ONWARD AUSTIN
LAGOS

Players stood around with no purpose and focus. They allowed so much comfort space to the opponent. I ask, why should the eagles congregate in their own 18. I see that as submission. When a team plays such passive and regressive football,it surely can’t win the big ones.

They need to address these issues. Play tight defense. Separate when in attack mode, converge and mark closely when not in possesion. Close marking allows a player to fight for a every ball without infraction. Good timing is every thing. The old football maxim still holds true, the man without the ball is the most dangerous. These guys are all pros, they should know this fundamentals.

Next,secure the mid field at all times. Man this position with a brilliant ball distibutor and defense minded focus. This will give the team constant attack potential and force the opponent to be on the defensive. Constant attack pressure will yield goals. Can’t win without goals. For heaven sake, Eagles should avoid clustering infront of their own goal except in set piece situations. This just blinds the goalie and gives little reaction time. I played goalie in my days and I would not allow defenders to be idle around my zone.

All right, so Im an arm chair coach. But my friends, something has to be done. We have too much talent not bag this thing. We have starved for too long now. What do you think?

Also, what did you think about Ghana’s win over Guinea? Some Ghanaian fans in Accra were upset that the ball kept hitting the post and others felt that the team will have to do much better against someone like Nigeria or Cote d’ Ivoire or Cameroon…

Nigerian football fans face the prospect of not being able to see their team playing in the forthcoming African Cup of Nations.
Nigerian broadcasters say they cannot afford to buy the rights to the tournament, which starts in two weeks’ time in Ghana.
The Broadcasting Organisation of Nigeria (BON) says the company that owns the rights wants 3m euros ($4.4m).
More than 30% of Africa’s TV audience for football is in Nigeria, BON says.
The group says it can only offer 1.25m euros ($1.8m) for the rights.
“They said our offer was not acceptable, so we said: ‘Fine, you can go and set up a TV channel in two weeks, we won’t deal with you’,” Bon chairman Abubakar Jijiwa told the BBC Focus on Africa programme.
Many Nigerians fanatically follow their national team, the Super Eagles, and the country is the most populous in Africa. “If you want to ignore Nigeria, good luck to you,” Mr Jijiwa said.