Nigerians uncomfortable with Eagles white jerseys

Posted by admin Headlines, Soccer, Sports Saturday, January 5th, 2013

Nigeria fans are up in arms after it was revealed the Eagles will battle champions Zambia at the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) in “unlucky” all-white kits.

According to a schedule sent to the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) from the Confederation of Africa Football (CAF), the Eagles will wear all-white in their last two games against Zambia on January 25 and Ethiopia four days later.

Nigeria will only wear their more familiar and preferred all-green in their opening Group C match on January 21 against Burkina Faso in Nelspruit.

The Eagles have lost two Nations Cup finals to Cameroon while sporting all-white strips, in 1988 and 2000.

The 2000 final loss was most disappointing as an Austin Okocha-inspired Eagles fought back from two goals down to draw level in front of their home fans in Lagos and so drag the championship game into a penalty shootout.

However, luck deserted the Eagles in the shootout when Victor Ikpeba’s penalty was struck off even though television replays later showed the ball had fully crossed the goal line.
“The white jersey brings bad luck to Nigeria,” Lagos student Taofeek Akinbola told MTNFootball.com.

“I hope this is not another ploy by CAF to stop Nigeria from winning the Nations Cup.”

“White jersey has often denied Nigeria victories and if we can help it, we should always wear our green kits,” added Alhassan Abdullahi, a resident of Nigeria’s capital city Abuja.

“We have won more important matches with our green jerseys than with the white ones.”

The January 25 clash between Nigeria and Zambia has already generated a lot of interest as it has attracted the most ticket sales for the group stage of the AFCON.

Zambia are also talking tough and seeking revenge after the Eagles eliminated them in the quarterfinals of the 2010 AFCON in Angola and also beat them 2-0 in a friendly prior to the 2012 Nations Cup.

Coach Herve Renard has maintained his team outplayed the star-studded Eagles in Angola, but Nigeria were “lucky” to still go through to the semi-finals.

The Eagles sported all-green jerseys for that game, while Zambia were in all-white. The colours will now be reversed in Nelspruit.
-Tribune

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