By Harry Awurumibe, Editor, Abuja Bureau
It is no longer news that the most successful country in the FIFA U-17 World Cup, Nigeria will not participate in the upcoming CAF U-17 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) and by extension the 2025 FIFA U-17 World Cup final in Qatar following the Golden Eaglets’ shock defeat by the ‘Les Elephants’ of Cote d’Ivoire last week in the semi-final stage of the West Africa Football Union (WAFU)-B U-17 Championship in Accra, Ghana.
Cote d’Ivoire’s ‘Les Elephants’ produced a nerve-racking 1-0 victory over the Eaglets of Nigeria in the semi-final clash at the 10,000 capacity University of Ghana Stadium in East Legon stadium to dump the Golden Eaglets out of the AFCON and the FIFA U-17 World Cup finals.
This is even as Nigeria made it to the semi-finals as Group B winners after winning two games against Niger and Togo and drawing with Burkina Faso in the group stage as the Manu Garba-tutored boys had impressed in those games by scoring four goals and conceeding none to book a date with Group A runners-up Cote d’Ivoire.
The Nigerians clearly lacked the cutting edge in the final third against the tactically-sound Ivorians and tyey also failed to muster an equaliser after succumbing to a second-half sucker punch from forward Youbah Koulibaly as the match ended 1-0.
By this result, Cote d’Ivoire will join Burkina Faso which edged out Ghana’s Black Starlets at the upcoming U-17 AFCON as Ghana and Nigeria are both eliminated with the U-17 AFCON serving as the qualifiers for the FIFA U-17 World Cup.
Sadly, it will be the second consecutive World Cup finals that the Golden Eaglets will miss after failing to qualify for the 2023 edition even as Nigeria is the most successful national team at the U17 World Cup with five titles, the last of which the Eaglets won in 2015 under the tutelage of former African Footballer of the Year Award Winner and Super Eagles star, Emmanuel Amuneke.
However, Prompt News can reveal that lack of the presence of a Tactical Analyst in the Golden Eaglets technical crew caused Nigeria the ticket for U-17 AFCON and FIFA World Cup finals.
According to a Nigerian Certified Match Analyst who watched the Golden Eaglets versus ‘Les Elephants’ encounter live at University of Ghana Stadium in Accra but who pleaded anonymity, tactical analysis in football which involves the systematic observation and evaluation of a team’s strategic decisions, formations, movements, and patterns during matches cannot be overemphasised.
Said he: “I strongly believe that the Tactical Analyst of the Ivorians scanned Nigeria’s U-17 team pattern and consequently told the Ivorian head coach to switch tactics to favour his team while it was obvious that the Nigerian U-17 team didn’t have a Tactical Analyst to support the team’s coaching crew.
Speaking further he said, “technical Analyst or what others call Match Reader/ Analyst aims to identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats; this can be achieved with the assistance of a trained tactical analyst to help the coaching crew devise effective game plans and formations, adjust tactics, and improve team performance”.
He also posited that tactical analysis in football entails studying various aspects of the game, such as team formations, player positioning, movement off the ball, defensive organization, attacking patterns, set-piece strategies, and opponent tendencies.
“It involves detailed observation, data analysis, and interpretation to understand the dynamics of play of your opponents and make informed decisions to gain a competitive edge”, the analyst insists.
He insists studying upcoming opponents to identify their strengths, weaknesses, and tactical tendencies are necessary in game planning, pointing out that the duty of tactical analyst is assisting coaches in developing strategic plans and formations tailored to exploit opponents’ weaknesses and maximize team strengths.
He blamed Golden Eaglets’ loss to the Ivorians on the absence of tactical analyst and In-Match Analysis which he said provide real-time feedback to coaches on opponent adjustments and potential tactical changes to maintain or gain advantage. READ ALSO:
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According to him football has gone scientific and any team which does not have full complement of technical crew namely tactical/vidoe analyst, fitness/evaluation coach, goalkeeper trainer, set-piece coach, scout, etc, will continue to struggle.
He therefore called on Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) to as a matter of necessity provide the head coaches of the national teams men and women full complement of the coaching crew especially in major football competitions in order for the teams to perform optimally.
