Eagles making their debut at the just concluded African Nations Championship in South Africa 201 since 2009, coming third in the competition despite doubts about Eagles performance before the competition, ODUKALE BOWALE takes a look at Eagles campaign in South Africa at the concluded African Nations Championship and possible players who can make Eagles’ list for World Cup Brazil 2014 in June.
The African Nations Championship is a relatively new event staged by the Confederation of African Football (CAF), having first been played in 2009; creation of the event was a response to the desire to strengthen national competitions regularly weakened by a mass exodus of top players who leave their home countries to play for foreign teams. It features only players who play their trade in the domestic leagues and features from all the six CAF zones on the continent.
Nigeria made her debut at the 2014 African Nations Championship (CHAN) edition in South Africa securing a third-place finish at the African tourney reserved for professional players in their country’s domestic leagues when they failed to qualify for the first two tournament finals in Cote d’Ivoire and Sudan. They were eliminated by arch-rivals Ghana for the inaugural competition in Cote d’Ivoire in 2009 and next-door neighbors Niger shocked them out for the next tournament staged by Sudan.
Eagles had to scrape past Cote d’Ivoire 4-3 on aggregate to make it to South Africa 2014 when they won the first game in Kaduna 4-1 courtesy of a brace from Sunday Mba and further goals from Gambo Mohammed and Ifeanyi Ede only to lose the return match 2-0 in Abidjan. In preparation for the African Nations Championship (CHAN) in South Africa, series of friendly matches was in place for the Eagles where big boss finally made the 23 man list for the tournament.
Eagles started their African Championship campaign against the Les Aigles of Mali and lost 2-1 in their opening game in Cape Town, where the Eagles struggled in defence and did not create many goal scoring chances as substitute Gbolahan Salami pulled a goal back for Nigeria, but for poor finishing, Mali had chances to kill off this game as pegged their opponents mainly in their own half of the pitch.
Having in mind the slim chances in qualifying for the next stage of the tournament, Eagles put up a much improved performance to scrape past Mambas of Mozambique 4 goals to 2. Mambas went in front but Nigeria restored uniformity when Enyimba striker Ifeanyi Ede stabbed home from inside the box after a nod-on from a long throwing following Kano Pillars playmaker Rabiu Ali putting Nigeria ahead, Mambas ripped open the Nigeria defence and allowed the stocky Diogo to round up Agbim and coolly slot home his second goal of the tournament in the 20th minute. Rabiu Ali again put Nigeria in front in the 54th minute, when and substitute Barnabas Imenger made the game safe.
Costly errors saw hosts South Africa go down 3-1 to Nigeria in their last African Nations Championship match and crash out of the tournament in spectacular fashion as Nigeria’s goals came from pint-sized winger Christantus Ejike (2) and an Ifeanyi Ede penalty.
Astounding Nigeria came back from three goals down to beat Atlas Lions of Morocco 4-3 to qualify for the semi-final of CHAN where Nigeria three goals were scored during the second half of the play, while the winning goal was scored during the extra time. It was indeed a surprise victory for not only Eagles but as a country as whole, as Nigerians and different sports pundits applauded the team including President Goodluck Jonathan as the “god of soccer” is commonly referred to as a Nigerian.
Keshi’s team reached the third playoff of the CHAN against all odds in spite of being seconds away from elimination in the hands of the impressive Moroccans before Ejike Uzoenyi’s cracking goal. After their sensational comeback against Morocco, it was a huge anti-climax that Nigeria will not be playing in CHAN final as Ghana made Nigeria pay through penalty, as they literally used their strength to muscle the Super Eagles out of the championship game. It was rather ironic that until recently Nigeria were known for their physical approach to the game and Ghana more for their flair as the local Black Stars were very defensive. Eagles killed off the game against South Africa and Mozambique with a display of ruthless finishing, but could not do same against their perennial rivals and resulted in a third playoff that they will now battle Zimbabwe, while Ghana had the bragging rights.
Super Eagles never gave up hope of taking third place of CHAN as Keshi motivated his boys to finish the tournament in style when they face Zimbabwe in the play-off.
While it’s the first time Nigeria plays in the CHAN tournament and are happy to get as far as this stage on their first attempt, Nigeria claimed the bronze medal after a hard-fought 1-0 win over the 10-men of Zimbabwe in Cape Town where Chinonso Obiozor playing his first match of the competition, looked a constant threat with his pace and power and having come close on a number of occasions, finally got his reward on 85 minutes in the third-place playoff in the final five minutes as the Super Eagles labored past their stubborn opponents.
However, looking at the performance of Nigeria’s Super Eagles at the tournament, they showed that they were indeed slow starters; they have been responsible of turning out sleepy display in the opening minutes of their games against Mali and Mozambique in the group stage of the tournament as well as against Morocco in the quarter finals. The Eagles were not lucky in this regard against Malians which were Eagles first outing, but rallied back to beat the Mozambicans and the Moroccans 4-2 and 4-3 respectively.
Also, conceding early goals in the first few matches they played during the tournament for example against Mozambique, the Super Eagles conceded two goals in the space of 10 minutes; however, the game against Morocco was the height of a bad defending conceding three goals in the space of seven minutes before clawing back to win 4-3 in magnificent style to reach the semis.
In addition, poor communication at the defence, in three games against Mali, Mozambique and Morocco, Keshi’s team showed how not to defend. In the three games the defence was weak and allowed themselves to be overrun. Chigozie Agbim, who is also captain of the team, sure needs to take the lead in barking out instructions to the outfield players as that has been the trait of most top goalkeepers.
Nevertheless, there are positives for Nigeria to take from the jst concluded outing; coming third in her debut appearance was a thing of joy and also an avenue for the home based Eagles to prove themselves to make the list for World Cup in Brazil as big boss Keshi exposed that, about five players from the 2014 CHAN will be considered for places that excelled during the just concluded CHAN to the World Cup and has refused to mention name, but likely players includes Ejike Uzoenyi, Kunle Odunlami and Rabiu Ali, who were picked by CAF in the tournament XI.
CHAN Most Valuable Player Ejike Uzoenyi will be top of that list to make Eagles squad come June for the World Cup in Brazil. A tremendous display from the player after a return of three goals assists for his other team mates and three man of the match awards. Keshi singled out the Enugu Rangers left winger for special praise, Uzoenyi did well to be part of CHAN and it is believed that he has attracted some serious interests overseas as a result who will now be a viable option for the left side of the Eagles attack as Italy-based Nnamdi Oduamadi has struggled to convince lately in that position.
Also, Sunshine Stars FC central defender Odunlami Kunle who currently eyes World Cup played the whole six matches in CHAN displaying good marking skills, made the team of the tournament after a laudable display, touted to be Super Eagles Fabio Cannavaro in the making. He has shown he has the qualities to play at this level and seen by many to replace Godfrey Oboabona.
Kano Pillars midfielder Rabiu Ali, great passer, best player in Nigeria Premier league last season, brace against Mozambique, effective goal-scoring responsibilities, creativity and providing inventive spark in the midfield stands him out from the rest of the team can make him enough to contest with Sunday Mba for a place in the Eagles midfield.
Eagles Strikers Ifeanyi Ede and Gbolahan Salami made a considerable impact in the competition, Ede scored in the destruction of Mozambique and host country South Africa during the group stage matches and formed of an enviable partnership with Uzoenyi while Salami blessed with blistering pace and good ball control, started his scoring campaign against Mali, though didn’t find the back of the net again as injury forced him out.
Defenders Benjamin Francis and Solomon Kwambe could also be considered as they have been part of the full international team even though they did not impress in South Africa. Francis had a disappointing tournament, still has a long way to go as a potential contender for Elderson Echiejile’s. Kwambe made a great impact, supported the attacking line-up with his overlapping runs and threatened opposing defenders. Kwambe recovery rate was thin as he failed to return to his primary role of position on time.
Agbim let himself down by some questionable goalkeeping at CHAN his show during the competition raised eyebrows over his eligibility to be Nigeria’s no 1 not only that, but as third choice to Vincent Enyeama and Austin Ejide in the main Super Eagles’ team, he will now have to fight to be the third goalkeeper to the World Cup in June.
Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) must also look at the option of getting coaches from league clubs to handle the next team for the 2016 CHAN as most observers agreed that the best players in the Nigeria league were not in South Africa. These coaches, who will be answerable to the coach of the full international team, should be given part-time contracts and allowed to return to their clubs after national team duty. And preparations for CHAN 2016 in Rwanda must start in earnest.
