Nigeria vs Tunisia (An Overview)

Nigeria vs Tunisia (An Overview)

If you ever doubted that God is a Nigerian and happened to watch today’s (June 20, 2009) match between Nigeria and Tunisia, your doubts should be gone by now. God is a Nigerian! That is the only reason the Super Eagles managed to secure a draw against the Carthage Eagles of Tunisia today.
To be fair to the boys, they played their hearts out and gave their all; but, the Nigerian team was somewhat technically deficient. It appeared as if the Tunisians did a better technical job on Nigeria than we did on them. They dominated the offense almost throughout the entire game; created countless scoring chances; and were quite unlucky at least twice not to convert their dangerous crosses.
The first five minutes of the game was testy for the Nigerian team and the Tunisians mounted coordinated attacks which somehow did not result in a goal. The Super Eagles played for survival for the next ten minutes with the defensive midfielders (Seyi Olofinjana, Kalu Uche, and Obi Mikel) clearly failing to disrupt the Tunisian build up of rapid offensive ring in front of the Super Eagles eighteen yard box. There was also an apparent lack of cohesion between the Nigerian defensive midfielders and the attacking midfielders which enabled the Tunisians to have room for supplying their main attacker (Ali Zitouni, 9) almost freely. Conversely, the Nigerian attackers (Ike Uche, Obinna Nsofor) were effectively cut off and could only manage to possess a few balls which they stumbled upon by themselves. There was no quality supply to either Ike Uche or Nsofor Obinna throughout the first half. The poor cohesion between the Nigerian defensive and offensive midfields adversely affected the confidence of Osaze Odemwingie in making quality runs and creating good passes to the Nigerian attackers.
The Nigerian defense remained under constant pressure, and it took the ingenuity of goal keeper Vincent Enyeama and defenders Dele Adeleye, Joseph Yobo, and a much improved Taye Taiwo to keep the score goalless at half time. Obi Mikel was not much helpful and could have played better on the day but I suspect he may have played according to the instructions of the coaching crew. The Super Eagles conceded too many free kicks near the eighteen yard box; they also conceded too many corner kicks for such a very important match.
On resumption after the halftime break, we had hoped that the coaches would introduce Kanu immediately. That did not happen until after twenty minutes of the second half. The introduction of Michael Eneramo and Nwankwo Kanu improved the structure a little, with Osaze Odemwingie having more quality balls to run with. Ike Uche should have stayed in the game while Mikel should have been removed. Somehow, it seemed as if Olofinjana and Mikel were redundant in the midfield.

Overall:
The game was testy for both teams technically and psychologically; the challenge for the coaching crew was to figure out which was needed more. We think the psychological aspect of the game proved more important at the end. It was obvious that the Tunisians played with too much confidence at the beginning of the match. The Nigerian midfield should have shaken that Tunisian confidence had Kanu Nwankwo started, or was introduced at the beginning of the second half. At either starting halves, Ike Uche and the rest of the attackers were still fresh and hungry for quality passes. If the Tunisians saw a more purposeful and dangerous Nigerian midfield, they would have been psychologically stressed, and be forced to play more defensively. Super Eagles could have built on the psychological advantage by the later part of the second half. The Tunisian defense was neither seriously threatened nor tested by the second half and almost went on complete holiday by the twenty-fifth minute of the second half. It was obvious that the Nigerian attackers were more dangerous whenever they got the ball near the Tunisian half, but such chances were too few.
We congratulate the boys for putting up a brave fight and going home with a draw. Technically we are still in with a chance, provided we win the rest of our matches both home and away. Now is the time for real technical planning to begin ahead of the return leg in Abuja. This Tunisian team seems ready and balanced to give us a fight in our backyard, so Nigeria should watch out! Nigeria should start serious planning now. We thank God for his mercies today!

Nigeria full squad:
Vincent Enyeama, Austin Ejide, Dele Aiyenugba, Onyekachi Apam, Yusuf Mohammed, Joseph Yobo, Danny Shittu, Obinna Nwaneri, Taye Taiwo, Elderson Echiejile, Dele Adeleye, Olubayo Adefemi, John Mikel Obi, Sani Kaita, Seyi Olofinjana, Kalu Uche, Oluwafemi Ajilore, Dickson Etuhu, Nwankwo Kanu, Osaze Odemwingie, Obinna Nsofor, Ikechukwu Uche, Joseph Akpala.

Tunisia full squad:

Hamdi Kasraoui, Aymen Matthlouthi, Jassem Khaloufi, Radhi Jaidi, Sami Allagui, Aymen Abdennour, Tijani Belaid, Fahd Ben Khalfallah, Wissem Ben Yahia, Anis Boussaidi, Amine Chermiti, Oussama Darragi, Radhouane Felhi, Seif Ghezel, Karim Hagui, Chadi Hammami, Bilel Ifaa, Ammar Jmel, Khaled Korbi, Houcine Ragued, Khaled Souissi, Ali Zitouni.

Tags: Nigerian Super Eagles football team gets a 0-0 draw in Raydes Tunisia