EL MAGNIFICO; SIMON

Good day to you all, trust you all are having a wonderful day, this piece was inspired by the present ongoing AFCON competition. Also note that the picture below shows the draw for the KO round of 16.

screenshot off twitter.

Despite the controversial events that have taken place so far, from the soft penalties being awarded to the controversial full time whistle. Trust me when I say this that the competition still has a lot of positives to take from. One thing I have found really mesmerizing is the form of Nigerian born winger MOSES SIMON whom plays for Nantes in France. He has arguably been one of, if not the best player of this tournament. Directly Contributing to three goals in his three matches.

There have been other outstanding players statically, like aboubakar of Cameroon who has notched 5 goals so far, which is very impressive but SIMONS all round game has been outstanding, during our last AFCON I think he was used more as a wing back which gave him more defensive responsibilities. That managed to curb out all his attacking instincts. He played more like a defensive minded player due to the fact that more defensive responsibility meant less attacking freedom. Fast forward two years and he looks like a man reborn with a mission to destroy and devour whatever and whoever is in front of him. When he has the ball there is no stopping him, when he dazzles you can only wiggle.. when he steps over the ball all you can do is fall back or on the floor.

screenshot from Twitter.

After watching his first match, where he was a constant threat down the left wing for the Egyptian side that sat too deep. Even with the tiniest of spaces he still always managed to scale through the defenders like they were never there.
The only blemish to him game so far has been his end product.. yeah I know, no one is perfect but just imagine he could make crosses like Arnold, or Robertson. Ohh yeah! Robertson is a natural left footer and he can easily cross. You think I didn’t think of that?, Trust me I did and that brings me to players like JOA CANCELO for Manchester city. A wonderful right Back that can play either wings from the defense. Imagine Simon had such passing prowess.. then there would be no limit to what he could have achieved so far in this AFCON.

Honestly he has been a joy to watch. Here is a little clip of the kind of magic he is capable of.

He only lasted 30+ minutes in the last match against Guinea but completed the most dribbles of all the players that played the game seven (7) dribbles. He possesses a skill set that I’ve seen last since the days of the great “Jay jay” okocha. Honestly he’s the one to watch in that Nigeria team.

I do hope you all are super hyped about the next round of fixtures, Nigeria will be facing Tunisia in the next round. All I know is SIMON is the one to look out for, looking forward to seeing teams doubling and tripling on him while trying to mark him out.

Hope you enjoyed this article and trust me if you’ve not been watching this AFCON (African cup of nations) you’ve been missing out greatly.

Thanks for Reading. Have a lovely one.