The above are the words of revered sports journalist and publisher of TodaySports, Paul Bassey, while lamenting over Nigeria’s dwindling fortunes in the game of football with particular reference to Flying Eagles’ dismal outing at the FIFA Under-20 World Cup in Egypt.
Only last Sunday, the Super Eagles, for the umpteenth time, gave Nigerians high blood pressure when they waited till the third minute of the extra time before substitute, Obinna Nsofor scored the solitary goal against the Mambas of Mozambique to retain a rare of hope for Nigeria’s qualification for next year’s World Cup in South Africa.
The Super Eagles’ campaign for the 2010 World Cup has been anything but cheering with their chance of picking a ticket to the first mundial to be staged on African soil solely dependent on a miracle.
The FIFA and CAF officer says the nation is currently reaping the fruits of a poor foundation laid by successive administrators, who, according to him, have continued to focus on competition rather than developing the game from the grassroots.
"The foundation of Nigerian football is very poor. We expect that a good team will fall from nowhere. It’s not like that," he emphasised.
"From the qualification for the Africa Under-20 Championship to the team selection for the FIFA Under-20 World Cup in Egypt, everything was wrong with the current Flying Eagles’ squad. It is not just enough to assemble 11 boys and put them in a field, organisation is very important," the veteran sports journalist went on in a chat with Saturday Sunsport in Lagos recently.
He predicted more disaster for the nation at international competitions if something is not done, and urgently too, to correct the shaky foundation.
"This is just the beginning. All these competitions upon competition without developing the game will lead us nowhere. For me, I did not want to talk about the Flying Eagles’ bad outing at the FIFA Under-20 World Cup in Egypt. I don’t know who was surprised that they didn’t do well.
"Like my colleague, Mumuni Alao wrote in his column in Complete Sports, suddenly our Flying Eagles scored a goal against Germany and went on celebrating so much that they forgot that they needed to defend the goal they scored. They probably did not believe they could score against the German side. They went on celebrating and forgot about the rudiments of the game.
"I cannot single out any player in that team who somebody can recommend for the national team tomorrow. Is it Haruna Lukman, for all he did? He cost us the match against Venezuela and you bring him in against Germany. Is it the goalkeeper, Uche Okafor? I thought he was the discovery of the tournament, only for him to disappoint on the last day. But I forgive him because football is a team game. One individual can hardly do it all alone if the rest of the team fails to do well. I mean, that was a bad team. People are saying that Samson Siasia is a good coach, fine, but he carries the cross," stated the man fondly called "Sports Bassey" due to his deep passion for sports.
Bassey is, however, consoled by the current exploits of two Nigerian clubs, Heartland FC and Kano Pillars on the continent. Both sides played in the semi-finals of this year’s CAF Champions League, with Heartland already armed with a ticket to the final of the competition.
"I’m very happy with the performance of Heartland FC and Kano Pillars in the CAF Champions League. I now see the wisdom in the two of them not meeting in the final. At least, we (Nigeria) have one team in the final of the competition although I get scared as a human being about Heartland meeting TP Mazembe, who walloped Al- Hilal 5–2 in Sudan in the first leg of their semi-final pairing. Mazembe are on fire and will no doubt be a handful for Heartland in the final match. But then, I’m very happy for the Nigerian League, particularly with the development of the league.
"Until we start looking inwards with the benefit of the FIFA technology project, until we start developing the game and not being competition conscious and trying to win every competition, I’m afraid this is just the beginning of our calamity. But then, sometimes, you have to be on the floor for you to wake up. May be, that’s the situation we have found ourselves at the moment."
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