Lessons From The World Cup: Let Us Stop Deceiving Ourselves We Have The Youngest Team, Start Planning

The heartache, the talking points, the bitter disappointment that our Eagles are out of the World Cup after so much hope that this is the set that will top the other sets.

If there's anything we can take from this World Cup disappointment, it's that we need to start planning for the future and that future and planning has to start now, has to start with the current U15s, U17s and U20s.

This article isn't just aimed at Nigeria, it's aimed at our continent, as I write only Senegal have a hope of going to the next round as the remaining four African countries are already out.

This is a reference for us to look into the mirror and ask ourselves why we never succeed at major tournaments over the age of 17.

Why our continent and country keeps doing the same thing over and over and expect a different result.

What truly do Europeans, South Americans and Asians do differently from us that makes them successful at World Cups?

They build from the ground up, don't take shortcuts at youth levels and they definitely don't cheat with over aged players we've always done because they understand that building a successful football program isn't about winning the U17s at all, it's about developing player from the U13s and up, making sure those players are training at clubs that emphasizes technique, getting playing time at clubs in Europe.

No disrespect to Turkey or China but we need players playing at leagues where technique will be developed.

Not many graduates of our U17s get to play in Europe and most that do never have old, long careers in Europe and that's not their fault- often, bad agents pushing them towards big clubs for big fees and forgetting that these players don’t have the foundation that European layers have.

They don’t have coaches teaching them and engraining in their DNA the fundamentals of modern world football, after these players make a splash at the U17 World Cups, they get loaned out indefinitely until they fizzle out and end up in Turkey, Cyprus, Greece or stop all together.

These are facts, pull up the roster of our last five U17 squads with a simple google search and Wikipedia.

How many of those players are currently playing first team football in top leagues in Europe? How many have had sustained careers in Europe since their move ?

There lies our issue, it starts from the ground, what are our kids being taught vs what are European kids being taught.

Who is doing the teaching and what do they know from training and experience about the fundamentals of football and there would lie the answer.

At  the NFF, we actually have a true lover of grassroots football in Barrister Akinwunmi who by all accounts is working hard to change our football culture - we can already see with what he did with the U15s in friendlies in Morocco- win, lose or draw- played with young players- that's vision, that's looking at the long term because experiences like that for truly young players (real U15s) is a down payment on the future.

Then this same visionary espoused view of reading a synergy from U13s all the way up to the senior National team with the NFF/Zenith Bank Future Eagles Championship.

That is the foundation to future World Cup successes, not using over aged player to get short term gains and suffer for it in the future.

Then this same visionary in barrister Akinwunmi also captured one of the most exciting players young players in Lateef Omidiji Jr, a player already in a position in Europe hat many senior players dream of, a player already touted by many scouts and club directors in Europe as one of the future of football.

For all our criticisms of the NFF, the players, the coach, my people, we need to look at ourselves. This article might offend some, might bother some but if that is the price for starting a real conversation that could save us heartaches in the future then so be it.

We are all Africans, it's time to have a frank conversation with ourselves for the befit of our future, for the benefit of our children, for the benefit of a sport that we all love, for the benefit of our continents inhabitants.

Football is more than a sport here on our continent, football is a religion here, it's a release from all the pressures of living here, it's an escape from our failed governments, it's a stress reliever and dare I say- football is a part of our identity.

We can talk about the poor officiating and bias and those are valid conversations but if we don't get our house in order, we will continue the same cycle of failure, disappointment and talking points which his hire a coach, go to the Nations Cup, lose, get rid of hosts of players who came through our U17s overaged and were never taught basic foundation and principles and to be honest are not up to there with the best in the world technically or tactically.

We fire a coach, hire another for the World Cup, qualify and do it all over again. Such has been our cycle as far back as I can remember.

The money we've spent on this gallant set of super Eagles, imagine investing some in our youth football just 5% of it, the return will be immense.

It means more international friendlies (even if it's African countries and some European tournaments) for our U13s, U15s and U17s, it means potentially unearthing true aged players now that can be wildcards and intriguing possibilities for the World Cup in Qatar 2022.

It means having a National U16 squad to be a synergy to our U17s so the pressure to be older, bigger, stronger and faster as criteria for the U17s is no longer there, it means hiring a coach for our U13s, U15s and U17s that is qualified, teach players technique, tactics and laying a foundation for the future.

Investing 5% of the money we just spent on the Eagles on our youth means developing a playing style and template early and implanting it in players early so that when we get to the senior levels, there will be no arguments about formation or style, the world will see, identify and know Nigerian Football.

It means buying a bone scan machine for our youth program and not just relying on 'birth certificates and passports or in some cases size and what they look like so that we can truly cleanse our youth programs and start from the ground up.

I know it isn't an easy task in a country where we want results right away, where we need to win because we believe we are Brazil, well newsflash we are not, we are Nigeria with a lot of talent at home and abroad but a lot of cracks in or foundation.

Brazilian kids, name any Brazilian star in Europe, all come through real academies in Brazil and nurtured through real academies and real coaches who know their stuff,.

The coaches are in tune with world football, know what to teach, how to teach and who to teach by identifying true talent, not the coaches we have parading themselves around who cannot technically and tactically outwit European coaches.

Let's identify good coaches at grassroots, stop the north, south politics, find coaches that are passionate about coaching, accept that they are limited in knowledge, accept responsibility that it's not their fault its ours, it’s the system we’ve created and accepted, send those coaches on training courses abroad, assign them to our U13s.

Invest in them and send them overseas to train, earn UEFA licenses, have them be a part of our U13s, U15s and U17s who should now regularly be playing African, European, American, South American and Asian friendlies and tournaments (all these countries would love to play teams from Nigeria because of our dominance at youth levels) and eventually these coaches would be the future handlers of our youth and senior teams because of the training investment and international experience they'll have.

In  doing so, it requires patience from the public, understanding that those countries we see succeeding on the global stage have a foundation, have a method, have a system and they don't win U17 tournaments because that's all a learning experience to prepare players for the future.

Let us accept that we will lose games now but be setup to succeed in the future. Let's dead the noise about having the youngest team in the World Cup so that we can truly start planning. We know, we don't, Europeans know it too, so let’s stop deceiving ourselves because no one outside of Africa believes it either.

Let’s look in the mirror because the fact is it's not just Nigeria that use overaged players because that seems to be what you have to do to compete within Africa but when we get to the World Cup, it's a different ball game.

It is time my people to look inward, have a frank conversation about our youth, our passion, our future, our children, our football, let's destroy and rebuild, we will never get anywhere in world football until that is done.

Qatar 2022 is right around the corner, let's get to work now!

Ifeanyi Emmanuel