By Obi Martins Okafor.
In a matter of weeks, the biggest football tournament in Africa is set to kick off. Expectations have never been this high as the Super Eagles of Nigeria presents one of their most promising and daring team in a long time.
Although views, comments, accolades and criticisms have since dominated the media about the chances of the Super Eagles, but here we will attempt to expose and examine some facts backing the abiding expectation of Nigeria fans.
The Keshi Factor
Even without the exciting talents Nigeria possesses, having someone in the person of the charismatic Steven Okechukwu keshi, the captain of the 1994 winning squad is almost enough reason to think that our glory days is not far from our grasp. Keshi, who has played in the domestic and international league, iced with his coaching experience with two African teams, one of which he Qualified for the world cup, can be arguably regarded as a world class coach.
The Blend of Youth and Experience
This current Eagles side has a fine blend of youth and experience. With the leader instinct of Joseph Yobo, the conservative and relaxed influence of John Mikel Obi, the enterprising moves of Igeibor of Real Betis of Spain, the exciting wing play of Victor Moses and Musa Mohammed combined with the Strength and unpredictability of Emenike and Ike Uche respectively, this Eagles team stands a big threat to all other opponents.
Home based and foreign based combination
Before now, major criticism has clouded the National Team regarding the absence of home grown players in major competitions, but this talk has since reduced following the decision of the chief coach to execute the AFCON Qualifiers with some domestic players.
This in its wisdom has made the Eagles stronger with raw strength which the home based players possess combined with the Professionalism and near-perfect execution of the foreign based players which was evident in the demolition of Liberia in the second leg of the final qualifiers.
