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By Tanimu Umar
The team
that represented Nigeria in the 2005 World Youth Championship can only be
compared to the Flying Eagles of 1987 that, shockingly, failed to go
beyond the first round despite the assemblage of talented cream of
footballers. When the team sailed through the African qualifiers in Benin
Republic and were pitched alongside Brazil, South Korea and Switzerland in
the group stage s of the 2005 U21 World Cup many have written off their
chances to achieve any feat in the competition. In The Netherlands the
team remarkably got through the group stages, beat Ukraine in the 2nd
round, in the quarters finals they dramatically edged out the hosts and
went on to qualify for the final after walloping fellow Africans, Morocco
in the semis. They were at odds against Argentina in the final where they
lost, but not without giving the Argentineans a tough fight. The final
match itself was one that generated an avalanche of controversies from the
players, officials and the Nigerian fans, who are well known for not
accepting defeat. The contention among Nigerians was that FIFA and the Caucasian race conspired to deny the black race, represented by Nigeria in the final, a world trophy. Many Nigerians, and the whole of Africa, seem to believe this conspiracy theory, but I strongly disagree. A reputable organisation like FIFA cannot conspire to prevent an up and coming continent of Africa from wining either the World Cup or the World Youth Championship. If the y do we would not have won the inaugural U17 World Cup in 1985 or that of 1993, and Nigeria will not be have qualified for the finals of the 1989 and 2005 U21 World Cups. If they don’t encourage our progress John Mikel Obi and Taiye Taiwo will not named the silver and bronze ball winners respectively in the 2005 U21 tournament. The Norwegian referee that handled the Nigeria/Argentina match, Terje Hauge is one of those reputable international referees that can never soil their reputation by colluding and conspiring against Nigeria, or any African team for that matter. My assessment of the match is that the Argentineans had an edge on the luck side and their tactic of lying low at the back and break through counter attacks have overwhelmed the Nigerian team. We also have to blame the defense of giving away cheap penalties, and the attack for selfishness and squandering the handful of chances that fell their way. The Argentineans have also done their home work in taking care of John Mikel Obi whose delivery of the ball is world – class and highly effective. Nigerians easily forget that the referee is a human being and therefore vulnerable to errors, Mr. Hauge had few errors that day, but not enough to warrant prosecution. In the onset of the tournament, especially from the quarters final against Holland Nigerians watched the matches with premeditated mind, every infringement against the Flying Eagles was interpretated as biased to the Nigerians. I have to commend the Flying Eagles and Samson Siasia. Siasia have assembled an away of talented and enterprising footballers, the manner by which he handled the team should be enough to convince the Nigerian Football Association that he is, by far, a better tactician than Christian Chukwu and Austine Eguavoen put together. If Germany can hand over their team to Jurgen Klinsmann and if Holland can have the conviction to appoint Marco van Basten as their national team coach, I see no reason why Super Eagles can be handed over to Sam Siasia. By the same token, and supporting the order given by the sport minister, Musa Mohammed, the trio of the John Mikel Obi, Sani Kaita and Taiye Taiwo should be drafted to the Super Eagles. It is high time the ageing and jaded players like Okocha, Kanu and Lawal give way young to young bloods, if really the team could regain their image and put Nigeria back on track in the global game. Nigerian football fans, from the domestic to the international scene, should learn to take the result of every match sportsmanly. In every game there is bound to be a winner and loser, and in whatever bracket we find ourselves we have to accept it in good faith. Umar Tanimu Umar Bolari Quarters, Gombe, Gombe State-Nigeria.
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