Nigeria saw their hopes of qualifying for the FIFA World Cup get even dimmer with a 1-1 draw against South Africa in Bloemfontein on Tuesday.
Defender Calvin Bassey, playing at leftback, climbed high to level scores after captain William Troost-Ekong had poked in an own goal to give Bafana Bafana the lead.
Substitute Tolu Arokodare came close to giving the Super Eagles the go-ahead goal within minutes of coming on as a halftime replacement for Cyriel Dessers, but his half shot skimmed shy of the target.
The Super Eagles pressed for scraps for the last 10 minutes of the second half, but were unable to create any opportunities of note and despite seven additional minutes of stoppage time, Bafana Bafana held on and put themselves in pole position to be the sole qualifiers from the group.
Nigeria, with a measly 11 points from eight games, are unlikel to make it to the continental playoffs, even if they win their remaining two games.
Alex Iwobi‘s historic 87th international appearance, which took him one past legends Nwankwo Kanu and Muda Lawal to become Nigeria’s fifth-highest capped player, ended in a whimper.
Super Eagles have only themselves to blame
Nigeria did not lose the World Cup ticket in Bloemfontein. They lost it when they drew at home to Lesotho. They lost it when they drew away to Zimbabwe at a neutral venue. They lost it when they allowed a last-minute goal at home against Zimbabwe to tie 1-1. They lost it when they were defeated away to Benin Republic despite taking the lead.
The key to qualification lay in getting better results against the other teams in the group than South Africa and, in that, the Super Eagles failed.
The team showed little heart throughout the qualifying series. In previous years, the Super Eagles would almost always follow one bad result — win or draw — with a hearty win. Make no mistake, for the Super Eagles of old and the fans, drawing against the likes of Lesotho and Zimbabwe is considered a loss.
Fans want to see heart on the pitch — a desire to not lose against teams they should be beating. For this team, when they fall, they stay down.
Chelle’s decisions come back to bite him
If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. That does not appear to be a maxim that Nigeria coach Sekou Chelle subscribes to.
After the performances against Rwanda and the state of the pitch, there was no reason for coach Sekou Chelle to start Dessers ahead of Arokodare.
Arokodare started his career in Nigeria and has experience playing on dodgy pitches before moving to Europe. Dessers does not.
Arokodare also had the size, presence and technical ability to cause problems for Bafana Bafana. Dessers was almost completely missing for most of the 45 minutes he spent on the pitch
It was also a mistake to start Troost-Ekong after the back four held up well against Rwanda. Troost-Ekong’s pace has always been a bit of a weakness, open to exploitation by quick forwards. And so it proved to be again against Bafana.
Chelle fixed things in the second half, but in crucial games he gets paid to make the right calls, not fix unforced errors. Tolu’s performance after coming on, almost scoring with the first attack of the second half and providing a threat all game long,, showed just how bad those decisions were.
Arokodare makes strong case
For years since Victor Osimhen took over the mantle of first-choice striker from Odion Ighalo, the Super Eagles have been in the market for a deputy who can shoulder the goalscoring responsibility.
Werner Bremen forward Victor Boniface was expected to be that man after his excellent goalscoring run with Bayer Leverkusen. But despite a plethora of opportunities in the absence of Osimhen, he never took advantage and has found himself out of the squad.
It is early days and the sample size is small, but Arokodare has served enough notice that he could be that man.
After 21 goals for Genk, his Unity Cup play during the summer showed glimpses of what he could do, but it is during this window that he has made a strong case. Coming on as a sub against Rwanda, he showed great awareness and agility to score the only goal of the game.
Against South Africa, he was again brought on as a sub and instantly made his presence felt.
Pitch questions
Over the years, Nigeria have had cause to blame pitches — home and abroad — for their woes. This time, they had genuine reason to besmirch the pitch.
Ahead of the game, even Bafana Bafana coach Hugo Broos had cause to bemoan the poor state of the Free State Stadium pitch. It was patchy and bumpy.
Moses Simon felt it early in the game when he eked out an inch of space from his marker and then tried tried to whip in a cross, only to see the ball bobble and shank off his shin.
He got away easy — Ola Aina not so much. The Nottingham Forest defender pulled a hamstring after a run and tackle when he went down awkwardly on the pitch, and had to be subbed off after barely seven minutes.
It is uncertain how and why the Confederation of African Football approved this pitch for a World Cup qualifier, or if the pitch was in a better state when the approval was given. In any case, that is not a ground that should host international football.