Former Nigeria international Sam Sodje has said the Super Eagles must defend as a team in Russia if they want to excel at the World Cup, Score Nigeria reports.
The former Portsmouth defender said the Eagles have forgotten the basics and fundamental act of defending which can be disastrous in Russia, if not corrected and acted upon.
“If we still don’t realise that to be a successful team – to surpass our performance in previous editions of World Cup – we need to know how important it is to defend properly and defend as a team,” he said.
“This doesn’t come because you pick good defenders, but this happens when you have a solid defensive coach to coach the players on how to defend properly. Eagles were so poor the whole game against England. They didn’t even have the very little basic of defending. This is a fact, not just Nigeria but a lot of teams now forget the basic fundamental defending.”
Sodje said Eagles coach Gernot Rohr should ensure they do the necessary things needed for the young team to achieve success in Russia.
He said, “The Eagles are young, we can see their desire to do well and improve. I really pray and hope they do well. But they can’t give what they don’t have so hopefully the coaching crew which I was proud of how they did something about the poor start against England and got it right should help these young lads to do well in Russia. All the same, I am wishing the team all the best at the World Cup.”
