FLYING Eagles coach, John Obuh, was one of the happiest persons on earth on Sunday after he led Nigeria to its sixth African Youth Championship (AYC) win in Dobsonville, Soweto, South Africa.His happiness, according to the coach, stemmed from the fact that he was able to exorcise the ghost of Nigeria 2009 FIFA U-17 World Cup title miss, when his Golden Eaglets failed to win the world title in Abuja.Obuhs job of picking Nigerias sixth title with his ward was made more difficult because the players were up against the Junior Lions of Cameroun, a team they lost to in the group stage of the tournament and also at the last three editions of the competition.The Junior Lions went into the final with the bragging right and that got the Nigerian coach wondering whether he could pick up his first title as a national team handler. When asked (after the semi-final win over Mali) whether what happened in Abuja two years ago would not repeat in South Africa, Obuh replied that it was two years down the road, but he was sure that his players would pick the title.Yet, many Nigerians were still not convinced of the Flying Eagles ability to win the trophy because of the edge Cameroun had over Nigeria at the U-20 level. Nevertheless, Obuh would have none of such feelings.In the final game, when his dream seemed nearing fruition - as his boys raced to a two-goal lead in the second half with goals from Olarenwaju Kayode and Uche Nwofor - there was a feeling of de ja vu in the reaction of the Junior Lions, who then roared back, levelled scores and took the game to extra time. But then, Nigeria had the last laugh as substitute Terry Envoh scored the winning goal in the first minute of extra time.Speaking after the game, a relieved Obuh said the victory meant a lot to him, as failure would have given him the tag of silver winning coach. He said: When a journalist asked me about the fact that I was in another final after losing the last one, I was sad and thought I would be tagged a silver-winning coach if I failed against Cameroun.So, I told God that this was a very big challenge and that I would want him to intervene so that we would win. I have always put him first and have always said that I am God-sent as far as Nigerian coaching is concerned. So I felt if I didnt win the gold in South Africa, the question would continue to reoccur.On the trick that gingered his boys to go at the Camerounians without let, Obuh said: What I did was to tell the players the importance of the game and I am happy that we came out tops despite the setback in the game. We got a red card, our players had injury troubles but they held on till the end.Obuh also revealed that the absence of Markson Ojobo, Gomo Onduku and Ahmed Musa nearly robbed his team of victory, stating: I must admit that the absence of those players showed. We had injury troubles and there was no player to bring on than the ones that we had no plan to use. But the hand of God was upon them and we came out with victory.Giving an insight into what went on his mind when Cameroun equalised, he stated: I never doubted that we were going to win the game. I was confident we would win but the problem was how to transfer it to the players.And when I discovered that they were jittery after conceding a goal, I decided to bring in fresh players who would carry out my instructions better than the ones on the field and that was what brought the victory.
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