Writing on our football and in particular the national team, the Super Eagles, at this point would have been unnecessary, given that the same topic has been handled twice on this space in January, before and after our ouster from the African nations football tournament that took place in Cameroon. Super Eagles no doubt played very well in competition that made us close our eyes to some flaws.
Another discourse became very imperative, especially against the background that the last qualification match for the World Cup that begins in Qatar in November is ahead by few weeks. Between 25th and 29th of March, our Super Eagles will engage the Black Stars of Ghana and the winner of the two-leg encounter would be one of the five to represent Africa at the World Cup.
So this discourse is very crucial to highlight what the citizens are expecting from those managing our football, the coaches and of course, the players on whose shoulders rest the task of giving us the much needed ticket to another World Cup. No one should forget too that we expect developments from this match to become a foundation for better organization of our football back home,especially in the challenge of raising a formidable national team to be feared even on mere mention. The Nigeria Football Federation did very well by giving the responsibility of managing the Super Eagles to two grade “A” local coaches. The gesture meets the desire of some of us to see our local experts begin to take responsibility, doing things and learning from them.
Our coaches no doubt are good, we saw that with Eagles under coach Austin Eguavoen in AFCON in Cameroon, despite taking on the assignment few days to the championship. His team played far better than what we got from the white handler, Gernot Rohr. We already observed that the team’s failure had much to do with the usual challenge of local coaches, lack of creativity or inability to generate new ideas when things become a bit complex. Tunisians came into our encounter with them fully armed with detailed information about our players, their playing styles, team techniques and tactics and they knew all they had to do was to frustrate our team, sit back, soak pressure, cut off ball supplies to our wingers, move fast when they have the ball and make attempts at goal from any distance. It worked.
One of such attempts from near the centre circle beat our goalkeeper flat, revealing the point many of us have made that the sector is still very suspect. Going forward, that is, starting with the World Cup qualifier, the goalkeeping department should require special attention. We saw at AFCON how goalkeepers made a difference. Egypt and eventual winners Senegal are good examples. From the water bottle forgotten by Gadaski, the Egyptian goalkeeper after the final match with Senegal, it is clear teams that win take quality time to collectively study opponents up to their last match and to build their game plans in light of what they pick.
Egypt, from inscriptions pasted round the water bottle had planned for scoreless game, hoping to triumph in the penalties. To an extent they succeeded. Remember they took the game through full time, then extra time only to have mother luck desert them during the decisive penalty session. It is very important the Super Eagles and other teams have match readers and provisions be made to have the players sit and watch how their opponents played their recent games, observe how their star players move and change positions, note their strengths and weaknesses.
Tactical ineptitude on our side must go. It was manifest at AFCON; in our last match with Central African Republic, the local coach boasted he knew the Nigerian team well enough and so was ready to give us a surprise and he did. Before our team began to score they appeared vulnerable as the opponents knowing we solidified the midfield opted to use long high balls, those aeriel balls caused us many troubles as our defense were often caught napping. Tunisia borrowed from it. As the matches went on it was apparent the Nigerian bench was either not aware of the tactics switch or never felt it warranted any reaction. Good managers will speak to their defence line asking them not to push too forward and any knowledgeable spectator will observe something has changed as the game processes.
Now an assessment of our team. Under Rohr, the team had no mentality, there was no winning attitude, if they had it at all, it wasn’t in right level. At AFCON there were manifest signs Coach Eguavoen tried to build that in but it is yet to be internalized. That explains why the team played with so much gusto in their first two matches, then from the third game returned to their old pattern of slow build up and wasting so much time holding ball possessions in own half. Territorial contention is part of winning attitude, it is out of order to keep possessions in your area always and expect to overrun a solid opposition. Hallmark of teams that want to win is “do or die” spirit exhibited from the blast of the whistle and carried through the game. The eagerness to win is so thick on faces of the players and there is this touch of urgency to get it done quickly.
Our transition from goalkeeper to defense to midfield and attack is not quick. Our pattern gives opponents enough time to recover. Recently, the Nigeria Football Federation Chairman, Amadu Pinnick took Eagles coaches to Europe to talk to many of our players plying their trade abroad. Let it not be like Rohr, where the man placed more emphasis on quality of players well above team tactics. Our ouster from AFCON should tell us it is not essentially about names but team cohesion, techniques and tactics and game management. Burkina Faso without many star players from outside the continent gave a good account of herself except for terrible game management deficiency the team would have done better than they it.
Our next Super Eagles team under the new handlers should be a high intensity team. Teams when they hear they are up against our team should fear. While it is important to have strikers that can play direct game, taking on defenders and getting past them to score or get vital fouls, we must have a system that gets them vital passes. Most teams will expect us to play wing games, we can vary our style by having same wingers play from the inside and get into the wings when they are not expected to be there. We waste our spot kicks, we are yet to identify players that can make a goal out of them, same for our corner kicks where we have become very predictable.
Joe Aribo is superb in the midfield, but we still need two more very skilful players. Iwobi would need to be worked on; hopefully, the addition of Ademola Lookman and Ebere Eze will bring changes to our midfield play. Our players towards goal are selfish, the coaches must cure that. Finally, Eguavoen and Amunike have a task to make our boys play clean. Going for legs especially in our vital areas and pulling opponents down or still pushing during corner kicks doesn’t make sense. Nigeria vs Ghana match will be won by the team that is most hungry, one that will initiate chances, take them, manage the game very well and commit less fouls. We hope it is our Super Eagles in the end.