Lessons from Dar
Nigeria played out an uninspiring goalless draw with Tanzania on match day two of the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations at the National Stadium in Dar Es Salaam in Sunday Oliseh’s first game in charge of the Super Eagles.
It could have been a debut to forget for Oliseh if not for the heroics of Carl Ikeme who was also making his debut for the Super Eagles.
Nigeria were ran ragged for majority of the game by their hosts as the Super Eagles display was characterized by some sloppy passing and weak finishing.
Supersport.com runs the rule on the game and looks at the lessons learnt from Oliseh’s first game in charge.
I don’t want to sound like a pessimist or a doomsday prophet, but it’s quite apt to say the Super Eagles are on downward spiral.
Tanzania fans were out in full force and had plenty to cheer about despite the draw
Granted, the team won the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations and qualified for the second round of the World Cup, but when was the last time the team produced some sort of swash-buckling football to win a game?
We’ve been quite terrible post 2014 World Cup. It’s been out-to-lunch on the green grass since then.
Oliseh has a tough task ahead of him.. He probably should plot a graph on all our games after the ouster by France at the past World Cup-the pointers are there.
Different story for Nigeria fans. Their faces say it all.
Lukman Haruna is toast
A bit harsh a word to use, but that is a real as it can get.
The former Golden Eaglets captain held so much potential after leading the Eaglets to the 2007 Fifa Under-17 World Cup in South Korea where Nigeria won the trophy.
He was part of the 22 man squad to the 2010 World Cup held in South Africa and even got some decent minutes under his belt in that competition.
However, that is as far as his credentials snorted per the Super Eagles until Sunday Oliseh plucked him out of the international wilderness after a five year absence.
That decision backfired spectacularly.
Haruna didn't do his Super Eagles future any good with a lackadaisical performance against Tanzania.
He was sluggish in possession and failed to track the Tanzanian midfielders who ran Nigeria out of the park in the department.
Little surprise Oliseh pulled him off just after the half hour mark, a comeuppance for strolling in the park
It’s safe to say Haruna’s ship has sailed for the harbors of ‘away and beyond’.
Ikeme for president.
Okay, so it’s just one game, but Ikeme has done enough to put himself in the consciousness of Nigerian football fans and the coaches have definitely taken notice.
He had a blinder of a debut and was unarguably Nigeria’s man of the match.
That says a lot.
With Vincent Enyeama in a jousting contest with the Nigeria Football Federation and almost at the end of his sojourn with the Eagles, Ikeme might just be the prod needed to get the groove back in the goalkeeping department.
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