There has been a recent debate about if Tammy Abraham made the right decision by choosing England over Nigeria, some are of the notion that he didn’t while some are quite sure that Tammy’s decision was the best for his career, we all know Tammy was eligible to play for either England or Nigeria depending on which country he decides to choose, unfortunately for Nigeria, he has always been vocal about his desire to play for England and not Nigeria, that he feels more of an Englishman than being a Nigerian.
Born 2nd October 1997 to a Nigerian father and an English mother Tammy has never felt like a Nigerian, he has been vocal about his desire to represent England, he did represent them at all age grade levels, The NFF though kept pursing a lost cause, they kept feeding their expectations and that of Nigerians that they could convince Tammy to switch his international allegiance.
Playing for the Super Eagles should be a moment where every member of the squad should be proud of, wearing the green white green jersey and representing well over 200 million people should be a proud moment for any footballer, the NFF kept crying and whining over a player who was in no way proud of us being a nation or representing us.
Nigerians are always proud of their origins, no matter where we go or find ourselves we would always represent our roots, you can go down memory lane and you would understand what exactly I mean. Nigeria is a footballing nation, very passionate about the game, maybe too passionate sometimes, we expect victory at every single match no matter who our opponents are, we are expected to come back with the trophy no matter who our rivals are, nothing is good enough if we do not come back with a win or the trophy, these winning mentality is in our culture, this is who we are, we never expect to be second best and anytime we do come short, we are in a state of morning for a while, we never say never, we never give up, this and many more are what Tammy is going to miss.
No true Nigerian would deny Nigeria, yes things might not be in place at the moment, politically we are in shambles, economically we are not doing great, our security is being threated every day, but we are who we are, we are Nigerians and a proud one at that, we are the most populous black country in the entire world, we as Nigerians should be proud of who we are and what we represent.
We have so much talent in this country, I see lot of footballers everyday just waiting and hoping for the right opportunity to play at the highest level, NFF needs to do more and see on our they can recruit talent internally instead of going out and looking for players who do not appreciate the flag, country, culture and what we represent, players who understand the expectations of very well many Nigerians would play out their mind, heart and soul, they would ensure that nothing is left in the tank when coming out of the pitch, cutting every blade of grass, this don’t just happen by chance, its takes zeal, desire, love, determination and the understanding of where we are coming from, the NFF needs to do more in the level of bringing young talent from the local scene, for a while now the Super Eagles has been filled with players groomed by foreign academies, we have the capacity to groom our players locally and export them to all age grade levels of the game.
We have the capacity to do well in football tournament when we plan properly, motivate the players properly, let the players understand what they represent, the weight that’s on their shoulders and why they should be proud of representing the entire Nation. Like I said earlier No true Nigerian would deny Nigeria, we are always proud of who we are and what we represent, Nigeria’s gain, Tammy’s lost.