The reward for providing service to Victor Osimhen is that he will find goals. Look, the Super Eagles have one of the worst midfields in terms of creativity and balance, yet Osimhen still thrives — that should tell you all you need to know.
I didn’t write about the Super Eagles getting a spot in the African playoffs because no one expected it. But we still had just a tiny shred of hope. We needed to win by scoring four goals — I mean, when last did the Super Eagles win by four goals?
Luckily, our Jagun Jagun, Victor Osimhen, came through for us by scoring a hat-trick, with Frank Onyeka getting the fourth goal in stoppage time.
A lot of people have been saying that if Victor Osimhen had been available throughout the qualifiers, we wouldn’t have needed to pass through the African playoffs, which we now have to go through to hopefully get a World Cup ticket. I agree. But the point isn’t to berate our other strikers — it’s to ask why our midfielders and even our wingers don’t create enough chances.
If you look at Ademola Lookman, he’s very good, yes — especially when he plays for Atalanta. He also played a major role in getting us a silver medal at AFCON. But Lookman is the kind of player who likes to dribble and shoot. Now, this isn’t bad in situations where you don’t have Osimhen or any good striker up front. But when there’s someone like Victor who needs that ball, you have to release it.
Lookman taking shots from insane angles worked at Atalanta because he was the main man. Here, there is Victor Osimhen. As for Moses Simon, the only thing that guy seems to know is how to spam useless dribbles. Look at the match against Benin Republic — when he finally decided to stop that nonsense and cross the ball, Victor Osimhen was there to head it in.
As for Chukwueze, God bless him. Since he played with Osimhen back in their U-17 days, he seems to be the only one who understands that you just have to get the ball to Osimhen. Yes, without Osimhen, the Super Eagles are really nothing — but that’s because Victor is the only one who doesn’t need people to feed him perfect chances; he turns half-chances into good ones