Nigeria vs Ghana: Tactical Plan For Super Eagles To Overcome Black Stars

The two West African countries will face off for a one-game showdown, as the teams meet for the second leg of their CAF Third Round playoff tie at the Moshood Abiola National Stadium in Abuja on Tuesday 29 March.

The Kick-off is at 7 pm CAT.

Tactical Set-Up:

Eguavoen, a former defender and member of the historic Nigerian side that qualified for their first World Cup appearance in 1994, known for its strong wing play, strongly believes in maintaining that tradition. But this often means that his team functions with just two players in the centre of the field, with two other players running down the flanks to service the central striking pair.

The yawning gaps this style creates in the middle of the field are easily exploited by an opponent that plays with a more compact three or four-man midfield and are able to maintain possession and surge forward, whenever Nigeria loses the ball.

Tunisia exploited the flaws in Eguavoen’s system to eliminate them in the round of 16 at the last Afcon, cutting off the attacking supply from Nigeria’s wingers - Moses Simon and Samuel Chukwueze - to the central strikers, who are then starved of service. Ghana adopted a similar playbook in Kumasi.

Nigeria’s defence, as a result of the distinct lack of creativity and invention from the midfield, were often forced to play a rather high line in Kumasi, in order to engineer an attack.

Fortunately for the Super Eagles, the Black Stars lacked the required counterattacking bite to take advantage of the open spaces defensive high lines often create.

Victor Osimhen, Nigeria’s attacking arrowhead, clearly frustrated by the lack of service from the midfield, ended up going deep into midfield to fight for balls to gain possession, which made him ineffective and tired.

What Can Eguaveon Do In Abuja:

Well, keep the existing defensive formation and reengineer the midfield, within a 4-3-3 or 4-3-2-1 formation, which would perform its required dual role - as the first line of defensive cover - which would put less pressure on the back four to play high, as well as serve as the attacking lynchpin, giving Victor Osimhen and his colleagues a quality supply of service to do the required damage against the Black Stars.

Player-for-player, in a Nigerian team with the correct tactical set-up, the Black Stars will certainly come up short in Abuja.

What The Stats Say:

Nigeria will be looking to qualify for a fourth consecutive FIFA World Cup, having participated in 2010 (South Africa), 2014 (Brazil) and in 2018 (Russia)

Having qualified for three consecutive FIFA World Cups between 2006 and 2014, Ghana will be looking to reach the finals for the fourth time having missed out on the 2018 tournament in Russia.

Four of the seven African World Cup qualifiers between Nigeria and Ghana have ended level (2 wins for Nigeria and 1 win for Ghana), with three of the last four ending goalless.

Ghana have failed to score in each of their last four World Cup qualifiers against Nigeria, while Nigeria have failed to score in four of their last five against Ghana.

Nigeria remain winless in their last six meetings with Ghana across all competitions (D3 L3) since a 1-0 victory in the Africa Cup of Nations back in 2006 – although each of the last three meetings have ended goalless.

Ghana are winless in their last five games across all competitions (D2 L3) since a 1-0 victory against South Africa in this World Cup qualifying campaign. 

Nigeria have lost just one of their last 43 World Cup qualifiers (W28 D14), with that defeat coming against the Central African Republic in qualifying for the 2022 World Cup.

Ghana have lost just one of their last 11 World Cup qualifiers (W5 D5), conceding just six goals in total during this period and never more than one in a game.

Despite failing to find the back of the net in the first leg, Napoli striker Victor Osimhen has scored 10 goals in his last 14 appearances for Nigeria in all competitions.

In the first leg, no player made more passes (57), won back possession more often (9), or made more tackles (3) than Ghana’s Iddrisu Baba.

What The Coaches Said:

Nigeria coach Augustine Eguavoen

“Ghana team is not a team you can brush aside with one arm because they are a very good team. I have followed Ghana nearly all my entire career.

The performance they put on [Friday] was expected, [but] I would like to congratulate my boys, they were able to soak up the pressure and took control of the game in the second half. Again you know Ghana yes they were on top of their game, but they didn't have any clear cut chances. But we had two clear cut chances. We should have won, but a draw, I think we are okay.”

Ghana coach Otto Addo

“First of all, we did well even though we made some mistakes but we started well, there was just a little bit of fatigue and it made Nigeria come into the game more. We watch a lot of matches, me and my squad... and I think we know what each of them is capable of.”