Nigeria v Egypt: Ighalo’s goal drought opens doors for Adi, Chikatara

It is less than two weeks to Nigeria’s two-legged 2017 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying fixture against Egypt and Super Eagles top striker, Odion Ighalo of Watford, has yet to overcome the goal drought he has been experiencing since January.

Ighalo, who has scored 14 goals in the English Premier League between August and December 2015, has failed to score in the league this year, raising doubts about his ability to play his role as the Eagles’ main goal-scorer against Egypt.

Going by the stance of the interim Eagles coach, Samson Siasia, who has said players’ performance in the previous national team assignments and club form would not count, it seems the lead striker role would be open to the likes of Fanendi Adi of Portland Timbers, USA, and Chisom Chikatara of Abia Warriors.

Adi, who just got invited to the Eagles for the first time, has been in fine goal-scoring form in the US’ Major League Soccer, having helped his club win the MLS Cup in December, scoring 18 goals in the process.

On the other hand, Chikatara, who was the third highest goal-scorer in the Nigerian league last season, with 15 goals, shot to prominence at the Rwanda 2016 African Nations Championship, where he established himself as a slick goal poacher.

According to Siasia, only players who show “ferocious form” during the training for both games will see action. This means other forwards who were invited for the games such as Ahmed Musa of CSKA Moscow, Moses Simon of KAA Gent, Victor Moses of West Ham United, Aminu Umar of Osmanlispor FK, Aaron Samuel of CSKA Moscow, Alex Iwobi of Arsenal FC and Godwin Obaje of Wikki Tourists, equally have the chance of playing major roles in the Eagles’ attack.

Ex-international, Garba Lawal, told our correspondent on Friday that Ighalo’s current goal-scoring form wouldn’t matter when the Eagles face Egypt because the coach, Siasia, has invitedother strikers who can also lead Nigeria’s attack.

Lawal said, “Did anybody know that Ighalo will score 14 goals in the English Premier League? That is football for you. Sometimes things don’t work out for you. Every striker wants to score goals. I believe Ighalo will come back and score goals. It is left for the coach (Siasia) to choose the players who will make up his team.

“He has Chikatara in the squad; he has Adi and others. If he decides to use mainly home-based players, there is no problem with that. The important thing is for us to score goals and win the games. It does not matter who plays. Those two games are very important and it is not going to be easy because the Egypt national team are a strong side.”

Similarly, another former Eagles midfielder, Friday Ekpo, believes Ighalo will improve before the games against Egypt.

He added that the other strikers invited for the fixture were also equal to the task of scoring goals for Nigeria.

“It’s a pity that Ighalo has not been in goal-scoring form recently. It is a cause to worry about but it has to be understood that the English league is different from other leagues. I believe he will get back to form and continue to score goals again,” Ekpo said.

“If he does not score against Egypt and others score, we will still appreciate him. It doesn’t really matter who scores. The important thing is playing well as a team and winning the games.”

Meanwhile, Siasia has challenged the home-based players, who are already in the camp, to show they can be relied on in crucial games.

Siasia was apparently unimpressed by the performance of the players after they played a goalless draw against Nigeria National League side, Katsina United in a friendly game played inside the main bowl of the National Stadium, Abuja, on Thursday evening.

“We have to step up our commitment level and show more seriousness,” thenff.com quoted Siasia as saying.

“I am yet to see that hunger in all of you in all the friendly matches we have played so far since we opened this camp. We are facing Egypt in about two weeks and we will not stand any chance against them if we do not change our attitude.

“How can we, the Super Eagles, play against this NNL team and fail to create one clear-cut goal scoring opportunity? If we cannot create chances in this kind of games, when and where will we be able to create them? I know we are far better than this performance and will improve but we have to do so very quickly because there is no time.”

Since opening camp last Sunday in Abuja, the Eagles home stars have played three friendly games, two of which were against the 2016 Rio Olympics-bound Nigeria U-23 team and in all three games, they have scored twice and conceded twice.

Can Moses, Aaron deliver Eagles from Pharaohs?

West Ham forward Victor Moses and Aaron Samuel have been recalled from football’s international wilderness for the crucial 2017 AFCON qualifiers against Egypt. Interestingly, both stars are expected to lead the attack against the Pharaohs, just like their namesakes in the Bible, writes ’TANA AIYEJINA

In the Bible, brothers Moses and Aaron led the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt. But freedom didn’t come quite easy for the Israelites, as Pharaoh, the Egyptian king, and his subjects did all they could to keep them as slaves, until they (Egyptians) perished in the Red Sea.

Incidentally, Nigeria’s Super Eagles find themselves in dire situation against the Egyptians in Group G of the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers.

Leaders Pharaohs have maximum six points from two games, while Nigeria are second with four points; after a 2-0 win at home against Chad and a goalless draw against Tanzania in Dar es Salam.The Super Eagles are poised to battle at the Ahmadu Bello Stadium, Kaduna on March 25 before travelling to Alexandria for the reverse fixture four days later.

If the Eagles hope to stand a chance of qualification from the group, then they need at least four points from both games to revive their hopes of qualifying for the event in Gabon next year, after missing the last edition in Equatorial Guinea.

The winners of the 13-group qualifiers — 12 groups with four teams and one with three teams (plus the host nation which play friendlies with the other three teams) — and the two best overall runners-up will qualify for the tournament in Gabon next year.

The Nigeria Football Federation brought back ex-coach of the Eagles Samson Siasia alongside Emmanuel Amuneke, Salisu Yusuf and Aloy Agu, to prosecute the double games against the Egyptians, after Sunday Oliseh’s resignation as coach of the team.

Siasia immediately invited 43 players — 22 home-based and 21 overseas-based stars — for the crucial encounters.

But a worried Siasia disclosed that he could consider lining up a team made up of only pros from overseas after his home-based team failed to beat a second-tier league side Katsina United on Thursday.

“I am not really happy that they couldn’t create enough chances to beat a team like Katsina United. It is rather unfortunate,” Siasia said.

“By now I should have seen some wonderful displays from my boys. What worries me is their nonchalant attitude in front of goal. They found it difficult to create scoring chances and even the few ones created were fluffed. We can’t be missing goals like this in a crucial match against Egypt.

“I will have no option than to rely on the overseas-based players, if the home boys fail to live up to the billings.”

Perhaps the Bayelsa-born coach knew the monumental task ahead and needed his own Moses and Aaron to lead his army past the Egyptians.

And he duly handed invitations to West Ham forward Victor Moses and new CSKA Moscow striker Aaron Samuel.

Both players have been out of the national team with Moses last playing for the Eagles at the 2014 World Cup after a fall-out with erstwhile coach Stephen Keshi. Moses rejected a return to the national team under Oliseh, preferring to focus on his club career instead.

Siasia believes that the 25-year-old alongside regular Mikel Obi has a key role to play.

He said, “Egypt will be coming with their best players and I strongly feel Mikel and Moses’ wealth of experience will come in handy if we are to pick three points against Egypt in Kaduna.

 “I am really impressed with Mikel’s attitude towards this important game; he has called in to confirm his readiness for the clash. Victor Moses has pledged to return too and this is quite encouraging at a time we need our top players against Egypt.”

Powerful striker Aaron Samuel was a regular under Keshi after he made his international debut against Sudan in a 1–0 defeat against Sudan in Omdurman, coming on as a substitute for Nosa Igiebor in the 47th minute, in a 2015 AFCON qualifier, on October 11, 2014.

Four days later, he scored his first international goal in a 3–1 victory against Sudan in the reverse fixture in Abuja. He scored his second goal for Nigeria in a 2-0 win over Congo in Pointe Noire. He last played for the Eagles in the 2-0 defeat of Chad in Kaduna last June, before he was left out of the team by Oliseh in the 14 games he was in charge of the squad.

Secretary of the Association of Professional Footballers of Nigeria, Austin Popo, believes the recall of both players was a crucial decision by Siasia.

“You may say there’s a spiritual angle to it because of their names but again, these guys (Moses and Aaron) weren’t too old to be left out of the squad. You can’t buy experience; the national team is not a playground for people to experiment. These guys are still relevant and still doing well in their clubs and hopefully they should be hungry for goals and victory against the Egyptians,” Popo stated.

A football fan, Innocent Udoh, said the names of both players could cause psychological problems for their North African opponents.