Sports
Mixed Reactions Trail Messi’s Emergence As World Best
Soccer fans in Nigeria have expressed mixed reactions to the emergence of Lionel Messi as the Best Player of the World for the second consecutive year.
The Barcelona striker was voted the FIFA Ballon d’Or on Monday in Zurich, Switzerland.
The Argetine beat his Spanish club team mates Andres Iniesta and Xavi Hernandez to clinch the crown.
While Barcelona fans are happy that Messi won the award, others are questioning his emergence, particularly as he failed to sparkle at the World Cup and ouster of Argentina in the quarter-finals in June in South Africa.
Former Rangers International player, Arthur Nwankwo, in Awka wondered why Messi should win the award when he failed to score at the World Cup following the early exit of his country in the competition.
“Since it is a World Cup year, I just do not know why Messi should be chosen ahead of those that performed well at both club and World Cup in South Africa.
“What do you say of the accuracy of Xavi Henandez and his consistent passes that earned him a double. His team, FC Barcelona won the league, FA Cup and Spain his country also won the World Cup,” said Nwankwo.
From Aba, two members of the Nigeria Football Association (NFA), Mike Umeh and Felix Anyasi, said Messi deserved to win the award.
Anyansi, who is the Chairman of Enyimba FC, said.
“It’s an award well deserved,” and noted that his consistency for club and country earned him the award.
“He has become a role model to many who watched him play at the club and the Argentina national team.”
He, however, expressed regrets that no African player had won award after Liberia’s George Weah clinched the award in 1995.
He noted that many African players, including Samuel Etoo of Cameroon and Didier Drogba of Cote d’Ivoire, had performed creditably for their respective countries and clubs to deserve the award.
Umeh said that Messi’s scintillating skill gave him the award.
“The young man improves with each game, which helped Barca to be among the best teams in the world,’’ he said.
The Chairman of the Ebonyi FA, Obinna Ogba, told our source that Messi took soccer entertainment to an art form in 2010, especially with Barcelona “as his contributions ensured that the club excelled in club competitions.
“Though Argentina flopped at the World Cup in South Africa, he was the only bright spot in the team which showed his immense talent,” he said.
A governorship aspirant on the platform of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Adol Awam, described the award as a gain of youth development in football.
“At 23, Messi had shown with his exploits that if adequately nurtured, the future of football in the world lies with the youths,” said.
Vincent Okpalaka, former Enugu Rangers International FC defender, said the award was previously won by players who excelled during the World Cup year and expressed surprise Monday’s award did follow the criteria.
“Players who held the world spell bound at the World Cup in South Africa, such as Diego Forlan of Uruguay, Wesley Sneidger of Holland among others, were not even nominated for the award,” Okpalaka said.
A female youth activist, said it was a wake-up call to soccer authorities in Africa to develop football to ensure players from the continent were short-listed for future awards.
Football fans were seen arguing among themselves at newspaper stands in Onitsha.
They said FIFA should be consistent in giving the award to players whose national teams won the World Cup.
John Obosi, a football analyst, with Contact Sports newspaper, said that there was no need in arguing over whether Messi deserved the award or not.
“It was done by national team coaches selected around the World which clearly shows that FIFA had no hand in the decision,” Obosi said.
Osita Unachukwu, Anambra Pillar FC Secretary, said that he least expected somebody such as Messi to be given the World Footballer of 2010.
“There is sometime amiss; if not, the tradition should have continued. I can see some politics in the whole show,” Unachukwu said.
Ike Okeke, an ardent fan of Barcelona FC, said that Messi had made an indelible mark in all the matches he played for his club in 2010.
“For me, Messi has no rival, he deserves the award; and his outstanding performance had improved the game in 2010.
“He has dwarfed other efforts made by the other players at the World Cup in South Africa,” said Okeke.
The Sports Writers Association of Nigeria ( SWAN) Rivers State Chapter has set up five standing working committees on Tuesday, in its general congress.
At the playoff held at the Lagos Lawn Tennis Club, Onikan, the team of Canice Abua, Michael Emmanuel, Daniel Adeleye, and Abubakar Yusuf was majestic as they restored Nigeria’s hope in a sport that once gave the country so much joy.
Speaking after the final game, Nigeria Tennis Federation (NTF) President, Victor Ochei, said the Davis Cup feat is the stepping stone to better days in the sport, adding that the federation has set up programmes that will help the budding talents across the country play at the same level as their counterparts in other tennis-developed countries.
Ochei said: “The whole aim of having this new board is to lift the sport to the level we used to be. I tell you, tennis is taking a new shape in Nigeria. We are putting everything and anything to make that work happen.”
Ochei said that the NTF has looked at sponsorships and how to get the emerging players compete at the same level with their peers elsewhere, adding that the federation is working on organising local competitions and helping the players to compete in international championships.
“We believe that with what we are doing now, sponsors will come to us to organise new competitions. But beyond that, there’s a strategic growth development plan, a 10-year development plan, which the board is working on.
“The programme will ensure that we catch them young. This is because we believe that to create champions, we must start grooming them early. The champions you are seeing today were those groomed yesterday.”
“The process of building new champions will include building the coaches, the players, the infrastructure and sensitising the parents so that we can start catching them as young as age five to six.
“By the time that we groom them through 10 years of training, at age 15, 16, you will see fantastic professional players.”
To achieve the federation’s plans, Ochei admits that the NTF needs a lot of investment, adding that the board is working at realising the funds quietly and tenaciously.
The NTF president acknowledged the contributions of former international stars like Nduka Odizor and Sadiq Abdullahi to the bid to rejuvenate Nigerian tennis, adding that NTF is open to collaborating with former players who know what it takes to play at the highest level of the sport.
He said, “Nduka Odizor is around as one of our VIP personalities. He has been psyching up the boys in the battle with Uzbekistan. He will not enter the court to play, but his mere presence is enough motivation to the boys, who will want to be like him in the future.
“You see, the type of support the Odizors, the Imonities and the Abdullahis got in their time is no longer there, but we are revamping it with the support of our stakeholders in the Diaspora.
“It will appear to take us some time, but I can tell you that the Diaspora support is massive.”
In its bid to get good results in this year’s Commonwealth Games, the National Sports Commission (NSC) has disbursed N200 million as training grants to 26 athletes.
The 2026 Commonwealth Games will be held in Glasgow, Scotland.
The NSC stated that the grants were disbursed through its Elite and Podium Board, noting that N200 million was allocated to select top-performing athletes.
The beneficiaries are both foreign-based and home-based, the NSC said, adding that it will cater for their training and preparation expenses.
According to the NSC, the recipients span several sports, including athletics, wrestling, weightlifting, and para-sports, in line with the Commission’s mandate to prioritise athletes’ welfare and high-performance development.
The Commission added that the disbursement follows the establishment of the Elite and Podium Board, created to implement a scientific and institutionalised support system aimed at sustaining peak performances by Nigerian athletes at major international competitions.
NSC Director General, Bukola Olopade, said the Commission, under the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, was established to restore confidence and provide renewed hope for Nigerian sportsmen and women by placing strong emphasis on athlete welfare.
“The training grants disbursed to 26 athletes across different sports followed a careful and professional selection process by the Yusuf Ali-led Elite and Podium Board. This is our way of reassuring our athletes that their welfare remains our utmost priority,” he said.
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