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Moses and Chadli become latest to ‘test drive’ a nation
A new phenomenon of ‘dipping a toe’ into the waters of international football is beginning to emerge, further devaluing the ultimate individual achievement in the game.
Rules on international eligibility have been watered down over the years but the changes could not have foreseen the growing global village, immigration and movement of people that is providing the game with a much more multi-cultured generation.
As a result we now have players who are able to ‘test drive’ the countries they are eligible to play for, before settling on a final choice.
It has all come about since the relaxing of the strict rules on international football in late 2003, when FIFA’s statutes changed to allow a player who had represented one country at junior level to choose to play for another country, as long as he was eligible for dual nationality, was under the age of 21 and had not played at full A international level.
In subsequent years, the age restriction was removed too. It is now allowing players to see exactly where they might fit best, or probably more likely where their own profile and possibility for success is best suited.
The selection of Victor Moses of Wigan Athletic for Nigeria’s squad for a friendly against Guatemala in early February is the latest case.
Moses is an England under-21 international with the potential to go further for his country but born in Kaduna, Nigeria.
World Cup 2010 podcast – day 7
Join Mike Collett, Mark Gleeson, Simon Evans and Kevin Fylan for a little night’s look back on a long day of excellent football at the World Cup in South Africa.
All the World Cup 2010 Games in South Africa will be streamed live at http://www.WorldCupTV.org 17:55
‘You call this noise? What is a million vuvuzelas?’
If it hadn’t been for Nigeria’s goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama, the 1-0 defeat to Argentina could have been much worse for the African side. That is one reason why the Nigerian supporter contingent, even if outnumbered by the Argentinian fans, remained upbeat throught the match.
The green-white-green stripes of the Nigerian flag were seen on toddlers, their parents and even foreigners at Ellis Park Stadium in central Johannesburg.
Jerseys, vuvuzelas, scarves and human faces were appropriately painted in a large outpouring of patriotism from one of the biggest foreign African communities in Johannesburg.
The Dutch coach has banned vuvuzelas, but Nigerians can’t understand the fuss.
“You call this noise? This is child’s play! What is a million vuvuzelas compared to the generators we hear 24 hours a day back home?” Laurence Okonkwo said, seconds before his trumpet let out a blast in the ears of an Argentinean.
The Argentinean returned the favour.
This is a very hilarious post. My first read from Reuters! I like!
Politics plays its part at the African Nations Cup
Being in Cabinda for the African Nations Cup should have been fun. At first, it was not, to say the least. The Togo team bus came under fire, with the assistant coach and a press officer being shot to death by a group of separatists as they were on their way to Cabinda from Pointe Noire, Congo.
It was only after long talks and multiple changes of minds that the Sparrowhawks decided to leave the Angolan northern enclave to fly back home and mourn their dead.
We would get calls from players saying they wanted to leave — that was on Saturday. Calls from the same players saying they wanted to stay after all — that was on Sunday.
Eventually, the prime minister got the last word, urging the Togo team to come back home. Until the last minute, some players tried to stay in Angola.
A plane sent by Togo touched down at Cabinda airport but it took off to Lome with the players on board only 10 hours later.
Angolan and Togolese officials locked themselves in a Cabinda airport office for hours as the host nation did all it could to try and persuade Togo to stay.
Nigeria grabs age cheats by the wrists
The decision by Nigeria to test their under-17 players to eliminate age cheats is the first step in ridding African soccer of a long-standing blight.
Nigeria Football Federation president Sani Lulu Abdallah has said this week his organisation will take the unprecedented step of measuring the bone density of players by use of an MRI scan, usually done around the wrist area, to approximate whether they are roughly the right age or not.
They will start before Nigeria put an under-17 side together for their hosting of the world championships later this year.
It has long been suspected that past sides (and Nigeria have won three World under-17 Championships) have had age cheats but Nigeria is among the first associations to have shown any willingness to try to tackle the issue.
There have been past admissions of cheating, almost all of them long after the fact, while some teams have been caught trying to change the date of birth of players, who had been previously registered for other competitions.
Similar scans to those proposed by Nigeria have not been implemented because they are not 100 percent accurate. But FIFA’s own findings have attached a 90 percent credibility to the tests…certainly much more credibility than the World Junior Championship will enjoy if age cheats go unchecked.
PHOTO: FIFA president Sepp Blatter, keen to root out age cheats, in Seoul Sept. 9, 2007. Blatter visited Seoul to watch the final between Spain and Nigeria at the FIFA U-17 World Cup. REUTERS/Jo Yong-Hak
