A painful death, a sweet victory and the FESTAC of sports | The Guardian Nigeria News - Nigeria and World News

Last week, a great Nigerian patriot, lawyer, former football player, proprietor of a professional club in Canada, sports administrator, international businessman and supreme sports marketer, a quiet gentleman that brought Nike to Africa, and to Nigeria in 1993, a man who played a major role in the successes recorded by Nigeria in the birth and growth of the Super Eagles into a global football brand between 1993 and 1998, the man who organised and funded the Nike International Under-16...

Noel was the perfect host, his organisation taking care of most of the cost of our stay in the East African country, whilst IGI, the giant Insurance company in Nigeria owned by late Remi Olowude, another great sponsor of sports in Nigeria at the time, took care of the rest. On behalf of the entire ‘class’ of the 1993/1998 Super Eagles, and the Nigerian football community as a whole, I commiserate with his wife, Nafisa, their children, family members and friends and the world of football on his passage. May his journey back to our Creator be peaceful. Amen.

To defeat the small, two-Island country, situated right on the equator in the Gulf of Guinea, was taken for granted. Yet, no one foresaw the likelihood of what eventually happened last Monday night. In 1976, I was a part of the Green Eagles, the nick-name of the team from Independence in 1960 to the eve of the 1994 World Cup, that toured Europe in final preparation for the Montreal Olympics in Canada. We had played against a Second Division German club , and defeated them by 10 un-replied goals. Thompson Usiyan scored five goals in that match that was not counted as an international match.

The avalanche of goals has now rekindled the spirit of hope in the Super Eagles. There is a new tune in the air. With one match, the Eagles may have finally turned the corner and started a team transformation that can herald the beginning of a new era in the story of Nigeria’s Super Eagles.

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