Tag: Amaju

WHEN jerry cans bearing urchins run after vehicles on Lagos streets, one thing seems certain – it is Christmas time. In December, you find roughnecks selling petrol in Lagos. They are the ones who buy the products at odd times, most times when we are sleeping. These yoyos run this racket with petrol attendants while the suffering masses wait hours at bus stops for vehicles to take them to work.

Worst hit are owners of vehicles who have the misfortune of patronising these hawkers. They end up losing the car engines because the petrol that these hooligans sell is often adulterated, most times mixed with water or kerosene – or both.

Sadly, here we are having another panic buying season, largely because there is always a cabal waiting for rumours of either a looming scarcity or price hike to unleash their devilish acts. Did I hear you say, “is this sport?” Well, pardon my digression. It’s just that I feel the pain, like others. Who will fix Nigeria’s problems?

It appears Samson Siasia wants to rebuild another future Super Eagles squad with the assemblage of truly young boys for the country’s U-23 Olympic Games side. Siasia has invited 47 foreign-based kids for screening. There is the temptation to question this decision and the number. But the caveat that they would pay their way to Nigeria for the trials raises the hope that such boys are eager to play for their fatherland, even if they have never been here before.

It is good that a deliberate attempt is being made to ensure that those who will play for Nigeria at the 2016 Olympic Games in Brazil are not more than 22 years old. What this simply means is that a lot of them will graduate into the Super Eagles and would have at least eight productive years for the senior team. The present bunch of Eagles cannot do better than what they exhibited at the Brazil 2014 World Cup when the next edition holds in Russia in 2018. We need a new team. We need players who understand what it means to play for the country. We don’t want players who think of what they can get and not how they can win matches to enliven Nigerians’ hearts.

Some members of the current Eagles are no longer interested in playing the game at that level. Having won the Africa Cup of Nations in 2013, most of them are no longer hungry for glory. We need determined, dedicated and hungry boys to wrest the Africa Cup of Nations for Nigeria in 2018 and then shock the world in Russia later that year.

Perhaps the biggest advantage in Siasia’s new vision is the fact that those who will make the team will be well grounded in the basics of the game, having been introduced to it by renowned academy coaches. I’m also glad that Siasia has plans for the grassroots talents. They may not have been exposed to proper training like their Europe-based mates, yet they could learn from them and what Siasia teaches them in training. The bottom line is that the pool of players to pick future Super Eagles players from would be increased.

The difference between our grassroots rookies in the hinterland is that they are raw, energetic, determined, but lack the finesse which comes with good coaching, which is found in the developed football communities where these Diaspora players come from. Indeed, if the NFF are serious in their drive to get boys whose ages they can vouch for, then they must consider getting foreign coaches to come here on exchange programmes to train our coaches and provide the template to routinely train the good ones. This is the only way we can make our coaches to improve and get them to teach the young boys the techniques of the game at younger ages.

These young boys coming for the developed leagues in Europe are discovered as early as ages 5-12. They are taught the rudiments of the game and taken through competitions until they have perfected their skills for the bigger clubs. Besides, these young boys are exposed to competitions and most times they get to play weekly league matches to show how well they have imbibed what they were taught in training.

These routine competitions and league matches provide the platform for the country’s football federations to collate data on the kids. From these competitions, the exceptional ones are encouraged to join bigger clubs’ academies until such a time when they would have mustered the courage to play in the tougher leagues with the bigger boys. It’s from the data collated from the competitions that such countries pick their national team players across the board.

Indeed, the NFF must get all our domestic clubs to have age grade players, preferably from ages 6-10. You don’t need to study rocket science to know a six-year-old. Where there are doubts, checks could be made on when he first went to school, if his birth records are also doubtful. The cheapest game to run is football. What we need to sustain this campaign is for the NFF to create a unit whose leadership must be passionate in getting the kids to embrace the game and play it properly.

It’s about time the NFF created a platform to redefine how we should play at the national team levels. This robust approach to reinvigorate the domestic game is all that we need with the NFF to effectively monitor how it pans out. Except our coaches are challenged with these holistic programmes, we would never be able to grade them and reward those who are eminently qualified to handle the national teams.

 

No Mourinho, no!

 

I admire Jose Mourinho. I like his can-do spirit. I also identify with his penchant to be the best of any team that he handles. I like his love for African players. I may not be a fan of Chelsea FC of London, but I follow the game and know what each player, team and coach does weekly. It is on this score that one is forced to disagree with Mourinho’s insistence that Super Eagles midfield pearl, John Mikel Obi, was chiefly responsible for  Chelsea’s 1-2 loss to Newcastle last weekend.

Mikel did his best, although many have joined Mourinho in his views. Yet, a cursory look at the two goals conceded by Chelsea against Newcastle showed that England international Gary Cahill’s poor clearance caused the first goal and not Mikel’s mistakes. It is true that Mikel missed a header inside Newcastle’s six-metre box before the goal was conceded, yet many players have missed clearer chances than what Mikel missed and never got Mourinho’s flak.

Mourinho has never beaten Newcastle. So, why does he think that Mikel’s mistakes caused the team’s defeat because Nemanja Matic didn’t play? Chelsea is lucky in the preceding game against Sunderland at the Stadium of Light. Had Sunderland predatory strikers, such as Cisse in their team, they would have been the first to beat Chelsea not Newcastle.

If Mourinho knows that he doesn’t want Mikel any longer, he should say so, rather than make the Nigerian the laughing stock. Such despicable utterances go a long way to limit the chances of Mikel in getting another club. I’m looking forward to the day when Chelsea is beaten with Matic playing.

Now that Mikel has shamed Mourinho by scoring in Wednesday 3-1 victory, I hope the coach will have the courage to applaud the Nigerian as much as he derided him over last Saturday’s loss to Newcastle.

 

Special talent indeed

 

The news from the blue side of Manchester in England where City plays in the Barclays English Premier League is heartwarming. Reports on Wednesday night suggested that the management of Manchester City have submitted a request to the Home Office in the United Kingdom (UK) for the work permit of Nigeria’s kid sensation, Kelechi Iheanacho, who dazzled the world at the 2013 FIFA U-17 World Cup.

Ihenanacho was the best player in the series, culminating in several requests for his services despite his age. Many a pundit quarrelled with Iheanacho’s decision to join Manchester City as a kid, citing the laughable fact that the English side isn’t renowned for grooming talents. What these uninformed few didn’t understand is that youth academies are ingrained into the system for any club of Manchester City’s stature.

Now the club has shown that they know how to use a good player and have subsequently sought to use the Special Talent clause in the British game to get Ihenanacho to play for the senior team.

Again, like John Mikel Obi in the past, Iheanacho will be playing at the senior level for his club instead of his country. Soon, we would expect Iheanacho to pick Nigeria ahead of Manchester City when there is a fixture clash. Iheanacho’s loyalty will be to the club than Nigeria. It is for this reason that Mikel hardly played for Nigeria in the past.

 

God bless Emenike

 

Emmanuel Emenike is my most admired footballer. He understands what it takes to give back to the society when the need arises. Emenike’s philanthropy is phenomenal. The beauty about his ability to assist the needy is that he doesn’t like it advertised. He stands out as the only Super Eagles player who kicks against some of the shameful acts of the squad and makes his views known. But that isn’t the reason for this short take on him.

Emenike spent $50,000, yes you are free to convert it to naira to buy bags of rice and other foodstuff which he wants distributed to motherless babies homes, orphans and to the widows across Imo and Anambra states. 550 bags of rice have been taken to Imo State. Otuocha (in Anambra State) will have 300 bags with other undisclosed items.

The star spent $60,000 last year while giving out to widows, orphans and the less privileged in the eastern zone of Nigeria, has mandated his family to distribute over 900 bags of rice to some local government areas in Imo and Anambra states as part of his annual charity work. Apart from the donation, a football match will be played in Anambra State to honour the Super Eagles star.

Each year, Emenike quietly shares his wealth with the needy. In fact, one fan, who was told of Emenike’s magnanimous acts, cornered him at the Nnnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja and showed him photographs of his distressed wife in the hospital.

Desperate to prove his innocence, the crest-fallen husband made a video call to his wife in the hospital, where her plight was highlighted to the Eagles’ start by excited hospital staff.

Emenike immediately gave the bewildered husband $10,000; his winning bonus in the game that he came for. He also exchanged telephone numbers with the husband. Emenike bought a piece of land in Enugu worth N30 million, which he wanted to use for a football academy. But that matter is in the court because some funny men in the Enugu state government want to acquire the land by force. God will not allow them achieve this. This is a promise. I will find out how far the matter has gone and relate it in subsequent columns.

So, Super Eagles can win a match? One pundit asked this writer on Wednesday night. He said the heaven should always open up to help the Nigerian side win all its matches. He reckoned that the rain helped to energise our players because he noticed that they didn’t finish previous games the way they started. What won’t we say when Super Eagles win matches? Thankfully, there are no complaints about the pitch, referee or the weather from the players or coaches. Hmmm. Up Nigeria!

The aficionado went on to tell me that the fans were not fooled by the 3-1 victory over Sudan as alert security operatives inside the stadium stopped them from venting their anger on the coaches. At the stands, the cynic, who was at the stadium, spoke of various types of placards with one message – Keshi must go!

This aficionado couldn’t understand how the fans smuggled bottles and cudgels into the stadium. He was happy that Nigeria didn’t lose the game to Sudan; otherwise, there would have been carnage at the Abuja Stadium. Indeed, he told me that it would have been the worst mayhem in football history.

For the record, my pundit is a medical doctor and a card-carrying supporter of Arsenal FC of London. He puts his money where his mouth is and he asked me: “Did you see how the players hugged the chief coach with every goal that the team scored?”

“Ade, are you still there?” he blurted. “Yes, doctor, but can you say that Emmanuel Emenike hugging the coach means that they have settled?” “You’ve started again, Ade; don’t go there. The common enemy now is Nigeria’s qualification for the Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco next year. The coach dares not assert his authority like he has been doing. He has come down from his high horse. He can see clearly,” the doctor said.

“Ade, you have only asked one question, but I know that you are saving your comments for Saturday.” I retorted: “Doctor, I no know book o!” “There you go again. Before you drop Ade, do you think the coaches should be sacked based on what we have seen?” “Doctor, I don’t work at NFF,” I replied. Poh, poh, poh, poh… the network stopped the conversation and I was relieved.

I’m not a seer. I warned about the grave danger this technical crew was putting the Eagles into with the senseless change of winning squads. I couldn’t understand why coaches who played the game at the highest levels wouldn’t appreciate the fact that good players are brats and need to be managed. I was worried about the poor scouting system at the NFF which the coaches exploited to pick unqualified players to prosecute our matches. Why it took us so long to see these problems until it affected our chances of qualifying for the next edition of the Africa Cup of Nations is puzzling. The scrappy win over Sudan is the result of our concerted effort to force the coaches to do the right things. The way the players were treated after the 1-0 loss to Sudan in Khartoum at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja may have informed the approach to Wednesday evening’s game.

I have seen from my visits to several sporting events around the globe that every sport is big business everywhere but in Nigeria, where emotions rule our judgment in picking those to direct the affairs of this lucrative industry. We delay decisions even when the roof has fallen on our heads. We believe in miracles as if others don’t worship God. We are scared of telling people the truth, until things have fallen apart as we have seen with our quest to participate at the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations slated for Morocco. It serves us right.

Super Eagles’ likely unceremonious exit from the Africa Cup of Nations was a disaster waiting to happen. Did I hear you say what does this writer mean by likely exit? We can still qualify arithmetically but not with these coaches who loathe our big players. Congo has one away game against Sudan. Nigeria has one home game against South Africa. Nigeria needs to beat Congo in Point Noire for us to have seven points, the same as the Congolese, except that we would have a superior goals advantage, depending on how many we score.

Congo would need to do the impossible – beat Sudan at home in the last game. Nigeria would be playing a South Africa, who would have qualified already. Bafana Bafana won’t come to Uyo to fight, knowing that they have secured one of the qualification tickets. Can we achieve this feat? Yes, but these coaches must go.

We embraced coaches who wanted to relate with the president on football matters even when they were not politicians. Of course, this caveat (because it was granted) made the sports minister redundant. We tolerated coaches who ridiculed the country by resigning their appointment on a foreign radio, even when the minister (Bolaji Abdullahi) was with them in South Africa.

Rather than accept their resignation letters, we begged them. We received them with pomp and ceremony and swept under the carpet the heinous crime of humiliating us when we ought to be celebrating a feat last recorded 19 years ago. The world watched in awe as our players and coaches were decorated with honours, given cash and houses while the federation chiefs and, indeed, the sports minister were made bystanders at a ceremony where they ought to have been co-actors. Behold, the coaches were told that they had direct access to Mr. President.

With tails tucked in-between their legs, NFF men left the seat of government dejected, unable to believe what hit them. Of course, like the proverbial turkey, the coaches derided the federation chiefs. They told the world that they were being owed several months’ salaries and allowances. They colluded with the players to embarrass us by refusing to travel to Brazil for the 2013 Confederations Cup. The former minister’s attempts to plead with them on the matter while they were in Namibia were forestalled by those who beat their chests that they are disciplinarians. Instead, we sent the money to them through the embassy, sweeping under the carpet the ignominious act of allowing the aircraft chartered by FIFA to take them to Brazil empty.

Things got so bad that the coaches kept telling us of being wooed by as many as seven countries, yet they kept our job. Emboldened, the coaches and the players disgraced us further during the World Cup by refusing to train for the game against France until they received their appearance fees, which many countries at the Mundial had not received.

Rather than call their bluff, we panicked and sent $3.85 million cash to them before the game in Brazil. Instead of keeping the sharing of the cash till after the France tie, the players and coaches disbursed it until the wee hours of the game, which Nigeria lost 2-0.

Ordinarily, we ought to have sacked the coaches, given the glut of Nigerians who ply their trade in Europe and the Diaspora. We didn’t. We celebrated the fact that we qualified for the second round by winning one game, drawing one and losing one in 2014. We compared this feat to the one we achieved in 1994, when we won two matches and lost one.

With this scenario, it was easy for the coaches to insult our sensibilities with their mindless invitation of unqualified players for our matches, with the NFF and even the minister unable to make any inputs. They hid under the unholy pact which gives them freehand to ruin the Eagles, as it has turned out now. The big questions now are: who will pick the next set of players to prosecute our last two matches against Congo and South Africa? Will the coaches not ask for new contracts before the two matches? Will we wait until we are arithmetically out of the qualifiers before asking the coaches to go? Who would replace the sacked coaches? Will it be another set of Nigerians or the usual journeymen European coaches who have paraded Africa for years?

We want a manager with an orientation for encouraging football academies to groom our youths at the grassroots. Such a manager must have a template to train our domestic league coaches. He also should have the clout to expose our budding stars to big clubs in Europe the way Clemens Westerhof discovered, nurtured and exposed players, such as Uche Okechukwu, Friday Elaho, Benedict Iroha, George Finidi, Daniel Amokachi et al. Westerhof’s initiative made these raw talents achieve the feats they recorded both for Nigeria and their foreign clubs. Their exploits compelled foreign scouts to invade Nigeria in search of other players. Little wonder, our players excelled in Europe during Westerhof’s time.

We are tired of Nigerian coaches. Their eras have been dogged with prayers for miracles and mathematical permutations for qualification tickets to major competitions. The Eagles must fly again. Certainly not under Nigerian coaches – until they change their orientation. May we never go through this tortuous path again, Amen.

Today will be a watershed in the annals of our football, if Sudan beats Nigeria in one of the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers in Khartoum. Ordinarily, a game between Nigeria and Sudan should be a stroll in the park, given our players’ pedigree in international football. But it is not. Reason: the coaches’ seeming penchant for changing the squad for inexplicable reasons.

As African champions, the Super Eagles have been tipped by most pundits to top the group without qualms. The story is different now with the Eagles. They are a divided house with plenty of misgivings between the coaches and players, even though the coaches don’t want to accept this fact. Some of the Europe-based stars are grumbling about the quality of players in the squad. They are scared to confront the coaches, having seen what befell Ikechukwu Uche for daring to criticise the coaches’ tactics during the turbulent stages of the South Africa 2013 Africa Cup of Nations, which Nigeria won.

Yet, it is instructive to note that the two countries (Congo and South Africa) have each won an away game. This away win marker is what the Eagles and coaches must aim at, not the repulsive statement by one of the coaches that he met the Eagles tottering at inception and groomed the players to stardom. What this corky coach failed to say was that most of the players he took to South Africa were players who plied their trade in Europe. The coach must be told that it takes more than luck for any black man to keep a playing shirt in any European club. Besides, this writer would also want to ask the coach whose fault it would be if Nigeria fails to qualify for the 2015 edition in Morocco?

Suddenly, it has dawned on the coaches that there will be climatic conditions in Sudan. There are also pockets of complaints over the reason why the game should be played on artificial turf. Those who picked the lopsided set of players are ruing the late injuries to some of the invited players. Sadly, one of them, Michael Babatunde, was injured one week before the team list was released.  Yet he was selected. Akpan sustained an injury while playing for Reading FC in England about the same time Babatunde limped out of a club match, yet he too was selected. That Babatunde and Akpan are injured would not shock their European club managers. Rather they would be wondering the kind of scouting system we have here and the calibre of coaches in the team. Indeed, what do the coaches expect the players to say if they are asked about the state of their injuries? Will a player tell his coach that he is unfit, if picked for a game against Sudan, where a victory fetches each player $10,000? The talk of the Eagles flying in chartered aircraft is cheap publicity. The Eagles have been travelling by such means. It is interesting that coaches who once complained about using such means of transportation into high altitude areas are demanding for it now. This is not the first time we are travelling by chartered aircraft and getting the desired results.

We are in this situation because we have coaches who don’t listen. Since we won the Africa Cup of Nations, they have handled matters concerning the team like their personal estates. They have brazenly invited recuperating players and those who ply their trade in novelty leagues such as China, to the Eagles. The immediate backlash of such unscrupulous invitation of players will be Nigeria’s exit (God forbid), if Sudan beats The Eagles tonight in Khartoum. Not even a draw is good for Nigeria.

But can the Eagles win tonight? Yes, given the Nigerian can-do spirit. Will this spartan spirit be all that we require to beat Sudan? Yes; not the coaches’ outdated style of play, poor match reading abilities and appalling changes. The players should resolve to win this game for Nigerians by playing to the best of their abilities. Many a Nigerian fan has died watching the Eagles since they returned to the “wobbling and fumbling” era.

The Eagles must know that the Sudanese are wounded lions, having lost their first two matches. A second home loss will be unacceptable to their nationals; hence they would adopt any method to secure a draw, if they cannot beat the Eagles. Eagles must play like Trojans. They must forget about the disadvantages of playing on artificial turfs. Many of them earned their European club contracts playing for our national teams. This is one game they must ‘win’ for the fans, who want a reassuring victory in our quest to clinch one of the group’s two qualification tickets. It is an achievable feat.

However, my joy looking at the future of the Eagles is that the new NFF President Melvin Amaju Pinnick, has stated that the coaches won’t be allowed to pick players at their whims and caprices. Well said, Amaju. I just hope you don’t recant on this. Amaju told media men in one of his interviews that: “We are going to create a technical study group that would build data bank of Nigerian players playing abroad and how they play regularly.

“We would have A-league players, B-league players and C-league players, as the case may be. If, for example you have someone playing in the A-league and scoring goals, you cannot bring someone from China to come and bench that person. We cannot allow that. We will give him a pool, where he picks players from. That is the way it is done all over the world.”

We are at the crossroad. We are on a familiar terrain where pundits leaving that task of Nigeria’s qualification for the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco to permutations, where we pray and fast that the teams ahead of us lose their remaining matches. We always leave such critical aspects of our preparations till the last minute. One cynic told me that such crazy periods give some people the opportunity to make money.

I dismissed him, insisting that we must never give Nigerian coaches the freehand to run the Super Eagles. He agreed but insisted that the NFF wouldn’t have the courage to make the Eagles coaches subservient to the federation. I laughed heartily, knowing who Pinnick is, when it comes to taking decisions. I told the cynic that Amaju can sack the coaches, no matter whose ox is gored, if it would ensure that sanity reigns in the team. The fellow took a bet, promising me an all- expenses paid trip to Dubai. I turned down the offer because it was too cheap. I didn’t want to waste his money.

So when I entered my office on Monday to discuss the stories for the next day, I was told that Amaju was on Supersports television, where he informed Nigerians that the chief coach, Stephen Keshi need technical help. Was I shocked? Never. Readers of this column know my views on the coaches’ tactics – playing two holding midfielders and asking the wing players to fall back into the midfield to help, was obsolete and would  crumble, if we play against teams with more men in that department. Their tactical changes during matches are puzzling. They create more problems for the team. The coaches have refused to subject their lists for scrutiny.

Amaju struck the nail on its head when he stated categorically that Eagles’ problems rest not with the players but the head coach. The coach doesn’t like to be told his team’s faults. His man-management is poor. Keshi’s bloated ego has affected his relationship with the players. This idea of the coach saying that he is the god on the training grounds is wrong. Keshi, Madabuchi, like the easterners will say. He needs to be told that he won’t remain there if the players want to sabotage his efforts. He must learn to accept mistakes made by the team when it loses. This idea of always taking the credit when the team wins must stop. I know that Keshi is an avowed Catholic. Why he refuses to forgive his transgressors baffles me. He ought to have known the Christian doctrine of penitence.

Last word on Ike Uche

 

Thursday newspapers screamed with the story of Eagles Chief Coach Stephen Keshi urging Nigerians not to divide the team with suggestions that he needs Ikechukwu Uche. He went on to say that Uche will never play for the Eagles under his watch. He has a right to say what pleases him. But this country is bigger than Keshi. If Uche is our best in Europe, NFF men must insist on his invitation, especially now that the team is fumbling.

One insider in the Eagles told me that it was after the team’s Secretary, Dayo Enebi, pleaded with Keshi that he included him in the last squad. The secretary’s interaction with NFF chief compelled Enebi to call Uche. Of course, Uche expressed surprise at his sudden consideration for the Eagles after the 2014 World Cup. He told Enebi that the coach ought to have called him to discuss his plans for the two games as it is done in other climes, instead of him reading of his invitation in newspaper.

Enebi took Uche’s message to Keshi. He directed that the Villarreal FC of Spain’s striker should be dropped. Was it wrong for Uche to have asked the coach to talk with him? Is it not from such discussions that coaches know the physical conditions of their players? Does it not show that Keshi didn’t talk with Uche? After all, Uche told the media in Spain that he didn’t talk with Keshi. Amaju, please get Uche to sit face-to-face with Keshi to iron out their differences. Nigeria needs her best players.

Amaju must get the coaches to work with the body’s technical committee. We have the players to make the Africa Cup of Nations our birthright. We would have beaten Congo and South Africa groggy with goals if the coaches had put aside their pettiness to pick our best.

This is the truth.