Nigeria Content Online

Action
in the Nigerian Premier League (NPL) continues today with six matches
on the cards, top of which is the encounter in Kano between 2009
champions Kano Pillars and league defending champions Enyimba.

The game has all the trappings of a cup final and is expected to be witnessed by a capacity crowd at the Sani Abacha Stadium.

“We have put behind
us the result of last weekend’s game and looking ahead to the game
against Enyimba,” said Kano Pillars coach, Salisu Yusuf whose side
suffered a 2-0 loss away to Crown in Ilaro last weekend.

“We were
unfortunate to concede those goals but we have used the past few days
to correct our errors and I expect a good performance on Sunday.”

Both Pillars and Enyimba have been far from impressive this term.

Enyimba, in
particular, have been poor on the road losing to Sunshine Stars and
handing newly promoted Bukola Babes their first ever win in the
Nigerian top flight division.

“Enyimba have good
players but I don’t think they have found their rhythm yet,” continued
Yusuf. “It is the same thing with us; we haven’t yet hit the level we
know we are capable of and that is what we will be aiming to do on
Sunday.

“It will be a good
match and as usual, I expect the stadium to be filled to capacity which
is why we have to give the fans a win,” added the former Nigeria
international.

Sunshine poised to shine against Gombe

A capacity crowd
may not be in Ijebu Ode to witness the game between Sunshine Stars and
Gombe United, but the game also looks set to be very interesting.

Both Sunshine and
Gombe, prior to yesterday’s round of matches, respectively occupied the
5th and 2nd spots on the league table but know a win today will
catapult them to the top of the table.

Gombe, in
particular will feel confident of coming away from the encounter with
at least a draw basically because Sunshine have, since the start of the
season, been prosecuting their home matches away from their traditional
Akure Township Stadium home ground which failed to meet the standards
set by the league organisers, the Nigeria Premier League (NPL).

But Sunshine have
been anything but easy meat for visiting sides at the Gateway
International Stadium as exemplified by their impressive wins over
Enyimba (2-1) and Rangers (2-0).

“A lot of these
teams thought that we would be easy meat for them especially since we
are playing our games at Ijebu Ode,” Mike Idoko, the executive director
of the Ondo State Football Agency, the parent body of the club, said.

“But Ijebu Ode fans have easily taken to us because of our brand of football.

“We have beaten two
of the biggest clubs in Nigeria here in Ijebu Ode and we feel very much
at home here.” Gombe look set to go the same path as Rangers and
Enyimba as they have been inconsistent on the road with all their wins
so far this season all coming at home.

A fortnight ago,
they lost 3-0 to Dolphins in Port Harcourt for their first defeat of
the campaign, with all three goals arriving in the second half.

And if they fail to
get their acts together today, they just might be in for a sound
beating at least that is what Idoko hopes Sunshine players will do
today.

“We are going to
beat Gombe, hopefully it will be a big win with a couple of goals,”
continued the former Warri Wolves manager. “We are not going to
underestimate them but Gombe are small boys compared to teams like
Enyimba and Rangers that we have already beaten.”

Part of Idoko’s
optimism stems from the fact that Sunshine are one of the few sides in
the league to have completely paid off the balance of sign-on fees owed
to players from last season’s campaign. They even went to the extent of
paying the money owed some of the players from two seasons back by the
erstwhile management of the club.

“We have paid up
what was owed them from 2008 up to last season,” he said. “We are now
on the verge of paying the players 50 per cent of their sign-on fees
for this season and these are part of the reasons why they have been
playing their hearts out for the club.”

In other games
scheduled for today, Zamfara United will be at home to Sharks, while
Ocean Boys will welcome Niger Tornadoes to Yenegoa’s Samson Siasia
Stadium.

Lobi Stars, who last weekend lost 2-1 to Warri Wolves, will be up
against Kaduna United while Heartland will take on Crown at the Dan
Anyiam Stadium, Owerri.

What
does Vincent Enyeama need to do to get to fulfil his dream of playing
in a league befitting of a goalkeeper of his quality? That is one
question fans of the Hapoel Tel Aviv of Israel shot stopper have been
asking. Enyeama is currently regarded by many as the best goalkeeper in
Africa, and to a larger extent one of the top goalies in the world.

However, supporters
of the Israeli side do not fall into the category of fans hoping the
28-year-old will make a switch to one of Europe’s top leagues. This is
because Hapoel Tel Aviv fans have come to view the 28-year-old as a
messiah of sorts following his consistent displays in goal since
arriving from another Israeli league side, Bnei Yehuda in 2007.

The Israeli top
flight division is leagues behind the likes of the English Premier
League, the Spanish Primera Liga, the Italian Serie A, the German
Bundesliga and the French Championat.

It is not even in
the same class as the Dutch Eredivisie or the Portuguese Primeira Liga,
but this season has seen Hapoel Tel Aviv hold their own against some of
Europe’s best club sides in the biggest club tournament in the world –
the UEFA Champions League.

European sojourn

The Israeli side
may have failed to advance beyond the group stage of this seasons
Champions League, but there is no confusion about who played a major
role in getting Hapoel so close to upsetting the applecart in a group
where they were tipped from the outset to be the whipping boys.

Not even the most
patriotic of Israeli football analysts gave Hapoel a chance of
advancing from their Champions League Group B where they had for
company Germany’s Schalke 04, serial Champions League campaigners,
Olympique Lyonnais, and former European champions Benfica of Portugal.

To these analysts,
it was therefore not surprising that Hapoel lost their first three
games. Defeats to Benfica (2-0) and Lyon (3-1) in September was
followed by a 3-1 loss to Schalke 04.

The margin of
defeat would have been much greater had the Nigerian shot stopper not
been in top form for the Israeli champions. Enyeama was also scored the
lone goal for Hapoel in the Lyon game, by converting a penalty in the
79th minute.

By the time they
played out a goalless draw with Schalke 04 in the reverse tie at the
start of November, Hapoel no longer had a chance of advancing to the
knockout rounds of the Champions League.

But the Europa
League spot reserved for the group’s third-place finisher was still up
for grabs and it became a straight race between them and Benfica after
they mauled the Portuguese side 3-0 in Tel Aviv on November 24.

It then came to the
wire on Tuesday when they visited the Stade de Gerland in France in
search of a win over Lyon that would take them to the Europa League,
but only if Benfica failed to win at home against Schalke 04.

In the end, Benfica
lost 2-1 to the Germans but a last gasp equaliser by Alexandre
Lacazette denied Hapoel an stunning result as the game ended 2-2.

A stunning bicycle
kick by Eran Zehavi in the 69th minute – a goal that will definitely be
in contention for the goal of the tournament – had given Hapoel a 2-1
lead at the Stade de Gerland. Lacazette’s equaliser did not only deny
Hapoel victory, it also denied them a chance to leapfrog Benfica into
third position in the standings.

Nevertheless,
Hapoel ended its European campaign with an extremely impressive
performance, becoming the first Israeli side to avoid defeat away from
home in the competition since Maccabi Haifa drew 3-3 at Greek side
Olympiakos back in the 2002/2003 tournament.

The star of Tel Aviv

At the end of their UEFA campaign, it was clear to many who watched the game who the star of the game was Enyeama.

“He was quite
outstanding,” said former Super Eagles goalkeeper and skipper Alloy
Agu. “He displayed why he is one of the top goalkeepers around, but
that is not the first time he would be doing such as he did much more
for Nigeria at the World Cup.”

Enyeama emerged as
one of the stars of the last World Cup in South Africa and almost
single-handedly limited Argentina to just a lone goal victory in a
match that saw him foiling Lionel Messi time and again.

But despite being linked with a host of club sides both during and after the World Cup, Enyeama returned to club duty in Israel.

“I was surprised no one came for him,” continued Agu, who was the Super Eagles’ goalkeepers’ trainer in South Africa.

“I was so confident
after all he did at the World Cup that he was going to join a team in
Europe but in the end nothing happened.”

Hapoel not willing to let go

Not that there
weren’t offers for the services of the former Enyimba skipper, as clubs
from England, Spain and Portugal were keen on taking him away from
Israel, but Hapoel appeared not willing to let go of their prized
Nigerian.

A case in point was
the approach made by former European champions, Porto right after the
World Cup. Even though Enyeama knew about the offer, Hapoel said that
they were not officially informed by the Portuguese club of such an
offer.

The situation
infuriated Enyeama and he told Israeli news portal Walla.com: “Porto
wants me and if Hapoel claims that there is no offer for me, they are
lying”.

Agu is not as mad at the club.

“If I were in his
club management’s shoes I think I would do likewise,” he said. “No team
likes to lose their best players especially when it concerns a big
competition such as the Champions League.

“But now that they are out of Europe they will probably allow him to move on.”

Agu, who besides playing for clubs in Nigeria also played for teams in Turkey and Holland, isn’t alone in this regards.

Another former Nigerian goalkeeper, Emmanuel Okala, said Enyeama could be on the move as early as the January transfer window.

“He was very good
in that match (against Lyon),” said Okala. “He single-handedly
prevented their opponents from winning that match.

“And with that kind of performance, along with his performance in other matches, I see him leaving Israel as early as January.”

But why hasn’t a team from one of the top leagues grabbed Enyeama long before now?

“I think a lot of
factors come into play,” Okala said. “There is no doubt about how good
he is but he may not have a good agent who can convince other clubs to
come in for him in January.”

January move vs free transfer

Enyeama’s contract
runs out at the end of the season and there are those who feel a
January move will not likely materialise for the goalkeeper.

“His contract, I
think runs out at the end of the season, so unless he signs a new deal
between now and then, he will leave on a free transfer,” said football
agent Vincent Alumona.

“A lot of clubs may
be interested in him but not many of them will be ready to dole out a
fee for a player they can get for free at the end of the season.

“Also, don’t forget
that he is an African and not an EU national so he will be coming in as
a foreigner. And you know in some leagues, they have a limited quota
for foreigners.

“But in a situation
like this, looking at it from the business angle, he stands to make
more financially if he moves on a free transfer,” he added.

Enyeama has some of
the best reflexes in today’s football and his easy-going nature easily
endears him to teammates. Between the goalposts, he is calm and
commanding despite his 5 feet, 11 inches frame.

But regardless of whether he moves in January or not, one thing is
certain, he will leave a lot of Hapoel fans downcast by the end of the
season.

My opener this week
is a conclusive headline that those grey-haired clowns at FIFA have
done it again. England with the best commercial and technical
presentations for the hosting of World Cup 2018 lost out to Russia in
what was an amazing climax to an exercise that ordinarily should not
end in controversy.

FIFA, a cesspool of
corruption, did not need the London Sunday Times’ reproachful reportage
to wave its devilish wand once again and thrust on the world another
bewildering pronouncement given its questionable and crooked agenda.

Some critics have
blamed the expose’ of cash-for-vote journalism of reporters of the
London Sunday Times for England’s loss; that piece of journalistic
‘over-adventurism’ cost England £15 million – the bidding cost and a
potentially humongous money making event in the shape of hosting the
World Cup in 2018.

Opinions are always
going to be divided on issues like this, but a global organisation like
FIFA ought to show respect for peoples’ time and resources by setting
out clear and unambiguous parameters that will aid potential bidders in
reaching weighted decisions, whether it is to participate in bid
sessions or not. It’s all so tacky and vexatious when FIFA conjures new
and sometimes outlandish reasons as considerations for imperilling the
interest of hot hosting favourites now and again.

Suspicion of arm-twisting

This bid that went
to Russia raises a suspicion of espirt de corps on the part of FIFA
Executive Committee determined to punish England whose reporters blew
the lid on the cash-for-vote imbroglio in the first place. A suspicion
of arm-twisting by Russia cannot be dismissed completely, given the
Secret Service credentials of Russian leader Vladimir Putin considering
the many skeletons in FIFA’s closet.

FIFA needs to
follow IOC’s example. Quite frankly, there is nothing wrong in
spreading the World Cup hosting rights. What is troubling is the modus
operandi of the world football ruling body. Too many of its actions and
pronouncements raise questions that even their biggest admirers cringe
at.

Meddling in Nigerian football

It is hoped that
FIFA will at some point shape up and improve its image the way the
International Olympic Committee (IOC) has done after the Salt Lake
scandal in order to restore some confidence in the body.

This takes me
directly to the fact that FIFA’s interference in Nigeria’s football in
the last three years as well as it’s annoying pronouncements has almost
left our football prostrate.

I know for certain,
even if proof of such things are a bit difficult, that visiting FIFA
officials have left here happy since 1995 the way policemen do at
roadblocks. This has been the case since Nigeria made her first
attempts to host an age-grade World Championship. One day FIFA
Vice-President Jack Warner almost cursing says Nigeria cannot possibly
be ready to host a football event and that his organisation will put
this or that country on standby.

Next visit, Warner
literarily climbed the rooftops to hail Nigeria for having performed
another world “wonder”! The initiated know what has passed and what
cultivated a great “apostle” for Nigeria in Jack Warner. Host we must,
he declared.

Leaving it at that
would just have been fine but FIFA has moved into who runs Nigeria’s
football and how it is run contrary to its non-interference standpoint.

FIFA’s interference in 2007

I will spare the
details but it will suffice to say that since 2007, FIFA has made
itself both umpire and judge. Its General Secretary, Urs Linsi,
literally moved his secretariat to the Ibro Hotel, Abuja to personally
conduct the removal of the Ibrahim Galadima-led NFA board and install
Sani Lulu as Chairman, using all the instrumentality and paraphernalia
of the Nigerian government. The NSC was under the Chairmanship of Bala
Kaoje, the Minister of Sport was the launch pad. Since then, Nigeria’s
football has remained permanently engaged in reverse and has been
suffocated by crises and intrigues. At that time government was not
interfering in football but it was Kaoje, Minister of Sports at the
time who not only declared NFA Congress open but practically pulled
down the Galadima Board with the active connivance of FIFA using Linsi.

Lulu’s Board’s,
superintended by a top FIFA official, went all the way to doctor NFA’s
statutes in a direct violation of all procedural rules since FIFA was
behind it.

Before now, the
same FIFA had granted tenure elongation to Ibrahim Galadima’s Board, an
occurrence which aggrieved stakeholders, who were then used as a weapon
against the hapless Galadima and his Board. There was interference and
FIFA had no reference precedent for that I must state here.

I have decided to
save the gory details of intrigues and horse trading, which
characterised the conduct of the 2007 NFA election that brought a
wasteful and retrogressive Sani Lulu to lead our football. With the
active connivance of a corrupt and spineless FIFA who threatened bans,
whenever they perceived an assault on their interests, that is when
Government interference comes up.

FIFA aided the
plundering, wastage of government – nay tax payers’ – money for a
needless exercise; an election into the NFA having already taken place
in Kano.

A report was duly
submitted and accepted by FIFA through Jerome Champagne that Ibrahim
Galadima was duly elected Chairman of the NFA. This was pure
interference contrary to the spirit and letters of non-interference by
third parties preached by FIFA, a body that is itself a meddlesome
interloper.

Till next week then.

My opener this week
is a conclusive headline that those grey-haired clowns at FIFA have
done it again. England with the best commercial and technical
presentations for the hosting of World Cup 2018 lost out to Russia in
what was an amazing climax to an exercise that ordinarily should not
end in controversy.

FIFA, a cesspool of
corruption, did not need the London Sunday Times’ reproachful reportage
to wave its devilish wand once again and thrust on the world another
bewildering pronouncement given its questionable and crooked agenda.

Some critics have
blamed the expose’ of cash-for-vote journalism of reporters of the
London Sunday Times for England’s loss; that piece of journalistic
‘over-adventurism’ cost England £15 million – the bidding cost and a
potentially humongous money making event in the shape of hosting the
World Cup in 2018.

Opinions are always
going to be divided on issues like this, but a global organisation like
FIFA ought to show respect for peoples’ time and resources by setting
out clear and unambiguous parameters that will aid potential bidders in
reaching weighted decisions, whether it is to participate in bid
sessions or not. It’s all so tacky and vexatious when FIFA conjures new
and sometimes outlandish reasons as considerations for imperilling the
interest of hot hosting favourites now and again.

Suspicion of arm-twisting

This bid that went
to Russia raises a suspicion of espirt de corps on the part of FIFA
Executive Committee determined to punish England whose reporters blew
the lid on the cash-for-vote imbroglio in the first place. A suspicion
of arm-twisting by Russia cannot be dismissed completely, given the
Secret Service credentials of Russian leader Vladimir Putin considering
the many skeletons in FIFA’s closet.

FIFA needs to
follow IOC’s example. Quite frankly, there is nothing wrong in
spreading the World Cup hosting rights. What is troubling is the modus
operandi of the world football ruling body. Too many of its actions and
pronouncements raise questions that even their biggest admirers cringe
at.

Meddling in Nigerian football

It is hoped that
FIFA will at some point shape up and improve its image the way the
International Olympic Committee (IOC) has done after the Salt Lake
scandal in order to restore some confidence in the body.

This takes me
directly to the fact that FIFA’s interference in Nigeria’s football in
the last three years as well as it’s annoying pronouncements has almost
left our football prostrate.

I know for certain,
even if proof of such things are a bit difficult, that visiting FIFA
officials have left here happy since 1995 the way policemen do at
roadblocks. This has been the case since Nigeria made her first
attempts to host an age-grade World Championship. One day FIFA
Vice-President Jack Warner almost cursing says Nigeria cannot possibly
be ready to host a football event and that his organisation will put
this or that country on standby.

Next visit, Warner
literarily climbed the rooftops to hail Nigeria for having performed
another world “wonder”! The initiated know what has passed and what
cultivated a great “apostle” for Nigeria in Jack Warner. Host we must,
he declared.

Leaving it at that
would just have been fine but FIFA has moved into who runs Nigeria’s
football and how it is run contrary to its non-interference standpoint.

FIFA’s interference in 2007

I will spare the
details but it will suffice to say that since 2007, FIFA has made
itself both umpire and judge. Its General Secretary, Urs Linsi,
literally moved his secretariat to the Ibro Hotel, Abuja to personally
conduct the removal of the Ibrahim Galadima-led NFA board and install
Sani Lulu as Chairman, using all the instrumentality and paraphernalia
of the Nigerian government. The NSC was under the Chairmanship of Bala
Kaoje, the Minister of Sport was the launch pad. Since then, Nigeria’s
football has remained permanently engaged in reverse and has been
suffocated by crises and intrigues. At that time government was not
interfering in football but it was Kaoje, Minister of Sports at the
time who not only declared NFA Congress open but practically pulled
down the Galadima Board with the active connivance of FIFA using Linsi.

Lulu’s Board’s,
superintended by a top FIFA official, went all the way to doctor NFA’s
statutes in a direct violation of all procedural rules since FIFA was
behind it.

Before now, the
same FIFA had granted tenure elongation to Ibrahim Galadima’s Board, an
occurrence which aggrieved stakeholders, who were then used as a weapon
against the hapless Galadima and his Board. There was interference and
FIFA had no reference precedent for that I must state here.

I have decided to
save the gory details of intrigues and horse trading, which
characterised the conduct of the 2007 NFA election that brought a
wasteful and retrogressive Sani Lulu to lead our football. With the
active connivance of a corrupt and spineless FIFA who threatened bans,
whenever they perceived an assault on their interests, that is when
Government interference comes up.

FIFA aided the
plundering, wastage of government – nay tax payers’ – money for a
needless exercise; an election into the NFA having already taken place
in Kano.

A report was duly
submitted and accepted by FIFA through Jerome Champagne that Ibrahim
Galadima was duly elected Chairman of the NFA. This was pure
interference contrary to the spirit and letters of non-interference by
third parties preached by FIFA, a body that is itself a meddlesome
interloper.

Till next week then.

After
Newcastle United chalked up their biggest home win over local rivals
Sunderland for more than half a century in October, crushing their
biggest rivals 5-1, the first question manager Chris Hughton was asked
was whether he thought the victory had made his job safe.

Such is the
quicksand that the north-east club has been built on in recent years
that even a result that once would have warmed their fans through the
coldest of north-east winters proved only a short-term reprieve for an
honest, straightforward, likeable and successful manager.

Earlier that week
the club had issued a statement supporting Hughton following widespread
speculation about his future in the wake of a 4-0 home defeat by
Arsenal in the League Cup.

When they followed
the Sunderland success by beating a full-strength Arsenal at the
Emirates – with an earlier win at Everton and a 6-0 thrashing of Aston
Villa also in the bag – one might have thought that Hughton had proved
his credentials for a club desperate for some continuity.

Can’t seem to learn
from the past Newcastle’s revolving door managerial policy in the
previous 12 years had seen 10 managers come and go.

Kevin Keegan, Kenny
Dalglish, Ruud Gullit, Bobby Robson, Graeme Souness and others all came
and went on the back of often reasonable Premier League showings before
the combination of Joe Kinnear and Alan Shearer failed to prevent their
relegation in 2009.

In the 24 years Alex Ferguson has been at Manchester United, Newcastle have changed their manager 14 times.

Yet after all that,
chairman Mike Ashley said via the club’s statement on Monday that he
wanted a more experienced man in charge.

Having worked as a
coach at his former club Spurs for 14 years, and under 10 different
managers, having spent two as Ireland’s assistant boss and two at
Newcastle in various guises, Hughton is hardly wet behind the ears.

Ashley, who tried
unsuccessfully first to win the fans over and then to sell the club,
initially hedged his bets by making Hughton caretaker for at the start
of last season before appointing him full time in October 2009.

Decent record

Hughton duly
secured the Championship title and had made a decent fist of gaining a
foothold in the top flight, helping develop Andy Carroll into an
England striker and getting the best out of midfielders Joey Barton and
Kevin Nolan.

Newcastle’s home
record was poor, with defeats by Blackpool, Stoke City and Blackburn
Rovers not going down well in the wake of last season’s unbeaten home
campaign in the Championship.

Yet after 16 games
they are 11th in the standings. Liverpool, Everton, Villa and
Birmingham City, all top-half finishers last season, are below them.

Yes, they have been
inconsistent – sandwiching a 1-1 draw at champions Chelsea with a 5-1
loss at Bolton and Sunday’s poor show in the 3-1 defeat at West Brom –
but so have just about every other team in the Premier League this
season.

Four more points would put Newcastle in the Europa League places, four fewer would have them in the relegation zone.

If they finish the season in 11th place will Ashley be casting around again for a new man?

Barcelona have
agreed a record shirt sponsorship deal with the Qatar Foundation worth
£25 million a season through to the end of the 2015-16 campaign.

The deal is the
biggest for any football club, Barca said, and will net the Catalan
side about 165 million euros in total, including £12.5m for the
remainder of the current season.

The Qatar
Foundation, founded by Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al Thani, the Emir of
Qatar, in 1995, has projects focusing on education, scientific research
and community development. It is also engaged in several corporate
joint ventures.

Last week the tiny
Gulf state was chosen by football’s governing body FIFA to host the
World Cup in 2022 when it will become the first Arab country to stage
the finals.

Barca are one of
the few clubs in world football not to have a corporate logo on their
first-team shirts, instead displaying the name of the United Nations
Children’s Fund, UNICEF – for which they actually paid the charity
£1.25m a year.

Under the agreement
announced on Friday, marketing experts will seek to find a way for both
logos to be displayed, although if that was not possible the UNICEF
name would be moved to another part of the shirt, a club spokesman said.

“With this accord,
Barca becomes the undisputed brand leader in world football, far ahead
of international rivals,” Javier Faus, a club vice president, said.

The agreement also
includes a commitment for Barca to play one friendly per season, not
necessarily in Qatar, and the Qatar Foundation will take part in joint
projects with UNICEF and the club’s own foundation.

A study by
consulting firm Sport+Markt published in October showed new deals for
English Premier League clubs Manchester United and Liverpool, with
insurance brokerage AON and bank Standard Chartered respectively, were
the two most valuable contracts in 2010/11 at £19.75m each.

Real Madrid’s £19.25m deal with Internet bookmaker bwin was the next biggest.

Michel Platini,
UEFA president and a FIFA executive committee member, said there was
“something beautiful” about the philosophy behind the decision to award
the 2018 World Cup to Russia and the 2022 tournament to Qatar.

He added that there
was “nothing illogical” about the Qatar decision, arguing the Middle
East had been rejected as hosts several times in the past.

The Frenchman,
however, pondered alternatives to the current voting system in which
World Cup hosts are chosen by the executive committee, which currently
consists of 22 members.

Platini said he
felt that FIFA’s executive committee had been won over by the thought
of taking the World Cup to new regions as he was quizzed about last
week’s vote in Zurich.

“Russia asked why
they didn’t have the right to organise the World Cup and said it had
already been held 10 times in Western Europe,”

New frontiers

Platini told
reporters. “I think maybe the executive committee were sensitive to
this.” “The same thing applies to Qatar and the Arab world. Morocco has
applied to host the World Cup four times and lost, Egypt have also
failed and Qatar asked when will the Middle East have this opportunity?

“Maybe, the members
of the executive committee thought it was a good opportunity to go to
that part of the world once and for all, a region that has never hosted
the World Cup, so if we’re talking about developing football worldwide,
which is ultimately the goal of institutions such as FIFA or if we’re
talking about European football, which is the goal of UEFA, well it’s
something beautiful.

“That doesn’t mean
that UEFA has different objectives, we voted for Poland and Ukraine (as
Euro 2012 hosts).” He added: “We opened new frontiers by taking the
World Cup to Africa and maybe the executive committee felt it was time
to open more new frontiers. There was nothing illogical about this.”
Qatar was awarded the World Cup despite worries about the fierce summer
heat, which it says will be countered by the use of air-conditioned
stadiums.

“In the 1994 World
Cup in the United States, the temperature in Dallas, if I’m not
mistaken, was 45 Celsius and nobody criticized us at the time,” said
Platini.

“It’s a long time
and we’re talking about this with (FIFA president Sepp) Mr Blatter.”
Platini said that holding the tournament in January, the Qatari winter,
could be an alternative as well as staging some games in neighbouring
countries.

“I agree, football in the Gulf in January that would be easier than June, why not, it’s possible.

“However, many
things would have to be changed in the calendar, what would we do to
re-organize ourselves and how much rest time would be given to the
players?

Would we have
February off and re-start the season in March?” Platini also pondered
the suggestion that the FIFA Congress — where representatives of
FIFA’s 208 member federations have a direct vote — could choose the
World Cup hosts, rather than the executive committee.

“The difference is that South America only has 10 votes, so maybe they would never get the World Cup,” he said.

“I think we can think about this issue, maybe we can elaborate a
different system.” “The next time we will do this will be in 10 years’
time.”

Super
Eagles boss, Samson Siasia has said that Joseph Yobo will remain as the
captain of the national team for the time being. Siasia said a final
decision on the Super Eagles captaincy will be made only after the team
convenes sometime in the first quarter of 2011.

Yobo was deputy
skipper under erstwhile Super Eagles captain Nwankwo Kanu but has since
slotted into the role full-time following Kanu’s subsequent exclusion
from the national team in the aftermath of the 2010 World Cup in South
Africa.

“He (Yobo) has been
the captain even while Kanu was there, and I think he has been doing a
good job otherwise he wouldn’t have been selected in the first place,”
said Siasia.

“I haven’t had the
chance to gather all the players together under one roof but the moment
I get that opportunity I will see how things go.

“But for now he is still the captain,” he added.

The legendary Kanu,
a former two-time African Player of the Year award recipient, has
overtime refuted reports that he had called it quits with international
football but Siasia won’t be drawn into confirming or denying whether
the Portsmouth forward remains in his plans for the Super Eagles team
he plans to build ahead of the 2014 World Cup.

“I don’t want to
say anything about Kanu or whether he is in my plans or not,” said
Siasia. “He is one of the best players to have ever played for Nigeria
and everyone respects him for that.”

Yobo has been a
regular fixture in the Super Eagles side since making his African Cup
of Nations debut at the Mali 2002 tournament where the Super Eagles
finished in third place.

He has since gone
on to make four further appearances at Africa’s showpiece event as well
as two appearances at the FIFA World Cup.

Now 30 and with 75
international caps, Yobo is still waxing strong for Turkish side
Fenerbahce, a side he joined at the start of the season on-loan from
English Premier League side, Everton where he was previously the deputy
to club skipper Phil Neville.

Qualities of a skipper

But does he possess the qualities Siasia wishes to have in whoever gets to emerge as the skipper of his side?

“A good captain
must be a natural leader, that is, he must command the respect of his
teammates both on and off the pitch and also give this same respect to
his teammates,” said Siasia.

“He should be able
to communicate to me or to any other coach in the team any problems the
players may have. He should also show a great deal of commitment not
only during matches, but also during training so as to bring out the
best in others.

“He should also be
a regular as it makes no sense to have a captain who is most of the
time on the bench both for club and country,” added Siasia.

Based on the
national team’s outings beginning from January’s African Cup of Nations
in Angola, many came to the conclusion that Yobo commands the respect
of most of his team mates.

He is also a
regular fixture in the Super Eagles even though the case was not the
same prior to his move to Turkey as he had been frozen out of the
Everton starting-eleven by club manager David Moyes.

Though he is no longer as fast as he once was, the former Marseille player, still shows a lot of commitment on match days.

Asked whether he thinks Yobo has the needed qualities, former Super Eagles midfielder, Etim Esin said, “I think he does”.

“I have had the opportunity of watching some of their training
sessions and he shows a lot of commitment. “I think he has done well as
captain but the decision rests with the coach,” Esin added.