By their nature wingers have always been a romantic breed, and Nigeria's Tijani Babangida is no exception.
He spoke to James Coker in Bamako about tactics, the next stage in his career and life with the Super Eagles.

It's been a frustrating start to the Nations Cup for Tijani Babangida. The little winger with the express pace has been used only in cameo roles by the Super Eagles. He thinks these are not the best way to utilise his talents.

"The coaches are currently playing a tactical game. The first game and the second game have been the same. I hope that because they see I've been doing so well I start the third game. That's why Kanu, Babayaro and Lawal have all started from the bench.

"I feel okay and when I come onto the field you can see how dangerous I am. It's frustrating because a half hour or 25 minutes is too little to show what I can do, but with an hour if you make a mistake you can amend that mistake.

"When I come into the game I bring a better tempo. The players say that and people watching say the same story, but as I said it is tactics.

If Tijani sometimes seems isolated on the wing, he says that is because it is a deliberate ploy.

"Sometimes they try to take the attention away from me so that when they do come to my side it becomes the dangerous move in the game. When it comes to my side the ball has to arrive as fast as it can so I can go one on one, make my dribble and become dangerous."

"Football now is spoilt with defending. We've seen 10 games so far in this African Cup and only five goals. Some teams are playing with five defenders and only one attacker so it is very, very difficult the way they play. With Nigeria we are attacking teams. We don't have a left winger so we play with two strikers and a winger as well as attacking midfielders."

Tijani cut his teeth in European football with Ajax. The celebrated Ajax
style is with two wingers, a style Nigeria used to employ. Now they have no specialist left-sided winger, but it is worth remembering Tijani destroyed South Africa in the last Nations Cup from the left wing. He'd be quite happy to see himself on the left, Aghahowa on the right with Kanu in the centre.

"It is very unfortunate that Bonfrere who started the qualification series
had to go because he played with wingers. He was a great coach. We miss Bonfrere, but our current coach was his assistant so he has a lot of Bonfrere. We had a lot of good times with him like 1996 (the Olympic triumph) and when you win you are king, but if you lose they always get the trainer so there was nothing we could do about it.

The dearth of goals, he feels are not just down to tactics.

"The humidity is unbelievable. It is really hot which makes it quite tiring. The defending is also unbelievable - five defenders and a libero. Look at Group C maybe at the end if there is no goal they will have to toss a coin. I think the coaches are also afraid to lose"

"Nowadays football is becoming harder and more boring. When we come to Africa we have more pleasure, we can do what we want to do. In Europe it is business. All they want is the win, whether it is good football or bad football. Then the trainers concentrate on defence. Sometimes when I watch football I only want to see the highlights because otherwise it is too boring. That's why it is good to watch Ajax play because they always have three attackers.

"There are teams like Manchester United and Arsenal and Ajax who play attacking football and then I like to settle down at home with a drink to watch the game. You can watch other teams and you'll want to cry."

Tijani is spending this season on loan to Vitesse Arnehem although he still has two years left on his Ajax contract at the end of the season. After the World Cup he would like to move on.

Only clubs with romantic trainers need enquire.