Balanced diet helped Eagles win 2013 AFCON – Okpala

Former Super Eagles assistant coach, Sylvanus Okpala, says players’ nutrition and selection played a key role in Nigeria’s third Africa Cup Of Nations triumph seven years ago in South Africa.

The Eagles endured a 19-year wait before lifting the AFCON trophy in 2013, defeating hard-fighting Burkina Faso 1-0, courtesy of Sunday Mba’s strike, in the final at the packed FNB Stadium in Johannesburg.

Okpala, an assistant to late coach Stephen Keshi at the tournament, told The PUNCH that faith, dedication and self-belief also helped them on their path to glory.

“When I was with the Super Eagles, I and Keshi adopted a style of training schedule that was all-inclusive and in no time, we developed the team into a winning side,” Okpala said.

“One of the most important areas we also looked at was the diet of the players. You cannot compare the diet of the home-based (players) to what the overseas based players eat. We worked on that and it paid off.”

The former Enugu Rangers midfielder added that Keshi and the rest of the coaching crew came up with strategic plans on scouting for players, including the home-based stars.

“In fact, at some point, we experimented with many players. There was a player who was in the team but I told Keshi that we needed someone better than him and I will say this, Keshi listens to advice. He even allowed us to have some level of autonomy in the team.

“We both looked into the matter carefully and we came to the conclusion that we would keep searching until we found a suitable player for positions we noticed lapses.

“Don’t forget this; what we wanted was to get the best from the overseas-based and local players. That was one of our approaches to the team’s development.”