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Ahead of the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations, former Nigerian midfielder, George Finidi has urged Super Eagles players to concentrate their attention on other players in the Egyptian team and not Mohamed Salah alone.
Recall that the three-time AFCON champions will face the Pharaohs of Egypt in Group D opening game on January 11.
Finidi, who won the competition with Nigeria in 1994, told Filgoal that the Liverpool forward and Premier League highest goalscorer this season, Salah could pose a threat to Nigeria but warned the Super Eagles about other Egyptian stars.
“I don’t think so. I think in football you have eleven players, everybody has his own role.
“Definitely Salah is a key player for the team and even if you stop him there are other players that can do magic, that can do their best as well to make sure that they win.
“If you add Salah if he has a good day then he’s going to be a problem, if he’s not having a good day definitely you have a chance to win.
“I think Egypt have been there, they have won the Cup so many times so definitely they have a good team to face Nigeria. I hope Nigeria will have a good day.”
14 Comments
A tree cannot make a forest. Salah alone cannot be compared to the array of stars in the Nigerian team. On paper Nigeria as a better attack and midfield than Egpt. Salah will support defence because I don’t think Egpyt will have the guts to attack us. They defend deep and rely on counter attacks. Our defenders should take note.
Finidi knows what he is saying. Egypt like other African Arab nations, plays for 90minutes non stop. Remember they have a near perfect understanding of themselves because majority of them come from a local club side, Zamalek. The super eagles must be ready to play for 100 minutes in 90 minutes, something like what finidi is saying.
So you didnt have array of stars when they disgraced us 3-1 in 2010 in Angola…? Or your array of stars were covered by clouds when you couldnt defeat Egypt and Salah home and away in 2016 to qualify for 2017 AFCON with a combination of Siasia and Amuneke on the bench…?
You better stop deceiving yourselves and listen to the voice of reason. What Egypt lack in stars, they make up 10 times with teamwork and unbreakable chemistry.
Finidi ur club Enyimba has lost back to back,what a gwan
EGYPT IS NOT INVINCIBLE IF ONLY EAGLES ARE READY TO PLAY 90 MINUTES OF UNTIRING FOOTBALL. THEY BEAT US IN 2010 NOT BECAUSE THEY WERE BETTER ONE ON ONE BUT BECAUSE THEY WERE QUICK AND OUR PLAYERS ARE SLOW THOUGH WE HAD STARS THEN.
FAST PACY FOOTBALL IS THE REASON THE ARABS NATIONS ARE DIFFICULT TO BEAT ,IF EAGLES CAN BE COMMITTED TO SPPEED AND URGENCY EGYPT WILL FALL.
THE PROBLEM WITH ROHR EAGLES IS THEY ARE LAZY IN MARKING, CLOSING UP THE SPACE AND ALSO SLOW TO MAKE USE OF SPACE TO PUNISH OPPOSING DEFENDERS, THE CAUSE OF THIS LACKADAISICAL APPROACH IS WHEN SOME PLAYERS FEEL THEY HAVE AUTOMATIC SHIRTS THEN THERE IS NO REASON TO WORK HARD ON THE FIELD,
IF AUSTIN CAN MAKE EAGLES PLAY LIKE THE WAY WE DID AT 96 OLYMPIC WHERE EVERYONE IS WILLING TO GO FOR THE BALL AND ALSO COVER THE BALL THEN IT WILL BE DIFFICULT FOR ANY TEAM TO BEAT US.
NIGERIA IS NOT AN EASY TEAM TO BEAT BY ANY STANDARD EVEN THE NEW FOREIGN COACH FROM PORTUGAL SAID IT THAT IF THE NECESSARY THING WERE DONE NIGERIA COULD HAVE GONE FAR AT THE LAST WORLD CUP BECAUSE HE SAW THE WAY WE PLAYED AGAINST CROATIA AND WE WERE NOT OUTPLAYED AS SUCH , EVEN OUR LOST TO FRANCE THE PREVIOUS WORLD CUP CUP , WE WERE NOT OUTCLASSED SO WHAT WE NEED TO DO IS TO MOTIVATE THE BOYS TO SWEAT AND THEN WE CAN TALK OF ANYTHING POSITIVE HAPPENING
To be competitive against Egypt:
1) We need to block the supply lines to Salah.
2) We should resist the urge to commit too many men forward. If we commit too many men forward, Egypt will counter attack, mainly thru Salah, and it will not end well for us.
3) We need to convert our chances as much as possible.
I agree with you 100 percent.
1. Focused and well positioned defense
2.Ruthless and unpredictable in front of goal
3.Paly at high intensity and pace .
I believe we have young enough ,professional and quick guys in that team to achieve this.
Additionally, against Nigeria, some teams will sit back and try to soak up our pressure, with the aim of surprising us with counter attacks. Other teams will be more offensive minded, and try to high press us.
When we face teams that play HIGH PRESS, we must avoid trying to pass the ball out from the back!
This is the NUMBER ONE source of cheap goals in world football at the moment.
It’s funny to me how teams keep repeating the same mistakes every week!
No matter how skillful and comfortable on the ball a team is, passing the ball out from the back under high press is ALWAYS A DANGEROUS GAMBLE. It is a dangerous gamble, even for the Barcelona of the tiki taka era.
Instead of trying to pass the ball out when your opponent is high pressing, keep it simple. JUST CLEAR THE BALL!
@Pompei, Eypgt may have defeated us in 2010 but till date they are still afraid of us so they won’t high press. Im sure they will sit back and rely on counters. So our coach should work out his tactics base on this paradigm. Play Ejuke and Chukwekeze on the wings and Ariball as a ten. With this we can distables their defensive network and score plenty of goals.
442,
Let’s hope they don’t. But if they do, we should be prepared.
These Maghreb sides are usually fast and technical, and whenever they beat us, it’s usually by capitalizing on our silly mistakes and naivety. They feed off our avoidable errors.
We must avoid feeding the beast.
If we starve them by minimizing our errors, we greatly increase our chances of success.
Super esgels should believe that they are going to beat egpeit hand down while because a tree can not make a Forrest
Nigeria will beat Egypt. We did it at Asaba not too long ago. Ighalo is around. If only the young Amoo was picked.
I’m hoping that Amaoo and Desser would be added to the team for the World cup qualifier. Although, it is too late for this two players to be included in the team in Cameroon now. However, with this two players, coupled with Ejuke and Chukwueze in the team, l believe strongly that, no team in Africa can roll over the Super Eagles in any competition in Africa. Unlike during Rohr’s era, the team was a crawling one, and very slow in every department of the team. With all the young, speedy and talented boys in the team currently, Egypt, Algeria and Senegal shouldn’t be a threat to the SE in any competition.
I bleed green any day, any where and under any condition. Finidi is right in his calculation. But if Eagles play their fluid like football as we know them, Egyptians cannot meet up. Eagles will soar over Pharaoh’s footballing armies by God’s grace