Super Eagles non qualification; Matters arising.

   This was the question on our lips yesterday night as we failed to conquer the Bafana Bafana of South Africa right in the Akwa Ibom stadium. Wetin deze boys dey play sef?!    Nigerians had lost hope of qualifying for AFCON 2015 until we went to Pont Noire and defeated the Congolese by two goals. After that victory, our dead hopes were resurrected. While optimists believed we were going to spank South Africa in Uyo and go ahead to qualify, pessimists went about their businesses with no iota of interest in Nigeria's qualification.
   From the start, it was obvious our defence was suspect. A massively unfit Kenneth Omeruo pairing with a sensible but snail like Azubuike Egwuekwe was a disaster waiting to happen. Efe Ambrose have not come to terms with the fact that he is first of all a defender before anything else. Juwon Oshinawan is energetic and ambitious. But is always in a hurry,and in an attempt at ball control always gave away the ball per second per second. It didn't take long before the Jacob Zuma boys struck. Rantie capitalised on a foul smelling defence to net a brace. Thanks to Nigeria's dependable goalie Vincent Enyeama, Rantie was limited to 'just' two goals. Ike Uche allowed his first touches to let him down. Emenike kept walking around the field like a barrel chested club bouncer checking on trouble makers. He didn't bite. Ahmed Musa had the mother of all opportunities to bury the game but he chose to turn the South African goalkeeper to a hero. Those misses eventually came back to haunt them. The technical crew should have had the guts to hurl Emenike and Onazi out. On Onazi, he is off form. Yes his work rate is still top notch. But football is not all about energy. If it was, men like Kanu Nwankwo and Peter Crouch will be selling water melon.
Nigeria doesn't have a sensible football structure in place. The stench of our football equals that of our politics. Talents abound in Nigeria. But it's not about the talents. The onus lies on the talented individuals to work hard. Talent is never enough to pave way for success. It's discipline, hard work and willingness to improve in a talented player that ensures success. Then, there should be a sane structure to harness the talents. Nigeria's football is rotten. Decayed. Dead. We are way behind presently. If Eagles play a bunch of pot bellied drunks gathered from an open bar in Mushin, victory isn't sure. It's that bad. I have said it on this streets before and I repeat; Stephen Keshi is not a bad coach,but when a coach invite players based on their loyalty to him than on current form there is a problem. Even Enyeama will stay put on the field in Ejide's absence knowing that the person to take over is Chigozie Agbim. Agbim is a sorry sight to behold in between the sticks. He doesn't instil the remotest confidence in his team mates. Keshi shot himself on the foot with his own gun. He should blame nobody. We know the NFF is notorious. Keshi knew this before he took over. As a supremo,take key decisions even if it goes against the whims of the NFF. Do that and when you run into problems with men from the glass house, Nigerians will rally round you.  We showed this during 2013 AFCON when they tried to ridicule him.
The next thing we will hear is that we are going back to the drawing board. Again?! Since I started Nigerian football we have gone back to this same drawing board on countless occasions. I am sure that drawing board is filled up by now. We need to get it right. Put a structure in place. Ensure that round pegs are in round holes.
   The biggest losers from our non qualification are the millions of Nigerians who were left disappointed. Still, NFF officials who have readied their bags and pockets for the pleasure trip of going to AFCON with families and girlfriends have lost out too. I will be the most disappointed person if Amaju Pinnick doesn't get It right. He looks straight enough. He should declare a state of emergency on our football.

Dynamics of Football in Nigeria.

Growing up in the peaceful University town of Nsukka in the eighties, my love for the game of football developed tap roots. Then again, if you grew up with parents who lay emphasis on academics then you understand how difficult it was merging the interest in football and academics. There were already people older then, whom I will constantly go to the Akanu Ibiam stadium to watch. Okechukwu 'Kabongo' Olerum, Fabian 'Gboko' Ugwu, Kalu 'Kalusha' Okpara, Onyebuchi 'Rocky' Adindu, Izu Owen Ogbonna, Ogonna/Chika Okeke, Badaru Umar, Uzo and Emeka Okorie amongst many more, were people i watched their game with keen interest. At the home front, my mother never spared the rod any time she felt I was giving more time to football than I allocated to my school books. But i took the koboko with all joy. Day dreaming about the game i had earlier always had a way of soothing the pains from my mothers cane and my sisters' jeers. My father? As long as I wasn't doing badly in school he didn't mind. In fact any weekend he was around he always came to my games. Then at home he will point out areas he felt I wasn't good at. He never agreed to my face that I could ball. But when overhear him brag to his friends about his son and his brilliant balling I always laughed.
I had very brilliantly gifted footballer friends whom we all shared the dream of going neck deep into the game after schooling. Osinachi Enekwe, Chukwuemeka Okolie, Chidubem Obio, Uchenna Igbo (blessed memory), Christian Eze, Nnamdi Odenyi were some of my childhood friends that had the potentials and the heart to play the game. Unfortunately, for one reason or the other, most of us are all seated in our various offices today, pot bellied. Not because we didn't give it our tightest shot, but because of 'the system'.
   The system in the country doesn't encourage controlled growth in the game. From a brief stint in the Nigerian League to an even shorter stint in Egypt, I gave it my best shot. So also did many of my friends. Now here are the intrigues; I graduated from the University in my early twenties, after my youth service programme in 2007 I pursued a career in football. A career that would have been illustrious if not for injuries and poor management. By 2009 I was asked to report to the Under 17 camp whilst they were preparing for U-17 world cup and fight for a place in the team. U-17! I was seventeen years of age almost ten years before that year. Note however, that i actually did not report to the said camp more because of an injury i was nursing than sanctimonious reasons. So I ask; how will football and academics merge? People have researched this and come up with solutions. But the ogas at the top wouldn't allow things work the way they should. This is one of the reasons I say that Kojo Williams is the best NFF President that never was. He would have ensured age integration in Nigerian football. Our Yemi Tella U-17 winning side of 2007, where are they? Christantus Macauley, Matthew Edile and co. Your guess is as good as mine as to why they have disappeared off the radar. They are either nowhere or in one obscure league somewhere in the world. I remember playing in the first edition of Shell Cup for secondary schools. That should be an avenue to scout players for U-17. Thank God we have gone past the times when we used to scout U-17 players from the Nigerian League. It was wrong, it is wrong and will forever be wrong! Show me a player,seventeen years of age playing in the local league and we will check how many seasons he has played in the league. Unless of course he started playing football from his mothers womb.Look at a player like Mikel Obi. He grew through the ranks. And at the right times too. That is what it should be. Yes, an over aged player will have more experience than an under aged player. But keep playing an over aged player against much younger and hot blooded players then rheumatism and arthritis will set in like a boss.
   Now that the NFF have been made an independent statutory body, efforts should be made at developing football at all levels,starting from the barest grass root. An enabling environment should be provided in primary, secondary and tertiary institutions to make academics and football (sports generally) co habitable. In my humble opinion, if Wayne Rooney had been Nigerian, he would have either been a graduate of engineering, a garage tout or a footballer for BBC Lions of Gboko and this would have been his tenth season with the Gboko side. Why? The discouragement that comes from playing in the Nigeria league and worse sill, the hard nut case of living in Nigeria.
  From all indications, Amaju Pinnick seem to be working towards a better Nigerian footballing community. Hopefully, we will get there.