The world’s greatest show has opened in Brazil. But I’m not excited. The talk in her about likely fairytale teams doesn’t include Nigeria. Hisses and sighs rent the air when Super Eagles is mentioned. What you hear are the exploits of Nwankwo Kanu, Austin Okocha, the late Rashidi Yekini, Emmannuel Emenike et al. They also talk about Stephen Keshi but the discussion stops at his feats with European teams because he played just a game at the USA’94 World. They ask how Nigeria dropped to such a laughable level where we are now parading a comity of bench warmers.
They still celebrate Daniel Amokachi. Many purists still rate Da Bull as Nigeria’s best player, ahead of Kanu, courtesy of his exploits in England, Belgium and Turkey. They argue that Kanu was skillful, a match winner but he lacked the Da Bull’s guts. Nigeria kissed the USA’94 World Cup bye when Amokachi exited with the injury that nailed his career, they say. The argument can continue but my choice is Kanu. I wish these pundits could watch the Atlanta’96 Olympic Games where Kanu and Amokachi played. Kanu was certainly the best player in the world in that competition.
They talk about Sunday Oliseh as the most accomplished Nigerian player. He played in Ajax FC of Holland, in several clubs in Belgium, Juventus in Italy and Dortmund in Germany, among others. Taribo West featured in the discussion. So did Victor Ikpeba, who many argue was Nigeria’s fastest. Do you agree? I feel it is Tijani Babangida. Perhaps after Segun Odegbami, Samuel Okpodu and Dominic Iorfa of yore? Emmanuel Emenike featured in the fastest player debate. But were they faster than Clement Temile? So, who is Nigeria’s fastest player? Food for thought.
The discussion moved to the current Super Eagles and the unanimous choice of the best player fell on goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama. Quickly, one of the discussants swore it wasn’t Enyeama. He argued that picking Enyeama was disastrous because it meant that the balls must always come towards him if he must justify our ratings. The message didn’t sink. He saw it on our faces and explained further.
Craving for the balls to come towards Enyeama during Nigeria’s World Cup matches could be dangerous. Any error from him will be a goal and it would be very difficult for the Eagles’ attackers to equalise. The poser of having goalkeeper Austin Ejide as Enyeama’s deputy arose. Tears rolled down his cheeks. He muttered inaudible words and broke into a long prayer in which he asked God not to commit the Eagles into the shame of having a goalkeeper, who is not at his best to man the goalpost.
This Enyeama apostle asked God to forgive the coaches for whatever sins they would have committed in picking the squad, pointing out that as rookies to the senior World Cup, such mistakes are pardonable. We all chorused Amen. But our man wasn’t done with his prayers. He went into momentary soliloquy and started binding and casting any spirit that will bring up the need for goalkeeper Chigozie Agbim to man the goalpost. The “Amen” was deafening.
The prayer reached its crescendo when the choice of defenders came up. The back four men were difficult to pick. Godfrey Oboabona was the unanimous choice. Efe Ambrose next but the problem was in which position. Who will pair Oboabona in the central defence between Joseph Yobo and Omeruo? Many settled for Omeruo, except that they were worried if he had the cognate experience to marshal the defence against prolific strikers such as Messi, Higuain, Dzeko, Aguero, Di Maria etc.
At this point the prayer had stopped. Another character took over. He explained why Yobo should pair Omeruo not Oboabona. These pundits argued that Oboabona should marshal the defence from the right back, where he can overlap and shoot at the goal. There was silence. Many recalled watching Oboabona play for Sunshine FC of Akure at the right back and scoring goals.
Oboabona’s choice at the right back changed the argument. Again, this pundit suggested that Omeruo could be moved to the left back and Ambrose deployed to pair Yobo in the central defence. He was shouted down and called names. Herein lies the difficulty of the coaches in picking the Eagles’ first 11 players.
The session to pick the midfielders continued. John Mikel Obi and Oguenyi Onazi stood out. The question became the formation that the coaches would adopt. The discussion moved to picking the four attackers. Emmanuel Emenike was the obvious choice to lead the team’s attacking forays. The issue arose about his fitness. Many pointed out that Emenike had been a shadow of his Africa Cup of Nations’ form, especially when fielded without Brown Ideye, who was dropped by the coaches for not having the knack for scoring goals.
Who will pair Emenike upfront? Osaze Odewingie, who the coaches have said is desperate to impress them (whatever that means)? Or Shola Ameobi, who hasn’t shown the knack of scoring goals that we have seen him do for Barclays English premier league side Newcastle? Or debutant Nwofor?
Tough task, no doubt. One guy suggested Victor Moses to pair Emenike. He was shot down by the others who preferred Ahmed Musa. Is Ahmed Musa fit for the World Cup? We settled for Musa- Emenike combination but with a caveat that the coaches must be sure that he is truly fit, lest we waste a big opportunity to utilise the three substitutions required by the laws of the game for tactical decisions to counter what our opponents would be throwing at us.
Moses and Osaze were picked to operate from the midfield and join the attack. They would fall back into the midfield when we lose possession of the ball. The flaw from this mundane 4-2-4 formation which our coaches have played is that it lacks the presence of a creative midfielder, who can change the game tactically. What Moses offers to the Eagles is his dribbling skills which create openings. But Moses spoils it by excessive dribbling. Besides, he fails to swing the passes to his freer mates, preferring to shoot at the goal from very tight spots. The problem with Moses and his witty dribbles is that they are predictable. Such dribblers are easily marked. Witty coaches would deploy a hard tackling defender to mark him. The defender would be told to stop Moses from getting the ball first. if that happens, Moses would cease to function.
Can Odemwingie be Eagles’ joker by playing the link between the team’s attack and defence? He could, if told so but does he have the strength to perform such roles having played all season for Stoke as the centre forward?
As the Eagles await the Iranians on Monday, it is important to remind our players that their opponents qualified from their group like the Nigerians. The Iranians didn’t emerge from playoffs which means that they can play the game as much as the Nigerians, especially under the tutelage of Carlos Quieroz.
The Iranians have watched tapes of our stars in their clubs and the national team. We cannot say the same of the Iranians. I just hope this doesn’t come back to haunt us on Monday.
Iran’s coach has the requisite knowledge to handle the big stage which the World Cup symbolises, having worked with the great Sir Alex Ferguson. Ours will be at the Mundial as rookies, even though they are World Cup stars.
Monday is Judgment Day for the coaches. Iran must fall. They must be beaten groggy with goals. The Eagles must learn from the Confederations Cup, where beating Tahiti 6-1 wasn’t good enough for the team to progress from the group. Spain and Uruguay beat Tahiti with more goals than the Eagles.
Iran could be another Tahiti because Argentina and Bosnia could whip them silly, if the Eagles waste scoring chances. Will the Eagles make us proud on Monday with a whiplash of Iran? It is our prayer and I pray it happens. Good luck Eagles.
