Maputo Draw Still Haunts Super Eagles

Saturday's 0-0 draw inside the impressive November 7 Stadium in Rades, near Tunis, would have been better celebrated had the Super Eagles not dropped two points away to Mozambique in March.

There was a huge public outcry when the Eagles barely escaped from Maputo with a point, 24 hours after Tunisia had recorded a valuable 2-1 victory in Kenya.

Supporters of the team could not understand why the Eagles were so knocked about after this result, arguing that the team were still unbeaten in the qualifying tournament for the 2010 World Cup.

The draw in Mozambique meant that the Eagles dropped two points, and the situation was further worsened by the fact that Tunisia, who were always going to be Nigeria's main rivals in this group, gained two points on the road against a decent Kenyan side.

An official described Saturday's draw in Tunis as a 'Golden draw'. Had Nigeria lost, they could well have kissed World Cup qualification goodbye.

What this result now means is that the Eagles' home game against the same north Africans on September 6 in Abuja will assume far greater importance. A win, even by the narrowest of margins, would shoot Nigeria to the top of the group, while a draw or a victory for the Tunisians will again restore the advantage to the Carthage Eagles.

The stalemate in Tunis has now afforded Nigeria the chance to determine their destiny, rather than depend on other teams and other results to decide their fate.

Yet, getting victory on September 6 is another thing altogether.

On Saturday, what we saw was a Nigerian team that lacked ambition and were understandably the happier of the two teams when the Malian referee sounded the final whistle.

Attacking football has always been the forte of Nigerian football, but against a beateable Tunisian team, the Eagles' strike force was non-existent.

Ikechukwu Uche, the liverwire of the Nigerian campaign thus far, was always going to be a marked man, but in fairness to him, the midfield lacked the capacity to create things going forward.

Team officials informed that it was the responsibility of Chelsea's Mikel John Obi to initiate these attacks, but we all saw that on the day, he did not produce.

Kalu Uche was the other player expected to create chances for the frontmen, but he too was anonymous, meaning that the few chances the Eagles created in front of goal were by Obinna Nsofor and one delightful low cross by Osaze Odemwingie, which Michael Eneramo failed to direct towards goal in the closing stages of the encounter.

The biggest positive from the Tunis match would most probably be the compusure, athletism and understanding in defence. Olubayo Adefemi has not played club football for the past six months, but he did not suffer any match rustiness.

Once upon a time, the right full-back position was the personal property of Chidi Odiah, but now the CSKA Moscow ace is third in the pecking order behind Adefemi and Yusuf Mohammed.

In the heart of the defence, the combination of Joseph Yobo and Dele Adeleye appears finally to be the answer to the prayers of the team handlers who have agonised over this position.

Yobo and Adeleye played for each other, and for many, including this writer, Adeleye was Nigeria's best performer on the day. It is a very fitting reward that he will get married this coming week. The next thing would be for him to move to a better club than Dutch perennial relegation battlers Sparta Rotterdam. His talent deserves far more than that.

Between now and September is a very long time in football.

In this time, the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) have got an agreement for a friendly against Uruguay in London, even though coach Shuaibu Amodu would prefer an African opposition. Whatever the case, the Eagles are obliged to play a warm-up in August.

Nigerians hope that the likes of Yakubu Aiyegbeni, Obafemi Martins and Chinedu Ogbuke would have recovered fully from injuries because the Eagles need their best for this must-win game.

But again, who will be that player to create things from midfield for these top-class finishers?

Nwankwo Kanu?