Our focus this week is on a single player in the Super Eagles’ squad – Victor James Osimhen … and the big question to answer is: Will he score for Nigeria against Tunisia in Saturday’s second group match of the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations?
This question becomes pertinent due to the fact that, as prolific as he has been for club and country, Osimhen has only one goal in nine matches at Africa’s flagship competition, which means he is up against a jinx of sort that prevents him from scoring in AFCON fixtures.
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The jinx reared its ugly head last Tuesday, as Osimhen hit the crossbar and later on had a goal struck out for offside. That brought back memories of how he had three efforts ruled out by VAR during the last AFCON in Cote d’Ivoire. The most painful of them at that time had to be his kamikaze sizzler against South Africa, which was not only ruled out but the ball was taken back to Nigeria’s box and a penalty was awarded belatedly for Bafana Bafana, which they scored.
What else could be more painful than seeing your effort turned around from celebration into lamentation within the blink of an eye? That surely must have hurt Osimhen immensely to the bone marrow.
Dramatically, tried as he did in Abidjan, Osimhen could only muster one goal in seven games, while his captain, William Troost-Ekong shot into the record books as the highest scoring defender in AFCON history with a total of five – three goals in Cote d’Ivoire (added to one each in 2019 and 2021).
That surely must have been one huge reason why Osimhen appeared desperate to score last Tuesday against Tanzania … especially when he would remember that another former Eagles’ centre back and captain, Stephen Okechukwu Keshi (of blessed memory) netted four goals in his overall outings at AFCON.
So, Osimhen would surely be lamenting why he can’t score at AFCON, despite his prolific status, while defenders hog headlines with goals.
Incidentally, Osimhen is lagging far behind Rashidi Yekini’s scoring fests in AFCON history, as ‘The Goals Father’ is the competition’s all-time third highest overall net banger with 13 beauties, behind only Samuel Eto’o of Cameroon and Laurent Pokou of Cote d’Ivoire.
Ironically, while Osimhen’a 31 goals overall for the Super Eagles put him just six behind ‘Ye-King’ (37) on the log of Nigeria’s all-time top finishers, his AFCON statistics fall short of a similar comparison.
So, the question lingers: Why is Osimhen finding it difficult to score at the Nations Cup? As I took a mental suss and perused my mind for an answer, two plausible explanations came up:
1. He’s too desperate to hit the bullseye.
2. African defenders won’t give him the breathing space he gets while playing in Europe.
Before I tackle both answers, let’s give Osimhen something from the record books to console him. It’s a startling, stunning and almost unbelievable fact that Nigeria’s legendary former captain and skill monger, Nwankwo Kanu (Papilo) did not score a SINGLE goal in open play at the Nations Cup, despite appearing in six editions – 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008 and 2010). That’s to suggest and comfort Osimhen with the notion that he still has more time for him to net AFCON goals later in his career (LOL).
Having stated that, let’s look at our two plausible solutions to his problem, the first of which happens to be his psyche and assertiveness. This simply means Osimhen should stop being ‘over desperate’ to score and he has to let things flow naturally.
I remember one thing Emmanuel Amuneke’s former youth coach at Soccer Warriors FC, late Tony Onuoha (aka Chief), used to tell our proteges at National Grassroots Dream Team. He would shout, “Don’t force it; just play normal!’ That’s what Osimhen has to start doing…
One very contemporary example that should help him in this regard is the case of Kylian Mbappe at Real Madrid of Spain. In his early days at Santiago Bernabeu, Mbappe was so desperate to score that he played selfishly, rushed at every ball and ended up making clumpsy moves thar left him frustrated in several games.
Madrid’s gaffer, Carlo Ancellotti obviously helped the French ace a lot by being patient with him and he must have urged the star to follow suit – Mbappe is now raining goals one by the dozen for Los Blancos.
That takes us to the second plausible solution to Osimhen’s AFCON blight … and it’s what Super Eagles’ coach, Eric Chelle, appears to have started doing and has to do more of. It’s about employing a creative yet potent tactical approach that would, to an extent, take the attention of opposing ‘brutal African defenders’ away from Osimhen.
In this regard, pairing Akor Adams with Osimhen should help the Galatasaray of Turkey hitman, while also serving three crucial advantages to Chelle and his desire to make history with the Eagles –
1. Providing a decoy that would allow some iota of freedom for Osimhen to make hay.
2. Increasing the team’s scoring chances with the presence of two strikers up front.
3. Adding an effective blend of youth and experience in the hunt for goals.
All said, the coach can only try his best, and we analysts will only write our suggestions, but the task is down to Osimhen himself to take the bull by the horn. So, that takes us back to option number one … dont force it.
Therefore, the way out for Osimhen is … just cool down, stop being agitated, don’t lose your temper, be patient, assist Ademola Lookman and others to score, then you will make hay when least expected.
Something tells me Osimhen will somehow get to read this article and, if he does, once he follows the suggestions provided here for free, he will end up getting not just one goal, but two or three this Saturday against Tunisia (which happens to be just two days to his birthday)!!
