Adeola Aderounmu.
The Eagles have refused to fly!!!
Ivory Coast beat Nigeria by one wonderful goal to nothing. Kalou was given a glorious moment as he scored a classic goal against Nigeria.
The Nigerian team though made up of stars upon stars refused to show any serious approach to the game. It’s as if nothing was at stake.
I thought there was honour/glory attached to winning a game of this nature.
The tactical deficiency of the Nigerian coach was too obvious to ignore. While his counterpart brought in Keita who more or less won the game for Cote d’ivore, the substitutions on the Nigerian part left more holes in the pattern of the Nigerian style of play.
Football is not an easy game and we cannot expect Nigeria to win always but the display put up by the Nigerian team was below expectation.
They have an uphill task ahead of them if they want to go beyond the group stage(s) of this tournament.
A more tactical and more purposeful pattern of play is compulsory for any team that wants to go far in major tournaments. One hopes that the Nigerian technical team will go back to the drawing board before their next “make or mar” game.
I wish the super eagles and Nigerians success.
All the best.
Adeola