Eyes heavy pleading to sleep, my precious bed calling, glued to my television set, I was forming. The night was silent and cold, without power, I tried to be bold, to behold our flying eagles conquer the world.
Fast forward, 10 days after, the Nigerian dream of winning the elusive FIFA U20 world cup was thwarted by a more resilient and tactically gifted German side, it was a national mortification.
I saw Kelechi Iheanacho shake his head in disbelief, Moses Simon close his face in astonishment, Musa Yahaya looked on helplessly as the star trio imagined what a nightmare tourney they just had.
Nigeria came into this competition with probably the best assemblage of young talents the country has ever seen, so what went wrong for Manu Garba and his wards?
-Poor Team Management Skills
After winning the FIFA U17 world cup in 2013, the world took note of the Nigerian contingent to the showpiece with standout performers like Kelechi Iheanacho, Chidiebere Nwakakli, Musa Yahaya and Wilfred Ndidi all securing lucrative deals outside the country.
Due to club engagements and injury, these players missed out on the CAF U20 triumph. Coming into the tournament proper, Manu Garba was unable to find a blend between the local lads and the foreign pro’s.
-Too Many Individual Players
Looking at the Nigerian youth side, one could see too many stars who failed to blend into a team. The locally based boys trying hard to impress so as to secure offers from abroad while the foreign ones, probably struggling for a bigger club.
The team failed to sparkle against Brazil in their first game which prompted the gaffer to drop most of the established stars. Consequently, they were snubbed by the manager who preferred his humble loyalist.
-Quest for Personal Glory
As it is the tradition with most Nigerian coaches, personal ego comes before national honour. A typical example was Samson Siasia who dropped Vincent Enyeama during Nigeria’s make or mar 2012 AFCON qualifier against Madagascar and Tunisia, we all recall the outcome, also the Big Boss, Stephen Keshi, who decided to shut out Nigeria’s best legs just to prove he’s the superior.
Manu Garba evidently didn’t learn from his senior colleagues as he journeyed towards the path of destruction. The 49 year old tactician wanted to stamp his authority on the team by benching the ‘super stars’. He was also in the hunt for new stars which boomeranged.
-Poor Transition
One of the major problem with our football in Nigeria is our inability to transit from one level to another. Apart from the Kanu Nwankwo led golden eaglets team of Japan 1993, the other lads has failed to climb up the ladder.
This team had prospects, touted as the best young Eagles Nigeria has ever seen, but this might probably be the end of this fine generation.
-Tactical Blunders
Nigeria’s early exit from the FIFA U20 World Cup could be attributed to the poor or rather inadequate technical know-how from the Nigerian bench. The team was structured to play one particular system and when the opposition countered it, the coaches looked clueless and absent.
Fault tolerant mechanism wasn’t adopted in case the primary system fails. Against a German team that was taller and stronger, long balls was continuously used. And when the coach needed a goal, an attacking midfielder in Kingsley Sokari was substituted for a defensive midfielder in Chiedibere Nwakali, who does that?
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