Back to ongoing talks on how Super Eagles lost three points earned during the just concluded World Cup qualifiers. Many are still silent and are closely watching to see how President Pinnick will not only bark but bite in a bid to unravel those behind the act and melt out adequate punishment.
The latest embarrassment caused by the inability of those concerned to ensure that prolific defender, Shehu Abdullahi didn’t feature against Algeria in Constantine has heaped another ridicule on Nigeria. And so, this is not the only even worse than this has happened.
Not too long ago, the opening day AFCON 2019 qualification game against South Africa in Uyo last June which resulted in a 2-0 defeat for the Super Eagles against all expectations was actually triggered by the fact that matchday balls used for the game belonged to the South Africans as the NFF could not provide the balls to be used for the game.
Apparently, the players had trained with the wrong set of balls which were different from the CAF-approved ones for the game as the NFF were said to be too broke to take delivery of the balls. You can argue that the quality of ball can’t be a determinant on whether a team won or lost.
Also remember that in 1997, after failing to go beyond the quarter-final stages at the 1995 FIFA U-17 World Cup in 1995, the NFF mandated coach Fanny Amu to put together a crack squad for the 1997 edition which would be capable of redeeming Nigeria’s image in age-grade competition and win again the cadet cup which we had won twice previously in 1985 and 1993.
However, in the team’s first competitive African Youth Championship qualifier against Benin Republic at the Liberty Stadium (now Obafemi Awolowo Stadium) Ibadan in 1996, it was discovered that the NFF had forgotten the players’ passport in Lagos.
In 1991, Nigeria’s Super Eagles played the Stallions of Burkina Faso in the last game of the qualification race to the 1992 AFCON when somebody raised the alarm that the Super Eagles kits were missing. Somebody forgot to bring them from the team’s camp in Otta, some 25-minutes drive away from Lagos. It was just five minutes to kick-off and nothing was going to stop the match referee, Guinea’s Karim Camara from going ahead with the game.
According to former Super Eagles defender Rueben Agboola who was on the starting line-up, the referee was about to call the game off when someone suggested that they cut off the tracksuit bottoms and use as shorts. A scissors was quickly found and the players emerged from the dug-out with knee-length shorts.
I can go on and on to recount previous awkward episodes regarding Nigeria football. What is more important is how the country’s soccer officials (both in the present and future) would ensure that their workforce are deployed to do the needful as at when do.
