Has Homebase Right Fullback Sodiq Ismail Justified His Place In The Super Eagles?

Despite his largely impressive performance from the just concluded Unity Cup, some Nigeria fans remain uncomfortable with homebase Sodiq Ismail featuring for the Super Eagles as they feel he lacks the requisite qualities to thrive in high profile games.

Personally, I think these fans should cut Sodiq Ismail some slack - he gave a good account of himself. Those 2 goals (Nigeria conceded against Jamaica that travelled past Sodiq's wing) owed more to shortcomings from Frank Onyeka than anyone could have expected.

You see, one of Onyeka's responsibilities in Chelle's tactical set up is support the centre defense by slotting in to make interceptions when the occasion calls for it.

I have to be honest, he performed this role well, for the most part. One crunching sliding tackle from the back, just borderline box 18 against Ghana readily comes to mind.

But against Jamaica, he was agonisingly milliseconds late to intercept the low cross for the first goal. And for the second, Frederick had man-marked an opposition striker and Ogbu had man-marked another. It was now left to Onyeka and Felix Agu to combine and communicate in shutting out the eventual scorer, which they spectacularly failed to do.

That was why Ogbu was incandescent in his annoyance at Onyeka and Felix Agu after the Jamaican stabbed home the second goal.

The right fullback of the Super Eagles has been problematic of late. Ghana's only away goal that knocked us out of world cup qualification, the only goal that Tunisia scored to knock us out for the Afcon in the round of 16 and the goal that denied us Afcon trophy against Ivory Coast, all passed through that right wingback, all with Ola Aina holding the fort.

So, Sodiq"s shortcomings should be viewed with that in mind.

Sodiq offers something different from Aina: He is more direct, he doesn't beat about the bush with possession, he is also offensively minded and his old fashioned crosses are not anachronistic to modern day tactics as they still cause problems in opposition box 18.

However, just like retired Holland fullback Giovanni van Bronckhorst, Sodiq is hopelessly slow. To compound this problem, his recovery rate is truly bad.

But, these can be addressed with workarounds and better support from his wingers and centre back colleagues.

Whereas Aina tends to underlap deep, Sodiq overlaps wide. Aina has excellent take-on abilities whilst Sodiq just moves with the ball in space to cross. Sodiq will release the ball quicker than say Aina which suits centre forwards like Onuachu, Osihmen and Maja - those poachers.

I think Sodiq has a place in the main Super Eagles. He is now our 3rd choice fullback with a unique set of skills that can come in handy and weaknesses that can be managed .