This is President Muhammadu Buhari’s day at AFCON 2019.
The President spoke directly to the Super Eagles ahead of their match against Burundi yesterday.
The NFF President Amaju Pinnick made sure that happened. It was a masterstroke. It took place in the team’s hotel shortly before the players set out for the stadium in Alexandria. President Buhari gave a ‘team talk’ that was magical. It lifted the team’s spirit tremendously and doused any unwanted ‘fire’ that could have been smouldering beneath the seeming quiet of the camp. The President assured the players that all their financial entitlements promised them, would be paid. That’s the only ‘language’ players speak and understand clearly. With the nature of the President that all Nigerians know, when he makes a promise, you can go to sleep that his word will become his bond. Probably, that may explain the calmness of the team even when things did not appear to be going so well during the first half of the match. They needed a win to break the jinx of not winning their opening matches in more recent AFCON championships. They should have panicked, yet, the team remained as cool as cucumber. The Eagles were not playing brilliantly but they had the match under their control. It was a matter of time before they would have a breakthrough. It came in the last 20 minutes. Some substitutions were made. More tested attackers were introduced. The creativity and pace of the match increased with Eagles probing calmly and confidently. When the only goal of the match came, it was a beauty, stylishly created and perfectly executed with clinical finesse. Then the game was over.
The Eagles did enough to win and happily returned to their hotel rooms in very high spirit, to watch their next two opponents, Guinea and Madagascar, do battle. The 2-2 draw recorded in that match became an additional morale booster for the players. Confidence is now heightened. The two teams are strong from their performance but surely are not at the same level as the Super Eagles that are just warming up into this championship.
I watched the Super Eagles very closely. They will play some great football if the coach shuns sentiments, gets better technical advice about how to use the players better and most effectively. He must then give them the freedom to express themselves and play attacking football from the flanks. The players I saw are good enough to go all the way in this championship, even if many are saying here that there are no minnows in African football anymore. My response is classic Achebe: all animals may be equal, but some are more equal than the others. This time, the Super Eagles camp is not a market place. Access is very restricted. The usual army of officials from everywhere is absent. The funding famine is undoubtedly biting hard.
Additionally, the fear of the EFCC has become the beginning of wisdom for administrators. For the leadership that is already facing charges involving finances in court, getting involved in any reckless spending this time around by the NFF leadership is out of the question. Shehu Dikko, the 2nd Vice President of the NFF, is not in the party in Egypt. He is in Abuja pulling all the stops and putting pressure on the government to release the funds President Buhari has approved already for the ongoing campaign in Egypt. The good news is that before the Eagles’ second match next Wednesday, the players will get all their entitlements. That is the best news on Day 2 at the camp.
Segun Odegbami
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