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.