Eagles Back In Calabar!
Sure, it is always a delight to be in Calabar. Apart from the tremendous support of His Excellency, Governor Liyel Imoke (CON) and his Government, the people of Calabar, and Cross River State in general, are wonderful lovers of the game and have helped make this lovely city a ‘home away from home’ for the […]
Sure, it is always a delight to be in Calabar. Apart from the tremendous support of His Excellency, Governor Liyel Imoke (CON) and his Government, the people of Calabar, and Cross River State in general, are wonderful lovers of the game and have helped make this lovely city a ‘home away from home’ for the Super Eagles, the Golden Eaglets and NFF’s traveling party.
Saturday, the Eagles will be back at the U.J. Esuene Stadium to play against Harambee Stars of Kenya, in their first match since that ecstatic evening in Soccercity when the Algerian referee blew the final whistle against Burkina Faso.
During the week, I took time to read an analysis by the NFF’s Assistant Director of Media, Ademola Olajire, who reeled out the previous matches between Nigeria and Kenya at senior level. The summary was that out of 13 previous outings, Nigeria had won 11, with the rest two being drawn.
As if the historical record is not intimidating enough, the Super Eagles have in their ranks some players who want to prove a few points when the match starts tomorrow evening.
A player like striker Obafemi Martins, who has just sealed his transfer from Spain to United States of America, and was left out of the squad for the Africa Cup of Nations, will want to go in there and pump in the goals.
We all know how reliable Martins can be. He probably was not in the best of form before the Cup of Nations which explains why Coach Stephen Keshi left him out of the final squad. But on his good day (and we have seen several of those days) he is unstoppable.
Martins was the reason that the Super Eagles qualified for the 2010 FIFA World Cup finals, as he scored two of the three goals in the 3-2 win over Kenya in a must-win match on the last day of the campaign. I still remember that day: Novemer 14, 2009. The match was on the eve of the Final of the 2009 U-17 World Cup that Nigeria hosted, and with the Eaglets in the final against Switzerland. After the World Cup ticket, not many really cared that the Eaglets lost the final match in Abuja the following day.
Nnamdi Oduamadi, who held so much promise after we saw him in a few games for the Olympic team, but was then stopped from featuring at the CAF U-23 Championship in Morocco late 2011, has been given a chance to prove himself once more. Michael Babatunde, based in Ukraine, who actually played a couple of games in Morocco for the U-23 team that failed to qualify for the Olympics, is back and promising better things.
There is the little known John Ogu, who is based in Portugal, and who has promised to seize his chance, and of course, Brown Ideye who scored only one goal at the Africa Cup of Nations and wants to show that he can really fill in for the injured Emmanuel Emenike.
The lively Victor Moses, the ever-stable Mikel Obi, the no-nonsense Fegor Ogude, the enthusiastic Ogenyi Onazi, pacy Ahmed Musa all are back to string things together, while at the back, goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama will once more stand in for Skipper Yobo, and Kenneth Omeruo and Elderson Echiejile will continue from where they left off at the Africa Cup of Nations.
There are also the likes of Reuben Gabriel who didn’t get to play at the Cup of Nations, confident Godfrey Oboabona and the rest of the home boys.
With these patriotic and committed players rearing to go, it is strange that Kenya’s Harambee Stars thought the NFF would need to do anything to help the Super Eagles to beat them here in Nigeria. They started complaining before their arrival, and picked holes in every arrangement. This is rather unfortunate.
Other African countries can testify that Nigeria is a good host any day. We don’t employ the silly and negative tactics that some other countries can’t do without, and we given our guests the best.
Thank You, Governor Imoke…
Governor Liyel Imoke, CON continues to be a Pillar of support for the Nigeria Football Federation and the National Teams, and this fact was again made clear on Wednesday when he hosted the Super Eagles to a reception at the Council Chambers, Cross River State Government House.
Players and officials continue to smile with the largesse of N25million and plot of land for each person, while the NFF was not left out, as the sum of N5million was handed to the Federation.
I use this platform to say a very big Thank You to you, Your Excellency, and to pray that God will continue to bless the government and people of Cross River State.
F’Eagles Must Work Harder…
I watched the Flying Eagles defeat Gabon 1-0 on Wednesday night, and it really should have been by a higher score margin if not for several wasted opportunities.
Coach John Obuh must really work on his boys because they missed so many begging chances that would have been easier to score than fritter away.
I have heard analysis of the team needing only a draw against DR Congo this evening to qualify for the semi finals (and automatically, the FIFA U-20 World Cup finals in Turkey), but I am in the school that believes the team should rather go all out and win handsomely, and remind everyone that they are the defending champions of this competition!
NEXT WEEK: The CAF African U-20 Championship