Football enthusiasts in Kaduna say Super Eagles’ holding of Ghana’ s Black Stars to a goalless draw in Kumasi in the World Cup play-off match Friday, fell short of their expectations.
Voicing out their feelings in an interview with NAN shortly after the game, some of them observed lack of coordination, singling out the goalkeepers as the only impressive performers.
“They had a poor outing; there was no coordination and even squandered the few chances they had; they were playing as if it was a friendly match.
“The Ghanaians had a better outing; we hope for a better performance in the second leg, come Tuesday next week,” said Francis Oche, a Viewing Centre operator and football lover.
For Bashir Idris, the “only consolation is the fact that the team did not concede goals”, just as he advised Eagles Coach Austin Eguavoen to return to the drawing board.
“The Eagles were woeful and crappy; the midfield never existed throughout the match; bravo to the defence line, especially Balogun and Ekong; but for them, it would have been a different story,” he said.
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He urged the coach to work on the midfield as early as possible before their next game.
Also, Rayyan Ibrahim, a footballer with a local club in Kaduna, said that apart from the goalkeeper, Ekong and Balogu, no other player impressed him.
“No passes, no meaningful attempt at scoring goals; we expected that Nigeria will beat them flatly,” he fumed.
Also, another enthusiast, Solomon Peter, observed that “co’ordinating the mid-field was the major challenge”, noting that Ghana took advantage of that weakness and became the “ landlords” in that department, thereby clipping the wings of the Eagles.
Also, Emmanuel Shuaibu, another fan, said the Super Eagles performance was very disappointing, adding that the team “lacked creativity, zeal and confidence”, just as the midfield was “zero”.
However, Sadiq Adegoke, said saw the game differently, insisting that the outcome is not as ‘sour’ as other people thought.
“I think it’s a good result for the Eagles; in Kumasi, the backyard of Black Stars, it is grossly unfair to expect that the Eagles will put up a superlative performance.
”The all the home support and other advantages of home matches, the complainants are being unreasonably mischievous in their expectations,” he said.
We do not know how to manage expectations in Nigeria; we went to Kumasi with a team that is still trying to regain its identity, yet we expect it to win.
“To me, it was a tough match and Eagles did well to come out undefeated; let us try again on Tuesday,” he said.
(NAN)
