What the Super Eagles always needed is a jolt - a bolt of inspiration and motivation, a reminder of who they are. I always believed and wrote that a little bit of tinkering is all the team needed to start to fly again.

Nigerian players are usually naturally well-endowed athletes gifted with speed and physical strength. It is not by accident that for decades at least two Nigerian sprinters would be found consistently in the finals of the sprints event of every world athletics championship including the Olympics. The Nigerian footballer is of this breed – very strong, very fast and a born fighter. Add to these natural attributes some level of technical discipline and skills on the ball and you end up with the perfect football specimen! We always saw glimpses of this specimen every time Nigerian national teams play well, when the players are programmed to play to their strength, running, fighting and playing with confidence, pride and determination against any opposition in the world as we saw this past week against Ireland and, surprisingly, against France. The challenge has been how to make the players consistent, how to make them aware of their character and make it work for them over and over again!

That’s the role of the recently inaugurated Presidential Task Force, to serve as a reminder to the players and handlers of the national team of who they are, helping to keep them on their toes, focussed on the job at hand and on their strengths, and providing them with the psychological and material edge required to excel at the highest level!

Let no one take anything away from Amodu Shuaibu for the recent performances of the Super Eagles. Through the recent tough times he has kept faith with his players, listened and learned more from honest criticism and is working better now with his technical team. He has received and acknowledged useful tips from members of the Presidential Task Force whose role so far is to support and compliment whatever effort is being made by the football authorities to ensure that Nigeria gets to the World Cup finals in South Africa. This is an essential intervention, a product of the concern expressed by Nigerians that things were not going well enough with the national team, and that something needed to be done.

The Presidential Task Force is not set up to take over or even interfere with the programmes of the Nigeria Football Federation. It is still the exclusive role and responsibility of the NFF to run Nigerian football, the national teams, and to take Nigeria to South Africa 2010. The Presidential Task Force is only to provide essential but subtle interventions. They were warmly received in England and France before the friendly matches against Ireland and France as soon as their role was made clear. The performances of the Super Eagles in both matches have been reflective of this growing cordial relationship between the players, the coach, the NFF and the Presidential Task Force. There is a new energy and commitment in the team. New and younger players are being given an opportunity and thrown into battle reinforced with confidence.  

The real test for the emerging new Eagles starts tomorrow in Abuja when the Harambee Stars of Kenya come calling! All fingers are crossed! From now until the green and white colours of Nigeria are flown over the skies of South Africa in 2010 every match must be treated as a separate journey! Let us all go to the National Stadium in Abuja tomorrow determined to wipe out the threat of Kenya and show the world had better watch out for what can come out of Nigeria when the people come together united behind a cause!