LordCzar202:
Nigeria v Croatia was a shabby display by both teams, with Croatia having the cutting edge above Nigeria. Two dead ball scenarios resulting in goals granted Croatia an unassailable lead. However, as much as we want to drum on their poor approach to set-pieces by the team, Nigerian football teams have always had a poor history in that department. As a matter a fact, for every team Nigeria has conceded to in their all world cups, at least one goal has been scored through set-pieces. So my people, no be today.

USA 94
Nigeria v Bulgaria 3 - 0
Nigeria v argentina 1 - 2 *two goals conceded through free-kicks
Nigeria v Greece 2 - 0
Nigeria v Italy 1 - 2 *one goal through a penalty. ** Italy had very short players

France 98
Nigeria v Spain 3 - 2 *one goal through a free kick situation
Nigeria v Bulgaria 1 - 0
Nigeria v Paraguay 1 - 3 *one goal through free kick situation
Nigeria v Denmark 1 - 4 *one goal through free kick situation

Korea Japan 02
Nigeria v Argentina 0 - 1 *one goal through corner
Nigeria v Sweden 1 - 2 *one goal through a penalty
Nigeria v England 0 - 0


Technically since 2010, our opponents on the global stage have been working our teams through set pieces. This can be seen by the staggering amounts of goals we conceded from set-pieces. It became an evident weakness in our game.
South Africa 10
Nigeria v Argentina 0 - 1 *one goal through corner
Nigeria v Greece 1 - 2 *one goal through free kick situation
Nigeria v Korea 2 - 2 *two goals through free kick situation

brazil 14
Nigeria v Iran 0 - 0
Nigeria v Bosnia 1 - 0
Nigeria v Argentina 2 - 3 *one goal through free kick situation, one goal from corner
Nigeria v France 0 - 2 *Two goals through corner kick situations

We conceded two goals from corner kick situations against Croatia yesterday, but I do not doubt that our boys in Dark Green prepared hardly against free kicks. They must have practiced drills after drills of possible scenarios, and the FIFA world cup itself is a theatre for Set-piece and some countries do specialise very much in them and master the art (All teams in our group fit this category).

You see, the truth is that you can't give what you do not have. One of the reasons why it looked like Croatia played poorly yesterday was due to the tenacity and doggedness of our players. Our boys matched their opponents on the field of play, at least until we conceded the second goal, which shattered their morale and towards the end of the game frustrated their vibe. This generation of players will learn.

Uchihaitaci:
Yeah kinds agree with your points

Nigerian teams have always been technically poor , relying on luck mostly and are a total exhibition of poor team spirit

Vero2sleek:


Team spirit was poor. But do u agree the coach had the least blame in the game?

Uchihaitaci:
Yeah kinds agree with your points

Nigerian teams have always been technically poor , relying on luck mostly and are a total exhibition of poor team spirit

Vero2sleek:
At least someone with sense. The teams did not play badly. It was because of Nigeria’s tactics to match them man for man, that’s why the game looked drabby.

Had we used 3 at theback, Perisic would hv had atleast 3 assist. Or abi una no see how that guy dey bend crosses like Beckham. There is no need playing 3 defenders to 1 CF, when there are 3 attacking midfielders following that one lone striker. The defense would be torn apart.

At the end u said it all. You cannot give what u do not have

LordCzar202:
Kinda agree?! At least state the contradictions to your own opinion nicely or brutally. The team did not do badly against Croatia and they have got good spirit too. That the team was second to most 50-50 contest speaks more of the solidity and doggedness of Croatian team. In a game we forced Modric to play deeper tactically, I must say Rohr is a genius. In that game the Croatians had all the eleents of luck working for them and we had none. If we managed to score first we might have gotten something out of the game... but the Croatian team is SOLID

Uchihaitaci:


Ok

LordCzar202:
Nigeria playing 3-5-2 that can morph into 442 against a traditional 4-4-2 playing Icelandic team. Rohrs strategy technically is based on matching opponents man for man. Its more easy to read for our young inexperienced team. The BIG QUESTION is can the players rise to this occasion? i still don't doubt they have been preparing and watching their training routine for Iceland, Mikel is leading from the front. We just might need a little hard luck to clinch this comfortably