SUPER EAGLES VICTORY A STEPPING STONE TO A
UNITED NIGERIA
What a moment for the country
Nigeria faced with so many challenges ranging from Insecurity to corruption….,
after 19 years, The Africa Cup of Nations Trophy has finally arrived Nigeria.
As we celebrate this victory, I’ll
like to take our minds back memory lane how the journey all began for the Super
Eagles of Nigeria to qualify for the AFCON 2013
This set of Super Eagles team were
never given even a bit of a chance by anyone including the Nigerian media, who
never failed for once to castigate them at every given opportunity, a miserable
2 all draw with Liberia in Monrovia was said as the beginning of doom by a
large quarter of football pundits in Nigeria but the team bounced back in
amazing fashion by trashing the same Liberians 5-1 in Calabar and since then
they have kept on improving.
The negativity about the Nigerian
team was on the high, and the height of this criticism was prior to the Cote
d’Ivore quarter final match. The NFF (Nigeria Football Federation) officials
had already booked return tickets two days before the match, after they found
out Nigeria would play the star-studded Cote D’Ivore side.
The team started getting better
after the win against Ethiopia in the final match of the group stage after a
slow start in the competition against Burkina Faso and defending champions
Zambia. The Eagles played arguably their best football in the quarter final and
semi final ties against Cote D’Ivore and Mali respectively, going forward the Nigerian
team where favorites’ to win the tournament and the support from fans where
massive.
Throughout the tournament the Super
Eagles showed
·
Dedication
·
Determination
·
Focus
·
Patriotism
·
Zeal
Stephen Keshi stood firm on dropping unwanted star players
like Osaze Odemeinge, Obafemi Martins, Uche Kalu, Yakubu Ayeigbeni and so on
and instead took with him six home-based NPL (Nigeria Premier League) players
to South Africa including Sunday Mba who
scored two important goals in the tournament.
Apart from winning the AFCON trophy, Nigeria’s striker
Emmanuel Emenike, won the golden boot award with four goals in the competition.
Stephen Keshi also made history as the only Nigerian to have won the Nations
Cup both as a player (Captain) in 1994 and as a coach,2013, he also becomes the
2nd African to achieve such a feat after Egyptian Mahmoud El Gohary
in 1959 as a player and 1998 as a coach of the Egyptian team. 5 players were
also named in the tournaments best eleven players (Vincent Enyeama, Efe
Ambrose, Victor Moses, Mikel Obi, and Emmanuel Emenike)
The Super Eagles have helped calm the violence in the
country by winning the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations trophy. A nation of over 160
million people with about 500 languages now seems to suddenly forget their fear
and worries. The victory has shown that Nigeria can rise to the top in every
sphere of our economy, if the right people are allowed to steer the ship of
leadership
Hopefully the AFCON trophy can help kick start development
in all sectors of Nigeria. LONG LIVE THE
FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA AND GOD BLESS NIGERIA.
BY: ODUMU OGHENETEGA.
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