Vogt express no fear

Before now, many worried for Eagles. The conclusion was that Eagles had ceased to be the team that made them super.

They had their reasons. The defence of the Keshi, Chidi Nwanu, Uche Okafor, Uche Okechukwu, Austin Eguavoen and Ben Iroha era had gone and yet to be re-enacted by those who have taken off.


The midfield of Oliseh, Mutiu Adepoju, Finidi George and the Okochas has equally gone and the finesse they had can no longer be found in the current team. But in the team now Nigerians could boast of the best in Africa in the attack. Imagine one country in Africa enjoying the services of Obafemi Martins, John Utaka, Yakubu Aiyegbeni, Osaze Odewinge, Nwankwo Kanu etc.

Yes, the Eagles Nigerians have come to know lately could boast of quality in the striking positions but nobody could vouch for their defence and midfield. That didn't strike confidence into Nigerians and nobody saw them as a good unit.

That impression remained until recently when Berti Vogts started enjoying great support from all and his preparation appeared the best any Nigerian coach has had in the past two decades. His good organisation of the team, the inspiring and sometimes boastful talks of the officials and the general mentality of being the best appear to have changed the psyche of Nigerians and not necessarily the new players in the team.

The new players are good but cannot be described as fantastic. They are Dickson Etuhu, Ifeanyi Emeghara, Daniel Shittu and Richard Oromoigbe. These are players who have shown strong qualities but they cannot be described as outstanding.

But lately, there has been a sudden burst of confidence on the side of Nigerians who now believe that they are good enough to win the cup in Ghana and become champions of the 26th African Cup of Nations.

They begin their campaign today with Cote d'Iovire in Sekondi. The same country stopped them from reaching the final of the last edition in Egypt. With Didier Drogba, Kolo Toure and Ebue they also boast of great players from the continent. But from the NFA to Berti Vogts and the players, the talk has been on winning the cup and not even how far they would fair today against Cote d'Ivoire.

"What I'm seeing here is unbelievable," team's media co-ordinator, Idah Peterside said yesterday.

"The commitment of the players, the managerial ability of Vogts and the support of everybody has been tremendous and I think that the cup is ours.

"I have never been so sure. We'll shock everybody and we'll start with Cote d'Ivoire. People are alluding things to them but I think the score may be around 3-1 in our favour. Against Sudan in the friendly match that we won 2-0, we slowed things down otherwise we would have scored up to eight goals. It will be different now. Drogba may not have the chance to shine.

He may not even see the ball if our marking goes according to plan," Peterside, a one time international and now analyst on supersport said here.

Kanu, the team captain followed up and said that the team is comfortable with everything in Ghana including the weather.We will be playing late in the evening (6pm) and that's good for us. We don't want to be too mouthy. The game is on the pitch. We are 100 per cent ready. The competition will be tough but we have done all that we were expected to do and we are looking forward to lifting the trophy here," Kanu said.

On his own, John Utaka said "there is no pressure on us. We have had good preparation and we expect good results."

Vogts gave out his last words before today's match last night when he said "we are not underrating anybody. Any team that qualified to be here must be respected. And that's how we will take our matches against Cote d'Ivoire, Mali and Benin Republic. We are ready."