Super Eagles On The Brink

The Super Eagles in Tangiers defeated Liberia 2-0 in the 5th round of matches of the African qualifiers for the FIFA 2022 World Cup finals in Qatar to put Nigeria on the brink of qualification for the play offs needing just a point at home. 

If this was the Super Eagles of 2 or 3 years ago, we would have had no fears of a possible upset in this winner takes all game against Cape Verde. But this current Nigerian team has shown a few times this year that the unthinkable is possible. 

Just last month, we lost shockingly at home at the Teslim Balogun stadium to the Central African Republic 0-1 at the last minute after failing to break them down throughout the whole game. Earlier this year, this team threw away a 4 goal lead to Sierra Leone and failed to win the return leg in Freetown in the AFCON qualifiers. 

Of course, the team rallied after these disappointing performances to defeat CAR in Douala in the World Cup qualifiers and got the job of qualifying for next year’s AFCON done by winning their next 2 games against Benin and Namibia. But they could easily have done so with 2 games to spare thereby giving some fringe players an opportunity to showcase their talents.

In their game with Liberia, Gernot Rohr was reluctant to bring in subs who could have changed the game’s dynamics only bringing on Chidera Ejuke and Ahmed Musa when he could have made up to 5 subs. It was not like the team were playing very well or had the Liberians under the cosh. Perhaps Rohr trusted his first 11 and was too timid to make more changes. It took a stoppage time penalty to seal the victory for Nigeria eventually. 

Against Cape Verde which comes up in the next 24 hours, if things don’t go according to plan, he had better be more courageous otherwise we will be kissing Qatar goodbye. 

I believe the Super Eagles have got enough to get at least a point that will see Nigeria through to the play offs. No disrespect, but If we can’t get a point against Cape Verde at home, then we don’t deserve to be in Qatar anyway.

The real issue for me is the quality of opposition that we might face during the play offs because truth be told, the Super Eagles have not been vintage for a while now. And while grinding out victories is welcome when you are struggling, it shouldn’t be the norm.

I will dwell more on this after the game against Cape Verde if we qualify. For now, I wish the Super Eagles the best of luck.