Finidi’s Resignation: So Much To Ponder!

 ‘‘Ambition is the rocket engine that will take you wherever

                 you wish to arrive’’. Remez Sasson.

Since news filtered about the resignation of Super Eagles of Nigeria, Finidi George, several stories and videos have arisen from people close to the team revealing issues that probably contributed to Nigeria’s lackluster performance during their last two World Cup Qualifiers matches this month against South Africa and Benin Republic. These negative commentaries don’t do the peddlers any good. Every player and coaching staff must share in this blame and as professionals, they should know what is required of them to achieve good results, rather than washing their privates in the public!

I don’t mourn Finidi’s exit but salute his forthrightness because he like the players has much blame for their current situation in achieving whatever (if any) ambitions they have about qualifying Nigeria for the 2026 FIFA World Cup. Finidi has been involved as coach of the Super Eagles and an employee of the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF), for almost two years. That he’s conversant with the mindset, sentiments, and nuances of these parties would be an understatement. His advantage as a former footballer who greatly excelled makes it obvious that she should have known what to expect in his recent upgrade to handle the national team. The stage during which he took over as coach was delicate enough for him to understand that he had no opportunity to make silly errors or make decisions that could put him in a precarious situation, but events until his retirement never showed he put these considerations into account!

Finidi George enjoys the benefits of having participated in the FIFA World Cup, won the African Nations Cup and the UEFA Cup. As a coach in the Nigerian Professional League, he led Enyimba International FC to two league victories and remains accomplished in every ramification. Very few of the current generation of Nigerian footballers can boast of any accomplishments comparable to Finidi; apart from their salaries which look extremely fat, when converted to the devalued Nigerian Naira. Whilst coaches take most blame when their teams perform badly, these players deserve to look at themselves in the mirror and acknowledge their shameful performances!

We have seen past Nigerian players, especially from the Finidi generation, commit their blood and sweat to making Nigeria happy. The Eagles 1994 team rose to become ranked by FIFA amongst the best 5 football-playing nations in the World and the fluidity of their play won global acclaim! Coach Clemence Westerhof cannot alone claim the credit for the exquisite displays of the Super Eagles, especially during their peak, 1993/94. The Keshi-led group of players also did their bit!

Apart from the probably retired captain Ahmed Musa and Kenneth Omeruo, none of these boys have participated in the FIFA World Cup, and taking away the recent accomplishments of Victor Osimhen, Victor Boniface, and Ademola Lookman, the rest remain naked with very little football honors to boast about. These boys must do the almost impossible by taking Nigeria and themselves to the 2026 FIFA World Cup and must agree amongst themselves to give Nigeria good football, blaming the coach always for their uninspiring performances is balderdash!

The Minister for Sports, Senator Ewan Eno deserves much commendation for giving critical attention to meeting the aspirations of sports-loving Nigerians, but we can still support our local content by replacing Finidi with another Nigerian coach who could be assisted by a credible expatriate coach (this was done by Coach Samson Siasia). This is very possible to achieve and we must do the utmost not to diminish the gains of our football development because of an avoidable slur!

 

The Super Eagles Of Nigeria Must Stop Crawling

The Nigerian Super Eagles took the silver medal of the last CAF ANC 2024 held from January 23rd- Feb 24th in Cote d’Ivoire. Despite coming close to winning the competition, their play was a collection of uninspiring performances that finally took them to the final stage where they were beaten by a wobbly Ivorian national team who had also scrapped through to the finals. Surprisingly for the Super Eagles, then tutored by the Portuguese Jose Peseiro, their greatest strength was in the defensive and pressing capabilities of their star striker, Victor Osimhen who had earlier won the African Footballer of the Year award on account of his goal-scoring prowess which helped Napoli FC, Italy, win the Italian scudetto. Osimhen’s individual efforts to press from the front, greatly helped Nigeria scrape through from the group stages to the final match of the CAF African Nations Cup, but it also affected him upon his return to club football as fatigue had set in to make him miss several matches.

Fast forward to June 2024, the Super Eagles have underperformed in their last two World Cup qualifier matches, against South Africa, in Uyo-Nigeria and Benin Republic in Abidjan. Against South Africa, they barely survived, though they had one of their best performances ever during the second half of that match and equalized to keep the game at 2-2.

 

 

Last Monday’s match against Benin Republic was terrible and hugely contrasting to the events, in 1980, which led then President Shehu Shagari to change their name from Green Eagles to Super Eagles. Yesterday's match which they lost 1-2 against Benin Republic was a cacophony of individual errors, absolute sluggishness, and indifference of the players to show their positive capabilities when it was most needed. This is absolutely a shame to behold, despite the glimpses of brilliance some of these players show in their club sides.

The mesmerizing attacking skills of Segun Odegbami and Felix Owolabi, coupled with the midfield dexterity of Aloysius Atuegbu and Muda Lawal, ensured that captain Christian Chukwu, Okey Isima, Kadiri Ikhana, and goalkeeper Best Ogedegbe enjoyed warmth and absolute tranquility around their defensive territory. Serenaded by the fluidity of their play and the ecstasy it generated amongst the over sixty thousand cheering fans at the National Stadium, Lagos during the CAF ANC 1980 Final, President Shagari was extremely excited at this performance which Nigeria won 3-0 against the Desert Warriors of Algeria that he changed the name of the Nigerian football national team from Green Eagles to Super Eagles! After this feat in 1980 and the superlative performances of the Stephen Keshi-led 1994 team, the current Super Eagles arrangement has gotten worse as a team good at causing pain to innocent Nigerian Football fans. A Nigerian newspaper article affirms that five Nigerians died watching our team cause heartache during the CAF ANC 2024. With their current level of bad performances qualifying for the 2026 World Cup appears impossible but we wait to see!

Coach Finidi George's lackluster performance in his four matches sways the clamor for local coaches for the Super Eagles strongly against them because he's not new to our current bunch of players and the NFF management. He must do the needful and make these players understand the passion of an average Nigerian Football fan! He must get a psychologist to educate them to enrich their Nigerian persona. These players must show passion in order not to set Nigeria’s football development backward or else leave the stage for more passionate and skilled Nigerian footballers to lead us to glory! Still, we pray this current collection of Nigerian footballers does not become a lost generation!

 

 

 

 

                             

A Befitting Crown For Ademola Lookman!

 

The meaning of Ademola is: Crown is Added to My Wealth,

 Gender: Boy.

Origin: African, Yoruba.

As part of Yoruba traditional beliefs, names are given to their newborn babies, as prayers/wishes of expectations by their parents for them.

 

On the 22nd May 2024 when Atalanta FC of Italy walloped the hitherto unbeaten Bayer Leverkusen FC of Germany, during the final of the UEFA Europa Cup competition, played in the Aviva Stadium, Dublin-Ireland, it was a culmination of a long season of grit and determination by both sides in their various leagues. Bayer Leverkusen FC had just broken the highest unbeaten run in a season for any European club side and had remained so for 51 matches. With this feat, they won the German Bundesliga, upsetting perennial winners, Bayern Munich FC, and Borussia Dortmund amongst others. Everyone predicted them as the favorites to win the Europa Cup but this was not to be because of the actions of a sleek Nigerian attacking-minded player.

Nigerian-born, Ademola Lookman, at 26, has journeyed to several European club sides in his struggle to register his imprints in the annals of football. Standing at 5’ 9, using his speed, good ball control, and swerves, he’s any defender’s nightmare and so much of that was on display when he finally won his biggest crown of glory (so far), at club level.

 Lookman has played for Charlton Athletic FC, Everton, Fulham (loan), Leicester City (loan), and RB Leipzig (loan), before joining Atalanta FC. He also has the distinction of having played for the English U-19, 20, and 21 national teams, before switching his allegiance to Nigeria, his fatherland. He won the FIFA U-20 World Cup competition with England and was gradually endearing himself to the senior team coaches when he decided to make the important decision of switching to Nigeria.

He was born in Wandsworth, U.K. with Nigerian parentage and was finally enthroned with a glowing Crown after his hat-trick which ended Leverkusen's 51-match winning streak.  His team won their first-ever continental title and Lookman was voted the most valuable player of the match.

His exploits this season had started during the 2024 CAF African Nations Cup wherein Nigeria virtually rode on his wings to narrowly lose the title to hosts, Cote d’Ivoire. Throughout the competition, he displayed his extraordinary football skills and attacking qualities, leaving nobody in doubt about his assorted wealth of talents.

 Within one football season, Ademola Lookman has done so much that in the immediate future, he'd remain a marked man in every match. His qualities have begun to draw so much recognition that former  Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur FC star, Peter Crouch, had in the course of his punditry, discourteously asserted that Ademola Lookman missed his opportunity to play for England due to his impatience. As disgusting as the statement sounds, it positively affirms the fact that he's missed by his country of birth.

Ademola Lookman would be gunning for greater glory if he's able to remain consistent with his current form throughout the 2024 calendar year. This would obviously attract transfer offers from bigger clubs and more honors such as the CAF ANC Best Player of the Year. That would not be an impossible task to achieve!

 

How Far Can Finidi George Soar With The Super Eagles?

Two weeks ago the Nigerian Football Federation finally announced Finidi George as the replacement to erstwhile coach Jose Peseiro, whose contract was not renewed when it elapsed in February, after the 2024 African Nations Cup Competition, where Nigeria took the silver medal.

The Nigerian Super Eagles have for some time now endured some wobbly and flailing performance, especially in their style of play. Their inability to qualify for the Qatar 2022 FIFA World Cup caused great frustration for Nigerian football fans, especially knowing that their then-foe for the ticket did not possess a better team to overwhelm the Nigerian team.

Finidi George is a much-known name in Nigerian football. He played as a right winger for a long time in the Nigerian local league for Sharks of Port-Harcourt, Calabar Rovers FC, and Iwuanyanwu Nationale FC, Owerri, then got into the Super Eagles, under Clemence Westerhof and soon joined the legendary Ajax Amsterdam that had some wonderful crop of players such as Captain Danny Blind, Goalkeeper Edward van der Sar, Kluivert, Mark Overmars et al, but he instantly got into the first eleven. With Ajax he won the European Champions League amongst several other titles, and also was part of the team that qualified Nigeria for its maiden World Cup in 1994, the same year they also won the African Nations Cup. Finidi, as he’s popularly called went further to ply his trade in Spain, with Real Betis and Mallorca FC, and in England with Ipswich Town FC.

Finidi is a fully certified coach and has bagged the highest coaching grades in the volatile European League, serving as a youth coach in Spain before his return to Nigeria. He returned from Europe to take a coaching job with Enyimba FC of Aba, a little over three years ago and has excelled twice by winning the Nigerian Professional Football League. This likely must have counted in his favor when he was chosen to serve as assistant to Peseiro during his two-year tenure. He would definitely know the team and the workings of his employer, the Nigerian Football Federation, very well to make it easy for him to settle down in his new job.

THE TASK BEFORE FINIDI GEORGE

With less than two months to the resumption of hostilities for the FIFA World Cup 2026 ticket, Finidi needs to hit the ground with blistering speed that would enable the Super Eagles to soar beyond its current position. He’s yet to appoint his assistants and has not publicly articulated his vision for Nigerian football. One expects that his experience as a youth team coach during his coaching exploits in Spain would also count greatly for him, but he still needs to be specific and deliberate on how he intends to transform Nigerian football beyond its present level. The talent pool of the Super Eagles is overwhelming and Nigerians don’t need to suffer watching the team, neither do we need to have our citizens dying of heart attacks watching the Super Eagles struggling against less endowed teams like we witnessed in Cote D’Ivoire. The team needs to play organized football that would make the players perform at their optimal level, rather than turning them to mediocre talents. Our star player, Napoli’s Victor Osimhen virtually used his willpower rather than the team cohesion to make an impression during the Cote D’Ivoire ANC 2024 and he paid dearly on his return to Italy. He got fatigued playing for a Nigerian team that had no style and this, Finidi, needs to change. It was during his era in the Super Eagles that Nigeria reached the apogee of its relevance in World Football and their creativity and style remain unrivaled by any Super Eagles team, thirty years after!

Whilst welcoming Finidi George to the Super Eagles job with open arms, it’s expected that he’d get the best support from his employers, build the best team right for his football philosophy which we expect to be fluid and progressive, and also the Nigerian Football Federation must set the right targets for him to serve as the veritable yardstick to judge his performances. Good luck Finidi!

 

HONEST LESSON FOR MO SALAH OF LIVERPOOL FC

Last week, the electronic media was abuzz with news about a seeming altercation between Liverpool mercurial star, Mohammed Salah and his coach, Jurgen Klopp. Whilst much was not revealed, it remains absolutely clear that Salah must have been upset about being benched for the match against West Ham United FC, only to be told to come in during the last 10 minutes of the match. Video footage showed Salah grudgingly shaking hands with Klopp and engaging in some heated exchanges with his coach, until his colleague, Darwin Nunez, intervened to stop any further exchanges.

 

Both Salah and Klopp are true legends of Liverpool FC having helped the club to win virtually every club football title in England and Europe. Before joining Liverpool FC, Salah, looked very much like a talented journeyman who’d never been fully trusted by any big European club he’s played. After leaving Basel FC, Switzerland, his move to Chelsea FC of England (he met a brick wall with Jose Mourinho, who rarely entrusted him with playing time), Inter Milan FC, Italy been rather underwhelming, until he got a new lease of life in Liverpool FC. Klopp trusted him and he blossomed to become an integral part of the successful eight-year reign of Jurgen Klopp in Liverpool FC.

 

SALAH NEEDS TO BE BETTER BEHAVED

Would Salah now begin to show such disrespect to the manager who absolutely brought out his best as a footballer? That would be surprising and utterly absurd and irresponsible. Despite leaving Liverpool FC, at the end of the 2023/24 season, whatever results the team achieves can never diminish his positive contributions to Liverpool and it is clear that by the current English Premier League standings, the team has already confirmed a European Champions League direct qualification ticket for themselves.

 

During last season's transfer market, Mo Salah was speculated to be enticed by several Saudi Arabian football clubs who worked tirelessly to attract him to the ambitious Saudi Arabian Football League project that had already lured several quality players such as Cristiano Ronaldo, Neymar, Jordan Henderson, Alexander Metrovic, Phillipe Coutinho, Kareem Benzema, Koulibaly, Roberto Firmino et al to their country.  Salah is the most accomplished homegrown footballer from the Middle East and has broken so many records, especially in club football, succumbing to the lure of the money-driven Saudi Arabian football revolution would have further enhanced the cult-figure status he enjoys in the Arab World, but yet he deterred to enjoy more successful seasons in the top flight European football competitions.

 

His open altercation with Jurgen Klopp and the statement he made thereafter does him no good but open a dangerous precedence that could steer other players against him and/or against the team. As one of the captains of the team, needs to solve this issue.

 

His calm demeanor has always portrayed him as a team player willing to work for the success of the team and not otherwise. His form at the twilight of the 2023-24 English Premier League season has not being been so brilliant and this possibly caused Klopp’s decision to bench him or give him more rest to recharge and rediscover his form. Taking it in bad faith, was obviously wrong, and throwing tantrums in the open further worsens his actions and he needs to nip this fast. It further gives a red signal to Arne Slot, Klopp’s perceived successor, and should learn to show more respect to his coach and fellow team members.

 

 

THE THRILLS & DISAPPOINTMENTS OF THE ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE

 

The drama of the English Premier League would never stop to confound its admirers seeing the listless moments of excitement, disappointments, and confusion each match brings. The introduction of VAR has further increased the level of suspense viewers are faced with in the English Premier League.

The past five years have been most remarkable and this has been an outcome of the stiff rivalry between clubs such as the acclaimed perennial winners of this half-decade, Manchester City, and Liverpool FC, strengthened by the managerial acumen of the now departing Jurgen Klopp and Mikel Arteta of Arsenal FC, a former assistant to Pep Guardiola, the architect of Manchester City's recent dominance.

As the 2023/24 English Premier League reaches its twilight, the fight between Man City and Arsenal FC remains fierce, and extraneous factors have caused a sudden decline of Jurgen Klopp's Liverpool FC. The sudden outbursts of the mercurial Mohammed Salah, at his coach's actions during their match against West Ham FC, revealed a possible crack in Liverpool's setup. It would remain a very painful end to the beautiful legacy that the German coach has built in these past eight years wherein he has won everything within England, including the European Champions League for Liverpool FC.

 

CAN ARTETA STOP GUARDIOLA?

These two teams are accelerating at the same speed towards the finish line and only the actions of spoiler teams striving to secure their positions within the English Premier League would determine who wins the league. These Spanish coaches have brilliantly managed their teams amidst the diverse vagaries of the English Premier League, such as injuries and loss of form of their players, unfavorable VAR decisions, and surprise defeats by opposition teams. Their consistency shows the quality of their coaching skills and unlike a team such as Tottenham Hotspur FC, who dazzled the English Premier League in their first ten matches but fell apart thereafter possibly resulting from some mediocre coaching and poor mentality from the players, Arsenal and Manchester City FC, both represent a perfectly better level of team strength.

 

 

 

WHO REPLACES KLOPP?

Liverpool FC has virtually confirmed Dutch coach Arne Slot, as a replacement for Jurgen Klopp but it's too early to call if he'd be able to immediately keep Liverpool at their current level of being amongst the best 3 teams of the English Premier League for more than five years. Whilst we wait to see how well he maintains this consistency, the superlative performances of Unai Emery's Aston Villa FC cannot go unnoticed. In his first season, he took them to get the European Conference League ticket, and currently, they have a firm grip over the fourth position in the English Premier League. With this level of consistency, the likelihood of maintaining this position looks strong and it would be the right decision to get the best backing from his board, anything otherwise would be calling for trouble!

 

THE BOTTOM TEAMS

The struggle here has been very fierce though Sheffield United FC confirmed their relegation last weekend and the battle for the other two spaces continues between Luton Town, Nottingham Forest, and Burnley. Despite the point deductions against them, Everton FC has overcome relegation and gliding on safe ground, whilst Nottingham Forest who faced the same fate as Everton FC is in dire waters.

When the English Premier League ends next month, there will be so much thrills, excitement, and disappointment about how the 2023/24 season went and the next focus will be on what to expect in the next season and how to make VAR a less disruptive factor in the determination of match results.