Almost two years ago, Nigeria stood triumphant onSouth African soil, having vanquished all comers.
It was quite the change from failing to qualify for the previous edition in Equatorial Guinea, and went completely against the grain of performances at continental level. In the grander scheme of things, that win should have marked a resurgence. It will instead look like some freakish spike in the graph; Nigeria are back at the foot of the mountain, on the outside looking in.
The game that dealt the death blow was supposed to be the most benign of fixtures: home against South Africa. No matter how low it got through the years, Nigeria could always count on a favourable outcome against the Rainbow Nation. Allied to this was that Bafana Bafana had secured qualification already, in theory there was nothing to play for.
What could possibly go wrong?
Well, everything did in Uyo.
Nigerians are a deeply superstitious people, and the outcome may forever taint what is a truly magnificent ground, at least in the mind of the population. The support could not be faulted either, it was a full house who watched on as the horror unfolded before their eyes.
Stephen Keshi made the expected alterations, all enforced: Raheem Lawal replaced Hope Akpan, stricken by injury, and Kenneth Omeruo came straight into the side for the suspended Godfrey Oboabona. The Middlesbrough man did not look at all fit, and was caught in possession for Bafana Bafana's second.
Broadly like-for-like introductions, but the set-up was different. John Obi Mikel played as a No.10, while Ogenyi Onazi and Lawal held behind him in a 4-2-1-3, though neither is a natural holder. The Chelsea man has played increasingly advanced roles throughout the qualifiers: this was escalation at its most extreme, the most complete opposite of his club persona.
The surprise was that he did it quite well. He caused Dean Furman problems repeatedly, drawing the Bafana captain out of position and forcing him into clumsy fouls. The problem was no one was moving into the space vacated; Uche came short a couple of times, but his touch was persistently poor.
Uche | Touch found wanting
The natural solution would have been for either of Lawal or Onazi to advance, but both seemed to over-compensate for their unsuitability to their deep roles by sitting too deep, even after possession had been consolidated. The team was often broken as a result, and could not build moves cohesively.
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