BY SUNDAY AKINTOYE/Accra, Ghana
It is no longer news that Nigeria’s Super Falconets were forced to surrender their defending champions title to Black Princess of Ghana on Thursday night following 2-1 loss to host in the female football final of the African Games.
Before the epic final, the Ghanaian journalists and fans were optimistic and confident that their girls would triumph over Falconets which came to pass.
Of course, the much anticipated soaked match was played at the Cape Coast Sports Stadium and surprisingly the venue was filled to capacity before the kickoff.
Aside from the Ghana Supporters Football Club, the Ghanaian football fans came to the stadium not to watch the match but to give their teams full support. Each time a Ghanaian player touches the ball on the field of play, the applause comes from the fans as part of their support to the player.
One should commend the tenacity and doggedness of the University of Cape Coast. They were asked to come to the stadium and they came in large numbers. The students took over a particular stand close to the media gallery.
The 16,000-capacity stadium was overfilled to the extent that many fans remained standing throughout the encounter.
Despite the support of Ghanaians to their team, Nigeria U-20 controlled the first half, enjoyed possession and got the goal to silence the Ghanaian fans who had kept making noise since the beginning of the encounter.
The Ghanaian fans were neither tired nor gave up when Falconets took the lead. Their unalloyed support and spirit of patriotism displayed really propelled their team to keep pressure on Falconets in the early second half.
Their equaliser through Tracy Twum in the 75th minute sent the entire stadium into a frenzy as Ghanaian fans increased their undying support for the country.
Our girls gave their best and fought tooth and nail but their efforts were thwarted as Ghanaian girls stood their ground to stop Falconets from goal-scoring.
The encounter ended in one goal apiece at the regulation time and the match continued in extra time. Our girls were under pressure and began to lose focus as Ghanaian girls intensified their efforts to win the match.
Towards the first half of extra time, Mukarama Abdulai scored the winning goal at close range to give Ghanian fans something to cheer.
The lesson has been learnt that Nigerian football fans should always support their national teams and they should not leave the support alone in the hands of the Nigeria Supporters Club. Anytime our national teams are in international assignments, the people in charge should support the Nigeria Supporters Club to make the trip if it is outside the country.
Secondly, our football fans should try as much as possible to imbibe a spirit of patriotism and they should not condemn the team or players while on duty.
It is time for our football fans to adopt more indigenous victory songs that everybody would know to keep our players going especially when we are at home. Ghanaians showed it against Falconets and their reward was paid off at the end of the day.
