S’Eagles: Nigeria Must Emulate German Blueprint

Taribo West believes Nigeria has lessons to learn from Germany’s victory at the 2014 Fifa World Cup in Brazil.
The former Nigeria international, who starred in 1998 and 2002 editions of the competition, believes  that Germany’s feat came as a result of long term planning, a practice he thinks Nigeria should emulate.
The former AC Milan defender also clamoured for the inclusion of retired footballers and other experienced stakeholders in the administration of the game in Nigeria.
“We have a lot of lessons to learn from the two sides, especially Germany and their coach, Joachim Low. He had a lot of critics even before the World Cup but he proved them wrong on Sunday by winning the tournament,” West told newsmen.
“Oliver Bierhoff was my teammate at Milan but he is the manager of the German national team. He knew his job and he executed it well. But here, we bring in just anybody to administer our football. If you put me in a bank today, that business will crumble overnight because I don’t know anything about banking.
“German football has a vision and structure, with everybody working towards one goal and I can bet you both teams that played the final game on Sunday have already started preparations for the 2018 World Cup in Russia.
“But money issues have always been our undoing. There is always somebody somewhere, who wants to pocket money meant for the players.”

German players celebrating Mario Gnetze’s extra time winner that secured the 2014 World Cup title for Germany on Sunday