Whatever happens this weekend when our home based Eagles face
Niger Republic in the qualifying match for the African Nations Cup, is
immaterial. Their performance in the first leg, when they lost 0-2 to Niger
away, confirmed what we knew all along: our home based are not good enough for
the Super Eagles.
Most of us agree our league is bad, but when the issue of
players for the national team is raised, we throw caution to the wind, we
remember our brother, cousin or friend who could be a beneficiary if home based
players are given a chance, and we start clamouring for their inclusion in the
Super Eagles.
But how can a league that we all agree is bad produce good
players? Imagine, the best of our home boys cannot beat the best of Niger home
boys. How would they have fared against Argentina, Greece or South Korea?
The home based Eagles are a product of a league were the quality
of play is appalling, where officiating is terrible, where medical and welfare
does not exist, and where the league governing board spends 90 per cent of the
money they receive from Globacom, the official sponsor of the league, on
administration and other expenses, while only 10 per cent is spent on football.
Players’ commitment
A school of thought argues that our overseas based players are
successful financially, that is why they are not committed to the national
team; but what about the home based that are struggling to eke out a living
from football? They are also not committed.
Those who watched the match against Niger said our boys played
as if nothing was at stake. The reason for this is not farfetched; most of them
are lined up for one trial or the other abroad, and they are playing to avoid
injury, so they are as guilty as their foreign counterparts who are playing to
avoid injuries that could make them loose their place in the starting lineup.
Another school of thought argues that the national coach, Lars
Lagerback, should look inward; after all, the winner of the last three
editions, Egypt, had most of its players from the Egyptian league.
Valid argument, on face value, but when subjected to filtration,
it pales into insignificance because, one can only compare likes, and the
Egyptian league is not in any way comparable to our Nigerian league.
Egyptian clubs can compare with European clubs in terms of
welfare, medical, management, organization, and other aspects of the game. That
is why, like Brazilians and Argentines, Egyptians leave European clubs to go
back home and play for their clubs. You hardly see Nigerians leaving European
clubs to play at home. Save for the retired or semi-retired players that grace
our league once in a while, like Rasheed Yekini, majority prefer to hand in
their boots or go into management.
The argument that our players and clubs have consistently
performed well in the CAF Champions League and the Confederation Cup does not
equally hold water. The decline in the level of the African football league is
generally responsible for the success of our team.
In the golden age of the African football league, when countries
like Guinea, Cameroon, Senegal and others had clubs with players whose
credentials were intimidating, where were Nigerian clubs then?
A similar argument is made about English club performances in
the last few years, in the UEFA Champions League and the state of English
football. Yes, Chelsea, Manchester United, Arsenal and Liverpool have done
excellently well in the Champions League in the last five years, but if you
look at the team, there are a few English players that are making this happen.
Cristaino Ronaldo, Carlos Tevez, Patrice Evra and most of the
players that helped United win the league in 2008 and took them to the 2009
final, are not English. In the World Cup and the European, England is a
perennial underachiever.
Advise for our coach
With time being his worst enemy, Lagerback need not be
distracted by the so-called home based Eagles, rather he should concentrate on
our foreign legion, and find a way of selecting the best for the country.
Unlike Shaibu Amodu before him, Lagerback should avoid the
costly mistake of selecting players based on pedigree and sentiment, but on
current form and fitness.
As for the home based Eagles, they will only form the nucleus of
our national team if we overhauled every aspect of our league.
From welfare to security, media, facilities, medical,
remuneration, youth development, marketing, ownership structure, and other
aspects of the league. If we can do all these in the next few years, our clubs
will no longer be feeder teams to clubs in the European league, rather they
will be able to retain our talents, so that if any of our players will move
abroad, it will be the very best that will move abroad, not the situation we
have now where our players are buying one way tickets to play in Malta, India,
Gabon, Iran, and other countries with very poor pedigrees. Until our league is
on a par with that of Egypt, talk about home based Eagles playing in the World
Cup is a mirage.
