Nigeria has again, lost a great opportunity to parade future Super Eagles stars at the just concluded 2017 CAF Under-20 tournament in Lusaka, where as the host nation, Zambia, put up a superlative showing to win the event for the first time, after subduing Senegal 2-0 in the finals.
The Junior Chipolopolo thus became the second Southern African nation, after Angola (winners in 2001), to win the event. As successful hosts, they are the fourth side to achieve the feat of winning as hosts, after Morocco (1997), Ghana (1999) and Congo (2007).
According to former Nigerian international, Ademola Adesina, and former Flying Eagles striker, Monday Odiaka, it may take Nigeria a long time to regroup the quality players who failed to pick the Under-20 Nations’ Cup ticket.
Some of the players, who lost to a less-fancied Sudan in the qualifiers in front of teeming Lagos fans, are still regretting how they failed their country when the chips were down.
According to Adesina, missing out of the tournament has cost Nigeria a generation of a new national team. “It is unfortunate that Nigeria did not feature in the CAF Under-20 tournament. I was not impressed that we have yet to find a way to salvage the situation.
I followed the tournament from the beginning to the end, and I saw the way the Zambians played. They really deserved to win the competition. They prepared well for it. The competition was well organised.
The Zambians have the history of producing youthful players and I would not be surprised to see most of the players who featured in the event in their senior team,” Adesina said.
The Junior Chipolopolo started their campaign on a sound note when they destroyed the might of Egypt 3-1 in their first match, before sending out South Africa 1-0 in the semi-final.
Sudan, who edged Nigeria out in the qualifiers, fumbled in the tournament as they crashed out in the first game 1-3 to South Africa. Adesina believed that Nigeria would have made good impact, if the national Under-20 team had played in the tournament.
“Coach Emmanuel Amuneke’s team was adjudged one of the best teams ever, but they lacked discipline. The boys were agitating for allowances on match day against Sudan. The camp was in disarray.
The officials also encouraged them, because they knew that the fall out would affect them positively, but at the end, it was a sorry situation for Nigeria, the boys could not complete their mission and to worsen the case, the Under-17 team also crashed out in the qualifiers, as Nigeria totally missed out in the CAF and FIFA developmental tournaments.
It is a bad case for Nigerian football,” he said. Adesina recalled that the tournament had produced the best players for Nigeria in the past, amongst who were: Andrew Uwe, Ali Jeje, Samson Siasia, Monday Odiaka, Alloy Agu, Kingsley Onye, Waidi Akanni, Michael Dominic, Christopher Ohenhen, Oladimeji Lawal, Jimoh Balogun, Nduka Ugbade, Oladunni Oyekale and Mutiu Adepoju.
The recent stars are those who played in the Netherlands 2005 FIFA Under-20 World champion ship with John Mikel Obi, Taye Taiwo, Chinedu Ogbuke Obasi, Daniel Akpeyi, Ayodele Adeleye and John Owoeri.
“All the players that we are celebrating today did not fall from the moon. They all emerged from the under-aged tournaments. Nigeria’s focus should be more on developmental programmes. We need to replace tired legs in the national team.
We need to develop more players to make the job easier for the national coach. Super Eagles Technical Adviser, Gernot Rohr, did not see much of the Amuneke players, who graduated from the last FIFA Under-17 World Cup in Chile; that was why he prefers to scout for players by himself.
He has been speaking to some Nigerian players already donning the national colours of other countries to play for their fatherland. We are not encouraging local players in our team,” he told The Point.
He said the tournament would have been a good platform to for the players to display their potentials and get better deals in Europe or other parts of the world. “The essence of this tournament is to encourage Africa’s up-coming players to play their hearts out and move to a good club that will further make them better technically,” he added.
While hammering the present Nigeria Football federation board, Odiaka the board lacks vision and commitment, adding that it contributed to the dwindling fortunes of the national team.
“In our days, we did not experience this. The football authorities made things easier for us and for themselves. We were not playing for money, and we never fought over unpaid allowances. We were just determined to make the best of our appearances.
Our allowances were always paid as at/and when due. We had better understanding with the officials and there was no problem. But these days, it is a new twist of event. We heard so many different stories,” Odiaka said.
One of the revelations of Moscow 1985 FIFA World Youth tournament, Odiaka said he was shocked to see Nigeria’s Under-17 and Under-20 national teams crashing out at the same time, describing the development as total negligence on the part of the football authorities.
“It is not a laughing matter at all. We need to wake up and get things right. We should stop chasing shadows. The future of Nigerian football lies in the development of her youths. It is not about winning trophies. It is all about developing the potentials of our stars, “he said. Zambia, Senegal, Guinea and South Africa are to fly Africa’s flag at the FIFA Under-20 World Cup in Korea Republic from May 20 to June 11.
