracle. When eventually her mother gave birth on October 9, 1988 in Sapele, Delta State, her father aptly named her Blessing.

    Blessing, daughter of Margaret and Francis Okagbare, has lived up to the meaning of her name so much so that she has grown to become one of Nigeria’s gold medal prospects at the London 2012 Olympic Games.

    She told the BBC: “I asked my daddy why I was called Blessing and he said that I spent over nine months in my mother’s womb. When I was delivered, he named me Blessing. Since that time, I have brought joy, hope and aspiration to the Okagbare family. I have seven step brothers and seven step sisters. My family is behind me and keeps track of what I am doing. I would have loved to have them in London during the Olympics. But in Nigeria, such luxuries don’t form part of government’s obligation to athletes. I agree with the sense that they could distract me, but I will remain focused.”

    With seven step brothers, Okagbare’s first contact with sports was football. She played with boys and later soccer clubs. But it isn’t in soccer that she is writing the name of Nigeria in gold and making her parents proud.

    Let’s move away from the sport whose actors are treated like gods. Yet they cause us more pains when we bank on them to shine. Let’s consider athletes who bring us glory through their exploits in sports that we often derisively tag lesser sport. Let’s acknowledge these athletes who toil to make others perceive Nigeria from the prism of endless stream of producing world champions and not a polity of jesters.

    For us as a nation, soccer is it. Other sports can hit the roof with their exploits, we cannot be perturbed.

    It is extremely unfair to reward Okagbare with $7,000 for her feat in the 100 metres when soccer players are paid more than that to motivate them when they draw matches.

    A national honour, $100,000, a house and a car are what Okagbare deserves. After all, don’t our fumbling soccer coaches and players have unrestricted access to the President? Again, this is the best time to give Okagbare training grants for the 2016 Olympic Games. Nigeria returned from the London 2012 Olympic Games without any medal. Okagbare’s feats in Glasgow, show that she can win a medal at the 2016 Olympics in brazil, if she starts her preparation now.  Take a bow Okagbare. All hail Uduaghan for believing in her. Oba Khato Okpere, Ise.

  • Backlash for Eagles: (My World Cup diary, 15)

    Backlash for Eagles: (My World Cup diary, 15)

    The reality has dawned on our big boys (Super Eagles) in Europe. They are languishing in their old clubs. John Mikel Obi and Victor Moses are not good enough to be part of Chelsea’s pre-season tour. They will keep the home front warm while others perfect their acts ahead of the new European season. That is the price players who lost focus during the World Cup face after the Mundial. Only a miracle will earn them a shirt at the start of the season.

    Mikel has been linked with several clubs, especially in Italy. His transfer news is everywhere the international media, yet nothing has happened in terms of securing a new club, leaving pundits to ask what has happened to his game. Chelsea’s manager Jose Mourinho has recruited good holding midfielders who will keep the Nigerian at the stands, not on the bench this new session. Had the Eagles done well in Brazil, Mikel and Moses would have called Mourinho’s bluff and head for at least Queens Park Rangers (QPR), the newly promoted Barclays English Premier League side.

    Will Mikel return to the Globacom Premier League competition this season? Shocked? Do not be. It could happen with the way things are. Or he could swallow his pride and head for the lower rung, like Kenneth Omeruo, who is on a one year loan to Middleborough. Is this how Mikel’s career will end? I don’t think so. He must lift his game. He must show that he can dribble, pass the ball very well and score goals. Passing backwards or shielding the ball from markers cannot help his game.

    Not a few criticised Mikel’s choice as the Budweiser Man-of-the-match against Iran. They opted for Osaze Odemwingie. But the statistics on the technical board as the Iranian game progressed showed that Mikel was indeed the engine-room of the Eagles in that tie. Mikel has vowed to remain at Chelsea to fight for a shirt. No one doubts his talent. His problem is his style. He needs to be more adventurous, if he hopes to use Chelsea’s games to convince willing European teams to seek for his services. This seems far-fetched for now, given Mikel’s body language. It could mean that his fight for shirt at Chelsea is hinged on the fact that a move out of Stamford Bridge could force the Nigerian to take a pay-cut. Pay cut for Mikel? Read my lip.

    Moses’ case is slightly different. He learnt the game in England, playing with English kids. His peers are all over; so are some of his former coaches and trainers, who taught him the basics of the game. Moses seems too lazy. He was loaned out to Liverpool. He couldn’t lift his game, with England international whiz-kid Raheem Sterling keeping the Nigerian on the bench for most of last season. However, Moses could get succour from his former manager at Wigan, Roberto Martinez, who coaches Everton.

    Martinez wanted Moses at Everton last season. He could return for the Nigerian. But this depends on how much Chelsea would accept as his transfer fees. Otherwise, Mosescould be loaned out to smaller teams this season.

    Efe Ambrose earned his stripe playing for Nigeria at the Brazil 2014 World Cup. He wasn’t quite outstanding in Eagles’ four matches. Efe returned to his Scottish club Celtic FC of Glasgow, and did well in the team’s UEFA Champions League game. He is a sure bet for the Eagles, except that he plays at the centre-back for Celtic.

    The good news, however, is that Elderson Echiejile is fit again to play for his French side. He couldn’t tie down a regular shirt last season. Many hope that Echiejile returns to the first 11, having missed out of Nigeria’s Brazil 2014 World Cup matches due to a freak injury during one of Eagles’ warm-up matches. Our players need to play regularly, if we hope to excel at the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations.

    For Godfrey Oboabona, Brazil 2014 World Cup is a nightmare. He nursed hope that he would hit the big stage with a meteoric outing for the Eagles. He limped out against Iran and never returned to the game till Nigeria was eliminated. Easily one of Nigeria’s best central defenders, Oboabona’s injury worries has made his club career in Turkey an uneventful one. Perhaps, this injury is what Oboabona needs to see the doctors, ahead of the 2014/2015 soccer season.

    Juwon Oshianiwa shocked everyone with his determination at the world Cup. Not a skilful player, yet he fought for the ball and gave his opponents difficult times, every time they took him on to try to dislodge the Eagles’ defence.

    Nigeria’s best player at the World Cup in Brazil is Oguenyi Onazi. He did the dirty jobs in the midfield. He covered up Mikel’s weaknesses even though the Chelsea star got the accolades culminating in Mikel being adjudged the man-of-the-match in Nigeria’s first game against Iran. Onazi was brutalised by the French, reminiscent of what the Italians did to Daniel Amokachi and Emmanuel Amuneke during the USA’94 World Cup. Onazi held the Eagles’ midfield firmly. But he bowed to the rough tactics of the French with the referee from USA looking the other way. Onazi’s exit spelt doom for Nigeria as we crashed out of the competition, losing a game we had firmly in our hands.

    When Michael Babatunde was listed in Nigeria’s 23-man list, this writer was shocked. He had shown glimpses of his talent. But for the big stage, one had doubts. But Babatunde proved everyone wrong with his sterling performance until he was substituted due to a broken hand in the better-to-be-forgotten game against France. I look forward to watching a midfield featuring Babatunde, Onazi, Bright Dike and Mikel, only if Eagles’ coaches learn how to parade four midfielders, not the archaic two-man midfield formation where Mikel tires out quickly.

    If a seer had predicted that Emmanuel Emenike won’t score a goal at the World Cup in Brazil, bookmakers would have placed several bets on such odds. Emenike was the hottest striker in Africa before the Mundial. It was the reason why the Iranians, Bosnians, Argentines and the French close-marked him. He wasn’t given any breathing space as he could be deadly when faced with any goalkeeper. In fact, the Bosnians are still ruing how Emenike shoved off their captain before laying the killer pass which Osaze Odemwingie converted for the only goal of the game between Bosnia and Nigeria. Emenike did score a disallowed goal, yet he did his best at the Mundial. He remains with his club and we expect that he has learnt a few lessons on how to evade his markers. It could also include getting to know how to dribble them beyond his present physical approach to the game.

    Odemwingie justified the clamour for his return. He accepted that his behaviour was untoward. The World Cup is over and not one negative word from the “king of the twitter” which means old things have passed away. Odemwingie and Ahmed Musa propelled the Eagles’ attack against Argentina and France. Odemwingie and Musa scored Nigeria’s three World Cup goals. Poor records for the defending African champions, but a deserving lesson for the Eagles’ coaches on how to field only the best, irrespective of their idiosyncrasies

    Sadly, one of those dropped by our coaches, Brown Ideye, has joined Barclays English Premier League side Westbromwich Albion for a club record fee of 10 million pounds. He joins the league of Nigerians who have played for the Baggies. Ideye would strive to combine effectively with another Nigerian, Victor Anichebe in the attack. One hopes that Eagles’ coaches can look in their direction when picking the squad for the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations.

    Ikechukwu Uche is back at Villareal in Spain. He is fit. It was said that he had reconciled with Eagles coaches. They know better, having taken stock of what happened in Brazil with the strikers they took there. Uche’s return to the Eagles is imminent. One only wished the coaches had swallowed their pride for the sake of Nigerians. Nigeria would have beaten France and hit the quarterfinals. Maybe, we could have topped the group by beating Iran and drawing Argentina – only if they took Ike Uche, Victor Anichebe, Sone Aluko et al to Brazil. Not one to sulk over spilt milk, Uche offers the coaches their best chance to redeem whatever coaching reputation that they have. Will they take the chance? Oba khato Okpere, Ise!

  • NFF TO TECHNICAL COMMITTEE: Seal Keshi’s deal in 7 days

    NFF TO TECHNICAL COMMITTEE: Seal Keshi’s deal in 7 days

    • An Emergency Congress slated for Thursday, 31st July

    THE Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has instructed its technical committee to seal a deal with Super Eagles chief coach, Stephen Keshi, for another four years in the next seven days and report their findings to the executive committee at an unspecified date.

    The executive committee members stated categorically that they were still interested in retaining Keshi’s services for the Super Eagles, stressing that: “The Executive Committee mandated the Technical Sub-Committee to open channels of communication with Mr. Stephen Keshi with a view to extending his contract, as the NFF is still interested in working with him. The Technical Sub-Committee is to report back to the Executive Committee within ONE WEEK.”

    The executive body revealed further that subsequent financial dealings with Super Eagles’ players and coaches must be done before the commencement of such international competitions to avert the show-of-shame that dogged Nigeria’s participation at the Brazil 2014 World Cup competition, where Nigeria was eliminated by France 2-0 in the Round of 16.

    “Henceforth, all financial issues with players and officials must be thoroughly deliberated upon and agreed ahead of major matches and competitions, to avoid the kind of embarrassment brought upon the nation at the 2014 FIFA World Cup finals in Brazil, when players boycotted training sessions before the Round of 16 match with France.”

    “An Emergency Congress of the Nigeria Football Federation will be convened in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja on Thursday, 31st July, 2014 to ratify the impeachment of Alhaji Aminu Maigari from the NFF Executive Committee.”

    The Executive Committee commended world football–governing body, FIFA and the Confederation of African Football (CAF) for their keen interest in the development of Nigerian football and pledged that the country will continue to abide by the dictates of FIFA and CAF Statutes and FIFA–approved NFF Statutes.

    “The Executive Committee thanked Nigerians from far and near for their patience and understanding during the crisis period and reiterated that concerted efforts that are geared towards the development of football in Nigeria, are on.

    It remains to be seen if the NFF executive body will be in office when the decisions raised in the comunique are taken with a few days to the NFF’s elections, where a majority of those at Thursday’s meeting would be shocked at the polls.

  • Disband Super Eagles now

    (My World Cup diary, 14)

    The price we pay for this bunch of Super Eagles to flourish is outrageous. We make them look like tin gods simply because they unite us when they win matches. Everything stops in Nigeria when the Eagles play. They are infallible. They can do no wrong. When things go awry with our football, Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) eggheads get the butt. This trend must stop if we hope to attain the height of others.

    What we should do to stop the rot is to disband the Super Eagles. We can then ask those who truly want to play for Nigeria at our terms to come and fill the Code of Conduct forms which will tell them the dos and don’ts of playing for us. Code of Conduct exists in clubs where these players ply their trade. It is the absence of this rulebook in the national teams that the players have exploited to pour odium on us like they did in Windhoek before the 2013 Confederations Cup tournament held in Brazil and at the Brazil 2014 World Cup.

    For winning the Brazil 2014 World Cup, Germany rewarded her players with 300.000 Euros. Before this feat was achieved, the German soccer body graduated what the players would earn from the qualifiers till the glorious moment at the famous Maracana Stadium in Brazil on July 13. The German government had nothing to do with the team’s operations in Brazil, even when the President watched all the games.

    No player misbehaved because they knew who called the shots. Germany’s coach’s decisions were obeyed. The coach didn’t disregard his employers. The coach knew he couldn’t walk up to the President to grumble. The President was only seen celebrating at the stands. The World Cup winning team was not burdened by the nuances of influence peddling officials nor were they suffocated by the overflowing attires of government officials. The Germans celebrated alone. No intruders. If it had been the Super Eagles, there would have been more intruders than the players.

    If the Eagles had won the World Cup, each player would have got $2 million; an estate in any city of his choice and a national honour, streets would have been named after them in the 36 states of the federation and Abuja and, they would have been paid salaries for life in their states of origin. Governors would have splashed the equivalent, if not more, of what the president would provide. The two chambers of the National Assembly and their states’ counterparts would have joined in the cash splash.

    The madness arising from the struggle to host the Eagles gives the players and coaches unfettered access to those in the corridors of power to wield powers that they dare not seek with their European clubs’ presidents. I hope that these players don’t come back in the future to tell us that they have been abandoned. The wise ones must save money for the rainy day now.

    If we want the Eagles to change their ways, we must disband the team, task the NFF to print out copies of the Code of Conduct approved by former Sports Minister Bolaji Abdullahi and ask the players, coaches and supporting staff to either fill them or sit at home. The nuisance in the Super Eagles exists because the players and the coaches feel that the NFF and sometimes, the sport minister don’t wield in government the influence that they have. Nigeria will not cease being a sovereign nation if we don’t participate in the World Cup or the Africa Cup of Nations. Super Eagles is a football team, not a union for protesters. If they feel dissatisfied, they can opt out of the Eagles, like Carlos Tevez did with Argentina and Samir Nasri did with France than hold us to ransome before matches.

    In Brazil, we saw nations crash out of the competition and how their players shed tears, knowing that they had lost the platform to showcase their skills and possibly earn more cash from their European clubs. These players were inconsolable. But Super Eagles players and officials cared less after our loss to France. Will you blame them? After all, they shared the $3.850million which the government brought up until 3am before the game against France. How could such players win matches? Impossible, even if the whole country knelt down to God for His favour.

    We can only develop our game when we get FIFA’s official instrument called the “Statutes” to run the game here. The “Statutes” opens the operations of the game to all Nigerians. The FIFA Statutes gives the 209 football federations the power to decide how it should be run, independent of government. Those who argue that the government funds the NFF and so should oversee, must tell us how many times PHCN, NNPC, aviation and other key parastatals render their accounts to the government?

    FIFA’s Statutes is a rulebook guiding how the body’s affairs should be run. It is has extant laws that ensure that no federation misappropriates FIFA’s cash for frivolous things. It gives the soccer bodies the autonomy they require to run as a business, independent of the government. To ensure continuity, FIFA’s Statutes ensures that federations are not destroy at the whims and caprices of overbearing government officials by inserting the section where there is zero-tolerance for government interference. This section is the reason why most African football federations can run their four-year term unhindered.

    When such four-year tenures end, it is fight-to-the-finish for everyone, with most African governments seeking to nominate their stooges into the soccer federations.

    Nigeria’s football is regrettably being run by the draconian Decree. Indeed, it is only in football that the operative instrument is a decree. Previous governments have cast an indulgent eye on repealing the decree because a certain section of the obnoxious instrument gives the supervisory minister to intervene without any thought for the implications of such intervention. Most times, these minister enforce this section to fight the battles of some aggrieved National Sports Commission (NSC) technocrats or disgruntled stakeholders, who have their ears.

    For this show-of-shame to stop, we need to fast-track the process of repealing Decree 101 and ensure that FIFA Statutes are used to run the game. Football is serious business. Cash from FIFA’s operations is more than what the Nigerian government budgets annually (no hyperbole). FIFA’s events are billion dollars operations, hence blue-chip companies outbid themselves to sponsor the various marketing windows the body has open to source for cash. Money from television rights and merchandising alone has adequately reshaped the game in countries where the Statutes operate.

    What this simply means is that such countries’ governments don’t fund their operations and cannot ask them to render their accounts. Now that the case has been removed from the courts, can we get the Nigeria Olympic Committee (NOC) to inaugurate the Court of Arbitration of Sports (CAS) where aggrieved people in sports can seek redress, instead of facing committees inaugurated by those who the complainants have issues with? It is a case of being the judge and the jury in your own matter.

    Again, “FIFA Statutes” provides the framework for rich Nigerians with passion for the game to seek elective positions in the NFF. Those who heat up the polity in the period before NFF’s elections are either jobbers or government’s lickspittles waiting to eat from the national cake.

    If the government feels strongly about the present NFF board, the elections offer the best platform for democratic changes. Our football is in the doldrums because of frequent changes in the leadership of the NFF. Such changes don’t encourage other soccer bodies do business with Nigeria.

    Being members of the NFF, for instance, qualifies many of them into elective offices in CAF and FIFA. Interpersonal relationships with other countries’ FA chiefs help a great deal in sealing quality matches for our national teams, especially the Super Eagles. Such games open new vista for our players since most of them may secure better deals in Europe the next season.

    Eagles need to play top class friendly games in Nigeria, for us to truly appreciate the benefits of generating more cash for the NFF from gate-takings, merchandising and other marketing windows such games would attract.  Is anybody listening? Oba Khato Okpere, Ise!

  • Nigeria’s soccer circus

    Nigeria’s soccer circus

    (My World Cup diary, 13)

    Wednesday’s FIFA ban on Nigeria isn’t new. We have been through this before. We learnt nothing from previous threats from FIFA, largely because many people see the NFF as a casino.

    Again, President Goodluck Jonathan would be persuaded by views from discerning Nigerians on the social networks to accept FIFA’s verdict, like he did four years ago, when he banned the Super Eagles, if we hope to play the beautiful game in Nigeria. Our young girls Falconets are due to participate in the U-20 World Cup in Canada. They are likely not to attend, except this ban is lifted.

    President Jonathan should please allow the girls participated in the competition. They have laboured through the qualifiers. Playing at the World Cup opens a new vista in their career. They are bound to secure bigger contracts to play outside Nigeria. Cash from such lucrative soccer deals can change the lives of their families.

    We need to protect the game that has brought fame and wealth to many, who are from humble families. Austin Okocha, Nwankwo Kanu, Pepetual Nkwocha, Stella Mbachu, Mercy Akide-Udoh, Desire Okparanozie et al are their families’ breadwinners. Their lives have changed for the better since they attained stardom playing for Nigeria. Sports, especially football, is business; not a platform for settling petty feuds among contending parties.

    FIFA’s rules are sacrosanct. They are obeyed by 208 other countries. I wonder why Nigerians think that such rules are not biding on us. The statutes are respected, even though we have refused to repeal Decree 101, which gives powers to the supervisory minister to wield the big stick.

    Yesterday’s bad men are now the tools to remove hitherto good men. It is a vicious cycle which leaves football administrators in a trance. We repeat the same mistakes and expect changes. Jobbers and influence peddlers in the corridors of power heat the soccer polity with personal interests, leaving national interests comatose.

    Yesterday’s men are back. They spent the last four years plotting their return. We have not asked them what they have been doing during the lull. Shouldn’t Nigeria break away from this clan if we truly want the game toSportswear giant Adidas has denied suspending links with Nigeria, pending when the impasse is settled. It is a business decision, but, like they say, there is no smoke without fire. This is just the beginning. Even the new board won’t be able to convince sponsors to bankroll the game because such firms would rather watch the trend than plough their cash into an unstable body. The truth must be told that FIFA has democratic methods of dissolving football federations through the ballot box. The impression here in Brazil is that the government has coerced a few people to undertake this task of sacking the Maigari-led board. I digress!

    Coaches whose heads have been slated for the chopping table over Nigeria’s poor outing in Brazil (forget about the Eagles qualifying for the second round) are smiling since the confusion in the Glasshouse ensures that their jobs are intact. Our football cannot grow when the senior national team is populated by foreign-based players, most of who warm benches in Europe. Attempts to get the Eagles coaching crew to invite our players doing well in Europe for a balanced squad that could compete favourably at the Brazil 2014 World Cup were rebuffed on the altar of giving them freehand to run the squad.

    Our game will get the desired fillip when the Eagles excel at big competitions, like the World Cup. Certainly not under these coaches. Eagles would have played better with players such as Ikechukwu Uche, Chinedu Obasi, Victor Anichebe, Sone Aluko, Lukman Haruna, Nosa Igiebor and Sunday Mba-to mention a few. They did well for their European clubs last season.

    We recorded quantum growth after the 1994 World Cup because Clemens Westerhof picked a lot of our good players. Their performances compelled European clubs and their scouts to visit Nigeria. They took away some undiscovered players, such as Sunday Oliseh, Obafemi Martins, Austin Okocha, John Utaka and Emmanuel Emenike.

    Oliseh played for Julius Berger, but he never made the national team until Westerhof fished him out of Europe. Okocha was a gazelle for Enugu Rangers; he wasn’t considered until he dazzled in the German league. Nigerians knew Obagoal as a youth player with Inter Milan, yet he did very well playing street football in Ajegunle. But for Joseph Yobo’s persistence on Emenike, he would have played for South Africa, in spite of the fact that he played locally here until he sneaked out to South Africa

    Eagles’ coaches’ match reading notes in Brazil were highly inaccurate. They lacked the tactical savvy to outwit more intelligent managers. They lived in a cocoon, scared to imbibe some of the new tricks of the game, using the expertise of others better than them in various facets of team building. So many countries did well in Brazil because they had dispassionate backroom staff sitting in different stadia, charting the playing styles of their likely opponents, using the FIFA match chart. When such teams meet, the games are usually end-to-end stuff where the most proactive of the two sides wins. No team prosecuted matches blindly like Nigeria did.

    We are talking about a second round finish at the Brazil 2014 World Cup because goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama was spectacular in our first three matches, especially the opening game against minnows Iran. Eagles crashed out in the fourth game because of Enyeama’s slip. You won’t blame him. He is human.

    But what were the coaches’ instructions to the players? Coaches who can brazenly give Gabriel Rueben a jersey and allow him enter the pitch for a World Cup game deserved to be sacked. Not for a country like Nigeria, with abundant talents at the grassroots. But do our coaches want to work?

    A day before the game between Holland and Croatia, I watched the Croatians train. I saw an ATP ranked Lawn Tennis player use his racket to hit the tennis balls towards the goalkeepers. I was curious. Tennis player and racket in a football training ground. I understood the impact when Croatia’s goalkeeper stood between Holland and goals. He virtually dragged the game into a penalty shoot-out, which the Dutch won 4-3.

    Holland’s manager Louis Van Gaal showed that coaching is not about begging the Dutch to pray for the team and its players like our coaches do. With the clock showing 100 minutes, Van Gaal beckoned on Newcastle goalkeeper Tim Krul to warm up. Where I sat in the stadium, I told Punch Sports Editor Pius Ayinor that Krul would be introduced into the game. I predicted that Krul would win the match for the Dutch. When it turned out that way, Ayinor wasn’t surprised.

    Ayinor alluded to the game between Ghana and Germany, where the German coach called his fellow World Cup mate Berti Vogts, asking what he thought was wrong with his team while the game was on.

    Germany’s coach Joachim Loew’s call was instructive. Vogts works for USA as Jurgen Klinsmann’s spy and the Americans had beaten the Ghanaians. Vogts told his countryman the Ghanaians had limping wing back. He challenged them to launch their attacking forays using the limping star’s position. It worked and Germany drew 2-2 with Ghana.

    Indeed, Loew has made the German side open to contributions from knowledgeable Germans. He listened to the voice of wisdom and included Klose in his World Cup competition, with one mission in mind- for Klose to break the record of scoring 16 goals at the Mundial. Klose was just a goal away from history. Today, Klose and indeed Germans can celebrate the feats.

    Only teams with such depth-in-strength can aspire to win the World Cup, not ours where Oguenyi Onazi’s injury exposed the Eagles’ weaknesses like the leaking nostrils of a sick child. Eagles in Brazil were tactless. The players struggled through our games. They had no game changer or match winners. Substitutes were awful.

    Did any of our coaches call up Sunday Oliseh to find out how the team was playing? Oliseh was the head of one of FIFA’s technical study groups at the World Cup. He would have given our coaches an unfettered brief of what to do.

    Our coaches are currying influence in high places and taking injured players around instead of staying back to see how others play and compare notes. Neymar is on a wheel chair. Nobody has played politics with his injury by taking him to see Brazil’s President. I must commend President Jonathan for the kind gesture of paying the medical bills of injured Onazi and Michael Babatunde in London. I hope this is sustained with other athletes. It is important to ask what would happen to the players’ reward from the insurance policy secured for them at the Mundial? They are also entitled to some cash from FIFA.

    Countries know the rule when a player is injured playing for his fatherland. The matter was resolved by FIFA last year. Injuries to players are expected because they are tagged accidents. Brazil FA chiefs have pushed Neymar’s case to their insurers. Not so with Nigeria, where we drag every little thing to President Jonathan.

    Some of the coaches who have exited the Mundial are here watching games and pushing to establish relationships with better coaches still in the competition. Many have become match commentators. Ours’ are in the country beating their chests that Nigeria equaled a record set in 1994 (20 years ago) and blaming everyone else but themselves for the Eagles’ shoddy showing at the Mundial.

    Did anyone raise objection about the Eagles’ shambolic outings? It is on record that Nigeria and Iran played the worst game at the Brazil 2014 World Cup, culminating in the fans booing both countries. The voice of the people, they say, is the voice of God. Not so?

  • Whose jinx? (My World Cup diary, 11)

    Engage any soccer-crazy Nigerian in a discussion on the Brazil 2014 World Cup, he or she would recount jinxes that the Super Eagles have broken in this series. Before Wednesday’s 3-2 loss to Argentina, these pundits would tell you that the Eagles are the only team not to have conceded a goal after two years. You would be told that the coaches have broken the jinx of winning a world Cup game for Nigeria since France’98. You would be educated about the achievement of qualifying for the second round since 1998. These posers become more bizarre when you see people waiting for the predictions of a certain prophet on our matches before they are played. Unthinkable. Yes, because if the prophet is that good, why don’t we hand over the team to him and start celebrating.

    Have we forgotten that this is our fifth appearance and that we need to join the league of World Cup winners at the senior level after our dominance in the age-grade cadres? The only way the world would applaud Nigeria as a football nation is when the Eagles lift the World Cup at the senior level. Every edition, Nigeria is always tagged the favourites, at least from the African perspective. We disappoint pundits because of our tunnel-vision of trying to surpass a feat that we achieved 24 years ago.

    Football isn’t mathematics where cumulative figures add up, according to various theorems. Football, for some people, celebrates exceptional talents, such as Argentina’s gazelle Lionel Messi.

    Wednesday’s last group game between Nigeria and Argentina lived up to its billing, with the fixture hinged on the sublime skills of Messi and Nigeria’s John Mikel Obi. Messi and Mikel emerged from the FIFA U-20 World Cup held in Holland, with Nigeria losing 2-1 to Argentina. Messi has grown to become FIFA’s Player for the Year of four times. Mikel has a remarkable career with Chelsea. While Messi has immensely talented mates for both club and country. Mikel has been Nigeria’s star-of-the-pack, with most of his Eagles mates being average players.

    In 2005, Mikel and Messi were two of the best attacking midfielders in the world at the U-20 level. Messi has maintained playing  in that role. He has developed into an amazing

    talent. But, Mikel has been played out of the attacking midfield role. Mikel now plays as the defensive general, an assignment given to him by Jose Mourinho. Mourinho converted Mikel to the defensive midfield because he needed to replace ageing Frenchman Makelele at Chelsea FC in London. The Nigerian has done well but his knack for scoring goals has melted away like ice-cream under the scorching sun.

    Against Argentina on Wednesday, Mikel’s seeming commanding presence in Eagles’ defence, playing in front of the defenders, would have yielded us more dividends for the Eagles, if we had someone else with Mikel’s talent and skills. This has been Eagles’ albatross since Mikel broke into the team.

    Eagles in the last six years have not played attacking soccer anchored on creative midfielders like we have seen with Messi in Argentina, Neymar in Brazil, Pogba in France and ageing Snieder in Holland. If Holland, Brazil, Argentina and France make it to the semi-finals, it would be because of the remarkable contributions of these foursome.

    On Wednesday, the Argentines showed that they watched Eagles’ matches by exploiting the team’s weaknesses. Messi remained in the vacuum created between the Eagles’ left back Juwon Oshaniwa and the left winger, where Ahmed Musa functioned, us

  • Eagles of hope

    Eagles of hope

    The world’s greatest show has opened in Brazil. But I’m not excited. The talk in her about likely fairytale teams doesn’t include Nigeria. Hisses and sighs rent the air when Super Eagles is mentioned. What you hear are the exploits of Nwankwo Kanu, Austin Okocha, the late Rashidi Yekini, Emmannuel Emenike et al. They also talk about Stephen Keshi but the discussion stops at his feats with European teams because he played just a game at the USA’94 World. They ask how Nigeria dropped to such a laughable level where we are now parading a comity of bench warmers.

    They still celebrate Daniel Amokachi. Many purists still rate Da Bull as Nigeria’s best player, ahead of Kanu, courtesy of his exploits in England, Belgium and Turkey. They argue that Kanu was skillful, a match winner but he lacked the Da Bull’s guts. Nigeria kissed the USA’94 World Cup bye when Amokachi exited with the injury that nailed his career, they say. The argument can continue but my choice is Kanu. I wish these pundits could watch the Atlanta’96 Olympic Games where Kanu and Amokachi played. Kanu was certainly the best player in the world in that competition.

    They talk about Sunday Oliseh as the most accomplished Nigerian player. He played in Ajax FC of Holland, in several clubs in Belgium, Juventus in Italy and Dortmund in Germany, among others. Taribo West featured in the discussion. So did Victor Ikpeba, who many argue was Nigeria’s fastest. Do you agree? I feel it is Tijani Babangida. Perhaps after Segun Odegbami, Samuel Okpodu and Dominic Iorfa of yore? Emmanuel Emenike featured in the fastest player debate. But were they faster than Clement Temile? So, who is Nigeria’s fastest player? Food for thought.

    The discussion moved to the current Super Eagles and the unanimous choice of the best player fell on goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama. Quickly, one of the discussants swore it wasn’t Enyeama. He argued that picking Enyeama was disastrous because it meant that the balls must always come towards him if he must justify our ratings. The message didn’t sink. He saw it on our faces and explained further.

    Craving for the balls to come towards Enyeama during Nigeria’s World Cup matches could be dangerous. Any error from him will be a goal and it would be very difficult for the Eagles’ attackers to equalise. The poser of having goalkeeper Austin Ejide as Enyeama’s deputy arose. Tears rolled down his cheeks. He muttered inaudible words and broke into a long prayer in which he asked God not to commit the Eagles into the shame of having a goalkeeper, who is not at his best to man the goalpost.

    This Enyeama apostle asked God to forgive the coaches for whatever sins they would have committed in picking the squad, pointing out that as rookies to the senior World Cup, such mistakes are pardonable. We all chorused Amen. But our man wasn’t done with his prayers. He went into momentary soliloquy and started binding and casting any spirit that will bring up the need for goalkeeper Chigozie Agbim to man the goalpost. The “Amen” was deafening.

    The prayer reached its crescendo when the choice of defenders came up. The back four men were difficult to pick. Godfrey Oboabona was the unanimous choice. Efe Ambrose next but the problem was in which position. Who will pair Oboabona in the central defence between Joseph Yobo and Omeruo? Many settled for Omeruo, except that they were worried if he had the cognate experience to marshal the defence against prolific strikers such as Messi, Higuain, Dzeko, Aguero, Di Maria etc.

    At this point the prayer had stopped. Another character took over. He explained why Yobo should pair Omeruo not Oboabona. These pundits argued that Oboabona should marshal the defence from the right back, where he can overlap and shoot at the goal. There was silence. Many recalled watching Oboabona play for Sunshine FC of Akure at the right back and scoring goals.

    Oboabona’s choice at the right back changed the argument. Again, this pundit suggested that Omeruo could be moved to the left back and Ambrose deployed to pair Yobo in the central defence. He was shouted down and called names. Herein lies the difficulty of the coaches in picking the Eagles’ first 11 players.

    The session to pick the midfielders continued. John Mikel Obi and Oguenyi Onazi stood out. The question became the formation that the coaches would adopt. The discussion moved to picking the four attackers. Emmanuel Emenike was the obvious choice to lead the team’s attacking forays. The issue arose about his fitness. Many pointed out that Emenike had been a shadow of his Africa Cup of Nations’ form, especially when fielded without Brown Ideye, who was dropped by the coaches for not having the knack for scoring goals.

    Who will pair Emenike upfront? Osaze Odewingie, who the coaches have said is desperate to impress them (whatever that means)? Or Shola Ameobi, who hasn’t shown the knack of scoring goals that we have seen him do for Barclays English premier league side Newcastle? Or debutant Nwofor?

    Tough task, no doubt. One guy suggested Victor Moses to pair Emenike. He was shot down by the others who preferred Ahmed Musa. Is Ahmed Musa fit for the World Cup? We settled for Musa- Emenike combination but with a caveat that the coaches must be sure that he is truly fit, lest we waste a big opportunity to utilise the three substitutions required by the laws of the game for tactical decisions to counter what our opponents would be throwing at us.

    Moses and Osaze were picked to operate from the midfield and join the attack. They would fall back into the midfield when we lose possession of the ball. The flaw from this mundane 4-2-4 formation which our coaches have played is that it lacks the presence of a creative midfielder, who can change the game tactically. What Moses offers to the Eagles is his dribbling skills which create openings. But Moses spoils it by excessive dribbling. Besides, he fails to swing the passes to his freer mates, preferring to shoot at the goal from very tight spots. The problem with Moses and his witty dribbles is that they are predictable. Such dribblers are easily marked. Witty coaches would deploy a hard tackling defender to mark him. The defender would be told to stop Moses from getting the ball first. if that happens, Moses would cease to function.

    Can Odemwingie be Eagles’ joker by playing the link between the team’s attack and defence? He could, if told so but does he have the strength to perform such roles having played all season for Stoke as the centre forward?

    As the Eagles await the Iranians on Monday, it is important to remind our players that their opponents qualified from their group like the Nigerians. The Iranians didn’t emerge from playoffs which means that they can play the game as much as the Nigerians, especially under the tutelage of Carlos Quieroz.

    The Iranians have watched tapes of our stars in their clubs and the national team. We cannot say the same of the Iranians. I just hope this doesn’t come back to haunt us on Monday.

    Iran’s coach has the requisite knowledge to handle the big stage which the World Cup symbolises, having worked with the great Sir Alex Ferguson. Ours will be at the Mundial as rookies, even though they are World Cup stars.

    Monday is Judgment Day for the coaches. Iran must fall. They must be beaten groggy with goals. The Eagles must learn from the Confederations Cup, where beating Tahiti 6-1 wasn’t good enough for the team to progress from the group. Spain and Uruguay beat Tahiti with more goals than the Eagles.

    Iran could be another Tahiti because Argentina and Bosnia could whip them silly, if the Eagles waste scoring chances. Will the Eagles make us proud on Monday with a whiplash of Iran? It is our prayer and I pray it happens. Good luck Eagles.

  • Match-fixing… not again!

    The die is cast. Mind games now rule the media. Every team dreams about lifting  the World Cup on July 13. It is five days to the opening game of the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. No country can change her 23-man squad. Errors made can’t be corrected. Pundits have begun their permutations. But the disturbing news from FIFA is that of match-fixing. I wouldn’t have been worried if our beloved country, Nigeria, had not been listed among match-fixers, albeit allegedly with some unscrupulous chaps admitting to under-cover investigators that they can dubiously influence the result of Nigeria’s World Cup matches.

    I’m sad because all our World Cup matches will be under the spotlight. This will put our players under needless pressure. It will also smear whatever results we get, especially if we win handsomely or lose so woefully. We don’t deserve this perception, not now when our players have excelled for their European clubs. Innocent errors will be misconstrued as match-fixing. If any player scores a long range shot which should be the talking point of the Mundial, there is the possibility of some people winking than a deserved applause.

    Unlike in previous allegations made by indicted Singaporean, a certain criminal Henry admitted to be the evil genius. He also linked a Nigerian player, who the report said didn’t show up at the meeting.

    Did Oguenyi Onazi report the matter to his coaches, the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) chiefs or FIFA in line with what the law stipulates? We are being told that Onazi informed Super Eagles chief coach Stephen Keshi in Philadelphia that he reported the issue to the police. I believe Onazi and trust the police report can be relied on since it was done in Europe. Otherwise, he would be in the soup.

    Nigeria is a football nation. Our exploits in age-grade competitions even though tainted with allegations of cheating suggest so. Besides, our players have competed well for jerseys with their European counterparts to underscore the fact that they are talented. The NFF chiefs must commence their investigations on all these allegations. It should start with subjecting the list of players’ agents to scrutiny. Those with shady background can be invited to provide further details about their backgrounds. It isn’t enough for us to say that they are unscrupulous. We must arrest the trend by prosecuting those with substantial evidence to show that they are culpable.

    One is puzzled that the match-fixing bug has stuck with the Eagles since the red card issued against Kaita. Kaita’s conduct on that day was ungentlemanly. It clearly showed that he is a temperamental person. How such misconduct can be related to match-fixing beats my imagination, especially as Kaita was unhappy with himself by covering his face? Criminals do not show the kind of remorse exhibited by Kaita after it dawned on him. Coach Samson Siasia led Nigeria to beat Argentina 4-1 in Abuja. Most people celebrated the feat since it marked Siasia’s first victory over the Argentines. But like a thief at night, the story broke that FIFA eggheads were looking for the referee from Niger. Till date, nothing has been heard about the referee. And I’m not sure if we see the danger in keeping quiet in the face of odium poured on the nation by a few criminallyminded people. It’s easy for Nigeria to fall into the fixers’ traps because we always like things delivered to us a la carte. Perhaps, if the friendly matches are played here with our NFF in direct control of what happens before, during and after such games, we can be free of this unholy stigma. I feel strongly that the Eagles should play friendlies at the team’s terms and not on mercantile conditions set by profit-seeking agents. It is true that countries trust them with such issues. Yet our country’s integrity supersedes whatever monetary gains the matches would accrue to us. For instance, the day after Nigeria held Scotland to a pulsating 2-2 draw, Republic of Ireland played a barren draw game against Italy with no tales of match-fixing at the same stadium. There is something wrong with how our matches are packaged. We need to redress this issue before charlatans destroy us. I won’t delve into the Eagles’ 23- man list. I have written a lot on it. The coaches have decided. We must respect their decisions. But the coaches have shown us that they can’t trust Chijoke Agbim to keep the goal for us. Against Greece on Wednesday morning, the coaches didn’t have the courage to substitute injured Elderson Echiejile with Oshaniwa at the left back position. Instead they opted to switch Ambrose Efe to man the position. They introduced Odunlami in his place on the right side. On Wednesday morning, Greece exposed our inefficiency in the midfield. Eagles’ coaches paraded two holding midfielders (John Mikel Obi and Oguenyi Onazi). Our coaches tasked our wing players (Osaze Odemwingie and Ahmed Musa) to drop into the midfield to help when we lost possession of the ball. However, our first substitution most times comes from these wing players and it affects the team’s rhythm. These flaws were repeated on Wednesday morning against Greece. Modern day football is anchored on the 3-5-2 formation or the 4-4-2. I wonder how the Eagles will cope against countries grounded in these formations. Good luck to Nigeria. Welcome Danagogo Sports Minister Dammy Danagogo said the National Stadium in Lagos is dead. Good talk. We have heard it several times from his predecessors. We have not seen much in terms of renovation of the facilities at the Sports City. What we hear later from Danagogo’s predecessor is that the budget for sports is too small. On Tuesday afternoon in Lagos, I put three posers to Danagogo over the way forward for sports. His response was intelligent. He showed that he understood the politics at the National Sports Commission (NSC) and the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF). Danagogo doesn’t want to create factions within the sporting media. He picked one of his critics as his special assistant. Last year, stakeholders met at the seat of government in Abuja to chart the way forward for sports in Nigeria. Decisions were taken; many – it is being said – are in the works. But unfortunately, the problems in the industry are still apparent. Perhaps, the biggest problem with us is the frequent change of sports ministers, culminating in policy somersaults. Specifically, I asked Danagogo what was the government policy for sports. His response on the aspect of strengthening the federations and getting them to develop sports to attract corporate funding raised hope. But it must be said that sports nosedived here the day a former sports minister, Jim Nwobodo relocated the federations to Abuja. The hub of sports in Nigeria is Lagos, which interestingly is the commercial nervecentre of the country. Indeed, Danagogo anchored his perception of Nigeria’s sports policy on the need to effectively evolve a system that would develop sports at the grassroots. He cited the National Sports Lottery, which he stated formed the basis for sourcing for more funds independent of government. Aside, this is the ongoing concession exercise of sports facilities. However, the minister was told to ensure that the right firms were picked and not land speculators. It must be stated that Danagogo assured everyone that politics won’t play any role in this initiative, especially concerning one of the facilities – the National Stadium, Surulere. Danagogo acknowledged the need to create the enabling environment to appreciate the contributions of sports-friendly corporate organisations through the Hall of Fame. The minister needs to visit those firms that identified with sports in the past to find out why they backed out. But he must be told that the corruption in most of these federations is chiefly why these credible firms backed out. No company worth its onions would want its goods and/or services tainted with tale of corruption or scandals. Our federation officials must be upright and see the task of developing sports as a business, as it is done in other climes. What I have observed here is that we strive to develop sports from the top, tasking the National Sports Commission (NSC) to provide the template. But the NSC ought to be the clearing house. The burden of grassroots development rests with the states. Not many states take the issue of sports development seriously. They hardly organise sports festivals. They only remember sports as a vocation when their governors want to jog for fitness. Most local government areas (LGAs) in this country don’t identify with sports largely because their chairmen are puppets of godfathers without the cognate knowledge of what it takes to lead people. Schools in the LGAs are in dilapidating state. Most of the recreational grounds have been converted to expanding such schools or most times, converted to motor-parks or business premises. Such settings encourage the kids to embrace social vices rather than dissipate such energy into sports. I left the minister’s parley with one view: the task of giving the NSC and NFF a document to run their operations would soon be unveiled. Like I always end this piece, Oba Khato Okpere, Ise!

  • Talk is cheap

    Talk is cheap. Super Eagles have mouthed how they hope to lift the 2014 World Cup diadem. And the chorus from Nigerians, including those in government, is rapturous. Add this to the clarion call for prayers; then you are in the mood for the biggest football fiesta in the world- 2014 FIFA World Cup slated to begin in Brazil on June 12, – a watershed in Nigeria’s political history.

    No surprises for predicting that Nigeria can lift the trophy on July 13. What will surprise everyone will be a repeat of the South Africa 2013 Cup of Nations, where the coach resigned his appointment.

    Surprised? Don’t be because the media is awash with the story that the coach is being chased by six countries, 13 days before Nigeria’s opening game against Iran. I won’t be surprised if nothing happens from his employers or the government. We begged him not to resign last year. It is appropriate he tells us that we should join the queue for his services. We better react. But the coach knows that nothing shocks us here until a calamity happens.  We react after the disaster. It is in our character.

    No surprises if our players hold their thighs or hips, complaining about cramps. No surprises if we get to Brazil to find out that many of our players hid injuries like they did at the 1998 World Cup in France. In Nigeria everything is possible. All we need to lift the World Cup diadem, for many, is to appear on the pitch. Others will chicken out. Our national anthem will be sung and our players will take a bow. The fans will celebrate the fact that they saw our boys. It doesn’t matter if they paid gate fees.

    Nigeria’s quest to lift the World Cup is hinged on fans’ support and prayers, not entirely on the skills of our players, most of who were not tested for more than three-quarters of the last season. We are banking heavily on luck. Yet we forget that what we call luck in any adventure comes from concerted efforts.  Prayer, support and luck cannot get any team the World Cup; the players must be skillful enough to compete at the highest level.

    Wednesday’s game against Scotland was meant to test the players’ fitness levels. The game was another opportunity for us to improve on our FIFA rankings on a match-free day. One hopes that we don’t find ourselves in the setting before the 2002 World Cup co-hosted by Korea and Japan, where the Eagles did well in all their warm-up games, only to play so woefully at the Mundial, drawing one game, losing two and scoring only one goal through Julius Aghahowa against Sweden.

    Eagles have been slow out of the starter’s bloc at big tournaments under this technical crew. They have been wasteful in front of goalposts, largely because of our strikers’ inefficiency. Our strikers aren’t match fit; nor have they been lethal in front of the goalposts for their clubs before big games like the World Cup. This flaw has put pressure on the team, with the Eagles’ defence standing out.

    Sadly, most of our defenders have warmed the bench like the strikers. Only Efe Ambrose  played regularly for Celtic this season. Elderson Echiejile didn’t get enough matches for his French side. Injury kept Joseph Yobo on the sidelines. Godfrey Omeruo played sparingly for Middleborough in the lower league in England. Will the three friendly games be enough to raise the defenders’ fitness? Godfrey Oboabona also didn’t feature regularly for his Turkish side. Reports of Oboabona’s form have been laced with scoring own goals, he also scored match-winning goals for his team and injuries – if we must believe what was reported. Will the coaches stick to the defensive pair of Oboabona and Omeruo? Will Yobo feel happy sitting on the bench in Brazil? Are we not back to the rancorous past with this arrangement? Or will Warri Wolves defender Egwekwue springs surprises and break into the team’s central defensive position? Egwekwue has good height but his movement of the ball among his mates doesn’t suggest that he could upset the team’s defensive applecart.

    The story of our midfielders gives hope when you consider the fact that John Mikel Obi and Oguenyi Onazi have played well for their clubs anytime they are fielded. But my problem with these two players is that they play in the same defensive positions. Our coaches have kept faith in Onazi manning the central defensive position. This setting frees Mikel to play in the attacking midfield position and he hasn’t been at his best during our matches. But this is not surprising because he plays defensively for Chelsea, whenever he is fielded by Jose Mourinho.

    The big poser will be if our coaches will play Mikel as our defensive midfielder. If it happens, then Onazi would be benched. Did I hear you say it is forbidden? I agree because he has been the fittest in most of our matches. Do the coaches now play two defensive midfielders in Mikel and Onazi? Who will then play the offensive role in a squad where the coaches still rely on the 4-2-4 formation? Would the ploy of deploying the wingers to drop into the midfield when we lose possession of the ball help the team? Indeed, Joel Obi is another fantastic defensive midfielder – if fit. He could also function in the offensive position. I hope the coaches get the midfield arrangement right because that is where the game would be won, drawn or lost. The supply of passes to the attackers must be seamless if we hope to win matches with aplomb.

    What we have in the midfield on the bench is also defensive, if we consider Nosa Igiebor. I hope Nnamdi Oduamadi and France-based star Sunday Mba recreate the form that earned them the shirt in previous matches. One only hopes that Oduamadi, who hasn’t been regular for his Italia Serie B side is fit. Mba is a good player. The issue is if playing for Bastia in the second division has improved his game.

    Upfront leaves the coaches with Emmanuel Emenike as our undisputed best. But that is where the problems will begin in Brazil because he would be a marked man. He would be bullied out. He would be tackled viciously. Attempts would be made to test his temperament, knowing that if Emenike isn’t playing well, Eagles totter. So, who will deliver the goals when Emenike is ‘arrested’ by our opponents? Ahmed Musa? Shola Ameobi? Or are we banking on the sublime skills of Victor Moses like we did in the group stages of the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations in South Africa? Or will Babatunde Michael live up to his boast of being Nigeria’s version of Lionel Messi at the Mundial? Far-fetched, if you ask me, but we have been told to believe in this squad.

    Tactics play a critical role in determining the outcome of matches. On Saturday night, the soccer world watched how Real Madrid recovered from the ‘dead’ to beat Atletico Madrid, courtesy of a 93rd minute header from a defender, Segio Ramos. Real Madrid’s goal didn’t come from prayer, crowd support or luck. It came from the perfect reading of the match trends by Real’s coach Carlos Ancelotti. As the game moved towards its closing stages, Ancelotti introduced three players who changed the tempo and direction of the tie – to the consternation of Atletico’s players and technical crew.

    Indeed, the last ten minutes saw Real Madrid leave its 4-4-2 formation for the 3-5-2, largely because they had to score the equaliser to be in the match. Even with this arrangement, Ramos, part of a three-man defence surged forward for that precise header, having seen that Atletico had marked everyone upfront from the resultant corner kick. That initiative caught the opponents unawares. It was the moment that gave Real its tenth title.

    Matches are won from the bench. Only teams with quality players can win titles because the effect of the changes will manifest in how the team plays subsequently.

    Scotland’s game in London on Wednesday exposed some of the flaws in the Super Eagles. No surprises that goalkeeper Austin Ejide fumbled. No surprises that the Eagles’ defence couldn’t curtail the Scots especially from the flanks. Those fielded in the first half were recuperating players and bench warmers. No surprises that the coaches made changes in the team’s attack. Those replaced were not better than Ikechukwu Uche and Chinedu Obasi.  Now we know that the Eagles’ bench cannot change the trend of the matches, except something drastic happens before June 16. I’m not surprised because we cautioned about taking our best to the World Cup. The World Cup will be tougher; so our coaches must pick our best. Good luck Nigeria. Oba Khato Okpere, Ise.