Successful start to a long and difficult journey!
Categories: Football, General
Written By: Segun Odegbami
It was a good start. Last Sunday Nigerians were ecstatic with the victory of their beloved Super Eagles in a one-sided match against the Antelopes of Ethiopia. The celebrations all over the country were as if Nigeria had just won the Nations Cup. They reminded me of a similar situation almost 20 years ago during the Barcelona Olympics. Nigeria’s 4 X 100 female relay quartet had run a blistering race and had come either third or fourth, a situation that would have to be settled by a photo-finish technology. Waiting for the replay on the stadium screen had held everyone in the stadium and viewers around the world in nerve wracking suspense. All eyes were glued skywards in anticipation of the television replay that would determine who came third (not first!). Nigeria and an Olympic Bronze medal were separated by this very thin line that required technology to resolve. Then came the moment of truth. The entire stadium went quiet. All eyes were riveted to the giant screen above. The Nigerian girls held their breaths in wide-eyed anticipation. The picture was played back in slow motion. It took an eternity. And then the revelation – the Nigerian anchor had crossed the line ahead of her rival with a hair’s breath! The earth erupted! The Nigerian girls ‘flew’ in jubilation! They ran an entire lap of the Barcelona Olympic stadium tracks in a frenzy of ecstatic celebration, they along with thousands of their fans in the arena and millions more watching all over the world. It was such a great moment for sport that, 12 years later, on the eve of the Athens Olympics, the pictures of that scene captured by cameras formed the background to a memorable global advertisement for the Olympic Games. The lesson for us Olympians, and indeed for the world, is that at the Olympics you do not have to come first to be a winner just as was depicted by the Nigerian girls. In that moment the countries that came first and second had been temporarily forgotten. The world was not necessarily celebrating ‘third place’ at their expense but rather the manner the third-place ‘victory’ came about! In an instance a Bronze Medal was almost as good as Gold! Thats how certain victories affect people.
But not so in football! In football, everything is about winning!
Thats why, last Sunday, Nigerians were back in their mood of celebration even when it was not because the Eagles were brilliant, or that a truly new team had been born. It was clear to me that the country had been starved for so long of a clear and resounding victory at senior national team level that when the Ethiopians came and were roundly trounced Nigerians were so relieved and over-joyous. It did not matter that three of the four goals were ori bamise (gifts by fate) goals; that the Ethiopians were easily the worst team the Eagles have played in decades; and that the make-up of the Nigerian team was neither a total departure from the ordinariness of the past nor was it an offer of something really new and exciting. There was a noticeable refreshing experiment though – Mikel Obi was made to play a new role as the creative midfield player, which meant that new discovery, Joel Obi, had to play more defensively. Having said all of that, what was important and that I caught in the expression of the crowd at the national Stadium in Abuja, is that the Eagles won the match by scoring many goals. That alone was worth a lavish celebration like the Nigerian girls in Barcelona ’92!
One must commend the team and its new handlers for bringing relief to the people and restoring confidence to the national team. Samson Siasia needed to start on that kind of note, creating a psychological platform to which his future ambition, plans and team will be anchored. It is a blessing that his first official assignment was against a weak side like Ethiopia. The Ethiopians made a mockery of the ‘passing game’ that has made Barcelona FC one of the best teams in football history. Unlike Barcelona FC though, the Ethiopians ceaselessly and meaninglessly tried to play possession football at crawling pace, with small harmless interchange of passes that was heading to everywhere else on the filed but towards the opposing goal. I cant recall watching a worse team. There was not even one serious attempt by them at Nigeria’s goal. They could not even convert a gifted opportunity in the second half of the match that came from a harmless and tame cross that Nigeria’s goalkeeper, Dele Aiyenugba, bungled in front of the Ethiopian forwards.
In moving ahead Nigerians main interest is the emergence of a new Nigerian team. What we saw gave some glimpses of hope and possibilities. But truth be told, the Super Eagles have not changed much. Qualifying for the Nations Cup can almost be taken for granted even though that should not engender complacency. As one analyst on a TV program put it, even the worst coach in Nigeria’s football history easily qualified the country for the African Cup of Nations, so there is no reason for us to fear that Samson would do any less. Nigerians must never make qualification for the African Cup of Nations a target for its coaches. It must aim for much more. Nigerians must accept certain truths though. The Eagles before Siasia were an ordinary team lacking truly outstanding players. Thats why the team could not achieve great things. Also, there were no better players outside of the web of coaches dragnet ‘hidden’ anywhere that could have significantly altered the poor results of that era. It was a generational issue. The players of the last decade were not a continuation of the quality of players of the eras before them.
As we enter a new decade, with a brand new coach, and a new spirit, what Nigeria needs now is a new generation that has to come from its few production platforms – some unknown youngsters that are accidentally discovered playing in some minor or major leagues in Europe (like Obafemi Martins), that come from the stream of football migrants leaving the country in droves; plus the few youngsters that are discovered during age-group competitions (NNPC/Shell Cup for example), several of whom are also taken abroad by scouts and agents to hone their talents (most of them end up in obscurity); and the handful of players that the local leagues occasionally throw up from the left-overs of those are perpetual search of the Golden fleece in foreign lands. Thats all. Nigerian players don’t come from any other organised source.
Thats why Samson’s assignment is cut out for him. He must find new players wherever they may be in the world to build a new team. In this regard he must get the support of the Nigeria Football Association and the National Sports Association to establish other platforms from which high quality young talented players can be produced and processed for use in age-group competitions and later for the Super Eagles. That is surely going to be a long and difficult journey. Anyway which way, samson Siasia has started well on a note of success. All must join hands with him, Austin Eguavoen in charge of the Olympic team, and Monday Odigie in charge of the national Under-17 team, to sustain the present momentum of change that is critically required to take Nigerian football to even greater heights in this decade!
April 4th, 2011 at 1:33 PM
You have once again made a strong case for Siasia and the Nigerian national football team. You should now make a stronger case for saving Nigerian sports. Until we come together, Nigerian football will not ascend to the mountain top to provide the leadership and inspire others and uplift lesser sports in Nigeria.
In America, at both the pre-collegiate and collegiate levels we see how Baseball, American Football, and Basketball promote coaches and support lesser sports such as tennis, track & field, soccer, and even softball etc to sustain themselves.
For example, the “Basketball March Madness” ending today- April 4, 2011 to have a sense of how a sport can generate revenue to support itself and other sports.
With his fame and now connections (with the soon- to- be elected president, Mr. Jonathan), Samson Siasia can provide an unprecendented leadership for the revitalization and the rebuilding of sports in Nigeria. Does he have the vision, desire, and courage to provide such leadership. Is Siasia self-centered?
In the United States, one of the expectations of those coaches paid millions of dollars is to provide leadership that is beyond their own domain of control. They are also expected to recruit talented coaches and players and make them super individuals and superstars. More importantly, they are expected to bring coaches and players on board. True Siasia “must find new players wherever they may be in the world to build a new team.” At some point, he must align himself with individuals like Innocent Egbenuke, Chalton Ehiezule, Sadiq Abdullahi, Sam Okpodu and others in the dispora for a new beginning and for a new Nigeria.
The Nigeria Sports Commission (NSC) working with the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF) should provide the vision and facilitate this transformative initiative. The forum and platform can be easily put together to gather highly talented, highly motivated, and highly qualified national, international young and old players and coaches to chart a new course for rebuilding sports in Nigeria.
I wish Siasia and the New Super Eagles well. I love my country.
April 11th, 2011 at 10:02 AM
As a patriot, I will like to congratulate Nigerians on the success of the Super Eagles in their outings against Ethiopia & Kenya. Also, I cannot but appreciate the technical crew headed by Coach Samson Siasia as well as the players for a job well done. They actually brought smiles to the faces of soccer loving Nigerians after a long period of time. They were very wonderful.
Now straight to business, like Chief Odegbami rightly said, the Super Eagles have not changed much, but let me quickly add here that some things have started changing (though not on the field of play anyway). The approach of the players to the national team, the attitude of the players as well as the strong competition that exists in the Super Eagles now, making players realise there’s no automatic shirt & that nobody is indispensable. With all these, I believe the players will always be mentally prepared for the task ahead. I believe as time goes on, we will see a great change on the field of play too. Ethiopia & Kenya are lowly rated teams when it comes to the game of soccer; defeating them should not be seen as something extraordinary. We have a long way to go; we have strong teams to compete with both at the Nations Cup & World Cup (if we qualify), so we can’t afford to be carried away by these victories.
In the Goalkeeping area, we have capable hands in Vincent Enyeama, Dele Aiyenugba, Rotimi Sunday etc. We can only hope they are in the best of form. Vincent has an edge because of his experience (4 world cup matches, against England in 2002 & Argentina, Greece & South Korea in 2010) as well as his exploit with Hapoel Tel- Aviv in the Champions League. He is also a great penalty & free kick taker. We can only hope he continues with this great work. Though we didn’t see much of Aiyenugba in our last matches, he is a worthy assistant to Enyeama. He was his assistant in Enyimba FC during their reign as African Champion so we shouldn’t expect anything less from the duo.
In the defence, we have Joseph Yobo, Chibuzor Okwonkwo, Efe Ambrose, Danny Shittu, Dele Adeleye, Olufemi Adebayo, Taiye Taiwo amongst others. The combination of Ambrose Efe & skipper Joseph Yobo looked so shaky at times & will be punished if we play a better team like Argentina; Taiwo needs to recover very well from his overlapping runs, while Okwonkwo needs to be accurate with his shots. Though in the two matches played, I would definitely score the defence high; but we must be prepared against stiffer oppositions.
In the middle of the park where we really have so many choices, one thing Nigerians must realise is that there cannot be another Jay Jay Okocha. Believe me; every player has got his own style of play, so we should stop looking for a creative player who will play like Okocha. Ever since, have we produced another Odegbami, Chukwu, Okwaraji, Finidi, Amunike, Yekini etc. Your answer is as good as mine-NO. Joel Obi has shown he’s a great player with a lot of potential, while Mikel Obi is still struggling to regain his form that made him one of the best creative midfielders years back. We still have great midfielders in Yusuf Ayila (who has been doing well in the Europa League this season), Kalu Uche, Sanni Kaita (if called back to the national team), Haruna Lukman, still not forgetting Dickson Etuhu. Though the choice of midfield players depend on the tactical formation the team is playing, the technical crew has a lot to do in order to blend them together. Lest I forget, I personally think Victor Ezeji is a great & gifted creative player who has shown over the years what he is capable of doing. He is very talented. The technical crew should take note!!!
The forward line did well against Ethiopia & Kenya scoring seven goals (though most of them were a bit of luck as well as poor defending by the opponents). The attack lacked serious creativity as well as team play. There need to be more cohesion in the attack. Ahmed Musa has been doing great, Ikechukwu Uche has shown why he remains the best striker in the team presently and Obinna Nsofor & Osaze Odemwingie need to show us why they are a delight to watch week in & out at Westham United & Westbromwich Albion respectively. We need to see more from Victor Anichebe, Peter Utaka, Solomon Okworonkwo, Emmanuel Emenike, Chinedu Ogbuike & Obafemi Martins (though the last three were missing in both games) as well as several others.
The technical crew has done a great job no doubt, but there is always room for improvement. Kudos to Siasia & Kalika; if you observed, the Super Eagles played better in the second half in their last two matches. This suggests that the technical crew was able to read the game very well & impact positively on the team. Overall, more players should still be invited & tested. We need a formidable team we can rely on, a team other teams will dread, a team that will play a free-flowing football, a team with a never-say-die attitude, a team with a winning mentality & a team that won’t disappoint soccer loving Nigerians. We can only continue to support & pray for the new Super Eagles under Coach Samson Siasia. Overall, it was a successful start to a long & difficult journey.