Bravo! Super Eagles, Nigeria

The victory of the Super Eagles at the just-concluded Africa Cup of Nations in South Africa is one that Nigerians would savour for a long time. The victory which came 19 years after the Super Eagles lifted the coveted trophy in Tunisia in 1994 is remarkable in many ways.

It is significant that the coaching crew of the Super Eagles who piloted the team to victory were all players in 1994. This includes the Chief Coach, Stephen Keshi and his deputy, Daniel Amokachi, alias the Bull, among others.

That the Super Eagles made history is indicative of the fact that the Chief Coach, Stephen Keshi, by this feat, has equaled the record of the Egyptian, El Gohari, who won the African Nations Cup as a player in 1954 and later as a coach of the Egyptian Pharaohs in 2002.

Besides, in the whole world, Keshi has made history as the third person to win a continental trophy as a player, and later as a coach, after El Gohari and the Brazilian, Scolari who won the World Cup as a player and later as the Brazilian Coach.

The Tide, therefore, joins millions of other well-meaning Nigerians and football enthusiasts across the world to congratulate the Super Eagles. Africa will not forget in a hurry the psychological skill displayed by the Keshi-led boys in the game against the star-studded Cote d’Ivoire team, which paraded internationals like Drogba, Yaya Toure and other notable internationals, against whom Keshi fielded little known locals.

Besides, this victory came at a time when Nigerians were losing confidence in the national team, coupled with conflicting signals from the football House. This is why Keshi’s decision in not inviting well known Nigerian internationals like Odemwinge, Obafemi Martins and Aiyegbeni is commendable as the local players clearly showed fresh hope in the team.

While we commend the Super Eagles for lifting the trophy for the first time in 1980 in Nigeria, there are coincidences that revealed a divine finger. The 1994 Tunisia game and now the 2013 edition in South Africa, it is ironical that the player, Sunday Mba who scored Nigeria’s winning goal wore Jersey No. 19, the number of years the team waited to win the trophy again.

On the whole, the Eagles have put paid to disillusionment expressed by Nigerians on the state of our football. It is thus clear that with proper motivation, Nigerian coaches can rightly replace the often very highly priced foreigners for the national team.

As we savour the victory which went a long way to unite Nigerians toward one goal, we hope that this team is kept together for future international campaigns. Besides, this impressive performance of the Super Eagles has once again indicated that with the right work environment and motivation Nigerians can rise to any challenge in honour of the fatherland even at the shortest notice.

We salute the support Nigerians gave the team, including donations to motivate the team for the South African campaign. Also worthy of note is the fact that Nigeria can once again build its football and dominate Africa and even the soccer world.

We hope that the euphoria for this victory would spur the authorities to truly place the needed importance on football and sports in general as the dividends from sports always far outweighs any investment.