Bend it Like Beckham...win like the Germans.

It was ex-England captain, Gary Lineker who once said,"Football is a simple game; 22 men chase a ball for 90 minutes and at the end, the Germans win".
He made this comment after West Germany beat England to advance to the final of the 1990 world cup,in a match the English played so well and should have won.

I will beg to add Italy,Argentina and in Africa Cameroun to that group of teams that find a way to win matches after playing poorly.Has Nigeria joined this group after beating South Africa in the latest round of the world and nations cup qualifiers without really playing well?

This is the third time , in these qualifiers, they have won a game after being second best to the opposition all match. In the previous rounds they found ways to dispatch Sierra Leone and Equatorial Guinea away from home after playing below par ,with Joseph Yobo supplying the goals on both occassions. This time it was Ike Uche who scored as Nigeria ran away 1-0 winners in Port Elizabeth.

Nigeria's Christian Obodo(R) and South Africa's Teko Modise vie for the ball.

Historically it is out character for the Super Eagles to win matches they had no business winning.We've often heard fans make comments to the effect of "...Nigeria played,while Ghana won...",emphasising the fact that Nigeria dominated their opponents. Notable examples include losing to Ghana 2-1 in the semi-final of the 1992 Nations cup and to Cameroun in the final eight years later on penalties after dominating most of the match on both occassions.

Playing without Kanu,Yobo,Mikel and Martins, who were out injured, as well as Nsofor,Anichebe and Odemwingie, who were left out after their the exertions at the Olympics, Nigeria were awful. Their midfield was completely played off park by the South African par of Siphiwe Tshabalala and Siyabonga Nkosi.It took a combination of dogged defending by the back four led by Danny Shittu,herioc goal keeping by Dele Aiyenugba and woeful finishing to keep the Bafana Bafana out.In the end, South Africa had 16 shots to Nigeria's 4, with two of those being on target.But it was the Eagles who came away with all three points as Ike Uche made use of one of the two chances he had in the game to score the decisive goal,after running on to a Taye Taiwo pass.


“Football matches aren’t decided on ball possession. South Africa were expected to come at us with home advantage and the fans behind them, but we were resolute,” said Nigeria coach Shaibu Amodu.

"They created a lot of chances but we came to win and so I'm delighted. Winning becomes a habit and that is what I want to instill in my players."

Is this the new attitude in the Super Eagles? Has the coach Amodu finally instilled a winning mentality in the team? Do the Eagles now have the ability,like true champions to scrape results from very difficult matches? Or were the opposition in this group simply too weak for them?

These questions will surely be answered in the next round of World cup and Nations cup qualifies where they are bound to meet tougher teams.Especially as fans and commentators who are used to having the Eagles win with style, while scoring loads of goals, are yet to be convinced.

While he knows he there is still a lot of work to be done on the team,coach Amodu will no doubt be happy with the team's results so far,five wins from five matches,seven goals scored and none conceded.

With results like these, who needs style?


Do you Know?

Spare a thought for the South Africans. Do you know that Bafana Bafana won the African cup Nations in 1996,finished runners-up in 1998,got to the semi-final and quarter-final in 2000 and 2002 respectively. Ever since they failed to go beyond the group stages and now they are on the verge of not qualifying!
An alarming fall from grace for team once considered a power house of African football.