BY ONOCHIE ANIBEZE
By the time the Nigeria-Namibia match ended on Sunday in Calabar, seven local players were on the field as part of the victory party.
It took a great courage on the side of Stephen Keshi and his technical crew to do so.
And the performance of the local players reassured them that they were on the right track the difficult match notwithstanding.
Godfrey Itama, Juwon Oshanuwa of Sunshine Stars, Gabriel Ruben of Kano Pillars, Egwukwe Azubuike of Warri Wolves and Ejike Uzoenyi of Enugu Rangers started the match. And they stood their ground with Oshanuwa proving with his performance that Taiye Taiwo is history in the national team.
Ruben showed good stuff in the defensive midfield while Uzoenyi was, as usual mesmerising Namibians. But there were times he needed to pass out the ball faster than he did. It was as if he must dribble before he could release the ball. He overdid his dribbling otherwise he was good. Ekwuekwe won aerial battles and marked well too. Itama was better than he was in Rwanda.
The local boys held their heads high. Except Efe Ambrose, the rest players in the defence were local players. Obiora Nwankwo, in the midfield, showed promise in the first half but tired out early. Victor Moses, John Utaka and Ike Uche in the attack had problems and the situation was compounded by the many misses Eagles recorded.
Henry Uche came in for Obiora and Kalu Uche substituted Victor Moses who should have been changed earlier than was done. The two are Enyimba players made impact. Ahmed Musa came in for John Utaka but didn't prove a better player.
Godfrey Gaiya, chairman of Sports Committee in the House of Representatives, sports and marketing consultant Mike Itemuagbor were among the lot that commended Keshi for the building process in Eagles which has focused attention on local players who are distinguishing themselves.
Keshi played down the encomiums on the local players apparently not to create disaffection. Relaxed in his hotel with his his assistants he rather spoke on totality of the game this way: "The Namibians were a good side. The days they spent training in Germany showed. But what delighted me was our possession. We had it and passed the ball around better. We also created chances but missed them.
The same match that ended 1-0 could have ended 4-0 going by the chances we created. It could also have ended in a draw going by the chances we were missing. So, the important thing was victory and we got the three points. But we have seen that we need to continue working hard especially on our striking options. We need to be faster than we were.
It was a difficult match but confidence is coming back to our football and I know that it can only be better. We are going to Malawi for victory and we will be better in that match because the understanding is gradually showing but we need goals to make it complete ."
Vanguard Nigeria