The Super Eagles So Far.....
The final list to Brazil is now out so we are all aware of the players that are representing us in this years' World Cup. Never have there been so much anxiety with regards to the release of the final cut. Quite a number of journalists kept vigils in other to get the breaking news. Before the official release, there have been different versions flying around the various social media outlets. I can tell there was a list with my name on it as well (Joke).
Within the last few days, a particular person who I follow on twitter gave clues at different times of those likely to make the final list. Amidst all the doubt and suspense, the person proved too right when the list eventually came out. The final squad was announced after the training session, as stated by the chief coach Stephen Keshi, it was a tough call to come up with the final shortlist. However, making hard decisions come with the role Stephen Keshi has been entrusted with.
When the list came out it was with mixed emotions, surprises and shock. While some of the players were certainly assured, Keshi made some controversial and perhaps some questionable selections.
Goalkeepers
There was not much to debate about, it was always going to be the same old story - Vincent Enyeama the first choice, ably assisted by Austin Ejide and of course Chigozie Agbim who has been with the Keshi's project from inception.
Defenders
Keshi decided to take all the defenders to the World Cup. This first choice back four without any doubt would be Efe Ambrose on the right side, Godfrey Oboagbona and Ken Omeruo in the heart of the defence while Elderson Ejiejiele will be playing on the left side. Joseph Yobo, Azubike Egwueke, Juwon Oshniwa and surprise debut Kunle Odunlami who I believe his exploits at the African Nations Championship earned him the spot. So all Keshi's defenders have received their ticket to Brazil.
Midfielders
This section of the team raises some concern because of the similarity of some of the players. It looks more defensive inclined and void of creativity. Nosa Igiebor who turned the game around was surprisingly dropped from the team. The players selected are Gabriel Reuben who has played just about 5 games in 2 years coupled with an unsuccessful spell with Scotish top club Kilmanock, John Obi Mikel, Ramon Azeez, Ogenyi Onazi, and surprisingly Michael Uchebo was drafted into this position.
Attackers
If you were surprised by the the selection of the midfielder, the strikers department offers more. The list includes African Cup Of Nations' highest goal scorer Emanuel Emenike, this goes without any dispute. Others include returnee Osaze Odemwingie, Dutch based Victor Nwofor, Shola Ameobi and believe it or not legendary Michael Babatunde...yes I call him a legend. How did he arrive at this legendary status - For a player that has played as many as 23 club games and scored 3 career goals and he was able to sneak into the final list, it can only be a legend that can attain such status. Michael Babatunde came to the radars of Keshi shortly before the Confederation Cup. He made a cameo appearance against Uruguay at the Confederation Cup and as far as I am concerned he was just a pedestrian. He did not prove to me that he merited his selection either when Nigeria played against Scotland.
In my previous preview I predicted that he was not going to make the cut but I was proven wrong as "The Big Boss" Stephen Keshi showed he could be very unpredictable at times. I gathered reliably that Keshi's decision include the Ukrainian based player was due to his hard work in the training session - a trait Keshi strongly advocate in his team.
The Friendly Games and Injuries
Preparation began in earnest in the United State with intense training sessions and friendly games. The first game against Greece ended in a goalless draw with the Greek team having the better part of the first half. The Super Eagles were quite disjointed and would have conceded goals but thanks to the ever reliable Vincent Enyeama. The second half was better as we began to show dominance in possession but we lacked the necessary bite in the final third, the only set back was that Elderson Echiejile picked up an injury that will sideline him for 3 weeks, this automatically ended his World Cup dreams. Other injury concerns are Ahmed Musa, Victor Nwofor and Kenneth Omeruo. As at the time of this write up, it is not clear of what Kenneth's present state is. Nigeria cannot afford to loose him as he looks almost irreplaceable.
The Reality Check
The next friendly game raised a lot of scepticisms, Nigeria played the last friendly game against the USA in Jacksonville, Florida. The game was a complete sell out as the Americans' came to bid their players farewell. The game started with Nigeria dominating possession, but the well drilled Jurgen Klinsman's team were content with keeping their lines compact and relied on the fast break. Eventually they broke the deadlock as Jose Altidore ended his goal draught of over 2 years. Altidore added the second one after shoving Joseph Yobo aside before slamming a cracker which Enyeama had no answers for. It was apparent that Yobo has lost a ounce of pace - He was not quite the same Yobo we knew years back. Victor Moses consolatory goal was not enough to salvage the game. The game ended Stephen Keshi's unbeaten spell, It was obvious that:
Within the last few days, a particular person who I follow on twitter gave clues at different times of those likely to make the final list. Amidst all the doubt and suspense, the person proved too right when the list eventually came out. The final squad was announced after the training session, as stated by the chief coach Stephen Keshi, it was a tough call to come up with the final shortlist. However, making hard decisions come with the role Stephen Keshi has been entrusted with.
 |
| Stephen Keshi pointing toward Brazil |
Goalkeepers
There was not much to debate about, it was always going to be the same old story - Vincent Enyeama the first choice, ably assisted by Austin Ejide and of course Chigozie Agbim who has been with the Keshi's project from inception.
Defenders
Keshi decided to take all the defenders to the World Cup. This first choice back four without any doubt would be Efe Ambrose on the right side, Godfrey Oboagbona and Ken Omeruo in the heart of the defence while Elderson Ejiejiele will be playing on the left side. Joseph Yobo, Azubike Egwueke, Juwon Oshniwa and surprise debut Kunle Odunlami who I believe his exploits at the African Nations Championship earned him the spot. So all Keshi's defenders have received their ticket to Brazil.
Midfielders
This section of the team raises some concern because of the similarity of some of the players. It looks more defensive inclined and void of creativity. Nosa Igiebor who turned the game around was surprisingly dropped from the team. The players selected are Gabriel Reuben who has played just about 5 games in 2 years coupled with an unsuccessful spell with Scotish top club Kilmanock, John Obi Mikel, Ramon Azeez, Ogenyi Onazi, and surprisingly Michael Uchebo was drafted into this position.
Attackers
If you were surprised by the the selection of the midfielder, the strikers department offers more. The list includes African Cup Of Nations' highest goal scorer Emanuel Emenike, this goes without any dispute. Others include returnee Osaze Odemwingie, Dutch based Victor Nwofor, Shola Ameobi and believe it or not legendary Michael Babatunde...yes I call him a legend. How did he arrive at this legendary status - For a player that has played as many as 23 club games and scored 3 career goals and he was able to sneak into the final list, it can only be a legend that can attain such status. Michael Babatunde came to the radars of Keshi shortly before the Confederation Cup. He made a cameo appearance against Uruguay at the Confederation Cup and as far as I am concerned he was just a pedestrian. He did not prove to me that he merited his selection either when Nigeria played against Scotland.
In my previous preview I predicted that he was not going to make the cut but I was proven wrong as "The Big Boss" Stephen Keshi showed he could be very unpredictable at times. I gathered reliably that Keshi's decision include the Ukrainian based player was due to his hard work in the training session - a trait Keshi strongly advocate in his team.
 |
| Legendary Michael Babatunde |
The Friendly Games and Injuries
Preparation began in earnest in the United State with intense training sessions and friendly games. The first game against Greece ended in a goalless draw with the Greek team having the better part of the first half. The Super Eagles were quite disjointed and would have conceded goals but thanks to the ever reliable Vincent Enyeama. The second half was better as we began to show dominance in possession but we lacked the necessary bite in the final third, the only set back was that Elderson Echiejile picked up an injury that will sideline him for 3 weeks, this automatically ended his World Cup dreams. Other injury concerns are Ahmed Musa, Victor Nwofor and Kenneth Omeruo. As at the time of this write up, it is not clear of what Kenneth's present state is. Nigeria cannot afford to loose him as he looks almost irreplaceable.
 |
| Super Eagles Before Facing Greece |
The Reality Check
The next friendly game raised a lot of scepticisms, Nigeria played the last friendly game against the USA in Jacksonville, Florida. The game was a complete sell out as the Americans' came to bid their players farewell. The game started with Nigeria dominating possession, but the well drilled Jurgen Klinsman's team were content with keeping their lines compact and relied on the fast break. Eventually they broke the deadlock as Jose Altidore ended his goal draught of over 2 years. Altidore added the second one after shoving Joseph Yobo aside before slamming a cracker which Enyeama had no answers for. It was apparent that Yobo has lost a ounce of pace - He was not quite the same Yobo we knew years back. Victor Moses consolatory goal was not enough to salvage the game. The game ended Stephen Keshi's unbeaten spell, It was obvious that:
- The resilience was not reflected in this game
- Joseph Yobo has gone past his prime
- Victor Moses needs to be told he is no Lionel Messi (with all respect to him)
- With Echiejile gone due to injury, we cannot afford to loose Kenneth Omeruo
- No balance in the selection as further injuries could mean players being played out of position
With the defeat, a cross section of Nigerian fans, twitter and Facebook media men began to express their pessimisms and rightly so. I would be hypocritical to say that I did not feel the same way though. But if I have to make reference to antecedents in past;Nigeria has not been known to win preparatory games with the exception of 2002 when we defeated Republic of Ireland and Scotland. Let us look back at our preparation matches:
1994
Lost to Romania 2-0
Lost to Romania 2-0
Lost to Sweden 3-1
1998
Lost to Germany 1-0
Lost to Yugoslavia 3-0
Lost to Netherlands 5-1 (about a week to the World Cup)
The similarities to the preparation before the 1994 & 1998 World Cup was that we lost all our major friendly games but we reached our peak when the competition commenced. Nigeria defeated Bulgaria and Greece in the preliminary rounds and we proceeded to the second round where we could have caused an upset against Italy. Subsequently in 1998, we lost all our friendlies, a prelude to France 1998 - in fact some cross section of Nigerians didn't have too much hope in the team, yet when the competition commenced we defeated Spain that had not lost a single game since 1994 and Bulgaria. We can see that loosing friendly games do have less relevance when competition starts. Friendlies are used to assess the areas that needs improvement, unfortunately, friendly games are gradually becoming competitive these days since FIFA uses it for the ranking of the national teams.
Way forward
As it is with Nigeria, some still remain hopeful that they might turn up when it matters while some have adopted the "siddon look" syndrome (meaning - let's wait and see). The team arrived in Brazil late on Tuesday evening and I am sure they are aware that over 160million Nigerians would be rooting for them.
Tactic would be very key to Nigeria campaign, personally I think one major weakness of Stephen Keshi is the ability to use the right tactics
when confronted with certain teams. Determination, hard work are very important, but the use of the right tactics has been one of the best traits of great managers.
NB: Home based player Ejike Uzoenyi would be replacing injured Elderson Echejiele
Please your comment would be hugely appreciated
Way forward
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| Victor Moses and Mikel Obi with a Brazilian Fan |
Tactic would be very key to Nigeria campaign, personally I think one major weakness of Stephen Keshi is the ability to use the right tactics
when confronted with certain teams. Determination, hard work are very important, but the use of the right tactics has been one of the best traits of great managers.
NB: Home based player Ejike Uzoenyi would be replacing injured Elderson Echejiele
Please your comment would be hugely appreciated
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