He is acknowledged as one of the most knowledgeable persons on Nigerian football. He sent me a message from his base in Greece after watching Nigeria’s last match against Guinea Bissau. I had been dumbstruck after the match, unable to make sense of what I witnessed – a truly hapless Nigerian national team. For the first time, I was unable to respond to John because, very simply, I did not know what to tell him.
There was no explanation for what I had just watched, how the players played, and what befell Nigerian football. Finally, I sent him a single-worded message that spoke the state of my mind: “Speechless”. Since then, the country has been enveloped in a canopy of silence. Nigeria was beaten hands down. The team was completely outplayed in all departments. The Super Eagles simply did not show up.
They showed no style, no class, no guts, no grit, no spirit. They went through the motions of a caricature of European football, abandoning their foundation and motivation as leaders of a Race engrained with the spirit of always fighting, never giving up, fighting till the end with flair, power, speed, and athleticism. Even when we sometimes lose, we do so leaving the scars of battle on the football field.
Last Tuesday, the Eagles walked out of the stadium in Guinea Bissau heads bowed, and tails tucked between their legs. Since then, Nigerians have been silenced. There is no one to ask what went wrong. There is no one to take responsibility or provide an answer.
I could not put my finger on anything beyond the consolation that in history, the last two times the Nigerian national team lost as badly as they did last week, although under different circumstances, Nigeria immediately bounced back. They came back from