Why Eagles beat Lone Star mercilessly — Attah

The Super Eagles have just beaten the Lone Star 6-1 to qualify for South Africa 2013. As the Co-ordinator of the team, how relieved are you? I will first of all want to give God the glory for this great day. It’s been great not only for qualifying for South Africa 2013 but winning massively. […]

The Super Eagles have just beaten the Lone Star 6-1 to qualify for South Africa 2013. As the Co-ordinator of the team, how relieved are you?

I will first of all want to give God the glory for this great day. It’s been great not only for qualifying for South Africa 2013 but winning massively. I can’t recollect when last the Eagles scored as much as six goals. Last year, we shed tears for not qualifying for Gabon/Equatorial Guinea. But today, God has wiped out our tears in a special way. Today we have cause to shed tears again but this time it is tears of joy. I think it is a sort of miracle. If you recollect that we last won the Nations Cup in 1994 but we couldn’t defend it in 1996 due to political reasons so God has destined that we go back to the same South Africa where we would have defended our title in 1996 but couldn’t, to go and defend our Cup. By the special grace of God we would defend it properly.

Are you therefore saying the Super Eagles will triumph in South Africa?

I do not want to preempt what will happen but I know Nigerians will be pleasantly surprised that is this the same Eagles scoring six goals unlike their one or two goals they have become used to scoring? Eagles have more surprises in store for Nigerians. All we need from them is their support in form of prayers. In this particular game, I think almost every Nigerian stood behind Eagles and for the first time, I also noticed that the press was united in supporting the Eagles and making sure that we qualify for the Nations Cup. Well this is a challenge for us. We are not going to rest on our oars. We have just sent a message to the rest of Africa that the Eagles are back.

But before the match, were you sure Eagles would beat the Lone Star by such a wide margin?

Well, to be honest with you, we knew we were going to win the game because we were determined to win even if by a slim margin. Even if it were 1-0, as far as we qualify we would have been okay but there was anger in us because Liberia never showed us any respect. They made too much noise in the papers and some of us started asking questions, is this not the same Liberia we played in Monrovia? Are they going to come with new set of players from the heaven or sky? So it was with anger that Eagles bet them mercilessly. You know in football you have to show your opponents some respect. Today we have forced them to show us some respect. Although our football was on the decline, we still deserve some respect. Like I said earlier this is not about beating Liberia only but it is a message to the rest of Africa that the Eagles are back.

You sound so confident but do you think these same Eagles can match the strength of other powerful African countries?

Like I said it is not just about Liberia. We are not using Liberia to assess our strength. It is just a signal to other countries. Surely, they too will be scared that the Eagles are back. Don’t forget that by conceding six goals, the Liberians were not a push-over. They are also a good side but we just overwhelmed them. We are waiting for those countries you consider powerful. I recollect sometime ago, Ghana’s Ayew said Liberia will beat Nigeria but I said in the press that I pray Ghana too qualifies so that when we meet in South Africa, we settle scores on the field of play. We would know who is who in African football. We respect every country and we should be respected as well. I can also recollect that the Zambia coach, my friend, after we played them in Kaduna, which we won 2-0, made a statement that he is sad that Nigeria would not be in Equatorial Guinea then but at the same time he was happy that since Nigeria was not there, he was sure of going through the quarter final and possibly winning the Cup. That was Reinard the Zambian coach. So I know that any African country that knows about football respects Nigeria.

One final word on the chances of the Super Eagles in South Africa 2013…

Without being boisterous, the beginning of wisdom for other teams at AFCON 2013 is the fear of Nigeria. I want to reiterate that Eagles will pleasantly surprise Nigerians when the time comes. When he came to watch our training in Abuja, Mr. President said he would want to be in South Africa to watch the finals but that before we get to South Africa, we must beat Liberia. We have beaten Liberia and we want Mr. President to be in South Africa and that will tell you our target.