Tag: World Cup

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Nigerian Football: Which Way????

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Sitting here, relaxing and surfing the internet for the latest football Transfer News, I noticed a common ‘anomaly’ amongst Nigerian footballers.

All the Nigeria International footballers that have been linked with a move away from their respective clubs, attracted interests from relatively small clubs in top European leagues or clubs in Turkey and other obscure countries.

With all due respect to these clubs, every fan wants to see his countrymen sign for top European sides and I am no different. It signifies the quality of footballers the country churns out year after year.

A lot of fans have forgotten what it feels like to see a good number of Nigerian footballers show off their skills at the biggest stage, the UEFA Champions League (UCL). Former Chelsea manager Roberto di Matteo made every African football fan proud when he listed four Africans in his squad for the 2012 UCL final against Bayern Munich, which they won on penalties.

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These Africans include: John Mikel Obi (Nigeria), Michael Essien (Ghana), Salomon Kalou & Didier Drogba (both Ivory Coast). Hence, Mikel became only the third Nigerian to win the UCL after Kanu Nwankwo and Finidi George (with Ajax in 1995).

David Olatokunbo Alaba, Nigerian-born Austria International, would have become the fourth Nigeria International to win the UCL when he won the title at Wembley with Bayern Munich in 2013 against fierce rivals Borussia Dortmund  if Nigerian Football Federation (NFF) had approached him on time to switch his allegiance from Austria.

Just like Alaba, there used to be a time when Nigerian footballers attracted or commanded a starting berth at top European clubs.
These footballers were termed the “Golden Generation of Nigerian Football”. The Kanus, Georges, Babayaros, Wests, Ikpebas, Amunekes, Okochas, Okechukwus, Olisehs made headlines across the globe and caused a bidding war amongst top European sides after their heroics at 1994 CAF African Cup of Nations in Tunisia, 1994 FIFA World Cup in United States and 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta.

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Kanu Nwankwo and Finidi George moved to Ajax Amsterdam in 1993 and went on to win the UCL in 1995 under the tutelage of Louis van Gaal. They also returned to the same stage a year later but were unlucky to succumb to Italian giants Juventus on penalties. Kanu moved on to Inter Milan and Arsenal amassing a number of trophies to become the most decorated Nigerian footballer ever whilst George moved to Spanish club Real Betis in 1996 after his proposed move to European heavyweights Real Madrid collapsed.

Celestine Babayaro joined Belgian club Anderlecht in 1994 and became the youngest player to play and receive a red card in a UCL game aged just 16years 86 days. He spent three years in Belgium before joining Chelsea, where he won the UEFA Cup Winners Cup and UEFA Cup in over 200 appearances for the London club.

Emmanuel Amuneke, the 1994 CAF African Footballer of the Year, represented Portuguese club, Sporting Lisbon between 1994 and 1996 under late Sir Bobby Robson. In 1996, Robson left Sporting for FC Barcelona and took Amuneke with him, however, his time at Nou Camp was cut short by a knee injury.

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Sunday Oliseh, who is fondly remembered for his thunderbolt winner against Spain at the 1998 FIFA World Cup, played for Ajax Amsterdam, Juventus and Borussia Dortmund.

Victor Ikpeba, the 1998 CAF African Footballer of the Year, played for AS Monaco and Borussia Dortmund in France and Germany respectively with distinction.

Now fast forward to the current crop of players avaliable to the Super Eagles coach for selection and only Victor Moses, Peter Osaze Odemwingie, Ogenyi Onazi, Vincent Enyeama, Kenneth Omeruo, Elderson Echejile, Joel Obi, Ahmed Musa and John Mikel Obi stand out. Mikel caused a tug of war between Manchester United and Chelsea in 2005 before eventually settling for Chelsea. He has gone on to play in UCL and FA Cup finals as well as make the bench for the UEFA Europa League and Capital One Cup finals. He is hot on the heels of Kanu Nwankwo and may usurp the latter to become the most decorated Nigerian footballer ever.

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Others, including Taye Taiwo, who shone at 2005 FIFA World Youth Championships with Mikel, have failed to live up to expectations. To be fair to Taiwo, he started his career on a high and went on to play for Olympique Marseille and AC Milan but lost his form and confidence in 2011 aged just 26 and hasn’t recovered ever since.

There are three main reasons why I think Nigerian footballers aren’t the lure of leading European clubs anymore. The first is age; a number of Europeans still believe Africans and South Americans lie about their ages hence most prefer to take their chance on young players that can offer their clubs a good number of years in return for the astronomical figures they command.

The second is lack of ambition; Africans, rather Black men in general, are often known to become complacent once they achieve their dream. Most Nigerian footballers could care less about winning laurels and trophies. They are in the football business, just for the money considering their family backgrounds. Football has taken many from bottom to the top of the food chain. However, they fail to understand that a player that aims for titles and shattering records will make more money.

The third is lack of quality; the naked truth is that if these players were quality, most managers would take a chance on them irrespective of their limitations. A lot of managers questioned ages of Kanu and Taribo West but it didn’t deter them from signing both players.

To solve this conundrum, the NFF, Nigerian Premier League clubs and national team coaches have to invest heavily in scouting networks to discover quality players who are hungry for success on all fronts.

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Crowd Mentality

“If you follow the crowd, you might get lost in it”

Prior to the World Cup qualifier between Nigeria and Kenya few weeks back, there was a war between Nigerians and Kenyans on twitter. A lot of provocative, insulting yet funny words were exchanged between citizens of both countries.

The Kenyans took to twitter to complain and rant about the way their national team was treated by the Nigerian Football Federation on arrival in Lagos for a World Cup qualifier.

If they were truly treated unfairly and unprofessionally by NFF, they deserve to be livid and their anger justifiable but a lot of Nigerians, not knowing the genesis of the tirade, took it upon themselves and “fought back”, just to be part of a trending topic on twitter.

This is exactly what Crowd Mentality is all about. Crowd Mentality is when an individual or a group of individuals adopt a behaviour just to look or sound cool.

Most Nigerian youths don’t have a mind of their own, they are controlled by people around them or those they believe are superior to them and see these superiors as role models.

So many people form foreign accents, have twitter accounts, fake love for a particular genre of music, blog, drink heavily or smoke uncontrollably because they believe it makes them look cool and acceptable.

Inferiority complex has been associated with crowd mentality and it is believed people who have inferiority complex issues tend to do things, just be accepted by people.

These people have lost their own identity and imagination,letting it get diluted with the influence of people around them.

A lot of girls and guys are easily influenced by people around them so they lie whenever they are in the presence of such people. They lie about sex, relationship, money, etc as the case may be.

The issue of crowd mentality can be seen in career building. So many people lack direction and as a result follow the path chosen by their friends. Recently, I had a discussion with a guy and I realised he’s only studying for a Masters degree just because his friends are doing the same.

This young man isn’t alone in the world of people with this kind of screwed mentality. A lot of people have travelled out of the country to study but when you interact with them, you will realise that most didn’t travel because they really want to further their education but they did so because they want to be accepted by the “elite”, boast to people who still see travelling abroad as luxury, have sexual escapades with foreigners or just leave the country for “good”.

You don’t need a microscope to see the effect of crowd mentality on social media. I always say this “if only our lives were as awesome as we portray it on social media, the world would be a better place”. Most people are ready to do anything to be accepted by the crowd. They post nude pictures, fight to be the first to convey or report some information, share recharge vouchers, copy and paste quotes, use pictures of “correct” people or photo shop their pictures and use them as their profile picture.

Social media is all about mirage, majority of people are far from what they depict on these social networks. I believe people who struggle so hard to be “celebrities” on these social networking sites don’t really have an interestingly fun life in reality so they seek solace in social media.

My Dad once said “Unintelligent people move with the crowd, the intelligent ones move with the minority and the most intelligent ones are always thinking”

Letting go of toxic people in your life is a big step in loving yourself. People in your life may be acting a bit crazy now, but don’t let it get under your skin. Just because others are off in the deep end doesn’t mean you have to join them there. Stay in safe waters and do your thing.

I recommend finding yourself something to interest yourself away from other people, some hobby that you can learn and do on your own, that requires some reasoning and imagination so that you can practice thinking independently and not relying on your friends to think for you.

Better yet if it’s a hobby that few to none of your friends already do (although of course, make sure it’s something you enjoy doing yourself). It might also help to teach yourself to be more critical of what other people do, look at other people and their actions and just think about how you could have done it better, or in a way that would better suit you. You could even just try deliberately doing something different and unique, like wearing a different style of clothes from what your friends wear, or listening to different music, or eating different food, some sort of trigger to teach yourself that you don’t have to do the same things as other people and how thinking for yourself can work for you in your life.

“To Belong” syndrome is a chronic progressive syndrome that is very easy to contract but very hard to treat/manage/cure.

Ditch the crowd and have a mind of your own.

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Football’s Life Lessons II

16. Under rated people find life easy, they surprise everyone when they do well but over rated people are always under intense pressure and are often criticised for every wrong move they make. Google Freddy Adu.

17. Listening to renowned commentators like Martin Tyler can aid your vocabulary.

18. Karma is a bitch, just make sure that bitch is beautiful. Our past come back to haunt us one way or the other. Sunderland’s appointment of Paolo Di Canio as manager has caused an uproar because of his fascist salutes/political views in the past.

19. Drugs, alcohol and women can ruin you. Diego Maradona (drugs), Paul Gascoigne (alcohol) and George Best (alcohol & women) all ruined their careers.

20. Money can’t buy happiness. Robert Enke and Gary Speed committed suicide after succumbing to depression.

21. A leader is a person who leads by example and not words of mouth. Liverpool’s Steven Gerrard led by example in the 2005 UCL final against AC Milan, having started the game in midfield, he shifted to the right back position in the extra time of the match to send the game to penalties, which his team won.

22. Don’t be a quitter. Ronaldo de Lima suffered recurrent knee injuries in the early 2000s. Prior to the 2002 world cup, he didn’t a play part in Inter Milan’s season but went on to win the Golden boot and World Cup with Brazil that year. He also won the FIFA World footballer of the year award that same year.

23. Team work supersedes individualism. Chelsea won the 2012 Champions League not because they were the best team but because they worked hard as a team.

24. No knowledge is a waste. In 2012, 21-year old, Vugar Guloglan oglu Huseynzade was named as coach of Azerbaijani club, FC Baku based on his experience of playing the computer game, Football Manager. He beat former European footballer of the year, Jean-Pierre Papin to the job.

25. Hard work will always beat talent, if talent doesn’t work hard. Nani is more talented than Antonio Valencia but Valencia’s work ethic is impressive thus he’s kept Nani out of the team for most of the campaign.

26. Don’t underrate anybody, everybody has something to offer. Monaco & FC Porto surprised everybody when they beat G-14 clubs to reach the final of UCL in 2004.

27. Proper planning makes decision making process a lot easier. A strategic plan is usually developed for every opponent. This plan is developed after careful examination of their strengths and weaknesses. The experience gotten from this plan, whether successful or not would be useful in subsequent matches.

28. Be flexible to change. Sir Alex Ferguson is an epitome of flexibility to change; he’s gone from 4-4-2 that won him the treble in 1999 to 4-5-1 in 2001 to 4-3-3 in 2008 to 4-2-3-1 in 2013. This has helped him wrestle the EPL title from the likes of Jose Mourinho, Carlo Ancelotti, Roberto Mancini and Arsene Wenger.

29. Always have a substitute or back plan. I’m yet to see a season Sir Alex Ferguson has played without four recognised strikers in his squad. When one or two strikers aren’t performing at an optimal level, the others are thrown into the game.

30. Everybody remembers the winner, nobody remembers the person in second position. When a goal is scored, nobody remembers the player with the killer pass but the scorer.

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TOP TEN NIGERIANS TO PLAY IN THE ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE (Posted first on connectnigeria.com)

With or without the consent of European football governing body UEFA, the English Premier League is the best and most exciting football league on planet earth.
People from all over the world, are glued to their television sets to get a glimpse of the EPL action week in, week out.
Since the start of the EPL in 1992, about 25 or thereabout Nigerian Internationals have played in England’s elite football league and this is a list of my top ten Nigerians to fly the Green White Green in the EPL.

KANU ‘PAPILLO’ NWANKWO
Although Kanu made most of his EPL appearances as a substitute, he is the reason the league became a popular one here in Nigeria. He moved to Highbury from FC Internazionale of Italy for 4.1million pounds after a scare about his heart. He went on to play for West Bromwich Albion and Portsmouth. He made a total of 315 appearances (118 as a substitute, an EPL record) scoring 57 goals. He won 2 Premier League titles, 3 FA Cup trophies, and 1 Community Shield, African and BBC Footballer of the year during his stint in England.

JOHN MIKEL OBI
John Michael Nchekwube Obinna popularly known as John Obi Mikel joined London giants Chelsea after a tug of war with Manchester United which saw FIFA intervene and act as a pacifier between the two rivals. The matter was resolved and Chelsea were asked to pay 12million pounds in compensation to Manchester United and 4million pounds to his parent club, FC Lyn Oslo of Norway.
He made his EPL debut as a substitute and scored his first goal in English football in 6-1 thumping of Macclesfield Town in January 2007 (FA Cup). He’s gone on to play in the League Cup, FA Cup, and Champions League finals for the club. He’s the most decorated Nigerian to play in the EPL; he has won a Premier league title, 4FA Cups, 1League Cup and 1Champions League medal during his 5years at Chelsea. He’s also made 160 appearances for the club scoring 2goals.

YAKUBU ‘YAK’ AIYEGBENI
After a tremendous display in the 2002/2003 Champions League campaign where he scored 7goals in 8matches, he earned a loan deal to Portsmouth FC, who were fighting for promotion in the Championship. He helped them to the EPL before signing permanently.
He is the third highest goal scorer in the history of the Nigerian national team. He made his debut in English football as a 57th minute substitute for Vincent Pericard in 1-all draw against Brighton & Hove Albion on 18th June 2004 and scored his first goal against Grimsby in his first start.
He played 37times in Portsmouth’s debut season in the EPL scoring 16times; scored his debut EPL goal in the 1-1 draw against Manchester City (his second match).
He went on to represent Middlesborough, Everton, Leicester City and Blackburn Rovers. He scored 29, 26, 25, 17 EPL goals for Pompey, Middlesborough, Everton and Blackburn Rovers, a total of 97goals in 213 appearances; averaging 0.45goal per game. He scored four hat-tricks in his EPL career.
He joined Chinese side, Guangzhou R&F this summer after Blackburn Rovers’ demotion to the Championship.

JAY JAY OKOCHA
A cult hero at the Reebok stadium, he joined Bolton Wanderers after the 2002 World Cup in Korea and Japan after the expiration of his deal with French side, Paris Saint Germain.
In his debut season, he was limited to few appearances due to injuries but he still steered his team away from the hands of relegation with 7goals. This endeared him to the hearts of Bolton fans, which made them unveil a T-shirt in his honour with the inscription “Jay jay, so good they named him twice”. His goal against West Ham United was voted EPL team goal of the season. He was made captain of the team in 2003 and led Bolton to their first cup final in 9years (League Cup final v Middlesborough) in 2004 which they lost to a Bolo Zenden’s first half penalty.
In 2006, he was stripped of the captaincy and subsequently, joined a Qatari club that summer. He played 124 times in the league, scoring 16goals.

JOSEPH YOBO
The Super Eagles captain and most capped player with 87caps joined the EPL train in July 2002 after signing for Everton FC from Marseille in a million pound loan deal. The deal was made permanent a year later with Everton paying Marseille an additional 4million pounds for his services.
He went on to become one of the most consistent players in the Everton squad, and was one of only 7 players in the entire league to play every minute of every match throughout 2006/2007 season.
As of 15 April 2007, he is the record appearance holder for an overseas player and became the first African to captain the side in the absence of Phil Neville, against Larissa of Greece in the UEFA Cup on 25th October 2007
In 2009/2020 season, he fell down the pecking order after the club signed John Heitinga and Phil Jagielka from Athletico Madrid and Sheffield United respectively, his poor form didn’t help either and he was farmed out on loan to Turkish giants, Fenerbahce; He made the deal permanent last week. He played 220 times in the league for Everton, scoring 8goals.

OSAZE PETER ODEMWIGIE
Born to a Nigerian doctor and Uzbekistani mother, he joined West Bromwich Albion on 20th August 2010 for an undisclosed fee on a two year contract.
He scored on his debut, 81st minute winner against Sunderland. He also scored in the memorable 3-2 win against Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium; a brace against Newcastle United in a 3-1 win surpassing Robert Earnshaw’s record as the club’s top scorer in the EPL with 15goals. On 30th April, he became the first WBA player to score in 4consecutive matches after scoring against Tottenham Hotspur. He won two Player of the Month awards during the course of the season; the sixth man to receive the accolade twice in one season in the award’s history.
He scored his first hat trick in EPL in 5-1annihilation of Wolverhampton Wanderers on 12 February 2012, which made him win the Player of the Month award for the month of February; his third in his short stint in England. He has chipped in 25goals in 60 EPL games, an average of 0.416goal per game.

EFAN EKOKU
Efangwu Goziem Ekoku, English-born ex Nigerian international played in the EPL with Norwich City and Wimbledon.
He joined the EPL bandwagon after signing for Norwich City in a 500,000 pound deal from Harry Redknapp’s Bournemouth side where he scored 7times in 14games. Norwich were in the thick of the title race, he scored 3goals in 10matches; Manchester United later won the title that year while Norwich finished third.
He scored four times as Norwich beat Everton 5-1 at Goodison Park; becoming the first player to score more than 3goals in one match in the EPL.
He moved to Wimbledon in 1994 replacing John Fashanu. He was the club’s top scorer that year with 9goals while they finished in 9th position. He went on to score 7 and 11 goals in 94/95 and 95/96 seasons respectively. He took them to the League and FA Cups finals in 1996 which they lost on both occasions.
He left the club in 1999 for Swiss club, Grasshoppers.
He was inducted into Norwich City Hall of Fame in 2012, obtained his FA/UEFA coaching badges and serves as a co-commentator for TWI overseas coverage of the EPL.

CELESTINE BABAYARO
The ex-Nigerian was signed by Ruud Gullit as a 19year-old back in April 1997 from Anderlecht for 2.25million pounds for Chelsea, a club record for a teenager at the time.
He won the FA Cup and Charity Shield with Chelsea in 2001 and 2002 respectively. The arrival of Jose Mourinho saw him lose his place to Wayne Bridge who was signed as part of Roman Abhramovic’s revolution. He joined Newcastle United in 2005 after playing 200 times for Chelsea. He made 179 EPL appearances scoring 5goals.

DANIEL ‘THE BULL’ AMOKACHI
He signed for Everton for 3million pounds after the 1994 World Cup. He is famous for bringing himself on as a sub then proceeding to score two goals in the Semi Final FA Cup win over Tottenham in 1999; although he won the match, his coach wasn’t too pleased with his actions. He also appeared in the FA Cup final triumph but only as a late sub. He didn’t make the best impact in an Everton shirt and lost his place to Rideout and Duncan Ferguson. He played 43times and scored 10goals.

FINIDI GEORGE
Nicknamed “The Gazelle” during his time at the Amsterdam ArenA, joined Ipswich Town during the twilight of his career in 2001 from Mallorca for 3.1million pounds. Ipswich town had defied all odds and finished third in their debut season in the EPL, all thanks to the goals of Marcus Stewart, Martijn Reuser and James Scowcroft.
Finidi scored twice on his debut in a 3-1 win over Derby County at Portman Road but they were relegated at the end of the season and he returned back to Spain in 2003.

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Talent

I’ve always wanted to play football in one of the big leagues and show the world the talent God gave to me.

People who’ve known me for years still can’t believe I didn’t play professionally. Allow me to blow my own horn; I am blessed with the gift. I can play as a playmaker, striker or winger. I am tremendously skillful with both feet, have a flair for defence-splitting passes and a hawk eye for goal.

Everybody in my family supported this dream of mine except my dad. My dad is a very intelligent, meticulous and articulate man thus I trust his opinions and thoughts. The moment I knew he didn’t give his consent, my heart sank because I believe the man die!

He said “How can you, my son be a professional footballer? Mba nu! You are more intelligent than that. You must be educated. What would you do when you retire from the game at 30/35?”

He had a very serious point. Most footballers call time on their career between the ages of 30 and 39. You know what they say, life begins at 40 so you see where he’s already looking at. If I retire at 30 without education, I could become a liability to other members of the family.

My dad always maintained education doesn’t make one rich but gives you wealth of knowledge and removes the scales of ignorance from your eyes. He believed footballers are womanizers, who lavish their money on girls, cars and other irrelevant things because they lack educational exposure.

My late uncle was an ex-Green Eagle and my in-law, Christian Obodo used to play for the Super Eagles. In my late uncle’s case, his career was cut short by a nagging knee injury and my dad said to me…”My son, if you have a career ending injury like your uncle, what would you do with your life?” I couldn’t utter a word.

I kept on nursing my ambition to lock horns with the stars I watch every week on television, I sent my video clips to some clubs, most notably Manchester United and Real Madrid wearing their colours in the video clips. I even proceeded to write SAT with my friends Ababa & El Rey which I passed and got admission to study Economics at Memorial University of Newfoundland, UCLA or University of Illinois but my dad didn’t budge. The coach of University of Illinois Men’s soccer team at the time, Ben Massena tried to pull the deal through…for where? UK and Ireland (University of Loughborough to study Chemical Engineering) came calling…zilch! Then my dad asked me one question that if I answer it correctly I could go play wherever I want. He asked “what would you do with the money you will make?” Huh, did I hear him correctly? Who you dey ask that one? I mean I was 15/16 at the time and of course, I couldn’t answer that question. I was speechless and numb.

Parents often pressurize their kids into choosing things they don’t want like filling Medicine and Surgery, Law, Enginnering or any other professional course on their JAMB forms for one particular reason or the other (could be selfish or not). That’s why some of these kids end up failing because they have no interest in the course or are afraid of failing & disappointing their parents.

Don’t get me wrong, our parents love us and they want the best for us but what they fail to understand is that God gave you that talent you have for a reason.

All they have to do is support and encourage the child’s dreams and ambitions and help him/her develop that talent. When they do, the child will definitely do exceedingly well. I’m yet to see a person who failed to bring to fruition his dreams, goals and ambitions when he/she had the backing of the parents.

For instance, look at Lionel Messi, the man who every football lover believes is a Martian, was diagnosed with a growth hormone deficiency at the age of 11. Argentine perennial champions, River Plate backed out on offering him a deal because they had no money to foot his medical bills. Then came Barcelona with an escape route for the Argentine imp, offering to pay his medical bills only if Messi signed for their academy (La Masia). The father, Jorge agreed and resigned from his job as a factory steel worker and migrated to Barcelona to be with his son.

Today, he’s won everything winnable except the World Cup. He has been world footballer of the year thrice at just 24 and has 21 winners medal with club and country including a myriad of individual honours.

If you have a talent, nurture it and put it to great use. If you are a parent, help your child discover his/her talent, aid and support the development of this God-given talent.

What’s your talent?