Former Nigerian international Friday Ekpo has lauded Super Eagles interim head coach Augustine Eguavoen’s tactical changes in the team’s 1-0 win over Libya in Friday’s 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers.
Recall that Fisayo Dele-Bashiru came from the bench to earn Nigeria victory over Libya at the Godswill Akpabio Stadium in Uyo, after the Mediterranean Knights spent most of the game in their half defending.
Reacting after the game, Ekpo, in an interview with Completesports.com, hailed Eguavoen’s tactical changes in the second half.
Read Also: AFCON 2025Q: Dele-Bashiru’s Late Strike Earns Dominant Super Eagles Win Against Libya
“I want to first congratulate the Super Eagles for the win over Libya. It was a hard-fought victory that the team deserved after dominating possession for the entire part of the game.
“I must credit Augustine Eguavoen’s tactical changes in the second half, and it paid off with Dele-Bashiru’s only goal of the game. Libya came into the game with a defensive approach and never showed any sign of attacking the Super Eagles.
“But then, Eguavoen read the game well and brought in players that delivered the three points for Nigeria. I am sure the return leg on Tuesday will be a different ball game because I know the Libyans will come out against Nigeria.”
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COMMENTS
What‘s not to like about Coach Eguavoen’s tactical astuteness!
He kept Moses Simon who provided the sweet cross on the field, brought on Fikayo Dele-Bashiru who applied the finishing touch. Folks who used to defend Mr. Rohr when his teams used to struggle mightily saying that there are no more minnows in African soccer now castigate Coach Eguavoen for actually winning a difficult match.
Did any reasonable fan actually think that Libya a decent African soccer nation fighting for its CAF Nations qualification lives would come here to lay down and die?
I tell you @Tony, we dominated the game from start to finish, calved out numerous scoring chances, we got our deserved 3pts and that’s all that matter for now, northern African countries always difficult for us to defeat in qualifier, nwabali was on standby all through 90minutes, that’s to tell you how defensive the Libyan approach the game.
WE ALWAYS LIKE TO BE DECEIVING OURSELVES IN ALL AREA OF LIFE IN THIS COUNTRY.
POLITICIANS WILL BE DISTRIBUTING PALLIATIVES,RICE FOR PEOPLE SOME DAYS BEFORE ELECTION, WE WILL BE HAILING THEM AND VOTE FOR THEM AGAIN, NOT MINDING THE SUFFERNESS THEY HAVE PASS THROUGH FOR PAST THREE & HALF YEARS.
**IN AFCON 2021, EQUAVEON’S EAGLES DEFEATED EGYPTIAN,M.SALAH, THEY ARE ALL HAPPY, CLAIMING THAT THEY ARE GOOD, NOT KNOWING THAT IT IS WORST TEAM IN AFCON GROUP STAGE WILL BEAT THEM & CRASH OUT IN 2ND ROUND OF AFCON COMPETITION, WHICH THEY MAKE RECORD OF WORST EVER TEAM IN HISTORY OF NIGERIA AFCON PARTICIPATION.
WE SHOULD STOP DECIEVE OURSELVES THAT EQUAVEON IS WINNING MATCH WITH POOR PERFORMANCE ON THE FIELD OF PLAY WHICH CANNOT BOAST FUTURE HOPE OF NIGERIA TEAM.
** SUPER EAGLE NEED A DISCIPLINE STANDARD FOREIGN COACH THAT KNOWS AFRICAN FOOTBALL, NIGERIA PLAYERS & WILL NOT TOLERATE INDISCIPLINE, LATENESSES TO CAMP AND ALWAYS USING FORMS/COMMITMENT IN INVITING PLAYERS.
Nigerian fans na wa oo, highly insatiable.
Tell me you are very happy with today’s match, the set up and the performance
NFF is killing Super Eagles by collecting bribe all the time.
Too much unfit players that has no business in the team.
SUPER EAGLES PLAYERS RATINGS VS LIBYA
By Hillary Ochiabuto
GOALKEEPER
1.Stanley Nwabali (7/10)
The Chippa United of South Africa safe hands was practically on holidays for the most part of the game. He however rose to the occasion the few times he was called upon with spectacular saves. He once came off his line at a time in the game thereby exposing his goal mouth.
DEFENDERS
2.Ola Aina(5/10)
The Nottingham Forest of England right back did not cover himself in glory in this game . This may yet be one his worst games in a Super Eagles shirt. He made some erratic passes and lost possession of the ball so easily. He did not quite join the attack as expected and his crosses were few in between.He however grew into the game after receiving some pep talk from coach Augustine Eguavoen.
3.Bruno Onyemaechi (8/10)
The Boavista man seems to have cemented his place in the absence of injured Zaidu Sanusi of FC Porto. He joined the attack from his left wing back position and delivered some killer crosses into the opponents’ penalty area. He also performed his defensive duties well.
4.William Troost-Ekong (8/10)
The Skipper kept things tidy at the back and provided leadership on the pitch when it mattered most.He combined well with Calvin Bassey in the central defence to keep the marauding Libyans at bay .
5.Calvin Bassey(7/10)
The Fullham man was preferred ahead of Semi Ajayi in the Super Eagles central defence. He helped the Eagles maintain their clean sheet in the 2025 AFCON qualifiers having not conceded any goal so far in 3 games .
MIDFIELDERS
6.Wifred Ndidi(5/10)
The Leicester City player did not really click with Alex Iwobi and Frank Onyeka ina three-man midfield combination. He gifted the ball to the opponents’on few occasions. However he grew into the game later on.
7.Frank Onyeka(6/10)
The on loan Augsburg man did not live up to his reputation as a destroyer. The aggressive Libyans danced around him with effortless ease. However,he delivered a good cross from the right in the game which no player could connect to fire home .
8.Alex Iwobi
Jay Jay Okocha’s nephew fizzled out so early in the game. He. did not perform his playmaker’s duty as expected and ballonned a goal-bound ball into the air to the disappointment of the fans .He was justifiably substituted in the second half with Lazio’s Fisayo Dele-Bashiru.
FORWARDS
9.Victor Boniface(6/10)
The Bayer Leverkusen striker struggled to make any impact in the absence of Victor Osimhen. He had no shot on goal throughout the game and was most times found to be out of position. He is yet to convince in a Super Eagles shirt.
10.Ademola Lookman (9/10)
The 2017 FIFA U20 World Cup winner with England and 2024 Ballon D’our nominee was again in his element. He scored a good goal which was adjudged to be from an offside position. Overall he gave a good account of himself despite fluffing some few chances in front of goal.
11.Moses Simon (8/10)
The FC Nantes of France winger dazzled, outsmarted and mesmerized the Libya Left back for the most part of the game,sending him to the wrong direction with his awesome pace and dribbling runs. His hard work was rewarded in the 86th minute when he delivered the cross from the right flank which Fisayo Dele-Bashiru pounced on to score Nigeria’s lone goal.
Watch out for how the Substitutes rated .
Odebiuwa.
Nice one @ Hillary. You didn’t rate Iwobi, though.
I went back to watch the highlight and I hope Eguavoen talks to Boniface as he promised. He said Boniface is more like Romario, who likes to dress the ball before pulling the trigger. The guy is good and connects well with other strikers and wingers (he made some nifty moves yesterday), but in Africa, just like in the EPL, you hit the ball one time (maybe that’s why Boni says he doesn’t fancy the EPL cos it’s full of running and no time to dribble or score fancy goals).
Same in Africa, you have to be as nimble and light on the ball as possible. You must be able to swing and turn 360 degrees in a millisecond. Otherwise, the ball will be stolen from you in a blink of an eye.
However, there was a ball Lookman could have released more quickly to Boni or hit it himself one time. Lookman and Osimhen combined so well at Afcon, but it’s not been clicking with Boni.
iwobi could have scored two goals yesterday, but he must improve his shooting heading accuracy. This is one area Dele-Bashiru has sharpened. I saw the way he signaled to Simon before the goal, and when the cross came, he was precise with his hit to be sure it had an 80% chance of going in.
As for Chukwueze, someone should teach him how to use his right leg, too, occasionally. Lol. You can’t place the ball on your right to your left before hitting it.
I alsmot confused Aina yesterday for Samuel Osayi. We loved your Afro nah. You played better in it. Lol. This one, you have started braiding; your game also kinda changed. You didn’t contribute to the attack as much as we used to know. That’s on the light side. But granted his held his own at the back as usual.
I think SE will win or draw the return leg. We won’t lose. Potentially it should have been 4 – 0 yesterday. Once the grey areas are fixed, we should win 2 – 0 away on Tuesday.
kel abi wetin? how market triblatic conkosuan lmaaoo
correct pipo is talking and werey still go wan add hin yeye mouth put – idiot! yuh need to stop watch football and stop support 9ja – dey dont needed a common akpuka yammer like you pollutioning dem convos – dog!
This was the most claustrophobic performance I ever witnessed from the Super Eagles.
They just couldn’t create enough Lebensraum where they can breathe end breed out compelling chances.
It was all choked out there. When they did create or find space, only Dele-Bashiru could attack it with enough ferocity, composure and soft-skill to bulge the back of the net for the solo goal .
Libya did exceptionally well to create a traffic of players that the Super Eagles struggle to navigate through.
Eguavoen’s changes in the second half did pay dividends as the Super Eagles roamed into more dangerous Libyan territory in numbers and with bad intentions, even Captain Ekong could be spotted lurking and loitering in and around Libyan box 18.
Owing that it was experimental formation, I am willing to cut Eguavoen some slack. As the Super Eagles grew into the game, particularly in the second half, cracks started to emerge in Libyan defencive infrastructure.
Top coaches in club football – Klopp, Guardiola etc – spare no expense in complain how difficult it is to play a team set up only to defend in massive numbers.
Yesterday’s match should be assessed with this in mind. To grind out a win under such circumstances should deserve a measure of praise, particularly coming from the proactive action of making substitutions and tweaking the formation to achieve victory.
According to José Mourinho, there are no ugly wins, a win is a win.
But the Super Eagles have to learn how to create space and attacking with intent like Dele-Bashiru did in such circumstances.
Well done!