I’M an unhappy man. I smell danger though I’m not an alarmist. I’m writing this column on Tuesday night which presupposes that I won’t be addressing the trends of the March 25 clash between Nigeria and Ghana holding in Kumasi for the Group F sole qualification ticket to the Qatar 2022 World Cup holding from November until the middle of December this year. Whatever happened on Friday (yesterday) in Kumasi would have a greater impact on which of the two countries would pick the ticket when the final game would be played inside the MKO Abiola Stadium in Abuja on March 29.
I have followed the off field reports leading to the first game between the Black Stars of Ghana and Nigeria’s Super Eagles in the media and they can be categorised into the two sections – reality and the bizarre, although the one which touches this writer is the sudden illness by goalkeeper Okoye. Yes, nobody can determine if Okoye is ill or not. But the circumstances surrounding how he opted out of the March 25 game require a second look to see if there aren’t underlying issues that could have informed his decision.
Okoye’s report had two folds – one in which the NFF stated that he was ill without telling us the nature of his illness. The other was an account by a journalist stressing that Okoye had travelling issues out of Holland. This was off the line . But Okoye tweeted that he was ready to fly out to Nigeria only to be told that he had tested positive for Covid-19 in his second test, having failed the first test a day before he was to travel. The Covid-19 accounts have come from Okoye not his club. Possible but I feel strongly that he wanted to fulfil all righteousness because he was in goal for his Dutch side over the weekend. Well, this writer hasn’t been struck by Covid-19 but feels that there is more to these stories.
And it is not too difficult to identify if one follows the events after Nigeria was eliminated from the Cameroon 2021 Africa Cup of Nations by Tunisia 1-0, with many a Nigerian fan blaming Okoye for the cheeky goal conceded.
Okoye is a small boy and clearly doesn’t have the experience to take on his ‘glass’ chins as they say in boxing some of the mind-boggling criticisms from some recalcitrant fanatics of the game here. Indeed, some of these imbeciles took their sour words on Okoye to social media which isn’t fair since no sportsman or woman goes into a competition venue to lose games. The senseless messages got so personal that some even threatened his life. Okoye didn’t react then but this ‘illness theory’ is a subtle way of expressing his fears knowing that he still needs the platform to pursue his career in Europe, especially as the market for goalkeepers is as far and as wide apart as the dentition of an aging adult.
A goalkeeper is as good as his defenders. The long-range shot taken by the Tunisian could have been avoided had the defender closed him rather than escorting the Tunisian to a vintage position to strike at the goalpost. We are all prone to mistakes after all the goals Nigeria scored against her first three opponents at the group stages arose from errors on the part of our opponents at the Cameroon 2021 Africa Cup of Nations. No player goes to the pitch to lose. The objective is to win such matches since it improves such athletes’ ranking in that event or sport. Sadly, such uninformed fanatics forget that the world is a global village – meaning that such injurious talks on social media get to those concerned.
In fact, the way people respond to such talks are diverse depending on their exposure. It also doesn’t make it right because it is always a privilege to be invited to represent a country with a population of over 400 million. Social media’s views mould the mindset of most people either positively or otherwise and such mass movement could be counterproductive because of the people’s perceptions of the subject matter.
This isn’t the first time players are opting out of our national soccer teams based on threats to their lives and family. In fact, Odion Ighalo resigned from playing for Nigeria after the 2018 World Cup held in Russia after fans threatened his life on social media for missing a sitter against Argentina. Who doesn’t miss goal-scoring opportunities including penalty kicks? Those are some of the hazards of the game which shouldn’t be used as the reason to threaten players’ lives let alone their families. It is unfair and crude. Show me a striker that doesn’t miss goal-scoring chances, then I will show a virgin in the maternity ward. It took the generosity of spirit of NFF President Amaju Pinnick to persuade Ighalo out of retirement. Yes, credit should go to Pinnick and this writer is sure that the NFF President would head for Holland to speak with Okoye.
Okoye and Ighalo may have taken their decisions after fans’ threat on the social media as precautionary measures. But experienced Yakubu Aiyegbeni wasn’t cowed by such utterances and played for the country until after the problem he had with NFF chiefs during one of the Africa Cup of Nations. Interestingly, this writer asked Yakubu during one of The Nation’s online television shows last year if he would use the platform to apologise for the missed goal scoring chance at the South Africa 2010 World Cup.
Aiyegbeni didn’t allow this writer to complete the sentence on television when he roared back, saying that he would never apologise to anyone, insisting that Obafemi Martins lost a worse opportunity than he did in that same game, yet nobody taunted Obagoal as they did to him, which he felt was unfair. Yakubu prided himself on the fact that he was among the top scorers in the English League with 95 goals playing for average sides without blemish.
With a domestic league that is slowly crawling out of the doldrums, it is only fair to appeal to these fanatics to see those errors as not being deliberate since they regret such misses in their quiet times. These fanatics shouldn’t give Nigeria the reputation of being sour losers who resort to threats to the life of our sports ambassadors. How do we expect some of the players we are wooing to play for Nigeria because of their parental background to accept such offer when they are fed with such sad tales which put the country in public ridicule? No doubt there is a freedom of speech enshrined in the Nigerian Constitution which also frowns at threat to lives of the citizenry which is sacrosanct. It is soul lifting that Eguavoen has reassured Okoye of his place in the March 25, only if he shows up in Abuja to fight for a shirt. Eguavoen revealed that the goalkeeper has flu, which is understandable. The story about being struck by Covid-19 isn’t only sinister but a lie from the pit of hell. Eguavoen won’t ask him to report in Abuja if he is infected by Covid-19. Okoye definitely spoke with his coach. Only hopes too that the fans don’t react negatively towards the Ghanaians based on how they received us in Kumasi. All those social media stuffs amounted to mind games which compelled the reluctant fans to watch the match live instead of sitting at home or at viewing centres.
The Sports Ministry and the NFF should conduct road shows starting from tomorrow educating the fans about the penalty for seeking revenge. Tuesday’s fixture is just a game. They should cheer the Super Eagles to victory and ignore the tantrums thrown at us in Kumasi. Nigeria should beat Ghana fair and squarely on Tuesday. That way we would have shown our superiority over them. The federation and the sports ministry can sign agreements with the owners of buses at the bus parks in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) to provide buses to run shuttles around the city to pick up fans to the stadium and back. These buses should be marked to avoid infiltration from dubious people to seize the opportunity to rob innocent Nigerians and visitors who would throng the stadium to watch the March 29 game.
The buses should be close to 800 if the federation hopes to quell any form of violence. Some fans may decide to take the laws into their hands in victory and in defeat (God forbid).
Motorbikes, if allowed in Abuja could suffice. It is important to state that the gates should be opened within the last 15 minutes of the end of the game to allow for easy exits for those who have seen enough. We need to ensure that only 40 percent of the stadium’s capacity is sold as tickets for the March 29 tie. Viewing centres fitted with big screens should be established in pilot areas for fans to watch too.