"Springtime is the land awakening. The March winds are the morning yawn."
~Lewis Grizzard
Just like the Earth, the Super Eagles seem to awaken every spring. Wearing the green and white of the nation, they bloom, flourish like the trees, spreading lots joy and through the flower of their performances, they bring color to the lives of their fans.
The catalyst last spring was the appointment of Shuaibu Amodu as the national team coach for the third time. He like the rains gave life to the team and helped them shed the shackles put on them by Berti Vogts’ management style.
They shone as they marched through the FIFA World CupTM qualifiers of last summer without dropping a point or even letting in a goal.
Over the last winter, it seemed the rot had set in once more, as they struggled to get good results in their matches. Although they lost just one game within the period, the ever demanding Nigerian public was once again on their back.
At first they were called “tired legs”, then “Super Chicken”, they later resorted to calling them "bench warmers", perceived as less derogatory and closer to the truth, since the more regular members of the team struggled to get a game in their clubs over the winter. The coach bore the brunt of the attack, as pundits, fans and the press came out of their cocoon baring their fangs, ready to devour them.
Like the Princess shut away asleep for a hundred years in the tower, waiting for her Prince to arrive and kiss her back to life, the Eagles waited, they waited for spring. They waited for the rains to come and wash away the rust of the last months.
Alas, spring is here!
Just like last year, they started out with a 1-1 draw, this time against the Republic of Ireland. With most of the regular players missing, Coach Amodu played a make shift team of debutants and returnees from international wilderness. In fact none of the players that started their last competitive match against Mozambique started the game.
Although the Irish themselves fielded a largely experimental team too, they had their spine of Shay Given, Richard Dunne, Keith Andrews and Robbie Keane available. The Eagles came away with a draw, and lots of positives.
Next up were the French, complete with their big names including that little magician from Munich, Franck Ribbery, whose signature every big club in Europe, from Juventus to Real Madrid seem to be chasing.
Still without their top stars, the Eagle's fans expected a trumping from "Le Bleu". Once again, they fielded the "juniors" and even handed a first cap to left back Echiejile. True to his name, darkness never did come.
Like the North Star, the Eagles refused to be outshone by the galaxy of stars in the French firmament.
They battled, sweated, put their bodies on the line, and thoroughly out played the French. In the end, they came away with the most famous victory by the Nigerian national team since beating Spain at the 1998 FIFA World CupTM in France and became the first African team to beat the French on home soil.
They succeeded where teams before them failed. The likes of Egypt(5-0),Tunisia(3-1), Morocco(2-2), Ivory Coast(3-0) and Cameroun (1-0) have all fallen to France in recent years. Even England has failed to find a way past them in their backyard.
The question now is, will these performances be the tonic the team needs to waltz through the FIFA World CupTM qualifiers this summer? Have they done enough to win back the support of their teeming, which by my last count includes the over 130 million Nigerians on Earth?
With matches against Kenya at home and Tunisia in Tunis in the FIFA World CupTM to come, they do need an elixir to see them through.
One thing is certain though, Coach Shauibu Amodu has done enough to keep his army of critics (and they are many indeed) quiet for a week or two and if he does get through this summer unscathed, he would have taken a major step to shutting them up permanently.
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