<i>I Say So</i> By Joseph Opio
WHEN asked why he had suddenly developed an interest in making biennial trips to Africa to watch the Nations Cup, French legend, Michel Platini once retorted: “It’s because I want to see the magician that’s Jay Jay Okocha.â€<br>
WHEN asked why he had suddenly developed an interest in making biennial trips to Africa to watch the Nations Cup, French legend, Michel Platini once retorted: “It’s because I want to see the magician that’s Jay Jay Okocha.â€
The significance of the tribute to Africa’s finest player notwithstanding, Platini’s fascination with the continental showpiece must have come as a guilt-inducing truth to most African footballers, who nowadays treat the event as nothing but a mild and unnecessary irritant.
The forthcoming Tunis edition has suffered similar ridicule. While Okocha’s decision — in a blaze of ferocious criticism from a selfish club manager — to captain Nigeria will guarantee Platini’s presence, many of his fellow pound-earning, celebrity-conscious superstars will do no more than call him up to get regular updates on the day’s results.
The variable reason many of these stars grant to millions of disappointed compatriots is their struggle to play first-team football in their respective clubs and the ill-desired effect a five-week sojourn to Africa would have on this particular cause.
Players who would otherwise lend a desperately-needed radiance to the tournament, like Arsenal’s Lauren Mayer and Inter Milan’s sensation Obafemi Martins, continue to avoid it like a bad case of leprosy.
The painful irony of this entire episode is that the footballers who currently frown upon the Nations Cup came off its conveyor belt.
Lauren’s career was kick-started by his man-of-the-tournament displays in Cameroon’s 2000 ACN triumph, which instantly earned him a lucrative transfer to Highbury and an even more immediate retirement from international football.
Lauren’s advocates have laboured to explain this phenomenon through the clubs’ I-pay-the-piper-I-call-the-tune cliche but try though they might, no patriotic footballer, millionaire or not, can ever justify betraying a nation of millions for the sake of regular club football.
Surely sparing five weeks every two years to give something back to the continent that catapulted you to world-wide stardom isn’t too much to ask! Even if it means forfeiting your cherished place in the first XI!
joedyerug@yahoo.com
The significance of the tribute to Africa’s finest player notwithstanding, Platini’s fascination with the continental showpiece must have come as a guilt-inducing truth to most African footballers, who nowadays treat the event as nothing but a mild and unnecessary irritant.
The forthcoming Tunis edition has suffered similar ridicule. While Okocha’s decision — in a blaze of ferocious criticism from a selfish club manager — to captain Nigeria will guarantee Platini’s presence, many of his fellow pound-earning, celebrity-conscious superstars will do no more than call him up to get regular updates on the day’s results.
The variable reason many of these stars grant to millions of disappointed compatriots is their struggle to play first-team football in their respective clubs and the ill-desired effect a five-week sojourn to Africa would have on this particular cause.
Players who would otherwise lend a desperately-needed radiance to the tournament, like Arsenal’s Lauren Mayer and Inter Milan’s sensation Obafemi Martins, continue to avoid it like a bad case of leprosy.
The painful irony of this entire episode is that the footballers who currently frown upon the Nations Cup came off its conveyor belt.
Lauren’s career was kick-started by his man-of-the-tournament displays in Cameroon’s 2000 ACN triumph, which instantly earned him a lucrative transfer to Highbury and an even more immediate retirement from international football.
Lauren’s advocates have laboured to explain this phenomenon through the clubs’ I-pay-the-piper-I-call-the-tune cliche but try though they might, no patriotic footballer, millionaire or not, can ever justify betraying a nation of millions for the sake of regular club football.
Surely sparing five weeks every two years to give something back to the continent that catapulted you to world-wide stardom isn’t too much to ask! Even if it means forfeiting your cherished place in the first XI!
joedyerug@yahoo.com