Category: Sports

Suleymanu Kabirou, captain of under-pressure Nigerien Junior Menas, has sensationally said ahead of this weekend’s Under-17 qualifier that the Golden Eaglets would be hard to beat with their tic-tac style of play.

Speaking with his Nigerian confidant after their 4-1 loss a fortnight ago, the gifted Kabirou said he was surprised at the Golden Eaglets’ tactical awareness and their near flawless style of play.

“We were shocked with the good handling of the ball by the Golden Eaglets,” ‘AB’ reportedly said.” It was as if we were watching football on a PlayStation machine.”

There were many outstanding displays by the Eaglets in that battle of Niamey but AB was quoted as saying that a spectacular move shortly at the begining of the second half by the Nigerian youngsters would remain indelible in his memory. The Golden Eaglets actually completed a sequence of passess that would make even followers of Barcelona green with envy.

“I was just watching in awe when they were just passing the ball,” he confessed. “It was as good as watching football on PlayStation and I think the Golden Eaglets are a very good side.”

Emmanuel Amuneke, Golden Eaglets’ assistant coach who played for FC Barcelona in his heyday, said it has been worthwhile working with the players.

“One thing we have achieved is changing the orientation of the players and we are happy with their responses to what we are teaching them,” Amuneke stated.” Work is in progress, we’re building them mentally and hopefully, they should be able to give us what we want at the end of the day.”

The power of sport cannot be quantified when one considers its impact on the general spectrum of any given nation. Whereas, it can be affirmed that Nigeria in times past prided herself in the prowess of her athletes in major international events and competitions, little can be said of her current status among the committee of nations when compared with the state of the country’s current performance during competitions.

It brings to mind the fact that most of our sport engines are either dilapidated or in a state of total collapse. This suggests that the vision of our sport is getting darker by the day without anything pragmatic being done towards ensuring the sincere transformation of this sector that has proven to have the capacity of generating massive employment for our youths, as well as promoting the much needed national unity and cohesion among its citizenry with a multiplier effect of international respect and honour.

We have in the recent past witnessed the deplorable state of our sport facilities across the country. But for a few state-owned facilities that are relatively managed, all others are nothing to write home about. Our schools which ought to be the basic foundation for sport development have lost their sports perspective as most schools these days don’t have sport fields, let alone sport teachers or masters to inculcate the rudiments of sports in their students.

A visit to our tertiary institutions will tell you the extent to which sport has been dealt with and this is evident in the various ways through which tertiary institution managements have managed the sporting culture of their various institutions. We now witness a scenario whereby sport facilities in tertiary institutions are either poorly managed or not available at all and this trend is such that promotes all sorts of negative behaviour among students while in school.

One is concerned about all these conditions that have over time culminated in a generic mass reduction in terms of performance among our athletes; one is troubled by the inconsistency and lack of a comprehensive strategic sport development programme that would rejuvenate the entire sector and oil the dead engines while also ensuring that Nigeria is situated in its rightful place.

At this point it is instructive that we take a look at our National Sport Policy and ask if there is a correlation between the implementation of the policy and the set objective of the policy as it relates to the current state of sports in Nigeria. To what extent is the sport development agenda or reformation designed to integrate muti-collaborative approach towards its actualisation?

Are we as a nation truly ready to reform our sport sector? What is the position and contribution, if any, of sport professionals on the current trend recorded in our sports? Are we satisfied as a nation or is there something that we are missing? When and how can we rejuvenate our sport? Are the administrators the problem of the dwindling fortunes of Nigeria Sport? Or is it the lack of patriotism among athletes that is the problem?

These are questions that we will attempt to answer in subsequent editions. Meanwhile, this writer is of the firm belief that sport, when properly harnessed, has got the potential to transform both the image and economy of any nation and Nigeria will definitely not be an exception.

Trevor Sinclair says Nigeria’s Victor Moses can help take pressure off fellow Chelsea striker Fernando Torres.

The former Chelsea star made this statement while backing the Spaniard following his muted showing in last weekend’s barren draw against Queen Park Rangers.

“He’s started his season well,” Sinclair told Talk Sport. He had an off game Saturday but it was a tough game there was not a lot of space.

“He didn’t get a lot of balls into him where he could have created something; it was a pretty difficult game for him.”

Sinclair was impressed by Daniel Sturridge and new singing Victor Moses’ performances from the bench and believes they can ease the scoring burden on Torres.

“Sturridge came on and impressed me, Moses came on and he looks a dangerous player as well.

“We’ve got to utilise the squad this season. All the pressure won’t be on Torres’ shoulders to score the goals.”

Torres came under fire after Chelsea’s 0-0 draw with their west London rivals on Saturday but Sinclair believes the criticism is unfair.

Victor Moses joined the Blues from Wigan over the summer for nine million pounds and made his debut against QPR on Saturday. The Nigeria international had put up some head-turning displays in an opening day’s tie against Chelsea before crossing over.