In the past, the talk about the European leagues centred on which three or five teams would win the trophy across the big leagues – Barclays English Premier League, German Bundesliga, Spanish La Liga and Italian Serie A. Other leagues, such as the Scottish League, Belgian league etc don’t attract pundits’ and fans’ attention, perhaps because their representatives in the UEFA Champions League don’t make the kind of impact made by the bigger leagues in England, Germany and Spain. Clubs use the January transfer window to strengthen their squads for the second half of the competitions. But the three big leagues have runaway winners that would only lose the trophy if something disastrous happens. And it isn’t looking like such a thing would happen because other contenders are losing to smaller teams. The big teams draw on weekends when these leaders extend their leads on the table.
Bayern Munich has established a 16-point gap in the German Bundesliga, Manchester City has a 12-point difference to second placed Manchester United, with the Manchester return leg derby a few weeks away, and Barcelona are untouchable with 11 points difference from the second placed Atletico Madrid in the Spanish La Liga. Don’t ask me about Real Madrid, which is languishing in the 10th position, 19 points adrift of Barca. There are at least 17 matches left in some of the leagues, but the leaders have made their homes a fortress aside the fact that they know how to beat the strugglers in their leagues. But, with football, everything is possible. We wait.
Barring a likely upset of the seeming runaway winners, Manchester City of England, the battle for the second, third and fourth positions has become more exciting, perhaps, because of the pedigree of the teams in the race. The five teams to compete for the top four in England, assuming City are uncrowned champions, are Manchester United, Chelsea, Liverpool, Tottenham and Arsenal. Only three of the five will join Manchester City as England’s representatives in the 2018/2019 UEFA Champions League.
Manchester City looks like the best team in Europe, with the scintillating skills exhibited by their players, although many pundits expected such exciting games from clubs handled by Pep Guardiola. Until Guardiola moved to England, purists didn’t think he had the tactical savvy to dominate the English game the way Manchester City is doing. And with less than four months to the end of the season, it won’t be out of place if Guardiola’s Manchester City win at least three titles, with the EPL diadem almost theirs. When last did an English team annexe the three trophies in one season?
No team has ever won the domestic treble in England. I look forward to Manchester City breaking the jinx this season. Will Manchester City annexe the three big competitions (EPL, Caraboa Cup and the English FA Cup) in England? These three competitions produce the representatives in England for Europe next season.
I’m scared to pick the top four in England, knowing that the beautiful game is unpredictable, with the relegation strugglers ruffling the feathers of title contenders like we saw on Monday when Swansea beat Liverpool 1-0. It was an upset for Swansea, given what Liverpool did to Manchester City at Anfield penultimate Sunday to end the Citizens’ 22-match unbeaten run. Penultimate Saturday, Bournemouth shocked Arsenal with a 2-1 win. The Gunners have added new players, such as, Henrikh Mkhitaryan to the side to improve their chances of making the Top Four in May. Mkhitaryan swapped places with Sanchez, a move which gave him a new lease of life at Manchester United. Will Arsenal succeed in its quest for Gabonese star Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang from Borrussia Dortmund in the German Bundesliga?
The European leagues appear decided over which teams would lift the diadems, although attention has now been shifted to the battles among relegation threatened clubs. But the talk in Europe is the avalanche of goals scored by World Cup players for their clubs to show that they are ready for the big stage in Russia in June.
The European leagues are full of goal scorers from countries heading for the Russia 2018 World Cup, such as Manchester City’s Sergio Aguero of Argentina (16 goals), Brazil’s Gabriel Jesus (eight goals), England’s Raheem Sterling (14 goals), Germany’s Leroy Sane (seven goals), Spain’s David Silva (five goals) and Kevin de Bruyne (six goals).
The other big scorers in the European leagues are England’s Harry Kane (21 goals), Argentina’s Lionel Messi (19 goals), Egypt’s Mohamed Salah (18 goals), Argentina’s Sergio Agüero (16 goals), Uruguay’s Luis Suárez (15 goals) England’s Raheem Sterling (14 goals) Argentina’s Gonzalo Higuain (nine), Argentine Angel Di Maria (five goals) and Argentina’s Paulo Dybala (14 goals). One of these goal scorers could win the Golden Boot, although one new name could pop up, except that such a striker may not be playing for the eventual World Cup winner. Most of the prominent strikers would be tightly marked.
My worry for the Super Eagles is that the Argentines have scored 63 goals, considering what Messi, Aguero, Dybala, Higuain and Di Maria did in the Europe this season. Eagles stepped on the python’s tail by beating Argentina 4-2 in Russia last November. The Argentines have vowed to avenge the loss. Nigeria’s last group game at the Mundial is against Argentina and the Argentines will put in their all to win, especially as many of them have attributed the 4-2 loss to Messi’s absence. Will the task be too big for Messi to carry? No way. Messi is a Trojan of such fight-back wars. In fact, he excels in such games. This is why he is easily the world’s best player, depending on the divide you are.
I have chosen a comparison with Argentina because I know that the last game would make or mar the chance of either of the teams to qualify. The World Cup is replete with stories of fallen heroes, with the last casualties being the Spaniards, who fell like a pack of cards, despite being the defending champions at the Brazil 2014 World Cup. The Argentines have a poor record with Africans at the Mundial. Nigeria won’t be an exception, after the Eagles broke the yoke in Russia last year.
The Argentines won’t forget Cameroon in a hurry, considering how they fell to the Indomitable Lions 1-0 at the Italia ’90 World Cup. The Argentines were defending World Cup champions. The legend Diego Armando Maradona was playing, but the Cameroonians demystified him and his men. Can the Eagles rise to the occasion and make it count when it matters? Yes. They are younger than the Roger Milla-led side, though the Argentines have Messi, who has rightly replaced Maradona, he isn’t controversial, which makes him more devastating in front of the goalpost.
Do the Eagles have the defenders to stop Messi? They need not have them, if they play as a unit by ensuring that everyone marks as soon as possession is lost. The Argentines are not spectacular in defending. They may have problems handling our attack, but it is in the midfield the Eagles should dominate to get the desired result. With Messi, there won’t be any comeback from goals deficit. So, the Eagles must gird their loins to survive.
If we use goals scored by the Argentines to measure how the Eagles would fare against them, it will be no contest. But, with football, there are two kinds of players- the club player and the national team star. Nigerian players get their best playing for Nigeria – if properly motivated. With the plans made by NFF chieftains, the Sports Minister and the government, our players won’t lack anything. So, Argentina, beware.
Kelechi Iheanacho’s sterling performance against Fleetwood Town, penultimate Tuesday, opened the floodgate of goals by other Nigerians in the European leagues. What makes soccer beautiful is the number of goals scored. The fans are excited. The fans’ post-match analyses are hinged on top performance, especially players who scored goals. Iheanacho had been written off as a non-performer at Leicester City, despite his £25 million transfer from Manchester City based on his bench role with the Foxes. His absence from the pitch raised eyebrows. Iheanacho cannot field himself in Leicester’s first 11.
Alex Iwobi and Victor Moses also scored goals for Arsenal and Chelsea penultimate weekend, sending signals that they are ready. It is better late than never. Let’s hope that our players will keep scoring in the weeks leading to the Mundial. It is good that those of them who are not regulars want to move to clubs where they can play regularly. The Argentines know Musa, who outran them in Nigeria’s last World Cup outing against Argentina, scoring two goals with the Eagles’ counter-attack style. We lost 3-2, but Messi still found time to crack jokes with goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama each time he stopped the Argentine’s tricky shots.9
