BY VICTOR OSOWOCHI – After going down 0-2 to Nigeria in the 2022 World Cup qualifier on Friday, Liberia Football Association (LFA) Communication Manager, Gologo Ben Garkpah feels the Lone Star showed too much respect to the Super Eagles.
Assessing the match played at Teslim Balogun Stadium in Lagos, Garkpah said his countrymen made things quite easy for Nigeria on the night by being shy of goal in their performance.
Leicester City striker, Kelechi Iheanacho’s first-half brace saw the three-time African champions flagging off their qualification campaign on a winning note.
According to the LFA official, the Lone Star were in fine form but lacked the cutting edge in the final third to churn out any respectable result.
Garkpah said the Coach Peter Butler-tutored side men could not strike the right rhythm required to scale the hurdle set by Gernot Rohr’s men.
“I think we started slowly. We showed too much respect to the Super Eagles as we didn’t create many scoring opportunities,” he said reflecting on the encounter.
“We didn’t trouble [Maduka] Okoye much; he looked to be on holiday for most of the game probably because the formation did not allow us to push higher up the pitch and mount pressure on their back four.
“Also, we did not defend particularly well on those two dead-ball situations. Goalkeeper Ashley [Williams] should have easily dealt with Kelechi [Iheanacho’s] drive from 20 yards out and Oscar [Dorley] height and weight didn’t favour him in that one-on-one challenge with Iheanacho.
“I feel there looks to be a little bit of shoving but don’t want to make a lot of excuses about it. We just defended poorly. So, of the entire game, those two set-pieces were the difference.”
“The Liberia Football Association is not happy about the defeat because our boys gave it a good fight especially in the second half,” Garkpah asserted.
Further reflecting on the result, the LFA official said; “We force the Super Eagles to be on the back foot. We brought on some options upfront and changed the formation which helped us to have a little more of the ball than we did in the first period.
“We came here with lots of very young lads and that’s not the qualities you want to compete with against the Super Eagles.
“Two defensive frailties on dead ball situation cost us to be licking our wounds after 90 minutes.”
Garkpah further said the Liberians, who had one of their star players and Hatayspor’s Mohammed Kamara on the bench from start to finish, are proud of the team, adding; “The future belongs to them.” – With Goal.com report
