“It would have been a big
miracle had Nigeria advanced
beyond the opening stage of
the World Cup. ”
That was the
remark of, Emmanuel
Amuneke, the 1994 African
Footballer of the Year and the
scorer of the goals that
earned Nigeria the 1994
African Nations Cup and the
gold medal of the soccer
event of the 1996 Olympic
Games.
The former Super Eagles
striker is in South Africa as one of the analysts for the
Asian cable TV network, Al
Jazeera. “It may be difficult to
accept the fact, but I must tell
you, Nigerian football has
gone backward.
We are not
putting important attention to
planning. Events are just unfolding and we falsely
believe we are making
progress ”, said Amuneke.
Continuing, the striker who
scored Nigeria ’s lone goal
against Italy at the round of 16
in the 1994 World Cup, said
the composition of the Super
Eagles squad of today is
largely based on names rather
than current forms of the
players.
He stated that the performance of the Super
Eagles at the South Africa
2010 World Cup was simply a
reflection of their current
form. “You noticed how we
struggled to even qualify. It
was sheer luck.
Things were
not easy for the team. The
signals had been there all
along ”, Amuneke said.
“Lars Lagerback based his
selection on names of the
players in Europe rather than
the current forms of the
players. Berti Vogts made a
similar mistake when he
handled the team two years
ago.
He even did the absurd
by living in Germany while
discarding the actual
environment where he was
supposed to be working. ”
He stressed that the result of
basing team selection on the
big names was that most of
the players were not in their
best forms. Amuneke pointed
at some of the players that
did not give optimum
performance. “Yakubu
Aiyegbeni was not at his best.
So also was Osaze
Odemwingie ”, he said. He
further stated that rather
than lamenting Nigeria ’s poor
performance, the NFF should
start thinking of the way
forward as the qualifying
series for the 2012 Africa
Nations Cup is just weeks
away. Amuneke is urging the
football authorities to look inwards by improving the
standard of the domestic
league as a springboard for
the desired development of
the national team.
He recalled that the bulk of
the star players of the golden
era of 1994 actually made
names at home before
blossoming into bigger stars
abroad. “The NFF should look
inwards and develop the stars
at home before they are
further polished abroad.
The
home-based players need help and encouragement. The standard of our domestic
football must improve
drastically instead of the NFF just thinking of going into
competitions, ” he insisted.
“We should also learn to build
on the little successes we
made. Look at the 1996
Olympic gold winning squad.
What happened thereafter?
Look at the 1994 Africa Nations Cup winning side and the World Cup team. What
happened after? What happened to the youth sides
that made impacts at the
junior competitions? They were just left to rot ”.
Amuneke pointed to Ghana as
a nation that is making
advancement in every sphere.
Said he: “See how they have
been able to integrate their
youth sides with the experienced players.
They are now at the verge of getting to
the semi-finals of the World
Cup. We should learn from
them”.
Speaking on the 2010 FIFA
World Cup generally,
Amuneke said it has been one
full of shocks and surprises,
stressing that nothing could
have better described the
South Africa 2010 which field
has now been narrowed to
eight.
To illustrate the
element of surprises, the
former African Footballer of
the Year pointed at the way
Slovakia eliminated defending
champions, Italy. He wondered: “See how France,
runners-up in the last edition
as well as former champions
were humiliated and bundled
out in the first round. ”
He also pointed at the massacre of England by
Germany to illustrate the
changing face of the World
Cup and the unfolding shift of
power in football. “The South Americans have been the
most successful so far as most
of the teams are still in
contention, ” he remarked.
In contrast, five of the six
African teams were bundled
out in the first round. “I am
worried seeing that happen
when one had expected that
with every passing edition of the World Cup, improved
performance of the African
teams will always happen, ” he
regretted.
It was actually the resurgence
of African teams that saw a
gradual increase in the allotted quota from one in the 1970s to two in the 1980s and
three in 1994 and 1998 to five
in 2006 and a record six in the
current edition. With the dismal performances, it may not be easy for anyone to
push for further increase.
Rather, the Asians may be the favoured confederation for increased quota, while Africa
which quota is actually five
(South Africa got the sixth slot
as hosts), may get a cut.
“I will expect Ghana to still do
better so that the continent’s
claim to higher quota will be
sustained ”, said Amuneke.
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Was he actually the cause?
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