Sports
Yobo Marks 10 Years With Super Eagles
When Joseph Yobo led the Super Eagles out against Ethiopia yesterday, it was just three days past his 10th consecutive year as a full international.
Few Nigerian players can boast of such an impressive appearance record.
The defender first represented his country as a junior international, playing as a striker as Nigeria’s Under 20 team floundered at the African Youth Championship on home soil.
But he emerged as one of the few bright spots and made his full international debut a year later, as a right back on March 24, 2001 in an African Nations Cup qualifier against Zambia which ended 1-1.
Since then, Yobo has enjoyed an unbroken spell as an international, chalking up 78 caps in the process, and playing at 5 African Nations Cup tournaments, and 2 FIFA World Cups.
“I didnt know that! Wow! How time flies! It is a great achievement for me,” he said. “To play a full 10 years non stop. Wow!”
But he collects himself: “I just have to thank everyone, especially the fans who have been there for me all this while. Sometimes people criticize you, but you know it is because they hold you to a higher standard and want you go do well all the time.
“And I am grateful to all the coaches who have selected me all these years. Even after 10 years, I still consider it an honor to wear this shirt and represent my country.
“And now that I am captain, I think I have a big responsibility to continue to wear this shirt with pride and let the younger ones know what an honor it is to play for their country.”
Yobo has scored four times for the Super Eagles but says he needs to up that figure, even as a defender. “I should score more goals. I get in the box for set pieces and I think sometimes I get a bit unlucky, but hopefully, there’s still time for me to get more.”
And speaking of time, Yobo is hoping that he has enough in his legs to help him crack Nigeria’s appearance record.
“I’m not really thinking about it, I just want to do my best for the team on a game by game basis. Hopefully, that will be good enough to get to the record, but the team is more important, and if I can help the team by doing that, why not.”
A well-known football pundit in the State, Chief Christopher Okonkwo has lauded the efforts and vision of the Super Eagles Coach Eric Chelle for going from one venue of the Nigeria Domestic Nigeria Professional Football League match to the other in monitoring Nigerian players, with a view to invite some exceptional good one discovered into the main stream of the Super Eagles team.
Okonkwo, who made the commendation in an interview at the Port Harcourt Club recently, described the positive move by Coach Chelle as a good step in the right direction, noting that the practice was how its been done in the past among any contracted coach assigned to tinker the Super Eagles team.
“Truly, it has been an old tradition in the country seeing any newly engaged Coach to lead the National team, visiting some our Nigeria League venues during the league matches to spot light some good talents that could be used to beef up some grey areas in the department of Eagles team”
He, however, frowned at the current situation where our coaches had continously been over depending on the use of foreign based players during invitation of players to the National camp, thereby, relegating the domestic home based league players to the background as if they have nothing much to offer to the team.
“I can vividly recall that the likes of great players in the mode of Finidi George, Taribo West, Kanu Nwankwo, Austin Okocha, Richard Owobokiri, Emmanuel Osuigwe among others started from Nigeria football league before they graduated to play in Europe through which they later invited to Super Eagles camp to represent Nigeria”
“Besides, I’m also of the view that going to secondary school football competitive games could equally serves as a a good platform to discover budding talents that could be nurtured to become great stars in near future”, Okonkwo frankly added.
Okonkwo, therefore, prayed that any football coach to be engaged by the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) to tinker the Super Eagles should be told not to confine himself in staying in big hotel alone but to be visiting some of our local league match venues, with a view to discover some good players that can be drafted into the Super Eagles team.
“Indeed, I stand to be challenged that there some young good players in the Nigeria Professional League. If spotted and exposed, could give the some of the invited foreign based players a stiff competitive fight in securing a postion in the team”, Okonkwo emphatically stated.
Ezechukwu, one of the youngest members of the Nigerian contingent at the championship in Ghana, said her ambition was to win the 100m title in style and cap it with a new personal record.
The fresh secondary school graduate explained that she is fully focused on contributing to Team Nigeria’s medal hopes and is determined to deliver strong performances across her events.
“My main objective in Ghana is to clinch the 100m title and the 4×100m,” Ezechukwu told Tidesports source.
“Nigeria can be assured of my very best and my commitment to the Team. I would love to set a new personal best in Ghana, but anything that comes, I will take it. The spirit in the team is high, and I think we are ready to go,” she said.
Ezechukwu, who was part of Nigeria’s women’s 4x100m relay squad at the World Relays in Botswana, said the experience gained from that competition has strengthened her mindset heading into the continental championships.
She admitted that she learned valuable lessons from her previous outing, including a difficult moment during the relay where an early error affected the team’s rhythm, but said she has used the experience to improve her discipline and composure.
“The secret is just being disciplined, training hard and trusting my coach and believing in God, and the result will show,” she added.
The teenager is part of a 41-member Nigerian team comprising 24 female and 17 male athletes competing at the championships, which begin today at the University of Ghana, Legon.
Nigeria are expected to compete across multiple track and field events as they aim for a strong finish against the continent’s elite athletes.
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