Football Nigeria -- Eagles Etcetera

The 2019 Summer African Cup for Nations (AFCON) will most certainly be a referendum on Coach Gernot Rohr's tenure as manager of the national team of Nigeria. Here we use the word referendum as an imaginary given that it is the NFF that will ultimately make the decision. Nonetheless, the larger public is watching and as their emotion tilts from one end to the other, so also will be the emotion of the decision makers. Make no mistake about that. Rohr is currently in his fourth year in charge. He began his tenure in 2016 and his fourth straight year as manager ranks him, already, fifth longest-serving manager tied with two others (Ember and Chukwu) out of 29 managers who have managed at least five Nigerian games consecutively. Rohr is ahead of Otto Gloria and Shuaibu Amodu. Gloria won the AFCON and Amodu qualified the team to the World Cup two times and finished in the medal rounds of the AFCON. The only managers ahead of Rohr's longevity are Westerhoff, Tiko, Keshi, and Les C...

FIFA’s decision to establish a new global competition has become major news because it threatens to turn international team soccer on its head. This week’s announcement that FIFA has accepted a proposal worth billions of dollars from a wealthy United Arab Emirates (UAE) businessman to establish a competition between national league teams will surely fill-up FIFA’s purse but it also comes with serious challenges and possible consequences. First, lets describe what this new competition will be like before we delve into possible problems. The Competition The competition set to start in 2023 and run in 4-year cycles will have footballers, contracted to clubs in a national league, represent the country where the league plays. Thus, English Premier League players such as  Sadio Mane, Mohammed Salah, Paul Pogba, DeBruyne, and Sane will wear the colors of the English national team. France will have Neymar and Edison Cavani among its fold. Nigeria cannot suit up Alex Iwobi, Victor Mo...

The reality is that a win over Seychelles was expected even though Nigeria had already qualified and had no real or major stake on this game except pride and respect. Seychelles felt the same way, having been eliminated from contention. What was left to wonder about was whether Nigeria would score enough to set a record in margin of victory over an opponent. As things stood after today, Nigeria could not erase the 1959 record of a 10-1 victory over Dahomey. That record remains standing! Instead, the 3-1 victory was the result of this game against a vastly inferior opponent. In many ways, the result, the game, and the effort were all deeply troubling. Early on, Nigeria huffed and puffed and its players unable to find any meaningful solution to the deep defensive wall put up by the visitors. The Nigerians tried to find the holes with passes but slow possession and inaccuracies defined results. Then they varied that with long passes over the defense but the passes were too long to be...

One of the most difficult African football questions is whether Nigeria is Africa’s Best. This question often arises because of the frequency of Nigeria’s representation of Africa at the World, its performance at the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON), and the claim that it is a country brimming with talented players. At one time, an Italian journalist made a claim that Nigeria would have long won the World Cup in the 1990s if Giovanni Trappatoni was Nigeria’s coach. Well, let me attempt to answer the question as best as I can. The Population Question There is belief that Nigeria’s population of 208 million and counting, should certainly project it as a dominant footballing country in Africa. After all, every six African one statistically is a Nigerian. With such ratio, one can understand why it often appears that there are significant numbers of upcoming footballers available to the country. Moreover, being dominant at Africa’s youth competitions (U17 and U20) justify the conclusion...

There is a peculiar salute that some NPFL teams give to their supporters during NPFL games. While one may suppose that this very salute is contrived, it remains unclear to me. I state contrived because of how many NPFL teams have appeared to use this visual greeting. However, the extent of their informed use of it is largely unknown. Nevertheless, its existence not in the action of just one team but in actions of several has to be a concern for those who supervise the local game. For avoidance of confusion, the salute is reminiscent of the abhorred Nazi-style salute for which Germany under Adolf Hitler became widely associated. It is a case where a hand is extended from the neck and trust straight up front and above the neck. This salute and the Nazi swastika have been banned in several countries. In places like Germany such a salute could attract a prison term.   But it isn’t just Germany. It is a criminal offense in much of Europe including France, Austria, and in then as f...

With Nigeria headed back to the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON), after being absent for two consecutive tournaments, it will be one of the most anticipated participation at a tournament for the national team. Of course, most of the focus will be on the team's performance and results considering that Nigeria won the AFCON at its last participation back in 2013 under the late Stephen Keshi. However, with so many new players emerging during the qualifying games for this tournament, there will be a major fight for spots. Then there is the prospect of a few returning veterans who did not play a game at the qualifying stage. This sets the stage for a focus on playing personnel. Based on the above situation, it is time to begin periodic evaluation of players and continue this assessment until the matches begin in the summer in Egypt. This first evaluative piece will look at some selected players and determine who has, at this time, made a case to be in the squad if it is picked today (...

This is the third year of an annual report on Nigeria's soccer but it is also a largely unremarkable year. Nonetheless and like in the previous years, we categorize Nigeria's football into youth football, women football, local elite football, football administration, and the Super Eagles. Each unit is graded in terms of its annual performance. Beyond grading each unit, we delve deeply into the national team to grade its annual performance, unit by unit, before finishing up with recognition of some outstanding performers. We begin by grading each of the five units already identified above. Youth Football Youth football demonstrated some life after horrendous recent years. The U20 team did reasonably well in playing some qualifying games and also reached the final of the WAFU for U20 players recently. The U17 won its WAFU zone for the continental qualifiers. These accomplishments restored hope in the sector but it is far from the great heights of youth football that Ni...