| Eagles,
Nigeria’s best global brand
• Rebranding Nigeria must start
with 2010 World Cup ticket
By EMMA
NJOKU
Saturday, June 27, 2009
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•Eagles
celebrate
Photo: Sun News Publishing
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Nigeria’s ticket to the 2010 World Cup finals would have
been a done deal before now if the qualities in the Super Eagles
as a brand had been duly harnessed.
Former Super Eagles’ utility player, Emeka Ezeugo, passed
the verdict while lamenting Nigeria’s struggle on the
road to the first mundial on the African continent next year.
Ezeugo, who has become popular lately for his robust comments
on issues bordering on Nigerian football is piqued over the
fire brigade approach adopted by the federal government and
the nation’s football authorities towards Nigeria’s
qualification for the 2010 World Cup.
“Our national team, the Super Eagles are the only global
brand we have and missing out of the greatest showpiece on earth
that would be happening at our courtyard is not an option,”
he declared in an exclusive chat with Saturday Sunsport.
“Somebody should tell President Umar Yar'Adua and the
Information Minister, Prof. Dora Akunyili that gold and gun
don’t fit right on every hand. Rebranding Nigeria must
start with the Super Eagles, but the right people must be involved
in the process.
“How did we get to where we are at the moment regarding
the race to the 2010 World Cup in South Africa? I knew when
we got to the edge of the cliff, when we shot ourselves at the
foot and when the bus headed for the ditch. But I knew not when
we plunged this far to warrant a fire service-last minute Presidential
Task Force and mobilization of Nigerians to come out en masse
to cheer the national team.
“I refuse to be shortsighted
or get all swept up, neither will I change my character or compromise
my principles by allowing glittery things to place me under
yoke.
“We live in a nation where conducts that are in accordance
with merit, truth, humanity, trustworthiness, decency and religion
are damaging to one’s prestige.
“Did Nigeria win the hosting right of the 2010 World Cup
with Odegbami as our frontman? We never learn from our mistakes.
This is no sniper aimed at ‘Big Seg’. I’m
just being me.
“My mouth refuses to spew bile, but must I remain a prisoner
of words unsaid? What can John Fashanu offer Nigeria that England
will be so bereft of? Our legislators don’t even know
what Nigeria’s absence in South Africa will represent.
The Presidency, the ministers and legislators have no clue that
Eagles remain Nigeria’s best global brand for quite a
long while and rebranding Nigeria must begin with the Eagles.
Football remains one good thing that is in the lives of our
countrymen.”
The former national team player, who was nicknamed ‘Super
Eagles Destroyer’ due to his ability to mark-out danger
men in the opposite teams, maintained that Nigeria could have
snatched the maximum points from Tunisia in Rades last weekend
if his expertise had been solicited.
“The Super Eagles could have picked up the three point
at stake in Tunisia. I could have given some expert tips free
of charge if my input had been solicited. The players who would
have ensured the maximum points were there. The big occasion
players ought to have been selected and energised. They must
be the type who are not afraid of greatness.
“Yes, some people are born great while some achieve greatness,
but in this case, the Tunisia game would have trusted greatness
upon the lads. The team need stalwarts in the defence. The midfield
lacked players with strong character, leaders who like to roll
up their sleeves and win a top place in ‘dirty dozen’
competitions.
“We need midfielders, who are capable of eating up the
time and space of the opponents within 100th of a second. These
are players who don’t require 90 minutes to turn it on.
These kind of players can be created from the ones we got.”
Although he believes that the situation could still be remedied,
Ezeugo, however, regretted that the Super Eagles should have
been busy strategising on how to ensure a successful outing
in South Africa next year rather than struggle for the ticket
to the first World Cup finals in Africa.
“Nations
preparing to win the World Cup in 2010 are already plotting
how they will approach their engagements in South Africa, while
we are putting all we have got in qualifying for the mundial.
By the time we actually manage to go there, we would have been
so exhausted that we will struggle to scale the preliminary
hurdles.
“It’s never too late for us to wake
up, but we need to get together soon,” Ezeugo advised. |
