Following the Super Eagles 1-1 draw with the Bafana Bafana of South Africa in Friday’s 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifier, Complete sports.com’s ADEBOYE AMOSU appraises the performance of the players…
STANLEY NWABALI 7/10
The Chippa United goalkeeper made a number of crucial saves in the game. He was one of the standout performers for the Super Eagles on the night.
BRIGHT OSAYI-SAMUEL 5/10
He didn’t affect the game much. The Fenerbahce didn’t contribute much to the team’s attack.
SEMI AJAYI 5/10
Had a difficult time coping with the tricky South African forwards. He was replaced by Raphael Onyedika 10 minutes from time.
BENJAMIN TANIMU 6/10
Put up an above average performance in the game. The tall defender saved a goal bound shot in the first half.
CALVIN BASSEY (7/10)
The Fulham man was Nigeria’s best defender on the night. He was one of the reason’s why the Super Eagles didn’t lose the game.
WILFRED NDIDI (5/10)
Much was expected from the captain on the night but he didn’t really live up to expectation.
ALEX IWOBI 5/10
Alex Iwobi fluffed a number of chances in the game. He didn’t do enough to win over the fans despite providing the assist for Nigeria’s only goal.
FISAYO DELE-BASHIRU 7/10
Scored a superb goal on his first start for the Super Eagles. He left the pitch injured in the second half.
KELECHI IHEANACHO 4/10
A below par showing from the forward. He was replaced by Samuel Chukwueze on 67 minutes.
ADEMOLA LOOKMAN 5/10
The winger was not at his best in the game. Toiled hard to impress with little or no success.
PAUL ONUACHU 4/10
He contributed little or nothing to the game. He was replaced by Terem Moffi 10 minutes from time.
SUBSTITUTES
ALHASSAN YUSUF 5/10
Did his best after his introduction but couldn’t help his side win the game.
SAMUEL CHUKWUEZE 6/10
He was lively following his introduction. The AC Milan winger hit the upright 10 minutes from time.
RAPHAEL ONYEDIKA 3/10
The Club Brugge star didn’t affect the game much following his introduction.
TEREM MOFFI 3/10
Took the place of Paul Onuachu 10 minutes from time.
17 Comments
Iwobi played well. Was everywhere on the pitch.
He should have done us much much better only if he could dribble a player successfully. But could not.
The assist was good though.
I remember Nigeria/seira Leone. The game with 4,0up that ended 4/4. Since then super eagles have lot their winning mentality in the Africa zone.
Den Madagascar, guinea Bissau , etc.
Maybe since den all Nigeria eagles players are afraid of getting injury.so when a game starts dey always check on their legs if it is still hanging to the muscles fixed to the bones . reason y Benin wil enjoy their game in Abidjan.
Even the commentator said that about Iwobi being everywhere and he also press well.
Iwobi’s threat as an actual goal scoring has weakened. Also he doesn’t dribble well. But he releases top quality passes and he takes up great positions in midfield.
Paul Onuachu aka “Goal Demon”…..LMAOoo
When we tell them we don’t have the infrastructure to support this guy’s style of play, they will charge at us like a sexually starve Andalusia bred Toro.
Rohr tried him and dropped him like red hot coal
Eguavoen didnt even risk his life
Peserio too dropped him like hot potato
But fabbled “best 7 in the world” chose him as his starting 9 in the most crucial game of his coaching career and flanked him with 2 inverted wide forwards…..LMAooo.
I even thought he would start the 2 homebased full backs who we were told were perfect crossers of the ball so as to get Onuachu firing…..but alas….all the vote of confidence on Homebased players is all money talking….LMAOOoo
I’m starting to think that Finidi has been paid to sabotage this WCQ….Not even in a video game will I choose that type of line up….Is this man sane at all??
The errors are just numerous
* Osayi bright mistake
* Using untested players in such a crucial qualification game.
*Iheanacho shouldn’t have started with Onuachu….These players don’t have pace.
* Played the players out of their natural positions.
* Why did Boniface not start?
* Onuachu should have been yanked off as early as the start of the second half.
* Truth be told the second half line up should have started…..Experience counts in games like this.
In conclusion, it’s either Finidi is outright reckless or just dumb ass hell cuz I just don’t understand some of the things he did leading up to this game.
Defence…..strange bed fellows
Midfield….strange bed fellows
Attack….strange bed fellows
Why wont SA dance arounds us from midfield to our 6-yard box and leave our GK on his backside once again…..LMAOOoo.
Watching the highlights of that game again, we should count ourselves lucky we didnt lose the game.
But going by Finidi’s overall management of this team b4 and during the game, even a win would be as embarrassing as this draw we managed to pull at the time the SA weren’t yet switched on.
When they were shouting Onuachu and talking down on Awo, we told them you can compare a player that scores 30 goals in Jupiter league with the one scoring above 15 and leading a below average club top 4 in the bundesliga..
Finally,the EPL set the stage and record.. Onuachu got exposed, could not score a single goal and got bundled to low class league, Awo showd up, scored against 90% of the top teams in EPL, broke records, and still remain in EPL.
Onuachu, Moffi, and Boni can not be compared to Awo.
Kelechi is no longer relevant, Iwobi should be made to learn from the bench..
Na wa o, Turkish league is now Jupiter league. Then we should stop calling players from that league then. Awo was given the chance against Lesotho in the first game, please what did he do? Even the ones from the top league under-performed today. So please stop comparing leagues. All our foreign based players are just over-rated. simple
@Philips: Mediocre in the national team, but great players for clubs! Hmmm… what exactly do you think is happening? Boniface was tearing up the Bundesliga, winning awards left and right, including Young Player of the Month several times in Germany. His team clinched the league title and made it to the Europa Cup final. Yet somehow, he’s a “mediocre” player for us? Hmmm…
Lookman, fresh off winning the Europa Cup with Napoli, scored three goals in the final. He was our top scorer at AFCON and a candidate for African Player of the Year. But to you, he’s mediocre too.
Iwobi and Calvin are lighting it up for Fulham, Onyedika won the league with his club, and Nwabali has helped us forget about Uzoho’s ghost haunting our goalposts. And yet, these players are labeled mediocre?
It seems you forget that no matter how top-notch the building materials are, if the builder is clueless, you’ll end up with a disaster! Give these so-called mediocre players to a competent coach, one who actually knows what he’s doing, and South Africa would be utterly humiliated. Did you catch the second half? That was our players trying to avoid embarrassment, not the coach making any genius tactical moves from the bench.
The players are stellar. They are the prayer points of many countries in Africa. But the coach? Horrible. The administration? Even worse. It’s like giving a Ferrari to someone who thinks the gas pedal is a footrest. The NFF’s decisions are so mind-bogglingly bad that it’s a miracle we even have a team on the field.
This entire system is a comedy of errors. The NFF, with their infinite wisdom, brought in an inexperienced coach in the middle of key qualifiers. That decision alone could make a grown man cry—or laugh hysterically, if you enjoy dark comedy. The mess you saw today is exactly how the coach wanted us to play. It’s got nothing to do with the players. Under a different coach, one who has a clue, this team would look far more purposeful.
It’s like hiring a clown to perform brain surgery and then wondering why the patient is juggling his own spleen. The NFF is looking for a folk hero as a coach and expecting world-class results. They want Michelin-star meals but keep hiring street food vendors.
Until the NFF stops making these ridiculous decisions, we’ll continue to operate as a bundle of losers. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: as long as the NFF chooses failure, we’ll keep getting what we’ve always gotten—disappointment wrapped in a big, shiny bow of incompetence.
@phillip or whatever, ppl like u are the problems, you still comparing useless Dongo to Awo right, u guys brought uncivilized ogogoro drinker to manage a big team like super eagles, didn’t we warned u guys about Finidi AKA Slim shady about his ethnicity agenda, u guys never listen as long as his inviting players from ur tribes, now everything is fallen apart. Take a deep breath and look at the line up, you will know either finidi is on drugs or is been given an order by Air peace or Eguaveon. Yes I said Air peace. And I know what I’m talking about. How can u start Ndidi, Iwobi, Dongo and Iheanacho in a very critical match. Who’s ideas is this, was Slim Shady paid to sabotage us, u can’t trust these people anyway, they will do anything for money.
Please did you watch againsst Lesotho, how many chances did Awo blew in that game. except you want to lie. This team is filled with mediocre players. I will only agree to one thing you said, the line-up was suspect. Why boniface didn’t start we still don’t know, so why not wait and let the coach address the issue first if i were you. How many times was dongo fed the ball? Have said it many times on this platform, many players need to excuse themselves from this team, What was wrong in the midfield selection, Iwobi was an attacking midfielder and Ndidi was deployed to stay back, so what exactly was wrong their. For the attack, lookman was a bit self-centered in my opinion, the glory from the European cup, i believe got a bit of him, he had opportunities to cross balls in but rather dribble and shoot wide. Didn’t dongo make the pass the gave us the equalizer. Well am not losing sleep because teams will surely drop points. We just have to take advantage of our games.
Use all forms of data including goals per mins or games ratio for the Super Eagles Awo fares much better. It’s not even close.
Osi has lost more open chances than Awo and that does not relegate his position as the top among available options.
The fact that Awo with less AFCON appearance has more goal and assist than Dongo is another point to ponder.
How about market value, Awo is among top 5. Dongo is not among the top 10 most valuable Nigerian players.
Unlike some shameful and overrated players, Awo will not bribe his way into the team or use Godfather.
Why is Boniface did not play.
Nigeria’s head coach, Finidi George, has shed light on his decision not to field Victor Boniface in Friday night’s encounter against South Africa.
Despite the promising striker’s potential inclusion from the bench, Finidi explained that the circumstances on the field of play prompted a change in plans.
“We thought about bringing him in, he was supposed to come in, but when we had Ajayi complain that he couldn’t continue, we had to reverse that,” Finidi acknowledged in a post-match interview on Friday.
The coach noted a tactical shift, ultimately leading to Boniface’s exclusion from the match.
procure joshua zerckze curtis jones michael olise dominic solanke toying adaraboyo ASAP against AFCON 2025 qualifiers coming up in september.nff a stitch in time saves nine
Finidi actually got it wrong from beginning. It is a shame that we couldn’t win our game at home which is very important in this competition. Starting Onuachu and Iheanacho was a big gamble. Also, the coach said it was a knock Semmy Ajayi had that changed his decision to play Boniface, that was a lie from hell. So you actually planned to bring in Boniface 10 minutes to the end of the game to come and do magic. Those who are clamouring for an indigenous coach should come and defend Finidi now. Did anyone even notice our preparation for this game? Players coming in two days to a crucial game. Why was Osayi played as a left back instead of his natural position? Why did the coach call a left back from our league and could not be trusted. The coach said formation does not matter but the mentality of the players. Now it is obvious that we had no tactical approach coming into that game. Sincerely, it won’t be a surprise if we fail to qualify. Finidi would remember that game later and understand why we lost the ticket. Winning your home game is important at this stage. Many people opted for Amunike but NFF decided to give the job to who they can control and dictate to. Time will tell.