Ides of June: Half-way Report

 I AM writing Soccertalk earlier than usual this week partly to make up for my absence last week; and partly because I was determined to publish before the Super Eagles commenced their campaign at the Confederations Cup in Brazil. I didn’t want their performance out there, however good or bad, to affect the views that had formed in my mind concerning how well they have fared so far in this pivotal month of June 2013.

When I wrote the article, “Beware, the Ides of June,” a few weeks back, my objective was to alert coach Stephen Keshi and his boys to the danger that lay in wait for Nigeria’s 2014 World Cup aspirations if they didn’t sit up, or if they took their opponents for granted. After Kenya came to Calabar in March and nearly created an upset against the freshly-crowned African Champions, I tipped the Eagles to win the return leg in Nairobi because of the obvious talent gap between the two sides, never mind the tough-talking  by the Kenyans. But as the game beckoned, I deliberately switched to a cautious mode so that our boys did not get carried away by their “superiority” and fail to take preparations seriously.

The Eagles have since beaten Kenya 1-0 in Nairobi to allay fears of Nigeria not reaching the final round of the African World Cup qualifiers. Before that, the Eagles played out a 2-2 draw in a preparatory match with Mexico in the USA. And, after the Kenya game, they have played another 1-1 draw with Namibia to consolidate their sole leadership of their World Cup qualifying section. These are the three games that constitute Nigeria’s first half-term report for June 2013. Our outing at the Confederations Cup will make up the second half-term report. A critical appraisal of the first half-term will lead us to set a proper expectation for the second half-term…

Mexico 2, Nigeria 2: The Super Eagles were completely outplayed in the opening stages of this game. The Mexicans played in the modern way with fast breaks and quick transitions from defence to attack. They could have been two or three goals up early on but for poor marksmanship on their part and good fortune on Nigeria’s side. When Manchester United’s Javier “Chicharito” Hernandez inevitably scored the opening goal for Mexico, Godfrey Oboabona and Kenneth Omeruo in our central defence were caught flat-footed.

 It wasn’t until Mexico was reduced to 10 men via a red card and Brown Ideye scored from the resultant penalty that the Eagles started getting a hold on the match. Even then, they seemed content with playing to the gallery and show-boating, attempting 25-yard passes when a three-yard pass to a teammate close by would have been more efficient. It was a thoroughly unprofessional ‘demonstration of skill’ by our so-called European-based professionals.

 Even though Nigeria scored a fortuitous, deflected goal to lead 2-1 at half-time, the fact that it was Mexico that finished the second half stronger even with 10 men confirmed which side was more focused. Not only did Chicharito get an equalizer when the Nigerian defence went to sleep again, the more purposeful North Americans came closer to getting the winner as well.

My verdict: The 2-2 result flattered the Eagles. They were not efficient.  They couldn’t create clear-cut chances with their numerical advantage. The major positive for Nigeria, though, was the new boy, John Ogu, whose left foot on the ball was a delight to watch. With proper handling, he could become the creative force with the passing skill and vision that has been lacking in Stephen Keshi’s Super Eagles. Kenya 0, Nigeria 1; Namibia 1, Nigeria 1: I am taking these two games together because Nigeria’s performances in both were identical. We confronted two teams with far less quality than us, we dominated both games for long periods, but we couldn’t kill off either team with an emphatic score line.

Ordinarily, four points out of six (one win, one draw) from two away games is impressive, especially as the Eagles have been poor travellers on the African continent for some time now. But had our main group rivals Malawi with whom we were tied on five points taken the full six points from their two home games against Namibia and Kenya, we wouldn’t be celebrating four points now. Malawi slipped to home draws and collected only two points, thereby helping Nigeria’s cause. I expect the Eagles to finally close out the group ticket when Malawi visit us in September. But what will happen in the final round of the African qualifiers when all 10 group winners are drawn against each other for the continent’s five World Cup tickets is open to conjecture.

While Nigeria was struggling to win 1-0 in Kenya and draw 1-1 in Namibia, some of our potential final round opponents were making their intent known with emphatic score lines also away from home. Cote d’Ivoire crushed Gambia 3-0 away; Ghana, playing with 10 men for long periods, beat Sudan 3-1 away; Egypt defeated Mozambique 4-2 on the road. The only high profile casualty was Cameroun that lost 2-0 to Togo. But we are all aware that the present Cameroun team are more of pussy-cats than Indomitable Lions.

For sure, Nigeria, as African champions, will be a different proposition for any other big nation, were we to meet in the final round. The Eagles proved this by the manner of their Nations Cup victory in South Africa last February. But the greater probability in two-leg affairs is that each big nation will win its home leg, thus leaving goal difference to decide which teams will go to Brazil 2014.

Clearly, Nigeria is having difficulty scoring goals compared with our rivals-in-waiting. In Nairobi, it took a ’fluke’ goal by the otherwise disappointing Ahmed Musa (he hardly made a good cross in 90 minutes!) to steal the win. In Windhoek, our strikers kept shooting blanks until Oboabona saved our blushes with a late free-kick equalizer. We may console ourselves with the injury-enforced absence of Emmanuel Emenike and Victor Moses and say that the Eagles goals ratio will improve  when these key players return to the team. But the problem goes deeper than that. Mikel Obi and Ogenyi Onazi are getting better and better playing the holding midfield roles. What the Eagles need now is an intelligent playmaker with the natural flair to consistently deliver clever passes to our strikers. And when the passes come, we need strikers with the focus and composure to consistently put the ball in the net.Will we see any signs of those improvements in the Super Eagles at the Confederations Cup, ahead of the final World Cup qualifiers? The second half of June 2013 will provide an answer.

> The Perfect Draw

NIGERIA couldn’t have asked for a better draw at the on-going Confederations Cup in Brazil. Playing in Group B, our first game is against Tahiti who are a lowly number 138th on the current FIFA monthly world rankings. The Oceania champions are the weakest team in the whole tournament, and the Eagles (ranked 31st) couldn’t have started with an easier opener. Thereafter, Nigeria will face a stronger opponent in Uruguay (ranked 19th) before squaring up against the strongest team in the group, Spain, who are ranked number one by FIFA.

What that sequence of matches could give the Eagles is a perfect chance to warm-up into the tournament and build confidence gradually. A win over Tahiti will put the team in a good frame of mind for the Uruguay game, knowing that a second win may secure a semi-final ticket even before the crunch game with power-houses Spain. The Eagles could then play the world champions in a very relaxed manner. Furthermore, Nigeria’s recent warm-up game with Mexico (2-2) should be a good preparation for the clash with Uruguay, while the experience of last year’s friendly with Barcelona-dominated Catalunya (1-1) should also come in handy when we face Spain. All these postulations, however, rest on a victorious start against Tahiti on Monday night. Otherwise, the so-called ‘perfect draw’ may end up in disappointment for the Super Eagles.

The Bonus Row

l“I THOUGHT we had put greedy agitations behind us for good and that the Eagles were now on the same page as us on this bonus issue. But with the FA saying it’s broke one moment and behaving contrary the next, can we really blame the boys?”

The foregoing was my comment on Twitter two weeks ago when ‘rumour’ first broke that the Super Eagles were agitating for their bonus from our “broke” Nigeria Football Federation (Broke indeed). The rumour was confirmed last week when the team refused to board the plane from South Africa to Brazil for the Confederations Cup until the outstanding bonuses were paid.

I shall reserve my comments on the matter until the players, coaches and NFF officials return home from the championship. But my preliminary comment is that, by refusing to travel on schedule thus arriving the tournament late; by ridiculing their own country and embarrassing millions of Nigerian football fans at home and abroad; by disregarding the fact that they were actually representing the whole of Africa at the Confederations Cup, the Super Eagles took their protest too far.

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An Encounter With Legends

IT is too late for me to write any lengthy update on the Kenya-Nigeria World Cup qualifier  in Nairobi because, by the time you read this, the match would either be only a few hours away or it would have been concluded.

(But, for the record, I wish to state that playing to the gallery like the Super Eagles  did against 10-man Mexico in a warm-up game last Friday in Houston, Texas is quite unprofessional. Rather than struggling in the end to come out with a 2-2 draw, Wthat was a match the Eagles should have won with their numerical advantage had they been more businesslike and focused. We’ll talk more about that another day).

Last week, I already expressed my “fears” about the Kenya match and I can only hope that the result proves that my fears were misplaced. If not, that’s trouble.

I received a brilliant response to that article on my blog from a certain  Ada Orile which I felt would be useful to the Super Eagles. Immediately, I forwarded it to the team’s media officer Ben Alaiya who assured me he would deliver it to coach Stephen Keshi and I believe he did. What more could I do after that but pray.

Rather than resort to blind speculation or cancel the column completely for this week, I have decided to run the conversation that I joined other journalists from around the world to have with two legends of Liverpool Football Club at the club’s Academy during my recent trip to Anfield.

Ian Rush (1980-1996: 660 games, 346 goals) is the highest goal scorer in Liverpool history, while John Barnes (1987-1997: 407 games, 108 goals) is one of the greatest wingers the club ever had. Rush is from Wales while Barnes is originally from Jamaica, although he naturalized to play for England. This introduction is for the benefit of younger readers many of whom (like my son, Abdulmueez) were not even born when these players turned Liverpool into the greatest football club in Europe.

DSTV’s SuperSport has made Barnes to be very well known by the young and old in Nigeria. But I still discovered from the hint that I dropped here last week that even many senior soccer fans who had watched Rush and Barnes in their glory days were eager to read about my encounter with them. So, here we go...

QUESTION: Firstly, the question we’re going to kick off today with, is for you, Ian. You scored 346 goals in 660 appearances for Liverpool, a record which will take some beating. How does it feel to hold that record? Do you think it will ever be broken ?

IAN   RUSH: No, I think anything records having to do with Liverpool Football Club makes you proud in itself. So, to be the record goal scorer, you know, makes you feel very proud.

For me, I think if you’re going to beat it, you have to stay loyal to a club and sometimes luck does not happen as much these days, as it did when I played. (Maybe it will be broken). But I don’t think  it will be broken in my lifetime anyway. I don’t think it will be broken in my lifetime and that’s a proud record to hold on to.

JOHN BARNES:  I’ll add to that, because Ian obviously is a bit too humble to say that there’s no possibility of it being broken. It’ll never be broken and (that is) not because Liverpool are not going to have great goal scorers but because, as Ian said, you’re not going to get a player staying at any club long enough to score that many goals. But that’s just a feature of modern football, it’s not just Liverpool. So, I think that Ian can safely say it will be there forever.

QUESTION: What was it like in the dressing room back when you were both playing in
the 80’s and 90’s?

BARNES: Well, it was strange because, obviously Ian came to Liverpool as a young boy but I came after playing for Watford for six years. Also, I came as an international player, and of course then coming to Liverpool, which at that particular time was the best club in Europe, definitely the best club in the country and one of the best clubs in Europe where all of the top players in England - because then you didn’t have a lot of foreign players coming in - wanted to come.

So, I came with Peter Beardsley, John Aldridge; Peter  was the record signing. So the best players in England were coming to Liverpool and it was strange because you come to an institution like Liverpool where you've  heard the stories about what a great club it was from Bill Shankley and you wondered what the secret was.

So it was a bit  nerve wracking because you expect some kind of indoctrination into the Liverpool way, because it was a closed secret as to why Liverpool were so good. But of course, when you came in, you saw that they just had great players with a great staff and they just made everybody feel so welcome. There was no secret ingredient and that was the most surprising thing. So we came in and they just said, these are the lads, go out and play with them and enjoy yourselves. So that was surprising but it was very, very
welcoming.

RUSH: I take it from there. I think the team spirit in the dressing room was it for me. I think that made the difference and you don’t realize it at the time but I think (the manager) Bob Paisley, Joe Fagan, Roy Evans, they just made you feel that you  weren’t special. Everyone was exactly the same and even great players in the world, Kenny Daglish and others, they were just made normal in the dressing room.

BARNES: Yeah! You see, Ian made a point there; I suppose it’s hard for you to understand. Just to explain what he said, when he said they made you to feel  like you weren’t special. You thought, well, how can you play if they make you feel like you are not special?

Well, they make you feel that you are part of a special team, part of a special club and the club and  team is more important than you are. That is what all players need to really keep that humility and the respect for the club and for the city and for the family that is Liverpool.

For me, Barcelona is the closest club to that now. Whereas now, everybody says that you have to make the players feel special. Well, when you make players feel more special than the club or their teammates, then that’s a recipe for disaster. I can tell you now that - I’m sure Ian feels the same - Ian was a superstar goalscorer. We never felt any more special than our team mates and not just the teammates, the other superstar teammates, Gary Abblett - not here anymore - or the substitutes. So we all felt the same, we weren’t separate in terms of the prestige that we felt and that was what’s special about football in Liverpool.

QUESTION: Ian, you mentioned the goal against Manchester United that got you the goal
scoring record. Is there any particular one goal that stands out, that gives you a
feeling of warmth?

RUSH: No, I don’t think. People always ask me that question and I think, no, not for me, because it is my job to score goals. If I scored one, then I'd want to score two, I am going to score three, I am going to score from twenty yards out or two yards out, they all have the same feeling. So, I would say I don’t have a special goal but I have a special game and the special game for me, would most probably be an odd one.

Yes, the 1986 FA Cup when we beat Everton 3-1, because we just won the league the week before and for me, Liverpool and Everton were the best two teams in Europe then, not just England. It was a great fight against them too. My dream came true that day because when I was a kid I dreamt about scoring the winning goal in the FA Cup final. It’s most probably the Champions League final for kids now. But in my time, it was the FA Cup final and my dream came true. You know, again we beat (our city rivals) Everton and I scored two, two in a Cup final. You know, we had done the double, so my special game would be that one in 1986 but there was no special goal.

QUESTION: John, do you have one goal that is more special than others?

BARNES: No, but I’ll tell you the goal I remember most. Ian mentioned Manchester United, and my biggest memory  is talking about what it means  to be a team player,  which is the most important thing. Ian scored his record-breaking goal in a game against Manchester United but he should have scored it earlier because I remember that I had scored two against Manchester United and I’d gone through (with the ball) and I should have passed for him to score and it would have been his first. It was a tight angle and I tried to score because I wanted a hat-trick. But really, I could have just passed it to him to score and he hadn’t scored yet. So I really regret that
because - you know - that wasn’t the right thing to do because I was being greedy and - you know, of course Ian - you won't let me forget it either.

RUSH: No!

BARNES: I think greedy bastard was some memory (All round laughter).

QUESTION: Did both of you have any rituals before a game? Did you both touch the pitch, Anfield sign, things like that?

RUSH: Well, I think, from my point of view, yes. Obviously everyone, most people touched the Anfield sign but for me, I think it was in 1984 and it was a very cold day. And my word! My boots were rock hard and I think it’s a bit different now, all the boots are really soft now. But in those days, the boots were rock hard. So I went and dipped my boots in water and we played the game, we beat Luton 6-0 and I scored five goals. So ever since then, every game since then I normally  wet my boots,  even when I play now I still wet my boots! I don’t score as many goals again, but I don’t mind.

BARNES: I don’t have any (ritual) because I think that  - how they start - superstition starts  when you are a young player at a club. You look at older players at a club and then what they do - and they have all these things that they do - and then you follow them, you copy them but I never ever did that. I would look at the older players and they would do something, because like Ian said, he did this and then he scored five goals but then he did it again and he didn’t score. What they do
is that they change them. Now superstition is really something that you do all the time but a lot of players, they say "I’ll have this superstition until  something happens, then I’ll change it."  For me, that does not make sense. You have to keep it all the way through. So I decided at a young age that I wouldn’t have any superstition, so I didn’t do anything at all, no.

QUESTION: What do you miss about playing football, John?

BARNES: Well, you know, you miss the camaraderie, you miss the team spirit, you miss being able to play football, being able to run around. So I suppose I did miss playing for the first, probably four years, because then you probably think, can I still play? Have I finished too soon? But then obviously after ten years, you  realize that, you know, you can’t play anymore. And I think that if I were still able to play and still young enough to be fit to play, even  not retired,  there’s no point thinking about it. I wouldn’t like to be out there but I don’t want to train. I
want to go out at night and drink and have a nice party and eat. Though I want to go and play on Saturday because it’s great, you know, if you’re not willing to put that work in or to keep fit to play, then there’s no point missing it. You know, so I very quickly got over it. I missed it for a couple of years but then afterwards I just moved on.

QUESTION:  What changes have you seen in the  game since you retired, Ian?
RUSH: Well, I  just think everything. The pitches are better now,  the balls are lighter, the boots are softer, certainly means the game is quicker. You know, I think people ask: could you play today?  You have to be a lot fitter. Yeah, but I think the pitches are perfect today and the balls are lighter, there’s a lot of foreign contingent coming into the game, you know,  the last ten/fifteen years. Players and managers and everything. When I was in Italy, they were doing it then and I think a lot of foreign elements have come in. You know, you talk about the tackling and everything, you know they can really tackle, it would be easier for us now - for strikers - to play, because another player can’t really touch you. So, I think that aspect of the game, has changed.  I feel the game is much more quicker. People ask me could so and so play in this era and I think great players like Stanley Matthews or anyone  can play in any era, because they would adapt themselves to that.

BARNES: (Interjects) And they are much more professional now. So in terms of the lifestyle the players lead, when people talk about playing in different eras, Ian asks could we play now, could we play now? We would be modern players, so, of course we would have lived the lifestyle that we have and the players in the fifties won't have. You know, you're not going to take a player from the fifties, Stanley Matthews in 50s and say could he play now? Bring Stanley Matthews from the 50s but he is still a 50s player although he may be 25 years. It is ridiculous. He will then have the same training regime, that they have now, the diets and all that kind of stuff.

So I think the professionalism for me, obviously the money is bigger; but the professionalism is  unchanged and I think the laws of the game have changed to make the game less attractive. I think the laws were fine before, you knew what offside was, you knew what a fair tackle was. Whereas now, you’re just booking players. So I don’t blame the players or the referees. I blame the laws being changed now to make the game less attractive.


Anwar-ul-Islam Champions Again!

LAST year, my alma-mater, Anwar-ul-Islam College, Agege (ACA), won the inaugural
GTBank Heritage Cup for first generation secondary schools in Lagos State by beating Kings College 1-0 in the final. Well, our boys have done it again this year, beating the same Kings College in the final, this time by a more emphatic score line: 3-1. If you are a Kings College old boy and you’re reading this, stand up for the champions! Na we be your husband.

In the run-up to the match last Friday at Onikan Stadium, Lagos I received an e-mail from Rahman Alarape, a former captain of our school football team in the late 1970s, rallying all old students (ACAOSA) to turn out en masse to motivate the present team.

I couldn’t make it to Onikan, but Complete Sports grassroots reporter Kayode Ogunbanwo was there to bring me the good news. I’m still ‘washing’ it.

I hope the sponsors, GT Bank, are already looking for money to replace the Heritage trophy because Anwar-ul-Islam are poised to win it for the third time and for keeps next year.

I say congratulations to the Principal, staff and students of my great old school. We are the champions! Up School!

*A quick clarification. I only did my ‘A’ level programme at Anwar-ul-Islam College between 1981 and 1983. My ‘O’ level alma-mater remains Iganmode Grammar School, Ota, Ogun State where I was between 1975 and 1980.

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Beware, The Ides of June

MIKE OKINYI is a Kenyan sports journalist with Citizen Television based in Nairobi, Kenya. Tall, dark, slender and with a ready smile and a good sense of humour, I met him last week in Liverpool at the 2nd Standard Chartered Bank Trophy Final international competition held at Anfield.

Mike was a member of the Kenyan delegation to the 5-A-Side tournament just like I was a member of the Nigerian group. Neither side did particularly well at the competition. (I will come to that later). But it was inevitable that the up coming 2014 World Cup qualifying game between our two countries would become a subject of debate between us.

Mike is confident that the Super Eagles will not escape defeat when they confront the Harambee Stars on June 5, 2013 in Nairobi. “Your boys were lucky to snatch that late equalizer in the first leg when we visited you (the match ended 1-1 in Calabar). But you won’t be second time lucky when you come to Nairobi. A famous defeat awaits you,” he boasted.

I was not really in the mood for an argument so I simply agreed with Mike that Nigeria were lucky in the first leg. But I warned him that the Super Eagles would be a dangerous proposition in the return. “If your boys get too ambitious because they are playing at home, they could be in for a big surprise from the African champions,” I said simply.

Whether the Eagles can spring that surprise on the Keyans and grab a win in this crucial game remains to be seen, however. Injuries to key players such as striker Emmanuel Emenike, and late withdrawals by the likes of Victor Moses and would-be returnee Kalu Uche have decimated coach Stephen Keshi’s original squad for the busy June fixtures when Nigeria will also face Namibia in another World Cup qualifier before proceeding to the Confederations Cup in Brazil.

Keshi has repeatedly assured us that he has capable replacements, but I have this sneaky feeling that a difficult task awaits Nigeria in Nairobi. And if we don’t get a decent result against Kenya, the next game seven days later against Namibia in Windhoek will assume even greater significance with the attendant pressures.

We have good reasons to worry because the Super Eagles have been bad travellers in recent times. Earlier during the on-going World Cup qualifiers, they could only manage a 1-1 draw against Malawi in Blantyre.  All sorts of excuses including bad pitches and difficult weather conditions are given for poor performances against moderate away opposition. None of those excuses will be tenable if Nigeria drop points in Nairobi or Windhoek. In fact, if Malawi (who are joint-top of the table with Nigeria on five points) pick more points than us from the two match-days immediately ahead, that would leave us trailing in the group table before the final fixtures. Such a scenario must be avoided at all costs.

This Friday in Houston, United States, the Eagles will face CONCACAF powerhouses Mexico in a warm-up tie that should give Keshi a good opportunity to properly assess his other options in the absence of several key players. One of the major benefits of winning the African Cup of Nations last February should have been that we had an established first team that can play with greater understanding and cohesion. But that benefit appears to have been lost wittingly or unwittingly. Suddenly, we have found ourselves trying out new players again in new positions, and seemingly “rebuilding” the team all over again. It’s a big set-back indeed.

As things stand, we can only hope that Keshi is clear-headed enough about what he plans to do in Nairobi, and that the players he eventually chooses give their best, no matter the obstacles that come their way. And there will be obstacles!

If the Eagles allow Mike Okinyi and his Keyans compatriots to have the last laugh over Nigeria in this tie following the “Twitter War” and name-calling that ensued between both sets of fans over the first leg, the team’s confidence ahead of the Namibia game and even the Confederations Cup that follows may not only be adversely affected, Nigeria’s 2014 World Cup ticket may also be in jeopardy.

I say good luck, Super Eagles. But, to adapt the historic warning of the seer to Julius Caesar, I also say Beware, The Ides of June.

History Favours Nigeria

DESPITE my “sneaky feelings” and warning to the Super Eagles to expect a difficult task against Kenya, it must be noted that history favours Nigeria to get a “good result” in Nairobi.

En route to the 2010 World Cup finals in South Africa, Nigeria needed to beat Kenya in Nairobi in order to supplant Tunisia as group winner. The Eagles duly delivered with  Obafemi Martins and Yakubu Aiyegbeni grabbing the goals in a 3-2 win.

You could argue that Kenya probably didn’t put up much of a fight in that encounter because they hadn’t much at stake. But even when they had a lot at stake en route to the football event of the 1996 Olympics Games, they still couldn’t stop Nigeria.

Following a 1-1 draw in the first leg in Lagos, Kenya thought they had done the difficult part of the job and their fans trooped out en masse  at Kasarani Stadiumexpecting a famous victory over Nigeria’s Under-23 team. But they got the shock of their lives when Nwankwo Kanu, Austin Okocha and co. romped to an emphatic 3-0 win.

Nigeria would later go on to win the gold medal at the Atlanta Olympics.

Can Keshi’s Eagles repeat the feat by the 1996 Dream Team?

The Crash At Anfield

FIVE games, five losses. That was the score card of the Nigerian team to the Standard Chartered Trophy international 5-A-Side competition last week in Anfield.

Playing in Group B, we lost 1-0 to Thailand, 3-2 to India, 2-0 to Dubai, 1-0 to Singapore and 2-0 to Korea. Considering our high expectations before the tournament, the results were a big disappointment indeed.
Since I came back from England, the commonest question friends have asked me is:

“What went wrong?” Nothing went wrong, really. We just lost to teams that were better than us. “Even India?” Even India!

Now, let me put things in perspective. The 10 teams at the Finals were permitted to recruit their teams from amongst Standard Chartered Bank staff, customers and other stakeholders in their respective countries.

Nigeria opted to field an entirely bank staff team and we stood by that decision even when we later realized that most other teams included “semi-professional customers” who had lots of experience playing Futsal (5-A-Side) football. The Standard Chartered Nigerian team reached the final of the 2012 Bankers League before losing to Skye Bank so they are not a bad side. But they couldn’t adapt well enough to 5-A-Side football against teams that were more adept at it.

Could I have made any difference with my “excellent” skills which helped Complete Sports win the Lagos SWAN Cup? The answer is a definite NO! To be honest, I was relieved not to be playing because I couldn’t have coped. Instead, Sola Aiyepeku (COD United) and I devoted our energy to running match commentary for the competition which drew commendation from the organizers.

Last week, I wrote here about my other personal experiences at  Anfield. But I forgot to mention that we also paid a visit to the Liverpool Football Academy where all the participating teams were trained by Liverpool technical staff while club legends Ian Rush and John Barnes shared their career experiences with us journalists. For instance, did you know that the former Italian captain Franco Baresi was Rush’s most difficult opponent? Did you also know that John Barnes has seven children? More about them later.

Back to the Standard Chartered Trophy Tour. Kenya, playing in Group A, managed to win one game, beating Malaysia 1-0. But they lost their other games 2-1 to Hong Kong, 4-0 to Bahrain, 1-0 to Indonesia and 5-0 to United Kingdom. After the loss to the UK, I asked Mike Okinyi to tell me how many letters there were in the name, “Kenya.” He said he didn’t know how to count!

Champions Bayern!

BAYERN Munich lived up to the form books last Saturday by beating their domestic rivals Borrussia Dortmund 2-1 in the European Champions League Final at Wembley.

Dortmund made a contest of it by dominating the opening exchanges, but as the game wore on, Bayern turned the screw and made their superior quality count eventually.

Dutchman Arjen Robben was the match hero, creating Bayern’s first goal and scoring the winner dramatically in the 89th minute.

Before the game, I requested for predictions from Soccertalk readers. Forty-two people got the 2-1 scoreline correctly. But as I have only 12 books to give away, I asked Complete Sports accountant, Soji Ogunbekun (left), to help pick the winners by

ballot. Here are the lucky Octopuses...

lMe, Football & More by Segun Odegbami
1. ADELEKE (AGEGE)          08139008XXX
2. ADESOPE Y.A. ( OYO STATE)       08058061XXX
lRashidi Yekini: Life and Times of Nigeria’s Goal King by Jubril Mohammed Olanrewaju
1. TINUBU SUNDAY (ADO EKITI)    08035791XXX
2. CHIMA JUSTICE            08028699XXX
3. SONLDR S. LAWAL        08053164XXX
4. ADEGBOYEGA (IBADAN)        08050591XXX
5. NURUDEEN ADESIYAN        08050686XXX
6.MOSES (BARIGA)            08034109XXX
7. TOKUNBO (IGBETI)        08065516XXX
8. OAIHIMIRE IRABOR (BENIN)      08035131XXX
9. OLUSUNMADE ADEBISI (ABUJA)    08029004XXX
10. DANIEL ACHAMAJA (EGBEDA)    08052263XXX
lWinners will be contacted on how they will collect their books.

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Welcome to Anfield

This is Anfield," the boisterous Liverpool stadium tour guide announced to us, pointing at and reading from the famous sign board in the small and narrow tunnel that leads on to the pitch of the equally famous Liverpool Football Club stadium.

"This is the legendary sign that tells you that you are about to enter the most hallowed football pitch in the world," he went on proudly. "All the great players that have played in this stadium have touched it. Kevin Keegan has touched it, Kenny Dalglish has touched it, Ian Rush has touched it, Steven Gerrad has touched it, David Beckham has touched it, Cristiano Ronaldo has touched it, Luiz Suarez has touched it. Just think of all the great players that have  played in this stadium and they have all touched this sign. Probably the only player that has not touched it is Peter Crouch. He kissed it!"

That moment for me was the highlight of the Liverpool stadium tour that we undertook on Monday, May 20, 2013. By "we", I am referring to the 10 football teams from around the world that converged in Liverpool to participate in the 2nd Standard Chartered Bank Trophy Final tournament, tagged "Road to Anfield." The stadium tour was part of a very busy four-day itinerary culminating in the 5-A-Side football competition that was played on the "hallowed" Anfield pitch.

I had been looking forward to touching the "This is Anfield" board myself and I was not going to miss the opportunity. Since I started following Liverpool in 1977, I had always been fascinated by the imaginary sound of those three words each time I saw them in the Shoot and Match football magazines of those days, and later on television when I started watching the Reds. I thought the message was simple but audacious: "This is Anfield." I loved it and still do.

The stadium tour took us to the home players' dressing rooms and we sat on the red benches that the likes of Rush, Gerrard,  Graeme Souness, John Barnes, and other Liverpool greats would have sat while listening to pre-match or half-time team talk. We also visited the away team's dressing room and sat on red benches that our own Austin Okocha, Daniel Amokachi and Joseph Yobo must have sat while visiting to play against Liverpool.

From the dressing rooms, we went through the narrow tunnel and into the stadium where we again sat in the teams' dug-out from where the likes of former Liverpool managers Bill Shankly, Bob Paisely, Kenny Dalglish and Rafael Benitez shouted instructions to their players to win the tons of trophies the club has won.

One remarkable thing about the Liverpool dug-out is that it is just one dug-out for both the home and away teams! Both sets of seats are only separated by a narrow passage and either manager could hear his rival plan strategies with their assistants if he paid attention. As we sat there, I could imagine Sir Alex Ferguson eavesdropping on Benitez and current Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers! No wonder Manchester United has succeeded in knocking us off our perch, as Ferguson put it.

The old fashioned Anfield  dug-out is the best illustration of the stadium's out-datedness, if you ask me.

Originally built in 1884, the Liverpool stadium cannot compare with many modern stadia around the world that I have visited. In fact, the stadium is no longer good enough for a club of Liverpool's stature and pedigree and I was quite disappointed by the overall look and feel. If the Liverpool hierarchy are reading this, it is a loud protest by a loyal fan not happy with the state that he found the home base of his beloved club!

Our tour guide was frank enough to admit that the 42,000-plus capacity stadium was no longer adequate for a big club with a huge fan base like Liverpool, which corroborated my feelings. "Many of the seats in this stadium are old and made from wood and they are quite uncomfortable to sit on," he said.

Obviously, the club owners and the management hierarchy seem to realize that Anfield is no longer befitting of the club and the talk of building a new stadium has been on for some time. Liverpool managing director Ian Ayre told me at a press conference earlier about the challenges the club was facing finding land to build a new stadium. At the moment, the northern part of Liverpool where Anfield (as well as Goodison Park, home ground of Everton FC) is situated is considered as the most run-down part of the city. Compared with the rest of the city, you would think you were in an abandoned territory.

The condition of Anfield and its surroundings have not dampened the spirits of the club supporters, however. On Sunday when we went to watch the last English Premier League match of the season between Liverpool and Queens Park Rangers, the stadium was packed to the rafters and the fans on the "wooden uncomfortable seats" didn't seem to care. Not surprising, as Liverpool have always been known to have some of the most loyal supporters in the world.

As the players filed on to the pitch through the narrow tunnel (after most of them would have touched the "This is Anfield" sign, I guess), the fans exploded with the rendition of the club's famous anthem, 'You'll Never Walk Alone'. As usual, the singing was led from The Kop end of the stands which is the shrine of the Liverpool Supporters Club. As the rest of the stadium joined in the singing, you could feel the ground shake below your feet.

Many players, home and away players alike, have confessed that the passionate manner the Kop sings is something special. Arsenal legend Thierry Henry is quoted in The Anfield Songbook as saying: " Liverpool's fans are just amazing. The best feeling I have at away games is Anfield. It is just incredible. I love it. You get goose bumps when you see their supporters sing You'll Never Walk Alone."

Last Sunday, I experienced the feeling myself for the first time. I got goose bumps like Henry.

Besides, it was a special occasion last Sunday as Liverpool's long-serving defender Jamie Carrager was playing his last match for the club. Players from the two teams formed a guard of honour for him and he entered the pitch with his two young kids, a boy and a girl. Liverpool went on to beat Rangers 1-0 and Jamie nearly signed off in the best possible way when the fired a 30-yard thunderbolt which came off the crossbar in front of the Kop. Each time he touched the ball, he was greeted with applause. And when Brendan Rodgers pulled him off with five minutes remaining, the standing ovation lasted several minutes.

One other player that received a loud applause was our controversial but immensely talented striker Luiz Suarez. He is still serving a 10-match ban for biting Chelsea's Braslinav Ivanovic, but when Liverpool fans saw Suarez in the crowd, the whole stadium started singing his praises: "There's only one Suarez, there's only one Suarez." I thought to myself: 'What? In spite of all that this guy has done? Always getting into trouble and bringing the club into disrepute?" Apparently, The Kop don't care. Suarez might well have bitten off and swallowed Ivanonic's ear! All they care about are the goals that the talented Uruguayan is scoring for Liverpool.

With the kind of adulation and affection that Liverpool fans shower on their players which I witnessed last Sunday, I wonder how some players still manage to summon the courage to leave such a club. And now that we are talking about it, I understand fully why our captain Steven  Gerrard couldn't leave a few years ago even when he was desperate for a Premier League title; why goalkeeper Pepe Reina is still around despite years of his speculated departure; and why Carragher played his entire career at Anfield. The supporters practically worship the Liverpool players.

I spoke to Brendan Rodgers and he is confident that Liverpool will keep all its top players ahead of next season as well. "Our plan is to build this team, (and) make it more competitive, so we can't be selling our top players.

We have made some progress this year because our points total and goals ratio have improved on the last four seasons. Our target next year is to finish in the top four of the Premier League and qualify for the European Champions League."

It is 23 years now since Liverpool won the League title. In fact, we are yet to win the Premier League at all since it was introduced in 1992. During that time, we have watched helplessly as Manchester United reined us in and overtook us in the overall log table of top flight titles won. Even our little neighbours Everton have been rubbing salt in our wound by finishing ahead of us in the league in the last two seasons.

Brendan Rodgers has just completed his first year in charge as manager and I like the playing style that he has introduced. With a bit more bite and aggression against the big teams; and consistency against the so-called smaller teams, I believe Liverpool will soon be contesting for honours again and not living on the past glories of Shankly, Paisely, Dalglish and Benitez's Istanbul!

And with such fiercely loyal supporters such as The Kop ever behind the club, the glory days are bound to return. I look forward to returning to Anfield soon, while hoping that the club directors find the land, and the money, to build a brand new stadium befitting of the great Liverpool Football Club. When that time comes, perhaps the only thing I would miss from the present stadium is the legend: "This is Anfield.”

You’ll Never Walk Alone
When you walk through a storm
Hold your head up high
And don’t be afraid of the dark
At the end of the storm
There’s a golden sky
And the sweet silver song of a lark
Walk on through the wind
Walk on through the rain
Though your dreams be tossed and blown
Walk on, walk on
With hope in your heart
And you’ll never walk alone
You’ll never walk alone
Walk on, walk on
With hope in your heart
And you’ll never walk alone
You’ll ne-ever walk alone
 The Liverpool FC anthem in full
UEFA Champions League Final
Predict and Win Odegbami and Yekini’s books

PENULTIMATE Wednesday, I asked readers of this column to predict the score of the UEFA Champions League Final between Bayern Munich and Borrusia Dortmund coming up this weekend. Already, several entries have come and are still coming in - you can still be part of the fun. As I promised, TWO copies of Segun Odegami’s latest book as well as 10 copies of Jibril’s book on Rashidi Yekini will be given to 12 readers with correct predictions. But if there are more than 12 correct entries, there will be a lucky draw.

Please note, however, that entries close by midnight on Friday, May 24, 2013.

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-Return of Globacom

IT IS European football that is dominating the headlines at the moment as the major countries on that continent crown their league champions for the 2012/2013 football season, or are about to do so.

Penultimate weekend, Ajax Amsterdam won their third straight Eredevise title in Holland, Juventus won their second straight Serie A title in Italy while Bayern Munich collected the Bundesliga Shield which they effectively won nearly two months earlier.

Last weekend, it was the turn of Paris Saint Germain (PSG) to finally secure their first French Ligue 1 title since 1994; Barcelona reclaimed the Spanish La Liga from fierce rivals Real Madrid, while Manchester United collected their 13th English Premier League trophy under their departing manager, Sir Alex Ferguson.

In the midst of all the title celebrations, though, what captured the biggest headlines was Ferguson’s announcement last week that he was stepping down as United manager after a record 26 years in the saddle during which he won a remarkable 38 trophies.

The news was so big that even Cable News Network (CNN) and other major international news networks broke their regular programme schedule to do live coverage, special features and analysis on what has been an enigmatic managerial career.

The following day, newspapers around the world joined in paying glowing tributes to a man who is clearly the greatest football club manager of his era. Those tributes are already well documented and all I want to say here, borrowing the words of a SkySports journalist that interviewed Ferguson after his last home match at Old Trafford (a 2-1 win over Swansea City last Sunday) is: “Sir Alex, well done.”

European football may be grabbing the headlines but, for me, the best football news was actually breaking back here at home. Last week, telecoms giants Globacom officially confirmed their return as sponsors of the Nigeria Premier League (or Nigeria Professional Football League) by signing a three-year contract worth nearly N2 billion. After collecting the sponsorship cheque from Globacom, the League Management Committee (LMC) headed by Nduka Irabor proceeded to resolve their differences with the “Club Owners” on how the league will be run. And just before that, Super Eagles coach Stephen Keshi arrived from his holiday in America and doused the controversy surrounding his relationship with the Nigeria Football Federation by tendering an apology for allegedly going AWOL. These for me were the best news of the past week, especially the return of Globacom.

Personally, I have been quite saddened by the fact that an acclaimed football-loving country like Nigeria, despite the multi-billion naira corporations that abound,  did not have an official title sponsor for our football league. On the surface, the legal tussle of the past two years or so between Globacom and Total Promotions representing MTN was the cause of the sponsorship logjam. But there were strong political undertones and sloppy handling by the managers of the league at the time as well.

A situation where a sponsor, intending sponsor and/or their agents would become so powerful that they could manipulate the league according to their whims should not have been allowed to happen in the first place. Nigerian football is replete with cases where the property agent is more powerful than the property owner in determining what happens to the property. Often times, the agent even benefits more than the owner from what accrues on the property. Some people should actually be in jail now for the kind of slavish contracts they had signed in the past either ignorantly or fraudulently on behalf of Nigerian football both at the federation and in the league.

I have not seen a copy of the new Globacom contract but I hope it does not include the types of clauses that have held the league hostage in the past at expiration, thus resulting in protracted legal tussles. Globacom deserve great commendation for their huge investment in Nigerian football since the company’s inception.

But our league sponsorship contracts should be drawn in such a manner that the league retains full control of the property, and can realize reasonable market value for it either from a sitting sponsor exercising a right of first refusal, or from a completely new sponsor without one being able to block the other by judicial or extra-judicial means.

Past managers of the league failed miserably in achieving a seamless continuation or transition of sponsorships either because they compromised themselves or they were simply ignorant. I hope that the LMC have ensured that we won’t have a repeat of that scenario at the expiration of the new Globacom contract.

It is worthy of mention that Total Promotions Limited who had a subsisting contract to market the league sponsorship rights which they subsequently executed in favour of MTN graciously accepted to concede that right to Globacom for a compensation fee, after their client MTN, also dropped its court case. Had MTN and Total Promotions not conceded, the legal tussle would have continued and the  league would have remained without a sponsor even now.

The recent confrontation was the second time that the league sponsorship would be enmeshed in a tussle between Globacom and MTN. I remember being in the thick of things in Abuja and writing a series of articles - Globa-Come, Globa-Go; Globa-Quit and Globa-Comeback - during the first crisis in 2003. MTN eventually backed down unhappily, but even Globacom did not enjoy a happy tenure as league sponsor.

It is only a sign of the irresistible drawing power of football that both companies returned again to tussle for the same property several years later.  

The big lesson in all of these is for the LMC and whoever will succeed them to be very vigilant before entering into  any contract on behalf of the league in the future. And after the contract is signed, they must adhere religiously to all its provisions in case matters end up again in court!

The title sponsorship has been resolved for now, but there is still the problem with the television rights which should be fetching the league a healthy sum but is reportedly benefitting some private pockets more than the league itself. If the LMC can resolve that as well in favour of the league, that would be another great achievement.

Back to Globacom and the title sponsorship, it’s time for Chief Mike Adenuga and his men to raise the stakes even higher. As much as the company’s consistency in supporting Nigerian football is appreciated, critics continue to insist that Globacom can do more in the area of creative activation of its football properties. The major challenge facing the domestic league is how to draw the fans back to the stadium in the face of the very fierce competition from European football that is broadcast almost daily now on television. Globacom should take the lead in confronting this seemingly insurmountable challenge and it will find those of us in the sports media  willing and ready partners.

If Nollywood which also enjoys generous support from Globacom can domesticate the entertainment consumption pattern of Nigerians so significantly as it has done, surely the football league can also win back the followership of the football-mad populace if the right incentives are introduced. It will be difficult, but certainly not impossible with strategic planning and committed execution.

Advice to “Club Owners”

I HAVE read the communique released at the end of the reconciliation meeting brokered by minister of sports Bolaji Abdullahi and the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) between the League Management Committee (LMC) and the “Clubs Owners” Association.

Essentially, the “Club Owners” want to ensure that the LMC did not usurp their own powers or steal the League itself from under their noses through a “suspicious” incorporation of the League Management Company.

To demonstrate the genuineness of its intentions, the LMC has agreed to “amend the Memorandum and the Articles of the Association” of the League Management Company Limited to allay the fears of the club representatives. That is a significant victory for the “Club Owners.”

However, I have some pieces of advice for the “Club Owners” which I hope they will consider going forward...

1. Do not kill the LMC: The League Management Company Limited is a child of circumstance born effectively “out of wedlock.” But rather than kill it, I will admonish the clubsides to be open-minded about its benefits and nurture it instead. From my assessment, the LMC have some brilliant minds who can help us to develop a masterplan for a commercially successful league and it is in our collective interest to give them a chance once the issue of “ownership of the league company” has been resolved. If an individual or the entire LMC fails to perform effectively, the club managers acting as a Board of Directors of the League may resolve to replace them. But the vision behind the League Company must not be allowed to die. It promises to be revolutionary.

2. Do not re-inaugurate an Executive League Board: The next Board of the NPFL should not operate on an executive basis. The board should only sit periodically to approve policies, budget, revenue sharing and other key decisions and leave day-to-day running of the league to the LMC. At the end of the LMC’s specified tenure, the board should review their performance and decide whether to retain the current LMC members or appoint new ones including a Chief Executive. LMC staff constituted by neutral members not affliated to any clubside is the best for the league as it will ensure fairness, equity and professionalism in the management of the league.

3. Do not allow the LMC to fix its own emoluments: Even ahead of the election to the new league board, the “Club Owners” should immediately assume the powers to fix the salaries and allowances of the LMC members. When the new board comes on stream, it should then take over the role in full in order to check mismanagement or embezzlement of funds by the LMC staff who are effectively employees of the League.

Meanwhile, members of the Nduka Irabor-led LMC should avoid appropriating to themselves excessive comforts at the expense of the league. If they allow that to happen, they would have mortgaged their credibility. Any how, that is why I am suggesting that the club owners should fix their emoluments.

Salaries and allowances should be comparable to similar organizations in Nigeria, but bonuses should be generous to encourage performance. For instance, if the LMC acquire new sponsorships for the League, the League Board may give a percentage of the revenue to the staff as performance bonus.

I’m Off to Liverpool

I will be traveling to Liverpool this weekend to participate in a 5-A-Side international football competition organized by Standard Chartered Bank running from May 18th to 22nd, 2013. Ten countries will be taking part and I am a member of the Nigerian Standard Chartered team.

The other countries and territories are United Kingdom, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, India, Kenya, Bahrain, Thailand, Korea and MENAP.

I asked the organizers why I had been selected and was told that the major criterion was my being a loyal fan of Liverpool for nearly 30 years now. But I guess they also considered the “TV Goal” (that goal must not be forgotten!) that I scored to inspire Complete Sports to the Lagos SWAN Cup title last year.

Just last week, I wrote here how I was addressed as an “ex-international” at Segun Odegbami’s book launching. Now, it appears that I am going “international” for real.

Be on the look-out for my first-hand reports from Anfield, courtesy of Standard Chartered Bank Nigeria.

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“Grammatical” Segun Odegbami, MON

MY JURY is out on whether former Green Eagles (now Super Eagles) captain Chief Segun Odegbami was a better footballer than he is a writer. When a young journalist asked for my comment on Odegbami’s latest book presentation last week at the Anchor Event Place in Ikeja, Lagos, that was my reaction. “I am beginning to conclude that Chief Odegbami is a better writer than he was a footballer,” I said to the journalist.

On the surface, of course that is a wild, even reckless proposition to be dismissed with a wave of the hand, isn’t it? But hey, wait a minute and reflect on it. My proposition is certainly not a baseless proposition. And the latest evidence is “Me, Football and More,” the title of Odegbami’s latest work.

Being a “Selection of the Media Writings of Mathematical Segun Odegbami, MON,” the book is not totally “new” in the sense that the contents have been published before by the writer in the various publications that he has written for since he started out at Sunday Tribune in 1979. But when you have some of the articles put together in one collection and you can read them one after the other like a novel, you start appreciating better the consistency and depth of the writer’s literary skills.

I was privileged to read through the manuscript of the book and that was the kind of impact it had on me. That is what informed my proposition that Odegbami might well be a better writer than he was a footballer. Now that the work is published, I am sure that the impact on a reader will be even greater than what I experienced.

Book reviewer, Mr. Segun Adeniyi, Chairman, Editorial Board of ThisDay newspapers, admitted as much during his erudite presentation. He didn’t realize earlier that the “book” was “just a collection of old articles,” to paraphrase his initial disappointment, somewhat. But by the time he settled down to reviewing it, he became completely enraptured. His only regret now is that the book did not include some other Odegbami Classics that he had read previously.

Adeniyi described Odegbami as a “Storyteller.” It is a very apt description. The “Me and Football” articles in the book may be taken for granted because we are all familiar with the author and his football exploits and analytical prowess are well documented. It is the “More” articles in the book that however demonstrates his writing skills the best, and shows him up as a consummate and talented storyteller. The “More” articles transport you into Odegbami’s world, and paint you vivid pictures of his life encounters in excellent prose. Had writing, rather than football, been Odegbami’s first calling, he would certainly have become a very famous novelist.

We would never know whether Segun Odegbami would have won an African Nations Literary Cup for Nigeria in 1980 or led a Writing Club (Writing Stars?) to dominate the Nigerian domestic literary scene.

We also would never know whether he would have followed in the footsteps of the great Chinua Achebe and Wole Soyinka, and brought global recognition for Nigerian literature. What we do know, however, is that, with four books now on the shelves, Segun Odegbami is Nigeria’s most prolific footballer-writer ever. What we do know is that as a trained mechanical engineer and former captain of the national football team, Odegbami is the quintessential illustration of the scholar-footballer and perfect model for Football And Education campaigners of which he himself is one in words and in deeds.

Many years ago in the late 1970s, the late football commentator, Earnest Okonkwo, gave Odegbami the nickname “Mathematical” in recognition of the player’s dexterity on the right wing, his calculative dribbles, complicated leg shuffles and step-overs, lightening speed, tape-measured crosses and breath-taking goals. While making his opening speech last week, chairman of the book launching, the venerable wordsmith, Mr. Gamaliel Onosode, described the author as the “Grammatical Segun Odegbami” in praise of his profound literary skills.

Last weekend, Odegbami himself said in an interview with Sunday Punch that he could no longer kick the ball because his knees have grown weak. The “Mathematical Odegbami” may have been forced into retirement, but the “Grammatical Odegbami” is just starting!

More ink to your pen, Big Sheg.

Me, An Ex-International?

I WAS confused when the master of ceremony at Odegbami’s book launching, Mr. Soni Irabor, called me to the podium alongside some former Nigerian internationals. As I walked up, Peter Rufai, Henry Nwosu, Clement Temile, Sam Okpodu and Idowu Otubusin were already standing there. The next second, the paparazzi started showering us with their flashlights. It was my moment in the sun. Ex-international Mumini Alao?

I was still in wonderland when Rufai reminded me of the “Television Goal” that I scored for Complete Sports against Brila FM during last year’s Lagos SWAN Cup. Rufai was in the crowd on that day and since then, has called me by the nickname “Skilful.” To be honest, I didn’t realize that I had become an “ex-international” by virtue of the goal. Now, I know.

Yekini’s Anniversary

IT WAS a year last week since former Super Eagles “Goalsfather” Rashidi Yekini passed on. How time flies.
A couple of weeks back, I received a telephone call from Yekini’s lawyer, Mohammed Jibril, inviting me to the first post-humous lecture and book presentation in Yekini’s memory in Ibadan. But I couldn’t attend the event last week because it clashed with Odegbami’s book presentation in Lagos.

Yekini’s former teammate Samson Siasia’s disappointment at the poor turn-out in Ibadan has been widely reported in the media. I spoke to Jibril after the Ibadan programme and he expressed a similar sentiment. But he admitted that the clash with Odegbami’s event played a part in the low turn-out.

The “good news” according to Jibril, however, is that the Yekini programme went very well, nevertheless. A muslim prayer was held at Yekini’s house for the continued repose of his soul; the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) bought 20 copies of the book on Yekini written by Jibril for N1million, and a post-humous testimonial game played last Friday attracted many of Yekini’s former teammates and friends.
Jibril says that the money realised from the book presentation will go to cover the costs of production, support Yekini’s family as well as fund a Rashidi Yekini Foundation which aims to continue Yekini’s lifetime legacy of helping the needy in society.  The Yekini Foundation plans to sponsor an annual trophy for the highest goalscorer in the Nigerian league and organize an annual grassroots soccer tournament in Yekini’s name.

These are lofty programmes to make Yekini indelible in our memories. As a personal friend of Yekini, I have assured Jibril of my full support provided the Yekini Foundation is properly set up and is accountable. If all goes well, Nigerian soccer fans who also loved Yekini shall soon be invited to contribute their widow’s mite to the Foundation.

In the meantime, let us continue to remember “Ye-King” in our prayers for bringing us so much joy with his goals. May his generous soul (a truism, NOT a cliche) continue to rest in peace, amen.

Win Odegbami & Yekini’s Books

I AM giving away two copies of Segun Odegbami’s latest book as well as 10 copies of Jibril’s book on Rashidi Yekini to a dozen readers of this column.

To grab one of the prizes, just predict the score of the UEFA Champions League Final between Bayern Munich and Borrusia Dortmund to be played at Wembley on May 25th, 2013.

Send your entries to my platforms via sms text message, e-mail or on my blog. If there are more than 12 correct entries, there will be a lucky draw.

Messi-Lona!

I DON’T KNOW how Lionel Messi’s Barcelona teammates are feeling at the moment. But if I was in their shoes, I would be thoroughly embarrassed.

During the past three weeks or so, the great FC Barcelona that have delighted us so much for four years have been brutally exposed as a one-man team; that is Messi and the others. Spanish internationals Xavi Hernandez and Andres Iniesta in particular are extremely gifted players in their own right. But it now appears that their midfield magic is worthless to Barcelona without Messi on the field.

In two successive league matches against Athletic Bilbao and Real Betis, it took the introduction of a half-fit Messi to turn the tide in Barca’s favour and keep their La Liga title dreams on course. And in the European Champions League, it was a half-fit Messi that inspired the quarter-final aggregate win over Paris St. Germain before Bayern Munich finally routed them 7-0 over two legs in the semis when Messi couldn’t come to his team’s rescue.

Apart from the embarrassment to his colleagues, I guess what the Barcelona meltdown has reaffirmed is Messi’s unique talent. In fairness to Xavi, Iniesta and company, they have always said in media interviews how special Messi is to them and the club. But if we thought they were just being modest, the events of the last three weeks have confirmed that they were merely stating the fact.

Indeed, Barcelona couldn’t have achieved so much in recent years without Lionel Messi. That is why he is currently the best player in the world and probably the best ever.

My Final Prediction

PRIOR to the Champions League semi-finals, I predicted that Bayern would defeat Barcelona while Real Madrid would beat Borussia Dortmund. Apparently, I scored one out of two predictions which is an improvement on last year when I scored zero out of two.

As we count down to Wembley for a German Classico Final on May 25, my money is on Bayern to win the trophy that they lost agonizingly to Chelsea in Munich last year. If anyone can upset the Bavarians, it has to be Dortmund because domestic rivalry has a peculiar way of boiling over with surprises. But I will stick to Bayern to triumph anyway.

What do you think, dear readers? Remember, there are books to be won for making the right calls.

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League Reforms: A Question of Trust

Last week in this column, I gave my “support in principle” to the reforms being carried out by the League Management Committee (LMC) headed by Nduka Irabor. I also encouraged the sports minister, Bolaji Abdullahi, to do whatever it took to ensure that the League clubs and their managers fell in line and do not succeed in derailing the reforms.

Since then, I have been challenged by some interested parties. They wonder why I am encouraging the LMC to “trample on the rights” of the club managers who are legitimate representatives of their owner-state governments and so can rightly claim to be “club owners” even if by proxy. My challengers suggest that I belittled the club managers  as common thieves feeding fat on the clubsides whereas many of them are men of means and accomplished professionals in various fields of endeavour. My challengers suggest that I am treating Irabor and Abdullahi with kid gloves probably because they are both from my constituency (journalism), whereas they may not be the “saints” that they “pretend” to be ! The verdict of my challengers is that no matter how laudable the intentions of the LMC reforms, the clubsides are still the beneficial “owners” of the league and nothing should be done on their behalf without their consent since they are no minors. Strong arguments. Following are the replies I gave my challengers...

One, it’s true that the club managers are legitimate representatives of the owner-state governments. But because the state governments have neglected to supervise the club managers properly to the detriment of the league, the reforms being introduced by the LMC will partly solve that problem. The clubsides will be forced to clean up their acts because they now have to meet standards set by the LMC at the centre especially in terms of accountability and players welfare. Clubs that fail to meet those standards will ultimately be exposed and their state government will have no option than to ask questions from the club managers. The era of club managers treating the clubs like their personal fiefdom will come to an end.

Two, I did not belittle the club managers by exposing some of the corruption that goes on in the clubsides. I only stated a few facts that everyone in the league is familiar with. Just recently, it was reported how a player’s transfer fee was paid into the personal account of a club manager. Didn’t the clubside have a bank account where such fees should have been paid? I agree that some of the club managers are accomplished professionals and respectable people. But the truth is that most of them are parasitic dictators in their clubs and they continue to appropriate to themselves huge club resources while their players suffer in penury. This “monkey-dey-work-banboon-dey-chop” scenario must stop. The LMC will see to that.

Three, I take the criticism that I trust Irabor and Abdullahi probably too much in good faith. But it’s not because they are journalists. There are some journalists within our sports management set-up today whose integrity I will not vouch for even for One Billion Naira. And there are many non-journalists that I know that are above board.

Watch my language very closely: “I want to think I can trust” Irabor and Abdullahi with the league because of their individual  antecedents. Particularly in Irabor’s case, I’ve also had personal encounters with him which form the basis of my trust. But, of course, men do change and the antecedents of both men may be totally different from their present attitude to life and material things. As we saw in the case of “Mr. Integrity” Farouk Lawan at the House of Representatives during the fuel subsidy probe, perhaps every man has a price.

It is on that basis that I will concede to my challengers that Irabor’s holding of 20 million shares on behalf of the clubsides in the League Management Company Limited be exhaustively explained to the club managers in order to remove any fears or suspicions. Apart from copies of the League Management Company Limited CAC registration which listed Nduka Irabor, Aminu Maigari (on behalf of the Nigeria Football Association), Sabo Babayaro and Seyi Akinwunmi as members, I have also seen a copy of the “Declaration of Trust” that Irabor reportedly signed committing himself to handing over the  shares to the “Beneficial Owners” (i.e. the League Management Company, for and on behalf of the NFA and Representatives of the Professional Footballers Premier League). But if in spite of that, the clubsides are not convinced about the security of their shareholding, Irabor’s  holding-in-trust should be reviewed forthwith.

Having responded to the three main questions thrown at me, I want to restate my support for a full autonomy for the League Management Company in the running of the league. The rules of engagement should not be as determined by the clubsides anymore because, as we have seen for more than two decades now, that approach has led us nowhere. Once the controversy over “ownership” and company registration particulars are resolved in favour of the clubsides, we must insist that the day-to-day running of the league should be left entirely in the hands of the LMC who will reward and sanction the clubsides without fear or favour. Club managers should be excluded from the league management team.

Last week, I watched Toyin Ibitoye and his guests on Sports Tonight on Channels Television struggling to analyse the league ownership controversy as objectively as they could without “offending” the LMC or the club managers.

Toyin and his guests cited copious examples from the English Premier League, Spanish La Liga, the Bundesliga, the Serie A and the French Championnat and concluded that these successful leagues that we are trying to copy are “owned” largely by the clubsides and so Nigeria’s case should not be different. Indeed, that is true. The key difference, however, is that while all the clubsides in the mentioned leagues are themselves owned by private individuals, investors, shareholders and club supporters who are expecting commercial returns and thus permit the clubs to be run like a business, most Nigerian clubsides are run like government ministries and departments with little or no consideration for business orientations.

After much discussions though, Toyin concluded fairly enough that even though the LMC reforms were most welcome to cleanse the domestic league, the LMC should carry the club managers along in the process. I can’t quarrel with Toyin’s conclusion. But I will add a caveat: the club managers must realize that the time for change is here and they should not stand in the way.

PS: At the time of writing this, the Nigeria Football Federation was reportedly trying to resolve the differences between the LMC and the club managers. I hope the interest of the league itself will be paramount in the considerations.

Gallant Eaglets

I AM PLEASED to notice that despite the Golden Eaglets’ 5-4 penalty shootout loss to Cote d’Ivoire in the final of the CAF Under-17 Championship last Saturday in Morocco, most football experts have been praising the lads as a “team for the future.” That has been my view from the start and I hope that the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) will now take a cue and draw up a plan to nurture the boys for the future.

I watched the final and I’m of the view that the “Baby Elephants” that beat our Eaglets were also a very good team. But it would be a big shame if some of them become  another Didier Drogba or Yaya Toure in the near future, while our own Eaglets wither away without direction.

Meanwhile, one word about Chidiebere Nwakali whose penalty miss cost the Eaglets the title during the shoot-out. Even the best players in the world miss from the spot, so it’s no big deal. But Nwakali’s penalty-taking technique, standing right next to the ball and kicking it with just one swing of the leg, rather than stepping back a few yards and running to gain some momentum, calls for serious questioning.

Were the coaches aware that was Nwakali’s penalty-taking style? Even if the boy had been scoring with that technique in practice, the coaches should have dissuaded him because it is prone to error as we saw.

A short run to the ball will definitely give a penalty taker greater momentum to hit the ball harder and faster than someone who just stands by the ball like Nwakali did, no matter how talented he is. I am not blaming Nwakali for the cup defeat, but coach Manu Garba should retrain him on how to take a “proper” penalty  kick in future. That should be one of the lessons learned from Morocco.

Odegbami’s Book Launch


I SHALL be attending “Mathematical” Segun Odegbami’s latest book launch on Thursday, May 2nd, 2013 in Lagos. I said “latest’ because that will be his third or fourth book, I think.

This one is titled “Me, Football and More,” and it is a collection of some of Odegbami’s writings in the past three decades and more. As a columnist myself who sometimes has to struggle to keep this particular column going, I have always admired Odegbami who is very, very prolific. Look,  I can tell you this without fear of contradiction: Segun Odegbami is a gem of a writer. More about the book launch next week.

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The Greensprings Example

Early last month, Saturday, March 2nd, 2013, to be precise, I was one of the resource persons at the 2nd Annual Greensprings School Sports Forum, held at the school’s expansive campus in Lekki, Lagos.

Greensprings, by the way, is one of the oldest elite private schools in Lagos. They are a near-perfect example of how a school should be, with a very large compound, excellent teaching facilities and excellent play grounds for all kinds of sports including a standard football pitch, basketball court, swimming pool, etcetra.

If all was well with Nigeria’s educational system, Greensprings is a model of how all primary and secondary schools either public or private should look in terms of the environment and infrastructure. But my focus here is on the school’s sports activities.

The theme of the forum was The Role of Media in Schools Sports Development and I was asked to present the lead paper. AIT’s Mama Sport, Aisha Falode, also presented a paper in which she spoke passionately about women and sports. There were other speakers as well and a very impressive audience.

As a knowledge-sharing exercise, I plan to reproduce here in this column soon, excerpts from the paper that I presented. But first, I want to give a public commendation to the management of Greesprings Schools for their very elaborate programmes for sports. If you talk about academics and sports going hand-in-hand and moulding the truly complete child, Greensprings is quite examplary.

Just last week, the school hosted its second annual Greensprings/Kanu Football Camp which is organized in conjunction with former Super Eagles captain Nwankwo Kanu. I had planned for my son, Abdulmueez, to attend but the duration clashed with another programme involving his own school.

The highlight of the Greensprings football camp was the school’s decision to give scholarships to two talented boys from some apparently less-privileged schools to continue their education and also have an opportunity to develop their football skills at Greensprings. Musa Alli from Longford International School, Ebute-Metta, Lagos and Elvis Onyese of Iba Housing Estate Junior Secondary School, Ojo, Lagos are the two lucky boys.

Some critics might accuse Greensprings of cherry-picking but try and suggest that to Alli and Onyese’ parents or guardians who now don’t have to worry about school fees, yet have their kids not only attending one of the best schools in the country, but also having an excellent opportunity to develop their  football talents and possibly become superstars in the future.

From me, all I have to say to Greensprings is well done!

Sticking with the Eaglets

TALKING about developing superstars for the future, that was the focus of my article on the Golden Eaglets last week. As expected, loads of soccer fans immediately pounced on me for allegedly “praising the team too early” following their shock 1-0 loss to Cote d’Ivoire at the on-going CAF Under-17 Championship in Morocco. When the sms bombardment wouldn’t stop, I decided to restate my confidence in the Eaglets in Complete Sports the following day. Luckily, the Eaglets responded positively and smashed Congo DR 7-0 in their next game. The sms from my critics immediately stopped coming!

One recurring refrain in the earlier messages was that it was too early to tip the Eaglets for greatness because “they had not won anything.” I want to restate here that a youth team doesn’t have to win anything before you prepare or tip them for greatness. What you need to spot is the talent, the potential, the discipline and the determination to succeed. I am convinced that the current set of Eaglets have these characteristics in abundance. That is why I’m tipping them for greatness if they are properly nurtured,
We must stop the practice of disbanding our youth teams just because they failed to win a youth tournament. These tourneys are meant only to develop the players for the senior competitions in the future. Winning a youth trophy should be the only yardstick for measuring greatness. Winning should only be a bonus while failure to win should not disrupt a properly laid-out developmental programme. Winning a youth trophy should not be an end in itself, but a means to a greater end.

Meanwhile, the Eaglets’ loss to CIV was only their first defeat in nearly 30 games since they were put together. It’s probably even good for them because, to be a true champion, you must experience the joy of winning and the pain of losing along the way. I hereby repeat that, win or lose the trophy in Morocco, I stand by my projection that these Eaglets, if properly harnessed, are destined for great things in the future.

Champions United

MANCHESTER United clinched a historic 20th English League title after beating Aston Villa 3-0 with a Robin van Persie hat-trick at Old Trafford on Monday night. The title is well deserved as the Red Devils have proved once again that they are the most consistent team in the EPL.

Head-to-head and man-for-man, however, I will pick “Noisy Neighbours” Manchester City as a better team than United. As City coach Roberto  Mancini correctly noted, the talent gap between the two teams is not as wide as the points gap in the league table suggests. But Mancini must take the blame for not being able to consistently guide and inspire the huge talents at his disposal. If Sir Alex Ferguson or even Arsenal’s Arsene Wenger were to handle the City team as they are, they would win the EPL by an even wider margin than this comparatively “average” but pragmatic United team has done. Well done to Sir Alex, and congrats to all Manchester United fans in Nigeria.

While United were winning the title, Liverpool’s controversial striker Luiz Suarez was making the headlines again for the wrong reasons, biting Chelsea’s Branislav Ivanovic on the arm when both teams played a 2-2 draw at Anfiled.

Everyone already knows that Suarez is both talented and controversial  in equal measure but few would have expected that he would repeat his animalistic behaviour that fetched him a seven-match ban previously at Ajax Amsterdam. Suarez has apologised for his “inexcusable behaviour” while the English Professional Players’ Association have reportedly said they would assist him with “anger management counselling”.

Nigeria League in Turmoil

THE Nigeria Professional League is in turmoil again as “club owner/managers” are up in arms against the  League Management Committee (LMC) led by Nduka Irabor on the league reforms being introduced by the latter. The LMC has the backing of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) and the ministry of sports/National Sports Commission (NSC). And since most football clubs are actually “owned” and sponsored by state governments, the NSC is reportedly trying to rally states commissioners for sports to deal with the errant “club owner/managers” so that the LMC’s reforms can sail through. The snag is that some of the “club owner/managers” are better connected politically and are more powerful in their  states than their sports commissioners. In which case, only the state governor has the power to call the “club owner/manager” to order.

If NSC boss Bolaji Abdullahi has to go all the way to the state chief executives to get the renegade club managers  to fall in line, he should do it. I am in full support of the league reforms in principle because I have always known that the so-called club managers are the biggest beneficiaries of the rot in the system.
Most of them collect huge annual subventions from their states that are not properly accounted for; they sell the club’s players and pocket the international transfer fees or pay  themselves hefty commissions; yet they fail to meet the most basic welfare needs of their teams.  While most of us are complaining year after year that the Nigerian league is dying, these club managers are laughing all the way  to the bank.

Irabor’s committee is not perfect neither are all their  actions totally infallible. Some of their reforms are controversial and may be hard to swallow. But these reforms must go on and only a neutral body like the LMC can carry  them out. The previous “league boards” constituted by so-called “club owners” could not change the system because they were benefitting from the rot. They must not be allowed to scuttle the change that is coming.

And just to clarify the status of “club owners/managers,” the majority of them are really not “club owners” but “managers”. Most Nigerian league clubs are public property because they are financed with public funds. The real “owners” of the clubs therefore are the people of the owner-states that provide the funding for the running of these clubs. And that is you the reader, me and everybody else. We are all stakeholders in this affair.

Let’s Salute Mitchel O!

NIGERIA’s Mitchel Obi was last week elected unopposed as President of the (international sports journalists body) AIPS for Africa at the elections held in Sochi, Russia. It was a reflection of Mitchel’s popularity that three other candidates from Congo, Senegal and Morocco stepped down for him and his entire executives to be elected by consensus. By virtue of his position as president, AIPS Africa, Mitchel will now sit on the AIPS Executive Board as one of the (international) Vice Presidents.

With the Super Eagles reigning as African champions and Mitchel ruling as president of AIPS Africa, how nice would it have been had NFF president Alhaji Aminu Maigari also made it to the CAF executive committee. Not to worry, our target next time is the CAF presidency itself. Congrats, Mitchel O!

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These Eaglets Are Special

I AM writing this on Tuesday morning, less than 48 hours after our Golden Eaglets demolished Ghana’s Black Starlets 6-1 at the African Under-17 Championship in Morocco. By the time you read this, our next game against Cote d’Ivoire may have been played and you would know the result but, for me, it doesn’t matter whether the Eaglets win or not. In fact, it doesn’t matter whether they win the tournament or qualify for the FIFA Under-17 World Cup in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) later this year. In just one game against Ghana, I have seen enough to confirm my previous prediction that these Eaglets will go places.

Last December, I wrote in this column that this set of Eaglets put together by coach Manu Garba assisted by Emmanuel Amuneke, Nduka Ugbade and Emeka Amadi have the potential to win the FIFA (senior) World Cup itself in Qatar 2022. That must have sounded like a cracy prediction to some people but nobody thought lightweight Greece could ever win the European Championship or that little Togo will ever qualify for the World Cup. Yet, those episodes have come to pass as football continues to throw up surprises to confound its pundits. Cameroun at Italia ‘90, Nigeria at USA ‘94, Senegal at Korea/Japan 2002, Cote d’Ivoire at Germany 2006 and Ghana at South Africa 2010 have all demonstrated the potential of a black African team at the FIFA World Cup. One of them will definitely win it one day and I don’t see why it shouldn’t be Nigeria first.

I have published below excerpts from my December 2012 article titled “Nigeria – World Champions 2022.” If the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) missed it or didn’t take it seriously at the time, I hope they will pay greater attention now.

It’s uncommon for a Nigerian team, at any level, to completely dominate a Ghanaian team and defeat them so comprehensively as the Golden Eaglets did to the Black Starlets last Sunday in Morocco. Indeed, the Ghanaian coach Paa Kwesi Fabin who had boasted before the match that he knew how stop the Eaglets confessed after the match that “Nigeria surprised us; we didn’t see such a heavy defeat coming.”

On my part, the surprise was that the local Nigerian press was rather muted about the 6-1 scoreline. Going by  the historical rivalry between the two countries, I had expected a more jubilant celebration in our newspapers. Obviously the sports editors must have reasoned that this is a “mere” under-17 event but I disagree. Even if Nigerian cockroaches defeat Ghanaian cockroaches 6-1 in a football friendly, that for me  is a lead story!

Joking aside, I just think that these Eaglets are something special and we should treat them specially.
Unlike their Under-20 counterparts who don’t know how to put the ball into the net, what stands the Eaglets out is their ruthless finishing in front goal. And with the likes of four-goal hero against Ghana, Isaac Success hungry for more success, these Eaglets may yet be the one to fulfil Pele’s prediction of an African FIFA World Cup winner.

Over-aged Eaglets

THREE members of the Nigerian team were reportedly thrown out of the competition in Morocco after they failed the MRI test introduced by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) to check age cheating at the cadet event. Cote d’Ivoire and Congo each also had three players expelled bringing the total to nine.

Considering how rampant age-cheating has been in Nigerian football, the fact that ONLY three Eaglets failed the test is a sign of progress (Lol). Nevertheless, the NFF should investigate the matter in order to establish whether the guilty players deliberately misled the coaches, or the coaches were complicit in falsifying the players’ ages.

The truth of the matter is that some players will continue to lie about their true ages in order to get into the national teams. It’s the job of the NFF and the coaches to fish them out.

In Defense of Taribo West

TALKING about age-cheating, former Super Eagles defender Taribo West was in the news recently when the president of his former Yugoslav club, Partisan Belgrade, accused him of lying about his true age.
Thankfully, Taribo has since received support from Inter Milan of Italy officials where he also played. But even before the Inter intervention, my position was that Partisan president Zarko Zerceric was talking rubbish.

Since he didn’t provide any substantive proof, I took his “revelation” as a smear campaign. Taribo is a Nigerian World Cup and Olympic hero and we mustn’t  jump at rubbishing our heroes at the prompting of some loudmouth foreigner. Our first reaction always should be to defend, not condemn our players, unless their guilt is proved beyond reasonable doubt.

Is NFF Broke!

THERE are “rumours” that the Nigeria Football Federation is broke. I call it rumours because I can’t believe it... yet.

For many years, we have criticized NFF managers for their profligacy but they have always told us to shut up. We have warned them about their bloated staff and we’ve been ignored. We have repeatedly attacked them for their penchant to turn every international assignment into a jamboree and we’ve often been told we were jealous. For decades, thanks to limitless government subvention, the NFF and its forerunner NFA spent money as if money was going out of fashion. Now, they tell us they are broke! I can’t believe it.

But it appears that the “rumour” is true. Last week, the technical committee announced Nigeria’s withdrawal from the CAF African Championship (CHAN) qualifiers for home-based players due to “paucity of funds.” We were told that the backroom staff of all the national teams will be reduced from 17 each  (can you imagine, 17!) to seven and one of the early victims is Super Eagles assistant coach Sylvannus Okpala who has been fired. We heard that match bonuses for the Super Eagles and their coaches (the highest in Africa and arguably one of the highest in the world!) will be reduced at least by 50 per cent. Other cost-cutting measures are expected to follow. Maybe the NFF is truly broke after all.

They had it coming. For so long, the NFF, despite hiding under “FIFA-autonomy” from government interference, became so reliant on government subvention that they didn’t market their national teams properties well. And even when sponsors voluntarily approached them, they sold the properties at a miserable price, and handed the big chunk of it to middlemen. Government subvention did not allow professionalism and enterprise to flourish in the commercial management of Nigerian football. I remember Taye Ige of Hotsports describing the “NFA” as a body standing by the river yet washing hands with spittle.

Now that government funding has become grossly inadequate like we have always predicted, the NFF has run into trouble. Unfortunately, they have not cultivated the private sector well enough to fall back on funding from corporate organizations. A long, dry road lies ahead unless government has a change of heart and provides additional funding. Not even the often under-reported FIFA grants can fill the hole in NFF’s pocket.

Although the current pain is self-inflicted, I still want to salute NFF President Aminu Maigari for finally summoning the courage to do the inevitable. Maigari met the culture of wanton profligacy at the Glass House which he found difficult to curb immediately lest he was resisted by vested interests.  But now that he has an alibi to make the necessary changes, he must go all the way.

If the NFF can pull Nigeria out of a developmental competition like the CHAN and reduce bonuses of players who are the main actors, then the cost-cutting must extend to executive committee members, staffers and National Assembly sports committee members and their hangers-on who have been feeding off Nigerian football and using it as their Automated Teller Machine.

Let’s hope that the days of the locust are truly over.

Keshi Goes AWOL

MEDIA reports suggested that Super Eagles coach Stephen Keshi has complicated the on-going “crisis” in the national team by travelling to the United States last week reportedly without official permission from the Nigeria football Federation.

Personally, I can’t see any complications at all. How the NFF handles the matter on Keshi’s return will say a lot about their own capacity for man-management  (something that Keshi  is thought to lack), ahead of our crucial June fixtures.

I am still reserving my comments on the so-called Eagles “crises” but I will give a hint now: NFF should “manage” Keshi and leave Keshi to “manage” the players. A word is enough for the wise.

Champions League Finalists

THE draws for the European Champions League semi-finals were made last Friday with Bayern Munich confronting Barcelona and Borrusia Dortmund facing Real Madrid. Nobody knows for certain which teams will triumph in this Spain versus Germany double confrontation, but I’m placing an early bet on Bayern and Real facing off for the final on May 25th at Wembley Stadium.

Last year, I got into trouble with Chelsea fans when I predicted that Barcelona would beat them to face Real Madrid in the final. I scored zero out of two predictions as Real also lost to Bayern while Chelsea heroically eliminated Barcelona.

This year, I’m expecting my Octopus to score two out of two. I just think Jose Mourinho’s Real hunger will be too much for Borrusia to cope with while Bayern will decisively solve the Lionel Messi riddle. As PSG showed in the quarter-final, Barcelona are nothing against top opposition without Messi and Bayern would have taken notice and stop Barcelona.

Are you also bold enough to throw your hats into the ring? Send me your predictions!

Nigeria: World Champions, 2022

(Culled from Soccertalk, December 2012).

COMMENTATOR: Ladies and gentlemen, there goes the final whistle and history has been made. Nigeria are the first African country to win the FIFA World Cup. The Super Eagles have done it! They have beaten Brazil by two goals to one in front of 100,000 spectators at this magnificent air-conditioned stadium in Qatar. The Africans have won the first FIFA World Cup to be hosted in the Middle East. The prediction by the great Pele of an African World Cup triumph has finally come to pass. Ironically it is at the expense of his own country, Brazil. The Brazilian players are still in shock. But the Super Eagles are jubilant. They are dancing all over the pitch. Nigeria are world champions! What a story...

THE FOREGOING is my prediction for the Super Eagles in 2022, ten years from now. Yes, Nigeria will win the World Cup and the core of the team that will do it for us are the current Golden Eaglets.

In six qualifying matches played at home and away against Niger Republic, Guinea and Mali, the Eaglets emerged victorious on every occasion, scoring a massive 25 goals in the process and conceding only once.
Their opponents may not be rated highly even by African  standards, but when last did any Nigerian team win its matches so convincingly and in such commanding fashion even against the so called “minnows?” I have a very strong feeling that this particular set of Eaglets will achieve something great in the future.

Rather than tipping the Eaglets for glory just at next year’s (2013) African Under-17 Championship in Morocco or even the FIFA Under-17 World Cup in UAE also next year if they qualify, I have set a bigger goal for them because I want the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) to start looking at the bigger picture and nurture this team accordingly. Whether the Eaglets win in Morocco or not, whether they qualify or win in UAE or not, the NFF should draw up a technical programme to keep and nurture them with the 2022 FIFA World Cup in mind.

There is a general consensus amongst football watchers that these Eaglets are the youngest to be assembled by Nigeria in recent times. Although few of the players may not be exactly under-17, they look and behave closer to 18 to 20-year-olds, rather than the 25 to 30-year-olds that have been paraded as Under-17s in the past. In 10 years’ time when I’m tipping them to win the World Cup for Nigeria, these boys will be at the peak of their careers as 28 to 30-year- olds with at least one World Cup experience (in 2018) under their belts.

I suggest that the NFF should draw up a detailed 10-year technical development plan for the Eaglets that will culminate in their winning the FIFA World Cup in Qatar come 2022.

The plan should set minimum standards for the players as they progress in their careers and stipulate how those who fail to meet those standards will be dropped and replaced systematically. The plan should include how the NFF will relate with the players’ present and future clubsides and their individual managers. The plan should also state at what point these players will be weaned from their present coaches and the condition for upgrading the coaches alongside, if necessary, as the team advances.

All these may sound rather academic and rigid for a game that is as unpredictable and spontaneous as football. But as Barcelona Football Club of Spain have proved in the last few years, football can be planned deliberately and played systematically with highly positive results.

Nigeria should take a cue and plan with a clear-cut objective to be world champions in 2022.

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