How good are our national team players?

Less than two months ago, Arsenal’s manager, Arsene Wenger, in one of his delusional moments, said that his present squad was the best in his 13 years stewardship of the team. One British columnist took him to task, contending that in his current team only Bacary Sagna, Cesc Fabregas and Robin van Persie would find a place in the “Invincible” team of the 2003/2004 season.

Putting matters in perspective is very important as it is a reality check. Most Nigerians want the Super Eagles to perform wonders at South Africa 2010 and are deluding themselves that a renowned coach would make the dream come true. Have they asked if we have the players to actualise the dream?

Who is better?

After the 2-2 draw between the Super Eagles and the Carthage Eagles in Abuja, two of my friends engaged in this e-mail dialogue.

Jobson: “Time to ignore second best and focus on a national issue. Some people are sad about Nigeria missing out of the World Cup fiesta in South Africa 2010, and they are putting the blame somewhere. In my opinion, I don’t think we deserve to be at the World Cup for the simple reason that we don’t have the players. I know a lot of you will disagree but read below and draw up the conclusion yourself.

“How many of our Papa Eagles players play in Champions League? Few – Mikel, Taiye Taiwo and Ayinla. How many of our players are among the ‘big four’ in any big European league? England: Mikel; Spain: none; Italy: none; France: Taiwo; Germany: Martins. Name the best five African players in any of these Leagues? You may not find any Nigerian there.

“Now you may argue that teams like Egypt, Tunisia, etc., don’t have players playing abroad, yet they are good. The answer is simple. How good is our League? I leave you to conclude on that. How many of our local clubs are strong in the continent of Africa? Maybe Enyimba of four years ago. Now where lies our strength? Our local league or foreign leagues? The answer is none. So, for a country of 150 million people without a good league or good players playing abroad, I don’t think we deserve to represent Africa. Remember our USA 1994 squad – the players were among the best in Africa. Please we should not blame ourselves; we don’t have good enough players.’”

Adeola replied: “I don’t think I’ll agree with you on the issue of our players having to play in top teams in Europe because apart from Cote d’Ivoire, how many African footballers play in the top clubs in Europe.

“I think good talent, exposure, excellent tactics and a slight element of luck will do any African country good to play alongside the big footballing countries. I think Nigerian football is being destroyed with a lot of corrupt people and that’s why we are having the huge decline in the sector. Also, we can see clearly that the boys in our team aren’t committed to the country’s cause, thus the lackluster display.”

Not an exceptional bunch

I did enjoy their correspondence. My take is that we should come down from our Olympian heights and evaluate the abilities of the players we have. While our case is not as bad as that of South Africa and Greece, our present crop of players are not top notch.

The 1994 squad included Peter Rufai, Austin Eguavoen, Ben Iroha, Stephen Keshi, Uche Okechukwu, Chidi Nwanu, Finidi George, Thompson Oliha, Rashidi Yekini, Austin Okocha, Emmanuel Amuneke and Samson Siasia. Others were Emeka Ezeugo, Daniel Amokachi, Sunday Oliseh, Victor Ikpeba, Alloy Agu, Efan Ekoku, Mike Emenalor, Uche Okafor, Mutiu Adepoju, and Wilfred Agbonavbare.

And the 2010 squad will be drawn from the list of John Obi Mikel, Chinedu Obasi, Olubayo Adefemi, Yusuf Mohammed, Chidi Odiah, Ikechukwu Uche, Taye Taiwo, Elderson Echiejile, Onyekachi Apam, Obinna Nwaneri, Ayodele Adeleye, Danny Shittu, Joseph Yobo, Vincent Enyeama, Bamidele Aiyenugba and Greg Etafia.

The others are Dickson Etuhu, Kalu Uche, Seyi Olofinjana, Yusuf Ayinla, Olufemi Ajilore, Sani Kaita, Osaze Odemwingie, Nwankwo Kanu, Joseph Akpala, Michael Eneramo, Aiyegbeni Yakubu, Obafemi Martins and Obinna Nsofor.

That’s the team we will present to the world next June. To hear it from some Nigerians (especially the Senate committee on sports), you may think that our ranks are populated with past and present winners of Ballon d’Or, World footballer of the year and African footballer of the year (even if it’s the discredited version by CAF). Pray, in which position would the class of 2010 hold a candle to the class of 1994? None.

Last week, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) announced its shortlist for the 2009 African Footballer of the Year Award. The five are Chelsea’s Didier Drogba, Barcelona’s Yahya Toure (Cote d’Ivoire), T.P. Mazembe’s Tresor Mputu Mabi, (Congo D.R), Chelsea’s Michael Essien (Ghana) and Inter’s Samuel Eto‘o Fils (Cameroun).

Like last year, no Nigerian was on the shortlist. The awards give a fair idea about the performance of players. And the last time a Nigerian won the BBC award was in 2004, and it was Okocha. The point being made is that we don’t have an A-list of players to carry our banner at the mundial and that fact should serve as a reality check in our expectations for next year.

It boils down to the problem of sports administration, which has failed to address the declining state of sports in general and football in particular. Which team in the local league has a good feeder team? Lionel Messi is being feted as winner of the 2009 Ballon d’Or but Nigerians should know that he was taken to Barcelona at 13.

We fail to address the basics and think that prayer is the solution. Are other countries peopled by atheists? The football authorities use men for age players; yet they talk about youth development. Once again, how many of our U-17 players came from secondary schools or football academies? Has the Nigerian Football Federation got anything against football academies?