I was one of those who protested the timing of the Argentina friendly. I said it was good but coming so close to the all important Nations Cup qualifier against Ethiopia was not good enough.

I said so because Nigerians will be so excited, the players eager and the technical crew anxious to play what was generally regarded as a revenge match.

At a technical committee meeting of the NFF I said should Siasia go on to field his best against Argentina, record some injuries or get the players tired out, then we risk not doing well against Ethiopia.

This argument was sustained by those who thought the same way and we were happy to hear Siasia say that he knew what to do.

However when I got wind of the starting eleven courtesy of the team media officer Collin Udoh, I wondered what was going on because what I saw was the first team instead of the experimental eleven I had canvassed for.

Before then, there arose an argument in the media concerning the quality of the Argentine team that was on its way to Nigeria.

An Argentine team that was without Tevez, Messi, Higuain, Ariel Garce, Gabriel Heinze, Walter Samuel, Clemente Rodriguez, Angel Di Maria, Javier Mascheranno, Sergio Aguero, Martin Palermo, Diego Milito………………………….an Argentine team that had only one goal between the players was definitely not it.

It was however interesting to note the desperate PR effort that was put in place to give credibility to this makeshift team. Did it work? I doubt it because from what I saw on TV, the stadium was virtually empty.

Back to the match. The moment it started, I had to thank God for the quality (or lack of it) of the visitors. What it meant was that the Eagles were not going to be overstretched. This was virtually a no contest, a stroll in the park, a training session for the Ethiopia bound Super Eagles.

Let me say this, that if I was in Nigeria and had to pay my way to Abuja, lodge in an hotel and go to the stadium to watch such a lack luster encounter, I would have sued the NFF and joined Guinness in the suit.

I will however not take anything away from the Nigerians. At a point, I decided to forget about the quality of the visitors and concentrate on the Nigerian team. Their cohesion, passes, movements on and off the ball, confidence level, markings and so on, and what I saw, I liked.

I saw players that were anxious to make Siasia’s starting eleven, I saw a team that was fast emerging, I saw a system that was productive in execution.

So satisfied, I decided to forget about the scoreline. Yes, the scoreline and that referee from Niger. Can we forget those two penalties and just keep the scoreline at 3-0? That sounds more like it.

While we are it, I want to repeat what I have always said in this column about organization. We just have to lift our organizational ability to coincide with big match situations.

By the time you are a Guinness, and you put in so much money into a corporate match like that, apart from guaranteeing from now on that you deliver quality opposition there is need to package the match in all ramifications.

What I saw last Wednesday was a disaster organization wise. I want to repeat again that CAF and FIFA have progressed to the appointment of GENERAL COORDDINATORS for crucial matches especially in the World Cup, Nations Cup, an European Cup and even CAF Champions League matches.

With the appointment of a General Coordinator, the Match commissioner is just the ceremonial head of the match condemned to sitting beside the guest of honour.

It is the General Coordinator that leads out the teams, he is the one that occupies himself with all those little details that are often overlooked. If there was a General Coordinator last Wednesday, that Nigerian flag would not have entered the stadium because the white was not proportional to the green.

If there was a General Coordinator he would have ensured that the Guests of honour met the players BEFORE the national anthems were played. (Infact what the General Coordinator does is to gauge the distance between the state box and the field, so he knows when to make the sign for the guests to start coming down as the teams are entering the stadium)

The General Coordinator WILL NEVER introduce the guests of honour to the referees first. No. that, is old school. The correct thing is to go to the end of the visiting team and start meeting the players from there, get to the referees in the centre, on to the home team after which they are placed at an angle in readiness for the national anthems, which of course have to be loudly announced for spectators to be up standing.

We move from there to the end of the match and the medal giving ceremony…ya…ya….ya…..another disaster. The Vice President was badly positioned. The “hand” that was handing out the medals was not tidy while the Director General of the NSC overworked himself dishing out instructions sometimes to the point of even obstructing the view of the Vice President.

It was the DG whose screams had to make the “mystery medal man” realize that Siasia and Yobo were yet to get their medals, meanwhile the medals had finished. (I do not know where they rescued one for Yobo).

In an organized set up, practiced and perfected, the Speaker of the House, the Deputy Senate President …would all have been involved in the medal giving ceremony, while VIPs that had no business there would have remained in the state box, just as it was not necessary for the Eagles cooks and gardeners to be part of the medal giving ceremony.

Waiting…for another day…another match, just as I wish the Eagles success in Ethiopia.

BACK TO 1994

In 2004, I was a member of the CAF delegation to the Nations Cup in Tunisia. I will not forget the wonderful time I had, especially in the evenings when I had to look forward to good  dinner in selected restaurants in the company of the late Patrick Okpomo, Aisha Falode and General Oneya.

The jokes, the ambience and the camaraderie, yet the emotion did not surpass the 1994 experience, when as Sports Editor of Champion was part of the media crew that reported the winning of the Nations Cup on foreign soil.

That team of 1994, that team that was capable of winning the FIFA World Cup, that great team that dusted all her opponents only to be scared in the final by a Fashanu supported Zambia ……

I cherish the memory of captain Eguavoen inviting non playing Captain Keshi to come forward to lift the trophy in the presence of Pele himself.

Today (Friday June 3) as FIFA match commissioner of the Olympic qualifier between Tunisia and Senegal I returned to the legendary El Menzah Stadium for an inspection and the memories flooded back. Of the golden years of Nigerian football.

I am not alone. My guide and driver El Hasni Lotfli will not stop talking about that great team. He asks after Amokachi (His in-law) in perfect English, he tells me of the wonderful footballer who came back to Tunisia as a coach. He shows me pictures he took with Amokachi, Bola Oyeyode and some Nigerian players.

He wants to know about the whereabout of Babangida, Yekini, Amuneke, Finidi George, Westerhoff….he wants to hear the true story of the loss against Italy in the world cup. I tell him there is no story. That we lost out of inexperience(?)

He does not believe me!

Off the stadium, Tunisia has changed. The Revolution has left in its wake some confidence of a greater tomorrow.  My match tomorrow is expected to be calm and without incident. The focus is on Sousse where the national team will take on Chad in a Nations cup qualifier.

I volunteer Lotfli the same thoughts, that if not for the FIFA assignment, I would have been in Ethiopia where the Eagles are involved in a must win encounter.

Good luck Nigeria.

See you next week.