The hanging position of the Super Eagles in the race to the 2026 FIFA World Cup is a big cause for concern to many Nigerians. In the past two editions of this column, the problems with the Super Eagles players and the Nigeria Football Federation, NFF were well evaluated with solutions also provided.
It is however sad that in cases when we advised the people in authority, such views were thrown into the waste bins. It is a duty to serve the public with information and direction on what to be done and how to also execute the objectives.
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I recall talking about the age-grade teams as the conveyor belts for the senior national teams. In a very organized set-up, the junior athletes will develop to the senior rank as superstars. At the World Athletics Championship in Tokyo, Tobi Amusan emerged the only medallist for Team Nigeria in the 100m hurdles event. She won silver. The same Amusan emerged from the youth games. She broke the world record in her event barely two years after competing at the National Youth Games.
This is a typical example of how a young athlete can transform to become of the best in the world. The Victor Osimhen Nigerians celeberate today was at the FIFA U-17 World Cup 10 years ago. Today, he is the country’s number one striker and one of the best in the world. Nwankwo Kanu, Celestine Babayaro, Wilson Oruma, Karibe Ojigwe and a few others also transited from the national U-17 and U-20 teams to the senior team, the Super Eagles.
Simply put, if there are deliberate steps towards transiting these players, the Super Eagles would have been better and stronger. Same goes for athletics and other sports plus the Super Falcons. Current captain, Raheedat Ajibade, and Asisat Osoala are good examples of players from age grade to the senior team.
There must be an intentional plan. There are strings of age-grade events now and the NFF and its technical committee must be alive to tap good talents for the future. The U-17 and U-20 teams, the Golden Eaglets and the Flying Eagles, are in action at the same time.
Only few days back the Eaglets defeated Benin Republic 4-1 in their opening game in the WAFU B Championship. This is a team that holds the record in the world with five titles but in the past 10 years have failed to qualify for the finals. It is expected that coach Manu Garba will use his magic wand to bring back the glory days of the Golden Eaglets.
The U-20 team are also busy with the FIFA U-20 World Cup starting today in Chile. After a number of friendlies, the Aliyu Zubairu boys are ready for the opening tie against Norway on Monday just as they have to navigate their way past Saudi Arabia and Colombia. The two-time finalists arrived the city of Talcia on Thursday for this global event with skipper Daniel Bamayi as main man in the team which also has promising keeper Ebenezer Harcourt, a Super Eagles invitee, also in the mix.
In the race for the FIFA World U-20 Women’s World Cup, the Nigeria U-20 girls, Falconets, returned to the country from Kigali on Monday morning after their 1-0 defeat of Rwanda’s She-Amavubi and the second leg takes place this weekend in Ibadan, Oyo State.
And so, these age-grade teams are on parade in crunch competitive tournaments which is an ample opportunity for the federation to search for talents good enough to graduate to the senior national team. The transition is always a problem. The age-grade teams are the ‘conveyor belts’ for the senior teams but the problem is that each time these age-grade teams fail to make the qualification cut, they are forgotten in the wilderness. The NFF cannot continue this way.
The scouts should go all out now to give Nigerians the future prospects from the U-17 and U-20 events. Winning is not the ultimate but development. Same goes for the female team, the U-20 team should be monitored well to identify future Falcons.
The domestic league is another arm of ‘conveyor belt’ in which one expects stars from the NPFL and the NNL to break into Super Eagles.
In modern times, sports is science. There must be a deliberate approach to achieve results rather that expect a miracle of sorts. The opportunity is there now for the administrators to work with.
Here is yet another recipe and one prays the powers that be will pick one or two points or imbibe this to boost development in the country.
