The Eagles returned with a bang to their best tradition last Wednesday night in Abuja. Beyond everyone’s expectations they put up a scintillating show, the best display by any senior national team in a very long time. It was a gift to Nigerians after all the disappointments of the past several years. Now, Nigerians can see the real possibility of the re-emergence of new team from the debris of several failures. The Eagles brought back bright lights of hope to every Nigerian home in 97 minutes of absolutely brilliant display of attacking football. The entire country is being painted anew with new legislatures, new governors, a new presidential mandate, and …a new Eagles! Yes, for the first time since Samson Siasia began his tutorship of the senior national team he presented to Nigerians a team that had many elements that were new.

The performance of the Eagles was historical by any standard and no one should or can diminish its import. No Nigerian national team has ever managed to beat a category A national team by that kind of margin in any competition or friendly match. It is historical because no team in the world beats Argentina by 4 goals! Not even the giants – Brazil, Spain, or Germany. For Nigeria to have done so, with or without Argentina’ s first rate players, throws light on the significance of the victory.
Argentina is Argentina!
A few months ago, Argentina lost scandalously to Bolivia (I think) by six goals before the last World Cup under Maradona. That was ‘understood’ because it was against another South American team. Maradona was not even sacked. To lose against an African team, even if the players were randomly picked on the streets of Buenos Aries, is a totally different ball game entirely. I do not know how the very proud Argentinians can live off this defeat. This is an African team that the South Americans had never lost to in all their previous meetings, a team seemingly trying to find its way in football, a team rumoured to be embattled for a very long time and destined for the doldrums, a team that was only hurriedly assembled two days before the ‘Big Match’. How could such a ‘ragged’ team have inflicted such a devastating blow on one of the most reputable teams in the world? I tell you, it is not an accidental or a fluky victory. It is a very comprehensive defeat of the Argentines by the Nigerians.

On the night the Argentines were simply bested. It was less about the quality of the Argentine players that featured and more about the Eagles that played. The Eagles were mostly young, fast, athletic and hungry to win. For the first time there were more new generation players in the team than the old. What made the absolute difference, however, for me was how the team played. The Eagles played to the full extent of their physical attributes – speed and power, and a simple classic tactic that reminded us of the Green and Super Eagles at their glorious best in the distant past. When the Nigerian team was under pressure from an opposing attack that is when the Eagles were at their most dangerous. The huge spaces left at the back of an opposing attacking team became racing tracks where the ‘weapon of destruction’ (speed and power) were unleashed by very athletic, strong and extremely quick forwards (mostly wingers in the past). Every time there was space to run into behind defences the more deadly the Eagles became, committing great havoc by scoring against the run of play. This was the old tradition of the Eagles that earned them the title of ‘most entertaining team in the world’ in 1994. When they attacked down the flanks they were a beauty to watch. Wednesday night, from the right flank, they reminded us a lot about the good old days. From the left Taiye Taiwo operated smoothly and confidently for the first time in a long while, providing the width and the crosses that made up for the relative shortcoming of that side of the Nigerian attack. Nigeria still needs to find a natural left-footed winger to add a bit more bite to Obinna Nsofor’s position on the left side.

The Eagles were simply better than the Argentines in every department of the game. Thats why every Nigerian is celebrating a genuine victory and a probable sustaining rebirth of the Eagles. Tis weekend in Ethiopia the same team will play again. It is the hope of every Nigerian that the confidence garnered in the trouncing of Argentina will provide the motivation and impetus for the annihilation of Ethiopia. After that we shall all be able to confirm that a new Eagles team has truly been born! Meanwhile, congratulations to Samson Siasia and his gallant Gladiators!