Football Nigeria -- Eagles Etcetera

This is the third year of an annual report on Nigeria's soccer but it is also a largely unremarkable year. Nonetheless and like in the previous years, we categorize Nigeria's football into youth football, women football, local elite football, football administration, and the Super Eagles. Each unit is graded in terms of its annual performance. Beyond grading each unit, we delve deeply into the national team to grade its annual performance, unit by unit, before finishing up with recognition of some outstanding performers. We begin by grading each of the five units already identified above. Youth Football Youth football demonstrated some life after horrendous recent years. The U20 team did reasonably well in playing some qualifying games and also reached the final of the WAFU for U20 players recently. The U17 won its WAFU zone for the continental qualifiers. These accomplishments restored hope in the sector but it is far from the great heights of youth football that Ni...

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...

Nigeria's 3-2 win over Libya in Sfax, Tunisia means that Nigeria is virtually into the 2019 African Cup of Nations finals with just a win to spare. With a home game looming against Seychelles it will take a miracle to deny Nigeria. In fact, Nigeria can get to the final even before that home game. In Sfax, Nigeria was clearly the better team in the opening half with ball possession that mystified the Libyans for the opening half hour. By the 70th minute, Nigeria had possessed the ball for more than 60% of the game. Although, Libya fought back gamely in the second half as Nigeria sought to protect its early 2-1 lead, Nigeria struck back to win 3-2 after conceding a Libyan equalizer. Nigeria has to show that it can consistently play as it did in that opening half when Libya was completely outclassed and every Nigerian player was having an excellent day, bar the goalkeeper. The attacking play was especially dangerous with Ighalo presenting monumental problems for Libya and Musa and...

Nigeria 4 Libya 0 in Uyo, Nigeria. That was the score as Nigeria slides past Libya for second place in the African Cup of Nations (AFON) qualifiers. Of course, that was not the only headline from this game. The big one, in fact, is Odion Ighalo completing a hat trick. It was a surprise given his anemic goal scoring for the national team and the fact that his position as the starting striker was possibly under threat. His hat trick was the first three-goal day for a Nigerian national team player since Oduamadi’s three against the hapless Tahiti at the Confederations Cup in Belo Horizonte in 2013. But it was not just about Ighalo. In fact, he benefitted from the enterprising display by Alex Iwobi who was invigorating as the most advanced midfielder centrally. It was Iwobi’s magnificent pass, cutting out multiple defenders that presented Ighalo with the opportunity. Iwobi was all over the field and his play was notable but as much as it was the difference maker in the second half, in...

Nigeria's manager, Gernot Rohr, repeatedly informed the world that his team was one of the youngest, on average, at the 2018 World Cup. He touted that perspective before, at, and then after the World Cup. Rohr used it to suggest a reason why his team did not go beyond the group phase in Russia. But the reality is that Nigerians have previously experienced better and such an excuse should be taken with a dose of doubt. Gernot Rohr may not have gone past the Group phase at the World Cup but such an excuse will find him packing his bag out of Nigeria if the team fails to qualify for the 2019 African Cup of Nations in Cameroon. Thus, instead of touting a perspective that leans on rebuilding, he has to demonstrate that his team is now beyond that or that it, at least, is transitioning to the consolidation phase in building a strong Nigerian team capable of becoming African champion again. Consolidation does not mean absence of new players but it does require a team playing with exp...

International Games in September 2018 -- Nigeria played two international matches in September against Seychelles Islands and Liberia. Here are some statistical nuggets that emerge after those games. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Nigeria's often-vilified goalkeeper, Daniel Akpeyi , has now played 10 games for the national team but is yet to keep a goal out in each of those 10 games. This is an infamous statistic that appears to support the fan backlash against Akpeyi. His current per game rate for conceding goals is at 1.25 per game. Samuel Kalu debuted as an "A" team starter in a competitive match to join a list of nine players to do so for Nigeria in the last 10 years. The most recent player to do so is Anthony Nwakaeme against Algeria in a World Cup qualifier 2017. Odion Ighalo converted a penalty award against Seychelles Islands to break his streak of eight (8) consecutive games without scoring...

On September 8, Nigeria plays its most lopsided encounter ever. Opponent? Seychelles in a 2019 African Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualifier in Victoria. Since Nigeria played its first game in 1949, it has never been involved in a mismatch as the Victoria game portends. Thus, the recent statement by Coach Gernot Rohr, that Nigeria cannot afford to lose in Victoria is a major understatement. The fact is that Nigeria must win and by a big margin. Anything else will be considered underwhelming. Already, one of Nigeria's group contenders for a place in the 2019 AFCON finals -- Libya -- has whipped Seychelles 5-1. This game should not even be a contest. A low-populated archipelago, such as Seychelles, has no chance and for good reasons. Comparing both countries (see Table 1) informs you of all you need to know about the upcoming contest. What is realistic is that this is the game where the likes of Ighalo and Iheanacho should use in filling out their goal scoring statistics. Make no mis...

The World Cup is over and done. What's next? Time to think about the 2019 African Cup of Nations (AFCON) and the long journey to the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. Yes, I realize that there would be another Cup of Nations before 2022 but that isn't really as important now as the 2019 version. There are things that we learned from the recent World Cup in Russia that come in handy as we take a look to what's next . For one, Nigeria's midfield commander in the last few years, Mikel Obi, is on a downward trajectory and while we expect him to be at the AFCON in 2019, that may not be the case in Qatar 2022. But this blog piece is not about Mikel but a position-by-position review about the team. The team, in terms of its character and then in terms of its personnel, bears another review. That is what this blog piece is about. So let's get started. The Team: Character As long as Coach Gernot Rohr remains coach it seems Nigeria is married to his much loved 4-2-3-1 as th...

By Aham Onyike (GUEST) From Russia --- Crazy, but somehow by pure random chance, Nigeria and Argentina are in the same World Cup opening round group five times including the last four World Cups. The group seeding is by public lottery so there’s no easy collusion. It is more likely that it is divine intervention, particularly considering that one of our main attributes has become prayer warrior-ing. Along those suggestions of celestial influence, the question arises. Why even with prayers asking for blessings we keep getting Argentina in our group? Which kin blessing be dat? Maybe it’s because we have had belief in praying to win the World Cup since our 1985 U-17 World Cup triumph in China. That victory made us believers , which is the first step in the response from the Almighty. Those boys were supposed to graduate to the senior team and repeat their accomplishments at subsequent levels. Heaven is maybe telling us that we should focus on beating Argentina. And when we can overt...