Five-Point Agenda: Making The Super Eagles Great Again

The last nine months have been a purely forgettable one for the Nigeria national team – the Super Eagles. From a second round qualification at the 2014 World Cup, the team has plunged to lows never envisaged by its throng of fervent followers and supporters.

Since the end of the World Cup in Brazil, the team has not had a substantive manager with ‘caretaking’ the order of the day as the Nigeria Football Federation dallies with the appointment or otherwise of Stephen Keshi. However, that is not the crux of this piece.

We are looking at what has happened to the team and what can and should be done to rescue it and in the same instant stop bringing heartache and headaches to her teeming supporters.

Mark Gleeson gave a simple exercise on a programme on television last week when he said, “Can you mention how many Nigerian players are playing in Europe?” He mentioned Mikel Obi, Vincent Enyeama, Ogenyi Onazi and then stopped…

Six to 10 years ago, you could start and name at least 15 players before stopping, now it is only three before you start ‘Googling’ the names and where they are presently playing.

Now what that tells you immediately is that the team does not have big names anymore. What is presently constituted are just players of average ability and even below.

So what needs to done?


Change the coaching crew

A team is almost always as good as the manager at the helm. I know some people will disagree with this point but let’s objectively look at the current setup. Over the last four years, Keshi, Daniel Amokachi and company have told us that they are rebuilding the side. However, a side that is being rebuilt is not supposed to be in this current state. You cannot perpetually be in a state of rebuilding – when are we supposed to enjoy the rebuilt side? All countries fall into the trough in which Nigeria currently finds itself but there is a process to be used to get out of that period on time even though we know there will be lots of pain to bear.


Get a manager that understands youth development

Not all coaches have the penchant or the patience to blood youngsters and stay with their choices. So it is not a crime – people like Jose Mourinho do not have time for fledglings, they want fully formed players that understand and can key in to their strategies. Keshi seems to be a manager like this and so in this reproductive stage, he will be found wanting.


Promote the young players immediately

Since we can never be a 100% sure of the ages of the players in the lower cadre national teams, the ones that have shown promise, especially in the U-20 setup should be promoted immediately into the senior team. There is no need of waiting for them to ‘mature’. Let them get experience and playing mentality understudying and playing with their more experienced seniors and spend more time playing in the national team.



The NFF must have a cogent process of ‘selling’ our players

We cannot continue to delude ourselves on the basis of cash inducements. Why did the NFF allow Kelechi Iheanacho to sign for Manchester City? It was foolhardy to say the least. When would he be able to force his way into a cash-laden team like City, who can buy the best players? He and the country would have been better served signing for clubs like Anderlecht, Ajax, Montpellier, etc., there he would have had the opportunity to quickly develop.

The U-17 World Cup winner shone for City during pre-season, where his display ensured that a player like John Guidetti was sent out on loan to Celtic of Scotland. But that kind of loan would have benefited the precociously gifted Nigerian, but we do not even know what he is doing today.


Monitor, sift and monitor again

The restructuring and building of a new national team that we can all be proud of must be seen as a project. And as a project progresses, there will always be the need to evaluate constantly. There are players that will fall off the grid and there are others that will jump into the limelight. So the Technical Department of the NFF has serious tasks to accomplish, rather the time-wasting exercise of training match readers. There is data software available to help do whatever monitoring is required.



In all the above, there will be things that need to be added and variations and corrections that will have to be made as we go on and that is why a proficient NFF is needed to accomplish the tasks that have to be accomplished. In all this I have not mentioned the local leagues because they are already in a systemic failure stage.

So let us use the blueprint developed by the German Football Federation, through which they regenerated their national side by creating the kind of footballers that fitted their plan. We can go the same way if we are determined and ready to pay the price!