Nigeria should learn from the USA

[Bell]

Thank you, TXJ. VE simply doesn't get it.

Grassroots organization and a solid league (just well organized) will take you a long way. The USA is showing this right now. They have a deep pipeline of players to the point where they can beat Mexico A-

Some of the guys on their supposed B team will actually start for the full team. Miles Robinson has shown world-class talent and he will start for the A team alongside John Brooks. Kellyn Acosta is another top-notch DM who may beat out Tyler Adams of Leipzig for a starting spot. Bello at left-back also looks capable of playing at a higher level.

I have no doubt that with the proper grassroots set-up, Nigeria can produce a similar pipeline. And for VE if you want to look at the league that is not rich but effective at producing talent, look at Colombia.

You got it completely wrong IMO.

The US is this successful because they have an organized home based league and grassroots structure. It is that simple.

They now have enviable depth in quality and I expect the USA to get better and better

Nigeria will never have a league like the MLS, so I dont know what I have wrong.

We dont have the money or infrastructure to develop a league like the MLS, so you are comparing apples to oranges if you think we can replicate what they are doing with their domestic league.

What we can learn from the US is that as a national program you should be methodical in terms of building and understanding your squad depth.

When Wilfred Ndidi gets injured, we should not be scrambling to replace him. We should know who the next best 4 or 5 options are. It shouldn't be a shot in the dark.

If we do not have Osimehn to score for us, we should not be relying on a hit or miss basketball player because we have refused to look at other options, or because a fat, clubless and useless Musa has wasted squad positions for years.

Instead of building for Qatar 2022, the NFF is busy parading some useless Homebased players who dont even know the fundamentals of football. They are even talking about tournaments in the US in october, yet guys like Kelechi Nwakali, Obinna Nwobodo, Alhassan Yusuf, do not even have 1 cap for Nigeria.

Please something is not right with the way we are going about things.

Not sure how or why u would make the above highlighted statement.

We have our own league and what it requires is the dedication to make it work, in our own way and reflecting our own circumstances.

I'm not saying the Nigerian league can not and should not improve, I am saying you cannot expect them to be on the level of the MLS that can afford to pay players top dollar. It is even known as a retirement league because top players who are old can go there for a payout.

Nigeria is struggling to keep its top talents who will even leave to go play in Latvia or any other fourth rate European league.

If you want to improve the league, you need incentive to keep the top players there, similar to what they are doing in Egypt.

What we should be doing however, which we are not is making sure we build up our squad depth. That is a lesson we can immedietly learn from the Americans and work on without any development which is a longer term strategy.

But so long as Latvia and Azerbaijan are "lucrative" destinations for Nigerian based players, the league will not improve.

I understand the role of economics and livelihood in this.

But that is only half of the issue.

The other half is the appropriate development of players.

Nigeria is not the poorest country in the world. Besides, in the context of the reward system in Nigeria, footballers are not the least paid people, albeit irregularly.

Its about FIRST, using what you have effectively.

In that context you do not need a league with the incentive rate of the MLS or any other country to make a success of instituting a high average standard for developing players.

Given the nature of the global game, players will ALWAYS leave.

What is important is not the departures. Its what you are doing to develop players while they are in Nigeria.
[/quote]


A LOT OF MLS PLAYERS DO NOT MAKE TOP DOLLARS


The top dollars are made by a handful of star players. If the Nigerian league is reformed, players can make enough money to keep them in the country. The first step would be to limit the number of teams to 12 - 16, locating them in viable cities and fully professionalize the league. Bring in professional marketing and introduce rules backed by legal contract and revenue generators like sponsorship, concessions, pay television. Make the stadiums attractive, safe and functional and proper scheduling. The more you succeed in doing these things, the more financially successful the league can be and then the more they can attract good players, Nigerian and foreign.
Bell

[juventuss]

MLS is getting stale especially for some youth talent. Shocking that an American youth has a better chance getting into the US national team going to play in Germany vs coming up through their academies