What If There Was No Messi?

 I usually find the faults of any team I support from wins and look for their strength from defeats. Yesterday, I enjoyed the goals…even those Messi goals as well…but believe me, Ahmed Musa astounded me by scoring two great goals I’m quite sure that Messi himself envied. Never in my wildest imagination, would I have expected Musa to be that perfect and classy in execution.

But the game wasn’t all about Musa and Messi. I watched a Nigerian team that went all out to play for their coach, their country and their continent. I saw a team that faced a superior opposition and never blinked. I saw a team that has vastly improved from their earlier matches. I saw a team that will need some stopping as the tournament progresses. I pity France!

Yes, they had the worst of starts when Messi riffled in that rebound. But thank God we had a player whose name starts with an ‘M’ too, never mind he’s called Musa. His quick-fire response set the tone for a tasty duel. And that was all it became till final whistle.

If anyone admired Musa’s intelligence to make that run from the left while Babatunde was almost losing the ball, then the way he latched onto the pass, cut inside Zabletta of all people and curled an effort beyond the diving keeper for the bottom corner, then you didn’t imagine he’d even be more intuitive for his second.

Before we get to that, it was Messi that mercilessly tore at dear Eagles…the Barcelona dynamo ran into pockets of spaces, dribbled, passed, shot at Enyeama all day. Despite our keepers stoic performances, the four-time Word player of the year would breach our usually immaculate Enyeama via dead ball at his second try, denying the Eagles a breather just at that moment it was almost certain they’d take it to the break.

But our own ‘Messi’ on the night will reply immediately at the re-start. He fearlessly took the ball, made a run, used Emenike as a decoy…Emenike did his job by supplying the ball exactly where our ‘Messi’ wanted it…and trust his speed, he was between two defenders and inside the eighteen in a flash, kept his head firmly, sent the keeper the wrong way as if he took a penalty while finishing at the other corner. Perfect!

That it took the Argentines just three minutes to reclaim their lead through a non-Messi goal was unfortunate. But I saw enough of the Eagles in that match to be happy in defeat. Thank God for Bosina and Herzegovina…no team like the Eagles deserved to go home from the first round.

 

Though the fast and tricky Argentines exposed Joseph Yobo’s lack of pace, the Eagles skipper still acquitted himself well enough to make good his 100^th cap. Kenneth Omeruo was truly stretched and tasted but he never disappointed. Juwon Oshaniwa grows with every match while Efe Ambrose is as steady as ever. Even though Enyeama had the misfortune of picking the ball out of his net thrice, he’d certainly would have done that uncharitable chore far more if it wasn’t a keeper of his caliber manning our post.

I liked what I saw of Mikel Obi…calm, collected and effective. Whenever the ball got to his feet, he steadied things, held it and engineered our possession of the ball. Ogenyi Onazi did marvelously except having to break our own Babatunde’s arm with a ferocious shot destined for the back of Argentina’s net.

Babatunde on his own was not given the chance to try any of his trademark bombs before that unfortunate incident. Even Michael Uchebo that replaced him showed enough signs of good things. Osaze Odemwingie may not have been as effective as in the match against Bosnia but he was up to it too. Together with Mikel and Onazi, they gave the Argentines something to remember in the middle, even if occasionally.

Up front, Emenike continued from where he stopped against Bosnia…power, resilience, fearless. What else can one say about Musa than pray he replicates his performance against France?

And to Stephen Keshi, I say kudos once more…you’ve succeeded in turning an otherwise average set of players into a feared unit. Arsene Wenger was right after all. What we clearly lack is a quality creative midfielder. If James Ifeanacho didn’t thwart that move to take his son, Kelechi to CHAN, perhaps we could be hoping one would soon join this team.

Tactically, the Eagles nearly stood off Argentina without necessarily parking the bus. In the end, Messi undid them…and believe me, if those eagles had played any other team without Messi yesterday, they wouldn’t have lost. The Argentine captain was the difference. And I repeat my tip yet again…Argentina, as long as Messi remains fit, are my top favourites for this title.

Next come France. France is by no means easy. Like Nigeria, they have a compact unit … and they have much more bigger stars, yes. But the Eagles I saw yesterday can and will beat the 1998 Champions. First, in 17 World Cup matches, the Eagles have won five. All five were European oppositions…Bulgaria(twice), Spain, Greece, Bosnia and Herzegovina.  Apart from that un-fancied drubbing by Denmark in 1998, the Eagles have only fallen to Italy after extra time in USA and Greece after being reduced to ten men in South Africa. So, whenever it’s a European opposition, bring them on.

More on France later. For now, let’s congratulate the Eagles for a good job so far.