By Eddie Akalonu
Kelechi Emeteole, former coach of the Beach Eagles has traced the poor performance of the Super Eagles at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa to injustice,  deprivation of individuals rights and privileges as well as  poor vision on the part of administrators

According to the coach of Heartland Football Club of Owerri, “The game (against South Korea) was in the pocket of the Eagles to wrap. The chances were being created but lost. Nemesis has caught up with Nigeria and it’s like this country is cursed and condemned to fail even when we have so many professionals who could deliver the goods. It’s because of the accumulation of  injustices done to people.”

In  apparent reference to Shaibu Amodu and the failure to harness the potentials in the local league, Emeteole, a former assistant coach of the national team, said, “they said the man from foreign land was better and no player in our league is good enough to feature for the national team. Now with all the foreign-based players who they say are better and the handler too, what value have they added to our football with this World Cup? This is the second time this has happened, that people who worked hard, suffered and gave their best were dumped by their country.

In 2002, the same happened to coaches and players who suffered to qualify the country as they were dropped from the final. Rather than learn from the outcome of that experience, we repeated  it in 2010 and we have paid dearly for it. When a team is bad, it is bad. I kept saying that the players we need for the national team are all playing here in our local league. We did not need to spend that much on those foreign-based players. All that money could have raised our football at home if it was invested here.

What is more painful than seeing those goal-bound balls veer off  from the Korean goal- post and then leave everyone swearing and sweating in anguish?

It’s simple. We are paying for the sins committed against fellow citizens with the bad results we are getting. It seems to me that this country is cursed, not just in sports but in all areas. Let the teacher become the headmaster of a school and not the farmer. Let those whose profession is sports be ones to command in sports. If  we do that, may be in no time things will return to normal,” he stressed.

Emeteole said he will never deviate from speaking the truth especially  about the wrongs in football even if he is labeled “controversial”.

“I will not stop from talking and saying the truth. Since Obaseki left the league, anything now goes. They can tell you that ball punched by the goalkeeper across the goal-line is a goal and you can’t argue. If you do, it is punishment for you.”

Asked to suggest what should be done to get football on the move again, Emeteoles said “we don’t need politicians in football. Let them go and run the parties If they leave us, we can bring out those to run football starting from scratch.

Now that foreign based professionals have failed us again, there is need to look inwards, give opportunities to home based players and coaches, invest in them, and provide the same enabling environment that foreigners are given because Ghana and Cameroun at some time past ran into similar problem, went back, planned and came up again.