The competition which had, Enyimba FC, Kano Pillars, Dolphins and Warri Wolves, Nigeria’s representatives in this year’s continental clubs championships and the two national age grade teams, the Flying Eagles and the second team of the Under 23 team gave football fans slices of what to expect of them when their tournaments would start.
The Coach Manu Garba tutored Flying Eagles exhibited high level of physical and mental alertness to emerge over all winners of the championship.
The flair and infectious team spirit displayed by the players with captain Musa Mohammed showing quality energy, made many of the fans to rate the Flying Eagles as the future of Nigerian football.
Despite the team’s exploits in the championship, some football analysts still believe much needs to be done for the junior national team to attain formidable status.
Former Flying Eagles coach John Obuh said winning the championship is not enough to say the team is set for the African Youth championship as he said the club sides in the competition apart from Kano Pillars did not prepare well because of some prevailing issues.
Obuh is of the belief that the team needs stronger tests to scrutinize the camping exercise being carried out in Kaduna.
“For me the Flying Eagles is a good team, no doubt about that but my worry is that the teams they played in the tournament apart from Kano Pillars did not prepare well for it. They should not use this tournament as a measure to assess their readiness for the continental show case.
“Well for the teams representing the country in the continent, it was a very good ground for them to shape up for the competitions because the local league will not be starting before the kick-off of the CAF competitions. So I think it has really helped them to try out their new legs and with more friendly games they can do well in the competitions”.
In the same vein, former Flying Eagles and Abia Warriors technical adviser, Coach Ladan Bosso also applauded the LMC for the foresight in organizing the competition which to him has become a training ground for the clubs to put their teams in the best form for the task ahead.
“I will tell you that it was this same competition that helped Bayelsa United last year in the continental competition. I believe the clubs here will be able to make the best use of the competition by trying out all their players instead of just fielding their old players with the quest to winning the trophy that should be secondary in their thinking,” Bosso added.
Enyimba technical adviser, Kadiri Ikhana on his part, said though the tournament stressed the players and officials to the limit, it has gone a long in helping the building process for the team’s CAF Champions League campaign.
“We used one stone to kill three birds with the competition. Though I am happy it has afforded me and my crew members the opportunity to assess our players, it brought so much stress on us.
“We don’t have apple time to blend the boys with a normal training programme. We train, play a game, train and play a game. So you can see what I mean. For us in Enyimba, we are making the best use of what the programme offered us.
“We would not relent in our quest to get a better performance in the continental campaign. We shall build on what we have gotten from the Super 4 tournament,” Ikhana said.
Warri Wolves coach, Sam Okpodu who described their encounter with the Flying Eagles as their best in the tournament dismissed any suggestion that they are troubled by the defeats.
“In terms of ball possession, the team has improved and we intend to keep improving. We have not been outplayed in all the games and the goals that we conceded are not the type that should give us cause to worry.
“We will work to make our ball possession count and that is one of the positives we have extracted from the tournament. We dominated play against the Flying Eagles which was a marked improvement on the two games we had played. Even as the outcome in all the games did not make us happy, we shall work on the finishing of the strikers,” Okpodu submitted.
The former Super Falcons coach also echoed sentiments expressed by other coaches that the tournament was a laboratory to try out players and formations preparatory to the continental Club Championships.
“At Warri Wolves, we have been trying out new players and we are looking at how to get them playing as a unit. Scoring looks like a problem now but we will work on the scoring abilities of the team. Our playing the national teams is good for us because they have given us a good challenge. Remember they have been playing as a unit and are the best players selected from different clubs.”
Dolphins FC gaffer Stanley Eguma admitted that his team failed to impress due to the exit of some of his best players last season.
Eguma revealed that the exit of one of his top talents, Emem Eduok among others were major reasons for Dolphins struggle for form. He assured that the team will step up preparations before their continental campaign would kick start.
“I’m not excessively worried by our performances. We used the tournament as a test-run and we were not at full strength”.
In all, the Super 4 tournament has re-affirmed the exemplary talents of players like Taiwo Awoniyi, Musa Mohammmed, Musa Yahaya and goalkeeper Olurunleke Ojo of the Flying Eagles.
Odah Okemute, Ikechukwu Igbenebu, Osagie Nwandu, Osadaiye Joseph were the brightest stars in the Warri Wolves line up while Chinedu Udoji, Abalogu Andrew and Chinoson Okonkwo stood out in the colours of Enyimba.
For Kano Pillars their new signings, Christian Obiozor, Godspower Aniefok and some of the oldies like Theophilus Afelokhai, Loute Isaac, Eneji Otekpa, Rabiu Ali, Gambo Mohammed, Adamu Hassan, Ezekiel Mba and Abdulazeez Shohowale distinguished themselves.
Speaking on the championship, Malam Salihu Abubakar, the Chief Operating Officer of the LMC, said his greatest happiness is that the clubs had the platform to try out their players before the kick-off of the continental competitions.
Flying Eagles with 13 points won the trophy at stake with Taiwo Awoniyi emerging the Most Valuable Player of the tournament. Kano Pillars’ Christian Obiozor emerged the highest goal scorer with four goals.
The Under -23 national team came second with nine points, Pillars and Enyimba with Seven points each came third and fourth just as Warri Wolves and Dolphins completed the rating in fifth and sixth positions respectively.