As Eagles begin AFCON 2022 campaign

IN the early hours of Thursday, the three-time Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) champions, the Super Eagles of Nigeria, arrived in Garoua, Cameroon, from Abuja via a chartered flight. As they begin their campaign for a fourth AFCON title in Cameroon, Nigerians would be justified in expressing apprehension about their expected performance at the continental showpiece. At the 2019 AFCON hosted by Egypt, the Eagles claimed their eighth bronze in the history of the tournament after beating Tunisia 1-0 courtesy of Odion Ighalo’s third-minute strike. This time, while the ideal thing would be for the Eagles, due to their pedigree on the continent, to be prime candidates for the top prize, the events leading to their departure to Cameroon call for cautious optimism. This is because going by the antics of the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF), the team has been left in a difficult spot, fuelling apprehension among football-loving Nigerians.

First, despite his underwhelming performance, the NFF waited until November 2021 before sacking Gernot Rohr. Although the German tactician, who was appointed in August 2016, led the Eagles to the 2018 FIFA World Cup appearance and a third-place finish at AFCON 2019, his stint as manager had been rather drab. Under him, the Eagles, hitherto known for their attacking style of play, lost their characteristic sharpness and became notorious for irregular patterns of play. They also moved nowhere near their sterling global ranking under Dutchman Clemens Westerhof, the standard by which the team’s performance has been judged since the 1994 set of players took the world by storm. Rohr did not live in Nigeria and did not develop or tap into local talent, a key factor in the Eagles’ AFCON 2013 triumph in South Africa under the late Stephen Keshi. By sacking the coach so close to a major tournament, the NFF opened the team up to technical problems.

While, in Rohr’s replacement, former Eagles player and coach Austin Eguavoen was appointed to lead the campaign in Cameroon, the country’s football managing body threw spanners in the works by appointing  61-year-old Portuguese tactician, Jose Peseiro, as substantive manager, saying that he will have an observer status in Cameroon. Again, by a combination of different factors, a number of key players have withdrawn from the original 28-man squad. They include  Al Shabab striker, Odion Ighalo, who pulled out at the last minute due to contractual obligations with his Saudi Arabian club; Napoli hitman, Victor Osimhen, who was dropped from the final list over his COVID-19 status, and Watford forward, Emmanuel Dennis, who was prevented by the club from donning the national jersey on the excuse that the NFF sent his invitation letter late.

By its poor handling of coaching issues, the NFF has once again demonstrated its knack for the absurd. It is clearly not organised and seems to be setting the Eagles up for failure. The fact that the Eagles got  bronze at the last AFCON was not due to any initiative by the NFF; it was due in large part to the resilience of the players. The last time the Eagles claimed AFCON gold, it took the ingenuity of Stephen Keshi to achieve that feat, and the NFF’s crudity almost forced him to tender his resignation just a day after returning the team to continental glory. His grouse, which was entirely justifiable, was that the federation had booked home flights for the team after it was drawn against the Elephants of Cote d’Ivoire at the quarter finals of the tournament. Reports also suggested that the federation intended to sack Keshi after the clash with the Elephants and had lined up several European coaches to take his place.

In the instant case, if the NFF did not trust Eguavoen to do a good job in Cameroon, it should not have appointed him in the first place. And the fact that Eguavoen will be sacked even if, against the run of play, he wins a fourth continental gold for Nigeria is more than disturbing. The foregoing notwithstanding, Coach Eguavoen and his team should do everything within their power to claim the AFCON gold. They should ignore the antics of the NFF and do what they have always done: organise themselves in the face of a bumbling and fumbling federation. History will be kind to them for doing so.

We wish the Super Eagles a successful AFCON campaign.

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