Nigerian Captainship: From Chukwu to Enyeama.....

Here we take a look at leadership of the Nigerian national team in the hope of discovering a few things. We selected just a few of the captains from Christian Chukwu to Vincent Enyeama. It is important to note that we did not select every captain in between those periods. For instance, we did not include Uche Okechukwu or Augustine Okocha in our sample.

We compared only six captains - Chukwu, Keshi, Oliseh, Kanu, Yobo, and Enyeama - on certain datasets along two major classifications of 'all games' and 'competitive games.' We looked at number of games played, percentage of those games captained, percentage started, efficiency in games captained, and minutes played. Efficiency is calculated by noting percentage of all possible points obtained in the game captained. Each of those factors were compared in the two categories of 'all games' and 'competitive games.'

One of the surprises we found is that Chukwu started all games that he had played for Nigeria and Enyeama and Chukwu both started all competitive games that they played for Nigeria. Of all the captains, Nwankwo Kanu started the least number of games played for Nigeria at 62.4% of games and Enyeama captained the least number of games played (18%).

Other results are Enyeama's 92.5 average minutes played in competitive games. Note that this is higher than the regulation of 90 minutes because some of those games went 120 minutes because of extra time. Kanu played the least minutes appearing in only an average of 56.7 minutes in competitive games. Sunday Oliseh's captainship produced the highest efficiency scores in competitive games played at 68.3% with Yobo's being the closest at 65.7%. The full data are presented below:

EFFICIENCY SCORES
                                    All Games                   Competitive Games
Chukwu                           60.9                           59.8
Enyeama                          64.4                           64.4
Kanu                                51.5                           57.1
Keshi                                54.8                           57.4
Oliseh                               62.3                           68.3
Yobo                                65.2                           65.7

ALL GAMES
                                  Games     %cpt      %Started           Mins.

Chukwu                      56            84%        100.0%           88.7
Enyeama                     84            18%          97.6%           87.5
Kanu                           85            27%          62.4%           56.3
Keshi                          65             45%          93.8%           84.6
Oliseh                          55            44%          98.2%           88.2
Yobo                           93             48%         94.6%           85.4

COMPETITIVE GAMES
                                  Games       %cpt        %Started       Mins.

Chukwu                       34            97.1%      100.0%          88.7
Enyeama                      69            22.0%      100.0%          92.5
Kanu                            65            23.1%        61.5%          56.7
Keshi                            46            41.3%       95.6%           87.3
Oliseh                           46            47.8%       95.7%           89.2    
Yobo                            73            46.6%        94.5%          85.4

**To learn more about Nigerian soccer statistics checkout CHUKASTATS at Amazon.com books.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Nigeria Scraps Through Deservedly....

Image
Abidjan -- Nigeria pipped Guinea Bissau 1-0 in Abidjan at the Houmphouet Boigny Stadium to progress to the second round of the AFCON before an estimated 20,000 spectators. With Ivory Coast going down 0-4 simultaneously to Equatorial Guinea, Nigeria was forced to finish second in the group because of a poorer goal difference compared to the Equatoguineans. Nigeria was clearly the better team using their new structure of 5-3-2 in defense and 3-5-2 in attack. In truth, the losers, who finished without a point in the group, were thoroughly outclassed. The difference in margin could be down to pitiful officiating by referee Ms. Bouchra Karboubi (Morocco) intent on balancing the game with poor officiating. Although, to be clear the referee with assistance of VAR officials ended up making the correct calls after Nigeria had put the ball in the net two other times and fortuitously did not call for a VAR check after the losers had a goal ruled off. Replays indicated the goal by Guinea Bissau sh
Read more

Lookman with a Brace as Nigeria Overcomes Cameroon 2-0......

Image
Abidjan -- Nigeria moved into the African Football Cup of Nations (AFCON) quarter finals with Ademola Lookman scoring a brace in a 2 - 0 win over Cameroon. Nigeria played a clinical game and remained focused allowing Cameroon to dominate possession but offered the losers few real opportunities. Desperate to measure up, Cameroon made Osimhen suffer several fouls and the increasing desperation led to a caution for Nkoulou who fouled goalie Nwabali in midair. Nwabali, unable to continue, was replaced by goalie Uzoho. _____________________________________________________ Desperate to measure up, Cameroon made Osimhen suffer several fouls and the increasing desperation led to a caution for Nkoulou who fouled goalie Nwabali in midair. Nwabali, unable to continue, was replaced by goalie Uzoho. ____________________________________________________ The game started with Nigeria indicating its intention. After only eight minutes, Nigeria appeared to go ahead as Ajayi scored during a goalmouth scr
Read more

Probable List of 23 to Represent Nigeria at the AFCON: Squad is no Mystery

Image
Barring injuries, Nigeria's Manager Jose Peseiro has given the clue as to the 23-player squad that will represent Nigeria at the upcoming Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON). It does not require a mysterious algorithm to come up with a 23-person list. The manager, seeking fluidity to his team, is unlikely to  make significant changes to the squad as the AFCON approaches with less than 2 months to wait. As many as 18 players are sure to be on the AFCON list. That leaves just five (5) spots unaccounted at this moment. Just 5 places! Those include two that automatically go to goalkeepers. Thus, there are  ******************************************** As many as 18 players are sure to be on the AFCON list. That leaves just five (5) spots unaccounted at this moment. Just 5 places! Those include two that automatically go to goalkeepers.  ******************************************** realistically only 3 unaccounted spaces for all places. Now, if you include Iheanacho, which is highly likely incl
Read more