This World Cup is done and dusted as far as Nigeria is concerned. We\u00a0would be extremely lucky to get past the first round. There is no\u00a0doubt in my mind that, barring an act of God, Nigeria\u2019s chances are\u00a0next to nothing. The only team we have a chance against is Iran and,\u00a0even there, we are more likely to draw than to win.<\/p>\n
Therefore, I am not writing this for this World Cup. I am writing for\u00a0the next one; because it takes four years to win the World Cup.
\nNigeria had a very good chance of winning this year\u2019s World Cup. We\u00a0have the players that can compete at the highest level. However, one\u00a0major thing worked against us: we won the African Cup of Nations under\u00a0the stewardship of Stephen Keshi.<\/p>\n
Wrong choice<\/strong><\/p>\n Once we won the African Cup, Stephen Keshi became impregnable. He\u00a0became a shoo-in to carry Nigeria to the World Cup. No doubts were\u00a0tolerated; after all, Nigeria had not won the African Cup in 19 years!\u00a0How then can any right-thinking person think of replacing our\u00a0new-found champion after his famous achievement? However, the World\u00a0Cup is not the African Cup. African football still remains relatively\u00a0sub-standard vis-\u00e0-vis the football played in Europe and Latin\u00a0America.<\/p>\n In any case, the players we have brought to this World Cup are a\u00a0shadow of those who won the African Cup. Even though we defeated Cote\u00a0d\u2019Ivoire in the African semi-finals, we are no match for them today,\u00a0as FIFA rankings testify. It does not help matters that, unlike the\u00a0Ivorian players who proved their mettle by coming from behind to\u00a0defeat Japan in their first match in this World Cup; our foreign-based\u00a0players have mostly been bench-warmers in their respective clubs this\u00a0past league season. This means many of them don\u2019t have recent\u00a0match-fitness.<\/p>\n In November 2013, I wrote an article in this column warning Nigerians\u00a0that while Keshi was more than able to enthrone Nigeria as African\u00a0champions; the hard truth is that he is not qualified to lead us to\u00a0the World Cup. I was shouted down by a hosanna of Keshi\u2019s new-found\u00a0praise-singers. But people should know by now that abuse and\u00a0invective never dissuade me from my opinion or from what I believe to\u00a0be the truth.<\/p>\n World-class coaches<\/strong><\/p>\n The assumption that because Keshi managed the Super Eagles to World\u00a0Cup qualification he is the right man to lead us to the World Cup\u00a0itself is wrong. In 2006, Keshi led the Togolese team to World Cup\u00a0qualification. However, realizing what Nigeria has failed to realise,\u00a0they dropped him for the World Cup itself and chose a far\u00a0more-experienced world-class coach, Otto Pfister of Germany, to\u00a0replace him.<\/p>\n A lot of song and dance is made of extraordinary football players, but\u00a0more than ever before, football at the highest level is a tactical\u00a0game between the coaches. A good coach can ensure that you don\u2019t see\u00a0Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo throughout a match. He studies the\u00a0opposing players and devises the tactics that best neutralize their\u00a0strengths. He identifies their weaknesses and exploits them.<\/p>\n At the highest level of football, a good coach is the difference between victory and defeat. If you don\u2019t believe me look at what happened to Manchester United in the EPL (English Premier League) after the departure of Alex Ferguson. With virtually the same players, United went from winning the English Premier League to becoming an average team in a matter of months. The answer was to quickly get rid of coach David Moyes and replace him with world-class Louis Van Gaal.<\/p>\n In this World Cup, Van Gaal\u2019s Netherlands team has already made\u00a0mincemeat of the current world champions by tactically exploiting\u00a0Spain\u2019s vulnerability to high balls played to the left shoulder of\u00a0their central defender. Unless and until we are prepared to make\u00a0these kinds of non-sentimental decisions in the choice of coaches, and\u00a0are prepared to pay their high fees, we will not be able to benefit\u00a0from Nigeria\u2019s large number of world-class players.<\/p>\n Keshi\u2019s limitations<\/strong><\/p>\n With Keshi at the helm in this World Cup, the chances are slim that\u00a0the Super Eagles will win any match in their group, not to talk of This means he has not had any real time to test his first eleven as a\u00a0unit. As a result, Nigeria\u2019s Super Eagles play today as individuals. Unlike Keshi, Klinsmann is a World Cup veteran. He was part of the\u00a0German team that won the World Cup in 1990, and he managed the German\u00a0national team that came third in the World Cup in 2006. Klinsmann\u2019s\u00a0U.S. team easily exposed the underbelly of Keshi\u2019s Super Eagles. They\u00a0made us look like rank amateurs. Nigeria hardly held the ball for any\u00a0length of time. We could not even string together decent passes.<\/p>\n The Americans realised that Nigeria\u2019s strength was on the left flank\u00a0and quickly shut us down there. Nevertheless, there was no change of\u00a0tactics from Keshi as we spent the entire match trying to break\u00a0through the left flank to no avail. It is this inability to read the\u00a0game and change tactics accordingly that is a major handicap of\u00a0Stephen Keshi. But that is precisely what makes the difference in\u00a0football at this level.<\/p>\n Tactical dexterity<\/strong><\/p>\n The strength of Jose Mourinho of Chelsea, the highest paid coach in\u00a0the world, is in reading the game. This ensures that Mourinho\u2019s\u00a0second half is often a revelation to his first half. Arsenal will\u00a0always have a problem playing against Chelsea in the EPL because\u00a0Mourinho is a better reader of the game than Arsene Wenger. This\u00a0league season, Liverpool was a better team than Chelsea.\u00a0Nevertheless, Liverpool lost 2-0 to Chelsea because Mourinho outfoxed\u00a0Liverpool\u2019s Brendan Rodgers.<\/p>\n You can also tell the dexterity of a coach by the substitutions he\u00a0makes during a game. With the world-class coaches, their Keshi is a tactically deficient coach. A seasoned coach would have a\u00a0field-day exploiting Nigeria\u2019s tactical deficiencies. The ball is Lethargic players<\/strong><\/p>\n Nigeria\u2019s players are not driven and motivated. We play as if nothing\u00a0is at stake. Our defense is lethargic and flat-footed. Captain If he could do this, I wonder what to expect from Edin Dzeko and Vedad\u00a0Ibisevic of Bosnia Herzegovina. I shudder what Lionel Messi and Kun\u00a0Aguero of Argentina would do to us. If not for the fact that Nigeria\u00a0has in Vincent Enyeama, one of the best gold-keepers in the world;\u00a0some of the matches we played recently would have ended up as goal\u00a0fiestas against Nigeria.<\/p>\n Our mid-field lacks creativity. The players are experts in\u00a0back-passing the ball. They run up and down with little inventiveness Our attacking line-up lacks bite. The players seem bereft of\u00a0innovative goal-scoring ideas. They are easily shut out of the game. 2018 World Cup<\/strong><\/p>\n What needs to be done? It is too late for this World Cup. But\u00a0immediately thereafter, Nigeria needs to get a world-class football Coaches like Keshi may be good enough to get Nigeria to win the\u00a0African Cup. But they are not good enough to take us to the World This World Cup is done and dusted as far as Nigeria is concerned. We\u00a0would be extremely lucky to get past the first round. There is no\u00a0doubt in my mind that,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22148,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28091","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles-opinions"],"yoast_head":"\n
\nprogressing beyond the group stage. Since winning the African Cup,\u00a0the performance of Keshi\u2019s Super Eagles against non-African opposition\u00a0has been dismal. His fan club insists these matches are merely\u00a0preparatory to the big event of the World Cup. However, these\u00a0so-called preparations never ended. Keshi spent the whole time trying\u00a0out players in order to choose a team. Up to the very last\u00a0preparation match against the United States, he was still trying out\u00a0different cocktails of players.<\/p>\n
\nThey have not been blended into a team. When Nigeria played against\u00a0the United States in our last warm-up game, Stephen Keshi was no match\u00a0for Jurgen Klinsmann.<\/p>\n
\nsubstitutions immediately change the game. None of these skills are\u00a0evident in Stephen Keshi. His current team is inadequate even at the\u00a0basic level. The Super Eagles are predictable. They lack speed,\u00a0match-stamina, ball-possession, accurate passing and clinical
\nfinishing.<\/p>\n
\neasily won from us and then we have a problem retrieving it. We have\u00a0a problem penetrating our opponents\u2019 defenses. We don\u2019t seem to have\u00a0strikers hungry for goals. Because our recovery from a failed attack\u00a0is often slow, we are highly vulnerable to fast counter-attacks.<\/p>\n
\nJoseph Yobo is way past his prime. Against the United States,\u00a0American strikers easily danced around him. Jozy Altidore only
\nmanaged to score one goal for Sunderland throughout the entirety of\u00a0the last EPL season. But playing for the United States, he was too\u00a0much for the Nigeria\u2019s lackluster defenders. Jurgen Klinsmann\u00a0discovered that there was a gaping hole in the left flank of the
\nNigerian defense. As a result, journeyman Altidore became a local\u00a0hero, scoring two dazzling goals against Nigeria.<\/p>\n
\nas to how to open up the opposition\u2019s defense. Mikel runs like a\u00a0spider with the ball with little intention to go forward. He is one
\nmidfield player who never scores goals. Even during set-pieces, he\u00a0lacks ambition and will hardly approach the opposition\u2019s eighteen.<\/p>\n
\nSpeed and dynamism are the hallmarks of today\u2019s football. That indeed\u00a0was the distinguishing feature of our World Cup winning Junior Eagles.\u00a0We have already seen this in evidence in this World Cup, which has\u00a0already become a goal-scoring extravaganza. However, the Super Eagles\u00a0lack pace and speed. Their attacking system relies on a slow\u00a0build-up, ensuring that the opposition easily decodes their intentions\u00a0a mile off. Only Victor Moses seems inclined to carry attacks into\u00a0the opposition\u2019s penalty box.<\/p>\n
\ncoach. There is no room for misguided nationalism here. Luiz Scolari\u00a0is Brazilian; nevertheless, he coached the Portuguese national team.\u00a0Fabio Capello is Italian; nevertheless he coached the British national\u00a0team. It is not about being nationalistically pig-headed. It is\u00a0about insisting only the best is good enough for Nigeria.<\/p>\n
\nCup. They don\u2019t have what it takes to tactically outsmart maestros\u00a0like Germany\u2019s Joachim Low or Spain\u2019s Vicente Del Bosque. That should\u00a0remain the enduring lesson of this World Cup, after our cookies have\u00a0crumbled.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"