Super Eagles, Nigeria National Team

Nigeria has named Berti Vogts as it's new coach. A very interesting development for the most populous country in Africa. Vogts may have bombed out at Scotland but he did win a European championship with Germany in 1996. If he can bring some discipline to Nigeria's team they could go places. It was a major shock when Angola knocked them out fo the last World Cup as Nigeria had the talent but were very poorly run by their FA.

Look at the talent available to them with the young players coming up from their 2005 U-20 second place team- Obi Mikel, Taiwo, etc., plus slightly older players like Martins, Odemwingie, Yobo, Obodo, etc. The talent is there for a good national team and if their FA gets it's act together which they seem to be tryng to do by hiring Vogts then this could be a national team to watch.

Nigeria and Cameroon can be the Brazil and Argentina of Africa. I think their players got too used to qualifying easily and combined with their federations' disorganization that made for a bad mixture and is why they missed out on Germany 2006. I don't expect either country to make those same mistakes again anytime soon. Nigeria signing Vogts to coach them is a good step forward.

You are probably right rosarino but Ivory Coast and Ghana both showed at this last World Cup that they have pretty good teams too. Africa is an interesting confederation because unlike the others, there really aren't one or two regional powers standing above the rest. It may have used to have been Nigeria and Cameroon but recent World Cup qualifiers and African Nations Cup show that there are many teams in the continent pretty much at a similar level.

That is an interesting aspect about African soccer now. There are many teams, Nigeria, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Egypt and Senegal all at roughly the same level. Then just below them are nations like Angola, South Africa, Tunisia, DR Congo, Mali and Togo. Africa's confederation is very balanced and that makes not only it's World Cup qualifiers but also it's Nations Cup extremely competitive.

With many teams more or less at an equal level then this is where having an experienced coach like Berti Vogts could make a difference.

With 2010 being "Africa's World Cup" I like how a lot of African teams are going out and hiring some big name coaches now. Berti Vogts with Nigeria is the latest one but there's also Carlos Alberto Parreira with South Africa, Claude Leroy at Ghana, Arie Haan with Cameroon and Roger Lemerre is still with Tunisia. Having these coaches isn't a guarantee of success but it is a good step forward in developing these national teams. This will be a very intriguing 3 year period in Africa leading up to 2010.

If you don't mind I will use this discussion to talk about Nigeria's national team as it prepares for the African Nations Cup. By the way Arie Haan is now out as Cameroon's coach but the point about name coaches taking over is a good one. Of course we'd also like to see some more local coaches getting the chance too.

Back to Nigeria, today versus Mexico, Vogts is giving debuts to two players, forward Manasseh Ishiaku of Duisburg in Germany and midfielder Dickson Etuhu of Sunderland in England. Plus goalie Dele Aiyenugba is also going to be getting a surprise start. I like the changes Vogts is implementing with the team and since Kanu is injured this game will provide us with a good opportunity to see how a post Kanu Nigeria will play.

This is the expected lineup for Nigeria: Aiyenugba; Apam, Shittu, Afolabi, Taiwo; Etuhu, Olofinjana, Obi; Utaka, Ishiaku, Martins.

There is a lot of offensive talent on this team and I like that Obi who has been converted into a defensive midfielder with Chelsea, will get to play an attacking midfield role like he did with so much success in the 2005 U-20 World Cup. Defensively though I think there are question marks and the central defenders are big and strong but could be susceptible to speedy attackers.

Time to go watch the game or as we say in Nigeria watch the boys tap leather!

Nigeria looked pretty good for the most part in their 2-2 tie but they'll be kicking themselves over not beating Mexico. Uche had a last minute penalty which he missed. That's being too kind. It sailed over the bar and looked more like something from the Rugby World Cup! Obafemi Martins though is as good as I remember. I haven't seen much of him since he left Inter for Newcastle but he still has that great acceleration. He also combined well with Uche on the play which led to the last minute penalty. Nigeria to me always seems to lack concentration defensively and I think that is what hurt them versus Mexico. They didn't give Mexico many good looks at goal but fella sleep twice on both Mexican goals (well the goala nd the play which led to the penalty which became Mexico's 2nd.) But Supereagle you should be encouraged by Berti Vogts start with this team. Given more time to work things out and a better midfield cohesion they'll be pretty good I think.

It is a good idea to convert this into a Nigeria national team thread. Nigeria had a golden opportunity to win yesterday's game but I was a little surprised Uche took that decisive penalty instead of Martins. I think Vogts is on the road to getting Nigeria pretty well organized on both ends of the field. Defensively they did well for the most part in this game and Mexico didn't create that many opportuntiies against them. but as enganche said, Taiwo got lazy and din't press Arce on his cross to Cacho for the first goal and Apam allowed him to get inside of him while on the Mexican penalty Taiwo again was lazy and didn't close Dos Santos down and allowed him to run at him and commit the penalty. But those are mistakes which can be corrected. The Afolabi-Shittu central pairing looked very secure.

Offensively Nigeria's midfield wasn't very involved and they rarely moved forward to give the forwards help. Martins and Utaka often were left all alone and while Martins in particular and sub Uche late in the game caused danger, how much more effective could they have been if they had support from the midfielders?

Vogts will learn from this game and the experiments he tried out and I think with more time together he'll get this team clicking in time for the Nations Cup. There is a lot of ability on this squad for him to work with.

Good observations. It was frustrating that Nigeria could and should have won that game at the end. And that is ignoring losing a 2 goal lead. The chance to pull out a win in Mexico would have been a great accomplishment but the bottom line is these friendlies are to learn and I think Nigeria and Berti Vogts learned a lot about the team this weekend. First of all Martins looks back to his best, the central defensive partnership looked pretty solid without Yobo, goalie Aiyegnuba is a good alternative in the nets, Apam defends pretty well but as a converted central defender he isn't good going forward as a right fullback.

The drawbacks were Ishiaku looked uncomfortable although his service wasn't very good which leads to another drawback which Martin commented on, the midfield didn't give the attackers any support. I want to see more from Mikel Obi but he looked too static. I am hoping it is because this was a friendly and he didn't want to go all out but it is still troubling. And both Olofinjana and Etuhu also were stationary in midfield. This is where midfielders like Obodo and Oruma who are more box to box types were missed. Finally there is left back Taiwo. He didn't go forward as often in this game as usual, probably under Vogts' instructions and he defended pretty well for most of the game but he is prone to lapses and two of his lapses led to Mexico's two goals. This brings up a dilemma for Nigeria, do you stick with him due to his talent and potential and hope that he gets over those lapses or do you try out other players at the position? I don't know the answer to that one but my thoughts are he should be the starter but that a couple of other players should be given a chance in case Taiwo isn't available.

Quick question, when did Uche decide to play for the Super Eagles??? I thought he was going to play for Espana. I know some Super Eagles supporters hoping he will go back & stay for Espana . Personally, I think Osaze Odemwingie is better suited to fly for the Super Eagles. He had a good campaign in the last ANC. I don't know why Berti is not showing him any love. One last thing, I second that this thread should be renamed as the Super Eagles Thread

That is Stephen Sunday, also known as Sunny Sunday (great name huh?) of Valencia who is a Nigerian playing for Spain. Or at least Spain's U-20 team which he represented this summer.

Ike Uche horribly missed that penalty but I think he's a good addition to the Super Eagles that Vogts has recently brought into the team. He and Martins can become a lethal forward pairing. I too wasn't impressed with Ishiaku who looked very clumsy out there. Vogts hasn't been impressed with Yakubu Aiyegbeni's fitness plus Yakubu has had a spotty record with the national team so the other forward alongside Martins is still up for grabs and Ike Uche remains a candidate. Or at the least a good option off the bench as he was used against Mexico.

Talking about Nigeria's midfield problems, Ike Uche's brother Kalu Uche plays with Almeria in Spain and is a potential solution there too. SuperEagle, why has Oruma consistently been overlooked in midfield?

robdog, good point about Odemwingie. I too like him and his verstaility can be of use. I think if no other forwards step up, Odemwingie could play on one side and Utaka on the other behind Martins. Or Odemwingie can push Kanu for a spot playing in the "hole" behind the forwards. Vogts has a lot of options with this team and he'll continue to try out different combinations in the lead up to the Nations Cup.

Yes Sunny Sunday has said that Nigeria have contacted him about playing internationally for them and since he has dual Spanish-Nigerian citizenship he has until his 21st birthday to make up his mind about which nation he'll represent at the senior level. He is a player with good potential but has had problems getting into Valencia's first team but that is because all the players ahead of him are current or former Spanish internationals: Albelda, Marchena and Baraja.

Done.

Stephen {Sunny} Sunday is a very good prospect as a central midfielder. He is a good ball winner but also knows what to do with it once he's recovered it. He'll learn a lot this eyar from training with players like david Albelda and he'll get his chance soon. Valencia is a good place for a young player to develop.

Martin asked about Wilson Oruma and why he hasn't been given a chance in midfield by Berti Vogts, well Oruma is already 30+, time to look elsewhere in my mind. Plus oruma isn't receiving much playing time with Marseille.

Ike Uche can be a very dynamic forward but like all players with Getafe this season, he can't score. I was not surprised when he skied his penalty kick way over the bar! No question in my mind Martins should have taken that and that isn't in hindsight, I was wondering that as I saw Uche step up to take that decisive PK.

In general I do think Vogts is doing a good job in bringing some fresh players to the team and he should bring Nigeria back to where it is one of Africa's top national teams.

Merengue, thanks for the hook-up