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Wasteful Nigeria’s Super Eagles settled for a 1-1 draw against a resilient Nzalang Nacional (National Thunder) of Equatorial Guinea in their opening Group A game at the AFCON 2023 inside the Alhassan Ouattara Stadium, Abidjan on Sunday, Completesports.com reports.
Osimhen scored his first-ever AFCON goal after drawing the Eagles level immediately following a shock lead by Equatorial Guinea through Iban Salvador Edu’s 38th minute curtain-raiser.
The duo of Stanley Nwabali and Alhassan Yusuf made their competitive debut for the Eagles.
The Ivorians kicked start their campaign with a 2-0 win against Guinea-Bissau on Saturday.
Also Read – AFCON 2023: Côte d’Ivoire Off To Perfect Start With 2-0 Win Vs Guinea-Bissau
Alex Iwobi tried a long-range shot just less than one minute into the game which Equatorial Guinea stopped.
In the 5th minute, Osimhen had the opportunity to open the scoring after a mistake by the opposition but he blasted over the bar.
Zaidu Sanusi had a very big chance to open the scoring following a fine cross from the right but failed to direct his effort towards the goal with the keeper beaten.
In the 28th minute, Jose Machin had Equatorial Guinea’s first attempt on goal after a corner was clear but his low shot went off target.
On 29 minutes Osimhen met a cross from Ola Aina with his head but could not direct it to goal.
The Eagles continued to press for the opener and almost scored on 34 minutes but Semi Ajayi could not connect with Ademola Lookman’s low cross.
Equatorial Guinea scored against the run of play on 36 minutes through Iban Salvador Edu who slotted home a low cross.
But Osimhen equalised on 38 minutes as he rose to nod home Lookman’s cross.
Moses Simon almost put the Eagles ahead in stoppage time only to see his low shot tipped onto the post by the keeper.
In the 52nd minute, Yusuf sent in a dangerous cross into the box but the keeper claimed the ball well.
The Eagles broke on the counter with Iwobi finding Sanusi whose weak effort was stopped by the keeper on 54 minutes.
A few minutes later Osimhen went close once again the keeper denied him with a good save.
In the 65th minute, Aina beat his marker on the right but saw his low strike stopped by the legs of the keeper.
The Eagles were forced to a change as Yusuf went off injured on 68 minutes.
After being on the back foot for most of the second Equatorial Guinea fashioned a chance on the left in the 74th minute with a low cross which William Troost-Ekong cleared away.
In the 76th minute, Iwobi found Osimhen with a defence-splitting pass but the Napoli man put his effort just wide with the keeper to beat.
With three minutes left, Onyeka went in a cross which the keeper held well.
This is the first time the Eagles have failed to beat Equatorial Guinea.
Up next for the Eagles is a game against hosts Côte d’Ivoire on Thursday, 18 January.
By Adeboye Amosu in Abidjan
37 Comments
If una no fit beat common Equatoria guinea na the host una go come beat???
Simon Moses is such a terrible player,Sanusi and Simon should be benched next time,chukeueze lacks confidence,lookman had a decent game,osimhen was also decent but I thought he was Jackson at some point ..in any case,I knew that we will not make it out of the group.just that paseiro will finally leave..
“You knew that we would not make it out of the group” ,Then why are you commenting here?? Why can’t you just ignore anything about the team and leave it for we that truly believe in them.
Not every foreign coach is better than a local coach.
Equatorial Guinea is at this tournament with a local coach.
And I can assure folks again that Nigeria would have more than two points at this stage of World Cup qualifying if we had a local coach.
I guess some people don’t mind failing with a foreign coach.
Mosiame is not a foreign coach but we can all agree that he will conquer Africa and the world with Nigeria. We have stars infact superstars but bad coach with some corrupt officials destroying our passion. There are some of us that is football addicts and we suffer the most more than anyone plus when you’re outside Nigeria you’re been tainted by foreigners so it’s double wahala that is why people don’t understand the drive from us.
Let him go conquer with South Africa first before coming to the Eagles. Abeg let our own lead this team. Honestly compare the Afcon of 2021 to this rubbish we witnessed today
Super Eagles Coach and NFF will not stop embarrassing Nigerians, Falcons is the next disaster waiting to explode after recalling of Waldrum that can not perform against African team and always porous in attack, we should not be swayed by the defensive football he played against underwhelming women teams at the World Cup because that coach is not different from Peseiro and Bosso.
Magudu that has succeeded in fixing the attacking loopholes is considered not good enough to be given a full time contract right??? As a nation we are not serious so officially I’m done with Senior Football when it comes to Nigeria until we make the right chances. 1. Hire Mosiame for SE 2. Install Magudu back to SF. For now Goodbye to Nigeria Football, I will only be supporting our Junior female teams because those ones have better coaches.
You are done, yet no Nigerian news will fly without you commenting
Come and sensor me.
Second half was lots better, entire 90minutes they gat only one 60% chance which they converted but we gat more than 6 80 to 100% chances which we miss, this is the bane and problem of this peseiro team, I really do not know if it’s the job of the gaffer to tell top soccer players how to score goals or what the heck is going on? We keep hoping for a change in this team conversion rate but it keep getting worst, I’m done blaming the coach , like seriously how do you explain osimhen not passing that abt first 5minutes of the game chance for a tap in? How do you explain those 2 90% chances miss by zaidu? How do we explain current APOTY thst seater? We won’t have condemn iwobi this much had it been osimhen score that goal from
Such a wonderful pass from iwobi. We move unto the next level but I just weak like this.
@AY thanks for those apps men, I enjoy the match. I be the man.
Na man you be @AY, see me typing trash.
Those hailing the line up should come and explain to us what happened. NFF should know that these coach has been messing up against average African teams with local coaches that we don’t even know their names. Peseiro has lost 90% of his matches and making our superstars looking like Mediocre. A good coach will fix all these misfiring chances in training before match day but no NFF is bent on hiring a coach they’ll be sharing salary with. I’m not supporting Nigeria again as long as Peseiro is in charge.
Chima. A good coach will teach APOTY how to score a seater? This is not under 17 tournament. Have you forgotten Chima. It’s one thing to hate the coach. I don’t like the coach myself it’s another thing to blame these wasteful players for not converting clear chances
I hope this will not be the bane of this team in this tournament. So bad.
I don’t hate him all I’m saying and asking for is Mosiame let Peseiro go and coach Zamalek. A good coach will bring out the best in his players. For Godsake this man has lost 90% of his matches what else do we want before we get sense??? I do not hate him but he is not the way to go!!!!
Watch how Egypt will take Mozambique to the cleaners with only Salah as superstar compared to Nigeria with avalanche of stars paying a coach 50k to produce nonsense. Anyone who think they love Nigeria than me should throw stones at me.
See your Egypt is losing come and rescue them. No this and no peace no more minor in African football again, we played a very good team what was lacking was goals why not commend them first for the improvement instead of blaming them all day.
So if Osimhen had not equalized, NA SO WE FOR LOSE THIS GAME?
I’m disappointed with this result. We can and should do better.
Converting chances is what we need to start doing going forward.
Even with our goalkeeping and other issues, if we score enough goals, we will still be hard to beat.
How we managed to draw, and even almost lose a game we should be winning comfortably is down to failure to convert chances. We’ve got to be more productive in front of goal.
Pompei see what Egypt with only Salah as superstar is doing to Mozambique only 7mins into match. It’s obvious we have a bad coach but some people who want fight is targeting people who say the truth. Even before kickoff some us knew what to expect after seeing the disaster line up.
The matter don weak me.
The players especially let us down today. Missing all those begging chances!
How far your Egypt? They are losing and will pray to draw bcos if they loose their name na sorry cos Ghana will finish them up
Salah has just missed an open net. How manage? Football is not mathematics anybody can miss chances including Osimhen. Thanks
Nice one @ ndubest. You nor go see dem again ooo. Lolzzz
Nice one let us follow cheap examples and hope we will champions with this mentality.
To be fair with pesiro, let us blame those players abeg. Is it pesiro that use hand to drop ball inside net. How can osihme play ball sideway like that facing goal keeper. That guy missed two one on one chances.
I clearly watch the second half our goal keeper was not under any pressure and the guys holding mildfiled didn’t do bad against my expectation lookman really did well, apart from the goal, Simon, osihmen, zaidu and ola aina kill these game for us jare.
Please find time to look away from what happened in today’s match. IT WAS A HARD LUCK, HARD LUCK AND HARD LUCK.
Note this, against Ivory Coast, Super Eagles will surely fly high. Mark my words. SE will garner 5-7 points. Watch and bet it.
Dey play
Corruption and it’s effects is a nine month pregnancy.It never hides
The 3 things I think we do correctly and effortlessly in this God-blessed but Human-infested country are:
1. Corruption
2. Corruption
3. Corruption.
This SE has no fire in them. The sting is gone o. The earlier we realize this, the better. People call EQG the underdogs. We are actually the underdogs.
Please let us be truthful in this matter. The coach is not the problem of this team. Will he go and do the playing on the field? How can we be that wasteful in front of goal? When the players come to play they do not exhibit the confidence they exhibit in their various clubs. African Player of the Year and Ballon d’Or listed player could not convert simple chances. The goalkeeper is not to be blamed for the goal we conceded. Our defence stood behind the opposition who had all the chance to do the damage without remedy. PLEASE, THE COACH IS NOT THE PROBLEM, THE PROBLEMS ARE OUR PLAYERS. Bring in the best coach in this world, the situation will still be the same unless our players exhibit DISCIPLINE in the game.
Osihmen should go and learn how to score one on one goal with goalkepper from Mozambique.
I think the players should get a huge chunk of the whip, not only the coach. Bcs, I’ve come to realize that the laclustre performance of the team overtime could be attributed to the players’ wastefulness and their inability to convert begging glaring chances. No b the the coach go come carry the ball put for net nah! He has done his job by teaching u how to create those rare chances. It’s now the job of the players as professionals to put the ball in the back of the net. I cant believe how osimhen missed that glaring one on one sitter. It’s an incredible miss for a player of his standard. Rohr during his days had same experience with his team where players would fail to convert begging chances. If u don’t convert chances, how then for do u intended to win matches?? How??? The players need to sit up and be professional with their job! Enough of this wastefulness! For this one, i no go blame the coach at all. I could see that the coach really had his plan tactically implemented but his executioners let him down bcs of their carelessness.
For the time being, nobody should ever blame the coach again. The players should take the whip this time so that they’d sit up. Nonsense people!
I decided to remain silent, but the love I have for my country won’t let me be.
One thing we don’t remember at this point is that the coach took unfit players to a tournament.
Sanusi shouldn’t have played today. Moses, Lookman, and Iwobi were not in the match today as well, and the coach failed to substitute the players in the early second half of the match.
Another thing is that there’s no discipline in the team. This has to stop if Super Eagles have to go far in this championship.
Nwabali present in store courage and confidence in Eagles defense. The goal concided was the fault of our defenders, but Nwabali would have at least made an effort, but I trusted him, he would correct the mistake next time.
Late substitutions. The coach should make at least a few substitutions in the early second half.
My man of the match is Yusuf. That guy did it all.
We missed the service of Nwakali in today’s match. Believe me, the coach will regret why he did not take the 27-man list to the tournament.
Going forward, Osimeh will be under pressure, as I said before, but one thing he has to do is to remain calm and be more focused. He may not get many chances, but he has to utilize the little he gets.
This is why we needed a joker in the team, but since the gaffer refuses to take Dessers with him, let see what the other strikers are capable of. I doubt that though.
I wasn’t under pressure watching Super Eagles because the gaffer and his employer were not capable of giving us the best team to represent Nigeria, and it shows in today’s match. I don’t expect much from this NFF Super Eagles. This is not Nigeria Super Eagles. A real Super Eagles will play an entertaining game that will wow the entire world, but this team? Mba.
What to expect against Ivory Coast, Iwobi, Simon, and Lookman needed to step up their game.
No excuses. Injury is part of the game. This is why the coach has to select his best team to represent our nation.
Good luck, Super Eagles. Ire o. God bless Nigeria!!!
@omo9ja what did Nwakali do at the last AFCON? His presence took us to what round. Round 16. Please rest.
I want to say this again after last season Osimhen’s form went so much down. I thìnk he has not been focused on football as he was last season, this season I saw this at the start of the season with how his techniques on ball handling decrease compare to last season from his first 3 games for Napoli, I pointed out that it seems the victory of last season really has entered his head and I was not disappointed at all this season for yhe national team he has only performed against a Sao tome & Principe and ever since it has been poor, poor and poor performance but the love we all have for him did not allow us to speak up but now the poor performance is showing at Afcon now.