By Obi Martins Okafor.
Credit: ©Adrian de Kock / MTNfootball.com
The AFCON final qualifier match Between Nigerian Super Eagles and Liberia is tomorrow and one can’t help but notice that there is currently no goal poacher in the Eagles line up.
The Super Eagles coach, Stephen Keshi, will lead his boys with the knowledge that only a victory or a scoreless draw will be good enough them to qualify for the AFCON tournament scheduled to hold in South Africa.
In the last 10 years, no striker can match Obafemi Martins’ match to goal ratio in the super Eagles. He is known for his blistering speed, power and accuracy in front of goal, that which can only be matched by the legendary Rashidi Yekini.
Obafemi has scored two consecutive winning goals for his club side, which fits the kind of goal poacher Nigeria currently needs both now and in the forthcoming AFCON. The ex-Nigerian striker made a big impact in his debut for Levante against Real Sociedad by scoring the winning goal and now, in his second home game, he hit the only goal of the match after 22 minutes to sink derby rivals Valencia. Martins ran the Valencia defence ragged with his pace and strength, and fired a fine volley home after being left unmarked.
It may be almost impossible to have him square up against Liberia, but Keshi should definitely give him a look in if we would savour hope for landing the trophy that has eluded us for almost two decades.
