Sports
S’Eagles Will Bravely Defend Their Chances In Cameroon – Amuneke
A member of the Technical Study Group (TSG) of the coming TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations, Cameroon 2021, Emmanuel Amuneke spoke to CAFOnline.com about his view of the 9 January – 6 February 2022 tournament. Amuneke who won the 1994 AFCON title with Super Eagles and was Tanzania’s coach in the 2019 edition in Egypt, says he expects a better edition.
“I expect it to be better than the previous edition. The 2019 edition in Egypt was the first Africa Cup of Nations with 24 teams, and this will be the second time. We have newcomers like Gambia and Comeroons, this shows that African football is progressing. AFCON is a tournament watched and followed around the world. Therefore, despite the difficulties posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, this tournament must rise to international standards. Africa must show that its flagship competition is making giant strides. We are going to discover new stars. I am very positive,” Amuneke said.
Speaking about favourites in the competition he said that Algeria is the reigning champions, and they are the favourites. Senegal is a very strong team, so are the hosts Cameroon, Egypt, Nigeria, Morocco and Tunisia. It will be very difficult to predict who will win the title because we have so many great teams here.
“There are big changes in African football, players with a global dimension, it is promising. In Europe today, African footballers play the leading roles in their clubs and evolve in the top clubs in the world. That must be reflected in this competition.”
According to him, despite the African football progress, all African representatives came out in the first round in Russia 2018 FIFA World Cup because their representatives were missing things.
“We have to wait to get an idea of our next representatives in Qatar 2022. Either way, we must learn from our mistakes in Russia 2018. We weren’t very far, but our representatives were missing things. It was not the quality of our players that was the problem, but we struggled to find tactical solutions to the equations posed by our opponents. The main thing is to have learned the lessons and try to move forward next time,” he added.
He said it’s clear that the teams will have a certain advantage and a great opportunity, despite that the play-offs have nothing to do with the Africa Cup of Nations. The teams present in Cameroon are of great quality, saying that he, personally cannot predict the future AFCON winner because all the teams are of such quality. With this competition, the teams will know at what level they can be and have an idea of what remains for them to do. In terms of preparation, we couldn’t get better.
He said that Nigerians would have liked to see players like Victor Osimhen who is doing very well in a very tough league in Italy. But the most important in life is health and we pray he will regain his health very quickly. He will play other tournaments for his country and certainly the World Cup qualifying play-offs.
Osimhen is a young footballer, but he is part of the present and future of Nigerian, African and world football. It’s sad not to see him at TotalEnergies AFCON, but he will be there soon. Despite everything, the selected players have a lot of quality. Nigeria will bravely defend their chances in this competition.
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.
-
Featured4 days agoWASSCE: RSG Distributes Science Materials To Secondary Schools
-
News5 days ago
Xenophobic Attacks: Nigerian Lives More Important Than Foreign Investment – Oshiomhole
-
Rivers5 days ago
MBA Forex Trial Adjourn To June 3, Amid Bereavement … As Court Declines Cost Application
-
News5 days ago
ActionAid Demands Probe Of Govs Using Public Funds For Campaign
-
Aviation5 days ago
Passengers Stranded As Delta Airline From Atlanta Route Back Eight Hours After
-
Business5 days ago
Customs Impound N2.35bn Cocaine, 15 Trailers of Rice
-
Politics5 days ago
2027: Bayelsa Senator Gets Critical Endorsement For Second Term
-
Politics5 days agoINEC Sets Rivers South-East Senatorial By-Election For June 20