Former Super Eagles winger, Tijani Babangida has expressed delight with the Flying Eagles’ victory over Mozambique in the final Group A game of the 2023 U-20 Africa Cup of Nations.
Recall that the Flying Eagles defeated Mozambique’s Mambas 2-0 to secure a place in the quarterfinals.
Reacting to the team’s victory, the Atlanta Olympic gold medalist told Completesports.com that the Flying Eagles are back to their best after the shocking loss to Senegal.
“I am delighted with the performance of the Flying Eagles against Mozambique as they have shown their determination to make the country proud.
“They are back to their best and their focus should be on how to pick the World Cup ticket after qualifying to the knockout stages.”
Egypt and Mozambique finished the group with one point each, while the top two teams in Group A are one win away from qualifying for the 2023 FIFA U-20 World Cup in Indonesia.
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COMMENTS
Well done guys.
Nigeria will surely qualify for the world cup.
Please, come home with the trophy.
We can do it.
I can see Nigeria vs Senegal at the final of this competition.
Good luck guys.
God bless Nigeria.
Team still not impressive, even with this win. Basic footballing skills lacking. Passes are suspect, easy loss of ball, even shooting still lets the team down!
Something curious I noticed about these Nigerian age-grade teams (never in the Super Eagles), especially Bosso’s team. Every scorer, rather than celebrating with his teammates, goes to the coach to hug him. I would have ignored it like usual, but I’m seeing a pattern and drawing up a theory as this hardly happens at the age-group world cup proper (the scorer celebrates with his teammates). It seems everyone is trying to score credits and curry favour with the coach because making the final squad list often always goes beyond talents. The coach NEEDS TO LIKE YOU, so even if it means grovelling at his feet and giving him all the credit.
Retrospective Reflections Of Flying
_ Eagles Win Against Mozambique _
Two long range continental ballistic missiles from Lawal and Mohammed in the first half was all Ladan Bosso’s wards needed yesterday to flatten Mozambique and power their way into the quarter finals of the ongoing Under-20 Afcon.
Despite the win and six points in their kitty, this Flying Eagles class of 2023 continue to divide opinions with some fans left disappointed in their brand of football despite scaling the group stages hurdle.
For me, they are slowly starting to resemble the same team that took the Wafu Zone B U-20 tournament by storm last season where clinical and audacious shots from long range were one of the staples of their untarnished success.
They now have a tricky quarter-final fixture to navigate on Thursday before laying claim to one of the World Cup tickets on offer.
Before then, I take a look at some of my reflections on yesterday’s respectable win against Mozambique.
_ Reflections _
1) Impose their will: Nigeria were able to dictate play against a mildly decent opposition which was good to see. They were clearly the aggressors.
2) Goalkeeper distribution: Gloves-man Aniagboso continues to showcase a number of arrows in his quiver with neat distributions and a composed demeanor.
3) Long range shots: As a nod to one of the lethal weapons in their armory at the Wafu Zone B Cup last season, the Flying Eagles are starting to remind opponents of the venom they possess from long range.
4) Questionable defensive shape: The team were quite disjointed at the back at times with a wonky shape and inadequate support from offensive players. More technical sides might seek to exploit this.
5) Individual brilliance: The two goals of the game came as a result of two players taking the game by the scruff of its neck. That’s one of the themes that Nigeria fans pay to see.
6) More bodies needed in key areas: It can be argued with merit that one of the reasons Nigeria resorted to several long range shots was limited football intelligence that led to them having inadequate bodies, predictable movements and unimaginative incursions into their opponents’ 18 yard box.
Bosso’s boys have to be reminded that they can never rely on wonder goals from long range strikes to see games through; they need variations, methodical build-up play, neat first touches, unpredictability in movements and deft incisiveness to see off far superior oppositions.
_ Conclusion _
Bosso’s boys are yet to look like a team that will take the world by storm in my humble opinion. Even in victories they look flat, uninspirational and even vulnerable.
Kudos to them for showing grit, determination and a willingness to go the extra mile. But something still seems missing for me to label them tournament winning article.
The prayer is that they manage grab a World Cup coupon on Thursday, at least that in of itself will be a milestone worthy of praise.
I think they lack goal scorer upfront, the team is all round solid apart from that 9 position, if you look at senegal game they played better but senegal were lucky with that counter attack that was rebounded to the net after the gk saved tge first shot, the good thing is that the last time we had a good under age group of this level was 8 years ago 2015, since then we had nothing good from that level, we had to beg average players from european leagues, even if they dont win the trophy but players like daga, mohamed, ogbelu, and the keeper are super eagles future stars
@Collins,add Anigboso the super goalkeeper and Frederick the computer to that list.
Another first class analysis from @deo (i wonder why guys like him are not in the Nff technical committee). I want to touch on the 2 things you mentioned above:
The first is the defensive shape which is admittedly wonky as you said,in order to defend properly, the whole team have to be involved especially the Midfield, i mentioned earlier after the Senegal match that the midfield is undermanned which leads to spaces appearing in transition which in turn exposes our center backs,in order to solve these issues,the coach must increase the number of midfielders in a match whereby one is responsible for the chance Creation and 2 are used as shields that way the team’s rest defense Will be much stronger against counter attacks.
2. More bodies needed in key areas:the reason for the lack of bodies in attack is baffling maybe like you said it’s their collective lack of intelligence and technical nous but this is something the coach can work on by creating variations in how they attack like do they go long towards the channel which is knocked down or flicked on by the striker to the wingers in space or long passes in wide areas looking for runs from the wings or shifting the ball from left to right and then switching it back again to create space etc. These are ways by which the FE can exploit opposition weakness in attack,so in order words Bosso has to maximize the team’s strengths and minimize the team’s weakness. Thanks.
This Aniagboso of a chap. I just dey look am.
Could he be the solution to SE’s goalkeeping problem? Yes, this is U20, and U20 is a different ball game from senior football. But from what I’ve seen so far, Aniagboso inspires confidence. My BP remains steady whenever he is in goal.
@greenturf, ofcourse the goalkeeper is even our number one priority, considering the eagles lack of goal keepers, as for Friedrich i have been looking for the best name to discribe him, you got it so absolute, the computer, that guy is like a robot programed to get the ball.from opponents. Hahaha, uganda go collect woto
Thumbs up brotherman Collins Id. That goalkeeper is good.