Which Way Super Eagles



Well, the Super Eagles of Nigeria eventually succumbed to the Desert Foxes of Algeria in a pulsating semifinal game in the ongoing African Cup of Nations in Egypt. The Nigerian team lost by 2-1. To be honest, the result does not clearly illustrate how the Algerians threatened our goalline severally. The Super Eagles' build-up to the semi-finals has been anything but impressive in the tournament, losing to competition debutant Madagascar along the way.

 Personally, the last time I enjoyed a Super Eagles match was the friendly game against Argentina where we defeated South the Americans 4-2. I remember watching Super Eagles against Serbia at the Barnet Stadium, it was at that point that I started having some doubt about certain aspects of Gernot Rohr's managerial style. One case in point was when  Junior Ajayi an Al Ahly national striker that was invited for the friendly game against Serbia jogged all night until he was brought in for Alex Iwobi in the 88th minutes. I would have thought that one of the purposes of a friendly game was to try out new players but for Gernot Rohr, he likes to play his full strength squad even if the game does not matter. I will come to his managerial acumen later. 

 On the whole, it wasn't really a bad outing from the Super Eagles, getting to the Semi-Finals was the minimum target for Rohr and irrespective of emotions, he has fulfilled his own side of the bargain but from my perspective, we should be challenging for the titles. 

 The Algerian team were certainly the best team so far in the competition. The fact that they defeated 2 stronger West African teams ( Senegal and Ivory Coast ) showed the strength of the team. 

I will give a brief summary of the team and I will break down by  the team positions:

 Goalkeeping 

 As far as I am concerned we have a major crisis in this department. Francis Uzoho, Ikechukwu Ezinwa and Daniel Akpeyi were the selected goalkeepers. Francis Uzoho was invited on the basis of 2 cameo la Liga games when he featured for his club Deportivo La Coruna in 2017/18. He was the first choice after his debut against Argentina and he remained in the number one spot going into the World Cup. However, mistakes in the game against Seychelles saw him lose his position. 
 South African based Daniel Akpeyi became the first choice leading to the African Cup of nations. I am not a fan of his, as he does not inspire any confidence required of a goalkeeper. He was generally blamed for the second goal Algeria scored. Though it was a free kick, his positioning behind the wall confirmed why a cross-section of football fans was never convinced in his ability as a goalkeeper.
Ikechukwu Ezinwa, on the other hand, is the only home-based player in the entire squad, I personally feel he is the best of the 3 but I guess carrying the stigma of being a home-based affected his chances 

 Defence 

 Generally, we were okay in this position - Troost Ekong, Leon Balogun, Jamilu Collins Kenneth Omeruo, Shehu Abdullai and Olaoluwa Aina formed the defensive line at Afcon 2019. They could be quite prone to errors and display tendencies to lose concentration when it matters, I believe they can be a formidable force with proper coaching. I give them a pass mark generally, under Gernot Rohr, the defence seems quite organised 

 Midfield 

 We were quite thin in this area, we went with 

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