Stephen Keshi and the Super Eagles: On the Cusp of Greatness

So far, he has succeeded where others failed. And if he gets luckier, the Super Eagles coach would write his name in gold in South Africa 2013

By Arukaino Umukoro

Even the best local pundits did not believe Stephen Keshi, coach of the Super Eagles, would get this far. After all, the last set, the much praised golden generation, which won the Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) in Tunisia 1994, took five years to build. In contrast, Keshi’s Eagles had roughly five to six weeks. Also, the fact that notable names such as Osaze Odemwingie, Obafemi Martins, Shola Ameobi, Danny Shittu, Obinna Nsofor, Taye Taiwo et al did not make the final cut gave reasons for apprehension among Eagles’ faithful and neutrals.

But the coach had always been full of confidence in his Eagles’ project. “I have the frame of the team I want and I believe that the squad we have selected for the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations is good enough. What we need is chemistry. Once we have that, we’ll be okay going forward and all the way,” he said on the eve of the competition.

Fast forward three weeks after. Even the most pessimistic football loving Nigerian has been transformed into a true believer. National faith in Keshi has hit the rooftops as many now feel that Afcon 2013 might just be the making of the next golden generation of the Super Eagles.

The good thing about this is that Keshi, as well as his assistant Daniel Amokachi, was a member and captain of the last golden generation - the 1994 Eagles team. That team, bleeding with class everywhere, also went on to dazzle the world at the FIFA World Cup USA 1994, where they got to the second round.

Now the captain has become the field marshal, poised to conquer the continent with his glory chasing soldiers. The 1994 set was the standard which others after them have failed to meet. As it stands now, Keshi’s team is in pole position to equal it and probably raise it further. He is the second Nigerian coach, after Adegboye Onigbinde in 1984, to reach an Afcon final. Interestingly, Keshi was also assistant to Jo Bonfrere when the Eagles reached the 2000 final in Lagos, where they lost to Cameroon on penalty kicks. Besides, he is the third player from that 1994 golden generation to become coach (alongside Austin Eguavoen and Samson Siasia). This means that no matter what happens in Sunday’s final, it would be recorded that Keshi succeeded where others failed.

All things being equal, he looks good to become the first ever to win it. And if he gets lucky, again, he would also make history as the second man to win it both as a player and a coach, the first being Mahmoud El Gohary who led Egypt to the Afcon title in 1998.

While the final against Burkina Faso would be a tricky tie, these new-look Super Eagles smell the scent of victory like blood to a vampire. Only the resurgent Stallions, whose objective before the tournament was to win a game at least, could stop them from flying.

If experience counts also, Keshi has some on his side. First he took an unfancied Togo team to the 2006 Fifa World Cup for the first time in their history. Then, he guided Mali to the Afcon in 2010, where they were eliminated in the group stages. Interestingly, his Afcon 2013 Super Eagles team were also on the verge of elimination before two Victor Moses penalties in their last group match against Ethiopia delivered them into the quarter finals. Since then, the team has grown in confidence and proved the doubting Thomases wrong.

Now, 19 years after winning the trophy in Tunisia and 13 years after their last appearance in an Afcon final, the Super Eagles can finally stand up and be counted in South Africa.

Like midfielder John Obi Mikel rightly noted, Keshi could be said to be a lucky coach. Indeed. The Eagles’ lucky charms seem to have been the enterprising Moses and striker Emmanuel Emenike, who might finish the tournament as the highest goal scorer - just like the late Rashidi Yekini did in 1994. However, beside Moses and Emenike, any of the players could be the joker in the final. They proved this with their display of teamwork and purposeful football in the semi-finals, where they took Mali to the cleaners. This team may have come of age in so short a time simply because Keshi is blessed with 23 determined players, brimming with passion and potentials, hungry enough to make their Fatherland proud, who can’t wait to get their hands on the Afcon trophy.

“We have real expectation of winning. From the moment we qualified, we knew we were capable of winning it. So, our expectation is to win the trophy and make Nigerians happy,” said Keshi before the tournament kicked off.

In November 2011 when the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF) appointed him as coach of the Eagles, Keshi’s coaching contract included a condition that he must qualify for South Africa 2013 and reach the quarter-finals of the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. Not only has he surpassed the first, he may go on to do the same with the second if they let him continue his rebuilding efforts.

More especially as his Eagles team have improved with every match, maturing into a fine blend, like vintage wine. While he may need to do more on improving their tactical discipline, Keshi and his evolving team are well on the threshold of making golden history. Barring the upset of upsets, with over 160 million Nigerians cheering and thousands more inside Soccer City, Johannesburg, the 51 year-old and his Super Eagles team would be crowned African champions on Sunday.

AFCON 2013: Super Eagles Draw Zambia, Ethiopia, Burkina Faso in Group C

Stephen Keshi, Pix credits: Getty Images

18 years and a few months after Stephen Keshi captained the Super Eagles to winning the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) trophy in Tunis; the same man would be leading the Eagles as coach to the 2013 edition, with continental glory firmly in his sights. Not only that, he would have to overcome the same hurdle – the Chipolopolo of Zambia – that he and his team mates faced on that glorious April 10, 1994 night. 

However, while it is yet day before the big test, Keshi had already been talking tough about their now known opponents in South Africa 2013. “I have said to a lot of people and will say it again that I am not afraid of any team in the championship draws. You don’t win a championship by being afraid of your opponents and that is the spirit with which I am going to the draws with”, he was quoted as saying by Eagles Media Officer, Ben Alaiya, just two days before the draws were conducted on Wednesday, October 24, at the Durban International Convention Centre, South Africa.

Besides Zambia, the Eagles were drawn in Group C alongside Burkina Faso and Ethiopia. On January 21, The Eagles would kick off their Nations Cup with a match against the Burkina Faso in Nelspruit. While they face Zambia and Ethiopia on January 25 and 29 respectively.

Bwalya Pix credits: cafonline

For Kalusha Bwalya, the man who captained the Chipolopolo to silver in 1994, and now president of the Football Association of Zambia, it would have been a disaster if the defending AFCON champions had not qualified. The Chipolopolo had to do it the hard way though, by relying on a tense penalty shootout win over Uganda in their final qualifier matches. “I told the players that they needed to put everything into that final match against Uganda. Ultimately, we kept our nerves and we showed why we are champions by winning in the penalty shootout,” Bwalya told CAFonline in Durban.

The first match of the competition would be see hosts South Africa play Cape Verde, who stunned four-time champions Cameroon to book a place in their debut AFCON finals. 

Super Eagles. Pix credits: AFP

However for Nigerian fans, the question would be: can Bwalya’s Zambia get a revenge against Keshi’s Eagles and then go on to retain the trophy or can Keshi’s Eagles claim another Zambian scalp by getting a win in their group match and then go on to make history for the third time? South Africa 2013 will tell.

Slated to hold between January 19 and February 10, 2013, he tournament will be held in five South African cities - Durban, Johannesburg, Nelspruit, Port Elizabeth and Rustenburg.

Group A: South Africa, Cape Verde, Morocco, Angola

Group B: Ghana, DR Congo, Niger, Mali

Group C: Zambia, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Burkina Faso

Group D: Ivory Coast, Togo, Tunisia, Algeria

EGYPT STADIUM DISASTER: BLACK DAY FOR AFRICAN FOOTBALL

It was a sweet and sour story for African football on Wednesday, February 1, where on one hand, the beauty of football triumphed at the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations in Gabon and Equatorial Guinea, but lost in Port Said, Egypt. While millions of fans from around the continent were being treated to two exciting matches at the 2012 African Cup of Nations, another ill-fated tie between local rivals - minnows Al Masry and giant Al-Ahly was simultaneously being played in Port Said, Egypt.

In the end, Ghana played a 1-1 draw with Guinea while Mali edged out Botswana 2-1.  Port Said recorded a surprise 3-1 win in favour of Al Masry and the shocking loss of at least 74 fans dead and a thousand injured after riots erupted at the blast of the final whistle. The violence escalated Al-Masry fans invaded the pitch and hurled sticks and stones as they chased players and fans from the rival team, who ran towards the exits and up the stands to escape. Police officers stood by, appearing overwhelmed. It was the worst football stadium disaster in the North African country, which has been the venue of recent political upheavals. The next day, protesters gathered outside the gates of the Cairo-based Al-Ahly football club's headquarters, close to the central Tahrir Square, the tipping point of the revolution that ousted Hosni Mubarak a year ago.

"I was beaten with fists and kicks to the neck, head and feet. I saw our fans die before us and we are unable to do anything." Said a shaken Manuel Jose, Al-Ahly's Portuguese coach, who has since returned to Portugal and has threatened to leave his coaching job with Egypt's most successful club.

According to reports, many fans suffocated after becoming trapped in a narrow corridor as they fled the violence, while some people blamed the Egyptian police and security forces for not doing enough to intervene. "From the beginning of the game, the fans of the opposing team were allowed to fire rockets and stones at us without any intervention. In the end, it turned into a state of madness without any role for the security in the stands. We tried to save the lives of some of the fans, but many died before our eyes," explained Pedro Barny, Al-Ahly assistant coach.

As a result, the Egyptian Football Federation has suspended all leagues in the country. "The Egyptian federation has decided to stop the football leagues in all four divisions for an indefinite period after the violence that occurred in the game between al-Masry and al-Ahly, which represented a tragic shock to the centre of sport in general and the football family in particular,” read a statement from the federation.

The incidence has so far claimed the jobs of senior officials in Port Said and the football association who have been sacked. The governor of Port Said resigned, while the city's director of security and head of investigations were suspended and are now in custody. The country’s government has also declared three days of mourning.

"African football is in a state of mourning,” Confederation of African Football (CAF) president Issa Hayatou said. A one minute's silence will be observed for the victims during the Nations Cup quarter-final matches this weekend. World football governing body FIFA has demanded full investigation into the violence.