By Steve Alabi
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In my many years of covering, managing and administering the beautiful game, I have come to realize that there are many victories worse than a defeat. Conversely, there are many defeats better than a victory. Many Nigerians may not be happy at the Flying Eagles’ topsy turvy performance in Niger in the 22nd edition of the Africa U-20 Cup of Nations in the past two weeks but I am convinced that their delivery falls into the second insight. I am not at all perturbed at the inability of our cadet team to win any medal in Niger. Rather, I am happy that what I saw gives hope of better days ahead for the national passion.

We must not forget, as we used to do, that the essence of these age grade competitions is to discover and develop talents for the main national team. No matter the number of victories we secure in youth championships, we will not be counted among the greats if we do not replicate this at the senior level where it really matters. A student who passes out of college in flying colours and proceeds not to the university is but a glorified secondary school product. When his mates who proceed to the university with poorer results, even those who had to take the School Certificate examination more than once, are being mobilized for NYSC, he will be a laughing stock of his smarter peers.

The Yoruba wisely posit that the beginning of a task is not the task but the conclusion of it. He who starts a race well is not the winner but he who breasts the tape. From what the eyes could see, the players Nigeria paraded in Niger are not the usual U-20 stuff we are used to. Some even looked younger than the U-17 grandfathers of the early days. One does not need to be a sage to know that this is a wise sowing for the future. A player whose bones are already fully formed at the point of featuring in age grade competitions will have arthritis when he is graduated to the senior cadre. His delivery will be laced with pain and agony.

For a long time in the past, we doomed ourselves to repeat failure each time we failed to learn from history. Our baptism in the age grade competitions was with dirty water. We won the inaugural and only World U-16 Tournament in China in 1985 with a squad that mesmerized the immortal Pele to predict that Nigeria would be the first African country to win the FIFA World Cup proper before the turn of the 20th century. Beyond sending Kodak into bankruptcy for not recovering their investment in the sponsorship of the tournament, the so-called Golden Eaglets did not produce further glitter. Their U-20 seniors, who won bronze at the FIFA Junior World Cup in the defunct USSR the same year plunged Nigeria into our first ever FIFA ban for fielding three overaged players, Samson Siasia, Dahiru Sadi and Andrew Uwe.

In 1987, the late Coach Chris Udemezue dropped a certain Charity Ikhidero from the Chile-bound Flying Eagles squad for being overaged. Two years later, he was a linchpin in the team’s defence at Saudi ’89. Amazingly, he had grown younger when everyone was growing up! Of that well hailed team, only Mutiu Adepoju and Nduka Ugbade made it properly to the Super Eagles. Of the rest, only Taiwo Enegwea, Dimeji Lawal, Christopher Nwosu and Michael Onyemachara made fleeting appearances at the top before fading from sight. This is in contrast to their opponents in the final, Portugal whose players not only graduated to the senior level but also became so good that the Portuguese media coined the accolade, “The Golden Generation” for them.

Winning comes from grooming. I sincerely believe that the lads I saw in Niger can be groomed to higher heights. A truly young team that makes mistakes at takeoff can be taught to reach the top. That is what enthuses me about Paul Aigbogun’s wards. Such a lovely bunch playing with great hearts. I saw a skillful team willing to die for the national standard. We must not make the mistakes of crucifying them for not winning any medals in Niger or for letting us down twice in penalty shootouts. Instead, we should show them their mistakes charitably and groom them to their full potentials. I have a gut feeling that these lads will be very great.

Tribute to two masters of the game

The core of the Nigerian football family is really small and it is bleeding. In two weeks, we have lost two important family members. The media gave prominence to Chief Taiwo Ogunjobi’s demise, apparently because he had a high profile in the game till death, but little mention to Prince Tony Eke, whose exploits have receded into history but no less noble. Any celebration of Nigeria’s exploits in age grade competitions that fails to acknowledge Tony Eke’s imperishable contributions will definitely be incomplete.

An authentic Lagosian from Delta State, Tony succumbed to his health challenges on Sunday. He was the brain behind the visionary Ramat Cup youth tournaments that helped to find and expose young footballers in the seventies and eighties when the Nigeria Football Association did not have viable developmental programmes. His partnership with Prince Dokun Abidoye created the highly successful Youth Sports Federation of Nigeria, YSFON that served the country as the main football nursery for decades. He was a cherished friend with whom I shared some great moments in and outside the stadium.

Ogunjobi’s revolutionary administrative ideas brought a lot of innovation to football management at national and club levels. He was also a dear friend, especially during my stints in charge of Sunshine Stars of Akure and Ekiti United of Ado-Ekiti.

The family is bleeding but we are consoled by the fact that these gentlemen played their part well, and were truly masters of the Nigerian game. May their dear souls find solace in the bosom of the Creator.