The Super Eagles suffered a shock 3-0 defeat to Guinea-Bissau in their 2027 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying matchday two encounter at the September 24 Stadium in Bissau on Tuesday night.
Completesports.com’s ADEBOYE AMOSU rates the performances of the Super Eagles players in the Group L encounter.
Stanley Nwabali 4/10
Not the best performance from the Chippa United goalkeeper. He looked shaky for most of the game and never really seemed settled.
Bright Osayi-Samuel 4/10
The right-back was at fault for Guinea-Bissau’s second goal. It was a difficult outing for the Birmingham City defender.
Semi Ajayi 4/10
Ajayi struggled against Guinea-Bissau’s pacy forwards. It was not one of his best outings for the Super Eagles.
Calvin Bassey 7/10
Gave his all on the pitch. The Fulham defender was one of the few Nigerian players who impressed in the game.
Bruno Onyemeachi 4/10
Another defender who struggled to make an impact in the game. It was arguably Onyemaechi’s worst outing for the Super Eagles.
Wilfred Ndidi 4/10
The captain struggled to impose himself in the middle of the park. He was replaced by Raphael Onyedika 14 minutes from time.
Frank Onyeka 3/10
The Brentford midfielder was replaced by Moses Usor after the break. It was not the best outing for Onyeka.
Read Also:2027 AFCONQ: Guinea-Bissau Thrash Super Eagles 3-0 To Maintain Top Spot
Alex Iwobi 7/10
Alongside Calvin Bassey, Iwobi was one of the two Super Eagles players who impressed on the night.
Ademola Lookman 4/10
Lookman struggled to make an impact for the second consecutive game. He was replaced by Tolu Arokodare in the 68th minute.
Akor Adams 3/10
A below-par outing from the Venezia striker, who was one of the Super Eagles’ least effective performers on the night.
Taiwo Awoniyi 3/10
He struggled to make an impact in the first half and was replaced by Moses Simon at the break.
Substitutes
Moses Simon 4/10
Injected pace into the Super Eagles’ attack after coming on, but faded as the game progressed.
Moses Usor 4/10
Gave his all but couldn’t find a way through Guinea-Bissau’s stubborn defence.
Tolu Arokodare 3/10
The Ajax striker couldn’t change the course of the game in Nigeria’s favour after replacing Ademola Lookman.
George Ilenikhena 2/10
He missed a chance to score for Nigeria 10 minutes from time. It was not the best cameo from the striker.
Raphael Onyedika 2/10
He replaced captain Wilfred Ndidi but struggled to make an impact after coming on.
9 Comments
invisible IWOBI rated as 7, LOL..
The midfield and the wing backs are the major constraints to the progress of the team..
100 caps with nothing to show..
CHELLE, its high time you rejig midfield combo of overated Iwobi, floppy Ndidi, Rigid Onyeka, and inconsistent Onyedika.
Osayi and Bruno are easily beaten and most of the goals conceeded by the team in the past five matches are from their errors in man marking or tracking back..
Trigosta of Samson, Nnadi, and Yusuf with the most impactful Dele Bashiru (in terms of goal contribution per game) should continue i our midfield.
Go Aina and Bassey should be considered for the left back, Fredericks and Aina should be the players for the right back.
It’s time to ring changes!!
Certainly time to ring in changes @Larry, particularly in the midfield department of the SE line-up- otherwise Eric Chelle may soon lose his job, if he can’t qualify Nigeria for Afcon, which the much vilified Austin Eguavoen did with ease for the last Afcon- Morocco 2025.
NO hope, Nigerian Super Eagles are out of the 2027 Afcon in East Africa. There is only one spot left in group L as Tanzania qualifies automatically as co-host of Afcon 2027.
That one remaining spot will be taken by Guinea-Bissau, who comprehensively beat SE 3-0 today to go 3 points clear with a +5 goal difference. Nigeria has no midfield and I don’t know why Eric Chelle is still sticking with aging and unfit Ndidi and Iwobi in SE midfield. The younger fitter midfielders, who beat Jamaica 3-0 in the 2026 Unity Cup- likes of Tochukwu Nnadi, Alhasan Yusuf and Tijani should form the fulcrum of SE midfield and retire the rest.
Also we need a better left back than Bruno Onyemachi, and then bring back young and fitter Ben Fredericks and get rid of aging and slow Semi Ajayi in that Centre back.
The squad desperately need younger, fitter, and pacier players, including up front- players like Azeez and Otele should take over the wings of SE.
All the Yoruba players are good kudos!You are not a solution so stop crying for change,if you are the coach you will turn super eagles to up sooting!
Aina who was terrible in the Madagascar game is now a great player in your eyes right?Dele Bashiru has never been fantastic for the super eagles,I don’t know where you are getting your stats from.Samson Tijani is good but not fantastic please.
You mentioned all the bad Igbo players but didn’t mention a single Yoruba player like Awoniyi,Aina,Lookman the worst of them all,Semi Ajayi wow!That is how most of you are supporting Tinubu despite him being one of the worst leaders we had in the history of this country..
Back to super eagles,this group are the best we have.Nigerian football has gone downhill..The problem we have today is neglecting the youth.No nation thrives without youth development because they are the future…
Guinea Bissau was better than us,the score line tells the whole story.They were fitter,ran faster and needed it more..Maybe we could still qualify because we do better when we are in difficult situation.I will not write Nigeria off not yet.
The same players who fumbled today,could be our hero tomorrow..I will never give up on the super eagles!
We need new midfielders NOW! Midfielders who can pass, take free kicks and take shots .
It us not a tribal issue but a very glaring fact that even a blind person could see the main culprits of the team are the midfielders and wing backs. Like the game against Madagascar, Guinea Bissau controlled the midfield and scored from the wings.
OSAYI AND BRUNO are too slow for the team.
NDIDI, and IWOBI is the worst combination in the team.
It’s time to integrate the mobile and enterprising combo of DELE BASHIRU, NNADI, TIJANI, and YUSUF in the midfield.
Its dam time to ring full changes!
As far back as 2019.
Two WC qualifiers missed
Multiple nations cup appearances with little to show for..
The only time we got close was when Pesseiro rang changes and benched the overhypred underperformers in the team.
Pesseiro then submitted to pressure and started two underperformers, the rest is history.
My team for now.
Goalkeeper
Nwabali, okoye, Okonkwo
I have always felt Okonkwo should start. Just like his cool headedness. Clean sheet from 2 games at Unity Cup.
Right back
Aina. Bewene (Alebiosu and Oputa standby)
Left back
Bruno, Igboke
Center back
Frederick, Bassey (captain), Nwaiwu, Ogbu, Fernandez
Midfield
Nnadi, Yusuf, Tijani, Dele Bashiru, Ogbelu, Onyeka.
At the U20 team Nnadi played in, Ogbelu was the star player. He may be at Esperance, but it is not where you play, but what you can do.
Forwards
Osimhen, Orban. Ilenikhena, Azeez, Usor, Otele, Arokodare
My preferred formation
3-5-2, or 3-4-3
On occasion, I will switch to 4-4-2, 4-3-3, 4-2-3-1, or 4-5-1.
With 3-5-2, we would have contained and beaten GB today. The game was lost in the midfield.
This rating by ADEBOYE AMOSU is bang on point and unbiased, and anyone who watches ball with an objective mind will agree.
Take Iwobi out of that team, and it could have been 7 – 0. Who else was making all the penetrative passes, right from the home game against Madagascar? No, right from all of our matches!???
In fact, asides Iwobi and Bassey today (and as the CSN rating showed), everyone was bang average.
The worst performers were Ajayi (misplaced passes, uninterested), Osayi (heavy and unfit), Nwabali (non-committal and chooses balls to dive for), Lookman (absolutely clueless today), Awoniyi (total minus one upfront, toothless attack), Ilekhina (always wants to score rather than square to Akor, same thing he did last week), and Ndidi (average player, 4 out of 5 games for the SE).
People who have eyes for quality know we currently have only 3 superstars in the team at the moment: Iwobi, Osimhen, and Bassey.
Azeez, Oknokwo, and Usor are showing potential, but not well tested.
Only parochial, sentimental people with average football sense attack Iwobi, the only superstar, alongside Bassey today. Yes, dude is not as tough as a nail like Bassey when defending the post, but Super Eagle currently has his vision and cunning skills when attacking. He’s responsible for 80% of SE’s assists for SE goals since the last AFCON.
We’ve lost so many games from the midfield, including a winnable Afcon final in 2023. One would think we’ve learned our lesson by now.
And I’ve always said it, we are more solid defensively with 3 center backs.
We have to build from defense first. It has to be hard for opponents to score against us. If we get the defense and midfield right, the attacking talent we possess can flourish.
It’s obvious the Guinea Bissau are making use of the gym way better than our players turn skit makers, and to all of you asking Eric to use frank onyeka, how market now? You all fail to realize the coach read our messages Expecially from this prestigious forum.
Myself and @pompei asked for iheanacho that’s in better form and banging in goals, you all said he is playing Turkish league division 2 like the ball they play in burdaspur is triangle in shape and not same circle.
Sebi we’ve seen what onyeka, awoniyi and baba Dudu akor that’s playing top league played now abi. You all shouting onyeka name after the 2-1 win against Madagascar like he has been in prime ZZ form, like when has frank ever been a good midfielder if I may ask? Aside gragra, what else can he do? Iwobi and ndidi remain our best midfielder and all chelle need to do now is to just blend them with young blood.