Football Nigeria -- Eagles Etcetera

There are a few statistics that help us take a deeper look at Keshi's Super Eagles as we seek to better understand his team. I briefly put forward those statistics from his 28 games (full internationals). It is important to note that games that we have classified as full internationals are those in which foreign-based internationals were not exempted by both teams or competitive games against FIFA member countries. Thus, the game against Catalunya, for instance, is not counted here. Here are some notes: AGAINST HIGHER RANKED TEAMS Three wins (Venezuela, I/Coast, Mali), two draws (Zambia, Mexico), and four losses (Egypt, Peru, Uruguay, Spain). ANALYSIS OF GOALS SCORED v GOALS CONCEDED Here we break down the statistics into four time slots (Early first half /EFH; Late First Half/LFH; Early Second Half/ESH, and Late Second Half/LSH). The statistics here is revealing. Nigeria has conceded a pile of goals late i.e in the LSH. Consider that if you take away three goals scored by N...

Watching Nigeria play at the Confederations Cup 2013 in Brazil provided us with an opportunity to assess the team in preparation for World Cup 2014 that will take place in the same country, Brazil. Sure, Nigeria is yet to get to the final round of the World Cup qualifiers in Africa and, thus, it might appear premature to be writing about being at the World Cup in Brazil. However, I take that risk -- after all, I am neither the coach nor am I an NFF administrator. I am just a football fan and I am doing what fans do -- sit back and become an armchair prognosticator. I love it. What did we Learn at the Confederations Cup? There are several key things that we should have learned from participating at the Confederations cup and I list them below: 1. That Nigeria has a team that can compete favorably with the rest of the World. Well, you may say "What's the big deal about that?" You are probably correct. After all, Nigeria is the current African Champion and after all Nig...

Nnamdi Oduamadi, on Monday, threatened to tie the highest number of goals in a single game for Nigeria. He ended up with three goals to his name and had a fourth controversially denied by the match officials after he was judged offside. Oduamadi has averaged 56 minutes per game for Nigeria and has now four goals in seven games for the Super Eagles. On Monday, he was close to eviscerating the record of most goals in a game for Nigeria but the denied goal and missing a couple of other chances kept him away from doing so. Oduamadi's physique is wily to the point that one would think that defenders will take him for a rag doll. He inspires very little fear in defenders. But that is before he actually touches a ball. When he does you will notice a player with subtle skills and quick dribbling moves around his marker. However, none of that will leave a trace that he would be able to produce a hat trick of goals. He is neither stout nor as fast as Musa. Thus, a hat trick was not expecte...

I was browsing through some basic statistics of the Super Eagles a couple of days ago and came across Ogenyi Onazi's disciplinary record and it reminded me of Ifeanyi Udeze's a few years back. At the time, Udeze was Nigeria's all time leader in accumulation of yellow cards. Now, Onazi has taken that mantle, averaging 0.33 cards in 12 games. Ordinarily, one would not associate Onazi with such a disciplinary record. He gives 100% effort on the field and is not perceived as a dirty player. So why the disciplinary record? Perhaps because his tackles can be jarring at times and his cautions (4 in last 7 games) are deserving. He is late on tackles and his defensive positioning is not the best. He reminds me, somewhat, of Mikel Obi in his early days as defensive midfielder under Jose Mourinho in Chelsea. At that time, Mikel was learning the rudiments of defensive play, anticipating an attacker's moves and playing in the right spaces in order to cleanly deny an opponent posse...

I am more convinced than ever that Stephen Keshi is on the right track in building a strong Nigerian national football team -- Super Eagles. Already, this has led to Nigeria winning the Cup of African Nations -- its first in 19 years! But it is not just about winning the Cup. It is also about how the team has chosen to play. The team is much faster, more aggressive defensively, and controls possession than it had done in recent memory. I had watched one of the team's early games -- a 2-3 loss to Egypt in an international friendly -- and even then these ideas on team play had begun to emerge. On that day, we saw a team that pressured the ball and unsettled a highly regarded Egypt. Also on exhibit that day was the pace of the players. Nigerian football had before Keshi settled into a languid slow style of play but it became clear against Egypt that the team would play differently. Of course, the team has grown since then. Before the Cup of Nations, I was convinced that Nigeria ha...