The CHAN 2024 debacle

It is difficult for me to identify where the optimism and enthusiasm I had that the CHAN Eagles (as I prefer to call the home based stars) would do well at the 2024 CHAN tournament came from.

In January this year, a few days after the announcement of Eric Chelle as the Super Eagles Coach, the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) hinted he would lead the home lads to the tournament in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda.

This was just a few weeks after the duo of coaches Daniel Ogunmodede (Remo Stars) and Fidelis Ilechukwu (Rangers) had led the team through the qualifiers with an impressive dispatch of bitter rivals and neighbours Ghana in the final round.

At that time I advised against the move because the CHAN tournament was just a few weeks away. It was scheduled for February (before the Confederation of African Football moved it) and the A Team had two crucial World Cup qualifiers in March. So, I suggested in my write up – Open Letter to Eric Chelle published on this same platform TheCable online that the new coach should be with the team in an advisory role only and not be the man in charge so that the two Nigerian coaches who qualified the team can be given the opportunity for growth and international exposure.

In all fairness, the football authorities agreed with that suggestion and directed the French Malian to focus on meeting the players of the A Team and preparing for the World Cup qualifying games in March while still paying an advisory attention to the CHAN squad.

Unfortunately, the February date for the tournament got moved and so was the opportunity for the home grown coaches (Ogunmodede and Ilechukwu) to lead the team.

Fast forward to August, it was decided that Chelle, since he was free and willing, should be back in charge and since he had developed a good rapport and working relationship with his Nigerian assistants I felt, and still do, that it was not a bad idea.

Chelle has displayed a very professional attitude to the domestic game in Nigeria. He loves every opportunity to interact with the home stars and has called up a good number of them anytime the main squad was in camp, and has also not shied away from fielding them.

The NFF also made sure there were windows of opportunities for the coach to try out the home lads. The Unity Cup tournament in Brentford, United Kingdom and the international friendly against Russia easily come to mind.

For about a month, the team worked quietly at their Ikenne camp in preparation for the CHAN. Perhaps, this was where my optimism that the team would do well came from. I stand to be corrected but I honestly believe that the team that was in camp in January for the initial February CHAN date was a better drilled squad than this one currently in Zanzibar. I would want to believe that they would have performed better.

There is no excuse for the shambolic showing in Zanzibar but if the CHAN squad had Waliu Ojetoye, the right back from Ikorodu City; Isaac Saviour, the midfielder from Rangers; Papa Daniel, the creative midfielder from Niger Tornadoes; Ojonugwa Adejoh, the midfield gem from Abia Warriors; Sunday Megwo, the striker from Abia Warriors; and Emmanuel Ogbole, the striker from Kwara United, as well as the injured Ifeanyi Onyebuchi, the centre back from Rangers, who were all involved in the qualifying campaign and pivotal to the remarkable success over Ghana in the final round of the qualifiers, maybe there would have been some difference. But most of them had to leave camp on the eve of the CHAN tournament for greener pastures elsewhere.

This is not a new problem. It has always plagued our home based squads. In 2014, Stephen Keshi’s CHAN squad had to cope with the late minute withdrawal of such established players like Godfrey Oboabona, Sunday Mba, Juwon Oshaniwa, Etebo Oghenekaro and Gambo Mohammed. In 2018, coaches Salisu Yusuf and Imama Amapakabo also felt the pangs of the late withdrawal of Alhassan Ibrahim Muazzam, Kingsley Eduwo, Stephen Odey and a few others.

Anyway, there is no need to cry over spilled milk. Let me highlight a few things that need to be done quickly as a fallout of this CHAN 2024 debacle.

First, the CHAN Eagles must play to win their last game against Congo on August 19. They have to salvage some pride and get back some of the respect that was lost from the 4-0 humiliation by Sudan. A victory restores some pride and confidence in Chelle. He really needs the boost because he has to recalibrate immediately and shift all focus to the more crucial 2026 World Cup qualifiers against Rwanda and South Africa next month. Margins for errors have faded away as there can be no more slip ups. It is now ‘win or win’ for Nigeria.

On the long term, the sports authorities have a lot to do to improve the structure of domestic clubs and leagues across all sports. From football to basketball especially, the tales of woes about the neglect of the domestic games and leagues are embarrassingly loud and worrying.

To avoid more disheartening moments in the future, in competitions put together for local talents, there is the need for very conscious and deliberate investment in the grassroots based on strategic planning and programming.

The best time to start to take action was like a decade ago, the best next time was yesterday.