Former Nigerian midfielder, Austin ‘Jay Jay’ Okocha has slammed Super Eagles striker, Taiwo Awoniyi for not taken some of the goal scoring chances that came his way against Sudan in Saturday’s 2021 Africa Cup of Nations.
Recall that the Union Berlin striker made it 2-0 after Samuel Chukwueze opened the scoring in the third minute.
While reacting to Awoniyi’s performance, Okocha told Supersports that the Nigerian international should have done better than the solitary goal he scored.
“Awoniyi would have done better. He would have scored more goals after that lucky goal but he was in too much of a haste.
“When he looks back at the match he would regret it.
“At least after scoring the goal, he would have gained more confidence.”
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COMMENTS
Legend ,with all due respect to you we shouldn’t put pressure on the only reliable striker we have in our hands in this AFCON. For me he was perfect in terms of high pressing, hold up play, team work and what have you. The chances he missed could have been missed by even Messi or C boy. So let’s not bring his confidence down through unnecessary scathing remarks. I hope Egudiola rest him in the last game so he can be fresh for the second round.Cos sadiq Umar that all the fans in this forum clamoured for has disappointed us. For now no back up striker as far as this AFCON is concerned. May God keep Awoyini injury-free till the end.
It was because Ighalo wasn’t available otherwise, may be only Iheanacho would have paired him. It is very unfortunate that forwards that should be scoring goals are now pressing game. I hope coach Eguavoen will start on earnest to begin processing Odion’s invitation to avoid what the Eagles are experiencing with our poorly performed strikers.
Shut up. Do you know the game more than Okocha? A striker main objective is to score goals and not the other way round. I used to support injection bof new and yound players but with what Iheanacho, Taiwo Awoniyi and Sadiq have done, I’m disappointed and would rather Egu get more experienced players after Afcon.
@legend, with all due respect to you, we should put undue pressure on the only functional number9 we have in this AFCON. For me he did very well in term of movement, team work, high pressing and hold up play.I have watched Messi and c boy miss chances better than the one Awoyini missed. I hope Egudiola rest him in the last game so he can be fresh for the knock out because the Sadiq Umar forumites clamoured for his inclusion has not lived up to expectation. What this implies is that for one we have only one striker going forward .Pls lets support him and pray that God keeps him injury-free till the end of the competition.
Awoniyi will come good…. this is his debut Afcon and he knows he is only in because someone is out injured hence the anxiety to score and make an impact…….Thank God he has opened his account now and that will ease some Borden on his shoulder psychologically…….we should take it easy on this young debutants with criticism…….we should encourage them and guild them to gather experience instead to keep relying on old and out of pace players.
This old and out of pace players I am sure are not older than Vincent Abubakar
Am sure if Cameron had the array of young talented strikers who are playing in top5 leagues like SE has they won’t be relying on Abubacar…….DENNIS-WAFORD, OSIMHEN-NAPOLI, AWONIYI-UNION BERLIN,MOFFI-LORIENT,SUCCESS-UDINESE,……..we still have other hot ones who are not yet playing in top5 leagues but they are on their way there because they are on fire…….ONUACHU-GENK,DESSERS-FEYERNOOD,SODIQ-AMERIA,OLAYINKA-PRAGUE,……so please stop making comparison that doesn’t hold Water.
That’s Okocha’s opinion and I robustly disagree. Yes Awoniyi missed a great chance, off Iheanacho’s pass (in the first half) but his overall play was very impressive. My takes:
1. He was full of running and pressing the defenders, just as he did against Egypt.
2. He created a great chance for Aribo in the first. I think Iheanacho was better positioned to score the goal.
3. The goal he scored may look fortuitous but a striker still needs to be at the right place.
4. His physicality and hold-up-play was great as well.
Every striker is guilty of missing chances, including Messi and Ronaldo. Awoniyi won’t be the first to miss chances neither will he be the last. Even Osimhem missed a lot of chances in the qualifiers, blasting the ball into the stands twice (I think against CAR in Lagos). In fact Super Eagles needed a last-gasp-winner by Onuachu to beat Benin. Meanwhile, Osimhem played the entire match!
Osimhen is the best centerforward at the moment but not the most clinical.
For me, Taiwo Awoniyi has done well so far. I’ll rate him 7/10.
Well,jay-jay’s comment is right.He has played this game at the highest level and knows his onions.The striker should calm down and take his chances.He is really hasty.
Awonyi is a good player, infact he should continue to make our team Post Afcon. But he would need to add goals to his game before he can displace players like igahalo and oshimem..
Those saying we should forget about igahlo were same people thst Said Simon should not make the afon team.. after Afcon we have serious wcq , I’m glad we now 3 deadly strikers in awonyi, oshimem and igalo
There’s no doubt or argument about Okocha’s abilities during his playing days or pedigree but that doesn’t make his opinions infallible. My point remains that strikers miss chances. The two strikes Awoniyi made were clear centerforward strikes. He didn’t connect well with the first and failed to hit the target with the second. Even CR7 misses those chances week-in, week-out. I don’t think it had anything to do with calmness. That’s my opinion though.
You may want to watch the highlights again.
Oh! So strikers miss chances?hmm.I thought it was only Ighalo that miss chances.suprised
You are only arguing for your preferred player.composure,calmness,giving a little time to see where you are shooting and technique has a lot to do with scoring
Depends on what was the context or topic of discuss.
Awoniyi has one goal in Afcon games, that’s 50% mark. Not bad
I don’t see where Okocha SLAMMED anybody in this article.
Okocha simply said Awoniyi should have scored more goals, and he will regret the chances he missed. That’s not slamming someone. That’s just stating the obvious.
In my younger days, when I miss a good chance in a match, I could regret the miss for weeks. That’s what Okocha is talking about.
The same Okocha praised Awoniyi for his hustling against Egypt. With this comments, Okocha is trying to push Awoniyi to improve. And adding more goals and assists to his already impressive game is what Awoniyi needs.
I remember how Omo9ja,Jimmy and Chima would come here to scream at Rohr for inviting Onuachu and not ‘deadly’ striker Umar Sadiq. Now breeze don blow fowl yansh don open.
@Seyi… I want to believe it is not me @JimmyBall you mean… I have only always said Umar Sadiq should play for a La Liga outfit or first disvision team in another league for us to believe his goals… I have watched Umar Sadiq a lot to know that his style is very languid and not aggressive… I have clamored for Olayinka more so please dont come and put forward falsities about me or anyone. If we even clamored for Sadiq Umar… we will not be wrong but what he has done is Segunda Liga in Spain… Simmy Nwankwo has done back-to-back in Italy… first in Serie B and then Serie A… so in that light, one wont be wrong to also throw in Simmy’s name… in this season of giving everyone a fair chance not like Gernot Rohr who was deliberately shutting people out of the team who refuse his agency contract deals through DW Sports Management…
Lol, I’m still waiting Sadiq to turn into prime-Ronaldo-De-Lima. I hope Eguaveon starts him against Guinea-Bissau. Good luck to him
Okocha is entitled to his opinion but I think Awo deserves more appreciation and encouragement.Okocha should be talking about the bench players, they have not been disappointing.
I’m really pleased that the team is blessed an ambitious, honest and highly tactical coach.
Cerezo understands and appreciates Awo’s capabilities.Two games he was substituted and the team’s attack went blunt.
Awo is among the top performers in this team. The fact that he has been able to evolve so quickly tells much about his impact on the team. Awo will come good for the team and will form a formidable attack with Osi. I believe Umar will also come good with time.
Let me add that Iwobi should be considered for the right side of the attack. He usually plays from that position at Everton and could do a better job than Chukzy.
*they have been disappointing **
Okocha is right in his match evaluation is not disputation or negotiable in his analysis that is his opinion nd it stands awoniyi should have scored vital necessary nd wonderful goal to keep his place intact no time to waste we have hungry better nd promising strikers so we never u re givin opportunity utilise that is the only way u can show that u have grown nd u re better if not the likes of osiemem Dennis moffi and sadig will displace him no time for lazy strikers
We don’t have aggressive number 9, I wish Osemhen is around, any team we meet, will see tiger in human form. Sadiq umar at Olympics I watch with Micheal obi is not rugged striker but cunning and slugish player. Awonyi performances is nothing to wright home. No9 always rugged and dangerous. Watch Osemhen, Awonyi is ageing secretly
For me, while commending Awoniyi for his efforts so far, he should work on his shooting ability (both short and long range).
Good Nigerian strikers in the mold of late Yekini, Emmanuel Emenike, Julius Aghahowa, et al has powerful and accurate shots in their leg. This is one area Osimhen also need to improve on beside Awoniyi….
Awo pls practice and work on your shooting capabilities and clinicality in front of goal.
Add more force to your heading (I rate Osimhen higher here).
For me, Olayinka should be giving opportunity vs Guinea.
After the AFCON, Strikers like; Osimhen, Dennis, Dessers, Simy, Moffi, et al., Should be looked in.
Ighalo should stay retired wit Alshab… He wasted a slot for us.
Very sensible comment. Agreed Victor Osimhen is ahead of all the strikers, still he’s not a clinical goalscorer. His goals are down to shear brute force nd physicality rather than finese. All our strikers need to work on their shooting, not just Awoniyi. They should practice more shooting in training. CR7 spent ours alone working on himself, that’s why he’s where he is today.
Experts say: “Accuracy before power”
Did I not say this before the tournament?
I am not a coach but I can tell from the final list. Why did he left out Dessers?
This question should be answered by Eguavoen. The coach said he didn’t know much about Dessers but he knew much about Umar Sodiq, Awoniyi and Olayinka? Who is fooling who. Now, the result is out and he must find a reliable striker among those strikers he selected.
Okocha have spoken well and if our wingers doesn’t score goals that means the strikers we have in this tournament will fail us?
We are talking about strikers and some people still mentioning Ighalo when we have so many abundant talented strikers?
After the Afcon, if Eguavoen recall Ighalo back into the team then he doesn’t know what he’s doing.
If not because of corruption, Dessers deserves to be in that team but here we are talking about our strikers again.
Coach Eguavoen found himself in this situation because of the oppressors in the glass house.
I will advise Mr. No nonsense again. He should put sentiment and tribalism aside and bench Umar Sodiq and introduce Olayinka in our last match on Wednesday before the knockout stages.
Who knows, Olayinka might be the solution the problem. Although, Awoniyi is staying but the main objective of a striker is to scoring goals.
Coach Eguavoen is going to this kind of tournament without having a reliable striker or a joker who can turn things around when things doesn’t work.
Osaze had a chance to play under Eguavoen back in 2006 Afcon and he did so well but why Dessers not be considered for this tournament.
We have four golies in this Afcon instead of three and why he didn’t use that opportunity for a striker in our league and having Dessers in the team at the same time.
Lastly, coach Eguavoen should use our last group match to strategize his game plan.
No room for errors as we are going to knock out stages. Good luck to Super Eagles. God bless Nigeria!!!
Where is IGHALO deadly oga?
So if you are a coach who knows his onion, you will prefer IGHALO to DESSERS abi??
And someone is using VINCENT ABUBAKAR as an example. Unfortunately, unlike NAIJA, CAMEROON is not blessed with strikers or goal scorers in the top 10 leagues. Mind you guys, some teams in leagues outside the top 5 are bigger, more successful and with better history and pedigree than those in the former.
Teams like CELTIC, GLASGOW RANGERS, FEYERNOORD etc play in and have won or made great impacts in EUROPEAN competitions
I hope when Dessers is finally invited and fumbled, @Omonaija will not deny ever advocating for his invitation. This one this our guy is screaming his name up and down. Until then sha