First off, it is important to note that the better side won the game. Again, Super Eagles gave thier best. In every game of football one side must emerge victorious. The side that take their chances will win.
Through out the AFCON 2019, Algeria has been the most impressive side. They have played as a solid unit under the leadership of Manager, Djamel Belmadi and Captain Riyadh Mahrez who is still fresh from winning the EPL with Manchester City.
Nigeria again failed to work on obvious weak points; inability to deal with deliveries from the wide area and Daniel Akpeyi's obvious difficulty in dealing with aerial balls.
Mahrez kept Jamiu Collins busy as he delivered balls into the Nigerian box while Bounedjah kept the duo of Omeruo and Ekong busy with his lightening pace and direct play. A lofted pass from the lively Sofiane Feghouli to the attacker saw Omeruo outrun him towards the goal but the forward stole the ball from behind and placed towards post. Credit Akpeyi who came out of his lines and narrowed the post which resulted in him stopping the goal bound ball.
Mahrez continued running riot and this paid off as he outpaced Collins and delivered a ball in towards the Nigeria goal. Ekong was unfortunate to see the ball bounce of him into the net for an own goal. On the opposite side, Awaziem was sweating it out with Youcef Belali. Nigeria's midfield problem was laid bare in this game. Granted, Ndidi and Etebo are excellent ball winners. But then, winning the ball is one thing while using it is another.
There was zero progression of the ball from the two deep lying midfielders to Iwobi in front of them. That made Iwobi to constantly drop deep, pick the ball and move forward.
Whatever form of attack the Eagles carved out were directly engineered by Iwobi. The Arsenal player was the only man standing on the night. Ndidi is not a good passer of the ball. That is the only area of his game in the negative. I believe he should have been paired with another midfielder to ping passes around. That is however not undermining Etebo's input as he covered every blade of grass in the deep area marking everybody and everything.
Ighalo offered little or nothing up front in terms of hold up play or keeping defenders busy. The only clear cut chance he got from open play was frittered away. The only other being the penalty which he calmly slotted home. Musa too didn't offer much. Chukwueze, the star man of the game against Cameroun was subbed for Henry Onyekuru as his marker, Ramy Bensebaini came prepared for whatever trick the Vilareal man had.
The last minute free kick by Mahrez was always going to be a goal. Arrange same set piece today against same goalkeeper and he will score again. No goalkeeper arranges his wall of defence and stand behind it; out of the ball's view. Except Daniel Akpeyi, that is.
I did not notice a change of tactics while the game was going on. This is where Rohr come in. When a game plan isn't working the next thing to do is change plan.
The Super Eagles play conservative football. The team have depended on individual brilliance for a long time and it is not okay. The team did not play badly, especially considering the fact we lost to a better side but still, the room for improvement even got bigger. As pointed out earlier, Algeria has been the best team in the tournament and deserve to be in the final. We lost by 2 goals to 1. We should instead of crying, bandage our wounds while heading to the bar for bottles of beer. We lost to an excellent side.
Photo Credit: The South African
Follow Ikenna on Twitter @ikenna005
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