SUPER EAGLES :
Separating the wheat from the chaff in the Super Eagles for 2022 is difficult because few of the players were brilliant individually, but as a bunch, their output was unacceptable.
The men’s senior national team started the year on a promising note at the AFCON in Cameroon; beginning their bid for a fourth title with a famous win over Egypt before recording a 100 per cent record in the group stage. But the tables turned in the round of 16 against Tunisia and Nigerians soon began to look for culprits and scapegoats among a team that was tagged brilliant.
Two months later, a Qatar 2022 ticket was at stake against Ghana, and the Eagles bottled it in front of a packed MKO Abiola Stadium in Abuja, just as millions were also let down by their failure to qualify for the World Cup. Just three months into the year, the last straw had already broken the camel’s back.
Aside wins against Sierra Leone as well as Sao Tome and Principe in the 2023 AFCON qualifiers, the Eagles were underwhelming in friendly games against Mexico, Ecuador, Algeria and Portugal
SUPER FALCONS :
Just like their male counterparts, the Super Falcons failed to live up to standard following an underwhelming performance that saw them bow out of the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco in July.
For the first time in their storied history in the competition, the Randy Waldrum-tutored girls were eliminated in the quarter-finals of WAFCON by a less-fancied Morocco team, a tournament they had made their specialty after winning it a record 9 times out of 11 editions.
MADUKA OKOYE:
One of the scapegoats of Super Eagles poor run in 2022, goalkeeper Maduka Okoye would have wished for something different in 2022 after coming through the ranks at club level and national team.
After Nigeria’s ouster at the AFCON, Okoye hugged the spotlight with his Dutch side, Sparta Rotterdam, helping them escape relegation.
But a move to Watford in the EPL followed his heroics in the Eredivise, and his club career seems to have nosedived since joining Watford. He is yet to make a league appearance since he joined in the summer.
KELECHI IHEANACHO :
For a player that has been striving to stay consistent at club and national team level, Kelechi Iheanacho did little to make himself indispensable at Leicester and the Super Eagles.
Perhaps Ihenancho’s struggle began in the previous EPL campaign, his once staggering run for the Foxes has been halted and it appears he isn’t paying attention to it.
In a combined 37 appearances in the premier league for Leicester since the start of the 2021/22 season, the player has only managed five goals.
After the redeeming goal and performance for Nigeria against Egypt at the AFCON in Cameroon, not so much was seen from the man who needed to turn up and justify his return to the team.
NPFL QUARTET (Enyimba, Kwara United, Plateau United, MFM)
By their own standards in the Nigeria Professional Football League, Enyimba International FC of Aba had an underwhelming campaign in the NPFL in 2022. The Aba giants finished 7th on the league table with 52 points, 25 points behind winner Rivers United. Enyimba also failed to finish in the top four for the first time in five seasons.
Unlike Enyimba, MFM’s campaign in 2022 NPFL needed a miracle; but that doesn’t win a football game. After six inspiring seasons in the topflight, the Olukoya boys were relegated to the second division after finishing bottom of the table with 36 points from 38 games.
For Kwara United, the Ilorin-based side got a CAF Confederation Cup ticket on a platter of gold at the end of the 2022 season. But after an impressive 3-1 win over RS Berkane in Lagos, the Harmony Boys couldn’t scale the preliminaries hurdles in the second leg, as they lost out by the bare minimum margin in Morocco.
Like Kwara United, Plateau United also missed the CAF Confederation Cup ticket after letting a 4-1 advantage slip away after losing 3-0 to Al Akhdar of Libya.
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