The African Cup Of Nations (AFCON) 2023 came to an end on Sunday February 11th, 2024 with the host, Ivory Coast winning the cup after defeating the Super Eagles of Nigeria with a 2-1 scoreline.
Nigeria were favoured to win the cup after getting an early lead but the situation turned around when the host country equalized and added another goal towards the end of the final game.
Although this isn’t totally a loss for the Super Eagles; it’s been a while since the team got to that stage of AFCON tournaments but it is obvious they lost the match by chance, inability to coordinate themselves and tactical failure.
These mentioned factors were some of the things Nigerian prophet, Primate Elijah Ayodele warned the NFF, Super Eagles team against before the tournament even started.
Primate Ayodele has been very active and concerned about Super Eagles chances at the AFCON 2023 tournament and due to this; he supported them with prayers, prophetic advice, directions needed to excel in the tournament.
It would be recalled that in February 2023 during his birthday ceremony that the NFF president, Ibrahim Gusau attended, Primate Ayodele told him in the presence of thousands that Super Eagles will go to the AFCON competition to perform excellently well. This was almost one year before the competition even began.
Before the tournament began, Primate Ayodele was also the only person that warned the coach against fielding Uzoho as the main keeper for the team because they will crash out. Due to his love and support for the team, he advised the coach not to make use of Uzoho in order to avoid disappointment. We can all bear witness that the choice of Nwabali as the first keeper contributed to how far the team went.
Later, he gave them further advice and continued to mention that the team will get to the final. He made it known that if the team does early preparation and all that is needed, they will get to the final. He then said they can also lift up the cup if they still do all that is needful which includes showing serious seriousness instead of complacency in their matches.
“If Nigeria does early preparation, they listen and do all that is needful, they will get to the final and if they do all that is needful, they can lift up the cup……Nigeria has all it takes to win irrespective of anyone they play with but if they are not serious, they will fail.’’
Also in October 2023, while he was talking about the teams that would qualify from their respective groups, Primate Ayodele made it known that Nigeria will go far but they will lose the cup by chance. He described the chance as a very slim and unfortunate one. He reiterated that Nigeria has all it takes to win the cup but he’s scared they will not be able to coordinate themselves in order to lift it therefore; they will miss it by chance.
“Nigeria is supposed to qualify with Ivory Coast from group A and if they listen, Nigeria can go far but the team will lose it by chance. A slim chance will slip off the cup from them so it’s quite unfortunate. I see this as a cheap cup. This tournament is for Nigeria but will they be able to coordinate and do what is needful? That’s the question I couldn’t answer.’’
Just as Primate Ayodele prophesied months before the tournament, Super Eagles reached the final and missed the cup by chance due to their complacency and tactical failures. The tournament was indeed for Nigeria as Primate Ayodele but did they do the needful? Definitely NO.
