Nigeria Content Online

Sixteen
African teams are in Sudan competing for honours in the 2nd edition of
the African Nations Championship but sadly, Nigeria is not represented.

The tournament,
which is scheduled for February 4-25, 2011, is strictly for African
players plying their trade within the continent and it was introduced
to provide a platform for local players to exhibit their skills.

While players from
other nations have made the best of the opportunity, Nigeria’s
Home-based Super Eagles have failed in their two attempt to qualify for
the championship.

They were ousted in their last try by Niger Republic, 2-0 over two legs.

While some accuse
the players of failing to do their best in qualifiers, others say the
coaches are the ones to blame; the country’s football administrators
have not been spared as the country counts its losses from missing a
championship again.

Bad domestic football

Adegboye Onigbinde
is one of the respected coaches in Nigeria and for him, the falling
standard in the local league is the major reason for the country’s
absence from such a tournament. “This competition is for home based
players so where are they now? In years past if you hated Rangers more
than anything and you hear that someone like Christian Chukwu is
playing, you would always want to go and watch him, same with Odegbami
with Shooting Stars, and a lot of them like that. Where is this calibre
of players now?” The FIFA/CAF instructor asked.

“About two weeks
ago Chukwu and I sat to watch a match between the Super Eagles and
Niger Tornadoes and I asked him to point to any of them that is playing
like him or the great stars of yesteryears – the answer, no one.
Nowadays, our domestic football is nothing to write home about.

“I tell you if you
go out to watch a match don’t be surprised you might be sleeping off in
the middle of the match. That is a clear indication that our domestic
football is bad,” he argued.

Coaches’ ineptitude

However, for Emeka
Ezeugo a former Super Eagles player and a former assistant coach with
Heartland FC, the coaches in charge of the teams cost Nigeria a place
in the championships.

“I disagree with
those that say it is the players that should be blamed, we have good
players scattered all over this country but the problem is that we
don’t have the right kind of coaches to go round to get them. These
coaches don’t even have anything to impact on these players,” he said.

“We need to get the
right coaches, if you check the two coaches that were in charge in
those two occasions when we missed out, you will see the reasons why we
failed. Going forward if you check out the administration that brought
in those coaches, you will agree that they did not know anything about
the game. The players are meant to learn from the coaches but if they
are not impacting anything on them who do you blame?”

The two Nigerian
squads that failed to qualify for this competition were coached by Okey
Emordi and Daniel Amokachi respectively.

On his part, Kelechi Emeteole former Heartland Technical adviser says the administrators are the clog in the wheel of progress.

“This is our
business and we should be left to run it, a major problem is that
people that do not have anything to do with football are the ones
running it and when they come they are not honest, imagine a doctor
coming to run football, can I as a footballer be left to go an manage
and hospital?” Emeteole argued that when administrators are feeding fat
on players and coaches salaries the country will continue to find
itself in situations like this.

Looking forward,
Shooting Stars Team Manger Ajibade Babalade says the current super
Eagles coach, Samson Siasia has started on a right footing.

“Our problem has
been that we don’t have a stand-by home-based team, we only hurry to
assemble players for the qualifiers but with what Siasia is doing with
the local players now, I am confident we can make it next time out,”
Babalade sounded confidently.

Missing talents

Aside Nigeria,
another top team missing in Sudan is Egypt, albeit the Pharaohs opted
out of the tournament just like they did in 2009. Many say the absence
of Nigeria an Egypt is a big blow to the tournament.

But much more, it
will be a big loss to both countries’ young players as they will not
have the opportunity to impress scouts looking for new talents.

The maiden
tournament in Cote d’Ivoire, which Congo DR won has helped develop
country’s football. More than half of that victorious Congolese team
was drawn from TP Mazembe, the club that has now won back-to-back CAF
Champions League trophies. If anything, Congolese football has become
the better for their participation in the maiden championship.

The other countries
that participated in the maiden edition have also seen their players
move on to greater things. An example is Ghana’s Rahim Ayew who moved
to Zamalek after that tournament and eventually was part of the
impressive Ghanaian contingent at the World Cup in 2010.

Though Nigeria’s
Home-based Super Eagles failed to make it to Sudan, three Nigerians are
on the official CAF delegation to the championship.

FIFA referees
instructor and member of CAF’s referees committee, Linus Mba is one of
the ten officials that will supervise the 32 referees and assistant
referees put together to officiate the 32 matches.

Paul Bassey, CAF’s General Coordinator will put his organisational
skills to the test when he functions as Security Officer to the
competition, also on the delegation is assistant referee, Peter Edibe.

More than one in
every five footballers in Germany will face an uncertain financial
future after the end of their careers, the German union of contracted
footballers (VdV) warned on Friday.

Days after Schalke
04 Coach, Felix Magath, urged teenager Julian Draxler to drop out of
school and focus solely on football, VdV’s managing director, Ulf
Baranowsky, told Reuters the sport may offer financial rewards but the
pitfalls are many. Draxler scored a sensational winner a minute before
the end of extra time to send his team into the German Cup semi-finals
over Nuremberg last month. The 17-year-old, the youngest Schalke player
to compete in the Bundesliga, was told by his coach he “did not need
the high school graduation diploma anymore”.

Baranowsky, who has
called Schalke’s action “irresponsible”, said it takes more than a good
few seasons to secure a player’s future. “It is questionable if you can
do without education just because you are a professional football
player,” he told Reuters in an interview. “More than 20 percent of
players, maybe even more, will face financial problems at the end of
their careers.” Only one out of 10 players, mainly those in big clubs
with long international careers, will have a guaranteed good financial
post-playing future. “The top 10 percent of the pyramid are secure,
that is players who play for the national team and European
competitions,” said Baranowsky.

Luxury lifestyle

Many others will
pay the price for a luxury lifestyle during their playing days, a lack
of education or bad investment choices that will leave them struggling,
he said. “The pyramid gets very wide lower down. There are huge
variations of salaries. In many cases, players at the end of their
careers have nothing left or even debt with no education or training
skills and that is a very dangerous situation.” The VdV is offering
members financial coaching and advice with some 20 percent of players
choosing to return to further their education or training skills. “Some
20 percent educate themselves further after the end of their career but
this figure needs to be much higher,” said Baranowsky. “Many start
thinking about it when they see the end of their careers approaching
but that is already too late because your career can end with the next
kick.”

Baranowsky said apart from the millions that top Bundesliga players
earn, a third or regional division player gets as little a few thousand
Euros a month. A few seasons in the lower leagues are not enough to
create a solid financial buffer. “We want to avoid the player having to
receive state aid,” he said. “But a lot depends on him and his family.
Players from families with education put a lot of emphasis on that for
the end of their career. Then there are those parents who do not want
to hear about education or that their son could fail in the sport. That
is dangerous because all their money is on football. There are a lot of
dark shadows in this profession, especially when a young man’s dream
bursts.”

There is a
universal declaration that sports has a natural and universal power to
attract, to motivate, to inspire and engage people of all ages and the
love of sport is the love of life.

Sports is
everywhere and everywhere it is, sport demonstrates its capacity to
move people physically and emotionally, building respect, self-esteem,
team work and communication.

It breaks all
barriers, be it, religious, ethnic, political or creed and it is a
potent tool for social and economic development. The constitution of
the Federal Republic of Nigeria recognises this in S.15 (2) & (3).

The constitution
also makes provision for mass participation in sport, selective and
competitive, amateur and professional and for national integration. It
states further that the state shall provide adequate facilities for
sport, create framework and structures for sporting bodies at club,
town and state to international levels. Consequently, there should be a
long-term programme that would bear fruits even at the Olympic level by
2016 – eight years from now. Without this foundation, sports will at
best remain at abysmal levels of operation.

The major concern
should be a return of proper physical education and sports to the
schools so that a huge pool of sports talents can be produced from
which we can filter the cream of our sports people to become
professionals. There should be mass participation in sports at the base
(schools and youth levels) even if for these reasons: a healthier
populace and keeping the younger population busy.

Where some of these
people fail to become professional sports people, as will be the case,
they would have grown up imbibing the virtues of physical exercises,
which will be useful to them throughout life.

They would also have had education.

Mass participation for development

In its best form,
mass participation would be at the base with the numbers filtering to
the top where top class performers (professionals, if you wish) would
be nurtured.

In pursuing the
narrow agenda of victory in competitions, Nigeria has lost the
opportunities of using sports for youth development, poverty
alleviation, entertainment, economic development, tourism, physical and
health education. These are possible only where professionals (not just
people who parade academic qualifications in sports) manage sports.

Professional sports
is business. The best people to run professional sports are those who
understand the imperatives of investment in people, in facilities, in
training and how the mixture of these works out for the best.

Problems

There is a crisis
in our sports management system. It is not entirely new. This crisis is
borne out of a lack of style or method for sports development, a basic
ingredient without which we cannot talk of sports development. These
problems are multifarious and include: inadequate training, facilities
and equipment.

For some time, most
of the emphases have been on producing winning teams. There can be no
winning teams without a programme that trains and produces coaches,
physical education trainers, sports administrators, officials, referees
and other technical and support staff.

Our children are
growing up without sports being introduced to them early in life. When
they miss this early preparation, they have lost the opportunity
forever. Sports and physical education are alien to them. Most
pre-primary school institutions do not have facilities for sports and
this paucity of facilities goes all the way through primary, secondary
schools to the higher institutions. While in most countries their
higher institutions have standard facilities for international
competitions, not one of our higher institutions has standard sports
facilities. So where would the professional sports people come from?

Sports equipment
has high duties placed on them as they are majorly imported. At every
level of sports development, equipment is important.

There is a limit to
improvisation as equipment, these days, have become standardised. Where
our children grow up without exposure to the right equipment, they
would be starting all over in their “old age”. Today’s sports people
make their decision early in life. In tennis and swimming, they start
as early as four.

School system has to be re-engineered

Poor conditions of
service in the schools have scared young people away from teaching. In
the next few years, when the “old teachers” are gone, the schools would
be in bigger trouble and so will our sports. Today’s problem is that
the teachers are not physically fit enough to encourage physical
activity among the students. Many people who trained as physical
educationists, the “professionals” are abandoning their profession.

Abolition of the
boarding school system in many states has bred young people who get
into sports without the discipline that the boarding houses ensured.
Sports people require a lot of discipline and constant monitoring of
their progress, in addition to provision of trainers and equipment. The
boarding schools provided the perfect environment. The students were
always “in camp”, except during the holidays, and appreciable levels of
nutrition were taken for granted and the increase in poverty levels
means that many children are growing up mal-nourished and cannot
develop properly (physically and mentally) to participate in sports.

There lies the problems with sports and unfortunately, the political
leadership, at all levels, does not see the worth of sports. The best
they do is pay lip service to sports.

We
cannot assume that we live in a sane world just because those around us
are wearing suits and Nigerian attires. What is lurking underneath give
credence to many opinions and claims that those who are supposed to be
administrators are actually abattoir managers – out to slaughter
football. That they are more intent of maintaining the status quo – and
that is lining their pockets.

The Nigeria
football scene, since the disgraceful showing at the 2010 World Cup,
has not ceased to puzzle watchers of the game. It has been one problem
after another and the greatest fear amongst fans is that the so-called
administrators do not seem to have a clue about how to get the Nigerian
football back on track.

Or what will be the
result of awarding a contract and then rescinding it on a technicality
as the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) did recently using the Nigeria
Premier League board? The NFF’s motive cannot be said to be in any way
altruistic.

What really takes
the cake is reports that the NFF deceived Nigerians by saying the
national team was billed to take on the Guatemalan national team in the
USA on February 9. The NFF made the announcement with so much
confidence such that the only question being asked by fans was, “Why
Guatemala?”

But recent
revelations have shown that we should be asking – why these people?
These people being the men and women on the NFF board, who seem intent
on ruining the last bastion of goodwill that Nigeria possesses,
football!

Embarrassing the nation

Guatemala is a
country of 13 million people and ranked 126 in the world, according to
the latest ranking by FIFA. They should be happy playing Nigeria which
is ranked 86 places above her but our officials do not see things like
that – it is too simple. Does a proposal mean a contract to the
egg-heads in the NFF?

This is the reply
of the Secretary of the Guatemalan FA, Renato Durán on the supposed
friendly: “I just want to confirm that the Guatemala Football Team
don’t have any agreement for a friendly match against Nigeria on
February 9, we only received a proposal but never arrived to an
agreement. That’s all that we can say about it.”

This was the reply to an enquiry. It was sent on January 28, 2011.

And that is all
that should have been said about that matter, but our football
administrators are bent on continually deceiving us to cover up gross
ineptitude on their part. The NFF came out on February 1 with a cock
and bull story.

Christopher Green,
Chairman of the NFF’s technical department, had said, “Obviously, we
are not happy that the Guatemala game has been called off. We did all
from our own end, unfortunately this is the reality but the positive
thing is that our boys will still be busy on that date which is a FIFA
free day.”

Why was it called
off? In an association where there are checks and balances, the person
responsible will have been queried or sacked for bringing Nigeria’s
name into disrepute, but that will only happen in a sane country.

The sponsorship palaver

No one seems to
understand where it will stop now that the league is mired in a myriad
of court cases with others looming in the horizon.

The NFF had shown
early signs that they were not happy with the award of title
sponsorship rights to MTN since December when the body through its
Media Officer, Ademola Olajire, on December 20, 2010, said the
federation had not been carried along in the award of the N2.6 billion,
sponsorship deal to MTN.

They hinged their
disappointment on the lingering leadership tussle in the Premier
League. “Owing to the unresolved leadership issues at the Nigeria
Premier League, on which the Federation is expected to make a
pronouncement soon.”

The new sports
minister, Taoheed Adedoja, then threw his hat in the ring when he
advised (read, that as instructed) the Premier League to take a second
look at the award of the sponsorship title. So when the congress of the
Premier League rescinded the decision, we understood the dynamics and
the politics that was being played. The excuse was that MTN had won the
bid through a third-party.

The bid process was to be started all over again – the league started in November – in a country that does not work with time.

The third party,
Total Promotions Limited, has now gone to court to stop the new bid
process which leaves the local league in limbo and could even derail or
stop the proceedings. In the past two weeks, emoluments for match
officials – referees and match commissioners, have not been paid. So,
it will not be a surprise if matches are cancelled in the coming days –
and that is where we are.

When President
Goodluck Jonathan banned Nigeria from all international football
competitions for two years, on June 30, 2010, many – including FIFA –
cried foul. The president eventually rescinded that decision, which the
presidency had said “became necessary following Nigeria’s poor
performance” at FIFA World Cup in South Africa.

But looking at all
the challenges that reorganising football is facing in the country and
with the benefit of hind sight, it would have made more sense if the
presidential ban on all football activities had stayed in place. Maybe,
those that are basically ‘footballicians’ would have been forced to
move on to more lucrative businesses.

They have turned the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) to the Nigeria Football Farce!

Liverpool
have got over Fernando Torres’ departure already, manager Kenny
Dalglish said as his side prepared to face their ex-team mate less than
a week after the striker’s move to Chelsea.

The Spaniard is
expected to make his debut for the Premier League champions in Sunday’s
match against his former club at Stamford Bridge and while Dalglish was
disappointed to have let him go, he has also moved on.

“Everybody was
disappointed that he left the club, what was most disappointing was the
timing but we’ll get on with life,” Dalglish told a news conference
when asked about Torres’ 50 million pound move to London.

“The football club,
the owners did everything we possibly could but it wasn’t to be. We’ve
moved on, he’s playing for someone else. It’s something we’ll live
with.” Torres’ departure came just as the 18-times English champions
were showing signs of recovering from the slump they endured under
previous manager Roy Hodgson after appointing fan favourite Dalglish to
turn things around last month.

Dalglish denied
that facing Torres so soon after his departure added extra spice to the
encounter, saying his players put in maximum effort whatever the
occasion.

Focusing on positives

Dalglish said no
player was bigger than the club and instead focused on the positives
such as the fact the new owners had shown ambition by splashing out on
strikers Andy Carroll and Luis Suarez to replace Torres.

“They said when
they came in they wanted to get the club back to where it should be and
this was the first opportunity to show ambition and they have certainly
done that,” Dalglish said of the Americans who took over in October and
spent more than 55 million pounds on the England and Uruguay strikers
on Monday.

“They are actually
a little bit disappointed they didn’t get more players in, that’s a
good thing.” Dalglish, who won eight league titles as a player and
manager at Liverpool before leaving 20 years ago, said there was no
point dwelling on a player who had left the club.

“If we’ve lost one, we’ve lost one. The most important thing for us is the two people that have come in,” he said.

“The most important
people are the people at this football club and the people who care for
this football club.” Asked how Liverpool would deal with the threat of
Torres on Sunday, Dalglish replied: “We’ll just play against any player
they put on the pitch. We’re more important than any player they’ve
got.” Liverpool have now strung together three wins in a row to move up
to seventh in the table with Suarez scoring on his debut in Wednesday’s
2-0 win over Stoke City.

The Uruguayan will
have to wait a few weeks before he can link up with his new partner as
Carroll has a thigh strain but he was confident they had the makings of
a great strike force.

“He’s a typical tall number nine that my type of player combines
well with historically,” he told reporters. “It’s a promising
partnership.”

Heartland
will be happy to return to the Dan Ayiam Stadium, Owerri today after
the Nigeria Premier League okayed the stadium to host league matches.
The NPL inspection team cleared the stadium on Thursday.

The team which had been playing their home games in Calabar will aim to welcome their fans back with a victory against 3SC.

Apart from
returning to their stadium, the team is not leaving any stone unturned
at ensuring that they get back to the form which saw them play in the
African Champions League two seasons ago.

Cajetan Nkwopara,
Heartland’s Media officer, said former Green Eagles captain Christian
Chukwu has joined the Owerri-based team on what the management called a
‘rescue mission’ pending the arrival of a newly appointed Dutch
technical adviser.

“Coach Christian
Chukwu has joined Heartland on a rescue mission; Chukwu is to supervise
the coaching crew as well as the players, evaluate and examine the
coaches, players and find out where the problem of the team lies.

“He is to evaluate
the performances of the coaches and players, see those who are under
performing; of course, it is within his script to make recommendation
over those that will be asked to go,” he told Supersports.com.

He added that Emma Osigwe and other coaches will still be doing their work but will have to be supervised by Chukwu.

“Management has
equally approved the appointment of a Dutch technical adviser for the
club. His contract is for 18 months, he is to expose the club to the
international market, Heartland want to play football as well as expose
itself to benefits accruable to a professional club.

“The Dutchman’s
identity is still undercover until he arrives, he is a notable coach
and will be unveiled very soon,” Nkwopara revealed.

Dim stars

Shooting Stars have
been defeated in their last four visits to play Heartland in Owerri and
nothing suggests that there will be any difference today when both
teams clash in the star fixture in this weekend’s Nigeria Premier
League matches.

Shooting Stars
started this season on a strong note, but they have been far from
impressive recently; dropping points at home and failing to garner any
points away from Ibadan.

Playing against
Heartland today, 3SC’s dip in form looks most likely to continue as the
team will be without its top striker and goal machine, Gbolahan Salami
who has been handed an indefinite ban by NPL for an unsportsmanlike
behaviour in his team’s last match with local rivals, Crown FC.

Fatai Amoo, the 3SC’s coach, says he is worried about his team’s record away from home.

“We have not done
well in this season as far as away games are concerned. As out of six
away games we have only picked one point and this is giving us lots of
concern,” said the former Super Eagles assistant coach.

Nonetheless, the
coach is hopeful that with good officiating 3SC can get a good result
against the Naze Millionaires in today’s testy tie.

“Our major problem
is that the players lose concentration when it matters most but we hope
that will not happen today, once we get a level playing ground we can
take something from the game,” he added.

Amoo also said the ban placed Salami is unfortunate as he will be sorely missed by the team.

Other matches

Crown FC vs. Enyimba Crown FC will be home to the league’s defending champions, Enyimba.

The team, which
only recently halted their dreadful five-game losing streak with a 1-1
draw against 3SC last Sunday will be all out to avoid a home defeat.

But the Peoples
Elephant have been inconsistent in the league this term, which has left
them in 13th position on the league standings.

However, Okey
Emordi’s side will fancy picking all points since they have been buoyed
by an away win in the playoff of the CAF Champions League against
Congo’s Michel de Ouenze last weekend.

Kaduna United vs Enugu Rangers

The Crocodiles will take on the Flying Antelopes at the Kaduna Township Stadium.

Rangers had picked
their first away point of the season – against Niger Tornadoes about a
fortnight ago – at the venue, but this time the face a tougher test;
against the real owners of the ground, Kaduna United. Alphonsus Dike’s
men need to grab a result to stay within touching distance of the
leading sides on the log and will look up to last season’s 1 – 1 draw
for inspiration in this tie.

Warri Wolves vs Sharks

This fixture is another big game for this weekend.

Interestingly, both teams are in the good form loosing just once in
their last five games. But Sharks will be seeking their first win
against Wolves in two years. The Warri-based team have dropped just two
points at home this season while the Blue Angels have drawn four times
and lost twice in six road trips. Expect a very feisty encounter.

Fernando
Torres is enemy number one for the Kop after his £50 million move to
Chelsea but Luis Suarez is the saviour of Anfield after he scored on
his debut against Stoke City on Wednesday. These are the contrasting
tales from the camps of the Blues and the Reds as today’s clash comes
unto the horizon. What poetic justice that Torres will have to make his
debut against a team he left on Monday – it can be assumed given that
all the defenders in the Liverpool line-up will be up for this game.
You can almost see Jaime Carragher playing centre half for Liverpool
today.

Liverpool’s
caretaker manager, Kenny Dalglish said no player can be bigger than the
club and he may be right to an extent but some players make a club tick
more than others and that is why the transfer of Torres will either
make or mar Liverpool’s season. Even though the buying of Suarez and
Andy Carroll has mitigated the Spaniard striker’s loss, it will be a
gigantic job for any of the new players to fill the boots of the
departed European and World Cup champion.

The statistics show
that Torres scored in almost every other game and Suarez showed with
his goal against Stoke and his scoring statistics for Ajax that he is a
quality marksman.

Today’s tie is
between Chelsea – on a three match winning run, same as their
opponents, Liverpool. Against Sunderland, Chelsea showed that they are
almost back to the form which saw them scoring goals for fun towards
the end of last season and the beginning of this current one. But this
match could turn out to be a contest between a Spaniard and a Uruguayan
on English soil. Whoever wins will become an instant hero but the
result is too close to call.