12th February, 2013
By Omotayo Ogunbiyi
Against all expectations, the Nigerian national football team, the Super Eagles, on Sunday grabbed its third African football titles following its victory over the Stallions of Burkina Faso via a lone goal in the final of the African Cup of Nations, AFCON, at the Soccer City Stadium in Johannesburg, South Africa. Except, perhaps, the coaching crew nobody really gave the Super Eagles any chance of going beyond the group stage of the completion, let a alone winning the coveted trophy. Indeed, Nigerians had become so disenchanted with past failures of the team that nobody, except the real diehard Super Eagles supporters, ever thought the team could go really far at the tournament.
So what really happened at the AFCON in South Africa? How did a team of average Nigerian players, most of whom were playing in their first AFCON, surpass all the odds to rule the continent again exactly nineteen years after we last won the trophy in Tunisia in 1994? How did the Super Eagles shove aside the usual administrative lapses of the nation’s soccer ruling body to put smile on the faces of Nigerians again?
Well, one would like to start by giving credit to the coach of the team, Stephen Keshi. A veteran of many soccer battles in the African continent, Keshi started his football career at the local scene playing for and captaining the defunct New Nigerian Bank of Benin (NNB) Football club. Together with talented soccer players such as Bright Omokaro, Austin Popo, Humphrey Edobor among others, Keshi made the defunct NNB football club one of the most feared teams in the African continent. He was to later lead the Nigerian national team as captain for ten years (1984-1994), a feat yet to be surpassed, in an era that has come to be referred to as the golden era of Nigerian football. Keshi later moved on to the pulsating world of football coaching qualifying low rated Togo for the 2006 World Cup final in Germany as well as leading Mali to the 2010 edition of AFCON in Angola.
From the foregoing, it is quite clear that Keshi came on board the Eagles job with a fair credential. However, the success he had led the team to attain in such a short time has little to do with his credentials. Rather, one would like to view his success with the team in relation to his determination to ensure that he builds a new team with a completely new mentality for the country. One of the banes of the national teams in recent time has been the over-reliance of previous national team coaches on the so-called established players who ply their footballing trade outside the shores of the country. Though most of these players are good in their own right, it has become quite clear that in view of the relative success they have recorded in their career most of them have lost the zeal to play for the country again. This is usually seen in their lackadaisical attitude to national call. In some instances, these players often choose the kind of matches they want to play for the country while in most cases they don’t usually give their best for the country. Without doubt, it was this non-challant attitude towards the national team that partially led to the inability of Coach Samson Siasia to qualify the team for 2012 edition of AFCON in Gabon and Equatorial Guinea.
Although most soccer pundits have tried to lay the blame of the players’ lack of passion for the national team on soccer administrators, one thing that is, however, clear is that our so-called super stars are no longer committed to the national team. Hence, it is to the credit of Coach Stephen Keshi that he decided to choose the hard path of starting from the beginning rather than the usual lazy approach of coaches gallivanting across Europe to ‘meet’ with foreign-based players. Right from the onset, Keshi did not hide his intention to call the bluff of some of these players whose ego has become a big threat to the aspiration of the national team. For instance, a player like Osaze Odemwingie, in spite of his talent, has demonstrated over time, that his presence in the national team is more of a distraction. When he is not blaming his coach, he is either quarrelling with team mates or press men. He has become the nation’s football modern day enfant terrible. Thus, it was eventually a blessing in disguise that Keshi decided not to take him and his likes to the tournament in South Africa.
The relative peace that existed in the Super Eagles camp during the competition is, perhaps, because most of the players Keshi took to the event were green horns whose major interest was to do well for themselves as well as their country. Sunday Mba, Warri Wolves midfielder that scored, perhaps, the two most important goals for the team in the competition played with passion and grit throughout the competition. Together with the likes of Victor Moses, Emmanuel Emenike, Godfrey Oboabana, Kenneth Omeruo, Brown Ideye (all playing in their first AFCON competition) as well as Ahmed Musa provided the team with a new dimension that has been missing in the Eagles play for a long time. Though the team did not get its act together in the first three group matches, immediately it got into the right gear, there was no stopping the team.
What this victory does for the national team is that, henceforth, no player would dare snub the team again. Now that it is clear that no player is bigger than the team, competition for shirts would become more intense and this would eventually augur well for the team. Again, the team’s success in South Africa would restore the winning mentality which it was noted for in the early 90s. Equally, with this victory, the home-based players, who had for long been regarded as not too good for the national team would be encouraged to put in their best in the local league since they are now aware that national team selectors are interested in them. This, in itself, is a victory for the much vilified local league.
Now, it should be clearly stated, at this juncture, that no individual or group, aside the coaching crew and players, should try to steal the credit for the team’s success in South Africa. The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) should not in any way take any credit for the team’s success. As usual, news that filtered in from South Africa, in the course of the games, was not palatable. It was revealed that officials of the NFF intimidated Coach Keshi so much that it became a common knowledge that the Federation was already scouting for Keshi’s replacement in the middle of the tournament. This, of course, is no news to keen followers of the Federation as it is usually its style to find scape-goats in others rather than take proper evaluation of its own activities each time the national teams fail.
Now that the Eagles have landed again, all hands must be on deck to ensure that the momentum is sustained. Relevant authorities should make sure that the team and its coaching crew are provided with everything that would make the squad remain the pride of all Nigerians. As the Federal Government prepares to roll out the drums for the team, it should equally remember the Super Eagles class of 1994 and fulfill whatever promises the government of the day made concerning the team. It is in doing this that we can encourage our sportsmen across the world to remain dedicated and committed to the course of the nation.
•Ogunbiyi is of the Features Unit, Ministry of Information & Strategy, Alausa, Ikeja.