As members of Island All Stars Sports Club (IASC) take stock of the final day shocks and thrills of this year’s Achievers Cup, a startling verdict has emerged about factors that marked different fortunes for two of the most promising teams, Team T.Gold and Team Prossy in the leisure competition.
Sports247.ng reports that all odds appeared staked in favour of Team Prossy from the onset of the competition that was organised by IASC and sponsored by Providus Bank, but it was the squad they beat 3-0 on the opening day, Team T.Gold, that eventually emerged champions on Saturday.
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Possible reasons behind this sudden transformation of fortunes for both teams have now been forwarded by IASC’s director of sports, Ike Okorafor, who told sports247.ng that it was simply a case of varying mindsets of players in the two squads.
Okorafor, who served as chairman of the Sports Management Committee (SMC), recalled the flak he faced after all the squads were announced and admitted that Team T.Gold pulled off a huge recovery to win the title.
“That’s the biggest comeback that I have ever seen,” said the smooth talking events promotion guru, who recently organised a show in Dubai.
“Initially, when we seeded players to each team, some of the less prominent ones were already giving up from the first day.
“They felt nobody could beat Team Prossy, because almost everyone thought they had the best players; but we said that was not so.
“We told them we had looked at all the teams very well before we did the seeding of players, and that we distributed them evenly to all the squads.
“From the onset, everyone focused on Prossy, to win the tournament, but it got into their head when they won their first three matches.
“They thought they had already won the tournament, but that’s something you don’t do in soccer.
“You must not even be overconfident in normal life … thinking you have already beaten your opponent before you face them.”
Okorafor also recalled how Team T.Gold took their opening day defeat with humility and stayed calm, which he believes was the tonic that helped them bounce back from their early setback.
He theorised, “On the first day, I remember that the sponsor of Team T.Gold did not give up when they lost their opening match.
“He told me to forget whatever anyone was saying and assured me that he was 100% sure that we did the best seeding.
“He noted that all the teams had equal strength and predicted that his side would recover from that first day defeat.
“He said all they had to do was strategise on how they would come back and focus on winning the tournament.
“That has now come to pass. It was all about resilience, focus and humility.”
Okorafor then pointed at lessons learnt from the saga, as he noted that Team Prossy took an approach that was in stark contrast with that of Team T.Gold and the side everyone thought would be champions eventually fell flat.
The SMC boss continued, “Unlike T.Gold, others lost focus in the middle of the way, and they could not win their last match.
“They lost a game that they shouldn’t lose, and that’s a big lesson about life.
“For me, I feel very, very happy that all the insinuations from some quarters were proved wrong.
“The majority of our members were happy with us, except a few that lost their first two matches.
“They continued saying a lot of things and complained that the teams did not have equal strength. But, today, we are vindicated.
“The team that looked like a write-off won their last match, while a team no one suspected could do anything also won their match the previous week.
“T.Gold then won the championship, while Team Prossy that our members initially felt had all the pros and first class players was nowhere.”
Okorafor concluded by revealing his personal emotions about the eventual outcome of the contest and confessed that his biggest joy was in how all decisions taken by the SMC turned out to be flawless.
“Some people accused us of manipulating the tournament. But, today, we are vindicated that it was not so.
“The teams that thought they had superstars and that they did not need to work hard failed woefully.
“The lesson, therefore, is that you should always keep your eyes on the ball and do what you need to do in the right way.
“I am happy that this came to pass and that the team they thought would win this competition did not win it.
“It’s a vindication that we did a very good job,” stressed Okorafor, whose next focus is an event he plans to organise in Morocco.
