By Paul Bassey
The FIFA website has it that this week end, over one hundred countries, translated to fifty matches, will play preliminary matches of the 2014 World Cup kick off all over the world and Nigeria definitely is involved in the fray.

With less than 745 days to what a lot of soccer pundits consider a much expected feast of world football given the tradition of host Brazil, countries are not leaving any stone unturned to be part of the samba delight that the land of Pele will be offering the world.

Nigeria especially, trying to recover from the ashes of not being able to qualify for the last Nations Cup is desirous of making it to the World Cup. Part of that preparation included the trust put in Nigerian coaches and the appointment of Samson Siasia who was axed for failing to qualify for the Nation’s Cup.

Then came Stephen Keshi who rightly identified one of the banes of our football development as the lack of quality players out there and the need to put some work into the domestic league.

The Nigeria Football Federation agreed with him and supported him wholeheartedly as he embarked on “operation discover and develop domestic players” and this meant days and days of camping and exposure through series of friendly matches.

True to his belief, when he had the opportunity of using foreign based players in the Nation’s cup qualifier against Rwanda, they failed to deliver and this led many Nigerians to queue behind him in his determination to turn the domestic league players into world beaters.

Yet, there were those who argued that the method of invitation given the foreign based was faulty by virtue of timing and training. Most of them joined the main team just a day to kick off and did not have the benefit of shedding jet lag, not to talk of training together.

It was therefore resolved that given the expanded programme given to the domestic players, efforts should be made to invite the foreign based in time to join their Nigerian based counterparts before a main match.

The gospel of the domestic league was taken to Dubai when the Eagles squared up to the Almighty Pharaohs of Egypt, kings of African football and though they lost 2-3, it was believed that they had done enough to win the confidence of Nigerians.

Then the Peru invitational fell on our laps, a veritable opportunity to fine tune our preparations for crucial world cup and nations cup qualifiers coming up in June.

I am one of those who believed that the only players we should take to Peru are those we intend to use to prosecute the world Cup as this will give them the opportunity of travelling, rooming and training together, generally mix and get to know each other on and off the field.

I held on to this argument given the benefit of the Rwanda experience because the Eagles would have been left with less than seven days training time to their match against Namibia and are expected to jet out immediately after that match to Malawi for the next match.

Unfortunately this was not to be as Coach Keshi, in his wisdom, kept faith with his local lads with a negligible sprinkle of some foreign hopefuls.

Peru as we later found out was not the chickens some of us expected them to be. Peru helped to open our eyes to the fact that our rebuilding process is still ongoing and that there is a long way to go.

Peru has struck fear into those of us that are lily livered, fear that except something drastic, is done we will sweat against Namibia, Malawi and Rwanda.

Peru was a manifestation of the fact that for now, unlike the Westerhof era, WE MUST PROGRESS WITH A MIX of the domestic players and the foreign based. It is this mix that seems to be the problem right now.

Who are the players out there that deserve to be considered? Here, Nigerians as usual, “fantastic coaches” that they are, differ. There are those who believe that Mikel Obi, riding on the wave of a European Champions League victory is expected to bring a lot of positives to the squad.

Others see no better midfield combination than the one that will involve Anichebe and Victor Moses. There are also those who believe that all Aiyegbeni needs to explode on national stage is the benefit of proper usage…..the list is endless.

That Coach Keshi ordered his team to training a day after the Peru loss, shows the seriousness of the matter at hand and his resolve to tackle it head on. Six months into the job, seven matches played and only two won is a scorecard that is not very impressive.

However as said earlier on, the buck stops at the Coach’s table, and this weekend will be key.

Goodluck Eagles, Goodluck Nigeria, goodluck Big Boss…..you need it.

Congrata Abudllahi.

I also join hundreds of Nigerians in hailing the retention of Hon Bolaji Abdullahi as Minister of sports.

In the short time that he superintended the ministry from his youth portfolio base, he has shown a lot of promise.

I was particularly impressed when, in the Senate Chambers during the public hearing on sports, he offered to prostrate to all those holding our football to ransom if that would bring peace. The humility got to me.

Now that he has been confirmed I pray he continues in like vain by listening to more people OUTSIDE his ministry by consulting widely. He should develop a lot of fatherly disposition and should not hold on to grudges for too long. He should also imbibe a forgiving spirit and embrace the golden words “I AM SORRY” not as a sign of weakness but respect for constituted authority and humility.

I believe he understands where I am coming from.

CONGRATS SIR AND WELCOME TO OUR WORLD.

See you next week.