Hmmmm......from your mouth to God's ears!
I am not so bullish as you and some of the other posters on this thread.
Every time we've won the ANC, one of our top tier African brethren have set us a tactical conundrum we overcame on the way to winning it all
ANC 1980 - Tough semi vs Morocco won 1 - 0
ANC 1994 - Tough semi vs CIV 2-2 won on penalties
ANC 2013 - Tough qf vs CIV won 2 - 1
What each of all these teams had were coaches who were flexible and able to adjust in real time as things evolved during these games; they also had some excellent leaders playing in key positions and benches that made a difference.
ANC 2019 - Tough semi vs Algeria lost 1-0
Misleading score line above because they were CLEARLY better than us in almost every department; I hate to admit it but it's a fact.
Our coach wasn't able to do anything tactically or personnel-wise to change this; even though there is a very strong argument to make that beyond Mahrez we had a squad at least as good as the Algerians if not better.
So fast forward to the build-up to 2022, I think we have a much better goalie and health permitting a no 9 that can score goals for fun and makes whoever he's playing with better.
Midfield? Ndidi/Etebo played in that game, are we better? What if Ndidi gets injured?
Defense? Troost/Balogun also played but don't fill me with confidence unless we can somehow add a third CB like Awaziem/Akpoguma without sacrificing our ability to create chances at will. Teams will press us high because of our well documented weaknesses and we are susceptible to the counter......
Not so sure......so can the argument be made that we are the most "dangerous" team in Africa going into the ANC? What about Algeria who are arguably better than 2019? CIV with additions like Boly/Haller and Zaha still in the mix? Senegal? Morrocco? The hosts...?
At some point Rohr will have to prove his mettle tactically even as he tries to find better pieces for his default tactical framework; hopefully he proves me wrong
He is a safety first coach and won't throw the shackles off but maybe, just maybe he will have enough individual talent to go the extra step.....
In closing we have WC qualifiers that will give us more insight into what we might be capable of and give the likes of Sadiq and some of the other pretenders an opportunity to show how they might fit in or not....and if we don't qualify the mood will be very different likely with a different coach starting from scratch....
1naija wrote:Nigeria is currently the most dangerous team in Africa. If there is no wuru wuru at this nations cup, we will win it easily. None of the teams can match our fire power. We are not too solid on defense but we can defend when we have to. Our midfield is as good as any on the continent.
Only Algeria come close. But they wont get another own goal from Ekong and a fantastic last minute free kick from mahrez to beat us this time.
