Eagles Conquer Morocco In ‘Miracle’ Of Cape Town

ABOUT 25 years after the great ‘Miracle of Damman’, the Super Eagles recorded another milestone in football history Saturday, coming from 0-3 down to suffocate their Moroccan opponent, winning 4-3 to move into the semifinal of the African Nations Championship in South Africa.

  The city of Cape Town is noted for its unpredictable weather condition. And so it was in Saturday’s match, as many fans easily predicted a goal feast against Nigeria after the Eagles put their foot wrong to concede three quick goals towards the end of the first half.

   But like the situation in Saudi Arabia 25 years ago, where the likes of Chris Ohenhen, Mike Onyemachara, Chris Nwosu, Bawa Abdullahi, Mutiu Adepoju, Tunde Charity and Sam Elijah turned the table against USSR in the FIFA U-20 World Cup, the Coach Stephen Keshi-led Eagles rose to the occasion, when all hope seemed lost.

  After struggling to keep a clean slate till the 30th minute, the Eagles defence caved in, giving the Moroccans easy penetration. Mohsine Moutaouli struck first for the North Africans in the 33 minute and four minutes later, increased the tally to two through Iajour Mouhssine, whose free kick beat a badly positioned Chigozie Agbim. They made it three in the 40th minute through Mohsine Moutaouali to give their fans a false impression that victory is already sealed. 

  The miracle started happening early in the second half, when Ugonna Uzochukwu struck in the 49th minute. The celebration that greeted the goal had not died down when Rabiu Ali made it two for the Eagles in the 55th minute. 

  Realising that their hope of making it to the semifinal was going down the drain, the Moroccan resorted to defensive game, but the resilient Eagles kept fighting. It eventually paid off in the last minute, when Ejike Uzoenyi drew level to force the game into extra time. The Eagles sealed victory in the 111 minute through Aliyu Ibrahim to send the supporters club members and entire Nigerian community into a wide jubilation, the same scenario in far back 1989, when the Flying Eagles defeated USSR in a dramatic fashion. 

  Not many Nigerians gave the Eagles a chance of making an appreciable impact in this year’s CHAN, which is Nigeria’s debut.

  The Super Eagles were eliminated by archrivals Ghana for the inaugural competition in Cote d’Ivoire in 2009, while Niger shocked them out for the next tournament staged by Sudan.

LMC Salutes Eagles’ Fighting Spirit 

The League Management Company (LMC) has commended the resilient spirit of the Super Eagles in overcoming a 3-0 deficit to oust Morocco in Saturday’s quarterfinals of the Africa Nations Championship (CHAN) in South Africa. 

  The body said the victory is consistent with the vision to achieve a responsive and sustainable professional league in the country.

 Chairman of the LMC, Nduka Irabor who is in Abuja for the Glo Premier League Pre-season tournament said the performance against the Atlas Lions of Morocco couldn’t have come at a better time than now that the foundations for a truly professional league is being consolidated with the on-going reforms to make the clubs to meet global training and administrative standards.

 “Thank you for making this bold statement about our League, Thank you for affirming that our league is good and thank you for responding to our charge to be good ambassadors of the league”, Irabor enthused.

  “The competitive spirit exhibited by the Eagles in South Africa last night is consistent with the competition in our league which ended in a photo finish in the last season and it is a reflection of the potentials in our league which has been hardly tapped and which some persons have so far not come to terms with”, added Irabor.

  “It has never been in doubt that we have the talents and the commitment of players to compete at the highest level and staying focused to come back from a three goals deficit is confirmation that the potentials to be the best in the world is in this league”, Irabor stated.