Sunday Mba - Nigeria's Forgotten Hero

 
Sep 25, 2014 10:00:35

The Afcon superstar has fallen on hard times since those glorious days in 2013, here's where it all went wrong for the Super Eagles midfielder

DEBATE
By Solace Chukwu

When the ball ricocheted to him on the edge of the penalty box on the 10th of February, 2013, Sunday Mba had one thing on his mind: fashioning the shortest route to goal.

Three touches later, the ball nestled in the back of the net with Abdoulaye Soulama rooted to the spot. The FNB Stadium in Johannesburg erupted, having witnessed another decisive moment in a cup final. In terms of execution, this was the rival of Andres Iniesta’s winner in the World Cup final on the same ground some 30 months earlier.

Hoisted up in celebration, the then-Warri Wolves player let out a guttural scream. Joy, unbridled and a measure of relief too, stood out on Mba’s exultant face. He did not know it then, but that goal was the one to end two decades of hurt in Nigeria’s football. Also, unbeknownst to him, that was his apogee.

The 25-year-old made his debut just the year before that Nations Cup campaign, a legacy of the successful WAFU Cup team of 2010. He scored a brace in his second international, a friendly victory over Liberia, but surely could not have been the only one surprised to hear his name read out as part of the 23-man Afcon squad. Indeed, he was one of six Nigerian Premier League players called up to the Super Eagles.

This was not the norm.

Indeed, it was standard practice for team handlers to opt for foreign-based players upon qualification, having given locally-based players a run-out in the preliminaries. However, coach Stephen Keshi kept faith with the likes of Godfrey Oboabona, Reuben Gabriel, Mba and Ejike Uzoenyi.

Will it ever get this good again?

That faith would be repaid handsomely: Oboabona forged an impermeable partnership with Kenneth Omeruo at the heart of the defence, but it was the contribution of Mba that proved truly decisive.

Keshi is often prone to experimentation in the middle of major tournaments, often leading to strange selection choices (the same quirk that saw Babatunde Michael make a name for himself at the World Cup). It worked a treat for the pacy midfielder: his introduction in South Africa brought verticality to the Nigeria midfield, thanks to his direct running and dribbling with the ball. In a crowded midfield zone, up against physical man-markers, the ability to turn on the ball is priceless.

This quality was on show against perennial favourites Ivory Coast in the quarter-final, incidentally Mba’s second game of the tournament. Both teams cancelled each other out essentially, until he picked the ball up from deep and roared forward past a number of challenges, before scoring off a deflection with about 15 minutes left on the clock. It was a goal that encapsulated all that Mba is about: quick thinking, intrepidity and frightening acceleration.

That winner against Ivory Coast announced him, but it is for the goal against Burkina Faso that he will be remembered most fondly; a strike thoroughly out of place in a disappointing final. In a cagey, dour match, his goal was a bright streak of colour.

The epithet of the local deity of the Igbo clan Amadioha speaks of his propensity to take a man’s life at the height of its sweetness. In Mba’s finest hour, storm clouds had begun to gather. An ill-advised move to Enugu Rangers was declared null and void in March by the NFF due to an extant contract with Warri Wolves. The Flying Antelopes were directed to pay a full transfer fee, but were unable to come to a workable agreement with Wolves as negotiations dragged on and on.

In the interim, Mba’s career stalled with no competitive football. When eventually the matter was resolved, it was agreed he would spend the rest of the league season on loan with Rangers, before returning to Warri Wolves. Mba spoke of his relief at the resolution to BBC Sport, saying, “Both parties have agreed to a new decision and this is good for my football career. I wish to thank both clubs, everyone that stepped in and hope to take my career to the next level from here.”

Unsurprisingly, having been inactive for such a long period, Mba was unable to hit the ground running. However, that did not prevent a call-up to the Super Eagles for the FIFA Confederations Cup in June: Keshi is fiercely loyal to his players, and expects (and gets) the same back.

The hope was that a familiar set-up would evince the same game-changing ability that brought Mba to the limelight.

He thoroughly underwhelmed, and Keshi would later ruefully admit to Futaa.com, “I didn’t get Mba at the Confederations Cup.”

Has Mba's Bastia move killed his Super Eagles career?

However, it seemed the worst had passed, as the very next month, Mba was in sparkling form for the Super Eagles Championship of African Nations team as they spanked their Ivoirian counterparts 4-1 to seal qualification for the 2014 tournament in South Africa. He provided two goals and two assists, and appeared back to his best.

Having regained the trust of the national team handlers, he seemed poised to lead an impressive local-based selection to victory in South Africa. Then came yet another misjudgement: a January move to French second division side CA Bastia, thereby rendering him ineligible, on the eve of the Chan.

Keshi wished him well, but surely viewed this as an act of disloyalty. The Big Boss has a notoriously long memory, and this showed itself when preparations for the World Cup began. Mba’s visa problems kept him from hitting camp at the right time; he was ultimately dropped from the final 23, but it was telling that Keshi had begun to seek alternatives as early as the Mexico friendly in March.

He has not been called up since.

As the Super Eagles laboured to one point against Congo and South Africa in Afcon qualifying, the hero of Nigeria’s finest footballing hour of the past two decades was being shown a red card in a French National game against Chambly. In his absence, Les Noirs rallied to claw back a goal-deficit in stoppage time.

From being indispensable to the Super Eagles to being expendable in the French Third Division in 18 months is as steep a fall as is possible.

If ever Nigeria needed a hero, it is now.

In 2013, Mba answered the call to deliver glory. Like Disney’s Mr. Incredible, he may be in no shape to deliver once again, but God knows we need him now.