Nigeria head coach Austine Eguavoen has heaped plaudits on Umar Sadiq after the striker opened his goal account at the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations in Cameroon, Completesports.com reports.
The Almeria forward netted the opening goal in Nigeria’s 2-0 win against Guinea-Bissau at the Roumde Adjia Stadium, Garoua on Wednesday night.
Sadiq has come under intense criticism following his poor displays in Nigeria’s first two games against Egypt and Sudan.
Read Also: Guinea Bissau Star Pele: No Shame Losing To Super Eagles
The striker however earned plaudits from his gaffer after churning out a better performance against the Djurtus.
“I’m happy with how Sadiq played, he was a bit nervous in the first two games, but we gave him the confidence to do better,” Eguavoen said during his interaction with the media after the game.
“We decided to start him today to see how he will react from not coming from the bench and I must confess he did a good job on the pitch.
“There is always room for improvement and I believe he will get better with more games.”
By Adeboye Amosu in Garoua
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COMMENTS
First of all, good luck to our Super Eagles. More like he was pointed to be marked out, Sadiq Umar problem was that he was always surrounded by 3 defenders at a time and even at that he rose to the occasion when needed most. Coach Eguavoen, God shall continue to bless you, lift you higher. Your timely substitution was apt.
Mature words from a mature coach who knows what it means to believe in a talented player even when things are not going the way he wants.
Thank you for believing in sadiq coach and for giving him the opportunity to prove himself on the big stage.
I believe he will get better with time as he adapts to the teams style of play.
More confidence to you and more wins to the Super Eagles.
I LOVE THE OPENNESS AND TRANSPARENT WAY EGUAVOEN IS HANDLING THE EAGLES, INFACT NO PLAYER WILL NOT WANT TO GIVE HIS ALL.
IT’S CLEAR WE HAVE A RICH BENCH WHO CAN HOLD THEIR HEAD HIGH.
I WAS IMPRRESSED WITH KELECHI’S TELEPATHIC BALLS AND SET PIECES.
I OBSERVED THE IMPROVED QUALITY CROSSES ALSO.
WHAT I SAW OF IDAH TEACHES ME TO BE MILD IN CRITICIZING PLAYERS ON THEIR BAD DAY AND NOT TO BASE MY ASSESSMENT OF PLAYERS ON THE LEAQUE FOR
Well, be that as or may we wana see Dessers after AFCON. Forumite in CSN we’re the Architect of his Umar’s invitation. However we are not satisfied with his performance so far. So we wana who among Tere mofi, Dessers, will stake a claim for the third choice striker after Osigoal and Awoniyi.. For now Onuachu and Sadiq have exhausted their chances with SE.
Thanks a lot for your entry FF-2.
Umar is a fascinating player who is just struggling to interpret Eguavoen’s philosophy. Also, I might add, Umar has also labours to shrug off his markers in this tournament. The measure of his effectiveness would be how he can free himself from his markers to create space for his own game to flourish. It’s almost as if all the defenders he came against in this tournament have watched him play and know exactly what to expect: they have had the measure of Sadiq.
His goal was scored when the attention of his markers was elsewhere. For him to flourish under Eguavoen in this tournament, the coach has to work out a way for him to have breathing space to roam, pounce and plunder. See how the likes of Aribo and Simon brush their attention-seekers aside at times effortlessly.
It is too early to give up on Umar. I really applaud Eguavoen for persisting with him. What is now left is for both of them to work out what works best for Umar to deliver a compelling performance in the remainder of the tournament.
I love the way you analyse, very insightful.
oga why are we like this, so we should keep others outside because sadiq is untouchable. so if we are playing against algeria, cameroon, morocoo, cape verde, ghana, england , argentina, another strong that we not give us chance to breath what do you what the coach to do, to pause the game for sadiq to score. during rohr you were writing articles upon articles what is happening now. so olayinka that did better than sadiq should now be scarifies for sadiq, we are watching you people should keep leading the coach astray
Douglas, the part of your entry that I love most was when you said: “should the coach pause the game for Umar to score?” 🙂 That was so classic. Thanks.
Let’s hope Umar comes good in national colours. If not, then it makes sense for him to make way for others. In truth, he has been afforded ample opportunity in this tournament to stake a claim.
my boss, we have to demand for the best becos if we lower the standard, then we will go back to the days of siasia, keshi, olise and co that didn’t build team for the feature. the vultures in glass house are already manipulating the coach to dance to their tune. we only have one team and country which is Nigeria, we should not allow it to go down to the dogs. let our conscience be our guide
His poor judgement in front of goal can cost us a lot . There is no time to understand footballers in modern day international matches. How weeks do you have to train?. A striker will have to come prepared and face the task.
He has missed so much chances that it might cost eguavon his job too. Thank God is in an interim position
Terem Moffi is a strong striker who can hold up play. We need striker that can hold the play and press very well without losing their balance or committing fouls. Awoniyi has this in common with Osimhen and ighalo. I also see that quality in Moffi. We play a physical game and that quality is very important in our strikers otherwise the team balance would be impaired.
Onuachu should be tested under another coach like Eguavoen, the truth is that Right did not know how to utilize Paul’s quality, I believe Eguavoen will know how to unlock Paul’s potential as his coach at Gent did.
Before “killing the hi g best goal s order in Belgium last year we must try him under a different coach.My thought though.
Line-ups for second round
GK- Maduka okoye
( Composure than I saw with francis uzoho)
Defenders: Ola Aina, Troost Ekong, Ajayi Samuel, Sanusi Zaidu..
(Ajayi posses a better Recovery/Arial Threat than Kenneth Omeruo, While Sanusi Zaidu kept the backline than jamiu opening space at the back and both have not given us the much needed cross from there overlapping runs)
Midfielders: Winifred Ndidi..Joe Aribo, Kelechi Nwakali
( Alex Iwobi would be a fine Substitution for (joeAribo/Nwakali) at this department for game changer)..
Attackers: Moses Simon, Taiwo Awoniyi, Kelechi Iheanacho..
4: 3: 3
Substitution
Peter Olayinka
Samuel Chukwueze
Ahmed Musa
Alex Iwobi
Jamiu Collins
Kenneth Omeruo
O. Ndah
F. Onyeka
Coach Eguavoen has proven to have gone places with this set of Eagles. I hope the football federation grants him the leeway to take SE to the World cup where history will be made. Ride on Sadiq.
I have learned to stop criticizing or maybe condemning Nigerian players. I did that Moses Simon and Ekong. Look at what they are doing in this tournament.
I think sodiq will get better. He will adapt. He is not a bad player. But I want to see desser to know who will occuoy that third striker position.
Don’t forget that onuachu benched dessers for a whole season,I don’t think he is that good,and he is still coming from the bench in his new club now.
Desser is different trust me on this. He may not be the dribble or leg over type, but his goalscoring IQ is high. On Umar, I actually like the guy right from his Roma days, after watching him play against AC Milan. So, I may be biased in my assessment.
Dessers is a different striker entirely. Osimhen is the only striker that compete with him.
Coach Eguavoen made a great mistake in his selection. He said he didn’t know
Dessers that much but I can tell you that he did that intentionally.
I will like to see Dessers after the Afcon in Cameroon.
I hope you are enjoying the performance of the Super Eagles so far? God bless Nigeria!!!
If Dessers was so good, why was he loaned out after Onuachu was benching him week after week. Onuachu was unfortunately injured why he is not in AFCON today doing what he does best.
YOU HAVE DONE YOUR BEST ENOUGH ON HIM BY GIVING HIM CHANCES OF COUPLE OF MATCHES TO PROVE HIMSELF COMPARE TO GERNOT ROHR THAT GIVE CYRIEL DESSSERS ONLY TWO MINUTES ACTION OF PLAYING AND STOP INVITING HIM & ONYEKURU AGAIN INTO THE SQUAD. THOUGH OPPORTUNITY COMES AT ONCE. NO TIME OF GIVING PLAYERS OF TEN MATCHES TRIALS BEFORE THEY PROVE THEMSELVES, WE HAVE MORE THAN ENOUGH PLAYERS THIS TIME AROUND WAITING FOR CALL-UP. LET EVERY PLAYERS GRAB THEIR OPPORTUNITIES WHILE GIVING THEM CHANCES.
Hummm we saw what you did there coachie.
And Algeria crashes out. So called favorite. People who said 9ja aren’t favorite ok ooo, 9ja we stay humble and take it game ny game, no pressure on us let d pressure be on d so called favorites, we do our talking on d pitch. Ghana, Algeria better than 9ja with all dia many many experience, una dey see as one by one dem dey fall on d way side. 9ja we move. In Eguavoen we trust. Soar high SE we are solidly behind u. Don’t take any game for granted, be focus and do what u do best which is win, win, win
Looking like we might meet Gambia or Tunisia….. Algeria just kpafukad like an engine that has served its usefulness. The Arab cup just before the Afcon might have been their undoing…Next time Algeria….I expect them to play like hungry lions for the WC play offs.
People say Rohr’s team, Eguavoen’s team,this and that….. When Tuchel took over Chelsea how many new players did he add before winning the Champions league? The same team was languishing in the 10th position of the premier league. Eguavoen remains the only Nigerian Manager to win all his group games not once but twice (2006 and 2021) let’s rally around this man and forget the past. At the end of the day It is a Nigerian team and not any particular coach’s team…If you are truly a patriotic fan you won’t stooo low to using detracting methods to criticize the team or low key waiting for failure so you can prove a point.
Hear!! hear. l clap for you. l won’t say more.