It is D-Day. The die is cast. There is nothing more to be done.
From 5 pm today, the world will witness another one of the epic confrontations between two of the keenest rivalries in African football. Yesterday was all talk. Today will be all action. Yesterday, the last press conference before the Cameroon/Nigeria match was held. Nigeria had Coach Gernot Rohr and defender William Troost Ekong representing the Super Eagles. The Cameroons had Coach Clarence Seedorf and their fantastic goalkeeper who has not conceded any goal yet at the championship, Andre Onana, representing the Indomitable Lions. The conference was a dress rehearsal of the duel, later today. Gernot was full of confidence, disregarding the news of a threat to sack him should he fail to advance beyond this round. He is going to play his best team today, and following the confidence the players have given him in camp, he believes the Eagles will have the edge. Clarence Seedorf, on the other hand, has never tasted the ‘poison’ of the Eagles since he became Coach of the Lions. This will be his baptism.
He is cautiously optimistic, saying he is not worried about the Eagles provided his players play well and according to the script. The greatest stake in today’s match is prestige. Losing against Nigeria is something the average Cameroonian (and Ghanaian) finds difficult to accept, for some strange reason. It has been a bitter pill for Cameroonians to swallow that in the past 6 outings Nigeria has found the formula to dismantle the physicality of the Lions, and dominated their encounters.
Troost apologized on behalf of his colleagues for their poor outing against Madagascar. The players have spoken amongst themselves and learnt their lesson the hard way. Today’s match is the one that will show all Nigerians how sorry they really are. Beyond the press conference, little else happened to report. The Super Eagles ‘disappeared’ into the bowel of the Helena Palestine Hotel, not to be seen again until this afternoon when they march out to confront the team that now stands between them and going further in the championship.
That’s it.
The Fly on the Wall spent the rest of yesterday listening to the bets being placed on which of the two teams will win today’s match by the crowd in the lobby of the hotel. I shall be anchoring the television coverage of the match on Nigerian Television Authority, NTA, from 4 pm, Nigerian time.
Meanwhile, the entire MKO Abiola interview, some 25 years ago, broken into three parts, is now available on www.mathematical7.com.
Scroll down to the video section/gallery on the front page of the site, find and enjoy them whilst waiting for today’s match to begin.
Segun Odegbami
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