FOOTBALL: The Price of Ignorance?

Football! What a game!! What an arena of emotions boiled over!!!

The game between Nigeria and Iran in Group F, no doubt will make a lot of Nigerians and fans of the Eagles feel 'slightly' disappointed. Over here in the UK from where I'm typing this piece, the roar of pain, shouts of disappointment, and subdued anger mixed with fear of what will happen in subsequent matches, leaves many a 9ja trembling.

Side comments like "Very fake match", "A show of crass mediocrity", "No be 9ja I come watch for world cup. It's serious people like Netherlands, Germany, Brazil, France, naim I kon watch o" became the gist amongst the crowd I watched the football with. A facebook mentee of mine commented on my FB page after the game and said: "opportunity comes but once, they've lost theirs." Another comment said: "Nigerians when it comes to football are Oliver Twist. Am heart broken here", simply shows you the depth of this football matter.

Nigerians are enthusiasts to infinitum. Their passion, love and ownership of the game transcend ethnicity, education, religion, social standing and lifestyle. When the Super Eagles win, they praise God for doing wonders (while most often they ignore commending the coach's and team's effort who made the goals happen - claiming it was God who made them score). They applaud, throw parties, get drunk or simply visualise frame by frame how the winning goal(s) turned the tables in their favour.

source: sugarsports.me

But when the Eagles lose, boy! you don't want to hang around them o. Insults, curses, accusations and counter accusations, condemnations, trading blames and in very rare instances some weird fanatic commits suicide. These are just a few of the ways they vent their anger, disappointments, frustrations over lost bets and dashed hopes.

source: www.rantsports.com

And in this case, there were just too many goal options that never got converted. What happened?

This takes my mind back three months ago when the issue of Nigeria's ranking in FIFA was questioned. This is what I think may be playing out here. If only fanatical fans can focus their energy in understanding the game and technique of moving up the game ladder of FIFA's ranking, surely it will help us see how team work matters in converting balls into goals.

Let me share with you a comment made by my friend Muyiwa Oladosu about the question of ranking: "Why do we always grumble over FIFA Ranking System when it's not favourable to us? We were here in 1994, prior to USA '94 World Cup, Nigeria was ranked 5th. Then the system was right. Today we beat Malawi, Burkina Faso, Taihiti, and we expect to move up. And instead of knowing how it is done, NFF, some ignorant sport journalists/Nigerians will be busy abusing FIFA. Play top grade games, beat those above you, and see if you will not move up. The price of ignorance is great!!!"

My position  on the Nigeria-Iran 2014 match? This is saying to Steven Keshi, you've done your bit in preping the team for 2014, what didn't work this time? Let's go get the goals. Surely it's not over until it's over, right?

Roughly two hours later, USA beat Ghana 2-1.
At least Nigeria and Iran pulled off the first draw in the tournament (common, that's got to be something, right?)

Perhaps you think this is all womanese talk?

By all means make your comments too.

PS: My neighbours just drove offf to their respective homes, happy to wear a small defeated smile: Ghana scored a goal - at least they've proven they're fighting for something. That's enough gist for my neighbours later in the day - since they can now join the office gist when the game talk begins (wink!)