Defending the FIFA Under -17 World Cup

The 13th edition of the FIFA Under-17 World Cup Championships, tagged Nigeria 2009 will kick off in Abuja tomorrow and will last three weeks.

Designed by the Federation of International Football Associations (FIFA) to encourage the discovery and development of football talents at the cadet level, this competition will continue to keep world football attention on Africa, especially, Nigeria after the just concluded FIFA World Youth Championships, WYC in Egypt. That was the second of the three major FIFA male football tournaments to be hosted by Africa consecutively this period.

At the Under-17 category, Nigeria is indeed in a unique position, both as tournament host and defending champion, having won the last edition held in South Korea in 2007.

That being so, the country is expected to be a good host and at the same time prove that her victory in South Korea was not a fluke by successfully defending the title as reigning world champion at this level.

Interestingly, Nigeria boasts tremendous pedigree in the competition. Since emerging winner of the maiden edition in China in 1985, Nigeria’s Golden Eaglets, as the national Under-17 team is known, has won the competition two more times, in Japan 1993 and South Korea 2007 respectively, in addition to finishing twice as runners up, first in Canada 1987 and then in Trinidad & Tobago 2001.

In the two editions, held in Trinidad & Tobago, 2001 and earlier in Japan 1993  the Nigerian team also garnered two Fair-Play Awards in attestation to their discipline and soccer decency.

Not only that, Nigeria’s Wilson Oruma and Macauley Chrisantus, in 1993 and 2007 respectively, equally won individual honours as the tournament’s goal leaders. Nduka Ugbade, Nwankwo Kanu, Philip Osondu, Celestine Babayaro among others, who grew to household names in the game were all products of the tournament at various times.

As the 2009 edition commences, here in Nigeria, it is expected that the country should be in good stead to work towards hosting a good Championship and clinching victory.

Sadly, however, recent indices do not give Nigerians total confidence of lifting the coveted trophy by mid-next month when the contest is expected to climax. This is because Nigeria’s football, especially, at the national team level has fumbled from one disappointment to another.

The senior national team, the Super Eagles are in danger of missing out on the historic 2010 World Cup in South Africa, the very first mundial to be hosted on the continent, while, the Under – 21 side, the Flying Eagles wobbled and fumbled out of the recent WYC in Egypt earlier in the month.  In fact, so frustrated, most football fans have turned against the national teams, while apathy has also consumed the game’s followership and spectatorship in the country.

However, The Tide believes that the opportunity provided by the Nigeria 2009 edition needs to be exploited by the country, not only to successfully defend the title, but to rescue our football, from total collapse.

The first step in that direction is to spare no effort in ensuring that the Golden Eaglets, who are drawn in Group A, alongside Germany, Argentina and Honduras, the proverbial group of death, start with a victory against Germany in the opening match and go all the way to the title.

Fortunately, Ghana’s triumph at Egypt 2009 has inspired hardwork and sense of purpose among teams from Africa who now believe that they could dominate the World Cup at the youth level.

We, therefore, call on the Nigeria Football Federation, NFF, members of the Local Organising Committee, LOC, and national Sports Commission, NSC, to work very hard towards providing the enabling environment for the Golden Eaglets to perform creditably.

In like manner, all Nigerians, fans, administrators, officials and the players should show true support and patriotism, if for nothing else, to assuage the pain of the failure of the country’s Under – 21  side and the fear of failure that hovers over the Super Eagles.

The Tide joins all football lovers to wish all the participating countries, an injury-free, delightful and successful tournament.