What Nigeria Needs To Do To Beat Egypt

By: Obiweluozo Martins
With the Super Eagles Coach Samson Siasia appointed in an interim basis for the second tenure in charge of the Eagles, eyebrows have been raised already with the sudden resignation of coach Sunday Oliseh. However, which way it may be the Eagles have a replacement in Siasia who will be supported by Emmanuel Amuneke and Salisu Yusuf and goalkeeper trainer Alloy Agu and will be saddled with the immediate task of beating Egypt with their North African antics worthy of note. The coach Siasia have faced the Egyptians in the U-23 championship in Senegal last December for Olympic qualification and the game ended 2 – 2 with the Egyptians showing a spirited fight back to tie the game at 2-2, but the Senior team will be a big kettle of fish for Siasia and his men as players like Mohammed Salah and Arsenal’s new signing Mohamed Elneny will be on the show for Egypt.So the Eagles must by pass the Egyptians to book a place at the African Cup of Nations in Gabon next year (2017). On this note Soccer Net Nigeria highlight the key things Nigeria must do for the encounter against Egypt. NAMED SQUAD LIST MUST BE ON MERIT  
Nigeria should have a strong squad list for the upcoming encounter against Egypt following the transfer and the form of Nigerian players abroad at the moment. The Super Eagles need all their Arsenal’s to be firing from all cylinders when they step out of the pitch against the pharaoh’s of Egypt, so the Eagles needs there best legs to prosecute the games (which is a decisive double header) home and away. Players like Victor Moses, Kelechi Iheanacho, Abiola Dauda and Odion Ighalo should not be missing from the party coupled with in-form and center back Leon Balogun. The truth remains that Nigeria’s destiny for qualification of the cup of Nations lies in their own hands and depends on the result gotten from this double header against Egypt. The good thing is that Nigeria is more than capable of delivering the Nations Cup ticket to their fans and wipe away the sorrows of past failure to qualify for the 16 team African get together tournament but the squad list has to be right as Egypt is a strong side and pose a big threat as they have a good pedigree especially on African football scene. There should be no lobbying into the squad or the exchange of brown envelops to get into the all-important Super Eagles list as this may just be detrimental at this critical point in time. The technical committee must take note. EAGLES MUST HAVE A PLAN B
When you approach such a game there must be game plan as well as good tactical discipline on the field of players regards to the team dynamics and the opponent to come up against. The Egyptians are always fast and play on the counter attack and with the pace of Mohammed Salah except the Egyptian to be doggy and quick in the final third so Siasia and his assistant and technical crew must have a plan B to counteract any sudden plan of the Egyptians. The Egyptians knows and have watched Nigeria and the coach and the crew must watch their back on tactical ground. There is need for reinforcement, Nigeria must watch Egypt and device a multiple way to cage them especially at home to ensure victory and maximum point to the benefit of the Super Eagles of Nigeria. In that game against Egypt one game play may not be enough. The coach needs to be dynamic in the coaching dugout when the game gets underway.TIME FACTOR
The Super Eagles would be squaring off with the Pharaoh’s of Egypt on 25th of March  2016 which is on Friday and for some reason needs to get the time factor rights for the match. For the game in Kaduna and knowing the climatic conditions we are in it will be decent if the Eagles plays at a later hour especially in the evening may be from 6pm or 7pm as the heat in Kaduna will not be ideal for our foreign players abroad like Ighalo, Iheanacho, Mikel, Musa who are all used to cold weather in Europe as CSKA Moscow are in cold region in the Russian Premier league. The kick-off for the game need to be taken down the clock when the sun must have settled to avoid exposing the players to the heat of the Northern Nigeria when the sun intensity is high. Also for the game being on a Friday and a working day in the week, there is need to ensure an evening kick to have a full house in support of the Eagles as early kick off just like in the friendly win (2-0) against Niger Republic in Port Harcourt was played mostly on empty seat which was later filled as the clock winds down in the latter stages of the game. There is need for an evening kick off with a flood light to ensure the Eagle avoid heat in the afternoon and also have the luxury of Nigerian supporters in attendance when match proceedings get underway against Egypt. NFF MUST MOTIVATE THE PLAYERS 
The Super Eagles of Nigeria have been on a very poor situation when it comes to their financial entitlement coming from the administrative body. This is for Nigeria and the players are the major tool for this assignment and must not be treated with contempt when it comes to their personal entitlement. The bane of match bonuses must not be allowed to spring up again in camp especially with the Egypt Game at hand as it might destroy the spirit for this all important encounter, the Federation must ensure that the players are well motivated for this game and not the other way round. The match bonus row have haunted Nigerian football always in the past with notable incident at the World Cup in Brazil prior to the knockout game with France when it was gathered that the players refused to train after non-payment of match allowances. The Nigeria football body knowing how crucial this game is must not allow such an incident to take its toll on the team against to avert any unfortunate incident that will ruin the spirit of the players in these game against Egypt. [post_ad]