Former Nigerian goalkeeper, Dosu Joseph believes the Home-Based Eagles 4-0 loss against Mexico in an international friendly game will only serve as valuable lessons for the team.
A brace from Atletico Madrid midfielder Hector Herrera and goals from former Barcelona forward Jonathan Dos Santos and Rogelio Funes Mori, who plies his trade in Mexico, secured the comfortable win for El Tri.
Reacting to the defeat, the Atlanta Olympic gold medalist told Completesports.com that the team will learn lots of lessons from the team regardless of the wide margine.
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“Though I really expected the team to put up a great fight against the Mexican however, I was a bit disappointed with the way they played.
“But then, I think the Home Based players will learn valuable lessons from the defeat and work really hard to put up a great fight in subsequent games.”
7 Comments
Nobody learns lessons by sitting for exams they cannot pass. The home-based players simply had no business wearing Nigeria’s colours last night.
you can not blame the home based,blame nigeria government and nff lack of organization , they only just assemble within 2 weeks, no encouragement that even foreign players want to play for Nigria, no money etc
They shouldn’t represent us in the first place.
International football is for the best players available at anytime.
If it ain’t broke,don’t fix it!
Nobody is blaming anybody.like we are always saying this home base aren’t good enough to measure up against that Mexico team. That was what Tour was trying to say before the idiot minister of sports went on national television to disgrace himself by telling him to shut up. Why can’t he talk since? Isn’t Right right after all. Even our so called foreign stars will struggle against that Mexico team talkless of these technicaless assembled players called home base.
_Recap: Mexico v Nigeria_
The home-based Super Eagles of Nigeria were massively mauled by Mexico 4:0 in a performance that added fuel to the argument fire of those who harbour doubts about the competency of local league players.
In spite of the embarrassing scoreline, there was a whole 48 minute spell where the home-based Super Eagles held their own and attempted to match their more illustrious Mexican opponents man for man. For me, this speaks to their strength of character and what they can potentially achieve under better tutelage and with greater coordination.
The opening 4 minutes were crazy for Nigeria.
First, a well cushioned and choreographed high corner kick in just 2 minutes evaded Nigeria’s entire defensive apparatus only to land on the foot of on-rushing Herrera whose eloquent low-volley finish with his right foot was already accomplished before he could be marked.
Ibrahim Sunusi in goal line for Nigeria could have been more alert to keep the ball out but his attempted left thigh clearance only helped guide the ball into the net.
It wasn’t the start Aigbogun and his boys wanted but worse was to come.
With Nigeria’s right full back on a fishing trip, Funes found himself in acres of real estate deep inside the Super Eagles’ 18 yard box before blasting through the roof of the net. It remains a mystery how the ball didn’t tear through to the other side: 2-0 to Mexico.
Going 2 down so quickly was a hammer blow which encouragingly seemed to settle the Super Eagles down. They would see out the rest of the half looking to orchestrate moves that would see them claw their way back.
Some players were giving good accounts of themselves. Stanley Nwabili in goal was pulling off some fine saves; Imo Obot showed sporadic attacking intents; Adeleke was making some last ditch defendings; while Anayo Iwuala showed modicum of class that begged for better end product.
It wasn’t initially all doom and gloom for Nigeria when the second half started. However after the Super Eagles’ hopeless high line left Olisa Ndah gasping for breath after failing to catch up with Lozano, Stanley’s low punch (after coming off his line to recover the situation) only fell kindly to the waiting foot of Herrera who said ‘thank you very much’ as he guided his neat effort into an empty net.
3:0 for Mexico.
I have been known to criticize Rohr, Randy Waldrum and Jose Mourinho for being conservative against far technical oppositions. Perhaps if Aigbogun had adopted a park-the-bus approach with counter attacking intents, maybe his boys would not have gone down heavily.
The coup de grace came when a sublime Mexican long ball from deep found Dos Santos in 78 minutes, there was only one thing on his mind: lob the hapless Stanley and make it an emphatic victory for Mexico.
4:0 it ended.
The home-based Super Eagles did the best they could but came against a far superior opposition on the day. In truth, they are not aliens to conceding 4 goals. Ghana and Morocco put 4 past Nigeria in the Wafu and Chan tournaments respectively.
For me, it is not about the players but more about coaching. Had Rohr managed these boys, I doubt they would have fallen so heavily. None of the players performed to a level high enough to be considered for the full Super Eagles. Anayo Iwuala finally had his 90 minutes in a tough match for Nigeria and, whilst he did play with a tincture of class, at best he can be considered as a fringe Super Eagles player.
All in all this was a result that will give vindication to those who have always believed that quality deserted the Nigeria Professional Football League long, long time ago.
On another level, the match can be seen as valuable exposure and experience for home-based players ahead of CHAN and WAFU assignments. Perhaps, these players should concentrate on preparing for these competitions rather than harbouring nugatory hopes of breaking into the main Super Eagles.
Those players will loose to US female national team I can tell you that.
If the reason why NFF carried a bunch of below-average players and spend the huge bill was for them to learn a valuable lesson, then it implies that the NFF chairman,and by extension, the sport’s minister are mere square pegs in round hole. Where some countries like Cameroon are busy fortifying their team, we are busy pacifying the minister and NFF with assemblage of non-gifted players. You need to have watched gifted players in the local leagues before and see that even on their bad days these players will still impress you- the likes of Ikechukwu Ofoje and Jude Agada of Rangers,Muda Lawal and David Adele of Shooting stars and Henry Nwosu of ACB just to mention a few. It is absolute naivety for us to prosecute Mexico match (grade A) with grade B players. Mr Dare and NFF should know that friendlies are not just being organized for ONLY discovery of players but the integrity of country as a frontline African football playing nation is also at stake. If Dare is a minister of sports in Brasil, he would have known his fate by now.
Secondly, Mr Rohr is vindicated. For long now, local players are being forced on him. Tell me a man who does not want to marry a fine wife! You don’t send your car to a mechanic and force the him that he must work on injector when he deemed the problem to be from the plug. He is a professional and deserve free HANDS. If NFF wants, let them prosecute the remaining matches with grade Z Eagles but history will always beckon that he and NFF chairman NEVER won any friendly for Nigeria. I believe the twosome understand what this means in their CV.