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!