Adekunle Salami 
The ongoing FIFA World Cup has been explosive from the first round of matches in Qatar. While some favourite teams recorded easy wins as expected, other favourites were taken to the cleaners with shocking results. England were ruthless with a 6-2 win over Iran as Bukayo Saka got a brace. France also defeated Australia 4-1 with former Arsenal striker, Olivier Giroud, on target twice and Spain were also ruthless beating Costa Rica 7-0. Story was not the same for Argentina as the highly rated team led by Lionel Messi lost 2-1 to Saudi Arabia in the opening group tie in which the South Americans scored first.
The drama continued with a similar fate for Germany as they scored first against Japan via penalty in the first half only to lose the encounter 2-1. No doubt, the ongoing unusual World Cup will still witness more unusual results. African representatives are also playing their role as Tunisia held Denmark to a 0-0 draw just as Morocco also played goalless against Croatia.
It was however two late goals that gave Holland an edge over African champions Senegal while Cameroon lost 1-0 to Switzerland. So far, the standard of the game and the level competition have been very high. Every team is striving towards creating a good image for the country and continent they represent. It is difficult watching the Mundial games without thinking about the Super Eagles that lost the ticket to Ghana in the African playoff even when the Ghanaians were there for the taking.
In the pre-World Cup friendly encounter against Portugal, Nigeria lost 4-0 in a match they failed to show the good standard expected of a top footballing nation. The Eagles’ defence was a disaster especially in the second half. William Troost-Ekong, the captain of the team and main man in the defence, is just average and he is weak in the coordination of the back line.
The three other positions at the back are unsteady as players come in and go. Shehu Abdullahi, a regular right-back, is no longer in the fray while the left-backs keep changing with Calvin Bassey in the position now. The return of Wilfred Ndidi for the Portugal game after an injury spell did not help much as the team generally lacked coordination and leadership. There was no one talking to the players to psyche them up and do the right thing on the pitch. Bright Osayi-Samuel who was in the defence against Portugal showed so much promise but there are two other players in that same position for the Eagles. Manager Jose Peseiro has not impacted enough technical input into this team since he took over in May. The Super Eagles generally play without tactics or a pattern. The expected creativity in the middle was not there against Portugal.
Alex Iwobi expected to provide the chances for other strikers was lost upfront chasing goals himself which means the manager’s style is still not prevalent. The attack was dead in the absence of Victor Osimhen because Terem Moffi did nothing against Portugal. The manager should have started Paul Onuachu who improved the Nigerian team when he came in.
Ademola Lookman and Emmanuel Dennis are yet to be fully integrated into the team and that is why Samuel Chukwueze and Moses Simon are still the preferred forward men operating from the flanks. How each of them will be deployed is the big task before Peseiro who has so much to do with this team if Nigeria is to make an impact at international stage. The domestic football league expected to also serve as a feeder to the Eagles has been off in the past five months while the age-grade teams are not providing the expected transition to bring up the younger ones to join the Eagles.
A former international Sylvanus Okpala only during the week lamented Nigeria’s absence at the ongoing Mundial in Qatar and added that it was important to start preparation for the next World Cup now. “We need to start the preparation and if we did not start now, then there is going to be problem. We are missing a lot for the World Cup failure, the money for appearance, money for going pass the first round are some of those things while we should also remember that football is a serious business, we need to think fast and start building the team towards the next World Cup,” Okpala said. New NFF boss, Ibrahim Gusau, must decide if Peseiro is staying or not so that the Eagles can develop better to compete well among the best at global stage.
