The Super Eagles of Nigeria have progressed to the semifinals of the African Cup of Nations in Ivory Coast. The Nigerian team secured a place in the next round of the tournament after a 1:0 win against the Palancas Negras of Angola.
The Nigerian team put up a sterling performance, but that did not come without some lacklustre performances from a few players. But the good thing was that the brilliant performances of the other players made up for the poor performances of the few others. But now that the team is in the semifinals, their next game will be tougher, so the coach does not need to take such chances.
So, there were two players whose performances did not meet up to expectations, and we hope that they will not be in the next lineup.
1. Zaidu Sanusi.
In the beginning of the game, it seemed Zaidu was playing as a left-winger, but, sadly, he could not make anything out of the long passes that were made to him. As a winger, he was expected to be fast and precise with his crosses, but we did not see any of that from him. The difference only came when Simon Moses took over the left wing, and that was when the only goal of the game came.
Even when Saidu pulled back, he was hardly productive with the ball, and was very wasteful with the ball.
2. Alex Iwobi.
Since the start of the tournament, Iwobi has failed to capture the hearts of fans with his performance, and he had the chance to do that against Angola, but could not make the most of it.
He was not a strong force in the midfield the way we expected him to be, and almost all the shots he took at the goal were off target. It did not come as a surprise when he was substituted later in the game.
We hope that the coach will bring both of them as substitutes in the semifinals, and not part of the lineup.