Last weekend the Super Eagles got back their African Cup of Nations (Afcon) qualification campaign back on track as they defeated Seychelles 3-0 in an easy victory at the Linnite stadium in Seychelles.
It will be recalled that Nigeria began their qualification for the Nations Cup to be held next year in Cameroon on a disastrous note as they lost to South Africa in Uyo 0-2.
As a result, this victory over Seychelles is a welcome development even though Seychelles is hardly a team that should give Nigeria sleepless nights. Herein though, lies the problem with the result.
The 3-0 scoreline looks flattering and is capable of giving a skewed impression of the Super Eagles performance on the night for anyone who couldn't see the game.
This game was Nigeria's first game since that disappointing loss to Argentina at the World Cup in Russia. Again, the Nigerian team was poor, ponderous, failed to dominate and riddled with sloppy errors.
The culprits who were guilty of making most of them include the usual suspects Ogenyi Onazi and Kenneth Omeruo. Even Francis Uzoho was even caught in no man's land when he came out rushing for the ball leaving his goalmouth exposed. Fortunately for the visitors, they weren't punished.
The midfield was as unimaginative as ever as Kelechi Iheanacho brought his poor premier league form with him to the national team as he failed to impose himself on a lacklustre Seychelles side.
Of course Iheanacho's free kick which came off the upright led to Nigeria's second goal as Chidozie Awaziem scored from the rebound but that and one shot off target marked the only significant contributions Iheanacho made throughout the game.
Another maligned figure, Odion Ighalo grabbed Nigeria's third goal from the penalty spot after Samuel Kalu was brought down in the penalty box and also had a chipped effort hit the crossbar. Other than these, he didn't do much to warm his way back into the hearts of supporters.
To be fair, he was starved of service and isolated for most periods but his overall performance in a relatively easy fixture shows that he has a long way to go to winning back the goodwill of fans.
In a nutshell, the Super Eagles' performance was bang average. The team had to rely on individual brilliance to grab the all important 3 points. And on this evidence, Libya whom the Super Eagles face in a double header in October have nothing to fear.
The Super Eagles of course were missing the influence of John Obi Mikel and the creativity of Alex Iwobi in midfield and the defensive partnership of Troost Ekong and Leon Balogun. Balogun had to make do with Omeruo who was guilty of too many silly errors.
It was not all gloom though as there were a few bright moments. Ahmed Musa's performance was great. He also scored Nigeria's first goal. Samuel Kalu had a decent debut. He won Nigeria the penalty which Ighalo converted. Then Awaziem took his chance to stake a claim for a starting place with an impressive performance at right back and even scoring a goal. Here though ends the positives.
This is hoping that in October when Nigeria come up against group leaders Libya, these injured players will be available to give the squad a bit of cutting edge and wipe the smirk off the Libya's coach's face as he has started his own brand of mind games by calling Nigerians 'Juju' worshippers.
No comments:
Post a Comment