The 5 Biggest Area Super Eagles Need to Strengthen Before 2022 AFCON in Cameroon

 

We are keeping up with how the Nigeria national team is coming on for the next African cup of nations (AFCON). The Super Eagles finished third place in the last edition and now the team is marturing with Gernot Rohr still incharge as the head coach. 

Nigeria qualified again with a game to spare and ended the qualification series in style by defeating Lesotho 3 - 0 in Lagos. 

As it is today, the Super Eagles will be going to Cameroon as one of the favorites. Yet, the current squad hasn't shown that dominant characteristics of a formidable team. There are five area that needed to be strengthened in team before AFCON in Cameroon 2022.

1. Good Playmaker: 

One of the biggest challenge of the current Super Eagles squad is the midfield play and link with the attackers. The team has two very strong ball winners at the middle. Wilfred Ndidi one of the best ball winners in the world today and very hard working midfielder Oghenekaro Etebo. 

The challenge is the team doesn't  have a good playmaker that can organize the middle and dictate the control as well as the pace of the game. In some of the recent games the Nigerian side played, it was easy to observe that the team doesn't have the kind of playmaker that can easily throw the right passes to link the strikers.  Neither Alex Iwobi or Joe aribo has shown they can successfully hand the playmaker role. 

2. Well Organized Defence:

 Another area that needs an urgent is the defense line. Apart from William Troost Ekong who leads the defense, Rohr have not been to organize a water tight defense team. At the central defense not Kenneth Omeruo nor Leon Balogun are showing that kind of tough nut to crack like Taribo West or Chidi Nwanu. 

For me, none of the right back or left back had been able to distinguish themselves in the Super Eagles team. . Maybe, Ola Aina may just be one player to be considered at the right back,  but Shehu Abdullahi and Jaimu Collins hasn't been on top of their game. 

Rohr has to find a way to strengthen this department to become a more organized and formidable unit. 

3. Change of Formation

Many analysts and Nigerian ex-International has criticized Rohrs formation of 4-2-3-1 as hindering the real potentials of the Super Eagles squad. The current team has more lethal striking force, but playing only one striker upfront limit the goal scoring potential of the squad. 

For Example, we find player like Paul Onuachu who had a record of 33 goals for his club last season, but only managed to score 3 goals through the qualifiers. He doesn't get supply from a good playmaker and usually left alone upfront. So we see him shine in his team and play below par at the national team.