Nigeria Vs Greece Match Analysis from Nigeria's point of view.

Coach Lagerback's Undoing:

1. You have your most defensive midfielder shown a red card.
2. You watched the opposing coach bring up a deadly attacker immediately after that.
3. You watched for 10minutes as they controlled the game and came closer to scoring on several occasions and did absolutely nothing.
4. Two times it took over 2 minutes to make a substitution with 8men playing on the pitch. Anything could have happened any second at those times.

I'm not a coach, but I'm wise enough to know that since I had a goal advantage and Greece had made a positive change that is getting closer to producing a goal, I had to bring in another defensive midfielder (Ayila) for Uche immediately to cut out the Greeks possession and control.

If he had done that, Greece would not have scored an equalizer and we might be talking about defeat right now.


Indiscipline:

Kaita is the biggest culprit of this loss. Before he acted stupid, the Super Eagles seemed to have had the game on the lock. His irresponsible act cost the team the game and probably the tournament. I'm sure many Nigerians will never forgive him for this heartbreak.


Lack of Communication in defense:

Time and time again, I watched the defense breakdown in communication. Most especially between Yobo and Enyeama. Seemed like all these defenders never knew each other before now. I saw so much space out of the box with defenders backing out and opening so much chance for shots. If Greece had players like Diego Forlan (URU) like I saw yesterday, it would have been another story.



In-ablitly to take advantage of chances:

When you are a man down and you get an open goal, you have to score with no exceptions but Obasi did not do that (Uche was guilty of that in the last game as well). That could have been a turning point in a game that looked like it was gonna be lost. That is what makes teams like Italy, Germany and even Greece great.


Credit:

The Dependable Enyeama. A spill from him cost a second goal, but we all knew it would only be a matter of time before the goal would come. Yakubu was lonely, yet strong in there and Odiah was also good.


With 2 games already lost, all that is left is a mathematical chance of Nigeria beating S.Korea well and Argentina Smashing Greece. The final drama would be unfolded on Tuesday. All the best to the Super Eagles.


By DK