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The signs looked good for Nigerian football ahead of the weekend
with Heartland FC hopeful of upsetting the applecart in Cairo against Al-Ahly
in the CAF Champions League. And the men’s U-17 national side confident of
turning around the 2-0 defeat they incurred against the Congolese ahead of
their return leg tie in Kaduna.

The ladies were not left out as the women’s U-17 national team,
the Flamingos, were expected to continue their impressive run of results at the
ongoing FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup in Trinidad and Tobago.

But at the end of it all, it turned out to be somewhat of a
topsy-turvy weekend for the country’s football teams.

First it was the Golden Eaglets who only managed to play out a
disappointing 1-1 draw against the visitors from Congo at the Ahmadu Bello
Stadium, Kaduna thereby failing to qualify for next year’s African U-17 Youth
Championships taking place in Rwanda; a tournament that will serve as the
qualifying tournament for the 2011 FIFA U-17 World Cup in Mexico. The Eaglets
had needed to win by a three-goal margin to upstage the Congolese and advance
to the next round of the qualifiers. But after a goalless first half, they
found themselves a goal behind when Epako Oniongo scored for Congo in the 55th
minute.

After that, there was always going to be one outcome even though
they thereafter leveled up before fluffing a penalty kick midway through the
second half.

A few hours afterwards, Heartland fell 2-1 to their hosts
Al-Ahly thus waving goodbye to a tournament they were expected to mount a
serious challenge for this time around having made it as far as last year’s
final before losing out to TP Mazembe of the Congo DR.

Wake up call

“The loss is so unfortunate,” said coach of Nigeria’s senior
women’s side, Eucharia Uche. “We usually boast that even if our senior teams
are not doing well that the youth will always make us proud. But that hasn’t
happened this time around and it is time to go back to the drawing board and
see where we went wrong.

“We should start preparing another crop of boys for 2013 and we
should start now by picking the appropriate age that would be able to compete
in that time. Maybe it would serve as a wake up call for the authorities,” Uche
said, adding that “The boys did their best but it was not good enough”.

Former Nigerian midfielder Garba Lawal said ‘it is one of those
things in football’ and expressed hope that the coach will ‘pick the right
people’ next time.

“He (Golden Eaglets’ coach Monday Odigie) said he picked the
best of the lot but since it ended like this I hope he learns from this,” he
added.

Heartland flops in Cairo

Another coach who also needs to learn how to teach his team the
art of goal scoring is Samson Siasia whose Heartland side appear to be goal-shy
even though they managed to score their first away goal of this year’s
Champions League tournament against Al-Ahly.

“Heartland were in the same dilemma as the U-17 boys. They could
not score goals,” said Lawal.

“Their coaches went to Egypt knowing that they needed goals.
They even said they were prepared, but what we saw on the field of play was
different. I hope they prepare better next time.”

Flamingoes are good to go

What should have passed as a disastrous weekend for Nigerian
football was however salvaged at the very last moment by the Flamingos, who
cruised to a 5-0 win over Chile to register their third successive win at the
U-17 Women’s World Cup and claim top spot in Group A.

The Flamingos, who had earlier recorded wins over the host
nation and North Korea before routing the Chileans, now have a quarter final date
to keep with South Korea on Thursday.

Uche, a former star of the Nigerian women’s team, is confident
of their chances in Trinidad and Tobago.

“I think they are going to go far in the competition,” she said.
“They beat the North Koreans and I am quite certain that with this form they
are in they would be brimming with confidence.

“Their game with the south Koreans should not be a problem and I can
actually see them in the finals,” added Uche who anticipates a Nigeria-Germany
final as was the case at the recently concluded FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup in
Germany.