So we didn’t get flushed down the toilet by Uruguay like nearly all of us expected (I included). If anything, we matched them and severely limited their most dangerous players from really doing anything dangerous to our backline. Still we lost to them though. SO what do I think?

I think we could have won that match. Sure, we started off a bit too shaky and were too cautious going forward because we were afraid that any counter attack would end in a goal against us. Funnily enough, the two goals we did concede came from one partial counter attack and (the second goal) one full blown counter attack that caught us completely on the back foot. Those goals aside, we played Uruguay really well, limited Suarez to diving each time anyone came even slightly in contact with him and Cavani to taking ridiculous pot-shots. We advanced well into their half and had one or two chances to scare them. And Mikel’s goal was pretty cool too.

So where did it go wrong?

1) The final ball was almost always poor: Each time we had a chance to put in a dangerous ball that could have created a real scoring chance, whoever was supposed to make the pass would either play it too long, too short or to the wrong person. It was a bit frustrating to see the ball go the wrong way at times and I think Nigeria has got to work on crosses and through passes.

2) Set piece delivery was waaaay off: Did you guys see Mikel’s first free kick? It was a veritable goal kick if you ask me! He practically just hoofed the ball waaay over the bar and I wonder if he considered any techniques when taking the shot. It’s no secret that since Jay jay Okocha retired, Nigeria really hasn’t had any outstanding set piece taker. it’s about time we dealt with that.

3) Playing one target man yesterday was certainly not going to work: Yesterday, Brown Ideye was played as the most forward of our attacking players. Several time, crosses where whipped in towards him and pretty much each time, he failed to make contact. I must confess that I have been rather frustrated with his performance in this competition . Against Tahiti, he had at least to chances on goal against the goal keeper and both times, he fluffed his chance. Were it Emenike up front, it would have made more sense to whip in crosses because he does have some aerial presence. With Ideye, it was never going to work.

4) Defending on the counter was slightly shaky: Truthfully, Nigeria defended really well. We had all expected that Suarez and Cavani would totally rip into our defense and tear it apart. On the contrary, we held the line pretty well and limited Cavani to straying offside. However, on the counter, we were a bit too thin at the back and needed one or two desperate interceptions/clearances to make sure the Uruguayans didn’t inflict damage on our goal. We need to defend counter attacks better if we are to come away with better results in the future.



So that’s it from me. I’m impressed with our team so far. Against Spain, i’m not hoping to much but i’m keeping my fingers crossed. If we can keep Spain limited like we did Uruguay (not likely but not impossible) and use every chance we create properly, we can definitely come away with a result. Go eagles!

http://tolusconvos./2013/06/21/nigeria-vs-uruguay-my-thoughts/