Nigeria’s
Super Eagles arrived back home here on Tuesday, after winning the country’s
first Africa Cup of Nations trophy in nearly two decades and were welcomed by
adoring crowds ahead of meeting the president.
Hundreds
welcomed the team back at the airport in the capital of Abuja before an
ceremony later in the afternoon at the National Stadium.
They
were also due to attend a reception on Tuesday, to be hosted by President
Goodluck Jonathan.
Along
the road from the airport toward the city, school children dressed in their
uniforms waited for the team convoy and waved Nigerian flags.
The
Nations Cup victory in South Africa has thrilled Nigeria, Africa’s most
populous nation but where the team has in recent years failed to play up to its
potential.
A
1-0 win over Burkina Faso, thanks to a winner from Sunday Mba, gave the
football mad nation its first African championship since 1994.
Celebrations
however were initially tainted by the announcement that coach Stephen Keshi was
resigning before the Nigerian Football Federation released a statement said to
be signed by Keshi, that he was changing his mind after the sports minister
intervened.
Keshi
is one of only two men to win the African Cup of Nations as both a player and a
coach.
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