Celebrating with the Eaglets

[Mirror]

The FIFA U-17 World Cup in United Arab Emirates (UAE) ended yesterday as the Golden Eaglets once again used the opportunity to reconfirm Nigeria's soccer prowess globally at the youth level by winning the trophy.

Aside the fact that the team reached the final of the biennial competition, the tournament also threw up lot of talented footballers whom we can comfortably utilise to improve the lots of our national teams in the near future, which is worth celebrating.

The exploits of the likes of Abdullahi Alfa, Kelechi Iheanacho, Musa Muhammed, Musa Yahaya and Taiwo Awoniyi cannot be forgotten in a haste because they gave good account of themselves throughout the duration of the tournament.

As a kicker, the superlative performance of the Eaglets at the just concluded FIFA U-17 World Cup in UAE necessitated today's piece and the need to celebrate these worthy Nigerians who has once again made us proud with their God-given talent.

Truly, prior to yesterday's final match, it was clear to the U-17 national team of Mexico that they would have their hands full against the Eaglets who are desperate to make history.

The determination to win by the Nigerians were clearly spelt out by Coach Manu Garba and his coaching crew, as they gave the Mexican nightmares, thanks to lanky Kelechi Iheanacho and co. HT also recalls that when both teams met during their Group F opener, Iheanacho was a marvel to behold as he swirled around the Mexican as if attached to wires in the rafters of the Khalifa Bin Zayed Stadium.

He was unstoppable in that Group F cracker, scoring four times in a 6-1 demolition of the cup holders that seemed to indicate a title defence was little more than fantasy.

HT gathered that the day after that opening game in Al Ain, a party was thrown by local dignitaries in honour of the four competing Group F nations, Iheanacho and his mates danced freely with Iraq's young talents at twilight, the polite and blushing Swedes visited the buffet straight away. But Mexico's players were nowhere to be found. They were exiled to their rooms thinking about that heavy defeat, that crushing loss to Nigeria.

And probably, that fear must have set the tone for what transpired before the final game yesterday. However, commendations must be given to the two finalists, especially Mexico who despite their 6-1 loss to Nigeria in their Group F opener, where still able to play up to the final level and lost 3-0 to Nigeria.

It shows that great works were done in the team by their coaching crew. Secondly, the gains of playing good football at the global stage are enormous because football being the king of all sports has produced great men and women.

These are stars, which by virtue of mere playing the round leather game, have been opportuned to wine and dine with kings, besides earning fat bucks. Also, it was not only the manner with which the Eaglets executed the competition that delighted most Nigerians, but the psychology which Coach Manu Garba and his crew exerted into the minds of these young guns. All the players were just like they came from a family, as they came into the competition focused and rearing to go.

As one analyst puts it, Nigeria indeed seem to be a perfectly functioning family, because up front, Kelechi Iheanacho and Taiwo Awoniyi were often busy wreaking havocs, having accumulated nine goals and 12 assists between them before the final yesterday.

And in order to get the best out of the aforementioned duo, they have to receive the service from another fantastic player, Abdullahi Alfa, who is worthy of celebrating in today's piece. Alfa provides the dare-devil passes that are often used to wreck teams by the free-scoring strikers in the Eaglets squad.

For example, in the semi-final against Sweden, Alfa put in an especially eye-catching performance, with none other than Diego Maradona watching from the stands. The constant swift-passing moves through midfield were a delight to behold. Perhaps the simplest manner to describe each touch is to accompany it with a yell of "olé!", as is the wont of Mexican fans when appreciating a long sequence of passes. Since these players have given their best to their fatherland, it will be worthwhile to celebrate them and give them every support to take their game to the next level.

Taking a look at the confession of the head coach of Kogi United, Fatai Osho, the team and its coaching crew has done exceptionally well and needs the commendations of every rightthinking Nigerian for lifting the trophy for a record 4th time.

According to Osho, the members of the team's technical crew featuring Manu Garba, Emmanuel Amuneke and Nduka Ugbade are worthy ambassadors of Nigerian football because they have succeeded in raising a young rock-solid U-17 squad, the youngest that the country has paraded in over a decade.

He equally heaped praises on the role of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) in providing an enabling environment for the players and officials to strive, stressing that the much time for camping availed the coaches great opportunity to assemble some of the best legs to execute the tournament and HT concurs.

We wish the Eaglets good luck as many soccer pundits look forward to seeing most of them graduating to the Flying Eaglets and the Super Eagles in a few years from now and not dropping by the way side as a result of injury or old age.