IKENWA NNABUOGOR decries the current state of the country’s football and warns that politicians must back off for the Super Eagles to fly high…
The disappointing 4-4 home draw with 100-ranked, less illustrious West African neighbours, Sierra Leone in an AFCON qualifiers in Benin could be attributed to some unwanted political influences.
Super Eagles were guests of Edo State Government for the first time since 2011 because the Governor, Godwin Obaseki, was happy to bring the game to his state because he wanted to score some political points.
Few days earlier, Governor Obaseki had used the same stadium for his swearing-in ceremony and even promised his people free admission into the newly refurbished 22 000-capacity stadium to further advance his political ambitions all to the mercy of Super Eagles, who have struggled to impress in two previous games.
FIFA, CAF and NFF restrictions on the Covid-19 pandemic ravaging the world stopped Governor Obaseki from flooding the new stadium and preventing an impending spread.
Edo State Government has thus joined the governments of Akwa Ibom, Delta, Kano, Ogun, Kaduna and Rivers States in the “achievement” of bringing the Super Eagles to their domains in the cheap game of scoring political points.
Now the question is – what have Super Eagles achieved by this political rotational gimmicks played by the state governors?
Has this done more harm than good to our national team?
The answers are clear and far fetching as this in no way helped our course rather the state governors are sipping champagne and ego bloating for bringing the country’s national football team to their states while leaving the team struggling.
What can be more distracting Eagles’ concentration and focus than having the Edo State Deputy Governor training with the team ahead of the crucial AFCON qualifier?
The outcome is the scandalous 4-4 draw with Sierra Leone of all teams!
This is the first ever time Sierra Leone would come here and snatch a draw in seven previous games where they returned empty-handed to Freetown.
It’s on record that in the last 15 years, Eagles’ homes have been rotated among a whopping nine venues because the concerned state governors needed Eagles badly to advance their political ambitions.
Even the World Cup winners have not and will not come close to Nigeria’s record!
We think we can achieve stability for the Super Eagles in the face of this?
We must be joking and clearly not serious with our football by allowing politicians to infiltrate the only source of joy for a country whose citizens have been groaning under very harsh political and economic conditions despite FIFA warning not to mix football with politics.
It appears the egg heads at NFF are just waiting for a stare governor to build a stadium and pronto the Super Eagkes are the next guests.
Perhaps, Anambra State is on the queue next as it is currently building a brand-new modern stadium in Awka ready to host the NFF and Super Eagles.
Going forward, Eagles must dissociate themselves from these state governors and return to their original homes – Moshood Abiola Stadium, Abuja and National Stadium, Lagos – pending when the latter breathes a new life.
Should they continue playing politics with Super Eagles, the newly refurbished Onikan Waterfront, which houses just 5, 000 spectators, could be the next to host Lesotho in 2021.
Super Eagles will continue to struggle to impress with this ongoing rotation of home venues.
