THE NATION SATURDAY, OCTOBER 27, 2012
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QUATORIAL Guinea steps forward once more to host an African tournament finals and it will be quite a lovely one with the women in town in full force. Earlier in the year, the Guineans played co-host to the 28th African Cup of Nations finals alongside Gabon, and it was an incomplete party, what with the Super Eagles of Nigeria and a number of top African nations absent from the houseparty. However, the setting for the 8th African Women Championship is every bit more convincing with the Super Falcons of Nigeria and the Women National Teams of Cameroon, South Africa, Equatorial Guinea, Senegal, Democratic Republic of Congo, Cote d’Ivoire and Ethiopia set to light up the firmament in Bata and Malabo for the next two weeks, starting tomorrow. Ethiopia’s football is in a euphoric state with the senior men’s team having also just qualified for the 29th African Cup of Nations taking place in the Republic of South Africa early next year. As I said at the opening ceremony of the FIFA Women Football Coaching Course in Abuja on Tuesday, the women’s teams have continued to do exceptionally well for the country and the least we can do as a Federation and as a people is to always encourage them.
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UPER Eagles’ coach Stephen Keshi is looking for what he cannot get from abroad to shore up the senior national team. The former international, who coached Togo and Mali, wants to convince Nigerianborn Sydney Sam and Nedum Onuoha to don the colours of Nigeria in South Africa in the African Cup of Nations finals holding in January. Germany-based Sydney has just recovered from an injury which had sidelined him for months while Onuoha is of Queen’s Park Rangers in the English Premiership. The Bundesliga striker has turned Nigeria down twice and there are no new facts on ground to indicate that he will not turn Keshi down again. The blood running in his vein is more of German. His body, soul, spirit is German and he has nothing Nigerian in him as we speak except the fact that one of his parents is Nigerian. He speaks German and no Nigerian language though the language of football is universal. I would be surprised if he speaks English fluently which would make him feel at home in the camp of the senior national team. Sydney’s body language suggests that he would prefer to play for the former World champions where grass is greener rather than the two time African champions who are struggling to find their bearing in international football. Onuoha’s fortune in the English Premiership has nose-dived since he failed to make the grade in the current champions, Manchester City. The defender is struggling to make the grade in his new club and has continued to dip in form. He has expressed his preference for England several times and there is no point in convincing him further to embrace his father land which he never knew. If the half back cannot make the Three Lions’ squad, then he
Inside The
Glass House WITH AMINU MAIGARI
The 8th African Women Championship The Super Falcons will enter the fray as undisputed hot favourites having won SIX of the SEVEN editions that have been held, and with further intimidating credentials in fly Africa’s flag at every FIFA Women’s World Cup since the inaugural edition in 1991, playing at the Olympic Games in 2000, 2004 and 2008 and winning the gold medal at the All-Africa Games in 2003 and 2007. The setting in Bata on Monday, when the Falcons take on the Lionesses of Cameroon, will bear semblance of a revenge forum as the Nigeria team will be determined to avenge their Olympic Games qualifying defeat at the hands of the Cameroonian maidens. In October last year, only two weeks after the Super Eagles failed to qualify for the 2012 African Cup of Nations,
the Lionesses ambushed the Falcons in Yaounde, winning 2-1 for a 3-3 aggregate and then prevailed on penalties. The pain of that particular month has only just reduced but the Falcons can heal it completely by taming the Lionesses with ease at the Nkoantoma Stadium in Bata on Monday afternoon. The Lionesses went to the Olympic Games Women’s Football Tournament in London but were far from impressive. However, that is not to say that the Falcons should under-rate them when the two teams clash for the first three points of Group B. So many exciting matches are expected at Africa’s top women football party but the clash between Nigeria and Cameroon should rank as the choice of the group stage. The clash between
Equatorial Guinea and South Africa should also provide a lot of spark given the pedigree of the two teams – Equatorial Guinea won the only title that has eluded Nigeria in the 14-year history of the championship, when they hosted at home in 2008, and South Africa should be respected with a string of runner-up positions mostly behind Nigeria. It is a delight that we can talk about Africa’s women football in the same breath as the men’s, less than two-and-half decades after it was considered a pure joke to have a Women National Team. The reactions and gestures that followed the decision of then Nigeria Football Association to form a Women National Team in 1990 can still be recalled. But the team went ahead to qualify for the inaugural FIFA Women’s World Cup in a flourish, with some astounding scorelines somewhat solidifying the
position of the conservatives that the African continent was not ready for women’s football. The Falcons were brought down to earth against Germany, China and Italy at that World Cup but the team improved in USA in 1999 and did not do too badly at the last edition in Germany. Women’s football has indeed come to stay, with some of the conservatives among the game’s top backers today. Certainly, Nigerian ball fans will expect to see their Falcons lift the African Women Championship trophy in Malabo on 11th November, with the rocking drums of the ubiquitous Nigeria Football Supporters Club providing background music. The Falcons will be expected to pay back the Lionesses in shining coins in Bata on Monday, and then to defeat Ethiopia inside the same Stadium on Thursday, 1st November. The last game in the group will involve the clash with the Ivorians (who humiliated Mozambique in the qualifying series) in Malabo and it should provide some good test for the Falcons ahead of the semi finals, which may take them back to Bata. The truth is, while Cameroon (which eliminated Ghana), Equatorial Guinea, South Africa and Democratic Republic of Congo may flex muscles, Nigeria still remain the ultimate powerhouse of
Eagles: Making do with what we have has no business donning the colours of Nigeria in international football. We should not settle for second grade materials in the name of wanting to build a strong national team that can hold its own in international football. Onuoha and Sydney have not really proved themselves in Europe to warrant the attention of the national selectors. Invitation to the national camp should continue to be based on current form and both players currently do not have the credentials to make the national team of Nigeria. Keshi should look beyond the facts that they are Nigerians in Diaspora and that they were born abroad as yardsticks to pursue them for the national team. The history of their birth and their exposure to better facilities and trainers ought to make them better materials for the national team than those who started here, but these have not worked in their favour, based on their output in their various clubs. Presently, they have nothing to contribute to the national team of Nigeria, which is thickened with players of average disposition. That aside, they are unwilling horses and; therefore, should not be flogged like Balaam’s donkey to do our bidding. The players should be left alone to pursue their fancies and live their dreams in Europe. If they are top acts in their clubs, the Nigerian system of use-and-discard will not encourage them to shun better opportunities abroad to come home and play for the Super Eagles. The treatment meted out to players of Nigerian origin who had played for the country in the past will not work in our favour. Those who came in past after persuasions were dumped after playing few matches for the country and were left cursing the day
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08050246155 atlarge84@yahoo.com they decided to come home. A good example in modern memory is that of Everton’s Victor Anichebe. The young striker was convinced to come home during Samson Siasia’s era as Eagles’ minder. He worked his socks out and showed great commitment while playing for Nigeria. He was a shade different from other foreign legion who never applied themselves fully while representing the country in games. They always play safe to avoid injury which could set them back in their chosen career. Anichebe never played safe and got injured in the process of giving his all for the country. The power-playing player has just returned to football after several months on the sideline and yet to convince David Moyes to start him in games. Nigeria never identified with him in his travails beyond a letter of sympathy from the desk of the Secretary General of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF). Anichebe was left alone to bear the brunt of the injury copped on international duty. Everton bore the cost of treatment which nursed him back to health. You can only learn from such lessons as human, and that is why the bully striker stated recently in an interview that he was not thinking of Nigeria. Onuoha and Sydney are not unaware of how Anichebe was left alone in one of his darkest days in football and that would weigh heavily in their decision to give Keshi a cold shoulder. The focus of the country should change from that of qualification to that of winning
the gong in South Africa. This is why the rebuilding process should wind down for serious work to begin on raising a credible team for the tournament. A house can be built in three months if money, materials and personnel are available. A sky scrapper is not being built so emphasis should now be on how to make the team gel and play as a team with mission. The Liberians had more possession of play in the last match in Calabar while we did the scoring. They play more as a team which had gone through the rudiments of training while the Eagles could not string passes together for a long spell. Keshi should have confidence in the array of players he has and re-mix them for greater effect. Aside the right back which was shaky in the game against the Lone Stars, the country should make do with the players that are available in other positions. They are the best the country can have at the moment. The fact that the country has hundreds of players plying their trade abroad and on home soil should not bring out the greed in the big boss. Going on another round of talent hunt by throwing the camp open would not add value and make the team player better. I disagree with Dan Amokachi that Shola Ameobi has something to contribute to the national team. The Newcastle striker has passed his prime. When he was much younger, he never impressed and showed nothing out of the ordinary to be considered for the Eagles. The burly forward
has been an average player all his football life and not in the same class with Emmanuel Emenike and Brown Ideye in terms of quality and result. There is no Nigerian striker in the business in Europe he can bench if they happen to be playing for the same club. As a coach, I would rather play without a striker if he were the only available option. Ameobi has turned down Nigeria in the past. He had his gaze fixed on playing for the English national team when he was much younger.
African women football, and will prove that beyond any reasonable doubt in Equatorial Guinea. The First-Ever FIFA Women Football Coaching Seminar... The first-ever FIFA Women Football Coaching Seminar ended on a happy note in Abuja on Wednesday, with the FIFA Instructor Fran HiltonSmith from South Africa paying her respects to the abundance of women football Coaches in Nigeria and the country’s position as a pioneer and powerhouse of the African game. At the opening ceremony on Tuesday, which I attended with a number of members of the NFF Executive Committee and Management, Fran Hilton-Smith, who is a member of the Organizing Committee of FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup, applauded the role of Nigeria as a pioneer of women football in Africa, and praised the tenacity that has gone into retaining the powerhouse status despite other countries also investing well in the women’s game. There were 25 women Coaches in all and they included Ann Chiejine and Okunwa Igunbor, two unforgetable members of the pioneer Senior Women Team of Nigeria. I believe the women Coaches have learnt a lot from this programme and this will definitely reflect in their approach to their jobs henceforth. The NFF will continue to encourage and support ‘Train-The-Trainers’ programmes for men and women, which is the only way to ensure real growth for the Nigeria game. Eaglets Have To Sustain... Tomorrow, inside the September 28 Stadium in Conakry, Guinea, the Nigeria Golden Eaglets trade tackles with their Guinean counterparts in the second leg of their 2013 African U-17 Championship second round fixture. The Eaglets must sustain the momentum after a 3-0 whiplash of the Guineans in Calabar two weeks ago that followed a 10-1 aggregate dismissal of Niger Republic in the first round.
•Keshi