Today, the Super Eagles of Nigeria will take to the field in their opening match of the Championship of African Nations Tournament.(CHAN) When in 2008, the President Issa Hayatou led Confederation of African Football decided to institute a competition for players who ply their trade in their country, in the African continent, many were skeptical about its relevance, appeal and possible success.

Head Coach, Sunday Oliseh, leading the Eagles for a light work out, ahead of their opening match against Niger Republic in a Group C fixture at the 2016 African Nations Championship at the Stade Régional Nyamirambo, Kigali on Monday

The Africa Cup of Nations is considered the third most popular competition in the world, outside the World Cup and the European Championship, yet a lot of Africa football followers were somehow uncomfortable that in a win at all cost frame, most of African countries came to the Nations Cup party with players that existed in foreign leagues, especially Europe.

CHAN was therefore designed to give domestic players an opportunity to be noticed and Foreign scouts are all over the venues here, a very contented group, who before now had to visit countries and clubs individually to replenish depleting stock of African players in Europe. With CHAN, they are given the benefit of the best in Africa and they arrive with their cheque books in tow.

Interestingly, despite the believed strength and popularity of our league, we failed to qualify for the first two editions held in Cote D’Ivoire and Sudan in 2009 and 2011 respectively. In Abidjan and Yamoussoukoro, eight teams took part. In Sudan the number had risen to 16. By 2014 in South Africa, the competition received the backing of FIFA, thereby adding value to it, one that FIFA could use to evaluate and classify the standard of the countries that qualify.

In 2014, not only did Nigeria qualify for the first time, but went ahead to win bronze after a dramatic run that saw them coming back from a three goal deficit in the first half to beat Morocco 4-3. As a member of NFF Technical and Development Committee, what I remember most about that competition is the protest by local coaches and league writers that the players were not a fair representation of the league, starting from first choice goalkeeper …………Yet they went on to win bronze.

On the contrary, this year, there is a consensus that the players picked for Kigali are some of the best in their various positions. Despite the enmity between football and arithmetic, I am tempted to say that we therefore have a better chance of clinching the trophy this year than we did in 2014. Before I bring that argument to conclusion, let me open another chapter, one that is related to our national team, going forward. Some colleagues are quick to refer to this team as Super Eagles B. otherwise put, there is a superior team waiting somewhere ( ?). Where?

The entry of Oliseh has not been very smooth. Here is a coach who came in at a time that our national team was supposed to be on a high, after Nations Cup and World Cup expeditions, yet the reverse was the case, hence the experiments and trials that are yet to be perfected. Not forgetting that in the past, with due respect to the present squad, we also had quality players to choose from, from aboard. Today the reality, which we have to admit is that there are a lot more players in the domestic league who can more than hold their own against the foreign legion.

This had been manifested a couple of times prompting Coach Oliseh to make a good number of domestic league players a permanent fixture of the national team. Today the opportunity of having a broader and wider view of what is available back home is open to the coach, going forward. After a couple of days in South Africa, the reality is today, in a competition atmosphere quite different from a thousand training matches.

Another reason that invites some interest in this competition is the ranking by FIFA. With the World Cup lurking in the background, there is need for us to use this competition to gain some few steps up the ladder of world and African ranking. Should we win the competition, ( I heard we beat Cote D’Ivoire in a practice match) or get the silver, we will in a position to get a favourable pairing and draw when eventually we qualify for the World Cup.

Perhaps I am being unnecessarily too technical. Whatever the issue, what Nigerians are looking forward to is victory, a result of quality play that will inject confidence into our football especially in this all important year of World cup and Nations Cup qualifiers. Starting today, Nigerians will want to insist that the FIFA ranking is “not fair” and that as far as we are concerned, Nigeria is the best playing football country in Africa, one of the best in the world and the onus is on Oliseh’s to take us back to that 1994 era that we are still holding dear in our memories.

See you next week.