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1) Huge win for the Elephants of Cote D’Ivoire, huge lesson for the Eagles; the better, hungrier, and more committed team on the night won. The stats even do not do justice to how the Ivorians were out of sight in this final compared to the Super Eagles.
They committed more muscle, played for the final, and got the reward. Life.
2) Kudos to our boys for their entire AFCON showing, but damn, they were poor tonight, and worse, they deployed more energy towards playing mind games than playing football. It took focus away from the importance of the game, and it was disappointing, more like shocking, to watch. Did you see how Nwabali earned a needless yellow card for example? Cringe.
3) After the 2nd Ivorian goal, we got 3 corner-kicks in the space of 2 minutes, attacking gas suddenly went up, and I was like, where did they keep this for 81 minutes in a final? A whole 81 minutes, we got a goal against the run of play, yet, decided to throw hands than use legs afterwards. Shame.
4) Will Peseiro keep his job? Very debatable. His stock has risen among Nigerians [including myself], and I’m sure with the NFF, but some of his decisions today were suspect and put a dent in his already arguable quality. Chukwueze starting ahead of Simon, Seniorman Kels benching, Iwobi and Zaidu staying longer than necessary, Ola not being so Aina while options were on the bench? These examples contributed to the loss, and it’s all on Peserio. We’ve got a World Cup to qualify for; is Peseiro the guy? Let’s discuss.
5) The Referee made arguable calls against us, but common guys, he wasn’t as bad as some of the reviews are making him out to be. We were just poor, and for the correct calls that went against us, the Ivorians got theirs too. I’ll say it was a pretty much balanced officiating. Let go.
6) This AFCON was amazing and has increased the clout quotient of subsequent AFCONs. The hosting was great, and the quality of competition was so good that the world noticed. [I mean, the Asian Cup also held within this same time frame and didn’t garner global noise or notice.] Morocco is hosting in 2025, and it is clear that any country seriously thinking of winning [it] must indeed be serious. Gear up.
7) It’s now 8 finals, 3 wins, 5 losses for us. Today’s final was there for the taking, but the boys did not show up; however, we should be proud of them and be constructively critical about next steps. Shout out to Ekong, and much more to Onyeka – man plays like Kante. Up next? Morocco 2025.
©️sayo aluko
