Our players should be courteous. Super Eagles coaches deserve the kind of respect our players give to their European counterparts.
We see how they comport themselves in their European teams. Many may argue that these clubs have structures. But I ask, has Stephen Keshi not created a structure in the new Eagles? If you ask me, I will say ‘yes.’ So why do they still misbehave?
Perhaps, many of these boys would have got the right ‘lessons’, if they had not been allowed to spend too much time playing the beautiful game unhindered as kids because their absence eased the problem of over-crowding at home and reduced the number of mouths to feed.
Quite a few overcame the tough they had. They combined playing soccer with acquiring knowledge, which they now use to earn a living.
Victor Moses’ case is pitiable. He stands today in England alone, all alone. No father, mother, brothers or sisters. Moses lost them all to the insensitive carnage in Kaduna, according to his accounts.
As an orphan, he lived a reclusive life. Catered for by foster parents who didn’t know the African culture of nurturing kids, Moses has been unable to bridge that gap, now that he is mature as an adult. This is not to say that foster parents don’t nurture kids properly. They do. Perhaps, Moses’ case is the exception to the rule. You won’t blame the young Nigerian growing up in foreign land, oblivious of what the future held for him in those traumatic years.
The story was once told of how Moses didn’t bother if he had a privilege discussion with the sports minister of his country at the Heathrow International Airport in England. The minister, we were told, recognised Moses inside the airport lounge and walked up to him to exchange pleasantries.
The minister could have ignored Moses like many of them do, but he chose to chat with the Chelsea star. In fact, the minister wanted to congratulate Moses for opting to play for Nigeria. He succeeded but Moses was not interested in further discussion, as he fiddled with his telephone. Of course, his ears were covered with the ear phones of his set. Will anyone blame Moses for that? Certainly not this writer since Moses has walked this earth alone after his parents’ death.
Interestingly, the minister wasn’t offended by Moses’ conduct. The star had been listening to his music before he was politely interrupted by the minister. He sympathised with him and felt perhaps he was not in the mood to be distracted.
This Football Mirror of England’s account of what Moses said about himself: “Austin Moses, my father was a Christian minister in Kaduna at a time when religious violence between the Muslim majority and Christian minority was rife.
“Thousands of Christians had been killed there in 2000 when they objected to the imposition of Islamic Sharia Law.The news wires mention countless examples of Christian pastors being butchered in their churches by Muslim rioters.
“Still, Austin Moses remained a pastor and with the help of his wife, Josephine, continued with his missionary work. He did not have time for football but Victor played every day, in the streets or on a dusty concrete pitch surrounded by houses. His heroes were David Beckham and Michael Owen.
“But in 2002, there were more religious riots. The family knew that because Victor’s father had his own church, he would be a target. Victor, the couple’s only child, was playing football in the streets with a ball made up of sticky tape bound tightly together when his uncle came to find him.
“He told him rioters had set upon his parents in their home and murdered them. He said Victor’s life was in danger, too. The little boy, an orphan at 11, was hidden at a friend’s house.
“I just tried to be careful afterwards,” he said. “It was a week after they were killed I came to England. They got me out as quickly as they could for my safety.”
“He left so fast and in such panic, shock and bewilderment that he did not even have the chance to bring any pictures of his parents.”
Why the narration about Moses’ past? Today Moses is not with the Super Eagles in Brazil for the Confederation Cup. It was reported initially that he was injured. Many questioned this shocking revelation because he had nodded down a brilliant cross which Fernado Torres blasted inside the net in Chelsea’s 2-1 against Everton at Stamford Bridge to qualify for the 2013/2014 UEFA Champions league competition.
They couldn’t reconcile this setting with the injury claims, especially as Moses didn’t limp off the pitch. Incensed by the development, NFF sought to know from Chelsea what his problem was. But the English replied to say that they had released John Mikel Obi and Moses, the two Nigerians in their employment, to play for Nigeria.
Having known the truth, NFF and indeed the team’s chief coach wanted to know what his problem was. Rather than pick his calls or return the voice messages left on his answering machine with a call, Moses, I would rather say, shied away. He didn’t have the courage to tell Keshi and NFF eggheads the truth. He surely needed a break from the beautiful game to be with his kid, born by a live-in lover. I won’t blame him.
The flipside to the tale of the two players is that Mikel was courageous to tell Keshi that he needed to rest. He was excused to miss the friendly game against Mexico in Houston, United States. Mikel returned to play pivotal roles in Nigeria’s 1-0 victory against Kenya in Nairobi and against Namibia in Windhoek on June 5 and 12.
Nobody has heard from Moses. Keshi and the NFF are amazed but have remained calm. But Keshi’s and NFF top men’s silence is betoken. Moses may go the way of Osaze Odemwingie because he has refused to pick his calls or return messages that he obviously listened to.
Indeed, the body language of those in the Glasshouse and the Eagles technical team suggests that Moses has been axed. No qualms but don’t we think we should treat his case as that of a first offender? As a young boy, he certainly didn’t know how to tell both parties that he needed a break.
The difference between Osaze and Moses is that the latter spent part of his ‘holidays’ wishing the Eagles well before their games and congratulating them where necessary after such matches. He also hasn’t said anything about his absence nor did he go the Osaze way of pouring inventive on the coaches or the NFF.
Keshi should reach out to Moses, scold him and get him back to the team. Moses knows he erred, although he has consistently said he was gutted by the ‘injury’ that forced his absence from the Eagles’ busy June schedule. Moses doesn’t know of the Chelsea letter that put a lie to his injury story.
Eagles need Moses. One goal from 180 minutes of soccer against Kenya and Namibia is an appalling goals record, given the pedigree of our players. Keshi and NFF need to close ranks with our erring players. We need to play the next stage of the 2014 World Cup qualifiers with our best stars.
We lost so many scoring chances against Kenya and Namibia as attested to by NFF’s General Secretary Musa Amadu and his boss Aminu Maigari in post match comments. Even Keshi acknowledged that his boys were wasteful. For the next stage, there should be zero tolerance for fluffed chances because the opposition will be stiffer, having separated the boys from the men in the team.
I don’t expect much from the Eagles when this year’s Confederations Cup competition begins today. It is a learning curve, one in which we can gauge our coaches’ technical savvy against some of the best tacticians in the world.
