Olofinjana defends self on penalty

ikwerreman · Post by **ikwerreman** » Thu Feb 12, 2004 6:11 pm

http://nigeriasports.com/457

Post by **Waffiman** » Thu Feb 12, 2004 6:17 pm

That was no pen, that prat conned the ref.

Chief Ogbunigwe · Post by **Chief Ogbunigwe** » Thu Feb 12, 2004 6:19 pm

dunno...I think it was a pen. The player had ball possesion until 'Jana "accidentally' tripped him!

Post by **Waffiman** » Thu Feb 12, 2004 6:21 pm

Chief Ogbunigwe wrote:dunno...I think it was a pen. The player had ball possesion until 'Jana "accidentally' tripped him!

He ran into Seyi's leg. IMHO, a clear case of diving to buy a pen.

Pemba · Post by **Pemba** » Thu Feb 12, 2004 6:23 pm

Olofinjana showed how raw he was because the Tunisians were not looking to score but looking for a penalty and when he ONCE again mistimed the tackle and left his leg in the D, the Tunisian leaped onto it like a lifesaver. Bad acting by Tunisia and a really DUMB move by Olofinjana. But it was a learning experience and I hope he gets better.

lagos777 · Post by **lagos777** » Thu Feb 12, 2004 6:24 pm

Waffiman , I'm sure you know better. That was a 50/50 penalty , coulda been called or overlooked. Their was definately contact and the player made meal of it. He ran his trailing leg into Seyi's , most refs call it in favour of the striker becos seyi's leg should not have been there in the first place. He should have faked a tackle to unsettle the striker or invite a dive and pulled back.

Chief Ogbunigwe · Post by **Chief Ogbunigwe** » Thu Feb 12, 2004 6:27 pm

It's part of the game (the Tunisian running into Seyi). Afterall, who no like penalty? No be pena Kanu dey look for? the guy knew he couldnt even score with empty net

Like Kali said, Seyi should have stopped and escorted the guy...maybe do a lil shoulder bump, just enough to disorientate the guy.

Anyway, hope he learned his lessons.

Ayo Akinfe · Post by **Ayo Akinfe** » Thu Feb 12, 2004 6:27 pm

That penalty was no worse than the one the ref waved away when Song fell Utaka in the Cameroonian box. Were The Tunisians not at home, the ref would not have given it

However, as has been said, the player went looking for it and caught Seyi out. The team strategy should have been to keep the Tunisians out of the box how they got there that late in the game is baffling!

oloye · Post by **oloye** » Thu Feb 12, 2004 6:31 pm

"The team strategy should have been to keep the Tunisians out of the box how they got there that late in the game is baffling!
"
Funny Ayo i do agree with you on this , defending that deep against the host team, after we have scored our own penalty, is sure making it easy for the ref to recipocate the good gesture to the Tunisians.
The funny thing is the guy seem to have lost the ball anyway.

Dodo · Post by **Dodo** » Thu Feb 12, 2004 6:33 pm

For all their possesion they didnt look like scoring from open play. there was forced contact and the simulation was apparent but what can one man do when he only has one visual display of the incident.

Obong · Post by **Obong** » Thu Feb 12, 2004 6:41 pm

The technical crew lost the game.After the penalty,we needed to defend our lead considering there wasn't much time left.Since our attack is our strength and they were playing a compact defence,Ikedia should have come in at the 70th minute mark to stretch the defence and take them wide,while Utaka would have gone into the central striking position.Osaze should have operated from wide on the left and midfield.The pressure would have been less because of Ikedia and Osaze's running and harassing in the middle,while we definitely would have had more opportunities at goal with Utaka being the prime beneficiary(not the relatively inexperienced Osaze).But we bunkered down in our own half,Utaka went wide left,Osaze became the point-man,and Ikedia was brought in with only six minutes left in regulation.
Seyi,Osaze and the rest of the guys should keep their chins up and go claim the honourable bronze.

Dodo · Post by **Dodo** » Thu Feb 12, 2004 6:44 pm

I feel we should have consolidated the midfield and look to break on the counter. Throw in another DM and get Pius on the right

Post by **Waffiman** » Thu Feb 12, 2004 6:48 pm

lagos777 wrote:Waffiman , I'm sure you know better. That was a 50/50 penalty , coulda been called or overlooked. Their was definately contact and the player made meal of it. He ran his trailing leg into Seyi's , most refs call it in favour of the striker becos seyi's leg should not have been there in the first place. He should have faked a tackle to unsettle the striker or invite a dive and pulled back.

Na true you talk sha. Man still dey vex small. The bottomline is we really should not have dropped deep, we should have gone for the jugular. Seyi found himself in the zone of the CD because we were defending too deep. Defending so deep invited trouble and we paid for it. We that cheat the chance to mugg us.

oloye · Post by **oloye** » Thu Feb 12, 2004 6:57 pm

Itatex,
how now i beg to differ, asking Ikedia to come in and moving Osazee to the left amounts to opening ourselves up in the middle. Ikedia will make his typical runs, but our team lacks the cohesion to open up the game, why do you think we played compact, simple, because we know there is no cohesion to allow us attack relentlessly. We could hardly string together 4 passes, pls watch all the matches again and tell me if we at any time were able to make 4 continous passes. Agaisnt Camerron posession was 45- 55 for Cameroon.
The tactic worked, even the best tactics can work until an odd penalty is conceeded. We may say all things , but one thing you cannot plan against no matter how shrewd a tactitician you, you cannot stop ur opponents from attacking you.
Let us just put it this way, we lost because our luck has run out, and there is no shame in this.
To have opened up that game would have killed us, Osazee was so tired asking him to defend can only be imagined. Wo let s just accept what has been written.

AreaDaddy · Post by **AreaDaddy** » Thu Feb 12, 2004 6:57 pm

Jaziri saw the opportunity and went for it. I remember while watching the match as soon as Nigeria got a penalty, Keshi called it by saying "the Tunisians are going to go looking for one and any tackle in the eighteen that is not absolutely clean and the referee will give it".

Jaziri had seen Seyi coming, poked the ball wide decelarted knowing that all he needed was a touch on his trailing leg and the benefit of his "oscar-winning" repertoire and it will be sealed.

He got the trailing leg and gave us a wonderful impression of a man in Agony as he dived to ground, rolled around in agony and beseeched the almighty to help bear the pain the the infidel Nigerians had inflicted on him....and lo and behold he got the penalty

mister dolly · Post by **mister dolly** » Thu Feb 12, 2004 7:01 pm

Even the Tunisien commentators here seemed to imply that it was a dodgy call. Jaziri simply ran into Seyi's planted leg and was looking for the call.

IMHO, had Kanu scored the goal himself without the PK, the referee would have waived that PK call and Jaziri would have been booked for a dive.

But I can assure you the ref would have been roasted alive had he not given that PK. You guys needed to have been in the stadium to experience the pressure. I've never witnessed anything like that in my life. I hope to write my report of the match when I pass through London on my way to the US tomorrow.

RudeBoy · Post by **RudeBoy** » Thu Feb 12, 2004 7:10 pm

It was a very dodgy call. It was obvious they were looking for it and Olofinjana should have known better. The dive was as bad as Pires' against Portsmouth!

eru.bugzy · Post by **eru.bugzy** » Thu Feb 12, 2004 7:52 pm

I saw the replay of that penalty incident twice on Fox sports World News yesterday....even those Canadians thought that it was a "no call". Seyi should not have bothered trying to tackle that guy, as they were 2 defenders running with him and besides, he was running away from goal. That should be a bitter lesson for him to learn and hopefully, he would be better in the future for it.....it's a shame that Naija hardly ever seem to get tight calls in crucial games, even at home in the ANC 2000 final vs Cameroon. I felt that ALL OUT DEFENCE would have been necessary to hold to that 1-0 lead, but if you expose yourselves to constant pressure, one is bound to break eventually....like vs Italy in WC 1994. Consolidatind the defence by pulling a striker (ie Kanu) may have worked, but with hindsight, vision is always perfect! Hopefully, lessons have been learnt from this heart-breaker!!

Pemba · Post by **Pemba** » Thu Feb 12, 2004 7:59 pm

The technical crew lost the game.After the penalty,we needed to defend our lead considering there wasn't much time left.Since our attack is our strength and they were playing a compact defence,Ikedia should have come in at the 70th minute mark to stretch the defence and take them wide,while Utaka would have gone into the central striking position.

No they did not. Actually immediately after the Nigerian goal, Ekwueme was brought on for Lawal to shore up that side which was leaking. That was a defensive move. Then after the Tunisians scored, Kanu was replaced by Aghahowa with the hope that moving Utaka into the middle would allow us to be more effective and score to seal the game.

I personally think that the technical crew did a superb job with the resources they had. The Tunisian plan to counter on us did not bear any fruit. Yet if Nigeria had taken its counter-attacking plays better we had 2-3 chances to score.

DIMKA76 · Post by **DIMKA76** » Thu Feb 12, 2004 9:13 pm

eru.bugzy wrote:I saw the replay of that penalty incident twice on Fox sports World News yesterday....even those Canadians thought that it was a "no call". Seyi should not have bothered trying to tackle that guy, as they were 2 defenders running with him and besides, he was running away from goal. That should be a bitter lesson for him to learn and hopefully, he would be better in the future for it.....it's a shame that Naija hardly ever seem to get tight calls in crucial games, even at home in the ANC 2000 final vs Cameroon. I felt that ALL OUT DEFENCE would have been necessary to hold to that 1-0 lead, but if you expose yourselves to constant pressure, one is bound to break eventually....like vs Italy in WC 1994. Consolidatind the defence by pulling a striker (ie Kanu) may have worked, but with hindsight, vision is always perfect! Hopefully, lessons have been learnt from this heart-breaker!!

spot on, anyway na home decision thats why i feel the boys did well all in all

airwolex · Post by **airwolex** » Thu Feb 12, 2004 9:15 pm

Olofinjana should go to a mountain top with nothing but footballs and practice all day. The boy simply has a lot to learn and Obodo is knocking on the door.

Ziontrain · Post by **Ziontrain** » Thu Feb 12, 2004 9:48 pm

Look it was said way before this that Seyi alone cannot hold down DM by himself. You hype merchants wouldn't listen. Now you want to make him a scapegoat? Haba!!

Even Wenger saw that even Viera alone cannot play DM alone in the modern game: thus the presense of first Petit and now Gilberta. So I really don't know what ya'll are smoking to think that SeYi alone will play DM on an attacking team like this. He cant do it alone - NOBODY can.

This was a huge task for Olofinjana to play this position as a rookie in a major tournament. The competition was tough and our team was never settled. Yet you cannot say that Seyi left any drop of sweat unshed. He gave all that he had. As a coach that is all you can ever ask of a player: "give me everything you got, don't save it for tomorrow or the next game". This guy gave it all for 90 mins + overtime.

The guy is extremely intelligent and he will for sure learn from this. Unlike a lot of other players, this guy will actually go back, reflect and work on his weak points - he is very coachable and motivated. A true pro. If you stuck him in any office, I have no doubt he would learn and suceed equally fast there. He WILL improve.

But he's still gonna need another physical DM as a partner. Bottom line - thats what this team needs: 4-2-3-1 formation

furiously frank · Post by **furiously frank** » Thu Feb 12, 2004 10:14 pm

It all boils down to experience and I believe Seyi learnt a lot from this. I expect a lot from him in the future...