Boys to men

I had arrived in Morocco on Tuesday morning on a high wave of confidence, just as the players and officials and indeed, all football-loving Nigerians. The Eaglets had started the 10th CAF U-17 finals pretty well with a 6-1 hounding of Ghana, which compared to their 8-0 mauling of Eritrea at the finals in Togo […]

I had arrived in Morocco on Tuesday morning on a high wave of confidence, just as the players and officials and indeed, all football-loving Nigerians. The Eaglets had started the 10th CAF U-17 finals pretty well with a 6-1 hounding of Ghana, which compared to their 8-0 mauling of Eritrea at the finals in Togo in 2007.
Of course, the Golden Eaglets under Manu Garba have given all of us every reason to be on a high wave of confidence. Before their match with Cote d’Ivoire U-17 boys in Marrakech on Wednesday, they had played a total of 28 matches or so, and did not lose any. Their worst results had been draws, and those were friendly matches. I remember how the team trounced visiting U-17 team of Rwanda in a friendly encounter last year, and how it scored 12 goals in two friendly matches against the U-17 boys of Botswana in Calabar early March.
I also remember very well how the boys had demolished opposition from Niger, Guinea and Mali, home and away. Their game had brought a fresh vista to Nigeria football and with the Super Eagles winning the Africa Cup of Nations in South Africa in February, we have all been looking forward to the Eaglets to continue the good run for Nigeria football in the immediate and foresee-able future.
I was full of high expectations when I arrived in Marrakech. In the evening of Tuesday, I met with the players and officials and commended them for a good outing against Ghana’s Black Stars.
No one thought the match against the Ivorians would be any much different. For me, and for most historians, Ghana have a much higher pedigree and reputation at youth football level than Cote d’Ivoire. Of course, we all know about the praiseworthy youth development programme of the Ivorians, at the Sol Beni camp. But at international level, the team does not in anyway compare with Nigeria and Ghana.
Nigeria have won the African U-17 title twice, just as Ghana. Nigeria have won the FIFA U-17 World Cup thrice, while Ghana have won twice.
The Ivorians have no story to tell in this sector, aside third-place finish in The Gambia in 2005 and fourth-place finish in Rwanda in 2011.
Although Nigeria had been absent from the past two editions pre-Morocco (Algeria 2009 and Rwanda 2011), the NFF had no doubt that the team put together by the Manu Garba-led technical crew and backroom staff was worth waiting for. Their performances all over had been quite encouraging and impressive, and we have all been delighted.
However, the team had never lost a match and that kept me worried (though I did not mention it to anyone) as the team flew to this competition. I kept hoping that their first loss would not come at this tournament, but in a friendly. However, it had to come and it has come, unexpectedly, at this tournament.
Someone once said that greatness is never achieved by never falling, but by rising each time you fall. On Wednesday night, as some of the boys burst out crying, I told them that was not the spirit. The spirit is to now know that you are no longer boys (only boys experience everything smooth and bright and beautiful), but men. To become a man, someone said, is not a day’s job.
What is actually meant is that to become a man comes with overcoming several challenges, hurdles and obstacles, and climbing several mountains. The boys have lost a match, so they know they can be beaten, and that guides their gameplan henceforth.
The confidence that came with humiliating the Black Starlets was apparently, overbearing. That was why they approached the match against Ivorians so casually, so lethargically. It was inevitable that something had to give. And right on the dot of time, the Ivorians got their lucky break and made hay.
Now, the way forward is to deal decisively with the Congo Brazzaville team appropriately today, also in Marrakech. It is the only route to the semi finals. We would not have the benefit of knowing what would happen in the other match before playing – both matches would come up simultaneously.
While Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire are playing in Casablanca, we would take on Congo in Marrakech. It is a must-win. This is the time to separate the boys from the men. This is the time to put into action all that the boys have learnt over the past year or so, and make Nigeria proud.
With the Ivorians on top of the group and the Eaglets second, it means that a win would take us to the top, should the Ivorians falter.
Should Ghana beat Cote d’Ivoire, Nigeria would go top of the group with victory over Congo.
We would also qualify if Ghana beat Cote d’Ivoire and we draw against Congo. Should Cote d’Ivoire beat Ghana, we would still qualify if we draw against Congo. In other words, we would qualify with a draw either way.
If both teams play a draw (CIV – 5 points), we would also qualify with a draw as second best team, since Congo will end up with only three points an we would have four.
However, what we want is to top the group, and that means going all out to defeat the Congolese, while hoping that Ghana either stops the Ivorians or both teams finish on a draw.
NEXT WEEK: The CAF U-17 Championship finals