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.

Ridiculing Nigerian football.

   Late 1999, Kojo Williams was made the head of the Nigerian Football Federation. He barely lasted for three months before he was booted out of office in a clandestine manner, widely condemned by Nigerians in the know of the running of Nigerian football. According to Zaria Sani, a board member of the NFF, Kojo Williams was booted out because "he failed to carry other board members along". Since that unfortunate incident, the only way Nigerian football has headed is downward. The Glass House is now more like a venue for reality television shows where there are constant evictions. Drama unending. Nigerian football administration have become a show of shame.

   CAF President Issa Hayatou told a Nigerian delegation on Friday that he was able to convince FIFA President Sepp Blatter not to wield the hammer on Nigeria that Friday. This he said,was because of the African Women Championship which Nigeria was supposed to play in the finals with Cameroun. Therefore,hammering Nigeria would be a major distraction for CAF, the sponsors and the participants. He made it clear to the Nigerian Sports Minister that the entire world is tired of the drama Nigerian football have become. In the meeting, which the multi lingual Paul Bassey interpreted the speech of Hayatou, the CAF Supremo told the delegation that they have till Monday, 27th October to sort themselves out. 

FIFA statutes clearly frown at civil courts and government interferences in football matters. After the world cup, a date for the NFF elections were scheduled, some board member convened before the said date and held an election. The outcome of the election was a Giwa led executive. FIFA frowned at it and insisted on an election on the agreed date. By late September an election was held and Amaju Pinnick emerged NFF President. Pinnick received congratulatory messages from both CAF and FIFA and then resumed work. Only for a Jos Court to sack the Pinnick led board and Giwa took over again. Before CAF and FIFA even got tired of our football movie, we Nigerians got tired. We are tired of being thrown around. We are tired of the show of shame and mediocrity exhibited in the Glass House. The Federal government have to wade in nicodemously and resolve issues. 

   In a 2010 BBC world service documentary, Africa Kicks, Kojo Williams said "the Nigerian government is afraid of change in football....we keep using over aged players to play under age competitions. Corruption has eaten very deep into football in the country". He is right. In fact I make bold to say that the board members as at then felt uncomfortable at Kojo's policies and needed him out. He in my opinion is the best NFF President that never was. Until we decide to bring in even the smallest honesty into football administration, our football will remain in the abyss. We have square pegs in round holes. Men and women who see football governing bodies as their private businesses will see to it that things are never done rightly. After all, the filth in a community is to the benefit of the chiefs. Instead of glorying in our vastly improved Nigerian league and the brand new stadium built by the pragmatic Akwa Ibom governor, Godswill Akpabio, we are watching movies by the football house. Appalling.

   Football, the singular unifying factor among Nigerians is dying. A gradual death. When it happens eventually, a lot will go wrong with the youths and members of the Nigerian football community. A stitch in time saves one million.

Keshi's sack; matters arising.

   The big boss, Stephen Keshi, was in the early hours of Thursday relieved of his duties as Super Eagles Supremo. Together with his crew, the big boss should be plotting his next move. Knowing The NFF and her famed clumsiness, be not surprised if Keshi head to court due to one breach or the other by the NFF.
   After super Eagles loss to Congo in Calabar, the hash tag #KeshiOut appeared on twitter. Somehow, it died down. The loss to Sudan reignited it again. Yesterday in Abuja, the Super Eagles beat the Sudanese in a surprisingly almost filled Abuja national stadium by three goals to one. A brace by Ahmed Musa and one by Aaron Samuel sealed victory.
There were rumours of a planned protest by Abuja fans prior to the match. A plan that was scuttled. The Super Eagles love playing in Calabar. There,they are under no pressure. Whatever the outcome of a match, the fans go home. Abuja fans pamper them. In fact I was surprised when I heard of the planned protest. That was quite unlike Abuja fans. In my humble opinion, Super Eagles matches should be taken to Lagos. Even them,wouldn't like the idea. Lagos football fans are fanatics. Tell the average Lagos fan that ticket for a Super Eagles match is ten thousand naira, he will hustle for the money and pay. But value for his money is a must have. Because to him, it's a no - story - investment.  The fans in Lagos will not forgive any player that subtracts a kobo from his gate fee. Erring players will receive missiles ranging from water sachets and bottles, pieces of anything hands can be laid on and even sun baked pieces of sh!t. The expectations of the faithful Lagos fan will make players sit up.
   On the issue of Keshi's sack,I think it's a wrong move. He was not sacked after our losses to Congo and Sudan, but was sacked after the return leg victory against same Sudan. Logically, morally and however else realistic you choose to look at it, the sack was a wrong move. Stephen Keshi had before the game, screamed to all Nigerians that he was being sabotaged. That some administrators were out to sabotage him. My humble opinion is that he has a valid point. Stephen Keshi is a very stubborn mule. I am sure this attribute contributed to his sack as some officials can't deal. He had to be removed,somehow. He didn't dance to the azonto of some people who consider themselves football oracles in Nigeria. However note that I am not saying his stubbornness is a good thing. No it is not. I have heard some of his colleagues complain that he doesn't take advises nor does he consult them. That is actually his own cup of tea. He decides such matters. I make bold to say that he was frustrated out of the seat. Those that understand the intricacies of football will know that if forces conspire to ruin a coach, he is as good as doomed. I am not in any anyway holding fort for Keshi. In my last post,I opined that Keshi is not the problem of Nigerian football. It is beyond him. He has been relieved of his duties. Fine. Watch Super Eagles qualify for the nations cup. Aren't we Nigeria again? We will qualify. I will be surprised if we don't. Every hand will now be on deck to ensure our qualification. Obafemi Martins and some other exiled players will return to the team. Some people who were regulars under Keshi might never see the Super Eagles camp again. We are starting afresh. I am sure Amodu Shuaibu will want to set up his own team,which is okay. But I think Pinnick is starting off wrongly. I think Keshi's sack have always been in in the pipeline. But how they chose to sack him after a victory is what hit me in the middle. We are back to square one. Every football administrators see Nigerian football as a lucrative business outlet. You get in, scatter a previous set up, set up yours, carry your loot and scram. No NFF President have ever taken a decision based on patriotism. No way! Where we go from here we don't know. They bicker and say all sorts when Nigerians rate foreign football higher than our football here but nobody has any bloody moral right to blame us. I watch the Nigerian league,week in week out. What do I see? Comedy and eye sore. I know the matches I expect to see real football and I never miss those ones. The rest are just super bloody comic relief. Kudos though, to the LMC for the little sanity and shape that the local league has taken due to their efforts. Nigerian football is generally rotten. Stagnant. Dead. But please we shouldn't bury it. An Igbo adage says that "ani a diro mma bu uru ndi nze" (the rot in the land is to the benefit of the chiefs). We know that people make money in chaos. Everywhere. But please consider millions of Nigerians whose hope they carry. Amaju Pinnick should try and be the first NFF President to run things with patriotism in mind. Otherwise the next time Nigerians gather in Abuja national stadium,it will be be for the funeral ceremony of Nigerian football. One like me though, will be in front of my television,seeing an EPL game with a chilled bottle of Campari and tilapia  barbecue.

Drowning Eagles, Keshi and the NFF.

   Bad pitch; the most notorious reason presented by apologists as to why the reigning African champions,the Super Eagles of Nigeria lost to Sudan on Saturday in the ongoing AFCON qualifiers. Since Nigeria won the 2013 edition of the African Cup of Nations, football in the country have taken a dip. Both on club and national team levels. Nigerian club sides have disappeared from mainstream continental championships and the Super Eagles have drowned. Pure and simple. Like Nigeria's Jay Jay Okocha rightly opined, football is dead in Nigeria. The game against Sudan was just a mere confirmation of this fact. After the AFCON victory, we went ahead to represent Africa at the Confeds in Brazil last year and had a decent outing, regrouped for the AFCON 2014 qualifiers and it has been disaster after disaster.
   Congo came to Calabar and tore us apart. They didn't just win, they outplayed and out muscled us. We went to South Africa and played out a draw. The loss to Sudan is a clear picture of the state of football in the country. Now to the details. The goal keeping set up of the Super Eagles is an interesting one. Enyeama is in my humble opinion, the best goalkeeper in Africa, and one of the best in the world. He is the only Super Eagles player that is worthy of a fans uprising to keep him in the team. Austin Ejide is an able deputy for him. Chigozie Agbim? The former Warri Wolves and Enugu Rangers shot stopper fall below what we expect in the Super Eagles. If indeed the third goalkeeper must come from the local league then we should be talking about Enyimba's Femi Thomas. I am an ardent follower of the Nigerian football league so I know. He has been very consistent between the sticks. So one wonders why Femi Thomas sits at home while Agbim remains Enyeama's second assistant. Our midfield in Sudan was a bunch of headless chickens. Stringing passes amongst themselves seemed a heavy task. Disjointed,to say the least. Our defence line went to sleep and the result was the Sudanese goal. Nigerians were left bitter.
   One school of thought blame the players. Others blame Keshi. The rest blame NFF. These people all have a part of the blame. The players played as if there was nothing at stake. I feel that was a rub off from Keshi. It's true that no coach sets out to loose a match. But it's equally true that players will in most cases exhibit the attitude the coach has,towards a game. A manager's seriousness translates to his players. Eg. Sir Alex Ferguson, Jose Mourinho, Carlos Dunga etc. I dare say that the players weren't serious because Keshi himself didn't show a high level of seriousness too.
I wonder why exactly Keshi entered into the banter with his former striker,Ikechukwu Uche. I don't think it was necessary. An elder shouldn't be seen publicly bantering with a 'kid'. As it stands now, the player refuted all Keshi's claims. So who is right? Player or manager? The banter didn't do the image of the Eagles Supremo and the team itself well. It beats me why Keshi have blatantly refused to invite Kelechi Iheanacho to the Super Eagles. The case for him is not that he comes to take over from Mikel Obi, but that at least he becomes part of the team. Who knows, some minutes under his belt could show us what he can really do. He showed us a glimpse of what he can do in his pre season games with his club Manchester City. Even if he doesn't get match time, training with the more experienced players in the squad will help him learn the ropes.
   Amaju Pinnick is the new NFF Chairman. He is not new in football administration,having led the Delta state wing for a while. He should therefore know that he is carrying the hope of millions of Nigerians on his shoulders. NFF have always been deemed to be corrupt. He can change that notion. Since I was born, and now I am getting older I have neither seen, heard nor even imagined the NFF distanced from corruption. Fact is Nigerian football is dead. It didn't die after a brief illness. It died after a prolonged illness. And illness it was born with. And a death aided by corruption. The glass house have become an epitome of corruption. Most recently part of the glass house was gutted by fire. An incident that will need the intervention of my great grandmother to convince me it was an accident and not man made. Pinnick need to discard what has been, and get his own drawing board, map out how exactly he will run the Glass House. I remember how my northern brother, a mai ruwa, hugged me passionately (no homo) in one of our Beijing Olympic football match. Before I could say Jack Robinson he flew into my outstretched and celebrating arms. That is how we love football in Nigeria. That is how football unifies Nigeria. Something Amaju Pinnick should note.
   Our Eagles are no longer super. They are drowned. But we can get it right again. Even if Keshi is sacked like some people want,who takes over? The Keshi of today is not the Keshi of yesterday. Something went wrong. And it sipped into our football generally. I don't know what it is. But we need to find out. Because if we don't, even a post Keshi era won't be beautiful. Our dead football should be resurrected. And please, we should do so before the same people who killed it come out with the burial plans.
 

Super Eagles induced headache.

   I have heard people call our male national team the Super Chickens. But I have always tried not to. Even in the midst of very dreadful performances by the Super Eagles, I have maintained my cool and supported the team. After Saturdays white washing of the Super Eagles by the Congolese team, the 'Super Chickens' tag reared it's sarcastic head.
   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.

World Cup Blues; 'Super' Eagles, effective German Machines and FIFA lies.

   The biggest football festival has ended. The FIFA World Cup 2014 final was played in the Maracana. A game in which a very effective German side emerged victorious over the Argentines.

The Germans came prepared. Having built a £25 million Campo Bahia before the world cup started, it was evident to all that the team had a clear mission. Campo Bahia, which will double as a youth soccer retreat centre after the world cup, was built with climate of the team's world cup venues in mind. It has sixty five residential units, a training pitch, fitness centre and has a wonderful view of the beach. Telecommunications and IT facilities will also help locals beyond the world cup. This, in more ways than one helped the team bond into a formidable unit. They came with a team. A real team. With very disciplined players and manageable egos,they stormed Brazil. Joachim Lowe and his boys won the world cup on the back of an attack lethargic Argentina. The Argentines didn't Come to the party.
   Argentina, a Messi based team didn't turn up because Messi didn't turn up. However though, I think Messi is unfairly held responsible for the woes of Argentina. Other players should be able to show forth in the absence of a Messic performance. When Gonzalo Higuain failed to put Argentina ahead after a 'wonderful' German assist we knew the game was a delicacy prepared for German mouths. And midway through the second period of extra tine, Mario Gotze clinically finished off an Andre Schurrle assist.  That was it. The Germans had won the world cup in the presence of Chancellor Angela Merkel and under the full glare of a colourful Chris the Redeemer.
   I personally advise anyone whose life lack surprises to go through FIFA decisions. Once again, they goofed. The FIFA study group came up with and awarded the Golden Ball to Lionel Messi. In a competition where Arjen Robben shone like a million stars, Muller and Mario Gotze dazzled for Germany and James Rodriguez had an outstanding tournament, FIFA gave the honour to Lionel Messi who was largely anonymous in the knock out stages. Barring the assist to set up Angel Di Maria, Messi disappeared in the knock out stages. This however,does not remove the fact he is about the best player on earth. Just that he didn't have a beautiful world cup. One then wonders why FIFA gave him the golden ball. Aren't we used to FIFA goofs and surprises?O yes we are.
  Super Eagles. Yes. The Nigerian senior male football team. When all the facts are out about what actually happened in Brazil, we will talk. For now,they are still sharing money. Africa,except for Algeria, went to Brazil to share money. Continental shame.
  The world cup is over. One month of ecstasy. As the football community await the resumption of the various leagues, it's important to note that Brazil deserve an excellent salute. Twenty one gun shot salute for a wonderfully hosted world cup.