Mustapha Ibrahim: I learnt useful lessons at CHAN 2018
IV Enyimba FC striker, Mustapha Ibrahim ‘Yuga Yuga’ has said he learnt a lot of positive lessons with the CHAN Eagles at the 2018 Africa Cup of Nations Championship in Morocco. The Home-Based Eagles striker said he is going to use the experience acquired
HFirst and foremost I want to give thanks to almighty Allah for making it possible for me to be among the players who represented Nigeria at the Africa Nations Championship. It was not easy playing for Nigeria for the first time in my career but I think I did my best. It may not be as good as I wanted but I surely made my contributions in the matches I played.
I want to say that we did not go to the championship with any intention to come back early. Right from day one, we wanted to win. Although we did not win our first match against Rwanda, we knew we would play better in subsequent matches. And if you look at our performances, we played better after each match. So I didn’t think we were not going to qualify from the group stage.
To be honest with you all the matches were difficult. I cannot say this one or that one was easy. Right from the first match to the final match, we had to give everything in us to win. One may be tempted to say the matches against Sudan and Angola were the toughest but what of the matches we played at the group stage before reaching to that level?. You will agree with me that we had to win or do well in the others before we could get to the ones many Nigerians may feel were the toughest. So to be honest with you, all the matches were difficult.
What I can say is that we did our best but it was not good enough. Normally the final of any championship is competed by the two best teams and one must emerge the over-all winner. In this case, our opponents took the day. That is not to say we did not give them a fight. Things simply didn’t work out well for us on the night.
Well, it is not good to give excuses after defeat but I can say the weather also contributed. It was really cold in Morocco and the rain made things worse for us. Most of us are used to hot weather so when we were compelled by nature to face such freezing weather condition, it became even more difficult for us to play to our abilities. However, like I said, I do not want to give excuses. We lost and that is it. My only regret is that we shouldn’t have lost by 4-0. The result did not reflect the strength of our team.
I disagree totally. Our losing the final match has nothing to do with the red card that was given to Peter Eneji. I have seen teams win matches even when they are given two red cards. Moreover, Eneji meant well for the team. He was rushing back to defend and the incident occurred. Well, most people feel that the referee was too harsh in his decision but we have been made to accept the fact that referees decisions cannot be question. So I do not want to believe that we lost the finals because of the red card. It was not meant to be so even if we had played 11 against 11, maybe the result would still have been the same.
Yes, they gave us all the support we needed to win the championship. It was not just the NFF but the minister of sports and other football stakeholders in the country. They were in Morocco to support us.
In life there is nothing you will do that people won’t criticise you. There is always something to say about what one has done. However, I always encourage people to take criticisms in good faith. For us as a team, we refused to be discouraged by some of the negative comments we heard. We were focused on doing the job so we didn’t allow ourselves to be demoralised by anything. However, I want to plead with Nigerian football fans to be more supportive and constructive in their criticisms. Even when we are not doing very well, their support will always lift our spirits and we would do better.
Surely I did. I learnt a lot of new things that are going to impact positively on my professional career. And I am sure the other players too learnt and as we have returned to our clubs, we are going to be better players. Personally, I looked at what other strikers did and I tried to learn from some of them. I was particularly fascinated by the quality of Ayoub El Kaabi of Morocco. I was not surprised that he was picked as the best player of the tournament. Each time I watched him play, I wondered, if I would be able to play like him. So like I said I learnt a lot of positive things on and off the field.
It is true my dream was to score at the championship but it didn’t happen. However, I am not too disappointed because even as I didn’t score, I made my own contributions. I played to instructions and that was my own support to the team. Each time I was introduced, I tried to add speed to the attack. I hope that when next I am given a chance, I will do better.
I thank God for everything. I have returned to continue from where I stopped last season. Last year was my first season in Enyimba and I didn’t score many goals but this year, I hope to score more. I have set a target of 20 goals for my club. I believe by the grace of God, I will achieve my target.
Like I said earlier, I have returned from Morocco a better player. I learnt some new tricks that are going to aid me in goal scoring. I have become a better player so if given the chance to play, I will surely do my best.
I don’t have any fear about whether or not I will have enough playing time. Enyimba are star studded but the coach has made it clear to all of us that everybody will be given a chance to prove himself. There is no coach who will overlook a good player unless he is not after good results. In essence I am saying if I give him what he needs, he will surely give me the chance to play.
Our expectation is to do well in the competition so we would like to start well against Energie FC. Although we may be favourites, we won’t take anything for granted. For them to qualify for the next round, they must be a good side. So when the time comes, we shall do our best to qualify for the group stage.