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Chestnut Out of Fire!
By Toyin | November 28, 2009
I have to apologize to you, my readers for going AWOL on this blog for the past two weeks. I guess I had too much to do and the euphoria of our eventual qualification surely got the better of me. But not to worry, now that we‘ve qualified, I will be doing a lot towards making sure the Super Eagles are actually super come SA2010!
Saturday, November 14, 2009 was a momentous day in the history of football in Nigeria. It was the day that our country qualified for the first World Cup to be held in Africa. Unfortunately for me, I could not watch the match live as I was away to Ibadan for a Reunion program in my alma mater. As the program was on, my mind kept darting between the message being preached and the event taking place in Kenya!
When I couldn’t bear it any longer, I sent a text message to one of my brothers to keep me abreast. He called back to tell me that he wasn’t watching the match. You can imagine my anger. I instructed him to go to my elder brother’s shop to watch and keep me informed!
Such was the importance of the match. We had to win and also hope for good news from Maputo. Like I wrote in my last piece; it was a battle to finish but in two fronts. And so the results came and at the end Tunisia lost to Mozambique and Nigeria defeated Kenya; off we go to SA 2010!
Nigeria joined Ghana, Cote D’Ivoire, Cameroon and South Africa (the hosts) on the party. Algeria was to qualify four days later in Sudan, a neutral ground for the epic battle against Egypt. We did what we could not do four years ago when Angola denied us the ticket to Germany on head to head rule. This time around, we did it at the last minute thanks to a dogged performance from the team and the exploits of Mozambique against Tunisia.
Had Tunisia succeeded in beating the Mambas, we would by now be singing a different tune. The reality of our situation would have been in stark contrast to the euphoria all fans are currently feeling. Therefore, I join millions of Nigerians to thank the Mozambicans for doing us a big favour!
Having achieved our goal of qualification for the World Cup we must begin immediately to chart the course for a successful outcome at the event. The work started by the NFF and the Presidential Task Force on qualification for the tournament must continue. Our foot must continue on the pedal as we have not reached El Dorado yet. Nigeria must set a target of at least quarter final appearance for the team. Cameroon and Senegal remain the only African countries to have gotten to that stage. We must aspire to and beyond that level. If there’s a country to cause waves at the showpiece event, it MUST be Nigeria!
Nigeria must not just be in South Africa to make up the numbers. We must be serious participant and if we put our house in order, we might as well go all the way. This may sound too farfetched but there is nothing impossible to those who are ready to pay the sacrifice. From our administrators to the players and technical crew, all hands must be on deck to make a mark.
There are so many things to put in place and to discuss but the starting point is to set out the roadmap for the upcoming adventure. We must not indulge ourselves again in our notorious fire brigade approach. Careful planning must be done to prepare the team firstly for the ACN in Angola and subsequently for South Africa.
I do not subscribe to the current argument on whether Ahmodu Shuaibu should stay on as coach or that a ‘world class’ foreign manager be employed to take us to the World Cup. While I think that Ahmodu is a very arrogant man and quite stubborn in his tactical choices, kudos must be given to him for leading Nigeria to FIFA’s greatest spectacle. He did this for the second time (he qualified Nigeria for Japan-Korea 2002).
Coach Ahmodu qualified Nigeria for SA 2010 without losing any match whether from the preliminaries to the proper group stages. That is a record in itself. While it could be argued that the Super Eagles played without conviction and influence, they managed to cling on till the goal was achieved. Can we go ahead to play in such manner at the mundial and expect to win? The answer is for another day!
Topics: Biz Football, Crazy Fans, Nigerian Football, Success Pills, The Gaffer, Who Will Win |
December 1st, 2009 at 10:32 am
Thank God we qualified but Ahmodu is not the right man to lead us to the World Cup. I am very sure his incompetence would be clearly revealed at the Nations Cup in Angola.