Former director-general of the defunct National Sports Commission (NSC), Alhassan Yakmut, believed with diligent planning and commitment to tactical preparation, Nigeria’s Super Eagles can surpass their Moroccan counterparts’ feat of reaching the semifinal of the just ended Qatar 2022 World Cup at the next edition of the global soccer fiesta that will co-hosted by in USA, Canada and Mexico.
Yakmut, who admitted that watching the Qatar 2022 World Cup was a bit difficult for him because the Super Eagles were part of the competition, said he didn’t see anything special about the first African team that made the semi-finals appearance at the World Cup from Nigeria football development trajectory.
“Already Morocco has set a record of fourth position in the World Cup. So, our target for the next World Cup can’t be fourth position again, but to surpass the feat by reaching the final or at least finish third.
“We are going to go about it with diligent plans and commitment to tactical preparation with a very very liberal and transparent approach that will allow every good hands to have a say in the preparation from now till next four years.
“The role that the government will play must be the role that will not stop within the period of a regime, it has to be something sustainable. If you look at the policy of sports in Nigeria it seems to go with every administration in Nigeria. If the Minister lasted for four the policy ended with him. We must find a mechanism that will sustain good policies that will take us to the promised land and the promised land now is to achieve first, second or third position at the world cup.
“The technical preparation has to start right now and I want to plead to the NFf and Ministry of Sports to ensure that they get in touch with all competent hands so that the blueprint for the next world cup can be developed between now and the first quarter of next year,” Yatmud said.
The former Nigerian professional volleyball player during his decoration as patron of Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN) FCT, attributed Nigeria’s dwindling in sports to disconnection between the past and present.
“I have watched the activities in sports with a lot of nustagium and bitterness. The bitterness is because I saw something that could have been done better than how we did it. Our previous errors have been repeated which is really unfortunate, it shows that there is a disconnection between the past and present. Be that as it may, the team that is managing sports in Nigeria for now is not doing badly even though it could have done better.”
