Super Eagles And Lessons From AFCON

The 2019 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON), hosted by Egypt, has come and gone, but its memories will surely linger for a very long time in the consciousness of Nigerians, particularly against the backdrop of the 93rd minute sensational free-kick by the Captain of the Algerian Desert Foxes, Riyad Mahrez, during one of the scintillating semi-finals against the Super Eagles.
Expectedly, the screamer, which beat the defence wall of the Super Eagles and sneaked past goalkeeper Daniel Akpeyi in the post, actually put paid to the ambition of the Nigeria team from lifting the most glamorous diadem in the African continent for a record fourth time.
Though the Super Eagles carted away the consolatory Golden Bronze against the Carthage Eagles of Tunisia in a third place encounter to apparently assuage the anger of the teeming soccer crazy Nigerian fans, many soccer pundits still believe that the performance of the Super Eagles was far below expectation.
There were strong indications that the Super Eagles were less than convincing in their display against Algeria in the semi-final clash in particular and generally were unconvincing in all departments of the game. For this reason, many of the fans including the local media, had called for the sack of the team’s Franco-German tactician, Gernot Rohr.
Furthermore, there was consensus that our players put every foot wrong during the competition virtually in all departments of the beautiful game. The defence, as it were, was apparently the major culprit, as most of the goals conceded by the team came from that department. Goalkeeping was as questionable as it was woeful. Riyad Mahrez himself buttressed and admitted this fact when he said shortly after firing his team to the finals thus: “I studied the wall and the position of the goalkeeper. The best I can do was to lift and allow the ball travel few metres above the wall and rest in the appropriate corner of the net”.
Also, it was as if the Nigeria’s technical crew led by Rohr used the tournament to test-run his 23-man squad, forgetting that a competition of that magnitude was never a platform for such a gamble. In fact, there was no room for experimentation as amply demonstrated by all the other teams that participated in the soccer fiesta. For example, a team like Burundi gave the Super Eagles a good run for their money.
That Madagascar, a debutant, shocked the team with two unreplied goals vividly proves the point that African football has come a long way, as there are no longer minnows in the game. This simply means that all teams must approach the AFCON in the future with all amount of seriousness it deserves, as well as adequately prepare for the competition.
Little wonder that most soccer pundits across the continent, from the onset of the tournament, never gave the Super Eagles a chance. They never saw them as favourites to lift the trophy. Perhaps, this was because they saw beforehand a team that was grossly ill-prepared to withstand the stiff opposition that teams like the Desert Foxes of Algeria and others put up at the tournament.
Interestingly, during the tournament, the technical and tactical ability of Gernot Rohr was put to question. It was also revealed that the selection of the players by the technical crew was manifestly a huge problem. This was to an extent that speculations were rife that Rohr was going to be relieved of his job. But the President of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), Amaju Pinnick, doused such speculations when he told the media that “Gernot Rohr will remain in the job. I have complete confidence in him. Gernot has taken us to the semi-final, the target we set for him”.
Beyond this, The Tide believes that this is the time to go back to the drawing board, and for the technical crew and the NFF to tinker a formidable team ahead of the 2021 AFCON and the 2022 World Cup. As Rohr rightly pointed out, the Nigerian team is a team for the future, as it has a good mix of experienced and upcoming players.
We posit that in the future, in the selection of players, balance must be considered in all departments of the game – the defence, midfield and attack.
Again, the choice of a coach must not necessarily be local or foreign. What is important is that we must go for somebody with the requisite competence, quality and track record. This is the way to go.