Discussion: Was Captain Ekong Solely to be Blamed For The Late Goal Conceded To Zimbabwe in Uyo?

I have had opportunity to watch the match again and, yes, the late goal against Zimbabwe wasn’t just Ekong's fault.

Just before the sequence of play that led to that goal, the Super Eagles lost possession twice, needlessly and carelessly - at a time they should be retaining possession like a lion devouring their prey in order to frustrate Zimbabwe and run down the clock.

To make matters worse, Zimbabwe worked the ball all the way from their own box 18 into the heart of our own box 18 to score – very, very poor on the part of the entire Super Eagles.

The right winger was easily displaced, the right midfielder was easily bypassed, then Osayi-Samuel in right fullback was merely brushed aside, Ndidi was then caught ball-watching and Ekong was slow to react with Nwabili not going down quick enough to deflect the ball.

It was a function of how the Super Eagles approached the match from the start. Unlike the match against Rwanda when they filed out with a compact and constricted mindset, here they were wide and expansive from the start.

Unfortunately, after achieving their objective with the 1 late goal with a sustained expansive approach, instead of shutting-up shop, shelling up, recoiling and going compact, they wanted to go for the jugular with a kiss of death second goal – big mistake!

They only ended up being hoisted-by-their-petard because they lacked the legs, lungs and statima at that stage to bring enough intensity to bear in producing a second goal.

Lack of intensity in their tackling just made it all too easy for Zimbabwe to carry the ball (unchallenged) all the way from their own box 18 into Nigeria’s net. Look at the goal: the Zimbabwean could have gone through Nwabili to followed the ball into the net.

Hindsight is 20-20. There is nothing wrong going for the killer insurance second goal. Next time, just make sure you have enough petrol in the tank to pull it off!