The Super Eagles ended their winless run with a hard fought 1-0 win against Côte d’Ivoire in Group A of the AFCON 2023.
It was a far better performance compared to their disappointing opener against Equatorial Guinea.
Following the win against the Ivorians, here is Completesports.com’s ratings on the Eagles players performance.
Stanley Nwabali
Faced his first real competitive test in the Super Eagles shirt and was impressive throughout.
Made two big first half saves and always looked assured when coming out for aerial balls – 7
Ola Aina
Was defensively solid in the entirety of the encounter as the Ivorians could not penetrate is own side of the backline – 7
Seyi Ajayi
Put in a top perform in central defence as he contributed heavily in shutting out the hosts attack – 7
William Troost-Ekong
Stepped up to convert the penalty as he sent the keeper the wrong way and was near to perfection in his control of the backline – 8
Calvin Bassey
The home side forwards found no joy coming up against him as there was no way through him – 7
Zaidu Sanusi
Almost gifted Côte d’Ivoire the opening goal with a poor clearance but had Nwabali to thank.
Also was guilty of needlessly giving the ball to the opposition – 5
Alex Iwobi
Played more of a withdrawn role but could not really influence anything – 5
Also Read: AFCON 2023: Osimhen Wins Man-Of-The-Match Award, Says Eagles Deserve Victory
Frank Onyeka
Put in a real shift in the defensive midfield position making important interceptions- 6
Samuel Chukwueze
Set up Osimhen for the first chance of the game which the striker failed to convert.
Was also guilty of some wayward passes and missed a good chance from a counter – 6
Ademola Lookman
A threat going forward with his dazzling runs and constantly committing the home team players – 7
Victor Osimhen
Had a great chance to open the scoring from a Chukwueze pass but volleyed over the bar.
His constant harassment of Côte d’Ivoire’s backline led to him being fouled leading to the penalty being awarded – 9
Substitutes:
Moses Simon
Came on to help in the attack and he also carried out his defensive duties well – 6
Bright Osayi-Samuel
Made a brilliant solo run into the box from his half only to see his attempted shot blocked – 6
Kenneth Omeruo
Came in to help solidify the defence and his wealth of experience was on display as the Eagles saw out the game – 6
Paul Onuachu
Was a handful for the home team defence as they found it difficult to dislodge him off the ball instead kept fouling him – 6
26 Comments
Well balanced rating but they should carry that to their next match.
Omo naija! Wow! Naija got em! Omo omo!
@JimmyBall when I say a player shined on superior level Strength pace and so forth I am not exaggerating I know the superior level this Boy possesses hence I said earlier he will show you guys today that he is actually currently Nigeria’s best Defender by Far… Calvin Baseey a Beast
Shout out to Aina, Lookman, Osimhen( Needs to improve shooting) Chukwueze ( needs to stop overdoing and less selfish) all in all a very Good performance. Can’t wait to see what Kelechi and Moffi will bring..
Ps I told you people that Onuachu is too slow however he tried and I like that
*Bassey*
@Ugo: anyone with that frame Onuachu has will be slow. It’s the law of physics. In saying that, Me thought he justified his place in the team with his hold-up play and good ball control for such a big man.
And to think we had a good goalkeeper in Nwabali while being stuck with Uzoho is jarring. We need to often cast our dragnet wider and give players opportunities to strut their stuffs and show what they’ve got to offer. Only then will we get to unearth talents.
Probably Nwabali could have taken us to the last world cup if he had been in goal during the qualifiers.
Can someone tell me what exactly is wrong with Chukwueze? Okay, you got the ball, ran into the box and you continued dribbling yourself with 2 players, especially Lookmam in good position, literally begging for the ball. In stead of releasing the ball to them, you waited until you were dispossessed. He should just be benched in the remaining matches. He’s just too childish to me, honestly.
Ah, Chukweze is one of Peserios favorite oh just like Lookman and his most beloved Iwobi. No defender has “earned” it yet lol no wonder today’s clean sheet is like a miracle because no steady and stable backline since he took over
Nigeria last failed to progress to the knockout round in AFCON in 1982.
At least, these ones have not created that history.
Belated congratulations to them for reaching the second round.
With the winning today, I think we can forgive every offender. Chukwueze was better today o. The last match was worst now. I think the discussion among the guys really helped. I have they keep the focus. Winning by penalty is not the way forward, we must work on taking our chances. I wish us more wins.
One of the SE’s most underrated frontman is Lookman. In fact, the 3 upfront Osimhen, Chukwueze, and Lookman were a handful. All 3 were deadly. But Chukwueze needs to start feeding Lookman the ball more when the latter is in a better position to shoot, just like Lookman does for him. And to think the bench like Iheanacho, Onuachu, and Moffi are equally dangerous.
And if Nigeria gets to the semis, South Africa’s Chippa United will lose Nwabali to a top European club.
Yeah Lookman was the real deal he was a reminder of Victor Moses that plays with wisdom. This is what Chukwueze should copy because he is very inconsistent with his ball management omw I almost lost my mind yesterday with his final ball and Osayi as well. They are good players but must be decisive at the final ball.
Leave them oh. When he doesn’t play well they say he’s not Nigerian enough. He’s been the best of our attackers, they see it as normal.
Good one from the entire team. They are all my man-of-the-match.
Peseiro showed today that there’s some tactical flexibility to him. Lovely to see.
While we celebrate this vital win, we also need to come down to earth.
We miss too many chances! This is a problem!
Peseiro needs to devote time to address this issue. Players selfishly holding on to the ball when a quick pass is required. Or running out of ideas. And the reluctance to shoot at goal? See Fofana belting bullets from distance at Nwabili. We need to see more of this from our lads.
If we miss chances in the knock out phase, it might come back to bite us in the wee-zee.
Or should I say waz-nee-zee? Ignatius Abo, help me out.
But if we convert our chances, this team will be quite hard to beat. I won’t stick my neck out and say the cup is coming home. Not when the likes of Morocco, Senegal and Mali are still around. For sure, we can meet them toe to toe, but these are really good sides. We will have to dig deep to beat them. Having said that, if we stick to playing 3 center backs, hopefully we will be hard to score against.
We just need Osimhen and co. upfront to find their scoring boots.
Osimhen worked his socks off today. He’s doing everything expected of a striker, except the main one – FINDING THE NET.
He’ll come good eventually. He’s just going thru a phase.
Did you mention Morocco?
Yes now. Abi are they not good?
Thank you pompie. Thank you Ugo. Always great to read your analysis.
1. I think we need to stick to this formation. We need to keep it organized and tight at the back.
2. I am missing ndidi in that midfield. He would have added some beauties and strength to the midfield better than onyeka.
3. Then our strikers or attackers should take it easy and learn to score. Chukuwueze needs help. It’s just that once in a while he will just pop up with a great goal. But he needs to improve. I think kel should play ahead of him.
I hope our attackers can use the next match to score goals. Oshimen mist especially. I hope he can have a hat trick. I hope so. That will strengthen his confidence for the knock out stages.
But we don’t have to underate the guinea bisau team o.
The match was difficult but Super Eagles did their best. Ola Aina was massive.
When did we start to hail mediocre. Some comments here are baffling. This is the super Eagles we talking about, the only take from this game is the defenders playing as one. Our attack is nothing to write about. Our attack has being poor in so many games, From Lesotho, Zimbabwe, equatorial Guinea we can score more than one goal. And on paper we have the deadliest attack at this tournament. Are we going to score more goals against Guinea-Bissau? that remains to be seen. Am sorry the attackers deserve only 5. They had begging chances and didn’t take advantage. We can now conclude that ihenancho is just a cheerleader like Musa at this tournament. Another spot wasted.
You guys should not blame anyone today ho, this team play against host nation. They didn’t just play against 11 players but against many. I only watch first and I said to my self if this team could get a draw today I will be happy.
Bassey show no respect for anyone, lookman show no respect for anyone. Siadu with that block show the defenders are on high alert likewise ekong making that block that could have cost us wahala.
Ola aina, defender with skills, iwobi ho iwobi, if only thou at known how deadly you can be going forward may be we would have score more, but rather you decide to play too deep, well may be that is what your coach told you.
Nwabali help us out of situation uzoho would have let in one of those long range shoots. Calm and always directing his back line. Telling them when to leave ball and when to move forward abit.
For Oshimen to perform better, Iwobi need to play more closer to him so he can feed him with quality passes.
@Godswill Diego
Couldn’t have stated it better.
I’ld definitely replace Chukwueze with an Iwobi. Then place Yusuf in the middle where Iwobi played. So it will be a double pivot of Yusuf and Onyeka. Push Iwobi much more forward to unleash his best attributes;quick thinking and passing , to assist Osimhen. Chukwueze final balls and decision making let’s him down.
Well, I appreciate the whole team and coaching crew. They did good. This win will definitely shore up their confidence going forward. Never easy taking down a host especially a host as good as the Ivorians.
As we enjoy this victory, we should humbly remain focus, there is much more games to be won and much more battles to fight to win this war called Afcon.
Goodluck to us.
Very Correct @ God’s will.
Better still, per him (OSIMHEN) with Iheanacho up front.
Fools are finding faults in a match we won against strong ivorians
@Agbo: That’s human insatiable nature especially Nigerians. Even in our 90’s glorious days we could not beat the Ivoriens at home.Congratulations Super Eagles. You made my day.
Tirii Gbosa for eagles???
Gbosa, Gbosa, Gbohooooo
Tiri gboyaka for the f35 division airforce men???
Gboyaka, Gboyaka, Gboyakatayakata,
Oyaana, eh enemies curoo beh!!!
Commot body for Eagles, nor go dey,no go dey, put body for fire.
I am siping whine and red bull, yesterday evening makes me highfull.
Fire born allada badmenn.
Please somebody should buy his or her neighbour one bottle of vodka on my name.
Expecially that traditional vodka wey them they draw Eagle put.
If you have a long time saves, please brake your save today and buy ur self a sugar butter bread.
Sweet up ur belly for the Eagles.
Perfect game plan, pesero have perfected a new formation for big games, even argentina will find it hard to crash the eagles on this formation, its similar to rohr formation in the wcup 2018 the defference and what made this one better than that one, was the three man up front, while Rohr was using 3 5 2 made us armless upfront and couldnt creat a Chance for vmoses to play upfront( it added to his early retirement) this pesero style allows everything upfront to be more essessive when attacking and more abundance in diffense, we will mentain 433 when playing underdogs, but for the bigis or some stuborn teams like capeverd, mali and southafrica this our newly found boba and shokoto 343 format. will fit and adress any occasion proparly. 442 should be totally abolished, it was eguavon that brought us that sick sinking format that have made us look like turkeys all these past days. NOTE pesero have never lost any game he starts with three man attack expecially when osihmen is available.
Congratulations once more to Naija my country, aina(blackdiamond) made me proud, bassey is a darling, lookman have fully activated all balling divices in him, he is my man of the match.
Minus chukueze and saidu every other eagles were super. Going forward i want to see moses simon replace saidu in that left wing back, i need someone to replicate aina from the left side, saidu was wastfull moses simon will perfect that side for us.
I will replace chukueze with iheanacho in the right wing upfront, this two changes will activate our killer mode, i also like the idea of yusuf joining the middle, pushing iwobi to the right, still better than chukueze upfront wastage.
Bruno onyemaechi should replace zaidu