Super Eagles defender William Troost-Ekong says the team is hungry and ready for redemption after their shambolic showing against Sierra Leone on Friday, reports Completesports.com.
The three-time African champions were held to a 4-4 draw by the visitors at the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium, Benin City.
The Super Eagles led 4-0 before the Leone Stars rallied back to earn a share of the spoils.
Read Also: 2021 AFCON Qualifier: Benin Edge Closer To Super Eagles After Lesotho Win
The two teams will do battle again on Tuesday at the Siaka Stevens Stadium, Freetown.
Troost-Ekong insists the players will go all out for a win in the game.
It is our Naija spirit to overcome and succeed. Hungry and ready for redemption tuesday! 💪🏽🇳🇬 🦅,” Troost-Ekong tweeted.
14 Comments
I wish Rohr could drop Ekong, Ajayi & Onuachu. Even Kelechi is not a lethal striker like Osimhen. You can’t really pin your goal hopes on him solely upfront. He’s good with freekicks and his left foot, though. But as far as strikers go, he’s on & off and doesn’t exactly inspire confidence. But a lot better than Onuachu. Rohr should try Dennis or pair him with Kelechi. Balogun should pair Akpoguma. Don’t force Ekong in cos of the captain’s band.
@Kel… Very apt. We get real ball-watches for this forum. Oyibo no dey for sentiments, that’s why Vardy sits him on bench. Kelechi Iheanacho is still enjoying benefit of nostalgia from Nigerians… just because of UAE 2013 U-17 World Cup, dude is now just average. You can’t trust him with a team’s goalscoring fortunes.
But you can call for Nwakali because of his nostalgia at Chile 2015. Let’s stop putting too much emotional sentiments into our judgment. Kelechi Iheanacho has never been a major striker at every team he’s played in even at U17 level. One thing you can never take away from him is his outstanding finishing when he’s through on goal. If you go and watch that match again you will realize he was gelling well with Osimhen before the unfortunate injury. His ability on set pieces is also vital for the team. The one player we are missing is Ndidi. Only Osimhen in my opinion is the only better striker than Iheanacho in the current SuperEagles set up. Dennis was injured in training that’s why he wasn’t called upon when Osimhen got injured. Hopefully he’ll be fit on time before Tuesday.
@Ayphillidegreat… We are yet to test Nwakali really at any global stage. However, we have seen the best of Kelechi Iheanacho… He is decent but nothing really special… in my assessment he is not a striker till date but an attacking midfielder. He has no speed for a modern day attacker…
So you agree that he’s not a striker, but an attacking midfielder or second striker. Of course no body call him a Ronaldo or Messi, but he’s a player that can provide the goods when he’s on form. He has only played 6 games for Leicester this season and he’s been involved in 6 goals. 3 goals and 3 assists despite not a top striker. My expectation was to see him play with Osimhen in attack as we move forward. Games like this always opens up possibilities and changes. My take away from that game is how we scored 4 goals in 30 minutes. The boys just have to realize that football is 90 minutes long. Etebo and Iwobi fizzled out, Aribo is not defensive enough to help Etebo. The defense went to sleep, don’t even get me started on Ekong. I just hope they pick up the pieces and get a favorable result in Freetown.
Hahahahaha….You hit the bulls eye with your points above….LMAO. Kelechi Iheanacho is enjoying benefit of U17 nostalgia despite being a proven goal scorer in the best league in the world, but Kelechi Nwakali who has failed at every level of football he has played since after U17 and is just trying to get his footballing career back on track at Huesca is better than all our midfielders including Mikel…Lolz. Kelechi Iheanacho is average but Junior Ajayi (who is better than Iheanacho, Dessers and Onuachu) who struggles to score 10 goals per season in all competitions in Egypt is the savior anointed whom we need in the SE to win the next AFCON….Lolz. Nacho has never been a no 9….that is the mistake these coaches make including Rohr. He is a support striker. He thrives when there is another striker to provide a foil for him and help him take some attention away from the CBs. If we will play him as a 9 then we have to play another forward very close to him with whom he can combine….and so far so good, Ahmed Musa and Alex Iwobi remains the ones he seems to have some kind of understanding with upfront. If Dennis is the only available option then so be it, but I wouldn’t subscribe to experimenting with Dennis in Freetown. We are going into the lions den and hence no time for trials and errors. Better we stick to what has been working for us and wrap this qualifiers up in Freetown with 2 games in hand. The remaining 2 games can be used to experiment with even Micheal Ibeh who plays in Burkina Faso league.
@Ayphillydegreat… You know Rohr will never pair two strikers upfront. It’s the last thing Rohr will ever do…
Jimmy my brother, now I am confused : I thought Rohr played 2 upfront in our last 2 matches. Please correct me if I am wrong.
Cheers bro.
Also, you said ‘never’ but Rohr paired 2 strikers up front against Argentina (friendly) and Iceland.
@Jimmyball,stop acting as if you a know all. Nigeria vs Algeria (the 3-1), it was Iheanacho and Ideye partnership), Argentina at the world cup, it was Iheanacho and Ighalo…
Apart from that, what does 3-5-2 formation that Rohr do swap to during world cup means to you?
Hahahaha…make una forgive am….he is just so overjoyed about the SE’s friday misfortune that he cant hide it….LMAO. Rohr has given him knife to tear him to pieces that is why he has forgotten all the matches we’ve played with 2 upfront beginning from the qualifier away to Zambia where Iheanacho partnered Ideye in attack….down to our last 2 matches. I just knew he was still gonna misyarn, with the fluidity his mouth has been flowing due to his joyous mood since Friday. These were people who were as cold as death when the SE seemed to be crusing with 4 goals in d 1st half vs S/L. LMAO. Christmas came early in 2020 for some people….LMAO
In my opinion, for Rohr to remain in the job, HE MUST WIN in Freetown. No ifs, ands, or buts. The way the victory is acquired also matters a lot. If we continue to see the same lame duck decision making, then it just won’t work.
Speaking for myself, and possibly other Rohr fans of times past, we all supported the guy because of his incredible results. It is now obvious that we should have toned down our expectations, which were based on his achievements. It’s an impossible position for former Rohr fans. We have been dealt a cruel blow.
If a man shows you his bank statement, and you see a balance of $10 million, will you doubt that the man can buy you a Lamborghini? If he asks you to engage in a business with him, will you doubt that he can fulfill his financial obligations?
The only way doubt will creep in is if you discover that he recently obtained a loan. So the money in his account is actually not his!
With his incredible results, Rohr presented to us that he was capable. And at first, we had no reason not to believe in him. Even when we started seeing things that looked like errors, we deferred to him as the professional, BECAUSE OF HIS RESULTS!
But no matter how much you hold a coach in high esteem, after a performance like what we saw in the MIRACLE OF BENIN, you have no choice but to completely re-evaluate the coach. Klopp lost 7-2 to Aston Villa, but he still has a job because of the team’s subsequent results. Another defeat after the 7-2 loss, and Klopp would have been fired, in spite of all the success he brought Liverpool last year. And Klopp new it. So he approached the games after the 7-2 defeat as if his job depended on it.
This is football. Rohr’s job and goodwill with the fans is hanging precariously in the balance. Only an outright, convincing win in Freetown will restore parity. A slim win is fine, but it will not restore the confidence and trust back to previous levels. A draw or a defeat, and my candid advise to Rohr is that he should connect a flight back to Germany from the Freetown airport.
@Pompei… Your writeup is final. Nothing more to say… This honest view wraps up all our positions both Rohrs diehard fans and critique… all our displeasure and advice here for the last two days and right now it is… “say no more” from anyone. Thank you so much for this… @Pompei… Let us all sheath emotions now and wait for Tuesday… but to be honest those Sierra Leonis are very physical and strong… May God help our boys against injuries. Two hits on Balogun and it was like oyibo just wished he was substituted… hahaha. Honestly I started fearing for Balogun… those guys almost gave him spinal cord… Lol.
@pompei your analysis is on point. you and @mr hush have said it all.
let’s don’t mind ourselves. we’re fans, we deserve to be angry. we have the right to raise questions about the tactical quality of the coach. I’ve always been saying that our loyalty should be to super eagles not rohr. the reason we stand by rohr is because since he arrived super eagles has experienced progress in no small way.
though there are certain sentimental comments that have been made in this forum that are just simply outrageous. someone posted that semi ajayi should be dropped from the squad because he lacks aggression and mostly because he doesn’t have a winning mentality due to west brom poor performance this season. how ridiculous! and it is the same people that are clamoring for ola aina of Fulham to start, like if Fulham is on top of the epl table.
@jimmyball also made a funny comment. he said that iheancho doesn’t have what it takes to still remain in the starting lineup for likes of junior ajayi and olayinka. in his own words – “Kelechi Iheanacho is still enjoying benefit of nostalgia from Nigerians… just because of UAE 2013 U-17 World Cup, dude is now just average. You can’t trust him with a team’s goalscoring fortunes”. for someone like @jimmyball who has played some level of professional football, he should know first hand that in this game you don’t write anyone off. in 6 appearances Iheanacho has already provided 3 goals and 3 assists. his goal ratio via open play is even higher than vardy’s this season. people say he doesn’t have that psychological grit to lead an attacking, why should he? you provided 2 assists and scored a goal, yet the next game you saw your self on the bench. then you were given another opportunity again, you scored brace and still assisted, but the next game you didn’t play a single minute! what a way to shatter a young lad’s confidence.
Iheanacho is our most technical forward. I won’t even play him as an attacking midfielder, the role does not suit well to his qualities. as an attacking midfielder you need close ball control as your biggest quality, I mean the kind that let the ball literally glued to your feet. this will aid your ability to hold on to the ball in tight spaces. this Iheanacho don’t really have as his biggest strength. however iheancho top ability is his finishing (remember his record breaking goal ratio at Manchester City) and attack positioning. even guadiola attested to this! combined with these skillset is his passing, vision and close-up dribbling. adding all this up makes him the ideal second striker. that’s what pellgrini saw, and that’s why 70% of his goals last two season game while vardy was on the pitch.
the miracle of Benin made us to understand how the fans of big teams feel when their side lose to minors. like how Brazil drew Senegal and Nigeria in their own tour. some of the fans surely had think the world has come to an end. let’s keep supporting super eagles come rain, come shine. rohr should know we still got his back unless he loses next leg, then there’s a problem. last friday, the blame should be shared by rohr because of his poor tactical approach during the match; the lackadaisical attitude of the players in the second half; and individual mistakes of certain players. but regardless, we move!!
@Pompeo, thumbs-up .
I was one of the die-hard fans of GR-1 (first phase of GR).. Although, the disappointing loss to SA at home was difficult to accept but I felt i placed most of the blames on Awaziem. After watching the game again, I discovered that it was Ekong lack of positioning and defensive lapses that got Awaziem over-worked.
Then came the WC and the level of GR’s technical ability and approach to matches became clear to me. From pre-match interviews to players selection, tactics, players substitution,and post-match interviews, I discovered many things were wrong with his psyche and archaic method. For me, this was the beginning of GRII (i started critiquing his actions)
Some of the fans were swayed by his rhetorics “My young team” but when some of us pointed to other young teams that performed better at the WC we were tagged “the regressive”. Well Nigerian coaches have qualified us for WC three times and a Nigerian coach took us to the second round of the WC…
An opportunity to raise his stocks came begging at the last ANC, from the selection of players to the tactical approach, some of us did not see nothing new except for the record of losing to **Madagascar**. Like the WC, wrong tactics & ineffective substitution
cost us the game. Perhaps, I later realized that Belmadi’s superiority was a huge factor.
Then the contract issue, finally common sense intervened. The self acclaimed progressives on this forum exploited several conspiracy theories to make GR look like a World class coach, while the ones they regarded as CSN regressive called for caution and quarried that if GR was that good top soccer nations in Africa wld snatch him from us. A world class coach or a self esteem coach will not stoop so low to undergo the kind of stress and delay in GR’s renewal. The so called regressive connected GR’s action with his result on the jobs and recommended salary reduction and targets as conditions for renewal. The nff/ministry took advantage of GR’s desperation and inserted these conditions. Unexpectedly, GR accepted to continue. The making of GR III turned the much maligned regressive to Regressive Progressive and the self acclaimed Progressive to Progressive regressive…
Now, GR III has created another record the Miracle of Benin..
GR I : first loss at home to SA
GR II: first loss to Madagascar
GR III:first loss of a 4 goal lead
Win or lose on Tuesday, the fact is that GR has done his best and his best is not enough at this time. You can’t give what you don’t have.
Good Riddance…