It was a forgone conclusion that Nigeria would drop in Fifa rankings as the Super Eagles plummeted to 38 position this month from 30 position prior.
It is sadly one of the mementos left behind by Finidi George’s unfortunate reign as Super Eagles indigenous gaffer.
Despite the fact that there were some positives from Finidi’s reign, sadly, the negatives will always outweigh any positives.
The 1994 World Cup hero restored faith in the midfield department of the Super Eagles. He revived belief in indigenous players in underwhelming leagues as Tanimu put up a performance worthy of a Super Eagles defender despite being based in Tanzania meaning, Nigeria still has untapped talents in average leagues. Nigeria played a vibrant and uplifting brand of football on the ball and Nwabili showcased his skills as a modern-day ball playing goalkeeper.
But, Nigeria slumped in the world cup qualification table and now in Fifa rankings. The Super Eagles looked like a ship without a captain on the pitch. They were disjointed and lacked organisation off the ball leading to the 3 goals against South Africa and Benin.
And, unfortunately for Finidi, somebody took his statement out of context and leaked it to the media, drawing the ire of star striker Victor Osihmen who appears to have been nursing a grudge for sometime against a section of the fans, media and coaching crew of the Super Eagles. This led to an unsavoury situation with Osihmen seen running insults at everyone he felt was responsible for the story.
Nigeria needs an indigenous coach but most of the ones available are not ready for the tasks on hand so we have to go foreign for the foreseeable future.
Julius Aghaowa – who is an advocate for more indigenous players in the Super Eagles – would have been delighted by the sterling performance of Tanimu. I too hope the next technical advisor will unearth more rough diamonds like Tanimu in future. Instead of this obsession with NPFL players, perhaps the scouts should scour average leagues in Europe or even Nigeria for such hungry and technically gifted players.
We now hope the NFF gets the appointment right this time so we can have a foreign technical adviser who will nurse our world cup ambitions back to health and help us climb in fifa rankings with a healthy assortment of technically gifted indigenous and dual nationality players, regardless of where they play their football.
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