Our headline this week is a conditional assertion – one which depends upon one thing that occurs earlier than it and is sure to trigger one thing else after it. Basically, it infers a case of trigger and impact.
So, the plain query ought to be: ‘What is going to occur if Algeria defeat the Tremendous Eagles of their Africa Cup of Nations quarter-finals conflict on Saturday?’ The only reply is: Nigerian soccer followers will likely be unhappy as soon as once more.
That might be in distinction with the roars of enjoyment, upbeat chants and excessive stage of euphoria which have been rolling throughout the nation since December twenty third, 2025 – when the Tremendous Eagles ambled to a 2-1 victory over Tanzania of their first match of the continued AFCON.
After that, the crew appeared to enhance with each sport, as they survived a close to implosion to beat Tunisia 3-2 of their subsequent fixture, then silenced Uganda 3-1, and simply this previous Monday they hit Mozambique 4-0.
Satirically, although, the Eagles’ greatest outcome to this point at AFCON 2025 turned out to be probably the most worrisome of all. Not as a consequence of technical or tactical points, however on account of perspective and attrition.
An on-field altercation between our primary hitman, Victor Osimhen, and the crew’s finest star of the competitors to this point, Ademola Lookman, turned our evening of enjoyment right into a flight full of fright.
Whereas we should always have been celebrating all via the evening into early hours of the subsequent day, trepidation and fear held sway. Speak about dancing turning into mourning!
The difficulty appeared to escalate the subsequent day, with a myriad of reviews inferring that Osimhen threw away his accreditation card and threatened to depart the crew altogether.
Sadly, for the problem to have reached that stage, the path might go away solely sordid implications and foretell ugly repercussions – destructive trigger and antagonistic impact.
Lookman performed his half effectively by brazenly dousing the flames instantly on the post-match press convention, Eric Chelle took an officious stand by waving it apart as an inside matter that may be settled inside and crew coordinator, Dayo Enebi Achor later disclosed on Tuesday night that the matter had been sorted in a ‘brotherly’ means.
Nonetheless, for me, the injury had already been accomplished. That Osimhen even took the tact of brazenly confronting somebody all of us thought was his finest pal within the crew alerts too many destructive issues in regards to the Galatasaray striker and the Eagles as an entire:
1. He’s over bold and determined to interrupt Rashidi Yekini’s document.
2. He’s proud and pompous, pondering the crew can’t win with out him.
3. His teammates are envious of his strides and wish to reduce his wings.
4. The gamers aren’t as united and close-knit as they need us to consider.
Sadly, even when Osimhen got here out together with his facet of the story, he by no means gave an apology. His feedback solely served to buttress two ominous undercurrents within the Eagles: He sees himself as Lord of the crew, and he’s determined to be the highest scorer at AFCON 2025. He additionally appears to suspect Lookman and others of attempting to sabotage his aspirations.
We will attain that conclusion after Osimhen pointedly declared: ‘The entire weight is on me. If we fail to win, Nigerians will assault us … particularly me.’ Such poignant phrases can solely come from a haughty thoughts!
The underside line of all that is that the Tremendous Eagles aren’t a united crew! Sadly, this stark revelation comes only a few days earlier than they tango considered one of our everlasting rivals in a vital quarter-final fixture.
The Bible reminds us that ‘a home divided towards itself can’t stand’ and ‘united we stand divided we fall.’
So, ‘if the Tremendous Eagles lose to Algeria on Saturday’ we all know who guilty …
It merely needs to be Victor Osimhen – for exhibiting misgivings together with his teammates in public and permitting the spirit of discord reign throughout the Nigerian camp. Everyone knows that the one aftermath of discord is misery…
