Just recently i blogged about my expectations and how I expect Nigeria will fare at the just concluded world cup in Brazil. If you had followed that write up, I stated categorically that how far Nigeria will go at the world cup depends on the caliber of players we will bring to the mun dial. The world cup has come and gone with all high and low's .We all saw some mind blowing surprises as it became almost impossible to predict any game as they come. Indeed this world cup really ridiculed book makers to a great extent . Whatever happened to countries like star stunned Spain, England , Italy , Portugal (with all the Rooney and C.Ronaldo) these super football countries could not make it beyond group stage, I was shocked.I am sure that by now questions are being asked, I know that countries are submitting reports on their team's technical performance and making amends on how to get it right next time.
My question is how will you score Keshi's tactical Performance ?
After managing to make it to the second round from group f which had Argentina, Iran and Bosnia Herzegovina . The Super Eagles where eliminated by France in the second round by 2 - 0. In the first game they drew against a highly tactical Iran and beat Bosnia by a lone goal , lost to Argentina by 3 - 2 in their last game . So overall , Nigeria played four matches and won one , Though many saw this as a fair result , i actually think it is indeed a bad result.
Why?
With our level in Football and our players scattered all over the world at our disposal , i think we are suppose to go more than the second round.The issue is that Keshi's experimentation became un-ending and we continued applaud it, I saw some of his mistakes even before it came and every time i try to write about it , the response i get is '' he won the nations cup , he is a good coach, leave Keshi alone, The truth is politics has practically taken over almost every thing in Nigeria, We look for excuses in everything. In Nigeria it is most easy to chose the part of excuse, when we fail ,we make excuses instead of critically looking at the reasons for failure, Politics!! Truth be told, most of the players Keshi brought to the world cup had no business being there.What has Chigozie Agbim, Azeez ,Uzoenyi, Kunle Odunlami,Azubuike Egwekwe,Reuben Gabriel contributed to Nigeria football enroute world cup ? What were the criteria for making the world cup team at the expense of Obasi Ogbuke,Ike Uche, Nosa Igiebor, Sunday Mba, John Ogu . Minus six unproductive men from team of 23 and the answer you get was why we could not advance to quarter finals .If you noticed against Frence after Onazi got off the field after that bully tackle by Matuidi , the music ended for Nigeria, glaringly we had no replacement for him , if you also noticed , Azeez was going to be introduced but that moved was halted by Mikel who complained finding it difficult to partner with Azeez in the midfield. Tactical error from the coaching crew if you ask me. The French side knew how important Onazi was in that Nigeria side , they studied the team and had a game plan , When Onazi got off, the puzzle came. We had no bench , no player to replace the exact and actual power such that Onazi showed in all the games. Infact Onazi was the only link between the defence and the attack. The formation we played was not easy for our boys because they were not fit to keep up with it.Mikel was constantly playing long balls against Iran, even when it was not working , he kept doing it.
Permit me to say that Mikel Obi was suppose to be a driving force of the Nigeria team's midfield but rather Mikel found it extremely difficult to hold the ball, in fact all balls that came to him practically went retrogressive. What happened to him really ?
My point is that the selection of players was key. In world cup , Countries are expected to come with their best , I honestly dont think we came with our best. How can you bring players to world cup and you are afraid to use them ? people don't come to world cup to learn, they come to show the class they are made of . Enyama did that , Onazi , Babatunde and Omeruo did that too but I generally think many have no business being there.
The high point enjoyed by Germany started some 10years back. They went back to the drawing board after a dismal performance in Korea/Japan world cup . Germany restructured their football and made it better,to actualize this, hard decisions were taken and it improved the quality of their league and their National team. Now everbody can see the result because its clear , Nigeria can do same .
What are we doing after the world cup ?
Is it same story as usual or would we analyze our flaws and strive towards getting it right next time as Germany did ? or do we resolve to blame games and excuses as usual?
Way Forward
I call on the authorities not to sack Keshi but to appoint a foreign coach that would assist him on tactical basis. Keshi should also thrive to upgrade his knowledge on current football but most importantly our boys need to start hustling for playing time in their various clubs.
Getting it right begins now !
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