Completesports.com’s live blogging of the AFCON 2025 Third-Place match between the Pharaohs of Egypt and the Super Eagles of Nigeria at the Stade Mohammed V, Casablanca, Morocco.
By James Agberebi, in Casablanca
Egypt Vs Nigeria Live Blogging – AFCON 2025 Third-Place Match
Nnamdi Ezekute
Nnamdi Ezekute, a sports reporting expert, has risen through the ranks at Complete Communications Limited (CCL) famed for publications like Complete Sports.
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42 Comments
At all at all na him bad, let’s go for the Bronx guys.
Not with this midfield and attackers that Chelle picked for his starting line-up up. These players cannot strike any fear on the Egyptian players and they may play with much freedom and beat the SE.
We’d see how it pans out. I don’t like starting Simon and Chukwueze in the same game! This match is inconsequential anyway, to me!
very rarely watch Nigeria’s very many Afcon third place playoffs down the years, but this I will be watching, watching with interest and excitement.
The Super Eagles have already over-achieved in this tournament with the fascinating brand of football played, playing all matches undefeated in open play which is truly astonishing.
We complained that the team struggled to keep clean sheets in all 3 group stage matches only for them to clean sheets when it was difficult to do so: in all 3 knockout matches in open play.
This team has done well, simple.
Losing to a team like Morocco carries no shame; it will be like Liverpool losing to Manchester City.
And I think Morocco were a bit negative in that semifinal. The North Africans, the hosts were not ultra defensive, they were ultra cautious. In like the last 10 minutes of the 90, they came out and piled pressure of Nigeria, pressure Nigeria withstood, pressure Nigeria repelled.
Had Morocco played like that all match, there would have been goals and one of the teams would definitely have won in regulation time.
Nigeria might not have had plentiful shots at goal, but Nigeria created plentiful goal scoring chances which Morocco’s defensive infrastructure, one of the strongest defensive infrastructures in world football, repelled.
Anyway, we are here now and now we need to do the business against Egypt. Good luck to the team, again, regardless of the outcome of today’s match, they have done well, very well, very much so!
Bronze medal.
No Osimhen……..another huge test of my 2nd hypothesis about Chelle
I feel bad for saying this but Akor Adams was the runt of the litter (weakest link) against Morocco. I wish he had started this match from the bench.
Nwabali was sharp in reading the cross to produce a sumptuous low diving save.
Onyedika is losing the ball in dangerous places as he did against Morocco. We still need Ndidi’s defensive midfielder acumen.
Great starting position and legged clearance from Nwabali. Good inswinger by Chukwueze.
I’ve seen enough to know the importance of ndidi to this team midfield and what’s ebenezer offense chelle? At least let’s see what he gat to offer now.
With the way our second stream team is playing against Egyptian full squad I don’t see Senegal escaping defeat tomorrow.
Dr Drey, please be fair, how many countries win games without their talisman. How many games Portugal won without Ronaldo in top form. What about France without Mbappe ir Argentina without Messi. These teams are ordinary at best without dia key player. These teams can win one or two odd games but in big games when dia key players aren’t there they look average
So they never win all games those players dont play……like Chelle’s SE never does without osimhen…?? Is that what you are trying to tell us……LMAOooo
Or should I go dig up statistics for you too before you accept reality….??
Drey at d Unity cup, Osihmen didn’t participate and we won those games. All am saying is dat, even Pep’s Man city and barcelona don’t look same without Haaland and Messi as these guys are key to dia goal production. Their presence alone elevates d level of dia team. Even in Galatasaray, wen BO9 isn’t there like d champions league game against Frankfurt, they were hammered 5:0 or something. Witjout osihmen is any team, that team will struggle to win games. Deep down u too know this.
Without Osihmen in any team, that team will struggle to win games……LMAOooo….thank you for confirming my hypothesis about Chelle……LMAOoo
Statistics show that France will likely win 60% of their games without Mbappe, Portugal will win 70% of their games without Ronaldo and Argentina will win 80% of their games without Messi, but Nigeria only has a 30% likelihood of winning without Osimhen under this Coach.
Please, remind me, what is the duty of a coach again……LMAOooo???
Akor Adams adamant header off a Chukwueze cross makes it 1:0 after Chukwueze’s own header was close to hitting the target.
Oh no! Goal chopped off for an inadvertent elbow infraction from Onuachu.
Shame
What? That goal disallowed?
Onuachu longinus and simon honestly offer very little. Simon at his age and exoerience keep running over d ball. Zero end product from Simon. Bruno’s crosses has been atrocious to say d least. Onyedika is better as a sub to be honest, a dead rubber game like this is where d coach should’ve tried Nnadi and Akinsanmiro, d only problem is nigeria’s fixation with winning a medal. This game to me is meaningless and should’ve been a game to blood d future SE players. Just my tot
I think Nigeria should now play next nation cup and avoid host nation especially if the host nation is a strong country. Losing a game in group stage to avoid morocco group could have seen us play in the final with the way Egypt is playing we could have given them three nill if the match is not a third place.
Simon keeps doing nutmegs, despite being disposed all of the time, and killing off scoring chances. How about just doing one time pull outs, man!!???
If this game is too big for Onyedika, he should ask to be subbed off, rather than losing balls cheaply and slowing our build up and momentum. He was a weak link in the Moroccan game and he’s continued from where he stopped.
“If this game is too big for Onyedika, he should ask to be subbed off, rather than losing balls cheaply and slowing our build up and momentum. He was a weak link in the Moroccan game and he’s continued from where he stopped.”
Wow!
I guess we need Ndidi?
Now I know why Chelle seeks new players. Onyedika would always be playing backwards. Haba. No extra time oh. Na penalties we wan find?
@deo, Ndidi is more mature and experienced in his game. I just think he gasses out too quickly and at that point, opponents start ghosting past him as he legs tire out. He’s not a 90 minutes player,. Maybe 75.
Aside that, he’s solid defensively plus he was really a threat going forward compared to Onyeka, Iwobi, Bashiru etc. But clearly he’s improved that weakness in this Afcon.
I meant he was rarely a threat offensively
Chelle revert to 442 formation after the disallowed goal and our game changed for better instantly, onyedika is a good player but can’t play that DM.
Chelle bring on Ryan to cover d space left by Osayi Samuel. Bashiru can’t play there.
This is true
Was dat not a penalty for us when Akor was pushed? Chelle abeg remove Simon biko and Akor and bring in VO9 and Ryan joor. Now we will concede from dis egypt freekick which Salah will take
We finally have a DM who puts our strikers through on goal from DM (I counted 3 different occasions when Raphael did so), and some people are still singing Ndidi bring balance and leadership to this team………LMAOOoo
Ok, don’t worry, next time your playmaker and only creative outlet is marked out of a game, let balance and leadership get balls to your strikers……LMAOooo.
I repeat, the sentiments of ‘seniority’ is the only reason Ndidi will continue to start games in this team…and that ‘seniority’ will eventually get us into trouble as it kicked us out of the World Cup……LMAOooo
Drey my broda, there is no way u can compare Onyedika to Ndidi, they are miles apart. U can tell Onyedika is still learning. He counts steps bro. He isn’t confident or should i say comfirtable tet in dis position. He may grow into it but at d moment d gulf in class is too apparent. Please 4get his 2 goals in diz competition he has been average . He is a player dat would benefit from dis tiurnament immensely but classing him in same category as Ndidi is not right in my view. I have said diz many times b4.
Hellooo, there are several ways I can compare them. Onyedika is a far better ball carrier, he’s covers far more ground, he’s better at creating from deep and can last longer on the pitch. He always looks first for the forward pass unlike Mr spring balance who always looks first to pass sideways
If balance and leadership are all Ndidi has to offer, he should do that coming on from the bench and let the learner continue to learn since he hasn’t even peaked yet, compare to Ndidi who has past his prime.
I keep providing footballing parameters in my comparisons while y’all keep providing “personality” parameters in your defence of Ndidi. If we are serious about evolving. We need footballers first and personalities next
Onyedika has been average, I guess Ndidi is a candidate for a place in the CAF team of the tournament …….LMAOooo. If scoring goals was that easy for a DM, why is your non-comparable Ndidi stuck on 1 goal in 70 caps…….LMAOooo
We can’t depend on Akor for long he is the most unskilled player in Eagles and his intelligence play is low but a very good team player.I hope Durosinmi who just moved to Pisa in Italian league can perform.better than him. Simon is also be ready to say good bye to the national team. There is this guy Vince Osuji who I believe will perform better than Rapheal in Defensive role. Hopefully players like Kayode ,Chuck emerald would have a change of heart with our decent performance in this tournament
Penalties again lol. Game of chance. This is a toss up. I still insist, d best form of penaltiy is str8 down d middle with power and precision. Keepers guess by diving to either side so str8 down d middle guarantees u 70-80% chance of scoring.
Simon is really starting to get rusty. I doubt he has up to 2 Afcons in him. Very frustrating partner to Lookman.
Chukwueze too keepa dribbling into a wall of 3 players. Na wa.
It ended up being bland boring bathos.
Well, it’s precarious protean penalties then.
Nwabali is gradually becoming a penalty saving legend ooo. Salah and Bashiru both missed. Akor scores his
Chelle wins a bronze medal for 9ja.
Welldone nwabobo, at all at all na him bad, bronze in the bag.
Well done Super Eagles fandom.
Again we are among the top 3 national teams in Africa for another two years.
I know we wanted to be number one, so did Ghana!
Drey not sure where u got ur stats from and have no reason to doubt it. However, u can’t tell me peak messi and ronaldo oooo (not old messi and ronaldo), u are saying these countries (Argentina and Portugal) have 70 and 80% respectively to win matches, i highly doubt it, maybe now when diz guys are a little older diz stats would make sense. When a talismanic player isn’t on d field of play u can be a great coach, ur team will struggle. Lets take basketball for instance, wen d likes if Michael Jordan, Lebron, Curry, Kobe, to name a few don’t play for dia respective teams, their teams struggle immensely not dat dia coaches are bad but d presence of dis talismen make them extremely better as they attract defenders to dem while others wreck havoc. This is common in any team sport. U can’t underplay VO9 presence in any team regardless of d coach. Icardi plays for Gala but wen VO9 isn’t there u see how ordinary they are. Same Gala knack Liverpool with VO9, i can guarantee u dat if VO9 wasn’t in dat game, Gala for collect.
A good one on Chelle’s CV beating 3 top North African national teams, 2 of which are above Nigeria SE in Fifa rankings and Tunisia very close but comprehensively beaten by Chelle’s wards.
Going forward, I would want Chelle to bring in younger, fitter players like Sani Suleiman for the likes of Moses Simon and Chukwueze and Tochukwu Nnadi in that midfield. You need really young, energetic and fitter players who can run all day long with the ball and score goals from midfield and deliver defence line breaking passes to hurt stubborn opposition defences.
Chelle must scout for younger, fitter personnel to replace the slow and aging Onuachu’s and Ajayi in defence- even though he was ok throughout the tournament, perhaps because he played his true age.
4 North Africa soccer giant came to the AFCON, SE played all 4, won 3 and lost 1(host nation), that to me is an above average performance and the players shd be proud of what they achieved even though we want more.
NWABALI and Bounou shd compete for the GK of the tournament and if Senegal defeat Morocco tomorrow, I will give it to nwabali, 4 clean sheet and 3 PK saved aren’t joke.