The Battle of Addis Ababa (I)

I recall the events of June 5, 2011 vividly. That day, the Super Eagles had arrived in the morning of the match to play the Antelopes in a 2012 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying match. The chartered flight had stopped over in Entebbe (Kampala) to refuel after a four-hour flight from Abuja and then flown […]

I recall the events of June 5, 2011 vividly. That day, the Super Eagles had arrived in the morning of the match to play the Antelopes in a 2012 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying match. The chartered flight had stopped over in Entebbe (Kampala) to refuel after a four-hour flight from Abuja and then flown into Addis Ababa in the early hours.
The Head Coach at that time wanted the players to just go in there  and play the match and leave. That sitted well with the NFF, in view of our own expert’s opinion of high altitude areas. It is said that for you to properly acclimatize to the weather, you have to spend weeks.
The other option is to go in and play your game before the altitude starts having an effect.Of course, we had employed this ‘tactic’ with good results several times previously. I remember very well that it was the same method we preferred when flying to Kenya for a 2010 FIFA World Cup final qualifying match in November 2009.
 The team, coached then by Amodu Shaibu, and other members of the delegation had arrived in Nairobi only on the evening of the day prior to the match, and the Kenyans felt we were simply joking.
 It took some time getting from the airport to the hotel (thanks to Nairobi’s well-known traffic) and by the team everyone settled down, it was late to even plan any training session. Some of the players, including Mikel Obi, were so much in the mood that they asked Coach Shaibu if they could just go somewhere to the back of the hotel and have a knock around!
The coach told them to take it easy, that they would jog and warm up in the morning, and that was what they did. The boys were refreshed; no chance of the altitude getting to them before the match and we won 3-2 to qualify for the World Cup finals.
I have listened to several suggestions and read many recommendations by the experts on how we should approach the match in Ethiopia. All are in good faith and several of them in good taste.
 However, the Nigeria Football Federation has its own plan and will  unveil this as soon as our advance party gains ground in Addis Ababa next week, days before the match. We are leaving nothing to chance and taking nothing for granted.
I also recall our match with the Ethiopians in Addis Ababa on June 5, 2011. That day, the National Stadium in Addis was filled to the brim and the kind of drumming, singing and dancing that went on even before the game was deafening in its entirety.
The old arena vibrated endlessly and you get the feeling that the place would disntegrate under the commotion. But it never did. There is a song the Ethiopia fans sing inside their stadium on match day, and it is not the national anthem. For the entire period of the match, including half time, they were on their feet singing and dancing and drumming.
Without meaning to criticise any player, we gave away two goals and that gave the Ethiopian players and fans the confidence that they could achieve something on the day. They led for a long time but we eventually equalised and the match ended 2-2.
I have also read the comments of the President-General of Nigeria Football Supporters Club, Dr Oladipo, to the effect that the match in Ethiopia, as well as the one in Calabar, should be taken as Nigeria Project.
Indeed, the two matches are Nigeria Project. As I said during the week, our focus is on getting a good result in Addis Ababa, and we would have confidence that most of the job had been done. It does not invite complacency or a feeling of overconfidence. It simply gives you some going assuredness that you have your fate in your hands.
A win in Addis Ababa is possible if everyone involved – the Federal
Government through the National Sports Commission, Nigeria Football Federation, players and coaches and backroom staff, and other stakeholders in the Nigeria game – work as one. It is a team game. And someone once said that TEAM means Together, Each Achieve More.
Flying Nigeria’s flag at the 2014 FIFA World Cup is a task that must be  chieved. 2014 happens to mark the Centenary of the amalgamation of the northern and southern protectorates to form the nation called Nigeria.
Just as we all showed determination and unity and put everything into the project of seeing the Super Eagles play at the first FIFA World Cup finals on African soil (South Africa 2010), we all should be as determined and as united and be ready to invest all we have to see the Super Eagles play in Brazil next year.