Odegbami: Nigerian Football – Rising From The Debris Of Qatar 2022

 The above is not an exact quote. I have added my words to a quote whose origin I do not even recall as I write this. The words have been a nutrient to my understanding of life for decades, resurrecting at critical times when distracted from the higher blessings that come out of every disappointment.

Admittedly, it has been hard to put behind the pain and anguish of Nigeria’s failure to qualify for Qatar 2022, and to concentrate on what next to do to stabilize the flailing ship of Nigerian sports as a whole, and football, in particular.

Failure’ has started to take its toll on the psyche of Nigerians and the number of victims is mounting, distracting even those not directly involved in football administration in the country from looking beyond Qatar at the greener pastures that lie elsewhere in the vast sports firmament.

The two matches have now been ‘adopted’ as his own litmus test. The failure of the team has become his own failure as well, as his chances of becoming national team coach have now gone with the wind. So, also have the chances of any of his other Nigerian ex-international colleagues. They are now considered birds of the same feather. Great African football players do not make great coaches. That will become the tune for another decade.

Then came another mind-blower.
Last week, the Federal Ministry of Sports met with the board of the under-fire Nigeria Football Federation, NFF. It was reported that they assigned the responsibility of proposing new coaches for all the national teams, including those that have been doing well, within a period of 5 weeks. From the report of the meeting, there is an obvious bias in the body-language of the NFF officials that they are leaning towards a foreign coach for the Super Eagles. This is less than 6 months after sacking the last one.