Who said we’ve run out of ticket options for the 2010 World Cup? There is always a choice and many people have blindly refused to see these options that we have, even football administrators are also guilty of this ignorance. How can we take advantage of this situation we find ourselves in ahead of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa to change our football, our sports and indeed the country in general? The solution is in this article…
We have to understand the situation very well. If we fail to qualify for the World Cup and we heed the call of many to focus on the 2014 World Cup, then be prepared to hear the same thing in 2014, remember what happened in 2006? Many fans are already thinking of cheap hotels and business opportunities to explore, especially online businesses.
We have to be at the football party, any true football fan will tell you that you only enjoy the game when there is passion. That is why we have Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Barcelona and various other fans passionately supporting these clubs in Nigeria. Personally, I was not happy to see other countries play in WC 2006 and it would break my heart if we don’t return to WC. And as I said, not going to the toilet is never a solution to our problems. If you agree with me, some Nigerian players really deserve to be at this World Cup, which is probably their last.
So if we qualify and go to the World Cup, are we going to show this lousy performance that we’ve had in the qualifying round? I am sure many Nigerians will become hypertensive if we proceed to the World Cup in our current form. Going by an unconfirmed report that most Nigerians (especially the youth) are becoming hypertensive or suffering from one heart disease or other is a true reflection of the state of the nation called Nigeria.
So I repeat again, do we have another option? The answer is yes’. Listen to me first before you crucify me.
My verdict: fire Amodu with immediate effect and bring in an interim coach to play our last qualifying game. Appointing Amodu as coach was foolish from the start. The guy makes a technical error in every game. He doesn’t know the right mix to do with the players he has. He watches a game go wrong and watches helplessly as if we’re watching from the fan stand or TV, technically not making any tackles. He just bets, remove this, put this in and the game is over. Otherwise, how can a coach openly criticize his players and even say that the opponent was more tactically and technically sound? Either he doesn’t understand those two words or he is so naive in training. Did you hear what Diego Maradona said about Lionel Messi despite his poor performance in his campaign?
I keep saying it and I’ll say it again, we have players who can go to the World Cup and get results, what we don’t have is a team with a coach who instills discipline and character in the team and brings out the best in them, playing each player in the position that corresponds to him and know which party needs which type of player. What did Hiddinck and Ancelotti do with Chelsea FC when they took over? Weren’t they the same players? What is Capello doing in England and what did the England FA and even the Ghana FA do? I personally haven’t seen any technically sound indigenous coaches except perhaps Siasia, although he has lowered his credibility by falling into a trap. Let our trainers go and improve themselves, take courses and prove themselves, we put one of them possibly Siasia under the tutelage of the foreign trainer.
Therefore, firing Amodu is the first vital step towards qualifying for the 2010 World Cup.
Once the ticket is secured, we proceed to hire the services of a world-class coach (not of the low voltage-Berti Vogts category). We allow the new manager to use the Angola Nations Cup for testing and he quickly gives us a winning team. Then set a goal for him to at least take us to the knockout stages of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.
Third, we Nigerians start to get involved in how things are run because whether we like it or not, it will affect us. We must make sure that credible people are put in that position in 2010 when new officers are elected to the NFF.
The case of the Nigerian Football Federation is a topic for another day; we need an accelerated strategy to turn things around there. Let’s use them and rate first.
Nigerians have become mathematicians who do permutation and combination. We hope the calculation works. The last game in Kenya will not only determine if we go to the World Cup, but it will mark the face of our football in Nigeria.
What if we don’t qualify, then we still fire him and continue with the plan but without the WC path?
We have no choice but to support our team through these rapid changes. Like it or not, if we qualify, it will be hard for you not to tune in to Nigeria’s game in the WC. So what can we do other than join the cause of providing a solution? Call it patriotism or whatever you want, no one can easily reject theirs. We are hurt and heartbroken; Yes, but what can we do now?
The desperate situation calls for desperate action. We have an option to play this situation.