Skip to main content

The problem with our national team performance can't be attributed to the coaches

The problem with our national team performance can't be attributed to the coaches or our elite foreign based players, they all gave in their best shuts in all the games played so far. It will be very unfair to apotion blame to either the coaches nor the players.


Elite players need to play on elite pitches, not good pitches.(See below the classification of pitches for football)


The Nigerian home base eagles would perform better than our elite players on a good pitch. 


The super Eagles elite players can never give a good performance on a pitch that holds back the ball because they train and play speed football  week in week out for their club sides on synthetic infused pitches meant for speed football. 

SPEED FOOTBALL IS THE FUTURE.


The transition in training from speed football to slow pace football in just few days of training before match day would kill the performance of even the best player in the world for a top competitive game like a world cup qualifiers or the African Nation Cup qualifiers.


Football today is not about 11 aside kicking the ball on a green surface, football has gone scientific, the ball bounce, the ball roll and biomechenics of the players foot plays a very important role in 21st century football.


Even if we employ the services of the best coach in the world for the Nigerian Super Eagles, the story will not change if we are going to be relying on our elite foreign based players for the super Eagles.


Since our next do or die game against South Africa will be played on a good pitch in 6 months time  we need to start looking inwards towards our NPFL for players who are playing week in week out on those good pitches for their  NPFL clubs and have a fusion team of both home base and foreign base elite players.


The NFF has a very strong role to play in supporting our national team coaches if we really want to get it right. 


The NFF has to have a very strong facilities team filled with seasoned professional groundsmen, I don't honestly know if the NFF have such team in place, the role of this facilities team will be an advance team to visit and inspect the playing conditions of the away team pitch and come up with an accessment report of the playing condition of the match day pitch.


This accessment of the Away team pitch playing condition can be an added advantage for the team formation from the Coach.


Herein attached are the different classifications for standard football pitches in the world. 


I remain your loyal groundsman

Ebi Ezekiel Egbe

Member of Grounds Management Association UK.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

2023 LSFA/BETWGB Lagos FA Cup Getting Hotter

Akinkunle Bolarinwa  The second round of matches were concluded at the ongoing Lagos State FA Cup competition and more upsets are expected before the last eight games. Organisers have seen tremendous improvements in team's participation and crowd turnouts. However, top clubs keep their eye on the prize as the competition goes into crucial stages. Here-under are results of the second round of matches. *Results of 2nd Round Matches at Maracana Stadium, Ajegunle on Friday, March 03, 2023* 1. G12 1 Vs 0 BYT Academical 2. Utility Sports 2(5) Vs 2(4) Ecas FC 3. Synergy Ultimate FC 4 Vs 3 Emmydinho FC 4. Raymond Remmy FC 4 Vs 1 FC Robo Warriors FT; Nigeria Naval Stadium; 5. Sporting Club Heritage FC 0 Vs 3 Admiralty FC 6. Lekki United FC 2(3) Vs 2(4) Young Stars FC (Pen) 7. M.22 FC 0 Vs 3 North York FC
Post a Comment
Read more

13th African Games:Minister of Sports Development Charges Athletes to Conquer Africa

13th African Games:Minister of Sports Development Charges Athletes to Conquer Africa _Says Nigeria is solidly behind them_ The Honourable Minister of Sports Development, Senator John Owan Enoh on Tuesday the 5th of March charged Nigeria’s contingent to the All Africa Games taking place in Ghana to conquer Africa.  Addressing the athletes onboard the aircraft scheduled to take them to Ghana for the tournament shortly before takeoff at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport Abuja, the Minister assured them that the entire nation was solidly behind them.  He further stated that although some of the athletes may be representing the country for the first time, the tournament affords them the opportunity to make the nation proud. Senator Enoh urged the departing athletes to build on the strong performance of the country in the previous games by posting a strong performance that will ensure that Nigeria emerges the best in Africa. “ Let me remind you that you carry the hopes and as...
Post a Comment
Read more

*Top Five Football Agents in Nigeria*

The business of football comes with daily transactions on and off the pitch.  While the key actors, that is, the footballers battle day and night for fame and wealth, the clubs, do their own business in the background, looking for sponsors or negotiating the next big transfers Most transfers comes after months or even years of scouting and there is always a third party in most cases who stands in for the players at the negotiation stage.    In years gone by, one of the most respected football agents to come out of Nigeria, is a certain John Ola Shittu, who took the football world by storm with the sale of John Obi Mikel to Manchester United and later Chelsea within a spate of a few weeks Shittu made megabucks from that singular business, a deal that esterblished him as one of Africa's best talent spotter.  After Shittu, a few other Nigerians have made headlines in their own right with the sale of emerging and esterblished football stars to top European, African, Asia...
Post a Comment
Read more