Former Nigeria international forward Victor Ikpeba has commended the performance of the Super Eagles in the international friendly game against Ukraine in Dnipro which ended in a 2-2 draw on Tuesday, Completesports.com reports.
The Eagles regrouped in Ukraine to play their first game since finishing 3rd at the AFCON 2019 held in Egypt which gave coach Gernot Rohr the opportunity to try out some players during the game especially, Scotland-based midfielder, Joe Aribo who score on his debut for Nigeria.
Speaking to Completesports.com after the match , Ikpeba said he was impressed with the hunger and agility displayed by the players which according to him, shows that the future of the Nigerian team is bright considering the absence of two of Nigeria’s most experienced players who have retired.
“The Eagles gave a very good performance against Ukraine which is commendable. I am particularly excited with the future prospects of this young team, you know, especially seeing them in their first outing since the Africa Cup of Nations in Egypt not too long ago,” Ikpeba said.
“Most of the players now in the team are very young, but they are very mobile and showed lots of hunger. The absence of former skipper John Mikel Obi and Odion Ighalo who have retired from international duties were adequately covered which is good.
“I think the future is very bright for this team and (Joe) Aribo who got his debut game for Nigeria looks promising enough. Overall, I’m really impressed.”
Ikpeba however noted that the need for the team to keep their concentration all through the course of any game.
He added: “We could have won the game because we were in control for the greater period, but we missed a couple of other scoring chances, lost concentration and conceded two quick goals. That I think is the key lesson our young team need to learn.
“They need to keep their concentration level at the highest all through any game and they must learn to kill off a game when in the lead and the game is down to the last quarter. That’s the area the coach must further work on,” the former Super Eagles star popularly known as the Prince of Monaco concluded.
By Sulaiman Alao
4 Comments
Bros ikpeba you are sported. The team need full concentration till after 90mins . up eagles
“I am particularly excited with the future prospects of this young team”…….Ikpeba should better be careful before some people here feed him to the hyenas for referring to a team with its average age below 23 as young.
“We could have won the game because we were in control for the greater period, but we missed a couple of other scoring chances, lost concentration and conceded two quick goals. That I think is the key lesson our young team need to learn”……….They need to keep their concentration level at the highest all through any game and they must learn to kill off a game when in the lead and the game is down to the last quarter. That’s the area the coach must further work on,”
Absolutely spot on sweet prince…!
That’s how to tacitly criticize a team
Learning how to kill a game when in a slim or comfortable lead is absolutely essential. Football is not just flexing the muscles—strategy and intellect are required.
Talking about KILLING OF A GAME, one of the best teams at doing that was the Cameroun team of the late 1980s and early 1990s. Back then, if Cameroun take the lead against you, forget it. They were so good at SHUTTING UP SHOP. They would park the bus across the goal, and defend for their lives, using all kinds of game management tricks in the process. Nigeria would do well to add this to our skill set. We have lost too many opportunities in the past due to naive defending and loss of concentration. The most painful for me remains the second round loss to Italy in the 1994 world cup. Nigeria had no business losing that match, but we sure did!