By Harry Awurumibe, Editor, Abuja Bureau
It is no longer news that Nigeria’s Flying Eagles have crashed out of the ongoing 2023 African Games in Accra, Ghana after the Ladan Bosso tutored team was beaten 3-2 by 10-man Senegalese U-20 squad in the final group match played Friday night at Accra Sports Stadium.
By this 3-2 loss coupled with their previous 2-1 defeat to Uganda in their opener, it meant Nigeria finished third in the group behind Uganda and Senegal, with South Sudan coming fourth thus was knocked out of the men’s football event of the 2023 edition of the African Games having won just one of their three group matches in Ghana.
Although reports said that the Flying Eagles took an early lead in the second minute through Charles Agada but Idrissa Traore, however, equalised for Senegal in the 21st minute when his low shot beat the Nigerian goalkeeper on the encounter.
Chibuzor Izuogu put Nigeria back into the game when he equalised to make it 2-2 through a brilliant free kick. Again, Pape Diouf converted from the spot for the winning goal to send Senegal to the semi finals while Nigeria crashed out of the competition.
Recall the Flying Eagles won Silver medal at the last African Games in Rabat, Morocco, in 2019 after a 2-0 loss to Burkina Faso in the final.
Speaking after the ill-fated match, Bosso said he was disappointed at the result and blamed poor preparation for the performance.
“I’m disappointed because this game was the best we have played so far in this tournament.
”I didn’t have enough time to scout for players and what I did was to watch a few games in Uyo and other places .That’s where I saw the two Enyimba players, Daga and Chibueze,” Bosso said.
But to many Nigerian football followers Bosso’s excuses of poor preparations for the performance of the Flying Eagles may not hold any water as Nigeria is blessed with huge reservoir of talented players plying their trade in the amateur and professional football leagues in Nigeria.
He may have indicted himself by saying he did not have enough time to scout for players and what he did was “to watch a few games in Uyo and other places where I saw the two Enyimba players, Daga and Chibueze”.
The question is why did he wait until the African Games to begin scouting for players for the U-20 team even as he was aware that the lot will fell on him to take charge of the Flying Eagles being the last coach to manage the team to the last 2023 FIFA U-20 World Cup final in Indonesia and 2023 U-20 AFCON final in Egypt where Nigeria won Bronze medal exactly a year ago with Bosso as the head coach.
Bosso’s Flying Eagles however crashed out of the 2023 FIFA U-20 World Cup final in Indonesia at the quarter-final stage in June, so it was not a totally a bad idea for the NFF technical department to recommend him to take the Flying Eagles to African Games in Ghana.
However, the lessons to learn from the poor performance of the Flying Eagles under Bosso in African Games in Ghana are for the NFF to avoid the temptation of appointing head coaches for the national teams based on sentiments even as Bosso has been given more than enough opportunities to coach the national teams dating back to 2007 when he was appointed as Flying Eagles head coach.
Curiously, he has failed to cross the finish line with the Flying Eagles in major competitions, a team which is the most successful U-20 national team in African history and second most successful, men and women’s football team
after Super Falcons with 11 overall African titles.
The Flying Eagles team boasts an unmatched trophy cabinet that houses seven continental titles, two silver, and three bronze AFCON medals but since the return of Bosso four years ago in September 2020, after he was initially dismissed in 2009 following a third-place finish by the Flying Eagles at the 2009 African Youth Championship and Samson Siasia was appointed as his replacement, Flying Eagles have not been flying higher not to talk of highest both in Africa and global competitions.
The rot is not only noticeable in Flying Eagles but in the 11 national teams under NFF namely Super Eagles, Flying Eagles, Golden Eaglets, U-23 Olympic team, Home-based Eagles, Beach Soccer team, Fustal team, Super Falcons, Falconets and Flamingos respectively.
A situation where a coach who has failed multiple times to succeed with the assignments given to him but will be chosen over and above more qualified, knowledgeable coach with powerful aura and driven by a deep understanding of their goals and aspirations should not be tolerated going forward.
The ongoing search for a new head coach of the senior men’s national team of Nigeria, Super Eagles has presented the ample opportunity for the NFF to run away from appointing national teams coaches based on primordial sentiments at a time a large number of 230 million Nigerians who own the Super Eagles want to see a Nigerian lead the team.
The decisions of both the NFF Technical and Development Committee saddled with the responsibility to recommend the most qualifed Nigeria-born coach from the list of applicants who submitted their applications and the NFF Executive Committee which will endorse the choice of the Selection Committee should not be based on subjective reasoning rather on objective deductions.
It goes without saying that there are some people whom luck follows in all their endeavours and whatever they touched automatically turns to gold. They include coaches who have won laurels for Nigeria with the Golden Eaglets, Flying Eagles and U-23 Olympic Eagles at youth AFCON, FIFA World Cup finals and Olympic Games.
These are the people the NFF should consider and they are among the coaches who applied for the vacant post of Super Eagles head coach.
In fact, this phrase borrowed from William Shakespeare’s epic novel
‘Julius Caesar’, which said: “There is a tide in the affairs of men. Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune”, is apt in the present circumstances the NFF found itself.
It means that there are times in life when opportunities present themselves that can lead to great success, but if these opportunities are not taken, they may be lost forever.
Interestingly, Nigeria’s West African neighbours Ghana has just joined Senegal, Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire and Egypt Football Associations in reappointing or appointing indigenous coaches to lead their national teams.
Nigeria can do better, citizens are waiting.
