AFCON
Super Eagles at AFCON: Losing is part of the game
BY FEMI ADESINA
Soccer-loving Nigerians were heartbroken last Sunday when the Super Eagles of Nigeria could not fly higher than the Carthage Eagles of Tunisia in the second round match of the ongoing Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) tournament holding in Cameroon.
Nigerians were full of expectations. The Super Eagles players were confident. President Muhammadu Buhari had done what the father of the nation should do, engaging in a video conference earlier in the day to ginger the players. Alas, Nigeria lost the game by a lone goal, and exited the tournament.
Nobody likes to lose in a keen contest, whether political, economic, domestic, professional, or in sports. Winning is exhilarating, gives a feel-good sensation, and generally sends the adrenaline pumping. But you know what? Losing is part of the game. Any game, all games. We may comfort ourselves by saying no victor, no vanquished, but the real truth is that somebody loses. A team loses. It is ineluctable.
I follow football a lot, and apart from our local and national teams, I also pay attention to the English Premiership League (EPL), where Manchester City currently leads its closest rival, Liverpool FC by nine points.
In October, Man City had been beaten 2-0 by less fancied Crystal Palace, and right at Etihad Stadium, home base of the league leaders. It was something akin to sacrilege.
Pep Guardiola is possibly the best coach in the world today, and handles Manchester City. When he was interviewed after the Crystal Palace debacle, he just shrugged, and said; “Losing is part of the game.” True.
We want to win at all times. We don’t want to be worsted, or have our nose bloodied at all. But life is not so. You win some, and you lose some. That was what happened to Nigeria last Sunday, though rather painfully.
I have read many silly, idiotic and imbecilic comments, trying to link the loss to the video conference the President had with the players on Sunday morning. Witless. Thoughtless. And incidentally, if the Super Eagles had gone into the match without encouragement from their President, the same people would have come out to condemn the leader of the country for being taciturn and insensitive. Head or tail, you never win with some Nigerians.
There are countries, and football teams, who have established a tradition for being outstanding in soccer. But such teams and countries have lost scandalously before, underscoring the truth that losing is part of the game.
We have talked about Man City and the loss to Crystal Palace. After that week, they went ahead to win the next 12 EPL games, and the fairy tale run did not end till last Saturday, when they played 1-1 away to Southampton FC. You win some, you lose some.
Football can be cruel at times. There can be a humiliation of the brightest and best, but it does not mean the end of the beautiful game. After falling, you get up, dust your pants, and move on, waiting for another day. “It’s not whether you get knocked down, it’s whether you get up,” says renowned American football coach, Vince Lombardi.
Now, see a few checklist of humiliations of great soccer playing teams and nations, and see whether it calls for the otiose politicking, as we saw with some Nigerians earlier this week.
AC Milan and Real Madrid are super powers in football. But at the semi final of the European Cup in 1989, Milan handed a 5-0 trouncing to Madrid.
In the run up to winning the European Champions League last year, Bayern Munich crushed the great Barcelona FC 8-2. The defeated team included world’s best, Lionel Messi.
Argentina is a super power in soccer. But in a 2009 World Cup qualifier, it lost 1-6 to Bolivia. Scandalous!
Brazil, possibly the best soccer playing country in the world, hosted the World Cup in 2014. They had reached the semi final, and were clear favorites to lift the trophy. They met Germany, and got thumped 7-1. Outrageous! Well, losing is part of the game.
Argentina, under the legendary Diego Maradona lost a World Cup game to Germany 4-0. France beat Brazil 3-0 at France ‘98. The old Czechoslovakia trounced Argentina 6-1 before, England slumped to Hungary 3-6 at Wembley Stadium, their home base, while Portugal fell 0-10 to England at Lisbon in 1953. Spain beat Germany 6-0 in 2020. I say it again: losing is part of the game.
One thing was clear from the way the Super Eagles played their firs three matches at AFCON. The German Technical Adviser, Gernot Rohr, should have been fired long ago. He contributed nothing to Nigerian soccer. The team played better under the tutelage of home based Augustine Eguavoen. As the Sports and Youth Development Minister, Sunday Dare, has said, the team “faced the challenge bravely and gave a good account of themselves.”
On those making mischievous political capital out of the loss, the Minister rightly said: “We, as a nation win together, and we lose together. Sports is a unifying factor and those that seek to use it as vectors of division, targeting players with hate speech and making irresponsible statements should rise above such behavior. We are much better than that as a people.”
The best players in the world-Pele, Maradona, Johan Cruyff, Messi, Ronaldo, etc have lost, and still lose matches. Under Muhammadu Buhari as military head of state, we won our first Under 17 global trophy in 1985. In this dispensation, we have won the same trophy twice. So, why do the heathens rage, and the people imagine vain things?
“Winning is not everything-but making the EFFORT to win is,” says Lombardi. Super Eagles made the effort to win, encouraged by their President, but they lost. Sad. But that is how it is, till another day. Losing is an inevitable part of the game.
*Adesina is Special Adviser to President Buhari on Media and Publicity
BY KUNLE SOLAJA.
With CAF referring the case of the botched Libya-Nigeria match to its
Disciplinary Board, a nine-man panel has the task of deciding which party was at fault.
Possible decision could be forfeiture of the match by the offending party or rescheduling of the fixture. The latter seems unlikely considering the already congested international calendar.
Even if that were to be the decision, the match would likely be taken to a neutral ground.
On the other hand, the board may also take it that it was Nigeria that refused to play the match after having hosted the first leg.
In that case, Article 62 of the competition’s regulations will be enforced. It reads: “Any team that withdraws or refuses to play the return match after having played the first leg on its territory must refund the association of the visiting team a minimum sum of fifteen thousand (15,000) U.S. dollars in reparation for the damage suffered by the host country.”
If the NFF is adjudged as the culprit, the body will be fined $15,000. Chapter 19 of the regulations gives a window to appeal the fine. But judging from the CAF statement of the situation, and the condemnation of the treatment meted out to the Super Eagles, the fine is very unlikely as the weight of evidence tilts against the Libyans who in the x-handle admitted keeping the Super Eagles in captivity with an explanation that episode was largely due to an airport protocol mishap.
A decision lies firstly on the nine-man panel. With the possibility of the losing side not satisfied, another nine-man panel, the Appeals Board will take a possible final decision which can only be contested at the Switzerland-based Court of Arbitration in Sport (CAS)
Here are the decision-makers:
Disciplinary Board
- Ousmane Kane, Senegal. – President.
- Jane Njeri Onyango, Kenya – Vice President.
- Norman Arendse, South Africa – member
- Mohamed Mostafa El-Mashta, Egypt. – member
- Djonfoune Golbassia Felix, Chad. – member
- Patrick Shale, Lesotho – member
- Douma Ibrahim Issaka – Niger. -member
- Ruth Kisaakye, Uganda. -member
- Drucil Taylor, Sierra Leone. – member
Appeal Board
Justice Roli Daibo Harriman, Nigeria
Faustino Varela Monteiro, Cape Verde
Moez Ben Tahar Nasri, Tunisia
Moses Ikanqa, Namibia
Hamoud T’feil Bowbe, Mauritania
Mohamed Robleh Djama, Djibouti
Asogbavi Komlan, Togo
Justice Masauko Timothy Msungama, Malawi
Lubamba Ngimbi Hector, DR Congo
BY KUNLE SOLAJA.
The Libya-Nigeria Group D tie of the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers scheduled for this Tuesday has been put off owing to the refusal of the Libyan authorities to allow the Nigerian team to enter their territory for the match.
As a result, the Confederation of African Football (CAF) has referred the case to its Disciplinary Board to make an appropriate decision. The immediate consequence of this is the delay of the Nigerian team picking an early qualification as has been done by Burkina Faso, Cameroon and Algeria who have all qualified after four matches.
A win by Nigeria on Tuesday would have taken their point haul to 10 while a draw would take their total to eight. That way, irrespective of the result of the Rwanda-Benin Republic corresponding match would have qualified the Super Eagles for Morocco 2025 as they would not have ended below second position in Group D.
They now await the decision of the CAF body. A possible outcome could be Libya’s forfeiture of the match. A case in point is that of USM Alger of Algeria versus Morocco’s RS Berkane in last year’s Confederation Cup semi-final duel when the Moroccans were unjustly delayed at the airport by the Algerians.
In the case of the Super Eagles, it was worse as theirs was not just delayed, they were locked up in a desolate airport in what was a psychologically draining and energy sapping tactics.
Five-time winners Cameroon and 2019 champions Algeria both booked their places at next year’s Africa Cup of Nations finals in Morocco after victories in qualifying on Monday, bringing the number of qualified teams to four.
Cameroon defeated Kenya 1-0 when Boris Enow scored the only goal of the game in neutral Kampala, while Ramy Bensebaini netted a first-half spot-kick winner for Algeria against Togo in Lome.
Enow drilled a low free-kick into the goal from just outside the box as Cameroon dominated the contest and did enough to win in the absence of their federation president Samuel Eto’o, who is serving a six-month stadium ban by world governing body FIFA.
The victory takes Cameroon to 10 points from four games in the pool and ensured they cannot finish outside of the top two, which is enough to secure a place at the 24-team finals.
Algeria have a full haul of 12 points from four games after Bensebaini converted a penalty on 18 minutes to give them lead, but they had to weather heavy pressure from their hosts, who created enough chances to get something from the game.
Cameroon and Algeria join the hosts and Burkina Faso as the four teams so far confirmed for the finals.
Zimbabwe moved into a strong position in their pool with a 3-1 win over Namibia in neutral Johannesburg that leaves them on eight points, four ahead of third-placed Kenya with two rounds to play. One of those fixtures is at home to Kenya next month.
Walter Musona scored a brace, one a penalty, to go with a strike from Prince Dube.
Equatorial Guinea are five points clear in second place in their pool after a 2-1 win over Liberia in Monrovia.
Luis Asue had them in front early, but William Gibson equalised for the hosts. Just as it appeared the game would end in a draw, Dorian Hanza netted a 94th minute winner.
Musa Barrow scored the decisive goal for Gambia in their 1-0 victory over Madagascar, making up for a penalty miss earlier in the game
Gambia move into second place in their pool, ahead of Comoros on head-to-head record, but having played a game more.
Mozambique moved to the top of their pool with a 3-0 win over Eswatini in Nelspruit, their first goal scored by 40-year-old winger Domingues.
They are five points clear of third-placed Guinea Bissau, who host Mali on Tuesday.
-Reuters
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