Familiar mistakes condemn Nigeria to defeat against Spain

[Bell]

As I said the truth is painful, whether I am an African or not is irrelevant football is a wonderful game because it tends to mimic life! African Football Federations are rife with corruption, disorganization, and incompetency, players are not selected on merit and those that represent African nations don’t have the discipline, mental acumen to win. The fact is that Nigeria has regressed since its maiden appearance in the 1994 World Cup except for your wins in the Olympics in 1996 and AFCON 2013 can anyone truthfully say that Nigerian football has progressed. As I said, football is an amazing game because it is a reflection of your society. Just read how Nigeria’s best sprinter in 100 meters was not enrolled for the Olympics in Paris because someone forgot to send in the necessary paperwork if this doesn’t convince you as to how rotten and ridiculous the system is then I don’t know what will….change can only come from inner reflection and acknowledging that change comes from within and not by chastising those that tell the harsh truth!

FOR SURE...no one can argue against your valid observations. They've been repeated ad nauseam in this forum even if the words and tone may have been different.
Bell

Bell, sometimes “truths” can be one-sided. We played in the finals of the last AFCON. That is not a sign of regression. True, we haven’t lived up to our own expectations but to say that we have regressed is just blatant hysteria


Cheers.

tonythetigerkiller...that's a fact worth noting as well.
Bell

[Gotti]

As I said the truth is painful, whether I am an African or not is irrelevant football is a wonderful game because it tends to mimic life! African Football Federations are rife with corruption, disorganization, and incompetency, players are not selected on merit and those that represent African nations don’t have the discipline, mental acumen to win. The fact is that Nigeria has regressed since its maiden appearance in the 1994 World Cup except for your wins in the Olympics in 1996 and AFCON 2013 can anyone truthfully say that Nigerian football has progressed. As I said, football is an amazing game because it is a reflection of your society. Just read how Nigeria’s best sprinter in 100 meters was not enrolled for the Olympics in Paris because someone forgot to send in the necessary paperwork if this doesn’t convince you as to how rotten and ridiculous the system is then I don’t know what will….change can only come from inner reflection and acknowledging that change comes from within and not by chastising those that tell the harsh truth!

With all due respect, as I don't want to this to come across as an ad hominem personal attack but since you raised it, it's actually very "relevant" that come across as a self-hating African/Nigeria with incredibly low self-esteem. If football does indeed "mimic life" (a debatable proposition, but one that's arguably correct in several respects), then it's not just footballers "that represent African nations" but also folks like YOU who "don’t have the discipline, mental acumen to win" in life!

Introspection is only a good thing if you have the tools for it, and not just parroting racist drivel. Cheers.

[Gotti]

It is unfortunate that some people, in the face of a superior argument, just choose to double down on their untenable position. What does the incompetence of sports organizations in Africa have to do with your contention that African players are mentally weak and tactically undisciplined? Does that apply to Victor Osimhen, Ademola Lookman, Victor Boniface, Yemi Tella, Kelechi Iheanacho, Wilfred Ndidi and a host of others who have won championships in the best leagues in the world, some of them multiple times? How does the incompetence of the Athletic Federation of Nigeria diminish the accomplishment of individual athletes like Tobi Amusan, Ese Brume and Favour Ofili? You’ve deliberately shifted your argument to something entirely different just to support your erroneous narrative. You ought to learn to not allow yourself to get carried away by your emotions

Some of you need to figure out what to respond to rather than giving oxygen to this dude's tripe stereotypical racist drivel (and I know that he'll think because he's African/Nigerian his drivel cannot possibly be racist).

When you go from selling 'pure water' satchels in Lagos traffic to Serie A top-scorer and African Player of the Year, even the mere suggestion "don’t have the discipline, mental acumen to win" just comes across as vacuous and obtuse. Pretty much the same thing could be said for someone like Boniface (who left home as a teenager, suffered a career-threatening injury early on in Europe and persisted to the point of winning Bundesliga Rookie of the Year), and frankly the scores of Nigerian/African football players across the globe and even in Nigeria/Africa itself!

Beware of the dangers of the single narrative! Unpardonable that some DOLT screwed up the submission of Ofili's name. But how exactly did Ofili get from some kid in Delta State to the Paris Olympics?! Wasn't it same Nigerian sports authorities that organized the National Youth Games, National Sports Festival, sponsored U18 and U20 teams to the African Youth Championships, World U20 and Youth Olympics, which provided platforms for Ofili and athletes like her (many of whom were born into deprivation and poverty) - not to mention the supporting schools with extremely lean resources?

Not just Africans/Nigerians, but frankly ALL humans, should always strive for improvement (personal and institutional), but perfection should NEVER be the enemy of the otherwise good. The AFN has MORE good than harm.

[packerland]

To be fair, good teams make you make mistakes. I saw it at the Euros and now in the Olympics. Colombia were a minutes away from eliminating world champs, Spain and they let it slip. If it was an African team, we will be saying they have low IQ.

[TonyTheTigerKiller]

Beware of the dangers of the single narrative! Unpardonable that some DOLT screwed up the submission of Ofili's name. But how exactly did Ofili get from some kid in Delta State to the Paris Olympics?! Wasn't it same Nigerian sports authorities that organized the National Youth Games, National Sports Festival, sponsored U18 and U20 teams to the African Youth Championships, World U20 and Youth Olympics, which provided platforms for Ofili and athletes like her (many of whom were born into deprivation and poverty) - not to mention the supporting schools with extremely lean resources?

Not just Africans/Nigerians, but frankly ALL humans, should always strive for improvement (personal and institutional), but perfection should NEVER be the enemy of the otherwise good. The AFN has MORE good than harm.

I am magnanimous enough to overlook certain kinds of inefficiencies in our sports administration but glaring malfunctions such as the Ofili incident are, by no means, isolated. One such episode at the previous Olympic Games in Tokyo, quite apart from the national embarrassment it caused when athletes publicly protested the administrative oversight by the AFN which led to the AIU ruling that 10 Nigerian athletes were ineligible to compete, is directly responsible for Annette Echikunwoke winning America’s first medal, instead of Nigeria’s first, in the women’s Hammer Throw… and what about our top athletes like Francis Obikwelu and Gloria Alozie, who jumped ship allegedly due to maltreatment by the AFN? I need more than the ten fingers on my two hands to count the number of times the likes of Okagbare have complained publicly about the shortcomings of the AFN. Incidents like these tend to have an adverse affect on the development and progress of our athletes. They, most certainly, shouldn’t be overlooked under any circumstances


Cheers.

[TonyTheTigerKiller]

But how exactly did Ofili get from some kid in Delta State to the Paris Olympics?!

Gotti, on another note, I haven’t been able to find any concrete evidence that Favour Ofili is from Delta so, I am inclined to believe its just a convenient assumption; unless you know for a fact,

I recall that back in the days, there was a Peter Ofili, aka Horsepower, who excelled at the 100 and 200 meter sprints at CKC. He was from Onitsha. I believe it was the same Peter Ofili who ended up at Edo College in the early 70s, helping them dominate the relays throughout that period. Is it possible that Favour might be a relative


Cheers.