Monday, February 16, 2015

Why Dolphins failed in Malabo

Four Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) clubs were in action at the weekend in Confederation of African Football (Caf) club competitions at the weekend.
Three of those clubs, Warri Wolves (in the Caf Confederation Cup), Enyimba FC and Kano Pillars FC (both in the Caf Champions League) recorded victories in their first leg, preliminary round matches.
Only Dolphins FC lost its opening game (in the Caf Confederation Cup) 0-1 to Equatoguinean club, Leones Vegetarianos in Malabo.
Investigations by supersport.com shows that Dolphins would have won the game handsomely but for some avoidable hiccups faced by the contingent before their departure from the shores of Nigeria on Friday, February 13, 2015.
Cracks on the wall
The alarm bells started ringing about two months before Saturday’s game against Leones.
Players of the club resumed late from their Christmas break. Only one player, Jonathan Zikiye, met the deadline for resumption and he was forced to spend a week all by himself at the club’s Elekahia camp before other members of the squad started trickling in.
Dolphins then travelled to Abuja in January for the NPFL pre-season tournament aimed at keeping clubs representing Nigeria on the continent in competitive mood.
The Port Harcourt club were to face Kano Pillars (league champions), Enyimba FC (Cup kings), Warri Wolves and the country’s Under-20 and Under-23 sides.
They lost their first game 0-2 to Kano Pillars but the score line failed to mask a side that looked anything but prepared for the rigours of continental football as they were totally outclassed in all departments by Sai Masu Gida.
A 10-0 victory for Pillars would have been more like it. That was how appalling Dolphins looked on the day against Pillars.
Club trainer, Stanley Eguma predictably tore into his charges after that first game and they improved noticeably in their next fixture against the under-23s which they lost 1-0.
However, lack of match fitness and absence of cohesiveness was apparent as Dolphins lost their remaining games in the competition against Enyimba, Warri Wolves and the under-20s, scoring a solitary goal in the process.
The loss of the club’s best player in 2014, Emem Eduok, did not help too as Dolphins looked a pale shadow of the side that finished so strongly in the Cup and NPFL last season.
Disaster looming
Kano Pillars committee member, Alhaji Abba Yola spoke to supersport.com after the pre-season tournament in Abuja and revealed that Sai Masu Gida would travel to Ghana for more preparations ahead of their first leg, preliminary round contest against South Sudanese club, Al Malakia.
“We are not satisfied with what we did in Abuja and feel the need for our boys to get more preparations under their belt.
“A one week training tour to Ghana has been arranged where our boys will face teams like Hearts of Oak and Ghana’s Under-23 side.
“I am sure that after the tour, our boys will be in better shape for the continent,” Yola said.
Pillars seemingly benefited from that exercise as they won 2-0 in Juba against Malakia.
This was a Pillars side that last won on the road in the Champions League in 2011.
Dolphins, the worst side at the NPFL pre-season tournament did not feel it was necessary to engage their players in any more build-up fixtures ahead of their game against Leones Vegetarianos.
The drama begins
The Dolphins contingent comprising of 19 players and no less than 20 officials was supposed to leave Port Harcourt for Malabo last Wednesday via a chartered aircraft.
The departure date was however unceremoniously moved forward by 48 hours and when supersport.com sought to know why, an official who pleaded anonymity said funds for the trip were at a premium.
The contingent eventually left the Port Harcourt international airport, Omagwa at 9pm on Friday, February 13, less than 24 hours to the game against Leones.
No less than four key officials of the club , China Acheru (media chief), Azunda Wobo (media assistant), Okey Okabie (assistant coach) and the club’s supporters club chairman were also turned back from the airport as they were told they were not billed to travel with the team to Malabo.
The stunned officials could only watch on in horror as the contingent jetted off to Malabo.
Our findings revealed that the players and officials of Dolphins only checked into their hotel in Malabo around midnight on Friday.
By 7am local time, they left their lodgings for a light training session and returned about two hours later where the tale assumed an even more dramatic twist.
The players demanded for their allowances as is customary during away fixtures on the continent but were stunned when they were offered to be paid in Naira (Nigeria currency).
That was unprecedented as players and officials usually receive payment in US dollars.
Worse still the amount offered was about half the amount of the equivalent of what they usually received for away games.
The players refused the money outright and threatened to boycott the game.
It took almost four hours of heated arguments and negotiations before a compromise was reached.
The truce was reached about two hours to kickoff and the players, clearly not in the right spirits trudged on to the 15,250 capacity Estadio do Malabo for the game.
Strangely, Dolphins dominated the early exchanges and could have raced to a two-goal lead but for some shocking misses, the nadir by former Sharks boy, Christian Pyagbara.
The off-the-field exertions of the players eventually caught up with them as they failed to maintain the blistering tempo which allowed Leones to score the only goal of the game.
Mountain to climb
Dolphins are still favourites to progress to the next round of the competition with the second leg still to come in Port Harcourt but one is forced to ponder on what might have been if the preparations had gone according to script.
Eguma was typically bullish after the first leg.
“Yes, it is true that we could have easily won the first leg game in Malabo but we just have to move on.
“We know what to expect in the second leg and with our fans behind us in a fortnight, it will be a different ball game.
“Our players are individuals for the big occasion and I am sure they will deliver,” he said.
If the drama that played out last week repeats in another week’s time, Eguma’s optimism may well count for nothing.

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