By Kayode Ketefe
Tomorrow, the Nigerian U-17 national team, tagged the Golden
Eaglets, will be squaring up in the very final match at the ongoing U-17 World
Cup taking place in the United Arabs Emirates. They will face Mexico who are
the defending champions, having won the cup when it hosted the competition two
years ago.
Nigerian
youths are talented bunch of humanity. This fact could be gleaned, even beyond
sports to the universal realm, across the whole gamut of human endeavours. On
the intellectual front, writers like Chimamanda Adichie and prodigies like
Oluwatosin Helen Otitoju, who shattered the records at the Howard University,
graduating with First Class in Electrical Engineering and set numerous other
records in her post graduate studies, have all contributed in drawing attention
to superlative talents of our youths.
How
about Nigerian-born nine-year-old twins, Paula and Peter Imafidon who emerged
the youngest pupils to be admitted to a secondary school in Britain? The twins
had broken the world records when they passed A-level mathematics papers at the
age of 7! Neither can we forget in a hurry the rare achievements of the
Nigerian Whizkid, Saheela Ibraheem, who has so distinguished herself in Science
and Mathematics at the age of 16 that she has now been listed in “The World’s
50 Smartest Teenagers” of our times.
Saheela
was accepted into Harvard University and 13 other colleges simultaneously,
including the famous MIT, the University of Pennsylvania, Cornell, Brown,
Princeton, Columbia, and the University of Chicago. She chose to attend
Harvard.
But
theme of this piece is limited to the scope of accomplishment of our boys in
the international youth soccer. While the country has won many laurels
including gold, silver and bronze at both U-20 World Cup and the Olympic
(played by the U-23 teams), the country greatest achievements have been posted
at the U-17 World Cup with the team ruling the entire world, having already
bagged three titles as champions, and three silver as runners-up.
The
first Nigerian glory in this age category took place unexpectedly at the
inception of the cadet championship then called FIFA Kodak U-16 World
Tournament. In the said inaugural competition which held in China, a group of
Nigerian boys captained by Nduka Ngbade shocked the world. Now, in less than 24
hours time the country will be battling to claim another gold as they
battle Mexico for the trophy.
The
bookmakers have already given the cup to Nigeria not only because Nigeria beat
the same Mexican team by a whopping 6-1 during the group stage in this same
competition, but also because the boys have exhibited amazing skills, dazzling
all the opponents with their fantastic pace, nimble footwork and remarkable
tactical awareness. They are the highest scoring side in the whole competition
having scored a total 23 goals in their six matches played so far.
This
averages 3.8 goals per match. Such was the amazing forms of the Eaglets that
their skills have caught the attention of numerous scouts acting as agents for
prestigious clubs all over Europe. The most outstanding attribute of this team
is however their discipline and astounding level of commitment.
As
a matter of fact the brilliant forms of the Eaglets so overwhelmed the
Brazilian coach, Alexander Jallo, that he said the Eaglets played the best
brand of football which Brazil loves to play!
After
winning the cup in 1985, 1993 and 2007, and silver medals in 1987, 2001 and
2009, last Tuesday’s 3-0 victory over Sweden means Nigeria have reached the
final for whopping seven times.
Speaking in similar vein, a member of
the FIFA Technical Study Group, a Nigerian international, Sunday Oliseh, in his
analysis done for FIFA, had this to say about the Eaglets. “The boys are
extremely motivated but above all they’re very disciplined, which is very
refreshing to see. They have a lot of good individual players.
“The
way the side switches from defence to attack is very good, frequently with
one-touch passes. That’s difficult to do as it requires a lot of movement,
foresight and for all the players to support each other.”
But
in spite of all these, it is unfortunate that the Nigerian system keeps
suffocating the youths – the older generations have managed the affairs of the
country into such a state that the youth are left with minimal opportunities.
They
grow up in hostile environment suffused with corruption, unemployment,
insecurity, moral decadence et al. Majority of them embrace the grim realities
of unemployment or acute under-employment upon graduation from tertiary
institutions.
This
comprehensive frustration explains why some of them are misled into secret
cultism, fraudulent activities and other forms of criminality.
Some
of our girls with potential to excel have been turned into prostitutes home and
abroad as a result of harsh realities foisted on them.
Whatever
the outcome of tomorrow’s match the Nigerian youth soccer profile has already
been enhanced as our light once again shine on the global stage. Let me
say congratulation Nigeria for the wonderful performance of our worthy
ambassadors, the Golden Eaglets of Nigeria.
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