Nigeria’s Youth and Sports Minister, Solomon Dalung will be at the head of a strong delegation of top officials to cheer on the Super Eagles when they clash with Ghana’s Black Stars in Sunday’s WAFU Cup of Nations Final.
Dalung has been an ever –present in the Super Eagles’ most crucial matches in the past year, and undisputably brings a rich vein of fortune around the team, with the Eagles now only one win away from a sixth appearance in the FIFA World Cup finals.
The Sports Minister led the Nigerian delegation to the 2-1 win over Zambia in Ndola at the start of the 2018 World Cup qualifying campaign, and was equally in Uyo for the 3-1 thrashing of Algeria. He was there in Uyo when the Eagles bashed African champions Cameroon 4-0 and also arrived in Yaounde in time to see the 1-1 draw three days later.
NFF President Amaju Pinnick, who joined fellow CAF Executive Committee members for crucial meetings in Accra on Saturday, will also be at the Cape Coast Stadium, alongside NFF General Secretary, Dr. Mohammed Sanusi, who arrived in the Ghanaian capital on Friday.
Super Eagles’ Technical Adviser Gernot Rohr also flew into Accra on Saturday and will be in the stands. Head Coach of Super Eagles B, Salisu Yusuf is Chief Coach of the A team where Rohr is technical adviser.
To reach the Championship match, the Super Eagles B, who qualified for the 5th African Nations Championship finals after a 2-1 aggregate win over Benin Republic in August, ejected Sierra Leone with a 2-0 win in the first knock –out phase, and drew 0-0 with Mali and Guinea before seeing off hosts Ghana 2-0 in last group phase attrition. In the semi finals, CHAN qualifying victims Benin Republic were turned back 1-0, meaning Nigeria is yet to concede a goal in the sub –regional football fiesta.
Sunday’s match will kick off at 6pm Ghana time (7pm Nigeria time), and victory for the Super Eagles will mean a seventh major trophy for the Amaju Pinnick –led administration.
The administration’s first trophy was the Women Africa Cup of Nations title won by the Super Falcons in Namibia in October 2014, which has since been followed by the Supersand Eagles’ triumph in the COPA Lagos International Invitational Tournament (December 2014), the Flying Eagles’ Africa U20 title in Senegal (March 2015), the Golden Eaglets’ FIFA U17 World Cup in Chile (November 2015), the U23 team’s Africa U23 title in Senegal (December 2015), and the Super Falcons’ Women Africa Cup of Nations title in Cameroon (December 2016).
This is outside the Olympic men’s football bronze, which was actually’s Nigeria’s only medal at the 2016 Olympics in Brazil.
