Danger Signals

 

 

By Blessing Ogunli

Lightning may and just can strike twice. That is the view of many Nigerian football fans, as the final round of the 2010 World Cup qualifiers begin in the last week of this month. Though the Super Eagles, coached by Shaibu Amodu, performed impresively in the preliminary rounds, winning all their matches, there are fears that Nigeria may not qualify for the next World Cup, as it did in 2006. And should they make it to South Africa, as is likely, many believe it may require drunken optimism for anyone to talk up their chances.

 

The optimism sparked by the team’s stroll through the preliminary round, where they saw off South Africa, Sierra Leone and Equatorial Guinea, has given way to some form of anxiety. The friendly against Jamaica in London last month delivered little to cheer. In the game, which ended scoreless, the Super Eagles looked languid and showed a lack of cohesion. As a result, Nigerians were as disappointed with the result as much as the performance. While friendlies are by no means an accurate gauge of a team’s ability, Amodu’s impassioned defence of the performance against Jamaica worried many fans, who wondered if he had watched another game.

Of more importance, however, is the shrinking pool of talents from which Amodu could pick. Unlike in the past when many members of the Super Eagles were vital components of their respective teams, many among the current crop do not get regular playing time at their respective clubs in Europe. Some still have been hampered by protracted injury lay-offs. Nigeria’s first game of the new round–against the Mambas of Mozambique–has already brought an altercation between Amodu and the Nigerian Football Federation, NFF.While Amodu prefers established players, who currently warm benches in their clubs, the technical committee of the NFF insisted that benchwarmers should be knocked of the list of Amodu’s invitees and replaced with younger players, who are regulars at their clubs. Before the team list was released to the public, Amodu was made to defend every choice he made by the technical committe. After the exercise, eight players: John Utaka, Christian Obodo, Seyi Olofinjana, Kazeem Ayinla and Seyi Olajengbesi, who were on the list Amodu submitted to the NFF, were dropped and replaced with players preferred by the NFF. Those included by the NFF are Dele Adeleye, Apam Onyekachi, Yusuf Muhammed, Sani Kaita, Olufemi Ajilore and Chinedu Obasi.

Amodu had insisted that those he invited are the best the country has for now.  “People who want Kanu (Nwankwo) to go do not understand the job. Football goes beyond people playing on the pitch and this is why I want our fans to know that when it’s time for him to go, definitely, he will,” he said. He explained that Kanu remains an important player on and off the pitch and commands the respect of most of the younger players in the team. Amodu, most probably, impressed just one person: himself. Ayo Akinfe, a Nigerian based in the UK who watched Eagles/Jamaica match, wrote in The Nation that the Eagles looked disjointed.

“Had I watched the Eagles for the first time, I would have thought that the players were just meeting themselves for the first time on the night,” Akinfe lamented. John Joshua Akanji, a sports journalist, said he is worried about the level of preparedness of the players psychologically and physically in the build-up to the game against Mozambique. While acknowledging that the task ahead of the Super Eagles is tough, Akanji, believes the country has what it takes to come tops in the group and qualify for the 2010 World Cup.

He explained that it is important for the Eagles to win convincingly in Maputo in case Tunisia beat Kenya in Harare. “If Tunisia beat Kenya at home and Nigeria draw or loses in Maputo, then we are going to be in a very tight spot,” Akanji stated. He advised the NFF to take all fixtures involving the team seriously so as to secure maximum points that would ensure that the team’s qualification is not in the hands of other teams. Dr. Ken Egbas, a public relations practitioner, reckons that Tunisia will be the biggest threats, given their record of qualifying for major tournaments..

Egbas called on the NFF to do what is right at the time they have to do it and not when they want to do it. From the look of things, it seems the NFF is not ready to do the right thing at the appropriate time. Last February, Amodu complained to Nigerians that the NFF had not paid his salary for sometime. Just when the uproar generated by the non-payment of Amodu’s salary was dying down, the issue of the Super Eagles team list was brought up, prompting the threat of resignation from the coach.

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