Thursday 14 January 2016

2016: The sporting expectations and the glory, by Amos Etuk

It’s a new season in our sporting calendar as the new continues unfold and the expectations for glorious outings in the sporting sectors globally is high as the recent events in the new year so far has already set the template for the new fire works that will set the stage aglow. Just last week, Africa celebrated her football Oscars with the GLO/CAF Awards with Nigerian youngsters Victor Osimen and Etebo clinching awards in the future categories to put the country on world recognition while our female football once again continues to nose dive as the dominance of our female football teams on the continent failed to sweep any award and the biggest of them all was the non appearance of any Nigerian as in the final three for the African Footballer of the Year Award.

The obvious absence once again shows that the quality of our senior team players in recent years has continued to dwindle as the national team today is filled with players who mostly are below average and do not play regularly for their sides while some are presently plying their trade with lower and less prestigious leagues as far as Asia.
In not taking anything away from the GLO/CAF Awards, I must sincerely commend the event sponsor for putting up a very wonderful event that meets the set standards of the modern technological era, the aesthetics content and cultural flavour has once again been showcased that Africa has emerged as the continent of the present and that football remains an integral power house that has positioned the continent with other world powers.
The likes of Yaya Toure, Andre Ayew and Pierre Emerick are obviously the best players on the continent and taking their pedigree on contributions in the past season, it is certain anyone of them would have been the best choice to be the new brand and ambassador for the continent.
Andre Ayew has been sterling for the Black Stars of Ghana and has youth on his side and likely to be Africa’s best in the nearest future following the strides of his father Abedi Pele as his contributions to the Black Stars during the last Africa Cup of Nations was overwhelming.
For Yaya Toure, the expectations were high even from Yours Sincerely that he was the obvious winner for the high point of the night having captained Cote d’Ivoire to the Nation’s Cup victory and is the pivot of English Premiership giants, Manchester City. He certainly was in high expectations going by his confidence on the stage along with the other nominees and Africa see in him as one of the best players that has been produced in recent years.
For the Gabonese, Pierre Emerick, he was just his simple self and I guess he came to the event just to be part of the history and glitz of the night satisfied being among the continent’s best footballers but the new history that awaited him that night and his new status of being the first Gabonese to win the award has made him a national hero.
For club and country, Pierre Emerick has been outstanding since last season and has been red hot in form scoring freely and becoming a target for the big clubs including Arsenal presently. His double digit goals last season for Borrussia Dortmond brought him to the fore of world recognition and has also brought that sterling form into the present season netting 18goals so far in the Bundesliga while helping Gabon to an impressive outing at the last Nations Cup.
His emergence as the new African Football King was breath taking an a reward as he beat his closest rival Yaya Toure by seven votes to clinch the award and has become a national hero as his arrival in Libreville a day after the awards was heralded like a triumphant entry of the new King in town and the Presidential treat will surely leave lasting memories for the youngster who has been a role model to the new generation of players in his native land and the new window of opportunities that has now beckoned on players from the country and then Central African Republic to excel on the continent in the new season and on the global stage.
However, the mutterings of the second placed Yaya Toure who took a swipe on the continent’s football administration for not winning has not taken the shine away from the event as he cannot blame CAF for his inability not to emerge having won it four consecutive times and was on the verge of a fifth about to surpass the record he jointly holds with Samuel Eto’O of Cameroun.
I feel Yaya  Toure has always been outstanding and is obviously an A-List world player but the tide of the past season may have become higher with the new kid on the block and should rather commend his successor rather than walk the road of an angry loser as he cannot keep winning the award yearly and he should accept that he needs to work harder in the current year if he hopes to return to the stage once again (which I strongly doubt after all the verbal assaults) as he could still make that history.
On the whole, the awards were obviously the best in recent history and content and the winners well deserved as the continent continues to grow in exploits with the array of stars that has made the focus on our budding talents renowned.
The new year also holds great promise for the domestic league but the challenge of running club sides in the country has been a huge burden and a great minus that has made the attraction of foreign players shun the country as over ninety percent of clubs in the elite league are run by state governments who see the various clubs as mere political tools on the scene rather than having the passion to work for the growth of teams and welfare of players.
Most of these government sponsored clubs see the immediate benefits of winning trophies and the political gains it would offer and thereafter abandon these teams to their fate, killing dreams and aspirations of the players and finally putting the administrative sector of the game into ridicule as once again, the resumption for the new season has been postponed by the League Management Company.
One wonders when our league would ever be run on schedule without any postponements as these issues have become estranged in our football which drags the season even beyond a year as witnessed some years back. Have we ever wondered how the league sponsors would view the inconsistencies of our ineffective administrative planning to make the league more lucrative and in line with other countries like South Africa, Ghana, Egypt, Congo and Tunisia who have long term plans that have benefitted their various club sides on the continent?
Feelers last week have it that the new league season will not start on January 31, 2016 but till after the CHAN 2016 in Rwanda. That competition will feature players from the local league and it will start this weekend and end on February 7, 2016 and this would be the second appearance of Nigeria at the tournament.
That means the new Nigerian league season will definitely start at the end of February and by that period, continental action will have started without our representatives having any first class extensive exposure before they begin the tougher quest and we still have the expectations of winning trophies on the continent when we cannot get the foundation of the administrative concept right even for once.
We have failed to realise that most clubs especially the ones playing on the continent need to be in top form and that means they need to be playing week in and week out and the pre-season friendlies are not strong enough to shore them to continental quest and that the league can surely go on as clubs have recruited players who can also excel even better than the 22 presently with the CHAN Eagles in Rwanda.
We have also been informed that cash crunch affecting the clubs mostly owned by state governments is also another reason  behind the shift in the January 31 big kick off as moves to pay outstanding payments of the previous season which has become a recurring decimal in our football as well as putting in place new mechanisms to checkmate such embarrassing scenarios may have clearly informed the shift in date using the CHAN as the perfect excuse a clear case being the embarrassing scenario of Taraba United last season till the Christmas period.
The Super Four Tournament which was meant to be the season opener to prepare our continental sides for the task ahead has once again been shifted. The tournament which was meant to start on January 11, 2016 has now been moved to January 20-24, 2016 and even as at that, no venue has yet been decided as several state governments are yet to make any firm commitments in bankrolling the competition.
Even as at that, the date may once again be shifted as this was the only major litmus test to keep our continental teams on the edge ahead of the quest for glory which begins in exactly a month’s time with the likes of Enyimba Football Club of Aba, Warri Wolves featuring in the CAF Champions League while Akwa United and Nassarawa United will feature in the CAF Confederation Cup.
The excitement of hosting the Super Four for these teams is gradually fading as the cash strapped Nigeria Football Federation once again, failed to have any long term shot at getting sponsors for the competition knowing the importance to the growth of our football yearly and the huge challenge that could face our teams as the continental glory begins with regards to our ineffective league administration. Even the league opener which is usually called the Charity Cup has no fixed date because we are yet to know or have a date for the league kick off. That fixture is always between the league winners (Enyimba) versus the Federation Cup Champions (Akwa United).
For Akwa United, the 2016 expectations are high not among the fans in the state but Nigerians who expect so much from the team as they battle on three strong fronts all season and how far they can go without the usual club distractions of late payment of players welfare, salary and match bonuses as well as prompt release of funds will set the template of where their history in 2016 will be made positively or negatively.
Like other continental representatives in the country, Akwa United has made several changes in the new season with the coming of the Journey Man of Nigerian football, Maurice Cooreman as the new gaffer of the team.
How far the over 70 year old Belgian can take the team in the 2016 season will be known in the next few weeks but Yours sincerely has been reliably informed that he has brought a new orientation to the growth of the team, new techniques and hopefully new confidence on the players as well as added some new players mainly home stars plying their trade with other club sides and that the team should be in Calabar, Cross River State as they begin their pre-season preparations.
For the records, Akwa United will be making their maiden appearance at the CAF Confederations Cup in about a month in far away Congo, feature in the elite league and also hope to defend their Federation Cup with the present squad. A finish among the top four at the end of the season should also be a set target for the team.
One of the biggest sporting fiestas for the New Year will be the greatest assemblage of athletes in Rio, Brazil for the Olympic Games this summer as Brazil looks set to host the world following the success of the World Cup hosting in 2014.
For our dear country, the preparations has been the usual bureaucratic challenge with teams barely in camp and the foreign based depending on participating on invitational meets earning some money which at the end of the day may see them burnt out before the games.
For our dear country, the season for preparations for the games has not started till about two months to the events as countries like the United states , Jamaica, France, Australia, New Zealand and even South Africa have about three years ago been on a strategic long term working plan to haul medals at the games.
On the continent, we have lost our stronghold in the sprints with the Ivoriens and Benenoise now in charge while our only and brightest medal prospect Blessing Okagbare remains doubtful to produce that sterling form that could see the country to the podium at least for a bronze.
Our boxers are just raw with no gymnasium to quality coach to put them in shape as boxing once a medal prospect for the country today is completely’’ dead’’. The Brai Ayonote gymnasium at the National Institute for Sports is of past glory as street urchins and rodents have taken over the place. Facilities are almost non-existent as the raw talents are left unexposed to modern day boxing techniques about six months to the games.
In swimming and gymnastics where the medal haul is high, we have no plans for the success in that sport at the moment. In the long distance, the East Africans have sustained their dominance over the decades while on the field events, our brightest hope is on Tosin Oke in the Triple Jump and that feat can be achieved if he is fully fit.
In summary, the 2016, summer Olympic Games may just be another beach sightseeing experience for our sports administrators and political class as our hope of a medal finish does not look impressive going by our present preparations and may be an exercise to count our numbers. Just my take on our participation at the games.
However, we look forward to another world breaking performance from Usain Bolt the World’s fastest human and the rivalry in the sprints between the Americans and the Jamaicans once again and the dominance of the Australians in swimming, the Chinese in gymnastics and the East Africans in the long distance races.
The year will hopefully feature the National Sports festival scheduled to hold in Calabar, Cross River State and after several years and months of postponements due to the political intrigues of last year, it is expected that the event should hold this year as our local athletes warm up to the quest to win medals for their respective states.
The competition was designed to be a foundation to discover talents that would be nurtured to feature for the country but unfortunately, politics and administrative bottlenecks have since eroded this vision to meet the set objectives today. A sad commentary on our sports development.
For Akwa Ibom State, we can only hope for a better and superior performance at the games maintaining our top ten position in the last two games and it would definitely be a good stride in the development of the pace of our sports in the year.
Also in the summer, Europe will be set alight as the EUOR 2016 holds in France with 24 teams on parade. It will be the first time that the competition will feature 24 teams as expectations are high that France will likely win the tournament. It promises to be interesting.
The New Year will see the Super Eagles of Nigeria hope to go for glory in the CHAN tournament starting this weekend in Rwanda as the team makes a second appearance hoping to better their last position of a bronze.
The tournament has been described as difficult as it parades home based stars looking for glory but the Sunday Oliseh tutored side hopes to raise the stakes higher by sustaining the glory of cup streaks being won by the Amaju Pinnick led Federation board.
In March 2016, the senior national team, the Super eagles will be going for a crucial double header encounter against the Pharaohs of Egypt in fixtures that would determine which team heads the group towards the 2018 World Cup scheduled for Russia.
It would be Coach Sunday Oliseh’s biggest test in a competitive encounter since he came on board and he is condemned to win the fixtures home and away for Nigeria to be on top of the group. Only one team will qualify from each group. Oliseh in recent months has been more on the sick bed than on the field with his players.
The outcome of the CHAN games may have an effect on his long stay with the Eagles as he has had spats with some senior players who have retired from international football in quick successions including Vincent Enyeama and Emmanuel Emenike. The most important achievement for the Amaju Pinnick led football board would be a World Cup ticket. There would be no excuses.
One of the greatest highlights of the new year would be who will take over the Presidency of FIFA which in recent months has been viewed negatively from the corruption scare to the political intrigues of life leadership of the out gone Sepp Blatter.
What the game need now is a fresh breath of new leadership as the expectations are high from the sponsors, fans and players as we look forward to the end of the era of the Blatters, Valckes, Platinis and other accomplices who held the administration of the game by the jugular turning it into a profitable personal estate of fortunes.
Our dear Minister for Sports, Simon Dalong, I am not interested in how you dress if you have a model in any revolutionary leader, but please pay more attention to developing our decayed infrastructure and upgrade the National Institute for Sports. Pay more attention to grassroots sports especially school sports and please tell President Muhammadu Buhari your boss to reward our Golden Eaglets and other teams that have given us glory since he came on board. We seen enough of the ‘’change’’ mantra in rewarding hard work that has made your administration stand out so far. Please, reward our athletes who have won laurels for you. They deserve it.
We look forward to an interesting season in the European leagues especially in England, Spain, Germany and France while we await the beginning of the first of four tennis grand slams this week as Novak Jukovic, Roger Federer and Serena Williams hold the aces while hoping that the green turf of the golf course will see the renowned Tiger Woods bounce back in Golf and the Formula One races that will light up the race tracks.
So many sporting events, bigger expectations and lots of intrigues in the year ahead and it can only get bigger with every spectacle unfolding. Happy New Year folks. Enjoy the season.

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