Category: Sports

Adegboye Onigbinde has said there is no reason the Super Eagles should not defeat the Lone Star of Liberia in today’s decisive 2013 AFCON game in Calabar. Both sides split the spoils in a 2-2 draw in the first fixture in Monrovia on September 8.

Onigbinde, a former Nigerian head coach, said though a goalless scoreline will see the Eagles qualifying for South Africa 2013, he expects nothing short of a convincing win against the West African foes.

“I’m looking forward to a resounding victory against Liberia on Saturday. What we need to book a passage to South Africa 2013 is a 0-0 goal margin. That’s no reason why we shouldn’t beat them at least with two goals.

“Every match is different, the 2-2 scoreline in Monrovia ended there, and the game in Calabar is a different ball game. It’s deceptive to rely solely on statistics to predict or assess matches.

So they must avoid complacency,” said the NFF technical committee member to supersport.com.

The CAF and FIFA instructor said he does not buy the idea of blaming a player once things go wrong in a team with reference to the knocks on Vincent Enyeama after the 2-2 draw in Monrovia.”

The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) assured on Friday that it has concluded all arrangements for seamless organization and motivation of the Super Eagles and the Golden Eaglets for this weekend’s continental finals’ qualifying matches in Calabar.

While the Super Eagles take on the Lone Star of Liberia in a 2013 African Cup of Nations final qualifying match today, the Golden Eaglets will take on the U-17 National Team of Guinea in a 2013 African U-17 Championship second round, first leg match. Both matches come up at the U. J. Esuene Stadium.

Chairman of the NFF Media and Publicity Committee, Emeka Inyama said in Calabar on Friday that the Federation is expecting nothing of short of handsome victories in each of the two matches.

“On our part as the football-governing body, we have done everything necessary to guarantee victory, through adequate preparation of the two teams involved. We have been working hard and diligently with the Cross River State government to deliver seamless organization in both games, and make them memorable to the fans.

“This is not the first time we are organizing important matches on the same weekend. The fact that both matches are taking place in Calabar makes this one relatively easier,” assured Inyama.

The NFF Executive Committee member also reminded fans coming to the U. J. Esuene Stadium for both matches to turn up in their green-and-white. “It is important that we start to imbibe the culture of coming to the stadium for international matches in our national colours. This creates a unique atmosphere and inspires the team significantly.”

NFF’s Director of Technical, Dr. Emmanuel Ikpeme, a son of the soil, has been in Calabar for the past five days putting finishing touches to all arrangements, alongside top functionaries of the Cross River State government.

As at Friday morning, the NFF was still expecting the 125-member Liberian delegation, as against information from the Liberia Football Association that the team would land in Calabar by 7.30pm on Thursday.

“We’re still expecting them to advise us on their new arrival time. They got in touch with us on Thursday night to say that they had a problem with the aircraft they wanted to charter and that they would find their way into Nigeria on Friday,” said Bola Oyeyode, NFF’s Head of International Competition.

However, the Guinean U-17 Team arrived in Lagos on Friday morning and was headed for Calabar by noon, aboard an Arik Air flight.

Both the Cross River State government and the NFF expect a full house at the 10,000 –capacity U. J. Esuene Stadium for today’s cracker, which will see the Super Eagles return to African football’s choice houseparty after missing the finals in Equatorial Guinea earlier this year.

Liberia has never been able to earn a draw or a win on Nigerian soil, and Super Eagles’ Head Coach, Stephen Keshi, was in the squad that achieved three wins out of four against the Liberians in the 1980s.

On 20th October 1984, in Lagos, the Eagles trounced the Liberians 3-0 in a Mexico 1986 World Cup qualifying match, and followed up with a 1-0 win in Monrovia two weeks later. In a Seoul 1988 Olympic Games qualifying match on 28th June 1987, the Lone Stars earned a 2-1 win over the Eagles in Monrovia, only to be bashed 4-1 in Lagos a forthnight after.

Eagles gaffer, Stephen Keshi has asserted that a lot of work has been done by him and the technical crew to enlighten the players on the need to stay focused throughout the duration of the game.

The senior national team in recent times have been conceding cheap, late goals, even when victory was within reach and Keshi in a brief chat with SportingLife has warned his players to remain alert and not get carried away toward the end of the game.

“We have been working on that. If only we can do that for them it would have been better but we cannot. It is their responsibility to stay focused for 95 minutes and nobody on the bench can do that for them. We can only talk and try as much as possible to perfect it during training sessions to educate them on why it is very important that they stay focused throughout the duration of the game, but the players have a lot to do on their own,” the Big Boss stressed.

Eagles let in late goals in their World Cup qualifying tie in Blantyre against Malawi after taking a shock lead in the 89th minute through Reuben Gabriel but they allowed the Flames an equaliser in the dying minute of the match.

It was also same in the first leg of the final round of qualifiers for the Africa Cup of Nations against Liberia in Monrovia when the Eagles could not protect their lead and the Lone Star punished them with a late leveller. The tie ended 2-2.

We are grateful to have in the recent past considered in this column some problems militating against the advancement and eventual actualisation of our sporting programmes. But today as I reflect on what to present in this column, it occurred to me that we are currently having a very serious and most discomforting situation which has bedeviled and also affected the performance of Nigeria at various international competitions.

Nigeria has paraded great athletes that have represented this country at various international events. These athletes have also recorded great achievements for themselves and the nation respectively, thus putting the country in a positive light around the world, while also making the citizens to be hopeful in the greatness of our country, Nigeria. However, most athletes today in Nigeria have thrown away genuine patriotism for commercial patriotism in that these days we now witness situations whereby some athletes’ psyches have changed from being genuine patriots who are willing to serve their country by giving true and honest efforts at competitions.

Meanwhile, I wish to recognise the efforts of our great sport heroes who were patriots indeed; those who represented this great country when there was no much financial reward for their patriotism yet they made this country proud by bringing laurels and even when they fail to meet the mark they are always seen to have put in their very best effort and fought gallantly with all zeal, enthusiasm coupled with the spirit of true patriotism.

Today we have instances in this country whereby some athlete’s now give financial conditions before they represent the country. This attitude is gradually killing our sport and has reached an alarming rate because it has eaten so deep into the fabric of our sports thus we see some athlete’s holding the entire nation to ransom a situation that has made us as a nation loose vital positions in world sport we now experience an advent of the cash for patriotism syndrome that have taken over our sporting environment and this syndrome is what I refer to as the “Athlete’s Commercial Patriotism Theory” This theory postulates that its proponents are no longer interested in been patriots but rather have placed Money before Patriotism a conflicting interest that deters athlete’s performance at any given time.

I am a staunch believer in the principle that athlete’s welfare must be taken seriously and attended to promptly but what I don’t agree with is when an athlete now makes the payment of certain amount a precondition for his or her sport performance. I am also aware that despite the very serious and challenging environment that we find ourselves as it relates to sport funding, Nigeria athlete’s during international events are properly taken care of by Nigeria although there are still room for improvement.

An athlete should first see his /her invitation to national camp as a call to national service and approach such invitation with a very serious and important mindset for service to the nation not to be seen as an opportunity to exploit the nation by wanting to enrich self. This if not strictly addressed could also affect our overall sport development programme. The most worrisome is that amongst our “successful athlete’s” only a few of them have been able to consider coming home to give back to the country that made them by either conducting training clinics, opening sport academies, creating a sport related NGO or others that will impact on the life of the average Nigerian.

One is also interested at this point in looking at the concept of reward or award as a means of recognition for athlete’s performance. It should be clear that the interest of this writer is not on the product of what athlete’s are given after their excellent performance at international sporting events but rather it is situated on the scale of athlete’s holding the nation to ransom requesting for money before representing their father land. This dastardly act is mostly committed at competition venues be it abroad or within the country thus destroying the concerted efforts and intent for which expectations are mostly dashed due to psychological disruption and misplacement of athlete’s mental power.

Athlete’s representing Nigeria ought to be aware that it is a great privilege to be invited to represent Nigeria. Hence, the idea of placing money before patriotism should be jettisoned. We encourage our talented and gifted athlete’s and also want them to know they are expected to be great ambassadors of our country and their ability to always put in their very best during competitions for the interest of the country and her general good is fundamental in ensuring that Nigeria take back its rightful place in the committee of nations.

Nigeria is a great country and any athlete from Nigeria should be ready to serve wholeheartedly and not expect Nigeria to come serve them because of their skills or ability while acknowledging the fact that Nigeria athlete’s when determined will definitely achieve great strides in the areas of winning medals and laurels for our great country, it is expedient that we reject and condemn in all forms the athlete’s commercial patriotism theory.

I am most delighted in the recent change in perception of Government towards recognition of its athlete’s performance at International competitions this I must say is a welcome development and a very clear departure from what was obtainable in the past which must be commended and sustained. Giving such determination on the part of government to honour successful athletes after major competitions, one may be right to advance the argument that Nigeria may be on the verge of evolving a new athlete’s philosophy as against the athlete’s commercial patriotism theory.