Football Nigeria -- Eagles Etcetera

Surely, those beating their chests and high fiving in Abuja to celebrate the outing of another Nigerian coach must be aware that the larger picture is that such chest beating has come at the expense of nation – Nigeria.   The rapid demise of yet another national team coach last night following administrative shenanigans should rise to the point of severe concern. Coach Sunday Oliseh, in spite of his emotional roller coaster and eruptions, does not deserve the barrage of administrative actions that have followed in the last two weeks. Take a minute and reflect. Was elimination from the African Nations Championship (CHAN) the stage from which a coach should be crucified by a federation? If it is, then certainly the federation must be operating without a long term vision. No team, and I mean no team, will reach the zenith o its potential without growth pains. As some speaker once said: “the only place where ‘success’ comes before ‘work’ is in the dictionary.” In the real world, w...

Nigeria's national team coach, Sunday Oliseh, found himself in a seemingly diastrophic situation a few days ago after he reacted angrily to widespread and caustic criticism over Nigeria's failure at the African Nations Championship (CHAN) in Rwanda. At the end, he retreated to safety with an apology after appearing ready to go toe-to-toe with those he classified as pushing him off the cliff edge. To put it mildly, it was stunning to read some critics call for Oliseh's sack after the CHAN loss to Guinea when major qualifiers for the 2017 Nations Cup and 2018 World Cups were just a few months away.To use Oliseh's words, it was an "insane call" and to be serious, it was a ridiculous and an incomprehensible call. But it certainly ruffled Oliseh. He erupted and displayed his worst side, the side that we all anticipated would come unhinged sometime during his tenure and it was what we all feared. In responding, Oliseh flung one claim after the other and s...

This article explores the following question:  How many players or percentage of players are bypassing league football in Nigeria but end up appearing in significant number of games for the Super Eagles?  This question arises because in the last decade or so, many Nigerian players are moving directly from academy football in Nigeria to professional football in Europe. This question looks at only the best of such players who bypass the local league. We do this because our data include only players good enough to play for the Super Eagles. Ultimately, answering the question gives us an idea of how much football may be changing in Nigeria. It is important to note that determining what academy football is or is not in Nigeria is not so simple. In Nigeria, some of the academy teams play in the national league, usually at the lower tiers of the league. For instance, FC Ebedei which produces a large number of youth players, plays in the lower tier of the Nigerian league ...

Nigeria tied Tunisia 1-1 in a CHAN Group game today in far away Rwanda but in many ways the game is a reminder of what to expect when Egypt comes calling for a Nations Cup qualifier in Abuja next March. Of course Egypt is not Tunisia nor is the current Egyptian coach a clone of previous Egyptian coaches. However, North African football appears eerily similar when they play.  Today, you could almost swear that you were watching the 2010 Nations Cup game when Nigeria lost 1-3 to Egypt. Nigeria did better this time because it refused to take the bait and be suckered into a highline defending that Egypt of 2010 exploited with balls over the top after leisurely playing around with the ball in their defense. Tunisia sought the gaps in Nigeria's defense but failed to find them regularly in the opening half but they found other ways to attack. They exploited gaps left by Akas going forward. Upfront, the abundant spaces in the wide positions that Nigeria exploited against Niger Republi...

Nigeria's 4-1 win over Niger Republic in Kigali today provided a gaze into Oliseh and his team for this tournament. While this was not Nigeria's A squad, it is the same coach and same ideas and today those ideas began to come to the fore. The dream of pacy wingers, using Simon and Musa in the A team, exploded today with Okoro and Aggreh pointing the way with explosive runs that constantly troubled Niger's defense. Niger thought it had the problem solved with the high trap after 20 minutes but Nigeria rebounded in the second half. The ball possession, playing from the back and through the middle appear different from Keshi's approach with long balls over the top. For Oliseh, it is working the ball from deep and then finding the gaps wide to the pacy wide players. Against Niger today, it worked like magic. Today, Oliseh showed again that he was not tolerant of mistakes. To replace a player before the half time whistle is not something usual with Nigeria's tea...

This month Nigeria will again participate in the African Nations Championship (CHAN) that will be hosted in Rwanda. This second tier championship for African states is restricted to locally-based players only. In Nigeria's group will be Tunisia, Guinea, and Niger Republic.  The competition was not initially designed for countries like Nigeria. Instead, it was designed for the weaker footballing countries that often are eliminated early in continental competition and, therefore, spend months of football inactivity. This is, particularly, a reason why qualification is regionally-based to provide opportunities for regions with weaker footballing countries to play at the final stages of the competition.  It is based on the above that many question the value of the competition for a country like Nigeria. In fact, several writers suggest that the competition has no value to Nigeria's football. The question is how true is the statement: "has no value to Nigeria'...

Recent reports indicate that Nigeria plans to play two international friendlies before a key Nations Cup qualifier against Egypt next March. Quite often Nigeria, as well as other nations, seek to play international friendlies before a competitive game. The idea is that an international friendly prepares the team for the more important competitive game that follows. However, Nigeria does not always play international friendlies just before participating in a competitive game. This makes one wonder whether or not it makes a difference playing international friendlies before a competitive game. This article explores the question of whether international friendlies before a competitive game makes a difference in the outcome of the competitive game. Method While we will not depend on an ultra scientific test to measure effects of international friendlies on the results of competitive games for Nigeria's Super Eagles, we will in this piece look at a few data. We will inves...