Soccer unites Nigerians. It is the opium of the people. Families are divided among clubs, not so with the Nigerian teams. Surprisingly, the followership of the female national teams is more. The distinguishing aspect of the women game is that is less troublesome – irrespective of the results. Indeed, other teams lose without qualms. It is considered normal- the usual soccer slang “you win some, lose some.” Case closed.
For the Super Eagles, everything stops in the country when the team plays. Eagles’ players are icons. They play for some of the best teams in the world. Their popularity is awesome. It is more when they are outside the country. You marvel watching other nationals show so much excitement towards any Nigerian on match day with many calling them Nwankwo Kanu, Austin Okocha, Peter Rufai etc. Even our departed stars’ such as the late Rashidi Yekini’s exploits are celebrated. You see more of the excitement on the faces of our hosts in foreign lands. Talking to Nigerians on the streets, at hotels, malls and at airport lounges brings a lot of fulfillment to these foreigners that you imagine how they would conduct themselves when they eventually see our stars such as Kanu. Such a spectacle is better imagined than expressed in words. Such is the popularity of the beautiful game, which knows no bound, creed and tribe. And so when the Eagles lose games, informed analyses are made, largely targeted at the administration in the Glasshouse chieftains, leaving the players and coaches free of any blame.
Other national teams across the gender give us joy despite the pittance paid to the players and coaches. Today, we are at the U-17 World Cup for women. We beat Brazil in a warm-up game ahead of the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. We are U-17 World Cup champions (back-to-back) for the boys, just as we are the African Champions in the U-20 category for boys. Nigeria’s senior female team are 37th in the world, despite their recent decline because we have refused to replace the ageing one among them. Didn’t the NFF supervise these feats?
Many would argue that Sunday Oliseh cannibalised the Eagles, leading to the exit of goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama and star striker Emmanuel Emenike. Oliseh’s era, no doubt, derailed the Eagles so much so that it took Ahmed Musa’s good thinking of relinquishing the captain’s arm band for Mikel to bring peace, love and team spirit back to the Eagles. And it explains why Mikel was marvelous in the last two matches.
Oliseh ran away from this defeat. We may blame NFF for picking him. But Oliseh came highly recommended by FIFA and CAF technical experts at a time many Nigerians denounced the thought of bringing in a foreign manager. Need I say we have had enough from our USA’94 stars as it concerns coaching the Super Eagles? I digress! Even if we had won this game – from an objective analysis of it – you cannot be inspired, you cannot be inspired by it.”
One isn’t saying that NFF and its workings are perfect. NFF chiefs made conscious attempts at getting the Eagles a conducive environment to perform. Even the players acknowledge the new dawn in their affairs. Why they have refused to excel when it matters remains a puzzle. The Eagles raised objections when they were paid their draw allowances in naira. Can you beat that? Of course, NFF rallied to get their bonuses in dollar bills. I hope they haven’t infringed on one of the rules of this administration.
Eagles enjoy limitless benefits, which other national teams watch with envy. Yet the Eagles are the ones who cause us much heartaches and disappointments.
The loss on Tuesday sank into the players after the game. Many of them sat perplexed on the pitch. The journey back to Nigeria from the stadium was quiet. Mikel couldn’t travel with the team and you won’t blame him. He gave his best. Perhaps, if our players had shown the type of zeal, zest and enthusiasm we saw during the dying minutes of the game in Alexandria, the story would have been different.
Our players must change their attitude towards the national teams. The age-grade players do very well, largely because they are not stars. Some of them who progress to the senior teams copy the destructive old habits of the regular stars, such that it is difficult to pinpoint where the problems of the team lie. When we win matches, we don’t blame NFF, but when we fumble, the barbs are out.
If we must excel in big tournaments at the senior level, our coaches must learn how to cultivate the habit of sharing the compartments of their teams to tested technocrats or coaches for proper post-match analysis.
Egypt’s coach Hector Cuper has an 11-man technical backroom staff who sit after games to discuss matches and plan for the next game. Cuper is running his big mouth now, but television footages during the game inside the stadium showed a man in awe, wondering what the Nigerians would come up with next. They never really did, hence this boasting session by the coach. Will you blame him?
“I am very happy that we are on the verge of qualification to the African Cup of Nations. I am especially proud of managing this group of players who fought on the pitch for 90 minutes to secure the win for Egypt,” Cuper told the press after the match.
“I am happy with my players’ fighting spirit. They did their best since they love their national team a lot.”
“We played very well in the first half. The second half was not as good as the first, but that normally happens when you come against a tough opponent like Nigeria,” he continued.
“We threatened the Nigerian goal with many counter-attacks, but were unlucky to finish them. We also could have easily conceded a goal during the match. We should all be happy now that we are on the verge of qualification, although we know that we made a lot of mistakes that we will work on fixing in the upcoming period,” Cuper said.
So, Siasia et al, what were the Egyptians’ flaws? How well did our counter strategies work? This is the new trend in coaching, which our coaches must imbibe.
When the South African referee issued the first yellow card to Oghenekaro Etebo, I told those close to me in the stadium that Siasia shouldn’t allow him return for the second half; otherwise, he would be shown the second card or be brutalised because the Egyptians had no answer to Etebo’s flawless displays in the midfield. When the referee flashed the second yellow card at Aminu Umar, I concluded that nobody needed to tell Siasia that those two battlers in our midfield should be replaced. A talented Eagles side like the one we paraded in Alexandria could afford that luxury, given the fact that their replacements would have been Kelechi Iheanacho and Alex Iwobi. They both play for Manchester City and Arsenal in the Barclays English Premier League. Need I talk about their abilities?
I’m sure that Siasia won’t have any difficulty picking his squad for the Rio 2016 Olympics, not with the remarkable way Mikel, Moses and Ighalo played. The trio should be selected as our overaged players. Mikel’s, Moses’ and Ighalo’s inclusion would give the Dream Team VI the depth to achieve another Olympic Games’ gold medal feat in soccer like, it happened in Atlanta in 1996.
… And this
This isn’t funny at all. It isn’t also an alibi for the defeat Nigeria suffered in the hands of the Pharaohs in Alexandria. It is an attempt to look at the other side of defeat.
If we had got the results that we desired for the qualification ticket of the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations holding in Gabon, it would have been a different ball game. No excuses for our loss to Egypt because the Egyptian security operatives were battle-ready for the urchins. The Egyptian Falcons, the name at the back of the plain clothed operatives and their counterparts who were dressed in bullet proof vests, gave Nigerians at the stands hope in the event of the fans becoming unruly.
When the Egyptians scored, the contents of plastic bottles were poured on us but the operatives stood up to the irresponsible act. Where I sat down, I counted 48 combatant men, who though young knew their onions. It was evident that the urchins knew their pedigree in the business of crowd violence. They kept their cool.
One must commend the Egyptian government for the level of security provided within and outside the stadium, although the way in which the crowd dispersed from the premises was tardy and raised doubts if the operatives could have responded, had Nigeria beaten Egypt.
But my hunches tell me that the operatives knew their job. They could have ushered us onto the pitch and ensured that the entire place was cleared before our departure.
