• " Victory is victory " Coach Clemens Westerhoff

• " Penalty series is a lottery " Coach Louis Van Gaal

very big congratulations to the Super Eagles of Nigeria on their deserved victory as the 2025 Unity cup winners !

They were the best team of the mini- tournament. Though their victories in the tournament, more especially, in the final, was through the smallest of margins, they deserved to be celebrated. The above cited quotation by the legendary former Super Eagles' trainer, Coach Clemens Westerhoff, summarizes the sentiments of those of us, the die-hard Super Eagles supporters.

It is the first 'major' victory of the Super Eagles since the 2013 Nations' cup triumph in South-Africa. And, hopefully, signals the start of better things to come for the Super Eagles under the coaching guidance of Coach Eric Chelle ; most especially, considering the immediate challenges of the 2026 World cup qualifiers and the 2025 Nations' cup competition in Morocco, at the end of the year.

The Super Eagles in the final match against Jamaica, lined-out in a more familiar ( to Coach Eric Chelle) 4-4-2 formation; with four changes to the starting line-up against Ghana, thus:

Goalkeeper Stanley Nwabali was in goal. Regardless of the criticisms against his performance, one still considers him Nigeria's number one goalkeeper. The three goals he conceded in the tournament, were, strictly, speaking not his fault. The defence line let him down on those occassions. And in the circumstances, there was so much a goalkeeper could do!

Those who criticise him for being a so-called "poor penalty stopper", are simply naive in my considered opinion. In the words of Coach Louis Van Gaal, " penalty series is a lottery" ! In other words, considering the proximity of the penalty taker to the goalkeeper, a goalkeeper has almost no chance of stopping a well-taken penalty! A goalkeeper only shines with a poorly- taken penalty kick.

The defence line comprised of:

Sadique Ismaila, he was at right-back. And had a poor game. The two goals scored against Nigeria, came through weakness on his part as right-back. We shall dwell on this fact later on in this piece.

Debutant Felix Agu , was at left-back ; and had a fantastic debut match!

Debutant Benjamin Frederic at centre-half, generally had a fairly decent game. But I don't share in the encomiums being heaped on him, for his so-called "fantastic performance". He is no doubt a player with a bright future. But the fact remains that as centre-half back, he was supposed to be the defence marshal! Or, organiser of the defence line. Strictly-speaking, he didn't do this aspect of his job very well. The second goal of the Jamaicans, testified to a "leader-ship failure" at the heart of the Nigerian defence! When the cross came from Ismaila Sadique's defensive position, the Super Eagles' central defenders were AWOL ! Thus, a Jamaican attacker was left unattended to at the very heart of the Super Eagles' defence ( in the Super Eagles' vital defensive area, very close to the goalkeeper!)!

All those ameliorating remarks by some commentattors who are his fans, about his " playing so well at 21 years of age" for the Super Eagles and the fact he only trained once with the team before the match and " showed no nerves " notwithstanding these realities, don't hold much water when it comes to judging him as a central defender, given the generally established standards for judging a central defender in modern soccer. He certainly has a bright future in the game, but needs to ripen much more before he could be the Super Eagles' defence-chief.

Igoh Ogbuh at left-half back , had a fairly decent game. But in one's considered opinion, was also a 'culprit ' in the defensive failure that gave away two goals to Jamaica. As "co-chairman " of the Super Eagles' defensive formation, he didn't do much to help the inexperienced day's defence-chief : Benjamin Fredericks.

The four-man mid-field of : Wilfred Ndidi and Frank Onyeaka as defensive mid-fielders, generally did well. However, Frank Onyeaka, could have stopped the first Jamaican goal if he had been quicker with his tackle of the Jamaican player that scored the goal.

The more offensive / creative part of the mid-field led by Samuel Chukwueze, was good. Samuel Chukwueze, was sparkling in his performance! He helped set-up moves with incisive creative passes; he also took on the Jamaican defence in solo dribbling runs, and in the process helped break it down. And, finally, crowned a beautiful performance with a fantastic second goal! He is in your's sincerely's considered opinion, the "man - of - the match" !!!!! And after that day's performance, we all can see that a new offensive / creative mid-fielder for the Super Eagles has been born !!!!!!

Nathan Tella, the other half of the creative / offensive mid-field department, did well; more especially, in the second half.

The Super Eagles dominated the mid-field and by implication the game, for all of ninety minutes, because of a solid mid-field department!

The offensive department, had the duo of: Cyriel Dessers, who with an assist, once again proved he his worthy of being one of the best three centre-forwards for the next international call-up in September, 2025! And stand-in skipper Moses Simon, who scored a beautiful first goal for Nigeria!

The substitutes did well. But the most conspicuous was Chrisantus Uche, who not only sparkled for the brief time period he played in regulation time , but scored the winning penalty kick, in his debut match for the Super Eagles of Nigeria !

Conclusion:

Yours sincerely would conclude this piece by making this analysis of the team based on the two matches in the Unity cup tournament:

Goalkeeping department : As earlier stated, barring any unforseen circumstances, the number one goalkeeper should be Stanley Nwabali.

Defence line : was generally weak during the tournament. Conceding three goals in two matches says it all! I'm happy Coach Eric Chell has taken notice of this anomaly.

The mid-field : was generally strong over the two matches, save for the second half performance against Ghana. This is one aspect of the team's performnce that Coach Eric Chelle has improved thus far, in his stewardship as Super Eagles' coach.

The attack : was as sharp as ever, banging in four goals in two games!

The technical crew : one has question marks about Coach Eric Chelle's match-reading ability and his reactions to changing match situations, during the course of a match.

For example, in the match against Jamaica, it was clear after the Jamaican first goal in the first half, that Isamaila Sadique, the right-back, was not up to speed with the demands of playing against a very fast Jamaican left winger. But for some inexplicable reasons, the coach left him on the field of play for ninety minutes ! As a consequence, the Jamaicans scored a second goal from the rather weak defensive side of the same player! A Coach Jose Peseiro, would have substituted him at half time with a better defender. If that had been done, the Super Eagles of Nigeria might have won that game in regulation time, without going through an arduous penalty series.

We all continue wishing the Super Eagles well !

UP SUPER EAGLES ! UP NIGERIA !!!!!!!!!