Nigeria Vs Zimbabwe 1-1: Retrospective Reflection

Is there light at the end of the tunnel of this qualifying series for the Super Eagles?

It was always going to be an uphill task to extract maximum 6 points from this round of qualifiers against Rwanda and Zimbabwe.

For me, 4 points and a decent pattern of play from Chelle's Super Eagles is mildly commendable. Afterall his 2 predecessors could only muster a shameful 3 points from 4 matches in this series.

That said, I have a minor criticism of this coach in the painful 1:1 draw against Zimbabwe.

"I think in the last 10 minutes it was hard for us because we did well in the first half with a lot of intensity so maybe the players were a little tired." Said Coach Chelle.

Voilà!

The Super Eagles took the fight to Zimbabwe early in the match with a barrage of dangerous chances which eventually bore fruit late with great hold up play from the impressive Arokodare to Aina's otherworldly cross and Osihmen's sublime finish from close range to cement his burgeoning reputation as Nigeria's saviour when all else fails.

The players looked drained to me at that point and I don't think Coach Chelle did quite enough to adjust their formation in addressing the fatigue that had clearly set in.

That said, well done to the coach and the players. We started the day second to bottom with meagre 3 points. We now have 7 massive points and have moved up a slot on the table.

But, I doubt it will be enough to salvage our fading world cup qualification hopes. Heck, looking at teams already in the second position play-offs with 10, 12 points, it seems laughable to expect us to even make the intercontinental playoffs.

It's not looking good all round.

But we take the positives.

Osihmen is undoubtedly a megastar, Arokodare offers something different and the Super Eagles know how to create generous goal scoring openings.

But persistent problems linger.

The team is horrendous in not being able to covert copious goals scoring chances; opposition teams are still able to frustrate the Super Eagles; our defence is porous, chaotic and riddled with error prone centre backs; our defensive midfield infrastructure is dilapidating; and our attacking midfield lacks enough ingenuity; they also often struggle to kill off opponents.

If those structural eyesores and personnel problems can be addressed on the pitch, then we should be able to complete this qualification series in a save-face manner even if we fail to qualify for the world cup.