Sports
2017, Most Defining Year For Nation’s Football House – Olajire
The Director of Media and Communications, Mr Ademola Olajire, Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has described 2017 as the most defining year for the nation’s Football House following the expectations and successes recorded.
Olajire made this known in an interview with newsmen in Lagos, while reflecting on the activities of the football house for 2017. He said that the past year was one of the toughest tests for the football house in its resolution to move football to the next level.
Olajire said 2017 was a fruitful and eventful year with many landmark achievements recorded, adding that 2018 would be better.
“It has been a defining year for NFF, because of the high expectations; this is so because many people expected us to falter during the World Cup qualifications.
“It is true that we are placed in the group many referred to as “Group of Death, but we survived taking the sole ticket with a match to spare, that is a notable achievement.
“It is instructive to know that the Super Eagles qualified for the double header, The CHAN 2018 and the 2018 World Cup in Russia. These are some of the positives for the year 2017.
“In the political arena, the President of NFF was voted into the CAF Executive Committee, and was also made member of the CAF Emergency Committee and Organising Committee of FIFA,’’ he said.
Olajire said the football house would build on the successes recorded in 2017 to do better in 2018, adding that it would ensure a decent outing for the Eagles at the World Cup.
“We need to build on the successes of 2017 to achieve better this year, because other countries are also watching us; so we need to be at our best and keep working hard.
“All the departments of NFF are working; from the boardroom to the administrative staff, we want to achieve success even as the Eagles are preparing for the World Cup.
“The NFF is on top of the Eagles preparations and also the CHAN Eagles that participated in the Super Six tournament. That is the first phase of their preparation.
“The second phase of the preparation for the CHAN Eagles is already going on in Abuja where training is intensified, work is ongoing before they will depart for Morocco,’’ he said.
A well-known football pundit in the State, Chief Christopher Okonkwo has lauded the efforts and vision of the Super Eagles Coach Eric Chelle for going from one venue of the Nigeria Domestic Nigeria Professional Football League match to the other in monitoring Nigerian players, with a view to invite some exceptional good one discovered into the main stream of the Super Eagles team.
Okonkwo, who made the commendation in an interview at the Port Harcourt Club recently, described the positive move by Coach Chelle as a good step in the right direction, noting that the practice was how its been done in the past among any contracted coach assigned to tinker the Super Eagles team.
“Truly, it has been an old tradition in the country seeing any newly engaged Coach to lead the National team, visiting some our Nigeria League venues during the league matches to spot light some good talents that could be used to beef up some grey areas in the department of Eagles team”
He, however, frowned at the current situation where our coaches had continously been over depending on the use of foreign based players during invitation of players to the National camp, thereby, relegating the domestic home based league players to the background as if they have nothing much to offer to the team.
“I can vividly recall that the likes of great players in the mode of Finidi George, Taribo West, Kanu Nwankwo, Austin Okocha, Richard Owobokiri, Emmanuel Osuigwe among others started from Nigeria football league before they graduated to play in Europe through which they later invited to Super Eagles camp to represent Nigeria”
“Besides, I’m also of the view that going to secondary school football competitive games could equally serves as a a good platform to discover budding talents that could be nurtured to become great stars in near future”, Okonkwo frankly added.
Okonkwo, therefore, prayed that any football coach to be engaged by the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) to tinker the Super Eagles should be told not to confine himself in staying in big hotel alone but to be visiting some of our local league match venues, with a view to discover some good players that can be drafted into the Super Eagles team.
“Indeed, I stand to be challenged that there some young good players in the Nigeria Professional League. If spotted and exposed, could give the some of the invited foreign based players a stiff competitive fight in securing a postion in the team”, Okonkwo emphatically stated.
Ezechukwu, one of the youngest members of the Nigerian contingent at the championship in Ghana, said her ambition was to win the 100m title in style and cap it with a new personal record.
The fresh secondary school graduate explained that she is fully focused on contributing to Team Nigeria’s medal hopes and is determined to deliver strong performances across her events.
“My main objective in Ghana is to clinch the 100m title and the 4×100m,” Ezechukwu told Tidesports source.
“Nigeria can be assured of my very best and my commitment to the Team. I would love to set a new personal best in Ghana, but anything that comes, I will take it. The spirit in the team is high, and I think we are ready to go,” she said.
Ezechukwu, who was part of Nigeria’s women’s 4x100m relay squad at the World Relays in Botswana, said the experience gained from that competition has strengthened her mindset heading into the continental championships.
She admitted that she learned valuable lessons from her previous outing, including a difficult moment during the relay where an early error affected the team’s rhythm, but said she has used the experience to improve her discipline and composure.
“The secret is just being disciplined, training hard and trusting my coach and believing in God, and the result will show,” she added.
The teenager is part of a 41-member Nigerian team comprising 24 female and 17 male athletes competing at the championships, which begin today at the University of Ghana, Legon.
Nigeria are expected to compete across multiple track and field events as they aim for a strong finish against the continent’s elite athletes.
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