Super Eagles: Open Letter To Eguaveon

It’s no longer news that this game is more than a game and so much is riding on it.

From historical rivalry to the jollof rice battle to a ticket to Qatar 2022.

Austin Eguaveon must learn from the mistakes at AFCON against Tunisia and addressed the grey areas.

This is an away game and the formation must be compact.

GOALKEEPERS:

Before Maduka Okoye, Francis Uzoho was our best GK with his performances at the World Cup but injuries shut him out of glory. But with Okoye out injured, this is a chance Uzoho must grab with both hands.

Tall and now mature, if he fails to make an impact, that’s on his village people.

Eguaveon must not gamble in goal as Uzoho deserves this chance again.

DEFENSE:

The pairing of Omeruo and Ekong must be maintained in the heart of the defense as they adapted well at AFCON.

Balogun has done well since after AFCON but I think this game is too big for him to slot back into the team.

Ola Aina was one of the guilty parties for the Tunisian goal at AFCON as he failed to foul because of a second yellow and that cost us.

For being too cautious, I think Shehu Abdullahi with a good defensive mindset as we know the Ghanaians will come at us and should start at right-back.

Zaidu Sanusi was Mr. stay back at AFCON and we need that level of discipline against Ghana. He should continue as our left-back.

MIDFIELD

This is very dicey as Wilfred Ndidi’s injury has opened a vacuum in the midfield and a big headache for the technical crew of the Super Eagles.

Etebo just came back from injury and he might not be up to speed but we need his clearing and forwarding qualities in the middle.

Innocent Bonke should replace Ndidi over Frank Onyeka as we need two midfielders with a defensive mindset.

For the first time, Joe Aribo should be used as a supporting striker, and let’s sieve out his creative qualities.

So for a compact midfield, Bonke-Etebo-Aribo.

ATTACK:

No-brainer, Victor Osimhen must start this game as his strengths were missed at AFCON.

With his double brace in back-to-back games for Napoli, he’s one of the in-form strikers of the Super Eagles.

Based on his performances at AFCON, Simon Moses should be rewarded with a start and not even that, he’s a very disciplined player with his defensive responsibilities.

Chukwueze had a forgettable AFCON and he might be short of confidence. For sharpness & a reason to convince & repay Nigerians, Emmanuel Dennis should start from the right. Despite Watford’s struggles, he has been in decent form.

Away games are very tricky in Africa and packing your midfield to help the defense is very key.

My possible line-up;

Uzoho

Shehu-Omeruo-Ekong-Zaidu

Bonke-Aribo-Etebo

Dennis-Osimhen-Moses