Football can be both art and science. It depends on how the training crew sees it. For former Super Eagles goalkeepers’ trainer, Joe Erico, football is more of science. He has attributed the Nigeria’s woeful performance against Morocco in last Sunday’s final match of the Africa Nations Championship, CHAN, to the inability of the coaches and players to adopt the modern trend in football.
Mr. Erico told newsmen yesterday that Nigeria’s embarrassing 4-0 defeat was because the team could not adapt to the modern robust technical brand of football Morocco displayed in the final match. He advised Super Eagles handler, Gernot Rohr, to study the latest styles in modern football when preparing Nigeria for the 2018 World Cup slated to hold in Russia in June.
He explained that the Eagles could not withstand the firepower of the Atlas Lions of Morocco because the Nigerian team lacked speed, technical intelligence and tactically sound reasoning in all departments, regretting that the players also did not have the strength needed to ward off the pressures from their opponents.
Mr. Erico said the same pattern would be used by Nigeria’s opponents at the World Cup in Russia, calling on Gernot Rohr’s team to be ready to match any team strength for strength at the Mundial.
He advised Nigerian coaches to go for refresher courses on the latest trends in football, arguing that Nigerian clubs playing continental games cannot succeed when faced by tactically good teams from North Africa, who are already abreast with the current developments in football.
Mr. Erico was emphatic, “The final game against the host nation is a lesson for Nigerian coaches, players and especially the Super Eagles coach, Rohr. He should expect that Eagles’ World Cup opponents such as Argentina and Croatia would also come with speed and tactical intelligence, which the Moroccan team used to outshine the Eagles.
“He needs young lads to achieve this feat. Modern football has gone beyond kick and follow. Nigerian players should be groomed to adopt the latest trends in playing free kick and corner kicks,” he said.
