USA Africa Dialogue Series - Clap for Super Falcons, weep for soccer administration!

Clap for Super Falcons, weep for soccer administration!


KAYODE KETEFE

"African Women Championship disaster: Weep not for Super Falcons" That was the title of the piece I angrily penned two year ago when the Nigerian female national team, the Super Falcons, came back from the 8th African Women Championship held in Equatorial Guinea without a medal, being the only time it would happen since inception of the championship. Countries that normally trailed Nigeria in women soccer like Equatorial Guinea, South Africa and Cameroon scooped up gold, silver and bronze medals in that order, with Nigeria finishing in an embarrassing fourth position.
I was angry at that time because I believed Nigeria lost the cup not because other countries had actually caught up but because of complacency and lackadaisical attitude on the part of both our players and soccer administrators.
To buttress this point, the utterances of both the Nigerian players and South African players in that year competition are aptly illustrative of their respective attitude. One of the Super Falcons players was then quoted on a radio interview to have said "South Africans are our wives, we will always beat them!" whereas, a veteran Banyana Banyana midfielder, Portia Modise, said "We are so keen to get the win over Nigeria and give South African football fans lots to be proud of as the win will allow our team to make the final." As it turned out, Falcons lost that match by one goal to nil! Talk of correct attitude and winning mentality.
Nonetheless, I had ended that my 2012 piece on a positive note by pointing the way out, I had stated "But there is still hope to return to the top, the performance of the younger generations of footballers, the U-17 team national team tagged Flamingoes and the U-20 team, Falconets, at recent global championship have been inspiring. The Falconets reached (at least) the semi-finals of the last two U-20 World Cups while Flamingoes reached the quarter finals of the last two U-17 World Cups.
"This, fortunately, offers the hope that if we harness the potentials of the young footballers and put in place efficient soccer management which has been our bane, we will not only return to the zenith of African women football, we would also belong to the elite category at the global stage."
With the latest Super Falcons remarkable victory in Namibia, my prediction has somewhat turned out to be a prophesy! The likes of Asisat Oshoala, who emerged the most valuable player of the tournament; Desire Oparanozie who emerged top scorer and the others like Ngozi Okobi and, Halimatu Ayinde and Fransicsa Ordega, were part of the younger generation from age-grade category who pooled their talents to restore Falcons to the apogee of women soccer.
Be that as it may. Today, we are no longer weeping for Super Falcons, they are our heroines! We are rejoicing with them for the superlative performance and indelible contributions to the cause of fatherland. However and rather unfortunately, the cause of lamentation has not disappeared, it has only shifted. The cause for weeping is now the Nigerian football itself. The source of worry and sadness is the management of Nigerian football.
For the past few months the World soccer governing body, FIFA, has banned and unbanned Nigeria in an unending sequence as Nigeria continues to engage seemingly in game of hide and seek. The source of conflict is what the football ruling body tagged undue political interference in the running of soccer in Nigeria. As of the time of writing this piece, (Tuesday) everybody is expecting the FIFA's hammer to fall and by the time you are reading this piece, Nigeria, (I pray against it) would most probably have been banned by FIFA. If that happens, FIFA has already said it would not look into the matter again till its next Congress in May 2014.
What this means is that Super Eagles would not be able to go and defend their crown in Morocco at next year at the African Cup of Nations; the Flying Eagles who have the brightest chance to win the next year African Youth Championship in Senegal (being the team that won the 2013 U-17 FIFA World Cup), would not be there to compete, likewise the Golden Eaglets will not be in Niger next year, and neither of these teams will be in Chile and New Zealand for the U-17 and U-20 World Cup respectively, since the African championships operate as the selection media for the said World Cups.
All the Nigerian clubs would also not be able to compete in any international competitions. All these losses would be incurred simply because those saddled with the administration of the country soccer have not been able to place their house in order. Posterity will never forget all those who have played or currently playing negative roles in the ongoing impasse rocking the Nigerian Football Federation. It is very sad that those who have the statutory and moral duties to promote our football are the ones hindering its development. Clap for Super Falcons, but weep for the Nigerian soccer administrators!

Post script: FIFA has postponed the judgment day till Friday, October 31, 2014.


















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