The AFCON qualifier on Saturday was an eye opener to some Nigerians as regards the declining state of our senior male national team. In Brazil, the team was without form and void. Reminds me of how my father told me that my boyhood club ran around like headless chicken during a game we lost woefully. From administrative issues to onfield problems,we show cased our gross iberibe to the rest of the world. Other nations came to play football, we came to act drama.
Immediately Vincent Enyeama pulled out of the game citing family issues,I knew we had lost a commander. Enyeama never shied away from running things from the goal post. Screaming at his defenders and putting everybody on their toes. This is not however, undermining the performance of his stand in and deputy, Austin Ejide. In fact I feel he wasn't bad on the day as people make it look. That game clearly showed us what we have always refused to admit but know; our defence line is crap. No organization. Their positional play leaves a lot to be desired. The second goal being a clear example.
Our midfield was not any better. Every top football side in the world that doesn't have one midfield bully should be able to string at least fifteen passes uninterrupted. But in our Super Eagles side, we neither have that bully nor are we able to string even five uninterrupted passes inside the core of the midfield. Uche Nwofor started ahead of Emmanuel Emenike for reasons best known to Keshi. The big boss is a good coach. Very fantastic one. But his managerial side begs questions. One wonders what a Chigozie Agbim is doing in the Super Eagles set up. I follow the Nigerian football league well. I watch the games I can,both in the stadia and on telly. Agbim is far from the best we have locally. Names like Enyimba's Femi Thomas and Sunshine Stars' Ikechukwu Ezenwa are way ahead of the fat and anonymous Chigozie Agbim. In fact I make bold to say that the best goalkeeper in the Nigerian League is Femi Thomas. It remains a mystery why he hasn't been called up. I may be wrong, but I think Stephen Keshi places player loyalty to him above player performance. There seem to be sacred cows in the team. The big boss,who I am a solid fan of have really given life to the saying that when a fly perches on your scrotal sac,you will realise there are better ways to resolve issues than violence. Discipline should be metted out across board.
I find it amusing that some of us blame NFF crisis for the loss. Seriously? How does NFF presidency affect our performance? Is any player running for the glass house job? Then some other school of thought blame the playing turf. The same turf the Congolese played on too. The team lacked focus. They were busy doing absolutely nothing. Moreso, there was absence of any tactical input from the technical crew who looked on helplessly as we got battered. There is no player to single out for the heaviest criticism. The entire team were bullshitters on that day in Calabar.
Could it be that diminishing returns has seen in? No way. It's too early. This team has not been stretched. Keshi and his crew should get the team up and running. What these guys fail to realise is that football is our way of life in Nigeria. It distracts us from our many problems and therefore should not be toyed with. A stitch in time saves nine.
These people had berra take their time o cos I know say some people can't live without football; hopefully lessons will be learnt so the team( and their die-hard fans) will be better for it.
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