Four Lessons from England, Nigeria Friendly
The England, Nigeria friendly played at the Wembley Stadium on Saturday could have gone either way.
England dominated the opening 45 minutes, with Gary Cahill and Harry Kane netting the goals, before an early second half strike from Alex Iwobi made it a harder task for the hosts.But overall it was a fairly good performance from the Eagles with one more warm-up match against Czech Republic left before flying to Russia for the FIFA World Cup.
However there are fall-outs from the game as the team continues with its World Cup build-up.
1) Eagles were Shaky in the First half
The Super Eagles must work on their confidence before their World Cup Opener against Croatia. Their lack of confidence led to the two goals recorded in the first half.
2) Rohr Must Start his Best Players
Eagles Technical Adviser, Gernot Rohr may have read the match very well after the first half and he responded by making the right substitutions that fortified the team. After Rohr made his first four changes at the interval with Ebuehi, Omeruo, Ogu and Etebo substituted for Shehu, Balogun, Onazi and Obi, the Eagles played better. Ahead of the World Cup, Rohr must field his best 11.
3) Uzoho Decent but Still Shaky
Though, Francis Uzoho put up an impressive performance , the 19-year-old should be blamed for England’s second goal by Harry Kane.
4) Eagles Midfield Lacks Co-ordination
Our three man starting midfield at the World Cup should be Mikel, Ndidi and Etebo. Our midfield was non-existent. The trio of Mikel Obi. Joel Obi and Ogenyi Onazi were not communicating.
If the England midfield comprising kerion Dier and Jesse Lingard were winning the balls over Mikel, Onazi and Joel Obi how are we going to cope against Modric, Rakitic and Kovacic?
A player like John Ogu should come in for Onazi subsequently.