Marching with Golden Eaglets

Marching with Golden Eaglets

“A mind that is stretched by a new experience can never go back to its old dimensions.”-Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.

L-R: Olarinoye, Garba, Amuneke, Ugbade, Amadi and Oyegunna

First, my apology for taking a French leave on this page as it were but this was actually due to ‘circumstances beyond my control.’ Too many things actually contrived against me and in the milieu, I suffered what is generally termed as the writer’s block in spite of the fact that many things were happening in quick succession.

Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900), German Philosopher was quoted as saying that ‘the strongest have their moments of fatigue’ and I was left thinking aloud like Laine Moriarty: ‘I'm so tired of trying and trying and trying. I don't have anything left. I'm done. I would like to go to sleep for a year or two.’

Where would I get or who would grant me such luxury? So, it’s good to be back at a time when so many things are happening on the horizon with some bothering on the very foundation of Nigerian sports. Yet, nothing catches my fancy as much as the experience garnered over my recent working visit to the camp of the national Under-17 team where players that would make up the Golden Eaglets for the upcoming African U-17 Youth Championship to be hosted by Morocco in 2013 were screened. 

When I was appointed by the Nigeria Football Federation(NFF) as the media officer of the team last year, I knew that this was not going to be a piece of the cake knowing the criticisms and controversies  that had trailed past experiences particularly over the vexed issue of age cheating in age-grade competitions. I was not deluded that this was going to be a simple exercise given my own past condemnation of the win-at-all cost syndrome which had pushed many coaches to pick players who had past their prime in previous exercise. A friend actually reminded me about my scathing remarks (Eaglets won...and so what?) when Nigeria won the FIFA Under-17 World Cup for the third time in 2007; adding ‘we wait to see how you’re going to handle this dilemma.’

Recall that we have repeatedly said here that the U-17 World Cup was just a means to an end but not an end itself. The tournament was designed by the world soccer governing body, FIFA, so that countries could discover new talents for their respective national teams but that point has been sorely missed so much so that all kinds of tricks were being used to ‘acquire’ success. Regrettably, Nigeria and her West African counterparts, Ghana, have won five U-17 World Championship but one begins to wonder why both countries have not won the real thing –d in his usual soft-spoken style. “God would not forgive us if we pick players based on factors other than what they are capable of doing on the pitch.”

On the pitch, there was plenty to talk about with Coach Nduka Ugbade (MON) leading the team out on a regular basis. The session was fun-filled for the youngsters with the coaches spicing things up with the Spanish, Italian and German languages to show the cosmopolitan set up of the Golden Eaglets. In fact, the most common expression within the rank and file of the Golden Eaglets today is: ‘Use the line.’ This was actually coined by Coach Emmanuel Amuneke (MON) and despite his no-nonsense attitude, he was truly liked by many youngsters who were inspired by his own rag-to-riches story.

“The truth is that it is not every one of you that would make it by being part of this Golden Eaglets,” Amuneke said with a measure of sincerity. “I did not play for the National Under-17 team yet I eventually played for the Super Eagles. So it is not the end of the world if you fail to make it at this level. You can still make it to the top even if you don’t this time around.”

Despite the seriousness of the job at hand, there is so much camaraderie within the team and this became so evident when the team’s coordinator, Abubakar Suleiman broke his shoulder during a practice session with his colleagues at All Stars FC of Abuja. The grief that enveloped the camp that night was palpable which reinforces the belief that there must be a unity of purpose for any enterprise to bode well.

 Lest I forget, there is this unique chemistry between the ‘godfather' and the ‘godson’- Coach Emeka Amadi and Physiotherapist, Gabriel Oyegunna. Amadi’s genial personae usually spice things up.

How can I forget the untiring efforts of our super secretary-Tayo Egbaiyelo of the NFF. He brings an uncommon devotion to the job telling everyone: ‘We are condemned to succeed.’ Ditto for Dr. Ayodeji Olarinoye who ensured that we all stayed healthy throughout the rigorous exercise. My tag-team in camp ironically, is the equipment’s manager; Mohammed Kafa-he was always pulling me aside asking: ‘Oga Moraks, do you think we have a team? What do you think of that player? Are you impressed with what the coaches are doing?’  

I’m equally impressed with the way so many former Nigerian internationals have rallied behind the team with solidarity visits. From the Big Boss, Stephen Keshi to former Golden Eaglets’ star, Peter Ogaba, the tenor of the message was the same: ‘You guys have what it takes to succeed on this job.’

 “I must confess to you that I really like the combination of coaches for the Golden Eaglets because they all played football locally and at the international level,” Keshi said at a breakfast meeting. “The Under-17 level is the foundation for the national team and having this crop of coaches here means that our young players would be exposed to many things at this level.”

These same sentiments were stressed by Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, the supervising Sports Minister and National Sports Commission (NSC) Chairman, when he paid an unscheduled visit during one of the team’s training sessions.

He lamented the decadent past urging the coaches to do the right thing and that he would be there all the way to support the team all the way: “I was worried about what used to be the case in the past when we said we were assembling players for Under-17 only to find players who are over-aged in the team.

“The reason for coming is to see things for myself because there is nothing big in Nigeria winning the Under-17 World Cup tournament again. Our emphasis now should be on development and rebuilding our football and I’m going to support this team.”

 Despite initial misgivings, the screening exercise was a resounding success and I belief it would serve as foundation for greater things to come for the Golden Eaglets and Nigerian football in general. More later.