Super Eagles goalkeeper Francis Uzoho has apologised following his reaction to criticisms that trailed his performance in the team’s recent friendlies against Saudi Arabia and Mozambique.
Uzoho let in two cheap goals against the Green Falcons and Mambas.
The Omonia Nicosia was widely for his poor displays in the friendlies.
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The 24-year-old posted a picture on Snapchat in a bid to silence his critics, tagging it “do it if it’s easy.”
“It has come to my attention that my recent Snapchat has not been my best behaviour towards you all as my loyal fans. I apologize for this as it was not my intention to conduct myself in such a manner towards the fans who have supported and motivated me throughout my career,” Uzoho posted on X.
“Accepting criticism is part of my job and one that I often welcome from people who continue to support me. I accept your criticisms with the utmost respect and understanding that you all want me to do better.
“I want you all to know that I continue to grow daily as a person and in my career and you all are a vital part of my growth and success. My actions are aimed to reflect this and will continue to do so.”
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42 Comments
Okay go and sin know more, but still give the SE a space, na beg we Dey beg, decline any further invitation for now. Biko
Uzohobasket, no need to apologize. You’ve done nothing wrong,it’s just that you can’t give what you don’t have. Stop bribing your way into the team. The team needs intelligent and hardworking players.
I have never seen a single bench warmer that got the kind of opportunity given to you.
You are warming the bench in a below top 1000 club but you want to be selected above those that are better than you.
Your poor GK skills cost us the WC, your lack of basic skills gave the WC qualifier to Ghana.
Matches upon matches you just dey chop goals to the extent that you drag ball into the net by yourself.
Are you into betting ?
If Pesseoro cant get us a new goalkeeper playing in top leagues and competitions like Atubolu, Tobias Lawal, and Osigwe, he should just invite the only golden golve winning GK Alampasu who is playing regularly for a top club in Malta.
Nwabali, Saheed, Joshua Olayemi, Okonkwo,Aniogboso, Olorunleke..
Uzoho has no business in the national team , if he is still warming the bench in a lowly rated league.
Uzoho is into betting game. He tends to bet against Nigeria and made good bulks as a result. He needs to explain to Nigeria why he skillfully drag a ball that was going over the bar into his own net. Okay, look at the first goal he conceded against Mozambique. If that is not intentional, then, l don’t know what is.
Edoman & Larry! Top marks for your comments.
Apologies accepted! But please kindly stay away from Super Eagles for now Biko!!!
Uzoho is so arrogant so this Apology he makes it about him and the fans who support him. UZOHO LET ME REMIND YOU. The fans are upset because you let Nigeria down we are not supporting you but the team it is not about you alone you let the team down. It is not your fans that are upset it is Super Eagles Fans.if you like go and be a basket IN CYPRUS but when you come to SE come with A game or stay away
Quick check on the past goalies .
In the days of Emmanuel Okalla, Best Ogedegbe and others, Criticism wasn’t at this level. So I’ll start from The days of Peter Rufai.
During Marroc 88 and Tunisia/ USA 94, Rufai was in his best because we had the best defense back then. Remember, a Goal Keeper is as good as his defense but in 98, he got exposed due to the weak defense and old age. At least, he left it late before he got exposed, not the case of our current goalkeepers that are already past their glory days at 23-24.
Alloy Agu, Senegal 92, he had his short comings and I remembered Nigeria fans kept pointing to the fact that if not Rufai’s horrible shoulder injury back then, he won’t be there and Rufai rightfully took back his position when he came back from injury.
Wilfred Agbonavbare (God bless his soul) was give a nickname Agbonibasket for a reason.
Ike shorunmu. Here’s another injury prone goalie that got his number one position late. A good goal Keeper though but his horror kick sent us out of korea/Japan 2002 World Cup against Sweden.
Willy Okpara, Greg Etafia… they were just unlucky. Not really tested, just like what the likes of Osigwe is facing at the moment.
Dosu Joseph…. Had a short career thanks to an Horrible Accident.
Abiodun Baruwa… here’s a goal Keeper that his hand services were always going far than the kicks, he messed up against Yugoslavia trying to dribble an almighty Mijatovic. He was the reason Nigeria went to the France 98 tournament with just 2 goalies.(Rufai and Okpara)
Vincent Enyeama… Arguably the best goal Keeper Nigeria ever produced. Even though he had his short comings too with some errors in his early days. He even vowed not to apologize to anybody for his horror show in one of the qualifiers.
Ejide.. was unlucky to come during Vincent Enyeama. He tried his best during 2008 nations cup in Ghana.
Dele Aiyenugba. Mr Penalty… also unlucky to come during Enyeam’s reign but just like Uzoho, he stopped us from going to Germany 2006 World Cup against Angola.
Chigozie Agbim… he became one of Nigeria goal Keeper, thanks to Stephen Keshi even without playing anything in NPFL. Another bad fruit.
Akpeyi… he tried his best too but there’s something about him that gives 200 million Nigerians unrest whenever he’s at the goal post. Majority of the fans were happy to see his back when he left.
Ezenwa… average, no too much complaints from the fans but his club form didn’t help him when he suddenly became 3rd goalie behind some locally based goal Keepers in Enyimba.
Carl Ikeme…another goal Keeper that was detected late. One of the best we had but his career was cut short before World Cup 2018.
Uzoho.. Na there we dey now. Make God help us.
Okoye… hmm.. May be Udinese can help him because at the moment, with him, the goal post is empty.
Adeleye… he tried in the last game but with the past experiences I’ve had with some bad goalies, I don’t judge a keeper with just 2 games. His record so far in his club this season isn’t helping too. Something tells me we can do better.
Angola home and away it was Enyema that kept goal not dele..I remember fabris Akwa scoring from thight angle after yobo failed to stop him..then back in Kano abi Kaduna, Nff sabotaged us, Enyema still kept the goal that day.
Are the current Foreign goalies really available?
Noah Atubolu… Unless we can be lucky to work the papers as fast as Akpoguma’s, I doubt his availability now. @21, he can consider Nigeria in the future. If Tar stegen and others can be struggling to get game time for Germany, he won’t want to deceive himself.
Tobias Lawal, the issue of solo passport still stands and if He’ll have to dump Austria, then Nigeria have to assure him of regular playing time which is not possible. He’s availability not really feasible at the moment.
Jonathan Rasheed..he had voiced his availability if called up but @31, I hope he won’t be another shorunmu and Ikeme that we detected late. May be he can play up to late 30s . Who knows?
Arthur Okonkwo, though in the form of his life but I remembered he once expressed fear of the attacks Naija goalies get after errors. Paseiro said our goal keepers keep losing confidence because of the attacks from fans , I hope okonkwo hasn’t lost his before making his first game already even if he accepts?
Owen Goodman… one for the future Same as aniagboso.
In all … the surest now to beat Nations cup dead line is Jonathan Rasheed from Sweden. If we can settle for A bench warmer from Cyprus, I see no reason why we can’t go for a top player in sweden. Another thing is.. we got Uzoho at 19, Okoye at 20, Adeleye at 21, we want Atubolu at 21, May be we should go for experience this time. Rasheed at 31 should have got used to criticisms by now..
Atubolu Atubolu! The guy is keeping blunders in Freiburg momentarily, and has come under heavy criticism.Nigerian fans are blind haters.
This is why I said we should go for experience this time. All these keepers need time to grow..
even Okonkwo made blunder against Hibernian FC.
And note, As good as De gea, Allison Becker, Even the current best in Africa now Onana, Error is now his second name, even Mendy became rubbish before he ran to Saudi.
This shouldn’t stop us from trying new keepers. Uzoho became problem today because it’s too much and couldn’t play first team football in a lowly Cyprus.
I was one of the few that suggested Atubolu on this forum. And honestly speaking, he is still very inexperienced, making lots of mistakes and his positioning isn’t that great. These lapses, I have observed from doing some proper study of his games. He has got huge potential though but certainly not one to be trusted with SE duties. Keepers get better with age.
So I will suggest, we try out Jonathan, purely because of his age. At 31, he might have gathered good experience making mistakes and learning how to avoid them. Also for someone with good focus, body shape, good reflexes, good height, playing regularly and bravery, Arthur Okonkwo fits in there.
This would have been the best chance for Osigwe, but unfortunately has been out injured. Hopefully he gets well soon and come fight for the goal keepers shirt.
Exactly, I don’t see any special about that guy, he is not better what we have currently…Aniagbaso is a better GK
Uzoho, apologies will be accepted if only you will stay clear from SUPER EAGLES.
…with the ball slipping under Enyeama’s armpits for Angola’s Equalizer that sent us out of the 2006 World Cup. (an addendum to DÇardinal’s comment up there)
Goalkeeping are errors are Siamese twins, especially when the GKs are still young. All the Gks Sean has listed above had their good and bad times too. But their bests remained when they finally were at their peak when they had advanced in age.
Even Rufai was excused from the national team for a long while at some point when he wasnt delivering, Rufai didnt qualfiy Nigeria for the world cup, Wilfred Agbonavbare did, the same one we called Agbonabasket.
The grass is always greener on the other side until we get there.
I’ve said this b4 and will say it again, if we don’t want to be patient with the Gks we have, we will keep perambulating and half a decade later we will still be looking for a substantive no 1.
We chased Ezenwa away for no reason. This was a guy who was in our U20s, U23s, CHAN teams and at a time the highest-paid GK in the league
We chased Akpeyi away for conceding a freekick to one of the best freekick takers in the world. This was a guy who was 1st choice in a Kiazer Cheifs club that had 2 SA national team goalkeepers and was CAF CL best GK 2 or 3 seasons ago with 10 clean sheets, the highest by any GK in the history of the CAFCL
We chased Okoye away for not stopping a swerving shot that took a wicked bounce at the last minute. (I remembered some people saying Uzoho would have stopped the shot….LMAOoo…only for Uzoho himself to be faced with the same situation and also not being able to deal with it). This was an Okoye who was Eredivisie’s best GK in his first season in the top flight and back-to-back PLAYER of the season for Sparta Rotterdam.
Now it is Uzoho that has to be chased away. Same Uzoho who debuted in the Spanish LA LIGA when he was barely 18 and recently showed what he can do at Old Trafford in the Europa league vs Man U.
The boy was indeed right in lashing out at y’all that if it is easy, get signed in Europe as a black goalkeeper
I think the fans need to do some self-introspection and ask themselves what is it that makes GKs scared, jittery, lacking in confidence and error-prone when they put the SE jersey on.
I just pity any new GK that is coming into the SE now…especially that Adeleye boy, I seriously pity him, because he will be worse than Onana in a SE shirt with the kind of pressure we put of SE GKs these days.
I read people name names like Osigwe (Osigwe that is not even 2nd choice in his club at the moment, talk more of getting games), names like Atubolu (a complete greenhorn whose aerial and organizational abilities are still suspect per analysis from Bundesliga experts ), names like Alampasu (who is currently in the 5th division in France after journeying through small leagues all over eastern Europe mostly as 2nd choice), and home-based GKs I have followed closely in African club competitions and are even proving to be worse that Uzoho……I read all these names being bandied around and I laugh, and then I reiterate,
…..let them all come and have their own taste of the pie and see who will survive the venom of these mostly ignorant football viewers who call themselves SE Fans.
We all want to see a Vincent Enyeama of 2010 upwards in Gks who have barely had 20caps, when there was a Vincent Enyeama who we had to be patient with from 2002 to 2010 before he became a goalkeeping Oracle for us. We forget that some people had to be patient and trust in him not because there were no better GKs than his home and abroad (The Sam Okoyes, Sunday Makamas, Chijioke Ejiogus, Ademola Bankoles, Inih Ebohs) then, but because Consistency is what makes a good goalkeeper. Austin Ejide was a homebased Gk like Vincent in 2002, but Austin made it to Etoile du Sahel in Tunisia and the French lig 1 with Bastia FC, while Vincent was still trialling in Bolton Wanderers without being deemed fit enough to be signed even as backup to Jussi Jaaskaleinen. I vividly remember journalists saying we were going to the 2004 AFCON without a GK back then, in mokery of Vincent Enyeama being our 1st choice to that tournament.
The patience we don’t want to have now, we will have it by force when after 10 years, we still have not found a substantive 1st choice.
Let the new GKs come and put Omeruo and Ajayi in front of them in Peserios outdated flat 4-4-2 system that makes us porous like a local bathing sponge and lets see the magic they will perform.
As usual, na sidon look I go dey.
Thank you very much at Dr drey. I said a Goal Keeper is as good as his defense. One person mentioned Fabien Bartez sighting how good he was with his small height. He forgot to remember that he was protected by the likes of Desailley, Lebouf, Blanc, Thuram, Lizarazu, Karembeau with viera , Petit in the midfield.
If Semi Ajayi from Championship is the best we can produce in 2023 then Don’t celebrate Adeleye or any Goal keeper yet.
Bartez got exposed big time when he joined ManUtd after World Cup with weaker defenders compared to those in French Team.
We’ve been patient enough with uzoho, it’s obvious the dude gat nothing to offer as u sure can’t give what u dnt have, the guy look stiff for a GK, you right with ur submission in respect to patient, but with this uzoho, we will gat wait till eternity.femi
Yea….same things they said about Enyeama back then to armtwist Berti Vogts in dropping him for Ejide.
Same people now eulogize Vincent to high heavens today.
The world saw Uzoho in the Europa league last season, and I’m sure they will disagree with your assertions that he has nothing to offer.
And In truth, if it was easy, go and get signed by European teams as a goalkeeper from Africa. Only Vincent Enyeama (the same one we now refer to as the greatest) can tell you how many trials he failed in Europe before he got signed by Bnei Yehuda in Isreal
Ike Shorunmu with all the age and experience he had on his side conceded goals that denied us an AFCON trophy in 2000 and a place in the afcon final in 2002. His miskicked goalkick also sent us out of the 2002 WC.
There’s no goalkeeper on earth who does not have his own catalogue of errors
I hope you find another Vincent Enyeama out of the blues very soon…LMAOoo.
@Dr Drey
The difference is at the time, Enyeama, Ejide were playing. So there was always a way out. Not rotting in a bench in Cyrus!!
Uzoho’s rustiness comes from not playing, And I would say even in his best day, it is a tall order comparing Uzoho to Ejide let alone Enyeama. Even at their worst days. For crying out loud, Enyeama was a CAF champions league winner , a time when Egypt was and the likes were running wide with CAf champions league players.
One game doesn’t define a player. Consistency is key. More so, for a keeper.
Come on! I respect your perseverance and patience but the goalkeeping department is very vital. I agree we are not blessed in that department right now but we can do better than Uzoho. You would agree he has been given more time than even Enyeama to amend his mistakes yet still coming shorts.
I agree, it takes talent to get to Deportivo et al. But at this moment, Uzoho isn’t it.
As much as unfortunate it is, life is lived in the moment.
Mr Hush, we can say in hindsight now that Enyeama was this or that because some people were patient with him when his palms were as slippery as the lips of a snail, helping him with the consistency he needed to become a top international GK.
He may have won back to back CAF CL with Enyimba them he was pretty average then….not a tad better than Uzoho or Okoye or any of the young lads weve got now. He was never spectacular in anyway then. His airkick vs Ismaili in the 2nd leg of the final match almost gifted Ismaili an equalizer that would have denied Enyimba that first ever CAF CL trophy for Nigeria. His poor judgement of aerial balls was evident in both legs of the finals vs Etoile du Sahel in their title defence. There was a reason Bolton Wanderers passed up the opportunity to sign him back then, even as a back up after a whole 3 weeks of trials
I saw enyeama grow up. Yes, he grew up right under our noses as a goalkeeper and I can say 100% he wasn’t better than these ones we have now in those early days of his growth.
You talked about consistency….please where is the consistency in using 4 goalkeepers in the space of 5 years with each barely able to ammass 20 caps.
Yes, Uzoho might not be a regular in his club, but it didn’t take inactiveness at club level for us the chase Akpeyi, Ezenwa and Okoye out of the team.
How can GKs who are accomplishing incredible stuff in their clubs suddenly become nerval wrecks while on national duty….
? Something seems to he wrong somewhere.
I remember stating on this platform when yall came for Maduka back then…claiming he should be dropped for Uzoho….uzoho is better….what what what….I told yall we will turn than curge again, with Uzoho, Adeleke or any young goalkeeper for that matter that comes in in his place….
And I hate to say I’ve been vindicated.
No matter how much in a hurry a man is, he cannot impregnate 9 women to give him a child in 1 month just because he can’t wait for 9 months for 1 woman to give him a child.
Every young goalkeeper has a goalkeeping cycle he must complete to become great….you either allow the cycle to run its course or yall will continue dancing around in cycles.
In case yall have forgotten, Enyeama was also warning the bench at Lille when he led us to the AFCON title 2013. So the peak enyeama we all enjoyed was not the one that was first choice at enyimba and iwuanyawu nationale.
Does Uzoho or Okoye need to take a step down and get a team where they can get regular game time…..Oh Yes…absolutely. But is there any Nigerian goalkeeper anywhere currently that will do us a Vincent enyeama of 2010 to 2016 without first doing us a Vincent Enyeama of 2002 to 2006….I will beat my chest and give a capital NO as an answer to that question.
This was how we were all clamouring for Afhelokai a few years ago as some messaih because he was a local champion until he swallowed 4 goals against Togolese homebased strikers….LMAOoo.
I feel blessed to have seen goalkeepers come and go in the SE at least since the emergence of a certain Peter Rufai, and I can boldly attest to the fact that you can’t rush greatness into the palms of any goalkeeper. It is the faith an confidence reposed in them that will seen them through their development
They say if you want to pierce open a concrete wall, you hit 1 million shots at 1 spot…not 1 shot at 1 million spots
I wished Innoson manufactures Great goalkeepers, but no. Consistency is what makes one.
I agree with you that we are bit impatient with our goal keepers and with the new age of social media, Nigerian gk are not going find it easy when they make mistakes.
However, for uzoho it is one mistake too many. Even a Rhor who you are his biggest fan on this platform which I am too will not tolerate uzoho consistent blunders.
Ezenwa made a blunder in the last game of 2018 WC qualifier he was dropped for Akpeyi. Akpeyi had a horrible game against Argentina in the friendly he substituted at half time for Uzoho. Uzoho lost his starting position in one of the Afcon 2019 qualifying match when he made an howler. In the friendly match against Brazil, the press asked GR while would he invite a fourth division gk? He said Npfl has been on break for almost a year and he cannot invite a gk that is not playing football. I can go on and on with the German constant change of gk that were underperforming. Mind you all these gk are at least playing for their respective clubs.
Why will a pasero be playing a non playing gk in his club even when he had the opportunity to try out other gk in a friendly match
So Rohr kept chopping and changing goalkeepers…and 2 years and 2 coaches after Rohr, we are still chopping and changing….what does that tell you…???.
I thought goalkeeping legend grow in gardens where you can just go and harvest and plant in your goal Posts and go to sleep.
I’m not saying it must be Uzoho we must stick with. I for one I’ve always maintained we retain Okoye, cos of his age…..Uzoho’s age for me is suspect.
But we have stick to one….there is no easy way out unfortunately. Especially when we dont have any “experienced” goalkeeprr anywhere whom we can quikly call on like we called on Carl Ikeme when the Enyeama debacle happened.
Let’s know that and know peace.
Otherwise we will be here in 2026 still searching for a “reliable SE goalkeeper” we never built.
I don’t mind constant chopping and changing of gks as long as we get results. If Rhor used it to get results, I don’t see why we can’t get results with now
Abeg Odinaka Uzoho should go and sit down. Him no sabi keep anything. Since the exit of Vincent Enyeama, Nigeria is yet to produce a good keeper. Na so-so jankara keepers we dey produce
GKs need psycological strength and goal post confidence to be ready for rel time matches. It will take months to instill these valuable characters and attributes in a social media goalkeeper that is warming the bench for a below top 1000 clubside.
If you are still supporting an inactive Uzohobasket to be part of the team, then it will not be wrong to assume that you don’t want the best for the Super Eagles.
I’ve watched all the goals conceded by this guy and it is obvious that the lack of gametime has taken a psycological and mental toll on him.
How can a tall GK drag a simple loop into his net without a threat..
Uzoho has poor reflexes, concentration, and coordination.
Age is really telling on him and Pesseiro will have himself to blame if he decides to continue pampering him with undeserved invitation.
Isn’t all this commotion and invective because Peseiro invited 4 keepers to 2 friendlies, and used only one?
Is that not a waste of money?
Thumbs up brotherman @Ako Amadi. Man dem wonder why Rohr only used one goalkeeper.
Don’t mind him. For friendly o. Waste of flight tickets. In fact, I’m still not really convinced about the quality of this Paseiro man. At least, Rohr is on and off and can spring surprises occasionally like the win against Argentina in that 2018 friendly in Russia and the win against Cameroun at Afcon 2019. Noting spectacular yet with this one, Even Eguavoen beat favorites and eventual finalists Egypt in Afcon 2021 in Cameroun.
If he can stick with Uzoho in friendlies, then every other goalkeeper going to Afcon in January would only be training materials. They won’t have game time. Any way I;m sure the 2 World Cup qualifiers this year and the January Afcon will finally decide his fate.
One should know playing for the Super Eagles always comes with criticisms, albeit constructive or misplaced. But should be expected.
I believe constructive criticism should given when. It is good for introspection that could lead to improvements. And no one should be above such.
In this context, I believe Uzoho’s criticism is in order. I am glad he came around to accept that fact.
In context of the recent matches, Chukwueze, Lookman,Peseiro and even the defence were all criticised ; duely needed and no tantrums were thrown. So wonder why Uzoho felt exceptional.
I see deflection are being made on behalf of Uzoho, deflecting his mistakes to the defence which I find unnecessary. We all watched the matches. It was mostly clear that Uzoho didn’t do himself justice with atleast 2 of the goals. From my perspective, if Uzoho didn’t make such errors, the results would be different in the most positive way. So the fault is mostly his. I strongly believe the defence did averagely well. Uzoho below par.
Yes. Uzoho being a keeper, might have time to improve but the Super Eagles have no time to take such risk. I dare say, if we are going to take a risk with Uzoho, who we know is momentarily error prone , why can’t we just take the risk by trying out another keeper, what do have to lose? We are already losing much with Uzoho. If we can’t get any in the foreign leagues or believe in Adeleye or Okoye, why don’t we try the best Goalkeeper in the Local League. I don’t want to believe they are all as error prone as Uzoho. The coaches need to man up and do the needful. Super Eagles deserve the best at the moment in all position playing. Not keeping faith in players that have refused to improve through the years rather retrogressing. If we are all here screaming Chukwueze to be excused and Musa to be retired( justifiably so for the latter), what makes Uzoho different? Why shoot yourself in the foot based on emotions.
Well, Uzoho’s apology is accepted but he should go work on his skillset. He needs it himself.
It’s really noble of Uzoho to tender a public apology for his singular response after a tsunami of virulent abuse hurled at him over several months.
Uzoho isn’t unused to criticisms. His post box was inundated with unfriendly mail following games against Ghana and Algeria where he conceded a similar type of saveable goals. But he bit his tongue.
But, the nature of recent vitriol following another set of dubious performances was too much for the usually unassuming net minder to tolerate.
One thing though is a common denominator: his performance.
Football is a sport that evokes strong emotions and fans are understandably frustrated.
But, with this public apology, I hope all parties can draw a line under the matter and start from a clean slate.
And, it is a clean slate.
A new world cup qualifying campaign and another edition of the Afcon.
If Peseiro sticks with Uzoho as I think he will, Uzoho has to work on his confidence and abilities. He has improved massively (from what I noticed) in ball distributions. Yesterday, I went back to watch highlights of the match against Portugal and saw him pull off a breathtaking save to punch a goal bound effort.
Against Guinea Bissau, there were also some saves of note. Uzoho is not a waste of space.
But, to be honest, it is too much to expect fans to continue to stomach damaging goalkeeping performances.
Perhaps Peseiro should give him a break to deflect some attention off him. Adeleye seems capable and Okoye appears to be looking after himself.
Gernot Rohr wasn’t stupid. Shielding his goalkeeper with 3 centre backs and 2 defensive midfielders offered ample protection. But Peseiro has gone with 2 centre backs and minimal defensive midfield apparatus. Yes he has two midfielders but the have near 50/50 attacking and defending responsibilities.
Rohr plays it safe, sits back and hits on the break while Peseiro plays with all guns blazing, stabbing forward like a supernatural killer in a horror movie. In this dispensation, the Super Eagles goalkeeper should expect to be busy with shrapnels of shots raining from all directions.
It’s a thankless task to be a goalkeeper in a loose formation but some relish it, it keeps them busy. It’s up to Peseiro to decide whether Uzoho is the missing goalkeeping piece in the jigsaw puzzle intended to guarantee a memorable outing for Nigeria in the Afcon and early world cup qualifying fixtures.
I have my doubts but Peseiro knows best.
@Deo
Full admiration for your balance stance. As much as we are all bias in some way, you find a way to stay moderate in course.
No matter what part of the aisle we stand. The goalkeeper should do his job.
Make as much save inspite of the defence. That’s your duty. If the defence keeps failing and the keeper does good, trust me, the fans, critics know where to apportion blame.
While Uzoho’s distribution has improved,as useful as that may be, his primary job is stopping balls from getting into the net.
I wonder why we keep throwing shades at the 4-4-2. Remember, we won the Afcon in 2013 with a hybrid 4-4-2. With Ideye playing as a support striker to Emenike.
What made that special, was our wingers and astute midfield putting up stellar performances.
The problem isn’t really about the formation rather personnel and application . In as much as we study the opposition, we should always play to our strengths. Especially in the Afcon, where we have the leverage of dictating play; mostly. And what’s our strength at the moment? Attack.
Although,we should be flexible in formation and tactics in context to teams played; in my opinion, I feel the 4-4-2 has been successful against lower oppositions. We dictate play, create chances and score goals. Which is suppose to be. Only if Uzoho stopped been error prone.
Don’t misunderstand me. Not saying we should always stick to a 4-4-2 but we should play accordingly. Like relationships, no 2 games are the same. We must be flexible as much as we are balance dictating games to our capability to get the positive result we seek.
Point of correction Mr Hush, we didn’t wín 2013 AFCON with 4-4-2….we won with 4-3-3. Our midfield always had a trident of Ónazì/Fegor, Mikel and Mba/Igiebor and our attack consistently consisted of Ideye, Emenike and V.Moses who had a somewhat free role in attack.
The type of formation we play now matters alot with respect to how exposed our defence gets. Any formation that leaves us thin in the middle while defending should be a No No at time when everything from our central defence to our goalkeeping is still suspect.
Mr Hush,
I think it was at the 2014 World Cup that Keshi adopted a nuanced formation. Even back then I struggled to work it out. It sometimes looked like a 4-4-2 but maybe more accurately 4-2-3-1.
Emenike the centre forward rarely stayed in the middle, often vacating his post for Musa and Odewingie to drift into.
But in the Afcon, it was undeniable 4-3-3 or 4-2-1-3 however you want to see it.
Mikel formed a pivot with Onazi but with more of the offensive responsibility leaving Onazi to do the dirty work.
There was only space for one attacking midfielder who had the freedom of that space. Igiebor proved to rigid so he was dropped for a more mobile forward looking Mba.
The front three had Moses, Emenike and Ideye and boy did it work!
I had thought he would stick with this unambiguous 4-3-3 at the World Cup but he elected for a form of 4-2-3-1 that was unattractive against Iran, passable against Bosnia and effective on the counter against Argentina. It did help to contain France until, em! em! our goalkeeper panicked, lost his nerve, misjudged a corner kick and rushed out, leaving an empty goal for Pogba to stab his header into.
Had Enyeama stayed on his line, as he did in prior corner kicks in the same match, history could have been different!
NO GOALKEEPER IS INFALLIBLE.
Ehm, erhm…Ẹ́ekis sir…..do you mean Almighty, peak Vincent Enyeama committed a brutal goalkeeping blunder that got us kicked out of the 2014 World cup…??? Hehehehe.
Thank you so much Mr Hush. It’s always a pleasure bouncing ideas with you particularly when we sit at opposite sides of the fence.
I have no problem with 4-4-2 or even Eguavoen’s 4-2-4 in-game. But for me, it’s for the coaches to be mindful of the shortcomings of this formation and take steps to address it.
Good luck to Uzoho, good luck to Peseiro, good luck to the Super Eagles.
On a side note, 4-4-2 can work with the right personnel and cutting edge tactical approach, instructions and application, even in this day and age as even a hugely defensive minded Atletico Madrid have proven.
Going back, Arrigo Sacchi’s immensely successful 4-4-2 unambiguously defined the relationships between player, ball and space. AC Milan team expanded and contracted with synergy, with each player moving in a manner that never compromised the structural integrity of the formation.
In the the 1930 world cup, Uruguay used 2-3-5 formation to win. Yes, 2 defenders, 3 midfielders and 5 forwards. Isn’t it madness to expect any team in modern football to use this formation? Guess what, with world class goalkeepers, Klopp’s Liverpool and Guardiola’s Manchester City used this exact formation in-game sometimes with fullbacks (like Alexander Arnold and Kyle Walker) who are as effective as wingers. That’s how they cage and encamp opponents in opposition half with the ball and press effectively without the ball.
So, ancient tactics and formations, under the care of a competent coach (and with the right technically grounded players), can be revived in modern football to devastating effect.
My sense is that Peseiro is banking on opportunity afforded by tournament football to drill a team by being able to spend healthy time to train with the same group of players. Thereafter, he intends to unleash a ruthless goals scoring machine. So, I am waiting to see what he and his approach can accomplish in Ivory Coast.
@Deo
The pleasure is always mutual.
Always appreciative to bounce knowledge with you and all passionate fans of our beloved Country.
Your knowledge of the game and presentation should never be underestimated.
I look forward to more …..
Like you, I hope Peseiro’s dream succeeds as it relates to his style. Unleashing our attacking strength.
If it doesn’t, there goes another day and a manager.
But I would hope he is wise enough to be flexible tactically. Every game is never the same. I know most belittle the Afcon but I could swear, it is one of the toughest competition to win.
Peseiro’s work is cut out for him.
As a Nigerian, I can only wish for success with every means if rationality.
https://youtu.be/J0w_1cYwF_E?si=YXPJWddFB0BAj1HK
Watch this short video about our prospective Goalies.
There’s something worrisome about rasheed, I don’t want to be too forward about.
My take…. I don’t think we should stop the invite of Uzoho and Okoye to build their confidence but in truth, they both need good competition . Enyeama became better after he lost his shirt to Ejide durin Ghana 2008 cup of nations.
Hahahaha……Sean, and the say this dude will come into the SE and offer us what Uzoho or Okoye has not….???
I do agree with you though, that they both need competition. But I bet no greenhorn will provide them any. If we have to bring back Akpeyi, or Dele Aiyenuba who is still active in the NPFL (Lol), then we better do.
https://youtu.be/j1LG_ab8twM?feature=shared
@Deo
Thanks for being more elaborate as always and breaking things down like always. Always so constructively.
And @ Dr Drey
Apt in your assertion. And ever so strong to your belief. Respectable.
But you would agree with me that a formation might be 4-3-3 on paper but change in game.
I watched the 2013 game against Mali. Yes we lined up with a 4-3-3 shape with with a Mba, Onazi and Mikel in midfield and The trio of Moses ,Emenike and Ideye forward.
But in play especially during attacks, we shape up like a 4-4-2 with Ideye mostly inverting in , not necessarily acting as a typical winger but more like a secondary striker.
It is all semantics
Like I said, every team should be flexible in formation and tactics . There is always what you call in game management. You play accordingly.
I am not one to throw way a 4-4-2 and call it archaic when in my perspective, I believe we did considerably well with it against the recent minnows , dominating play,creating chances and scoring goals.
Would I use it against much more accomplished teams? No.
I might switch up according to the team we are playing. Always leave an element of surprise. And be open to flexibility while keeping your core.
And about the Goalkeeping sector.
No matter how much history you bring up. Uzoho just don’t caught it.
Even the blind can see potential even in their lowest days. As disastrous as Enyeama was in his early stages, one knew he would flourish. He had the presence, flexibility and reflexes. He just needed game time to hone those skills.
From what I have seen so far,Uzoho is just manageable at best.
If you can’t face the heat of the Super Eagles and the ‘ crazies’ called fans. Then you aren’t ready.
Every team out there have fans that criticise for the sake of it. Go ask the English, Italian, Brazilians ,Ghanaians, ,heck, Colombians..
There is nothing I want more than for Uzoho to prove me wrong and do wonders.
@Hush, thank you for maintaining your highly credible stance and not yielding to preferential treatment. It’s really insane that same set of people complaining over Musa’s invitation are bending the rules for an underperforming goalkeeper.
Let’s get 2023 videos of Uzoho for both club if he has one and country to support our points.
We could as well use video of Musa scoring at the WC as a justification for his inclusion into the team or go back to the clip of Alampasu’s heroic against Porto to justify his invitation.
For more than two years, Uzoho has been letting the team down and its obvious that he is no deserving of a bench position considering his inactivity in a lowly rated league.
The Adeleye guy made so many saves in the away game rather than boosting his confidence with more matches, Pesseiro picked a bench warmer ahead of him. Uzohobasket is not good enough to be in the team talk not of starting.
Besides, all our glorious home grown goalkeepers were household names in the local league.. Rufai and Shorunmu for Stationary stores, Enyeama of Enyimba. That home base GK that played against Mexico (Nwabali) in my estimation is a good choice.
Nwabali, Olorunleke, Adeleye, Tobias Lawal..
@dr drey
The point I am making is SE matches should not be where players who are not playing for their clubs come to kick start their club career.
We all know Gks make mistakes but let’s filled those playing for their clubs. In 2000 NC part of why we lost the in the final was because shorunmu was a bench warmer for his club. France 98, Rufai was the third choice gk for deportivo and he was woeful in that tournament.
In conclusion, if we have to stick with any gk, let it be the one who is at least playing on a regular basis with his club.