Nigeria legend Odegbami names the only two defenders who have Super Eagles’ quality

Nigeria legend Segun Odegbami is convinced that Ola Aina and William Troost-Ekong are the only two defenders with the quality to play for the Super Eagles, Soccernet.ng reports.

Aina and Troost-Ekong were not available for the four games the Super Eagles played under Finidi George – two as caretaker manager and two as substantive head coach.

Nigeria did not keep a clean sheet in any of those four games, conceding six goals, including twice against the Benin Republic in a disappointing defeat that has shattered the hopes of qualifying for the 2026 World Cup.

By contrast, the Super Eagles kept four clean sheets in seven games, conceding only thrice at the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations, where Troost-Ekong was named the Best Player.

In the absence of Troost-Ekong and Aina, Finidi turned to Calvin Bassey, Semi Ajayi, and Benjamin Tanimu to build a solid wall in defence for the Super Eagles.

But Odegbami is convinced the Super Eagles’ defence is weak because none of these lots is a master in their defensive roles.

1980 AFCON winner believes Nigeria lost to Benin because of the absence of Troost-Ekong and the general lack of quality across the defence line.

“At the full-back positions, only Ola Aina has shown consistency and exceptional brilliance down the right side of the field over several years,” Odegbami wrote in his column in the Vanguard.

“The left side has been the opposite, porous and so weak sometimes that Aina has had to be moved to the left side to cover up for this weakness on occasions.

“The centre of Nigeria’s defence line has been weak. At AFCON 2023, William Troost-Ekong rose to the challenge and provided leadership and great cover for that weakness.

“The first goal scored by Benin Republic against Nigeria in the absence of William clearly confirms this glaring weakness. There are no bona fide central defenders currently in the Nigerian team.”

Odegbami also pointed out that the Super Eagles lack top quality in midfield with the duo of Alex Iwobi and Wilfred Ndidi not giving as much to the team as their illustrious predecessors.

“In the midfield, Nigeria has a few names like Wilfred Ndidi and Alex Iwobi,” Odegbami continued.

“They are very good players until you start to compare them with those before them, the engine room of most of Nigeria’s great teams of the past – Samuel Garba, Haruna Ilerika, Mudashiru Lawal, Henry Nwosu, Jay Jay Okocha, Sunday Oliseh, Kanu Nwankwo and so on? And I do not mean any disrespect to the mid-field players in the current Super Eagles.”

To tackle the problem, Odegbami has called for the injection of new and better players into the Super Eagles.

“Nigeria needs a new team of players in several positions.

“These players cannot be conjured into being by wishful thinking. They will come only through a proper production line established by administrators that know what they are doing!,” Odegbami concluded.

NB: Do you agree that only Ola Aina and William Troost-Ekong have the quality to play for Nigeria? Leave your comments below, please.