By BAYO OLOWO AKE: In Nigeria, when you say someone’s talking ‘jazz’ you actually mean the person is really not making any sense...
By BAYO OLOWO AKE: In Nigeria, when you say someone’s talking ‘jazz’ you actually mean the person is really not making any sense at all.
The late FelaAnikulapo-Kuti actually took that expression abroad when on one of his foreign trips, a journalist had innocently asked him ‘what brand of jazz music’ he played and he had retorted thus ‘’na your papa dey play jazz.” Translation?Fela’s music is quality sound and not rubbish! Comprehend?
Now, you may be wondering what jazz has to do with football. It so happens that many who have commented on the quarter final match between Nigeria and Cote d’Ivoire seem to believe that the Super Eagles will be outplayed and beaten silly. While I do agree that on paper the Elephants look better, I do not subscribe to the view that Nigeria will necessarily be outplayed.
All you need to do to get my point is to simply re-visit the games Nigeria have played in this competition so far.
Against a redoubtable Burkina Faso, the Eagles played well, with Ideye and Emenike showing some understanding in the attack. The only major snag was the central defence and that eventually cost us the match. It wasn’t that bad really but by the time they played Zambia, a lot of improvement had been made and this was evident in the structure and form of the game. It took a ‘gift’ from the Egyptian referee to stalemate the game—in other words, Nigeria had the match sewn up but for that gaffe from the man at the centre. The defence showed cohesion, even if more can still be improved upon in that department.
In the game against Ethiopia, Nigeria was up against a team that had nothing to lose and was therefore dangerous to play. The Eagles were also a bit anxious, as they were under pressure to win and avoid another draw which could have sent them home. Given the pressure they were under therefore, I surmise that their performance was not that bad. The bottom line was that they won the game. The inexperience of the Ethiopians finally did them in, as their defence committed the ultimate error and the goalkeeper that was fished out from somewhere (thought they were keeping him for the Nigerian game by the way) himself messed up his good performance up to that point, by committing the second foul and picking a second yellow to close the game for Nigeria.
Burkina Faso went on to qualify for the quarters, indicating that the Eagles met a good match in our brothers from Ouagadougou. Incidentally, Cape Verde, with whom we had played a goalless draw in a tough friendly and whom many had dubbed a ‘no hoper’ also made it through to the quarters, suggesting that we have played quality opposition on our way to, and in the AFCON itself!
Our opponents, Cote d’Ivoire, with all the big names in their team, fought hard to beat Togo. Overran a hapless Tunisia and though fielded a team some have dubbed ‘grade B,’ did not seem to know what was going on before finally stalemating their third group game against Algeria. Against the Super Eagles therefore, I do not agree with those who foresee a whitewash of our team. I may be sticking my neck out but remember that whether with a good team or not, Nigeria has often made the semis in most of our AFCON contests, while Cote d’Ivoire have always started very well only to crash out spectacularly when it mattered most. Will this quarter final rank as that crunch time for the Elephants?
It just might, especially if the Super Eagles play with confidence, focus and determination. One good thing going for them is that many of the bookmakers have already given the game to Cote d’Ivoire so Nigeria will not be the team under pressure. That suggests therefore that the team likely to exhibit the ‘measure of the pressure’ (apologies to the late Earnest Okonkwo) is the one likely to play jazz and crash out. Come on Super Eagles, let’s go to the semi-finals!
NB:This post wasn't written by me...
debayoaxe@gmail.com
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