Disappionting Chelsea

You will be forgiven for thinking there was only one football In England this weekend,because of the magnitude and importance of the tie between Manchester united and Chelsea FC.There was no doubt the match bore huge influence on the direction of the league title.
Coach Carlo Ancelloti in his press conference last Friday defined the game as their own cup final, even though they would have given an arm and a leg to be in the champions’ league finals in wembley.Against this backdrop, you would expect Chelsea to start the game all guns blazing and going for United’s jugular, but in sharp contrast it was the red devils who started the game like a house on fire;as it took just 36 seconds for united to spring three accurate passes with Ji sung park with the final ball to pick out a pass to Javier Hernandez who likes to run on the shoulders of defenders to give Manchester united the lead and put Chelsea on the back-foot.
The intent of united was ominous as petr cech drew spectacular saves from Rooney and Park to make the score-line respectable,but on the 23rd minute united underlined their superiority as Vidic read Giggs sublime cross like a book to double their lead.Chelsea resorted to set pieces from Drogba as their only clear cut chance in the first half came from a header from kalou which was tipped over by van der sar.For the discretion of referee webb, Ivanovic would have been sent off for a second bookable offence.
Understandably Chelsea started the second half brightly as they threw every thing they had in the mix; Alex came in for the unsettled Luiz and Ramires for Mikel to add more bite and urgency.United switched off and allowed Lampard who was largely annonymous to get a goal in the 68th minute to ignite some tension,which was never to be as Rooney and Hernandez who could have had a hat-trick missed a flurry of chances to make mince of a lethargic Chelsea side.
It was the same formation of 4-4-2 and the same eleven(except Evra that did not play)which united won Chelsea with, and destroyed Schalke 04(first leg)in the champions league that they deployed yesterday. Over-all united had more hunger and desire to win which was evident in the manner players like the crafty ‘man of the match’ Giggs,tireless Park’s guile and mobility to go for every ball, Valencia’s pace,good technique and delivery of the ball gave Chelsea a torrid time keeping them at bay.In fairness the result was rarely in doubt, as it would have been great injustice for such a game that was played in high tempo to have ended in a draw.There is no way you will come to old Trafford and put up such a performance and expect to win the title.
United fans went into delirium and frenzy at the end of the game and the display of club banners and logos underscored the significance of the victory.It was a nice spectacle seeing Sir Alex Ferguson giving Ancelloti a hug, and a lap of honour to the fans.The rendition of united’s anthem “Glory Man United and the reds go marching on!!!’’ after the game has an undertone that even their bitterest rivals ‘Liverpool’ cannot stop united from eclipsing them at 18 and setting a record 19th league title.

WELL DONE SOUTH AFRICA

When South Africa in April 2004, won the right to host the FIFA World cup; the whole continent was delirious with joy considering that it is the first time the tournament will be coming to Africa. With how they narrowly lost hosting the event in 2006 to Germany, nobody questioned their eligibility of being crowned hosts in 2010.
The western media was awash with factors that would have militated against South Africa from being a worthy host. Attention was drawn to the high level of insecurity in the country and also that the nation might not be ready in time to host the world. Thereafter calls were made to FIFA to have a plan B in case South Africa couldn’t meet up with the demands of hosting the world cup. Even Germany were purported to have been on stand by. But FIFA stuck to their guns and supported South Africa all the way making sure that every thing was in place.
South Africa did not only face criticism outside the country but also within the nation. With some questioning the wisdom in investing 33billion rand (4.28billion dollars) just for hosting the world cup while such funds can be diverted into building houses for the masses, closing the gap between the rich and the poor, providing jobs etc. they saw it as a waste of resources but south Africa president Jacob Zuma in order to quell the fears, said the world cup was financially rewarding.
Certainly South Africa will definitely not feel the impact of the world cup until years after. The world cup has greatly enhanced its perception outside its shores and also tremendously improved their economy. Many infrastructures have been put in place; they now have vastly improved airports and good road network. The improvements are irreversible. They did very well in organising the tournament, that they set a very tough precedent for any African nation that might have the intention of emulating them.
Only two African nations can think of hosting the world cup based on their past experience and successful hosting of past FIFA youth championships. These two nations are Egypt and Nigeria. Starting with Egypt, they successfully hosted the FIFA u-20 world cup in 2009 but the u-20 championship is entirely a different ball game from the world cup. Besides the weather factor is a major issue. In June -July that the tournament is staged by FIFA is winter in North Africa. This will no doubt be inimical to staging a hitch free tournament in that zone.
NIGERIA
This is a country with great potentials of hosting the event, but issues of corruption; underdevelopment is a clog in the wheels of the nation. They successfully hosted the U-20 world cup in 1999 and U-17 in 2009 but not without little problems that could have been avoided. Majority of the problems witnessed in these two nations are lack of housing, good portable water, urban transport with good transport links, telecommunications etc.
South Africa did a very good job as hosts despite initial fears to the contrary. They were not perturbed even when critics predicted that fans would be deterred by high travel costs and high crime rate in the country. At least they can now look back with nostalgia and be proud of themselves for staging one of the most successful world cup tournaments in history.
The international Olympic committee president Jacques Rogge even praised them for successfully hosting the world cup. No wonder they have already tabled their bid to host the 2020 Olympics. Who can bet against them? For now other African countries can only applaud and support South Africa all the way because it seems the only African country that can compete against them in staging world events is South Africa themselves.

BAD ADMINSTRATORS, BAD FOOTBALL

There have been so much hue and cries about the state of Nigerian football by fans in the country that follow the game. Complaints have poured in from all quarters lamenting how the game is being run in the country and instead of improving its lots, rather it is still plunging into the murky waters of under-development.
The buck was squarely passed on the door step of football administrators, whom many see as recycled politicians; who have come to the football house to drain up the treasury of the Nigerian football federation(NFF),like every other political office. The quartet of Alhaji Sani Lulu (the president) Amanze Uchegbulam (first vice president) secretary general Bolaji Ojo-Oba, and head of the technical committee, Taiwo Ogunjobi, who for the past five years were the principal officers of the football federation together with their cohorts on the administrative board left our football in tatters.
Their Ills
When they came on board after the Ibrahim Galadima board was ousted out in 2005 for not qualifying the country for Germany 2006 world cup; many thought that finally our football will get a face –lift. Not knowing that they will be worse than their predecessors. They committed so many atrocities, siphoned money with reckless abandon and were junketing abroad with impurity.
The just concluded world cup in South Africa was the final straw that broke the camel’s back. It unearthed a can of worms and rot that has been going on in that glass house. Normally FIFA gives every nation that qualifies for the tournament $8million (N 1.4 billion) Just for qualification not mentioning the yearly subventions that FIFA remits into the account of NFF. The presidency meaning well for its nation equally gave the NFF N 900m to prosecute the world cup so that there won’t be any hitches whatsoever. Now all these came about, just few weeks to the world cup. During qualification and preparation for the world cup. The then President Late Umaru musa Yar’Adua set up a presidential Task force of twelve men comprising of ex internationals and administrators which was chaired by the governor of Rivers state, Rotimi Amaechi to help the NFF in securing qualification for the nation, when it was becoming apparent that Nigeria was losing out to Tunisia in its quest to qualify for the first FIFA world cup held in Africa. Of course a lot of dollars changed hands and miraculously we qualified.
Now in the preparation proper, The NFF typical of the proverbial leopard never changing its spots went and paid for a below par hotel for the Super Eagles. The hotel as we learnt was owned by a Nigerian and it came at a very cheap rate for the NFF who were not willing to spend any other extra money on accommodation, because FIFA gives each Federation about $60(per day) on each player; and out of greed, decided to save their money to the detriment of the players not putting into consideration: the insecurity of the place, its proximity to the stadium and undermining the fact that the place is mosquito-infested. As at the time each team booked hotels and signed contracts ,Nigeria out of the thirty two countries was the least on the Food chain of countries with good accommodation with England on top; spending over a $1000 a night per players. It took the intervention of the sports minister Alhaji Isa Bio to look for an alternative hotel for team, first he had to pay a fine for terminating the contract they signed with the previous hotel. The government lost about 18m in the scam. The government did its best to give the country a fair outing amongst other nations.
Three months to the world cup coach Amodu Shuiabu was fired and given a wide berth despite qualifying the country for the world cup and steering the nation to third place at the Africa cup of nations in Angola. In his stead former Sweden coach Lars Lagerback who couldn’t qualify his country for the world cup was hired. What he earned in one year as coach of Sweden he earned in a month in Nigeria. Of course every coach would jump at the offer of leading a nation to the world cup and he embraced it with both hands.
In south Africa, the Nigerian camp was a Mecca of some sorts. The number of officials and football administrators were ten times the number of players, the NFF in bid to get re-elected into office ferried all the state chairmen to the rainbow nation to watch the mundial. The contingent that the NFF went to South Africa with was over 400 people. They went on a shopping spree and gallivanting with tax payer’s money. Little wonder the abysmal performance of the super eagles players in the tournament.
There were a lot of distractions coming from this men that it was obvious that the super eagles would fail. not all the officials in Ghana football administration was in south Africa, even the sports minister was given a directive by their president Ata mills not to go because his office is in Ghana and not in south Africa . But it was not so with Nigeria, even the lowest person on the board of administrators was in south Africa. no wonder we failed woefully and had one of our worst performances ever at the FIFA world cup
The NFF board is known for using money to induce players to play for their country. How can you promise a player $30,000 to win a match that will guarantee a team’s passage into the next round? Why did they relegate the local league to the background and treat the local players and coaches with disdain? While the world cup was going on, the local league was on here in Nigeria and no official was around to pilot the affairs of the league. They were all away in South Africa, there by giving teams the leverage to manipulate results. If the super eagles had been competitive enough and players jostle to wear the green white green jersey, Yakubu Aiyegbeni would not have missed that sitter against South Korea at the world cup which my grandmother who is 71 years old would have scored with panache. The players don’t play with zeal and are not eager to give their all for the nation or how would you describe the moment of madness from Sani Kaita against Greece.
What the NFF is after is money, money and money. They look for any little opportunity to siphon money. Since last year, $236,000 got missing in the glass house and no body could account for it. They are trying to make us believe that the money grew wings and flew off the window. The past board committed many heinous things ;there were allegations by the duo of Sven Goran Errikson and Glen Hoddle both former England coaches that they couldn’t land the Nigerian job because they blatantly refused to inflate their wages demand in order to gratify some of the officials of the panel that interviewed them if they got the job.
Weighing it the other way round this might be true because how can you employ someone from another country? in your country to do a job for you in a particular country and upon completion the person did not come back to the country you employed him in, to give you an account but chooses to go to his nation to give you a report?
Lars Lagerback was paid a whopping sum of $250,000 monthly for five months in full with all benefits after he completely brain washed the ineptitude panel that interviewed him; of being in possession of a complete dossier of over 60 Nigerian players abroad (yet he struggled to arrive at twenty three).nobody queried him on his teams performance it is possible that the deal that brought him in as a coach is not so clean considering the revelations of Eriksson and Hoddle.


RECOMMENDATIONS
It is a good thing that our football is going through some sanitation right now. The impeachment of Sani lulu and his board is the right step in the right direction. But the people that have picked the forms so far are still same of the same. People like the interim president Alhaji Maigari, Oyuki Obaseki past chairman of the Nigeria football league who have done little to improve our league can’t better the lot of our football. We need technocrats people who have the administrative acumen to run our football, not people that will service their pocket.
We should have less dependency on foreign players and give the home based players a run in the super eagles.
We should equally give our local coaches the chance to coach the super eagles and not thinking that expatriates are superior to our coaches. They should equally be sent on refresher courses in order to compete favourably with their foreign counterparts.
The football administration should invest money in youth and academies and stop using over aged players to prosecute the youth tournament. The championship is not a win at all cost syndrome but a developmental programme that would produce the next generation of stars. We should take a clue from Ghana and Germany that their investment in youth football paid off at the FIFA World cups.

QUE SERA SERA

The most speculated transfer in this shopping window is without doubt that of Francesc Fabregas from Arsenal to Barcelona. With reports that Arsenal have already rejected two official bids and will only start talking when an offer of 50 million pounds is made for their prized asset.

Even the player himself has verbally requested from his manager Arsene wenger that he be allowed to rejoin his boyhood club. It is no secret that arsenal invests a lot in youth and nurture them into stars who will in turn accrue money to the offers of the clubs via transfers.

The issue of this transfer has lingered for so long and it is equally towing the path of previous stars that have left the club to other places. For instance one time captain of Arsenal and France “Patrick vieira” during his days at the club was constantly linked with a move to Spanish giants Real Madrid but he came out and rebuffed the claims, committing his future to the club. As they say the only thing that is constant in life is change, he went on and signed for Juventus FC. The other celebrated speculation was that of Thierry Henry. It was no secret, of his agent’s romance with Barcelona. When Henry played his final game at Highbury the former home of arsenal and kissed the turf after he scored a goal, many read different meanings to it. Some believed he was saying his final goodbye to the club, others believed he was bidding the ground that he flourished in farewell; with the player reiterating the latter. Although he went on to lead Arsenal into their new stadium for a season, he went ahead and signed for Barcelona when his patience of winning the champions league ran out.

The other player that drew the ire of the fans with speculation about his transfer is Emmanuel Adebayor, the fans were booing him even while playing at home for his club and he eventually joined money bag Manchester city.

The new Barcelona president has promised to bring back the player to the club where he started his playing career. He even wanted to talk to Arsene Wenger in South Africa but met a firm rebuttal. With Arsenal tagging Barcelona’s overtures of the player as immodest. Two top Barcelona players captain Carles Puyol and Xavi Hernandez believes that come what may Fabregas will be a Barcelona player. Even if the Spanish champions have to wait another twelve months to seal the deal Xavi believes they are merely delaying the deal. With the utterances of these guys and the photo incident where they forced a Barcelona jersey on the player, there is definitely no smoke without fire. These players spent over six weeks together prior to their winning the world cup, they definitely will have impacted a lot in the senses of the player about the fantasies of playing in Camp Nou. No wonder he is non committal about still remaining at Arsenal.

If he gets the desired move to Barcelona, one thing is certain that he will meet a very stiff competition there. Unlike in Arsenal where he is assured of a starting shirt. The world cup should have been an eye opener for the player. If he was sitting on the bench for Andres iniesta, xavi Hernandez, Sergio busquet; there is no way he will break into the team in Barcelona. Is it not better to be a goldfish in a “perceived” small pond? Than to be amongst a galaxy of stars and not shine?