With love, from Senegal.

   For doubting Thomases, it was very clear today that Mame Diouf have developed from that tough but timed boy who came to Manchester United many years ago, to a ganging forward. I wished that his overhead kick that the Ghana goalkeeper caught had found the back of the net. That would have underlined my argument for a place in the list of emerging greats for the Senegalese hit man.
   Ghana started the game on the front foot with Andre Ayew, Christian Atsu and Jordan Ayew pulling the strings. They strung defence splitting passes together that eventually broke down the not - so - quick Senegal back line. Fact is that no defender any where in the world loves to defend facing his goal post which was exactly what the Black Stars made the Teranga Lions do in the opening exchanges. Therefore when those passes kept coming it was a matter of time before something came of it. Eventually the Senegal Goal tender brought down Atsu for the penalty which was well taken by Andre Ayew. Senegal came back in to the second half the better side. They kept the tempo coming. Ndong  making sure the defence line was kept safe and neutralising Christian Atsu who was eventually substituted. John Mensah was the greatest victim in the Ghana defence line. He took upon himself the responsibilities of shoring up the Teranga Lions but it was a responsibility a little too much for him. Turkey based Moussa Sow eventually came on for Ndong and was assisted by Mame Diouf for the winner. Avram Grant received his baptism into African football and I am sure that he must have noted the fact that African football is beyond just mere playing. It's extended passion. A life.
   The stadium was filled to capacity. Fans drumming and dancing in the stands is a reminder to what football is, in Africa. Again, life. In a continent ravaged by political and civil issues, football has served as a faithful bridge, bringing consolation to the millions of disturbed African souls.
   The other nation I look forward to getting a brilliant game from in AFCON 2015 and see as favourites is Algeria.
From the game just concluded it's 'we came to win. With love, from Senegal'.

The day India beat Nigeria 100 - 0!

 "Ha! Peter Rufai no sabi anything" bellowed the carpenter. "The way those India people take yeye am e...I never see".
  As a kid, if you didn't hear the story of the football match where India beat Nigeria 100 - 0  (One hundred goals to nothing) then I doubt if you grew up in Nigeria during my time. Mind you, the scoreline for that match varied from location to location. My present colleague, Moses, said that in Makurdi (where he grew up) the score was 99 - 1. That the only goal for Nigeria was scored when a Nigerian striker whose right boot was loose took Nigeria's only shot on target and his boot flew off his feet. The Indian goalkeeper caught his boot instead of the ball which went coolly into the top right corner of the net. Another friend of mine who grew up in Lagos said the scoreline 'in Lagos' was 99 - 0!
   The other players that featured in that game from the Enugu version of the match analysis were Henry Nwosu and Dimeji  Lawal. None other. Or at least the others werent so important for their names to be known. Note also that the line up for that game changed with location too. I must say that the Lagos version of the story is the most hilarious. Where at a stage in the game the Indians were dancing to the famous sunita music and left the Green Eagles with only their goalkeeper. That even with the outfield players dancing to sunita on the sidelines Nigeria couldnt score! That must have been the most controversial football game played by Nigeria. If you sum up the total number of players that played the game from the various versions of it you would get more than 30 (thirty) players.
The only uniform part of the story from the different versions of it was the fact that for one of the goals, Peter Rufai saw a lion flying at him instead of the ball. He ran away only to hear the crowd roaring. He turned back to see the ball at the back of the net. For another goal, he saw a ball of fire and dodged it only to find the ball at the back of the net again. Wait o...did I mention that after the match FIFA banned India from all footballing activities? Hahahaha... Yes. They were banned from football for using Indian version of black magic to beat Nigeria!
   Even when the carpenter was telling us the story, I had my doubt. Not because India cannot beat Nigeria, but even as a boy of less than five years old, counting from 1 - 100 was a problem as I considered 100 to be too far from 1. Only to be told that we were beaten 100 - 0 by India. India!!! Of all countries?! Either the man was lying or India is really a super power in black magic. That was my conclusion.
Also, of everyone that told the story, none watched the match. It was always a reported speech.  Second hand analysis.
The story is what it is. A story. A lie. A story made up to glorify the metaphysical prowess of India.
   What is the similarity between the Nigerian football of today and the Nigerian football from the story? Comedy. Nigerian football is now a complete comedy. Businessmen have been running Nigerian football. Not that a Nigerian businessman cannot run football. No. Far from that. But when you never had a business and don't also start up one, but instead commercialise your office as a Nigerian football administrator then you are of all men most fraudulent. There are some Nigerian league matches I don't bother going to watch having known the team and stadia in question. I don't go. But if I have had a bad time and in need of a live comedy show then I go. With a solid assurance of being entertained.
   Nigeria football ought to be growing but instead we are backsliding. I have this belief that Amaju Pinnick will do better than his predecessors. Not in giving us medals, but in restoring sanity to the Nigerian football house. As we prepare to watch AFCON 2015 without Nigeria, I can only wish us happy viewing.
   On a final note, please those of us who were told that story of how India hammered Nigeria should not continue with that story to the younger generation. Please. It's funny, yes. But 'bad funny'. Unless you want to be told "daddy you can lie e" by your children then tell the story. Nowadays children are very sharp. They won't buy that gist.

Follow Ikenna Enenta on twitter; @ikenna005

Echoes of the Ballon D'Or.

Ronaldo does a scream during his acceptance speech.

The FIFA Ballon D'Or was held yesterday in a 90 minute event not lacking in glitz and glamour. Hosted in Zurich by British journalist, Kate Abdo, the success of the event came as a surprise to no one.
   FIFA may be plagued by issues of corruption at the moment, but even her most notorious critics couldn't fault the event's organisation. For some of us, the award was already in the bag for Cristiano Ronaldo even before the event. It could have as well been given to him before yesterday. A mere .04 votes separated Lionel Messi from the second runner up, Manuel Neuer. Cristiano was in phenomenal form last year. His goals kept coming. He kept pushing his team mates for victory in all competitions last year. His odd was the FIFA World Cup which he went an unfit player. Some say he should not have gone for the world cup thereby giving chance to a fitter team mate. But come on, C-Boy is a brand! Award well deserved.
  Manuel Neuer? He is a field person. On countless occasions he left his goal line to clear the line for his team. A very dependable last line of defence. His command of his defence is near perfect. Sometimes when it seems the team has conceded, like amalinze the cat, he puts up a super save.
   Lionel Messi had an average year and so did Barcelona. CR7 outshone the magical Messi in all competitions last year. During the world cup, Messi was not his usual self. Yes he played. But Messi simply wasn't Messi in the world cup.

  James Rodriguez had a wonderful outing at the world cup. His sensational goal that gave Colombia the lead against Uruguay in the round of 16 gave him the Puskas award. The award, in honour of Ferenc Puskas, a Hungrarian legend is in recognition of beautiful goals that colour the game. The award,voted for by football fans all over the world on FIFA.com went to the Colombia and Real Madrid forward.

The FIFPro team is as follows;
GK; Manuel Neuer (Germany)
Defence; Philip Lahm (Germany), Sergio Ramos (Spain), David Luiz (Brazil), Thiago Silva (Brazil).
Midfield; Angel Di Maria (Argentina), Andres Iniesta (Spain), Toni Kroos (Germany).
Attack; Lionel Messi (Argentina), Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal), Arjen Robben (Netherlands).

Joachim Low (Germany) won the Best (male) coach award and Nadine Kessler (Germany) won the FIFA female footballer of the year.
   Another beautiful award given on the night, the FIFA Presidential award was given to Hiroshi Kagawa,90. This is his 10th (tenth) FIFA World Cup. His contribution to the game and passion helped in the development of the game in his native Japan.
  As the awards have been concluded, we expect to go back to the basket of corruption allegations against FIFA that have been raging in the past months. It's sad. Football is a beautiful game, a unifying factor and a universal language. Why these men (and women) at the top want to bring it to disrepute beats my imagination.
For the good of the game, we hope that the Blatter led FIFA put their house in order. And I earnestly pray that Blatter takes a bow when his  current tenure runs out to enable a fresher person run the show from the top.
We all love football.

Follow Ikenna Enenta on twitter; @ikenna005

Thumbs down Issa Hayatou, congrats Yaya Toure.

   I grew up knowing household African football names like Sam Okwaraji, Jules Bocande, Stephen Keshi, Steven Tawtaw, Roger Milla, Abedi Pele etc. Playing football regularly amongst my peers initially, and my seniors later, we gave some people in our team those names and they bore them as nicknames. I clearly remember a friend we used to (and still) call 'Opong Weah', after the legendary Liberian. Amongst these names however, there was a background name; Issa Hayatou.
In fact we had a team mate we called 'Hayatou'. I met him in the team and joined in calling him the name. Yes he was a good footballer. I guess he picked the name because of his weight. Guy was heavy!
   Monsieur Issa Hayatou, the President of CAF, a Camerounian, came into power as President of the continental football body on 10th March 1988. He has won series of elections till date that has kept him on seat. Since 1988!!!
I know about self succession. It abounds everywhere in the world. National politics is not my thing so it won't form a discourse for me.
   Abdel Aziz Moustafa of Egypt was the last CAF Supremo who had a long tenure. He led the organisation from 1958 to 1968. I am not in any way justifying his 'long tenure' but some schools of thought could argue that because CAF was still 'young' it needed stability. Monsieur Hayatou have led CAF for 27 (twenty seven) years! Some present day ballers had not even been born when he took over. Is it that there is no other person as 'qualified' as he is to take over from him or has the office become a personal franchise? People bicker about Sepp Blatter and his long stay in office whereas it is child's play compared to Hayatou's stay. His fans will quickly point to FIFA's increment of Africas slot at the world cup as his most notable achievement. Well, in today's world, even a Yaya Toure would have made FIFA to do that. It's common sense. How has football evolved in Africa under him? The truth is African football has lost its identity.
      "African football has lost its spontaneity 
       with the introduction of European style
       football." - Fabio Cannavaro.
Apart from footballers outside the shores of the continent, what is obtainable here is football comedy. Egypt (and maybe South Africa) despite their political crisis have continued to fly high in the continent. This is because they decided to leave CAF and the rest of Africa behind and forge ahead. How has the African representatives to the Club World Cup fared? How have African sides fared at the FIFA World Cup? When was the last time an African appeared in World top three? For the world club cup, African clubs just go to make up the numbers. Census count. Attendance.
*voice call* Africa? *chorus and index fingers raised* PRESENT!!
African football is doing a Michael Jackson moon walk. In the various leagues across Africa, spectatorship was high in years gone by. Today, some of us would rather sit at home and watch a Burnley vs Leicester City EPL game organised by the FA, under the umbrella of his European counterpart, Michel Platini. Too bad.
   You may say that we are not supposed to rub shoulders with Europe in terms of football. Okay. Assuming that is even right, should we be where we are? Is it that there is no other person to lead CAF?
   Cowardice is a global phenomenon, but that of Africa is overwhelming. All the self branded football administrators are either afraid or have been compromised by the man himself. If we continue like this, we will disappear from from the world football radar very soon. If the people who are 'supposed' to run against him are afraid then what is expected of the rats in the field? Africa will keep moon walking in football until there is a (positive) change in football administration, centrally, and across her member nations.
   On a wonderful note, a hearty congratulations to Manchester City's Yaya Toure. The Ivorian, a vital part of City's title chase won the CAF player of the year award ahead of Dortmund's Pierre Aubameyang and Lille of France goal tender Vincent Enyeama. Yaya had a beautiful year. He bullied other club midfielders out of the way and presented the EPL trophy to Sheikh Mansour. Yaya is so good that rival clubs are happy that he is going away on national duties for AFCON 2015. Congratulations to him.


Follow Ikenna Enenta on twitter; @ikenna005

The problem with the Nigerian Professional Football League.

   Kano Pillars were once again crowned the champions of the Glo NPFL for 2013/2014 season. The club was amazing, home and away. Rabiu Ali would be an easy pick for anyone who watched their games. He pulled strings effectively. In the Federation cup, old timers Enyimba of Aba beat Dolphins to the trophy. The season was not devoid of the normal occurrences but it is noteworthy to point out that their has been a massive improvement in the general organisation. Compared to what was obtainable,the Nigerian football league took a leap forward in the just concluded season. Credit to the League Management Committee, the NFF, the management and players of the various club side. Most importantly, the fans,without whom their would be no football.
   The league has to however be made more attractive. Both for the players and fans alike. The two players widely touted as the Ronaldo/Messi of the NPFL, Emem Eduok of Dolphins and Mfon Udoh of Enyimba have either finalised their deals to play outside the country or working on it. Feelers is that Emem is already signed on for Esperance of Tunisia. This is coming at the back heel of claims by a Norwegian club side that they had signed him on. That is by the way,however. Silently, I prayed to the hearing of my friends that the duo would remain in the league by next season. A prayer to which my friends' response was that I am a 'winch',ie, I don't want the progress of the boys. Far from that however, it was a prayer made in good faith. The two would have been the face of the league had they stayed. And yes, I want the best for the boys. The NPFL would have benefitted from their stay. Shirts would have been sold, fans would have been drawn to the stadia, sponsors would have shown up,willing to do business and so on. But then for the good of their career they had to leave. Question is; is the Nigerian football league not a good place to 'stay on'? I don't blame players that leave,especially the strikers. Attackers can be likened to pretty young girls. They are full of life when they are scoring and are expected to maximise whatever opportunity comes with it.
   The league is not attractive. The majority of Nigeria's football community are more committed to European leagues than the local league. Even when the gate fee is less than N200 (two hundred naira), people aren't interested.       Quality of officiating is one factor militating against interest in the league. Aside the improvement in this regard last season, it was always a sham. Comedy show. Sometimes you see a referee telling the favoured side,mostly the home side what to do in order to be gifted a penalty or an offside goal. Then again, safety of the match officials aren't adequately put into consideration. Their safety isn't in most cases guaranteed so they protect themselves by being openly biased. Thank God for the NPFL deal with Supersport. This has gone a long way in curbing referee's marijuana induced officiating. Knowing they are live on television, they reduce their level of craze.
   Non payment of players wages is another factor. Last season, players of Sharks (abi Dolphin) took their mattreses and slept in front of the Rivers State government house in protest to non payment of allowances and salaries! Continental shame!! I have a problem with government 'ownership' of football clubs in Nigeria but IF a state government is running a club then they should run it well. These players have families to take care of. But even if they don't, it's their jobs and when they are doing it, they should get paid as and at when due. Biko, maka stories that touch, football is not best played on an empty stomach or on the back of unfulfilled promises.
   Lack of infrastructure. This is the one I refuse to understand. It's a topic I will write on separately, but I crave indulgence to mention it in passing. For instance, before the commencement of the last professional football league season in the country, Bayelsa State had 2 (two) club sides vying for honours; Bayelsa United and Nembe City. United is state sponsored while City is a private franchise. Ordinarily the state should have been hopeful of giving the title a chase. But when the state government couldn't ready the Samson Siasia stadium in time for the resumption of hostilities, I commented that either Nembe City or Bayelsa United or even both,would be relegated at the end of the season. Reason? Nembe City were designated to play in Omokhu, Rivers state while Bayelsa United would play in Benin. The league has ended. The rest is history.
   The glory of the Nigerian football league can be restored. It can. It will only require smart work by the people running the league. It won't happen in a day or two, but over time, we can get the league back to her glory days. Sincerely I am trying to see how the average football fan in Nigeria will leave a Chelsea vs Arsenal fixture and go to watch the Oriental derby between Heartland and Rangers International at the Dan Anyiam stadium, Owerri . As impossible as it may sound, i see it as feasible. With the right moves, it can happen in the nearest future.

Follow Ikenna Enenta on twitter;  @ikenna005

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.