Monday, November 1, 2010
Ogbakiriman: Between Keshi and Samson Siasia
Ogbakiriman: Between Keshi and Samson Siasia: "Stephen Keshi The board of the Nigeria Football Federation finally met on Wednesday and they came out with a lot of decisions. One howeve..."
Between Keshi and Samson Siasia
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| Stephen Keshi |
One however, that has continued to get Nigerians talking is that of the new Super Eagles head coach.
We know Samson Siasia is the favourite son of Nigerians and we know that the current board had agreed in principle to announce him as new coach but on Wednesday made an about turn to add Stephen Keshi to the shortlist.
According to them, both men applied for the job and will be interviewed next week.
I want to use this piece to give a brief biography of both men and try to figure out how the technical committee will decide.
I will also share on which of the men I prefer to handle the national team. Of course I am not a member of the NFF’s technical committee so what I write here will remain exactly what it is- my opinion.
Then I must warn that I may be a bit biased here because I am a Stephen Keshi fan and I’m making no apologies about that.
Stephen Okechukwu Keshi was born on 31st January, 1962 in Lagos and started his playing career with ACB, a Lagos based club side in 1979. He went on to play for New Nigeria Bank where he won the WAFU Cup in 1983 and 1984, Stade D’Abidjan where he won the Houphoet Boigny Cup in 1985 and 1986, Africa Sports, Lokeren, Anderlecht where he won the Belgian Cup in 1988 and 1989 as well as the Belgian League in 1991, Straasbourg, Mloenbeek, CCV Hydra, Sacramento Scorpions and Perlis FA where he ended his playing career in 1997.
A point to note was that as captain of the Eagles between 1982 and 1994, he was a leader on the pitch and was known as the Big Boss.
He captained the Super Eagles to Africa Cup of Nations silver in 1984 and 1988, Africa Cup of Nations bronze in 1992 and finally the trophy in 1994. He also played at the World Cup in 1994.
After his playing career he moved to the United States of America to get coaching qualifications.
He assisted Bonfrere Jo at the Africa Cup of Nations in 2000 where Nigeria got a silver and also assisted Shaibu Amodu in the Mali 2002 Cup of Nations where Nigeria finished with a bronze before he moved on to Togo where he qualified the tiny West African country for their first ever World Cup in 2006.
In April 2008 he moved to Mali as head coach and led them to the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations in Angola but was sacked after their poor performance at the championships.
Samson Siasia was born on August 14, 1967 in Lagos and played in Nigeria for Flash Flamingos, Julius Berger and Elkanemi before crossing over to Europe.
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| Samson Siasia |
In France he won the French League with Nantes in 1994/95 scoring a hattrick in just his second game but was mostly made to sit on the bench by Patrice Loko and was hardly a regular player.
He played 46 international matches for Nigeria, in which he scored thirteen goals, and was part of the team that participated in the 1994 FIFA World Cup and won the 1994 African Nations Cup. He also previously won the bronze medal at the 1992 Africa Cup of Nations in Senegal. He participated in the National Team over a period of 11 years and was recognized in Nigeria as the third leading scorer for the National Team.
As a coach, Siasia took Nigeria’s U20 team to win the Africa Youth Championships in 2005 and then took the team to the final of the World Youth Championship but lost 2-1 to Argentina.
He was then appointed head of Nigeria’s U23 team for the Olympic Games and All Africa Games but while they were knocked out by Ghana for the All Africa Games, Siasia took the team all the way to the Olympic Games and to the final where they again lost to Argentina.
In 2009, he was reappointed head coach of the Flying Eagles but they were disappointing at the World Youth Championships in Egypt the same year.
He moved to Nigeria Premier League side, Heartland but could not take them past the group stage of the CAF Champions League.
It doesn’t really matter that Samson Siasia is the favourite son of Nigerians; I somehow have my mind tilting towards Stephen Keshi.
As a player, Keshi was a leader on and off the pitch and I see him bringing that attribute to bear as coach of the Eagles.
He was known as the Big Boss and he had the respect of his team mates and coaches both for club and country.
Our so-called big name players who take call ups as seriously as a fool with a business plan in his hand will finally be put in their place by the Big Boss.
At least we all agree that discipline has been lacking in the Eagles for a very long time.
Then he is not about discipline as we all know what he can do as a coach.
I just believe that he may do a better job handling the Super Eagles but I will not be interviewing him so I have no power to decide.
But the NFF’s technical committee does have the power to decide.
And looking at the composition of that group they seem like people who will go for Stephen Keshi rather than Samson Siasia and I have my reasons for saying this.
The Technical Committee who will interview the coaches will be inaugurated on November 2, 2010 and comprises of Christopher Green (Chairman), Felix Anyansi Agwu (vice-chairman), Christian Chukwu, Paul Bassey, Adegboye Onigbinde, Garba Lawal, Victor Ikpeba, Austin Okocha, Deji Tinubu as members while Emmanuel Ikpeme is secretary.
I cannot say I have spoken to any of them to ask where they will tilt but names like Christopher Green, Felix Anyansi Agwu, Christian Chukwu, Paul Bassey, Adegboye Onigbinde all seem like people that will go for the older Keshi rather than that “small boy”, Siasia but time will tell.
They seem like people with the “old school” mentality and that is where I smell trouble for Samson Siasia.
Will they let sentiments becloud better judgement?
Now Samson Siasia is Nigeria’s favourite son; at least for now. I do not reckon with his WYC silver in 2005 because we know how Nigerian youth sides age cheat (no fault of the coach anyway), but Samson Siasia took the Olympic team to the final of the football event in 2008 and any coach that does that must be given credit.
But in football, we all know you are as good as your last outing and in 2009 he bowed to pressure to take the country’s U20 team to the World Cup but it was a very poor outing, the team getting knocked out in the 2nd round and their play horrible.
Then three months ago, he agreed to a six month contract at Owerri based Nigeria Premier League side, Heartland after they had qualified for the League stage of the CAf Champions League.
It was a disastrous outing for a side that reached the final a year earlier as they could only win one game.
However, I spoke with my good friend Colin Udoh on Wednesday night and though we may have disagreed on our choice for the new Eagles head coach we both agreed on one thing-
It will be in the best interest of the NFF and Nigerian football if they announce Samson Siasia as new head coach of the team not minding who is better between him and Keshi.
This is simply because for the first time in a long time Nigerians have almost unanimously agreed on one name as new coach of the team.
With majority of Nigerians going for Samson Siasia, any other person who gets the job, no matter how good he is will face the Shaibu Amodu treatment from Nigerians.
Every time he does not win a match he will be criticised; every time the team play badly Nigerians will shout that he must go and most of all they will continue to hound the NFF for once again getting it wrong.
Nigerians will once again channel their energies on a campaign to sack the coach at every poor turn rather than get behind the team.
Amodu suffered that fate, Berti Vogts also did to an extent and Keshi will face the same thing if he gets the job because Nigerians want someone else.
However, if Siasia gets the job, he will be able to work in peace because majority of Nigerians want him to have the job. He will not get the bitter criticisms that followed Shaibu Amodu and most of all Nigerians will make excuses for him even when he fails to win matches or play well.
Remember when the Flying Eagles failed to fly at the World Cup last year? Nigerians had a ready excuse for him that he had little time for the job.
At Heartland this year, Nigerians also made the same excuse for him that he had little time for the job. Even when he failed to qualify the U23 team for the All Africa Games in 2007, there were very few dissenting voices. All these happened because Samson Siasia is like the poster boy of Nigerian football. Any other coach that has had the kinds of failures Siasia has had would have been finished in Nigerian football, but not this handsome Ijaw boy.
The truth is that Nigerians will be quiet with their criticism if Siasia gets the job and he will work in peace. They will also cut the NFF some slack for actually listening to the voice of the people.
So the NFF will be doing themselves some good if they hand Siasia over to Nigerians even though the NFF we know can shockingly come out with a 90 year old Iranian as our coach by next week.
Hopefully by the time this page returns next week, we will be through with our search for a coach and sit down to discuss the Nigeria Premier League.
I know some people wanted me to finalize by saying who should be Nigeria’s next coach, but I was never going to do that.
You judge for yourself- Should it be Stephen “The Big Boss” Keshi, or should it be Samson Siasia?
We shall know on November 8.
Sunday, October 10, 2010
Bio should do the honourable thing
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| Isa Bio |
The last couple of days in Nigerian football have been the most dramatic in a long time.
First the news came on Monday afternoon of a letter from FIFA suspending Nigeria from all her activities because of what they termed government interference.
They broke it down into talking about the sports minister, Isa Bio deciding on his own that there will no longer be relegation from a league that ended three months ago, the removal of Musa Amadu as NFF’s General Secretary and the annulment of the elections into the board of the Nigeria Football Federation.
Two different reactions from Nigerians met the decision- one group thanked God for the suspension because they felt we had it coming and the other group believed that Nigeria were too big a country to be suspended by FIFA.
In the words of one person I remember very well, “FIFA will call us back in 48 hours”
FIFA however, showed people like that Nigeria is not that big a footballing nation that cannot sanctioned and that sanction actually humbled us in a way we haven’t been in a long time.
But aside the news of the suspension which I don’t want to bore you with as we all followed events, I was amazed at the speed with which we began to right the wrongs.
The suspension was on Monday evening and by Wednesday Musa Amadu was called back to his position as General Secretary.
The same day, Harrison Jalla, mysteriously agreed to settle his matter out of court thereby allowing the “sacked” NFF board to be reinstated.
This is the same Jalla who had been threatening fire and brimstone and also threatened to stop the league from starting?
How did they get him to withdraw the case? Was he settled? You know this is Nigeria?
Was he promised an appointment? Or was he threatened? All these happen daily in Nigeria.
It will be good if Jalla coes out to tell us why he decided to withdraw the case because all that rubbish they told us of considering the nation and the youth who would not have an opportunity to play football are what my 15 month old son will not even believe.
Then on Thursday, the NPL congress met and decided to continue with the 20 team format for the league reaffirming the relegation of Bayelsa United, Wikki Tourists, Gateway and Ranchers Bees.
The same NPL board that could not utter a word of protest when the minister made his decision?
Then conveniently, CAF, through its communications director, Suleiman Habuba announces that the game between Guinea and Nigeria has been postponed indefinitely.
Did the Nigerian government have a hand in this?
Does the drama ever end in Nigerian football?
By the time you read this piece, maybe FIFA would have recalled Nigeria into the fold or maybe the matter will still be in deliberation but all will end well as it usually does.
However, we should be asking ourselves some questions- how come every four years we get problems like these? How come every time there is a problem in Nigerian football the name of one man, Babatunde Aremu is always mentioned (even though he now goes by another more popular name)? How come every time we have NFF or NFA elections, the same people the public loves to hate win the elections?
There should be changes in Nigerian football; we have always craved changes in Nigerian football but how come we hardly see these changes?
God willing, from next week I will be dealing with the long term solution to Nigerian footballing problems.
Baribote gone for good?
On Saturday evening last week, I was relaxing at home alone when my phone rang and I saw the name “Baribote Rumson” on my screen.
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| Baribote Victor Rumson |
I bet he never thought I had his number and he first introduced himself and started on his mission for calling me.
In a few short words, he said I hated him; he also accused me of being compromised by Davidson Owumi and some other people to tarnish his reputation.
He wondered why I always wrote negative reports about him and never positive and In the next one hour and forty six minutes Baribote told me about the Bayelsa United issue, the NPL chairmanship issue, the financial misappropriation allegations against his name and some other things that we plain personal and should not be published.
What I understood from my talk with Baribote Victor Rumson was that he is a man who takes up a cause and fights for it until the end.
He did his best to clear the air on a lot of issues that I would have loved to discuss on this page but funny enough, he has been removed as chairman of the club and even though some of us believe he was removed because of the negative press the club has been getting in recent times, the sports commissioner, who announced his removal has said it was just routine.
My question now is this- With Baribote Victor Rumson gone as chairman of Bayelsa United what happens to his desire to unseat Davidson Owumi as chairman of the NPL?
Will he still fight it or will he no longer be eligible since he is no longer a club chairman and Bayelsa United are no longer in the Premier League?
But before we answer that, I want to remind Nigerians that when Chief Oyuiki wanted to seek re-election as NPL chairman, Bendel Insurance, the club with which he used to come on board were no longer in the Premier League.
Then again, the current Chairman of chairmen, Davidson Owumi is not a club chairman yet he was elected as chairman of chairmen.
So maybe with these, Baribote may just spring a surprise and still want to continue his fight but I believe only time will tell.
Has Bio resigned yet?
I was sincerely thinking that by the time I finish typing this piece, Isa Bio would have resigned as sports minister but it seems that the sit tight attitude of Nigerians and Africans is also in him.
Does he know the kind of embarrassment he caused Nigeria?
Does he know the gravity of what he did?
And Patrick Ekeji who claims to be a graduate, an ex-international and many other things shold have advised the minister rightly.
People like Isa Bio should not be seen anywhere close to a sports administrator’s desk because he does not have the first idea.
The most embarrassing of them all was his decision not to relegate any club from the Premier League.
I believe Nigerians should push this case until Isa Bio is removed as Nigeria’s sports minister.
It is not like a more credible person will be brought in anyway, but we must get rid of the man who has publicly shown himself to make imbecilic decisions.
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Time to restructure sports, Mr. President
The whole incidents of last two weeks put Nigeria and Nigerians under so much pressure leaving us with so much to talk about, so much to argue about and fight about but eventually things are returning to normal.
NFF board dissolved, Super Eagles banned from competing for two years and of course the FIFA ban we expected.
Reason eventually prevailed and Mr. President changed his mind but is that how this whole fairy tale ends?
Do we all live happily ever after? Do we still plan to restructure Nigerian football or was our beef just against Lulu, Uchaegbulam, Ogunjobi and Ojo-Oba? If so we have achieved our aim, right?
But that really is a discussion for another day so I plan not to digress so much.
Mr. President, we beg you to disband the sports ministry, or National Sports Commission, NSC, or whatever name they go by because they have completely embarrassed Nigeria at every turn.
Mr. President, people have put their hopes in Nigeria at every Olympic Games and Commonwealth Games for the last ten years now and all they get is heart break, some may have even died.
Nigerian athletes now resort to taking drugs so much that our country has been scandalised because they keep getting caught.
But what have our sports ministers done about it? They simply do not care. There is just too much interest in football to care about 37 other sports.
Whatever happened to Boxing? When I was a kid growing up I read about the exploits of Nojeem Maiyegun, Dick Tiger Ihaetu and Isaac Ikhouria.
I also watched boxers like Davidson Andeh, Ngozika Ekwelum, Peter Konyegwachie, Obisia Nwankpa, Jerry Okorodudu, Joe Lasisi amongst others do well for Nigeria on the African and World stage.
But where is Nigerian boxing today? Dead! And this is because we do not care anymore because of football.
In tennis I watched the likes of Nduka “The Duke” Odizor, David Imonite, Tony Nmoh, Godwin Kienka amongst others take Nigeria to the top of the tennis rankings at least in Africa but right now I seriously doubt that any one knows Nigeria’s Davis Cup group.
I can go on and on to swimming, Handball, Basketball, Volley ball, track and field and the story is the same- Sports in Nigeria is dead! And ironically, the football we so crave for is dead too.
Whatever happened to that great handball team, the Grasshoppers of Owerri? Whatever happened to table tennis where Nigeria were clearly the best in Africa and used to even contend with the Chinese in world Championships?
Mr. President, we cannot continue like this.
What is the brief of Isa Bio? He was announced as Sports Minister and he immediately began to do NFF business.
Yes we thank him for sorting out the hotel issue, the air transport issue and of course helping to remove Sani Lulu but was that his brief?
Does it not have anything to do with sports development, participation, winning, amongst others that would benefit Nigeria and Nigerians?
Do they have a budget at the sports ministry? What do they do with it? How come we do not have regular competitions by our sports people to develop them?
Mr. President, we have seen your hand and we know that you want to develop football, but at the Olympic Games football can only give us one medal, if at all we get it; at the All Africa Games, football can only give us one medal, if at all we get it.
But events like swimming, chess, athletics and gymnastics will give us tens of medals if really we have a developmental program in our sports but do we?
No, Mr. President, we don’t because we have not really had a minister of sports or chairman of the National Sports Commission but Minister of football and chairman of the National Football Commission.
The World Junior Athletics Championships start soon but are we going to win anything or are we just going to participate so we can grab allocation money and estacodes?
The Commonwealth games start soon but what is the target of Nigeria? Is our target to win medals or to go on another jamboree?
Maybe we should also ban the sports ministry and our athletes from taking part in international events while we rebuild Nigeria’s sports.
It is not enough for us to keep focusing on football because the future may not be football.
It is time for us to rebuild Nigeria’s sports and the time is now.
Let people like Amos Adamu, Patrick Ekeji and Isa Bio be called to answer questions on how they have administered Nigeria’s sports and how they plan to do it from now on.
Let us see genuine change Mr. President.
NFF board dissolved, Super Eagles banned from competing for two years and of course the FIFA ban we expected.
Reason eventually prevailed and Mr. President changed his mind but is that how this whole fairy tale ends?
Do we all live happily ever after? Do we still plan to restructure Nigerian football or was our beef just against Lulu, Uchaegbulam, Ogunjobi and Ojo-Oba? If so we have achieved our aim, right?
But that really is a discussion for another day so I plan not to digress so much.
Mr. President, we beg you to disband the sports ministry, or National Sports Commission, NSC, or whatever name they go by because they have completely embarrassed Nigeria at every turn.
Mr. President, people have put their hopes in Nigeria at every Olympic Games and Commonwealth Games for the last ten years now and all they get is heart break, some may have even died.
Nigerian athletes now resort to taking drugs so much that our country has been scandalised because they keep getting caught.
But what have our sports ministers done about it? They simply do not care. There is just too much interest in football to care about 37 other sports.
Whatever happened to Boxing? When I was a kid growing up I read about the exploits of Nojeem Maiyegun, Dick Tiger Ihaetu and Isaac Ikhouria.
I also watched boxers like Davidson Andeh, Ngozika Ekwelum, Peter Konyegwachie, Obisia Nwankpa, Jerry Okorodudu, Joe Lasisi amongst others do well for Nigeria on the African and World stage.
But where is Nigerian boxing today? Dead! And this is because we do not care anymore because of football.
In tennis I watched the likes of Nduka “The Duke” Odizor, David Imonite, Tony Nmoh, Godwin Kienka amongst others take Nigeria to the top of the tennis rankings at least in Africa but right now I seriously doubt that any one knows Nigeria’s Davis Cup group.
I can go on and on to swimming, Handball, Basketball, Volley ball, track and field and the story is the same- Sports in Nigeria is dead! And ironically, the football we so crave for is dead too.
Whatever happened to that great handball team, the Grasshoppers of Owerri? Whatever happened to table tennis where Nigeria were clearly the best in Africa and used to even contend with the Chinese in world Championships?
Mr. President, we cannot continue like this.
What is the brief of Isa Bio? He was announced as Sports Minister and he immediately began to do NFF business.
Yes we thank him for sorting out the hotel issue, the air transport issue and of course helping to remove Sani Lulu but was that his brief?
Does it not have anything to do with sports development, participation, winning, amongst others that would benefit Nigeria and Nigerians?
Do they have a budget at the sports ministry? What do they do with it? How come we do not have regular competitions by our sports people to develop them?
Mr. President, we have seen your hand and we know that you want to develop football, but at the Olympic Games football can only give us one medal, if at all we get it; at the All Africa Games, football can only give us one medal, if at all we get it.
But events like swimming, chess, athletics and gymnastics will give us tens of medals if really we have a developmental program in our sports but do we?
No, Mr. President, we don’t because we have not really had a minister of sports or chairman of the National Sports Commission but Minister of football and chairman of the National Football Commission.
The World Junior Athletics Championships start soon but are we going to win anything or are we just going to participate so we can grab allocation money and estacodes?
The Commonwealth games start soon but what is the target of Nigeria? Is our target to win medals or to go on another jamboree?
Maybe we should also ban the sports ministry and our athletes from taking part in international events while we rebuild Nigeria’s sports.
It is not enough for us to keep focusing on football because the future may not be football.
It is time for us to rebuild Nigeria’s sports and the time is now.
Let people like Amos Adamu, Patrick Ekeji and Isa Bio be called to answer questions on how they have administered Nigeria’s sports and how they plan to do it from now on.
Let us see genuine change Mr. President.
Where on earth is Dele Udoh’s son?
Seriously, I do not think many of the modern day internet users will know/ remember the name, Dele Udoh.
I doubt if many of the older generation will remember him too or if they ever knew him.
I remember the year and it was 1981 and I was a freshman in secondary school then.
I had picked up a neat interest in sports during the Moscow 80 Olympic Games due basically to the NTA coverage of the event.
But in 1981, a sad piece of news troubled my tender heart.
I had heard of a Nigerian student based in the United States of America and married to an American.
He was an athlete and his name was Dele Udoh.
Since 1979 he had been our best prospect at winning the 400m gold at both the Olympic Games and the World Championships.
He had returned home with his wife in 1981 to prepare for a championships with the Nigerian athletics team.
Word has it that his wife pleaded with him not to return but he did.
He was driving in Lagos with his wife and son (still a baby then) when he was shot dead by police at a check point near Ojuelegba following an argument (possibly over money).
Funny enough, after shooting to death the most promising Nigerian athlete of his generation, the police displayed his body like that of a common criminal, placing wraps of Indian hemp in the boot of his car and claimed he was an armed robber.
If he was, then what were his wife and son?
The burial ceremony at the national stadium in Lagos was shown live on NTA news and my nine year old eyes cried along with Dele Udoh’s wife but Nigerians soon forgot him.
I have been thinking and the memories of that day have filled my eyes with tears as I type this, 29 years later.
I ask, do we even know the name of Dele Udoh’s wife? Do we know where she is?
Do we remember Dele Udoh had a son? He should be 29 years old but do we know his name? Do we know where he is? Do we know what he has been doing? Does he know he is Nigerian? What ugly stories of Nigeria did his mother tell him? Has he forgiven Nigeria for what they did to him?
All these questions that require answers but who will give them to us?
But there are many more Nigerian sports people that have gone the way of Dele Udoh.
Sometime in the early 90s, 1994 to be precise, a Nigerian club, Iwuayanwu Nationale, now Heartland were returning from a CAF Champions League match or Cup of Champions Clubs match as it was known then.
They had played in Tunisia against Esperance and lost 3-0 but their Oriental Airlines Flight was forced to make an emergency landing at the Tamanrasset airport in Algeria when the pilot noticed some engine problems.
Two of Nigeria’s best players of that generation, Uche Ikeogu and Omale Aimounwansa died in the incident.
I am just wondering aloud, “If you go to the camp of the club or the club office, will there be any sign that Omale and Ikeogu ever played for the club?”
I seriously doubt that.
Does anybody on facebook, twitter even know the twosome who died representing a Nigerian football club in the search to win the then elusive CAF trophy?
There is also the case of Kayode Oluremi, a member of the Nigerian silver winning team at the Barcelona Olympics was involved in a fatal motor accident which claimed his life.
I do not even want to go to the most celebrated case of Sam Okwaraji because we have belaboured it as it stands now.
Did Dick Tiger Iheatu have a family? Did he have children? Did he have a family? How come nobody knows about them?
There is a lot that is wrong with how we treat our sports people both dead and alive and we must change that attitude now.
I doubt if many of the older generation will remember him too or if they ever knew him.
I remember the year and it was 1981 and I was a freshman in secondary school then.
I had picked up a neat interest in sports during the Moscow 80 Olympic Games due basically to the NTA coverage of the event.
But in 1981, a sad piece of news troubled my tender heart.
I had heard of a Nigerian student based in the United States of America and married to an American.
He was an athlete and his name was Dele Udoh.
Since 1979 he had been our best prospect at winning the 400m gold at both the Olympic Games and the World Championships.
He had returned home with his wife in 1981 to prepare for a championships with the Nigerian athletics team.
Word has it that his wife pleaded with him not to return but he did.
He was driving in Lagos with his wife and son (still a baby then) when he was shot dead by police at a check point near Ojuelegba following an argument (possibly over money).
Funny enough, after shooting to death the most promising Nigerian athlete of his generation, the police displayed his body like that of a common criminal, placing wraps of Indian hemp in the boot of his car and claimed he was an armed robber.
If he was, then what were his wife and son?
The burial ceremony at the national stadium in Lagos was shown live on NTA news and my nine year old eyes cried along with Dele Udoh’s wife but Nigerians soon forgot him.
I have been thinking and the memories of that day have filled my eyes with tears as I type this, 29 years later.
I ask, do we even know the name of Dele Udoh’s wife? Do we know where she is?
Do we remember Dele Udoh had a son? He should be 29 years old but do we know his name? Do we know where he is? Do we know what he has been doing? Does he know he is Nigerian? What ugly stories of Nigeria did his mother tell him? Has he forgiven Nigeria for what they did to him?
All these questions that require answers but who will give them to us?
But there are many more Nigerian sports people that have gone the way of Dele Udoh.
Sometime in the early 90s, 1994 to be precise, a Nigerian club, Iwuayanwu Nationale, now Heartland were returning from a CAF Champions League match or Cup of Champions Clubs match as it was known then.
They had played in Tunisia against Esperance and lost 3-0 but their Oriental Airlines Flight was forced to make an emergency landing at the Tamanrasset airport in Algeria when the pilot noticed some engine problems.
Two of Nigeria’s best players of that generation, Uche Ikeogu and Omale Aimounwansa died in the incident.
I am just wondering aloud, “If you go to the camp of the club or the club office, will there be any sign that Omale and Ikeogu ever played for the club?”
I seriously doubt that.
Does anybody on facebook, twitter even know the twosome who died representing a Nigerian football club in the search to win the then elusive CAF trophy?
There is also the case of Kayode Oluremi, a member of the Nigerian silver winning team at the Barcelona Olympics was involved in a fatal motor accident which claimed his life.
I do not even want to go to the most celebrated case of Sam Okwaraji because we have belaboured it as it stands now.
Did Dick Tiger Iheatu have a family? Did he have children? Did he have a family? How come nobody knows about them?
There is a lot that is wrong with how we treat our sports people both dead and alive and we must change that attitude now.
Monday, June 14, 2010
The refs must be on drugs
Day three of the World Cup just showed that the referees are not done yet with their dirty games.
In the last World Cup in Germany we saw a referee give a penalty to Italy against Australia in the 90th minute when an Italian tripped and fell on a static Australian on the ground.
We saw another referee issue three yellow cards to the same player but allowed him to play on.
In fact we saw a lot of horrible refereeing decisions which we thought would be improved on this time around but were they?
Come on, I watched the game between Germany and Australia and I thought the Germans got too many favours from the referee.
And that red card to Tim Cahill was as harsh as they come, wasn’t it?
But aside the help the Germans got from the referees, it turned out to be the highest score line yet at the World Cup though no hat trick yet.
I had to give kudos to the Germans. They took a young squad to the World Cup for the first time in ages and again after losing influential captain, Michel Ballack and first choice keeper, Rene Adler, they picked up the pieces easily to rout Australia, the highest scoreline in the World cup yet.
There are still more surprises to come.
Ghana show Nigeria how to do it
Ghana’s win against Serbia just showed that some African countries actually know why they are in the world Cup.
At least there was no argument over if the team played well, if they were expected to concede many goals or other things the Nigerians argued about.
The Ghanaians just did what serious teams going to the World Cup do- Win Matches.
While fans from my country, Nigeria are arguing that their tem played well, the Ghanaians already have three points in the bag.
Stadium protests, grenades and gun wielding policemen
My friend of 20 years, Colin Udoh is there in SA covering the World Cup and he sent a disturbing message yesterday while watching a game.
According to him there was a loud sound like and explosion outside the stadium and immediately angry looking police men barricaded the place and refused to let journalists out of the media center.
He said he eventually found his way out to discover that there was a protest outside the stadium by security workers, I think and the police used stun grenades to scare them.
Well, even blogging about it gives me the creeps so I wonder how they felt about it.
But its the World Cup. Hardly have a World Cup or Olympic Games gone by without one protest or the other and I would have been shocked if this one went protest free.
Well, its Day 3 gone... Many more days to go.
In the last World Cup in Germany we saw a referee give a penalty to Italy against Australia in the 90th minute when an Italian tripped and fell on a static Australian on the ground.
We saw another referee issue three yellow cards to the same player but allowed him to play on.
In fact we saw a lot of horrible refereeing decisions which we thought would be improved on this time around but were they?
Come on, I watched the game between Germany and Australia and I thought the Germans got too many favours from the referee.
And that red card to Tim Cahill was as harsh as they come, wasn’t it?
But aside the help the Germans got from the referees, it turned out to be the highest score line yet at the World Cup though no hat trick yet.
I had to give kudos to the Germans. They took a young squad to the World Cup for the first time in ages and again after losing influential captain, Michel Ballack and first choice keeper, Rene Adler, they picked up the pieces easily to rout Australia, the highest scoreline in the World cup yet.
There are still more surprises to come.
Ghana show Nigeria how to do it
Ghana’s win against Serbia just showed that some African countries actually know why they are in the world Cup.
At least there was no argument over if the team played well, if they were expected to concede many goals or other things the Nigerians argued about.
The Ghanaians just did what serious teams going to the World Cup do- Win Matches.
While fans from my country, Nigeria are arguing that their tem played well, the Ghanaians already have three points in the bag.
Stadium protests, grenades and gun wielding policemen
My friend of 20 years, Colin Udoh is there in SA covering the World Cup and he sent a disturbing message yesterday while watching a game.
According to him there was a loud sound like and explosion outside the stadium and immediately angry looking police men barricaded the place and refused to let journalists out of the media center.
He said he eventually found his way out to discover that there was a protest outside the stadium by security workers, I think and the police used stun grenades to scare them.
Well, even blogging about it gives me the creeps so I wonder how they felt about it.
But its the World Cup. Hardly have a World Cup or Olympic Games gone by without one protest or the other and I would have been shocked if this one went protest free.
Well, its Day 3 gone... Many more days to go.
Did Nigeria play well or not?
The jury is still out on the game between Nigeria and Argentina.
Though Nigeria lost the game by 1-0, Nigerians, most of them that is feel the country played very well.
I watched the game over and over again and I do not exactly agree that our own country played well in that game.
How do you judge a side that plays well? Ball possession, shots at goal, shots on target and finally goals scored, right?
We were behind the argentines on every single one of these yet we rejoice that we played well.
Yes some people say they are speaking relatively as we haven’t played this well in ages but is that really true?
Nigeria have hardly had a record of playing pretty against African opposition but all that changes at the World stage.
I can go back as far as you may want me to but it is true.
Even the evil playing Shaibu Amodu did pretty well in games against France and Ireland.
Having said that I believe that Nigerians only thought we played well because they expected a whitewash from the Argentines but we were eventually able to reduce the damage to just one goal.
The Super Eagles have all it takes to play in the quarter finals if we can come out of our group but the players must not get ahead of themselves.
It has been one loss to Argentina and another against Greece means we are on our way back home.
No two games are the same and the fact we played “well” against Argentina in no way means we will play well and win against Greece but we as Nigerians are hopeful.
Vincent Enyeama showed as usual that he is the best goalkeeper Nigeria has and one of the best in the World.
I hope his performances at the World Cup will guarantee him a move to frontline Europe.
I also still do not agree that we do not miss John Mikel Obi.
Just because Lukeman Haruna had a decent game against Argentina does not mean we should tie Obi to the stake and shoot him, does it?
We will just sit back and see how other games go.
Though Nigeria lost the game by 1-0, Nigerians, most of them that is feel the country played very well.
I watched the game over and over again and I do not exactly agree that our own country played well in that game.
How do you judge a side that plays well? Ball possession, shots at goal, shots on target and finally goals scored, right?
We were behind the argentines on every single one of these yet we rejoice that we played well.
Yes some people say they are speaking relatively as we haven’t played this well in ages but is that really true?
Nigeria have hardly had a record of playing pretty against African opposition but all that changes at the World stage.
I can go back as far as you may want me to but it is true.
Even the evil playing Shaibu Amodu did pretty well in games against France and Ireland.
Having said that I believe that Nigerians only thought we played well because they expected a whitewash from the Argentines but we were eventually able to reduce the damage to just one goal.
The Super Eagles have all it takes to play in the quarter finals if we can come out of our group but the players must not get ahead of themselves.
It has been one loss to Argentina and another against Greece means we are on our way back home.
No two games are the same and the fact we played “well” against Argentina in no way means we will play well and win against Greece but we as Nigerians are hopeful.
Vincent Enyeama showed as usual that he is the best goalkeeper Nigeria has and one of the best in the World.
I hope his performances at the World Cup will guarantee him a move to frontline Europe.
I also still do not agree that we do not miss John Mikel Obi.
Just because Lukeman Haruna had a decent game against Argentina does not mean we should tie Obi to the stake and shoot him, does it?
We will just sit back and see how other games go.
Sunday, June 13, 2010
So we survived the first blast of Vuvuzelas
So the first day of the African World Cup is finally over?
I am yet to hear medical reports of deafness amongst the close to 90000 people at the Soccer City in Soweto but I sincerely did not envy the Mexicans.
Playing in the middle of close to 90000 vuvuzelas can never be easy for anybody except maybe the South Africans but after 1-1, the Mexicans must feel like they won the game.
A bit of sad news for the Patriarch, Nelson Mandela as he lost his great granddaughter on the eve of the opening ceremony as she was involved in an accident on her way home from the concert.
That will most definitely bring more sadness than joy in some homes.
Now back to the opening game, I believe the South Africans have finally shown that they can play football, just that they simply do not know how to score.
We saw then outplay their opponents at the Cup of Nations in Ghana two years ago but returned home early.
We also saw them out play all their opponents in the Cup of Nations qualifiers yet fail to qualify.
But the South Africans played some pretty football against Mexico (with the help of the noisy vuvuzelas though) and must not fancy their chances of making it to the next stage of the competition.
I really like this South African team. Inexperienced, green horns and not spoiled by Europe.
I hope they get to the quarter finals.
The game between France and Uruguay was a real bore.
In fact like they say, watching wet paint dry would have been more interesting than the football on display.
But at least we lived through it and really tried not to fall asleep hoping we will at least see a goal or two.
Ooops, I slept off. How did it end? Goaless? I’m certainly not surprised about it.
What cant FIFA just ban these two sides? Why?
I am yet to hear medical reports of deafness amongst the close to 90000 people at the Soccer City in Soweto but I sincerely did not envy the Mexicans.
Playing in the middle of close to 90000 vuvuzelas can never be easy for anybody except maybe the South Africans but after 1-1, the Mexicans must feel like they won the game.
A bit of sad news for the Patriarch, Nelson Mandela as he lost his great granddaughter on the eve of the opening ceremony as she was involved in an accident on her way home from the concert.
That will most definitely bring more sadness than joy in some homes.
Now back to the opening game, I believe the South Africans have finally shown that they can play football, just that they simply do not know how to score.
We saw then outplay their opponents at the Cup of Nations in Ghana two years ago but returned home early.
We also saw them out play all their opponents in the Cup of Nations qualifiers yet fail to qualify.
But the South Africans played some pretty football against Mexico (with the help of the noisy vuvuzelas though) and must not fancy their chances of making it to the next stage of the competition.
I really like this South African team. Inexperienced, green horns and not spoiled by Europe.
I hope they get to the quarter finals.
The game between France and Uruguay was a real bore.
In fact like they say, watching wet paint dry would have been more interesting than the football on display.
But at least we lived through it and really tried not to fall asleep hoping we will at least see a goal or two.
Ooops, I slept off. How did it end? Goaless? I’m certainly not surprised about it.
What cant FIFA just ban these two sides? Why?
One Billion condoms
There was a time, and really there was when the World Cup was strictly about the football being played and not much else.
Those were the days when you looked forward to the World Cup and wondered who will be top scorer or who would win the Golden Boot for best player.
And after the competition you discuss the goals scored by your favourite or most hated player.
Like in the 50s people wondered about Ferenc Puskas, 17 year old Edson Arantes Do Nascimiento also known as Pele or even Moroccan born French international Just Fontaine.
Then in 1962 the talk was on Pele’s injury and whether he would make the World Cup. He did but did not play much; rather Amarildo replaced him and became the star of the World Cup for Brazil.
In 1966 it had to be Eusebio and the Portuguese team coming from 3-0 down to beat the Koreans 6-3 but eventually England who won the Cup on home soil with a controversial goal from Georf Hurst was the major talking point.
The 70s saw the Dutch as a major attacking force but they never won the Cup despite playing in 2 finals and the 80s was the Brazilians who were clearly the best team but did not win.
Then again, Paolo Rossi made history being the first man (maybe only) to score a hat trick against Brazil.
The Danish side in 1986 also introduced the contra system to the world.
But in the 90s things changed and the World Cup started being more about other things but the football.
I remember the Nigerian team having a fight with their coach Clemens Westahof in 1994 over if their wives and girl friends should stay with them in the hotel.
Was that a football related matter? Maybe if we just faced the assignment at hand we may have gone all the way and you bet that made even more news than Rashidi Yekini failing to score against the Italians in that second round match.
Argentine idol, Diego Maradona also made the news for his drug addiction at the World Cup in the same year.
In 1998, David Beckham got a red card against Argentina and England were knocked out of the World Cup but it made more news that he flew to the USA from France to seek solace in the bosom of his wife, Victoria Posh Spice.
All the newspaper headlines and paparazzi photographs made it seem like the World Cup had ended and the spice Girls tour was the next big thing in the world.
There was also the sex as incentive issue in 2006 when Ukraine playing in their first World made more news than Ronaldo who became the top scorer ever in world Cup history.
The Ukrainian coach, Oleg Blokhin really wanted his players to go all the way at the World Cup and gave them an extra incentive to win.
He told them that if they got to the semi finals, he would lift the law on celibacy and allow the players have sex with their wives and girlfriends. But intriguing thing about it was that he said the players did not have a choice- they must have the sex even if it meant him forcing their wives and girlfriends on them. Did they get to the semi finals? No! But the sex as incentive story was bigger than whatever the Ukrainians did at that World Cup.
Wow! Football is fast turning to show biz these days.
I can go on and on but the point is that these days, the World Cup is hardly about the football being played on the pitch because other stories make the event more and most interesting.
One billion condoms, 40,000 sex workers
The 2010 World Cup seriously does not want to be left behind on the table of recent championships that had football as last news on the page.
Recently there was a story making the rounds on the internet that the prostitution capital of the world was going to move from wherever it is now to South Africa.
That report said that one billion condoms are expected in South Africa and must be used up as 40 000 commercial sex workers engage in brisk business.
And the report continues that most of these 40,000 will come from as far as Russia, Congo and guess where? Nigeria!
We are talking about the football World Cup here and not a script from an x rated movie... except maybe I am still old fashioned into thinking the world Cup was still about football.
Now because of the lure of expensively paid for sex with diseases to add to the bargain, the South Africans are more interested in telling visitors that the sex will be free from diseases (though expensive) than to talk about how ready the facilities are to host the event or even the high quality of play we should expect.
But who cares about football when it is the football World Cup we are talking about?
Someone please tell me it is the football World Cup we are about to watch?
I even hear that the country’s president, Jacob Zuma, himself a polygamist with 20 children has been going round the world begging countries to supply more condoms to South Africa.
Naked truth about Maradona
Then there is the other matter of Argentina’s manager, who I think is the worst coach amongst the 32 at the World Cup.
He probably knows that despite his superstar team, Argentina may not win the World Cup so he has taken the attention once again off the football.
He has promised to run the streets of Buenos Aires stark naked if Argentina wins the World Cup.
Who wants to see that ugly sight? Certainly not me and certainly not the Argentine people so I thank God He the good Lord will not permit us to have nightmares so I guess He will ensure Argentina do not go anywhere near lifting the trophy but once again, some news outside the football on the pitch.
Be warned! You may catch something
In June this year, According to a new study published in the June issue of the American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, visitors travelling to South Africa will need to worry less about 'exotic' tropical diseases such as malaria, and concentrate on protecting themselves from a wide range of more common travel-related diseases, such as acute diarrheal illness, sexually transmitted diseases, febrile illnesses, insect and tick bites, and vaccine-preventable infections, especially influenza and measles.
Can we please talk about football?
At the World Cup, I want to read about the number of goals Messi, Tevez, Higuan and Rooney will score; I want to read about the beautiful football that will be on display and I also want to update my factfile by taking records as the games progress.
Football is about football so let us keep it at that.
Let us enjoy the beautiful game.
Those were the days when you looked forward to the World Cup and wondered who will be top scorer or who would win the Golden Boot for best player.
And after the competition you discuss the goals scored by your favourite or most hated player.
Like in the 50s people wondered about Ferenc Puskas, 17 year old Edson Arantes Do Nascimiento also known as Pele or even Moroccan born French international Just Fontaine.
Then in 1962 the talk was on Pele’s injury and whether he would make the World Cup. He did but did not play much; rather Amarildo replaced him and became the star of the World Cup for Brazil.
In 1966 it had to be Eusebio and the Portuguese team coming from 3-0 down to beat the Koreans 6-3 but eventually England who won the Cup on home soil with a controversial goal from Georf Hurst was the major talking point.
The 70s saw the Dutch as a major attacking force but they never won the Cup despite playing in 2 finals and the 80s was the Brazilians who were clearly the best team but did not win.
Then again, Paolo Rossi made history being the first man (maybe only) to score a hat trick against Brazil.
The Danish side in 1986 also introduced the contra system to the world.
But in the 90s things changed and the World Cup started being more about other things but the football.
I remember the Nigerian team having a fight with their coach Clemens Westahof in 1994 over if their wives and girl friends should stay with them in the hotel.
Was that a football related matter? Maybe if we just faced the assignment at hand we may have gone all the way and you bet that made even more news than Rashidi Yekini failing to score against the Italians in that second round match.
Argentine idol, Diego Maradona also made the news for his drug addiction at the World Cup in the same year.
In 1998, David Beckham got a red card against Argentina and England were knocked out of the World Cup but it made more news that he flew to the USA from France to seek solace in the bosom of his wife, Victoria Posh Spice.
All the newspaper headlines and paparazzi photographs made it seem like the World Cup had ended and the spice Girls tour was the next big thing in the world.
There was also the sex as incentive issue in 2006 when Ukraine playing in their first World made more news than Ronaldo who became the top scorer ever in world Cup history.
The Ukrainian coach, Oleg Blokhin really wanted his players to go all the way at the World Cup and gave them an extra incentive to win.
He told them that if they got to the semi finals, he would lift the law on celibacy and allow the players have sex with their wives and girlfriends. But intriguing thing about it was that he said the players did not have a choice- they must have the sex even if it meant him forcing their wives and girlfriends on them. Did they get to the semi finals? No! But the sex as incentive story was bigger than whatever the Ukrainians did at that World Cup.
Wow! Football is fast turning to show biz these days.
I can go on and on but the point is that these days, the World Cup is hardly about the football being played on the pitch because other stories make the event more and most interesting.
One billion condoms, 40,000 sex workers
The 2010 World Cup seriously does not want to be left behind on the table of recent championships that had football as last news on the page.
Recently there was a story making the rounds on the internet that the prostitution capital of the world was going to move from wherever it is now to South Africa.
That report said that one billion condoms are expected in South Africa and must be used up as 40 000 commercial sex workers engage in brisk business.
And the report continues that most of these 40,000 will come from as far as Russia, Congo and guess where? Nigeria!
We are talking about the football World Cup here and not a script from an x rated movie... except maybe I am still old fashioned into thinking the world Cup was still about football.
Now because of the lure of expensively paid for sex with diseases to add to the bargain, the South Africans are more interested in telling visitors that the sex will be free from diseases (though expensive) than to talk about how ready the facilities are to host the event or even the high quality of play we should expect.
But who cares about football when it is the football World Cup we are talking about?
Someone please tell me it is the football World Cup we are about to watch?
I even hear that the country’s president, Jacob Zuma, himself a polygamist with 20 children has been going round the world begging countries to supply more condoms to South Africa.
Naked truth about Maradona
Then there is the other matter of Argentina’s manager, who I think is the worst coach amongst the 32 at the World Cup.
He probably knows that despite his superstar team, Argentina may not win the World Cup so he has taken the attention once again off the football.
He has promised to run the streets of Buenos Aires stark naked if Argentina wins the World Cup.
Who wants to see that ugly sight? Certainly not me and certainly not the Argentine people so I thank God He the good Lord will not permit us to have nightmares so I guess He will ensure Argentina do not go anywhere near lifting the trophy but once again, some news outside the football on the pitch.
Be warned! You may catch something
In June this year, According to a new study published in the June issue of the American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, visitors travelling to South Africa will need to worry less about 'exotic' tropical diseases such as malaria, and concentrate on protecting themselves from a wide range of more common travel-related diseases, such as acute diarrheal illness, sexually transmitted diseases, febrile illnesses, insect and tick bites, and vaccine-preventable infections, especially influenza and measles.
Can we please talk about football?
At the World Cup, I want to read about the number of goals Messi, Tevez, Higuan and Rooney will score; I want to read about the beautiful football that will be on display and I also want to update my factfile by taking records as the games progress.
Football is about football so let us keep it at that.
Let us enjoy the beautiful game.
Our continent, Our trophy?
Our Continent, Our Trophy
This slogan started gaining the airwaves since South Africa hosted the Confederation Cup last year.
The South Africans actually thought they would win the Cup and picked up that slogan.
Then Ghana went one better and won the World Youth Championships in Egypt. Yeah, it was really Our Continent, Our Trophy.
At the U-17 championships hosted by Nigeria, the slogan came up again and though the Nigerian team tried they could only get to the final and lose.
And we have not stopped ever since. We have continued to talk about how this is an African World Cup and how it will all make sense if an African side can win it but nobody has told us which of the African sides they think can win it.
Ever since the great football sage, Edson Arantes Do Nascimento, also known as Pele “prophesied” that an African country will win the World Cup before the turn of the 21st century, the whole continent have been under pressure.
Even though Pele has since come out to either say he was misquoted or his words were taken out of context, the hunger for an African country to win the World Cup has become more insatiable than ever before.
In 1990 a lot of fans actually thought the Roger Milla team would do the continent proud (didn’t they?)
When they met their real match in the quarter finals they crumbled like a pack of cards even though they could have easily beaten the English.
In 1994 we all thought Nigeria would be that team but a lethargic Italy with half fit players sent us packing the second round.
1998 should have surely been Africa’s year but that has been our worst performance in recent times and in 2002 when the Teranga Lions of Senegal seemed on a roll they got their reality check in the quarters against Turkey.
The whole of Africa still probably remember the 2006 World Cup and how only Ghana made it to the second round and what the rampaging Brazilians did to them.
Now why can’t Africa win the World Cup in 2010 or anytime soon?
African countries are yet to understand that football is not all about 90 minutes on the pitch.
They have also failed to understand that people do not win matches simply because they have quality players.
Greece would never have won the European championships the year they did if it was simply about players.
So can Africa win the World Cup finally in 2010? NEVER! The continent is simply not ready yet and this is a fact whether we like it or whether we admit it or not.
There is more to winning a World Cup than simply just thinking, “Our continent, our trophy”.
First a country must have the quality in terms of man power or playing personel. It is not enough to just have a John Mikel Obi playing at Chelsea, a Micheal Essien playing at the same Chelsea, a Samuel Eto’o at Inter Milan or a Benni McCarthy playing at West Ham. You must have a lot of quality in one team to be able to carry the others along. When it comes to quality in playing personnel, the Ivoriens are closest to it.
The likes of Didier Drogba, Kolo Toure, Yaya Toure, Didier Zokora, Salomon Kalou, Zezeto, Romaric, Emmanuel Eboue and Gervinho certainly is enough quality to having a shouting chance at the trophy but having quality players is just one of many qualities a team must have.
After having quality players which no doubt the Ivoriens do have, there are other factors.
Organisation: This is where a lot of African countries err. Apart from maybe the North Africans, most are not organised.
Travel arrangements for players is like rocket science to them; coordinating a friendly match seems like something that will bother Albert Einstein and it is no wonder why players find it difficult reporting to camp for games or tournaments because things seem so different especially for the Europe based players who are used to better organisation.
To organise simply means to establish, institute, set up, construct, put together, arrange and coordinate.
Are those of us in africa close to any of these? Most of the FAs in africa are in total shambles and the situations does not look like changing any time soon.
Planning: This is another criteria for winning where the Africans fail woefully. Why do Africans fail to plan? Somebody said a man who fails to plan is planning to fail.
Nobody just wakes up in the morning and plans to win the next World Cup without putting things in proper perspective.
I remember as a kid watching tha video of “The history of the World Cup” and i still have vivid memories of myself crying with th Brazilians after they lost the 1950 final to Uruguay. Why did a 12 year old start crying for something his father even knew nothing about? The passion around the Brazilan game? Maybe. Put most of all, the Brazilians picked the pieces up and won the Cup 8 years later; eight years after losing a bitter final on home soil. Is that planning? I do not know what else is.
In 1998 the Americans performed woefully at the World Cup and they set up a committee to win the World Cup in 2010, a whole 12 years later. Midway into their planning they realised winning the Cup would not be realistic as a target so they modified it to “Being a threat at the 2010 World Cup”
Did anybody watch the Confederations Cup last year?
Nobody achieves anything that did not plan for that thing. Do africans plan? Not that i know of.
Winning mentality: Nobody goes to battle planning to lose or not thinking of winning. Ask any Ivorien player, nigerian, ghanaian, Camerounian or Algerian player if their countries can win the World Cup and hear their responses.
Then ask any Brazilian, Spanish, Argentine, English or Spanish player the same questions and see how different these responses will be.
No african player playing in the World Cup this year thinks he will be kissing the trophy in July as compared to their counterparts from Europe and America.
Those in Africa still feel inferior to the Europeans and South Americans so talking about winning the World Cup is just dream talk.
World Class manager: Has any African country ever had a World Class manager on her bench? Not too many.
Can average journey men coaches that Europe and South America have exported to Africa over the years cannot not and will never win anything with the average and below average African sides.
A quality coach like Otto Renaghel can win with an average side like the Greek team in 2004.
The same way and average coach like Clemence Westahof could win with the Super Nigerian team of 1992-94.
But average coach + average team is certainly equal to average performance and that has been the lot of African sides in the past.
Amongst five countries representing Africa at the World Cup, perhaps only the South Africans have a real coach but he has to face a very poor team in training every day.
Consistency: This is the major problem of footballing in Africa. No consistency especially with coaches. We sack them at every bad turn and football can hardly ever grow that way.
Nigerians are the biggest culprits here.
Since Clemence Westahof left in 1994 (remember he stayed five years) we have sacked coaches every two years and that has hardly helped football in Nigeria grow.
Just in February, two weeks after leading the Nigerian side to winning the bronze medal at the Africa Cup of Nations, Nigerian manager, Shaibu Amodu was sacked because Nigerians thought he was a bad coach and will disgrace the country at the World Cup.
One month later, the Swede, Lars Lagerback was appointed in his place. He had no FIFA window to meet the players and only had his first session with the team in May after the European Leagues ended, yet he said Nigeria had the potentials to play in the semi finals, LIAR!
The Ivoriens did the same thing, sacking their coach on the last day of February and he would have the same problem with the Nigerian coach because there was really no time to look at the players.
Discipline: Most African players do not see returning home to their countries to play football as serious business. Rather they see it as a time to burst loose from their rigid and disciplined European clubs.
Time to sow wild oats, binge drink and generally indulge; and all this is done during competition time.
In Nigeria, players report home for one off matches and go see their friends and parents for at least a day or two before reporting for the games. Discipline? We certainly do not have it in Africa.
At the Cup of Nations in 2004, three Nigerian players were sent home because they were caught with ladies in their hotel; at the Cup of Nations in Ghana which i attended there were similar but unreported sex scandals.
At the World Cup in 2002 when we watched Senegal play good football we thought they would go past the Turks and play in the semi final but were shocked the Teranga Lions players were so immobile through out the match.
Unconfirmed reports had it that most of them slept late in the night on the eve of the match, partying in celebration of their outstanding feat of reaching the World Cup quarter finals.
That is the lot of Africa.
Can Africa win the World Cup in 2010? NEVER! Can Africa win it any time soon? A lot of things have to change. Our attitude to games, organisation, mentality, consistency and discipline.
Without these we would postpone winning the World Cup to 2014 and then 2018 and then 2022 yet we still would not win it.
Our continent, our trophy! How possible?
This slogan started gaining the airwaves since South Africa hosted the Confederation Cup last year.
The South Africans actually thought they would win the Cup and picked up that slogan.
Then Ghana went one better and won the World Youth Championships in Egypt. Yeah, it was really Our Continent, Our Trophy.
At the U-17 championships hosted by Nigeria, the slogan came up again and though the Nigerian team tried they could only get to the final and lose.
And we have not stopped ever since. We have continued to talk about how this is an African World Cup and how it will all make sense if an African side can win it but nobody has told us which of the African sides they think can win it.
Ever since the great football sage, Edson Arantes Do Nascimento, also known as Pele “prophesied” that an African country will win the World Cup before the turn of the 21st century, the whole continent have been under pressure.
Even though Pele has since come out to either say he was misquoted or his words were taken out of context, the hunger for an African country to win the World Cup has become more insatiable than ever before.
In 1990 a lot of fans actually thought the Roger Milla team would do the continent proud (didn’t they?)
When they met their real match in the quarter finals they crumbled like a pack of cards even though they could have easily beaten the English.
In 1994 we all thought Nigeria would be that team but a lethargic Italy with half fit players sent us packing the second round.
1998 should have surely been Africa’s year but that has been our worst performance in recent times and in 2002 when the Teranga Lions of Senegal seemed on a roll they got their reality check in the quarters against Turkey.
The whole of Africa still probably remember the 2006 World Cup and how only Ghana made it to the second round and what the rampaging Brazilians did to them.
Now why can’t Africa win the World Cup in 2010 or anytime soon?
African countries are yet to understand that football is not all about 90 minutes on the pitch.
They have also failed to understand that people do not win matches simply because they have quality players.
Greece would never have won the European championships the year they did if it was simply about players.
So can Africa win the World Cup finally in 2010? NEVER! The continent is simply not ready yet and this is a fact whether we like it or whether we admit it or not.
There is more to winning a World Cup than simply just thinking, “Our continent, our trophy”.
First a country must have the quality in terms of man power or playing personel. It is not enough to just have a John Mikel Obi playing at Chelsea, a Micheal Essien playing at the same Chelsea, a Samuel Eto’o at Inter Milan or a Benni McCarthy playing at West Ham. You must have a lot of quality in one team to be able to carry the others along. When it comes to quality in playing personnel, the Ivoriens are closest to it.
The likes of Didier Drogba, Kolo Toure, Yaya Toure, Didier Zokora, Salomon Kalou, Zezeto, Romaric, Emmanuel Eboue and Gervinho certainly is enough quality to having a shouting chance at the trophy but having quality players is just one of many qualities a team must have.
After having quality players which no doubt the Ivoriens do have, there are other factors.
Organisation: This is where a lot of African countries err. Apart from maybe the North Africans, most are not organised.
Travel arrangements for players is like rocket science to them; coordinating a friendly match seems like something that will bother Albert Einstein and it is no wonder why players find it difficult reporting to camp for games or tournaments because things seem so different especially for the Europe based players who are used to better organisation.
To organise simply means to establish, institute, set up, construct, put together, arrange and coordinate.
Are those of us in africa close to any of these? Most of the FAs in africa are in total shambles and the situations does not look like changing any time soon.
Planning: This is another criteria for winning where the Africans fail woefully. Why do Africans fail to plan? Somebody said a man who fails to plan is planning to fail.
Nobody just wakes up in the morning and plans to win the next World Cup without putting things in proper perspective.
I remember as a kid watching tha video of “The history of the World Cup” and i still have vivid memories of myself crying with th Brazilians after they lost the 1950 final to Uruguay. Why did a 12 year old start crying for something his father even knew nothing about? The passion around the Brazilan game? Maybe. Put most of all, the Brazilians picked the pieces up and won the Cup 8 years later; eight years after losing a bitter final on home soil. Is that planning? I do not know what else is.
In 1998 the Americans performed woefully at the World Cup and they set up a committee to win the World Cup in 2010, a whole 12 years later. Midway into their planning they realised winning the Cup would not be realistic as a target so they modified it to “Being a threat at the 2010 World Cup”
Did anybody watch the Confederations Cup last year?
Nobody achieves anything that did not plan for that thing. Do africans plan? Not that i know of.
Winning mentality: Nobody goes to battle planning to lose or not thinking of winning. Ask any Ivorien player, nigerian, ghanaian, Camerounian or Algerian player if their countries can win the World Cup and hear their responses.
Then ask any Brazilian, Spanish, Argentine, English or Spanish player the same questions and see how different these responses will be.
No african player playing in the World Cup this year thinks he will be kissing the trophy in July as compared to their counterparts from Europe and America.
Those in Africa still feel inferior to the Europeans and South Americans so talking about winning the World Cup is just dream talk.
World Class manager: Has any African country ever had a World Class manager on her bench? Not too many.
Can average journey men coaches that Europe and South America have exported to Africa over the years cannot not and will never win anything with the average and below average African sides.
A quality coach like Otto Renaghel can win with an average side like the Greek team in 2004.
The same way and average coach like Clemence Westahof could win with the Super Nigerian team of 1992-94.
But average coach + average team is certainly equal to average performance and that has been the lot of African sides in the past.
Amongst five countries representing Africa at the World Cup, perhaps only the South Africans have a real coach but he has to face a very poor team in training every day.
Consistency: This is the major problem of footballing in Africa. No consistency especially with coaches. We sack them at every bad turn and football can hardly ever grow that way.
Nigerians are the biggest culprits here.
Since Clemence Westahof left in 1994 (remember he stayed five years) we have sacked coaches every two years and that has hardly helped football in Nigeria grow.
Just in February, two weeks after leading the Nigerian side to winning the bronze medal at the Africa Cup of Nations, Nigerian manager, Shaibu Amodu was sacked because Nigerians thought he was a bad coach and will disgrace the country at the World Cup.
One month later, the Swede, Lars Lagerback was appointed in his place. He had no FIFA window to meet the players and only had his first session with the team in May after the European Leagues ended, yet he said Nigeria had the potentials to play in the semi finals, LIAR!
The Ivoriens did the same thing, sacking their coach on the last day of February and he would have the same problem with the Nigerian coach because there was really no time to look at the players.
Discipline: Most African players do not see returning home to their countries to play football as serious business. Rather they see it as a time to burst loose from their rigid and disciplined European clubs.
Time to sow wild oats, binge drink and generally indulge; and all this is done during competition time.
In Nigeria, players report home for one off matches and go see their friends and parents for at least a day or two before reporting for the games. Discipline? We certainly do not have it in Africa.
At the Cup of Nations in 2004, three Nigerian players were sent home because they were caught with ladies in their hotel; at the Cup of Nations in Ghana which i attended there were similar but unreported sex scandals.
At the World Cup in 2002 when we watched Senegal play good football we thought they would go past the Turks and play in the semi final but were shocked the Teranga Lions players were so immobile through out the match.
Unconfirmed reports had it that most of them slept late in the night on the eve of the match, partying in celebration of their outstanding feat of reaching the World Cup quarter finals.
That is the lot of Africa.
Can Africa win the World Cup in 2010? NEVER! Can Africa win it any time soon? A lot of things have to change. Our attitude to games, organisation, mentality, consistency and discipline.
Without these we would postpone winning the World Cup to 2014 and then 2018 and then 2022 yet we still would not win it.
Our continent, our trophy! How possible?
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