Last week the often touted view that Nigerians are a resilient lot was made unassailable in far away Morocco as the Super Falcons Football Team which participated in Women African Cup of Nations Tournament gave vent to that hypothesis when the team came from despair having gone down by two goals in the first half to win the coveted cup by trouncing the Moroccan team at home with three goals all scored in the second half. The match ended 3-2 in favour of Nigeria, making the country the African champions for the 10th time in the always pulsating tournament.
In 1989, the FIFA organized Under-20 Youth Football Tournament took place in Saudi Arabia. Nigeria having made it into a quarter final round locked horns with the USSR. During the game , Nigeria got a shellacking of what seemed an irrecoverable four goals deficit. It was a hopeless situation. Yours truly who was resident in Lagos watched the encounter in Kilo Hotel in Surulere. When the goals continued to come against the Nigerian side without letting, many of us dispersed one by one. But while on the road either waiting for a cab or trekking home , intermittent shouts of “a goal” kept renting the air . It didn’t mean much to many of us as it appeared as additions to the already embarrassing tally. But that was not it. The Nigerian team had risen to reckoning and was reducing the tally with each of that effort eliciting vociferous shouts of joy. The team cancelled all four goals , went into penalty and won the match. That incident rightly became what is referred to as the DAMMAN MIRACLE. It was a testament to our indomitable spirit- that rare courage and resilience to push the frontiers of our fate even in the face of daunting adversity.
When we were two goals down last week in Rabat , I remembered the Damman Miracle and began to nurse the hope of its replication. I have hardly had such emotional involvement in a football tournament since the experience of the Damman incident . But last week, I became involved without knowing until the loss stared us squarely in the face. Hope dimmed. Frustration set in and the loss was already haunting with two goals down.
But thanks to the resilient Nigerian spirit. It is the spirit that has continued to renew our hope and keep it alive. Nigeria came from the rear to win that match. The team seemed to be in despair and easily losing coordination, yet it never lost hope . The actions of the players could only be explained from the prism of their overwhelming love for the country. They played with hearts inhabited with patriotism and determination. Those virtues turned the table and brought victory from the verge of despair.
I congratulate the team and thank them for doing the country proud.
Joe Iniodu is a public affairs analyst
