Eagles should fear no foe

These have come, of course, as the Super Eagles Team B gets set to tackle their Ivorian counterparts this afternoon in the final leg of qualifying race for the 2014 African Nations Championship.Three weeks ago, at the Ahmadu Bello Stadium, Kaduna, the Eagles inflicted a thorough thrashing on their visitors – 4-1 it ended. And […]

These have come, of course, as the Super Eagles Team B gets set to tackle their Ivorian counterparts this afternoon in the final leg of qualifying race for the 2014 African Nations Championship.
Three weeks ago, at the Ahmadu Bello Stadium, Kaduna, the Eagles inflicted a thorough thrashing on their visitors – 4-1 it ended. And since then, various tales about how Ivorians could go on the boil at the drop of a ball have populated the sports pages of newspapers and dominated the airwaves.
While I am one of those who insist that the Eagles should not rest on their oars and must start the game at the Felix Houphouet-Boigny Stadium as if they have no advantage from the first leg, I certainly have no fear about any foe as our boys go to battle.
Psychological wars are commonplace in international football and if all you think about when the ball is at play is that a missile could land on your head, then you are bound to fail in alertness and lose focus as the match unfolds.
With a 4-1 cushion from the first leg, our boys have only to tighten their guard at the rear and be alive to make the best of chances that fall their way and we would be smiling with the ticket to South Africa at the end of today.
Gradually, home advantage is losing its magic in international football, as can be seen in some results in recent international matches and friendlies. And I dare say that the Eagles will fear no foe as they go battle and will fly back to Nigeria with the ticket.
I did write few weeks ago that I love seeing our teams qualify for competitions in South Africa. In the life of the present NFF administration, we have won not one, not two, but THREE (3) major trophies from championships hosted by South Africa.
The first was the African Women Championship held between October and November 2010. At that time, the NFF was assailed by several court cases and we were only managing to keep focus. However, the Super Falcons did not disappoint as they cruised to victory.
In May 2011, the U-20 National Team, also known as Flying Eagles, kept their heads in the face of several odds (including playing the tournament with only 18 players instead of 21) and went to defeat Cameroon in the final match in Soweto.
And Soweto was where we were crowned again in February this year, when the Super Eagles tore apart all the papers of the bookmakers and became the champions of Africa for the first time in 19 years.
With the work that Coach Stephen Keshi has done with the home boys over the past 20 months, I have immense confidence that our boys will sweep all before them when they get to South Africa, to take part in the African Nations Championship for the first time, in January next year.
Aside the pool of players that Keshi has at the moment, the source remains fertile and open with more players in the domestic League showing promise and determined to take over from those in the camp now.
You only need to check the results of the midweek Round of 16 matches in the 2013 Federation Cup competition to see that the so-called big teams and big boys now have to wake up from their slumber and devise better strategies.
Some of the names that you can take to the bank in previous years – Enugu Rangers, Sunshine Stars of Akure and Shooting Stars of Ibadan – all came tumbling out of contention, while Akwa United FC (it looks like they’re struggling against relegation in the Premier League, you would say) and Akwa Starlets (great one there for Akwa Ibom State) are in the last eight.
The big teams and the big boys appeared to have rested on their oars and the ambitious teams and ambitious boys capitalized fully, making this one of the most interesting Federation Cup competitions in recent years.
While the Ivorians are naturally expected to storm the Felix Houphouet-Boigny venue to support their team, the Eagles cannot be cowed with some of them having seen action in bigger facilities in South Africa during the 29th Africa Cup of Nations and in Brazil during the FIFA Confederations Cup tournament and in various friendly matches across the globe.
Some of these home lads have also gained experience playing quality friendly matches against the likes of Mexico, Catalonia (essentially the FC Barcelona squad), Peru and Venezuela in far-flung territories.
While we are all aware that football does come with some dazzling results and conclusions, the only possible dazzling conclusion to the game in Abidjan today is a commanding win for the Eagles of Nigeria.
NEXT WEEK: National Technical Centres