AFCON Pendulum Swings Back to South Africa as Fallen Champs Nigeria Lick Wounds

By
at Internationaled.org

Published: November 20, 2014

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Finally, for the first time since their opening Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against the Republic of Congo, Nigeria had their destiny in their own hands.

Having beaten the Republic of Congo 2-0 away in their penultimate match, Nigeria knew they just needed to get a better result at home against already-qualified South Africa than the Red Devils managed away against Sudan.

Admittedly, South Africa have been one of the outstanding teams of the qualifying series so far—winning three, conceding one and losing none heading into their final match—but Bafana Bafana had never beaten the Super Eagles in a competitive fixture before.

Surely, Stephen Keshi's side would secure the result they required to return to Equatorial Guinea and defend their crown at the continental showpiece early next year.

The Super Eagles have become an increasingly brittle outfit over the last 18 months, and familiar weaknesses came to the fore in Uyo.



An unfamiliar—or at least relatively recent—weakness is incompetence in defensive areas. The Eagles were dismal at home to Congo, where they conceded three, but they appeared to have put their back-line woes behind them with clean sheets away in Pointe-Noire and Cape Town.

A centre-back pairing of Azubuike Egwuekwe and Kenneth Omeruo was found wanting in their first-ever start together. Since the latter’s international debut, Keshi has started matches with six different defensive pairings but never Egwuekwe and Omeruo.

They struggled for cohesion. Warri Wolves skipper Egwuekwe has his qualities, and valuable ones, but he hasn't always convinced that he belongs at the international level. Omeruo is a superb talent but was palpably short of match fitness here. 



Might this not have been a good occasion for Keshi to move Efe Ambrose—a central defender at club side Celtic—...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - International Football

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