In spite of the fact that I had vowed never to watch another of the Super Eagles matches again, the media hype before the Nigeria-Guinea match gave me a false sense of hope, that maybe, just maybe I might watch the Super Eagles play some decent football for a change. However, as you probably all know by now, I was obviously mistaken. The match ended 2-2. Unfortunately, this was a match we needed to win. As I write this I do not know if we have managed to qualify for the Nations Cup through the back door, the way we did for the World Cup, as not all the qualifiers have been wrapped up. What I do know is that Nigeria has just one possible place left as best runners up as 2 runners up already have better points than we do. Once again, the Super Eagles let down their teeming supporters (I am not one of them). They played for most of the match with no real urgency and as though not much was at stake and only the introduction of Ahmed Musa, Ik Uche and Ehigo Ekiosun mid way into the second half added a bit of bite up front. But while these lads were doing their best to re-energise the team in attack, the lads at the back were doing their best to frustrate it by their poor defending.
But how have we got to this stage in our football? I am sorry to say that the state of our football aptly mirrors the state of our nation…one in chaos and crisis! I have thought about it long and hard and the truth of the matter is that these players do not really care about playing for the National team and why should they? When most of them were kids, the Nigerian nation refused to send them to school, refused to pay any attention to them and could care less if they died on the streets. Many of them honed their skills under the bridges of Lagos and Onitsha probably desirous of an education, but forced to abandon their dreams, due to the poverty ravaging the land as a result of our incompetent leaders. Fortunately, a number of them were able to develop their skills to a level where they were able to travel abroad, find a club and earn a decent living. Suddenly, the same nation that abandoned them needs their skills…but so do the clubs where they earn their living. Now to whom do they owe their loyalties? Perhaps I hear you say that the country and club dichotomy is one every player faces. This is true. But few countries have been ravaged by its leaders the way Nigeria has. Other countries do the best within their available resources for their citizens...Nigeria does not! Many countries take care of their players on and off the field…Nigeria does not! Nigeria simply uses its players and dumps them. Does Samuel Okawaraji come to mind? Rashidi Yekini, Kanu Nwankwo and Austin Okocha are the greatest Nigerian players of the last 2 decades, yet when their playing careers came to an end, the Nigerian football authorities could not even arrange a befitting testimonial for them. Many a Nigerian player has been injured while on national duty and has been left to sort himself out. Many a time, money has been voted to help the players recover their medical bills, but was never released owing to the bureaucracy of the Nigerian football authorities. Despite risking their careers, lives and goodness knows what else to play for Nigeria, at the twilight of their careers, they were all largely left to their own devices, like many others before and after them.
The same holds true for the average Nigerian on the streets. It is difficult to find a nationalistic Nigerian. The hearts of most Nigerians is devoid of any sort of Nationalistic tendency. Hardly anyone truly really cares about this country anymore. We all just try to eke out our daily existence and get by in the knowledge that the Nigerian nation does not really give a hoot about us. It claims to, but how could it possibly when Nigerian’s are killed and kidnapped on a daily basis? When the average Nigerian is brutalized on the roads constantly by the Nigerian police and their colleagues in the military? When our roads are left so bad that they have become death traps? When after years of the knowledge that our education is in shambles, nothing is still being done about it? When poverty pervades the land, but political office holders and their hanger’s on live in opulence? It is pretty obvious that the players know this and they are not swindled by the sweet talk of the NFF officials. A few days before the match the Minister of Sports showed up at a training session, as they normally do, trying to drum it into the ears of the players how important this match was to the nation…..for where!! The players looked bland and uninterested!! They have been hoodwinked too many times. I am sure that the singular thought at the back of their minds is to just manage to get though the match without any serious injury that would impair their performance at their clubs. Clubs where people genuinely care about them, take care of them and where they earn a living they could never have dreamt of while playing under the bridges in Nigeria.
Unfortunately, the current crops of players seem to be the only ones we can call upon. The home based players, though much more hungry for success than their foreign counterparts, are not quite as good. They may eventually be developed to deliver the goods, but that will take many years and we are all too much in a hurry for the next team that will win something. So we are stuck with the current Super Eagles for a few more years and we are therefore destined to continue to witness the same lackluster performances from them.
It is easy to say that our Super Eagles should play with pride and put the nation first, but truthfully, if you were in their shoes would you? I ask myself the same question and honestly, given what I know about Nigeria, I am not sure that I would.
