With just a few months to go, it is still in doubt if the “Giants of Africa” would be able to comfortably host the U-17 World Cup. Personally I was one of those Nigerians that was delighted when the Federal Government initially decided to pull out of hosting the tourney October last year. My joy was not bourn out of some sinister hatred for the country, on the contrary it was that of extreme love. Any time the Nation plays host to the international community, it seems some corrupt public officers in the Nigerian government quickly pounce on the opportunity to loot and mismanage public funds.
Recently the vice-president of the World Soccer governing body, Mr Jack Warner, came to inspect the Niation’s preparedness for the tourney and he left the country with a big frown on his face. His disappointment was written clearly over his face, and this is very understandable considering the eye-sore he was made to see at the various stadiums he visited.

What baffles me is that just a few years after we hosted the World Youth Championship, the infrastructures used then have become desolate with several of them vandalized.

The absolute disregard for maintenance of existing properties have become a way of life in the Nigerian society and no matter how much we spend building new facilities in the country, it just turns out a big waste (Have any of you recently been to the National Stadium in Lagos?).

Nigerians are always excited when any of their national teams play, and they give this love and excitement to only the team garbed on green and white. This one-sided team support would not doubt affect the attendance at games that do not involve Nigerian teams.

More importantly, most tournaments succeed when the host team advances to at least the quarterfinal stage of that tourney. Unfortunately for Nigeria however, the NFF seem set to ensure we don’t get that far. It is still unclear if we really do have a team for the tournament, after coach Alphonsus Dike humiliated the Nation by taking those over-aged individuals to lose to a less fancied Beninoise side.

After that embarrassment we have heard little about the Nigerian team or its technical bench, making it very hard to see any reason why they would perform better than they did against the “struggling” neighbour.

I really find it hard to believe that everything would be put in place properly before the tournament starts. There are some ignorant individuals who are of the opinion that Nigeria would perform “Magic” and turn things around just before the games begin, this is a fool’s belief and it is the certain road towards irredeemable failure.

Awenlimobor Sylvester