Nigeria football will bounce back (1)
I do not intend to divulge my response to that eminent forum here, but I want to state categorically that I have faith in the ability of Nigeria football to rise quickly from the recent disappointments of the Super Eagles and the Super Falcons and head back to the top. Sometimes in football, you get […]
I do not intend to divulge my response to that eminent forum here, but I want to state categorically that I have faith in the ability of Nigeria football to rise quickly from the recent disappointments of the Super Eagles and the Super Falcons and head back to the top.
Sometimes in football, you get results you do not expect, do not bargain and do not deserve. I still cannot get over the fact that the Super Eagles could not beat Guinea’s Syli Nationale here on October 8 (meaning our dear country would not be at the 2012 African Cup of Nations) and that the Falcons failed to capitalize on at least THREE clear opportunities within the first 25 minutes of their match against Cameroon in Yaounde on October 22, and would then go on to lose the encounter on penalties.
It is indeed a dark period for our football, but certainly, we have been through this kind of poor patch before and certainly, there is NO country in the world that has experienced only sunshine in its football history.
It is important to point out that the plethora of international competitions/tournaments, meaning greater focus day-by-day, now expose countries to quick, uneven and unfair judgements on the field of play. I dare say that had we the Senior and Junior Women’s Teams in the 1970s and 1980s, the disappointments that came in those periods would have been more devastating.
The last time that Nigeria failed to qualify for the African Cup of Nations was 1985, when Zambia won a two-leg fixture 1-0 in Zambia after both teams played out a 0-0 draw in Lagos. Few people remember that the defeat by Zambia came shortly after the Green Eagles had lost out to Tunisia in the qualifying series for the Mexico 1986 FIFA World Cup finals.
We had won the first leg against Tunisia 1-0 in Lagos on July 6, 1985 but in the second leg in Tunis a fortnight later, the Eagles were on the backfoot after only 30 minutes as Tunisia raided the goal-area of Peter Rufai ceaselessly. Thanks to Peter Rufai, the scoreline was not bigger than 2-0, but enough to eliminate Nigeria from the race.
In that match in Tunis, we lost despite the presence of the likes of John Chidozie and Richard Owubokiri – two professionals ‘imported’ from abroad – and several of our ‘reliables’, people who would hardly fail, such as Rashidi Yekini, Humphrey Edobor, Yisa Sofoluwe, Sylvanus Okpala, Mudashiru Lawal (of blessed memory), Okey Isima and Peter Rufai himself.
After that match in Tunis, everyone looked up to the Cup of Nations qualifier against Zambia (only three weeks after) for something to smile about.
It never came. On August 10, 1985, the Green Eagles could only finish 0-0 against the Zambians at the National Stadium, Lagos. Several new players were brought into the team but that did not work any magic. A fortnight later in Lusaka, we lost 0-1 and failed to qualify for the African Cup of Nations staged in Egypt.
However, two years later, with more new players brought into the team and a new Head Coach, Nigeria qualified for the African Cup of Nations in Morocco.
At the beginning of the year 1988, the Eagles nailed Algeria 2-1 on aggregate to qualify for the 1988 Seoul Olympic Games. In Morocco, the Super Eagles went all the way to the final and would have lifted the trophy if there was fairer officiating. I am sure those who are old enough remember the controversy that, for years after, trailed Mauritanian referee Idrissa Sarr’s nullification of a superb goal by Henry Nwosu.
Two years later, we were again in the final of the African Cup of Nations in Algeria, and won bronze at the next edition of the championship in Senegal. In 1994, the Super Eagles went all the way, lifting the trophy after coming from behind to defeat Zambia 2-1 in the final in Tunis.
Certainly, poor results are undesirable and surely not easily forgetable when they come one after the other. But the October To Forget is easing out and the Nigeria Football Federation is already working hard to ensure that November and indeed the months that follow come with sunshine and delight.
The appointment of a Technical Director will definitely power a lot of the developmental programmes that are on the burner at the moment, and he will work assiduously with the Head Coaches of the National Teams to design a Plan Of Action for every football match, every football tournament, whether friendly, invitational or competitive.
Our strategy now is to approach every football match involving any of the National Teams (and indeed any of our Clubs playing in the continent) as if it were the FIFA World Cup competition.
Several other countries of the world have been through this lane before. I remember that Ghana’s Black Stars won the 1982 African Cup of Nations in Libya, but two years later, it fared badly at the 1984 finals in Cote d’Ivoire, unable to recover from a first match defeat by Nigeria. The Black Stars failed to qualify for the 1986 and 1988 African Cup of Nations in succession, and then had to look inwards.
The same team qualified for the 1992 finals in Senegal and only lost the final to Cote d’Ivoire on penalties, perhaps done in by the suspension of Abedi Pele from the final match after a yellow card against Nigeria in the semi finals. Today, Ghana is one of the leading lights of African football having reached the quarter finals of the FIFA World Cup (South Africa 2010) and qualified for the 2012 African Cup of Nations.
Cameroon has also gone this route before. The country won the 1984 and 1988 African Cup of Nations but then fared badly at the 1990 finals in Algeriam before going on to reach the quarter finals of the FIFA World Cup in Italy the same year. The Indomitable Lions lost the bronze medal match of the 1992 Cup of Nations to Nigeria and did not even make it to Tunisia 1994. The Lions were woeful at the 2002 FIFA World Cup finals in Korea/Japan, did not even qualify for the 2004 Cup of Nations in Tunisia and then lost out to Togo in the qualifying series for the 2006 FIFA World Cup.
A Nigerian sage once insisted that greatness is never achieved by never falling, but by rising each time you fall. Falls enable you to re-appraise your strategies and tactics and ultimately, lead to much-improved results in the near future.
In November 1977, the Green Eagles lost painfully to Tunisia right here in Nigeria, thereby failing to qualify for the 1978 FIFA World Cup in Argentina. Barely two years later, the bulk of the team won Nigeria’s first African Cup of Nations trophy on home soil.
The U-17 National Team, Golden Eaglets failed to qualify for the 2009 FIFA U-17 World Cup finals, despite Nigeria being the Cup holders. The Eaglets lost out to Benin Republic after a 3-0 pounding in Cotonou proved sueprior to a 2-0 home-leg advantage. But the team was able to take part in the finals because Nigeria was the host nation, and eventually reached the tournament Final, before losing to Switzerland.
I also remember that France failed to qualify for the 1994 FIFA World Cup in the United States of America, after losing their final qualifier to Bulgaria at the Parc de Princes. Hristo Stoichkov and company flew to America instead. But four years later, as hosts, France had put its acts together and won the World Cup for the first time, lashing ‘almighty’ Brazil 3-0 in a memorable final in Paris.
Brazil won the 1958 and 1962 FIFA World Cup finals in Sweden and Chile respectively, but in 1966 in England, that country failed to qualify from the group stage after a 3-1 spanking by Hungary and a similar loss to Eusebio-led Portugal.
I don’t need to add that seven-time champions Egypt, four-time champions Cameroon and 1996 champions South Africa will also not be in Equatorial Guinea and Gabon. We do not want to celebrate failure. But the truth is that even the biggest and highest-rated teams do not fail to make the big ones, but then prepare hard in order to ensure it does not happen again.
And that is what the Nigeria Football Federation intends to achieve. We are highly focused on the challenges ahead and will the U-23 Men’s Team the total support to go to Morocco fully prepared to pick a ticket to the London 2012 Olympics’ Men’s Football Tournament.
Surely, Nigeria football will rise again.
NEXT WEEK: Nigeria football will bounce back (2)