Latest Fifa rankings reflect our fall from grace

Ayo Akinfe

Fifa released its July rankings last week and Nigeria remains unchanged in 34^th position. Currently ranked fifth in Africa, we are considered a lesser team than Ivory Coast, Egypt, Gabon and Cameroon, while on the international stage, the likes of Northern Ireland, Israel, Bulgaria, Scotland, Chile, Greece, etc are considered our betters.

No doubt, many Nigerian football fans will dispute this table, claiming that it is not a genuine reflection of our strength but we must ask ourselves if this is indeed the case. Does Fifa have any other criteria to judge us by other than how we perform in competitive and friendly games?

Given that our performances in the ongoing World Cup/African Cup of Nations qualifiers have been dire to say the least, I believe it is fair to acknowledge that Nigeria is no longer the footballing power we once were. During our heyday between 1994 and 2000, we would have romped to victory in Maputo and Rades and would now be sitting pretty at the top of our group with nine points.

In April 1994, Fifa ranked Nigeria fifth in the world and a certain aura surrounded the Super Eagles at the time. This aura was so strong that there was a certain buzz around our camp at USA 94 and a large body of opinion tipped the Eagles to win the Mundial.

Obviously that did not happen but the point had been made that Nigeria was now a serious player when it came to global football. Can we say the same thing today given the sorry state of our affairs?

Back in the 1990s, our footballers were highly sought after by the good and the gracious. One criteria used to judge how many world class players you have is to count how many of your players ply their trade with G-14 clubs. About a decade ago, we could boast of about eight.

Undisputed as the cream of club football, the G-14 clubs are spread across seven different countries and have won around 250 national league titles between them. Their members include Liverpool (England), Manchester United (England), Juventus (Italy), Milan (Italy), Internazionale (Italy), Marseille (France), Paris Saint-Germain (France), Bayern Munich (Germany), Borussia Dortmund (Germany), Ajax (Netherlands), PSV Eindhoven (Netherlands), Porto (Portugal), Barcelona (Spain) and

Real Madrid (Spain).

In 2002, Arsenal (England), Lyon (France), Bayer Leverkusen (Germany) and Valencia (Spain) joined the club and although Chelsea is not an official member of the club, we all know that they are in this league. Very soon, I expect Manchester City to be ranked among them.

Back in the late 1990s, we had Nwankwo Kanu and Finidi George at Ajax, Taribo West at Inter Milan, Sunday Oliseh at Juventus, Emmanuel Ammunike at Barcelona, Victor Ikpeba at Borrussia Dortmund, Austin Okocha at PSG and Celestine Babayaro at Chelsea. Compare that with today whereby we only have Mikel Obi at Chelsea and Taiye Taiwo at Marseille and you can see how low the mighty have fallen.

Both collectively and individually, we are no longer what we once were and this is reflected in our Fifa rankings, what clubs our boys ply their trade in and above all on the green grass. The key question is what are we going to do about it.

We have less than a year before South Africa 2010 to turn things around but it appears that we are totally oblivious to the problem. If we want to be honest with ourselves, we will admit that many of our players currently commanding shirts in the Super Eagles are not good enough to win silverware and changes need to be made within the next 11 months.

Looking back to the glory days, Clemence Westerhof had the guts to drop many average old timers and replace them with up and coming youngsters with a lot more talent. Between 1993 and 1994, the likes of Austin Okocha, Sunday Oliseh and Emmanuel Ammunike were brought into the team at the expense of more experienced players.

We are fortunate to have the best crop of youngsters anywhere in the world at the moment, having produced a silver winning U-20 in 2005 and having the privilege of Yemi Tella’s U-17 World Cup champions from 2007. The million naira question is whether Amodu Shaibu will be brave enough to incorporate them into his squad before the big dance in South Africa next year.

Unless we do that, we will not start winning games convincingly, our players will not start moving to big clubs and the Eagles will not rise up the Fifa rankings. If one wants to be perfectly honest, the only players capable of joining Mikel at clubs the size of Chelsea are those from these two youth squads like Dele Adeleye, Lukman Haruna, Rabiu Ibrahim, Kingsley Udoh, Chrisantus MaCauley and Chinedu Ogbuke.

Over the summer, Obafemi Martins joined Wolfsburg, Seyi Olofinjana signed up for Hull City, Ike Uche moved to Real Zaragoza and Oladapo Olufemi joined Norway’s IK Start. For a nation where football is a religion, we expect bigger and better signings than this.

As things stand, time is not on our side as we are stuck with what we have got until at least after the next World Cup. It will take a while for the academies run by the likes of Segun Odegbami and Kashimawo Laloko to start producing players in significant quantities to make a difference.

What Amodu Shaibu and the Nigerian Football Federation need to do in my opinion is begin an immediate grafting programme aimed at fast-tracking our best talent into the Super Eagles over the next 11 months. If we do not, we will live to regret it.

In 1988, we went to the World Cup with a few players who are past it and paid a heavy price for that folly. Cameroon did the same thing in 1994 and Croatia did likewise in 2002. If we want to make an impact come 2010, we need the best of the best and they need to be gradually integrated into the squad starting from now.

Sadly, we are not playing a friendly before the Tunisia game, so everything is going to have to wait until after we play the Carthage Eagles in Abuja in September. Once that game is out of the way, it is time to start the serious business of building a World Cup-winning squad.

Only the very best should be picked, irrespective of which clubs they play for, how many caps they have under their belts and how much “experience” they have. How well this integration programme goes will determine what kind of 2010 we will have.

Robot  # 1 | 08.08.2009 10:20

Both collectively and individually, we are no longer what we once were and this is reflected in our Fifa rankings, what clubs our boys ply their trade in and above all on the green grass. The key question is what are we going to do about it. ...Read the full article.

omaks  # 2 | 08.08.2009 14:54

=Robot;379543>Both collectively and individually, we are no longer what we once were and this is reflected in our Fifa rankings, what clubs our boys ply their trade in and above all on the green grass. The key question is what are we going to do about it. ...Read the full article. Our first priorities right now is to qualify for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, and we are on tract with that at the moment. Secondly, nigeria doesn't play as many friendly matches as some of the countries above them in the FIFA rankings, so while it is a picture of the current state of activities of participating countries, it's not reaklly a true reflection of the better teams. Any team in the top 50 is still capable of beating other teams in that bracket. Finally, let's not be too harsh on our boys in terms of where the Super Eagles stand in the FIFA rankings. Traditionally, before the start of a world cp our rankings are ususally unattractive, but as soon as we compete and probably do well in the African Nations cup, and the world Cup (if we do indeed qualify), our rankings should ultimately improve. Let's all be optimistic for our dear Super Eagles.

Anthonia  # 3 | 09.08.2009 23:14

=omaks;379588>Our first priorities right now is to qualify for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, and we are on tract with that at the moment. Secondly, nigeria doesn't play as many friendly matches as some of the countries above them in the FIFA rankings, so while it is a picture of the current state of activities of participating countries, it's not reaklly a true reflection of the better teams. Any team in the top 50 is still capable of beating other teams in that bracket. Finally, let's not be too harsh on our boys in terms of where the Super Eagles stand in the FIFA rankings. Traditionally, before the start of a world cp our rankings are ususally unattractive, but as soon as we compete and probably do well in the African Nations cup, and the world Cup (if we do indeed qualify), our rankings should ultimately improve. Let's all be optimistic for our dear Super Eagles. Omaks, i like your spirit of patriotism, but unfortunately, optimism does not win matches nor achieve results for us. we need to start making proper headway in our attempts to make any meaningful impact in the world of soccer and to do this, we need to spend good money, get the right people in place and give the boys the right motivatiopn to do well. we have fallen in fifa ranking because we have not done much in terms of preparing our house for the mundial, and nations are ranked based on outcomes of international friendlies and the quality of opponents they meet in those friendlies. we need to play more friendlies to build a cohesive and formidable team.

Ochi Dabari  # 4 | 14.08.2009 00:29

Sadly, Nigeria expects every statistical body to develop unique criteria for ranking Nigeria. Nigerians sitting at home think that every ranking conducted by world bodies is wrong and not reflective of the situation in Nigeria, but they fail to provide an alternative, transparent ranking scheme that will be suitable for other countries. If we decide to sleep while other countries march on, we should not expect them to rank us they way we think we are worth. On Wednesday this week, several countries played international friendlies - our boys were on holiday, may be drinking plenty in Europe or chasing white girls. The team and country would tell you that they fell in the rank because they did not play the matches that could be used for ranking. This failure translates into everything else - in September when they meet Tunisia, they will still be learning about who is effective in attack or which goalkeeper will be unable to deal with a back pass. Other countries finalise these things through friendly matches, not on big match day. It is also showing in which teams our boys play; 3rd and 4th division clubs, from which no serious country can select a team. We are not just dropping in sport only. You could wire money directly into bank accounts in many African countries, including those recently affected by war, like Mozambique and Angola, now or even do Western Union online, but this cannot happen to Nigeria. If you try it, your money is likely going to vanish into thin air. Only some of the new unreliable banks offer such services. At the big banks, your money will disappear. Now, if the world says that Nigerian banking rates low; we would say no, that's not true. The world, however, has the yardsticks that every country recongises. Not Nigeria. Our Human Development Index is pathetic, but we still believe that the statistics are wrong. Anyway, I have a suggestion to FIFA; when next they do the rankings, they should include such variables as height of players; their beer drinking skills; their womanising skills, and praying power of the country. This way, I am sure Nigeria will move back into the top 5. If you go to Tunisia now, they are practising, but Nigerians are still deciding on how many days of fasting will do the trick - God to tie the legs of the Tunisians and give victory to His children, Nigeria. Praise the Lord. Allah u akbar. ochi No doubt, many Nigerian football fans will dispute this table, claiming that it is not a genuine reflection of our strength but we must ask ourselves if this is indeed the case. Does Fifa have any other criteria to judge us by other than how we perform in competitive and friendly games?