NIGERIA female national team, the Super Falcons, has been trending. For healthy reasons. On Saturday, July 26, they won, in grand style, the Women African Cup of Nations (WAFCON), beating hosts Morocco in a nerve-racking, adrenaline-pumping final.
It’s the 10th time (Mission X) they have won this prestigious Africa female football festival out of 13 times, achieving a heavenly La Decima, as the Spanish would put it. A fitting throwback to the night of May 24, 2014 when Real Madrid edged past their fiercest but less prosperous rivals Athletico Madrid in Lisbon, Portugal to land their 10th UEFA Champions League trophy.
When you win a trophy 10 times out of 13 times, it tells your dominance, influence and unassailable supremacy in that championship. That’s exactly what the Super Falcons did. They embraced immortality on a continental level. They lofted Nigerians to 10th heaven. They exhibited dominion. They showed unmatched girl-power on the continent. And they did it on foreign soil, in Morocco, about 8 hours flight over a distance of 3,051km from Nigeria.
To make the mountain slipperier, they played against host nation in front of a vociferous and passionately partisan crowd. Yet, they prevailed to give Nigerians something to cheer in a season of despair. They prevailed in a spectacular come-back after going down by 2 goals in the first half, again an absorbing playback of Barcelona’s unforgettable 6-1 victory over Paris Saint-Germain in the UEFA Champions League round of 16 on 8 March 2017 in which Barcelona overturned a four-goal deficit in the second leg to win 6–5 on aggregate, a match till this day ranked as the biggest comeback (Remontada) in UEFA Champions League history. That match holds the ace in the Remontada chronicles.
Attaining La Decima status by the Super Falcons is no easy meat. And to achieve that in the year when the Confederation of African Football (CAF) launched an entirely new trophy (an elegant upgrade of the previous trophies), and increased prize money for the overall winner and others, makes the victory both historical and heartwarming. Nigeria did it. Super Falcons won it to index and justify the Giant of Africa profile of the nation.
The victory came amid the usual headwinds of lack of care by the administrators of football in Nigeria. They were owed allowances among other issues but they brushed the ills aside and focused on the ball. It took the intervention of President Bola Tinubu for the girls to get their cash. And you wonder, why is Nigeria sport always bedeviled by hitches and hysteria.
Why turn a serious business to a ruse. The NFF is yet to wean itself of administrative tardiness. This is at the core of the dwindling fortunes of Nigeria sports. Deception, dissimulation and deceit from the managers visited on the players and athletes. But the Super Falcons shamed the administrators by rolling up their sleeves to concentrate on the tournament and its demands.
The morphology of the team is a major factor why Nigeria excelled. Credit to Coach Justin Madugu and his technical team for prioritising merit over quota in the composition of the squad. No zonal or mundane geographical balance; no ethno-religious consideration in assembling the team. Just merit hinged on current form of the players. Take a look at the team list. They are mostly from a particular part of the country. A departure from the inglorious past when the administrators bullied the technical staff to achieve ethnic or geographical balance.
There was overt effusion of patriotism on the part of the girls. Some have dual citizenship but chose to play for Nigeria. And they displayed their passion in their iron-cast determination to beat all odds. They did, with pomp. They excelled, with aplomb. By that singular feat, they reset Nigeria’s global perception. Global media focused on Africa, zoomed in on Nigeria. They feasted on the Nigeria story of grit, hard work and resilience. No negative report. None on corruption, advance fee fraud (aka 419), nothing on kidnapping, banditry, and the assortment of criminalities that assail the nation.
Every coin has two sides. Through the Super Falcons, the world remembers and documents the bright side of Nigeria. They remember Afrobeat music which the girls lavishly serenaded the global audience with in their dance steps, body twists and sing-along chants. A moment of national nirvana. A rekindling of hope. A rebirth of faith. The Super Falcons wrought them all. They wore the Nigeria badge with pride and dignity. In their dance, in their songs and swags. And much more in their girlish gushes that expressed the typical self-confidence of the Nigerian breed.
And what with a gussied up Aso Rock, primed in decorative totems, ready to host the girls. President Tinubu rose to the occasion. Energy for energy, he matched the girls. It was one of those rare occasions when the man meets the moment. Tinubu met the moment. Splashing cash, national honour and houses on the girls matched the momentum of the moment. Thank you, Mr. President.
Those who quarrel with the goodly rewards showered on the girls should go and win their own laurels and bring glory to the nation and they should be rewarded also. Nigeria must learn to reward talent. It is more honourable to decorate the Super Falcons and any other Nigerian or group of Nigerians who bring glory to the nation than decorate looting public office holders with national honours.
But when the euphoria fades, the president should cause an inquisition to establish the whys and wherefores of complaints of non-payment of allowances, poorly made kits and other logistics failings that attend Nigeria’s participation at international sports festivals.
For now, let the cash keep rolling in for the girls who against odds fought and won to give Nigeria a voice, albeit a strong voice, on the continent’s football ecosystem. Special salute to Rasheedat Ajibade (captain fantastic) and her spectacular speech delivered brilliantly; Esther Okoronkwo, rated by CAF as one of the most complete players of the tournament (two goals and seven assists shows a team player) and goalkeeper Chiamaka Nnadozie for her humour, energy, team spirit and for conceding the least goals in a tournament that was not shy on goals.
Thank you, Super Falcons, for lifting our spirit. This Remontada, we shall not forget.
- Ugbechie, a veteran journalist, is publisher of Political Economist online newspaper.