(Picture credit :Goal.com)
Nigeria’s Super Eagles brought joy to the nation tonight as they clinched the 2013 with a 1-0 victory over Burkina Faso.Sunday Mba, a home -based player put Nigeria ahead in the first half of the match played in J’Burg ,South Africa.There were celebratory fireworks in Kubwa, one of the suburbs of Abuja on the heels of the final whistle signifying the end of the match.There was also wild blaring of horns by motorists in celebration.
The final match which was very entertaining also witnessed a harvest of missed opportunities on both sides.Nigeria however had better opportunities as they surprisingly overpowered the otherwise fast- playing Burkinabes.
Today’s victory is Nigeria’s third on the continent.The first was in 1980 and in 1994, Nigeria won the second AFCON trophy.
President Goodluck Jonathan has congratulated the Super Eagles and Nigerians as a whole on this victory.
With this victory ,Stephen Keshi has proven that his experiment was worth its while.Keshi took some tough decisions by dropping some established internationals- like Osaze Odemwinge,Taiye Taiwo and Obafemi Moses among others- from his AFCON team much to the shock of many.
In truth, as the tournament began,many Nigerians seemed not to have much confidence in the Super Eagles.But the team compelled Nigerians to take special interest in them as they chalked up attention- grabbing performances after moving beyond the first round of the tournament.The icing on the cake was the drubbing of tournament favourites ,Ivory Coast on the road to the final.
