Osimhen : Ighalo’s Return Good For Super Eagles

Ighalo’s problem with SE fans was not actually the goal he missed against Argentina but his reaction to the miss after the match. To be honest, that miss was a very nasty one, because that was supposed to be a goal…… pure goal. In fact, immediately the ball finally got to him after Rojo’s futile attempt to stop it, my brother and I stood up and started celebrating the goal in advance even before he took the shot, because we felt the ball had no other destination apart from the back of the net. But when we didn’t hear people in our neighborhood shout “is a goal” as we both jumped up and down in the parlour, we had to pause look at the screen, to find out why people in our neighborhood have not joined us in celebration. Lo and behold, we saw Ighalo with his hands on his head, like somebody with headache. To be honest, we were terribly disappointed. Apart from losing to Argentina for the umpteenth time, what pained me more was that for so long we had suffered in the hands of the Philistines in almost all the World Cups we had attended and that particular match was our best chance to either win or at least draw with them, but Ighalo fluffed that opportunity. I believe if he had calmed a bit before shooting, he would have scored that goal but he rushed the process. Perhaps, that miss could be due to lack of World Cup EXPERIENCE on his part, because if it were Musa that got that chance, he would have very likely converted it, the same way he calmly scored those two goals against Iceland.
With tempers flaring, tension high with some women and even men crying after the loss, what fans expected from Ighalo was apology and total remorse. But he irked the fans when he said in the post match interview, “This is football, you score some and you miss some. Things don’t always go the way you want in football”. This is not what you tell fans, because even before the World Cup started fans already know that in football you score some and you miss some. What was expected from him was to apologise and show total remorse. He could have said “I’m very sorry for missing the goal. I’m really pained because it is my duty to score but I missed. I know how you all feel, I’m also in pain too, I apologise once again”. If he had said something like this, maybe in one or two days after the fans had recovered, they could have responded to his apology by telling him that this is football, you win some and you lose some. Essentially, it is the fans that should be the one exonerating a player, not the other way around. The phrase “this is football, you score some and you miss some” should come from the fans and not from the player. You can’t miss a goal and exonerate yourself by yourself. To make an already bad matter worse, his wife went online to insult and clap back at fans. All these culminated to the threat to burn his house and deal with him and his family.
So now that he is back, I want to use his words – This is football, you score some and you miss some. This is because, he may not score all the chances that may come his way. He could even miss a very glaring chance. We are all humans, nobody is above error.
So he has three options: It is either he scores all the chances that come his way, or he learns how to appeal to fans when he misses a chance that cost us something, or let him forget about returning to SE. He is representing 200Million people and should be accountable to all of them. There is nothing like feeling entitled or too big to appeal to fans when you don’t represent them well. There are other players waiting on the wings, so, it is not a do or die affair. Hence, if he is not ready to be accountable, let him step out for players who are ready to be held accountable to step in. I wish him the best of luck in his third stint for SE.

And who says agentina can’t still beat Nigeria even though ighalo score that goal?
Abeg let us leave this team for rohr to manage.

Most important thing right now is for us to win.

For oshimen to even come and speak on this matter means a lot.

It mean those players must have read all kinds of comments that are not healthy enough for the team and for the young players.

Ighalo is like a brother to them all and He will be openly welcome by the players.

The truth be told the SE don’t need the experience of Ighalo including his goals to win the next AFCON tournament and to seal qualification for 2022 w/cup. As a matter of fact, what the team truly need is for the coaching crew led by Genot Rohr to review the team’s previous games and begin to develop tactics and formation that would accommodate every shade of player in his repertoire and thus bring out the best in them.
Again, this is about the first time in a long while, perhaps in over a decade that we have the glut in the supply of young quality forwards with remarkable performances week in week out in Europe’s top leagues.
Rohr’s case is the proverbial poor craftsman who blames his tools.
In a manner of speaking, it’s the coach’s cluelessness and failure to reinvent Ighalo’s and Victor Moses’ goal scoring and qualities that should be blamed and not the players, who’ve earned their invitation on accounts of their clubs’ performances, aside from just a few. Last season in the Serie A, a Nigerian, Simy Nwankwo was one of the best strikers; over the past three seasons, consistently, a Nigerian, Anthony Nwakeme was one of the gifted forwards in the Turkish league who would have seamlessly filled in into Victor Moses’ shoes after his exit. He’s one player that combines strong physicality with amazing goal scoring technique on the wing. Sadly, we don’t have a coach to identify his true talent.
In the current campaign, Super Eagles forwards have produced some masterful performances and displays in Europe that have not gone unnoticed with the likes of burly Taiwo Awoniyi, red hot gangling Paul Onuachu and all action Osimhen. Cyriel Kolawole Dessrs has reinvented himself at Eredivisie with Feynoord. In the EPL, the SE is not short of personnel upfront with experienced Iheanacho and enterprising Dennis. In the same way, the team’s wing players’ performances have been remarkable with Simon Moses notching top goal assists in ligue 1 with Nantes, Ejuke is the toast of the fans in Russia with his goals, trickery and dribbling skills. Chukwueze is back on his feet after a long layoff.
With all these qualities, what’s Rohr and Amaju’s hue and cry about lack of quality in the attack. Or whose job is it to ensure that the tools work – strikers score goals- but Rohr’s. It’s shameful that Ighalo allowed himself to rescind his earlier decision to go on retirement following alleged threats to his life after poor showing at the last mundial. Odion Ighalo in his heart of heart knows there’s enough quality in the attack with the players like Osimhen who understudied him at the last AFCON. Without much ado, Rohr is at his wit end; his best coaching moments were during the qualifier for the last world cup. Age is one strong factor that’s caught up with him and he’s bereft of tactical nuances to fire up the zeal in the boys hence the call for the return of Jude Ighalo. It remains to be seen of his return would guarantee AFCON success in Cameron next year.

I swear, there is no player escape in Nigeria. They way they praise oshimhen and others today the same way they can floor them tomorrow.

Super eagles, my dear players don’t be carried away by their praise because most of them are very wicked people, they do not forgive and forget others mistake.