By Clem Oluwole
Like in 1977 when the Green Eagles were in a deadly form but fell to Tunisia in the race for the last World Cup, our Flying Eagles have suddenly dashed our hope of being in Australia for this year’s junior edition of the global soccer tournament.
A fortnight ago, I commented on the Flying Eagles’ first leg defeat by their Cameroonian counterparts. I also expressed the hope (wishful thinking) that the Nigerians could turn the tables. But alas, they failed.
And so it is all over. But much as one should not brood over our nightmarish exit from the Junior World Cup race at a time when we thought the road to Australia had been cleared via Brazil (remember the Flying Eagles also toured Brazil), one should feel very frightened more so that our senior team is still in the race and their next opponents are the Syli Stars of Guinea – another Francophone country like Cameroon.
One other factor that came to light after the Flying Eagles’ first leg defeat was apparent over-confidence and pride. A Wednesday before the first leg match, the Flying Eagles played a warm-up match against Lagos NEPA and annihilated the Lagosians by 5 – 0. A tour of Europe and Latin America, a triumph over the dreaded Tunisian side allied with a change of name (from Junior to Flying) all rolled into a 5 – 0 blackout for NEPA FC and we were dead sure that no side could stop us.
I have stressed in this column times without number the need to spy on our opponents. Someone may think it is too wasteful to send one or two experts to go and watch our opponents and report on their current form. For instance, the day the Flying Eagles played Lagos NEPA, a Cameroonian advance party had arrived in Lagos. They watched the match. The ordinary Cameroonian fans felt morose after the match and concluded that their countrymen would be battered. But the spies among them had the rare opportunity to assess the Nigerian side.
Before the Green Eagles met Tanzania’s Taifa Stars in the current race for the World Cup last year, I wrote in this column the need to send a spy to Sudan where the Tanzanians were featuring in the 1980 CECAFA tournament. Nobody cared a hoot. The Tanzanians came here for the first leg and showed us real pepper. The Taifa Stars we saw during the last Nations Cup in March, last year, changed completely and we must be grateful to God that the 1 – 1 draw in the first leg made the Tanzanians to be over-confident and that spelt their downfall in the return leg on their own ground.
Now our next opponents are the Guineans, another Francophone country. I am quite sure there has been no move to go and assess the current form of the Guineans besides what we saw of them during the last Nations Cup Group B series in Ibadan. By now, a lot of water must have passed under the bridge. If we attach much importance to ‘spying’, someone should have been sent to watch the recent friendly international between Guinea and Senegal. Guinea won by 1 – 0. All that we reckon with is a tour of Brazil.
The Green Eagles (not all the regulars went to Brazil) just back from Brazil are billed to tackle the Angolan side in Kaduna today. I will not be surprised if a Guinean spy will be at the Ahmadu Bello Stadium to take stock.
In any case, I see the Flying Eagles’ exit as a bad omen. This should serve as the first finger with which to warn the Green Eagles. They could whip the Angolan side by 10 goals, backed by a tour of Brazil but get a shocker in Conakry on April 12 when they go for the first leg. Should this happen (God forbid), then our soccer lords will appreciate my concern over the need to have a reconnaissance squad in the NFA set up.
We assume a lot and take others for granted. Yes, Nigeria is a big country and Cameroon a small one. But football is not played on how big but how good.
(Culled from Saturday Commentary, first published on April 4, 1981).
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