Football Nigeria -- Eagles Etcetera

Nigeria earned a deserved 1-1 tie with South Africa in Johannesburg, earlier today, to reach the African Cup of Nations finals for 2019. Despite missing several starters, due to suspension and injuries, Nigeria made its way to the finals for the first time since it took the trophy in 2013. Also for the first time, Gernot Rohr, out of necessity offered his rarely used 3-5-2 against an African opposition. However, his plans to soak up the midfield by adding an additional player in the absence of regulars, who ordinarily would have strutted out in midfield, met with very little success. It did create opportunities in quick breakaways especially early in the game when Ahmed Musa threatened to be a handful for the South African defense. Besides those moments, the midfield was dominated by South Africans who bossed the space with 57% possession. But for all South Africa's huffing and puffing, it was Nigeria that had the much better opportunities.  this seems to be the frequent c

It seems ages ago when Nigerians did not blink because a regular goalkeeper was injured. That was back during the era that Nigeria's three choices -- Vincent Enyeama, Augustine Ejide, and Dele Aiyenugba -- were all of international standard and each of them could be counted on to do a masterful job. However, that is now ages ago. Today, even the regular goalkeeper -- Francis Uzoho -- does not instill much confidence among Nigerian fans. This is in spite of the fact that Uzoho has clearly improved from his low point recorded during his first few games for Nigeria. But with Uzoho ruled unavailable (due to injury) for a crucial AFCON qualifier in a few days in South Africa, the question about who replaces him is now critical. There are three goalkeepers invited for the contest -- Ikechukwu Ezenwa, Daniel Akpeyi, and Theophilus Afelokhai. In the paragraphs below, we share our views of each of them. Ikechukwu Ezenwa Ezenwa is Nigeria's second choice between the posts goin