The whole of
Nigeria was like a ghost country last Wednesday evening, after Bafana-Bafana of
South Africa stunned Super Eagles to a 2 – 2 draw at the Akwa Ibom
International Stadium; and far away in Khartoum, Congo got 0 – 1 away victory
over Sudan. By these results, Congo qualified along side South Africa in Group
A and Nigeria will not be going to Equatorial Guinea to defend AFCON title
after all.
2010 Déjà vu
The attitude
with which Super Eagles Prosecuted 2014 AFCON qualifiers was responsible for
the failure. Stephen Keshi faces a similar
nightmare as Samson Siasia who also failed to qualify Nigeria for AFCON in 2010
due to NFF crisis. Siasia’s team lost to Guinea, but it turned out to be South
Africa this time around.
Poor Preparation
I am not
speaking for Keshi! You may not be aware that it was the leadership tussle in
NFF that was responsible for the poor preparations, which saw Super Eagles
loosing two vital matches in Calabar and Khartoum.
May be,
nobody envisaged it, but Keshi and the technical committee of NFF didn’t go the
extra mile to ensure victory for Super Eagles last Wednesday. In fact, they
took it for granted, looking at history; that Super Eagles would surely out
score the South Africans in Uyo.
Broken Team Spirit
Broken Team Spirit
The team
spirit, which powered Super Eagles to AFCON victory in 2013, seems to have
wane. Keshi and some of his players are now always in loggerhead and the team
spirit broken.
NFF may have
imposed some players like Ikechukwu Uche on Keshi and that may have affected
the approach of the team towards the game. The players were divided among
themselves and the team wasn’t blended in their play.
Curses upon the Present Team
Some of the
Super Eagles players such as Brown Ideye, Sunday Mba, and John Ogu, who felt
they were unjustly kicked out of the national team, may have secretly prayed
against the team’s qualification.
Some insider
told the story of how Prophet Ngozi Akuogu, the spiritual guide who helped
Super Eagles to AFCON 2013 success, got annoyed with the way NFF and the
coaching crew abandoned him, and may have spoken some indicting words.
Ebola
Fear
Some Super Eagles players were not confortable with
the idea of participating at the 2015 AFCON in January due to the fear over
Ebola virus. The unwillingness to take part the championship contributed to the
lackluster display by some players who showed no hunger and desire in the
qualification matches.
Bafana-Bafana Unbeaten Record
Bafana-Bafana
had a very impressive run through the qualifiers series and if the team
continues to improve, they may become the team to beat in Equatorial Guinea
2015.
The ‘Shake’
Mashiba’s boys haven’t lost any match so far and are so happy to have edged out
Super Eagles here in Uyo.
The South
Africans were at the verge of lifting the 10 years jinx of not being able to
beat Nigeria in football, but for Aluko’s dying minute’s strike that brought
the match again to a draw.
