Early
last week, Gaffer Sunday Oliseh of our humbled Super Eagles made a very
poignant comment in a gallant attempt to shield his players from
tongue-lash of irate fans who expected a much better performance than
Group-stage exit at the hands of little fancied Guinea in CHAN Rwanda
2016. “The boys gave their best”, he pointed out, and thereby made it
seem unreasonable to have demanded more from them.
Indeed, they must have given everything
they had. When you wear your country’s colours and you know that your
countrymen and women look up to you to make their hopes and dreams come
true, the least that you can do is to resolve to give your all.
Unfortunately, and as it has been with our senior national team for a
long time, it has not been enough. And there is good reason to assert
that for an equally long time to come, it may not be enough.
So much has been said, albeit to no
avail, about the root cause of our pedestrian status in senior football
and the definitive solution. In fact, it now seems like an old chestnut.
In the circumstances, this piece can only be a palliative, an attempt
to configure how we can pull the “chestnut out of the fire with our bare
hands”.
Let me reiterate that lack of early
tutelage will continue to betray our players in the finer points of the
game. Still, let me also highlight some of the fundamental principles of
the game that must be mastered by our players in order to significantly
enhance the quality of their play and make them a fraction more
competitive.
Play to the sound of the referee’s
whistle. The referee will see the game from his own perspective, not
yours. If you do not hear his whistle, continue to play. A very common
but serious mistake in this context is the habit of not actively
defending your goal but raising a hand to signal to the referee that you
consider an opponent or opponents to be offside. But the referee is at
liberty to disagree with you and allow play to continue to the possible
detriment of your team.
The space between the defence line and
their goalkeeper is the area for the most devastating penetrating
passes. Kicking the ball into that space in such a manner that an
onrushing teammate gets to it before the goalkeeper or any of his
defenders will make their goal very vulnerable indeed.
Contrary to popular opinion, it is not
only the slant of the body that determines the flight of the ball. If
the ball is struck dead centre with the swing of the leg parallel to the
horizontal, the ball will not rise above its level at the time of
contact. To send the ball downwards, hit it above its centre. To send it
upwards, hit it below its centre.
The easiest way to penetrate a tightly
packed defence is to play wide, that is, from the flanks. And for a team
to be balanced and able to make the most effective use of both sides, a
mix of naturally right and left-footed players, respectively, is
desirable.
For lobs and aerial crosses into the
penalty box to be most effective, they should be targeted at teammates
instead of being merely speculative.
No matter how fast your shot is, you
will not score a goal if it goes wide. A feeble kick on target is
preferable to a “hot” shot off target.
A cross from the wing is more likely to
be effective if there is a choice of whom to pass the ball to. In this
regard, there are three key areas to pay attention to and to which your
teammates should simultaneously run: near-post, penalty spot, and
far-post. Nevertheless, because of “ball-watching” phenomenon
(essentially the natural pull towards the location of the ball) your
teammate at the far-post is likely to be the one to which defenders pay
least attention, thereby usually making him the best choice for a cross.
A team should not pay exclusive
attention to an opponent in physical possession of the ball, but should
keep a watchful eye on his teammates as well because they may make
intelligent, off-the-ball runs with potentially far-reaching
consequences.
To clear away an aerial ball from your
goal area, you should head the ball upwards and sideways as far as
possible. If you do so and the ball is received by an opponent, a direct
shot on goal would be more difficult and likely to be less potent. Your
defence will also have the opportunity to quickly re-organise.
An opponent’s most vulnerable side is
the area out of the field of his vision. Always seek to exploit this
fact to your maximum benefit, especially when you are running into a
scoring position.
Whether or not you are primarily a
forward, a midfielder, or a defender, you should be an active
participant in every aspect of play. When your team has the ball, your
ultimate concern should be on how you or any of your teammates can score
a goal. But when your opponents have possession, you should be part of a
concerted effort to win back possession. That is the hallmark of total
football.
Teamwork is team discipline. It simply
means that each player fully appreciates the objective of the team and
works assiduously to achieve it by complementing the sustained efforts
of his teammates. A useful slogan is, “All for one, and one for all”.
Once a goalkeeper decides to rush off
his goal-line he should do so with total commitment and not hesitate
midway. Otherwise, he may find himself stranded, neither thwarting the
goal-bound move nor providing effective cover for his goal.
A goalkeeper has the widest view of the
pitch. He should therefore be in constant communication with his
teammates, especially the defenders, and help to organise the defence as
the situation may require.
A goalkeeper should never assume that an
attempt by his teammate to clear a desperate ball from his goal area
will be successful. In order not to be taken by surprise, he should
always anticipate an unintended deflection towards his goal or an
outright miss.
Teamwork is cooperation with your
teammates. The objective of each member of the team is not to outshine
his teammates, but to so complement their efforts that the team
outclasses its opponents and achieves the goal of winning the match.
Teamwork is all for one and one for all!
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