Sports
AFCON Final: Nigerians dream cup glory
Despite the excruciating hardship across the country, the past three weeks have seen a resurgence of patriotism among Nigerians. They have found a resurgence of hope in football.
A great percentage of the over 200 million people inhabiting the country are striving to survive the harsh economic situation, but the hard times have not stopped the citizens from rallying round their darling team, the Super Eagles, who, against all expectations, are contesting for the Africa Cup of Nations title with hosts, Cote d’Ivoire, in Abidjan, today.
Nigeria has been gripped by inflation with majority of the people living below the poverty line, but that has not mellowed the joy they display every Super Eagles’ match day. Today is one of such days, but the stakes are higher as the reward for victory is no longer three points or passage to another round, but the Holy Grail of African football.
A win today for the Super Eagles will not only fetch them N10 billion, but also give Nigerians something to celebrate and perhaps, usher in a new wave of optimism that it could bring a change in the country’s economic fortune.
Nigeria’s march to the final game of the Africa Cup of Nations have been a pleasant surprise to many of their followers, who derided and wrote the team off before the games began last month. The reason for such low regard for the team is that under the current coach, Jose Peseiro, Nigeria, ranked 42 in the world, had lost to such countries as Guinea Bissau and Guinea and only managed draws with Lesotho and Zimbabwe in their last four games prior to AFCON.
The withdrawals by top players like Wilfred Ndidi, Victor Boniface and Taiwo Awoniyi owing to injury, as well as the poor state of the team’s goalkeeping department were enough reasons to write the Super Eagles off. But here they are, changed in all facets, with a new goalkeeper that has not conceded any goal in open play since the 1-1 draw with Equatorial Guinea in their first match of the group stage of the championship.
The Super Eagles have had the upper hand in clashes with Cote d’Ivoire in the Africa Cup of Nations. In eight games, Nigeria has won three out of eight previous games, with two draws and two losses.
With the current African Footballer of the Year, Victor Osimhen, in their lineup, the Super Eagles are expected to be too strong for the Ivoirians, who conceded four goals against Equatorial Guinea. But the problem is that Nigeria is not a high scoring side. The Eagles relied on a penalty to beat the hosts in their first meeting in the competition.
Talisman, Osimhen, has scored only one goal in six games, although one can argue that he has been unlucky to have had two of his goals chalked off for offside. The Napoli strongman has, however, been a thorn in the flesh of opposing defenders, with his swashbuckling style earning Nigeria two penalties in the competition.
While they are not a high scoring side, the Super Eagles have made up with a stout defence that has been the meanest in the championship with only one goal conceded in open play. In Stanley Nwabali, Nigeria has a goalkeeper that has brought confidence to the team’s defence and the players now do their job knowing that they have a capable hand to make up for any lapse.
Although the Super Eagles are playing against the host nation, they will not lack in vocal support as many Nigerians, both from home and the countries bordering Cote d’Ivoire, have been trooping into Abidjan to lend their voices to the quest for success.
The players have also been assured that a grateful country will open the cash vaults to reward them if they win their fourth African title today. Already, they have earned a substantial sum from their fans, including the Progressive Governors’ Forum, who rewarded them with N250 million for beating South Africa in the semifinal.
Vice President, Kassim Shettima, who has been leading Nigerians in supporting the team from the stadia stands since the quarterfinals, has assured the team that the Federal Government will host and reward them adequately for their efforts in Cote d’Ivoire.
Shettima will be joined in the Eagles’ corner by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who, according to CAF President, Patrice Motsepe, will attend the final at the Alassanne Ouattara Stadium, Ebimpe.
Team captain, William Troost-Ekong, who has equaled Stephen Keshi’s record as the highest-scoring defender in the history of the Africa Cup of Nations, has assured Nigerians that the Super Eagles would rather die on the pitch than allow Cote d’Ivoire to beat them to the title.
Troost-Ekong, who is reportedly being courted by clubs in Saudi Arabia due to his sterling performances at the AFCON, has described winning the championship as an extraordinary and amazing moment for him and the country.
“You dream about moments like that. I’ve seen it so many times. And I’ve closed my eyes. To actually be there on Sunday and have the chance to do that will be amazing,” he said.
One of the most assured optimists and believers in the Super Eagles’ ability to win the championship is coach Peseiro, who from the onset has been drumming that the country will conquer Africa this term.
Explaining his belief in the team, Peseiro said: “When I signed the contract, I said I want to win the Afcon. Either way, I don’t know if everybody believed or not. I have believed since the first moment. We haven’t won nothing until now – we want to win the AFCON.”
Peseiro’s mandate is to take Nigeria to the semifinals of the championship and also qualify the Super Eagles for the 2026 World Cup. He has already achieved the former and is now on the verge of adding the cup to the bargain.
But his team will be up against a Cote d’Ivoire side that has been on the ascendancy since they managed to qualify for the round of 16 of the championship with three points.
The hosts were almost down and out of the race after losing two of their three first round games to Nigeria (1-0) and Equatorial Guinea (4-0), but they sneaked in as one of the best four third placed teams after the group stage.
Since then, they have not looked back. Since the exit of their technical adviser, Jean-Louis Gasset, sacrificed because for their poor group stage performance, the team has been a different side under Gasset’s former assistant, Emerson Fae.
Now, the fans, who went on rampage, destroying shops and vans after their 0-4 loss to Equatorial Guinea, have trooped back and are ready to push the Elephants to a third AFCON victory.
Describing the new wave of optimism among his compatriots as magical, former Cote d’Ivoire captain, Kolo Toure, told BBC that the loss to Equatorial Guinea “was a big wake-up call for the players because they saw that fans in the country were really, really angry.”
He said a few things that happened after that game has made the players to realise how important the tournament is for the country.
Toure, who was in Cote d’Ivoire’s last team to lift the trophy in 2015 alongside Coach Fae, said the team has been on a rollercoaster ride since the round of 16, beating such luminaries as Senegal, Mali and DR Congo to get to the final.
“Emerse has brought discipline both on and off the pitch to the team. He has brought tactical discipline because we have a midfield with really good players – Ibrahim Sangare, Franck Kessie and Seko Fofana – but against Equatorial Guinea, I felt those three were running all over the pitch with no discipline,” he said,
Nigeria is the overwhelming favourite to win the title, but Ivoirian midfielder, Franck Kessie disagrees.
“As long as you still have a five per cent or 10 per cent chance, you need to keep believing, because that is what makes football beautiful,” he said after the semifinal defeat of DR Congo on Wednesday.
Although this team lacks star performers like the 2015 set, they have built a unite that is hard to shove aside since Fae took over.
“We need to keep going like this, because you can’t go all the way to the final only to then give up,” Kessie says.
London-born Nigeria winger and Atalanta forward Ademola Lookman, says the support he gets from Nigerians motivates him to do more in his footballing career.
Lookman’ s stunning hat-trick on Wednesday night in the Europa League final encounter with Bayer Leverkusen’s, ensured the victory of the Serie A side.
The London-born Nigerian international with his performance in the encounter set a record of becoming the first player to score a hat-trick in a European final since 1975.
The 26-year-old who had represented England at youth football levels before switching allegiance to Nigeria, said: “It’s incredible, and I have said this in earlier interviews: the unwavering support and love I get back home is unbelievable; it gives me the motivation to try to inspire myself and try to evolve in different areas, not just in my game but as a person.
“It has taken me to a new level. Competing in AFCON this January, unfortunately, we lost in the final, but it catapulted us as Super Eagles, and the support back home is incredible.”
He also said: “Probably, I’ve always had the confidence to create and score goals and help my teammates.
“In the past few years, I’ve been able to take my game to a new level and show that on a more consistent basis.
“I’m pleased with the progress I’ve made, but this is just the beginning. I hope for more nights like this.”
Ademola Lookman etched himself into Atalanta folklore with a Europa League final hat-trick that he says didn’t catch him by surprise – although boss Gian Piero Gasperini admitted nobody could have expected his progress.
The London-born Nigeria winger became only the sixth player to score a hat-trick in a European final – the first since Jupp Heynckes for Borussia Monchengladbach in the 1975 Uefa Cup – with all three goals in the Italian side’s win over Bayer Leverkusen in Dublin.
That is the Bayer Leverkusen side led by Xabi Alonso, which had not lost a single game of football for 361 days.
Lookman, 26, had never managed double figures in a season for Charlton, Everton, RB Leipzig, Fulham or Leicester.
After this treble the former England Under-21 winger, who now represents Nigeria at international level, has netted 15 goals in each of his two seasons with Atalanta.
Gasperini said: “We had a senior manager at Atalanta [Lee Congerton] who had worked at Leicester, who saw the opportunity to bring him in and thought he was a possible useful player.
“Nobody could ever imagine he’d could make this much progress. He wasn’t overly prolific in England. I changed his position to a more attacking role.
“Tonight he achieved something which will remain in the annals of football history – a stunning hat-trick.”
Lookman was asked afterwards if he could have imagined this growing up in Wandsworth and when he started out at Charlton’s academy.
“Probably, yeah,” he replied. “I’ve always had the confidence in my ability.
“In the past two years I’ve been able to take my game to a new level and show it on a more consistent basis.
“Maybe it could have come earlier but it’s come now. I’m pleased with the progress I’ve made but this is just the beginning. I hope for more nights like this.”
‘One of the best nights of my life’
Immediately after the final whistle Lookman told TNT Sports “it’s one of the best nights of my life”. Perhaps understated.
A Dublin party was “100%” planned, he added. “We’ve got to celebrate, we made history tonight.”
Lookman joined Gasperini’s post-match news conference midway through and after the manager had left he spoke about the role he has had in his career.
“The past few years, the club and coach have supported me in terms of giving me minutes… it’s helped me elevate my game to a new level,” he added.
“The first few conversations we had, made me look at football a bit differently. It made it simpler in my mind in terms of what he expected from me.
“It made me look at, and play, my game in a different light. I’m very grateful to him.”
Lookman laughed when an Italian journalist claimed a street may be named after him in Bergamo one day.
The forward is one of about 120,000 people who live in the northern Italian city close to Milan.
“I feel the support from the fans from the first minute I was in Bergamo,” he added. “The city of Bergamo gives me a sense of calmness. It’s a very calm, relaxed city and that has helped me a lot with my living style. I’m focused on the important things.
Lookman’s mentor and coach of former youth side Waterloo, Felix Emanus, also spoke to TNT Sports after the game.
“I really can’t tell you my emotions – sky high,” he said. “We’ve been dreaming about this for a long time, since Ade was a kid at Waterloo. Tonight was a dream come true.
“I cried when the third goal went in. I’m so happy for Ade. He works so hard, quiet lad. Sometimes misunderstood because of his quietness but he’s a great kid. Wants to learn, wants to always get better and wants to reach the top.”
At the age of 66 years and 117 days, Gian Piero Gasperini is the oldest coach to win the Europa League
While this may be remembered as the Lookman final, Atalanta’s success is just as remarkable.
In their 116-year history, this was only their second trophy – after the 1963 Coppa Italia.
Just last week they lost the Coppa Italia final to Juventus. What a way to bounce back.
Gasperini’s men also became the first Italian team to win this tournament since 1999.
“I am hugely proud for all of Italy because it was a cursed trophy,” said the 66-year-old, who took charge of the club in 2016. “Having won it with Atalanta is perhaps one of those footballing fairytales that rarely crop up.
“It gives hope for meritocracy. It doesn’t come down to Super Leagues. You can show faith in other teams without big bills and budgets.
“Let’s try to savour this win before thinking about how far we can go next season. This team has grown with results. We’ve done so while making sure we balance the books or turn a profit and that’s the most exceptional element of this club.
“Typically the clubs who are winning things struggle to keep costs down. Atalanta have managed to win things while being a financially sustainable club. That’s extraordinary.”
Mauricio Pochettino has left Chelsea by mutual consent.
Pochettino departs Chelsea after less than a year in charge having agreed a two-year deal last summer. Jesus Perez, Miguel d’Agostino, Toni Jimenez and Sebastiano Pochettino have left the club in addition to Pochettino.
Chelsea finished sixth in the Premier League in a massive improvement from the previous year, but the former Spurs boss becomes the third permanent coach the club have parted ways with since the 2022 takeover.
The decision comes following a season of uncertainty around the Argentine coach’s position after a difficult start to life at Stamford Bridge. For much of 2023/24 the team languished in midtable before a turn in fortunes from February saw them march up the table.
Mauricio Pochettino releases statement as Chelsea confirm exit after just one season in charge
A meeting between Pochettino and sporting directors Laurence Stewart and Paul Winstanley and co-owner Behdad Eghbali took place in which Pochettino agreed to his departure.
Sporting Directors Laurence Stewart and Paul Winstanley said in the club’s statement: “On behalf of everyone at Chelsea, we would like to express our gratitude to Mauricio for his service this season. He will be welcome back to Stamford Bridge any time and we wish him all the very best in his future coaching career.”
Mauricio Pochettino said: “Thank you to the Chelsea ownership group and Sporting Directors for the opportunity to be part of this football club’s history. The Club is now well positioned to keep moving forward in the Premier League and Europe in the years to come.”
Mauricio Pochettino during Chelsea’s fifth straight win to close the Premier League season.
T he Blues boss hinted ahead of the end of the season that a decision on his future would not only be in the hands of the club. “Look, it is not important,” he said.
“The most important thing is to keep going working if we are all happy, not only the owners happy with us, the sporting directors with us, or us with the organisation the club is building here because then we are all under assessment.
“If we are happy, perfect. But it is not only if the owner are happy or the sporting directors are happy. If we are happy, you need to ask also because we said ‘look maybe we are not happy with certain situations and maybe we are not happy and we need to split.
“It is not going to be the first time that a coaching staff decide at the end of the season not to keep going. But understand that it is always the opposite way, always the owners or the sporting director.
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