SFF blamed for Somalia's loss to Oman in FIFA Arab Cup encounter

NAIROBI, Kenya - The Somali Football Federation [SFF] has been blamed for the national team's Sunday loss in Oman, in a game that showcased glimpses of quality to a team that rarely trains or plays fitness matches but expected to compete with the rest of the world.

Despite all the challenges, the team went down 2-1 in Oman, with the latter becoming the second team to emerge triumphant in FIFA Arab Cup 2021in a game that was played at Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium.

Ranked 80th in the world and facing a side 117 places lower, the Omanis were heavy favorites for this tie - and justified that status with an impressive first-half performance.

Mohsen Al-Ghasani pounced on a rebound to fire them into an 11th-minute lead, and that was doubled 25 minutes later when the same player earned a penalty that was coolly converted by Salaah Al Yahyaei.

Somalia, though, showed real spirit in the second half and provided a dramatic finale after deservedly halving the deficit through a superb downward header by Abel Gigli. The game Oman the right start to the contest.

Sudan held on for victory, however, and they will join hosts Qatar, Iraq, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, Syria, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Algeria, and Sudan - who qualified yesterday - in the tournament’s final phase from 30 November to 18 December. The remaining qualifiers will determine the other five participants in the days ahead.

But the outcome of the game may not be a big brother to Somalia, a country struggling to rebuild after years of civil war that has almost plunged systems into disarray. Somalia's government is hardly functional given persistent problems, including but not limited to violent extremism.

Federation's incompetence exposed

Ahmed Said Asanyo, ex-captain of the Somali football team, who was among the players who lost to the match against Oman last night, was quick to take a swipe against football administrators in the country, accusing them of gross incompetence.

In his own confession, the team deserved more but it was led down by the football managers in Somalia, arguing that the federation has never facilitated any training close to two years now for the national team players.

"Oman did not beat us, Somali Football Federation defeated us" I am very disappointed with the result today, the boys worked hard, we deserved more, today we did not lose to Oman, we lost to the Somali Football Federation," the former captain said.

For 18 months without training, the last two days I've done 2 times raining, how we wish to compete with countries such as Oman, who played five games in the "last two weeks? Long live Somalia," he added in an emotional post after the game.

Abdisamad Abdullahi, current captain of the Somali national team, also picked positives from the game, adding that the team needs more friendly matches for the purpose of improvement. Football, he noted, is one of the activities that can unite the people of Somalia.

"This game was very difficult. Oman plays regularly, they want to improve their football. But we showed our quality and class, we are not a small football nation. We need more games, we have problems in our country but it's football which can bring us together," he said.

Before the break of the civil war in Somalia, the country was among those highly ranked football national in East and Central Africa. But with instability and run-away graft in the country's football body, the national team has underperformed on various occasions.

Mass graft in SFF

Cases of graft in the national football body are synonymous in Somalia, with the women's team being the first to complain a couple of years ago. The incidents, analysts say, have even ruined sports in the Horn of Africa nation.

Shaima Mohamed, who has been almost single-handedly pushing the cause of women’s football in one of the world’s most volatile nations, told the Guardian: “I have no idea where the money goes.”

Every national federation is entitled to money from Fifa, with $100,000 of the $500,000 available for operational costs ringfenced for women’s football, while additional money is available for travel to women’s tournaments and for special projects related to women’s football. The Somali federation has not responded to requests for comment.

Mohamed believes federation members are unwilling to back the women’s game because they fear extremists who oppose it. “[They] would have sat down and talked about it and I think they are scared for their lives,” she said in an interview a few years ago. “But they are also responsible to help Fifa’s vision for women’s football.”

The women’s football department at the Somali FA is in effect inactive. Mohamed said the federation gave her an official title but turned down her request for an office, equipment, and a rent-free field for training. Girls and women continue to play, notably at the Golden Club academy in Mogadishu, which Mohamed founded and runs.

“We do fundraising to support the teams,” she said. “We do social media campaigns. We get contributions from the community but we don’t have a specific budget that comes to us every year. I have no idea where the money goes. I have no idea if the federation has sent details of my role and information to Fifa. We need formal recognition for Somalia women’s football.”

She called on Fifa to step in. “They should do more to ensure we are receiving our funding,” she said. “Fifa needs to do more accountability with every federation in Africa to see if the women’s funding is being spent on women’s football or something else.

“Fifa could also do more by improving direct communications with the women’s football department. I understand the federation can’t do much for the women’s departments since they are scared for their lives but they can give us a little support until we can stand on our feet because we are willing to take the risk and we are ready to fight for what we want.”

And Impeccable sources within FIFA intimated that the SFF president Abdiqani Said was summoned to Zurich, the headquarters in 2019 to shed light as to where the millions of dollars which had been channeled to the local organization had been misused.

The move follows an expose by Shaima Mohamed, the head of the women's soccer who had reached out to the world football governing body to take action, claiming money made available by FIFA to support the women's game in her country is not reaching its intended target.

GAROWE ONLINE