Why Africa/Nigeria may not win FIFA World Cup

Have you ever wondered why African countries continued to find it difficult to win the FIFA World Cup after winning the trophies at the junior cadets? CHRIS ONOKPEGU gives some of the reasons.

The FIFA World Cup has continued to be elusive to African countries despite lifting the trophies at the junior cadets on several occasions.

Recently, Africa participated in the just-concluded FIFA World Cup in Brazil, where only two, (Nigeria and Algeria) out of the five countries (Cote d’Ivoire, Cameroon, Ghana, Nigeria and Algeria) from the continent got to the second round.

The farthest an African country has gotten since the World Cup started is the quarter-final. The feat achieved first by Cameroun before Senegal and Ghana followed suit.

Nigeria, the highest ranked African country so far by FIFA is yet to get to the quarter-final stage. The farthest the country has been is the second round which was achieved in USA 1994, France 1998 and at the just-concluded Brazil 2014 World Cup.

Incidentally, African countries have dominated the Under 17 and Under 20 FIFA Cup tournaments. Nigeria has won the U-17 cadet four times in 1985, 1993, 2007 and 2013 in China, Japan, Korea Republic and United Arab Emirate, UAE respectively, while her West African counterparts, Ghana has won it twice in Italian 91, and Ecuador 95’. Ghana also won the U-20 once in 2009, became runners-up in 1993, 2001 and came third in Turkey in 2013.

Although, Nigeria has not lifted the U-20 World Cup but it has gotten to the finals on two occasions where they became the runners-up in Saudi Arabia 1989 and Netherlands 2005; and not forgetting in a hurry, the ‘damma miracle’ in Soviet Union where she came back from 0-4 to win the encounter against USSR. Nigeria came third in that event. The Flying Eagles as the team is called also came third in 1985 in Soviet Union.

Other African countries that have achieved the third place spots in U-20 competitions are Mali and Egypt in Nigeria 1999 and Argentina 2001 respectively while Morocco was fourth in 2005 in Netherlands.

Meanwhile, the objectives of the junior cadet competitions seem to have been defeated in Africa. The world football governing body, FIFA set up the junior cadet competitions – U-17, U-20, U-23 to help groom players for the senior teams but the aims have not be achieved as African countries see them as opportunity to cheat and win trophies. They featured old men instead of young boys that will take over their senior national teams.

A typical African football administrator believes in winning trophies at the junior cadet level so that he can stay in office for long while the Europeans and other continents believe in discovering talents that will be explosive in future for both clubs and country.

Incidentally, some of the countries that have won or participated in the U-17 and U-20 World Cup are the ones that are presently winning the senior world cup because they used young players to execute the junior World Cup. For instance, Brazil won the U-17 in 1997, 1999 and 2003 in Egypt, New Zealand and Finland respectively. Brazil later won the senior World Cup in 2002 with some of the boys discovered in the previous U-17 World Cups.

Spanish team were runners-up in 2003 and 2007 in Finland and Korea Republic, they were defeated by Brazil and Nigeria in the final, they also came third in 2009 hosted by Nigeria but they were able to groom that team that lifted the 2010 World Cup.

German team came third in Korea Republic 2007 and Mexico 2011 won by Nigeria and Mexico respectively. Germany is currently the reigning champions of the FIFA World Cup in Brazil.

While the Europeans, South Americans and others are utilizing the players discovered from the junior world cups, Nigeria is only interested in winning the trophy and forgetting about their senior trophies. Nigeria’s case can well be described as, “Tomorrow will take care of itself.”

It would be recalled that Phillip Osondu was the winner of the MVP in 1987 in Canada; Etim Esin shone like a million star in 1989; Wilson Oruma was the highest goal scorer in 1993 in Japan, but what happened to them, they fizzled out. Ghanaian players who won the U-20 World Cup in Egypt in 2009 are presently dominating in their senior national team.

Iker Casilas was discovered in Nigeria 1999; Cesc Fabregas was discovered in Finland 2003; Brazil Anderson and Carlos Vela in Peru 2005; Toni Kroos was Most Valuable Player in Korea Republic 2007, while Nigerian Macaulay Chrisantus was the highest goal with seven goals in the same FIFA U-17 World Cup.

Casilas and Fabregas are still playing for Spain, Kroos was at the last World Cup in Brazil but Chrisantus is nowhere near the national team. Right from 1989 where Nigeria came to limelight, the players have disappeared into thin air. Christopher Nwosu was the winner of the bronze ball in 1989. Pius Ikedia was the silver ball winner in Nigeria 1999 but the winner, Seydou Keita is still playing and is the captain of the Malian team, where is Ikedia? Yobo is the only player left playing in that Nigeria 1999 team.

John Mikel Obi and Taiye Taiwo were the silver and bronze ball winners in 2005 at the U-20 FIFA World Cup. Dani Alves was discovered in UAE 2003, Lionel Messi in 2005, Sergio Aguero and Giovani dos Santos in 2007, Alexandre Lacazette and Dominic Adiyah of Ghana 2009, even Paul Pogba of 2013 World Cup in Turkey, where are our own, the Ogbukes, the Haruna Lukmans, the Solomons, the Agbwos?

Some coaches always claimed that the players are too young and inexperienced to play in the senior teams. Neymar was discovered at the junior cadet and promoted to the senior team, today, the entire Brazil team rest solely on the young lad.

France Pogba played at the last U-20 World Cup in 2013 in Turkey, but was drafted immediately to the senior team; he was part of the Brazil World Cup team.

Meanwhile, many soccer followers in the continent are worried that African countries have not been able to surpass their records of quarter-final stage. It is however believed that some factors are responsible for African’s inability to win the World Cup and they are as follows:

CORRUPTION

It is believed in some quarters that corruption is the major problems of Africa and football administration cannot be an exception. The embarrassment at the Brazil World Cup where players were demanding for money before they play for the national teams is a typical example of corruption. Players were believed to have been shortchanged by their football associations. This is a thing that cannot be heard of in the camp of other teams especially those who are interested in the trophy. There is no doubt that the demand for money will cause distraction in the team both on and off the pitch.

WORLD CUP IS A LONG TERM NOT SHORT TERM PROJECT

With what has happened in the past, it has become a fact that World Cup is a long term project and no longer a short term project as being perceived by some administrators. Africans always think it is a short term project that is why they don’t bother to plan ahead. An administrator once said that, “preparation for the next tournament/competition commences immediately after the last one.”  Spain was able to win the European Cup in 2008 and 2012; and World cup in 2010 because they planned for it. They kept the same coach, Vicente Del Bosque for more than five years and he is still in charge. Germany also kept Joachim Loew for more than four years before he won the last World Cup. He was appointed after Jurgen Klinsmann quit the job in 2006. African countries are not good at keeping coaches for more than two or three years. Once they appoint a coach, they set a target for him: they want him to win the African Nations Cup and get to the semi-final of the World Cup within two or three years contract; there is no way a coach that achieve such feat because he will be under pressure to impress or meet the set target.

FOOTBALL IS RUN BY POLITICIANS NOT ADMINISTRATORS

Recent research has shown that football in Africa is run by politicians and not administrators. For instance, in Nigeria, recently, the former President of the Nigeria Football Federation, NFF was said to have travelled to Brazil with contingents of over 200 persons. According to our findings, he went with all the 37 football associations’ chairmen; 18 secretaries, all the people that will vote in the coming NFF elections, friends and concubines including delegates from Bauchi, amongst others. Over N2 billion was expended for the trips for accommodation, feeding, flight tickets, visa, estacodes, amongst others. The money wasted would have been channeled to players’ welfare to enable them give their best. Investigation has shown that a Nigerian politician will prefer to take care of its board members and cronies rather than an administrator that will be more interested in sacrificing for his players to get the best out of them.

SOME AFRICAN COACHES ARE TACTICALLY DEFICIENT

Recent investigations have shown that African coaches are good but some of them are tactically deficient especially when they get to the big stage (World Cup). They lack ideals on what to do whenever the team is in a difficult situation. Just like what happened recently at the last World Cup in Brazil, when Lazio of Italy midfielder, Ogenyi Onazi sustained injury when Nigeria engaged France. The same also happened when Nigeria crashed out in the last FIFA Women and U-20 World Cup tournaments. The coaches were found wanting in those tournaments and the same always applies to other African coaches.

LACK OF REQUIRED NUMBER OF STAFF

Although, this might not be a major reason, it is one of them. African countries/teams don’t believe in having all the required staff a team should have. For instance, how many teams have nutritionists, psychologists? A nutritionist is a person who monitors what the players take especially when they are in camp. For instance, Nigerian players eat and drink anything they like whenever they are in the country hence they become very heavy whenever they are playing and smarter when playing for their clubs because they control them. They eat ‘eba’, fufu, akpu, and other starchy food without considering the implication such would have on them on the field of play. A psychologist will check their state of minds whenever they are in camp especially when they are playing but many football associations believe the engagement of these personnel are waste of money. The NFF do not know the importance of a psychologist that is one of the reasons why the Super Eagles team psychologist, Robinson Okosun was always dropped on several occasions from the team while the junior teams don’t even have one. The NFF engaged a lady psychologist for the Super Falcons World Cup team, who earns as much as $21,000 for just three months excluding allowances and bonuses while a staff, who is a psychologist was left to be redundant in the office.

AFRICAN TEAMS HAVE AVERAGE PLAYERS

It is obvious that presently, African players are average players when compared to their foreign counterparts. Unlike before, they can no longer withstand their foreign counterparts that is why most of them pile their trades in lowly-rated leagues across the world hence it is difficult for them to win the most valuable players at the world stage except at the junior cadets. They shine at the junior levels, only to fizzle out at the senior level. For instance, amongst the best leagues in the world, Africa can only boast of only few players. In England, only Yaya Toure is a force to reckon with; in France, Vincent Enyeama and in Russia, Ahmed Musa but in Spain, they are not among the top players, the same in Germany, Italy and Netherlands. Overall, Nigerian players are not ranked amongst the best in Europe, where they are dominance, let alone in the world.

AFRICAN LEAGUE COMPETITIONS ARE BELOW STANDARD

One of the reasons why African players prefer to play abroad is because of strength of the leagues. The second most-watched football competition in the world after the FIFA World Cup is the UEFA Champions League. African fans can easily mentioned all the players that plight their trade in Europe for their various clubs because of the way they follow the league but it is the opposite with African leagues especially the CAF Champions League because of the way it is poorly packaged. Some fans cannot boast of knowing the clubs in the continent let alone the players. Unlike the leagues in Europe which has players from all parts of the world playing, African leagues are only played by Africans which makes it less fanciful both to the fans and the world hence the low quality of players in the continent.

COACHES’ SENTIMENT IN SELECTION OF PLAYERS

Another major problem with African teams is the sentiment in the selection of players by coaches. In Nigeria, while some of them consider geo-political zones of the country, others prefer to select the players that would not only be loyal to them in terms of financial inducement but also the players they will be able to market to clubs abroad. The worst of all is when they consider that the player is a stubborn person. If Mario Balotelli was to be playing for an African country, they would have forgotten him long ago. Nigeria failed to progress to its first quarter-final because of the coach’s ego. He preferred to dump Nigerian’s highest goal scorer in Europe, Ikechukwu Uche, than allow the country to surpass her past record. He preferred to take an old man (Chigozie Agbim) rather than pick Dele Alampasu who is a future goalkeeper, he prefers another old man, Ejike Uzoenyi to future Super Eagles star, Kelechi Iheanacho. Neymar was small like Iheanacho when he was called up to the Brazilian senior team. Also at the last U-20 World Cup, Garba Manu preferred to lose the match rather than use Iheanacho who offended him in the first match against Brazil, the same applied to the Falcons team where some players were preferred for others despite their present forms.

SENTIMENT CRITICISM BY THE PRESS

It is believed in some quarters that the press can make or mar anything including football. England is a typical example. They overrated their players and whenever they get to the world stage, they are nowhere to be found. The same is Africa especially Nigeria. Critics also believe that whenever a team is criticized, you are an enemy of either the coach or the players. The football association also considers the person as an enemy of progress and investigation has also shown that some players pay some journalists to sing their praises. This act has resulted to coaches who are lazy to include such players in their teams and at the end, the country/continent suffers. Not forgetting in a hurry, a player that won Super Eagles No.10 jersey recently against Chad because of the coach’s interest in marketing him.

TYPES OF FRIENDLY MATCHES PLAYED

From research carried out, it has revealed that some coaches play friendly matches just because of the money such country will pay and the estacodes the coaches and football association board members will benefit. However, there is no doubt that friendly matches serve different purposes. Firstly, it is used for discovering and testing new talents; secondly, it is to test the strength and weakness of the team and thirdly, it is used to test different players and sometimes, tactics and put the team in shape for tournament ahead but the aims have been defeated. In Nigeria, the national teams especially the senior team (Super Eagles) no longer play grade A friendly matches anymore hence they are crashing in the FIFA ranking. Before now, countries like Brazil, Argentina, England, amongst others engage the Super Eagles in friendly matches but today, Eagles could only play countries like Haiti, Qatar, and other lowly-rated countries.

LACK OF CONTINUITY (COACH/PLAYERS)

The major problem of African countries is the lack of continuity. It is either the coaches or the players. For the few African countries that have kept their coaches for a long time, they have achieved results. Egypt is a typical example, when it gave Hassan Shehata a long term contract; he was able to win the AFCON, back-to-back even though he did not win the world cup. Spain and Germany are typical examples of countries who won the world cup with long term contracts for their coaches. For Africa to win the world cup, they need a very sound coach, whose tactical and technical know-how is very high, not some of the average coaches paraded at the World Cup recently.

Another area is in the area of players. Whenever a coach is employed, he begins to scout for his own players. He doesn’t want to use the players on ground because he doesn’t want to share the glory with his predecessor hence he starts all over. Apart from that, age cheat has dealt a serious blow on the continent especially Nigeria. Most of the players discovered at the junior cadets, who shone like million stars disappear shortly after the world cup hence creating vacuum in the senior teams. Some coaches are also quick in dumping players who they considered as too old. If Andrea Pirlo of Italy were to be an African or Nigerian, he would have been retired long ago. It took the intervention of some top shots before the captain of the Super Eagles, Joseph Yobo was included in the AFCON 2013 team. He eventually became the savior in the defence due to the absence of Godfrey Oboabona. The Super Eagles is still struggling to have Okocha’s replacement because he was forced out earlier. Most of the young players after Okocha would have learnt one or two things from him if he had lasted longer than he retired.

Some analysts are however optimistic that the continent can still win the world cup especially when it considered that the continent has won the junior version on several occasions. Some critics are pessimistic because they don’t believe that African can win the World Cup because they won’t put some of the suggestions mentioned above into play but if they do, they will not only win the World Cup but dominate for sometimes like they did in the junior cadre.