By Ediale Kingsley
South Africa has been kicked out of the 2019 AFCON. The Nigerian Super Eagles beat them 2 goals to 1. Samuel Chukwueze’s first half goal and Ekong Kroost’s second half goal ensured the victory. Here are the 12 lessons to take away from the match:
1. I said Chukwueze has no business spending less than 80 mins on the pitch in every of the Super Eagles matches. We saw that today. I also said S/A was the better side to wish for against Egypt. We couldn’t have beaten Egypt.
2. We were better than S/Africa in our attacking prowess and strides. But the S/A team plays better than us in terms of ball possession and team cohesion.
3. We have the Naija Spirit. We have special legs and that paid off.
4. Rohr was brilliant in bringing in Moses Simon for Musa. People didn’t like the sub, but I told the guys with me that Moses was in to correct the crossing deficiencies shown by Musa. When he crossed and found the leg of Ekong. They understood.
5. The Super Eagles team is still not the sexy team I’d love them to be.
6. They didn’t go to the competition with an A-rated goalkeeper.
7. They didn’t go to the competition with a midfield maestro.
8. The team’s passing accuracies are truly poor.
9. But knowing all these, perhaps is why Rohr makes some fanciless decisions.
10. What we lack in a creative midfield we have in abundance in defensive midfield. Which is why it’s hard scoring the S/Eagles through the midfield.
11. Because we can’t hold the ball and play the Pep Guardiola way. We now play the Mourinho way. Rush attack, zero midfield, total defense.
12. Like I said, Nigeria can still very much win this Egypt edition of Afcon. But this team has a lot of work to do in two key areas: Possession and Midfield dominance.