Sports
Spain Captivates Football World In S’ Africa
How things have changed. Spain, once regarded as the serial chokers of world football, a side so averse to the big time they made the Leeds team of the 1970s look like the most resolute finishers in history, are closing in on the prize with all the lynx-eyed resolve of real champions. They may have started the competition with a defeat, but if they wind it up with a win they will demonstrate the fundamental truth of tournament football: it is those who improve who prosper.
Even as they were losing to Switzerland in that first game, however, there was manifold evidence that this was a team that was not about to fold. Unlike France, Italy and England, you could see the quality even in the defeat. The passes were going to feet, the movement was good, all that was lacking was the finishing touch.
And to a degree, that has been their one problem throughout this World Cup: like a big stage Arsenal, they seem to find it aesthetically demeaning to score a goal without first stringing together at least twenty passes.
Which made the goal they scored in the semi to see off the magnificent Germans even more telling. A thumping header of the least sophisticated sort pointed out that their previous failing was being addressed at precisely the right moment: Puyol’s terrific strike indicated this was a team prepared to do whatever it takes to win, even retreating to route one.
Yet, their goal-shyness will have been noted. Spain have won their last three encounters by the only goal scored in the match. If the Dutch can get an early strike (perhaps hoping for an English referee’s first minute penalty indulgence as they benefited from in 1974) that would enforce the Spaniards to do something they have not managed yet to do in the knock-out phase: score twice. That will be the instruction to Arjen Robben, Robin van Persie and Wesley Sneijder: get in there.
The trouble is, that is easier said than done. It is almost impossible to see how you can score against this Spain side. Sure, Switzerland managed it, but that was against a cold team, barely awake. By the time they had roused themselves they prevented even the Germans, who had run riot in three of their previous games, from finding a way through.
And it is little wonder. Not only do the Spanish boast defensive talents of the strength of Carles Puyol, Gerard Pique and Iker Casillas, they protect them with the finest midfield in the world right now. Actually some might dare to claim they are more than that: they are the finest midfield in World Cup history.
Watching Xavi, Andres Iniesta and Xabi Alonso in action is to see the most perfectly balanced central unit it is possible to imagine (it is also to see what Liverpool lost when they allowed Alonso to head home to Real Madrid).
While English midfielders prefer to work in space, Xavi and Iniesta actually seem to relish it if they receive the ball with three men around them. That way they can create space for others. While clod-hopping Englishmen, sulky Frenchmen and arthritic Italians have found the abulani ball impossible to control (Emile Heskey, to quote an ancient joke, was trapping the thing further than Xavi can kick it) the Spaniards quickly mastered its idiosyncrasies, caressing the thing with perfect weight in the pass. Indeed, well as Sneijder, Bastien Schweinsteiger and Mesut Ozil played, it would be hard to argue against the Spanish midfield forming the heart of any best-of XI from this World Cup.
The Sports Writers Association of Nigeria ( SWAN) Rivers State Chapter has set up five standing working committees on Tuesday, in its general congress.
At the playoff held at the Lagos Lawn Tennis Club, Onikan, the team of Canice Abua, Michael Emmanuel, Daniel Adeleye, and Abubakar Yusuf was majestic as they restored Nigeria’s hope in a sport that once gave the country so much joy.
Speaking after the final game, Nigeria Tennis Federation (NTF) President, Victor Ochei, said the Davis Cup feat is the stepping stone to better days in the sport, adding that the federation has set up programmes that will help the budding talents across the country play at the same level as their counterparts in other tennis-developed countries.
Ochei said: “The whole aim of having this new board is to lift the sport to the level we used to be. I tell you, tennis is taking a new shape in Nigeria. We are putting everything and anything to make that work happen.”
Ochei said that the NTF has looked at sponsorships and how to get the emerging players compete at the same level with their peers elsewhere, adding that the federation is working on organising local competitions and helping the players to compete in international championships.
“We believe that with what we are doing now, sponsors will come to us to organise new competitions. But beyond that, there’s a strategic growth development plan, a 10-year development plan, which the board is working on.
“The programme will ensure that we catch them young. This is because we believe that to create champions, we must start grooming them early. The champions you are seeing today were those groomed yesterday.”
“The process of building new champions will include building the coaches, the players, the infrastructure and sensitising the parents so that we can start catching them as young as age five to six.
“By the time that we groom them through 10 years of training, at age 15, 16, you will see fantastic professional players.”
To achieve the federation’s plans, Ochei admits that the NTF needs a lot of investment, adding that the board is working at realising the funds quietly and tenaciously.
The NTF president acknowledged the contributions of former international stars like Nduka Odizor and Sadiq Abdullahi to the bid to rejuvenate Nigerian tennis, adding that NTF is open to collaborating with former players who know what it takes to play at the highest level of the sport.
He said, “Nduka Odizor is around as one of our VIP personalities. He has been psyching up the boys in the battle with Uzbekistan. He will not enter the court to play, but his mere presence is enough motivation to the boys, who will want to be like him in the future.
“You see, the type of support the Odizors, the Imonities and the Abdullahis got in their time is no longer there, but we are revamping it with the support of our stakeholders in the Diaspora.
“It will appear to take us some time, but I can tell you that the Diaspora support is massive.”
In its bid to get good results in this year’s Commonwealth Games, the National Sports Commission (NSC) has disbursed N200 million as training grants to 26 athletes.
The 2026 Commonwealth Games will be held in Glasgow, Scotland.
The NSC stated that the grants were disbursed through its Elite and Podium Board, noting that N200 million was allocated to select top-performing athletes.
The beneficiaries are both foreign-based and home-based, the NSC said, adding that it will cater for their training and preparation expenses.
According to the NSC, the recipients span several sports, including athletics, wrestling, weightlifting, and para-sports, in line with the Commission’s mandate to prioritise athletes’ welfare and high-performance development.
The Commission added that the disbursement follows the establishment of the Elite and Podium Board, created to implement a scientific and institutionalised support system aimed at sustaining peak performances by Nigerian athletes at major international competitions.
NSC Director General, Bukola Olopade, said the Commission, under the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, was established to restore confidence and provide renewed hope for Nigerian sportsmen and women by placing strong emphasis on athlete welfare.
“The training grants disbursed to 26 athletes across different sports followed a careful and professional selection process by the Yusuf Ali-led Elite and Podium Board. This is our way of reassuring our athletes that their welfare remains our utmost priority,” he said.
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