I read from the "AfricanExaminer.com.blog" that the Nigerian Super Eagles' coach Mr. VOGTS would long have been thrown out of the country by the Nigerian Football Authority in the manner of jettisoning dirty water in the bath with the baby in it. What has kept him in what seems now like "a typical Nigerian detainee awaiting trial", is one tiny clause on the contract paper which provides that this scapegoat should be given at least 30 (thirty) days notice of intention to sack him. Poor fellow!
My appeal to all sports lovers is that we should not be in a hurry to draw conclusions, especially when it has to do with taking food away from someone else's table. Whenever a national football team shows a bad outing - that is, fails to deliver, it is always the coach that bears the brunt of blame. As far as I am concerned, football tournament is a collective performance of both the coach and his boys. If anybody has to be punished for what happened between the Super Eagles of Nigeria and the Black Stars of Ghana last week Sunday, it is all the parties concerned. Have we forgotten how all of them used to line up to receive a handshake from Nigerian Heads of State each time they have a good outing? And the package is usually heavy and juicy. The coach is never singled out for honours, neither had he ever been excluded. Finally, before we bring down the axe, let us ask whether it is the barber that has not mastered the skill of hair-cut or is it the blade razor that is blunt.
I am informed that the sack order is at the instance of "Nigerian sports lovers". By the way, what has been the reaction of these sports lovers toward the number 12 jersey on the Ghanaian side (the referee), who caused more harm to the Eagles than their antagonistic opponents? Is there any clause that forbids the NFA or those over-enthusiastic sports lovers from petitioning the CAF or the Referees Association or still the Ghanaian government or all the above parties for the brutality meted out to players on the Nigerian Eagles team during that ill-fated match? The referee’s discriminatory officiating and apparent oversight of the physical assaults on members of the Eagles team served to frustrate the Eagles during the first half of play despite their determined effort to vindicate themselves as superior to their opponents. The bullying tactics applied by those uncivilized Black star boys, (I thought that stars are divine and ought to shine bright instead of being black), coupled with the earlier threats by most of their fans was reason enough for any human who valued his life to exercise extra caution. Anybody who watched that match would wonder how a player could leave chasing after a ball that is about being taken from him, only to turn two steps backward to thrust three fingers into the eyes of his opponent. That was what a Ghanaian player did to Michel. And the referee who was right by their side failed to notice that brutal attach. I hear that more than one week after that incident, Michel is still nursing the wound. If Nigerians should leave the burning house and begin to chase after rodents, methinks, it is time to think whether a country is worth fighting for, let alone dying for.
My appeal to all sports lovers is that we should not be in a hurry to draw conclusions, especially when it has to do with taking food away from someone else's table. Whenever a national football team shows a bad outing - that is, fails to deliver, it is always the coach that bears the brunt of blame. As far as I am concerned, football tournament is a collective performance of both the coach and his boys. If anybody has to be punished for what happened between the Super Eagles of Nigeria and the Black Stars of Ghana last week Sunday, it is all the parties concerned. Have we forgotten how all of them used to line up to receive a handshake from Nigerian Heads of State each time they have a good outing? And the package is usually heavy and juicy. The coach is never singled out for honours, neither had he ever been excluded. Finally, before we bring down the axe, let us ask whether it is the barber that has not mastered the skill of hair-cut or is it the blade razor that is blunt.
I am informed that the sack order is at the instance of "Nigerian sports lovers". By the way, what has been the reaction of these sports lovers toward the number 12 jersey on the Ghanaian side (the referee), who caused more harm to the Eagles than their antagonistic opponents? Is there any clause that forbids the NFA or those over-enthusiastic sports lovers from petitioning the CAF or the Referees Association or still the Ghanaian government or all the above parties for the brutality meted out to players on the Nigerian Eagles team during that ill-fated match? The referee’s discriminatory officiating and apparent oversight of the physical assaults on members of the Eagles team served to frustrate the Eagles during the first half of play despite their determined effort to vindicate themselves as superior to their opponents. The bullying tactics applied by those uncivilized Black star boys, (I thought that stars are divine and ought to shine bright instead of being black), coupled with the earlier threats by most of their fans was reason enough for any human who valued his life to exercise extra caution. Anybody who watched that match would wonder how a player could leave chasing after a ball that is about being taken from him, only to turn two steps backward to thrust three fingers into the eyes of his opponent. That was what a Ghanaian player did to Michel. And the referee who was right by their side failed to notice that brutal attach. I hear that more than one week after that incident, Michel is still nursing the wound. If Nigerians should leave the burning house and begin to chase after rodents, methinks, it is time to think whether a country is worth fighting for, let alone dying for.
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