As I was growing up, my father and our neighbours would gather round a radio whenever Green Eagles were playing to listen to commentaries. Up till now my father refers to Super Eagles as Green Eagles. They would be acting as if they were the one playing the ball; all their bodies would be moving as the commentator was shouting the players' movements.

They would be jumping, dancing and hugging each other after the commentator had finished shouting Rashidi Yekini, Rashidi Yekini, Rashidi Yekini is a gooooaaaaal. But their moods would suddenly change as if something bad had happened when the commentator would end his shouting of Rashidi Yekini with ooooh nooo!

Rashidi Yekini was my idol. Those of us in my generation — who knew how to kick a pack of nylon folded together to make a ball — wanted to be Rashidi Yekini. I am still waiting for the time when Nigeria will produce another prolific goal scorer like him. I can't forget that scissors kick he made in France 98. I loved him. May his soul rest in peace.

When I was in primary 3, my father bought me a Wembly 5 football. I would take it to school to play with my friends. On this particular day, during the break time as we were playing, we kicked the ball into a class. The wicked mistress in that class seized it. We begged her to release it but she refused to hear our pleads. That was my first sad day in football world. I cried and couldn't eat when I got home. My father promised to buy another one for me. Whenever he was around he would take me to Ogbomoso Township Stadium to watch football. He loves football. According to him, his parents stopped him from playing football when he lost the front set of his teeth. I believe I inherited the passion for football from him.

I heard a lot about Tunisia 94, USA 94 and Atlanta 96. The stories made me fell in love with national teams and I said I will always support them. By doing this I was not only a patriot but also got myself involved in what I loved most.

Everything changed in year 2000 when Nigeria and Ghana co-hosted the Nations Cup. I followed the team from the first match to the final. I loved the passion, the spirit and the fight they gave Senegal to beat them 2 - 1 and also not to forget how we levelled Cameroon when we were trailing them 2 - 0. I was out of this world when Okocha scored that second goal. But at the end of the day, Cameroon stole it from us. I was devastated. I cried. I was in bad mood for almost a week. I got sick of everything. But thank God, committing suicide didn't cross my mind.

I still love football, I still love Super Eagles and other national teams. I am always happy when we win but I don't care when we loss. I really want to go back to that period when I would cry and starve myself, only if Super Eagles return home with gold medal from South Africa.


http://www.sportinferno.com/blog/34/what-super-eagles-can-do-to-win-my-heart-back/

Guy I'm not tryin to sound pessimistic here but your condition that super eagles should win the tournament to earn your love back is akin to seein a river in the desert. Not impossible but very very hard. Lets hope for the best

I think the fan is simply praying the glorious days come back. Back in the days Nigerian Super Eagles were a fearsome team who could dismantle any great team like Brazil but now, here are the Eagles finding it so hard to beat Burkina Faso.