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.
