Weekly Column: 11th Hour Experts
By Omordia, Efe Alexandra – Some people insist that they work best when they are under pressure. They say it gingers them up to beat deadlines. However, I think that football enthusiasts in the sub-region would have a contrary opinion based on the performances of most of the teams that represented the sub-region at the last FIFA World Cup. Before the tournament, some pundits predicted that the Ivorian team would be the surprise team of the tournament and their reasons for such a choice were not far-fetched considering the fact that the Team was comprised of people like Didier Drogba who plays for Chelsea, Kolo and Yaya Toure that play for Manchester City and quite a number of other Football Internationals. Some said the Nigerian team would do the trick (though I can’t say why that choice was made) but at long last the teams performed far below expectation and the magic that these players performed in their European clubs could not be replicated outside the European borders.
Fans were surprised as well as disappointed but the wise ones amongst them knew exactly why; it was as a result of last-minute planning. The coaches who were hired for these two countries did not have enough time to understand their players. They also did not have enough time to bond with them. Alas what could have brought so much glory to the sub-region brought tears and shame. That is our story. We leave things to chance and divine intervention and these unhelpful habits have led to so much decay and underdevelopment. We can’t go on this way. We have to stop doing things at the last minute. We have to start taking advantage of the gifts we have been blessed otherwise in future; it wouldn’t just be the loss of a football trophy but something much more fundamental.
