By Lawrence Olaoye
President Goodluck Jonathan has blamed the abysmal performance of the Super Eagles to incessant internal squabbles among its handlers.
The President pointed this out while receiving the victorious Super Falcons, who recently won the African Women Championship recently at the Presidential Villa yesterday.
The team beat Cameroon 2-0 in the final played last Saturday to lift the trophy for a record seventh time in Windoek, Namibia.
Jonathan, who received the Falcons before the commencement of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting said they had made the nation proud by winning the African Women Championship.
While noting that Nigeria was known as a soccer country, the president acknowledged that the country’s female teams had been doing wonderfully well than their male counterparts.
“Nigeria is known to be a soccer country. The male teams have been doing very well too. But somehow, sometimes, because of certain internal crises, we tend to lag behind. But the female teams have been doing wonderfully well”, Jonathan said.
The president said the Falcons surpassed the expectation of Nigerians by winning the trophy, describing their achievement as very remarkable.
He stressed that notwithstanding the Falcons’ skills, they would not have won the trophy if they were not disciplined.
“We didn’t expect that you would win; but still, that you won for this country is remarkable. We thank you for your commitment because it requires discipline to achieve this height. No matter how good you are, even in the academics, you see brilliant boys and girls who ordinarily would have made first- class, but because of lack of discipline, they don’t make it.
“So, if there is no discipline, you cannot excel in anything. You have the skills, but you have also shown discipline that made you excel. We will continue to adorn you”, he said.
The president hinted that he would reward the victorious Falcons on November 5 at the State House where, he said, they would be formally received so that the nation could appreciate their achievement.
Minister of Sports, Taminu Danagogo, said the unequalled discipline, dedication and passion displayed by the players at the competition brought “good tidings” from Namibia
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