Samson Siasia is a brilliant attacking coach whose team scores goals with aplomb. Siasia’s positive approach is commendable. After all, the essence of the game is to score goals. But there are two sides to the game. Siasia’s defensive tactics has made his teams lose crucial games. Need I start listing them here?
Siasia must, however, know that it is all about attacking and defending. If he doesn’t have the tactical savvy for defending, then he ought to have picked a defensive coach as one of his assistants. Sometimes I wonder if our coaches do watch their opponents’ tapes before games. It was very apparent that the Egyptians strived to exploit the Dream Team’s defensive frailties and they succeeded. But what did our coaches do to the Egyptians beyond the two penalty kicks?
We have seen two matches played by the U-23 side and the team’s defensive frailties haunt us. Incidentally, we have taken comfortable leads into the half time, raising posers about what Siasia says to the boys during the 15 minutes rest periods and what his game plans for matches are?
From what we have seen, Siasia has no defensive tactics. He relies on providence to rescue his team past opponents with game plans. I pray that the Dream Team qualifies for the 2016 Olympic Games. If that happens, Siasia has no business fielding any of the defenders in this team at the Olympics.
I will suggest that Siasia invites Golden Eaglets’ defenders Lazarus and Anumudu to replace the two wing backs he has. They may be young boys but are better than the ones in Senegal. I’m sure if Lionel Messi and Neymar were Nigerians, they would still be playing for age-grade teams because our coaches like to err on the side of caution than taking risks. Messi and Neymar are small men but see what they do with the ball during matches.
What happened to those Eaglets who clinched the FIFA U-17 World Cup with Garba Manu in 2013? Have they become bad players in less than two years? How does Siasia expect Taiwo Awoniyi to perform in the attack when his midfielders don’t know how to pass correctly? Alampasu, Enaholo and Udoh are better than the goalkeeper that Siasia has in Senegal?
Our defence may be suspect, but goalkeeper Daniel has been awful. A better goalkeeper would have known what to do. Daniel stands in between the goal post like a bandit waiting to be tied to the stakes. He doesn’t talk to his defenders to tell them the strikers to mark. Sadly, as tall as Daniel is, he misses aerial balls played towards his goal area faster than water going through a basket. Siasia’s flank defenders are not the best in the country. If he couldn’t find better ones, he ought to have fallen back on those who played for the Eaglets in 2013 and 2015. No stories, Siasia. These kids must be made to grow through the ranks, please.
Siasia should learn how to graduate our exceptional age-grade players into his team. This idea of sticking to the boys who he discovers makes a mockery of the developmental platforms that all age grade competitions have been.
Lionel Messi and Neymar are not giants; neither is Chelsea’s Brazilian star Oscar. But they have since graduated from their age-grade teams to the senior national team. In 2009, Lagos fans clapped for Neymar as he was introduced as a second half substitute for the Brazilians. Neymar’s sublime skills told the story of a big star in waiting. Trust Lagos fans, they mobbed him after the game. Today, Neymar has grown tremendously in his game. Please don’t ask me about those who played with him in the Nigerian team. They have been sidelined – no thanks to the refusal of our local coaches to field them in subsequent age grade teams.
Age-grade teams are nurseries for the older order. Siasia should quickly get the talented ones into his team, when we eventually qualify for the 2016 Olympic Games.
The future
I’m sad, ironically when things seem to be looking up for our soccer. Rather than toast the efforts of our sports men and women, I’m writing here about how world champions have been left in the lurch – not even a thank you handshake from President Muhammadu Buhari. I want to blame this lapse on the administrative bottlenecks in government. So where is the change mantra in sports?
And rather than speak up for the government, stating why such an event didn’t hold, what we are being fed with is why the face of sports at the Federal Executive Council (FEC) wears khaki kits and red berets.
Sport, especially football has been Nigeria’s biggest public relations tool. Besides, it can, like in other climes, create jobs, mobilise the people and engage the youth effectively. If the Buhari government takes sports seriously and shows sufficient interest in the industry, we would be able to reduce crime. The President needs to drive around any city when Nigeria has a key game or sporting assignments. He would be shocked at the empty streets. Let the President return to those streets after the game, especially if Nigeria wins and behold the oneness among Nigerians. It only happens in sports.
Unpopular governments in Nigeria, especially during the jackboot era, used sports to seek acceptance. In other polities, sport is big business. It is a money spinner and an empowerment tool for the youth who need to be taken off societal vices. Sports create the platforms for the people to recreate. Being engaged in sporting events improves the health and living standards of citizens. And so people rebuilding sports are most times tested technocrats and renowned athletes who have graduated from the fields to the board rooms.
Such choices when made get global applause from other countries because with such a person, a truly new dawn beckons for the industry.
Therefore, one would have thought that an event such as receiving world champions would have been a top priority, more so as the international media were already on the alert to see how the Buhari administration would reward them. We have lost that frenzy. We have a chance, however, to raise the stake again, if we plan a ceremony where all our worthy ambassadors are celebrated. Honourable minister sir, this challenge is yours.
Before the Golden Eaglets confirmed their superiority at the FIFA U-17 World Cup held in Chile, the story was that President Buhari has opted to host the sports heroes and heroines collectively, instead of the piece-meal option based on how they brought laurels to the country. Most cynics hissed at the collective reward option, insisting that the iron is best beaten into any shape when it is red hot. It appears that those in this school of thought are right- that no reception for the Golden Eaglets is simply unbelievable.
Traditionally, whenever Nigeria wins such a trophy, the town where the contingent lands, is shut down temporarily to celebrate the conquerors. Those who missed out in the frenzy return home early to watch the show-stopper on television at night. Indeed, the media were always awash with their rewards since they would be driven straight to the seat of government for a presidential handshake and other perks. These perks help strengthen the need for others in the grassroots to aspire to such heights.
All that fanfare appears to have been lost with the tardy arrangement to receive our world champions. Granted that the Eaglets arrived in the country on the day that the President swore in his ministers, efforts ought to have been made to receive them and others on the designated date – November 29. It is inexplicable that the Eaglets couldn’t meet with the President simply because he was out of the country. Who fixed the November 29 date? How come nobody looked at the President’s itinerary before announcing that date?
The beauty of receiving these champions has been lost because many of them would have sneaked out of the country in search of the green pasture. What manner of photograph will the President be taking when key members of the Golden Eaglets, for instance, cannot be located when the presidential reception eventually holds?
We have seen how sports ambassadors have been received by previous administrations. The emphasis hasn’t been the cash reward, but the life fulfillment of a life dream of chatting with the President. The families of these athletes cherish the fact that their wards are treated as kings and queens. It also opens a new vista in their lives. Neighbours, relations and other well wishers of these sportsmen and women encourage their children to embrace sports.
Again, I truly don’t understand the nomenclature Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports. Does it mean that the Ministry of Sports has been merged with the Ministry of Youth? If yes, it would be terrible because other countries run the Sports Commission system.
The sports commission system ensures that only professionals are picked to run the various facets of the commission. The merger presupposes that the National Sports Commission (NSC) Bill still in the National Assembly is dead. If yes, what becomes of the position of Director General of NSC and the new dispensation where we have a Permanent Secretary of Youth and Sports? Is there not going to be an overlap of functions? Who do we hold responsible for failures in sports? How do we expect a flawless administration in sports when the supervising minister is contending with two diametrically opposite roles? Is this not the reason our athletes, coaches and players participate in tournaments with empty stomachs?
