Eagles have the wings!
By and large, I believe that we have one of the strongest home-based professionals on the African continent. Not only have they been playing in what is regarded as the strongest League in Africa, they have also had immense opportunities in the senior team, provided by Coach Keshi since he took over the team.The home […]
By and large, I believe that we have one of the strongest home-based professionals on the African continent. Not only have they been playing in what is regarded as the strongest League in Africa, they have also had immense opportunities in the senior team, provided by Coach Keshi since he took over the team.
The home boys have that huge chance today to justify the confidence that Keshi has reposed in them over the past 20 months, with a solid performance that should make the return leg in Abidjan in the next three weeks a formality.
Right from his very first match, against Botswana in Benin, followed three days later by the friendly against Zambia’s Chipolopolo in Kaduna (which Nigeria won 2-0), Keshi has always believed in the home boys and given them ample opportunity to prove what they can do, and prove that those Coaches who had used them as mere training materials in the past were wrong.
So, they went out there and proved the Coaches who denied them opportunities wrong. Players like Ejike Uzoenyi (now with a top club in France) and Gabriel Reuben were solid in the team, alongside Godfrey Oboabona, Juwon Oshaniwa and Azubuike Egwuekwe as we pursued the ticket to the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations and even in the 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifiers last year.
I remember that Ejike Uzoenyi was picked as Most Valuable Player for the Cup of Nations qualifier between Nigeria and Rwanda, played in Kigali in February 2012. He dazzled everyone and moved the ball frontally all the time he had the ball, unlike some other players who failed to inspire. Even the foreign-based struggled to keep up with his enthuasiasm and go-go spirit.
I also remember that when we played a World Cup qualifier against Malawi in Blantyre in June 2012, Gabriel Reuben scored Nigeria’s goal, though we later conceded an equalizer that rendered it one point each side.
When the Super Eagles played against teams like Rwanda (in Calabar), and in friendlies against Angola (Abuja), Liberia (in Monrovia), Egypt (Dubai), Peru (Lima), Niger (Niamey), Venezuela (Miami, USA), Cape Verde (Portugal) and Catalonia (Barcelona), the home boys were fully in the flow.
Apart from the established names like Oboabona, Sunday Mba, Gabriel Reuben and Azubuike Egwuekwe, there were also the likes of Henry Uche and Uche Kalu (not Kalu Uche) who eventually secured a contract in Turkey. One can also remember that Juwon Oshaniwa was able to secure contract in Israel only after playing for the home boys.
Godfrey Oboabona, it can be recalled, scored the Super Eagles’ equaliser in the 2014 World Cup qualifying match against Namibia in Windhoek, on June 12.
A look at the Nigeria list for today’s match shows that most of the players had been part of the rebuilding, and have travelled far and wide with the team to friendlies and competitive games. Eight of them were at the FIFA Confederations Cup tournament!
Goalkeeper Chigozie Agbim, also the team captain, is not new to this stage and saw action against Peru’s very best and is confident enough to withstand whatever the Elephants throw at hime. Azubuike and Oboabona headline the defenceline, but I also see Chibuzor Okonkwo, a member of the U-23 team that won Olympic silver in Beijing in 2008 and who has seen action against some of the world’s best teams.
Benjamin Francis and Solomon Kwambe featured against Venezuela in the friendly in Miami, USA in November last year, and Kunle Odunlami was with the team in the Nuremberg, Germany camp.
Sunday Mba we all know, and Emeka Eze was also with the team at the FIFA Confederations Cup, while Olufemi Oladapo played for the Flying Eagles at the FIFA U-20 World Cup in Canada in 2007. I believe he has featured for one of the senior teams since then.
In the attack, Gambo Muhammad, Obinna Nwachukwu and Gomo Onduku have been part of the camp for sometime now and must have plenty in their tank. Gambo even saw action against world champions Spain at the FIFA Confederations Cup.
Surely, the Eagles have the wings to fly high and above the Elephants in today’s match. I am betting on them to do the country proud.
Flying Eagles’ Ouster…
I was at the FIFA U-20 World Cup in Turkey and really believed the Flying Eagles had the kind of preparation that ought to have seen them do better than they did.
At the last tournament in Colombia, we lost out in the quarter finals to France in Cali on a day the people supported Nigeria all the way, and my belief was that the Flying Eagles, with the same Head Coach, should have taken some lessons from that tournament to heart and done much better this time.
Instead, there were defensive frailities and a lack of discipline in some areas. Awareness on-pitch was also poor and we finished the last match against Uruguay hanging on to 10 men following a red card.
NEXT WEEK: The FIFA U-20 World Cup finals