Super Eagles forward Odion Ighalo says Sunday’s shocking defeat to Madagascar is a wake-up call to the side as they continue their chase for a fourth Africa Cup of Nations title in Egypt, Completesports.com reports.
The West Africans who are already through to the Round of 16 after winning their opening two games against Burundi and Guinea, put up a shambolic display against the debutants.
It was Madagascar’s first win against Nigeria in five meetings.
A goal in each half of the encounter from Lalaina Nomenjanahary and Carolus Andriamahitsinoro moved Nigeria to second spot in Group B behind the Barea.
“I think this is a wake-up call for us, today, we played very poorly, we were relaxed and our mentality was not very good. Probably it is because we have already qualified, but this game has shown us that there is no easy team in this competition,” Ighalo told reporters after the game.
“We have to go back, regroup and ensure we do well in the next game which is a match with no room for mistakes.”
The Super Eagles will meet the second placed team in Group F in the Round of 16 which will be Ghana or Benin Republic.
By Adeboye Amosu
18 Comments
No attacking treat,no creativity and no defence.The SE where clearly lacking in all departments ,wut a shameful performance.
GR please play the team you fielded in your opening game those are your first eleven and it’ll give you insight in the kinda subs to bring in. Musa, kalu, Moses are not at their best why field them?
Onkuru is by far better than moses and kaku combined based on form. Mikel doesn’t have to start bring him in to stable the midfield and slow game down. This is not rocket science but it appeared you ain’t got a clue who your starting eleven is. The tournament is up and running by the time you bring on Samuel his confidence has eluded him and you are going into nock out rounds. Please Baloguun should be relegated to the bench and Ogu can come in to fortified the midfield in place of a winger when you are leading.
I hope you are taking notes if you where Balogun shouldn’t have started two games in a row
Every Nigerian is a coach. Lets agree with Ighalo on this. They were not mentally turned in. Just like one would have in playing a friendly game. In my opinion, we may see a difference Nigerian team in the subsequent games. This is not the end of the road for the team today.
Super Chicken we don see una best…What a shame…
Tactically speaking, Rohr has offered little or nothing to the team. There is absolutely nothing valuable about his presence in the team. It is high time we sacked him and get a sound coach.
He has been able to continue because nobody held him accountable for the first round exit in world cup, looks like everyone sees that as a customary participation without winning ambition. Since then no Nigerian team has make the quarter
Final of any other competition
Its Christmas day…!
Yea..Its Christmas. For so many who have for years been praying for the SE to lose. It’s Christmas day for them. Congratulations to y’all. Its been a while you all had a voice on this forum.
When last did y’all have dis opportunity to kill a dog which has already been knocked down by a vehicle…? Lolz. It is allowed, it is justified…afterall days of joy such as this has been few and far between. Now you can freely say “we said it”…as if we were meant to be eternally invincible in the first instance.
Its been fun reading all the posts while on transit yesterday. All of a sudden, mikel is now useless (same mikel y’all were yelling to come on for iwobi in the last match), Balogun is now incompetent, Awaziem has no business in the SE…all sort of lamentations. I know Rohr has always been useless and tactless to most of his enemies even when he was on a winning streak, raking wins left right and centre, so even now that he has lost…his 2nd competitive loss to an African opposition in 3 years….i’m sure he must be the devil himself. Its been fun reading from those who shout hossanna today, crucify him tomorrow…its been hilarious seeing people who have been praying for the SE to lose come out to say “we said it”…As if we didnt know before that we will definitely lose someday. Lolz. So to all the ‘we said it folks’ its Christmas day for you all, so I wish you a merry Christmas.
.
To the game itself….Absolutely shocking. Absolutely shocking display. Probably the most shocking in these last 3 years. To have another national of a fellow afcon rival be the one to break the news to me was even more embarrassing. Against Madagascar of all countries…WTF. But yes, Football has always been like biscuit, never will you know where it will crack. So on a day we thought we will just walk over Madagascar, having beaten a star-studded guinea without even shifting from gear 2. We got the shock of our lives. I wish to congratulate Ahmad Ahmad and his fellow countrymen, this by far is the biggest upset of the AFCON in years and its sad we are at the receiving end.
Who do we blame..of course its the coach….he’s been taking all the plaudits for a near 60% win ratio (even though according to his enemies, he has no winning mentality..i wonder how someone without a winning mentality rakes up approx 60% win ratio), so he also takes a flack for this embarrassment. And the players….? AWful display….I am very sure John Ogu will never make a pass across his own goal in his club in europe…im pretty sure of that, else he’ll sit on the bench for the rest of the season. How many times have we seen teams put in severely dangerous positions by those sort of passes. I really need to have a one-on-one with Balogun to understand what he was trying to do in the lead up to that horrific defensive error…wait for the ball to come to him.. or for the opponent to miss it when it would have been easier for him not to..?
Did we give this game to the indian ocean islanders…? Yes we did. Madagascar wasn’t gonna come out all guns blazing, they were going to sit back and hope to catch us on the counter and through dangerous set pieces around the box…and what a way to help them achieve their aims with such a howler so early in the game and a needless free-kick around the area so early in the 2nd half.
Notwithstanding, this is a wake up call….a reality check..for the coach and the players. We’ve seen this movie before and we know what will follow. When we lost 0-2 to SA in UYO, naysayers had their day in office..and what better way to silence them than the 4-0 hammering of AFCON defending champs Cameroon. We’ve lost this battle, but the war continues. I am just glad that we wouldn’t be meeting teams who arent ready to play from now onward. Bring them on…Cameroon, Ghana, Benin. Its GAME ON now…!!!
And once again….to those who have been longing for this day…a big congratulations to y’all and Merry Christmas to you. You deserve to be happy at least once in 365 days, as the last time y’all were this happy was a year ago. Have all the fun you’ll be needing because you might not enjoy this experience for another lengthy period as Rohr always has a way of silencing y’all when it matters most.
And for the eagles….ITS TIME TO WAKE UP>>>
Finally, your nefarious ways have caught up with you.
Rohr has failed.
Repent, for the kingdom of omo9ja is at hand.
Hahahahahha…if my nefarious ways catches up with me just 1ce in 365 days…i prefer it than being a looser for 355 days like you and your cohorts.
If only one loss makes a coach fail…then all coaches are failures.
…prefer it remains that way than…
You are still a subversive element. One day, you will eventually see the light and we will then welcome you back to the land of the living.
The records speak for itself.
There are 2 category of coaches..the ones that have been sacked and the ones that are waiting to be sacked. At the appointed time, your worst nightmare will either relinquish or be relieved of his position as the SE coach. Till then, keep licking your wounds.
And as for being subversive, I don’t think there’s anything more subversive than using multiple identities to foment turbulence on a public platform. LMAO
Nigerians… Why not concentrate on proffering solutions which philosophy and analysis are all about?
MY TAKE ON YESTERDAY’S MATCH
1. Lethargic play from all players except Ndidi,Aina and etebo.
2. Poor marking… Why are our players @all levels not man marking especially in defensive and midfield areas?
3. Too many Negative passes backwards thereby putting our defence under undue pressure.
Wayward passes also in offensive areas
4. Poor positioning by our offensive players…(we need an Iheanacho, he can position very well and osimhen too)
5. No shooting of any kind(far range, close range) let alone inaccurate shots..
Seriously who plays like this and expect to win… Like they say
‘IF YOU DON BUT A TICKET,..YOU DON’T WIN THE RAFFLE’.
Eagles should know when to shoot around the 18yards box, it also produce forced errors from the opponents.
6. Wasting of set piece opportunities especially freekicks(again Iheanacho needed) I can’t understand why inspite of all his achievements CR7 TAKES EXTRA HOURS AFTER TRAININGS TO PRACTISE FREE KICKS AND OUR PLAYERS DO NOT WANT TO IMPROVE IN THAT REGARD?
Finally the Goals conceded were not and can never be goalkeepers errors or faults… So in my books Ezenwa still remains Our best of three God in this tournament.
Rohr should start Osimhen.
Wow I never knew we have so many people in this group until we lost the match yesterday. I was actually awake till 3am reading comments after watching replay of the match as the tension of the live transmission did not afford me the opportunity of having a clearer view of the match. Its unfortunate seeing so many people happy and fulfilled that we lost to Madagascar in a match we expected to win. To be honest am disappointed but drew comfort from similar events that has happened in the past. Algiers 90 readily comes to mind and maybe most of this guys here insulting and abusing both coach and some of us here they believe supports Mr Rohr were probably not born then. We lost heavily to Algeria and from all quarters both in schools, churches, mosques and market places it was sack that useless oyibo westerhof but surprisingly we got to finals and lost narrowly to the same team. NFA were patient with him for another 4yrs and guess what he qualified us for our first world cup and won nations cup in Tunis same year. I remember our world cup qualifier against cote’voire away that we scored first and still lost 2-1. There was this incident that happened when we were leading 1-0 siasia had this opportunity one on one with keeper and rashidi was well placed, siasia would have passed the ball to him for easy tap in but he didn’t and he missed the goal. That was the turning point as ivory coast equalised shortly therafter before scoring their second goal. Headline news the following day DROP siasia his finished, useless, selfish, envy of Rashidi scoring form and growing reputation. Coach westerhof is the worst coach in history of Nigeria football and so many other negative comments. Just in less than a year everybody was singing Westerhof praises and even Siasia became the beautiful pride once again. Nigerians can never be satisfied. Play well today they will sing your praises and have a poor game they will abuse you all day. Back to the match yesterday we played poorly but I still feel we can do much more better. The match was not a must win as I noticed they played cautiously but that’s not an excuse for that poor performance. I don’t subscribe to the believe that playing a lesser team in round of 16 as table topper will make it easy to go far. We have played supposedly lesser teams in our group its time to test our strength against big boys. If we want to conquer Africa we must meet and beat the very best. The coach need to bring in 1 or 2 players to the starting line up and we will be fine. Bring the big boys winner takes all.
Ndubuisi, I must commend your intelligent, astute write up. This tells me you are a thinking man. A man who doesn’t jump to conclusion hastily, but carefully considers the situation. Those of us who are supporting Rohr now, it is not that we enjoy losing matches. I was devastated yesterday. I still am very angry. But I know one thing – A HOUSE DIVIDED AGAINST ITSELF CAN NOT STAND! If we turn on Rohr now, we pretty much guarantee that we will not achieve our objectives at this Afcon. The best thing to do, from a strategic perspective, is to support the coach and the team, for now. After the competition, we can sack whoever needs to be sacked. I insist though, that if Rohr must go, we must do it with dignity. He does not deserve an acrimonious sacking, not after everything he has done for us. Like we did in 1990, we shall overcome! Stay tuned.
@Ndubuisi,phaps they continued with Westerhof because,that particular FA team was willing to take a holistic view of things.
We recall a certain Phillipe Trousier they sacked for strange reasons. A lot of Nigerians liked the idea too. The man was just winning matches 1nil,and a lot of Nigerians including the FA,were irritated by the slim scorelines he ganered,eventho he qualified us for the WCup.
You see that’s the issue with our love for this game,many times we are not scientific. Football is science,ask Pep,ask Klopp, ask Mou. You sack a coach just because,he wasn’t winning big? Who does that?
Have you checked what he is building?Do you know he didn’t have much time to prepare for that qualifier,yet he delivered the ticket? Check his acumen,before you sack, not just results.So well,the “white wi*** doctor” was given the boot.
By the way Denberby is building,that’s why I stick with him.
Enter Mr. Rohr,o yes people have come out of nowhere to speak because,of a loss. We can forgive their excesses because that’s how some of you overreact because of a win.
Men like Omo9ja have been sounding the alarm,inspite of our two wins and we say he is a hater. Okay agreed,let’s call him a hater,does it mean he has been talking gibberish?I would answer for you,the answer is NO!
I don’t even agree with all he says,but I can’t doubt that he makes a lot of sense. If he says Ighalo can’t play 90mins,is that not sensible? And I acknowledge others who say similar things to Omo9ja’s.
The big issue is that we have been pointing Mr Rohr to his faults at the WCup,but he won’t listen.Eg,it is not clear to him that the issue against the Argies was that the midfielders,eg Mikel, were tired. He wanted to take off the hardworking Musa.Why?
We said test Ejide before the WCup. After the WCup,we said it’s clear Uzoho isn’t the best we have,some of you still argued.
We said before the Nations cup,that the midfield is too thin,some of you still argued. An attacker(Iwobi) has been converted to a midfielder,that’s our saving grace now. Chukwueze also now looks like the deputy to Iwobi in the middle of the park. All these won’t have been necessary if the coach listened to calls for people like Azubuike,even Nwakali,etc.
The Mikel who they say didn’t perform in the last match and first match,is it a surprise? Didn’t we see it at the WCup,infact many times at d WCup,Ndidi was farther up the pitch than Mikel and Etebo. Mikel wasn’t doing the attacking midfield duty well. We advised,let Mikel sit deep with Ndidi and push Etebo forward. Mr Rohr won’t listen,he kept playing Etebo as an assistant nmba 4,a position that doesn’t bring out the best in him. Siasia didn’t use him that way.Etebo kept loosing possession at the WCup because he was playing too deep for his characteristics. Etebo by calling and nature is a bundle-of energy-ATTACKING-MIDFIELDER for crying out loud. So ideally Iwobi and Etebo ought to be fighting for that slot in this nations cup. Is that not healthy competition?
What am I saying? Ancelloti is by far a bigger and better coach than Rohr,but Ancelloti is humble enough to admit his faults and even take correction.Once Cristiano Ronaldo had to plead with him to alter his position and Ancelloti obliged. What’s his own(Mr Rohr) sef? When I got irritated by Mr Rohr wasn’t even the defeat at the WCup. *See,defeat or victory should not becloud our senses. Football is a science.*
It was that after the WCup Rohr could not even SEE THE OBVIOUS flaws.What he was correcting was other things;that Musa politely refused to be substituted against d Argues,etc,things that were far from the core of the mistakes he made.
See,those mistakes are still evident at this nations cup from the first match. You see ehn,when people say,Mr Rohr we can’t see a defined pattern of play,we talk them down and class them as “haters”. We know a Siasia’s team(beautiful,attacking),we know an Oliseh team(sturdy,organised,measured attack).We know an Ancelloti team,Benitez team,etc.
Let me go back to skippo- I was glad he rejoined the SEagles but not so that Mr Rohr would play him out of position. Yes,during the WCup qualifiers he did brilliantly as an attacking midfielder the team had a fair level of identity,but during the friendlies b4 d WCup and the WCup proper,it was crystal clear that Mikel was something else(and I say this in a negative sense). In fact I told a friend of mine that China has taken away our footballers. You guessed right,Ighalo too was not it at the WCup,a shadow of what we saw at the qualifiers. You see ehn,I don’t like to say this but let me just say it: oyibo tell themselves the truth,that’s why they are ahead of us.
I don’t blame Professor Seedorf as he took the reins at Cameroon, he immediately declared that those playing in countries like China have disenfranchised themselves from the team.Nwannem,the beautiful captain of the Indomitable Lions was/is playing in China. Seedorf was aware. I’m not saying Mr Rohr must copy Prof,all I’m saying is that he should call a spade a spade.
So when some of you brandish the impressive winning percentage of Rohr,I wonder why? It’s not as if his winning percentage is the best we’ve had ever. Then who says that people don’t appreciate his winning records?Who says? However,an impressive winning record doesn’t make you above correction. Even the best coaches in the world are criticized and they receive necessary correction. Our own coach,with all due respect, is such a stubborn fellow.
I think we should listen more,a lot of folks who lash out at Rohr are not haters;their words often betray them[which is a common fault I’ve seen among us],but look well there is a lot of sense in there.
If all Omo9ja was doing is so that Rohr will loose and so that we would all praise him,then ngwa Dr Drey take a look at Omo9ja’s post after the loss.
I thought he should have been doing “Christmas” dance with his comment and lavishly proving how correct his is, with a very lengthy message that will also rain shame and shame on those who opposed him,incuding proving and proving in great detail how Rohr is a catastrophe waiting to happen.That wud make for a good “Christmas” isn’t it?
Dr Drey,you can see Omo9ja didn’t write like I just described,he took it easy,he didn’t even rub it in much because,the issue is not about massaging our egos.
Our darling team is the subject matter here,no one really wants the team to fail or the coach to fail-his winning record is very well appreciated that’s why he is being corrected(free of charge even).He has the right to accept correction. It is also within his rights to reject and when he rejects we see matches like we saw at the WCup and the ones we’ve seen at this nations cup.
Mr Rohr,we are watching you.
All the very best SEagles.