The sporting media calls it “Cinderella run”. And we see it at almost every major team (sometimes individual) tournaments: when a squad that is completely outside the scope of likely winners, put together a brilliant run, and goes farther than expected, or go all the way to win it.
We saw it at the Euros with Denmark (1992) and Greece (2004), and we saw with Italy (1982) at the World Cup.
But this is not about a Cinderella run, it’s about lessons that should have been learnt, but have not been learnt by the Super Eagles. That lesson is being taught again by the tiny nation of Albania in these Euros; and top of the list of that lesson, is the fact that:
Big names don’t play football, teams do – Albania were the small names in the two games against Italy and Croatia. This is the first Euros they are attending, and they’re not awed. They came out fighting against Italy, and were rewarded with an early goal. And although they were rocked by the Italians – who replied with two quick goals – they recovered their poise, kept their discipline and still made a game of it.
Our Eagles (going forward) should understand that:
⁃ Other teams won’t lie down to be slaughtered, no matter their perceived limitations or the antecedents of their opponents, everyone is coming to play.
⁃ The fact that you conceded a goal or two doesn’t mean you lose your poise, it’s always a 90-minute game.
The next lesson to learn is that: all teams are now ‘talented’, because of the globalization of personnel-hunt in world football – they may be a ‘small team’ in terms of the size of their country, but they also have ‘big players’ in terms of where their players ply their trade.
Albania has a population of roughly 2.8 million (slightly more than Bayelsa – the least populated state in Nigeria but far less than Ekiti, the next least populated). But they have players from the Premiership, La Liga and the Russian Premier League in their ranks.
What this means is that they have boys who have been schooled in tactics and formation: all they need do, is imbibe team ethics.
It’s the same in Africa – the Benin team the Eagles lost to, had players from Europe and arguably the best league in Africa, Egypt.
While they may not be much individually, their sum total is better than the parts – which is what team football is about. The Albanians also have that, it’s the opposite for the Eagles.
The Albanians, in two games, also taught that:
You must learn from your mistakes. You can’t do the same thing over and again, expecting a different outcome – they led against Italy but eventually lost, they led against Croatia and looked set to lose. This time they turned it around, and could have gone on to win! The key thing is, they learnt something, and became better for it.
Just look at the history of the Eagles…especially in the recent past, and judge for yourself if the Nigeria Football Federation and the players have learnt any lessons from past failures. Or if a little success throws them back into a default mode. And before you say, “it’s the coach”, know that:
You can’t coach effort. On the same day the Eagles shamelessly gave up the fight at the Felix Houphouët-Boigny stadium (June 10), Indiana Fever, a WNBA team also lost scandalously to Connecticut Sun in a Commissioner’s Cup game.
Christie Sides, the coach of Fever, who had taken off all the starters at the beginning of the 3rd quarter (they were down by 24) was quoted as saying after the game, “I’m going to start with how you can’t, at this level, coach effort. I felt like we were just trying to ask them to keep playing hard, play hard. You can’t start there. You can’t play in this league if you have to coach effort. It’s just too hard.”
Does that resonate with you? Does it match what we want to say to the Eagles after the Benin game?
Is that something you’ll say to the Albanians after watching them play against Italy and Croatia?
Will you say to the Benin Republic players after the game against Nigeria? You be the judge of that!
No matter how the Albanians end this tournament, they have taught us several lessons.
Nigerian football is damaged at several levels: from the youth development structure, to the home league (NPFL and NNL) to the National teams and the composition of the NFF.
The journey to rebuilding all these is long, because there are many sections and segments, but it must start NOW.
Booday10 
This is a Good Read. Spot On
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