We only need to work harder (2)
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- Category: Sports
- Written by AMINU MAIGARI
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I am delighted to talk about one year of the present Executive Committee of the Nigeria Football Federation because, in every breath that anyone had talked about major football tournaments in the past one year, Nigeria had been there.
Nonetheless, we must work harder on all areas of the game in order to not only sustain the accomplishments we have been able to record, but also to aim and inch higher towards our ultimate goal of taking Nigeria football to the top drawer of the international game.
The Super Eagles are now playing world class friendly matches and no matter what anyone would say, the results have not been bad. Someone sent me sms last week saying: “Yes, we lost 1-3 to Argentina in Bangladesh but the truth is that, on head-to-head, we are ahead of them in recent clashes because we won 4-1 in Abuja. On head-to-head, it is 5-4!”
Whichever way you look at it, the past one year has not been bad for Nigeria football and even as we strive to improve on what we have been doing and what we are doing, it is significant that we look back and encourage ourselves with the fruits of one year of hard work and outright dedication to the cause, in spite of the odds so well known.
We have won two continental trophies – the African Women Championship and African Youth Championship titles. Triumph at the African Women Championship in South Africa in early November 2010 marked the sixth time the Super Falcons would rule Africa in seven editions of the competition. And the triumph also automatically qualified the Falcons for the FIFA Women’s World Cup finals in Germany.
On 1st December, 2010, we appointed the People’s Choice, Samson Siasia as Head Coach of the Super Eagles and we have had no cause to regret the move ever since. I believe ball fans also have had no cause to regret the appointment, for it was what they wanted and the man they wanted has also been doing his level best to give Nigeria the desired results.
We remain alive in the race for the 2012 African Cup of Nations finals, with the 10 more countries set to join already-qualified six for the three-week, 16-nation tournament in Equatorial Guinea and Gabon early next year. As we drove to the Stade Municipal de Mahamasina in Antananarivo for that crucial match on Sunday, 4th September, I kept thinking that it would be over in 90 minutes. Thank God, it ended well, and another 90 minutes, much more critical, awaits in Abuja on Saturday, October 8 against Guinea.
During the week, I was on a phone chat with the foremost football historian and huge encyclopaedia-without-peer, Mr. Ibikunle Solaja (GM of Soccerstar sports paper), and he told me that the choice of October 8 was fantastic.
I wanted to know why. He said that Nigeria had NEVER lost a match on October 8, and that Nigeria’s first-ever international match was on October 8. That was the game against Sierra Leone in Freetown that the UK Tourists won 2-0. It was on October 8, 1993 that Nigeria first qualified for the FIFA World Cup finals, with that battling 1-1 draw with Algeria at the July 5 Stadium in Algiers. He went on and on and I expressed my pleasure.
Actually, the match was to have been slated for Sunday, October 9, as the Super Eagles had been playing on Sunday in Abuja. But there is an international friendly match against Ghana in London on Tuesday, October 11 and playing the match against Guinea on October 9 would have meant the team would travel on October 10 and play the match the following day without any form of training or breath-catching.
Before I go ahead to talk about the programme that we have for the next one year, it is important that I mention the other areas where we have done well in the past one year. The Flying Eagles lifted the African Youth Championship in South Africa in May and the Super Falcons finished in 12th place at the FIFA World Women’s World Cup in Germany, breaking a 12-year jinx of never winning a match at the finals, with the win over Canada.
Germany’s women’s team expected to roll over our girls but in the end, even their own analysts felt the odd goal they scored should not have counted because it came from an illegitimate free-kick.
At the FIFA U-20 World Cup finals in Colombia, the Flying Eagles finished in seventh place. It could have been better if we had done a few things the other way against France, but we have learnt from that experience. In Casablanca, the Beach Soccer team finished second at the African Championship.
In the hot race for the Women’s Football Tournament of the London 2012 Olympics, Nigeria is there. In the race for the Men’s Football Tournament of the London 2012 Olympics, Nigeria is there, with the Draw for the eight-nation CAF African U-23 finals slated for Cairo next weekend.
At the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup in Ravenna, Italy, Nigeria was there, and NOT just to make up the number. The Supersand Eagles fought like trojans and impressed everyone, including the opposition. Brazil, four-time world champions, came close to being eliminated by the plucky Nigerians and the game had to go into extra time.
Are we not proud? We should, of course. Brazil had won the last four championships of the competition before Italy. When other countries were playing international friendlies immediately after the last international weekend, we were also on the road, tackling two-time world champions Argentina.
When the media is writing about continental club competitions of 2011, Nigeria is prominent with Enyimba FC already qualified for the semi finals of the CAF Champions League and Sunshine Stars FC and Kaduna United FC set to qualify for the semi finals of the CAF Confederation Cup this weekend. Surely, it is a long time since Nigeria had THREE entrants in the last four of both continental competitions.
Even in the WAFU (now West Africa Zone B) Cup, Enugu Rangers have been explosive, reaching the semi finals on the back of home-and-away wins over Akokana FC of Niger Republic.
We have played Argentina twice and will play Ghana (2010 FIFA World Cup quarter finalists) next month, and in November, we have something delicious lined up as well.
The motto that has worked is ensuring that our teams go to major competitions well-prepared to fly the flag high. Having secured an agreement with the Browns Sports and Leisure Club in Faro, Portugal and appointed a world class Match Agent, we now must work harder on securing even more alternative training sites and more world class friendlies, because we cannot afford to lose momentum.
For the next one year, the challenges include securing a ticket to the 2012 African Cup of Nations finals in Equatorial Guinea and Gabon; tickets to the Men’s and Women’s Football Tournaments of the London 2012 Olympic Games; securing more grade A friendly internationals for our various teams and; securing more and higher-level coaching and refereeing courses for our professionals, at home and abroad.
We also must work very hard on achieving creditable performances at all major competitions that we go, which starts with ensuring adequate preparation of our various National Teams heading to these competitions. We also must pay greater attention to the women’s game – domestic League and the National Teams.
We intend to positively review the U-13 National Football Competition and the existing teenage national teams; qualify for and achieve creditable outings at the FIFA U-20 and FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup competitions in Uzbekistan and Tajikistan respectively and; retain the African Women Championship title.
Also, we are condemned to starting off on a strong footing for the 2014 FIFA World Cup finals with the first phase of the African qualifiers starting in June next year; we must work harder with all stakeholders of the game to truly develop the Nigeria game and; we must give greater encouragement to beach soccer and 5-A-Side football competitions, for they have really come to stay.
While we seek more partners, sponsors and suppliers from Corporate Nigeria, we also must glamourize our activities, projects, programmes and events and; also help the Nigeria Premier League to build the domestic League into an attractive, compelling product.
Welcome on board, Baribote...
The last point mentioned above will be easier to achieve with harmony and tranquility in the house of the Nigeria Premier League, which those of us at the NFF believe has come with last Wednesday’s emergence and swearing-in of the new Chairman of NPL, Chief Victor Rumson Baribote.
Baribote was declared the duly-elected NPL Chairman following the award of the Ibidapo Obe Arbitration Tribunal, which was also affirmed by the Federal High Court, Abuja – that Mr. Davidson Owumi was ineligible to contest the May 8, 2010 elections.
I congratulate Chief Baribote and warmly welcome him into the Executive Committee of the Nigeria Football Federation. However, more than that, I implore him to reconcile all factions and splinters in the NPL family – the result of a 16-month reign of crises, uncertainty and confusion.
Similarly, I congratulate the new Chairman of Chairmen, Hon. Abdulazeez Mohammed. It is important that both men work very hard together to unite all arms of the body and then move to see how best to improve the Premier League.
In Kaduna tomorrow, Kaduna United FC also need the minimum win against Club African of Tunisia. In a night match played in Tunis, both teams finished 0-0. I believe Kaduna United can handle this one the way they handled the one against ASEC Mimosas three weeks ago.
Articles
We only need to work harder (2)
Category: Sports Written by AMINU MAIGARI Hits: 440
I am delighted to talk about one year of the present Executive Committee of the Nigeria Football Federation because, in every breath that anyone had talked about major football tournaments in the past one year, Nigeria had been there.
Nonetheless, we must work harder on all areas of the game in order to not only sustain the accomplishments we have been able to record, but also to aim and inch higher towards our ultimate goal of taking Nigeria football to the top drawer of the international game.
The Super Eagles are now playing world class friendly matches and no matter what anyone would say, the results have not been bad. Someone sent me sms last week saying: “Yes, we lost 1-3 to Argentina in Bangladesh but the truth is that, on head-to-head, we are ahead of them in recent clashes because we won 4-1 in Abuja. On head-to-head, it is 5-4!”
Whichever way you look at it, the past one year has not been bad for Nigeria football and even as we strive to improve on what we have been doing and what we are doing, it is significant that we look back and encourage ourselves with the fruits of one year of hard work and outright dedication to the cause, in spite of the odds so well known.
We have won two continental trophies – the African Women Championship and African Youth Championship titles. Triumph at the African Women Championship in South Africa in early November 2010 marked the sixth time the Super Falcons would rule Africa in seven editions of the competition. And the triumph also automatically qualified the Falcons for the FIFA Women’s World Cup finals in Germany.
On 1st December, 2010, we appointed the People’s Choice, Samson Siasia as Head Coach of the Super Eagles and we have had no cause to regret the move ever since. I believe ball fans also have had no cause to regret the appointment, for it was what they wanted and the man they wanted has also been doing his level best to give Nigeria the desired results.
We remain alive in the race for the 2012 African Cup of Nations finals, with the 10 more countries set to join already-qualified six for the three-week, 16-nation tournament in Equatorial Guinea and Gabon early next year. As we drove to the Stade Municipal de Mahamasina in Antananarivo for that crucial match on Sunday, 4th September, I kept thinking that it would be over in 90 minutes. Thank God, it ended well, and another 90 minutes, much more critical, awaits in Abuja on Saturday, October 8 against Guinea.
During the week, I was on a phone chat with the foremost football historian and huge encyclopaedia-without-peer, Mr. Ibikunle Solaja (GM of Soccerstar sports paper), and he told me that the choice of October 8 was fantastic.
I wanted to know why. He said that Nigeria had NEVER lost a match on October 8, and that Nigeria’s first-ever international match was on October 8. That was the game against Sierra Leone in Freetown that the UK Tourists won 2-0. It was on October 8, 1993 that Nigeria first qualified for the FIFA World Cup finals, with that battling 1-1 draw with Algeria at the July 5 Stadium in Algiers. He went on and on and I expressed my pleasure.
Actually, the match was to have been slated for Sunday, October 9, as the Super Eagles had been playing on Sunday in Abuja. But there is an international friendly match against Ghana in London on Tuesday, October 11 and playing the match against Guinea on October 9 would have meant the team would travel on October 10 and play the match the following day without any form of training or breath-catching.
Before I go ahead to talk about the programme that we have for the next one year, it is important that I mention the other areas where we have done well in the past one year. The Flying Eagles lifted the African Youth Championship in South Africa in May and the Super Falcons finished in 12th place at the FIFA World Women’s World Cup in Germany, breaking a 12-year jinx of never winning a match at the finals, with the win over Canada.
Germany’s women’s team expected to roll over our girls but in the end, even their own analysts felt the odd goal they scored should not have counted because it came from an illegitimate free-kick.
At the FIFA U-20 World Cup finals in Colombia, the Flying Eagles finished in seventh place. It could have been better if we had done a few things the other way against France, but we have learnt from that experience. In Casablanca, the Beach Soccer team finished second at the African Championship.
In the hot race for the Women’s Football Tournament of the London 2012 Olympics, Nigeria is there. In the race for the Men’s Football Tournament of the London 2012 Olympics, Nigeria is there, with the Draw for the eight-nation CAF African U-23 finals slated for Cairo next weekend.
At the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup in Ravenna, Italy, Nigeria was there, and NOT just to make up the number. The Supersand Eagles fought like trojans and impressed everyone, including the opposition. Brazil, four-time world champions, came close to being eliminated by the plucky Nigerians and the game had to go into extra time.
Are we not proud? We should, of course. Brazil had won the last four championships of the competition before Italy. When other countries were playing international friendlies immediately after the last international weekend, we were also on the road, tackling two-time world champions Argentina.
When the media is writing about continental club competitions of 2011, Nigeria is prominent with Enyimba FC already qualified for the semi finals of the CAF Champions League and Sunshine Stars FC and Kaduna United FC set to qualify for the semi finals of the CAF Confederation Cup this weekend. Surely, it is a long time since Nigeria had THREE entrants in the last four of both continental competitions.
Even in the WAFU (now West Africa Zone B) Cup, Enugu Rangers have been explosive, reaching the semi finals on the back of home-and-away wins over Akokana FC of Niger Republic.
We have played Argentina twice and will play Ghana (2010 FIFA World Cup quarter finalists) next month, and in November, we have something delicious lined up as well.
The motto that has worked is ensuring that our teams go to major competitions well-prepared to fly the flag high. Having secured an agreement with the Browns Sports and Leisure Club in Faro, Portugal and appointed a world class Match Agent, we now must work harder on securing even more alternative training sites and more world class friendlies, because we cannot afford to lose momentum.
For the next one year, the challenges include securing a ticket to the 2012 African Cup of Nations finals in Equatorial Guinea and Gabon; tickets to the Men’s and Women’s Football Tournaments of the London 2012 Olympic Games; securing more grade A friendly internationals for our various teams and; securing more and higher-level coaching and refereeing courses for our professionals, at home and abroad.
We also must work very hard on achieving creditable performances at all major competitions that we go, which starts with ensuring adequate preparation of our various National Teams heading to these competitions. We also must pay greater attention to the women’s game – domestic League and the National Teams.
We intend to positively review the U-13 National Football Competition and the existing teenage national teams; qualify for and achieve creditable outings at the FIFA U-20 and FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup competitions in Uzbekistan and Tajikistan respectively and; retain the African Women Championship title.
Also, we are condemned to starting off on a strong footing for the 2014 FIFA World Cup finals with the first phase of the African qualifiers starting in June next year; we must work harder with all stakeholders of the game to truly develop the Nigeria game and; we must give greater encouragement to beach soccer and 5-A-Side football competitions, for they have really come to stay.
While we seek more partners, sponsors and suppliers from Corporate Nigeria, we also must glamourize our activities, projects, programmes and events and; also help the Nigeria Premier League to build the domestic League into an attractive, compelling product.
Welcome on board, Baribote...
The last point mentioned above will be easier to achieve with harmony and tranquility in the house of the Nigeria Premier League, which those of us at the NFF believe has come with last Wednesday’s emergence and swearing-in of the new Chairman of NPL, Chief Victor Rumson Baribote.
Baribote was declared the duly-elected NPL Chairman following the award of the Ibidapo Obe Arbitration Tribunal, which was also affirmed by the Federal High Court, Abuja – that Mr. Davidson Owumi was ineligible to contest the May 8, 2010 elections.
I congratulate Chief Baribote and warmly welcome him into the Executive Committee of the Nigeria Football Federation. However, more than that, I implore him to reconcile all factions and splinters in the NPL family – the result of a 16-month reign of crises, uncertainty and confusion.
Similarly, I congratulate the new Chairman of Chairmen, Hon. Abdulazeez Mohammed. It is important that both men work very hard together to unite all arms of the body and then move to see how best to improve the Premier League.
In Kaduna tomorrow, Kaduna United FC also need the minimum win against Club African of Tunisia. In a night match played in Tunis, both teams finished 0-0. I believe Kaduna United can handle this one the way they handled the one against ASEC Mimosas three weeks ago.