Osaze’s Injury: Problem or Opportunity?

If every manager in the game used the unavailability of key players from injury or suspension as an excuse for an 8-2 drubbing at the hands of a major rival, there would not be accountability in football, and certainly no invention, as we would've killed its mother, necessity!

Barcelona started the new La Liga season with a spate of injuries and suspensions to key players in defence- Pique, Puyol, Maxwell, Adriano, Alves. This led Guardiola to field a team with only one, one natural defender, Eric Abidal in a 3-4-3 formation. The rest is a 5-0 drubbing of Villareal.

The optimist has a project, the pessimist, an excuse!

Osaze Odemnwigie is an important player for Nigeria. It emerged this week that he his ankle injury had recurred and would not be available for the Madagascar trip.

While there are multiple options available to the Nigerian coach, I have always thought that our use of two wide forwards like Ahmed Musa, Chinedu Obasi or Obinna Nsofor, has a recurring tendency of transforming an initial 4-2-3-1 to a 4-2-4 resulting from a lack of tactical discipline, thus weakning our game in central midfield.

While it is true that there are enough options to retain the current 4-3-3 or 4-2-3-1, the emergence of Ideye Brown and Emmanuel Emenike, equally gives us the option of playing a modern 4-4-2 formation, especially away from home. The idea is to field 4 natural midfielders, including Mikel and Ogude as central midfielders, with Joel Obi and Kalu Uche (or any of Musa and Igiebor) in left and right midfield respectively.

In possession, the two outside midfielders would stay wide to stretch the opposing defence, with the fullbacks expected to attack the zone between the opponent's fullback and centerback.

At the same time, the ablity of Brown and Emenike to attack from wide left and right respectively creates opportunity for a very fluid attacking system that allows the four midfielders to variously push into attacking positions in the last third of the field.

In the non-possession phase, it helps create a bank of four defensive players in front of the back four, limiting the space available to the opponent. In such a scenario, it even becomes possible to push the defensive line higher up the field as necessary, with three defenders, allowing the fourth play as a sweeper, especially if the opponent is playing with a lone forward.

Nigeria-Madagascar: Match Preview

I have often argued with a friend of mine that if the world cup qualifiers were to be restructured in a manner to pit all teams in Europe and Africa in the same pool, that no African country will qualify for the world cup! My position is not from a lack of confidence in the quality of African teams, but rather the weakness in their football administration, including especially logistics planning, and all other off-field intangibles that bring about and sustain success in football.

Take Nigeria's last competitive game on the road to Ethiopia. I am told that the trip was planned; correct that; expected to be a four and half hour direct flight,  leaving Nigeria at 7pm and arriving Addis Ababa, at 2am local time, Ethiopia being 2-hours ahead of Nigeria. This would've allowed the players a 6-8 hour rest before the match. Except that nobody appeared to reckon with Air Nigeria bringing an aircraft which needed refuelling enroute. So rather than fly four and half hours direct to Addis, the team first flew nearly four hours to Entebbe, spent over an hour and a half on the ground, then nearly two hours to Addis (Link). The rest is history....

While this does not entirely explain the poor performance in Addis, it certainly contributed! Over the years, a familiar cliche that 'there are no longer any small teams in African football' has emerged and taken root as a convenient excuse for the inadequacies of the top teams in Africa. While standards may have risen generally, too many of the elite African teams have simply proved themselves unworthy of the tag.

Nigeria's inability to get the result it sought in Addis against a poor Ethiopian team was a failure of professionalism, off-field as much as on-field.

The result is that the upcoming match against Madagascar is easily the most important game of Siasia's young tenure as coach of the Super Eagles.

Having only seen extended highlights of the game, I am reluctant to make any detailed comments, except to say that the goals conceded by Nigeria highlight continued weaknesses in central defence and the overall organization of the team game in the non-possession phase. In recognition of the former and his iron-cast committment to the national team, Danny Shittu makes a return to the team. Even with a mere one substitute appearance for Queens Park Rangers in the League Cup, I would take him (in the short run) over the uncertain performance of Efe Ambrose in Ethiopia.

In my opinion, Samson Siasia and his crew need to look strongly at redesigning play,  to allow the team more controlled possession in midfield. Road games in Africa to 2nd and 3rd tier teams grow increasingly difficult to the extent that the top teams allow an open game, which in turn ensures the home team can draw extra strength from the passion on the terraces.

On the evidence of Nigeria's last match in Antanarivo, the playing surface will present some challenge to the passing game and the team will need to adapt accordingly. This could mean that the first phase of the team's attacking game be moved higher up the pitch as necessary, which would suggest the use of strikers who can play with back to goal and hold up play accordingly.

Based on the squad selected, I would suggest a continuation of the 4-3-3 formation, with consideration to bringing in Fengor Ogude on the right of Mikel and Joel Obi as a box to box midfielder, protecting the zone behind Ahmed Musa on the right flank, and sliding in to cover the right centerback when necessary, a position he is familar with from his club Valeranga.

But more importantly, Siasia must sort out the problem in central defence as it spreads a cloud of uncertainty about the team. At left back, Echiejile makes a wellcome return from injury.

Solomon Okoronkwo retains his squad place. His invitation reflects the continued confidence in his abilities by Siasia, even if the evidence from his performances at Ålesund Fotball AS has ranged from average to good. Greater effort should be made to complete the formalities with FIFA to enable Victor Moses to join the team.

In goal I do worry that there is not enough competition for Vincent Enyeama whose old problems with crosses led to the Ethiopian equalizer, a fact that is certainly not helped by his current position as second goalkeeper at  Lille. Perhaps we should look at invinting Carl Ikeme who is on loan to Middlesbrough or Dami Paul who was excellent with the U-20 team.

With Shittu's return, understandable as it may be, and Okoronkwo's continued invitation, you get a sense there is not enough movement in the search for new players. In fairness that has a lot to do with not playing enough friendlies.

And talking about new players, I would like to recommend that Siasia and his crew keep a long term lookout for a young James Abiola Ilori, an 18-year old central defender who has just been called up to the first team at Sporting Lisbon. He is clearly a special talent.

The Squad:

Goalkeepers: Vincent Enyeama, Dele Aiyenugba, Chigozie Agbim

Defenders: Chibuzor Okonkwo, Elderson Echiejile, Joseph Yobo, Yusuf Ayila, Efe Ambrose, Dele Adeleye, Danny Shittu

Midfielders: Joel Obi, John Mikel Obi, Fengor Ogude, Kalu Uche, Nosa Igiebor, Solomon Okoronkwo, Ahmed Musa

Forwards: Obinna Nsofor, Victor Anichebe, Ike Uche, Osaze Odemwingie, Emmanuel Emenike, Peter Utaka, Chinedu Obasi, Brown Ideye

Good Start from John Obuh's U-20 Eagles

Five thumping goals scored and none conceded is as good a start as could be wished in tournament football.

But we must be careful to keep things in perspective; not so much because Guatemala were such poor opposition but largely the fact that the ultimate goal an U-20 tournament is to serve as a supply line to the full national team.

Accordingly, the progress of the Flying Eagles in Colombia must always be co-measured in terms of how many new genuine prospects are staking a valid claim for a future senior team shirt or a new contract.

Afterall, what does it profit a country's football to win the Golden Shoe and FIFA World Youth Championship most valuable player trophy and end up in  Karşıyaka S.K. who play in Bank Asya 1. Lig, Turkey's second-tier league like Ghana's Dominic Adiyah...

Four top prospects are at the core of this team: Ahmed Musa, who has already broken into the Super Eagles, Ramon Azeez in central midfield, and the two centerbacks Omeruo and Ogungbe.

John Obuh has setup his team well, but the challenge is to enforce organizational discipline in the heat of match. With first game jitters behind them, I expect a more disciplined performance going forward.

In defence, the use of Emmanuel Anyanwu, a centerback at right back, a position of acute need in the Super Eagles, does not in any way advance the cause of the national team. This is made worse by the use of Suswan, a right back at the left back position, which creates an imbalance for the Flying Eagles and denies Nigeria a chance to develop the talented Suswan in his natural position.

In central defence, Gani Ogungbe's speed, power and athleticism stands out, as is his tendency to go to ground too often, which led to a yellow card.

In midfield, the use of Ajagun and Azeez ahead of Daniel creates a hole in central midfield as the latter is made to sit. A more clever team will exploit this undefended zone.

In attack, Obuh's 2nd half tactical change in allowing Kayode more space to attack from wide right liberated the player and vastly improved his performance. What this suggests in my opinion is that the qualities of the front trio of Kayode, Musa and Edafe are constrained by being forced into fixed positions.

Perhaps a case can be made for a 'false 9', with all front three alternating? Perhaps....