Cameroon’s Ayc Dominance is Over – Okoro

Leadership (Abuja)

Isah

3 May 2011

Flying Eagles’ forward, Stanley Okoro believes the domination of Cameroon over Nigeria has ended with the team’s victory at the final of the 17th Orange Africa Youth Championship in South Africa.

Nigeria lost to Cameroon 1-0 in the second group B match but laughed last on Sunday beating the Central African foes 3-2 in a pulsating final to take their AYC record haul to six.

Okoro, who was a second half substitute in the epic grand finale told SuperSport.com that the AYC victory on Sunday has signalled the end of Cameroon superiority over Nigeria in that category. “Yes, the domination has ended, we have stopped it. Before we played the match they were taunting us, but we thank God it has ended, we have stopped it and it is permanent.”

The former Under-17 player, who disclosed that his colleagues were rattled and downcast when the Cameroonians levelled up during the final duel, however, informed that their coach’s early admonition saw them pushed through to the end. “When it was 2-0 I just came in and in a few minutes they scored their two goals, I must tell you it was really crazy inside the field, but thank God we scored earlier and ended the game 3-2, it was a miracle.

“When we lost to them in the preliminary our coach told us he is praying for us to meet Cameroon in the final and so we told ourselves that if we meet them we will do our best because we discovered that we did not put in our best in the first game.”

On what to expect from the six-time Africa champions at the World Cup, Okoro said they will strive to win the tournament’s top prize. “We want Nigerians to continue to pray for us, going to Columbia is not easy but by God’s power we are going to bring the cup to Nigeria,” he said.

AllAfrica – All the Time