I've made this promise to myself time and time again to stop watching any Nigerian national team but to no avail. Thus it was that this evening I sat down to watch the quarter final match of the World Youth Cup versus Chile, and I have been left with an extremely bitter taste in my mouth. I always get depressed when a Naija team is beaten.
Why is it that we've been getting short changed by referees in tournaments, and no, I am not talking from the view point of a fan. Maybe if I can bring myself to do it later I'll find a YouTube video of Chile's first two goals. In the first goal, the guy who tapped the ball back to the goal scorer was very offside, but the goal was allowed to stand. For the second goal the man who was brought down, and indeed he was clipped from behind was very offside, but the referee allowed play to go on. In the entire course of the game every 50:50 decisions went the way of the Chileans, and it became obvious in the way they began going to ground at the slightest touch as the game wore on, earning us 6 yellow cards in the course of the match...
For me the positive from this team however is that we have someone for the future who can help patch that hole in our central midfield, that boy Dapo Olufemi who wore jersey number four is one to watch. Meanwhile Ezekiel Bala is just not up to standard, and the coach didn't do well to leave him on the field for so long, ditto Brown Ideye. Given the form of Vincent Enyeama and Austin Ejide, we are beginning to get spoiled for choice in the goal keeping department as I was in the end impressed by Ike Ezenwa. He only needs to work on his positioning, but his reflexes, anticipation, first touch and agility are very good. Another person who was slightly impressive was Suraj Sodiq. Pity his tournament ended with an unfair red, but as far as I can see, with a bit of training he could be the solution to the seeming lack of a right back in the full side. I would recommend that these three players be taken along for the ride in Ghana next year.
As for Howard Webb, yes, the same stupid idiot that mistakenly sent Adebayor off in the Carling Cup final, he has only confirmed what I wrote about him then, he is absolutely stupid. Meanwhile Arsenal fans eat your hearts out. The Beast's goal against Argentina was world class!