Can Coach Aliyu Zubairu's Flying Eagles Recover From the Crushing Defeat Against Burkina Faso?

The Flying Eagles have a mountain to climb to qualify for the U-21 Afcon going by their disjointed 1:0 loss display against Burkina Faso yesterday.

Watching the match; the first half showed glimpses of promise in moments of slow and methodical build-up play from Nigeria. Even at that, B/Faso asked the more telling questions by forcing Goalkeeper Nwosu into breathtaking saves.

In the second half though, B/Faso took control and rightly took the lead after Nigeria botched a simple task of defending a long range harmless freekick for the only goal.

Well, the Flying Eagles showed attacking intent but lack cutting edge where it mattered most. The 4-3-3 formation worked in midfield, as that number 10 particularly, showed class and composure on the ball. But up front, communication broke down, connection was not neat and their movements lacked imagination. At the back, the Flying Eagles lacked discipline as the defenders were often all-over-the-place.

Decision making was poor; they struggled to carve out neat scoring chances; their long shots were aimless and poorly executed; they lost aerial battles; they were poor playing out from behind which was almost punished; and they just lacked coherence where it mattered.

Personally I struggle to see how this poorly primed, hastily assembled and badly prepared Flying Eagles outfit lacking in wit, imagination and football-charima get a favourable result against Ivory Coast on Thursday.

If they prove me wrong, I will be happy because the team does have redeeming qualities. Their midfield is okay. If the defence can be shored up and bite added to their attack, the Flying Eagles might just turn a corner against Ivory Coast.

But I will not hold my breath.