AFCON 2023: 4 reasons Nigeria’s Super Eagles lost 2-1 to Ivory Coast

dailypost.ngFeb 12, 2024 6:04 AM

Nigeria’s wait for their fourth Africa Cup of Nations title continues after they lost 2-1 to Ivory Coast in this year’s final.

At the end of the first half, it appeared the Super Eagles would have lifted the trophy again, after William Troost-Ekong’s goal.

The captain rose highest to head in a corner kick and give Nigeria the lead.

But second half goals from Franck Kessie and Sebastien Haller saw the Elephants win the title on home soil.

So what went wrong?

1. Peseiro got his tactics wrong: Credit to Jose Peseiro. After the 1-1 draw with Equatorial Guinea in the opening group fixture, he switched to a 3-4-3 tactical system that saw Nigeria go all the way to the final. However, from the semi-final against South Africa, the cracks in that setup began to show. And against the hosts, the Portuguese needed to switch it up again, possibly return to a back four.

2. Too many poor performances: From back to front, there were a few poor displays from Nigerian players. Calvin Bassey was shaky. Zaidu Sanusi returned to the starting XI, but remained unreliable. Ola Aina chose to have his worst game in the final. Alex Iwobi was merely a passenger on the pitch, while Samuel Chukwueze had no business starting the game.

3. Weight of history: The Super Eagles have never defeated a host country in an AFCON final. And from the moment Ivory Coast snuck into the knockout stages as the last team to qualify, it felt ominous. There was a call of destiny they had to answer. It was crowned by Sebastien Haller getting the winner. Almost two years ago, he was diagnosed with cancer. On Sunday, he was helping his country make history.

4. Poor officiating: For most of the tournament, fans and pundits hailed the use of Video Assistant Referees (VAR), urging the top European leagues to learn a thing or two. But officiating for the final was an eyesore. The referee seemed jittery and overwhelmed. Most of the 50-50 calls went the way of the hosts. Kessie, who equalized for the hosts, could have easily seen red after elbowing Sanusi.

I do not understand the rationale behind singling out players for blame in a team who played it all to the final.

Pointing fingers to one or two players is uncalled for.

The boys put in a great shift through out the tournaments and so must be encouraged going forward.

If I were to pin down the team's failure to lift the coveted trophy to anything. Then it has to be FATIGUE. The players were both physically and mentally tired. That was the sole reason we lost the match.

The entire team(first 11) were tired and worn out as at the semis. It reflected in the final match. There was no more gas in their tank from the 40th minutes. The midfield collapsed, the defense weren't helping and pressing from the front was non-existent.

Poor player rotation was partly responsible for this. CAF(the tournament organizers) made room for 27 players, we took 25 players to the tournament. Reason for this is unknown. We ran out of options the moment some players took their foot off the gas due to tiredness.

Going forward, I'll suggest top quality Physios and Psychologists be employed if not always, but during tournaments like this one.

Quality Recovery session can't be over emphasized and are very important to getting the best out of the team in the next game.

Iwobi should be spared of all this insults. Dude wasn't even on the pitch when we conceded the goal against SA and likewise the second goal against CIV. He has been unfairly criticized. I hope he recovers from this.

Gracias!

Peseiro obviously didn't learn the lesson against South Africa.

Dear fans, I want to please urge you to halt the cyber-bullying directed towards Alex Iwobi. Cyber bullying is not just a violation of decency but also a serious crime. It’s hypocritical to claim that football unites us while engaging in such behavior.

Losing a game is undoubtedly tough, but targeting a single player for the team’s shortcomings is unfair and unjust. We win as a team, and we lose as a team. Alex gave his all on the field, just like every member of our squad.

Instead of spreading negativity, let’s show genuine love and support to our players. They need our encouragement now more than ever. Let’s uplift each other and stand united, both in victory and defeat. 🦅🇳🇬 THANKS #BIG17

#MUSA

Peseiro went to the nations cup with 3 defensive midfielders and and two wannabe AM. Well, the team actually performed beyond my expectation. But you can't start your world cup qualifiers with this pattern. The South Africans will come for a revenge

charlesemeka85:
Dear fans, I want to please urge you to halt the cyber-bullying directed towards Alex Iwobi. Cyber bullying is not just a violation of decency but also a serious crime. It’s hypocritical to claim that football unites us while engaging in such behavior.

Losing a game is undoubtedly tough, but targeting a single player for the team’s shortcomings is unfair and unjust. We win as a team, and we lose as a team. Alex gave his all on the field, just like every member of our squad.

Instead of spreading negativity, let’s show genuine love and support to our players. They need our encouragement now more than ever. Let’s uplift each other and stand united, both in victory and defeat. 🦅🇳🇬 THANKS #BIG17

#MUSA

I dont know why people go this extent to express their disappointment but I hope the coaches understand why. We need a proper midfielder

Dsimmer:


I doubt. Did you see Aribo in the last afcon tournament? He was fantastic! Funny it was same Iwobi who spoilt the last afcon as well.

In Aribo first start against Guinea Bissau in this afcon, Guinea Bissau could only feed on little scrap while Nigeria controlled much of the midfield till Aribo left. Only thing was he wasn't audacious by creating much like he was in the last afcon but it was expected since it was his first start in the tournament however he controlled that midfield. In fact, It was only after Aribo left the pitch that Guinea started to get sniff at Nigeria goalpost and even scored a goal which was cancelled. As I said , if a team could control the midfield, headless chicken running wouldn't be needed much.

which Aribo control which midfield against GB, oga go watch that match again. A game which fan was calling for the introduction of iwobi. Neither iwobi nor Aribo can control the midfield same with iheanacho, but with the 3, iwobi is better.

Omanambala:
Peseiro went to the nations cup with 3 defensive midfielders and and two wannabe AM. Well, the team actually performed beyond my expectation. But you can't start your world cup qualifiers with this pattern. The South Africans will come for a revenge

we have been exposed, you need to see how those Ghanaian analysts finished Paseiro, one of them said our coach was busy fighting the referee instead of reading the game. While I appreciate Paseiro, he sure needs to reflect on what truly happened yesterday and stop saying our players were overwhelmed. I have listened to other foreign media outside Africa, they are all shocked at what we played, they all felt we made it too easy for the Ivorians.

I think we are over flogging this midfield issue.

If the midfield is that bad, how did we make it to the finals?

And no, Ivory Coast did not defeat us because of our poor midfield but because of our ultra defensive tactics.

zicky:
which Aribo control which midfield against GB, oga go watch that match again. A game which fan was calling for the introduction of iwobi. Neither iwobi nor Aribo can control the midfield same with iheanacho, but with the 3, iwobi is better.

Same Guinea Bissau who couldn't get a sniff at Nigeria goalpost but were feeding on scraps until Iwobi came into the midfield, after which Guinea Bissau started playing like world champions and even scored a goal which was cancelled?

Those wailing while calling for Iwobi introduction into the midfield were dumb as a matter of fact because Aribo controlled that Guinea Bissau match which changed for Bissau as soon as he left the pitch.

Aribo's performance against Bissau actually reminded me of his CM performance against Sudan in the last afcon where the match suddenly changed to Sudan having much control as soon as Aribo left the pitch which was to rest him since Nigeria was already winning 3-1 in bag 🎁. Go check his stat against Bissau as a matter of fact, if your eyes are blind. Only thing was he wasn't audacious by creating much like he did in the last afcon and that was expected since it was his first start of the tournament but he controlled that midfield.

📰 | Sources inside the Super Eagles camp are suggesting a lot of players are considering retirement.

Jose Peseiro's contract also ends with the AFCON.

#copied

We're too toxic as a people, football is a sport at the end.

Even the Army doesn't go full malice like most of our fans since yesterday.

Damioduso1:
Samuel Chukweze and Alex iwobi were absent in that match yesterday . Super eagles have reached the afcon finals 8 times and have won 3 time . We should start taking finals serious once we get there I just checked ivory coast record they have gotten to afcon finals 4 times and it 3 times . May fear is that they should not over take us in the afcon trophy cabinet. Ghana have 4 - Nigeria -3 , Ivory coast - 3 trophy in the cabinet now

with this statistics, nobody should come here again and hype one nonsense golden generation playing an 8team- Afcon tournament and getting beaten at almost all the final…imagine cameroon beating you in 3finals…abeg abeg mae una free iwobi and co, their predecessors were the main all time underachieving over-hype golden generation….Iwobi this Iwobi that.
intimidating young Nigerians playing their heart out for the nation…i follow Bafana Bafana page…see the massive support and how they rallied behind their players after that penalty loss to eagles…our own because Aina loss penalty some idiots have started talking him down….all these useless black smelling teeth analyst masquerading themselves as super eagles fans na God go punish ina…
Frustrate Okoye to quit eagles
Frustrated Vic Moses to quit eagles
Frustrated Ighalo to quit eagles
now they wanna frustrate Iwobi….walai if i be osimhen and any f**king blame comes to my page i will hire boys that will handle the page to give u guys the back to back vawulence and quit ina f**king eagles team…i love the response uzoho gave all those useless critics that period

drDoom3:
We will probably keep shithousing our way to win games like this.

It is not sustainable though, and if it fails, the team will look like farmers.

Not to beat a dead horse, but in football style of play is more important than temporary victories.

As I have maintained, our style of play was never sustainable, and when it did fail, our players looked like farmers.

For the future, we need to hire a coach that can reboot the team with a style of play that maximizes our attacking talent and the football intelligence in our midfield (i.e Iwobi, Ndidi, Yusuf and co). Amunike is my first choice.

Damioduso1:
Next year afcon will be more tough then this Morocco is hosting I expect the north Africa countries like Algeria, Egypt, and Morocco to go far in the tournament .they usually perform very well if one of those countries host the afcon in north Africa. The coach that is taking over should scout for a proper number 10 that can distribute pass and dictate play before next afcon and world cup qualifier .

oga nobody is coming anything to distribute pass…no player will come into the eagles now and perform wonders by next year Afcon…if u guys finally find the player na same una here go use mouth destroy his confidence at any small mistake he would make…This annoying zero-tolerance of mistake by 9ja fans is so annoying.
when one moniker jus make mention of a few player not doing well at the moment you will see other soldier ant-like fans joining in banter and before you know that once worship demi-god is now useless player suddenly

Omanambala:


So , if Iwobi stops playing soccer today we will close Super Eagles. What is going on in your heads ?

By the way, I am not one of those who said he "isn't good" BUT I don't want Iwobi near our midfield. He gets very jittery, overwhelmed and lost in that position. He doesn't have to intelligence, stamina and vision to play there.

you have always said he is crap. don't change your words nobody will beat you.

Damioduso1:
Is there wafcon this Year for the super falcons at list if the super eagles did not win the afcon trophy in ivory coast . The super falcons will compensate us we Nigeria with wafcon trophy in Morocco

And if they dont win it, Ajibade, Alozie, Oshoala etc will turn useless player suddenly

Double post..

..

Double post..

Nomyth:
I think we are over flogging this midfield issue.

If the midfield is that bad, how did we make it to the finals?

And no, Ivory Coast did not defeat us because of our poor midfield but because of our ultra defensive tactics.

Even without Seri in the group stage, Cote D'Ivoire flogged Nigeria's midfield in the group stage, Nigeria only rode on scoring a penalty plus Nigeria's solid defence, let alone when Seri was now at the heart of their play dictating the play yesterday.

I have always felt the midfield was Nigeria achilles in the tournament. All what
Nigeria mostly did was bank on the defence to keep out the opposition and then the forwards to score while the oppositions mostly dominated much of Nigeria's midfield and if the forwards couldn't score, rode on a penalty lucky foul to score. Well, the referee didn't want to give us any penalty yesterday but rather kept pandering to the host instead 😅 Anyways, the team tried because I wasn't expecting anything to begin with after they lost to Guinea before the beginning of the tournament.

Dsimmer:


Even without Seri in the group stage, Cote D'Ivoire flogged Nigeria's midfield in the group stage, Nigeria only rode on scoring a penalty plus Nigeria's solid defence, let alone when Seri was now at the heart of their play dictating the play yesterday. I have always felt the midfield was Nigeria achilles in the tournament. All what
Nigeria mostly did was bank on the defence to keep out the opposition and then the forwards to score while the oppositions mostly dominated much of Nigeria's midfield and if the forwards couldn't score, rode on a penalty foul luck. Anyways, the team tried because I wasn't expecting anything to begin with after they lost to Guinea before the beginning of the tournament.

Well, Ghana had one of the best Midfielders this Afcon which is kudus, how did it end for them?

drDoom3:


Not to beat a dead horse, but in football style of play is more important than temporary victories.

As I have maintained, our style of play was never sustainable, and when it did fail, our players looked like farmers.

For the future, we need to hire a coach that can reboot the team with a style of play that maximizes our attacking talent and the football intelligence in our midfield (i.e Iwobi, Ndidi, Yusuf and co). Amunike is my first choice.

No style of play is eternally sustainable as ur opponents are constantly looking to punch holes in your formation.

Your style of play can only take u so far eventually, you'll still be found out.

Spain enjoyed so much success with tiki taka winning 3 consecutive tournaments but eventually, they were still found out.

kennysville:



Very balance input dude.

But I will still say the boys did well. Only they chose the wrong day to switch off. We should make our team be watching the Movie 300 spartans to condition their minds for war.

We will get ot right. At least we didn't jabo at round of 16 or semi final. We were finalists which meant ot could have gone either way. Being a host don't mean shishi. Ask Nigeria at Afcon 2000. 150 million people went quiet at the stadium

so surulere national stadium capacity na 150million🤣

Nomyth:


Well, Ghana had one of the best Midfielders this Afcon which is kudus, how did it end for them?

Kudus is rather a forward/10, like Lookman. Ghana's midfield wasn't also good like Nigeria's midfield wasn't however they didn't have the solid defence to act as buffer like Nigeria had.

Dsimmer:


Same Guinea Bissau who couldn't get a sniff at Nigeria goalpost but were feeding on scraps until Iwobi came in, after which Guinea Bissau started playing like world champions and even scored a goal which was cancelled? Those calling for Iwobi introduction into the midfield were dumb of course. Lol.

Aribo controlled that Guinea Bissau match. Go check his stat as a matter of fact, if your eyes are blind. Only thing was he wasn't audacious by creating much like he did in the last afcon and that was expected since it was his first start of the tournament but he controlled that midfield.

Just curious, what stopped him from being audacious?

minfelix:

so surulere national stadium capacity na 150million🤣

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

yinkeys:

Those 10 goals could have been saved for the tournament proper

those 10goals also counted as part of what gave him the APOTY, it wasnt useless…Sadio Mane Mohammed Salah sef don lose Afcon final before

Even though I don’t support any form of cyber bullying cos I believe say na cowards Dey do dt.however if iwobi decides to retire truly ,he won’t be missed a bit if we can get someone who can actually play well in a consistent manner(at least averagely) not iwobi nepa kind of performance…having said dat,those using playing out of position as excuse for a “73 cap” national team player doesn’t really hold water to me …no be person be camanviga ,dt excels perfectly despite been played outside his position outrightly….abeg in a nutshell ,CM ,AM ,he hasn’t really been top notched for 🦅.

mostob:
Just curious, what stopped him from being audacious?

It was his first start of the tournament.

Maduka Okoye don ripe I swear 😳

Doing massively well for udinese against juventus

So so happy for the lad

elyte89:
Even though I don’t support any form of cyber bullying cos I believe say na cowards Dey do dt.however if iwobi decides to retire truly ,he won’t be missed a bit if we can get someone who can actually play well in a consistent manner(at least averagely) not iwobi nepa kind of performance…having said dat,those using playing out of position as excuse for a “73 cap” national team player doesn’t really hold water to me …no be person be camanviga ,dt excels perfectly despite been played outside his position outrightly….abeg in a nutshell ,CM ,AM ,he hasn’t really been top notched for 🦅.

even ekong dey come forward score, it's all excuses for a below-par performance jare. We need more bravery from those who wear the green and white jerseys,