Many who are fans of the super eagles and watched the game at addis ababa are probably asking this question right now.

What happened to the eagles on Ethiopia?

For the 1st time since afcon 2013 we were outplayed by a lesser african team to an extent that we couldn't even put passes across to each other accutately like we know eagles to do.

For a moment, it wasn't working for us at all (set-pieces, passes etc) and ethiopia outshined us with their tiki-taka and many SE fans began to wonder. . .is this the SE I know (that won the afcon) or another?


Talk about playing badly and winning. . .was our victory against Ethiopia yesterday.


There are 3 things that I have clearly highlighted that that happened to us yesterday.


1. High Altitude. . .
The ethiopians had the advantage of the altitude. Its their home and are used to it. But the super eagles were obviously badly affected by this altitude. After about 15mins, Ogenyi Onazi was shown, struggling to catch his breath. Even Keshi on the bench appeared at one point to struggle with breath. We were sweating profusely, dehydrated, tired out, breathing difficultly, feeling lethargic all because of the altitude while the ethiopians kept coming at us. This is why they have not lost at home in a long while.
The altitude is the reason why we didn't play our usual game. You will get your usual eagles back when they play the return leg at calabar

2. The formation.
It was going to be a tough game yet Keshi chose to put Oduamadi in the attacking midfield role instead of a natural midfielder. Hence, when the altitude began its effects, our midfield crashed (even with mikel and onazi present) and they won the midfield battle because it was like we had only 2 people in the midfield.
Ofcourse, when oduamadi came off and a natural midfielder Nosa Igiebor came on, the game changed and we scored. He won the midfield battle for us and the ethiopians became quiet.
Lesson learned: you cannot always get away with playing a striker in the midfield position that should be played by a natural midfielder.

3. Bad pitch
Balls bouncing off your feet when passed to you. The ethiopians were used to the pitch but not us.

these are the main factors that affected us. Other factors like the 'crowd intimidation' do not really count

Bottom line: Eagles will be back to their dominating and possession football by the next match in calabar.

OK

4. + Home advantage

Was the pitch repaired when we scored ? The answer is no .....most of the players started their game on rough field , even the altitude condition did"nt change ...eagles style of play changed immediately we conceded that goal ... The eagles seriously needs a psychologist to put some things in check , even if u "re conserving energy , u don"t do it and the peril of the game... They could not put 3 passes together . We are so lucky that the Ethiopians lacked good ball finishing it would have been a different story ....


They should "t put up this kind of display come November ....

lexyman: Was the pitch repaired when we scored ? The answer is no .....most of the players started their game on rough field , even the altitude condition did"nt change ...eagles style of play changed immediately we conceded that goal ... The eagles seriously needs a psychologist to put some things in check , even if u "re conserving energy , u don"t do it and the peril of the game... They could not put 3 passes together . We are so lucky that the Ethiopians lacked good ball finishing it would have been a different story ....


They should "t put up this kind of display come November ....

You don't know the super eagles yet. . .

Even if the ethiopians had a good finisher, once they put 1 goal behind us we would come into the game and get a goal of ours.

It was a nice technique the eagles used.

We sat back while they played, ran and burned in the 1st half. Did you notice that they got tired later in the 2nd half?

Addis ababa is not a place a west african team would go to and start the game at a high tempo, running and pressing up field
like the eagles normally do. No! Not in hot addis ababa. . .

If we had started the game at a high tempo like you want, we would have lost. . .

I rate the eagles 7.5/10 for this victory. . .while I rate them 6.5/10 for the victory over malawi in calabar.

lexyman: Was the pitch repaired when we scored ? The answer is no .....most of the players started their game on rough field , even the altitude condition did"nt change ...eagles style of play changed immediately we conceded that goal ... The eagles seriously needs a psychologist to put some things in check , even if u "re conserving energy , u don"t do it and the peril of the game... They could not put 3 passes together . We are so lucky that the Ethiopians lacked good ball finishing it would have been a different story ....


They should "t put up this kind of display come November ....

I don't think u know much about high altitude areas... Ethiopia is many metres above sea level thereby making the air thin.. Enugu or maidugri may be a somewhat similar example even though they don't come close to ethiopia's high altitude geography. U get tired easily just by walking let alone running and chasing the ball. Breathing is very tough in high altitude countries. Many big south american teams battle to get draws in peru because of the high altitude. My dear it's never easy to play football in high altitude, even messi has complained a lot of times about peru as it is the highest place in the world (apart from mt. Everest and some other mountains in asia). These ethiopians have now gotten used to this high altitude factor and it even shows in their long distance races/marathons. They never get tired. I'm not trying to make excuses for SE though, we were seriously outplayed and if not for class, it would have been an entirely different story but I am very sure these players will play better in Calabar as it'll be a level playing ground devoid of geographical advantages

lexyman: Was the pitch repaired when we scored ? The answer is no .....most of the players started their game on rough field , even the altitude condition did"nt change ...eagles style of play changed immediately we conceded that goal ... The eagles seriously needs a psychologist to put some things in check , even if u "re conserving energy , u don"t do it and the peril of the game... They could not put 3 passes together . We are so lucky that the Ethiopians lacked good ball finishing it would have been a different story ....


They should "t put up this kind of display come November ....

wake up pls. It is true we are started playing ball on dry sand or concrete floor. But let me tell u, we learnt to type words on a manual typewritter, learnt to play keyboard on an a manual organ (press d pedal to blow air to make it sound), learnt driving on a volkswagen car, etc and now with improvements, experience and advancement, how many of this can we use without complaining. Just think about it...... Same applies to players that started on Ajegunle pitch to now complain about it...... Welldone super eagles.