As attention switches from the latest international break back to the hustle and bustle of club football, Nigerians will be left with mixed feelings, at best, concerning the prospects of their national team.
The manner in which they lost the 2024 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON 2024) final suggested the Super Eagles weren't as far from their very best as they'd seemed before the tournament kicked off.
Head coach Jose Peseiro did not agree a contract renewal, though, leaving the task of taking the team to the next level to a new manager, whose identity the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) hasn't settled on yet.
The search for that person is ongoing, but the two friendlies this month, under interim trainer Finidi George (an assistant to Peseiro), presented a chance to assess just what state the yet-to-be-appointed trainer would find the team in when he takes over the reins.
A tale of two performances
In that sense, the performance — and 2-1 win — against Ghana last Friday in the first of the games was very encouraging, characterised by fine attacking play and a degree of cohesion that you'd expect from a team whose manager has been in place for much longer than just a few days.
Alex Iwobi, of Fulham, was the stand-out performer, deployed in a more advanced role than he usually finds himself when representing his country.
Four days later when the Super Eagles took on Mali, however, things didn't go quite as well, with the team succumbing to a 2-0 defeat at the hands of their fellow West Africans.
Mali's superiority was largely down to the fact that they featured more regulars on the pitch than Nigeria — handicapped by high-profile absences — could call on, but also because their manager, Eric Chelle, has been around long enough — all of two years now — to implement a way of playing that doesn't leave anyone guessing what the details are.
Iwobi was again — even in defeat this time — a bright spot, signalling his importance in this team going forward. Other players, like Chidozie Awaziem and Jamilu Collins at the back, however, did very little to win over those who've long dismissed them as liabilities.
Cautious George misses an opportunity
When the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers resume in June, Nigeria, who have just two points from as many games, will have to steer their campaign back on track, starting with a tough test at home to rivals South Africa and a tricky one as guests of neighbouring Benin. eEpect the Super Eagles to look more like the side they usually are, with the expected return of the likes of Victor Osimhen, Ola Aina, Victor Boniface, and William Troost-Ekong.
One can't help but feel, though, that George missed a chance to test out more of his fringe players to determine just how much depth exists in reserve.
Across both games, he made just six changes, and was particularly reluctant to shuffle his cards against Mali. George's first substitution in that match came early in the first half, but only because Moses Simon got injured; the other, Ademola Lookman on for Raphael Onyedika, didn't happen until the 73rd minute.
Players like Umar Sadiq, Alhassan Yusuf, Fisayo Dele-Bashiru and Nathan Tella would quite rightly wonder why they didn't get any playing time at all, while a run-out for either back-up goalkeeper — Olorunleke Ojo or Francis Uzoho — would have done nothing to threaten the starting berth Stanley Nwabali has comfortably secured since the AFCON.
Head coach hunt: stick or twist?
But whether George himself would be in the dug-out when Nigeria next regroup isn't certain. The Enyimba trainer wouldn't admit it publicly, but he does have an eye on the job and hoped he did enough in this audition to stake a claim.
While he did his chances no harm with the game-plan he nearly perfectly executed against Ghana — producing a first win in 18 years in that particular fixture — quite a bit of that good work may have been undone in the loss to Mali. Even so, there is a case to be made for retaining George, as he's already had a trial run at the helm — a luxury whoever may replace him wouldn't have.
That, of course, is up to the NFF to decide, and Nigerians can only hope they make the right call.
