Japan ’93 FIFA Under-17 World Cup winner, Festus Odini, in an exclusive interview with Complete Sports has backed the Super Eagles to beat the Carthage Eagles of Tunisia in their next friendly on Tuesday.
Odini insists the Gernot Rohr’s team must step up and play with a better mentality after a poor approach in their 1-0 defeat to the Desert Foxes of Algeria on Friday.
Festus Odini
How will you access the Nigeria vs Algeria game?
I didn’t see the game but from what I heard, it is not a good result for a team that is preparing for the AFCON qualifiers in November. For
the players and the country as a whole, the result wasn’t encouraging.
Everything boils down to the coach because he will get sacked when things go wrong. The coach should try and have a really balanced team.
Also Read – Better Days Ahead’: Yobo Takes Positives From Super Eagles Defeat To Algeria
You can lose but the way you lose matters a lot. If you lose and your team did not play well, that means you are having two problems.
Gernot Rohr has been there since 2016, don’t you think he should have had a balanced team four years after?
He should have known his first team by now. He should not be overhauling his team every now and then. Now, it’s like he is just going back.
It appears that without Victor Osimhen, the Super Eagles can’t score goals. Are you impressed with Paul Onuachu?
I think Onuachu needs to do more. He is delivering at his club, Genk and then, he should also do the same thing for Nigeria. Onuachu has the quality to give Osimhen a very good competition, but I think he needs to step up his game.
Ahead of the Super Eagles friendly against Tunisia on Tuesday, what advice do you have for the players?
They should try and redeem themselves with a very good performance against Tunisa on Tuesday, and they should also try and make Nigerians smile with victory because we don’t see it as a friendly. We cannot be playing and be losing like that.
Can the Super Eagles beat Tunisia?
Yes, we can, I believe we can win. The boys should go with the right approach and also play the game with the right mentality, and then they can win.
By Oluyemi Ogunseyin
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COMMENTS
Complete Sports, please do better… If u are interviewing an ex-international, please try and interview one that at least watched the match… Mbok, don’t waste our data with the views of a man that could not even attempt to watch the match!
man @ Q, you nailed it. Thumbs up lolz. you can imagine the kind comment CSN, expect nigerians to take serious. He didnt even watch the match, but yet making conclusion on performance. Truth is, nigeria as a country need deliverance from nigerians.
Lol! I’m telling you even most of the fans crying here since Friday didn’t watch the match. They were just happy that Rohr finally lost a match since the AFCON. Rumbling about criticizing the gaffer for a loss in a friendly against the African champions.
Every we day complain over one issue or the other. Its high time CompleteSports got brand new journalists.
I actually expected the journalist, to move to the next question or even end the interview session immediately the man mentioned he didn’t watch the match. Because, the man doesn’t have content. Everything he said in the interview were either based on assumptions or hearsay. No content from the supposed ex-international.
I am not even an ex-international, but I don’t miss Super Eagles matches. If for any reason I miss any of their matches, I will quickly download it and watch it.
For Onuachu and other strikers we have invited and will invite in the future, I will say it here clearly that our scouts are not doing a very good job. If I were to scout for a striker, I won’t necessarily be looking for the highest goal scorer. As much as I am interested in your goal ratio and ability to score goals, I will also be interested in what you in the period you are not scoring goals. I will look at your positioning, your ability to hold up play, your ability to keep possession including dribbling, the type of goal you score and how you score them etc. The truth is this….
most strikers thrive on penalties and tap-ins. So, when those opportunities don’t come, scoring become a problem
Every we day complain over one issue or the other. Its high time CompleteSports gets brand new journalists.
I actually expected the journalist, to move to the next question or even end the interview session immediately the man mentioned he didn’t watch the match. Because, the man doesn’t have content. Everything he said in the interview were either based on assumptions or hearsay. No content from the supposed ex-international.
I am not even an ex-international, but I don’t miss Super Eagles matches. If for any reason I miss any of their matches, I will quickly download it and watch it.
For Onuachu and other strikers we have invited and will invite in the future, I will say it here clearly that our scouts are not doing a very good job. If I were to scout for a striker, I won’t necessarily be looking for the highest goal scorer. As much as I am interested in your goal ratio and ability to score goals, I will also be interested in what you do in the period you are not scoring goals. I will look at your positioning, your ability to hold up play, your ability to keep possession including dribbling, the type of goal you score and how you score them etc. The truth is this….
some strikers thrive on penalties and tap-ins. So, when those opportunities don’t come, scoring become a problem
Every day we complain over one issue or the other. Its high time CompleteSports got brand new journalists.
I actually expected the journalist, to move to the next question or even end the interview session immediately the man mentioned he didn’t watch the match. Because, the man doesn’t have content. Everything he said in the interview were either based on assumptions or hearsay. No content from the supposed ex-international.
I am not even an ex-international, but I don’t miss Super Eagles matches. If for any reason I miss any of their matches, I will quickly download it and watch it.
For Onuachu and other strikers we have invited and will invite in the future, I will say it here clearly that our scouts are not doing a very good job. If I were to scout for a striker, I won’t necessarily be looking for the highest goal scorer. As much as I am interested in your goal ratio and ability to score goals, I will also be interested in what you do in the period you are not scoring goals. I will look at your positioning, your ability to hold up play, your ability to keep possession including your dribbling skills, the type of goal you score and how you score them etc. The truth is this….. some strikers thrive on penalties and tap-ins. So, when those opportunities don’t come, scoring becomes a problem
Imagine??? “Did u watch the match?? “….. “No, but from what I heard, they lost and didn’t play well”. Oga, how on earth would u be be able to assess the performance of a team if u didn’t watch the match urself? Is it not stupid and foolish for u to come out in the media and spew garbage about a match u didn’t even watch. If rohr stuck with his regulars (as u pointed out that he doesn’t have a team) and maybe lost the match, you’ll be among those people shouting that he is too conservative and doesn’t want to give others a chance. Now that he fielded a team made up of mostly new guys, u are here talking jazz. Pls old man, if you don’t know what to say or do, go carry ur phone and start playing temple run. Don’t come here and be disgracing urself. If u like, make u no watch our next match on Tuesday. maybe na for ogogoro joint u dy when we played our first match as it is written all over ur body. U no see yours eyes as e dey….
Lolzzz. Oboy no kill me with laugh oo. Okporoko don over soft for pot, abeg put pot down
Oakfield my personal person. My belle go burst with laughter o. The tin tire me sef. How you go interview person wey no watch the match??? My belle o my head o.
@glory, @Igbekun my man…. Lols…. The thing tire me big time…..
@Oakfield, in just a few words you have already done better than the so-called journalist who conducted and reported this interview.
Beginning from the moment he spelt assess as access, I immediately didn’t take the write-up serious. Then to my surprise this drunk looking so-called ex-international tells that he didn’t watch the match and yet they decided to still carry on interviewing him about it. We have to do better o
Lolzzz..@Lordamoo, honestly I give up… Lol
“… He should have known his first team by now, he should not be over hauling every now and then…”
Is Mr Festus a nigerian at all?
Is it not in this country that ROHR is being crucify for not inviting new players to the team?
Is it not in this country that Rohr is seen as a coach that invite players without using them???
If Mr Festus should say this, then it’s evidently clear that all this “SUGGESTING” of players by some sect of people is just out of hatred ASAP.
Invite this one,,,, invite that one,,,, call this one,,,,, call that one….
In a friendly game of just one (like that of BRAZIL or UKRAIN) match the want the coach to use all the 23 players….
Some don’t even know fifa rule, that once a team substitute more than 6 players in friendly, it’s counted void and null. Fifa don’t recorgnise such friendly….
THIS PEOPLE ARE JUST IRRITATING HONESTLY SPEAKING…
And saka didn’t even make the match day team for England vs Belgium, wonder when this guys gonna learn.
Tunisia will win again ✌
The one area I will fault GR for yesterday’s game is his lack of communication with the midfield players knowing fully well that he was missing his regular midfielders. This is where people like Pep, Klop, Simeone, Hagelsman differ from others. They are constantly coaching and barking instruction to dia players. I understand people have different personalities but when GR noticed that the midfield was not functioning like they did during training, here is where he should have bn communicating with Onyeka and Semi about their positioning and the requirement to hold on to the ball and not just rush it out. Our team needs true leaders who would grab players and tell them what they are doing wrong. Our boys are sometimes too politically correct and try not to hurt others feeling. Am not in camp, it’s just my observation. I may be wrong but the personality of the SE team is soft, and teams often take the personality of their coach.
How Rohr should set up against Tunisia:
Yakubu;
Akpoguma, Ekong, Leon,
Tyronne Onyeka Sanusi
Iwobi. Ejuke
Kelechi, Dessers,
This is quite interesting and funny lolz. Ah, I can’t stop laughing with the response of the Mr. Odini though. He didn’t watch the but he analyzed the match wella lolz. Oh 9ja people, I hail you o.
So, it means Oga Rohr’s team is predictable.
That means 70% have lost interest in Oga Rohr.
“You can lose but the way you lose matters a lot. If you lose and your team did not play well, that means you are having two problems”.
That’s exactly what happened. The man have spoken well if we put sentiments apart but Nigerians hate to hear the truth.
Ndidi is the masiah of the coach Rohr’s team as if he wasn’t there at the Afcon? Kai, He even committed the penalty that sent Nigeria out of the tournament. Stop this excuses.
This is more than just a friendly match period. Brazil, Argentina and many of these countries doesn’t joke with their friendly matches why Nigeria?
That is the question of the day. Oga Rohr have to get his tactics right. On tuesday, no excuses. I won’t say more than that. Ire o. God bless Nigeria!!!
Festus Odini is a seasoned footballer… he was a starter for our Japan 93 cadet team and is speaking from experience not reading of internet pages and praising Rohr without being factual… Super Eagles have no team coordination despite over three years with Rohr… let us see solid good confident football. I greet you @Omo9ja… if people like Taribo west speak from experience they will call him outdated as far as he is not singing yes…yes to poor showing of Super Eagles and the Coach himself. What is the identity of our football now… what pattern are we playing? Wait, soak up pressure and counter-attack… is that football? make we rest for super praise-singers here in the face of stark reality joor!
Hahahaha…the next thing you will tell us now is that you and Festus Odinni were team mates at BCC lions and at YSFON tournaments….LMAO
That Wait, soak up pressure and counter-attack…pattern has won us more matches than any SE coach in history ever won. If you truly know football and played under a coach, you will know the golden rule in football that you dont fix what is not broken. The essence of the friendly match was to find out areas of the team that needs to be fixed and that exactly is what will be done….eg ‘wait & get’ strikers will be kicked out of the SE for good. If you like concoct an encyclopedia of excuses for them till next year.
…. @Drey. Hahahaha. I will maintain, Paul Onuachu is a good striker. You all can crusade and have him dropped but one day soon Victor Osimhen will run into like problems if others to help him keep playing street football…
So Osimhen and others now plays street football…it is your Onuachu that cannot even control ball that is playing at the highest level like you….LMAO. Leave our Osimhen and his street football team mates, we like them like that. Wait till Tuesday to see real strikers play.
Did you read me say Osimhen plays street football… Please be patient when you read…
“…You all can crusade and have him dropped but one day soon Victor Osimhen will run into like problems if others to help him keep playing street football..”
Ngwa explain yourself. Because the next thing you will allege is that your words were twisted
This your advice will be very good for you.
… @Dr.Drey lol. Really? You don’t want to tell me you have English comprehension problems! Wow… I meant if Victor Osimhen is not helped when fielded like quick ball releases from midfield and particularly wingers… Opposing defenders may easily swoop on him and corner him like we always have two to three Algerian defenders closeup on Onuachu. In receiving balls an attacker always backs or have his side to a defender… that’s why intentions and assists should apply decoy and be quick… Osimhen against good and quick central defenders can run into similar problems if chukwueze and Kalu don’t quit unnecessary dribbles and time dribbles well if they must do one… That’s what I meant, when I also advise you to be patient to read and decipher meanings well before typing you will think I am slighting you… But in your usual quest to always sound right and win arguments you jump off without comprehension and begin to twist ones words to suit your characteristic loud writeups! A professional footballer begins to play street football as we know it in Nigeria once he starts playing to the gallery with unnecessary showmanship and dribbles… Isn’t Kalu and chukwueze often guilty of that?
Person wey no watch match dey analyze match. This one na ORACLE ANALYSIS. Na waya ooo!
Q, Oakfield and co, una no go kill person with laugh this fine Sunday evening!
Nice line up, Sportsfan. I have always believed that based on our past performances, the 3-5-2 or 3-4-3 systems are the best for this present crop of players that we have. When we play 3 center backs, we look more solid defensively.
The lone striker role is very difficult to interpret. It requires great intelligence, stamina, and physical strength.
The only striker we have currently who can play the lone striker role is Osimhen, and even he struggles with that role. Even the great Yekini struggled as a lone striker. He was much more dangerous when paired with another striker, and Westerhof knew this. So he would often pair Yekini with Siasia or Amokachi.
So instead of the lone striker option, we should be looking at playing 2 strikers, or a main striker with 2 wingers pressing high up the pitch and playing close to the main striker.
With this set of players, if we play either the 3-5-2 or 3-4-3 systems, we maximize our chances of success against any team in the world. I think we should play this more often and perfect it. Let the players get used to it.
My 3-5-2 line up would be the same as Sportsfan’s posting above.
My 3-4-3 line up is as follows:
Okoye
Akpoguma, Ekong, Balogun
Ebuehi, Onyeka, Iwobi, Sanusi
Chukwueze, Dessers, Ejuke
PLEASE 3-5-2 or 3-4-3 will do us just fine.
Nice one Pompei! 🙂
@pompei, how far. Longest time. Nice to read from you after all this while
Two strikers up front with one attacking from the wings needs to be explored. Like pompei said playing with just one striker can be tedious especially when the wingers arent scoring goals. We should play like we did in 2013 when we had emenike and ideye upfront with v.moses supporting them from the wings. Those were good times. If Ejuke can prove himself to be a support striker then I suggest we leave him on the left side of the attack with desser or iheanacho in the middle as the main striker then kalu can move to the right wing in a 4-3-3 formation. Or we go 3-5-2 with both kelechi and desser striking and with tyronne/simon and sanusi playing as wing-backs with 3 central defenders and iwobi holding the mf with onyema just infront of the back 3. Looks good, but can it yield a good result?
Rohr is a commander that have to his disposal ruthless and sophisticated weapons but doesn’t know how to use them at war front.
We appreciate him securing theses players but he must device the best means to bring out the quality in them.
Why is Paul Onuachu scoring for fun at Genk? The right tactics and formation will help these players realise their potential.
Rohr has worked so hard with the team to bring it up to this level of reckoning but the deficiencies in his formation and tactics is his undoing.
Howbeit i will continue to support and respect Rohr for the unity and love he’d restored to the National Team.
All we need from him is to get it right so we can compete with the elite nations in the game. We will surely get there by God’s grace.
@Oladapo Adesina… Now that is how to be objective and frank. Rohrs tactics is still not make us come to party whenever faced recently with real opposition not Benin Republic and the liked of Lesotho….
Reading through the write ups on here really impresses me, more so by the fact that most of us understands the problem of the Super Eagles as it relates to playing against a formidable side.
Most of us still have faith in the ability of Rohr to keep bringing in the positive.
Most of us understand that there are some “personnel” that don’t deserve to be in the national team (looking at you Onuachu). And by the solution being professed on here, it shows most of us understand that the Gaffer needs to try out some tactical switch so as to come to a standard formation that would suit the vast majority of good players we have right now. We should create a style for the team rather than create a style around a player or “players”. By doing such, whenever we go out scouting,we scout for players that suit that particular style or is determined to adapt to that style of play. I do know it is hard work but it is work that can be done and should be.
Like I said in my previous write up, the Algeria match is water under the bridge;it is what friendly matches are for, not so much for the wins but more for the learning; we definitely have learnt a lot. Going forward we just have to make amends and see how much positive comes in,if not we keep learning and working;after all ,knowledge is a continuous process..
Hi Mr.Hush,
Thanks for your acknowledgement on my contribution on another article the other day. Much appreciated.
Stay blessed.
deo
Nig v Tun: Preview
The Super Eagles of Nigeria will be seeking an outcome against Tunisia on Tuesday 13 October which would delight the fans following their slim 1:0 defeat in the hands of the Desert Foxes of Algeria on Friday.
“Sticking together as a team! Not the results we wanted (against Algeria) but we’ll take the positives from the game last night and keep improving. Better days ahead,” stated Yobo on Instagram.
Funny enough, goalkeeper Maduka Okoye expressed similar sentiments on twitter when he said the result against Algeria wasn’t what the team wanted. He said they are fully focused on the next game.
Now, on the theme touched on by Yobo and Okoye, how can the team get the result they want against Tunisia?
Quite bizarrely, after losing to Algeria on Friday, the friendly against Tunisia on Tuesday seems to me like a 3rd place Afcon match. And as Nigeria never loses 3rd place Afcon playoffs, I have an expectation of victory in this match.
When it comes to Afcons, the last 2 meetings between the North and West African nations have ended in 2 wins for Nigeria while Tunisia last recorded a victory in the semi-finals in 2004.
But this is a friendly match so winning should not be the only factor that will determine a positive outcome. Having said that though, losing 2 games in a row has the potential of denting the morale of the players and fans.
If we say that the Super Eagles are moving in the right direction, losing consecutive friendly matches has the prickling effect of punching a hole into that narrative.
So I think there is a lot riding on the outcome of Tuesday’s match as a direct repercussion of the loss against Algeria.
It’s tight rope to navigate.
On the one hand, you want the friendly match to be a lighthearted affair where new players and formations can be experimented. On the other hand, you do not want to lose game after game in the process.
“Rohr will definitely call for more players, because this is the building process of the team! and I believe they (players) will do better in their next match against Tunisia,” said Ibrahim Galadima, a former Chairman of the Nigeria Football Association.
I think Mr Galadima achieved a sort of balance in his comment: yes, try new players however, play better than you did against Algeria (and hopefully win the match).
And I believe that they can achieve the result that Yobo and Okoye want.
In the match against Algeria – despite the loss – I saw players who were hungry, patriotic, dedicated, passionate, positive and all of them seemed to me to have the right attitude.
This is good!
Yes some performed better than others whilst certain players may have harmed their future chances with the team (with subpar displays) but it was never for the want of trying.
So, like Yobo said, I too see better days ahead. The players are talented and most of them have the right attitude.
Now it’s all about learning from past mistakes, clicking together as a cohesive unit and being flexible to adapt to their opponents’ tactics on the pitch.
The possibilities for this Super Eagles outfit remain very fascinating indeed.
Well written @deo,the attitude of the players is good and they have desire to make Nigeria great… Many things did not work in our favor against Algeria, not having our midfield trio, missing Osimhen, showboating by our wingers, and a striker who can’t hold up play, make the right runs, and also trouble opposing defenders. But with that said, the game against Tunisia will be different, the players are hurting, they know they need to stand up and be counted… So let’s see how it all unfolds tomorrow.
All respect @Deo
And as always,great piece…
I am not comfortable with the incessant “slow start” attitude of our national team to matches. I think for us to be the real super eagles in soccer we will really need to correct that anomaly.
It happened too against Brazil, we almost conceded before we were able to settle down proper and grow into the game. Had Brazil scored before 2-10mins into the match it would had been a different ball game today.
When you know the exact time for a particular match and you are being dressed up for it, by the time the referee signals to commence the match there is no need to be dilly-dallying. Algeria studied us very well and took an advantage of that to our defeat. It was painful loosing to them again this time.
I so much love the super eagles that anytime they loose match it affects my emotional well-being, perhaps because of the mindset I always have prior to their matches, I really need to curb it for the sake of my health.
I hope FIFA will soon sanction the switch of Felix uduokhai,lookman, Dominic EJARIA. I don’t really trust Ekong and I am not always comfortable watching him play for us.
I feel better with Balogun in defence, Ekong has his good sides too… But most times I feel he could just put us in trouble, his distribution is suspect, and sometimes he looks short of confidence! Maybe match rustiness is affecting him too, I hope he gets his acts right bcoz there are decent defensive options in the squad, Akpoguma, Ajayi, Awazie, etal… No time for dulling!
We need better midfielders to compliment the ones we have already. Ndidi, aribo , etebo will recover but it goes to show that we are very much dependent on them.
Lets look for adequate back up for them. They are out there (ejaria, azeez, nwobodo etc)
we also need better attackers ones who can compliment and stand as backup for osimhen. We have them (simy, umar, olayinka)
When he said Onuachu has the quality to give Osimhen a good run in the team I stopped reading… Lol.
Naija still no dey understand Modern day ball. okay oooo, Una go hear word come Tuesday. I dey siddon dey look wella wella lol..
“When he said Onuachu has the quality to give Osimhen a good run in the team I stopped reading…”
Ugo, thanks for this catchphrase. I love it men! It sure has a ‘punchline’. I just can’t stop laughing…
Thanks bro and have a pleasant week ahead.
Also Let me take a bet, Rohr will decide opt to Drop Chukwueze instead of Kalu and replace him with Ahmed Musa, another reason why my darling Eagles go hear Word come Tuesday. sometimes it is better to watch silently.
Also @Dr Drey it is funny to see how you are making too much mouth acting like salvation man. meanwhile that your same mouth you use to gather your Air head followers on this forum is the same reason we are in this Situation because for some reason people can’t seem to see through your bull shit. now you are hear forming like you like Osimhen meanwhile you battered all of us who questioned his exclusion during Afcon now you are Osimhen’s biggest fan. Chai wonders shall never end. Anyway I dey hear dey look.
once again I am eagerly awaiting the Skippo in the Making Onyinye Wilfred Ndidi return to the set up. Ndidi is the rightful Captain of this team