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| C'mon You Need To Read This by AH2MUCH: 6:58pm On Feb 06, 2008 |
souerce http://www.punchng.com/Articl.aspx?theartic=Art200802064165657 Obviously, the Super Eagles did not deserve to progress beyond the quarter-finals of Ghana 2008 given the way they played. Some even feel they should not have been in the last eight in the first place. Skip to next paragraph AFP. Ghana coach Claude Le Roy (left) embracing Nigeria coach Berti Vogts after their Ghana 2008 quarterfinal match , on Sunday. Ghana won 2 - 1. However, they could have earned some sympathy if they had been just that little bit nicer or if they had smiled just a little. Right from when they arrived in Accra on January 17, it was clear the Nigerian players and their officials were not going to encourage any fraternity with anybody. Neither adoring fans nor the press were welcome to these stars’ exclusive world. While other teams saw nothing wrong in greeting their fans, taking pictures with them and signing autographs, the Nigerians found it even difficult to wave to the fans, who had made the long trek from all over Ghana just to see them. The official word was that they wanted total concentration so that they could focus on winning the Nations Cup title. Cote d’Ivoire, another team with the ambition to lift the trophy, however saw things differently. When the Nigerians barred the press from entering their Raybow Hotel camp in Sekondi, the Ivorians threw theirs open, although with controlled access to the players. While the Eagles were cold, distant and sometimes outright hostile, the Elephants were warm, open and always ready to throw a smile or give one a pat on the back. While the Eagles trained behind closed doors and shut journalists out, the Elephants trained in the open, knowing they had nothing to hide. Once in a while when one or two Eagles players felt like opening up a little and talking to journalists, the team’s media co-ordinator, Idah Peterside, was hovering around to cut the chat short. The former Moroka Swallows goalkeeper, who haughtily referred to himself as one of the top football analysts in Africa on a Metro TV programme, was always on hand to usher reporters out of Eagles training sessions. Like a mantra, they kept repeating that they wanted maximum concentration for the players. In the end, they had their concentration on their secret tactics. But it all came to nought, because the Eagles did not play one good game in Ghana. Even when they defeated Benin, they still struggled against the weakest team in their group and they posted Nigeria’s worst Nations Cup performance in 24 years. The Nigeria Football Association saw nothing wrong as Peterside ran things and sidelined the body’s media chief, Ademola Olajire. But when it looked like all hopes were lost following the Eagles first two defeats, the NFA suddenly remembered the ‘press boys’ were in town. The chairman, Sani Lulu, called a press conference where he stood by Berti Vogts, the man who saw nothing good in the Nigerian press. Lulu also pronounced Olajire as Peterside’s boss, but nothing changed. The press shutout continued and the players were more withdrawn than ever. In sharp contrast, there was access to the Eagles in Egypt two years ago. The players were willing to talk, the media co-ordinator, Sunmonu Bello-Osagie, was popular with the press because he organised regular sessions with the players and information flowed freely. Interestingly, the openness did not affect the players concentration as they went on to win bronze, winning all their group matches along the way. The present set, with their concentration, won only one game, against a team that lost all its matches. Also, the Ivorians and Ghanaians, who have been running open houses, are still very much around. Both teams have won four matches each and they are the favourites to lift the trophy. Like the Nigerians, Morocco was also running a closed shop, and see where it landed them. The North Africans crashed out in the first round. Two scenes sum the Eagles’ attitude as they prosecuted this failed mission. First was during the game against Benin when Yakubu Aiyegbeni told a fan to “f, k off”. What was the fan’s offence? He begged Aiyegbeni to score. Also on Sunday, after the loss to Ghana, Osaze Odemwingie was talking to a TV crew at the mixed zone when one of his colleagues was heard saying, “These people no go let people rest,” (These people won’t leave us alone) As the Nigerian player was asking to be allowed to rest, the Ghanaians were enthusiastically talking to reporters. And that was not just because they won. They also spoke with reporters even when the whole of Ghana criticised them following the scrappy win over Namibia. Vogts, instead of admitting that his old school, safety-first tactics had no place in modern football, blamed the press for his woes. Incidentally, the feeling is mutual between the press and the coach, who was once described as the “wrong German” by the Scottish press after nearly strangling their football to death. If members of the press had had their way, the German would have been sent packing after the draw with Mali. But he is a lucky man, the NFA is run by people like Lulu, and he has thrown his weight behind the man behind closed doors. There is anxiety about Nigeria as the World Cup qualifiers draw near. If Vogts could ask his players to be cautious when they had a one-man advantage, only God knows what he would do if one of his men was sent off. He would probably ask one of the strikers to become the second goalkeeper, so that his team would not concede goal! |
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