Sports
U-20 AFCON: Five Reasons Why F’Eagles Crashed Out
Nigeria’s Flying Eagles
will not be in Zambia next year to defend the U20 AFCON trophy they won last year after they were shocked out of the qualifiers by Sudan.
After beating the Sudanese 2-1 away, the Flying Eagles on Saturday fell 3-4 to the visitors, who finished the game with 10 players in Lagos to lose out on away goal rule with 5-5 aggregate scores.
Below are perhaps, five major reasons behind yet another monumental disaster in Nigeria football.
Again, the U17 World Cup curse
The excitement of having won a record fifth U17 World Cup in Chile in November got the better of coach Emmanuel Amuneke, his assistants and even the players, who felt they have arrived on the world football stage after what they had achieved in South America.
They probably equated the demands of U17 football to what is expected of a team at a higher U20 level, where the players are a lot more matured with some even knocking on the door of the full international side.
Such thinking almost derailed coach Manu Garba last year, before he welcomed superior ideas to open his team to players outside those he has previously worked with at the U17 cadre.
The wrong assumption that there is not much difference between U17 and U20 has affected over time the appointment of the coaches for the Flying Eagles as well as the faulty selection of players for the country’s youth team.
Poor tactics
On a day the rains poured down on Lagos, Amuneke got his tactics totally wrong by still insisting on the boys playing his passing game on a waterlogged pitch, while the more experienced and bigger Sudanese chose the more practical kick and rush style to their advantage.
The Flying Eagles lack of size certainly did not help their cause as they always played second best to their opponents even after they were reduced to 10 men midway in the second half.
When it was 3-3, Amuneke should have shut the game down as a draw was enough to qualify Nigeria.
Is Amuneke really the tactical genius he has been packaged as?
Team not good enough
The Flying Eagles Class of 2016 did not have the quality and had they managed to advance to Zambia 2017, they would have been badly exposed by better teams at the AFCON finals.
Even at the U17 level, what got them going was their raw determination, the goals of Victor Osimhen as well as their conditioning.
The team were shut out from other players even after a much-advertised screening exercise as Amuneke insisted on working with only the players he tinkered at the U17 level.
This killed the competitive spirit in the team as players in Amuneke’s U17 pool were always considered ahead of those who were outside this group.
Team selection was biased and there was hardly a serious consideration for the physical size of the players especially in key positions like goalkeeper, defensive midfield and central defence.
It must say something about the quality in this team that after all the hype and expectations, only a handful of these players have since secured contracts overseas.
Goalkeeper Akpan Udoh was safe at U17 level, but was clearly exposed at a higher level, the team’s defence was below average, skipper Kelechi Nwakali failed to shine after he was named MVP at the U17 level and Osimhen could not reproduce the magic that fetched him a pro deal a top Bundesliga club Wolfsburg.
Both players, coaches lost focus
At last year’s U17 World Cup, these same boys had fought like wounded lions to make a name for themselves even when they had not received any allowances and bonuses.
Their character and focus were praised, but only eight months later, it was a different story altogether after it got out to the media that they threatened to boycott Saturday’s match over unpaid monies.
Attitude and discipline were sacrificed for immediate financial gains.
“They lost the game even before they kicked the ball because suddenly they lost their focus and drive,” a top former international told newsmen.
It was also understood that several of these players openly challenged the instructions of their coaches with Amuneke also angling to be Super Eagles coach after he was brought on board in an interim capacity for the AFCON qualifiers against Egypt in March.
For Amuneke, it was not about qualifying for the AFCON, but winning the elusive U20 World Cup in South Korea next year.
It is possible nobody really told him that you first have to qualify for the AFCON before you could start targeting the World Cup.
Inexperience and lack of exposure
At the U20 level, experience is a major factor and these Flying Eagles lacked it because most of the players are still with academies with not one of them playing even in the lower Nigeria National League.
It was only three years ago that the likes of Paul Pogba and Kurt Zouma helped France to win the U20 World Cup in Turkey and today they have established themselves at Juventus and Chelsea, respectively.
Amuneke’s team prepared for these qualifiers by playing mediocre academies around Abuja with their only tough test games being against the country’s U23 team.
Matches against Premier League sides like FC IfeanyiUbah, which could have toughened them and got them the much-needed experience and exposure, were rejected outrightly.
The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) would have done better by arranging for test matches in neigbouring countries like Benin and Ghana as was the case in previous years.
Probably, these big wins in their friendlies mostly at their training base deluded them into thinking they were unbeatable until Sudan delivered the sucker punch right in front of their home fans.
Culled from
Africanfootball.com
The third edition of Naphtail Chess Open Championship which ended on Wednesday in Port Harcourt saw Rivers State born Queen Dan-Jumbo emerged best female player in the tournament following her impressive performance.
It was clash of the Titans as top Chess players in Nigeria gathered to chase honours.
The three days competition was held at Vee Hotel, Trans Amadi ,in Port Harcourt and over 80 players in Nigeria registered for the tournament this championship was recognised by International Chess Federation (FIDE).
Speaking with Tidesports in an exclusive interview on Saturday, Dan-Jumbo said her dream was to become Grand Master in Chess worldwide.
According to her, she started playing Chess at the age of 15 but went into it professionally in 2009 as she represented Rivers State in National Sports Festival (NSF) in Kaduna, the same year.
“I started playing Chess in the early 2000s. I picked the interest through my my elder brother as him and his friends always play Chess in our compound so I began to learn it.
” In 2009 I went to National Sports festival in Kaduna represented Rivers State and I won a silver medal on my board.
“In 2011 and 2012 NSFs I won two Gold medals each hosted by Rivers and Lagos States respectively. While in Edo NSF I won bronze medal” Dan-Jumbo said.
The Asari-Toru, in Rivers State born Chess player use the forum to advice upcoming Chess players to be focus, saying losing a game is part of every competition but the most important thing was that you don’t lose hope.
“My advice for upcoming chess players was that don’t lose focus. Even when you lose, find a way to adjust and get back out”, she added.
Tonye Orabere
Former Super Eagles Coach, Samson Siasia says the Nigeria Football Federation supported FIFA to have him banned for alleged involvement in match-fixing in August 2019.
In a recent interview with Athlist, the 56-year-old, whose ban ends in a few months, said the NFF not only refused to support him but also carried out FIFA’s instruction not to let him know he was under investigation by the world football body.
“Nigeria abandoned me at that time of need; that’s my own take on how this thing played out,” the former Eagles striker and member of the 1994 AFCON-winning squad, said.
“It’s an allegation; they said bribery. What is bribery? Is it not when money changes hands? Was there any proof of that? There were none.
“I spoke with someone who was trying to hire me as a coach in Australia. I didn’t know the guy was a match-fixer, but FIFA knew this guy. Why would they allow him to be around any FIFA tournament?
“So, when they found out through emails, our correspondence about how this guy would take me to Australia, I played in Australia, so I felt it would be nice to go back there.
“We talked about how much salaries, transfers, bonuses, and sign-on fees were, and that was all.
“When FIFA was looking for me, I didn’t even know. I am not affiliated with FIFA; their affiliation is with the NFF. So, they went to the NFF and told them not to let me know that they were investigating me. But if they didn’t tell me, how was I supposed to defend my self Siasia added, “Then they sent me a letter, but it went to my spam. It was two days before the ban that I found out that FIFA was looking for me.
Siasia added, “Then they sent me a letter, but it went to my spam. It was two days before the ban that I found out that FIFA was looking for me.
“Then we started to see how we could communicate with them to see how I could have a hearing. But they said the time had elapsed and I should go to the CAS (Court of Arbitration for Sport).
The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) will launch an independent review after 23 Chinese swimmers were cleared to compete at the Tokyo Olympics despite testing positive for a banned substance.
WADA has said it was not in a position to disprove an assertion from the China Anti-Doping Agency (CHINADA) that contamination was the source of the heart medication trimetazidine (TMZ) for which the swimmers tested positive.
Findings of the independent investigation, led by Swiss prosecutor Eric Cottier, are expected to be delivered within two months.
“WADA’s integrity and reputation is under attack,” said Wada president Witold Banka.
“WADA has been unfairly accused of bias in favour of China by not appealing the CHINADA case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
“We continue to reject the false accusations and we are pleased to be able to put these questions into the hands of an experienced, respected and independent prosecutor.”
United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) Chief Executive Travis Tygart said WADA and CHINADA had swept these positives under the carpet, claims WADA described as completely false and defamatory while adding that it had referred the comments to its lawyers.
Aquatics GB said it was extremely concerned by the allegations, which it said threatened “potential loss of trust and reputational damage to sport”.
WADA was notified of CHINADA’s decision in June 2021, ahead of the delayed Games, and said it had no evidence to challenge China’s findings and that external counsel had advised against appealing.
In addition to the independent investigation, WADA said it will send a compliance audit team to assess the state of China’s anti-doping programme and invite independent auditors “from the broader anti-doping community” to join the trip.
WADA director general Olivier Niggli said: “While not one shred of evidence has been presented to support any of the allegations made against WADA, we wish to deal with the matter as quickly and as comprehensively as possible so that the matter is appropriately handled in advance of the upcoming Paris Olympic and Paralympic Games.”
Details of the positive tests were revealed by the New York Times, which shared reporting with German broadcaster ARD.
China won six swimming medals at the Tokyo Olympics, including three golds.
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