Barca had the ball, Inter had Mourinho

This is exactly what Mourinho came to Inter for. Despite dominating Serie A in the wake of the Calciopoli scandal and its effects on Milan & Juventus, Inter continued to be poor in Europe. Massimo Moratti’s dream has been to bring the European Cup back into the Nerazzuri after the glory days of ’64 and ’65, when his father was Inter president. After getting their hands on the league title repeatedly under Mancini, largely due to the weakness of their rivals, attention now shifted sharply to Europe. Mancini’s inability to deliver meant he had to make way for Jose, who himself was unceremoniously booted out by Roman Abramovich. Chelsea have not been the same since and their quest for a first ever European Cup has slipped away progressively since the Special One’s departure.

Envious glances would now be cast at the San Siro from all connected with Chelsea, should Inter lift the Cup at the Bernabeu. They have gotten there through two games against Barcelona varying in their approach: the first a ruthless exploitation of the weakness of their opponents, the second a defensive masterclass the likes of which are rarely seen. Both bear the hallmark of Mourinho. An obsessive attention to detail, a winning mentality instilled in his players that has been absent in most of Barca’s opponents, an above all a tactical knowledge that is unmatched in world football. Taking a 3-1 lead to the Camp Nou was healthy but events conspired against them as Thiago Motta, instrumental at the San Siro, was sent off very harshly for an ‘elbow’ on Pedro who made the most of the contact. What followed was a defensive display that will live long in the memory. After less than two full seasons in charge, Mourinho has made Inter into his winning image. No more wilting under pressure, no more mediocrity at the highest levels. In the first knock-out phase, he dismantled another machine he built from the ground up, Chelsea. He has now completed what must be his greatest ever triumph. He made Barca look ordinary for large parts of both legs, granting them possession far from goal, and a lot of it at that. The now former European champions ended the game with 86.4% of the ball. Inter only completed 63 passes ALL game. Barcelona are a super side, but Mourinho is a super coach. If therefore goes to show that the coach should get all the accolades and much of the blame for a team’s performances.

Things I learnt from Inter v Barca

Samuel Eto’o now plays in his 3rd UCL final. His shabby treatment by Barca last summer must have hurt, but he now has the ultimate revenge. Zlatan is not half the player Eto’o is. Samuel Eto'o is the best African player ever.

The debate about the best right-back in the world is now resolved. Maicon was excellent home and away and has been the best in the world for about 18 months now. Alves is not quite there, plus he’s a poor crosser of the ball.

Iniesta is such an integral part of Barca’s play. They’ve missed an extra level since he’s been injured. Toure, Keita and Busquets are nowhere near as creative.

It’s still too early to crown Lionel Messi as the best player in the world. Inter shut him up, and didn’t even have to foul him that much. Coaches all around the world must watch the tapes of both legs, not least Lars Lagerback, the Super Eagles coach.

Pep Guardiola needs to come up with a plan B for his Barca team, maybe one that includes 2 strikers. when confronted with the Inter wall, the ideas were lacking desperately. it took a great finish by a centre-half to pull a goal back.

If Diego Maradona doesn't take Javier Zanetti to South Africa, he's off his rocker.

When nature strikes, and other things on my mind.

When Nature Strikes

As you should know by now, there is a very famous volcano that has shut down much of Europe for much of the last week. Its name is ‘Eyjafjallajokull’ (no, don’t pronounce that). The ash from its increased volcanic activity has stopped planes from flying, stranding many thousands of people, including Dora Akunyili and some governors (what are they always travelling for anyway?). Let me not digress. When the ash enters the turbines of a plane, it quickly turns into glass in the blades, and makes the plane impossible to control. Based on this, airport authorities across Europe closed down airports since Friday, leading to loss of revenues $200m and above. I can see why such actions would be taken though, because at 35,000 feet a pilot doesn’t have many options if a plane’s turbines don’t work. Life is more important than anything else. The real interest for me is how easy it is for nature to disrupt man’s activities. Despite all our technological advancement, we are still at the mercy of nature. Humans first appeared on earth about 2 million years ago, but the Earth itself has been around for a couple of billion years. We are only passengers. Nature doesn’t need us, we need nature. If the elements turn against us because of our activities that alter the balance of the Earth, nothing we have can withstand its force. It’s a humbling thought for me and it should be a humbling thought for everyone else. We must treat the Earth with respect.

IBB’s 2011 ambition

The declaration of the self-styled ‘Evil Genius’ to seek the Presidency has drawn a lot of interest, mostly negative. He has always been a news-worthy person and this time is no different. Those who oppose say he has a lot to answer for: the annulment of June 12, the Gulf Oil windfall, Dele Giwa’s assassination among so many others. There is an irony about it though: the man who annulled a free and fair election wants to seek election into the highest office in the land. Naiwu Osahon dubbed him the ‘Evil Candidate’ and Pastor Tunde Bakare called for him to be stoned. Simply put, he’s a hate figure among the majority of Nigerians. So why then has he declared his ambition? In his Op-Ed on Sunday, THISDAY Editor Simon Kolawole puts forward a theory that he won’t seek the PDP’s ticket unless he’s ABSOLUTELY sure he will win. IBB picked a nomination form in 2007, but stepped aside when it was clear that Obasanjo had other ideas. Simon thinks that IBB loves the limelight and wants to preserve the myth around his personality. I personally think that we shouldn’t obsess over IBB, because that’s exactly what he wants. The focus should instead be on putting in place a framework for free and fair elections where the people’s votes will count. I am not too concerned about any of his alleged ‘sins’. My main problem is that he’s been there before, yet Nigeria went backward and has been going backward since then. We need change and he can’t deliver that. #Ontothenextone

Jonathan’s coming out party

The Acting President, Goodluck Ebele Jonathan was the guest of the US President last week over nuclear non-proliferation matters. He made a pledge to put in place electoral reforms and make power a top priority. He also gave interviews to the BBC and CNN’s Christiane Amanpour. What struck me in those interviews was that he seemed very relaxed throughout. Goodluck also strikes me as someone a citizen would like to ‘have a beer with’ in the mould of Bush 43. He has also been given the nickname ‘Bros J’ by Nigeria’s blogosphere. It was a good outing for him, but the now the hard work begins. There is such a short time to achieve his targets and I’m very sure he knows this. It’s a little early to talk about a possible campaign run, but if he delivers it would be a very real possibility. Time will tell.

Ohakim and jobs

In the news yesterday, I saw an advert by the Imo State Government to recruit 10,000 graduates into its civil service. At first, I thought it was a good move but feedback I got from my Imo friends on Facebook showed they were very skeptical about its success. First of all, applicants are to purchase scratch cards at N2, 000 each. That is a minimum of N 20 million for the Government and could go as high as N 100 million depending on the demand. My guess is that it’s to cover all kind of costs that such an exercise will incur, plus good profit for the stakeholders. This is not my main concern, however. Increasing the size of the Imo State civil service by such a large number will only increase bureaucracy and the number of ghost workers. It’s also a lazy approach to job creation that promotes waste of tax payer’s money. The money can be better used to teach real skills that will help them succeed, and create the environment for industry to thrive. Ikedi Ohakim needs to teach the youths in his state how to fish, instead of giving them fish to eat.

The revolving door

One day you’re in, then you’re out, then you’re back in again.

That has been the story of this EPL season so far. Even though Chelsea has lead the league for much of it, they have failed to be decisive by dropping a lot of points after going ahead in games. Following Arsenal’s loss at Spurs and Chelsea’s win over Bolton, Manchester United was within 30 seconds of completely dropping out of the race altogether in the derby. Scholes popped up with the winner in a largely unremarkable game. All eyes now turned to White Hart Lane where Tottenham, buoyed by City’s loss were extra motivated to beat Chelsea, which was exactly what they did. They now occupy fourth spot as they go to Old Trafford and City travel to the Emirates this weekend. The big clash between Spurs and City is still to come on May 5^th. Liverpool’s victory over West Ham means that even though many have written them off in the race for 4^th, the chance still exists that they play Champions’ League football next season. In many ways, the last few games of this season could have big ramifications for the next couple of years. Manchester City have not quite been able to attract the kind of players they would like because they don’t offer Champions’ League football. If they take 4^th spot, they have the money to get a squad that could dominate the Premiership, or at the very least, lock Liverpool out of the top 4.

Arsenal’s loss to Tottenham seemed to have buried their title hopes, but then Tottenham repeated the trick against Chelsea in a confident and dominant display. Arsenal could then have put their foot in the door once again by beating Wigan, and were leading 2-0 with 10 minutes to go. Somehow, somehow, they managed to lose that game. They now have the unwanted record of being the ONLY team that have lost a two goal lead entering the 80^th minute of a Premiership game. To be sure, the Gunners have suffered a lot from injuries this term, but time and time again their hopes of silverware have slipped through the gloves of their goalkeepers. Manuel Almunia has been seen as a weak link for a couple of seasons now and has not improved. Lukasz Fabianski’s poor handling was directly responsible for Wigan’s equalizer. If Arsene Wenger had gotten a keeper in the January window, it is very likely that the title race would have a very different picture. It’s rather ironic that while they kept up their challenge with late goals against the likes of Hull and Wolves, that same challenge has now ended with the concession of 3 late goals.

Chelsea have had their injuries too. Ashley Cole has been out for about 3 months, Essien has not played since leaving for the African Nations’ Cup in January. A number of key players have also been out for spells of this campaign. Their problem however stems from an inability to hold leads. Chelsea have dropped SIXTEEN points from leading positions this season. Without a doubt, this is the reason they haven’t won the title yet. They also have a nasty habit of putting out poor performances after dominant ones. Both losses to Man City came after dominant performances against Arsenal, and European commitments have also taken their toll. So, why so many dropped points? I think that the team is not fresh enough. A number of Chelsea players need to go and younger players that will inject freshness into the team brought in. My candidates would be Deco, Ballack and Belletti for starters. I am also of the view that Drogba’s presence in the side slows the team down going forward and makes them too predictable. Chelsea have scored 7 goals TWICE in the league this season, and on both occasions, Drogba didn’t play. More than that, Anelka suffers out on the right most of the time. His effectiveness is reduced when he plays with the Ivorien. Carlo Ancelotti came to London from a Milan side that had too many players over the age of 30 in their ranks. Even in a reasonably slow league like the Serie A, this fact has made it impossible for them to combine European and league football over a long season. Roman Abramovich will have to provide the funds to prevent the same thing happening to the Blues.

Manchester United could also have been in a better position than they are currently, but some of their problems are self inflicted. The decision to field Neville, Giggs and Scholes together at the sharp end of the season has back-fired more often than not. At the Allianz Arena, they were ineffective as Bayern upped the tempo in the second half, with Gary Neville committing the needless foul that led to Ribery’s deflected goal in the first. The three of them started again versus Chelsea, which negated the one thing United have in abundance: PACE. The passing in midfield was too slow, and without Rooney in the side leaving Nani out until the last 10 minutes was a disastrous decision. Sir Alex seemed to acknowledge this in the return leg against Bayern and the difference was clear for much of the first half. Leaving Rooney on the pitch even though it was clear he wasn’t 100% slowed down the attack and probably let Bayern off in a breathless 45 minutes. You would have thought the lesson was learnt, but apparently not because against Blackburn, Giggs and Scholes played in midfield. The result was a one-paced set-up that couldn’t drive the team forward with urgency or get beyond the strikers to create chances. United had the ball, but not the goal. The quest for a record- surpassing 19^th title seemed over until Scholes’ dramatic winner.

Has the Top 4 gotten weaker, or has the rest of the league gotten stronger? The absence of an English team in the CL final four seems to say weaker, but in the Europa League there could be an all English final. In fact Fulham, who are in mid-table, knocked out last season’s German Champions Wolfsburg in the last round of the competition. Tottenham beat Arsenal and Chelsea back-to-back, City beat Chelsea home and away and Arsenal at Eastlands. Everton beat City away from home and took 7 points off the top three in the second half of the season. The longest unbeaten run this season is 12 games, by Birmingham. The Premiership has gone the way of most of the big leagues by being competitive right to the end of the season but has had arguably more upsets and drama. Whether or not it has lost its place as the top league in Europe cannot be known for another year, but it is definitely the most exciting.

The way the fixtures have lined up is very interesting. Liverpool won their game yesterday against West Ham and could yet get a highly unlikely 4^th spot. They will be hoping United and Arsenal do them a favour against Spurs and City while they win their own games. United will also be hoping Liverpool beat Chelsea at Anfield on May 1^st, with at least one of Spurs and City dropping points when they play each other on May 5^th. Rafa Benitez may yet deliver on his top 4 promise, and United may yet surpass Liverpool’s 18 titles. Ironically though, both these clubs will have a direct say in the other’s destiny.

the journey of a 1000 miles.

Today is the first time I’ve ever attended a rally/protest. Ever since it was announced last month that ‘ENOUGH IS ENOUGH’ Nigeria would organize a rally in Lagos after the one in Abuja, I looked forward to this day very eagerly. My last post talked about my belief in the power of protest as a way of making fellow citizens and politicians sit up and take notice. The roll call of celebrities was impressive: Audu Maikori, CEO of Chocolate City who attended the rally in Abuja and went toe-to-toe with a mobile policeman in an iconic photograph came today. Ali Baba, ID Cabasa, Rita Dominic, Banky W, Knighthouse & Mo’Cheddah, Denrele Edun, Djinee, Kel, Rooftop MCs, ELDee and many others also came to march. We might think celebrities are ‘insulated’ from the struggles of most of us, but we’re wrong. Students from LASU came around to add their own peculiar colour to the proceedings, as well as a couple of mini-vuvuzelas. The noise those things produce is crazy. When I imagined 80,000 of them supporting SA in June, I shuddered. The walk itself was a long and difficult one, especially since it occurred at high noon. Luckily I brought two handkerchiefs and used both to the end. As I marched with my fellow youths, placard in hand, I watched the reactions of onlookers. Many of them encouraged us, a few drivers honked their horns as they passed. Almost everyone looked at the messages on our placards. Mine read: ‘Probe Corrupt Officials Now’. When we got to the Government House, we were told that Gov. Fashola was in the US with the Acting President. Having been informed of our rally, I would have thought that maybe the Deputy Governor, Sarah Sosan, would address the gathering. Instead we got the Secretary to the State Government. I don’t exactly know what happened at the very end because it was taking an awful long time, but for me the success or failure of the rally cannot be determined by the presence or absence of any government official.

While carrying my placard in one hand, I was trying to tweet with the other. Some comments on my timeline reminded me of what the real battle is: it’s a battle to get people to believe that change is possible, and that WE Nigerians are the ones most responsible for that change or lack of it. The real challenge is to get this defeatist mentality of ‘what will be will be’ out of our heads. If Black people had sung ‘Que Sera Sera’ instead of ‘we shall overcome’, I doubt that the many immigrants there (including Nigerians) would find America even half as tolerant as it is now. If the Polish people had sung ‘Que Sera Sera’ instead of ‘solidarity forever’, Communists would probably have continued their stranglehold of oppression throughout Eastern Europe. If the native South Africans had sung ‘Que Sera Sera’ instead of ‘Free Mandela’, Apartheid would still be in charge there. There would be no ‘rainbow nation’, no World Cup to host, nothing. Even the right to practice Christianity that we enjoy, or choose NOT to enjoy was paid for by individuals. The Bible says: ‘unless a seed falls to the ground and dies…’. It is this concept of sacrifice that most of us are yet to understand. We live in an era of instant gratification and when we can’t get it, its not worth the trouble. We need to have a mentality upgrade. This is the real battle, not who is or isn’t running for President and not who is or isn’t head of INEC. In other countries of the world, the right to protest is denied and those who protest are beaten, locked up and killed. People still go out and march. Here, we are allowed to protest yet we make all kinds of excuses to make ourselves feel better. In China, there is no Facebook, Twitter or YouTube. Soon there will be no Google as well. Here, we have all these media of self-expression but we fail to maximize its power to effect change in our nation. The citizens of Nigeria must accept responsibility for the direction of this country, because politicians will only ever be politicians. Already, they are decamping and re-camping like prostitutes, trying to get back into the good books of government. Most of them have no ideology, no principle, no honour, and cannot be left to their devices while they rule us. A country’s citizens are the ultimate checks and balances in any form of government, especially in a democracy and today’s rally is an exercise of the right to speak up when things are going wrong.

Make no mistake, the road to a better Nigeria will be a long & difficult one. It will not end in 2011, but it has started this year. If we don’t protest, if we don’t come out to vote, if we don’t defend our votes, what is the alternative? More complaining? More weeping and grinding of teeth? God forbid! Evil only triumphs because good people fail to take action. Our children must not complain about the same things we and our parents complained about. We keep calling on God to save Nigeria, and He has given us another opportunity to make our next 50 years as a nation better than the first 50. We would do well to take it.

The Power of Protest

The popular saying goes that ‘silence means consent’. No matter how aggrieved you feel about anything, if you don’t speak up the chances are that you will continue to suffer in silence. For many years now, this has been the attitude of the Nigerian citizen. In our nation today, silence is no longer golden. Recent months have seen three major protests: two by the ‘Save Nigeria Group’ in Lagos and Abuja and another tagged ‘Enough Is Enough’ in Abuja. These are signs that things are beginning to change. More and more people realize that waiting on the government to do the right thing or lamenting in private will never get us anywhere. Throughout history, those who have been in constituted authority have only done what is right because they are held accountable by those they govern. Our biggest problem since independence is that we don’t hold our leaders to account. One of the best ways to do this, apart from the ballot box, is through peaceful protest. In between elections, protest is a great way for citizens to show their displeasure with government policies. For at least 15 years, the only people that protest are Labour, usually over increase in petrol or salary increments. It is only now that protests in Nigeria are going beyond Labour to the wider populace.

In any democracy, the right to protest is a key part of civil liberties. It is a right that we haven’t used enough in 10 years of this 4^th republic. So many things in this country are going wrong, and need to fixed YESTERDAY. The beginning of every solution (for example #lightupnigeria) is political will that can only come from good leadership. Nigerians have not shown that they are ready for good leadership because of their nonchalant/defeatist attitude to elections. I have a feeling that when we look back in 10-20 years time, the handling of Umaru Yar’Adua’s illness will be seen as the turning point. We were left rudderless as a nation for 90-odd days, and the outrage that has generated has made Nigerians a lot more politically aware, but this awareness needs to be translated into a very high turn-out among young people for the elections in 2011.

On the 13^th of this month, there’ll be an ‘Enough Is Enough’ rally in Lagos. With the success of the Abuja version, young people in Lagos have taken it upon themselves to organize one here. A lot of people want change, but until recently it’s been mostly talk without any actions to put things right. Think about it like evangelism, only that the gospel protesters will be preaching is that we are finally tired of being pushed around by the political class. When you march in the sun for what you believe in, some others who feel the way you do will see your example and be convinced to also stick their necks out. It started with the ‘Save Nigeria’ protest, where old men like Kongi who is 70 led the march and as a result, Dora Akunyili found the strength to break ranks with the EXCOF because she had proof that public opinion was shifting. Since then, the protests have spread and people are becoming more emboldened. You do not light a lamp and put it under a bushel. Nigerians are looking around for people to lead, so that they can follow. Every single youth at that rally will be telling those looking on that it IS possible to get our country back from those who have held us hostage for so long. We will be passing the message that there is hope for Nigeria, because we are that hope.

Coming out in protest will also make those change candidates who want to contest for various offices in the next elections come forward to declare their intention to run. They may feel that Nigeria is finally ready to start a new chapter as we begin our next 50 years as a nation. The ultimate aim of these protests, in my opinion, will be to mobilize young people across the country to register to vote, select their candidates, vote for the candidates of their choice and perhaps most importantly, protect their votes. It’s been coined R-S-V-P and I think it’s very catchy and it will be very effective in spreading the word. Everyone and anyone who can possibly be at this rally should do so because if Nigeria goes down, we all go down. It’s as simple as that.