Nigeria should follow the Uruguayan system

[kalani JR]

AreaDaddy,

I kept reading this thing ooo and I dey wonder say Suarez dey under tis regiment so? Me, I no believe say Suarez go respect this kin ting ooo! Any way, I jus read am.

We are not ready we want short cuts. we want Dele Alli to suddenly leave England and come and play for Nigeria and busy checking ancestry.com to find which LGA Mbappe is from. :big grin: :big grin: :big grin:

Serioulsy read about the hardwork Uruguay have put in, apart from greed and corruption the economic and social conditions of Nigeria would make an approach like this very challenging.

Uruguay: Soccer’s Dead Poets Society
Óscar Tabárez, the man they call Maestro, has found World Cup success by running his team like a boarding school

https://www.wsj.com/articles/uruguay-so ... 1530264601

Sochi, Russia

In the 150 years since soccer was invented on the muddy playing fields of English boarding schools, the sport has changed so much that it would be almost unrecognizable to the blue-blooded boys who kicked around a heavy leather ball.

But it hasn’t changed completely.

Because in a small outpost on the Volga River, a gray-haired 71-year-old who walks with a cane, the man they call Maestro, is still educating young men to carry themselves with character—and win World Cup games.

His name is Óscar Tabárez. And in 12 years in charge of Uruguay’s national team, he has helped turn a country of 3.5 million into the best pound-for-pound team in world soccer by treating his players as if he were a housemaster at Eton or Harrow.
.....

I thought the same thing myself the article itself touches on this

Like every teacher, the Maestro knows that some lessons go in one ear and out the other. During his time in charge, he has overseen striker Luis Suárez commit a deliberate handball in the 2010 World Cup finals and bite an opponent at the 2014 World Cup, for which he was suspended from all soccer for four months. His team has also racked up eight red cards at tournaments, plus countless yellows, including a whopping 18 in six games at the 2011 Copa America, since he took over in 2006.

Still, Uruguay captain Diego Godin said Tabárez continues to tell players how disappointed he is with them, even when they are sent off while playing for their clubs. And Suárez credits the Maestro’s exhortations with turning him into a reformed character

How reformed he is is a matter of opinion. Having said that no system is perfect and despite his flaws as a human, Suarez is a good (i just can't bring myself to say great) player and they would have found a way to fit him in.

I actually think even that would not have been that much of a compromise. It was reported for instance he has happily gone along with the room share, sharing his room with Cavani who he grew up, and played with as a kid.

He's a dirty player but I don't think Suarez the reputation for being difficult or failing to play to instruction.

[camex]

We are not ready we want short cuts. we want Dele Alli to suddenly leave England and come and play for Nigeria and busy checking ancestry.com to find which LGA Mbappe is from.

Serioulsy read about the hardwork Uruguay have put in, apart from greed and corruption the economic and social conditions of Nigeria would make an approach like this very challenging.

Uruguay: Soccer’s Dead Poets Society
Óscar Tabárez, the man they call Maestro, has found World Cup success by running his team like a boarding school

https://www.wsj.com/articles/uruguay-so ... 1530264601

Sochi, Russia

In the 150 years since soccer was invented on the muddy playing fields of English boarding schools, the sport has changed so much that it would be almost unrecognizable to the blue-blooded boys who kicked around a heavy leather ball.

But it hasn’t changed completely.

Because in a small outpost on the Volga River, a gray-haired 71-year-old who walks with a cane, the man they call Maestro, is still educating young men to carry themselves with character—and win World Cup games.

His name is Óscar Tabárez. And in 12 years in charge of Uruguay’s national team, he has helped turn a country of 3.5 million into the best pound-for-pound team in world soccer by treating his players as if he were a housemaster at Eton or Harrow.

Just as any British boarding school, Tabárez has long said his primary goal was to mold well-rounded men. He imparts lessons about respect, decency, and the importance of good manners. At Tabárez’s request, Uruguay might be the only team in Russia to have its squad of millionaires share bedrooms for the duration of the tournament. And they drink tea constantly.

“He would always say that being a football player is a profession but it is the way you behave as a human being that is important,” said Diego Forlán, a former Uruguay captain under Tabárez. “You can be a talented player, but if you don’t behave well, it’s going to reflect badly on you and your teams.”

Nothing reflected worse on the team than its record in the years before Tabárez took over in 2006. Though Uruguay won World Cups in 1930 and 1950, when squads were still traveling to the tournament by boat, the modern era had been less kind to them. The team hadn’t been near a World Cup semifinal since 1970. And it missed the 2006 tournament entirely. Worse still, Uruguay had earned a reputation as playground bullies with their reckless and physical play.

When Tabárez was called in to fix it, he immediately identified the problem. Uruguay had talented players, but lacked the structure to turn them into upstanding citizens. He drew up a plan to revamp the training of the national teams, a dossier known by the catchy title, “Project for Institutionalizing the Processes of the National Teams and the Training of Their Soccer Players.”

The document wasn’t so much a tactical or technical treatise as a charter for his program. “A young talent should train and prepare for life’s challenges,” Tabárez wrote. “The young person must study, we shouldn’t obstruct that, we should favor it, it increases their sporting potential.”

Other managers at the World Cup simply coach the senior squad. But Tabárez became the dean of the entire men’s national program, from the Under-15s to the team that travels to the World Cup. Every member of those squads would come to train under Tabárez at the national training center, where he could shape their development as players and as people.

First, the setting had to be right. The Celeste Complex outside Montevideo needed to foster a sense of heritage—and, unlike Eton, Tabárez didn’t have a long line of British prime ministers to point to. So he started by commissioning a giant Uruguayan crest for the lobby. He decorated the walls with black-and-white photos of players who had fought for the team’s colors before. And outside, he ordered the federation to install a fogón, a traditional Uruguayan grill that doubled as a campfire, where he could sit with the players and tell stories at night.

Tabárez’s professorial air is no coincidence. Before he went into management full time, he was an elementary-school teacher. To this day, he likes to educate his players on history, geography, the arts, and anything else he happens to find interesting in the moment. This too is part of the Tabárez curriculum.

“One time we played in Japan and we were talking about how we were surprised by the culture,” said Forlán, an analyst for Telemundo Deportes at the World Cup. “So after dinner, the Maestro got the lads together and we listened to him talk about Japan, its history, everything that has happened in the country. He is a very knowledgeable man.”

Tabárez organizes trips for young players to attend museums and the theater. He engages his players on subjects as diverse as classical music and botany. “What Tabárez knows about plants is tremendous,” Claudio Pagani, who runs Uruguay’s national training complex, has said.

Tabárez is also a stickler for good manners. Many a Uruguayan star has run afoul of his no-muddy shoes rule. And there are strict rules about not leaving plates on the table or putting feet up on chairs. The use of cellphones is prohibited at breakfast, lunch, and during team talks or meetings.

Tabárez wants the players to talk to each other, even if it’s only hello.

“When the kids arrive from the U-15, we say that here are two things that can’t be missed: The way you greet people when you arrive and how you interact with the people who work here,” he said in a new book, “Maestro: The Legacy of Tabárez” by Luis Eduardo Inzaurralde and Jorce Señorans. “It doesn’t matter if you don’t know them, it is a sign of coexistence and respect.”

That also extends to the field. Before Uruguay competes in any tournament at senior or youth level, Tabárez lectures the team on what behavior is expected of them. His message is always the same: No fouls, no bad conduct, and whatever happens, no back talk to the referees.

Like every teacher, the Maestro knows that some lessons go in one ear and out the other. During his time in charge, he has overseen striker Luis Suárez commit a deliberate handball in the 2010 World Cup finals and bite an opponent at the 2014 World Cup, for which he was suspended from all soccer for four months. His team has also racked up eight red cards at tournaments, plus countless yellows, including a whopping 18 in six games at the 2011 Copa America, since he took over in 2006.

Still, Uruguay captain Diego Godin said Tabárez continues to tell players how disappointed he is with them, even when they are sent off while playing for their clubs. And Suárez credits the Maestro’s exhortations with turning him into a reformed character.

No matter what happens to this team at this World Cup, Tabárez’s mission to educate Uruguayan players on matters away from the field will continue. He is considering making English lessons available for all youth-team members and providing them with counseling that covers basic contract law to help them navigate the world of professional soccer.

Above all, he wants to keep them in Uruguay for as long as possible, where they can graduate from the Maestro’s school for upstanding soccer players.

“It is as I say to the players of the National Team,” Tabárez said. “You can make good contracts in clubs, gain prestige, but there are some things you can only get playing for Uruguay.”

Very good model. Stability helps for sure.

[naijaspurs2018]

When we tell some CEs, Rome was not built in a day, they don't accept.
A lot of the Uruguayan players are attending their 3rd WC I.e. Suarez, Cavani, Godin, Rodriguez, Caxares, Muslera and reached the SF in 2010, played 2 Copa America and won one, played in 2013 Confederations Cup. That is 6 major competitions over the past 8 years, contrast that to Nigeria that has 17 of it's 23 man squad attending their first senior competition.
The difference is clear, you can't buy experience in the market.

Chief Dammy sef. You guys are hilarious.

Your coach gave you guys a built-in excuse of using the ULTIMATE football competition to build for the next world cup yet he took some older players who didn't give you anything in this world cup or the one he was building for.

Uruguay rewarded their coach for good performance hence why he is still there 10 years after. If he had failed, they won't have rewarded him with contract extension to supervise the Forlan/Cavani/Suarez generation. In his initial go around with the team, he was FIRED for failing. But when he was given the job the second time around, he succeeded hence he why he is still there.

But you guys want to extend the contract of a coach who failed. He would have had a solid argument to be retained if we went out like Senegal, via technicality.

This!

[folem]

When we tell some CEs, Rome was not built in a day, they don't accept.
A lot of the Uruguayan players are attending their 3rd WC I.e. Suarez, Cavani, Godin, Rodriguez, Caxares, Muslera and reached the SF in 2010, played 2 Copa America and won one, played in 2013 Confederations Cup. That is 6 major competitions over the past 8 years, contrast that to Nigeria that has 17 of it's 23 man squad attending their first senior competition.
The difference is clear, you can't buy experience in the market.

Chief Dammy sef. You guys are hilarious.

Your coach gave you guys a built-in excuse of using the ULTIMATE football competition to build for the next world cup yet he took some older players who didn't give you anything in this world cup or the one he was building for.

Uruguay rewarded their coach for good performance hence why he is still there 10 years after. If he had failed, they won't have rewarded him with contract extension to supervise the Forlan/Cavani/Suarez generation. In his initial go around with the team, he was FIRED for failing. But when he was given the job the second time around, he succeeded hence he why he is still there.

But you guys want to extend the contract of a coach who failed. He would have had a solid argument to be retained if we went out like Senegal, via technicality.

Is Tabarez record better than Rohr record after 2 years at the helm?

[chief nfachairman]

When we tell some CEs, Rome was not built in a day, they don't accept.
A lot of the Uruguayan players are attending their 3rd WC I.e. Suarez, Cavani, Godin, Rodriguez, Caxares, Muslera and reached the SF in 2010, played 2 Copa America and won one, played in 2013 Confederations Cup. That is 6 major competitions over the past 8 years, contrast that to Nigeria that has 17 of it's 23 man squad attending their first senior competition.
The difference is clear, you can't buy experience in the market.

By 2022, these guys would be playing their 2nd or 3rd worldcups and would be very experienced (real age or no real age) and probably playing at their highest pek.

Shehu Abdullahi, Leon Balogun, Kenneth Omeruo(3),Bryan Idowu,Chidozie Awaziem,Mikel Obi(4),Ogenyi Onazi(3),Wilfred Ndidi,Oghenekaro Etebo, Joel Obi,Ahmed Musa (3),Simeon Nwankwo, Victor Moses (3)

These guys would have played 2 world cups and still be young (28 and below).
Francis Uzoho,William Troost-Ekong,Tyronne Ebuehi, Alex Iwobi.

Hopefully, they all stay consistent till then.

[King Futcha]

There is a lot more to the Uruguayan system than keeping the same manager for 12 yrs. They have solid football structures and a well organzed league. Look at El Matador’s two goals. He learned that technique early in his career

their league is not well organized but i agree with the rest.

[Enugu II]

When we tell some CEs, Rome was not built in a day, they don't accept.
A lot of the Uruguayan players are attending their 3rd WC I.e. Suarez, Cavani, Godin, Rodriguez, Caxares, Muslera and reached the SF in 2010, played 2 Copa America and won one, played in 2013 Confederations Cup. That is 6 major competitions over the past 8 years, contrast that to Nigeria that has 17 of it's 23 man squad attending their first senior competition.
The difference is clear, you can't buy experience in the market.

By 2022, these guys would be playing their 2nd or 3rd worldcups and would be very experienced (real age or no real age) and probably playing at their highest pek.

Shehu Abdullahi, Leon Balogun, Kenneth Omeruo(3),Bryan Idowu,Chidozie Awaziem,Mikel Obi(4),Ogenyi Onazi(3),Wilfred Ndidi,Oghenekaro Etebo, Joel Obi,Ahmed Musa (3),Simeon Nwankwo, Victor Moses (3)

These guys would have played 2 world cups and still be young (28 and below).
Francis Uzoho,William Troost-Ekong,Tyronne Ebuehi, Alex Iwobi.

Hopefully, they all stay consistent till then.

It depends.....if there is a coaching change, the new coach may think differently about those players.

[camex]

I just thought one can not dissociate sports from the rest of society. They had a president Mujica, often cited as the world best president. Very humble guy. When such a guy is president, he chooses people like him and it trickle down.

[Coach]

How can Ogas and Igwes, Ogbuefis and Okesisi 1s be asked to share rooms. Abomination.

[chief nfachairman]

When we tell some CEs, Rome was not built in a day, they don't accept.
A lot of the Uruguayan players are attending their 3rd WC I.e. Suarez, Cavani, Godin, Rodriguez, Caxares, Muslera and reached the SF in 2010, played 2 Copa America and won one, played in 2013 Confederations Cup. That is 6 major competitions over the past 8 years, contrast that to Nigeria that has 17 of it's 23 man squad attending their first senior competition.
The difference is clear, you can't buy experience in the market.

By 2022, these guys would be playing their 2nd or 3rd worldcups and would be very experienced (real age or no real age) and probably playing at their highest pek.

Shehu Abdullahi, Leon Balogun, Kenneth Omeruo(3),Bryan Idowu,Chidozie Awaziem,Mikel Obi(4),Ogenyi Onazi(3),Wilfred Ndidi,Oghenekaro Etebo, Joel Obi,Ahmed Musa (3),Simeon Nwankwo, Victor Moses (3)

These guys would have played 2 world cups and still be young (28 and below).
Francis Uzoho,William Troost-Ekong,Tyronne Ebuehi, Alex Iwobi.

Hopefully, they all stay consistent till then.

It depends.....if there is a coaching change, the new coach may think differently about those players.

And thats why we need consistency in our coach. Secondly, this coach has proven to put fire on the players and gets them playing to their potential. She how wanting to make it to the WC made Naija players look for playing time in the beginning of last season and mid-season.

finally, for any coach to consider this guys, they must be playing day in, day out for the next 4yrs.

But from the first set of 13, i see 9 making it eventually and from the set of 4, i see 3 making it. So by 2022, lets hope atleast 13 return to the WC.

[Enugu II]

When we tell some CEs, Rome was not built in a day, they don't accept.
A lot of the Uruguayan players are attending their 3rd WC I.e. Suarez, Cavani, Godin, Rodriguez, Caxares, Muslera and reached the SF in 2010, played 2 Copa America and won one, played in 2013 Confederations Cup. That is 6 major competitions over the past 8 years, contrast that to Nigeria that has 17 of it's 23 man squad attending their first senior competition.
The difference is clear, you can't buy experience in the market.

By 2022, these guys would be playing their 2nd or 3rd worldcups and would be very experienced (real age or no real age) and probably playing at their highest pek.

Shehu Abdullahi, Leon Balogun, Kenneth Omeruo(3),Bryan Idowu,Chidozie Awaziem,Mikel Obi(4),Ogenyi Onazi(3),Wilfred Ndidi,Oghenekaro Etebo, Joel Obi,Ahmed Musa (3),Simeon Nwankwo, Victor Moses (3)

These guys would have played 2 world cups and still be young (28 and below).
Francis Uzoho,William Troost-Ekong,Tyronne Ebuehi, Alex Iwobi.

Hopefully, they all stay consistent till then.

It depends.....if there is a coaching change, the new coach may think differently about those players.

And thats why we need consistency in our coach. Secondly, this coach has proven to put fire on the players and gets them playing to their potential. She how wanting to make it to the WC made Naija players look for playing time in the beginning of last season and mid-season.

finally, for any coach to consider this guys, they must be playing day in, day out for the next 4yrs.

But from the first set of 13, i see 9 making it eventually and from the set of 4, i see 3 making it. So by 2022, lets hope atleast 13 return to the WC.

Nfachairman,

I hope you know understand the relationship between the coach and the team building. Thus, that assumption that the reason why we do not have most of our 2014 World Cup team in the 2018 version may not be about age after all. It may well be about the coaching change. So when we use age cheating to explain everything about Nigerian football we must be cautious and think deeply about contexts and possibilities of effects of other variables.

[1naija]

The same people wanting a coach fired for not leading a group of "average" players in their opinions past a team of their superstars idols to the round of 16 want a 10 years plan that has only resulted in a copa America title? You guys are really funny.

[chief nfachairman]

When we tell some CEs, Rome was not built in a day, they don't accept.
A lot of the Uruguayan players are attending their 3rd WC I.e. Suarez, Cavani, Godin, Rodriguez, Caxares, Muslera and reached the SF in 2010, played 2 Copa America and won one, played in 2013 Confederations Cup. That is 6 major competitions over the past 8 years, contrast that to Nigeria that has 17 of it's 23 man squad attending their first senior competition.
The difference is clear, you can't buy experience in the market.

By 2022, these guys would be playing their 2nd or 3rd worldcups and would be very experienced (real age or no real age) and probably playing at their highest pek.

Shehu Abdullahi, Leon Balogun, Kenneth Omeruo(3),Bryan Idowu,Chidozie Awaziem,Mikel Obi(4),Ogenyi Onazi(3),Wilfred Ndidi,Oghenekaro Etebo, Joel Obi,Ahmed Musa (3),Simeon Nwankwo, Victor Moses (3)

These guys would have played 2 world cups and still be young (28 and below).
Francis Uzoho,William Troost-Ekong,Tyronne Ebuehi, Alex Iwobi.

Hopefully, they all stay consistent till then.

It depends.....if there is a coaching change, the new coach may think differently about those players.

And thats why we need consistency in our coach. Secondly, this coach has proven to put fire on the players and gets them playing to their potential. She how wanting to make it to the WC made Naija players look for playing time in the beginning of last season and mid-season.

finally, for any coach to consider this guys, they must be playing day in, day out for the next 4yrs.

But from the first set of 13, i see 9 making it eventually and from the set of 4, i see 3 making it. So by 2022, lets hope atleast 13 return to the WC.

Nfachairman,

I hope you know understand the relationship between the coach and the team building. Thus, that assumption that the reason why we do not have most of our 2014 World Cup team in the 2018 version may not be about age after all. It may well be about the coaching change. So when we use age cheating to explain everything about Nigerian football we must be cautious and think deeply about contexts and possibilities of effects of other variables.

I understand. But if it was Keshi still handling this team, i doubt he would have had more than 4 of the 2014 players in his team. Oshinawa, Emenike, Oboaobona and co have all entered Ghost mode.