Former Nigerian goalkeeper, Dosu Joseph has advised the Super Eagles to maintain their level of consistency after the team’s resounding 10-0 win over Sao Tome in a 2023 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers.
Recall that Osimhen put Nigeria on its way against Sao Tome and Principe with the opener in the ninth minute and scored his fourth in the 84th minute to make it 9-0. Emmanuel Dennis netted a penalty in injury time for Nigeria’s 10th. Terem Moffi scored twice and Moses Simon, Oghenekaro Etebo and Ademola Lookman were the other goal-scorers.
Last week, Jose Peseiro’s men beat Sierra Leone 2-1 in Abuja to open their 2023 AFCON qualifier account.
The Super Eagles now top the Group A standings with six points followed by Guinea Bissau on three but with a game at hand.
Read Also: Ugly Six! – History of England’s Heaviest Defeats In Football
In a chat with Completesports.com, the Atlanta Olympic gold medalist stated that defeating Sao Tome is a good performance for the team but that the players should consistent in their play.
“I was really delighted with the performance of the Super Eagles against Sao Tome’, the Atlanta Olympic gold medalist told Completesports.com.
“Scoring 10 goals in a match is not an easy feat but then, I will urge the Super Eagles to maintain some level of consistency in their game. I was impressed with the general play of the players and their hunger to score more goals.
“The team’s next fixture against Guinea Bissau will be a good test for the Super Eagles.”
7 Comments
Can Any The Following Forwards Become One Of Peseiro’s Henchmen?
1) Orji Okonkwo (Cittadella) : a former teammate of Osimhen in the victorious 2015 Under-17 Golden Eaglets, Okonkwo banged in 7 goals and 2 assists in Serie B last season. Predominantly a right winger, the 24 year old can also play left wing or centre forward roles.
Orji has never featured for the Super Eagles. But if he continues to be proficient in front of goal in Italy, his chance might come.
2) Funsho Bamgboye (Fehervar) : another former colleague of Osimhen in Under-17 football, Funsho continues to have a steady career in the Hungarian Premier League. A dashing winger who plays with flair at times, the 24 year old remains more productive on the flanks.
With only one league goal last season and the Hungarian Premier League not being the most attractive, Funsho will need more goals to make a credible case for himself to be invited to the Super Eagles.
3) Josh Maja (Stoke City) : since replacing Victor Osimhen in Nigeria’s 2:2 draw against Ukraine in 2019, the 23 year old centre forward has been in international wilderness.
He has also been shuttling between France and England for his club football where the goals haven’t particularly graced his boots. Now in Stoke City in the English Championship, headline grabbing performances next season should put him in the fray for Super Eagles invitation.
4) Isaac Success (Udinese) : it has been four years since the 26 year old bulky centre forward last represented Nigeria. Much was expected of Isaac but indiscipline, injuries and questionable work ethics have blighted what was once a hugely promising career.
Mercifully, he found his form in Udinese last season by providing seven assists with just two goals. Critics say he should be scoring more goals. I say his assists records should be enough to warrant Super Eagles invitation if he keeps up last season’s remarkable numbers. We need selfless strikers in the Super Eagles.
5) Chuba Akpom (PAOK Salonika) : with next to no chance of ever playing for England’s Three Lions, Akpom jumped ship to Nigeria’s Super Eagles in 2019.
But his Super Eagles career is yet to leave the docks.
Poor returns in front of goal in club football and a plethora of exciting attacking options for the Super Eagles mean very few – if any – Super Eagles fans root for the 26 year old striker.
However, the predominantly centre forward Akpom remains an option open to the Super Eagles if his fortunes in front of goal in club football improve next season.
6) Marcus Abraham (Porto B) : it came as a shock to most Nigeria fans when Abraham moved to a rather random club in Poland called Radomiak Radom last season. He featured for the Super Eagles against Cameroon in friendlies last year where he won critical acclaim for his cool-head wing play.
Now back in the Portuguese season division, the 22 year old, who can also play in attacking midfield or centre forward, might just be able to charm his way back into Super Eagles reckoning.
7) Yira Sor (Slavia Prague) : this 21 year old winger remains a wildcard in international football despite his heroics for Slavia Prague in the Europa Conference League last season. The 6 goals in six games he produced in that competition have led to premature comparisons with Samuel Chukwueze and deafening calls in some quarters for his Super Eagles consideration.
Still, some fans warn that Sor might yet prove to be a flash in the pan. For others, if he continues on a growth trajectory next season, he would have earned a Super Eagles invite.
8) Samuel Kalu (Watford) : once a mainstay of the Super Eagles wings, the Abia born speedster now stands in the periphery of the national team. Still a fan favourite, many are praying that Kalu will stay healthy enough to reignite his once tinderbox Super Eagles career.
Should he endure a prolonged and prolific season in the English Championship, then Super Eagles recall should be just round the corner.
9) Anayo Iwuala (Esperance): the once posterboy of NPFL representation in the Super Eagles, Anayo cashed in on his Super Eagles status to swap the Nigerian league for the Tunisian top flight. This step up in quality of the league effectively served as the death nail on his Super Eagles prospects.
Now no longer ‘homebased’, playing in Tunisia does not provide ‘continued justification’ for his Super Eagles invitation.
However, should the 24 year old winger paint the Tunisian league green with goals next season, who knows, Peseiro might yet extend a shock invitation to him. After all, Iwuala is a decent winger.
10) Odion Ighalo (Al Hilal) : though not a fan-favourite, should Ighalo elect to make himself available to the Super Eagles for just 12 more months, I have no problems with his invitation if he continues to score consistently in Saudi Arabia.
A lot of critics claims Nigeria already has a lot of strikers to be looking at the direction of the 32 year old former Manchester United man. I say the more the merrier.
Nigeria has a lot of young talent especially forwards, pointing out attackers and wingers for consideration is as the Englishman would say, ‘half a dozen of one and six of the other’. Meaning it doesn’t matter which one we choose. You can point out 100 centre forwards but there is no vacancy for that position in the Super Eagles.
Selection should be tactically led, that is determined by the way the coach wants to play. If the coach requires wingers that can dribble and cross the ball, there is no point talking about a talented player that can’t cross the ball. If the coach wants attackers that press there is no point directing attention to players that can’t press.
If the coach needs a right full-back there’s no point drawing his attention to a left full-back when that position is taken. Selection is an art, most coaches do not get it 100% correct but about 80% correct, there are always 2 or 3 players that should be in the squad who just haven’t convinced that they’re better than existing squad players.
Instead, let Peseiro tell us how he wants to play tactically and what type of players and skill set he needs to achieve his tactical plans. Then we the fans can point him out to players that fit his tactical goals.
But Oga Peseiro has already voiced out his broad football philosophy, though thankfully he didn’t reveal the specifics. Just like @Deo suggested I’m against his revealing too much. (From my part of Naija: A king’s garments are not washed and spread in the open for all to see).
The fans have every right to recommend skillful players, but Oga Peseiro has a pair of eyes behind his head. It’s he who is praised or prosecuted.
Actually, it does matter which players are chosen to represent the Super Eagles as the right personnel in the right position could be the difference between success and failure in a match and in a tournament.
There is always vacancy for new players in certain positions in the national team at any point in time. Existing players lose form or get injured. Exciting players emerge all of a sudden. Coaches change their philosophies, the list is near endless as to why vacancies open up in the national team at any point in time.
Indeed, Nigeria does have a lot of young exciting forwards, particularly attackers and wingers, which is why very many fans hold healthy conversations about which of them that could be called upon at any point in time if the need arises.
Say there are 100 Nigeria-eligible center forwards who are banging in goals week in week out in club football, these center forwards will attract media coverage and attention and fans will undoubtedly add those 100 center forwards to their various social media discourse: that is just the way it is. Six of one, a dozen of the other, a century of another, it doesn’t change the price of fish.
By talking about these players, it is naive to suggest that fans and the media are suggesting players that might upset a coach’s tactical philosophy. Player performances attract discussions which are independent from choices that coaches make. Coaches have their own scouts and network of assistants that helps them make personnel choices to fill various positions on the pitch.
Peseiro doesn’t need to tell us anything. It is obvious to ardent supporters that Nigeria plays a certain way under this new coach. He is still at liberty to explain his tactical methods if he so chooses. That should not affect how fans go about discussing about players who are doing well or not doing well in club football.
Fans have the prerogative to comment on players of their choice. This is an exercise as old as time and it is part of what keeps football conversations vibrant and interesting.
Fans are fans they’ll always talk about this player is better than this. However, the more intelligent fans who wish to see the team succeed should contribute by elevating the conversation above the mundane.
Of what use to elevating the conversation is reeling the names of 10 center-forwards who can’t displace the current holder of the position? It serves as a time-wasting distraction away from areas of need where attention should be focussed.
Football is not just about individual skills it is also about tactical skills, and tactical skills are about the understanding, interactions, and decision-making skills that is developed between subgroups of players in a team on the playing field.
This is in fact more important in creating a successful team – if that’s what we’re aiming for – because with Nigerians you never know their motives in promoting players.
For instance, shouting about Ejuke’s undoubted dribbling skills without understanding his poor decision-making and disciplinary lapses that negate his overall value to any team.
In our technological era objective statistical data on individual players is readily available. So that if we want to make an argument for player inclusions at least we can upgrade the conversation by providing statistical support to our opinions. See TransferMarkt.co.uk
After only 4 matches in which 2 were selections made by others, what we have are sketchy outlines with which we can second guess the coach’s tactical objectives. I know his spoken English is indecipherable to me, so I let what I see him do on the pitch do the talking.
We know his formation preferences, we also know his preference for attacking football. But one of the beauties of football is that it operates with multi-dimensional variables, and what we’ve seen so far is but a subsection of the variables that determine success.
I read your comments often and I find your contribution one of the more intelligent contributions, but if you allow me a criticism, I find you obsessed with fixed tactical formations.
This, with current football trends is old-fashioned.
I actually started commenting on this site after the bitterness of the World Cup elimination, because I felt that both Nigerian sports writers, coaches and commentators displayed ignorance of advances in football tactics and philosophy.
My aim is not to knock down opinion but to help improve the conversation by inputting concepts and ideas that many fans may not be familiar with.
Permit me to recommend the YouTube channel DW Kick off!, HITC Sevens, Tifo IRL, The Coaches’ Voice
and the website Theathletic.com
Finally, I do not in any way fault your right to comment, but I implore that we upgrade our standard of conversation about a game we all clearly love. Only this way can we interrogate those in positions of responsibility about their decision-making, and achieve the overall aim we desire of a very successful Super Eagles.
It is nothing but arrogance in my view to categorise fans as intelligent or not intelligent ones. I personally find that repugnant and totally distasteful. All fans are intelligent depending on how and where they align their views and how they choose to express themselves. What one fan might call “elevating a point of view” another fan might regard as being totally irrelevant or not part of their position.
It is impossible to cover every part of an argument within the shortest possible words, so one has to be selective. That should in itself not lend to the writer being viewed as intelligent or not intelligent. Tolerance is a virtue and a very scarce commodity indeed.
Time wasting: who is the sole arbiter of time wasting? One man’s meat is a another man’s poison. If I read an intelligent contribution that doesn’t resonate with my subjective personal views, of course it will come across to me as “time wasting”. It doesn’t mean the whole world will agree with me. It only shows my personal pre-conceived bias and how they may have clouded my interpretation of what I read.
As a point of correction, the 10 players I highlighted are not just “center forwards” as you say. Perhaps your prejudice, bias, preconceptions or malice have veiled your interpretation of my write up. For the avoidance of doubts, these are 10 players who are eligible to play for Nigeria if ever the opportunity arises for them to do so. They are right and left wingers, attacking midfielders and center forwards.
For example, the likes of Terem Moffi and Cyriel Dessers struggled to get game time in the Super Eagles under previous managerial dispensations, now they have the chance. Others will surely get their chances as well.
In your haste to comment under my thread, you didn’t allow yourself the opportunity to assimilate what I was trying to convey. Contrary to what you pointed out above, it was not my intention to make a case for any of the forwards. I was merely highlighting players who could potentially stake a claim for Super Eagles invitations (like Moffi and Dessers) if circumstances conspire to work in their favour.
There can possibly be no crime in that. But again, we are the product or our personal bias. We are the product of our preconceptions. These have the tendency to veil our understanding of what we read at times.
You find me obsessed with “fixed tactical formation”. To that I reply : “No comment.” 🙂
My obsession is for ALL OUR NATIONAL TEAMS TO SUCCEED. If the coaches use “fixed or variable tactical formations” (whatever that means) to achieve that success, all well and good.
“Upgrade our standard of conversation” you say. Wow! I have been commenting here for quite sometime now and for me, the vast majority (perhaps all) contributors here comment to a high standard. I have nothing but respect for everyone who takes time out of their busy schedule to comment here. This is not a day job, this is not a dissertation, it is not a contract. It is a vocation, a pass-time, a hobby, a leisurely activity. Perhaps some of us attach far greater importance to it than others.
I just feel we should lighten up. The standard of conversation I read from all eminent contributors here is already an “upgrade”.
If by going to watch all these channels that you suggested -YouTube channel DW Kick off!, HITC Sevens, Tifo IRL, The Coaches’ Voice
and the website Theathletic.com – it will make me look down on other content from eminent contributors here as “downgrades” or “low grades”, no thank you.
I am fine just as I am.
Taiwo Awoniyi who plays in Union Berlin can add a depth for Super Eagles Attack , he can assit Osimhen and will enmancipate him from rival’s defence pillar.