How almighty Super Eagles wings were clipped

By Otomewo Oritsejolomi Joshua.

Last Sunday, January 23, the Nigeria national team crashed out of the 33rd edition of the Africa Cup of Nations. 

The wings of the Super Eagles which had flown so brilliantly in the group stages were clipped by the remarkable Carthage Eagles of Tunisia in the round of 16.

Going into the tournament the Nigerian camp was in complete disarray. 

Gernot Rohr, the coach who had been in charge of the team since 2016 and had led the team to a bronze medal at the last tournament was sacked just before the competition and replaced with former Nigerian player, Austin Eguavoen on an interim basis.

Some key players were missing in the tournament for a variety of reasons. Victor Osimhen was ruled out after contracting COVID-19 and barely recovering from a ligament injury. Watford striker, Emmanuel Dennis was unable to attend after the Nigerian Football Federation missed a deadline to request his release from the club.

Despite those challenges,  the team started the campaign for the trophy excellently. Under the firm and steady leadership of Eguavoen, the team dominated the Pharaohs of Egypt in their first game, went on to give Sudan a thrashing in the second game and qualified for the round of 16 with a game to spare. The final game of the group stages against Guinea Bissau was a complete walkover.

The Super Eagles  put on some of the best performances the continent had seen in the group stages and the country had seen since 2013 when they lifted the trophy. Coach Austin Eguavoen was awarded the Best Manager of the group stages. 

The whole country was in a good mood, viewers turned out enmasse to watch every game; it became a national duty.

The petty rivalry engendered by European football was put aside for the moment to support our boys. United in one spirit, the country trolled the less fortunate Ghanaians who had not made it past the group stages. 

If we had known, perhaps, we would have criticised them less. But pride goes before a fall, and the level of pride displayed by Nigeria was just equal to how we fell.

The next stage was the round of 16 versus Tunisia. The North Africans missed  12 players who had tested positive for  COVID-19. The Super Eagles went into the game with a lot of confidence, maybe a little too much, perhaps this was our undoing.

All was not well, at the end of the first half, Nigeria had no shot on target and Tunisia had two. If they kept this up, it was only a matter of time before they scored. And this proved true when in the second minute of the second half, a long range shot from outside the 18-yard box by Youssef Msakni gave Tunisia the only goal of the game. 

As if that wasn’t enough, Alex Iwobi got a red card for a tackle on Msakni five minutes after coming off the bench to replace Kelechi Iheanacho, the team was down to 10 men.

Despite all of these, the Super Eagles persisted, but victory eluded them. Several attempts were made on goal, but the formidable Tunisian defence resisted bravely. At the end of 90 minutes, Nigeria  bowed  out of the tournament.

If we were to apportion blames, there would be a fair share to go round. The overconfident players, Maduka Okoye in particular who could have made a better effort to stop the goal. Then the video assistant referee who was arguably unfair in his decision to give Iwobi a red card and President Buhari who called the team just before the game.

But we won’t do that. In life, you win some and  lose some. However, lessons you learn, like maybe President Buhari should only call the senior national team before friendly matches against countries like Tahiti are what makes the journey worthwhile. 

Now, it is  imperative we build on the progress made by Eguavoen who has gone back to being the technical director of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF).

Also,  we should  ensure we don’t give the Ghanaians a reason to mock us  when we meet them at the World Cup qualifiers in March.

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