Moving Forward to South Africa

Congratulations to all the teams that have qualified for the Nations Cup in South Africa.

 

We now look forward to the draws coming up in Durban in just over a week.

 

The biggest upset is obviously the victory of Cape Verde over Cameroon. However, reality is Cameroon has been poor for a long time and is beset with internal wranglings, administrative ineptitude, and corruption at multiple levels. And worse, there are no signs it will get better...

 

Conversely, its great to see the return of former African powerhouse Congo DR, led by the old coaching war horse, Claude Leroy, who was nearly driven to fits on the sidelines in Malabo as his team paraded a defence with enough gaps to fit three mack trucks, with a little additional room for a mini! With some adjustments at halftime coupled with greater control in midfield, they easily saw off a poor Equatorial Guinea team. But much work needs to be done on the defensive side of the game... 

 

But the real drama I thought was in Marrakech where Morocco stormed to a 4-0 win to overturn a two-goal first leg deficit. Having sacked the dissapointing Eric Gerets and dropped a few regulars, Rachid Taoussi has to be the coach of the week in leading the team to qualify, in a game Liverpool's Oussama Assaidi was at times simply brilliant. Where Assaidi was brilliant, Belhanda was dissapointing, especially so with his show of dissent on being substituted. Reality is this is a very talented Moroccan team that has been weighed down by a lack of leadership since the exit of Badou Zaki, and has lacked any real team spirit since then.

 

A tough East African duel was always in the store when the draws were made for Zambia and it proved as much. The Zambian template of stout physical defending and smart counterattacking football was put to severe test by Uganda, but came through by the whiskers.

 

I have always believed that good defence and the counterattack will get you very far in the continent. While a qualifying series is not a great indicator of overall quality, the reality is Africa doesn't do defence!

 

But one year on, I still remain skeptical about Zambia. For me they have to be the poorest African champions I have seen since CIV won the cup

The professional performance of the week has to belong to the Ghana Black Stars who shut out Malawi with plenty of room to spare. Still there are many unresolved issues in this Ghana team, especially in midfield. But in Christian Atsu they have found a really creative outlet.

A hapless Liberian team with the wrong conclusions from the first leg got over ambitious and was promptly buried by an avalanche of goals from Nigeria.

Much like Morocco, Nigeria is a very talented team, with more players than it seems to know what to do with! In my opinion, the Nigerian team has yet to reach 40 percent of what it is capable with proper, professional selection and clever team tactics.

Against Liberia, the return of Mikel and use of three central midfielders restored a lot more balance than was evident in Monrovia. But still, the team struggled to control the game in midfield for much of the first half, even while dominant in the last third. In my opinion, Obiora Nwankwo appeared redundant for much of the first period and rather than compliment Mikel, appeared to constrain him. Perhaps for fitness reason, Joel Obi's absence was evident and he offers far more complementarity and a higher level of performance on the left of Mikel than Obiora.

In South Africa, the key to the Nigerian game will revolve around the decision on who to sorround Mikel with in midfield.

It will also especially revolve around the work done on rebuilding a defence that is both weak in structure and in personnel, especially the lateral defenders.

Taiye Taiwo's continued absence remains baffling, as is the continued use of Efe Ambrose as a right back, especially given the performances of Kenneth Omeruo (ADO Den Haag) and Daniel Adejo (Reggina) in the Dutch Eredivisie and Serie B respectively.

In central defence, while the duo of Egwueke and Oboabona have been very spirited, their sense of positioning, reading of the game and tackling remain a concern, especially the latter. A return to full fitness of Onyekachi Apam would be a major boost.

In attack Keshi has spoken about taking a look at the likes of Martins, Obasi and Shola Ameobi.

A year ago I thought Shola Ameobi could do a job for Nigeria and bring experience of a big target man holding up play up top as well as offer genuine aerial threat on crosses and set pieces.

A year on, he is slower and plays even less for Newcastle.

On a purely short term basis (Nations Cup), I think he offers more penalty box skills than Anichebe, Emenike or Ideye Brown.

But if you are thinking long term (post ANC), or looking for more mobility from your top striker, he is definitely NOT a good option.

After a bright start in Abidjan, the Senegalese were easily routed by Ivory Coast over two legs, a reality that appeared too much for the home fans to take. The ugly scenes in the stands in Dakar made for a very poor advertisement for African football. This is hoping that the inevitable CAF sanction would take into consideration the international future of several bright young players currently emerging for Senegal.

A Nations Cup without Cameroon, coupled with the failure of Egypt is a huge loss for African football. But the wellcome return of Nigeria, and the lineup of qualifiers promises a more competitive tournament than the last.

 

 

 

Pot one: South Africa, Zambia, Ghana, Ivory Coast

Pot two: Mali, Tunisia, Angola, Nigeria

Pot three: Algeria, Burkina Faso, Morocco, Niger

Pot four: Togo, Cape Verde, DR Congo, Ethiopia.