
Our verdict, they were not ready: - physically, mentally, psychologically, spiritually, emotionally and professionally! To add insult to injury, they had an incompetent minder, himself another fatso, to chaperon their lame effort in South Africa! Because of the hopeless drab 'slow-motion’ of a performance put up at South Africa 2010 by the Nigeria Eagles, Icheoku, using the powers of a critic vested in us, hereby rename the Nigeria Eagles “Baba Ibeji Eagles!” But no, since they could not fly or soar like eagle, may be some flightless bird’s name will be a preferred acronym, such as “Baba Ibeji Emus” or “Baba Ibeji Ostriches” or better still, “Baba Ibeji Penguins!” Icheoku writes this sequel and final chapter on the Nigeria Eagles South Africa World Cup 2010 squad, maintaining that the root-cause of the abysmal failure of the team in South Africa is an incompetent coach Lars Lagerback and we hereby reiterate our earlier call to have him fired. In an earlier article published in Icheoku.com and Sahara-reporters.com, titled "Eagles Coach Lars Lagerback, send him packing and back to Sweden", our position was made clear and long before yesterday's mediocre performance at Durban South Africa and nothing has changed to warrant a rethinking .
Many rejoinders and commentators alike harpooned Icheoku for daring to "jump the gun" on the fate of the Eagles, arguing that the Eagles still have an opportunity to qualify provided they beat South Korea? Some commentators even went personal and instead of attacking the article attacked the author (messenger), calling Icheoku, a fool for rushing to conclusions? We were tempted to fire back, but mindful of our existing editorial policy and age-long practice, we decided to just leave the thrown bone for the dogs to gnaw at; and boy were they aplenty! The problem with many a Nigerian is that he/she is not usually very proactive nor deploys readily his/her sensory perceptions beyond his immediate reachable periphery; or what does it take to figure out that the Eagles that made appearance in South Africa lacked flight, courage, bravery, motivation, push and were never driven? And these tail-tail ominous warnings were flashing red everywhere, except that most Nigerians would rather wait and see a person dead before they know that such person is dying or is about to die? Or what does it take for any discerning analytical mind to read the trajectory of the Eagles in South Africa 2010 World Cup as they exuded an ill-prepared and ill-motivated side, just playing for the heck of participation in the first ever world cup to be held in mother Africa; but never of the valor with which freedom and success are forged. It was an easily identifiable obvious that this particular Eagles was not ready for the prime-time that was South Africa World Cup 2010 will abort flight WC 2010 and sure they did as predicted. Thus it was the easiest thing to do, deciphering the moribund journey the Eagle as embarked on when they departed Abuja for South Africa 2010.

The absurdity of Nigeria's fall to the lowly rated footballing South Korea is so incomprehensible that Icheoku has refused to accept it as just an outcome of a game, and that it was in the stars? The matter was even made worse as the coach Lars Lagerback failed to keep his end of the bargain with the Maradona-led Argentines; whom he had boasted should do Nigeria the favor of just beating Greece and they delivered a 2-0 win over the kins of Socrates and Pluto and Aristotle. But an incompetent coach Lars Lagerback failed to on the bargain as he couldn't mobilize his boys, some of who are international soccer maestros, to win South Korea? One does not have to be a sorcerer or wizard or soothsayer or even hold a Ph.D in rocket science to intellectually predict the outcome of a Nigeria elimination in the preliminary rounds, having watched these bunch of too-fat-to-play-football/soccer overweight men, heaving around the soccer pitch and panting like a marathon dog? It was not if but when they will be eliminated.


However Icheoku cannot end this piece, without special commendation to the man of the match, Kalu Uche for the opening goal and for all the effort he made throughout the game, including the kick that struck the goal-post? Also deserving mention is the captain of the team, Kanu Nwankwo, who was never allowed prior to this game, to captain his team in the world cup. Admitted he was not the silver bullet Nigeria expected, but hey, at least, he for once led his soldiers into battle against the South Koreans? That Yakubu Aiyegbeni missed a golden opportunity inside 2yards in front of a yawning goal mouth with a displaced goalkeeper waiting to retrieve the ball from inside the net was also beyond pale. Then added the red-card man of the Nigerian side, Sani Kaita, who is being wrongly blamed for the defeat suffered by Nigerians in the hands of the Greeks. Of course, coach Lars Lagerback deserves the front page banner for being the incompetent coach who led Nigerians to their worst international football outing ever. He should be immediately fired since he deserves nothing less. It is also instructive that unlike South Africa which also crashed out but not after defeating the French, a former world cup champions; Nigeria did not record any victory throughout their stay in the competition. Lastly, the amateurish performance of African countries in the tournament also debunked the myth of African juju, and questioned the efficacy of voodoo as both Ivory Coast and Cameroon, noted African science practitioners, were both roundly defeated. Another myth buster of the tournament is that 10 players are not as good as 11 players in a team, as the French scored their 1-goal with ten men and the Australians held back charging Argentines with ten men only; but for defeated Nigeria, Sani Kaita's red card is all to blame for their downfall. Talk about making excuses!

Concluding, Icheoku says since the fabled President Goodluck Jonathan's goodluck did not see Nigeria through in South Africa 2010, at least there is one thing he can help Nigeria do. Set a panel to probe the scandalous Nigeria's outing at and exit from South Africa 2010. Like the French is going to do with their dysfunctional national team that also crashed out of the competition, Nigeria should try to understand what happened with this Eagles shameful and hopeless outing at South Africa 2010. The objective is to avoiding a repeat of such monumental failure in the future; and in order to fix what is broken with football in the once football-rated country. Nigeria should also draw a long term plan to institute a lasting and enduring football legacy in the country. But first of all, Nigeria should immediately fire the damn coach Lars Lagerback, force the chairman or administrator of Nigeria Football Authority to resign or be fired, and the Sports Minister, since he is relatively new at his desk, make him re-organize football in Nigeria. Then and only after then, will Nigeria begin to expect to have a new lease on their football. What a shameful outing to South Africa 2010 World Cup by this flock of flightless Eagles of Nigeria!