The Nation Newspaper

Category: Ade Ojeikere

  • The arm-twisting option

    The arm-twisting option

    We are an exciting country to behold.

    Things that other nations do seamlessly without rancour, we do with odium. We strive in making our country the butt of other countries with rash decisions by key functionaries who should be our shinning lights.

    Nigeria was in the spotlight for the wrong reasons again on Monday. The coach allegedly refused to board the aircraft over unpaid allowances. He prepared the team, helped in processing the travel documents, boarded the vehicle to the airport but refused to board the plane.

    As far as the coach was concerned, he had embarrassed his employer (don’t remind us of what happened in South Africa). This coach, like others, has contracts struck with his employer, but has chosen to take the law into his own hands, not minding the national shame his action would cost us when reported in the media. Would you really blame him when blackmail is what works now? It is another strategy of getting your employers to live up to their responsibilities.

    Shouldn’t such a coach be replaced and his salaries sorted out rather than appeal to him after the disgrace? Did you say what is sauce for the goose IS also sauce for the gander? What a pity.

    Like what happened in South Africa, this coach didn’t consider it expedient to report his predicament to his employer’s supervisory body. He chose the gangster method to embarrass his employer, forgetting that he was leading a squad to represent Nigeria and that anything surrounding the team is big news. When will this nonsense stop?

    With this latest ambush style of getting your employer’s listening ear as a bargaining tool, one wonders how far this strategy will go. That it worked, albeit scandalously, for one coach, does not guarantee a sustained success for others.

    Nothing prevented the coach from crying out when things were not going his way, but, sadly, he opted to toe the line of blackmail. He may have forgotten that Nigerians are still too busy savouring the Super Eagles’ victory to empathise with him.

    Again, our country has become one that never ceases to amaze. Gradually, we are becoming notorious for doing things on the reverse gear. We prefer to pass exams first before coming back to study.

    Else, government ought to understand that going for international competitions where our national prestige and honour are involved and an arena where our anthem would be sung and our green-white-green flag hoisted, no cost is too great to pay to wrench another international PR for a country only remembered as a country of scammers.  Therefore, the cash to prosecute such national duties should be provided in good time. We will continue to witness this show-of-shame, unless the government understands that other countries run sports budget over four years, with cash released in one tranche, not in batches.

    We were told before the Africa Cup of Nations that N1.2 billion had been approved for the NFF, with N750 million to be paid in the second tranche. One is, therefore, shocked that there are still issues with salaries for the coaches in the other national teams, given the way we have splashed cash on the victorious Super Eagles.

    In fact, this writer thought the Sports Minister was blowing his trumpet when he revealed in his early days in the ministry that he took the file to the President for approval. And to imagine that the minister resumed work barely two months to the Olympic Games shows why these problems still stick out like a sore thumb.

    The two coaches have gone scot free. The NFF men are at the receiving end. But the question remains, who are the NFF chieftains representing? Or is someone playing a script to discredit them to score a point? Is it not true that the NFF received the 2013 AFCON cash 48 hours to the opening game? Did we not know that the competition would hold one year ago? Has anyone asked how others do it?

    We know the mileage we have received with the Super Eagles’ deserved feat in South Africa. I concluded last week’s column by saying that nothing would change in the way we run sports because such disjointed arrangements fetched us the trophy? Is anyone surprised at this latest development? I digress.

    Last week’s column, “Now some home truths”, lived up to its billing. It was controversial. It was bound to ruffle feathers. It was not the song of praise. It was a missive to a friend, urging him to always reflect before taking drastic actions.

    It is now in the past though and I don’t intend to tender any apologies. Rather, I will continue with an appraisal of what happened in South Africa.

    Last week’s column was not meant to discredit Stephen Keshi’s achievements. It was just a reminder of the need for us to be civil in handling issues.

    We are still haunted by the misdeeds of previous boards and feel that nothing good can come out of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF). What many didn’t understand before that Africa Cup of Nations held in South Africa was that Sports Minister Bolaji Abdullahi had evolved a synergy between the NFF and the National Sports Commission (NSC).

    Hitherto, these two bodies (NFF and NSC) had worked at cross purposes. Their feud was carried into the Super Eagles squad and things fell apart. Their impasse polarised the media also, with lies served to Nigerians as truth. But, Abdullahi got everyone to see the essence of unity of purpose with national interest as the watchword.

    Abdullahi didn’t take sides, like some of his predecessors. He made feuding parties to sit down and resolve their differences. Where there was no truce, he intervened and put his foot down that agreements reached were actualised.

    Whatever happened in South Africa was a product of Abdullahi’s masterful handling of the bitterness among those who should work together to achieve greatness for this country.

    We went to this year’s edition as an indivisible unit and it didn’t come as a shock to Abdullahi that we clinched the trophy. It is not any coincidence that the Super Eagles have not lost any competitive game since the amiable journalist became the Sports Minister.

    The Eagles squad that lost the AFCON final at the National Stadium in Lagos in the year 2000 was our best. Yet, we lost because the intrigues existing between the NSC and the NFF had consumed the then soccer chairman Kodjo Williams, even before the competition began.

    That devious act took its toll on the Eagles’ fortune as many felt that the NSC men were unfair to the principled ex-chairman. Whilst some people prayed for the Eagles then, others plotted their fall and celebrated. Such has been the lot of our Eagles, culminating in the sobriquet Super Chickens.

    Other years beginning with the Burkina Faso 2002 edition were fraught with plots and sub-plots, so much so that the technical crew comprising Shauibu Amodu, Keshi and Joseph Erico were stopped from guiding the team through the 2002 World Cup, co-hosted by Japan and South Korea, having led the team’s qualification for the competition. What happened to Keshi as he narrated was a piece of cake compared to what Amodu saw in 2002 and 2010. Of course, Keshi was in Ouagadougou and knows what transpired there. It is easy for cynics to say must this act continue unabated? The flipside is, has the government come out to say that cash was released to the NFF men and they refused to spend it?

    The 2004, 2008 and 2010 editions weren’t any better in terms of the intrigues. They grew to high proportions, culminating in the controversial Presidential Task Force that convinced President Goodluck Jonathan to withdraw us from all football competitions after the South Africa 2010 World Cup debacle.

    The Super Eagles’ squad that broke the 19-year-old jinx has been the least formidable in terms of the quality of our talents and experience. What most people have ascribed to be indiscipline among the players arose from the devious methods that some of the feuding administrators used in settling scores with the opposition. Without Abdullahi’s intervention, the Eagles would have crumbled before the cocky Ivoiriens.

    Abdullahi had taken a retreat to Nigeria after we qualified. Yet his position on Keshi’s savvy and indeed that of Nigerian coaches was that they could do the job. It is for this reason that he rejected the appointment of a Belgian as the country’s technical director.

    This writer cannot judge the coach’s technical inputs in the team. Having tutored the Eagles through the preparatory stages and seen them through the matches, I salute him for bringing smiles on our faces. He richly deserves all the accolades. But he must act maturely in the future when faced with similar circumstances. Congratulations Big Boss; it is being quite a while coming.

  • Now some home truths

    Now some home truths

    It’s almost one week since Nigeria clinched the diadem at the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations. The nation has been agog with celebrations and – rightly so. The players and the coaches are smiling to the banks.

    Now is the time for some home truths. The praise singers are gone. So are the emergency patriots flashing toothy smiles, fake prophets struggling to be part of the success and erratic officials singing victory songs.

    Can’s we see that the world is sneering at us? How could we be celebrating a feat achieved after 19 years, with our players wearing Adidas track suits at a presidential dinner? Will the English, French, Germans, Spaniards and Italians have such lavish ceremonies with their players wearing attires that give visibility to a foreign firm? What happened to our national attires for? Where is our foresight? We knew after the Cote d’Ivoire match that we stood a chance of lifting the trophy, giving what the other three semi-finalists had shown in previous games.   Would it have been out of place for the Super Eagles to enter South Africa in our one of our national attires before the competition began? If they did, it would have been easier for the tailors to cut out the ceremonial dresses for the Tuesday night show. Would anyone blame those who organised Tuesday’s ceremonies when such events are meant to enrich a few people?

    It was quite disgusting watching our heroes arrive in the country in a commercial airline. This can only happen in Nigeria because leaders have refused to copy what they see in other civilised climes. Such pictures are monuments which countries keep in their archives to celebrate events, such as what we have next year, when we will be marking our Centenary.

    When the Spaniards retained the European Cup, they returned home in their national carrier. They wore smart fitting suits that typified the European culture. Not so for us. Anything goes.

    Is anyone, therefore, shocked by the team’s chief coach’s grandstanding, which painted us an unserious country? What was it that he needed that couldn’t wait until he returned to the country? If he didn’t trust his employers’ promises, couldn’t he have trusted one of the continent’s richest men to give him $200,000, provide a car and house for him? Has this man of honour not fulfilled his pledge to him and the players? Did he think he was embarrassing his employers and not the country? Are his employers not representatives of the government? Why do we like to wash our dirty linen in the public?

    What the coach did in South Africa was cheap blackmail because the Sports Minister was there. If he was angry, he could have resolved the matter with him without this show-of-shame. It smacks of utter disrespect for constituted authority by the coach to announce his resignation on a radio show in South Africa. Put simply, it was a slap on our President’s face for dishonouring his representative (the Sports Minister). Was it not the minister who resolved the matter? This shameful act has been swept under the carpet in the euphoria of celebration. It shouldn’t shock us next time if our sport ambassadors throw punches outside the country to settle domestic matters. Can a minister announce his resignation in that manner and we send emissaries to intervene?

    We are jesters; otherwise, how could a high officer in government condescend to the level of begging a coach to rescind a decision he first disclosed to a foreign medium? It shows that such a person is not busy. Is anyone surprised that Nigeria is a huge joke?

    What was it the coach was complaining about, many have asked, that we didn’t know already? Did he not say that he was a the country to settle domestic matters. Can a minister announce his resignation in that manner and we send emissaries to intervene?

    We are jesters; otherwise, how could a high officer in government condescend to the level of begging a coach to rescind a decision he first disclosed to a foreign medium? It shows that such a person is not busy. Is anyone surprised that Nigeria is a huge joke?

    What was it the coach was complaining about, many have asked, that we didn’t know already? Did he not say that he was a patriot and understood the predicament of his employers? Why did he choose to play the spoil sport?

    We must learn to do things with decorum. If the coach had any grouse with his employers in terms of job security, he could have reverted to his contractual agreement and followed what is enshrined in it to the letter.

    Come to think of it, is there anyone who has not received the butt of his employer even when he/she thinks he/she is doing the utmost? Is there any employer who doesn’t know his employee is dispensable? Is it strange for an irritant employer to tell his employee during review meetings that he would be sacked?

    Review meetings are meant to tell the truth, for things to move smoothly. Such meetings are done in enclosed places. So, what was the coach trying to prove by divulging what transpired between him and his employers? Immaturity? Did he not scold his players in Rwanda when they played poorly in the first half? Was that not where his brush with Taye Taiwo started? Did he take Taiwo to South Africa?

    So, what makes what happened in South Africa any indecent? Or are we saying that we didn’t share some of the employer’s fears with the way the Super Eagles prosecuted its first three matches?

    What the coach did in Johannesburg can be likened to this writer publicly abusing his Managing Director and then resign. Only for my publisher to intervene and I rescind my decision. Do I expect things to run smoothly when I return to work? No way!

    Is it right for the employee to dictate to his employer what he wants? Where in the world does a coach take instructions directly from the President/Prime Minister? Uninhibited access the president is the fastest route to failure because he has other important national issues. Is this how it is done in England, France, Germany, Spain, Holland etc? Can’t we see that the world is making jest of us? Today, it is the NFF men that have been ridiculed. Tomorrow, it could be the turn of the sports minister or the Director of Sports (God forbid).

    The reasons why the coach didn’t get his car, salaries and house until recently are not new to sports lovers. After all, the cash to prosecute the team’s campaign in South Africa got to them three days to the opening of the competition. Why didn’t the coach announce his resignation then?

    The coach should have been asked to return to South Africa and rescind his decision. He should also have been asked apologise to the sports minister and NFF eggheads for the blackmail. Or was it the coach’s uncanny to secure a plea bargain from the president? I dey laugh o!

    Jonathan should tell the coach that football is the least of his worries. He should tell the coach to learn how to work with people. After all, nobody dictated to him the players he took to the Africa Cup of Nations.

    Mr. President sir, can the coach of England do what our coach did and be celebrated? The flipside to this question is that the English coach gets all that he needs from the government and the football association. But the delay in providing the required cash to the NSC and the NFF came from this government’s scrutiny of both bodies’ requests ala due process. In a way, the coach has tacitly indicted the Jonathan administration for failure of leadership.

    Suddenly, those who should have provided the cash for the National Sports Commission (NSC) and the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) chieftains to ensure that nothing went wrong with the players and coaches were smiling at the presidential reception organised.

    All the problems associated with early preparation, which is the key to success in competitions have been swept under the carpet. The implication is that nothing will change since the disjointed arrangement prior to the Africa Cup of Nations held in South Africa fetched us the coveted trophy. But, must we continue to do the wrong things?

  • Moving forward

    Moving forward

    Have the Super Eagles arrived? What is happening here? Could this be the Eagles that fumbled in their group matches? What are they trying to prove? Yes, the real Super Eagles have arrived. These were some of the questions on the lips of fans who watched the Eagles’ sparkling outcome against the Elephant of Cote D’Ivoire on Sunday at the Royal Rustenburg Stadium.

    Before the Elephant’s game, the Eagles flooded the media with seamless promises that teased the fans to rally behind them. They promised to roast Burkina Faso but tottered to a 1-1 draw.

    They begged the fans and raised hopes for a better show against the defending champions Chipolopolo, yet it wasn’t any better. The pundits looked forward to the Ethiopian tie with expectation and the Eagles didn’t disappoint with another never-wrenching victory.

    The three games raised doubts about the Eagles’ chances against star-studded Elephants. What many didn’t recognise in the Eagles’ group matches was that the Burkinabes, Zambians to a little extent and the Ethiopians, were younger than our boys.

    The Eagles tired out in 60mins and struggled through the last 30 minutes. Little wonder the late goals that raised doubts about the coaches’ technical savvy.

    The Zambians and the Ethiopians hassled the Eagles to submission with their pace and raw talent. They had players who were unknown to the Eagles, unlike in the Elephants’ side.

    The Elephants were star-studded but many of their stars are ageing. Their slow pace approach brought out the best from a hitherto tottering Eagles.

    We need to drastically reduce the average age of the Eagles, if we wish to stun the world in Brazil 2014, like we did in our debut outing at the 1994 World Cup held in the United States.

    Sunday Mbah’s sterling displays against the Ethiopians and the Ivoriens is a pointer to the limitless talents at the grassroots, only if our coaches can involve the domestic league clubs’ handlers in their scouting exercises.

    What we see in the Eagles is their coaches’ quest to invite home –grown lads, players who have been recycled by many fumbling Nigerian clubs in CAF’s two inter-club competitions and media creations, whose spin doctors work for shylock agents who masquerade as scouts for European clubs.

    Modern day football is played by young boys with plenty of energy and zest, not adults, who can’t run at top speed all through 120 minutes.

    Younger boys are fitter, more daring, inventive and who can stand the test of time. They can be groomed to cope with any situation unlike the adults, who are burdened by the fixations of their past. They are the ones who talk about the need for the Eagles to have experienced players, as if they didn’t make the team as youngsters in the past. The important question to ask the coaches who field these experienced stars, is how do they expect these younger boys to blossom when they are being made to rot on the bench, despite the team’s average performances against Zambia and Ethiopia

    As we prepare for the 2014 World Cup qualifiers, emphasis should be on strengthening the squad with talented young players, no matter where they reside, such as Syndey Sam, Nedum Onuoha Bright Dike, etc.

    The coaches should be courageous enough to tell those not in their 2014 World Cup plans their decision to avoid any backlash in the media like we saw in the needless Osaze/Keshi twitter brouhaha.

    The coaches must learn how to take criticism in the chin. They can’t love the country more than others. People have the right to air their views. What the coaches should learn is to take the comments they believe will help them and discard the rest.

    Until the game against Cote d’Ivoire, the Eagles were an embarrassment to watch. Their style of play changed against the Ivoriens, perhaps because of the fear factor of not losing scandalously to them.

    It could also be that the personal challenges between John Mike and Salmon Kalou, on one hand, and the awesome goals’ record of Didier Drogba, whilst playing for Chelsea last season, may have galvanised the Eagles to produce the scintillating shows they displayed against the Ivoriens and the Malians

    The Eagles and their coaches need to call their relations in Nigeria in order to appreciate how their recent display have united the people and made us proud as a nation.

    The power of soccer is awesome, such that Nigerians now fast for the Eagles to lift the trophy at dusk against the Burkinabes.

    The adage that success has many fathers is legendary. Little wonder the blue-chip companies are falling over themselves to be part of the new dawn that the Eagles’ 2013 Africa Cup of Nations portends. The companies are promising cash and other incentives, which they hitherto claimed were scarce and blamed their poor finances on the country’s dwindling economy. Who could blame eggheads of these blue-chip firms? After all, nobody wants to identify with losers.

    However, these corporate firms and philanthropists should stop their untoward ambush marketing style. They must be prepared to identify with our sportsmen and women at all times.

    Sport is big business. It is a capital intensive project and those marketing it need to be encouraged. The mileage of supporting sports and its participants is awesome. It is immeasurable, given its international platform.

    It is a totally different experience watching other nationals stand up in the 80,000-120,000 capacity stadium to respect our nation as our national anthem is sung.

    Government alone cannot fund sports. In fact, government shouldn’t, as we witness in other countries where government provides the infrastructure and enabling environment for its citizenry to recreate and compete against the best in the world, whenever the need arises.

    Sports can be used to reinvent other spheres of our lives in the country which appear to be comatose.

    Mention must be made of Pamodzi Sports Marketing (PSM) for their initiative to attract sponsors to identify with the Super Eagles. Pamodzi convinced Globalcom, Coca-Cola, Guinness Nigeria, etc., to support our football.

    Indeed, government should do more to encourage the blue-chip companies to support sports by giving them tax rebates and other incentives, given our unpredictable economy. I digress.

    As the Eagles file onto the pitch on Sunday, they must give their best against the Burkinabes. They have raised Nigerians’ hopes. They cannot afford to crash them now. And they can’t afford to disappoint, not even themselves now. They have run a good race and there is no stopping midway, not until they have braced the tape. They must strive to lift the trophy. That is the tape they must brace and return home to the warm embrace of Nigerians. Go! Super Eagles go!!

    Nigerians deserve to be called African champions. It has been quite a while- 19 years ago inTunisia. Good luck Super Eagles.

  • It’s unbelievable

    It’s unbelievable

    It is unbelievable but it happened. There

    was panic in the land in the days leading

    to Nigeria’s last group game against Ethiopia. If we were anticipating a marathon race, it would have been right to dream of a Nigerian upset, which in any case would have been far-fetched. Expecting an Ethiopian upset for Nigeria in football was simply unacceptable.

    People nursed fears about a likely exit of the Super Eagles. Many wanted this writer’s position on the outcome before it was played. One felt insulted but retorted by asking my enquirers what the sum of two added to two is. They became furious but I cooled their angst by stating that if the Eagles couldn’t beat Ethiopia, then we had no business remaining in South Africa. Some agreed, although many hissed as they walked away.

    Beating Ethiopia should be a stroll in the park. The logic of the fear of minnows should be buried when it comes to football between two countries. The Ethiopians won’t flinch if the challenge is on marathon, because that is their forte.

    We should play against Ethiopia in such big soccer competitions celebrating the emergence of new stars and not struggling with established players. When such things happen, they only help to gauge the development of the game here.

    Stories that should gladden our hearts from matches against Ethiopia should be that goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama headed two corner kicks into the match in the closing minutes of routing.

    One laughs each time we resort to prayers before matches, especially given the injustice in the way the coaches picked the players for this assignment. The coaches would have to explain to Nigerians how they could keep injury-hit Gabriel Rueben in the squad and drop Dike, who has tremendous ability to play for the team.

    Again, the inclusion of such players as Oshinawa Juwon leaves much to be desired, especially when we have Taiye Taiwo sitting at home. The coaches would have found Taiwo very useful to fix the team’s wobbly defence. They wouldn’t have had any second thought fielding Taiwo. His inclusion would also have offered the coaches the opportunity to play him on the left side of the midfield, like Shauibu Amodu used him in some matches. Taiwo, if taught on how to direct his shots from set-pieces, would have been an asset to the Eagles, especially against Cote d’ Ivoire on Sunday.

    Where do we start to assess the Eagles? One won’t want to join the legion of buck-passing critics. What is, however, clear is that we need to tinker with our coaching crew. The composition will be determined by those who recruited these ones in South Africa.

    It is difficult to explain why the coaches pulled out a striker for a defender, with one Ethiopian out with a red card. Shouldn’t the coaches have introduced another striker and asked the players to shoot at the goalpost, knowing that the man there wasn’t the regular goalkeeper? After all, we could have scored a goal or two to top the group. Who knows, it could have been more.

    It is true that we have to build new players. But those in South Africa have limited abilities. Victor Moses showed that he plays with a thinking head. He made the difference and it looked simple despite the apprehension for 78 minutes.

    Twice he undertook to rescue the team with his audacious dribbling skills that earned us the two penalty kicks. He didn’t need anyone to ask him to take the kicks. Moses conceived what he wanted to do in his head, teasing the naïve Ethiopians to launch the bad tackle and masterfully tucking the ball into the net twice that he struck it for Nigeria’s wining goals.

    The Eagles played badly against Ethiopia. They were nervy and lacked the imagination to organise and string passes to rip the opponent’s defence apart. We didn’t see any off-the-ball runs such that when Moses surged forward in the dying minutes, he ignored his freer mates to take the team’s destiny in his hands by refusing to lay the pass for a better placed striker. Moses may have saved the day, yet it is important that the coaches correct this flaw as the Ivoirens are too experienced to fall for Moses’ trickery in the penalty box.

    We played slightly better in the defence. We were also able to plug the gap between the defence and the midfield, yet there is the urgent need for our strikers to learn how to make the decoy runs that would open the gaps in the opponent’s defence.

    Football is a very cruel game. Many may tip the Ivoirens to roast the Eagles. It could just be a mirage as our players know how to play such prestige games. I foresee the game on Sunday between Nigeria and Cote d Ivoire going into a penalty shootout.

    Our players know that the Ivoriens are better than them. The fear of avoiding a heavy defeat will push our boys beyond our expectations. My worry is that we could lose the next game after beating Cote d Ivoire because we would have given it our best shot.

    Would this scenario be worth the effort? I don’t think so. But looking at the fixtures, one was happy that if we beat the Ivoirens, we are likely to meet South Africa in the semifinals because I feel that they could upset the Malians in their quarter-finals tie. Let us not count our chicks before they are hatched. I digress.

    From what we have seen so far and from the few matches we have also watched the Eagles play at the AFCON 2013, one fact sticks out and clearly so – there has been no significant improvement on what ex-Eagles coach Shuaibu Amodu achieved for the national team.

    If anything, the performance of the national team has been on a downward spiral. The more you expect a change, the more things remain the same. We have retrogressed from a fairly average team to outright mediocre outfit bereft of ideas and initiatives.

    While we may not be shedding tears for Amodu, our hearts bleed for what has become of our once darling national tea, the Super Eagles. So sad.

     

    Where is Shuaibu Amodu?

    I have searched in vain for former Super Eagles chief coach Shuaibu Amodu’s comments on Nigeria’s matches. I also tried to reach him on the telephone. No dice.

    So, where is Amodu? No one seems to know but if I know him very well, he would be hiding in Okpella, doing his business and enjoying himself.

    Amodu is not one to condemn his mates. He would throw his salvo at the administrators. I expect him to break his silence if NFF and NSC chieftains try to make the coaches the fall guys, in the event that the Eagles don’t meet our expectations.

    It’s clear that the domestic league cannot produce the talents to seize the stage like we saw with Clement Temile at the 1984 Africa Cup of Nations. Temile was a local boy with Bendel Insurance FC of Benin when Adegboye Onigbinde picked him to give Tarila Okorowanta a fight for the right flank shirt. Temile was introduced when Tarila was fumbling. Temile went on to win the golden boot as the top scorer of the competition with three goals.

    When Amodu described our local league as dead and its products unfit for the big stage, this writer lashed him. Amodu described the Eagles as a bunch of average players and got the stick from everyone.

    Amodu remains the best Nigerian coach in terms of achievements. Need I list them for anyone to appreciate what I’m saying? Take a bow, Shuaibu Amodu.

  • The permutations begin

    The permutations begin

    Here we go again. All manner of permutations are being arranged to convince ourselves that the Super Eagles will go beyond the second round matches at the Africa Cup of Nations in South Africa.

    As we propound the theories whereby our group mates must beat the others for us to qualify, we must remind ourselves that a second place finish pitches us against the Elephants of Cote D’ Ivoire. Did I hear you sigh “O Lord, have mercy on us”? That will be the day for us to truly measure the depth of the destruction of the game and how we have allowed sentiments to becloud our judgment in deciding how to change our fortune. Some may argue that the Ivoriens are not “indomitable”. But they must recognise the fact that they would want to beat Nigeria en route to lifting the trophy, if they truly want to be crowned African champions. But such intricate matches bring the best out of the Eagles, even if it means not lifting the trophy. Eagles know how to play for pride. I digress.

    We hate to be told the truth. We repeat the same mistakes and expect changes. Nigerian coaches ask for free-hand to run the team’s technical functions, yet they always inflict on us pain and anguish with every competitive game.

    The talk of our foreign legion transforming into good coaches based on their experiences with their European clubs has blown up in our faces. We really don’t know where to start after every poor outing by the Eagles. And it really hurts because we would have wasted time. We keep rebuilding the team, with many cynics asking when this house will be fully built.

    Pundits cannot understand how the Eagles with an armada of stars, can play such unimaginative football. Could it be the case of the Falcon no longer hearing the Falconer? Could it also be that the coaches didn’t give them the script to pummel the Burkinabes? What was it that the coaches were saying to the players in the dying minutes? Many would want to know, especially as we cannot fathom how the Eagles lost three valuable points with 39 seconds left on the clock. Did they see the big clock inside the stadium? The South African coach kept drawing Bafana Bafana’s attention to his wrist watch in the closing minutes of the team 2-0 victory over Angola. Did our Eagles get any instructions as the match raced to the back-breaking close?

    With the Eagles, thunder can strike on the same spot severally. Otherwise, how do you explain our coaches’ inability to fix the team’s wobbly defence after the Cape Verdeans ripped it apart in a pre-tournament friendly?

    In the game against Cape Verde, the coaches replaced Efe Ambrose with Omeruo. Why they chose to field him against Burkina Faso remains a mystery. As the team’s defence wobbled against the Cape Verdeans, the coaches made changes that stabilised it. Shouldn’t Ogenyi Onazi have started the game against Burkina Faso, given the remarkable form he showed in the friendly matches?

    Do our coaches know where our players’ best positions are? We saw how Efe Ambrose held tightly to Lionel Messi as the central defender for Celtic FC of Scotland over the two legs of the UEFA Champions League. Yet they fielded Ambrose in the right back position. Were the coaches expecting a miracle from him? Again, I was aghast when our coaches picked John Mikel Obi to take the penalty kick against Zambia. If they knew the players’ potentials, goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama would have taken it. Enyema takes such kicks for his club. Perhaps, the coaches trained the players on such kicks. The flipside is that bigger stars than Mikel have lost penalty kicks. I dey laugh o!

    I still don’t understand how an average height player, such as Godfrey Oboabona, can function in the central defence for the Eagles, when he plays at the right back for Sunshine FC of Akure.

    It is laughable that the defence is the Eagles’ worst department, yet the coaches, except Daniel Amokachi, played in the defence for Nigeria in their heydays, with Ike Shorunmu in goal.

    Our coaches blow hot air about the strength of the team. Yet it is apparent that it lacks depth, in terms of finding substitutes who will change the tide of games whenever they are introduced.

    The Eagles have left their best players in their European clubs. The home-based experiment is laughable, more so when some of them may not be fielded at all.

    Aside the wrong deployment of players, fans watched in awe as the Eagles played without direction against Bukina Faso. They were unable to string passes together to rip apart the Burkinabes’ predictable formation. Little wonder they didn’t know what to do when it was time to keep the slim 1-0 lead in the closing seconds.

    Nosa Igiebor forgot that he was a defensive midfielder and stayed far apart from the defenders, leaving a lacuna which the Burkinabes exploited. Our coaches didn’t observe this major flaw throughout the game. This explains why some people keep rooting for foreign coaches when our soccer is in dire straits.

    The Eagles were tactically inferior to the Burkinabes. Our players stood behind their markers, hence when they launched their tackles, they were quite vicious to attract yellow cards, culminating in the red card issued to Ambrose for a second bookable offence.

    Interestingly, Mikel Obi excelled in the central midfield position where he plays at Chelsea. I hope that the coaches have seen his best position. They have to look for players who can complement his effort.

    A major flaw of our domestic coaches is their inability to read matches and make changes.

    Globally, some coaches recruit match readers to help them. They limit their job to providing the templates, which other technical hands implement. It is, however, difficult to say whether it was Keshi himself who did not know the value and need for match readers or it was that he saw one in his Nigerian assistants.

    Or better still, he never wanted one. But given the way things are panning out in South Africa, for the Nigerian team, you will agree with me that the Nigerian bench is in dire need of a sound and technical match reader.

    What is clear in the Eagles’ technical crew is that Stephen Keshi’s assistants cannot give him the support he needs. They are not experts in any department of the game as seen with the disjointed game that we played against the Burkinabes.

    Looking at the Eagles’ bench during matches, tells the story of how well or badly the players exhibit their skills. The coaches only sit on the bench and watch like spectators. They only hold their heads when we miss chances, like the fans in the stands.

    Even when they stand up, of course, after a scare in our goalpost, they give signals that look like passing vehicles in a gridlock. The players don’t improve their performance. Instead, they diminish.

    Emmanuel Emenike has earned his shirt, not because of the goals that he has scored but his predatory instinct in front of the goalpost.

    It is difficult to describe how the Eagles have played in the two matches. It is also impossible to believe that we have 12 players playing in both games plying their trade in Europe. Yet they haven’t shown us the stuff that made them compete with the best in the world. They have been a complete letdown. We have been unable to deliver passes to rip open the defences of the opposition.

    On Tuesday, the permutations will include the need for Eagles to beat Ethiopia resoundingly and pray that Zambia and Burkina Faso play a draw for Nigeria to top the group.

    We want to top the group because we know the implication of not doing so, especially if, Cote d’ Ivoire tops her group. Can these Eagles beat a resurgent Tunisia? I doubt it. Not with our lethargic displays so far.

    Did Eagles coaches see how Burkina Faso with ten men scored three goals against a complete Ethiopian side?

    Our saving grace if we do qualify will be that the Ethiopians will not confront us on Tuesday with dogged determination.

  • Fly Eagles, fly

    Fly Eagles, fly

    The battle line is drawn. The 2013 Africa Cup of Nations begins today with pomp and ceremony. At stake is the prestigious trophy for the best country on the continent. There is also a new vista for home-grown lads who will be competing for honours with the established stars.

    The talk among pundits is that Nigeria’s Super Eagles will be in South Africa to make up the numbers and not to wrest the trophy from the surprise winners in 2012, the Chipolopolo of Zambia. They are tipping Cote d’ Ivoire to lift the trophy as consolation for last year’s nail-biting penalty shoot-out loss to the Zambians in the final game.

    The cynics among these pundits mock the Eagles with the sobriquet Super Chicken and are beating their chests that the team, at their best, may shed the toga and emerge as the best entertainers when the curtains fall on the fiesta on February 10 in Johannesburg.

    Will anyone blame these cynics? Could they have made such unsavoury comments in 1996 when the Super Eagles were the toast of the world’s football community?

    Certainly not. Not with what the Super Eagles showcased at the USA’ 94 World Cup and the Dream Team 1’s flawless display of football artistry that fetched Nigeria the gold medal at the Atlanta’96 Olympic Games.

    Seventeen years ago when the last Africa Cup of Nations was held in South Africa, the Super Eagles were matchless in the quality and capacity of talents to deliver scintillating soccer – compared with any other African country.

    In fact, in 1996, the world waited with bated breath to see the mincemeat that the Super Eagles would make of their African foes. There was an armada of stars, such as the late Rashidi Yekini, Peter Rufai, Stephen Keshi, Emmanuel Amuneke, Nwankwo Kanu, Daniel Amokachi, George Finidi, Uche Okechukwu, Ben Iroha, Taribo West, Victor Ikpeba, Tijani Babangida, Chidi Nwanu, the late Uche Okafor et al.

    Pundits placed their last bets on the Eagles strolling to South Africa to lift the trophy. The Eagles were going to the 1996 edition as defending champions, having beaten a Zambian side that lost all the members of the senior side, the Chipolopolo, in a plane crash in Gabon.

    No one dared bet against the Eagles lifting the trophy in South Africa. But Nigeria’s head of state then, the late Gen. Sani Abacha, had other ideas. Abacha, for political reasons, prevented the Eagles from defending their title, despite appeals from the global body’s chieftains and leaders of thought in the world.

    South Africa’s Bafana Bafana won the trophy and not a few pundits felt that the Eagles would have swept other options away, if Abacha had listened to good advice.

    But on Monday, the Eagles have a date with history against the Stallions of Burkina Faso and we are back to our old ways of asking Nigerians to pray for the team’s victory as if the Burkinabes don’t worship God too. Our players must play to their potentials. Only the cup is what Nigerians want and they cannot be asking for too much.

    The truth is that the Eagles ought to be the default winners of any African football competition. The talk ought to be about likely opponents of the Nigerian side in the finals and not otherwise, if we had sustained the tempo of performance after the 1994 and 1996 feats.

    The Eagles attained the heights that the current Spanish senior side enjoys, such that many would easily tip the Spaniards to qualify for the finals of the 2014 World Cup, if they continue with their steady rise in the world’s ranking.

    Nigerians want to see against the Burkinabes, boys who are hungry to fight for the balls and beat the opposition at dusk. We want to see committed players who won’t disappoint us. Nigerians are tired of excuses. They want to sleep fulfilled, waiting for the next game against the Zambians on January 25.

    Nigerians want to return to their offices on Tuesday to savour some of the exciting moments of the defeat of the Burkinabes. They want to sit in their homes to analyse trends in the game and make projections.

    Whenever the Eagles are doing well, everything comes to a halt. We forget our ethnic differences and see ourselves as a united nation.

    The talk about the Super Eagles not getting funds early is cheap. The Eagles owe Nigerians a credible outing to atone for the pain and shame of previous heart-wrenching displays.

    The present bunch of Super Eagles must utilise the platform the Africa Cup of Nations offers to return the team to where it was before they came. The Eagles were world beaters. They played in some of the best leagues in the world. Nigerians were proud every time foreigners recognised them as Jay Jay Okocha, Nwankwo Kanu¸ Daniel Amokachi et al.

    They cherished such moments when foreigners asked after our sports ambassadors and talked about their exploits with glee. It made us proud. Soccer was our brand identity and the domestic game benefited from it as European scouts made our league centres their second home to get cheap talents for export.

    The European scouts’ invasion emboldened the domestic league players to give out their best. It changed the mindset of the local stars, who hitherto, relied on shylock middlemen to take their trade to Europe in search of the proverbial Golden Fleece.

    Nigeria’s Eldorado years in football witnessed our players making Belgium their home whilst other European countries were hustling to have some of our best in their country. The ripple effect of the star-trek to Europe gave the domestic game the impetus for growth that has now been corrupted by the failure of leadership at the Nigeria Premier League since its inception.

    The new dawn should start with the Eagles lifting the trophy. Anything short of that is a misadventure and absolutely unacceptable. So, can the Eagles fly in South Africa?

    Is Ejide jinxed?

    In the year 2000, Shuaibu Amodu informed this writer that Austin Ejide was the best goalkeeper he had seen in the domestic league. Amodu moved five steps; punched the air and prayed that Ejide should stay out of injury.

    Ejide was then a goalkeeper at Gabros International. Amodu was convinced that he would be Nigeria’s greatest. In fact, Amodu confirmed Ejide as a specialist in catching penalties – a trait many Nigerian goalkeepers do not have.

    Months later, I saw Amodu wear a forlorn look. He said: “Old boy, that Ejide has problems o! He sustains injuries, especially when you need him most. Anyway, I will help him. He has this recurring shoulder injury. I have contacted doctors who can help him.”

    Ejide’s story has been that of injury today; fit tomorrow. But when he is fit, he is best – a fact former German legend and Super Eagles coach Berti Vogts attested to by picking him ahead of fans’ favourite, Vincent Eneyam, at the Ghana’2008 Africa Cup of Nations.

    Is Ejide too fragile? Or is he jinxed? I don’t think so; not with his big physique that is his greatest asset. He needs to be very careful. He also should charge out of his goalpost like a lion. He should also expect those crunchy tackles and learn how to dodge them.

    Indeed, not many people know that Ejide was at the 2002 Korea/Japan World Cup as the team’s third goalkeeper behind Ike Shorunmu and Enyeama.

    One only hopes that Ejide gets well for the South Africa 2013 Africa Cup of Nations.

    Missing Super Eagles

    Stephen Keshi has picked his 23-man squad. We need to support him. Yet watching the European leagues last week, I was restless whilst watching Victor Anichebe play for Everton against Swansea at the Goodison Park Stadium.

    Anichebe troubled Swansea’s defence for the 83 minutes he played. The game ended on a barren note, yet you could see delighted Swansea players hugging the Nigerian.

    He will surely be missed by Keshi and the Eagles. He missed out due to recurring injuries. We expect him back for the 2014 World Cup qualifiers.

    Another lad the Eagles would miss is Inter Milan’s Joel Obi, who returned to full fitness last week. If he had returned two weeks earlier, Keshi would have picked him. He held Eagles’ midfield in matches where others tottered.

    Joel Obi was Keshi’s pick-of-the-pack in most matches. He too will be missed. The good news though is that Obi is available for Nigeria’s 2014 World Cup qualifiers.

  • Where is Mikel Obi?

    Roll back the tape to 2005. The World Youth Championship held in Netherlands. Nigeria’s U-20 side lost to their Argentine counterparts. Two young boys – John Mikel Obi of Nigeria and Lionel Messi of Argentina – thrilled the world with the sublime skills and incredible talents.

    The final game between Nigeria and Argentina offered the platform to pick who between Mikel and Messi was the best player of the tournament. It was a close call. Many rooted for Mikel because he shone like a million stars. Messi was remarkable, the pivot of his Argentine side. Then, when he was voted the best player, not a few Nigerians sneered at the decision.

    Indeed, the year-long transfer controversy between Chelsea and Manchester United fuelled the fact among many football pundits that Mikel was truly the best of the twosome. This school’s argument held sway because of the pedigree of the two English clubs in global football.

    Another school bemoaned Mikel’s move to Chelsea, attributing his seeming eclipse in the game to what could be described as a misadventure. They argued that Mikel would have attained Messi’s Golan height, if he had gone to Manchester United. Good talk, but the flipside is that Mikel couldn’t have benched Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes in the midfield. This view holds sway, considering the fact that Giggs and Scholes still feature in Sir Alex Ferguson’s line-up till date. Giggs and Scholes were incredible midfield gems to be shoved aside by Mikel, whose football foundation as a kid wasn’t as refined as what the twosome had.

    Even with the Giggs and Scholes’ ages, can we say that Mikel is a better player now in comparative terms? I don’t think so. This argument underlines the reason why Mikel would have wasted time at Manchester United.

    Messi has blossomed to heights where Mikel won’t attain. The reason simply rests on their ages. We should tell ourselves the truth that Mikel is older than Messi by many years, even though they are age mates.

    What Messi has going for him is his age. He gets better with every year. Mikel diminishes in form every season. He would need to be at his best at the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations in South Africa, if he hopes to wear Nigeria’s colours at the 2014 World Cup competition in Brazil.

    Whereas we will need weeks of fasting for Mikel to break his goals jinx for club and country, Messi is scoring goals with aplomb. Messi has broken all football records, with many fans asking who will break all Messi’s records?

    Messi is an embodiment of all that is good- discipline, humility, and patriotism – and plays the game for club and country as if his life depends on it.

    He has repeatedly chosen Argentina ahead of Barcelona, in spite of criticisms from some of his countrymen that he plays better for Barcelona. This view must have changed in recent times, with the way Messi has been scoring goals for the Argentines, although many would argue that this new resolve is occasioned by the fact that he is now the team’s captain.

    Where do we start in assessing Mikel? It has taken God’s grace for Mikel to make the Eagles’ list to South Africa 2013 Cup of Nations. Mikel and Keshi had to shift grounds to work together. This fragile peace would be tested during the competition. God forbid it cracks.

    Mikel is Nigeria’s biggest player in Europe. He plays for one of the biggest teams. His presence in any country’ soccer team should inspire his colleagues. Stars like Mikel carry their country’s fate on their shoulders. Need I waste space to name such soccer stars.

    Mikel’s contribution to the Eagles’ performance against Cape Verde was disappointing. He shot once at the goalkeeper; otherwise, he was anonymous. He couldn’t inspire his mates during the game. He ran aimlessly and watched in awe as the more composed Cape Verdeans ridiculed Eagles’ defenders with their sublime skills.

    One hindsight, this writer could excuse Mikel because this is his real competitive game playing for the Eagles under Stephen Keshi’s reign outside the country. He should know that global football pundits expect him to lead the Eagles to glory. Having been a member of Chelsea’s UEFA Champions League diadem Mikel rates among the big stars that should dazzle fans with his silky skills culminating into breathtaking goals.

    Mikel should inform Keshi where he thinks he can best help the team. Keshi should also know that giving Mikel a free role in the midfield like we saw in the Wednesday night international friendly game against Cape Verde shows that he doesn’t watch Chelsea’s matches. Mikel is a defensive midfielder. He has been playing that role in the last five years and knows what to do to stabilise any defence.

    If Keshi wants the Eagles to play to their potentials in South Africa, he must field Mikel in the defensive midfield position. He should give the free role in the midfield to Moses, who is fast, strong and dribbles the ball well and can crack good shots that end up inside the opponent’s net.

    Eagles’ display against Cape Verde was appalling. They were not good in any department of the game, in spite of the changes made at the interval. What should strike our players’ bloated ego is that playing against African teams is a different kettle of fish from the European turf where they are coming from.

    It is about time Keshi accepted that the Eagles must at all times have four midfielders serving as the link between the attack and the defence. This archaic style of asking the wingers to fall into the midfield to help is problematic.

    These wingers ply their trade in Europe and would find it extremely difficult to cope with the high altitude in South Africa.

    If Keshi wants to succeed in South Africa, he needs to get Mikel to play at his best by picking gifted players in our team and also providing the right formation for the team to excel. A tree, the saying goes, cannot make a forest.

    Eagles’ conduct on the pitch

    I was disgusted with the attitude of Super Eagles midfielder Nosa Igiebor when Nigeria played against Venezuela.

    Igiebor was injured and the referee whistled for the game to be stopped. The doctor was invited. Having been attended to, Igiebor walked across the pitch and pushed down a Venezuelean who was walking beside him. The Venezuelan fell.

    That was an ungentlemanly conduct, but Igiebor escaped the referee’s red card, perhaps because it was a friendly. I waited patiently for Eagles’ coaches to rebuke Igiebor. That didn’t happen. I confronted one NFF official, who said that Igiebor was angry. I told the NFF man that I was utterly disappointed with his comment.

    I was, therefore, not surprised with the manner in which Victor Moses reacted to one Cape Verde player. The Cape Verde’s guy’s tackle was rough. But it was the referee’s duty to caution him, not Moses’. The referee showed Moses the yellow for retaliation.

    The referee’s slap on the wrist was because it was a friendly game. In major competitions, Keshi would have to play many games with fewer men on the pitch because of our players’ attitude.

    Our boys feel very important and they always take the law into their own hands, despite their exposure in the European leagues. Keshi needs to warn them to change, if he wants to lift the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations diadem. Thank God Keshi scolded Moses at half time and dropped him from the game. Moses didn’t play in the second half.

    Keshi must remind our players that the Zambians were not a fantastic team. What nobody could take away from the Zambians was that they were disciplined, determined, dedicated, focused and played the game with their hearts last year when they lifted the diadem.

    Without these ingredients (discipline, determination, dedication and focus), no team excels. Sani Kiata’s poor conduct cost Nigeria the chance to shock the world when he was sent off for the needless retaliatory kick on the opponent in our first game in South Africa 2010 World Cup.

    Keshi’s Nike cap; Nigeria’s Addidas kit

    Could somebody please beg Super Eagles chief coach Stephen Keshi to remove his Nike cap during Nigeria’s matches?

    Keshi wore a Nike cap whilst wearing Nigeria’s official kit, Addidas, during the barren draw game between Nigeria and Cape Verde. This is a misnomer.

    Brands must not clash on such sensitive platforms, irrespective of whatever deal players and coaches have. This offensive deep blue cap runs riot with Nigeria’s green and white colours. We must learn to respect contractual agreement.

  • Eagles: Pregnant with surprises

    It is the beginning of a new year. It is time for resolutions, which serve as guide for good or bad conducts in the course of the year. For the Super Eagles, 2013 offers the players and coaches best opportunity to shed off the toga of Super Chicken.

    This unwholesome sobriquet arose from the Eagles’ grace to grass status in global football after their meteoric outing at the USA’94 World Cup, where Nigeria emerged as the fifth best entertaining team in the world, despite our second round ouster from the Mundial.

    Several methods have been adopted to rejuvenate the Eagles, with little to show for it. Coaches, players and even chieftains of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) were removed to make the Eagles fly.

    Many pointed at the gross indiscipline in the team. A few others hinged the team’s sloppy display on lack of determination, commitment and the will to win among the players.

    The rebuilding of the team started in 1998, with many asking when it would stop. But the new helmsman, Stephen Keshi, has promised reforms which appear to be manifesting, if this writer isn’t accused of jumping the gun.

    Suddenly, it is dawning on us that we need to rebuild the Eagles by giving the domestic league players an opportunity to fight for shirts with the better exposed stars in Europe, Asia, the Americas and the Diaspora.

    Home grown players have broken their yoke of naivety and have stood toe-to-toe with the foreign legion such that Keshi feels strongly that they could make his final list to the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations holding in South Africa from January 19 to February 10.

    The biggest impetus in the Eagles today can be traced to the fact that the foreign legion recognises that the home lads can play the game with their hearts, because they too want to join them in Europe.

    Again, Keshi is prepared to drop anyone who doesn’t play well in training and matches. There is no second chance for flops. This trait rubs off on the team’s play during matches.

    Interestingly, we are beginning to see bigger boys playing in the Eagles, unlike in the past where pint-sized players dominated the team and were easily out-muscled in ball possession battles. Muscular, athletic, taller and determined players make Keshi’s squad. What this writer feels is lacking in the team is the variety of tactics during games.

    Eagles’ style is predictable. The only difference with the past is that Keshi may have told them to fight for the ball as soon as they lose it.

    Secondly, Keshi appears to have broken the fixation that haunted previous coaches when selecting players. It was easy for fans to sit at home and pick those to be fielded. This flaw gave room to certain players to feel that the Eagles shirt was their birthright. This group formed the cabal that held the team and the nation hostage anytime they felt aggrieved. They chose the games they wanted to play, picked the coaches they wanted to work with and cared less about how the country plays during big time competitions, such as the World Cup and Africa Cup of Nations.

    With 16 days to Nigeria’s first game against Burkina Faso in South Africa, it is difficult for anyone to pick the 23 players that Keshi will take to the Africa Cup of Nations.

    The last two matches against Venezuelans and the Catalonians on Wednesday in Espanyol further heightened the suspense in the camp in Faro, Portugal.

    Watching the Eagles against Catalonia on Wednesday, what struck me was the confidence of the home-grown goalkeeper Agbim. He was calm and even controlled his defenders, a trait goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama lacks, resulting in some cheeky goals he has conceded recently.

    Agim’s positioning was awesome. He gripped the ball firmly from set-plays, especially from the corner kicks. His judgment of aerial balls was impeccable. He was calm enough to initiate the team’s attacking onslaught by throwing the ball to the nearest defender, not kicking it aimlessly towards the opponent’s goal area.

    One will not be surprised if Vincent Eneyama doesn’t start Nigeria’s game against Burkina Faso. If Keshi drops Enyeama from the first game, he would have solved the problem of using experience to pick players for matches than their current forms. Younger players garner experience from playing games instead of sitting on the bench.

    The Eagles defence has been problematic, although some of the cheap goals conceded have come from poor goalkeeping. Perhaps, keeping Enyeama on the bench in South Africa will be the panacea since the team has conceded just one goal from two games without Enyeama.

    Joseph Yobo’s inclusion in the defence could strengthen it, more so when John Mikel Obi is made to play in the defensive midfield like he does at Chelsea. Interestingly, Mikel hasn’t been playing for Chelsea, no thanks to the three-match ban occasioned by the punishment from using abusive words on referee Mark Clattenburg.

    Eagles’ defensive network would be impregnable if Keshi includes Nosa Igiebor and Dike in the midfield quartet. Keshi should play Victor Moses to complete the Eagles’ midfield quartet, comprising Mikel, Igiebor and Dike. Mikel and Moses will propel the Eagles’ attack like they do in Chelsea. Keshi got a tip of this fluid midfield play against Liberia in Calabar when Mikel spotted Moses with a curly lob which the diminutive midfielder converted with aplomb.

    If Keshi parades selfless players who would be prepared to pass the ball upfront for freer strikers to convert into goals, then half the assignment of beating Burkina Faso and others at the Africa Cup of Nations would have been decided.

    Eagles’ attacking options are legendary, although a few of them are wasteful with converting goals. Keshi can ignite adequate competition among the strikers, if he teaches them how to handle one-on-one situations against the opponent’s goalkeeper.

    The strikers should be taught how to inter-change passes such that they know who to pass the ball to in match situations. Rehearsals in training are perfected on the pitch. Scoring goals is no guess work. A team that does not encourage its players to shoot the ball accurately cannot win matches. The catalyst that wins matches is goals, not the number of passes strung together to elicit applause from the spectators. Practice, they say, leads to perfection.

    Keshi’s substitutes must be as good as the first choices. Matches are won by those on the bench. There shouldn’t be any form of sentiments. Recuperating players should be asked to go home. We want a squad of equally likely players not 13 stars and 10 wastepipes. Every change made during matches should galvanise the team to play better.

    A team is as good as the coach’s proficiency in reading matches. Keshi should open his eyes during games and ensure that tactical changes are informed and not based on panic.

    The fruits of Keshi’s rebuilding exercise must be evident in the way the Eagles play in South Africa. The team’s style should be inspiring. They must be made to give their best. Anyone who is not prepared to lay down his life for Nigeria should be excused to go on holidays. Nigerians have been left crest-fallen by Eagles’ shambolic outings in big competitions. The time to stop that trend is now.

    Nigerians are tired of praying and banking on luck for the Eagles to win matches. We are also tired of permutations to ensure that the Eagles progress during tournaments. If we can beat a team, we should do so convincingly. There should be no half measure; after all, we know that it takes seven matches to lift the Africa Cup of Nations’ diadem. It is a task that can be done, with the right attitude from the players and sincerity from the technical crew when picking players for games.

    This writer feels strongly that the Eagles can spring surprises in South Africa. You want to bet on it? Don’t dare; you rule the Eagles out at your own peril.

    Good luck Keshi; good luck Super Eagles. Please, make this a happy year for your fans.

  • Relax Osaze, relax

    Osaze Odemwingie has fouled the air with his uncouth utterances. He poured odium on the football fraternity over his exclusion from the country’s provisional list to the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations.

    That is okay because it is his right to do so. But he should also know that time was when he was picked head of others in the Super Eagles and heavens didn’t fall. When it favoured him, the coaches were immaculate. Anytime he is dropped, the coaches lacked personality, the players are undisciplined and NFF chiefs are inept.

    His jibes at Stephen Keshi, NFF, former captains of the Eagles and some stakeholders are unnecessary, especially after he hinted that he would love to be with his wife when his first child (a boy) is delivered.

    One had thought that his exclusion would have lightened his burden of choosing between his wife and the country. Nowhere is it written that fathers should witness the arrival of their kids. People do so at their discretion, more so when Osaze isn’t the doctor to deliver the child.

    One is also alarmed that Osaze feels that the coach must inform him about his exclusion. Indeed, it is pertinent to ask what Osaze did when Keshi didn’t contact him. Simply put, Osaze disregards his elders and needs to be told that African tradition recognises respect for older ones.

    Osaze has misconstrued being outspoken for rudeness. He ought to have called up Keshi to find out why he was dropped instead of lashing the tactician on Twitter. If he expressed those unkind words to Keshi on the telephone, the Big Boss would have understood, having faced such circumstances in the past. A shouting match could have ensued, yet he could have persuaded people to beg the coach after realising his folly. I wonder what he would do, if asked to apologise to Keshi and the football fraternity whenever he need something good from the system. He could wave his hands but he can never tell.

    Curiously, it was being rumoured on Thursday night that Osaze sought to leave the camp for England to witness his child’s birth. He also wanted to be shuttling between England and South Africa, baby-sitting and playing Nigeria’s matches at the Africa Cup of Nations. What a superman. We are told that Keshi rejected both requests before releasing the list. Could that be true, given the whiplash on Twitter from Osaze? Was Osaze trying to remind Keshi of what he did at the Maroc ’88 Africa Cup of Nations where he was flying in and out, playing for the country and his European club? This is Keshi’s full cycle.

    If Osaze has a grouse with Keshi, what would he say informed his decision to call NFF Board member Chris Green an idiot? Green called Osaze, following the prompting of those who knew about their firends. Osaze didn’t allow him to talk. He abused Green, a fact he confirmed on his twitter account on Monday. Green took it in his strides, but the pain was in his voice.

    Osaze should know that there is life outside football. He should understand too that no employer would touch him, given his antecedents with superiors. One is not sure if he would be welcomed into the Super Eagles again. He should always put himself in others’ position when he is angry.

    I don’t expect Keshi to join issues with Osaze. It would be foolhardy. I’m glad that Keshi has instilled discipline in the Eagles, but he must ensure that the stick is used without discrimination. A child that has just been flogged will definitely cry. That is what Osaze’s anger amounts to. Keshi should forgive him whenever he retraces his steps. That is the hallmark of a good leader.

    Glo: giant among stars

    The Glo/CAF Africa Footballer of the Year award in Ghana was always going to be a spectacle. A night of surprises. One in which the audience would detest some of the awardees. Hence, this writer wasn’t surprised when many in the crowd went for the choice of Manchester City FC of England’s midfield pearl Yaya Toure as the 2012 Africa Footballer of the Year.

    Of significant importance is the fact that such choices done by a voting audience of technically minded football coaches, captains and icons of the game were bound to throw up surprise winners. Indeed, such awards of excellence won’t be a popularity contest since the selection criteria are such that partisan fans wouldn’t be able to comprehend.

    For the ardent football fan, Didier Drogba was the obvious choice. No problem. He scored goals for Chelsea. Drogba’s equaliser changed the outcome of the Champions League finals against Bayern Munich. His penalty kick decided the game. Indeed, Chelsea has not found its rhythm since Drogba left. These accolades ought to have fetched Drogba the diadem. But this is one side of the coin. The choice of the winner isn’t for the fans, but the game’s technocrats who did through votes.

    Technically, Yaya Toure is better than Drogba. He plays as a defensive midfielder, yet he runs the length of the field to score vital goals for Manchester City and for Cote d’Ivoire.

    Looking at Yaya’s big stature, many have wondered how he carries himself effortlessly. He is the busiest player on the pitch and his absence during the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations held in Equatorial Guinea grossly affected his English team’s quest for their maiden EPL title. Little wonder Manchester City nicked the EPL title in the most dramatic circumstances last year, only after Yaya returned to the team. This is not forgetting others’ contributions.

    Yaya Toure’s choice marked another milestone for Globacom as one that stands for excellence. Others would have sought to influence the eventual winner. Yaya emerged from a transparent voting system. He wasn’t hand-picked nor was CAF told what to do by Globacom.

    Yaya represents the future of Africa football. It is also important that Africa’s best plies his trade in one of the best leagues in the world, not in far flung countries renowned as footballers’ retirement benefit zones. This is not taking anything away from the remarkable landmarks made by King Didier Drogba for club and country.

    Surprise is the hallmark of such awards and one must thumbs up for Globacom for changing the face of the Africa Footballer of the Year, which the Confederation of Africa Football (CAF) is believed in many circles to have bastardised.

    Keshi’s list

    Since the provisional list of Super Eagles squad of 32 was released last week Friday, tongues have been wagging and potshots have been fired at the chief coach, Stephen Keshi.

    The noise shows that the list met most people’s expectation. Of course, no list is perfect. Yet, I was disturbed reading in CompleteSports stating that Danny Shittu was forced on Keshi. Reading through, I saw that Keshi accepted this claim and my heart sank.

    Keshi’s stoic silence on this subject is worrisome and I hope he would not tell us after an uneventful Africa Cup of Nations that the list wasn’t his.

    Interestingly, Keshi has the chance to redeem his image in Faro, Portugal, where the final 23-man list would be made. He should drop any player he doesn’t need. The final cut should be Keshi’s so that we know who to blame, if things go awry – God forbid – in South Africa..

  • Fixing the Eagles in South Africa

    We are on the march again for football glory. Pundits are tipping the Super Eagles to upset the chart even though they were absent at the 2010 edition – no thanks to the humbling pie handed the Nigerians by a more adventurous Guinean side.

    There is the strong feeling that Nigerians perform better when the odds are against them. The purists hinge their permutations on our players’ exploits in their European clubs. They can’t be far from the truth since these are the indices that fans rely on in predicting the eventual winners of big competitions, such as the Africa Cup of Nations.

    But have the Eagles changed from their old ways of not giving their best during the country’s matches? It is hard to place a bet that these Eagles could be different. We need to expose those things that we all cannot see that haunt the players during competitions. Whereas the fans worry about our chances before big games, the players cannot be disturbed. It is just a game and it is this indifference they carry onto the pitch to record all the poor results we have seen.

    The mentality of the players has not changed. They love the good life of wine and woman. They love the bottle, partying all the time like movie stars. If they don’t do it, it affects their performance.

    Since France 1998, the Eagles have been bad testimonial to professional football. They behave as if they are demi-gods who must party to ease tension. They constitute themselves into cabals and dictate what they want. Things got so bad that the players picked their jerseys and those who should coach them. Of course, they decide what they should earn and insist on staying in the best hotels.

     Their wishes were always fulfilled, yet they circumvented all processes meant to ensure that they were not distracted. These boys are too rich. They flaunt their wealth by paying for rooms in the hotels where they stay. Their friends, most of who are pimps, litter the team’s camps. They pretend to be discussing serious matters with the players, but all they do is set the clandestine moves that distract them during competitions.

    Things hit to the crescendo in 2004 when three players were expelled from the camp for frolicking and breaking camp rules. In 2008, some players had the temerity to ask Berti Vogts for permission to party in Ghana. The German, we are told, granted them. The Eagles fell apart and earned the sobriquet Super Chicken.

     Need I repeat what happened at the South Africa 2010 World Cup? What many consider as the difference are the new faces but they can’t be better than those dropped. Perhaps these new faces will create the competitive edge to get the coaches to actualise their dreams. It is fair to say that they appear disciplined in the camp but that has always been the trend with every new manager.

     The Super Eagles are an intriguing group to superintend in big competitions. They bond needlessly in fighting for their entitlements, irrespective of how they fare in matches. They break into groups when the games begin. This has been the biggest problem with the Eagles in competitions. Sadly, some of the coaches align with the dropped players to rock the camp.

    Indeed, some disgruntled sports administrators take side with the players to worsen the situation, all in a bid to ensure that the NFF board fails. Personal vendetta rules the camp with National Sports Commission (NSC) chieftains fuelling bitterness among NFF men.

     It is clear that the Eagles’ biggest opponents during tournament are not the participating countries but themselves. Their conduct, commitment, determination and concentration during competitions leave much to be desired. We need to ask them if they truly want to represent us. This idea of reporting to camp to cause pain by not putting in their best during matches must stop. Nigeria will not cease to be a sovereign nation if we parade young boys who will fight for glory than the reluctant bunch that the Eagles have been. Those who are not ready to report in camp by midnight of January 4 should be dropped. Keshi should paraded boys who will be focused on lifting Nigeria’s image in global football competitions, not nursing fathers or journeymen transiting with the Eagles, but with finalised plans for cruises to choice areas, such as the Bahamas.

    Our players see camping periods as an imprisonment. The job must be done quickly for them to proceed on holidays. The nation may

    Eagles have been. Those who are not ready to report in camp by midnight of January 4 should be dropped. Keshi should paraded boys who will be focused on lifting Nigeria’s image in global football competitions, not nursing fathers or journeymen transiting with the Eagles, but with finalised plans for cruises to choice areas, such as the Bahamas.

    Our players see camping periods as an imprisonment. The job must be done quickly for them to proceed on holidays. The nation may mourn their unceremonious exit from big competitions, yet their deals in Europe are secured.

    Our players should be prepared to sacrifice their holidays to make Nigerians happy. After all, 90 per cent of them earned their stardom by playing for this country. Rather than destroy this platform, they should leave it where they found it.

    Keshi must drop all the big-headed players for determined ones who are hungry for glory. We are tired of watching immobile boys who lack the zest to perform.

    We have changed several coaches, the NFF men and other backroom coaching staff, yet we are still rebuilding. Maybe, this competition would provide the mirror to critically look at those we field in matches and ask if it isn’t about time we dropped them, no matter what they do with their European clubs.

    Our players’ classy European shows that we appreciate to call for their inclusion in the Eagles should be given a rethink. They appear to have reached their apogee and cannot give better than what we have seen in the past.

    The striking difference now, unlike in 2010, is that there is no Presidential Task Force (PTF) struggling to perform Nigeria Football Federation (NFF’s) duties. This needless struggle for supremacy was chiefly responsible for the country’s shambolic outing at the South Africa 2010 World Cup tournament.

    One only hopes that President Goodluck Jonathan can stop the government delegation from accompanying the Eagles to South Africa, like he did with the Olympians and Paralympians. These men and women add to the problems rather than resolve them. They invade the dressing rooms and disturb the coaches from telling the boys the mistakes made and how to correct them. They become emergency coaches. They are the ones who fan embers of bitterness among the players and coaches in a bid to get at their perceived enemies in NFF.

    The perpetual rebuilding of the squad since 1998 must be concluded; otherwise, people would be forced to ask: how long will it take to complete this structure called Super Eagles.

    However, it is soul-lifting to hear Sports Minister Bolaji Abdullahi admit that the Eagles are not under any pressure to win the Africa Cup of Nations. Abduallahi doesn’t expect the Eagles to lie down and be the group’s whipping team. He expects them to compete favourably to make Nigerians see the future in the squad that is being rejuvenated.

    Abdullahi’s proclamation is the biggest fillip the Eagles need to surprise the continent. It has never been so good. With ministerial interference out of the team’s workings, the players and, indeed, the coaches would have themselves to blame if we don’t play to our potentials.