Players and officials of the Super Eagles have arrived in Uyo ahead of Tuesday’s Group C 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifier against Zimbabwe.
The delegation touched down at the Victor Attah International Airport in Uyo on Saturday afternoon.
The team will lodge at the Four Point Hotel, Ikot Ikpene, as they get set to host the Warriors on matchday 6 fixture.
A brace from Victor Osimhen secured a 2-0 win for the Super Eagles against Rwanda in Kigali on Friday as they get their campaign back on track.
The win took them to fourth position on six points and four points behind leaders South Africa.
Tuesday’s fixture is the second leg between the Super Eagles and Zimbabwe after the first leg ended 1-1.
By James Agberebi, in Uyo
8 Comments
Our midfield still looks a bit shaky. And I think Ndidi is not as solid as he used to be. Our decision to leave this former Brentford player is not right after what he did at AFCON. Also, Iwobi is always ever a suspect. He hardly fits into his role. Dele-bashiru should recover quickly. Rwanda were lucky bcos of their slippery pitch, it could have been worse. Finidi and Eguavoen should be banned from coaching the national team. The former coach that took us to the last AFCON got to the post through our usual shady deals, he didn’t deserve the post on merit.
The Nigerian-made coaches are ever so corrupt to the core. They will go to the extent of bringing in players from Tanzania and a schoolboy-player playing in the third division in England. Ndidi has already outlived his playing days. He should let go now. Every eye is on ‘our Iwobi’ now. He should take a stand or else.
Iwobi is no longer able to meet up under any circumstance, he should retire from international football and focus on what is left of any club football he is lucky to still be playing – he is always a short one for the Eagles. Ndidi is very good and he brings plenty of experience. He still has at least another 2 to 3 years left at the top of world football and the Eagles need him desperately to shore up the midfield and bring some serious experience to marshal our midfield against any team in the world – this is the last straw for the Nigerian coaches, it is sure now that they are not good enough, at least not the usual suspects like Finidi, Egauvoen, Amohachi, Amunike etc, those guy must never ever be allowed to coach our national teams again.
Thrre is no way Zimbabwe will escape. Osihmen is back. We struggle to score before because of all these Boniface, Awoniyi, Onuachu who can’t score goals.
No problem now because goals will come plenty plenty.
I didn’t watch the match live so I had to go to the FIFA site to watch the replay. I saw some good and also lingering bad issues.
The problem as always is in the midfield. As others have said Ndidi’s contribution for a midfield player is to minimally mark players and defend the centre backs.
This translates into creating 3 centre backs of Ndidi, Bassey and Ekong. It leaves our centre midfield underpowered and outnumbered.
In possession, Ndidi rarely carries the ball into the opposition’s heart to connect with his other midfielders and thus dominate the centre.
Instead, in possession, he continually recycles the ball from left-right and vice versa with short passes to the other centre backs.
The result is that there is a distance gap between Ndidi and the other midfielders (responsible for connecting with attackers) and the only avenue for attack is through the wings, usually the left occupied by Lookman.
There is a distinct weighting of gameplay activity (or hotspots) on Nigeria’s left, whereas there is nothing happening on the right. This suggests an imbalance in the team structure and I believe the origin is in midfield.
Because Ndidi operates as a deep lying defensive midfielder acting as an additional centre back even when the team is in possession it causes players like Iwobi to fall back in order to connect with the defence.
This should not be the case, it is the defensive midfielder’s job to connect the defence with the attacking midfield. However, Ndidi is afraid to lose possession [even when playing against poor teams like Rwanda]and expose the centre backs.
This fear stems from the inadequacies in his skillset. He is a poor passer of the ball and his ability to hold on to the ball under challenges is questionable.
Overall this means Nigeria rarely attack through the centre, instead all attack is from the left where Nigeria has its most skilful and penetrative players in Lookman and Simon.
If I can see this, then the opposition coach can also see it, and Rwanda deployed two players to constantly mark Lookman on the left.
Chukwueze on the right is a good player but he requires support. He is not as skilful at dribbling as Simon and lacks Lookman’s acceleration in going past players, but if closely supported by either his fullback or a midfielder he can play penetrative combinations.
The other problem is the refusal by Nigerian players to swing long passes from left-right and vice versa. The Nigerian team prefers recycling the ball using short passes between its defenders. Many atime I’m left asking, when play is being dominated on the left, why no-one has taken the initiative to swing a long pass to the deserted right field of play.
A further issue is with the movement of the ball. Some players take too many touches on the ball as if lingering with ball equates with playing well. In possession and going forward, the ball should be accelerated with minimal touches by players.
A final issue is with combination play, the only time Nigeria played mesmerising combination passes in that match was between 20:46 and 21:00 minutes. This sequence of well executed passes nearly scored by Lookman showed what is possible with an effective passing game of players with good passing skillsets. This is why I, like the Spanish team, prefer midfielders with good passing ability.
Inevitably the opposition being faced should dictate the skillset that needs to be deployed in midfield. Yes, if we’re facing tough opposition we can deploy bruising tacklers in midfield. In football, midfield tactics is always changing and we should not remain either static or fixated with yesterday’s methods.
On individual performances deserving criticism, Bassey is a poor header of the ball, Osayi is indisciplined because he wants to play like a winger and invert.
The good news is tactical. Nigeria finally started set piece coaching. A set piece led to the first goal and several times during free kicks and corner kicks the Rwandans were unnerved by our set piece tactics. However, it is still early days and the coach needs to incorporate this fully into his team tactics
I still don’t understand what more one expects Ndidi and Iwobi to do.
They played a decent game. Were totally organised and played to instruction.
Once again, Iwobi had to sacrifice for the good of the team by playing out of his preferred position. His best role ( as done in his clubside) is from the wings, preferably, the right wing but, he had to play in the double pivot as a CMF, been instructed to carry the ball and be a support to Ndidi in terms of partially doing the dirty job when required. A job he did well.
As for Ndidi, he did excellently well. He was practically everywhere in midfield winning duels , getting back possession, cleaning up and even filling into defence when Bassey makes one of his daring runs forward . What more can he do?
As much as we expect the boys to improve and be consistent, we should cut them some slack sometimes.
We should understand this is their first game under a new Manager under different tactics . They would need to time get used to it and expectedly, hopefully, improve. If they don’t then we justifiably, criticise and call them out.
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Thank you! You couldn’t have said it better.
Eric Chelle was handed a poisoned chalice to qualify for the world cup after his predecessors hung him out to dry with poor results prior.
The former Mali gaffer must not be judged by qualification for the world cup which in truth is no longer In his hands. It is a 4-horse race with Rwanda, Benin and South Africa in very strong positions as Zimbabwe and Lesotho primed to be verified spoilers.
Chelle should rather be judged on how his Super Eagles prosecute games. And he started brilliantly against Rwanda.
The Super Eagles were compressed, compact and composed. The likes of Chukwueze, Simon and Ndidi suppressed their instinctive urges in order to support the fabric of the formation which led to the victory.
Modern football is one or two touches team-play with movements in sync with the fabric of the formation. The days of lone rangers are a thing of the past or reserved for under age football.
I keep making reference to Finidi’s era because I felt he relied (a bit too much) on individual brilliance which – I must confess – I thoroughly enjoyed. But an approach that led to embarrassment and ultimate failure.
But Peseiro played compact football which was boring and widely criticised but was just over 45 minutes from leading to Afcon gold.
I struggle to criticise any of the players in the game against Rwanda. The toll it takes mentally for the likes of Chukwueze, Simon, Ndidi and Lookman to repress their in-built reactionary impulses in deference to the instructions of this new coach can never be appreciated by the average fan.
In time, I hope all these invited players and the ones (like Onyeka and Dele-Bashiru) to be called up later will continue to buy into and be submissive of Coach Chelle’s methods.
Because I saw discipline, organisation and a unified sense of vision, purpose and direction from all the players (who all sang from the same hymn sheet).
Every time I see the level of togetherness, the Super Eagles and the Super Falcons tend to “do well”. Do well doesn’t mean winning the ultimate prize. It means playing football the way football should be played, regardless of the outcome.
The Super Falcons didn’t break new grounds in the last world cup. In fact, there is an argument to be had that, results-wise, Coach Randy Waldrum was a monumental failure.
But one thing is universally undeniable: he improved the Super Falcons by injecting solidity into their tactical approach making the team a far more credible and highly respected brand in world football than what he inherited.
I didn’t particularly enjoy the brand of football I saw against Rwanda. A part of me still loves Eguavoen’s and Finidi’s “players should express themselves” approach philosophy to games. If you grew up watching Okocha, Esin, Aghaowa and Ikedia, you will understand my plight.
But times have changed . We all saw the price-tag of failure that that recklessly individualistic approach purchased for Finidi and Eguavoen.
,Should Chelle continue with his team-centric approach, old timers like me might complain and grumble. But results will bear him out as a football revolutionary.
Whether we qualify for the world cup or not, I can already see the seeds of greatness in this team. A return of disciplined, professional, organised and strategically astute football is upon us (so long as he continues with the same approach that yielded the hard won win against Rwanda).