Nigeria 0 vs Tunisia 1 2nd Round AfCON 2022

[Odas]

That was such a poor goal to concede. That red looked worse on replays. It was just not our day at the office.

The red card was deserved. Players know refs have been told to clamp down on such play so not sure why Iwobi did it.

I don't think it was done intentionally. It was 'accidental foul', but it was bad.

That's my guess as well. Looked like he tried to shield the ball by stamping down and blocking out the opponent, but the Tunisia player put his leg underneath. It was unintentional but dangerous play. Red card is for dangerous play, intentional or not.

[Lolly]

In tournament ball, as you go further in the rounds - levels of intensity cannot afford to dip. You play with urgency from the start with full awareness of the dark arts - Tunisia came in as the underdog, seeking an early goal which then gives them the option to play on the counter(legit strategy). Equavoen said in not so many words in the pre-match conference about intensity, respect & sharing the ball - we need to get away from hero ball!!!
WE BEAT OURSELVES AGAIN.

I always suspected resting majority of the players for our last game against GB would make them a bit sluggish in their first game back. That’s almost a week off in a tournament.

[airwolex]

I am not supersticious, but somehow i knew being the favorites would not work for us, plus I couldn't believe when some people were saying they preferred Tunisia to Gambia. We believed our hype so bad

[ohsee]

In tournament ball, as you go further in the rounds - levels of intensity cannot afford to dip. You play with urgency from the start with full awareness of the dark arts - Tunisia came in as the underdog, seeking an early goal which then gives them the option to play on the counter(legit strategy). Equavoen said in not so many words in the pre-match conference about intensity, respect & sharing the ball - we need to get away from hero ball!!!
WE BEAT OURSELVES AGAIN.

Correct man.

[txj]

The truth of the matter is that to get to the final you need every member of the team to play a pivotal role. Some games the strikers bail you out, some days the midfielders/ defenders and goalies. Today was the day we needed Okoye and he failed us. Sorry to say Enyeama will never miss that. Live to fight another day. Gdluck to SE. I am out! See you in March

You need the team first and foremost and u esp need a game plan.
I warned you about this; no?

[wanaj0]

Enough blame to go around but if we are to have any dreams of beating Ghana, Okoye cannot be our goalie. He's not mature for the responsibility.

I have to admit, Okoye is not ready. That goal was on him.
Its back to Francis as #1 in my opinion. Maduka will have other chances, but he needs to progress first before he can win back the #1 jersey.

The flight of the ball switched on him, but modern GKs should expect that from the balls in use today.

But there were MULTIPLE ERRORS before that shot, starting with Aina, then Ndidi, then Ekong....

True he was blindsided by the movement on the ball, but it went into the net because he has soft hands and didnt push the ball well out of danger. I have seen other goalies in this tournament make similar saves with much more ease.

But you are right, his defense let him down tostart by allowing room for Tunisia to shoot in the first place.

If a keeper cannot save that then he is not FIT to be a National Team keeper. I don't think there is any keeper that has performed as poorly as Okoye! Watch the other National Team keepers.

Hopefully he will improve.

[maceo4]

Imagine winning all games only to lose to a 3rd ranking team.

I don't even know what to say at this point...those boys came out from the first whistle playing safe/jittery/unsure/not wanting to make mistakes again, like WTF happened?

[joao]

Enough blame to go around but if we are to have any dreams of beating Ghana, Okoye cannot be our goalie. He's not mature for the responsibility.

I have to admit, Okoye is not ready. That goal was on him.
Its back to Francis as #1 in my opinion. Maduka will have other chances, but he needs to progress first before he can win back the #1 jersey.

The flight of the ball switched on him, but modern GKs should expect that from the balls in use today.

But there were MULTIPLE ERRORS before that shot, starting with Aina, then Ndidi, then Ekong....

Great observation per the highlighted.
I cannot believe that we can see multiple players show a lack of discipline and focus in a sequence.
Aina dribbled himself to give away the ball. Ndidi made an unfocused attempt at getting the ball from
the scorer, and Okoye misjudged a shot from outside the box.
These simple things are what separates winning and losing.

[metalalloy]

Enough blame to go around but if we are to have any dreams of beating Ghana, Okoye cannot be our goalie. He's not mature for the responsibility.

I have to admit, Okoye is not ready. That goal was on him.
Its back to Francis as #1 in my opinion. Maduka will have other chances, but he needs to progress first before he can win back the #1 jersey.

The flight of the ball switched on him, but modern GKs should expect that from the balls in use today.

But there were MULTIPLE ERRORS before that shot, starting with Aina, then Ndidi, then Ekong....

Will you STOP this NONSENSE about blaming multiple players.

A goalie's job is to stop such routine balls.

The bobo no try at all...

You expect him to stop such balls.

PERIODT!

I dont think TXJ is absolving Maduka. He is just saying there are other players that made errors leading to the attempt,...and he is right.

That said, Maduka was only really tested once in this tourney, and he failed. So he gets to lose his 1st place goalie,..IMO.

Unfortunately, everything is binary to some people on this forum

[Synopsis]

Well, the Tunisians had a good game plan on how to stop us.
They didn't have a plan on how to break us down... they were hoping on luck. And they got lucky.

But this loss starts with how you manage 3rd games that are rubber matches in a tournament you are still trying to build team chemistry.

You feel you can just turn it back on. We should have learned all the way back with Paraguay.

Yep, I’ve said this many times - never rest your first team in a tournament.

[Enyi]

That was such a poor goal to concede. That red looked worse on replays. It was just not our day at the office.

The red card was deserved. Players know refs have been told to clamp down on such play so not sure why Iwobi did it.

I don't think it was done intentionally. It was 'accidental foul', but it was bad.

That's my guess as well. Looked like he tried to shield the ball by stamping down and blocking out the opponent, but the Tunisia player put his leg underneath. It was unintentional but dangerous play. Red card is for dangerous play, intentional or not.

Not only was he shielding there ball….he played the ball before the stamp.

[The Eagle]

The selection was poor for a game we needed to win.
Samu should not have started.. and going forward for WC should not start.
Sadiq should aways start ahead of Kelechi if we want to play two strikers.
Our defence needs an upgrade.

Yes... though easy to say in hindsight.

I think the coaches should have realised Tunisia would be compact and get men behind the ball. So we would need to be more creative in the middle. But he relied on the old school 4-4-2 and tactics that served him well in the group stage. Should have switched things up to give us less predictability.

Perhaps the introduction of Iwobi was meant to be the start of a switch up .... but I suppose we'll never know.

[The YeyeMan]

Well, the Tunisians had a good game plan on how to stop us.
They didn't have a plan on how to break us down... they were hoping on luck. And they got lucky.

But this loss starts with how you manage 3rd games that are rubber matches in a tournament you are still trying to build team chemistry.

You feel you can just turn it back on. We should have learned all the way back with Paraguay.

They did bro.

The used their press in CM to break us down in not allowing us to develop play centrally.
Then stopped the primitive tactic of having Simon play like Sir Stanley Rous...

And they did break us in defence with the 3rd man run

They executed very well.

Got the break with the goal, but a very good performance

[maceo4]

Enough blame to go around but if we are to have any dreams of beating Ghana, Okoye cannot be our goalie. He's not mature for the responsibility.

I have to admit, Okoye is not ready. That goal was on him.
Its back to Francis as #1 in my opinion. Maduka will have other chances, but he needs to progress first before he can win back the #1 jersey.

The flight of the ball switched on him, but modern GKs should expect that from the balls in use today.

But there were MULTIPLE ERRORS before that shot, starting with Aina, then Ndidi, then Ekong....

True he was blindsided by the movement on the ball, but it went into the net because he has soft hands and didnt push the ball well out of danger. I have seen other goalies in this tournament make similar saves with much more ease.

But you are right, his defense let him down tostart by allowing room for Tunisia to shoot in the first place.

If a keeper cannot save that then he is not FIT to be a National Team keeper. I don't think there is any keeper that has performed as poorly as Okoye! Watch the other National Team keepers.

Hopefully he will improve.

I don't know what TXJ's point is, yes there were other mistakes, but a keeper making a mistake like that is unforgiveable...you cannot be a NT level GK and not make that save, it moved a little, so effing what he could still have gotten his body behind it, I don't know what kind of technique that was there. Any of the other GK's on the bench would have stopped that from going in, they may not have parried it wide or might have spilled it in front, but they would have stopped it from going in the net.

[Odas]

The red to Iwobi finished us. The game was made for him. The middle of the Tunisian defense was like a freeway. Say, the ball was often falling to Ndidi. He's not exactly known for creativity. Iwobi would have passed to Sadiq on the ball Ndidi chose to shoot. Oh well! Hopefully WC qualification can heal my wounds.

Yeah, but Iwobi misses the WC qualifiers too

[The YeyeMan]

The selection was poor for a game we needed to win.
Samu should not have started.. and going forward for WC should not start.
Sadiq should aways start ahead of Kelechi if we want to play two strikers.
Our defence needs an upgrade.

Yes... though easy to say in hindsight.

I think the coaches should have realised Tunisia would be compact and get men behind the ball. So we would need to be more creative in the middle. But he relied on the old school 4-4-2 and tactics that served him well in the group stage. Should have switched things up to give us less predictability.

Perhaps the introduction of Iwobi was meant to be the start of a switch up .... but I suppose we'll never know.

Very possibly, though I didn't immediately see what had changed albeit in the 7 minutes he was on the field.

[wanaj0]

In tournament ball, as you go further in the rounds - levels of intensity cannot afford to dip. You play with urgency from the start with full awareness of the dark arts - Tunisia came in as the underdog, seeking an early goal which then gives them the option to play on the counter(legit strategy). Equavoen said in not so many words in the pre-match conference about intensity, respect & sharing the ball - we need to get away from hero ball!!!
WE BEAT OURSELVES AGAIN.

I always suspected resting majority of the players for our last game against GB would make them a bit sluggish in their first game back. That’s almost a week off in a tournament.

If they played and get injured you will say something different.

Tunisia did not seek for an early goal. They came to contain the SE and hope to counter. OKoye gifted them a goal and the dynamics changed.

Things became worse when your impact sub is giving a RED card.

[metalalloy]

Enough blame to go around but if we are to have any dreams of beating Ghana, Okoye cannot be our goalie. He's not mature for the responsibility.

I have to admit, Okoye is not ready. That goal was on him.
Its back to Francis as #1 in my opinion. Maduka will have other chances, but he needs to progress first before he can win back the #1 jersey.

The flight of the ball switched on him, but modern GKs should expect that from the balls in use today.

But there were MULTIPLE ERRORS before that shot, starting with Aina, then Ndidi, then Ekong....

True he was blindsided by the movement on the ball, but it went into the net because he has soft hands and didnt push the ball well out of danger. I have seen other goalies in this tournament make similar saves with much more ease.

But you are right, his defense let him down tostart by allowing room for Tunisia to shoot in the first place.

If a keeper cannot save that then he is not FIT to be a National Team keeper. I don't think there is any keeper that has performed as poorly as Okoye! Watch the other National Team keepers.

Hopefully he will improve.

Several world class keepers like De Gea have howlers and they are national team keepers. You can easily find them on youtube Should he have saved it, certainly, but That shot was not an easy to to save.

[mystic]

There are some days where you lose and just have to congratulate your opponent. Today is one of them. Okoye gave up a soft goal and our wingers kept dribbling into cul-de-sacs.

Congrats to Tunisia ! They played a great game. On to the World Cup playoffs.

[maceo4]

Enough blame to go around but if we are to have any dreams of beating Ghana, Okoye cannot be our goalie. He's not mature for the responsibility.

I have to admit, Okoye is not ready. That goal was on him.
Its back to Francis as #1 in my opinion. Maduka will have other chances, but he needs to progress first before he can win back the #1 jersey.

The flight of the ball switched on him, but modern GKs should expect that from the balls in use today.

But there were MULTIPLE ERRORS before that shot, starting with Aina, then Ndidi, then Ekong....

Will you STOP this NONSENSE about blaming multiple players.

A goalie's job is to stop such routine balls.

The bobo no try at all...

You expect him to stop such balls.

PERIODT!

I dont think TXJ is absolving Maduka. He is just saying there are other players that made errors leading to the attempt,...and he is right.

That said, Maduka was only really tested once in this tourney, and he failed. So he gets to lose his 1st place goalie,..IMO.

Unfortunately, everything is binary to some people on this forum

But bros, we know other people made an error, but their errors didn't lead directly to a goal. He is the last line of defense and there is no way a NT keeper should be getting beat by a shot like that. I haven't seen it in this tourney, even with keepers playing in the most useless leagues...

[wanaj0]

According to Okocha, the team lacks a leader. That I agree with. The team is in need of a leader. Not sure who can play that role. Maybe Osimhen

[maceo4]

In tournament ball, as you go further in the rounds - levels of intensity cannot afford to dip. You play with urgency from the start with full awareness of the dark arts - Tunisia came in as the underdog, seeking an early goal which then gives them the option to play on the counter(legit strategy). Equavoen said in not so many words in the pre-match conference about intensity, respect & sharing the ball - we need to get away from hero ball!!!
WE BEAT OURSELVES AGAIN.

I always suspected resting majority of the players for our last game against GB would make them a bit sluggish in their first game back. That’s almost a week off in a tournament.

If they played and get injured you will say something different.

Tunisia did not seek for an early goal. They came to contain the SE and hope to counter. OKoye gifted them a goal and the dynamics changed.

Things became worse when your impact sub is giving a RED card.

They got a gift! Let us stop sugar coating it, that was a gift of a goal from Okoye, no one can tell me different. We can try to dress it with nice English and shift blame elsewhere, but that was a gift...

[TonyTheTigerKiller]

I am extremely disappointed but that’s football for you. The worst part of this loss is that Rohr undeservedly gets the last laugh… and even qualifying for the World Cup suddenly seems like a mirage. How did things suddenly go from extremely promising to hopeless


Cheers.