The Naija road map for football development is all wrong...

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ogasir
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Re: The Naija road map for football development is all wrong

Post by ogasir »

Sunset wrote:
ogasir wrote:Believe it or not, i actually think the NFF is doing a good job with youth development. Our U15 and U17 teams actually play friendlies with other African youth teams, our U15 will be participating in a Youth tournament next month in Morocco. We have a pretty good scouting network at the NFF. The only problem is i do not know what kind of training the players undergo at U13 and U15 level.
Not to mention the LMC are trying to introduce an U16 league for all of the NPFL teams. Just having a somewhat stable football hierarchy is the easiest way to pick out the best individual players from the lesser ones, however I still feel the the most important aspect the NFF/LMC need to work together on is educating current and upcoming coaches on football, because they are the ones who'll be training our players at least for the most important phase of their football development
I forgot about the NPFL U15 tournament. Do u know if one took place this year?
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wiseone
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Re: The Naija road map for football development is all wrong

Post by wiseone »

I don't think Croatia is a good example. They are not a "small" footballing nation. The country was formed from the Ashes of one of the best footballing nations on earth: Yugoslavia (probably the best team to have never won the World Cup). They already had a conveyor belt of outrageously talented players in the 1990s and reached the WC semi-final at their first appearance in 1998 (ironically losing AET to France).

Considering the other infrastructural problems in Nigeria I actually think the country has over-achieved at international level when you consider:

1994 WC: Group of Death. Got out of a group with Argentina (Maradona, Batistuta, Redondo, Chamot, Ayala, Crespo, Simeone, Sensini et al) and Bulgaria who reached the SF. Eliminated by Italy who reached the final.

1998 WC: Group of Death. Got out of a group including Spain (who were one of the pre-tournament favourites). Lost to a Danish side featuring the Laudrup brothers who took Brazil to the limit.

2002 WC: Group of Death with Argentina, England, and Sweden.

2014 WC: In same group as Argentina. Eliminated by France.

2018 WC: Group of Death with WC finalists, Argentina, and Euros QFinalists. 3 minutes away from eliminating Argentina.

Another interesting stat is that only once has Nigeria lost a WC game by more than 1 goal (against Denmark in 1998).

charlie wrote:
cchinukw wrote:It's a miracle that Nigeria has any measure of success at all internationally.
Our talent is what has carried us so far. Its what makes us so successful at youth levels where raw talent without additional development and organization is a lot more of a difference maker.

However at the highest level, talent is not enough. You need infrastructure, organizational stability, long term planning and execution, and of course tons of luck.

What I find really insightful is how much the level of football between big and small football countries has significantly closed. Can you imagine,...Croatia in a WC final! This should give hope to every other country that with the right planning and execution, they might duplicate Croatia's success.
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Tbite
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Re: The Naija road map for football development is all wrong

Post by Tbite »

Croatia nko?

Unless you are discounting it due to the owngoal and Penarity.
Buhari, whose two terms thankfully ground to a constitutional halt in May. (One thing both democracies have going for them is that their leaders, however bad, have only two terms to swing the wrecking ball.) Under Buhari, growth per head also plunged to 0. An economic agenda drawn from the dusty pages of a 1970s protectionist handbook failed to do the trick. Despite Buhari’s promise to tame terrorism and criminality, violence flourished. Despite his reputation for probity, corruption swirled. FT
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Re: The Naija road map for football development is all wrong

Post by Coach »

@Damunk, to look purely at the past three to four weeks, is as myopic as the supposedly wayward gaze of those untrue goons, who speculated on a Wengerian event horizon faraway in the distance. Needless to say, none have pressed lips to pint glasses in those most coveted of establishments. I digress.

...The view can't be of a failed Eastern adventure, rather of repeated failures that followed the maiden innings. Nigeria has rinsed and repeated, changed the washer woman and the soap, only to arrive at a shrunken once upon a time, white shirt, that looks like a tie and dye, exhibit, swinging on a washing line. All will acknowledge the benefit diaspora offers in terms of skill and development, but there is a portion of that privilege lost the failure to close the loop. There needs to be some pathway for repatriation. The national league needs to be developed to a standard comparable atleast with the second tiers in the wild West. Once upon a time the Japanese league was the perfect retirement home for worldly names, then came the Americas, now its China...Slowly but surely the profiles of these leagues are raised, which opens up avenues for investment, marketing and broadcasting deals. Slowly the standard is raised, as efforts are made to learn as much as possible from the wise old owls. Look at the MLS, from Mark Hateley to David Beckham, Gonzalez Raul, David Villa, Thierry Henry, Gerrard, Lampard and now Wayne Rooney. Who'd have ever thought that would be the trajectory for soccer in the States? Yes, they'v had Peles past, but in this age, in this market, to think the US league would've reached this level of appeal...And the accessibility of games, online, BT sports, skysports....and soccer isn't even a national sport or preferred sport in the US.

Granted the USMNT failed to make the grade but, look at the growth and development of the game in the states in the past 10 years.

Japan is certainly benefiting from the investment in its J-League years back, from spent Hollywood names to B-list directors, they've learnt the needy and built on it. Is the state of the NPL such that a John Obi could sign on for his last season before retirement? Are the opportunities and establishments so mouthwatering that coaches far and wide could be recruited to take the reigns of the Enyimbas et al? Are the stadiums good enough to have multinationals jostling for screening space on the vidiboard?

Theres nothing stunting Nigeria's growth but Nigeria itself. The step by step, stone by stone attitude, breastfeeds this stagnation. The foot may indeed reach further forward, not because a steps been taken, but rather because the toenail hasn't been cut. In the fourth tier of English football, there are formerly semi-professional sides boasting sporting complexes, stadiums which, though a far cry from the Emirates, look much more than a rusty Coke can ripped open. Croatia has a population of 4 million, according to Bilic. With all the talent in Nigeria, one can't help but feel the true potential of the nation is not being achieved and never will be, till Nigeria sees national representation as source of great pride. Throwing a rose into the backyard doesn't make it a garden, if the intention is to have a bloom that glows and radiates, then theres a need for constant gardeners both suited and booted, in the parliamentary cabinets and playing fields.

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