Last week, I wrote on the ‘conveyor belts’ in the coun try’s football system and the inability of the Nigeria Football Federation, NFF to take advantage. – For emphasis, the conveyor belts I am talking about here are the age grade players in respective national male and female football teams. The players in these teams are the future of Nigerian football.
It takes people with vision to comprehend this and so people in authorities are expected to embrace transition which takes players from one stage to the other.
Read Also: Just-In: Babajide Scores On Serie A Debut As AS Roma Beat Parma
Incidentally, this is the aim of the world football body FIFA in creating platforms for the young ones in various age grades to develop and blossom at senior level.
Sadly, the NFF is not getting it right and only during the week, Nigeria’s U-17 male team, the Golden Eaglets, crashed out of the race for the next AFCON and the FIFA World Cup. Nigeria lost 2-0 to Ghana in the semifinals of the WAFU B Competition and will again miss the World Cup and so it getting clear that the conveyor belts are getting stiff but they must be working to boost the future of football.
The last time the country attended the finals at world stage was in 2015. Much as I agree that winning is not the ultimate at this stage, it is also important to accept that there are things the NFF chieftains are not doing right. An example is the appointment of coach Manu Garba which was done based on sentimental reason of the past glory he attained.
The NFF was desperate and they brought Garba who even after his success at U-17 stage in 2013 has failed on two occasions in the U-20 team and also the U-17 team. His return to the team was a misadventure because he seems to have lost it.
There are many good upcoming coaches in the NNL and the NPFL but the NFF is not ready to trust them and now in a competition Nigeria won at world stage five times with the bragging rights of having the best global record, Nigeria is out. Simply put, the country’s football is declining.
Something must be done urgently to check this again, these players as I said last week must not be thrown away, there could be some good enough for the future. For real, there is need for the NFF to keep these U-17 players for a minimum of six months, if not more, to get the desired results.
The 1993 victorious U-17 team which had Nwankwo Kanu, Celestine Babayaro, Karibe Ojigwe and Wilson Oruma, was kept together by coach Fanny Amun for about a year and the results was there.
They also transited well to the U-20, U-23 and the Super Eagles. At the ongoing FIFA U-20 world Cup, Morocco, a strong emerging force on the continent defeated Spain in the first match and Brazil in the second to book a ticket to the next round.
In the same tournament, Nigeria lost 1-0 to Norway in the first match and in the second tie against Saudi Arabia, the Flying Eagles managed to win 3-2 and will now have to beat Columbia in the last match to earn a berth in the next round. Tough call.
On the contrary, the country’s age grade teams in the female cadre are waxing stronger. The Falconets after beating Rwanda 1-0 away, whipped the team 4-0 in Ibadan to move on in the race for the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup.
The national U-17 women’s team, the Flamingos, are already through to the World Cup taking place in Morocco between October 17 and November 8. Nigeria will compete in group D along with Canada, France and Samoa.
The successes recorded in female teams are overwhelming and the prospects too. The senior team, the Falcons, earlier in the year, won the Women AFCON trophy which was the historic 10th title. Our women deserve to be encouraged much more. The basketball women national team, D’Tigress, won the AfroBasket for the 5th straight time.
In the last 10 years under the regime of Musa Kida, Nigeria has won the title back-to-back five times. Kida and his team in the NBBF has made Nigeria proud on the continent and should improve on the level the country has attained at global stage.
At the recent world athletics championship, the only medal won Nigeria clinched was by Tobi Amusan in the 100m women’s hurdles. The country’s biggest sports brand is the Super Eagles and this same team, with the array of stars therein, is on the verge of crashing out of the 2026 FIFA World Cup finals.
The Falcons are not in such predicament and they deserve more respect. The authorities should work hard to fix the stiff conveyor belts and it is important to look at all the male teams to get them rolling out results for the country. Time to act is NOW.
