Plenty of hard work here and there (II)

Our triumph at the 29th Africa Cup of Nations in South Africa is a classic example of what peace and unity can achieve. The tranquil situation in our football, negotiated so brilliantly by the Secretary to the Federal Government, Distinguished Senator Anyim Pius Anyim (GCON) and the Honourable Minister/Chairman, National Sports Commission, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, […]

Our triumph at the 29th Africa Cup of Nations in South Africa is a classic example of what peace and unity can achieve. The tranquil situation in our football, negotiated so brilliantly by the Secretary to the Federal Government, Distinguished Senator Anyim Pius Anyim (GCON) and the Honourable Minister/Chairman, National Sports Commission, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, and helped by the desire for peace by the Members of NFF Executive Committee, led to the victory.
Not long ago, our teams failed to qualify for major championships. Between 2010 and 2011, the Nigeria Football Federation was battling with about 20 court cases, most of them frivolous, principally by persons who felt they should be the ones at the Glass House and not those who won elections. Instead of concentrating on administering the game, and implementing our vision for the Nigeria game, we were shuttling courtrooms and wondering what would come next.
The reason we failed to qualify for the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations in Gabon and Equatorial Guinea was because we lost the qualifying match against Guinea in Conakry in October 2010. At that time, there was no Executive Committee in place as we were told to step aside, consequence of another court case.
The players had no idea whether the match would be played, because the country’s football was under a temporary hammer. FIFA gave conditions for the lifting of the ban, and this was only done two days to the game. But the damage had been done.
The Super Eagles lost 0-1 in Conakry, where they should have at least picked a draw, and the race for the only ticket from the group became quite tough. Samson Siasia, whom we employed in December 2010 to replace Augustine Eguavoen, did not lose a match in the qualifying series, but the home draw with Guinea (who thereby edged the Eagles on head-to-head) proved fatal. Yet, if we had been able to pick a draw in Conakry, even the draw in Abuja would not have mattered as Nigeria would have edged the campaign on goals difference.
The distractions from the court cases also led to the U-23 National Team, Dream Team and the women team failing to qualify for the 2012 Olympic Games. It was such a shame because the Dream Team had won silver (only bettered by Lionel Messi’s Argentina) at the previous Games in China in 2008.
The girls crashed out after group stage, but it was such a memorable experience following the boys in China, where they played in Tianjin and at the Workers’ Stadium in Beijing, and in Chinquandao and Shanghai before reaching the gold medal match at the out-of-this-world Bird’s Nest, also in Beijing. There was not going to be such experience in London as we lost out at the CAF U-23 Tournament in Morocco.
The Super Falcons also lost out to Cameroon, when penalty shoot-out was called in Yaounde in their return leg, and the miserable run was completed when both teams failed to qualify for the All-Africa Games in Maputo, both losing to Ghana. I have gone into this unpleasant accout to paint a picture of what happens when untoward distractions take centrestage, at the expense of clear mind and dogged pursuit of goals and aspirations in an atmosphere of peace, unity, tranquility and team work.
After the enthronement of peace early last year, work moved apace and the results were there for everyone to see: We qualified for the Africa Cup of Nations, the African Youth Championship, the CAF U-17 Championship and all the women’s tournaments (FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup, FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup and the African Women Championship).
And in a glorious fashion, we lifted the Africa Cup of Nations in South Africa on February 10, only the third time that our country would win this 56-year old competition, and the first time in 19 years. Like other team sports, football thrives on team work and team spirit, helped by total commitment and dedication, and sometimes by individual brilliance and sheer genius.
We are presently at the season in which we cannot afford unhealthy distractions and sabre rattling of any kind. As far as the Nigeria Football Federation and the Nigeria football family are concerned, unity is non-negotiable.
We are delighted with the decision of world football-governing body, FIFA that the 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifying matches in our Group F would be played the same day, meaning that Malawi would host Namibia in Blantyre on the same date of June 5 that we would take on Kenya in Nairobi, and Malawi would again host Kenya in Blantyre on the same date of June 12 that we would be playing Namibia in Windhoek.
From there, we head to the FIFA Confederations Cup in Brazil, with our first match against Tahiti on June 17 in Belo Horizonte while we play Uruguay in Salvador on June 20 and take on Spain in Fortaleza on June 23. We believe we would be able to qualify for the knock-out stage, meaning two more matches at the latter stages. Then, we return home to Africa to play the qualifying matches of the African Nations Championship against Cote d’Ivoire.
NEXT WEEK: Eaglets On The March