INSINCERITY AS BANE OF NIGERIAN FOOTBALL

It is so sad that the problem of Nigerian football continue to be compounded by the day,as we move from innefficiency to insincerity.While the innefficiency could be narrowed down to the shoulders of the Football Association,the bigger and much more threatening problem of insincerity has become a potentially cancerous disease which symptoms are manifesting daily among so many of the thousands of self-acclaimed football 'gurus' amongst us.The FA of course do not hesitate to latch on these 'populist' sentiments to propagate their own agenda.


A few weeks ago,the world's football governing body had to pronounce a ruling compelling the Nigerian FA to pay former Nigerian National Coach Berti Vogts about $150,000 owed amount.Some shameless FA official was reported by a sports daily to have 'clarified' that the amount was not compensation but some unpaid allowance.Why did the FA need a FIFA pronouncement to pay its former employee his entitlements ? This was a scandalous incident that has further dragged the image of this country into the mud.Yet it was avoidable.Up till a few months ago,ex-coach Christian Chukwu was crying out regularly about his unpaid entitlements from four years ago !

Today,the current Chief Coach of the National Team,Amodu Shaibu has lodged a complaint with the international Court of Arbitration,asking for justice over his unceremonious demotion to the so-called Team B.The man worked his socks off to qualify the country for the World Cup.He will be somewhere in Abuja,Ijebu Ode or Kano knocking our home-based Eagles into shape for the next, next CHAN ,while the FA officials enjoy the limelight in South Africa.

But I said this is not just an FA problem.In the past few weeks since Lars Lagerbach was appointed I have been apalled to read various press comments by several of the prominent soccer gurus that heaped pressure on the FA to remove Amodu just a month earlier.They are now claiming that Lagerbach does not have the time to mould a formidable World Cup team.Of course the FIFA calendar which does not permit any more international match free days before the close of the European season in May had been there since last year.And these same people knew it.The only free day after the Nations Cup (March 3) was deliberately and consciously wasted by Nigeria,and conveniently overlooked by the 'experts'.

Until Adokiye took the ultra-courageous decision to expose our last Under-17 captain,the age-group competitions have been a grand conspiracy between the players,the FA, and soccer fans across the country.Today,Fortune Chukwudi who did nothing to refute Adokiye's allegations of being 29 has been invited to the Under-20 team,and the 'gurus' are ok with it.

One of the major issues used in deriding Amodu was his refusal to take any home-based player to the Nations Cup.Yet the man had made a very honest and factual explanation about the psychological weakness of the home-based players.Thank goodness he was smart enough to book his leave on time,otherwise the disgraceful outing against Niger would have (as usual) been lazily explained away by the legion of radio phone-in callers as yet another manifestation of Amodu's ineptitude.And the NFA would have said 'of course we know'.Even as I write, a lot of otherwise enlightened 'analysts' are still heaping the blame on Daniel Amokachi.Very sad.

And I must state here that my first impressions of Lars Lagerbach himself have been far from impressive.He told us a couple of weeks back that he has submitted a tentative list of players for the World Cup.The names have remained secret ever since.He said he would be announcing his final list of 23 players by mid May.Yet all the friendly matches being mentioned are coming up in late May.On what basis will the final selection be made ? Is this not a re-enactment of Amodu's Durban blunder? Remember too that our players will hardly have any rest between their regular season and the World Cup,because they need the early camping to familiarise themselves with the new coach.In any case,Mr lagerbach has just jumped from about $350,000 a year (according to a respected sports paper) to a massive $1million plus pay check for five months' work,and therefore has every right to see himself as a hercules.No problems:The Super Eagles is my National Team, and I will always support them.

But if Nigerian football is to be revived,we must all have to be far more sincere in our analysis of our present situation.It's not enough to put our heart and soul in the English Premiership and continue to blame every coach for the woes of the Nigerian National Team.On another day,I will share my thoughts on the real problems of Nigerian football.

THE GOOD,THE BAD AND THE UGLY

Wow ! It's been quite a while isn't it ? I'm so sorry,but really I couldn't help it.I thank God nevertheless that I'm back blogging and enjoying it.The last two months or so have been full of interesting events on the Naija side,and I'll simply proceed to serve you with the good,the bad and (oooh !) the ugly bits.

THE GOOD

The obvious tickler has to be the emergence, at long last, of an acting President for our country after two months or so of an uncomfortable vacuum at the topmost position of government.The big heroes at this period,for me, have to be our military people who resisted the very juicy temptation of another 'fellow Nigerians...'(and I hope our brothers up there in Niger Rep. can a learn a useful lesson from us in this regard).With all due respect and personal sympathies to our President,Umaru Yar'Adua,it was clear that we were faced with a situation that the authors of our constitution did not foresee,and after what seemed like an eternity the National Assembly finally took the bull by the horns to create a solution from a no-solution.

After two years of 'meltdown' the Nigerian Stock Market opened the year on a blistering positive note,notching up a 10% gain in one month.At this rate,the losses of the deression may be recouped in less than one year ! Congratulations Ndi Okereke-Onyuike,Daisy Ekineh and Lamido Sanusi who's banking reforms is now yielding fruit from the foreign investors' side.Hopefully,everybody - regulators,operators,and investors alike have learnt their lessons from the meltdown.

THE BAD

I feel so sad at the loss of super athlete and super athetics administrator,Abdul Karim Ohimai Amu,former Nigerian athletics captain and best African athlete of his time.At King's College,Lagos we were ever inspired by the rich folklore of Amu's achievements during his time as a pupil.He went on to represent and win laurels for Nigeria at African,Commonwealth and Olympics events.His period as the head of the Nigerian athletics federation was unarguably Nigeria's golden period as the country produced several world class athletes (Onyali,Egbunike,Alli,Ogunkoya..an endless list really) and thoroughly dominated the sport in Africa.I was blessed to have a personal interaction with Amu in the mid 1990s when as a fledging investment analyst I assisted him in preparing fund-raising documents for his factory (I mean real industrial factory) located in a remote area of Lagos.I always looked forward to every meeting because there was always something new to learn from the man.Floreat,great A.K. ! Rest in Peace.

The other sad event has to be the sustained campaign to tarnish the image of BRF ,i.e Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola from agents seemingly from within his own party.Now this is one politician that has succeeded in winning over the love and confidence of his citizens - irrespective of origin or political stance - with practical and meaningful programmes.These detractors have also tried to drag the respected name of BRF's mentor Asiwaju Bola Tinubu into their game,but that definitely cannot work,because for obvious reasons,BRF's achievements are clearly also Asiwaju's achievements.Please let Fashola be oh !

THE UGLY

What else ? Ever since the Super Eagles qualified for the 2010 World Cup,our football authorities have,for reasons that only ecclesiastical powers can explain, been trying to rewrite all known sporting, nationalistic and moral conventions with their extremely desperate resolve to remove the Head Coach Amodu Shaibu and replace him with a 'foreign coach' at the mundial.The third place finish at the last African Nations Cup (which in actual fact represented a significant improvement from our previous second round exit under a 'foriegn coach') , the fact that we finished ahead of all but one of the other African World Cup qualifiers,and Nigeria's rise,in two years to the no. 2 postion in Africa,were all deemed a failure by the same football federation that had resolved before the Nations Cup that a semi-final finish would be good enough.Rather than sit with Amodu to properly analyse and find solutions to the team's loopholes,the name and image of the country is being battered as one 'foreign coach' after the other continue to distance themselves from the Nigerian National Team in response to the NFA's careless namedropping.And for the records,the World Cup starts early June,while the only free day allowed by FIFA for friendly matches is two weeks away,precisely March 3 2010.Can someone please explain to me what this new 'foreign coach' will do before the mundial ?
(photo courtesy thesourceng.com)

NOW THIS MUST STOP !

It is bad enough to boo your country's National Team in a game against another nation, but to boo your own National Anthem ? That is most despicable and unacceptable. Yet that is exactly what Nigerian football fans did at the Abuja National Stadium last saturday.

It still beats my imagination how the Super Eagles players got through what must have been a most harrowing experience for them - and right on their own home soil - to win that particular game. I have been doing an intensive soul searching to unravel the real problem of Nigerian football, and honestly I'm no longer so sure if it's the NFF,our coach or even the players. In the last year at least,I can testify confidently that these group have done what is expected of them. I am now more inclined to believe that the real problem might just be us - the so-called fans who do not realise that we also have responsibilites in supporting our teams from the stands.

Under no circumstances,least of all a football game, should we boo or show disrespect to our National Anthem.The event of last saturday must never repeat itself in our national life.

Nigeria will not be the first country to suffer a slump in her football fortunes.Brazil,England and Ghana,amongst many others have at various points suffered the same fate.With two matches to go,the World Cup ticket was still within our grasp.If the players had succumbed to the unexplainable intimidation from their own compatriots and lost that game,the whole party would have been over by now.With the crucial last game now approaching,it amazes me that some people who should know better,are actually threatening the coaches with sack.Now, what a way to motivate your team.

THE FLYING EAGLES IN EGYPT

The happenings in Egypt must have taught us some vital lessons.
*There are no short cuts in football; even if you have a Samson Siasia.
*Nigerian football is stagnating:We are simply not producing world class players anymore.
*Those who heaped blames on coach Amodu for the quick equalisers conceded against Tunisia should now realise how wrong they were.Our players are also short of world class mentality.

I cannot fault coach Siasia at all in the Egypt disaster.That was the best collection he could have made under the circumstances.If our strikers had taken just a quarter of the chances they created, we probably would have cruised to the final of that tournament. In goalkeeper Uche Okafor and defender Obiora Nwankwo, I believe we have good Super Eagles prospects.

The NFF must address issues bordering on the mental strength and alertness of our footballers at all levels.That is our current problem, and the solution is not in firing and insulting our coaches at will.

NIGERIAN COACHES AS VICTIMS OF THE NEW AGE IMPERIALISM

According to the respected American, Andrew Young ;"Unfortunately all (Nigerians) know 'what is wrong with Nigeria', and that is what is wrong with Nigeria....We can always find what is wrong with us.It is when we start seeing what is right with our brothers and sisters and work as a team that we will move on".

Since the early 1970s I have followed the game long enough to know that football is a very sentimental sport. That is why people entrusted with administering or regulating the game, and who should be seen to make fair judgements, have no choice other than to always use objective and measurable criteria in their decision-making.


Nigerian football has slumped to an all-time low today, not just for the much trumpeted 'administrative' problems: First, and thanks to the light shown to us by some of our previous 'world class',mercantilist-minded foreign coaches, no player of any tangible substance stays at home long enough to be noticed by the fans before they are shipped to some obscure club mostly in Asia or the Middle East.As if that was not bad enough, the cominng of satellite television has ensured that the heart and soul of the average Nigerian fan has been completely sold to the European leaques.

The result is that we have,today lost every sense of patriotism as far as football is concerned.The few fans that,probably for lack of electricity, sacrifice their English premiership menu to go to the stadium, vent their anger by booing their National Team, and more pitiably their National Anthem. It couldn't therefore have been a surprise that on the day the Super Eagles qualified for the 2010 World Cup most of their compatriots found it difficult ( really difficult ) to celebrate; for long before then, they had written the team off and withdrawn their support.

Today Nigeria has become the laughing stock of the football world who cannot comprehend why,in a matter of days after qualfying - and in such magnificient form too, as the records clearly show -  Nigerian officials will be going cap in hand begging any coach with a white skin to 'come lead us to South Africa !'.On the day the World Cup draws was held, with Nigeria's coach Amodu Shaibu probably the only visible black man among the elite tacticians, the near-forgotten Italian, Roberto Mancini was back in the news: Nigeria had just offered him Amodu's job !

If after winning every domestic title in Nigeria,and winning the African Cup, then a Champions leaque final,before lifting his motherland twice from the lowest depths of her football (courtesy of uncommited foreign coaches) to World Cup qualification, Amodu has not convinced our officials that he deserves respect at the very least, I will have to feel very sorry indeed for Keshi,Siasia and every other Nigerian coach coming up.They are the first victims of the new age (football) imperialism.

But for the records,Amodu Shaibu is a true symbol of the Nigerian spirit that we desire: patriotic,achieving results, and never say die. 

Let me close by repeating this article earlier published in this blog after Nigeria's match with Tunisia in Abuja.There are potent lessons to be learnt therein.

To the legion of 'experts' who have concluded that the 2-2 draw recorded against Tunisia last week meant that the Nigerian National team have crashed out of the 2010 World Cup race,I have these to say;

1.You are no sportsmen.The underlying spirit of sportsmanship says that the battle is not over until it is over.With 6 precious points to play for and Tunisia only having a 2-point lead,the race is not only open,but wide open.Understand too that even if we had beaten Tunisia our qualification would still have been far from assured.
2.You are no patriots.Yes,true patriots do not abandon their country in the middle of a battle,no matter the excuses.Every patriotic Nigerian is duty bound to support the National Team until the very last second of the last match.

Let me start by saying that I find it incredulous that a player who has played football up to the National Team level needs a coach to tell him that when you take the lead with five minutes left to play you should seal up your territory and prevent your opponents from having possession.That is football 101 that we all learnt on the streets.You can blame Amodu Shaibu for anything,but certainly not Tunisia's second equalizer.

Nigeria is passing through a low phase in her football development.Other countries like Brazil,England,and Ghana who are all doing well today,have also passed through their rough spells.It is obvious even from the European leaques that our current crop of players are not among the best in the world,so let's put our expectations in perspective.Eneramo,our foriegn-based centre-forward plays where? In Tunisia !

Mozambique and Kenya are hungry for the Nations Cup and know one of them will have to be eliminated,so they are both going to take their remaining matches very seriously.The most crunching will be Tunisia's last away tie to Mozambique.Nigeria therefore has every reason to aim at winning her two remaining matches,which means we all should actually be motivating the team right now,not talking of sacking the coach.

Mr Shaibu came on a rescue mission when the confidence and performance of the team was at its lowest possible level.In one year he has lifted the team several levels above where he met it.Let's imbibe and display the spirits of sporstmanship and patriotism when it is most needed.At a time like this.