Cybereagles

Traditionally, Nigeria has always been blessed with pacy wingers. The roles of the wingers have typically been based on using their athleticism, speed and dribbling ability in going down the flanks and delivering crosses for the central strikers.

But by far the most significant evolution of Nigerian wingers would occur with the arrival of Dutchman Clemens Westerhof and his conversion of George Finidi, a right-sided central midfielder with Calabar Rovers to a wide midfielder in a 4-4-2 formation.

txj wrote: ↑Thu Jan 13, 2022 7:42 pm

But by far the most significant evolution of Nigerian wingers would occur with the arrival of Dutchman Clemens Westerhof and his conversion of George Finidi, a right-sided central midfielder with Calabar Rovers to a wide midfielder in a 4-4-2 formation.

https://africanfutbol.blogspot.com/

Against Egypt, Nigeria deployed Simon in a predominantly wide position on the right, with a seeming throwback to the 70s and 80s in the manner in which he used his speed, athleticism and dribbling to repeatedly overpower the hapless Al Ahly defender Akram Tawfik and later Mohamed Abdelmonem.

This approach to use of wide players is replicated in many domestic teams and in the youth national teams, with the dominant play relying on the dribble to overcome in 1v1 situations out wide.

While Simon is a good player as underlined by his performances at Nantes, his performance against Egypt was as much testimony to his abilities as it was the weakness of the Egyptian defenders, who never got their spacing right or provided enough support to deny him space.

As teams increasingly deploy low block defensive systems and space becomes a premium, there is a need for Nigerian wing play to further evolve and rely less on overcoming 1v1 situations with the dribble, to a more nuanced approach. An approach that relies on first creating space and then positioning the likes of Simon to accelerate in open play, either on the flanks or centrally (Tijani Babangida vs South Africa).