Nigerian Football
All hope not lost on Golden Eaglets, Amuneke counsels NFF
The Nigeria U-17 team,Golden Eaglets may have failed to make the cut in the qualification for the next FIFA U-17 World Cup, a former coach of the team and also a former international and assistant coach to the Super Eagles has advised against throwing the baby and bathwater away.
In an interview with a leading Nigerian newspaper, ThisDay, Amuneke pointed to the essence of age-graded competition, saying that it is essentially, a developmental project and not necessarily meant to win trophies.
Amuneke, who first made his mark as an U-23 player for Nigeria in 1991 and was part of the coaching crew to the 2013 World Cup winning team of the Golden Eaglets, was the coach that handled the winning squad of 2015.
In his squad were the likes of Samuel Chukwueze and Victor Osimhen who are now household names in European fields.
According to Amuneke, whose twin strikes won Nigeria the Africa Cup of Nations in 1994 and the gold medal at the Atlanta ‘96 Olympic Games, the current squad of Golden Eaglets should be applauded and encouraged.
“The young lads did their best but were unlucky not to get the desired result”, remarked the 1994 African Footballer of the Year.
“We must collectively salute the players and the coaching crew for doing a good job but were unfortunate not to qualify for the finals.
“We cannot afford to let them go just like that because we must erase the tag failure in their history which has been a tradition any time our age-group team failed to win at major events.
“The players are disappointed in themselves knowing fully well that it was an opportunity to launch their career on the big stage and suddenly vanished due to ill luck.
“I can see them doing well if we make conscious effort to integrate them in the domestic league at lower cadre instead of allowing them to vanish into thin air,” he remarked.
Amuneke noted that in 2003 squad toU-17 World Cup in Finland did not go beyond Group phase but the likes of John Obi Mikel, Chinedu Obasi, Isaac Promise and Ambruse Vanzekin were able to reach the Olympics and Super Eagles level.
“We must engage ourselves in a long-term programme that will ensure the boys are injected into the domestic league clubs and as well as take cognisant of their educational growth which a global standard today aside footballing programme.
“As for the coaching crew, it’s unfortunate what as happened to them but as for me, they did their best.
“It takes a good coach (Ugbade) to be patient with the players for making simple errors which was natural of players of that age.
“I was once in same situation and you have to keep lecturing, develop and ensure proper growth unfortunately as a coach someone must pay the price because Players’ Agents will infiltrate the camp and for obvious reason and when the final selection did not go their way, all they wish is for the team to fail but a good coach should just stay focused and damn the consequence.
“At any given time, our system is warped towards immediate results instead of long-term planning and as a coach you make friends and enemy as same time but what is important is to stick to the plans,” he pointed out in a telephone interview.
He also recalled his experience as the coach of U-20 team that failed to qualify for the AFCON tournament after defeat to Niger 5-6 on goals aggregate even when his team had the honour to play the final leg at home.
“Aside the core group of boys that won the 2015 tournament in Ecuador, some of the players that did not make the final selection into the tournament from our Calabar camp were invited unfortunately the result did not go our way on a wet evening at Teslim Balogun Stadium.
“I watched the players wept openly in the dressing room and took time to console with them because it was a great opportunity to elevate their career but today I am happy that the likes of Victor Osimhen, Samuel Chukwueze, Kelechi Nwakali and many others in that squad moved beyond that stage today,” he recalled.
In Nigeria, the age-grated competition are often seen as a must win project. Failure is an aberration and the coaching crew and and the players often pay the price as the objective is always to win and win.
In January1985, the Nigeria Flying Eagles defeated Cameroon 5-1 in Lagos to pick the ticket for the then U-21 World Youth Championship in the Soviet Union.
Only Samson Siasia made it at the Super Eagles’ level. The others literally fizzled out at the youth level. But the players of the defeated Cameroon side made it big, years later, forming the bulk of the record-setting Indomitable Lions at the Italia’90 World Cup.
France under coach Jean-François Jodar won the U-17 World Cup in 2001, beating Nigeria. The coach had been on the saddle from 1987 and did not qualify France for the FIFA U-16/17 tournament till 2001.
He was left on the saddle as his performance was not calculated on the number of trophies won, but on the number of talents he was able to churn out for the national team.
It was reported that the bulk of French players that won the 1998 World Cup passed through Jean-François Jodar.
The Nigeria U17 women’s team has been given incentives to make it to the Women’s World Cup for the eighth time.
The team, Flamingos, who arrived in Algiers in the early hours of Wednesday aboard a Turkish Airlines flight from Istanbul, are highly inspired by the imminence of another FIFA World Cup ticket as well as further financial windfall from the Nigeria Football Federation and billionaire business mogul Kunle Soname.
Soname gifted the young players and their officials the sum of N4 million (one million naira for every goal) following their commanding win over the North Africans at the Remo Stars Stadium on Saturday, while the NFF gave out the sum of N2 million (five hundred thousand naira for every goal).
President of NFF, Ibrahim Musa Gusau and Soname have both confirmed that the same financial incentives are in place for the second leg in Blida on Friday.
“Our objective is clear – to win the FIFA World Cup ticket. That is the big motivation.
“Yet, we have been further incentivised by the monetary rewards. My girls will go all out on Friday night,” Head Coach Bankole Olowookere said.
Olowookere, who led the Flamingos to their last two World Cup ventures, will most likely rely on first-leg two-goal heroine Queen Joseph, lone-goal scorer Zainab Raji and Kaosarat Olanrewaju to start at the fore, with Shakirat Moshood, Muinat Rotimi and Philomena Isaiah supplying the passes from the midfield.
Goalkeeper and captain Christiana Uzoma and defenders Azeezat Oduntan, Hannah Ibrahim, Christiana Sunday and Jumai Adebayo are also likely to start.
The Confederation of African Football has selected Cameroonian official Marie Noelle Etong to be the referee, with her compatriots Marcelle Teikeu and Innocentia Ntangti as assistant referee 1 and fourth official, respectively, while Chadian Ngarassoum Victorine will be assistant referee 2.
Oumou Souleymane Kane from Mauritania will be the commissioner, and Sabelo Maphosa-Sibindi from Zimbabwe will be in the role of referee assessor.
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Former president of the initially 15-member West African Football Union (WAFU), Chief Jonathan Boytie Ogufere, has expressed his heartfelt condolences over the recent death of former national team captain and coach, Christian ‘Chairman’ Chukwu.
He remarked that the erstwhile Enugu Rangers’ defence stalwart will ‘be dearly missed’. In a personally signed letter of condolence, Ogufere described Chukwu, who died on Saturday, April 12, in Enugu after a brief illness at 74, as a ‘hero of our time and a friend’.
The nonagenarian recalled with nostalgia how he nearly recruited the young Chukwu for his P & T Vasco da Gama Football Club of Enugu, adding he was impressed with how the ‘Field Marshal Christian Chukwuemeka ‘Chairman ‘ Chukwu (MFR), conducted himself throughout his career as he led both the national team, the then Green Eagles and his beloved Enugu Rangers to many conquests.
“I join numerous others to mourn the transition of the legendary Christian Chukwu, a hero of our time and friend,” the Ugbugba of Okpe Kingdom wrote.
“As one of the young academicals discovered after the end of the Civil War in 1970, I tried to enlist into my club, the P & T Vasco da Gama Football Club of Enugu but he was fair and frank in informing me that he had already joined Enugu Ranges Football Club, and I respected that attitude. From the rivalries between the two clubs, his exploits as a central defender were very visible.”
He continued: “Christian Chukwu emerged at the national level as a trustworthy and formidable captain of the national team who led by example.
“He was one of the heroes during the Golden age of Nigerian football when I was one of the Board Members of the Nigeria Football Association under the chairmanship of Chief Sunday Dankaro as Nigeria won the Africa Cup of Nations in 1980 for the first time where Christian Chukwu as captain of the Green Eagles was declared the best player of the tournament. He led the national team in several battles, which endeared him to millions of football lovers.
“After his playing days, he showed his talents through coaching in Nigeria and abroad.
“I express my sincere condolences to the family he left behind, the football family and the country in general. He will be dearly missed.
“May the good Lord grant his noble soul eternal rest,” he noted.
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Remo Stars are coasting to what will be their greatest moment ever, a win of the Nigeria Premier Football League title, as they recorded a 1-0 win over Shooting Stars in Ibadan in a match played behind closed doors.
In doing so, they achieved their sixth double of the season, having earlier beaten Shooting Stars in the first stanza of the league.
They maintained the seven-point lead over second-placed Rivers United, who also beat Sunshine Stars 1-0 in Port Harcourt.
After a ding-dong affair, Alex Oyowah scored the vital goal for Remo Stars from a right-wing cross from Ismail Sodiq.
In another match, Ikorodu City continued to work tenaciously to obtain a continental ticket as they held El Kanemi to a 1-1 draw.
SUNDAY RESULTS
- El Kanemi 1-1 Ikorodu City
- Niger Tornados 1-1 Bayelsa United
- Heartland 0-0 Kwara United
- Plateau United 1-0 Akwa United
- Rivers United 1-0 Sunshine Stars
- Shooting Stars 0-1 Remo Stars
- Bendel United 1-1 Nasarawa United
SATURDAY
- Katsina United 0-0 Abia Warriors
- Enyimba 2-1 Kano Pillars
- Lobi Stars 2-4 Enugu Rangers
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