Sports
Ballon D’Or: ‘Nigerian Players Lack Discipline To Win’
Chairman, House of Reps Committee on Sports, Godfrey Gaiya, said yesterday that Nigerian footballers lacked the discipline and commitment to win the FIFA World Footballer of the Year Award.
Representative Gaiya was reacting to the 2012 FIFA Ballon d’ Or won by Barcelona/ Argentine striker, Lionel Messi, his fourth in a row. He told newsmen in Abuja that every Nigerian player was a potential winner of the award but noted that they needed to put some extra effort to measure up to Messi’s standard.
“Talent is talent; you don’t buy it with money. Everybody that can play for Nigeria is a potential world football award winner. “However, it is not enough that you play for Nigeria and for a club in Europe. You need a cutting edge talent that will put you above your peers. That doesn’t come with just a wish because it’s hard work and discipline.
“As it is, I am not convinced that we have the potential of getting there because our players lack discipline and the commitment to get there,” Gaiya said. The legislator dismissed suggestions that football administrators had not done enough to take the players to that level.
“There is no level of administrative acumen that can translate into a player being named the best in the World. “Messi is the best not because the Argentine Football Federation has done anything more than the Nigerian Football Federation has done. “Rather, Messi has excelled because he has done so much at club level, which is far from the level of government commitment, funding and encouragement,” he added.
The House member explained that former Liberian team captain, George Weah, became the only African so far to have won the award in 1995 because of hard work. He added that Weah’s football commitment manifested in Liberia, when he used his personal funds to bankroll the National team.
Iwobi spoke to Tidesports source ahead of Nigeria’s crunch playoff semi-final against Gabon on Thursday, November 13, in Rabat, Morocco.
The 28-year-old was reacting to Nigeria’s shaky World Cup qualifying campaign that saw the Eagles finish second in Group C behind South Africa’s Bafana Bafana.
“We’ve managed to rescue ourselves from the dead,” Iwobi told Tidesports source.
We know we have the players and the abilities to compete against any other country in the world.”
The Fulham star pointed to Nigeria’s star power, highlighting African Footballer of the Year winners Ademola Lookman and Victor Osimhen as proof of the squad’s quality.
“We have last year’s African best player (Ademola Lookman), the year before that (Victor Osimhen),” he said.
“It’ll be a shame if we don’t make it, but we have a lot of confidence. We just have to prove it to ourselves.”
Nigeria’s path to the United States, Canada and Mexico has been turbulent, with two coaches departing during the early stages of qualifying before Éric Chelle steadied the ship to steer the Super Eagles into November’s CAF playoffs.
Four nations from the continent – Nigeria, Cameroon, DR Congo and Gabon – will vie for a solitary spot to compete in next March’s inter-confederation playoffs, with a view to joining the already nine qualified African nations at the Finals.
It would mark Iwobi’s second appearance at the World Cup Finals and the Super Eagles’ first since the 2018 edition of the competition.
Back then, Iwobi featured in all three games as Nigeria was knocked out in the group stage.
The Chief Executive Officer(CEO) and Publisher of the Atlantic Bell Online medium, Mr. Celestine Ogolo has advised sports writers in Nigeria to diversify in sports writing and not to concentrate on football reporting alone.
The Deputy National President of Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN) Mr. Bonny Nyong has expressed commitment to support sports development and move SWAN forward.
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