5 Things We Learnt From Our Victory Over Zambia
1. This is the hardest match we've played in the WCQ and it showed how we would react to a decent opposition. A lot of work needs to be done on this team as we're going to the tournament next year.
2. Our defence is average. Ezenwa is raw and not very good. He goofed in our 4-0 defeat at the WAFU final 2 weeks ago. We need a better keeper. Echejile is old and worn out: he doesn't have the legs any more. We need a veritable replacement. Leo and his CB partner looked ragged today against an average attack. I'm picturing how they would fare if they're faced with Harry Kane or Alvaro Morata.
3. Moses is NOT a no 10. Conte knows better. Asking him to play towards the centre was counterproductive. He did better against Cameroon because he was played in his natural position. Alex Iwobi is a better number 10 than Moses. Playing Moses towards the centre and Iwobi to the wide was an error.
4. We need better strikers. Ighalo who couldn't secure a spot at Watford and had to go to China seconded by Ihenacho who was booted out by Pep Guardiola and is yet to secure a spot at Leicester isn't good enough. Except the situation of one of these boys changes before next year, we must shop for another striker. It's unfortunate that both Chelsea FC's Tammy Abraham and Liverpool's Solanke have disowned us but we can shop more. We can't continue fluffing chances like we did today.
5. African referees continue to be shameful. Twice in this match, a clear onside was called offside by blind referees. A clear goal that should've stood was wrongly cancelled for Zambia. We won this match because African referees are incompetent and this is why they can never be respected on the global scale.
On the whole, congrats to my dear Nigerians (borrowing Buhari's words). See you in Russia next year!
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