Why Nigeria Will Not Qualify For AFCON 2015

You see me Ehen!!! I’m a very patriotic Nigerian, but I’m also anti bullshit!

So that means by default, I’m currently anti Nigeria, cause our football has been in one word, simply Bullshit.

Don’t get me wrong. When I decide to watch Mikel Obi in a green shirt, I don’t expect to see Toni Kroos or Andrea Pirlo, but at least he should try and deceive me naaau.

After watching Nigeria’s latest defeat to Sudan, we’re currently rock bottom, with 1 point, in a group that contains us, South Africa, Sudan and Congo! Biko!!!!

Is it that the charm we used to escape our world cup group isn’t working again?

After watching that match I was totally confused, team SK can honestly play better football.

I wasn’t expecting complicated match play or intricate passing routines, far from it. But I expected to see basic understanding of proper football logic.

Logic 1. If you want to cross the ball, use wingers and a big target man. We had no width, our play was too compact and there was a total absence of a proper target man. Did I hear someone say Emmanuel Emanike? When last did you see him scoring a header? That’s right. I can’t remember either.

Logic 2. If you want to go through the middle, have good ball handlers, involve quick passes. AND PLEASE AIM FOR YOUR PARTNERS LEG. Was that too hard? I saw no evidence of a passing game. Nigeria’s national team is crying out for many things, and a good number 10 is definitely high on that list. Both Mikel and Onazi are holding midfielders for their respective clubs. Surely the coaching staff is aware of that. Whatever happened to that Chrisanthus guy, he was lively on the ball and a good attacking midfielder. You don’t want to use him, okay. Have you heard of Sone Aluko? He’s English but has already declared for Nigeria, can’t we bring him into the fold? Play Onazi and Mikel as a base of a triangle with one of these players as the advanced midfielder?

Logic 3. DEFEND WELL! I have not seen a more sorry bunch of Nigerian defenders since well, never! Follow your man. Attack the ball when a cross comes in. If you can’t stop a runner, take a yellow card for the team. I know all these things are easy for me to say, but it’s not as if it’s all that hard to do. The Sudan goal was from a basic cross (albeit with good delivery). The Nigerian defender was just ball watching while the cross came in. God forbid, I know it can’t be only Kenneth Omeoru that knows how to properly defend, Efe Ambrose was also in that side. Why In the world were we now committing such atrocities?

The summary of my rant is simple. We are not going to qualify for the nation’s cup if we can’t start doing the basics right. It’s still very much possible. South Africa currently have 7 points and are topping the group, all a team ever needs to qualify is 10. South Africa are definitely going to finish top, unless some miracle happens. Nigeria on the other hand must win all remaining games. Starting with Sudan in the returning home leg.

And if they don’t. Abeg my life is not hard. I can always adopt Togo as my nationality.

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