The scoreline flattered a dull, listless and utterly forgettable display in Lobamba; indeed, it was the hosts that came closest to a famous World Cup qualifying upset.
There was of course nothing to commend the display by Sunday Oliseh’s side. Step back though, and one might argue that, five games into his tenure, it is unreasonable to expect free-flow and cavorting entertainment. This is an extreme, and it will bear patience: beating the Indomitable Lions in Belgium last month perhaps is proving a banana peel for the young coach now.
Inevitably, it raises the question: was that display the standard upon which this team can be judged? Or was it an exaggerated defibrillator ECG spike of a patient slipping below the surface? Rather, was the marginal change in personnel from the last game to this – one injury-enforced and the other the result of retirement – really more of a factor than we might have envisaged?
For his part, Godfrey Oboabona somehow contrived to have a poor game for the Super Eagles in spite of relative inactivity, his lax passing almost the chief source of creativity for Swaziland in a one-paced first half. Twice he presented the ball straight to an opponent, twice Sihlangu Semnikati failed to take full advantage, almost stunned at the hilarity of the errors.
Odion Ighalo looked lively, but got precious little support in central areas, and often found another streak of blue at his feet after one had been dispensed with, his patented scoop dummy a lot less devastating without space to unload. Sylvester Igbonu, charged with the responsibility of playing closest to the Watford man centrally, is at best a mediocre winger, and his poor movement stunted the Super Eagles in the attacking phase.
Igbonu | Could he ever really cut it as a central creator?
Quite how Oliseh, with the benefit of leeway in a ‘rebuilding’ brief, has encumbered himself with square pegs in round holes, boggles the mind. Shehu Abdullahi - a passable impersonation of a right-back, but a fraud nonetheless - continues to fill out the back four, but offers no incision whatsoever. Combined with Elderson Echiejile, at his very best hardly even swashbuckling, on the opposite flank, it was like trying to get a car moving on its front two wheels alone, the back tires stuck in the muck.
All that (in)action, with no meaningful advance toward the hosts’ goal, emboldened the Swazis, who came out for the second period imbued with a new confidence. Two enterprising runs were concluded with efforts that had Carl Ikeme scrambling, and they fashioned the game’s best chance. The Wolves goalkeeper would have been mighty relieved as the finish lacked quality, fired straight at him from 10 yards.
Spurred into scattergun action by the unfamiliar wave of pressure, Oliseh threw on the cavalry, replacing half-time substitute Rabiu Ibrahim with a debuting Kelechi Iheanacho. Obafemi Martins followed suit, 20 months after his last international appearance for Nigeria, in place of John Obi Mikel; a substitution that made a mockery of the coach's much-vaunted tactical lucidity.
Surely, the more logical risk should have been to axe one of the full-backs and move to a 3-2-3-2 shape, with Iheanacho behind Ighalo and Martins. Instead, Oliseh’s decision left the team tremendously open through the middle, a timid back four and an uncoordinated front five, with the bustling but inelegant Ogenyi Onazi a thin strand in-between.
Did Oliseh expose his tactical naivety against Swaziland?
All the forwards in the world would be ineffectual without supply; in any case, the sheer weight of numbers upfront was negated by Iheanacho and Martins often having to pick the ball up inside the centre circle, with their backs to goal.
It is this sort of vacuous decision-making that leaves one sceptical about the new broom that Oliseh’s appointment was expected to be. A lack of tactical understanding has often been the bane of Nigerian coaches, indeed it is a stick with which Stephen Keshi, with an Afcon win under his belt no less, was beaten repeatedly.
Intended to be a ray of light, Oliseh instead harked back to the darkest of days under Keshi’s management: a dire 1-0 loss away to Sudan in October 2014. This was a performance with no redeeming qualities—it is almost certain the team will do enough to advance on Tuesday, but victory teaches little.
On this evidence, the ‘African Guardiola’ has a lot of learning still to do.
Credit -Goal
I just have to agree. Terrible display against an opponent ranked below the 150th position in FIFA's ranking. We can do much better. Looking forward to the return leg next week. Eagles, imitate the Golden Eaglets and make us proud.
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