Super Eagles Vow - It's Gold Or Nothing!

Can the Super Eagles fly in Ghana? This is the million Naira question on the lips of every football lover in the country as the 26th African Nations Cup kicks off tomorrow in Accra and three other Ghanaian cities namely Sekondi, Tamale and Kumasi.

These anxious Nigerians are also looking forward to the Eagles erasing the sad memories of 30 years when on the same Ghanaian soil in 1978, the Green Eagles, as the senior national team was then known, featuring players like Christian Chukwu, Muda Lawal and Segun Odegbami fell 1-2 to the Cranes of Uganda in the semi final.

Thirty years on, the Eagles are again in Ghana with German manager, Berti Vogts leading the technical team which includes Austin Eguavoen and Ike Shorunmu attempting to grab the coveted trophy for the third time, the second time away from home.

The team just concluded their training in Malaga, Spain only last Wednesday and got into Ghana on Thursday after a brief stop-over in Lagos, at least to acclimatise for a couple of days before their crucial opening game against tough opponents, the Elephants of Cote d'Ivoire on Monday.

The spirit of the team, from the players to the coaches and even the accompanying administrators is high but the confidence level is not as high as exhibited by team captain, Nwankwo Kanu who averred that the competition is not going to be a piece of cake.

Speaking from their Malaga camp base during the week, the leggy Eagles forward and motivator said they are looking forward to the start of the competition with high hopes but equally called on Nigerians to pray for the team.

"We have prepared very well and we hope to do our best to win the competition. We have won silver and even the golden bronze, like they say but we pray God will give us the gold this time around", Kanu said, adding "we just ask Nigerians to keep praying for us".

His team mate and Lokomotiv Moscow of Russia striker, Osaze Odemwingie, while agreeing that the present Eagles squad is good and hopeful on the team's chances in the competition, warned against complacency on the part of the players.

"We have a fantastic team, with fantastic players, but we often get carried away. The biggest problem we will have to face in Ghana is that we should not think we can win easily. That's where we sometimes get it wrong," Osaze confessed in his interview with Brilaf.net.

Like Kanu, Odemwingie who once plied his football trade with Lille of France thinks the Eagles and Nigeria in general deserve to move a step forward after bagging three bronze and one silver in the past four editions of the continental football carnival.

"The mentality just has to change, and that's what Berti Vogts is trying to do. He has brought a new orientation to the team, and it's about making us work harder to get better results.

"It's already paying off, because the players have started talking about going to Ghana to redeem our image. We are tired of bronze all the time. Three bronze medals in a row, and we are now thinking about getting gold," Osaze disclosed.

While the players are oozing optimism, Vogts is treading softly, preferring to see the outcome of his first game against the Ivorians before sticking out his neck on how far he can go. This is in spite of his rumoured complain over unpaid salaries and threat to call it quits after the Nations Cup.

As if to attest to the strength of his group opponents, Mali and Cote d'Ivoire, the former defender of Germany has said he would play a water-tight defence against them because to do well in the competition, "we must fight for each ball, dominate the centre of the field and keep the defence tight. If we do this we will have chances to score goals and win games."

Stressing that the team must be very careful with each game and stop the opponents from getting close to the Eagles rear as only two qualifiers will emerge from each group, Vogts said, "for me defensive strength is fundamental in a team. To face the Ivory Coast with Drogba and the others, Mali with Kanoute and Diarra and Benin with the tremendous rivalry as a neighbouring country, makes things very difficult.

Their optimism is however not shared by some former players like Segun Odegbami, Adokie Amiesimaka and Felix Owolabi, all of whom are worried about the quality of players and preparation for the competition.

Odegbami who was top scorer in the 1980 edition which Nigeria hosted and won, said the Eagles parade good players who are yet to be built into a strong team while Amiesimaka said he is not confident of the team for the reason that the players do not rank among the top five in Africa at the moment.

Dr. Owolabi's worry is that most of the Eagles players ply their trade with little clubs in countries that cannot be regarded as strong footballing countries.

"It's sad to see the national team dropping in standard so drastically. It's just because the team is now being dominated by players in countries like Israel, India and Eastern Europe.

"The quality of your national team can always be weighed by where your players are based. If you have players playing where the standard is low, then the quality of your national team will also be low," he told brilafm.net

While Chief Odegbami says his heart is for Nigeria to lift the trophy but his head tells him the team is not stronger than others in the competition and may not just win, Amiesimaka said the Eagles chances will depend on how Vogts is able to blend the players into a solid team as well as the players being able to adjust to the Ghanaian weather after their ill-advised camping in a cold region.

However, the Eagles remain the most rated team in Africa as depicted by the latest FIFA monthly ranking released on Wednesday, maintaining the number one spot in Africa with only three days to the start of the Nations Cup and 19th in the world. Cameroon's Indomitable Lions maintain second spot in Africa.

Guinea remain in third place, while Egypt move into fourth, one place ahead of Ivory Coast tipped to provide tough opposition for the Eagles. Nations Cup hosts, Ghana are rated the eighth-best side on the continent. Namibia are the lowest-ranked of the 16 teams at the Nations Cup finals. Some football buffs say that until the first ball is kicked in tomorrow's opening game between host, the Black Stars and Guinea, no one can really predict who the favourite team to lift the trophy on February 10 will be.