The other side of Nigeria 2009

All we have heard and read about the Under-17 World Cup so far is bad preparation, mismanagement of funds, embezzlement, corruption and so on. This time around, I want to take the good out of the tournament, and you have to be very passionate about the sport to understand where I am coming from. From a fan's perspective, I have enjoyed watching and visiting stadiums.

I love to visit stadiums and it's the love of football and stadiums that has taken me to three of the host states in six days since the U-17 championships started.

For now, I will be comparing stadiums on a scale of preference from bottom to top. Abuja, Calabar and Lagos.

Rain, rain go away

The rains have been very vicious during this tournament and for every match that I have been to see, it had rained quite heavily. On the opening match between Honduras and Argentina, it rained heavily at the Abuja National Stadium, causing the kick-off of the second match between Nigeria and Germany to be postponed by 30 minutes. The pitch was waterlogged and I did wonder why the match was allowed to continue.

Well that's what the players are paid for, come rain, come shine, the job must be done.

The Abuja fans were quite disappointing. Out of 60,000 seats, there were just 21,300 supporters. Number one absentee was the F.C.T minister. As if that was not bad enough, they seemed very nonchalant and kept booing the boys. In fact, some fans had started leaving the stadium at 2-0 down. I thought that was very unfair, these are teenagers who are trying to build a career and they need all the encouragement they can get.

Thank God they showed a lot of character by coming back from 3-0 down and forcing a draw against a very organized German side that were completely in control of the midfield. Just maybe they will successfully defend their title.

Calabar experience

It was my first time in Calabar on Wednesday and I love the city. Two words to describe it - clean and green.

The stadium is quite small though compared to Abuja and Lagos. It was very well organized even though something happened that shocked me. It started to rain heavily in the second half and the referee had to stop the match for about an hour. Lo and behold, the spectators from the uncovered section of the stadium started running through the tracks to the covered seats close to the VIP section. What if a crazy fan decided to run into the pitch while the game was going on? There should have been a barrier between both sections. Worst of all, two thirds of the Calabar stadium are uncovered and imagine all those guys running to an already fully covered section. I was genuinely scared because we have seen stadiums collapse for such reasons. Thank God we left there safely.

Centre of excellence

My stadium of the tournament so far is the Teslim Balogun, Lagos state. I love Governor Babatunde Fashola and every time I say that, people think it's only because he is a Manchester United fan but it goes beyond that. Everything about the Teslim Balogun Stadium excited me. The atmosphere was great for the Switzerland-Japan and Brazil-Mexico games. The players gave a really good performance and the Brazil-Mexico match has been my match of the tournament. The fans were impressive through both matches. They never kept quiet for a second. The Swiss players were so impressed with the supporters that they spent another 25 minutes after their 4-3 victory over Japan, showing their appreciation by throwing their jerseys into the crowd. It was also touching to see the Swiss fans raising the Nigerian flag and one of them even wore a green-white-green cap.

Some journalists had their television with them and were following the Nigeria-Honduras game alongside the Brazil-Mexico game. The stadium went wild when news came that Nigeria had scored. Good to know that we have not given up on football, despite the fact that Nigerian football has been disappointing in recent times.

The area boys outside the stadium, who are usually intimidating, surprisingly were friendly and harmless.

Security was top notch. Well done Fashola, and be sure that come 2011, I will be voting for him under different identities.

I am so impressed with what I saw from the youngsters. I saw passion, determination, pace, agility, commitment.

They are a bunch of talented players who are sure to go places. With Iran's performance against Colombia, I have concluded that there are no minnows in football anymore.

Three players that I am certain will make it are Neymar and Zezinho from Brazil and Mexican number 7, Abraham Coronado. There are also a few from the Argentine team but in all they are all a bunch of talented players.