The match has come and gone, the anticipated match-up between the African champions Nigeria and European Giants Italy has ended, with Keshi releasing his boys for the rest of the year. As with other matches, there are a couple of things to learn:
1.Azubuike Egweke has to up his game....BIG TIME: I have been watching the Warri Wolves man for sometime, playing back-up to Omeruo, playing a few friendlies and participating in the Nations Cup. Out of all these nights though, this match was his biggest night as he faced top class opposition for the full 90 minutes. True to his nature, he huffed and puffed, marked fairly well and got into some tackles, But for top matches like this, he was just too static at times and with Omeruo's injuty looking to recur again, he has to step up seriously for his sake and that of the Super Eagles. The good side of it is that Keshi has faith in him, he has to repay that faith well
2.THIS EAGLES CAN'T BE DISGRACED: They have shown it again and again, they are the team to beat! Despite not looking at their best on Monday, they managed to rival Italy for most of the first half, infact until Pirlo came around. Even after Pirlo showed up and turned the game around for the Italians, we defended bravely, with Austin Ejide making some good saves. This may not be the set of 1994, but this is the best we have got since then, well done Eagles
3.Goal-keeping headache for Keshi: i understand how Keshi feel now. When he seemed to be over-hyping Ejide, i thought it was the popular Naija favoritism again. But against Italy, Ejide proved himself. Tons and Tons of saves were made by the man and despite conceding two goals, he looked impressive and really staged a performance. Unfortunately for him, Enyeama ain't slowing down either. Though this is good for the team as a whole, it will give the coach serious headache on who to use for the World Cup, that is if they keep this up til then.
4. We need to stop conceding: It happened again, we conceded goals and failed to hold a lead. This has been going on for some time, conceding against Kenya,Malawi and Ethiopia in Qualifying and Italy on Monday. If the Monday's match was a knockout match, we would have lost because we refused to hold out for a win. To think we struggled to draw that day and on thenext day South Africa who,withrespect to them and not up to our standard, held out for a lone goal victory against World Champions Spain speaks volumes, simply put, WE NEED TO START HOLDING OUT FOR VICTORIES AT THIS STAGE!
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