Magical Jay Jay Okocha on the ball
Over the
years, the number of Nigerian footballers in Europe’s top flight has
drastically reduced. Especially with the curtain drawn on the careers of all
the golden generation of the 90s, those who managed to come through the ranks
and appear to be on their way to become their successors have found their shoes
difficult to fill.
They have
continually struggle to maintain their place in their various club sides. Many
now use ‘customized seat belt’ on the reserved benches of even their middle of
the pack teams to borrow OAP Shawn Amadi’s famous phrase, while many more have been
reduced to mere squad players good only as training materials.
Alternatively,
many has either resort to plying their trades in some of Europe’s football
backwaters (not entirely a bad ideas, though, if only for developmental and
transitional purposes) or in the less competitive but lucrative leagues in
Asia.
Okocha juggles the ball
It is worthy
of note that three marquee players presently in the senior national team, the
super eagles now play there. Nigeria’s highest goal scorer during the
qualifying round of matches for next year nations cup Odion Ighalo and the
substantive captain of the team Mikel Obi currently play in China, derogatorily described by a former French coach of Nigeria national team, Philippe ‘the white
witch doctor’ Troussier as a league of effeminate.
Gangling Kanu Nwankwo
It has
become so bad that legions now turn their attention to leagues in other African
nations too for succor. Now the sense you get is it has become a hustle and
urgent which also to borrow the words of Godwin Enakhena who argue time and
again that you are only a ‘power and principality’ to scorn or deny these guys
the right to migrate elsewhere to better their lot for whatever reasons. After
all, what is obtained domestically is no better. Besides, the economy for a
long time now is in a crunch state and both facilities and pay in the league
are intolerably poor and inconsistent and so validates the wisdom of responding
in drove to the lure of greener pasture anywhere crispy wards of dollars is
dangled at them.
Aside
players like Mikel Obi and Taiye Taiwo, who were on the podium alongside Lionel
Messi as the second and third best players at the 2005 under 21 World Cup and
who to some extent ably represented one may argue considering that they both at
the peak of their game played for top teams and won laurels, others have come
short of the glory expected from their careers.
There are
many others especially at the valid global age-grades and other transitional
levels which conceptually are the nurseries for nurturing future talents that
will eventually succeed their mercurial seniors but after showing bright
prospects have failed to live up to expectations.
Kanu at Arsenal
Narrative or
theory of the ‘talents gap’ if you like have continue to gain ground since the
mercurial Austin Jay Jay Okocha and Kanu Nwankwo among others called it a day
with their respectful careers some decade or so ago. No doubt, these are
players who could make you leave whatever it is you are doing to come watch
them played. Same is difficult to say of present crop of players.
This has
prompted a school of thought to theorize that there is a dearth of talents in
the country. They premise their argument on the fact that the word talents
characterize ‘a set of individuals with exceptional innate abilities’. As such
they don’t appear on the stage all the time. Some of the players I mentioned
above belonged in this category and only need a few touches by managers to
thrive. They concluded by saying that talents cannot be hidden for long and
that even with slightest of opportunity will glitter. And since they have not
been found means they don’t exist.
On the other
hand, there are those that believe there is abundance of talents in the country
waiting to be discovered. They cited the inadequacies in the present system as
the stumbling block to discovering them. The process of developmental football
in the country they say has been comprised by unprofessional practises like
cronyism, godfatherism’, undue political interference, age falsification,
pursuit of money against the necessity to grow through the rank and above all
the perceptible unwillingness of the Nigerian players to put in what they described
as ‘ridiculous work ethics’ that could turn an average player into a world
beater. The average Nigerian player they accused of routinely becoming swollen
headed after signing contract worth some million bucks. A sizable number too
can said to be indiscipline. Discipline is an important prerequisite for
talented footballers or professional people if they want to go far in their chosen
careers and this some Nigerian footballers lacked.
As for me, I
believe Nigeria still got talented footballers. What we have achieved so far,
great as it were, is tantamount to scratching the surface of the treasure mine.
However, there is a lot of work for both the players and the administrators if
we are to discover more in the class of the golden generation of the 90s.
What do you
think?
