Madagascar created one of the shocking results in the history of the Africa Cup of Nations by beating three-time champions Nigeria 2-0 in their Group B encounter at the Alexandria Stadium on Sunday, reports Completesports.com
Lalaina Nomenjanahary and Carolus Andriamatsinoro got the goals for Barea who recorded their first win against the Super Eagles.
The Barea of Madagascar
The defeat ended Nigeria’s nine game unbeaten streak in the AFCON.
Madagascar who are playing at the AFCON finals for the first time finished top of the group with seven points from three games.
The Super Eagles ended in second position with six points, and may face perennial rivals, the Black Stars of Ghana or Benin Republic in the Round of 16 on Saturday.
The Super Eagles dominated the early exchanges but were behind in the 13th minute following a defensive blunder.
John Ogu, who was handed his first start of the competition passed the ball to Leon Balogun who lost possession and allowed Lalaina to slot the ball home after dribbling past Ikechukwu Ezenwa.
Nigeria struggled to break down a resolute Madagascar defence afterwards with Odion Ighalo left isolated upfront.
Ahmed Musa wasted a good chance to draw the Super Eagles level a minute after the half hour mark.
The Al Nassr of Saudi Arabia winger was played through on goal by John Mikel Obi and the ball was cleared off his feet as he attempted to dribble past the Burundi goalkeeper.
Wilfred Ndidi replaced John Ogu at the start of the second half as the Super Eagles fought to find a way back into the game.
Madagascar doubled their lead in the 53rd minute with Ndidi deflecting home
Andriamatsinoro’ s freekick.
The Super Eagles were unable to find their way back into the game as Nicolas Dupuis’ men recorded a famous win in the competition.
In the other Group B match, the Syli Nationale of Guinea defeated Burundi 2-0 at All Salam Stadium Cairo. Mohamed Yattara pounced on a rebound from Francois Kamano’s shot to hit the net in the 25th minute. Yattara scored again in the 52nd minute with an assist from captain Ibrahima Traore.
Burundi had to battle for 78 minutes of the match following the sending off of Christophe Nduwarugira for pulling down goal-bound Yattara in the 12th minute.
Guinea finished in the third position on four points, and will wait for the completion of other groups’s games to know if they have qualified for the round of 16 as one of the best four third-placed teams.
AFCON finals debutants Burundi finished bottom of Group B without any point after losing all their three matches.
By Adeboye Amosu
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COMMENTS
This is what their coach said before the game:
“We have our strategy we hope to deploy tomorrow… We have a plan, and we hope to do well tomorrow.”
Well, his plan worked! He wasn’t ‘humble’, but he won!
I prefer a ‘boastful’ coach who wins than a so called humble one that loses. Their coach fed them with some confidence and it payed off.
Keyboard warriors, I await your abuses but, as usual, I won’t dignify you with a response.
Those of us who are balanced and objective enough to know that THOUGH OUR COACH IS GOOD, HE NEEDS TO WORK ON HIS MINDSET, have been proved right.
I feel so embarrased…
For the record, I still believe we have the potential to do well in this tournament. But now it will be more difficult.
When we meet with Ghana (or whatever team), it will be a fight to finish. I hope we wake up and do the job.
You are being too fair to him by saying our coach is good. On the contrary, I think he is a poor coach and European reject. I think he should have been sacked after the World Cup for not getting us pass the group stage.
Those nff officials or whatever they call themselves know why they don’t want to sack this coach because with a foreign coach it’s easier for them to loot this country’s common treasury in dollars unlike local coaches. This man should be the last foreign coach for any Nigerian national team male or female even if he wins this cup by trial and error. They should stop giving us below average foreign coaches just because of the skin colour. If they feel they can hire foreign coach why can’t they go for world class coach with track record like Pep Quadiola, klupp, Zidane,etc? Yeye Nff with white man induced mental slavery.
please once we’re taken out of this competition, ROHRs contract must be reviewed!
i knew it. i said if we meet composed team orgernised team we will not even go past rouond of 16 why because rohr put the lowliness in the team.. but the anti christ in this forum will insult me.
Rohr is not a coach and he is too old to handle Nigeria’s team. NFF should warn the coach never to use Mikel. Where is Osimhen and Onyekuru? Where is chukwezie? Ighalo is not a good striker. They must adopt wing play. I missed Iheanacho.
I agree, Rohr is too old and not dynamic enough to handle a modern team. We also have a lot of old and lazy players who are not fit to wear the jersey.
One thing I have noticed about Eagles Coach is passion . And that has transcended onto the team . Take a cursory look at how Balogun lost the ball and couldn’t even contest the ball . No passion on these Eagles , no commitment , no ideas , they lack initiative at the final third . And it seems Ighalo and Musa are trying to outwit each other on who gonna score highest goal . They are simply not playing for the team . Too selfish .
We have seen that a lot of them are not Super Eagles worthy and the Coach must ring changes or else they are out .
Mr Rohr,Siasia is 100% better thanks you.i always say if thé eagles are a goal down can they bounce back. Capital no.we need a sound coach who can create something From Nothing.no sub impact.im 100% better than rohr.up eagles.
Too many fakes here common we need to stop this I am not in support of this fake attitude this is exactly what I wrote on the last thread.
Most of the people calling the coach names today are the same people who will praise him tomorrow and insult others.
We need to quit this lane of hypocrisy let’s face it we lost today better luck next time instead of all this I said it I said it even those who didn’t say anything.
@ Chima, if He does well, he gets commended. If he flops, he gets ‘flogged’. If he turns his game around tomorrow and the team becomes winners again, I will cheer him without shame. We all want the SE to do well.
I don’t belong to any camp, I am neither a Rhor worshipper nor a Rhor basher. I try to be objective always.
Cheers!
Then that makes you a fair weather fan then because we only lost an irreverent game since we’ve already qualified the main objective have been met. Until they crash out of the tournament that is when we can evaluate the coach. Thank you @ Chima. You’ve earned my utmost respect from now. Please leave Chima out of your list.
Whether Rohr wins or loses he is just gambling with the players. No match won by this coach has ever been as a result of his technical input.With or without him with all our support as Nigerians those players can win matches. Rohr must go. Say no to foreign coach again in Nigeria. They are not in anyway better than local coaches. Is it corruption? they are also corrupt. We don’t have money to waste on them just because of their skin colour.Below average coaches!!!!!!
We had local coaches when we failed to qualify for two consecutive AFCON. Since 2017 we’ve qualified for the WorldCup and the AFCON. Until their campaign ends in this AFCON we continue to support the team and the gaffer. However, all are welcome to their opinions that doesn’t change my stand.
History shows that Nigeria’s best achievements in football were made by foreign coaches. Otto Gloria, Father Tiko, Manfred Hoener, Clemence Westerhoff, Bonfrere Jo all had memorable achievements.
Among all the local coaches we’ve tried only Keshi can be mentioned of a memorable achievement. He eventually failed to qualify for the same AFCON through in-house bonus sharing with players that have no business in the team.
We all know that Ighalo, Mikel, Musa are not bad players and we have capable replacement for them going forward in this tournament. I know we will all evaluate the gaffer depending on how far they go in Egypt. For now it’s not over until it’s over.
no the coach is playing mind game. hell fire is waiting for u people @abdulrazak, tayo, drey, green turf, and ur fellow anti christ. for u to turn stupid to mind game… madagasca coach boasted against big team like super eagle and indeed win it, because the players were full of high morale to play and win… give this boys confidence rohr and his mongoose refused… u cant see what we re seeing. madagasca beat nigeria. tufiakwa!
And from my observations this is a match we could have won but for so many factors such as unseriousness like a friendly match and if I hear the jersey jinx maybe there’s some truth that we forget we are green white green anytime we wear this jersey and the official too who happens to be Africa top ref might be a jinx too.
All this aside we lost this match due to unseriousness but it is better we lost today and have another shot than to loose at the knockout stages i see this as a blessing in disguise.
Let’s pray for our country regardless of the hate people have at the coach, he is already the pilot and we are passengers are we going to wish him well or bad so he crashes with us?
Let the wise say Amen!
Rohr is a good coach notwithstanding.I know emotions and all that is on the high and fans are calling for the head of a coach who has brought success to our football.
This game was a dead rubber no matter the outcome we are through to the next round so the coach decided to field fresh faces which backfired.Sadly so.
I know losing to a team like Madagascar is unacceptable but end of the day it’s football.Only a game.
Sadly,we do put ourselves in difficult situations and we are now primed to meet a strong side in the second round.Though the good thing about this lose is we know players who should call it a day.Thank goodness we are still in the tournament.
However,no matter how low or high we finished in this tournament I still hold Rohr to high esteem.He is phenomenal,retained or sacked one thing we shall always remember is he brought light to our football it’s not easy even when we are at rock bottom.
I wish the super eagles a change of fortune going forward.
ighalo no sabi ball at all walahi,wonder how he became a baller! never seen a striker like that. rohr d fear that guy walahi. Mikel is old joor. rohr need to be shown the exit door together with the likes of calamity Leon balogun,john ogu,Mikel,ighalo,.
Super eagles will lose if they meet Ghana or Cameroon, with these bunch of losers. You can’t give what you do have. I hate to tell you, i said so before the tournament. The coach is the start of the problem, we all saw the boys that played against Athletic Madrid, at least five of those boys should have intregated into the team. What do i know.
Where is that imbecile? Ugo Iwunze, where you dey? See the Chima you talked about. Read his comment, you fool! Idiot, foolish beyond repair. Why don’t you grab your AK-47 and go and scatter Rohr and the players to pieces, because they lost a dead rubber game? Fool lacking in appreciation for anything! When the team does well, you take it as an entitlement. When they lose, heavens will fall. Go and learn how to be a true fan of a team, you stupid nonentity! Come out, you ingrate! Come out!
NFF & our players are the bane of the Super Eagles and not ROHR. Demanding for your bonuses is very good but when the players refuse to train in preparation for a match in order to protest for their bonuses, then Nigeria should await a whitewash. God bless Nigeria!
Well, I have always said GR lacks the tactical input to handle the SE. Those same mistakes from the World Cup still happened today. You’re down 1-nil and instead of removing Mikel that was way too deep for an advance midfielder as per the formation, he puts Ndidi a defensive midfielder. We have Iwobi, Etebo, Onyekuru or even Chukwueze and yet Mikel is playing as an attacking midfielder. OK, we could not penetrate through the middle yet when we decide to use the wings, what was the quality of the cross? Poor! Even if they do come, Ighalo has never been known to be aerial-efficient.
With, all due respect to Madagascar, they should be winning even against a Team C Super Eagles.
A team that doesn’t know how to cross and scores with simple header should forget about big forward for now, and unleash the smart and skilled players for its attack. there for at the nock out round I expect musa onyekuru and chukwueze upfront iwobi ndidi etebo as usual in the midfield while jamilu collins and aina should play left and right back ekong and omeruo in the center back ezenwa still remain my man for Goal post rohr should take this formation or come home with excuses for the gods
@oluwa and Tola that is the problem with you guys. were you not among those shouting that the coach should start Ezenwa, Chukwueze etc.. now he has done that here is the result.. one thing u people don’t know is that this coach will be responsible for his actions. I am not by any way related with Rohr but what am saying is to allow him to do his work if he fail those that hired him will know what to do. This result doesn’t make him bad after all we re still in the competition. The damage has not been done let’s support the team hopefully the next match will be good
My brothers the way out of this mess is a Good Local Coach with the same level of support being given to this white messiah conspiracy Coaches that Amaju Pinnick and his gang foist on us , I have said it before and am saying again The spirit of Big Boss Stephen Okechukwu Keshi will continue to hunt Amaju Pinnick and his rented Sports journalist gang’s that rubbished all his efforts for Nigeria with their malicious propaganda reportage in other to have their way,finally here we are and he’s reaping the benefits of his evil plot till his Administration ends with his clueless coach that doesn’t know his starting 11 players in a competition , he keep chopping and changing player’s with faulty substation of players. How can he explain his team two nil loss to Madagascar of all people. Will he be sacked after this afcon tournament to make way for a better Local Coach to prepare Super Eagle for Qatar 2022 World Cup Qualifier? I doubt very much so far Amaju is still incharge of NFF. Meanwhile it’s important for all us to bear in mind that no nation has ever won the world cup with a foreign Coach till date.. Too bad we have sink this low going in to the knock out stages. Which way Nigeria Football With Amaju Pinnick clueless white messiah coach? Has he developed or mould any player since he started coaching the Super Eagle either from our league or foreign based? Too bad indeed
We need to get this clear: I cry foul, not because I am a bad loser, but because my team didn’t lose with dignity.
We played without desire, passion and hunger.
I will always cheer the team if they lose after a great fight and against worthy opponents. But losing like this will never be acceptable to me.
Maybe I am being too passinate and taking the game too serious. Hope I can get over this tonight and carry on with real life.
One thing you can’t take away from Nigerians is, we readily glamorize mediocrity in the name of trying to sound “fair.”
Even if this game was a so called dead rubber,at least we could have asserted our authority by getting a draw, but nothing like that.
And you see some if us trying to sound positive and all that.
We shouldn’t sacrifice effectiveness for “trying. ”
It is what is killing this country.
The only effective unit in this team so far I can say it’s the LB and CD (by Omeruo) other unit just blow hot and cold after every other match.
The midfield lacks cutting edge;and that link between the defence with attack was clearly exposed in our first match and was greatly exposed in this match.
Those calling for prayers and those nonsense we use to deceive ourselves in this country is enough.
To me, we are just waiting to be kicked out of this tournament we don’t really have requisite arsenals to go the whole hog.
I will be more than surprise if we even get close to the semi finals.
_ HOW THE MIGHTY HAS FALLEN _
On another day, losing a dead rubber match would hold little significance however, the manner of Super Eagles shambolic 2:0 loss today and the calibre of the opposition (Madagascar rated 108 by Fifa) can be regarded as a major upset beyond proportions.
With qualification already in the bag following 2 unconvincing victories in earlier matches, the Super Eagles, who were hoping to go through the group stages undefeated with clean sheets, had a point to proved.
However, after Balogun and Ogu contrived to mess up a simple passing routine, back-up goalkeeper Ezenwa found himself face to face with Madagascar’s number 13 who duly rounded the goalkeeper before cooly finishing to set the tone for more misery to come for the Super Eagles and us fans.
Our Super Eagles looked disjointed, bereft of ideas and lacking conviction in their play while the Madagascar underdogs looked surprisingly composed, assured and more likely to add to their slim scoreline.
In 53 minutes, the unthinkable happened: a deflected freekick beat stranded Ezenwa to give birth to a scoreline that sent reverberations across the continent – Madagascar 2:0 Nigeria.
It was clear, the Super Eagles knew not where they were nor why they were there. Totally lacking in creativity or inventiveness, the match ended that way.
_WHAT HAPPENED_
For me, the writing was on the wall. Only a few days ago, I wrote a piece on this platform to highlight why a section of fans were concerned about the direction of the team despite victory in our first 2 matches.
Those victories didn’t excite me and I expected more from the team. In my view, the Super Eagles laboured to victory in those matches and I thought they needed to do more to boost their credentials as genuine championship contenders.
On the evidence of how the Super Eagles played today, it was Madagascar – who have thus far scored more goals than Nigeria and top the group undefeated – who looked like genuine champions materials.
_WHAT NOW?_
A potential tricky tie against regional rivals Ghana await Nigeria in the second round.
Should Nigeria fail to progress beyond the second round, it will hit fans hard. It would then accelerate the calls for Coach Rohr to be sacked.
After the painful way that we were eliminated from the World Cup last year, early exit from the Afcon will be too much for even the most ardent fans of Rohr to stomach.
Good job deo.
Cheers bro.
Gbam! End of story.
see the calamity of inviting mikel 1st he led the players to strike for allmwances instead of focused. now the players play less focused…. musa should not to start game again, he runs like headless chicken with no single create…ogu and mikel too weak this must be their last game… kalu not fit at all… above all rohr the culprit. when he said he never worry about the lack of goals in the team, that was when i knew he carry an empty skull.
How can any team in the world progress when you have a slow poison Mikel on the team, he slows the game down, no Counter attack in his game.
The useless Coach went and brought him back having not contributed towards qualification, that shows how stupid and gullible the Muppets in Glass House.
How on earth can you have young Vibrant players on your team but you refused to use them! I dont know how we got into this Mess with a Coach that has no Clue. SACK THE FOOL
Don’t mind the nff in glass house they won’t sack Rohr they are using him as vehicle to loot Nigeria’s money in the name of engaging a foreign coach. Coach where no get confidence or sabi substitute players that one na coach?
We can’t play two old slow midfielders against a very young and mobile team like Madagascar, one shot at targets against Madagascar this should not be accepted, where do we go from here now, do we continue to rely on Ighalo, questions begging for answers.
Tomorrow if Fifa rank us below 100, we will all go against it and say that Fifa are biased. Losing to a team ranked 108 in the world in a mortal sin… secondly, in a team that have three players that scored early 50 goals in the last season, then none of them is worthy to start game for Rohr? I mean victor, Paul and Henry…..this is sad more like a fixed match…… you can not tell me that on a normal club matches musa and Jude will be playing this nonsense and expect to subsequent matches….. Isn’t surprising that all of a sudden, a day to the match…. we started hearing that Rohr’s a Madagasy? This match need to be probed…. there are things that went behind the curtains….
Corrections
**is a mortal sin
*** nearly 50 goals
You want madam Rohr to strike back? Remember how the Philistines cajoled those women to know Samson’s source of power? Who knows if Rohr was under sure too. His wife we heard is from Madagascar and what do you expect. Or. Maybe the Super Eagles just decide to help Madagascar go through because of Rohr’s wife hoping that they can withstand any team including Egypt. Or .Super Eagles are just too poor. Or. The Madagascar were just too good. Or. The Super Eagles planned for a draw but things went horribly wrong. Or. This defeat is a mind game to let other teams think they weak. Super Eagles will surprise doubter.
I think our chances of winning this competition increased today. Nothing is assured in this life. It is all probability. This defeat has woken up the beast in our team. I believe they will respond. I would rather lose a dead rubber, and then win all the remaining knockout games, than win a dead rubber 10-nil, only to be eliminated in the next match. Call me an optimist. I accept. Let’s wait and see. At the end, this cup might just be headed Nigeria’s way! After the competition, then we can discuss Rohr’s future. Until then, let us support him and the team!
wow!! I love your optimism @ Pompei … we think alike.
“this defeat has just woken up the beast in our team” well said, supper eagles are always at their best in this kind of situation. E.g 2013 Afcon match no body gave us a chance against star studded Ivory Coast. world cup qualifiers supper eagles were in the group of death containing the likes of Algeria no 1 ranked African team then, Cameroon African champions, Zambia. nobody gave us a chance yet, we qualified even with a game to spear.
Round of 16 of would be a different ball game therefore, bring on Ghana/Cameroon and even Egypt in the quarter final..
Sirvictory, let’s wait and see. The boys are really hurting, and they know they have disappointed Nigerians. You will see the way they will come out in our next match. I almost feel sorry for our next opponent! I really believe we can do this. Win or lose, I will support this team to the end. After the competition, we can sack whoever needs sacking.