Argentina 2-1 Nigeria: What Did We Learn?

 

 

Poorly defended goals cost Nigeria: It’s probably stating the obvious, but you got the feeling that both Argentina strikes were avoidable. Ever Banega wasn’t pressed in possession in midfield, and with the Nigeria defence so high up the pitch, it only meant they were prone to runners from deep, something Lionel Messi took advantage of.

 

The second saw William Troost-Ekong lose his man (Sergio Aguero) and in a desperate attempt to cover his teammate’s lapse, Leon Balogun left his zone on the right berth and Marcos Rojo stole a march on the slow-to-cover Victor Moses, who failed to read the situation properly.

Super Eagles are crying out for a deep-lying playmaker: Over the course of the game, Nigeria’s lack of a midfielder capable of initiating play from deep was a major concern. Time and again, the side often resorted to hoofball when a more controlled approach would’ve sufficed. Mikel John Obi’s best-equipped to fill that role, but the Tianjin Teda man wasn’t deployed at the base of the midfield. The pair of Oghenekaro Etebo - a marauding midfielder - and

 

Wilfred Ndidi - a ball winner - won’t see you dictate games from deep, and that saw Nigeria lose possession cheaply, which in turn invited loads of pressure.

 

Rohr’s side also lacked a link-up player: Nigeria, especially in the first-half, struggled to get going in attack, with Kelechi Iheanacho culpable on a couple of occasions. The Leicester City man twice found himself in promising positions in the final third, but failed to make the right decision. You feel the benched Alex Iwobi would’ve done better in those situations. Hindsight, though, is 20/20, and electing to start the same side that’d secured a win over Iceland was perhaps logical from Rohr.

 

Cuneyt Cakir had a good game: The Turkish official came in for some criticism after the match, but in truth, he got the big calls spot on! Having duly punished Javier Mascherano for wrestling Balogun to the ground, he then made the right call by not awarding a second spot-kick following Rojo’s ‘handball’. Given the ball hit the central defender’s head prior to it coming off his arm, it would’ve been extremely harsh to penalize the Argentine player.

Nigeria's profligate finishing cost them: Odion Ighalo will bear much of the brunt for missing two really good opportunities to put Rohr’s side in front and perhaps rightly so.

 

The Changchun Yatai forward has only scored once under the German tactician and maybe it played on his mind before his attempts. Strikers thrive on confidence, and the fact that he’s also not been scoring for his club probably made it twice as difficult. An in-form striker might have buried one of the Ighalo efforts, and many Nigerians might look back on those two misses, wishing the chances had fallen to Ahmed Musa instead.