This week, the focus on Eagle Eye quickly turns towards the future. Not just because I want to speedily forget about last Sunday, but more importantly to overtly inform top shots of Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) that the upcoming Africa Cup of Nations is just a month away!
Yes, the competition will start on December 21 in Rabat, Morocco, and our Super Eagles will tango Tanzania on the 23rd. Pleade, help me echo it loud and clear (repeatedly too) so that all the forgetful thingumabobs at Sunday Dankaro House will wake up from slumber, shake off their reverie, step out of abeyance and start making serious plans about how to win this upcoming AFCON!
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Our football egg heads should also be reminded that winning this edition of AFCON, which will spill over from December to January for the first time in history, became imperative last Sunday, when our over bloated team whimpered like sheep, floated like jelly fish, looked worn out like a rag, light as a feather and eventually crumbled like a pack of cards.
For them was the anecdote, ‘a tree cannot make a forest.’ Yes, no matter how tall an iroko is or how large a baobab becomes, neither of them can be a forest all by itself. So, the Eagles (no longer super … at least for now) cannot rely on Victor Osimhen alone and hope to keep on winning through his singular acumen.
Gone are the days when a single player propels a whole team to glory. Today’s football is about teamwork, blending, well coordinated tactics, ball possession, and proper organisation across all departments in the field of play. Sadly, the Eagles lacked all that during their ill-fated assault on the World Cup play-offs.
As ace comedian, A.Y. put it in his video post that went viral across social media on Monday, the Eagles ended up with a show of shame in their match against DR Congo. They could not put one foot right all through the second half and extra time of Sunday’s game. They could not even fly high with help from the ref (who ruled out two goals scored by the Leopards and overlooked their call for a penalty).
So sad, I we saw a very pathetic performance by our team.
I felt deeply sad until I remembered that this defeat was a case of self-destruct – by our players for boycotting training on the eve of the competition and by the NFF for giving us a coach from a fellow-African country whose football pedigree is light years away from the catalogue of glory Nigeria holds in the round leather game. No wonder our taciturn gaffer – in this age of techno-powered football – openly blamed voodoo for his team’s defeat.
Someone said ‘let bygone be bygone’ and I ageee; but we also must remember that the past reflects the present and dictates the future. So, as we look up the next AFCON, let’s reposition ourselves for a major consolation. Since we are not going to the Mundial, let’s console ourselves with the African title.
Therefore, let’s not rock the boat by sacking Eric Chelle, let’s forgive the Eagles for their ill-timed strike, let’s push aside the pain of their show of shame on Sunday, and let’s pray that all our lads remain in good health (so that we don’t have another case of fishy half time substantion that marked the beginnig of the end on Sunday).
Above all, let’s remind our football buffs in Abuja that the upcoming Nations Cup starts ‘tomorrow.’ Let them quickly iron out issues of bonus, location of the team’s camp, build-up matches, corporate sponsorship, new set of jerseys and mobilisation campaign for fans.
As they go about all the above, they must not forget to shore up a massive media spree that will wake the whole world up to the reality that Nigeria is gunning for the most significant championship consolation conquest in history. We must brand our team for glory!
Let the ‘Assault on AFCON’ begin today …. call it Mission No.4 or whatever you want. All I know is: Our Eagles Must Win This Upcoming AFCON!!
