Nigerian football at crossroads

The least I can say now is that there is confusion in the ‘house’ of Nigerian football.

The last two matches played within a space of a few days, against South Africa and Benin Republic, have thrown the Nigerian Football Federation, custodians of the game in the country, into a state of frenzy.

It is hard for any observer to understand the transformation of the Super Eagles. For almost 10 barren years, with unknown foreign coaches mostly in charge, the Super Eagles grovelled in the dark in search of an answer to her dwindling fortunes in African football.

Five months ago, fortune smiled on the team. At the African Cup of Nations in Cote d’Ivoire, against all odds and with plenty of luck, playing a mostly pressure-laden defensive style of play that ‘killed’ six Nigerians, the team got to the finals before capitulating to the home-team that they had beaten in the first round.

Nigerians were so appreciative of that brief spell of success that brought joy and relief from the hardship of life that the government lavished on the team rewards and awards unheard of in the history of football in the world.

Ironically, the foreign coach was so ‘good’ that Nigeria did not renew his contract. Of course, everything considered, everyone knew Jose Paseiro was not good enough. Yet, in what many people still consider a set-up designed to fail, they settled for his assistant, a Nigerian.

After only two games with Finidi George in charge, the team’s fortunes have plummeted and have set off a chain of reactions that have the strength of a volcano to consume Nigerian football if not handled carefully.

Last Thursday, the Executive Committee of the Nigerian Football Federation, NFF, rose from its emergency meeting, and limped back to its previous