The Author
My name is Segun. My friends call me Big SegAds Corner
AFCON 2025 - Super Eagles and Desert Foxes in ‘pressure-cooker’ match!
The quarter-final match this Saturday, January 10, 2026, between Nigeria and Algeria has assumed dimensions beyond the tough encounters between the two national football teams in history.
AFCON 2025 provides another opportunity to settle the scores between them.
Recent avoidable and unnecessary squabbles in the Nigerian camp (now resolved ) add another level of uncertainty and pressure to the mix.
The high-stakes encounter will be the main focus during my conversation on ‘90 minutes with Mathematical 7’ when I share ‘coffee talk’ with foremost African journalist, Osasu Obayiuwana, as well as AFCON winner, ‘The Headmaster’, Mutiu Adepoju!
Mutiu shall also share some news on ‘The Soccer Ambassadors FC’, a football club in the Nigerian football firmament that I founded over 40 years ago based in Ibadan and still running.
The telephone lines will be open for 90 minutes. They are:
+234 70022551037
+234 8127828497
A solid preview of the epic match tomorrow on Eagle7 Sports Radio 103.7 FM, Abeokuta from 7:30 AM,..or just click on eagle7fm.com/ and be connected.
Dr. Olusegun Odegbami MON, OLY, AFNIIA, FNIS, GS Ambassador.
The quarter-final match this Saturday, January 10, 2026, between Nigeria and Algeria has assumed dimensions beyond the tough encounters between the two national football teams in history.
AFCON 2025 provides another opportunity to settle the scores between them.
Recent avoidable and unnecessary squabbles in the Nigerian camp (now resolved ) add another level of uncertainty and pressure to the mix.
The high-stakes encounter will be the main focus during my conversation on ‘90 minutes with Mathematical 7’ when I share ‘coffee talk’ with foremost African journalist, Osasu Obayiuwana, as well as AFCON winner, ‘The Headmaster’, Mutiu Adepoju!
Mutiu shall also share some news on ‘The Soccer Ambassadors FC’, a football club in the Nigerian football firmament that I founded over 40 years ago based in Ibadan and still running.
The telephone lines will be open for 90 minutes. They are:
+234 70022551037
+234 8127828497
A solid preview of the epic match tomorrow on Eagle7 Sports Radio 103.7 FM, Abeokuta from 7:30 AM,..or just click on eagle7fm.com/ and be connected.
Dr. Olusegun Odegbami MON, OLY, AFNIIA, FNIS, GS Ambassador.
Great Super Eagles !
Last night, just as I was preparing to retire for the night after watching a great display of attacking football by the Super Eagles, the title of an old, evergreen song by Tom Jones crept into my mind: ‘The Green, Green Grass of Home’.
Before you read the rest of this posting, I suggest you search for and savor the melody of the song! It will lead you into my thoughts after the match.
The performance, last night, was superb. It left no one in doubt that the Super Eagles are on their way back to greatness! The evidence was in their confident display.
What was it that made the difference for a group of great players that have not been able, for some years, to find their rhythm as a team, and have been struggling to win even the easiest of matches on home soil?
The answer is so simple, it is too good to be true. There are several other factors contributing to some scintillating performances in Morocco, so far, but the single most important but least acknowledged, is the immaculate playing surface!
Unfortunately, even the commentators and analysts fail to acknowledge it. Yet, it stares everyone watching in the face!
Last night, for the total duration of that great match, the world witnessed how the Eagles put up a virtuoso performance on one of the best playing turfs in the world, presently!
That’s it. Morocco has invested in constructing the best football pitches in the world - lush green, perfectly flat, manicured grass fields that provide the surface for the best players in the world to showcase their skills and play their best football.
These pitches are all over Morocco. They do not have, or tolerate, a single patch of an uneven grass surface, making every move and every pass a work of art!
That’s what the Uyo Township stadium lacks. It is the ‘best’ facility in Nigeria, but from close examination it is planet away from what AFCON 2023 in Cote D’Ivoire and AFCON 2025 in Morocco offer.
Nigeria should now take the bull by the horn, remove the wool from her face, get rid of pretenders that do not know why they should invest in constructing the best grass surfaces in all the major stadia around Nigeria, with a maintenance regimen that will sustain it.
Thanks Morocco for the green, green grass that has made AFCON 2025 home for the Super Eagles!
Last night, just as I was preparing to retire for the night after watching a great display of attacking football by the Super Eagles, the title of an old, evergreen song by Tom Jones crept into my mind: ‘The Green, Green Grass of Home’.
Before you read the rest of this posting, I suggest you search for and savor the melody of the song! It will lead you into my thoughts after the match.
The performance, last night, was superb. It left no one in doubt that the Super Eagles are on their way back to greatness! The evidence was in their confident display.
What was it that made the difference for a group of great players that have not been able, for some years, to find their rhythm as a team, and have been struggling to win even the easiest of matches on home soil?
The answer is so simple, it is too good to be true. There are several other factors contributing to some scintillating performances in Morocco, so far, but the single most important but least acknowledged, is the immaculate playing surface!
Unfortunately, even the commentators and analysts fail to acknowledge it. Yet, it stares everyone watching in the face!
Last night, for the total duration of that great match, the world witnessed how the Eagles put up a virtuoso performance on one of the best playing turfs in the world, presently!
That’s it. Morocco has invested in constructing the best football pitches in the world - lush green, perfectly flat, manicured grass fields that provide the surface for the best players in the world to showcase their skills and play their best football.
These pitches are all over Morocco. They do not have, or tolerate, a single patch of an uneven grass surface, making every move and every pass a work of art!
That’s what the Uyo Township stadium lacks. It is the ‘best’ facility in Nigeria, but from close examination it is planet away from what AFCON 2023 in Cote D’Ivoire and AFCON 2025 in Morocco offer.
Nigeria should now take the bull by the horn, remove the wool from her face, get rid of pretenders that do not know why they should invest in constructing the best grass surfaces in all the major stadia around Nigeria, with a maintenance regimen that will sustain it.
Thanks Morocco for the green, green grass that has made AFCON 2025 home for the Super Eagles!
