As Nigeria lock horns with France in a high profile friendly this weekend, many fans are wondering the brand of football Justine Madugu's Super Falcons will produce.
You look at the TP Mazembe vs Edo Queens semi final game in the recently concluded CAF Women's Champions League, you see tactical football vs functional football as obvious as possible.
One of the best ways to neutralise any Nigerian team managed by a local coach is to isolate the players. The Nigerian players are always well drilled in their individual job descriptions and how executing these responsibilities effectively can combine with the activities of their team mates to produce success.
The problem with this is, isolate the Nigerian winger, crowd out the midfield and overload pockets of the defence and you will bring that Nigerian side to heel (i.e. you will defeat that Nigerian side).
Hence, after an emphatic victory in their first game (a common theme for most Nigerian coaches) Edo Queens started finding it more difficult as the tournament wore on. Our local coaches start well but fizzle away once opponents discover that functional/physical football is the only thing they have to offer.
The Moroccan coach of Mazembe was wise and cunning. Playing a more tactical approach, she set her team up in “groups” (rather than individuals) to block
Nigerian passing routes from midfield; force them too wide to stop or limit Edo Queens threats from the flanks; and cleverly draw Nigerian defenders out of shape at the back.
This (well drilled and intelligently coordinated) group-approach-devolving (breaking down)-into-(clever) individual-movements, rather than Nigeria’s (raw, speedy one dimensional) individual-movements-building-up-to-(often predictable)group-dynamics was the game changer for TP Mazembe.
Under Nigerian coaches in recent seasons, time and time I have seen how our players have been frustrated individually when their individual skills aren’t allowed to shine by opposition players that are not better than them, just better coordinated as a unit intent to thwart, dis-stabilize and dismantle the individuality that has come to be the hallmark of the physical/functional football that Nigeria played.
Against Ghana in Abuja in the 2022 world cup qualifiers, once the Black Stars changed their tactical approach, the threats that Ademola Lookman posed on the left flank was effectively dissolved. Urban legend has it that it was the players, not coach Eguavoen, who discovered this tactical switch that had nullified our functional/physical approach.
Rather paradoxically, I have come to like physical/functional approach. There is a simplicity in seeing players perform traditional roles in traditional ways particularly before other teams catch on to our strategy ( Lol ) and subsequently render it obsolete.
Seeing Moses Simon “express himself” in the group stages of the 2022 Afcon; seeing Flourish Sebastian “express herself” in the group stages of the U-20 Women’s world cup in 2022 will forever stay with me as wonderful and fabulous moments. It wasn’t that wonderful though when, on both occasions, we crashed out at the first hurdle of the knockout stages after flawless group stages.
Which for me suggests that, functional football is not the problem per se. Being shrewd, savvy and dynamic, even within the framework of functional football, might just do the trick. But again, what do I know, never been a coach, never been a player, just a fan wishing our local coaches can be that bit more creative with an approach that manages to bamboozle teams before being decoded.
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