A FEW WEEKS ago when I featured Peter Osaze Odemwingie as the lead subject in this column, it was for the wrong reasons. The player had walked out on Super Eagles coach Samson Siasia over a disagreement and then gone on to confront the coach on Twitter. That prompted me to ask him to “shut up” and apologise to his coach which he promptly did. Case closed.

That regrettable incident now seems like a long time ago because Osaze has consistently been in the headlines for all the right reasons since then. Regular goals and assists for his modest Barclays English Premier League side, West Bromwich Albion, have lifted the club from relegation trouble and into safety ahead of next season.

In the process, Osaze has rewritten the club’s goalscoring record book by becoming the first player to score in five successive league games, and the first to score 15 league goals in one season, eclipsing the 12-goal former record set by Robert Earnshaw. Yet, there are still two games left in the season.

In recognition of his scoring exploits, Osaze was named as the Barclays English Premier League Player of the Month for April 2011, the second time since his arrival in England (the first was in September 2010). All these by a player who practically “begged” and “paid” his way to play in the EPL. Recall that Osaze had to take a pay-cut from his big salary at Russia’s Lokomotiv Moscow for  West Brom to be able to afford his one million pound transfer.

Looking back now, West  Brom must be thanking their luck for landing such a bargain at the start of the season. At the moment, Osaze is behind only Dimitar Berbatov (21 goals), Carlos Tevez (19) and Robin van Persie (16) on the EPL scoring charts. Considering that these top three play for big guns Manchester United, Manchester City and Arsenal respectively where they are surrounded by several creative international superstars, Osaze’s achievement at mid-table West Brom comes into sharper focus.

The only other player that I would compare with Osaze in terms of impact in the EPL this season is United’s Mexican import Javier “Chicharito” Hernandez who has scored 20 goals so far in all competitions (13 in the league). But then, United paid seven million pounds for him thereby making Osaze a far better bargain in terms of cost-benefit analysis. Besides, Osaze did not have the opportunity to play in the UEFA Champions League where he could also have added to his goals tally like Hernandez.

Ironically, both players have a lot in common: light-skinned, baby-faced, quick feet, frightening pace, great technique and a sharp eye for goal. I will rate Chicharito slightly ahead of Osaze in finishing (the Mexican is ruthless while Osaz can be sometimes wasteful), but Osaz has a better left foot. The only clear advantage Chicharito has over Osaze is the age-factor. At 22 (he will be 23 on June 1), the Mexican is just blossoming, but at 29 (he will be 30 years on July 15, 2011), Osaze is running out of time.

That is because his birth was properly registered in Tashkent, Uzbekistan (former USSR) where he was born. Had Osaz been born in Nigeria, his “football age,” considering his baby face and slim frame, won’t be more than 20 years. And that means we can still expect another 15 years of action from him, before he retires at the age of 35 in 2026 when he would actually be 45!

All joking aside, I think age is just a number for Osaze and he should still be active at least for another five years. Remember, Ryan Giggs is still going strong at 37.

In my reckoning, Osaze’s performance in his debut EPL season already qualifies him for serious consideration as the GLO/CAF African Footballer of the Year for 2011. For several years now, we have moaned about the absence of Nigerian players in the final selection, but Osaz now stands a good chance to help us end the drought. His major challenge will come from his compatriot Taye Taiwo whose goal won the 2011 French Cup final for Olympic Marseille recently, and Mali’s Seydou Keita who is on the brink of winning a third straight Spanish League title with Barcelona. And if Keita goes ahead to also win the European Champions League final with Barca against Manchester United on May 28, the Malian may emerge the favourite for the African crown ahead of Taye and Osaze.

But that award is still many months away. At the moment, Osaze deserves all the accolades that he’s getting and he’s worthy of celebration for being such a good ambassador for Nigeria in his club shirt. I hope he will keep his current form burning hot when the Super Eagles face Ethiopia in our next Africa Cup of Nations qualifier in Addis Ababa on June 4, so that he can shoot us to the finals next year.

Taye’s Move To Milan

THE long-speculated move by Super Eagles left-back Taye Taiwo from Olympique Marseille to AC Milan was finally confirmed by the Rossoneri over the weekend. As from next season, the left-foot bomber will start filing out in the red and black of the new Italian champions at the San Siro.

This is a great move for Taye and the Super Eagles. Undoubtedly, playing for big clubs improves the quality of footballers and Taye is bound to become an even better player lining up alongside the likes of Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Robinho. Taye now joins Mikel Obi (of Chelsea) as the only two Nigerians in the truly big clubs of European football.

I would like to see more of our players making such big moves or breaking into the top teams because the Super Eagles will benefit in the long run. Under-23 winger Nnamdi Oduamadi has been knocking on the Milan first team door. Let’s hope that Taye’s arrival will coincide with Oduamadi’s breakthrough as well as that of midfielder Joel Obi across the city at Inter Milan.

It is true that playing for “big name” clubs is  not necessarily a prerequisite for big performances as we have seen with Osaze Odemwingie shining brightly at modest West Brom. But it does help a great deal to play for a big club because it pushes the player to improve.

NFF, Beware of Ethiopia

lJUST WHEN  I was getting concerned that the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) was becoming rather complacent with the preparations for Nigeria’s key Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against Ethiopia in Addis Ababa on June 4, news came that the NFF had cancelled the proposed Super Eagles “Presidential Inauguration” match for President Goodluck Jonathan. I heaved a sigh of relief.

That game was going to be a huge distraction. With the Ethiopia game on June 4 and the international friendly against Argentina already slated for three days earlier on June 1, I always thought that arranging yet another game for May 29 for purely political reasons was asking for trouble. Which is more important to us: playing for the President or qualifying for the Nations Cup? I would think the latter. It’s a good thing then that the May 29 date has now been cancelled.

Even at that, coach Samson Siasia and the NFF must focus primarily on the Ethiopia game.

Beating Argentina in Abuja, if we manage it, will be good for our ego. But if anything goes wrong in Addis Ababa and we don’t come away with the three points, we may be putting our 2012 Nations Cup ticket at risk.
NFF, Siasia be warned.

Blatter On The Way Back

IF you’re interested in FIFA politics and you were hoping that Mohammed bin Hamman of Qatar will end the reign of President Joseph Blatter at the FIFA general elections on June 1, 2011, forget it. Blatter will win handsomely. Here is why...

There are 208 members in FIFA distributed amongst the six Confederations as follows: Europe-UEFA (53 votes); Africa-CAF (52); Asia-AFC (46); North & Central America-CONCACAF (35); South America-CONMEBOL (10) and Oceania (11).

UEFA which is led by Blatter’s protege and successor-in-waiting, Michel Platini, have announced that they will vote en bloc for Blatter, and CONMEBOL is likely to follow suit.

CONCACAF which is led by another Blatter loyalist, Jack Wanner, did not officially adopt a candidate at their recent Congress in Miami, USA, but close observers of FIFA politics have predicted that CONCACAF will vote Blatter. That gives the 75-year-hold Swiss a head start of 98 votes guaranteed.

Bin Hamman is expected to win the majority of the  Asian votes but Africa will be divided following last year’s corruption investigation that indicted many African top shots, including Nigeria’s Dr. Amos Adamu, who are currently suspended.

Ordinarily, a coalition between Asia and Africa should have given Bin Hamman 99 votes en bloc, thus leaving Oceania to decide who wins the elections. But past experience shows that Blatter knows how to “penetrate” any African resolution, and so the best Bin Hamman can get from Africa is a split vote.

In 1998, Blatter floored Sweden’s UEFA president Lennart Johansson by 111 votes to 80 to succeed Joao Havelange as FIFA president after “compromising” a UEFA/CAF agreement to vote for Johansson en bloc. In 2002, Blatter comprehensibvely swept CAF president Issa Hayatou himself aside in a 132-56 tsunami. In 2006, Blatter won again unopposed and he now looks set to rout Bin Hamman in 2011 for what he says will be a final four-year term. Blatter is unstoppable!.

At Last, The League Resumes

lAFTER a protracted half-way break which turned from  weeks into months, the Nigeria Premier League finally resumes this week.

I agree that some of the reasons for the extended break are beyond the organisers. But if we truly want this League to grow, we have to do a lot better than we’re doing so far and stop offering excuses. Nobody will take us seriously if they can’t confirm simple information on when our football league will start... or end.

More on this later.

FEEDBACK

lHi, Mumini. (Following Manchester United’s 2-1 victory over Chelsea on Sunday), I’m quoting from your last week’s article: “...I’m sticking with United to nick it again with the lightening speed of Javier Hernandez proving too hot for Chelsea to handle.”

Haba, Mumini, tell us your secret. These predictions are becoming too accurate to be guess work. – 08037055027.