Hi there once again.
From the last diary, I told you about the cold — the kind that reminds you of childhood mornings when water felt like ice and sweaters were your best friends. While we’ve been shivering off the pitch, the Super Eagles under Eric Chelle have been on fire, winning all three group games and ”legworking” into the knockout rounds with class. Eagles are soaring.
By finishing top of Group C, the team will retain their place in Fes for the round of 16 tie before moving out to Marrakech should they beat Mozambique for a potential quarter-final clash with either Algeria or DR Congo. The football map is clear — but our housing map? That one is chaos.
Journalists covering a tournament usually have accommodation plans for the group stage matches. Only the outcome from there will determine the next location. Just like at CHAN and the last AFCON in Cote d’Ivoire, we had to move apartments. The previous place was small and a bit cozy. We had an air conditioner and a heater to battle the cold weather inside.
We even managed to squeeze in a visit to the Super Eagles media parley/training on New Year’s Eve, and there’s a trending video of goalkeeper Stanley Nwabali on our TL; you can check it out.
Back to the gist, to our greatest surprise, the new apartment, despite all the ”packaging”, most of the basic amenities were missing, as against what was listed online when the booking was made by my CFW. It was like ordering jollof rice and being served plain boiled rice.
No AC, no heater or heating system, and the small device they later brought was just doing cardio — it couldn’t even touch the cold in the room. Not going to lie, this new apartment looked spacious and more comfortable than the previous one, but important elements to make it ”Nigeria” were nowhere to be found.
I have been fully kitted from the moment we stepped into the house till now, and I don’t think I am changing that anytime soon. We are still battling with the apartment owner for some changes, and hopefully, we will win in the end.
Happy New Year, and stay with us as we try to win both on the pitch and against this stubborn Moroccan winter.
