CRY,My Beloved Country!!!!!
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khalela
CRY,My Beloved Country!!!!!
When was the last time Nigeria lost an opening game at a Nations Cup – in 1990 when Westerhof’s team of rookies lost their discipline against the hosts Algeria and were hammered. But they dusted themselves up and got to the final. I can not see this team doing that. Yet this is an infinitely more talented side. How come?
During the Atlanta Olympic Games I was a lone voice in the wilderness shouting myself hoarse and praying fervently that we should not get any success out of it. Unfortunately we won the gold and ever since we have gotten worse as a nation. Everything that Clemens Westerhof got rid of from the national team came back. And like the demons in the Holy bible they came back seven times worse than before. As a footballing nation we have never managed success well. Other nations build on it; we tend to plummet after every success. After the nations cup win in ’80 we jettisoned more than half of the team that won it and were knocked out in the group stages two years later with a team incredibly different from the winning team. Nduka Ugbade led a team of 'young' boys to China and won the maiden U-16 world cup: cue disaster as everything and everybody wanted to play for the U-16 team; the national team suffering. What people forget today is that we won the gold medal at Atlanta because we had the most experienced team at the games. In our delirium, we felt we were now good enough to win the world cup irrespective of planning.
I thought that after the shambles that was the last world cup we would have decided that enough was enough. Alas no! The charlatans are still calling the shots and we must plunder on in darkness while all around us bask in the luminous light of progress. Oh that Ibrahim Babaginda ruled Nigeria as steadfastly as he was in making sure that the Dutchman stayed on till his contract ended in ’94. For there were many who attempted to derail that programme: Step forward some big names and those shameless journalists who collected brown envelopes and wrote nonsense so that the man could be sacked. The worrying thing is that most of those people are still in there making decisions.
I am Ibo from Abia state. I say this because the next statement I am going to make as we are a nation of tribal sentiments first: Christian Chukwu is the worst coach ever to have handled the senior national team. And in this present squad Nwankwo Kanu has no business whatsoever there. Chukwu was one of my earliest childhood heroes as he captained Rangers – the team I supported as a boy and still support. However, as a coach he is so clueless it is embarrassing. I remember vividly that in 1985 or thereabout he nearly got Rangers relegated when he was in charge. I gave up on him then and the games he took charge of during the Westerhof era never convinced. In fact those games exposed him the more: The game in Enugu in ’93 against Gabon was abject.
Kanu is a shadow of the player that shone at the Atlanta games. For that reason he does not deserve to play for our national team. For a player masquerading as a striker his goal scoring record for the team is appalling.
All of these would be irrelevant if the people in the NFA and the sports ministry had gotten us a foreign coach. As it is voiced in sporting circles here in England “who would not like to work with talent that Nigeria has". It tore at my heart watching Nigeria’s laboured build up against Morrocco while we had the pace of Utaka, Yakubu and Julius upfront. What sensible coach will play Okocha in a defensive mid-field role? Compounding the folly by asking a rampaging forward like Yakubu to play wide left!
What on earth informed the inclusion of George Abbey instead of the aggressive rampaging bandana wearing Efe Sodje? I gather that Innocent Ekwueme is a left footer and that Garba Lawal is in the squad; so why was Ifeanyi Udeze taken to the competition when he was going to miss the vital opening game? That is the unprofessional attitude that has ruined the team.
For the next game let Utaka play wide left and Julius wide right, while Agali plays in the centre. Okocha should play behind the striker with Lawal and Seyi anchoring the midfield so that the skipper can dictate the game.
The most sickening sight for me after the game was the shameless Ikedia struggling for Naybet’s shirt.
During the Atlanta Olympic Games I was a lone voice in the wilderness shouting myself hoarse and praying fervently that we should not get any success out of it. Unfortunately we won the gold and ever since we have gotten worse as a nation. Everything that Clemens Westerhof got rid of from the national team came back. And like the demons in the Holy bible they came back seven times worse than before. As a footballing nation we have never managed success well. Other nations build on it; we tend to plummet after every success. After the nations cup win in ’80 we jettisoned more than half of the team that won it and were knocked out in the group stages two years later with a team incredibly different from the winning team. Nduka Ugbade led a team of 'young' boys to China and won the maiden U-16 world cup: cue disaster as everything and everybody wanted to play for the U-16 team; the national team suffering. What people forget today is that we won the gold medal at Atlanta because we had the most experienced team at the games. In our delirium, we felt we were now good enough to win the world cup irrespective of planning.
I thought that after the shambles that was the last world cup we would have decided that enough was enough. Alas no! The charlatans are still calling the shots and we must plunder on in darkness while all around us bask in the luminous light of progress. Oh that Ibrahim Babaginda ruled Nigeria as steadfastly as he was in making sure that the Dutchman stayed on till his contract ended in ’94. For there were many who attempted to derail that programme: Step forward some big names and those shameless journalists who collected brown envelopes and wrote nonsense so that the man could be sacked. The worrying thing is that most of those people are still in there making decisions.
I am Ibo from Abia state. I say this because the next statement I am going to make as we are a nation of tribal sentiments first: Christian Chukwu is the worst coach ever to have handled the senior national team. And in this present squad Nwankwo Kanu has no business whatsoever there. Chukwu was one of my earliest childhood heroes as he captained Rangers – the team I supported as a boy and still support. However, as a coach he is so clueless it is embarrassing. I remember vividly that in 1985 or thereabout he nearly got Rangers relegated when he was in charge. I gave up on him then and the games he took charge of during the Westerhof era never convinced. In fact those games exposed him the more: The game in Enugu in ’93 against Gabon was abject.
Kanu is a shadow of the player that shone at the Atlanta games. For that reason he does not deserve to play for our national team. For a player masquerading as a striker his goal scoring record for the team is appalling.
All of these would be irrelevant if the people in the NFA and the sports ministry had gotten us a foreign coach. As it is voiced in sporting circles here in England “who would not like to work with talent that Nigeria has". It tore at my heart watching Nigeria’s laboured build up against Morrocco while we had the pace of Utaka, Yakubu and Julius upfront. What sensible coach will play Okocha in a defensive mid-field role? Compounding the folly by asking a rampaging forward like Yakubu to play wide left!
What on earth informed the inclusion of George Abbey instead of the aggressive rampaging bandana wearing Efe Sodje? I gather that Innocent Ekwueme is a left footer and that Garba Lawal is in the squad; so why was Ifeanyi Udeze taken to the competition when he was going to miss the vital opening game? That is the unprofessional attitude that has ruined the team.
For the next game let Utaka play wide left and Julius wide right, while Agali plays in the centre. Okocha should play behind the striker with Lawal and Seyi anchoring the midfield so that the skipper can dictate the game.
The most sickening sight for me after the game was the shameless Ikedia struggling for Naybet’s shirt.
Very well said. You are a true Nigerian that loves the country and I agree with you almost completely. But you are guilty of the same thing I am guilty of - talking!
We should go beyond just writing beautifully crafted assessments of the way forward. How can we transform our talk to action. I have a suggestion to make. That we dedicate time on this forum to marshall and iron out a real plan and take it beyond that by taking our plan out to those that matter in making decisions. It sounds like a stupid idea, yes, but maybe it would work. Let's reason and plan a way forward for Nigeria, jointly forward an article to media houses and present these same proposals to an FA (that would maybe mess it up), but then, that is better than just sitting and writing here and vetting all your anger. It is action we need, not just talk.
We should go beyond just writing beautifully crafted assessments of the way forward. How can we transform our talk to action. I have a suggestion to make. That we dedicate time on this forum to marshall and iron out a real plan and take it beyond that by taking our plan out to those that matter in making decisions. It sounds like a stupid idea, yes, but maybe it would work. Let's reason and plan a way forward for Nigeria, jointly forward an article to media houses and present these same proposals to an FA (that would maybe mess it up), but then, that is better than just sitting and writing here and vetting all your anger. It is action we need, not just talk.
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cic old boy
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khalela