Most of us think that participating at the four-yearly fiesta for the biggest and enthralling games is a tea party. Aside, many others feel strongly that playing at the Mundial was as simple as buying a lottery ticket from the shop. In fact, there is a dismissive tendency of thinking that all that we need to be part of the comity of nations at every Mundial is just walk up to FIFA headquarters in Zurich to say ”We are Nigerians,” and we would be handed the qualification ticket without stress. No plan.
The sports administrators’ approach to Nigeria’s participation at the Mundial is such that you would think the competition is our birthright. It doesn’t matter how well the real contenders prepare. Getting the cherished ticket should define the growth of the game at the domestic front for the next four years.
In plotting our illusory chart for the World Cup ticket, we rely on God’s divine favours, as if other nations don’t believe in ”Our Father who art in Heaven, Halloweth be thy name…”. We forget the biblical phrase of Heaven helping those who help themselves first. Truth be told, we allow our emotions to rule our thought processes, leaving us in the lurch groping over how we missed it. We leave it late and expect to qualify by the snap of our fingers. Pray, when will we learn? Other 211 countries don’t have the right to dream about playing at the senior World Cup? No, only Nigeria. Indeed.
Until the government starts disbursing funds to run the game here directly to the NFF, the show of shame where players demand for their entitlements in foreign lands will continue unabated. It amounts to good governance when each level does its job without overlaps. It is ethically wrong for the supervisory body to do the disbursement of funds which pass through them. The supervisor must learn how to discharge his functions and allow others to do theirs.
Otherwise, how do you explain the trip to Rabat by the hierarchy of the supervisory body taking foreign currencies to the team 24 hours to a crucial competition after telling the world they had given the soccer federation all that they asked for to prosecute the World Cup playoffs for the African continents.
Of course, the supervisory body’s penchant for holiness is laughable because till date we don’t know the correct medals’ table to capture what happened at the last National Sports Festival held in Abeokuta, Ogun State. No one holds the supervisors accountable publicly, but through laid down procedures. A situation where the supervisor becomes the servant says a lot even when both bodies have accounting experts deployed to handle such an exercise.
Perhaps, the government should in the future get the finance ministry officials to handle the NFF’s financial transactions except those from FIFA which the international body knows how to detect excesses and abuses including misapplication of their cash.
Taking the cash to Rabat meant that the supervisory body didn’t do its job to ensure that things were done tidily instead of the disgraceful resort to self help by the players, coaches and team officials. The impression being created when there are strikes is that the soccer body is incompetent. It always turns out to be the failure of leadership by the supervisor.
One world has suggested that the Federal Government should constitute a World Cup Task Force to handle the country’s campaign. But previous ones had their members overreaching their briefs, leading to crises of shameful dimensions. The soccer federation should be given their funds directly, with the EFCC and the ICPC officials tasked to look into the federation’s books to identify misapplication of funds, and those found culpable made to face the full wrath of the laws.
Certainly, the obvious question would be how do the other countries handle their qualification plans without problems? Do these countries agree with the players, coaches and team officials on the mode of payment which could be handled directly by the finance ministry by transferring cash directly into their respective accounts after due diligence has been done? The bigger picture could be for the government to release cash to the NFF, with the finance ministry officials doing the disbursement after vetting the payment vouchers. This idea of bringing odium to the country must stop. The supervisory body must be told in strict terms not to disburse cash to the players, coaches and team officials as if they are labourers. After all, they play for clubs who remit their entitlements to them seamlessly through their bank details. A stitch in time saves nine.
Watching the game on Thursday night showed that the players must begin to take the reporting date to camp seriously. Practice sessions mustn’t be tampered with on the altar of flight difficulties. Most of the players ply their trades in European countries where airlines have schedules to different parts of the world. Bookings for such flight schedules can be done at individuals’ discretion.
Victor Osimhen needed the first half of woeful misses in front of goal to regain his goal-scoring sharpness in the second half, culminating in his brace which sank the Gabonese. Again, Osimhen is too exposed as a professional to know that it is awful to take off one’s shirt in celebration after scoring a goal. Besides, our players must be punished over needless yellow cards. Frank Onyeka ought to have known that retaliation is a punishable offence which in most cases translates to such players being shown a straight red card which could have affected the team’s performance. The Eagles must now play against D.R Congo without Wilfred Ndidi who was shown a yellow card in the sixth minute in Thursday’s match, making it his second yellow card in the competition.
Coach Eric Chelle goofed when he removed Nigeria’s goal scorer Akor Adams. One has been trying to process the reason for the change. Dear Chelle, Super Eagles have been conceding late goals. Please fix the problems. At senior World Cups, games are won from the bench through informed substitutions which rub off on the game almost immediately. In the likely event that Nigeria gets one of the two playoffs’ tickets, the NFF and their cantankerous supervisors should ensure that Chelle attends good coaching refresher courses to update his knowledge about the modern tricks of the game which is dynamic.
In a post-match statement by the president’s Special Adviser on Communication and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, on Thursday night via a tweet, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu described the performance as a clear expression of the Nigerian character that rises, adapts, and prevails.
“This is the true Nigerian spirit of resilience against all odds. Do not stop until you secure a qualification. Super Eagles, keep soaring. The nation stands with you,” the president said.
Chelle’s post-match comments raise hope when he said: ”I am very proud of these guys, because every time they are focused on what I ask them to do and they do what I want. They always show what I want from them, and they can prove why I believe in them.”
“The difference in this game was the passion these guys had. They had focus, kept the ball together and held the same thinking. We are happy, but we can’t celebrate just yet. Maybe after the second game, we can smile.”
