Nigeria vs China (0:0) - Retrospective Reflection

It was a match as dull as dishwater as Nigeria and China slugged it out to a dour draw today in their second group matches.

It will be easy to criticise Coach Aduku to the high heavens today as his girls were most uninspiring in the match: the Falconets never looked like scoring, and their passing routines were ineffective and insufficient to unlock a stubborn China defence.

However, China were ultra-defensive up to the 65th minute when they decided to be more adventurous, leading to several danger moments for Nigeria. It was a very cagey affair and a match that will never live long in the memory.

Where do I start? China were astute defensively. Their shape was impenetrable, impervious, impermeable, and they defended in packs like wolves. There were often 3 to 4 Chinese players against the 1 Nigerian who was on the ball anywhere on the pitch. This frustrated Nigeria a lot; however, it also meant China too couldn’t create clear-cut scoring chances as they were busy hounding Nigerians off the ball like hyenas.

It was going to be a tough, tedious, frustrating day in the Office for the Falconets.

Their plight was compounded by their wayward passing routines, poor decision-making, lack of variety in their gameplay, and poor technique in basics like shooting, crossing, and playing long balls.

The shape looked like a 4-4-1-1, which looked good on paper, but well suited to China’s defensive game plan as our wingers – Joseph and Oscar – were effectively cut off from the rest of the team with centre forward Mamadu looking lost. Support striker Janet had some eye-catching moments which showcased her quality but, all in all, China’s game plan of containing, curtailing and choking our forward line worked to perfection.

When China decided to be ambitious and go forward, kudos to our defenders who used their physicality to frustrate Chinese strikers. I think our goalkeeper pulled off one fantastic save from a goal-bound Chinese header and another near-post low save. We looked vulnerable when China charged forward, but they also were vulnerable to our counterattack, one of which led to a penalty that was overturned after good work from Oscar down the right flank and Janet down the middle.

Yes, the Falconets’ game has to be measured against China’s approach. Even at that, the Falconets were not inspiring at all. It was clear early on that China were playing divide-and-conquer with their tight multiple-women marking. Yet our coach had no answer to neutralise or counter China’s approach for the duration of the match – very poor. It was frustrating watching – for 90 minutes – our wingers running into a cul-de-sac of 3-4 Chinese players, unable to go to the byline to pull out meaningful crosses, if any at all. Our midfielders were not given any room to breathe whilst our entire forward line was suffocated.

And our coach had no answers, no tricks, no magic! None at all! For the duration.

Nigeria 0:0 China.