Nigeria (Flamingos) 1:0 Venezuela - Retrospective Reflection

Nigeria Vs Venezuela 1:0 - Retrospective Reflection

Defender Oduntan's penalty for Nigeria's solitary semi-final ticket goal was easy on the eye but their overall performance was a bit tedious to watch at times.

The Flamingos were not entirely smooth, intricate and precise in their game play. Often, they came across as rash, hurried and untidy against Venezuela tonight.

However, if you scratch the surface, you will be quick to realise that this was partly due to how the opposition, Venezuela, approached the game.

It was an intense encounter. The South Americans were determined to match Nigeria's physicality. They would give no inch, no quarter and would make it difficult for Nigeria to move the ball on grass.

Venezuela hardly committed bodies up front. They choked the middle and fortified their box 18 vigorously, well, maybe too vigorously as they incurred a penalty kick which dumped them out of the tournament.

To counter Venezuela, the only thing Nigeria knew was to keep badgering on, banging the door with such ferocity, such intensity, such alacrity that finally, Venezuela were forced to an error, and a costly one, one goal, that goal, and they were out.

If you have followed the Flamingos throughout this tournament, you know they have it in them to play free-flowing football, If the condition permits, if the opponents permit.

Today, they resorted to long high passes from defence to attack which weren't very effective. Each Nigerian winger, faced with 4 opposition defenders, still elected to bulldoze through before being (predictably) dispossessed .

Nigeria won the ball in good areas high up the pitch but Venezuela crowded the area with bodies, making it difficult for Nigeria to profit or to penetrate.

For the few times Venezuela threatened, our Box 18 fortification held firm.

We stretched the pitch at times, making use of the flanks but, again, Venezuela closed ranks before we could pull out meaningful crosses.

At times our players lacked composure, lashing at the ball, shooting at the breeze. But we closed down well and worked to contain Venezuela in their own half.

We are there, we are in the semis. A podium finish beckons.

Can Nigeria win the tournament? This Flamingoes team are an awkward side - I don't think any team is wishing to play them.

They seem disorganised, disoriented and disheveled but that it their charm, their character, their trump card.

They play it well, they play it shrewd. It's not fancy football but it is effective, effective to get them this far, far enough to be worthy contenders.

They have an idea of how they want to play and what they want to achieve. And however difficult, they keep at it, never stopping, never relenting, never retreating until they cross the finish line.

You will be a fool to bet on them; you will be a bigger fool to bet against them!