Watching the Super Eagles defeat the Bafana Bafana 2-1 at the 2019 African Nations Cup, last night, was a good one for football aficionados across the country and for Nigerians in the Diaspora.
The victory was a tough one though as the South Africans battled hard to draw level in the 71st minute after the enterprising Villarreal winger, Samuel Chukwueze gave us the lead in the opening 25 minutes of the match. The Eagles however rallied back with another goal this time in the 88th minute from our centre half, William Troost-Ekong.
With the win, the Super Eagles are through to the semi-finals and we are only two matches away from winning the trophy for the second time in six years.
However, for the team to achieve the feat of the 2013 Eagles, Coach Gernot Rohr must consider dropping his first choice goalkeeper, Daniel Akpeyi to the substitutes’ bench.
The Kaizerchiefs of South Africa net minder has been consistently poor in goal since the commencement of this tournament.
He has concurrently caused so much apprehension with football fans back home each time the team played in Egypt. Our blood pressure runs high anytime the defenders or defensive midfielders opted to make a back pass to the former Heartland FC of Owerri keeper.
At Egypt 2019, Akpeyi has ensured he remains the goalkeeper with the highest number of errors. He succeeded in taking his unimpressive performance in goal to another level last night against the South Africans as he surprisingly went to the ground instead of reaching for the looping header that resulted in an equaliser for the opponents.
I must confess, I have been highly impressed with the displays of our defenders such as Chidozie Awaziem, Ola Aina, Kenneth Omeruo and Ekong so far and if they continue in that trend, the team is bound for greatness. For such greatness to be achieved in Egypt, Rohr must consider handing over the gloves to either Ikechukwu Ezenwa or Francis Uzoho. It is high time we had one of the aforementioned in goal as Akpeyi has shown he cannot be trusted.
I have never been a fan of Akpeyi from time immemorial and if it was down to me, the goalkeeper would have been left out of the party in Egypt. There was never a time the goalkeeper has impressed in the green and white jersey and it remains a surprise why he has remained in the roaster of the national team.
While the Super Eagles have been able to survive the errors and poor goalkeeping of Akpeyi from the group stage up to the quarter-finals, the team is not likely to scale through if this goalkeeper who is likely to repeat ‘school boy’ errors is fielded in the semi-finals and possibly the final. While it could be argued that most of the teams that the Eagles played paraded toothless attackers, it will be unimaginable to see how our keeper will survive the onslaught of a striker like Liverpool and Senegal’s Sadio Mane at this stage of the tournament.
Meanwhile, with two matches left for the Eagles to play in the country of the Pharaohs, I am looking forward to seeing Rohr hand over responsibilities to our unused striker; Henry Onyekuru and Victor Osimhen. The two young forwards especially Osimhen enjoyed a blistering season in Europe and they could have lit up Egypt at this stage but for the injuries and virus they have had to battle on arrival at the 2019 AFCON.
While Odion Ighalo has so far justified his rating as the first choice striker for the Super Eagles, leggy forward, Paul Ebere Onuachu has yet to find his form in Egypt as the next in line. Even in matches where he was handed a shirt in the starting XI, the Denmark based striker has found goal scoring an onerous task at the 2019 African Nations Cup. With Omeruo and Ekong โ two central defender โ among the goals, Onuachu must ensure he polishes his scoring boots (if he had any in Egypt) with two matches left to play. Failure to find his range in the land of the Pharaohs, then the former Ebedei FC player may as well kiss the senior national team bye in the same manner as the forgotten Anthony’s; Ujah and Nwaekeme.
