By KUNLE AWOSIYAN
The quality in Super Eagles will be a delight to any coach any day.
Perhaps that is why the team’s former coach, Gernot Rohr, cannot hide his admiration for the players even as they play under a lesser quality coach than himself.
Coach Jose Peseiro’s 3-5-2 formation on Thursday was what Nigeria needed to beat the host nation, Cote D’Ivoire at the ongoing African Cup of Nation.
The formation brought out the best in the players. It was a round peg in a round hole tactics that worked for the Eagles.
Super Eagles’ compact backline, its quick midfield and aggressive attack were enough to press the Ivorians backward to commit a penalty.
Rohr said that he could not see the Ivorian’s attackers due to the way the Super Eagles handled them. The Ivorians ran for 99 minutes.
Peseiro says, “If we continue to play like this, no team will be able to beat us.”
This is where I disagree. If we continue to play like this without a clinical finisher, any team will beat us either through a small error or penalty shootout.
In a typical football game, there are 10 criteria that analysts consider in match statistics, which include Ball possession; shot on target; shot off target; passing; corners; offsides; fouls; yellow card; red card and goals.
To know a quality team, passing is more critical as it speaks more of how the players have distributed the balls to create chances. Eagles ball possession is still a big problem in the middle, its attack is aggressive but not clinical.
In the two games played by Super Eagles against Equatorial Guinea and Cote D’Ivoire, it was glaring that the team only displayed individual brilliance in the first match but with a lot of urgency.
It created many chances but with inaccurate passing of the ball, which of course resulted in just one goal. The attackers, including the African player of the year, Victor Osimhen, were too nervous to put the ball in the net.
Against Cote D’Ivoire, it was a combination of team play and determination but then the aggression of the attackers was unpolished. There were instances that their fast break should have resulted in goals, but due to their self-interest, they failed to use the opportunity.
My prayer for Eagles as the team prepares to face Guinea Bissau on Monday is to have sharpened its attack and make use of every scoring opportunity, without which our celebration may have been cut short.
In all, Super Eagles are like nice cooking ingredients that are in need of good cook to make a sumptuous meal.
It is not yet uhuru for the Eagles because I doubt it if Peseiro’s idea that worked for Cote D’Ivoire will work for the Teranga Lions of Senegal.
READ ALSO: AFCON: Watching Eagles with blind eyes, By Kunle Awosiyan
The Senegalese team has got creative midfielders who are slippery to meander through any compact defence.
The Morocco national team scores with ease and lately the Cape Verde has joined the big guys and has got the quality to penetrate any defence.
At the 2021 AFCON, the Super Eagles showed great capacity, beating Egypt 1-0 and defending the lone goal just as it did against Cote D’Ivoire on Thursday, however, the team was bundled out by Tunisia through a long shot.
The attackers could not retaliate because they lacked the bite in front of goal.
My prayer for Eagles as the team prepares to face Guinea Bissau on Monday is to have sharpened its attack and make use of every scoring opportunity, without which our celebration may have been cut short.
This is the time Osimhen must replicate his performance at Napoli for Nigeria. All eyes on him.
