Re: Godfrey Oboabona

Nigerian central defender Godfrey Oboabona is probably the poster boy for Stephen Keshi's homebased approach for rebuilding the Super Eagles.

There is little doubt that his rise has been meteoric. And for a player who has had no more than two years of football at any decent level, his performance has been commendable.

What is more, he brings considerable pace to the position, an asset that is hard to overlook in a central defender.

At the same time though, his game relies almost entirely on his athleticism to compensate for his sometimes woeful positioning and reading of the game. In my opinion, this portends considerable danger to the Super Eagles.

In addition to the above, his passing from the back and ability to play out of defence is less than average, as is his hit-and-hope long balls from defence. Against Zambia, his attempt to play out of the back gifted the Zambians a counterattacking opportunity which luckily was not converted.

Luckily, at the Nations Cup, the primary demands of his game from the opponent was largely physical, and he and the excellent Omeruo dealt with these as required. Yet there were repeated instances where his poor reading of the game and positioning would expose the team, but the familiar lack of quality in attack at the Nations cup often meant that these went unpunished.

The recent match against Kenya illustrates this vividly:

As Nigeria chased the game in the second half, Kenya would initiate what was probably the best chance of the second half, and its best, and perhaps only successful counterattacking move.

Kabuli picks up the ball from his own half.

Nigerian right back Kwambe approaches him as he crosses into the Nigerian half. Note the beginnings of Oliech's diagonal run, with Omeruo shadowing him. Note Oboabona's position behind the two..

As Oliech peels wide to receive the ball, Kabouli continues his run. Note again Oboabona's position.

Oliech plays him through with a reverse pass, behind Omeruo whose momentum means he has no chance to cut out the pass, with Kwambe's snail paced reaction, leaving him absolutely for dead!

Kabouli is through on goal....

 

He has a 1v1 with Enyeama and the nearest Nigerian is Omeruo, who ended up covering both Oliech and Kabouli!

There are similar examples from AFCON, including the final match...

The point here is not to question Oboabona's impressive achievements within a very short period, but to draw attention to the need for continued development of the player, at least until one of his proposed moves to Europe comes to fruition.

It is also made to draw attention to the need for enhanced competition for places in the team, especially with Apam beginning to show signs of full recovery.

Kenya Issues Nigeria an Early Warning Signal

Watching several games in the latest round of African World Cup Qualifiers (AWCQ) reinforces my views on the poor state of the African game. An urgent situation which if not seriously addressed, could see the continent perform even worse than it did in South Africa...

While it was good to see Cameroon return to winning ways, the dysfunction in the team remains and makes this a powder keg situation which needs to be addressed once and for all...

There are two ways of looking at Nigeria's 1-1 draw with Kenya:

One way is to see it simply as a 'bad day at the office'; a blip; a minor setback which could've been avoided with a little luck in front of goal...This assumes that Nigeria created numerous chances, a position that is not supported by any evidence, except the 'Ernest Okonkwo metric' for determinig what constitutes a chance!

The other way is to recognize this as:

(a) an early warning signal of the reality that as African champions, many a continental opponent will set up to play us as the Kenyans did, by primarily seating deep in massed numbers and attacking on the counter; and

(b) that our system of play which is largely based on the  mid to long diagonal ball from midfield, and the ability of our wide players to dominate in 1v1 situations, will struggle against an opponent seating deep in numbers.

Contrary to what many might think, I do not think Nigeria played any better or badly than it did in many of the games from the quarter finals on at AFCON, notwithstanding the poor games by Martins and Mba. Indeed in the general scheme of things, the result is a mere blip, as Nigeria will qualify from the group. My concern is with the performance..

The problem is that unlike in the games against CIV and others, Kenya was not leaving too many gaps behind; there was no Tamboura left isolated at left back to be turned inside out by Moses and the excellent Wynama was screening play superbly in front of his central defenders.

The reality is that the delivery from midfield needed to be different. First because Martins, rather than the burly Emenike was the fulcrum of the attack, and his hold up play with back to goal is different, and typically involves receipt of the ball in space in midfield to first drag out the centerbacks, then attack the space vacated behind at pace with the combination pass.

First the delivery to him was often the long ball in a crowded penalty area, which exposed his physical limitations, as compared to Emenike.

Secondly, even when he dropped into midfield, the corresponding movement around him was lacking, as was the passing and the speed of release of the ball. The situation was made worse by the movement of Ideye and Moses, who were often too isolated from Martins and not making the vertical runs into the box to attack the space he had created. This lack of verticality in movement was especially lacking from midfield. When Nigeria did attack with the combination play, the flow of the game tended to move to the right, where Martins typically runs towards his stronger left...

But let there be no misunderstanding; this is not by any means an attempt to excuse Martins from what was a poor performance. Ironically, he began brightly in terms of his movement, but appeared to give up too soon, when the play around him failed to develop.

The lesson of this game is that the Nigerian tactical formulation that led to the AFCON title in South Africa is simple to the point of being simplistic and needs rigorous reinforcement, especially in the light of the fact that as continental champions, many an African opponent will stress defence first in games against the Super Eagles.

The Nigerian bench needs to be especially commended for the character and mentality of the team, as evidenced in the manner in which they fought until the very end. What is more, the fact that two debutants, John Ogu and Nnamdi Odumadi integrated almost seamlessly into the setup, speaks volumes of the team spirit.

However, the coaching crew failed to make adjustments in the system of play, which left the team repeatedly lobbing aerial bombs at a packed Kenyan defence, and failing to translate dominant possession into any cutting edge in the last third. Even the opportunity to press high at the Kenyan defence when it foolishly tried to play the ball out of defence with no real outlets, was largely spurned in the first half...

While Martins' performance is the obvious focus of attention, equally disappointing was the lack of leadership by Mikel Obi, especially given his experience and profile in the game.

Related to this is a point I made here a few years back (Link). I am convinced that the team will be better for it, not just now but in the long run.

John Ogu and Nnamdi Odumadi made brief but impactful debuts, especially the latter who got the goal. John Ogu could be an interesting option for the team, giving it balance in central midfield to the left of Mikel, especially given the continued absence of Joel Obi. My concern for him though is with his pace...

The decision to invite both players reflects a very positive move by Keshi in continued development of the team. It is my hope that he and his crew continue in this regard, especially with options in defence like Leon Balogun at Dusseldorf, and the oft mentioned Sidney Sam...