Conpletesports.com‘s ADEBOYE AMOSU rates the performances of
Super Falcons players in their 2022 Africa Women’s Cup of Nations Group C clash against the Swallows of Burundi in Rabat on Sunday night…
CHIAMAKA NNADOZIE 7/10
The FC Paris goalkeeper was largely untested in the encounter. She kept a clean sheet for the second consecutive game.
TONI PAYNE 7/10
Played as a full back for the second consecutive game. Showed again she could function well in the position.
ONOME EBI 7/10
Good performance from the captain. She was replaced towards the end of the game by Glory Ogbonna.
OSINACHI OHALE 7/10
Seems to be getting better with each game. An energetic display from the centre-back.
NICOLE PAYNE 7/10
Made her first start of the competition against the Swallows. A good debut for the defender.
PEACE EFIH 7/10
The midfielder scored on her WAFCON debut and impressed all through.
NGOZI OKOBI-OKEOGHENE 8/10
A superb performance from the player. She distributed the ball well and made her presence felt in midfield.
CHRISTY UCHEIBE 7/10
Unlucky not to score for the second consecutive game. A fine display from the Benfica player.
RASHEEDAT AJIBADE 9/10
The Atletico Madrid star scored a goal and provided an assist. She was a thorn in the flesh of the Burundians until her substitution for Vivian Ikechukwu in the 62nd minute.
UCHENNA KANU 8/10
Bagged a brace and could have scored one or two more. She was replaced by Macleans Chinoyerem on 62 minutest to.
IFEOMA ONUMONU 7/10
Unlucky not to register a goal in the game. Monday Gift took her place after the break.
SUBSTITUTES
MONDAY GIFT 6/10
Showed flashes of her best. She is certainly one for the future.
VIVIAN IKECHUKWU 5/10
Not a bad performance from the substitute.
CHINOYEREM MACLEANS 4/10
She didn’t do much after replacing Rasheedat Ajibade
AKUDO OGBONNA 4/10
Made a decent cameo. A good option in the defence.
19 Comments
They were all delight to watch today. Very impressive.
**Nigeria vs Burundi Team Ratings**
The Super Falcons surpassed themselves against Burundi today by thrashing the debutants 4 goals to nil.
Uchenna Kanu helped herself to two loaves of the goals with Ajibade and Peace pillaging 1 each.
Randy Waldrum’s ladies dominated from start to finish. This emphatic outcome delighted many fans but Cameroon in the quarter final will provide a supreme test.
For now, let’s see how the Falcons and their coach rated in this match.
1) Chiamaka Nnadozie (7/10) earns high marks for her excellent distribution. A long ball from the goalkeeper could have led to an assist had Onumonu scored. Chiamaka was cool, calm and collected on and off the ball and alert to make the odd routine saves.
2) Nicole Payne (6.5/10) retrieved the ball very well from the opposition and executed her tackles to a high standard. She combined very well with her fellow defenders and her recovery rate – after initially losing the ball – was exemplary. Her attacking forays were not excessive.
3) Osinachi Ohale (8/10) was the proverbial thorn in the flesh of the Burundians as her long balls caused them no end of problems. One of those insane deep balls from defence located Ajibade who was felled for a penalty. Another one provided the pre-assist for Nigeria’s 3rd goal while another one led to Kanu scoring but the goal was controversially ruled offside. There were many more. She performed her primary defensive duties with distinction.
4) Onome Ebi (6.5/10) was business-like in her defensive duties . Her short range passes were crisp while her long range ones held promise. She is a stalwart of Nigeria’s centre back and she proved her maturity with a calming display before being subbed off in 45 minutes.
5) Toni Payne (7/10) was great tonight with her neat passes, clever interplays, timely tackles, great shadowing, cunning markings, purposeful overlapping runs and clever deliveries from promising positions. One of her looping crosses was blocked before it could cause mayhem.
6) Peace Efih (8/10) took to her role like a duck to water with a compelling all round midfield display capped with a neat goal. She had another effort deflected and a ground cross from her inside the 18 yard box was blocked by the opposition. She retrieved and recycled the ball exceptionally well while her tacklings and mop ups were carried out to exceedingly well.
7) Christie Ucheibe (7/10) played her part in helping the Falcons dominate the midfield. She got stuck into tackles and did her best to unsettle the Burundians. She had a header go wide before blasting a shot from distance, only to drag another presentable shot just wide. She was a willing runner.
8) The highlight of Ngozi Okobi’s (6.5/10) evening was a sublime floating freekick that was just begging for a connection. Other than that, she was in sync with the movements of her colleagues. She performed a 1-2 routine with Ajibade at one point whilst keeping most of her passes simple, neat and tidy.
9) Rasheedat Ajibade (9/10) is undoubtedly turning out to be one of the Super Falcons’ standout players in this tournament. She was penetrative with her runs from the flanks, one of which led to the penalty that she earned and converted. She also provided a hattrick of assists which is just crazy. Her movements and crosses caused problems all night as she was in tune with the movements of her colleagues which helped the team keep its shape and allowed her to wreak havoc.
10) Uchenna Kanu (8/10) provided much needed width on the left side. Her runs were troublesome and purposeful and a good number of her deliveries had to be dealt with. She could have converted a good number of chances but she still bagged herself 2 neat goals. If she works on her finishing, she will get more goals.
11) Ifeoma Anumanu (7/10) performed various aspects of her center forward role with acceptable maturity tonight. That said, there were times when passing to Ajibade or others would have been more prudent but she elected to shoot. A long range pass from goalkeeper Nnadozie could have been controlled and passed to Ajibade but Onumonu elected to shoot and nothing came of that presentable opportunity.
Onumonu was brilliantly fluid tonight. She popped up in midfield (where she provided a pre-assist for Nigeria’s 2nd goal) and the flanks where she released some lovely passes to Kanu and others. She had some of her shots and crosses saved but again, some of those could have been passed to colleagues in better positions.
12) Coach Randy Waldrum (7/10) has settled for 4-3-3 formation throughout this tournament and it served him well tonight. There was width on the flanks and vision from the centre back with the midfield being fluid and mobile.
His player selection was spot on and how they were arranged was brilliant. From Peace to Ajibade to Kanu to Ohale, all the players represented square pegs in square holes.
For the first time in the tournament, his substitutes actually reduced the intensity of the game today rather than the other way round like in previous games. Super Falcons were on the front foot from the off and Nigeria were the only teams that Burundi failed to score against in the group.
Although they scored 4 goals, the Super Falcons were still slightly profligate. But in all, a good day in the office for Waldrum.
Substitutions:
13) Monday Gift (7/10) wasn’t shy to attempt dribbling past the opposition, some of which were successful. She executed most of her passes well and she took up promising positions. Some of her efforts were blocked while poor end product was her undoing on a few other occasions.
14) Vivian Ikechukwu (6/10) attempted to bulldoze her way into dangerous areas on occasions. She had a decent cross blocked and all round, her movements were commendable.
15) Chinoreyem Macleans (5/10) got into good positions but let herself down with questionable end product. She scuffed a shot on one occasion and elected to round the goalkeeper which was unsuccessful where a chip could have served her well. She is yet to grab her limited opportunities with both legs.
16) Akudo Ogbonna (5/10) came in and slotted into the defence with relative ease. Nothing fell apart with her introduction.
Thanks @deo for the ratings of the players and the coach. Your observations quoted below were very apt. You are really a first-class analyst! “For the first time in the tournament, his substitutes actually reduced the intensity of the game today rather than the other way round like in previous games. Super Falcons were on the front foot from the off and Nigeria were the only teams that Burundi failed to score against in the group” and “15) Chinoreyem Macleans (5/10) got into good positions but let herself down with questionable end product. She scuffed a shot on one occasion and elected to round the goalkeeper which was unsuccessful where a chip could have served her well. She is yet to grab her limited opportunities with both legs”
Thanks Chudynak. You are so kind. Unfortunately, heavyweights like Dr Drey, Mr Hush and several others have remained moderately active on this women’s Afcons.
Did you mean to say inactive?
God continue to add to your well if wisdom, this is what we call analysis not the one that Caf is doing by giving WTM to Ohale instead of Kanu or Ajibade.
I wonder why complete sport hasn’t invite you to be an analyst for them.
Thanks Deo for a comprehensive analysis of the players performance in today’s game. Can anyone compare Deo’s writeup with the crap written up there by complete sports journalist aka blogger? The difference is clear.
Also nigerians are indeed very negative, we just beat a team albeit debutant by 4 goals to nil (same team SA struggled to win 3:1), we beat sao tomei and principe 10:0 people will still complain, beat bostwana 2:0 (a team SA struggled to win 1:0), they will say its just bostwana na, we will be sierra leone 2:1 coming from behind(a sierra leon team dat did so well at afcon), they will find fault, na wa for nigerians biko. instead of fans to say common congrats to the girls for doing a good job we will find fault where none exist. Its really sad. I will bet cameroon (lionesses) are petrified of this team, just the prospect of dem facing the falcons is causing a problem in dia camp lol. Cameroon dat struggled against zambia and togo, was lucky against a very poor tunisian side is the team the falcons should be having nightmares for? I think not. If SA had beating bostwana by more than 2:0 we would have read about how SA destroyed small bostwana dat falcons could only score 2 on.
All the coach should do in my view is to attack the cameroonians from the off (since they are already scared of the prospects of meeting us), waldrum shouldn’t give dem any breathing space at all. Choke d midfield and attacked dem with speed and we will be home and dry. I was very impressed by nicole payne, she is fast and neat on d ball same with her sister nicole payne, how i wish she a (nicole) can be used against cameroon to curtail cameroon #11 dia captain. The combination of ayinde-ucheibe-efih midfield will be great to watch, kanu-onumonu-ajibade upfront will cause nightmare for any team. My one advise tho is dat cameroon will be expecting those long balls dat were used to perfection today so the coaching crew needs to find an alternative incase camrroon tries to block our wing play. At the back, the pace of the cameroon forward might trouble ohale and Ebi but dats only if we let dem have the ball however the speed of the payne sisters would be crucial in terms of dem helping those 2 experienced defenders out as they are young and speedy to cover for the aging centerbacks. The one player i didn’t mentioned in my list is Alozie, she is very technical and will be missed especially in setpiece taking. I will leave the team selection to the coach tho as he knows more than i do. A big congrats to the girls, they played so great today and nigerians globally are very proud of dem.
Thanks Sir Proudly 9ja.
Toni paynr
LMFAO!!!
MEHN…Am DISAPPOINTED that some are EXCITED about this SH*T when the BIGGEST EXCITEMENT is in QATAR and NIGERIA will be MISSING…
SMH…
Are you alright @Monkey Post? I am sure you are an envious Ghanaian who feel sad at the triumph of any Nigerian team.
Congrats girls and goodluck against the Cameroonian girls in the Quarter finals. Even South Africa knows SF are on a different, higher level and would be scared to play Nigeria at the finals. I am sure Cameroon would be cursing their luck for getting Nigerian ladies at the Qtr final stage.
E be like say u no well….nonsense…ode….if u wan cry go cry na…
You’ve not for once typed anything that make sense on this forum since I have joined, all you do is to always go offline.. yeye.
And now that we’ve missed it, we should not move on? I wonder what type of advisor you would be
LMFAO!!!
My POINT is the GIRLS IMPRESSIVE PERFORMANCE is a NORMAL thing…
So why the over CELEBRATION???
But the ABNORMAL thing I want y’all to take NOTE of is NIGERIA’S ABSENCE at this year’s WC I QATAR…
And you GUYS seems UNBOTHERD!!
SMH…
So what do u expect us to do , to keep on shouting and wailing while the deed is done already, or must we kill ourselves becos of that or is it the last world cup that will be played?
Only a fool gets familiar with greatness…
Because God always comes through for us, does it mean we shouldn’t thank Him for every time He does so? Should we ignore God’s good works because He is ever faithful? No!
Likewise so, because it is a “normal thing” for super falcons always win their matches, does it mean they shouldn’t be celebrated? Is it the same set of girls winning these matches that won the ones of ten years ago? No! Don’t these new ones deserve their accolades? They do! So why downplay their achievements?
Go super falcons!
Abeg leave that guy, he often type like a 12 years old boy who start watching football year 2014.
Monkey Post or what ever you call yourself on this forum, your comment has shown that you are very low in maturity, thinking and age.
We talking about Super Falcons here and you’ve decided to bring in a discussion that has no relationship with the stated topic. Well, my advise for commenter is to avoid arguing with you as it clearly shows its not worth it spending time to responding to your analysis.
Sometimes, am forced to reason how some of us do reason and express their thoughts here.