Completesports.com’s ADEBOYE AMOSU appraises the performance of Super Eagles’ players in their AFCON 2019 Third Place match win against the Carthage Eagles of Tunisia at the Al Salam Stadium, Cairo, on Wednesday July 17, 2019.
FRANCIS UZOHO 7/10
Looked calm and assured in goal . The young goalkeeper was always in control of his area though his ball distribution was a bit suspect.
OLA AINA 7/10
Took the place of the suspended Chidozie Awaziem and posted an impressive performance in the game.
WILLIAM TROOST-EKONG 8/10
Deservedly scooped the man of the match award following a solid display at the heart of Super Eagles’ defence.
KENNETH OMERUO 7/10
A solid performance from the centre-back who still needs to cut out errors from his game.
JAMILU COLLINS 6/10
An improved performance from the Super Eagles’ previous game against Algeria even though he didn’t offer much going forward.
WILFRED NDIDI 7/10
Looked a bit tired in the opening minutes, but got his rhythm back as the game progressed.
OGHENEKARO ETEBO 7/10
Worked hard, as usual, in the Super Eagles midfield though he gave the ball away a couple of times.
ALEX IWOBI 6/10
Struggled to get a grip of the game. The Arsenal man looked tired at times.
AHMED MUSA 5/10
Awful performance from the team’s vice-captain . Duly substituted by Moses Simon in the second half.
SAMUEL CHUKWUEZE 6/10
Caused few problems for the Tunisian defence but didn’t look threatening enough.
ODION IGHALO 6/10
Scored his fifth goal of the competition which earned Super Eagles the 1-0 win, but prematurely went off injured at the end of the first half.
SUBSTITUTES
VICTOR OSIMHEN 5/10
Took the place of the injured Odion Ighalo in the second half and helped put pressure on the Algerian defence.
MOSES SIMON 5/10
Showed glimpses of his best after taking the place Ahmed Musa in the latter part of the game.
SAMUEL KALU 5/10
Came in for Samuel Chukwueze in the 90th minute and had two well struck free-kicks saved by the Tunisia goalkeeper. Considering the few mintes he played, getting this rating is quite laudable.
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COMMENTS
Iwobi should be rated 2/10, since this tournament no single interception nor tackle from him.. always escorting or running behind an opponent. Too bad at him age, Rohr need to socut for a play maker. If Iwo hustle ball 1/3 of the way Etobo does, our midfield would have been superb…
Very correct observation about Iwobi’s total abhorrence to marking…..though 2/10 is quite uncharitable for his overall performance in the championship. His coaches at club and national team must put him to task to help him overcome this very obvious weakness in his game, if he must reach his true potentials. The modern football game has no place for any outfield player that cannot or refuse to mark, no matter the position or role played by such player. Perhaps, the Super Eagles story in the 2019 AFCON would have been a lot better if Iwobi and to a lesser extent, Chukwueze and Ighalo had done more to close down opponents when in the opponents had possession.
You are so correct…I noticed it timeless. ..maybe it is the game plan or it isn’t part of the repertoire…Ighalo, Iwobi,and Chukwueze don’t press at all..It puts a lot of burden on etebo,Ndidi,musa and the defensive players…Maybe it is the game plan to channel their energy towards attacking.
You are correct
Ok…do u even know the work of an offensive Mid-fielder at all?…this guy is depending on two good defending and central midfielders in Indidi and Etebo already. Then why do we complain about Mikel not going forward then?.
Having two central midfield does not encourage a midfielder like to be a liability when it comes to marking. That is why.he is often criticized by arsenal fans because he has not.improved his contributions to his team.
Even centre forwards contribute in overall defensive setup in modern football
Jamiu Collins deserve more than that and how can someone who gave the cross or assist for Ighalo’s goal not offer much going forward. He was also strong at the back.
Totally agreed. I wonder what the writer was thinking when he put down those lines.
I commented on this point when one of the comments in one of the recent points said Collins don’t contribute to the attacking phase…It is laughable…Collins has a German football education…The German full backs sometimes act as auxiliary wing backs. ..Against Algeria…It looked like a tactical instruction for him to limit his overlapping to check Mahrez and the quick Algerian attackers…All other matches I have seen of Jamilu Collins he always attack
Though I must commend Drager,his Tunisian clubmate. He really performed well…though he got beaten for the only goal
We don’t want to see that man called Akpeyi near the super eagle anymore please! It’s very obvious that Uzoho is far better than him. What’s wrong with Rohr for choosing him over Uzoho anyway? Uzoho would have averted that Riyad Mahrez’s free kick that broke over 200 millions hearts away because is a very tall guy and beside he knows how to organize his defence.
Akpey was the missing link in the tournament .He has arush decision and he is not calm.Even the first goal if he had talked to Ekong he would have rushed and punch .Even the two goals that Cameroon scored some body like Enyeama wouldnt have conceded
He his very poor in decision making .Always on the goal line when crosses are made
Well, my brother, it was pressure from loud mouthed Nigerians who kept on trashing the young man for just one mistake against Seychelles.
We just wasted a whole tournament trying to develop a 32 yr old keeper when we had a 20 yr old who was doing quite well. Had Uzoho remained no 1 in this AFCON, the tournament experience would have been to enormous to emphasize and it would have been extremely beneficial for the future.
Spot on @drey,fans put extreme pressure on the coach and it forced him to use Akpeyi for the tournament… In retrospect, and considering uzoho’s performance yesterday, maybe Rohr should have kept faith with the young shot stopper instead.
The woeful players in this tournament no one is talking about them. Musa is no 1 so woeful am short of words. If iwobi was contributing as much as etebo and ndidi we won’t be complaining. Ndidi too overzealous. Overall, Musa, Iwobi, Nididi and ighalo are done as far as am concerned. These players in one other staled going forward in attack at all times tru out the tournament. If l was a coach I won’t bring Musa near my team
@Ak I agreed with you that atimes Ndidi was overzealous and gave away needless free kicks and from my close observation Madagascar, South Africa and Algeria all scored from the free kicks he gave away. Ndidi need to work on that seriously, but did you notice he was avoiding tackles around the area yesterday which would have cause us goals. Some of this guys are young and we definitely improve with time. I disagree with you on Musa and thank God you are not the coach. He may not have performed as expected but he still has a lot to offer going forward. Ighalo will still hang around few more years and Iwobi quality is not in doubt he can do better. I think we still need Victor moses in this team if his willing to come back.
*will
Even if you play your heart out those Nigerians will still criticise you, if they can’t find any fault in you someone will come out and say you are overdoing things, nothing goes without complaint from you guys. In a team where there is no cohesion or teamwork, hardly put passes together sequentially, no fluid in playing so how can you single out some players for criticism? nothing works for the team in general so stop mentioning names.
AKPEYI AND EZENWA ARE ONLY OCCUPYING SPACE FOR BETTER GK. WE DONT NEED THEM ANYMORE IN S.E ROHR SHOULD GET BETTER GOALI IN FUTURE MATCHES. THANKS
Ndidi over zealous… No pls ndidi and etebo are our best players in this afcon.. Only Algeria managed to disorganise the two and I still wonder how they managed that.
This two players would even get better in the future because they are young. I doff my hat for etebo not many even knows that defensive midfield is not his natural position. He wears number8 and plays attacking midfielder or as second striker but see how good this boy has become.
I agree musa has dropped.. Musa scores in every tournament he plays afcon, two world cups but he didn’t manage a single goal in this present afcon which shows he has dropped abit. But the good thing is there are capable replacement.
Finally I’m glad rohr played every of his players so we don’t hype the oyechure and oshimen.. These are future players.
A lot is wrong with this rating, how can you say Jamilu Collins offered nothing going forward? And secondly I think Ighalo should get a better rating despite he left the field prematurely. Because it was his goal that separated the two sides.
One thing I’ll keep on shouting until there’s a change by the NFF is that:
THEY SHOULD CHANGE That ALL-GREEN JINXED JERSEY cuz the only thing it brings NIGERIA National teams is Loosing, Bad game, Elimination! This has been proven plenty times. They can still make another Away Jersey and change that Bad luck jersey.
You will all agree with me that Yesterday’s match wasn’t our best but I was just so rest assured that we are going to win cuz We wore that FEATHERY GREEN AND WHITE Jersey. The earlier the better oo