Completesports.com’s Live Blogging of the 2023 U-17 AFCON Group B matchday-one encounter between the Golden Eaglets of Nigeria and the Young Chipolopolo of Zambia at Mohamed Hamlaoui Stadium, Constantine, Algeria.
Nigeria Vs Zambia Live Blogging – 2023 U-17 AFCON; Group B Matchday 1
Nnamdi Ezekute
Nnamdi Ezekute, a sports reporting expert, has risen through the ranks at Complete Communications Limited (CCL) famed for publications like Complete Sports.
Email: [email protected]
X (Formerly Twitter): @Ezekutive
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26 Comments
Where can we watch live abeg?
Anyone with live link ?
watch live on youtube.
Caf tv live on YouTube
For those asking where to watch this match you can watch it on SuperSports select2 on either gotv or DStv
I really miss the midfield of the wafu b.. these boys do not have quality of those boys dropped..
Again the strikers are not connecting.. this is completely a different team to the one that played wafu b.. Maybe we would rely on free kicks to score again
You are correct in your observation about the midfield. Though the boys are good. But their midfielders seems to be a suspect. Apart from this, the team is not discipline. They seems to want to play to the gallery. Often holding on to the ball for too long or trying to dribble one, two ,or three players before releasing the ball, thus, putting their on-running players in offside position. These lapses need to be corrected by the coach if they are to win this match.
In all the team is doing well and can still do better.
The midfield is good the team played well but the Zambians are equally a very good side,in the build up to this tournament they defeated both Algeria and Senegal by 4 goals to 2 respectively to demonstrate their strength.
Our preparations was poor.Trip to Germany was cancelled at the eleventh hour the team only relied on playing academy sides which wasn’t good enough the NFF were found wanting in their duties.
I doubt the WAFU midfielders would have fared better probably not. Because this is a bigger level than the WAFU,the location weather and other factors always comes to play.
Our team will play better as they progress in a very difficult group.
The coach should substitute those elongated guys in the midfield. They’re killing out flow
Afrosport live on Facebook is showing the match.
Nigeria is playing well. Abdulahi just need to be more accurate in his passing around opponent’s 18 box.
Both teams have opportunity to score in the first half
Nigeria played better
Best of luck Nigeria
Halftime also watching Young Africans vs Rivers United match is delayed due to light problems
Gooal Nigeria
Nigeria 1:0 Zambia
Nigeria has scored but I really don’t understand why our coach doesn’t want to use his bench
My broda d tin tire me ooo. Ugbade dey yab ooo. We need reinfircement in the midfield. Our midfielders are gassed out and ugbade dey shout oshe. I tire 4 ugbade ooo i swear.
Penakty fir Eagkets. Lets put dis game to bed
And Eke misses
Chai, Nigeria just lost penalty
It would have been 2:0 in favor of Nigeria
Congratulations to OMO NAIJA …..
The daddie ll surely win this one lol
Game over
Congratulations Nigeria
The team as a whole is good but
they are not disciplined
Their midfielders are a problem; they made it difficult for the strikers to score
Papas playing with kids haha
Good! this is the game Golden Eaglets needed to win and they did, BRAVO!!
Good GK, good defenders Expecially the full backs, OK midfielders until they pass out and gat no more energy, strikers..hummmmm, nice soccer pitch and overall good players and well done Mr Ugbade, this guys plays far better than those bosso boys by far.
Well done ugbade.
But there is a need to work on penalty kicks.
Eke really show that the boys are not good in taken penalty.
Were is Emmanuel Michael?
The guy is good at set pieces.
Eke took the penalty as if the team don’t need the goal.
The team play well but need to be more discipline and serious.
God bless Nigeria
…Overall I will give the team 6.5/10 and surely there is room for improvement. The emphases with this tournament is first qualify for the world cup and anything else that follows that including winning the AFCON U-17 will then be a bonus.
…It’s clear the team can still be improved, defence appears good. Midfield seems to be the area needing improvement and reinforcement the most should they manage to make the world cup party.
…Going by what we read, the 4 key midfielders who were left out of the team had MRI scan mark result of 5, and CAF and FIFA rules state a mark of 6. It was wise that NFF wanted to play safe as the initial tournament entry rule states any one player failing the CAF test means whole team is disqualified.
However, when the rules were revised to say whole team disqualification will be, only when 4 players fail the MRI scan, it was already late for inclusion of those key players.
…Coach Nduka Ugabde insisted on having the 4 key players or atleast 2 from the four players affected as he was sure they will make the cut judging by their last MRI scan but NFF wanted a clean result and pegged the player participation scan mark at 4.
…I believe once this group can make the world cup, the 4 players can have a new MRI scan done again prior to the FIFA world cup and if they remain on grade 5 mark or even grade 6 should be included in the world cup party. This is also what the coach Nduka Ugabde has proposed, that he will be including them in his world cup programme squad.
…Let’s keep our fingers crossed and hope this team can make the world cup qualification atleast from this AFCON U-17 tournament. If we are able to participate in the world cups for U-17 and U-20 this year, it means we will be having great prospects for future Super Eagles. Hopefully… in all honesty people like Ahmed Musa, Paul Onuachu, Onyekuru, Shehu, Dennis, Leon Balogun and Ekong can begin to consider retirement from Super Eagles now and in the nearest future.
We cant be have dudes like these young ones who are at the U-20 and U-23 level including guys like Boniface, Orban,Alhassan and Marcus getting frozen out of the national team because underperforming players have refused to leave the stage respectfully.
I don’t know if anyone took note in the second half when one of the coaches yelled to a Nigerian player in Yoruba that he could bring a player down because according to him, h
he knew the Nigerian player was full of confidence. That showed how well the coaches had worked on the boys to hold on confidently to the ball and never be in a rush or panic under attack. This seems to be the philosophy of this team. But they overcooked it today, allowing the Zambians to crowd them up in most cases. They are good as a team moving forward but those guys in the midfield looking for that killer pass always played into the waiting legs of the Zambians. They need more urgency going forward and their short passes especially in the opponents’ 18-yard box were not that effective. They should have tried more shots outside the box like Micheal did in the first half.
To be sincere the Eaglets are the best team so far of all the teams dat i have seen at the ongoing AFCON U17. The boys want to play good football but like someone said above, they should try to shoot more from outside the box. I also observed that some of our passes where too soft as if the ball was too heavy, the passes weren’t very crisps and sharp. Emmanuel should have kicked dat penalty and not Eke, it is never advisable for a recent sub who hasn’t played more than 20-30mins to take a penalty as dat player hasn’t really felt the weight of the ball and hasn’t really gotten into d game to know d dynamics of d game. If i were a coach i would never let a sub take a penalty knowing he hasnt played up to 20 mins just my opinion, not saying a sub won’t convert but i will never do it. Ugbade should also do some changes, players like Azeez should have been brought in, midfielders should have been intriduced to inject more energy to our midfield from d 60-79th minute when it was obvious our midfielders were tiring out.
However, kudos to Ugbade abd tge Eagkets, obtaining d 3pts is all that matter at the end of d day. The team will keep getting better as the tournament progresses.
@Jimmyball well said bro, totally agreed with u.