In the space of two days penultimate weekend, the Flying Eagles and the Super Falcons both crashed out of their respective FIFA World Cup competitions in a manner that left a sour taste in the mouth.
Like I said on our weekly television show, Big League Soccer (great show, by the way, you can catch it every Friday at 8pm on AWA TV on Startimes with a repeat on Saturdays at 8am) last week, the bane of Nigerian teams in continental and global competitions in the recent past has not been a lack of talents and skills-sets to compete but an acute shortage of tactical know-how by the men (and women) saddled with the tasks of guiding those talents to glory.
Why did I say this and what ‘evidence’ do I have to prove that our coaches are not taking us to the Promised Land just yet?
Let me start with the Super Falcons. Despite the fact that our women had a barely passable preparation for the Women’s World Cup in Canada and being lumped in the same group with heavyweights USA, Sweden and Australia, ever-optimistic Nigerians believed our girls were capable of not only making it out of the group but that they could go as far as the semi-finals.
As we say around here, I ‘joined my faith’ with those who foresaw the prophecy of a triumph in Canada and ‘claimed’ the FIFA Women’s World Cup for my dear country.
Hear the response of our coach before a world audience. Okon said: “I don’t know anything about Sweden and I don’t think it is important. I don’t worry myself about things like that. All I need is just five minutes on the pitch to read the game and make necessary changes in my team. I’m a complete grassroots coach, and it’s always been a part of my philosophy. I don’t need to scout any team to take them on.”
What the heck! This guy must be kidding, I thought and duly twitted as such. Alas, he was not kidding.
Then, fortuitously, his team came back from the brink of defeat to draw 3-3 against Sweden in the game that was theirs for the taking and, again, Okon fouled the fine air of Canada by saying after he was tasked on why he chose not to make any substitutions against the Swedes, that: “We did not make any substitutions and that is because the girl[s] are fit. I feel OK. They (Sweden) expected to win, and at the end of the day we got a draw. Prayer is a key for the Nigerian team. We praise God. That is the key. I thought in the first half we were the stronger team.”
He also made what I considered to be a very disrespectful statement when he said his team his condemned to beat Australia silly in the next game in order to stand a chance of qualifying for the next round. His reason for thinking the Aussies would be pushovers, I assume, was because they lost 3-1 to the USA in their first game.
When asked my opinion about Okon’s comment on Big League Soccer, I told the anchor (and those who saw the programme will testify to this) that I saw the USA/Australia game and that, in my opinion, the Aussies shaded the game and were the better side even though the USA won 3-1 which was not a true reflection of what transpired in the game.
The Falcons and their coaches celebrated the 3-3 draw like they’d won the final itself (you can google their dance routine which went viral online) and you’re left wondering whether the Sweden game was a means to an end or an end in itself in Canada.
As it transpired, they lost 2-0 to Australia and 1-0 to USA to get booted out of a competition in which pundits tipped them to do well. The fact that the USA ‘struggled’ to beat the Nigerian ladies by a solitary goal speaks to the fact that we had a team that could have ruffled feathers at the World Cup.
We had a good blend of youth and experience, youthful-vigour and battle-hardened players but, alas, they were coached by a manager who believed a great God will come down from heaven to help him win games rather than tactically deploy the players he had for expected results.
In an April interview, Okon had said: “…the Almighty father, Supreme Commander, I am that I am God is here, He is the greatest player, He plays for the Super Falcons, every match I call on Him to help He never disappoints. At the end of the day success will always be ours.”
Hmmmm. Will I be right then to ask, tongue-in-cheek, if Okon’s God was not with him in Canada? It’s simple, folks. Don’t mix religion with the game. You can pray as much as you want but it will only be effective if you back it up with the right preparations and made the right decisions as at when due.
After successfully conquering the world at U-17 level, he was expected to replicate the feat at the U-20s but failed not because he didn’t have the right team to take on the world at that level but because he ditched his coaching philosophy when it mattered most, especially after losing the first game to Brazil.
In a review of the Nigeria/Brazil game I had written inter-alia: “I’m convinced that the Flying Eagles lost this game BEFORE a ball was kicked. Yes, you read that right. Okay, let me explain. Before 2015, both teams have met at this level a total of four times (1983, ’85, ’87 and 2005) with Brazil winning three and drawing one of the ties. So you can understand the motivation of the Nigerian side in trying to ‘right’ the injustices of the four previous clashes by decisively beating the Brazilians. No harm in spoiling for revenge. Nothing wrong with being ambitious.
However, in seeking this pound of flesh, Coach Manu Garba left his flanks exposed. Before the game, he made it clear he was going to attack Brazil from the blast of the whistle, promising football fans ‘a spectacle’
His star player, Kelechi Iheanacho, echoed the same sentiments: “We are a very good team going forward and we will attack any team including Brazil with full force.”
As it transpired, the coach carried this mindset into the team selection for the game. In naming Kelechi Iheanacho and Musa Yahaya in a four-man midfield alongside Ifeanyi Mathew and Ifeanyi Ifeanyi, Garba effectively set out to play a 4-2-4 formation because the first two midfielders (Iheanacho and Yahaya) are offense-minded and are wont to join the attack rather than defend.”
This approach is attractive. When going forward, the Flying Eagles were a delight to watch as they used rapid counter-attacks to kill off the Brazilians and shot into the lead after going down within the first five minutes. This approach posed a lot of problems for the Selecao and, but for the referee’s generosity, they could have gotten more than the two cautions they collected for kicking the sleeky and slippery Nigerians who made life difficult for them.
However, the gung-ho all-out attacking approach has major flaws. When you play with four offensive players (and, don’t forget, two offense-minded wingbacks like Manu did on the day), you get into all sorts of trouble if the other team steps up into the gap that’s created between your defensive/holding midfielders and the guys in attack.
This was what the Brazil coach, Rogerio Micale did perfectly by deploying Marlon (no4) and Gabriel (no10) to crowd out the two Ifeanyis and stopped them from getting the ball to Iheanacho and Yahaya thus rendering Nigeria’s delivery source largely impotent. Now you understand why Yahaya and Iheanacho were the substitutions Garba made even though he delayed a bit before making the changes.
On tactics, the Brazilian coach out-thought his Nigerian counterpart and this largely helped in swinging the pendulum of victory to his side. His post-match comments bear witness to this fact when he said: “We had expected to face a really good side in Nigeria and we weren’t mistaken on that front. We started very well, but then the opposition gradually got on top and prevented us from playing our game. We shored things up in the middle of the park again in the second half and then looked to exploit the wings, which paid dividends.”
The temptation to play all his awesome attacking talents (Moses Simon and Bernard Bulbwa still available) is tempting but Manu must learn not to succumb to that urge. Rather, like all prudent managers of resources, he must know when and how to deploy Iheanacho and co but, more importantly, he must learn to control his emotions.
When you make certain statements to motivate your players, it could serve as a double-edged sword to incite the opposition too. I didn’t hear the Brazil coach talk about ‘annihilating’ or ‘crushing’ the opponent. Rather, he took his time to study the opposition, assessed his own strength and deployed his men in the most effective way. That’s the hallmark of a thinking coach.”
As it turned out, Manu transformed from ultra-attacking to ultra-cautious and plucked all the claws from his Eagles. Apart from a cameo by Iheanacho in the second game, his two brightest prospects did not smell any action again until the team submitted meekly in the second round to a German team that they made to look too perfect.
Again, like in the case of Okon, it was a deficit of tactical manouvre when it really mattered. The Falcons fell short, just like the Flying Eagles not because they lacked the wherewithal to advance but, sadly, because the guys in charge couldn’t make the right call as at when due.
Finally, talking of the Flying Eagles, are you aware that in the last five editions of the World Youth Championship, the team has been eliminated through a combination of coaching failure and goalkeeping error?
In 2007 in Canada, the team lost scandalously 4-0 to Chile after they had held the South Americans to a nil-all scoreline in 90 minutes.
Two years later in Egypt, while Ghana were cantering to a first WYC title for Africa, Samson Siasia’s Flying Eagles fumbled from one match to the other until Germany mercifully put them out of their misery with a 3-2 win in a round of 16 game memorable for Siasia’s wrong choices as well as goalkeeper Uche Okafor’s clanger which allowed Germany to score from a swift counter-attack with virtually the last kick of the game.
In 2011 in Colombia, France scored two extra-time goals to beat Nigeria 3-2 in the quarter-finals, with goalkeeper Dami Paul failing to keep out Alexandre Lacazette’s goal six minutes from the end of added time to send John Obuh’s team home from the competition.
Without appearing to have learnt anything, the Flying Eagles were eliminated from Turkey 2011 when goalkeeper Chukwunenye Okani recklessly left his line to race for the ball with Uruguay’s Diego Rolan and when he was beaten, Ndidi Wilfred had no choice but to fall the goal-bound striker for an 84th minute penalty which was drilled home by Nicolas Perez.
Now, in 2015, Nigeria went to the WYC with arguably its most talented side since 1987 but, like the Chile disaster, the team (in)famously imploded due to a combination of goalkeeping errors, poor selection, faulty decision-making and lack of tactical nous.
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