Fans Commend Eagles’ Commitment

Football fans have said that the Super Eagles 2-1 victory over the Leone Stars on Wednesday showed that the players and their coaches were committed to rebuilding the national team.

The fans said  after the encounter at the Tesilm Balogun Stadium that the team exhibited a high team spirit.

“Though the result was slim, I must say that it is a good beginning for the team,” Femi Atolagbe, a banker, said.

“The team spirit must be commended. All the players displayed the commitment and coordination required to rebuild a team that has lost the confidence of fans.

“I want to also commend Coach Samson Siasia for his good leadership role and tactical discipline.

“He has been able to bring Nigerian players together and given all the opportunity to prove themselves.”

Bimbo Akinola, a businessman, said that the team should be given time to mature.

“This is a new team. Nigerians should not judge them with the result of the match because they need time to mature.

“Many of them are playing together for the first time and need to blend over time with continuous playing and understanding of one another.

“I only hope that they will continue to display the high level of commitment and patriotism they showed here which the last Super Eagles lacked,” Akinola said.

He urged the Nigeria Football Association (NFA) to organise more friendly matches for the team to avoid woeful performances in major competitions.

Osasu Obayuiwana, Associate Editor of New African Magazine, said that the match was just a friendly encounter which would serve as part of the team’s rebuilding process.

“The team still has a lot of work to do in coordination to understand each other.

“For now there is no cause for me to complain too much since we won the match anyway,” he said.

Fred Edore, a sports journalist, said that the team was going through the process of reconstruction and confidence building.

“This is a new effort in rebuilding our football and all hands must be on deck,’’ he said.

“The technical crew did not limit the players to the already established ones; the home-based were equally given the opportunity to prove themselves, even the reserves played except the goalkeeper.”

On the choice of Sierra Leone, he said it was good for a team that is going through transformation.

Meanwhile, Siasia commended the Lagos fans but blamed the synthetic pitch for the 2-1 score.

“Lagos fans are wonderful, they are one of the best spectators in the world; they cheer you when you are playing well and boo you when you are not playing well.

“For me, playing in Lagos is like playing an away match and I need to play well to get the support of the fans.

“Our problem is not with the fans but with the pitch. Most of the players are playing for the first time on such a pitch which made it a bit difficult for them to express themselves.

“But what is most important for us is that we won; this is part of our preparation for the Nations’ Cup qualifier against Ethiopia which is a must win,” Siasia said.

Super Eagles captain Joseph Yobo called on the fans to keep supporting the team to bring back the country’s lost glory in football.

“Considering the time and preparation, the result is not bad for we put in our best to redeem the image of the national team after the poor performance of the World Cup in South Africa.

“The pitch and the limited time we had for preparation were responsible for the slim victory but we urge our fans to keep supporting us because this is a new Super Eagles,” Yobo said.