International Football
NFF should learn a lesson or two from Senegal
BY KUNLE SOLAJA.
“Winning is a habit. Unfortunately so is losing.” – Vince Lombardi
Senegal Jollof rice is certainly better than Nigeria’s. Well, that could be because Jollof originated from Senegal. Even then, can’t Nigeria perfect it, just as Brazil did in football, despite England’s claim as originator of football?
It is certainly indisputable that Senegal are currently the best in African football. Their dominance looms large enough that even their worst antagonists will notice it.
In a space of 17 months, the Senegalese have swept all African national teams’ titles. None of the title was won on home soil. None of their teams was led by a foreign coach.
For the sake of emphasis, they won the African premier football competition – Africa Cup of Nations in Cameroon, the African Beach Soccer tournament in Mozambique, the African Nations Championships in Algeria, the Under 20 Africa Cup of Nations in Egypt and now the Under 17 Africa Cup of Nations in Algeria.
It is left for imagination if they will not add the Africa Under 23 title to it next month to have a clean sweep of Africa’s six national teams’ trophies.
Yet some years back, Senegal were just medium size African football powers while Nigeria were contenders for continental domination.
What has really propelled Senegalese football lately while Nigeria football is steadily creeping into anonymity?
Nigerian referees are hardly considered for international appointments. Our lead football brand, the Super Eagles has been consistently inconsistent.
No Nigerian male footballer has won the African Footballer of the Year since the crowning of Nwankwo Kanu in 2000.
We no longer have the absolute dominance we had in women’s football in Africa.
The control Nigeria had in youth football, even at global level, has waned considerably as school football competitions which were the hunting ground for rising talents have long lost relevance. We have had in the past where some school boys moved directly to the national teams.
That is now history. We revel in having a glut of football academies that their owners just established for pecuniary purposes to traffic young boys abroad.
Our Under 17 players are supposed to be school boys and girls who should be writing their West African Examination Council examinations in May and June, yet we don’t seem to ask CAF to shift the competition calendar.
The African Schools Football Championship ended without Nigeria’s participation ostensibly as we have no credible national football championships.
Our clubsides have literally turned to the football the other African clubs kick about in both CAF Champions League and the Confederation Cup.
There is hardly a coach from Nigeria that commands continental respect. Yet, all the five titles Senegal have won in the past 17 months are with their nationals as coaches.
Nigeria will rather go for foreign coaches that are without track record of success.
With vast shorelines and beaches, we could not raise formidable beach soccer teams and had to convert field players to beach soccer players.
The results had been so disheartening that Nigeria had to stop participating in the African Beach Soccer as if beheading is the cure for headache. No concious effort to encourage the formation of beach soccer clubs and domestic competitions across the vast beaches that spread from Lagos State through Ondo, Delta, Bayelsa, Rivers and Cross River State.
The concerns of the NFF seem limited to national teams. Football development has taken a back seat. Yet, in other climes, football is a big industry that even attract foreign investments.
It might be argued that Nigeria too has had its moment of dominance, but certainly not at the level that Senegal have done – a clean sweep of all titles.
Nigeria, by now should learn to make winning a habit. You don’t just win once in a while. Like a legendary American football coach, Vince Lombardi once said: “Winning is a habit. Unfortunately so is losing.” Which one do we subscribe to?
Let’s get across to Senegal and Morocco and find out what have been responsible for their rising standard.
Let the NFF take a cue from the Book of Proverbs 6:6 – “Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider its ways and be wise!
International Football
Former Brazil coach Tite taking break to take care of mental, physical health
Former Brazil coach Tite said he is taking an indefinite career break in order to take care of his mental and physical health.
The 63-year-old, who led Brazil to the 2019 Copa America title, was hospitalised due to a heart issue last August. He was sacked by Flamengo the following month and had most recently been linked with the Corinthians job.
“I realised that there are times when you have to understand that, as a human being, I can be vulnerable and admitting that will certainly make me stronger,” Tite said in a statement posted on his son Matheus Bachi’s Instagram on Tuesday.
“I’m passionate about what I do and I’ll continue to be so, but after talking to my family and observing the signals my body was giving off, I decided that the best thing to do now is to take a break from my career to look after myself for as long as it takes.
“As has become public, there was a conversation in progress with Corinthians, but it will have to be paralysed by a difficult but necessary decision.”
Tite, who stepped down as Brazil coach after their quarter-final exit from the 2022 World Cup, has previously coached a string of Brazilian sides including Gremio, Atletico Mineiro and Palmeiras.
-Reuters
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Brazil have sacked head coach Dorival Jr, the country’s football confederation (CBF) said on Friday after the five-time world champions were thrashed 4-1 away to fierce rivals Argentina in a humiliating qualifying loss in Buenos Aires.
The 62-year-old was appointed in January 2024 after the team spent a year under two caretaker coaches as the Brazilian FA were unable to lure Italian Carlo Ancelotti from Real Madrid.
“The Brazilian Football Confederation informs that coach Dorival Jr is no longer in charge of the Brazilian national team,” the confederation said in a statement.
“The management thanks (Dorival) and wishes him success in continuing his career … the CBF will work to find his replacement,” it added.
Dorival was handed the job after his success with Flamengo in 2022 where he won the Copa Libertadores and Brazilian Cup, a trophy he lifted again the next year with Sao Paulo.
However, he never seemed to get to grips with the national team job and failed to earn the trust of Brazil’s demanding fans after winning only seven of his 16 games in charge.
Sources told Reuters the CBF was not confident in Dorival’s work, considering there had been little to no progress since a lacklustre Copa America campaign when Brazil were knocked out in the quarter-finals by Uruguay last year.
Still, the CBF was willing to wait and see until the 2026 World Cup qualifiers against Ecuador and Paraguay in June to reassess the situation following the end of the European season and the Club World Cup in the U.S. in June and July.
But after Brazil slumped to their heaviest-ever loss in a qualifier when they were thrashed by Argentina this week, CBF president Ednaldo Rodrigues decided to pull the trigger.
IDEAL CANDIDATE
Sources told Reuters Ancelotti was still the ideal candidate but he is under contract with Real until July 2026 and there is no indication he would leave the European and Spanish champions.
Brazilian media have reported that Al Hilal’s Portuguese coach Jorge Jesus is the favourite to replace Dorival.
Brazil have been in unfamiliar territory for over two years since crashing out of the 2022 World Cup against Croatia on penalties in the quarter-finals, a heartbreaking elimination that led to the exit of long-time manager Tite.
Their humbling defeat in Buenos Aires was the latest of a series of negative records Brazil have set under caretakers Ramon Menezes and Fernando Diniz and with Dorival in charge. They had never conceded four goals in a World Cup qualifier.
Brazil are in the midst of their worst-ever World Cup qualifying campaign. They are fourth in the South American standings with 21 points, a point above sixth-placed Colombia who currently occupy the final direct qualifying berth.
Never have Brazil lost so many games, conceded so many goals or set so many negative records in the qualifying competition. They have lost five of their 14 games and conceded 16 goals.
Brazil’s 1-0 defeat by Argentina in the Maracana late in 2023 was their first-ever qualifying loss on home soil.
They also lost to Colombia for the first time, saw the end of their unbeaten run against Uruguay stretching back over two decades and were defeated by Morocco and Senegal, having never previously lost to an African nation.
-Reuters
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International Football
England’s German manager Tuchel will not sing the English anthem in his first game
England manager Thomas Tuchel said he would have to “earn the right” to sing the national anthem, God Save the King, after announcing his 26-man squad on Friday ahead of the team’s World Cup qualifiers.
Tuchel, who was appointed as Gareth Southgate’s successor in October and named his first squad to face Albania and Latvia this month, said he would not sing the anthem in his first games in charge.
“It means a lot to me, I can assure you, but I can feel that because it is so meaningful and it is so emotional and it is so powerful, the national anthem, that I have to earn my right to sing it,” the 51-year-old German told a news conference.
Former caretaker manager Lee Carsley was criticised last year for not singing the anthem during his tenure.
However, Tuchel added that while he is proud to be in charge of the team and knows the words to the anthem, he plans to earn the right with results.
“Maybe I have to dive more into the culture and earn my right from you, from the players, from the supporters, so everyone feels like ‘he should sing it now, he’s one of our own, he’s the English manager, he should sing it’,” he said.
-Reuters
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