Equatorial Guinea captain Emilio Nsue admitted the Super Eagles outplayed his team in Sunday’s 2023 Africa Cup of Nations Group B encounter.
The game played at the Alassanne Quattara Stadium, Ebimpe, Abidjan ended in a 1-1 draw.
The Super Eagles dominated the game but were let down by their poor marksmanship.
“They were better in the first half, I think we played a very good game. But this is the way. We have to improve on our mistakes,” Nsue said after the game.
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“For us here, we are happy with the point, we are not happy with the performance. So, we have to look at the next game.
“For us, the next game is the most important one. ”
The Super Eagles will take on hosts Cote d’Ivoire in their next game in the competition on Thursday.
Equatorial Guinea will be up against Guinea-Bissau same day.
By Adeboye Amosu in Abidjan
14 Comments
No news on moffi in the camp!
I thought they said he was supposed to come yesterday..
We blame the coach all the time but if we are to be honest, our players are not playing to their potential.. too many missed chances
Don’t know what happened to Osimhen. Osimhen normally that would have score hatrick since he likes scoring against cheap teams… indeed you guys were lucky…
Osimhen was anxious, this is his first start, almost his first game in AFCON,he can only get better
The captain said the truth unlike their coach. They were so lucky.
I was expecting Osimhen to use that yesterday match to shake the whole Africa. He had the chance to score not less than three goals.
Peseiro hasn’t really been the problem in the last couple of games. They create lots of chances, fail to score and then concede. Seriously I won’t blame Peseiro, Osimhen needs to get his head straight and stay focus. He’s becoming the culprit. A player of his calibre shouldn’t be needing tons of chances to bury a game. Peseiro should please play Iheanacho against CIV.
One of the problems is conceding easy goals
Everybody just look at two one on one chances osihmen missed, you guys should tell him that less of replying every trash on social media, and more concentration on his finishing instincts.
Lookman is doing way better than me this season in Italy.
Nigeria v Equatorial Guinea: A Reflection
The dust has started to settle on the Super Eagles’ passable 1:1 draw against an obdurate Equatorial Guinea in their opening Afcon game. For me, I was thoroughly satisfied with what I saw. Peseiro’s boys displayed a clearly discernible pattern of play. They played with purpose, ambition and direction. They carved out neat and clear goal scoring opportunities which could have resulted in a win had they been more clinical.
The trends I observed from the game are highlighted below:
1, Aina as an attacking decoy: a tactical approach from Peseiro saw Semi Ajayi supporting the strikers in opposition box 18 to serve as a decoy and provide aerial threat. Several times, he was an outlet for crosses from Lookman. In fact, Ajayi’s presence inside G. Bissau’s 18 yard box drew a defender away from Lookman, allowing the Atalanta man to deliver a sublime looping cross for Osihmen’s goal. This strategy by Peseiro worked a treat because it confounded the opposition’s defence and almost gave rise to at least 2 more goals.
2, Formation: Peseiro showed flexibility by dropping his favoured 4-2-4 formation for a more practical 4-3-3. Onyeka served as the defensive midfielder in front of the back four with Iwobi and Yusuf serving as attacking midfielders. This arrangement shape-shifted to 4-1-3-2 when Iwobi joined Osihmen in attack to press and pin back the opposition, and 5-3-2-1 when Moses Simon joined the defence as Nigeria tried to restrain the opposition. For me, this arrangement provided balance and it enable the Super Eagles to play a fluid brand of football, impose their will on the opposition, to dictate play and to create several goal scoring opportunities. Unfortunately, Frank Onyeka was not able to read the game well enough in the defensive midfield position. Also, when the Super Eagles were defending, Equatorial Guinea still found room to manoeuvre in Nigeria’s midfield to create pockets of space and then cause harm. More work needs to be done in choking teams out and closing the sort of loopholes that gifted Equatorial Guinea their goal.
3, Passing Tapestry: The Super Eagles were a joy to watch on occasions yesterday. The way players combined to weave a web of intricate passes leading to credible scoring opportunities was truly commendable. Ekong’s long ball from defence found Ajayi’s decoy knockdown to Lookman who whipped in a glorious cross for Osihmen to head home with aplomb for Nigeria’s goal. Earlier, Ekong located Osihmen who laid it off to Aina who then slipped Iwobi who then unleashed a shot from outside the 18 yard box. Another clever build up lead to Yusuf crossing the ball across on grass for Zaidu who missed an open net. Again, Ajayi, Lookman, Yusuf and Iwobi had concocted a passing routine that ended with Simon on the right crashing the bar with a low shot that almost sneaked into the net. Iwobi and Aina combined to feed Osihmen whose header sailed harmlessly wide. An excellent breakout counter-attacking move from an Equatorial Guinea corner kick saw Ekong feed Iwobi who then slid in Zaidu Sanusi inside opposition 18 yard box but his shot or pass was fruitless. I can go on and on but the gist is that the Super Eagles combined VERY WELL to play vibrant football and pry open the opposition. Shame that Sanusi, Osihmen (who fluffed a 1 on 1 chance having been put through by Iwobi), Simon, Yusuf and Chukwueze couldn’t produce that moment of magic in front of goal. But nonetheless I commend their efforts.
4, No more overreliance on crosses: The single biggest chance that was missed by Osihmen came from a through ball from Iwobi in midfield before the Napoli man dragged his ball wide. The Super Eagles tried to carve out scoring possibilities from several routes yesterday which showed variation and imagination in their play. As alluded to in my previous point, several chances were created after a number of players combined well to stretch the opposition and find openings. Rather unfortunately, the Super Eagles failed to collect on their own passing investments with poor dividends in front of goal!
For me, I felt invested in the brand of football I saw yesterday. I was however always worried whenever we were under attack as we lacked the physicality and conviction to retrieve possession in a compelling manner. It was also very disappointing to see UEFA Champions League experience players being so naïve in front of goal. I think the strategy of Semi Ajayi joining the attack will continue to serve us well in games. to come. I am not convinced that Frank Onyeka is the right man for a defensive midfield position – he is too nice, we need a no-nonsense person there. Praise has to go to Yusuf for a compelling debut reminiscent of Etebo’s bruising style. All of the players overall did a fine job. I am not convinced by Nwabili but Peseiro succeeded in placating so many disgruntled Nigeria fans by just having anybody else apart from Uzoho in goal (on a psychological level, I think this is a masterstrike by the coach which made many of his die hard critics to hate him a bit less than they did). But for me a remorseless Uzoho sympathiser, I think Nwabili will be found out for his inadequacies. That said, unfortunately for Uzoho, the 4-4-2 formation that exposed and caused problems for him and Okoye has now been replaced for a more robust formation which means bad-belle people like me waiting for Nwabili to fail might have to wait a lifetime.
In all, kudos to the coach and the players. Another draw against Ivory Coast beckons. However if they should polish their finishing, then victory against the hosts isn’t out of the cards.
Corrections:
Point number 1 should be Ajayi.
Also, in defence, Nigeria’s formation changed to 5-3-2 as Simon joined the back 4.
Fine write up….eagles is a very good team…they playedvwell…they will ruffle some feathers in this competition.
Thanks Mike.
Well written @Deo you are unbiased and open minded i look forward to reading your write up and that of my brother@Glory. You criticize when necessary and also commend when the team does well. You are truly a fan that i admire so much. I still maintain that the team played very well and there are positives going forward. We are not the worst team in this tournament and if they can address some lapses noticed we will be difficult to beat. The coach may turn out to be a rejected stone that has turned out the cornerstone of a building. Super Eagle may surprise all of us in this tournament but if they fail life goes on but one thing am sure the team will qualify for the next world cup and will do well. Looking forward to the next game where anything is possible. We may just show the stuff we are made off and win the next game. Go super eagles go!!!
Thanks Ndubest
My take is he should have made the substitution earlier m. That 3 guy was slow and confused. He looked shaky too. The midfield was also slow and should move the ball quicker. The whole team was a bit slow and tentative