Taiwo Adelu/Sports Editor
Nigeria’s Football faithful have taken to the social media to react to Sunday Oliseh’ s first match as the chief coach of the Super Eagles which ended in a barren draw in an away fixture of the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier in Dar es Salam on Saturday.
Tanzania’s Taifa Stars produced a stunning second half performance but failed to do enough to stun three-time African champions, Nigeria on match day two of the AFCON qualifiers.
Saturday’s game at the National Stadium in Dar es Salaam was Oliseh’s first after he replaced former coach, Stephen Keshi and he opted to hand 29-year-old goalkeeper, Carl Ikeme his competitive debut in place of Vincent Enyeama who asked to be excused from the tie following the death of his mother.
Oliseh could not inspire his side as they only managed a 0-0 draw against Tanzania. The coach was however full of praise for Goalkeeper Carl Ikeme, who held forte for the captain Vincent Enyeama.
“I don’t like to single out players from the team but I have to admit that @Carl_Ikeme had a great game for us today.”, Oliseh tweeted.
Tweeting after the match, @yubbie umoh said: “Hmmm! Somebody is beginning to sound like Wenger. We really like Oliseh, but #SuperEagles must perform next time.”
To Afolabi Gambari, a senior sports journalist with National Mirror now Head of Features desk of the paper, wrote on Facebook, that “What a sheer waste of money on the 18 Europe-based pros! I hope the so-called NFF technical committee has learnt useful lessons. It’s just a shame that another Afcon ticket is now blowing in the skies. I won’t be surprised, anyway, if the accompanying sports journalists return home and start telling us of another “golden draw”. That is how far we have decayed these days. “
Wunmi Lily’s Mum Thomas, also a sports journalist noted that “We might be in trouble! We don’t have the team really and we don’t have the time to build. I know we need to give Oliseh time, but do we have time? And we cannot ignore the fact that we have average players playing in average clubs.”
A female senior journalist with the Radio Nigeria, Nneka Ikem Anichebe was so critical of the Eagles’ performance, she wrote: ‘The game not a classic, the team have no flow. If Carl Iheme hasn’t done the job, we would have been counting goals in bubbles. “
Mr. Gboyega Okegbenro, former Group Sports Editor of the Daily Times, however, showered encomiums on the Eagles and Oliseh, saying “congratulations to Nigeria and especially the new coach, Oliseh who picked a point in his debut game with the Super Eagles, though obviously still work in progress in the holistic assessment of the team’s performance. The team coordination, potentials and overall mentality signpost a very promising future. “
He particularly singled out the new goalkeeper, Iheme for brave saves in the match.
Okegbenro continued on his Facebook comments :”Stand up and take a bow new Super Eagles goalkeeper Carl Ikeme, quite a performance to be proud of. Now captain Vincent Enyeama got some real contests for the number one goalkeeping position which must gladden all Eagles supporters and new coach Oliseh. “
President of Tanzania Football Federation Jamal Malinzi also tweeted to wish Eagles well in the remaining matches of the qualifying series, saying ‘Congratulations, your boys deserved their point. Thanks it’s you vs Egypt in March 2016, beat them please.’