These Eagles Must Fly–By Ahmed Mustapha

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This year’s edition of the African cup of nations will kick off in far away South Africa today and the continent’s best soccer players would get the chance to showcase their skills and put themselves on the shopwindow.
The Super Eagles of Nigeria will trade tackles with 15 other teams for the coveted prize but most Nigerians are not hopeful of the Eagles’ success at this tournament.
The reason behind this is not far fetched: the Super Eagles have broken many hearts in the past.
It has been almost 20 years since the Super Eagles last conquered the continent in the deserts of Tunisia.
Our absence from the 1996 and 1998 competitions did hurt our football so badly.
We have come close to winning it again on a couple of occasions, the most painful of which was in the city of Lagos, but other than that, it has been a case of huffing and puffing for the Super Eagles.
One rarely ever witnesses the Lion preying on the Eagle in the jungle but not on the football pitch as the Super Eagles have had wings clipped by lions whether it be indomitable or teranga. Even theelephants have trampled upon the Super Eagles once or twice before.
It is time for the Super Eagles to take flight and soar above every other animal, be it a lion, a leopard or a desert fox and under the watchful eyes of coach Stephen Keshi, who says it cannot be done?
This current generation of players may be regarded as ‘unknowns’ because for many of them, this would be their first taste of the competition. The tradition of fielding bench warming European players appear to be gone with the wind and some so called big name players have been left out.
The squad wants to make history and after watching them in a few friendly games I believe it is not “mission impossible”. THESE EAGLES MUST FLY. These Eagles need our support