₦airaland Forum

www.punchng.com/i-punch/nigerian-football-is-long-dead-gone-okocha/

A former skipper of the Super Eagles, Austin Jay Jay Okocha,
has expressed disappointment with the senior national
team, over the 1-0 loss to Sudan in the African Cup of
Nations Qualifiers in Khartoum on Saturday.
The two-time BBC African Footballer of the Year described
the defeat as confirming his worst fears that “football is
long dead and gone” in Nigeria.

Writing on Twitter on Sunday, Okocha wondered if the
Super Eagles could have performed better, considering the
level of development of football in the country.
Stating that the result of the match has put the national
team in a “very unusual situation,” he cautioned against
unfairly criticising the Super Eagles and the coaching crew.

“We are in a very unusual situation. The question is: ‘do we
deserve better considering the state of our football affairs
in recent times?’ Anyone that blames Keshi or the boys is
short-sighted. Our football is long dead and gone. This is
just the confirmation,” the former Nigerian midfielder
tweeted.

The teammate of the Super Eagles Coach, Stephen Keshi,
however, praised the South African national team for their
2-0 triumph over their host, Congo, adding that Nigeria
should step up their game.

“Well done, South Africa. It is not the result most Nigerians
expected, though. But we have to step up our game and
grab the next six points to have a chance,” Okocha added.
Meanwhile, Nigerians have been divided over the Super
Eagles’ slim chances of qualifying for the 2015 African Cup
of Nations following the Sudan defeat.

While some social commentators argued that Keshi should
voluntarily throw in the towel or be sacked, others said he
should not be unceremoniously removed.

Hashtags such as #keshiOut, demanding Keshi’s sacking,
have since gone viral online.
Football commentator for Optima Live, Deji Faremi, said he
held the belief that “Keshi’s cup is full”, adding that “Keshi
should leave.”

Faremi, however, noted that Keshi is not the “devil” behind
Nigeria’s football woes, saying Nigerians should also begin
to ask some pertinent questions about the running and
development of football in the country.

“Yes, Keshi has lost his dressing room and is always
quarrelling with his players. And he is really arrogant, too. I
think Keshi should leave. I believe he should leave. I won’t
hold brief for Keshi; he should leave. But let’s ask ourselves:
How many tactically-strong coaches, including foreign ones,
have Nigeria had in the last five to 10 years?

“When Keshi leaves, are we going to get a coach who is truly
better, or are we going to continue with the same
mediocrity? Do Nigeria really have top or world-class
players at the moment compared to other African and non-
African teams?

“Imagine dumping many of these players, does Nigeria have
genuinely better replacements? Do we think it’s not a
problem that we do well in age-grade competitions, but the
players ‘decline’ as they grow?

“Another important question is: Do Nigerian players (almost
all) play as well for the national team as they do for the
clubs? Is that double standards? Can Nigerians stop acting
like he’s the devil? I also think Nigerians should start
realising Keshi is not 30 per cent of the problem of our
football,” Faremi argued on Twitter.

Lamenting the performance of the Super Eagles, sports
analyst with Super Sport, Colin Udoh, stated that the
present crop of Super Eagles did not deserve to participate
in the African Cup of Nations holding in Morocco.
In his analysis of the match, Udoh stated that the Super
Eagles lost early chances, adding that the various passes in
the midfield were “pointless” with “no real penetration.”
With the Super Eagles at the bottom of the table in Group A
– with one point from three matches – Udoh tweeted,
“Funny that South Africa may have done Nigeria a favour by
winning. But this team (Super Eagles) does not deserve to
be in Morocco.”

A social commentator, Emeka Enyadike, wrote on Twitter
that it was worrisome that Nigeria’s “best chances” at the
qualifying match came from Mikel Obi, stating that the
development showed that the Super Eagles “really has a
problem.”

Disagreeing with those calling for the head of Keshi,
however, a respondent, Abubakar Isimbabi, explained that
Keshi’s sacking would not solve the Super Eagles’ problem.
“The outcome of Sudan-Nigeria match is unfortunate but I
think Keshi should be left to finish the qualifiers. What
miracle is expected from a new coach?” Isimbabi tweeted.

So,okocha is now smoking weed too s.m.h


and about not blaming keshi and his crew,who else did we want to blame? NFF chairman shey.


He said the country's football is "LONG DEAD AND GONE",How den did d super eagles nw turned chickens win d 2013 AFCON and reached d round of 16 in d world cup?

Its not rocket science.
Raw talents are now scarce in the Super Eagles.
Last Bullet
I m going to create a thread that ll expose Keshi's weakness

This is what some of us have been saying since, but Nigerians would rather chase shadows. It is the Nigerian way.

dabossman:
We always leave the real issues and chase shadows. Today it is Keshi. Before then it was Amodu, Christian Chukwu, Eguaveon, Berti Vogts, Lagerback and Siasia. When things go wrong we always centre everything around the coach.

We don't address the issues of player development. We have this false belief that we are blessed with the best footballers in the world playing on the streets of Nigeria; as if playing monkey post is how you develop world class talent. At present I make bold to say that there is no Nigerian player that is in the top ten of his position worldwide save for maybe Enyeama. In fact make that top 20..., wait top 30. From defence to attack we have mediocre talent, yet we hype them like they are the next best discovery since ice cream.

The same people clamouring for IK Uche now, clamoured for Mikel's inclusion just three years ago when Siasia was coach. Mind you the same Uche could not single-handedly qualifier us for 2012 Afcon, yet we think he can miraculously play from defence to attack and win us games. Did the inclusion of Osaze win us the World Cup? Our players are ordinary; playing for clubs that are not in the top 20 teams in the world.

Amuneke was signed by Barcelona for God's sake. Oliseh played for Ajax, juventus, Borrusia Dortmund; Taribo played for both Inter and AC Milan. Finidi was one of the best right wingers at a time; Okocha was a highly rated no.10. Today all we hear is this-spor and that-spor in Turkey. Not even the Spurs that matters.

We don't have any player to my knowledge who is the dedicated free-kick or corner-kick taker for their club like Okocha was for Bolton. If their club coaches who they see every day in training can't make them set-piece experts, is it the national team coach they see once in a while for 5 days that will turn them to set-piece experts? Our players are lazy and unambitious. All they care about is money, not excellence in their craft. Breaking out of Naija poverty is the only thing they aspire to. Ask any player in the local league, if in doubt.

Okocha just confirmed what I've been saying since. Nigerian football is dead. We need to go back to the basics.

dabossman:
I have said it before and I will say it again; our problem goes beyond the coaches. Nigerian football has been on a downward slide for more than a decade, the only bright spot being the Afcon win in 2013. The same way Nigerians are shouting "sack Keshi" is how they shouted "sack Amodu, sack Eguaveon, sack Berti Vogts, sack Christian Chukwu, sack Siasia" Yet not much has changed.

It is time we turned the spotlight on the real culprits, the players. These are supposed to be professional fooballers. It's no surprise we have no players performing at the top level in Europe. When was the last time a Nigerian player was the Best in Africa?

Our players revel in mediocrity and Nigerians tend to celebrate their mediocrity. We make them feel like demi-gods simply because Brila FM and Complete Sports make noise about them. You can hardly ever point to any progression in their career. Even when they start of in a good league, they usually end up in the back leagues of Europe. They lack drive, they lack ambition; they only care about money and we cheer them on with comments like "stop beefing, they are making their money". Well, yeah they are making their money and bringing you all heart-ache.

Until Nigerian player value being amongst the best in the world more than earning Euros, Pounds and Dollars, we will continue to moan and groan.

My two and a half cent.

mesoade:
So,okocha is now smoking weed too s.m.h


and about not blaming keshi and his crew,who else did we want to blame? NFF chairman shey.


He said the country's football is "LONG DEAD AND GONE",How den did d super eagles nw turned chickens win d 2013 AFCON and reached d round of 16 in d world cup?

In truth, we won AFCON 2013, not by luck, but because:

(1) the new boys in the team where hungry for success. Mba, Oboabona, Omeruo, Onazi, Ideye, Emenike, and the likes were playing their first tournament for the Super Eagles. So they upped their game. Now they have a champions medal and the passion is gone.

(2) We were under-rated. Coming from our many previous failures, our football pedigree had fallen so low that African teams didn't take us serious anymore. And that became their undoing at that Afcon, especially after our faulty start at the group stage.

Now that we are African Champions, the mediocre players we have are now carrying a chip on their shoulder. They've forgotten that they are not all that. At the World Cup, they were again under dogs. Most people even expected Bosnia to qualifier ahead of us based on their undefeated qualification status. The average Nigerian team seemingly plays better when they are the under-dog.

dabossman:
In truth, we won AFCON 2013, not by luck, but because:

(1) the new boys in the team where hungry for success. Mba, Oboabona, Omeruo, Onazi, Ideye, Emenike, and the likes were playing their first tournament for the Super Eagles. So they upped their game. Now they have a champions medal and the passion is gone.

(2) We were under-rated. Coming from our many previous failures, our football pedigree had fallen so low that African teams didn't take us serious anymore. And that became their undoing at that Afcon, especially after our faulty start at the group stage.

Now that we are African Champions, the mediocre players we have are now carrying a chip on their shoulder. They've forgotten that they are not all that. At the World Cup, they were again under dogs. Most people even expected Bosnia to qualifier ahead of us based on their undefeated qualification status. The average Nigerian team seemingly plays better when they are the under-dog.

what you have just described was also the undoing of the previous generation even the so called 94set and the atlanta 96 team this was the reason of our world cup 1998 flop, our players easily get swollen headed when they achieve little success, this is not a coaching problem, the best way to address this is to keep bringing in new players into the team that will compete for spaces with the current ones, the reason the players like oshanuwa , babatunde shone at the world cup but Nigerians are not patient with coaches who will bring in new players to try their luck, they always want to go back to the old players like martins, yobo and uche instead of looking forward and our sports journalists are not helping us in this regard

Goke7:
what you have just described was also the undoing of the previous generation even the so called 94set and the atlanta 96 team this was the reason of our world cup 1998 flop, our players easily get swollen headed when they achieve little success, this is not a coaching problem, the best way to address this is to keep bringing in new players into the team that will compete for spaces with the current ones, the reason the players like oshanuwa , babatunde shone at the world cup but Nigerians are not patient with coaches who will bring in new players to try their luck, they always want to go back to the old players like martins, yobo and uche instead of looking forward and our sports journalists are not helping us in this regard

You're right. I think another way to get past this problem is to work on the psychology of our players from a young age. The average Nigerian player's highest life goal is to play abroad (anywhere will do; Europe, Asia, anywhere) and earn dollars, then hopefully play for the Super Eagles one day. Once they achieve that they've hit the glass ceiling. I think they need to look beyond that.

Our players need to aspire not just to play abroad, but to play for the top clubs in Europe. It is okay to start out in Turkey, Russia, Ukraine, Belgium and the likes, but don't be satisfied with that. Aspire for more. Even if you cannot be a Ronaldo or Messi at least be a George Weah, a Finidi, an Okocha. Be among the best. And this doesn't come by just depending on the skills and talent you brought from Africa. They need to apply themselves to development. Spend more time on the training pitch. Develop your technical abilities. Free-kicks, corners, on and off the ball movement, positioning that kind of stuff. You hardly see any form of that development these days. The same Musa, Ambrose, Echiejele, Nsofor and the likes that we saw at youth level is what we still have till today. No marked improvement.

We need to pay more attention to youth development. All these "we have talents all over the streets of Nigeria" crap will take us no where. You don't develop world class talent by playing monkey post. Street soccer is high on display of skills and low on technicality. While 8-13 year old in Europe are learning technique, our own kids are playing by natural instinct.

dabossman:
You're right. I think another way to get past this problem is to work on the psychology of our players from a young age. The average Nigerian player's highest life goal is to play abroad (anywhere will do; Europe, Asia, anywhere) and earn dollars, then hopefully play for the Super Eagles one day. Once they achieve that they've hit the glass ceiling. I think they need to look beyond that.

Our players need to aspire not just to play abroad, but to play for the top clubs in Europe. It is okay to start out in Turkey, Russia, Ukraine, Belgium and the likes, but don't be satisfied with that. Aspire for more. Even if you cannot be a Ronaldo or Messi at least be a George Weah, a Finidi, an Okocha. Be among the best. And this doesn't come by just depending on the skills and talent you brought from Africa. They need to apply themselves to development. Spend more time on the training pitch. Develop your technical abilities. Free-kicks, corners, on and off the ball movement, positioning that kind of stuff. You hardly see any form of that development these days. The same Musa, Ambrose, Echiejele, Nsofor and the likes that we saw at youth level is what we still have till today. No marked improvement.

We need to pay more attention to youth development. All these "we have talents all over the streets of Nigeria" crap will take us no where. You don't develop world class talent by playing monkey post. Street soccer is high on display of skills and low on technicality. While 8-13 year old in Europe are learning technique, our own kids are playing by natural instinct.

The same Musa, Ambrose, Echiejele, Nsofor and the likes that we saw at youth level were atleast their mid 20s.. how they go develop. i had the opportunity to watch some airtel future stars games and i saw really "small" boys. none of them made it to the u 17 team, instead we have clean shaven young looking men posing as boys.

The national coaches are to blame too, i remember some times last year where an American born player came to the u 17 squad and they said he failed his MRI test?! It was insulting.. just because his mum did not part with dollars. is it not the same way we lost Adebayor.

We are all part of the problem

scarred9jan:
The same Musa, Ambrose, Echiejele, Nsofor and the likes that we saw at youth level were atleast their mid 20s.. how they go develop. i had the opportunity to watch some airtel future stars games and i saw really "small" boys. none of them made it to the u 17 team, instead we have clean shaven young looking men posing as boys.

The national coaches are to blame too, i remember some times last year where an American born player came to the u 17 squad and they said he failed his MRI test?! It was insulting.. just because his mum did not part with dollars. is it not the same way we lost Adebayor.

We are all part of the problem

am glad you said we all part of the problem because we are the ones putting too much pressure on these coaches not to try out new young talents, we want immediate results too quickly especially our sports journalists, imagine at the u17 level when coaches start trying out the real u17 guys and they don't win their first two games, we start criticizing their selection, tactics and management, these coaches in turn because of fear of their being sacked resort to using over age players to get quick results to satisfy the nff and general public, that is why you can see players who have been in Nigerian league for 10 years playing u-20 or u-17, this has been the bane of our football in recent years and until we begin to allow our coaches express themselves freely without threats of being sacked, we are not going anywhere.

Finally the present eagles need fresh and very young talents for every position, this should be starting point instead of clamouring for the return of old cargoes like martins, uche, osaze or yobo sef who are all close to retirement cos they can no longer be at their best for the next two years. I support the clamour for the likes of Iheanacho and other young ones, that is the way to go my brother

dabossman:
You're right. I think another way to get past this problem is to work on the psychology of our players from a young age. The average Nigerian player's highest life goal is to play abroad (anywhere will do; Europe, Asia, anywhere) and earn dollars, then hopefully play for the Super Eagles one day. Once they achieve that they've hit the glass ceiling. I think they need to look beyond that.

Our players need to aspire not just to play abroad, but to play for the top clubs in Europe. It is okay to start out in Turkey, Russia, Ukraine, Belgium and the likes, but don't be satisfied with that. Aspire for more. Even if you cannot be a Ronaldo or Messi at least be a George Weah, a Finidi, an Okocha. Be among the best. And this doesn't come by just depending on the skills and talent you brought from Africa. They need to apply themselves to development. Spend more time on the training pitch. Develop your technical abilities. Free-kicks, corners, on and off the ball movement, positioning that kind of stuff. You hardly see any form of that development these days. The same Musa, Ambrose, Echiejele, Nsofor and the likes that we saw at youth level is what we still have till today. No marked improvement.

We need to pay more attention to youth development. All these "we have talents all over the streets of Nigeria" crap will take us no where. You don't develop world class talent by playing monkey post. Street soccer is high on display of skills and low on technicality. While 8-13 year old in Europe are learning technique, our own kids are playing by natural instinct.

abi o, emenike is satisfied in turkey, musa is okay in ukraine, ambrose is feeling cool in scotland, the mba people are shouting is in division 3 in france, even mikel and onazi should be thinking of greater things, obaoboana should be thinking of leaving turkey if he wants to go places while i don't know how long omeruo want to remain in the english championship. No wonder the way they all played in sudan

Goke7:
abi o, emenike is satisfied in turkey, musa is okay in ukraine, ambrose is feeling cool in scotland, the mba people are shouting is in division 3 in france, even mikel and onazi should be thinking of greater things, obaoboana should be thinking of leaving turkey if he wants to go places while i don't know how long omeruo want to remain in the english championship. No wonder the way they are all played in sudan

It's not like these guys can force teams in La Liga and the EPL to buy them.

ROSSIKE:
It's not like these guys can force teams in La Liga and the EPL to buy them.

If you are that good you can. We've seen Japanese players signed straight from the J-League. Mohamed Salah of Chelsea is an Egyptian who was signed from small Basel in Switzerland just because they play in the champions league. Gabon's Aubameyang was signed from small St. Etienne. With all the noise we make about IK Uche you would think he would have caught the eye of bigger teams. Same goes for the likes of Emenike, Musa, even Osaze. Moses got signed by two big clubs in Chelsea and Liverpool but just couldn't compete with the quality of players there.

dabossman:
If you are that good you can. We've seen Japanese players signed straight from the J-League. Mohamed Salah of Chelsea is an Egyptian who was signed from small Basel in Switzerland just because they play in the champions league. Gabon's Aubameyang was signed from small St. Etienne. With all the noise we make about IK Uche you would think he would have caught the eye of bigger teams. Same goes for the likes of Emenike, Musa, even Osaze. Moses got signed by two big clubs in Chelsea and Liverpool but just couldn't compete with the quality of players there.

Thanks for the beautiful response, we just have a lot of ignorant folks on this forum, Finidi George went straight to ajax from calabar rovers then and he became the best right winger in the world, only David beckam's cross was close to Finidi's cross as at then, the day we stop celebrating mediocre players, the better for our football.

ROSSIKE:
It's not like these guys can force teams in La Liga and the EPL to buy them.

they can force teams in la liga and epl to buy them like Gareth bale forced real madrid to buy him from spurs

@goke yes we lack quality talent but are you saying we have worse players than congo, SA and sudan to be unable to defeat them? bro nobody is blaming keshi for our general football woes. what we are saying is that keshi as good a coach as he is has lost the plot. great coaches even if they win trophies before hand get fired once their performance plumments. berti vogts won euro 96 with germany but when germany lost out in france 98 vogts had to go. same for raymond domenech, vangaal (first stint with holland), scolari even though he won the WC and confed for brazil was fired recently and there was no excuse of lack of brazilian quality players.

Keshi is and always will remain a legend but he has to go. who should replace him? can't say for now guess its time for the new NFF board to earn their pay.

@dabossman lol at 'this-spor' 'that-spor'
agree 100% with all you said i think the last u17 set shows hope for the future. if the NFF can continue in this developmental vein and are able to woo our kids abroad to done the green white green i foresee us in the next 5-10 years producing top quality players. plus young promising coaches should be identified and groomed by sending them abroad for coaching courses and team attachments