These are interesting times for Nigerian football. Hitherto, it was a deluge of criticisms about the way the game was being administered and the ineptitude of the coaches, who didn’t have the courage to discipline the Super Eagles’ foreign legion.
Most people cringed at the conduct and the passion that our Europe-based boys exhibited during Nigeria’s matches. They sneered at the lackadaisical attitude of our players on the pitch. They played as if nothing was at stake.
Put simply, the Eagles’ convulsive style of play forced many fans to the clinics to check their blood pressure after every uninspiring outing.
Many spiritualists have been disappointed by the outcome of the Eagles matches. But don’t our opponents recognise the efficacy of prayers? Doesn’t the Holy Book detest slothfulness?
Since last Saturday, the mood of football fans has changed. A new dawn is being celebrated. The drum beats of a resurgent Super Eagles is deafening. No one is bothered about Liberia’s pedigree in global football competitions. Years past, Liberia was a piece of cake. Beating Liberia should be the norm. Countries, such as Liberia ought to surrender even before the kick-off when pitched against Nigeria in a football match. What the wild celebrations portend is that we will waste precious time backslapping and shouting at the roof top, forgetting that others have left us behind.
Sadly, the reality from the Liberia conquest is that our best legs are in Europe. And I’m glad that Stephen Keshi recognises this fact. Nine of the starting 11 men came from Europe. The two home-based played because we didn’t have men in the foreign legion in those positions. It hurts though that the goal conceded came from a defensive error of the best home-based defender.
The home-based stars couldn’t compete with the others, perhaps because the domestic league is off. I hope people are reading this. Again, Keshi should accept that he would be judged not by what he does on the field in training, but by what the players showcase during matches.
Therefore, he must learn to accommodate their idiosyncrasies to get the desired results. This is not to say that players should be disciplined. Coaches get the best from their players through personal contacts. With Keshi’s feats and pedigree in the beautiful game, no player would be rude to him. Rather, they would be prepared to learn from him.
The truth about the Saturday game is that the Eagles tottered, despite the 58 seconds first goal. They barely were able to string passes together just as they played without a plan. Perhaps, they forgot all that they were taught in training. Our second goal was scrappy, except from the bravado show of the scorer Ahmed Musa in burying the ball at the back of the net.
After the second goal, I looked at the Eagles’ bench. Keshi’s countenance told the story of what I saw on the pitch. He kept scratching his head, apparently remembering his playing days. I don’t blame him. He was an excellent, strong and zestful player.
He got up most times to shout out instructions, yet he wasn’t impressed. As for the fans, they were satisfied, but the coach was certainly looking beyond the minnows.
The argument can be made that they stay together to train but their experience ought to have counted. It never did because we struggled for the better part of the first. Emmanule Emenike was the worst culprit. He was anonymous, except for that bone crushing pass that Musa squeezed into the net. He needs to take a cue from the way Mikel executed the goal he laid on Victor Moses’ head for the fourth goal. Why the coaches took so long to substitute Emenike accounted for the anxious moments that the Liberians created for our players. I always wonder what these coaches see in Emenike who couldn’t dribble past his marker and does not he know how to open up the space for his mates to make the darting run at goal. He certainly shouldn’t be at the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations in South Africa.
Kudos must go to Keshi for fielding Musa instead of Ikechukwu Uche. I was excited when I saw the change because Ike Uche can be wasteful with goal-scoring chances. Ike Uche did miss quite a few in the second half, despite scoring Nigeria’s fifth goal. What I took away from Keshi’s decision to drop Ike Uche is that he knows that he needs taller, stronger and faster strikers for the Africa Cup of Nations. Good thinking.
Keshi’s revelation that he has Newcastle of England striker Shola Ameobi and Everton’s Victor Anichebe bowled me over. I can’t wait to see how they will blend, when the team plays the 4-3-3 formation. Keshi should always seek Sydney Sam’s consent to play for Nigeria. This idea of waiting for the boy to show interest won’t pay him. Nigerians are impatient. They will call for his sack, if the team fails. Sam will give his team depth, especially in the attacking midfield role. He also is a prolific goal-scorer. He is younger than those playing the roles in the Eagles. Is anyone suprirsed that the two young men in the Eagles -Victor Moses and Ahmed Musa- shone like million stars? Age is the key for good football. The average age of most teams in the game now is 23. No one in the Eagles, except Moses, is less than 28. Forget what they have on their international passports.
Nigeria’s best player on Saturday was Moses. This is not because he scored a brace, but his deft touches, his inter-play with his mates and the skill with which he scored the goals, showed a future Africa Footballer of Year- if we can assemble a winning team. Moses can play better than he did on Saturday, but Keshi must find him an intelligent right back to complement his efforts. If Taiye Taiwo was right footed, he would have brought the best from Moses and we would have been talking of a harvest of goals. With a menacing right wing, no opposition will dare attack, using their left footed players because they would be too busy defending or retrieving the ball from inside their net against the Eagles.
Efe Ambrose isn’t a good player. He scored our first goal, but was a misfit. He ran the most on the pitch, yet his contribution stopped after 58 seconds, with the first goal. Keshi can return to the experiment he did in Benin City in his first game when he switched Yusuf Ayila to the central defence.
Keshi is thinking of drafting Nedum Onouha into the team. He is a utility player. I have seen him play in all the defensive positions for Manchester City and now Queens Park Rangers in England. It is also good to know that goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama is playing regularly after a torrid time on the bench in France. He is our best. His recent poor form was because of match rustiness. His substitutes are good goalkeepers, but they need to wait for sometime, if Enyeama finds his form. Anyway, the rivalry is good for competitions.
The Eagles urgently need younger players with international exposure from foreign leagues. Victor Anichebe, Chuka Aneke, who plays for Arsenal but has been loaned out to play frequently and, of course, returnee Osaze Odemwingie will strengthen the squad.
Nosa Igiebor did better this time. He was poor in Monrovia, though he looked timid in front of the yawning net. I’m excited that Joel Obi has started playing again. He will make an awesome midfield quartet, playing with Mikel, Moses and Obiora Nwankwo. Nwankwo was the gem against Liberia. He played flawlessly. He impressed me at the botched U-23 side at the London 2012 Olympic Games qualifier in Morocco last year. He is temperamental, but Keshi can talk him out of this.
Is there anything to cheer from the Eagles going forward? I doubt it, if the opponents are Cote d’ Ivoire, resurgent Algeria, Ghana and Morocco in Africa.
As for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, we had better not qualify if what we saw against the Liberians is used as a yardstick. Glad to hear Keshi say that he doesn’t have a team yet. That is the truth, Big Boss. Will Keshi give Brown Ideye and Ogenyi Onazi several trials like he did with Emenike and other fringe players? Your guess is as good as mine.
