Eagles star, Yakubu Alfa speaks on Egypt 2009 experience

You were a fantastic player representing Nigeria at the Korea U-17 World Cup,how would you rate your performance in this tournament? Personally, what happened in Korea 2007 is not what I am seeing here. We prepared together for years in the U-17 team but this time around we only trained together for like a month […]

You were a fantastic player representing Nigeria at the Korea U-17 World Cup,how would you rate your performance in this tournament?

Personally, what happened in Korea 2007 is not what I am seeing here. We prepared together for years in the U-17 team but this time around we only trained together for like a month and two weeks. Personally too I am not too impressed with my performance. I was substituted in the early minutes of the first game.not because I was not actually playing well, but we had a man sent-off and I had to be removed for tactical reasons by the coaches because they needed to change the formation of play not to reduce the pressure against ten men that that we had. I was on the bench throughout the second match against Spain and I believe actually that that was how God wanted it. I am not blaming the coaches for not featuring me, they may have their tactical game plan or their reasons for benching me, but being a player, you always want to play everyday.

Many have actually faulted the preparation of this team for this tournament. A lot of people believe that what we are seeing now is as a result of poor preparations.

Well, I wouldn’t want to say anything about that. It is not my business to comment about that. I am only a player. My own business is to go unto the pitch to follow instructions and play football. The issue of preparation does not concern me and I think the coaches and the NFF would be in a better situation to answer that.

What do you think should be done now?

What we need do now is to go back to the drawing board and work on our lapses and work more in front of goals. The coaches have been working on that. The training session this morning was impressive. We practised about shooting and scoring goals, creating chances to score. I actually feel a lot of pity for the coach because this is somebody who has worked so hard, dealing with us like a friend and a father. He is so supportive. He advises us and makes sure we get everything that will make us to succeed. He has always been there for us and seeing him go through all this type of results is most unfortunate. There is nothing we can do about this because he himself said it has happened already.We all shall share the blames. Everyone has his own lapses.

Are there any players absent from this tournament that you feel their presence could have made a difference for you guys?

 Not at all!. In football, soldier comes soldier goes. You can be there today and another person will be there tomorrow. Even though you’re not there life still goes on. With or without me the Flying Eagles will still remain. With Lukman Haruna or no Lukman Haruna, the team will still continue to exist!.The issue of any player being missed is not and issue. with or without any player, whatever will happen will happen. What we need to do is just to work hard and see what happens in the next game.

What has actually been happening to your career, after the korea 2007 World Cup, a lot of people expected that you move unto a bigger team than your present club, Helsinburg of Sweden.

Yeah,i actually moved to a team where people think is not as big as they think but Helsinburg of sweden is where God has ordained me to be at least for now.sooner than people expect i believe i shall be moving on to a bigger team.that move i want to keep secret for now.