I'm never really a fan of friendlies. If you win them very well and look great, you become overconfident and get your ass kicked when the REAL football starts. If you lose them, you may lose confidence and start doubting yourselves where you did not before. So in short, I view friendlies as the perfect way to see how your first team operates AND to really experiment and exhaust all avenues. Keshi must use this match tonight to try out as many different players as possible.
One of the players that I REALLY want to see is Uzoenyi. He was the star of the Inter-Nations Cup and I think he can light up the tournament, if his mind and body is right and can get that confidence from Keshi. So tonight, I am hoping Keshi can put him out there and see how well he can work one wing while Musa works the other.
Then there's Odunlami, another star of that tournament and someone who may have to make the GIANT leap of playing in a World Cup game. It's a big ask, but personally, I am not sure that Yobo is really the right man for the job to entrust in the heart of that defence. This Eagles team should be about looking forward and entrusting in the youth, rather than those old legs that embarrassed the nation four years ago...as well as on numerous occasions at the Nations Cup.
As I look at that squad, and at this match tonight, there will be something missing. Every successful team needs that hustler, the workhorse and the engine that gets all those loose balls, and is just EFFECTIVE in a game. Germany's main man for that is Muller. Although Brown may miss many chances, he creates a lot and gets himself around the pitch. Keshi MUST reconsider because I fear that there will be a match where many would say...Ideye Brown would have helped Nigeria in that game.....
HH
