IT’S TIME FOR AFRICA –

As I write this piece, the favourites Brazil and Argentina have been knocked out at the quarter final stage. The games have been both exciting and unpredictable. The organization after a few teething problems have turned out impeccably. The people of South Africa are great hosts. The facilities are top class, I mean the stadia, media, hotels, roads, malls and other infrastructure. Though rather pricy, I know as a fact that prices rise artificially during major sporting events. I found local transportation a bit challenging due to the rather high cost of taxis but apart from the cost, it was available.
I need to warn the readers that I am not a certified football expert but my years of following the sport keenly with an eye for detail coupled with regular research has given me the confidence to reduce my 10 days experience in Johannesburg(Soccer city) and Durban into writing. I watched 5 matches, three first round matches including the Nigeria and South Korea match and two 2nd round knock- out games. They were all explosive as the matches were elimination or qualification deciders. In a nut shell they were all cup finals.
First let me begin with some of the refereeing blunders. The red cards dished out to Harry Kewel of Australia and Kaka of Brazil were unwarranted. Louis Fabiano of Brazil’s first goal against Cote D’Ivoire was after he handled the ball twice. Fernando Torres collapsed like a pack of cards when accidently without looking, Marcos Estrada of Chile tripped him causing the referee to give Estrada an undeserved red card. All these red cards aided by the deceit of the ‘receiving player’ ruined the matches as it was no longer a level playing field. I think FIFA should spare a thought for the fan that has saved up his/her hard earned money to travel and watch the talent on display evenly and squarely contested. Not distorted by referees blunders. I need not say more on the Frank Lampard of England’s clear goal against Germany. It was clear from the stands. It’s time for goal line technology. The stakes are far too high. Referees cannot continue to put nations in despair over wrong decisions. This does not add to the excitement but advances injustice and breeds contempt. Tevez was yards off-side when he headed in Argentina’s first goal against Mexico. The goal stood regardless. FIFA, please reconsider your hard stance for the good of the game or at least advance superior argument for your position.
What went wrong with the Nigerian team? My take is it is a combination of things anchored on their failure to adequately prepare. All stakeholders are to blame. Chief culprit is the NFF. The failure to appoint a suitable coach after the sacking of Amodu Shuaib was a fundamental problem. Lagerback is not a bad coach but he did not have enough time to know and work with the players. No businessman can refuse the offer the NFF gave him. The NFF’s lack of organization including the last minute change of hotel accommodation by the Minister was in full display. The size of the Government delegation was scandalous. The waste was legendry. They say a football team is a reflection of the country’s current status. A country with a settled political economy is more likely to do better in tournaments than an unsettled one.
In the recent book “Soccernomics” written by Simon Kuper and Stefan Szymanski, the authors opined that the size of the nation’s population, the size of the national income and the country’s experience in international soccer hugely affect the outcome. They based a great deal of their conclusions on numbers, figures and specifically data. So by their analysis given her wealth, population and experience a country like Belarus or Luxembourg will never win the world cup. Relating this analysis to Nigeria’s 3 group B opponents in the 2010 world Cup, then Nigeria should not lose to Greece. Argentina has a wealthier economy and more international football experience and South Korea a better economy and a better world cup record. Greece has less football experience than Nigeria, smaller population but better per capital income. If these indexes are averaged out then the game against Greece should at worst be a draw. So Nigeria overachieved by obtaining a draw with South Korea and should have at least gotten a draw against Greece but for the red card. In theory the most points Nigeria could have gathered from that group is two points. In practice the rest is left to the grit, determination of the players, willingness to play for the shirt or crest of the country and of-course the bounce of the ball or luck on the day. I do not want to single Kaita’s red card out as one of the causes of our failure to get out of the group stage as Nigeria had numerous chances to put the game to bed after the red card. The loss was a combination of out of form strikers and no luck. Kaita’s colleagues should have risen above the adversity and played for the crest. We have seen this done on numerous occasions.
The game against South Korea was a must win. Again Nigeria did not display an unconditional desire to win despite having the game in their grasps for the taking. I hate to single out players but Rabiu Afolabi, granted being played out of position was a disaster. By extension the manager or coach who fielded him cannot be absolved of blame. The fear in Mr Afolabi’s eyes and body language was glaring from the onset. Little wonder both goals conceded was a result of his inability to cope. Yakubu Aiyegbeni’s miss has made the FIFA record books for the worse miss ever in the history of the world cup. In fact if he tried to miss ten times he will score. Missing that chance is so difficult it’s a miracle how our top striker managed the inglorious feat. Only the coach can explain why he preferred Aiyegbeni to other strikers. But that is all academic now.
I seize this opportunity to apologise to the young Asian girl patriotically kitted in Nigerian colours in support of our dear Eagles and the New Zealanders I met in the stadium at Durban also waving the Nigerian flag with so much passion. Not to mention the South Africans routing for a fellow African nation. The atmosphere in the spectacular stadium almost filled to capacity was tense and at the same time electric. The zeal to win just was not there despite Kanu’s strong start. The obvious answer is for Nigeria to take advantage of its huge population and draw her team from every available corner. The talent is available. Bring in youth. Real youth! The Germans and Ghanaians have the courage and confidence in advancing youth. They don’t even have their star players in Ballack and Essien respectively.
In the book Soccernomics, the authors said “when you limit your talent pool, you limit the development of skills. The bigger the group of people you draw from, the more new ideas that are likely to bubble up.” The middle class must not be excluded as there is growing evidence that sporting talent and academic talent are linked. This is why the re-emergence of the schools competition called ‘Principals’ Cup’ is a noble idea. I recall intelligent players like Adokie Amassemeka being a product of this initiative. My research revealed that great players like Tostao, Socrates, Redondo, Dennis Bergkamp, Ruud Gullit, Pep Guardiola, kaka and others stayed in school after 16 and some went to college. After all the Dutchmaster himself Johan Cruijff said “soccer is a game you played with your head.” The cerebral nature of the beautiful game cannot be over-emphasised.
Mr President the shortest way to win the heart of Nigerians is to give us power, I mean electricity and secondly something to unite us and reignite our patriotism. No other single agenda can achieve this like success in world soccer.
Any follower of the English Premiership will have an interest in England’s progress in this world cup. I for one was following the progress of my club football players in the England squad. The problem with the English team was they had too many old players who had played too many games with so many either recovering from injuries but most were exhausted which affected their sharpness and fitness. Going back to data, England did not score a second half goal in 2002 and 2010 World cups. All the English players play in England in the Premiership which is an exhausting league. The players play extremely physical style mainly consisting of racing down the line and delivering a quality ball from the wings for a big centre forward to head goal wards. Any good international team would have sauced this out. English players despite playing in the best league in the world have not learnt to pace themselves and peak in tournaments. With no mid-season breaks, English players arrive international tournaments tired, partially injured and without focus. Often they cannot raise their game and suffer in the second half of all matches.
These points were particularly glaring in South Africa especially the game against Germany. England was beaten by a younger, fitter and technically sound German machine. It was a lesson in counter-attacking football. The Germans passed the ball rapidly like well conditioned athletes. It was effective, almost Champions League format or style. Whilst the German manager was bold enough to throw their under 21 team in the mix, Fabio Capello left the skilful and youthful Johnson of Manchester City at home, Wiltshire, Walcot and Agbolahan whilst he relied on very tired and overpaid trio of Rooney, Gerard and Lampard.
Another interesting point is the cliché of the in-form player. Most of the in-form players fail to optimally perform or sparkle in international tournaments. Rooney, Gerrard,Messy, Fabiano, Ronaldo all performed below par. Meanwhile, players who had not played too much football during the season arrived fresh with nothing to prove or lose. Klosse, Prince Boetang, Daniel Shittu. Imagine the goalkeeper of Ghana arrived unattached to no club and he performed admirably. I recall the pre-tournament media hype about Brazil’s Serginio or Carreca in the 1982 and 1986 mundial. It was little known Paulo Rossi that eventually stole the show. The Spanish players defied these odds mainly because they pace themselves during matches and pass the ball so accurately they can preserve energy by playing keep ball whilst their opponents dissipate more energy in attempting to retrieve the ball. The Spanish team is also patient and will wait for an opening late in the game when exhausted opponents will leave holes. Also they have a wealth of talent so if Torres underperforms, then the Prince of Spain; David Villa can deliver the goods; not to mention a youthful, fresh and very talented Fabrigas. They say form is temporary but talent is permanent.
I was surprised about Brazil’s exit. I watched them live in a 3-0 masterful display against a skilful and youthful Chile side. They never lost their shape and all players could deputise effectively for each other out of position. However against the Dutch they completely lost their composure despite taking the lead. Maybe Ronaldhino should have been included in the squad for more creativity when Kaka was under performing? There is simply no room for error in the knock-out stage. The same fate befell the Argentines. But Maradona talked too much before their matches sending venomous attacks to anyone who commented publicly on his team. Pele, Platini and the German rising star Schweinsteiger were not spared. He called Thomas Mueller a ball boy. The two players did their talking on the field. The Argentine’s defence was exposed by a ruthlessly efficient youthful German side. Once their main outlets Messi and Tevez were snuffed out the game, they found themselves on the back foot especially after conceding from a routine set play. 4-0. That was an execution showing that thrashing England 4-1 was no fluke. But having said that, did you know that Argentina has not beaten a Western European team in open play at a world cup since 1986? Britain is just outside the region. This is a phenomenal statistic. In the2006 World cup, Brazil could not match Western Europe.
The French in short were a disgrace. They were caught by the law of Karma! That Henry handball against the Irish in the qualifiers came back to hunt them. They should not have qualified in the first place. I guess sometimes cheats never prosper. The French show of shame both on and off the field has been well documented. The Italians were also poor because the players were too old.
The Ghanaians made Africa proud but were unlucky at the end. They deployed a mixture of mostly youth sprinkled with experience. Their team was balanced and there was harmony in their camp. A mirror of their stable political and economic State. I salute their success. They were a second away from history but I believe they were robbed. FiFA needs to revisit that rule. A player cannot deliberately handle the ball on the goal line and his team given a second chance by the lottery of the penalty kick. If the offended team misses the penalty like Ghana did, then the offending player’s team succeeds and eventually directly benefits from its player’s wrong. This is a travesty of justice. The goal should stand like it is done in rugby where a red card and a penalty try will be awarded in such circumstances. That to me is fair play.
I cannot sign off without mentioning the catchy world cup songs churned out by great Artists like R. Kelly, Akon, Shakira, Kelly Rowland and others. But the most infectious is the song called,” wave your flag” by a young relatively unknown artist K. Knaan. Again youth and latent talent was discovered and it prevailed. Cocacola quickly jumped on the band wagon. The chorus goes like this “ when I get older, I will be stronger, they call me freedom just like a waving flag, wave your flag, wave your flag…” Great song, befitting the greatest festival on earth. Being part of the fiesta made one feel like a citizen of the world! South Africa did Africa proud. Not to worry about their team’s early elimination, as a nation they ensured the stadiums were full regardless who was playing. Everything had an African flavor with the Calabash design of the Soccer city stadium in Soweto. It’s truly time for Africa.
As for who will win the world cup? Don’t ask me! I’m terrible at predicting. An intelligent guess is it will be a European country. Haa Haa!!!
Tokunbo Jaiye-Agoro Esq lives in Lagos.
This piece was written before the semi-final matches.