An incredible achievement. Emmanuel Amunike, once a star striker for the Super Eagles who won a gold medal at the Olympics in Atlanta, lead these supremely young talented team to a World Cup victory and thus allowing Nigeria to defend their title two years on. My congrats to all involved, but the work cannot stop here. On one hand, it's about doing it again in two years because I am a greedy bastard and there is no such thing as having enough wins. But for these current crop of players, there needs to be the proper training and development so that they can make up a Super Eagles team that are worth their name.
I don't think it's too much to say that the current Nigerian National team are a joke. Average at best, and a disgrace to the greatness of the peak that occurred in the nineties. Sunday Oliseh has a huge job on his hands, and he's not helped matters by falling out with Enyeama, the captain and leader, thus resulting in him quitting the national team. The players that he has as whole are just not good enough, and they are so much worse individually than their younger counterparts.
It would be a crime and a shame if in the next six to seven years, the Super Eagles don't have a team madeup of these two World Cup winning Under-17 boys, who have been developed properly into a team that can properly challenge for the World Cup at senior level. It's obvious that the talent is there, as well as incredible individual ability. But having eleven talented players is not enough to win a World Cup at the highest level. You need to understand how to win a game as well as the various tactical nuances and details that make a team like Germany, the best team in the world.
Kelechi Iheanacho is already showing what he can do at City, and I am hoping Nwakali and Osimhen of this current crop will move to the right clubs that can help in their development. But it's also up to Mr. Sunday Oliseh to bring these players into the Senior team and gradually get them into his setup, so that there is a good number of these boys in the World Cup at Russia. Because at the end of the day, you can talk about experience from now until the four horsemen of the apocalypse arrive. Ability is ability, and these boys are just better footballers than most of the jokers that I have the unfortunate opportunity of watching play for the Super Eagles. It's just a question of coaching and guiding these youngsters so that they can become among the very best footballers in the world in a decade from now. For that to happen, it comes from the very top. The Nigerian Football Federation has to put in place, a proper structure that does allow and encourage the proper development of these players so that they can be able to compete properly at the senior level. All too often, things are not organized properly, corruption ensues and these talents go to waste as their focus becomes more on money and fame rather than giving everything for the shirt.
The vicious cycle must change...now!
HH
