Nigerian football is at a new low after the ignominious crash of the Super Eagles, in the qualification rounds of the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) tournament scheduled for Gabon. The three-time African champions lost 0-1 to Egypt in the reverse fixture of their Group G match in Alexandria last Tuesday. The Eagles’ elimination from the tournament for the second time in succession represents a fresh low for Nigerian football, which now seems to find new depths to plumb. Amid the excuses and apologies, this national embarrassment is no doubt an expected denouement to the protracted crises, in-fighting, intrigues, greed and lust for power in the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF). It is shameful and Nigerians don’t deserve this kind of disgrace. The time to get things right is now. Enough is enough.
As expected, the NFF is scouting for a foreign manager to replace interim head coach, Samson Siasia who replaced Sunday Oliseh, who had resigned in anger and frustration after he was appointed to replace Stephen Keshi who was sacked by the NFF, barely two months into his contract. As has now become standard practice, a hailstorm of apologies have trailed the Eagles’ debacle, ostensibly to soothe the pain of Nigerians, subjected to the trauma of another painful faut pas by the Eagles. Coaches, NFF officials, even government officials, are involved in public apologies for the team’s failures. These excuses only add insult to injury. They do nothing to reduce the collective pain from the disappointment of not qualifying for a tournament that would have provided brief moments of joyful celebration and plenty of psychological distraction from the prevailing and overwhelming national climate of gloom.
Instructively, none of the apologies made any proper postmortem of what happened – why the Eagles lost, how on the night the Egyptians deserved their victory and, sentiments aside, the Eagles, on the balance of play, did not deserve to win. Nor did anyone acknowledge that poor management is the bane of Nigeria’s football and what is needed is a profound autopsy plus urgent prescriptions that will bring change beyond public apologies! Siasia had no business apologizing; as the fire extinguisher, he did a yeoman’s job. The players had no reason apologizing as they were even more dejected for letting themselves and the country down. They answered their country’s call and played out their hearts and left everything on the field of play. It is ludicrous that the Sports Minister who had nothing to do with the team and how they played joined the orgy of apologies.
An apology is usually an acknowledgement of some wrongdoing arising from acts of omission or commission. It represents the first step towards accountability. In this instance, the only apology that mattered was that of NFF President, Amaju Pinnick because it would diagnose what went wrong, and that would determine what needs to be fixed going forward. But not unsurprisingly, Pinnick failed to explain what went wrong; refused to accept any responsibility, arguing that calls for his resignation were unfair since other national teams had fared much better during his tenure. He ignored the fact that football is a results game; and once you fail to deliver, the honorable thing to do is resign or be sacked.
Pinnick however provided an insight into the future; his board would not resign; Siasia will return to the national Olympic team, and the next coach of the Eagles will be a foreigner. He even threatened to resign should this fail to materialize. Pinnick’s resignation will be good riddance but no one expects him to resign because Nigerians do not resign from positions of “chop.” And he cannot be sacked because this would invite football’s world governing body, FIFA, to flex its disciplinary muscle with threats of suspensions over official interference in football management. It then becomes imperative for NFF to embrace a paradigm shift in accountability and focus, so as to key into the international football order.
As things stand, Nigerian football will continue to remain a disaster waiting to happen. However, the current drawback is a challenge to the NFF to restore the lost glory that millions of passionate football lovers yearn for. Against the background of a history of foreign coaches littered with failures after milking the country and jumping ship once the going gets tough; it is obvious the problem with the Eagles is not the absence of a foreign coach. The Eagles have been anything but super, so what difference would a foreign coach have made? Against Egypt, they played lackadaisically, devoid of the fighting spirit; lacked commitment and were bereft of winning ideas. Would a foreign coach have chosen a different set of players and produced a different result?
Even the other group contenders Tanzania, considered a minnow, taught the Eagles a hard lesson on how to avoid complacency. Nigerians have seen the demystification of some of the world’s most renowned coaches like Van Gaal, Jose Mourinho, and Raphael Benitez who have failed or are failing in their immediate past and even present assignments. Therefore, there is no foreign coach out there with a magic wand with guarantees of success.
In a way, the present state of football is merely a reflection of the national condition. Poverty of leadership is everywhere and the country’s football seems to have bottomed out in this unrestrained free-fall, effectively denying citizens the potential of a national unifying factor. Football loving Nigerians will no longer tolerate the mess in the NFF, which has become a house of intrigues and corruption to which accountability is alien. The AFCON 2017 fiasco should, therefore, provide the opportunity to breathe fresh air into a fouled atmosphere.
The Glass House needs men of high integrity and clear vision to take Nigeria to the desired heights and the country has enough of such men. Times like these demand men of character who will stand up to be counted. Such men have always been a factor between success and failure at competitions. There must be total separation of politics from football, both in selecting the coach and in inviting players. Too often, the coaches leave out good players only to rely on mediocre ones, the result of which can hardly be less woeful than what prevails now. To bring the Eagles to the super class in world football where they previously belonged is possible, only if the administrators, with less distraction, apply themselves with more professionalism in developing football in line with international best practices rather than working always towards disgrace for the country.
Cultivating Nigeria’s image and honor should be the foremost preoccupation of NFF officials who should work assiduously towards developing football from the grassroots. Competitive football at club levels would expand the production line of talented players and help discover new talents like the Israel Adebajos of the famed Lagos’ Stationery Stores; the Etim Esins of Calabar Rovers and the Lekan Salamis of the then IICC Shooting Stars. The Super Eagles and Nigerians are hurting at the moment and it is time for the renaissance to start rolling, and enthrone a sustainable football culture Nigerians would be proud of in no distant time.
