There are many factors that have
affected Nigerian football in respect of how the national team has fared in
recent times. While the obvious maladministration has been talked about more
times than many can remember as well as the inconsistency in player selections.
No doubt the quality on offer in terms of the players available to the national
team selectors leaves much to be desired. little wonder Sunday Oliseh has
struggled in his bizarre experiments in the three competitive matches he has superintended
over as the team's coach.
However there has been a particular
side that few have dwelled on as to why the country's national team has
remained like a wave of the sea that goes up and down.
This issue lies in the way the venue of
matches is chosen. The lack of a particular venue that is known to all has made
for some measure of inconsistent displays by the Super Eagles. What is
prevalent now is that there have been different stadia that Nigeria have had to
play on, which most times denies the players the familiarity they would have
enjoyed in playing in just one stadium that would serve as really a 'home
stadium' for the players.
During the great years of Clement
Westerhof as coach of the Super Eagles, virtually all the competitive matches
during his five year stint at the helm were played at the National Stadium, Surulere,
Lagos. The
country's qualification for it first World Cup in the USA was built on a solid
home performance in Lagos when consecutive 4-1 victories over Algeria and Ivory
Coast went a long way in qualifying Nigeria for that tournament. The spectators
in Lagos had a
way of driving a team home to victory.
The same was replicated for much of
the qualifiers for France 98 as Philippe Troussie successfully guided Nigeria to qualification while matches remained
in Lagos.
The qualifiers for the Olympics in
1996 were also played in Lagos.
The 0-0 draw and 3-2 victories over Kenya
and Egypt
came at the National Stadium.
The last time the Super Eagles
enjoyed a sustained run in front of Lagos fans
was during the 2000 African Cup of Nations when they played all their matches
there, but lost the finals to Cameroon
under the guidance of Bonfere Jo.
After the inconsistent start to
qualifiers for the 2002 World Cup following losses to Sierra Leone in Freetown,
Shiabu Amodu came into the saddle, but of more significance, the country's last
round of matches were played at the Liberation Stadium in Port Harcourt,
thereby setting a trend of moving matches out of Nigeria's traditional home of
Lagos. The Super Eagles recorded victories over Ghana,
Liberia and Sudan to qualify, and Port Harcourt served as a change of tonic for
the team.
The construction of the Abuja
National Stadium for the All Africa Games in 2003 led to the National Stadium, Lagos to be abandoned,
and it inevitably fell into disrepair. The National Stadium in Abuja has never really attracted a full house
because of it location, which is very far from the suburbs where football fans
live.
The advantage of the newly built
Abuja National Stadium was that the Super Eagles and other teams had the chance
of playing on a good pitch.
It was now the new home of the
Super Eagles. It qualified for the 2008 Cup of Nations from there. But the
heartache of losing out on qualifying for the 2006 World Cup in Germany
remains notable. Ironically, the key match in Nigeria's
group was played at the Sani Abacha Stadium in Kano. A decision that ultimately backfired,
with the team drawing 1-1 against Angola. It was the match that cost Nigeria that
ticket.
And such irrational decision of
changing venues has in itself cost Nigeria on several occasions. There
was the usual hue and cry after that result, with many lamenting the decision
to play that match in Kano instead of Abuja.
The qualification for the Cup of
Nations and World Cup in 2010 was secured playing in Abuja. It was now the home of the team, but
it seldom attracted a full house in the 60,000 capacity National Stadium.
Following Samson Siasia's failure
to qualify Nigeria for the
Cup of Nations in Gabon/Equatorial Guinea in 2012 after a nervy 2-2 draw with Guinea at the
Abuja National Stadium, the unwritten rule to start moving matches across the
country became enshrined in the way the football house takes decisions. As it
seems a bad result was always a recipe to seek another venue.
One thing the Super Eagles never
lacked while playing in Abuja
was the complement of playing on a good pitch.
The UJ Esuene Stadium in Calabar
subsequently became Nigeria's
new home. And like the National Stadium in Lagos, it became something akin to a home for
the Eagles. It qualified for the Cup of Nations in 2013 playing all its matches
there, and also the 2014 World Cup qualifiers were all played there too.
It seems the certainty that matches
would be played in Calabar aided the consistent performance of the
Super Eagles as they went unbeaten while their stint lasted in Calabar.
However, that all changed after the 3-2 loss to Congo Brazzaville. Since that
loss in September 2014, Nigeria
has not played any match in Calabar.
Strangely the remaining home
matches were played in different venues with contrasting results. The match
against Sudan which ended in
a 3-1 victory was played in Abuja
marking a return to the Stadium. But the key match against South Africa
where victory was needed was played in Uyo at the Akwa Ibom Stadium. The team
never felt at home in a 2-2 draw against Bafana Bafana a year ago. I doubt if
any National team has played three homes matches at different venues for a qualifying
campaign of the Cup of Nations.
In March, 2015 Stephen Keshi's last
match as Super Eagles coach was played against Chad
at the Ahmadu Bello Stadium in Kaduna,
in what was largely a bumpy pitch. Since then another venue has been used for
Super Eagles matches which was the World Cup qualifiers against Swaziland played at the Adoke Amesiemeka Stadium
in Port Harcourt
in November.
The lack of a particular stadium
where the Super Eagles can actually call home as resulted in several inconsistent
home performances and this trend might not change.
However, when the situation in Nigeria is
compared to what obtains in other African countries, there is clearly a pattern
that is different. As most of the power houses of African football restrict
their matches to a particular stadium, and where there is a shift in venue it
never more than one city. The Black Stars of Ghana alternate between the Accra
Sport Stadium, Accra or the Baba Yara Stadium in
Kumasi. The
Elephants of Ivory Coast are at home at the Felix Houphouet-Boigny Stadium in Abidjan. Tunisia plays their matches at the Stade 7
November, Rades, Zambia’s
matches now takes place at the Levy Mwanawasa Stadium in Ndola. Cameroun’s
Indomitable Lions ply their trade at Stade Ahmadou Ahidjo in Yaoundé or the
State de la Reunification in Douala,
while the Desert Foxes of Algeria have settled for the Mustapha Tchaker in
Bilda, which has served them well in their recent resurgence in the African
football scene.
While the venue of matches is
determined most times in Nigeria
by financial consideration, it will serve Nigeria football well if the
football house would stick to prosecuting matches involving the National team in
a particular venue so that the players and coaching staff can enjoy the benefit
of truly playing in a home stadium.
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