Edo Queens and FC Masar played out a goalless draw in Wednesday’s Group B clash at the 2024 CAF Women’s Champions League
A throbbing sore thumb of many a Nigerian team is over-reliance wing play.
In their first game, I saw beautiful balls being whipped in from the flanks with reckless abandonment.
Against FC Masar, the Egyptians effectively made the flanks a no-go area with emphatic and timely tackles, interceptions and double, even triple teaming on Edo Queens wingers to make sure the Nigerians will not gain access to that area.
It was a cagey affair.
Possession switched hands between both teams in harmless parts of the pitch with minimal incursions made into delicate parts of either team’s 18 yard box.
Edo Queens were reduced to taking some long range shots and trying to bully their way to the flanks to deliver crosses without meaningful success.
Goalkeeper Oyono, who proved to be a steady hand on the tiller, showed excellent timing to be in the right position to attempt some neat interceptions.
The centre backs ran out of the blocks severally to avert danger.
The midfielders battled relentlessly to retrieve, retain and recycle possession.
And the strikers toiled with sweat and tears to drive into delicate Egyptian areas with physical runs and passes that were pick off and repelled affectively by the Egyptians who matched Nigeria’s physical style across the patch with assurance.
FC Masar are technically sound and secretly dangerous. It is great testament to the focus and determination of Edo Queens that the game ended 0:0.
In summary, the Wafu champions put up a masterclass in physical football in being compact in midfield with a network of decent passes, sturdy in defence with last ditch tackles propped by a reliable goalkeeper and being bullish up front with stubborn efforts to bomb down the flanks which proved to be a hiding-to-nothing as the Egyptians knew what to expect and produced the right antidote to douse Nigerian flames.
I wasn’t too disappointed.
You play to your strengths and Edo Queens flaunted their physical credentials without giving grounds. But they didn’t gain grounds either.
To gain grounds, they would need to inject fresh ideas and a new dimension to their physical approach. It’s late in the day to expect a more tactical hue. But physical football too can be interpreted differently and creatively to keep the opposition guessing.
Starting with relying less on wing play and perhaps going long, route one or crossing from higher up like David Beckham (who lacked pace and trickery needed to run down the flanks but makes up for these deficiencies with precise positioning and pinpoint deliveries) used to do.
With the level of concentration Edo Queens showed in this encounter and an alternative approach up front, all hope is not lost for the ladies from Edo state.
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