After limping through to the Qatar 2022 World Cup qualifiers play offs drawing 1-1 with Cape Verde, the Super Eagles need to improve drastically if it hopes to make it to the World Cup finals in Qatar next year.
The Super Eagles despite starting well against Cape Verde, scoring in the first minute through danger man Victor Osimhen and having the better of the first half chances and possession, could not build on their first half performance and get the second goal that would have confirmed their place in the play offs and calm the nerves of fans all over the world viewing the winner takes all match.
The Super Eagles struggled to break down the well drilled Cape Verde team in the second half and even though Cape Verde didn’t create many chances throughout the game, there were a few nervy moments in that second half for the Super Eagles late on.
But at this stage of the qualifiers, it is the results that matter and not how great the performance is. The Super Eagles needed a point to qualify for the next phase and a point they got. Job done.
However, now that they are through to the play offs, we need to examine their overall performance especially those of the past 2 months and begin to ask if the Super Eagles are moving in the right direction.
There is no doubt that winning 4 games, losing 1 and also drawing 1 out of 6 is not a bad score card by any standard. All the same, we need to look at it in the context of the quality of opposition. Liberia, Central Africa Republic and Cape Verde are hardly elite African teams but they all seemed to give Nigeria a game.
Perhaps it is because Nigeria is one of the most respected teams on the continent and as a result, teams often raise their game whenever they take on the Super Eagles. In any case, the Super Eagles hardly displayed the organisation and tactical discipline other teams in the group showed.
Maybe it is Rohr losing his mojo, or the players are not following his instructions or the team is dependent on their individual quality to see out games. Whatever it is, this needs to change in the next phase as we could come up against the likes of Egypt, Algeria, Morrocco, Senegal and Cameroon in the play offs.
Many of these teams would be more ruthless when we are sloppy at the back and be well drilled defensively.
Speaking of sloppy, Leon Balogun has been shaky at the back for the Super Eagles of late. I believe Rohr’s switch to a back 3 was made to protect his lack of pace. His mistake led to our loss to CAR in Lagos but he recovered in the second leg to open the scoring in Douala. He was also quite outstanding when the Eagles took on Liberia in Tangiers but his performance on Tuesday was again poor to say the least.
Questions should also be asked why out of the blue Ighalo is back in the team. He is no longer cutting it at the highest level anymore. He should not be strolling into the team on the eve of a tournament. This is disrespectful in my opinion to the players who have worked their way into the team since his departure. There are other strikers who should be given a chance. One of which is Cyril Dessers and even Sunday Awoniyi.
Rohr speaking in his post match press conference said that he believes the Ighalo-Osimhen partnership will work. Meaning that he plans to use this 3-5-2 formation in the AFCON in January. The truth is that we have too many wingers in this team for Rohr to stick to this formation.
Ademola Lookman who is also a winger is expected to complete his switch from England to Nigeria and could be available for the AFCON and World Cup play offs next year.
This is not forgetting the likes of Chukwueze, Ejuke, Musa and so on who are creative options from the wings.
The Super Eagles have always thrived playing in a 4-3-3 formation and while 3-5-2 is useful when playing against a more superior opponent, it will not suit some of the technically gifted players we have who play on the wings.
No comments:
Post a Comment