Victor Moses is first Chelsea player out of the World Cup, because football
By George Perry
Victor Moses played every minute of Nigeria’s group stage matches, and that will be the extent of his World Cup. He is the first Chelsea player out of the tournament, because football gets off on being relentlessly cruel.
“Football, bloody hell.” “Football is f***ing unbelievable.” “F*** it, dude, let’s go bowling.” Some combination of Sir Alex Ferguson, Cesc Fabregas and Walter Sobchak summed up everyone’s reaction to Argentina’s comeback win over Nigeria. The Super Eagles deserved much more than being downwind of Diego Maradona’s double bird, and Victor Moses deserved to go further in the World Cup than his Chelsea teammate, Willy Caballero. But football. Bloody hell.
Moses is the first – and could be the only – Chelsea player not to reach the knockout rounds. Willian and Antonio Rudiger are the only Blues still fighting for their place. Moses will at least leave Russia with more minutes than most of his teammates. He played every minute of the group stages. N’Golo Kante is the only other outfield player to do so. Thibaut Courtois may join their ranks on Thursday.
Victor Moses was not as prominent against Argentina as he was in the previous game against Iceland. A large part of this was Argentina’s overwhelming control of the game. Playing like Argentina for the first time in this World Cup limited Nigeria’s ability to play like Nigeria. Argentina reminded the world of Gernot Rohr’s admonition that this Nigeria squad is built for 2022, despite the excitement and success of their recent performances.
When Nigeria reclaimed the ball, they struggled to maintain possession. Ahmed Musa and Oghenekaro Etebo frequently held on to the ball too long and in the centre of the pitch. This allowed Argentina to close them down quickly on a counter-press and take possession right back.
Nigeria rsn most of their transition and offence through the centre. From there they showed a preference to left, where they tried to tap into Ahmed Musa’s speed and momentum. This left Moses open but unnoticed on the right flank. Argentina frequently left him relatively unmarked. But the Super Eagles routinely tried to dribble or short-pass the ball up the centre of the pitch, or looked for the long pass direct to Musa just left of centre.
As a result, Moses did not have as many opportunities to match his speed down the touchline or run at Argentine defenders in their box. While he used his time on the ball to pin Iceland back in their box, he had no such effect against Argentina. Over half of his touches were in the defensive half, and as Nigeria’s defending became increasingly desperate through the second half he transformed into the power defender of Chelsea’s 2016/17 season.
Argentina outplayed Nigeria on the day, but Nigeria deserved to advance on balance of the group stage. But football is not always about deserving. Gernot Rohr, Mikel John Obi and Victor Moses – the Super Eagles’ leadership trio – have plenty to be proud of, and plenty to be hungry for. Hopefully Mikel will return in 2022 to captain the squad, perhaps in a John Terry-style role with reduced playing time.
Moses will be as old then as Mikel is now. He will be a bit past his prime as a winger, but he has already shown his versatility as right wing-back. If Mikel can go from Chelsea’s most defensive holding midfielder to being Nigeria’s No. 10, Moses has another reinvention left.
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Until then… f**k it, dude, let’s go bowling.