SUPER EAGLES OF NIGERIA : THE DESCENT 3

The Super Eagles are the defending champions having won the Cup of Nations in South Africa in 2013.The descent for the team began after the Nations Cup victory.The big test came in June 2013 during FIFA Confederation Cup in Brazil which the governing body usually use as precursor for World Cup the following year after. The team had a woeful outing beating an amateurish Tahiti team 6-1. They lost to both Uruguay and Italy and caught early flight back to Abuja.

The Eagles played friendly matches against Mexico,Greece and Italy with all ending in draws.The highlight of what the FIFA World Cup will be like came in the last tune up match against the United States.The Nigerian team lost 2-1. Somehow the team were forgiven because the matches were only friendlies and that it was just avenues for testing new players for proper team building. At least these were the escape routes of the team coaches headed by Steven Keshi. Austin Ejide should now understand the reason why Enyeama had been in goal for most of our matches .He performed so poorly against the Red Devils of Congo.

The FIFA World Cup proper began in June 2014 but the performance of the team was below par. The 1-0 win in the second  game against Bosnia and Herzegovina was more of luck than effort.The first match against Iran had ended in a barren draw.Lionel Messi ingenuity ensured that Super Eagle did not get more than four points as Argentina beat them 3-2.The scoreline could have been more than that but for the heroics of Vincent Enyeama. Then in the round of 16, France summed up our showdy approach to important games. In a spate of 10 minutes towards the end of the game, France Scored two goals to win the game. Thus we repeated USA '94 and France 98' results of going home in the second round. This is a sad story of a national team with so much potential but very little to show for it. The bonus and benefit problems that had been taking its toll on performance of the Eagles when it mattered  reared it's deadly head in Brazil. It was reported that hard currencies had to be physically brought before players agreed to play. Peter Osaze Odemwingie had been mentioned as one of the players demanding for their 'rights.' Despite the recent injury of the player during a Barclays Premier League match, he might have bid future recall to the team bye bye.