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Author: Kehinde Akintobi
Posted to the web: 2/4/2008 2:23:33 PM


WITHER WENT THE SUPER EAGLES?

Whilst watching Nigeria’s lose to Ghana in thequarterfinals of the Nations Cup, I felt no remorse for the loosing Nigerianside. For one, no one expected that they would reach the quarterfinals in thefirst place. With incidents of unimpressive football they just seemed to haveenjoyed a stroke of luck to qualify for the 2nd stage of thetournament thanks to the victory of their Ivoirian counterparts.

This match Nigerians and fans if the Eaglesexpected more. Fine, there were quite a number of questionable refereeingdecisions. Some have argued that in tournaments like these atimes these thingscan be commonplace. Factors for instance like a drop in ticket earnings of ahosting nation through her national team’s loss could have an effect onofficiating. That sounds interesting. Interests over fairness? That aside butrather interestingly it seemed God on like the referee of the day favoured theNigerian side.          In the midst ofseveral ignored fouls and tackles, Nigeria got a penalty in the first half anda red card in the second. 11 men against 10? This was the much-neededadvantage. But where it mattered most the eagles lost concentration.
I pray for the day when Nigeria would playattacking football like Brazil beating their opponents 5 goals to nothing.These boys atimes just don’t seem how to hold the game down. After theirwonderful penalty goal from a player known to play better for his premiershipclub (though scoring 2 vital goals), the team allowed a loss of focus in thelast few seconds of the first half and the Ghanaians took advantage.

Now in the second half with good penetration intothe opposite side, we were lucky to be fouled in the right spot such that gavethe Nigerian side a 1-man advantage over their opponents. Then came the pokeinto the eyes of Chelsea midfielder Mikel Obi and then another big sap inconcentration. At this point one wonders what the unimpressive Cv holding coachof Nigeria was doing at the time. This was the same man who had nearly lost hisjob in an earlier game. This was a chance for him to redeem himself. Thoughsincerely and quite frankly, all in all this Nigerian team was far from it. Thecoach however once again showed he had no business coaching a standard teamtalk less of a national one. In previous games one had wondered what the likesof Makinwa and Olofinjana were doing back in the team, in this game Nigeria’scoach did more. He was blind to the fact that he needed to bring in Nsofor andpossibly an energetic Obafemi Martins but only made a substitution when aplayer had to be pulled off. The substitution of Nsofor he only saw reason toeffect around the 84th minute and after a goal down. To make mattersworse he saw nobody to bring off the field than hardworking and effective MikelObi.

It was also noted that back in the defence,defenders just stared and enjoyed being passed and dribbled by Ghanaian playersin their own half. This was just like a repeat of what happened in the matchagainst now favourites Cote DIvoire where Kalou embarrassed the whole of thedefence to this time not strike a shot across or directly at the bar, as isusually the case when he plays for Chelsea, but to get an Ivorian goal. TheEagles game however brought out some lovely performances from defender DannyShittu, though subjectively, Taye Taiwo, Ikechukwu Uche and most especiallyOsaze Odemwinge.
It is time the Nigerian football bodyneeds to know that the Eagles do not need an over paid, overrated German Coachto mount the saddle with little to show for it. Stephen Keshi, Samson Siasiaor/ and Chief Onigbinde would have by far done better. It was glaring for allto see that the Coach was out of reckoning with Nigerian soccer and well ableNigerian players to play. Possibly the pleasantries that came alongside his jobgot the better of him. Not so in Germany however. In Nigeria atimes, it seemsin the NFA anything goes. If we must employ a foreign coach why the likes ofBora Militunovic, why the likes of Berti Vogts why not Westerhof? Every one knowsthe impact he had on our football, our team and the results he had to show forit. Thinking about Vogts one wonders why the team needed to go for camping andtraining in far away Malaga a far cry from weather conditions in hot weatheredGhana. Maybe as an easy meeting point for her players spread to and fro Europe.But is Nigeria the only country in the Nations cup with players abroad? What oflocal content? So many questions. Well even as there seems to be an imminentsacking of Berti Vogts, one hopes that a suitable and effective replacementwould be made and at a good price. One does not know however whether thebusiness mogul at the helms of affairs at Globacom would be generous once againand in spite of all that has happened to once again foot the bill.  In the midst of all this lets pray, behopeful and work towards the best. Come back home Eagles; your well payingEuropean Clubs have long been in need and expecting you.
 

Kehinde Akintobi
Churchonthenet004@yahoo.co.uk