0
0
2026 WORLD CUP QUALIFIERS; HOW CAN A COUNTRY BE SO BLESSED, AND YET, BE SO CURSED?
By Adewale Ajayi
Immediately after the stalemate in Bloemfontein, the media space became very tensed. Dried bones rose up from their graves and started pointing accusing fingers. The veil of darkness that had blindfolded us from reality from the very beginning was suddenly removed as it dawned on all of us that we are on the brink of bidding goodbye to a second world cup.
Nigeria, the once celebrated giant of Africa has suddenly fallen from the grace of excellence to the grass of failures and disgrace.
On Tuesday in Bloemfontein South Africa, a Bafana Bafana team dominated by young and enterprising home based footballers dazzled and dribbled our more esterblished Europe based professionals, leaving the likes of Ola Aina and Wilfred Ndidi with long term injuries on a bumpy pitch and in a wet night at Bloemfontein.
The home fans danced and sang and brought back memories of the jabulani vibes from South Africa 2010, the last time, the men from Nelson Mandela’s country saw the promised land as host but whithered away too soon despite giving the world a spectacle to remember in Africas debut appearance as World Cup host.
There were too many distractions on ths day, the pretty girls gave the atmosphere a very colorful and beautiful appearance, they twisted their waists to the admiration of some randy bystanders who got carried away by the wave of excitement and missed.the actions but not the moments.
The moments were few. An own goal scored by the Super Eagles captain Troost Ekong who passed the ball into his own.net like a men under duress. Then the equalizer from a tiger called Calvin Bassey. Born in the United Kingdom, that youngman looks possessed anytime he is representing his fatherland. Be bullies the opposition and motivates his team mates. If you ask me, that is the ideal Super Eagles captain. Give him the badge now!
As the game dragged towards the final whistle, reality dawned on all of us, the true picture of where we are in the World Cup qualification race appeared brightest on the scoreboard as we all sat glued to our seats, some with their fingers in their mouths while others sneaked out early to avoid the post match questions.
All of us present at that stadium on the day have played our part in this sorry end. We have all contributed in no small measures to this fate that has befallen us. This is not the time to apportion blames, rather it is a time to do a more holistic analysis of the situation and accept our faults, with the hope that we will make corrections going forward.
If you are one of those that think the world cup race is over for Nigeria, you must be joking. It is not. We still have two matches left and we have six points to play for.
Luckily for us, Benin Republic that is above Nigeria with three points will be our guest in Uyo in October. If we can find our best form and beat them silly by four goals, that used to be our hallmark when the going was good, then we have a chance to improve our goals aggregate.
Four nil against Benin Republic and three nil in Bloemfontein against Lesotho will give us 17 points and plus nine goals. If Benin win their last home match they will stay on 17points while hopefully, Rwanda can find confidence from somewhere to shock South Africa. Once that happens and three points gets deducted from the Bafana Bafana by FIFA, then the truth is that, they will also end up on 17points if they win one out of their last two games.
At that point, goals difference and head to head could then decide who wins the group and goes to the play-offs.
These permutations have returned to haunt us since that stalemate in Bloemfontein on Tuesday that has left us on a paltry 11 points, three behind Benin Republic and six behind South Africa.
Now let’s attend to the blame game. We must all share in the blame. I take full responsibility for my actions and inactions while the world cup qualifier lasted. I joined the bandwagon that asked for Gernot Rohr to be sacked, not knowing that Amaju Pinnick had other ideas. He gave us Jose Peseiro, a coach recommended by Jose Mourinho but he came with the brain of Sam Allardyce.
1. *Hold Amaju Melvin Pinnick Responsible, he is the chief culprit*
That man left our football worse than he met it. For eight good years, he keeps gallivanting from Pillar to post, negotiating for personal glories at the detriment of our national pride. He is the biggest evil that has confronted our football in the last eight years. For some of us, we ignorantly celebrated his successes in FIFA and CAF, not knowing that we might miss out of back to back world cups, after missing out of three Under 17 World Cups, two Olympic football events and so much more. He tortured our youths with hunger, they left camp empty handed in the midst of plenty even when they returned as gallant soldiers.
He flourished in so much wealth on their sweat and left the country football in the deep and dirty gutters of failures and disgrace. The once celebrated Super Eagles dropped to Super chickens
2. *The Present NFF Board led by Ibrahim Gusau*
Apart from a few knowledgeable ones in their midst, Ibrahim Musa Gusau is surrounded by men of little knowledge. Many on that board just go about flaunting their agbadas but have failed to bring anything meaningful to the table.
In terms of intelligence and passion, give it to Gusau, in terms of dedication to duty and the willingness to succeed, give it to Gusau, in terms of having the interest of Nigeria football at heart, give it to Gusau but there comes a point where he needs to stamp his feet and take very decisive decisions for the good of the game.
Is this not the Gusau that dared Ladan Bosdo and his cohorts and took the Flying Eagles job from him? Is this not the same Gusau that brought Justin Madugo from nowhere and made him the Super Falcons coach against our wish and he has gone on to win the WAFCON?
Whether you like him or not, Gusau is a man of character and he can be decisive on his day. His only weak point is that, he has allowed friendship to becloud his reasoning at some point and that has seriously affected our football.
Mallam Ibrahim Gusau, i want to put it to you once again that your friend Sharrif Inuwa (Ahlan) who also happens to be my good friend did so well as chairman of the Referees appointment committee. That is where he belongs, he has no technical knowledge of football at the highest level and shouldn’t be chairman of the technical Committee. That committee is suffering and the result of his incompetence is what we are seeing today.
Secondly I told you when you wanted to appoint Finidi George that he will take us back to ths trenches. You didn’t listen until the damage was done. Unfortunately, the one point he got from two matches, a draw with South Africa in Uyo and the 2-1 defeat to Benin Republic cost us five precious points to bring us to where we are today. That was a big letdown and you must take responsibility.
Please also look for a better technical director for Nigeria football, Eguaveon is just not good enough. You can’t sack a man as chief coach and make him technical director over his successor, that is not acceptable.
3. *The National Sports Commission*
I really cannot find much fault to nail the commission except that I didn’t see the Supporters club in Bloemfontein. I understand that the South African embassy failed to issue entry visas to some of members of the club but I am not convinced that we did enough on our part to get that done on time.
When did we apply for these visas is the big question begging for answers. On Tuesday in Bloemfontein, I saw Nigerians travel in from north, south, east and west of South Africa but the drums were nowhere to be found. The home fans had fun from start to finish and that got me wondering as to how we got to where we are today.
4. *The Players and the coaches*
We need to encourage the chief coach of the Super Eagles Eric Chelle to go on a tour of Eastern and Western Europe. The invitation of Benjamin Frederick is the best thing to happen to our football in the last two years. That young man has given the Super Eagles defense some steel and agility. He is a rock.
Let’s excuse Ekong for now and pair Frederick with Bassey in central defence. We don’t need Ekong anymore. Dessers is not a Super Eagles material, he is not just good enough. Wilfred Ndidi must not start, we have to go look for options there. We need more patriotic and dedicated footballers, we need real young men not some disguised veterans. I think the coaches have not done badly except for some questionable decisions like starting Desser ahead of Tolu Arokodare in a vital match of that magnitude that demands grit and power.
We are still in the race, let’s fight gallantly till the very end and whatever comes out of the struggle at the end, we will look back and do an holistic appraisal ahead of the Nations Cup.
For now, I rest my pen
Adewale Ajayi aka Oja
About The Author
