Completesports.com’s ADEBOYE AMOSU appraises the performance of Super Eagles players following their 4-4 draw against Sierra Leone in the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying fixture at the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium, Benin City
MADUKA OKOYE 5/10
Poor performance from the Sparta Rotterdam of Holland goalkeeper. Struggled to control his area and failed to justify his selection ahead of Daniel Akpeyi and Sebastian Osigwe.
KEVIN AKPOGUMA 5/10
Poor home debut for the right-back. Struggled with the pace of the game and was targetted by the Sierra Leoneans.
WILLIAM TROOST-EKONG 5/10
The centre-back was not at his usual best in the game. Caught out of position a number of times and couldn’t prevent his side from conceding four times.
LEON BALOGUN 5/10
Subbed off after the break following an injury. Failed to do much in the game.
ZAIDU SANUSI 5/10
Provided the assist for Victor Osimhen’s second goal but fizzled out afterwards.
OGHENEKARO ETEBO 7/10
He was Nigeria’ s best performer in the game. Controlled the midfield admirably before things turned sour in the second half.
JOE ARIBO 5/10
Failed to impress in his third game against African opposition.
ALEX IWOBI 6/10
Scored two goals and gave the ball away for Sierra Leone’s equalising goal late in the game.
AHMED MUSA 5/10
He was a surprise inclusion in the starting line-up. An average showing from the captain.
SAMUEL CHUKWUEZE 6/10
The pacy winger was on target once and troubled the opposition defence especially in the first half.
VICTOR OSIMHEN 6/10
Sustained a bad injury in the second half. Scored one goal and missed a couple of chances too.
SUBSTITUTES
SEMI AJAYI 4/10
Replaced the injured Leon Balogun early in the second half. He couldn’t prevent the Super Eagles from conceding three goals after his introduction.
KELECHI IHEANACHO 4/10
Unlucky not to score a late winner. Surely in contention to start the second leg after Victor Osimhen picked up an injury.
PAUL ONUACHU 4/10
Toiled hard after his introduction in place of Victor Osimhen. Still yet to prove he is ready for international football.
CHIDERA EJUKE 4/10
Replaced Samuel Chukwueze in the closing stages of the game. Not a good outing for the CSKA Moscow winger.
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COMMENTS
_ Are there reasons to worry? Nigeria 4:4 Sierra Leone _
Maduka Okoye set an unenviable record as being the first Nigerian goalkeeper in the last 2 seasons to concede more than goals in national team colours as Rohr’s boys – for the umpteenth time – failed to get the job done by allowing Sierra Leone to bravely claw their way back from 4:0 to 4:4 in the spectatorless stadium in Benin City today in a 2021 Afcon qualifier.
For all the flack that goalkeeper Daniel Akpeyi have had to put up with from a section of Super Eagles supporters over the years, it is noteworthy that he has never in his national team career conceded more than 2 goals. In fact, you have to go all the way back to the 6th of September 2014 for when the main Super Eagles team conceded more than 2 goals in a game (we lost to Congo 3:2 in an Afcon qualifier in Calabar).
Yet – much to the horror of many fans – it happened against a team rated 120 in the world in the FIFA rankings in today’s Afcon qualifiers.
Going into today’s encounter against the Leone Stars of Sierra Leone, most fans would have been forgiving for expecting this to be 3 points that were already in the bag, just waiting to be claimed by the flamboyant Super Eagles and it all started well enough when Alex Iwobi stole into the opponent’s vulnerable area to stab home low to the goalkeeper’s right to make it 1:0 for Nigeria in just 4 minutes.
And after Victor Osihmen met a low cross from Sanusi inside the 18 yard box to lash home from the right across the goalkeeper to make it 2:0 for Nigeria in 21 minutes, the match was truly going according to script; and it was to get better.
With the encounter ebbing and flowing, Iwobi picked a rabbit out of the hat in 28 minutes with an audacious 20 yard curler that left the goalkeeper rooted to the spot with the ball rooted in postage stamp part of his net for Nigeria’s 3rd goal before Chukwueze weaved his way past 2 defenders to plant the ball at the top corner of the net for his 1st and Nigeria’s 4th goal of the match in just 31 minutes.
It appeared Rohr’s approach was working faultlessly but the Sierra Leoneans may have been down, but they were far from out!
One unfortunate trend I have spotted from Rohr’s Super Eagles in the past 12 months (to which I highlighted recently) is their inability to get the job done, and so it proved here again.
Seemingly on Easy Street having cruised to what should have been an unassailable 4:0 lead in just 32 minutes, Sierra Leone were granted a route back to the match when Chukwueze was dispossessed and Etebo bullied mercilessly off the ball before Kwame Quee received the pass to blast past the on rushing Okoye to make it 4:1 in 41 minutes.
That was Iceland-based Kwame’s 4th goal for his country; coming against an illustrious opponent (in their own backyard) but his team was just getting started!
Even at 4:1, the game was remarkably open, much to the credit of the Leone Stars and after Akpoguma allowed a cross from his area lead to a powerful header from Alhaji Kamara that left Okoye picking the ball out of his own net; it was panic stations for the Nigerians – 4:2 at that point in 72 minutes.
Even then, a draw need not have been a foregone conclusion for it was in the hands of Nigeria’s technical team to read the match and act in a way to alter the cause in Super Eagles favour.
Rohr could have identified some gaps and then move to either alter the formation or make impactful substitutions – he did neither.
Even though he made substitutions, these were not impactful as Akpoguma’s area was breached again before a low cross found Mustapha Bundu who made no mistakes from 15 yards to make it 4:3 in 80 minutes. The other substitutes were not positioned to do anything of note in the match.
The unthinkable then became unbelievable as the Leone Stars – like the Phoenix – rose from the ashes of despair to claim a vital, crucial and memorable point from the Super Eagles when Alhaji Kamara headed his team (quite literally) to delirium in 85 minutes for his 2nd and Sierra Leone’s 4th goal of the game.
4:4 it ended, despite a flurry of action by the Super Eagles to restore their lead (which at times almost led to Sierra Leone taking the lead).
This score line was not what many Super Eagles fans expected or wanted. Nigeria have now drawn 3 games from winning positions in the last 12 months and have failed to keep a clean sheet over 7 matches in the same period.
Also, we dropped 1 point below Algeria (who did the busy over Zimbabwe yesterday with an emphatic 3:1 win) in the last Fifa rankings.
Nigeria’s style of play does not seem to be improving as there are obvious gaps that were ruthlessly exploited by Sierra Leone today (of all teams!)
However you want to look at it, Rohr’s Super Eagles are experiencing a downward trend in fortune; the warning signs continue to be there.
I think even the most ardent of Gernot Rohr’s fans now have reasons to be worried!
All you Maduka haters, your EAGLES defence exposed Maduka Okoye, say whatever you lots like including you the writer, the team as a whole failed. End off, let them go and win the second leg. End off.
Mr Reporter, your analysis is as whack as the error-ridden publications of CSN. Which midfield did Etebo hold? I was wondering if you are conscious of every happening in the match. Most of Etebo runs weren’t successful and he made some reckless tackles. He didn’t play with Joe Aribo. Aribo had to stay back when Etebo was just bustling with no sense, no one-two quick passes. Etebo, the Midfield General my foot!
This has nothing to do with Musa removal, playing iheanacho, Iwobi, aribo, at the same time against an african teams is short three in midfield any day The trio can be bullied anytime, they don’t track back, they can’t win tackles, and they give the ball away cheaply especially Iwobi, the formation was wrong in second half, the coach lacks ideas, this team is not ready yet.
Can we humbly go back to uyo… This pinnick political movement will not help us atall
Oh Wow Lol..
Ehm well since we all have opinions, let me just cast mine..
I really don’t like Rohr and his conservative methods but this has stemmed since the WC in Russia.. but then again I didn’t expect the SE to lose a 4-0 lead to Sierra Leone regardless some of the players need to hold their hands up also..
Thank God we drew.. What if we lost??? Take a second and imagine that.
All the regressive fellows we have in this forum have all gone silent.
All Rohr Promoters cum Eagles supporters who think the gaffer is the best thing to happen to Super Eagles have all seen that the man is way average to say the list, he lacks modern knowledge of the game and anyone expecting something different from him should examine his brain properly.
His decision making will cost us heavily in the future if nothing is done about it.
We can’t continue like this for real.
Thats because today is your Christmas na….when the eagles loose is always your chritmas…..all of you progressive regressive were silent when the eagles were raining in the goials and pumeling S/l. But as God don answer una prayers, the SE took their leg off the gas and bacme complacent and drew and now you have found your voices…. you all have the floor now…..LMAO.
The last time I checked we are still topping the table with a 5 POINT lead and still going into the 2nd leg as favorites. In the days of your a home draw would have kicked us straight into no 3 on the table and we will be needing Man U to beat Argentina so that we can qualify as best loosers….LMAO.
Congo has defeated us on home soil before and heavens did not fall….a draw with S/L will not make it fall either…LMAO.
I thought you guys say Yobo is better than him and will add more technical depth to the team….how far na….LMAO. Yobo don come now we nor fit beat Sierra leone again o….LMAO
But Rohr always disappoints. He lost to SA, lost to Magadascar and now this,despite boasting of an assemblage of talents. This man can’t lead us anywhere. He may be good, but not enough to serve our ambition and aspirations.
Very good points, but you see his major error with the Nigerian job is his over reliance on Europe based professionals visavis disdain for home talents. I mean what’s really the substance in this his talk of local talents not good enough for the eagles.its almost sacrilegious.Our home based professionals risks it all when they play.This was a major deciding factor in that illfated match in Benin.Many of those players were either playing with too much caution for fear of injury or were generally just absent minded.
There is more than meet the eye in what happened today. Sadly everyone is falling for the trick. This plans may have been orchestrated longtime ago, hence location for the match and certain players invitation. The evil one will go to any length to actualise their plans, but the prayerful one will keep defeating all such plans. Just sad for Rohr. He should always cry out and be assertive. He has eyes like others here but always fail to say/see thing from the outer realm. The target is Rohr and he has easily fallen into their game plan To tell how evil and selfish these lots are, they never cared how their plans was gonna make millions sad. Maybe it’s about time to look away from everything Nigeria and use that time for better stuff.
Conspiracy theories. Why not simply accept the fact that Rohr failed yesterday. He needs to sit up, that is all. Whatever we say, the buck stops at his table.
I didn’t watch the match. But comments here and post match analysis as well as the result shows that the midfied was in shambles. Ofcourse a good midfied cannot give away a 4 goal lead . S.E still need Mikel at least for one or two more years so that the young ones can learn a thing or two. International football is not clubside football. It is far toughter with no room for error. Thats why till messi hasnt won continental or world cup. Pls let mikel be recall
Not only Mike my brother, Super eagles still needs the likes of Odion Ighalo and Victor moses. Our problem is partly early retirement of our experienced players and too much of reliance on foreign based players. Things have really fallen apart in Nigeria football. Gonort Rhor is part of the problem reason being that he keeps calling relatively average foreign based players, no steady first eleven,poor technical ability( which is very evident when he does substitution during matches). Super Eagles is no longer a threat to any team in Africa.
Thank you but I think we have a group here who keep telling us he has brought unprecedented success to our football.its just annoying.We are one of the heavyweights not just in the world but especially in Africa.We made our marks and pedigree speaks for us.So please enough of all this talk of us being grateful for losing twice to Algeria and a host of other embarrassments.Even at the world cup it was all shambolic performance.so enough.
Who’s the undertaker that give Etebo the highest rating? He’s the expose link the SL capitalize to defeat us, you will say it’s a draw? It’s a shambolic result worst than defeat. Every breakthrough counter attack towards Etebo and Kevin leads to goal. However, Rohr has bathed himself with petrol, he will be roasted alive throughout this year. Haha very soon Aba boys will scatter market with Rohrmustgo tops
A whack rating from a crappy reporter. Thank God for online streams, one would have felt that the defence did anything right today. Straight fact, only Balogun showed up in defence.
I just finished watching the high light on youtube.my Observation is that playing Kevin out of postion cost us tha match. Three of the goals came through his position. Its beat my imagination why Rohr will undertake such a gamble when Aina and the guy that plays for twenty were injury free. Another factor that contributed to the shambolic result is the goal keeper. An experienced keeper will have saved at least two of the goals. I hope Rohr learns quickly and make the right changes in the reverse fixture .
Gowetok God bless you bro… I concur with your assertion that we still NEED MIKEL OBI till 2022….secondly we need MANU Garba in that coaching crew to help work on the midfield as both Rohr and the apprentice Yobo were both defenders in their days
could someone please tell me one thing that is functioning in that Country called Nigeria?
@OKPONKU, yes I can but it would be more than one thing you asked that would be answered.
1. 24/7 stable electricity
2. Infrastructure
3. Insecurity
4. Bad leadership
5. Tribalism and selfishness
6. Nigerians are the enemies of themselves
7. Bossy attitude
I think these are the things that are functioning so well in Nigeria.
Sooner or later, people will come back home from abroad because we are enjoying ourselves in this new Nigeria.
God, we need your help in this country called Nigeria. So sad. God bless Nigeria!!!
Hope u will not be charged with T&F .
For me what rohr needs to do to get it right with the eagles is to discard some of his coaching philosophies/fundamentals with regards especially our eagles,and that’s particularly the view that no home grown talents can fit in with the eagles.It worked for keshi.this overseas stars can’t all play the physical Africa games.Many of our Stars were playing with too much caution,scared of getting any major injuries,the Leone stars took advantage of that and clawed their back into the match!
@Iyanuloluwa… Is it the first time that Gernot Rohr is doing something like that? He did same thing with Akpoguma vs Tunisia/Algeria in the recent friendlies… Super Eagles has lots of stars to draw from to win games even some who continue to be ignored hardly ever getting invites. The team is just above the level of the coach… He can’t give what he does not have… the man is at his wits end!
what does okoye done wrong? where was our mistake prone ekong?? GR sold the match.. An epl standard RB and netherland 3times RB of the week, rohr see nothing in them, but instead go fr some one who has not play RB for past 6years.
No one should Sack a coach at the middle of a qualifier. He should see out the qualifiers but be replaced before tournament proper starts with Manu/Amuneke… I mentioned Olayinka and Junior Ajayi to specifically replace Onuachu and Musa going forward… even though I believe Onuachu’s 12 minutes could have added little or no serious effect… Specifically Onuachu is still young and has his own qualities but he seems to be seriously unpopular with wide section of fans even though I like him… there was a cross that he could not get unto in time… a good striker is suppose to time his runs in the box with that of winger aiming to cross and be intelligent enough to just keep his line short of offside… Mikel and Moses should be reintroduced to lead us to Afcon 2021 and WC 2022 and bow out after that time… With both of those guys our play will be more commanding… Mikel is still better than Aribo who to me should build up his physique and add more defensive touch and tackling also to his game… though he is quality. If Mikel agrees to come back then we don’t need Shehu or Semi Ajayi in any makeshift midfield situation… We could still allow Shehu, Mikel, etebo, Ndidi, Iwobi, Aribo as our midfield generals and allow Frank Onyeka, Nwakali to fully grow and reach their potential for which I feel in two years they should be ready… I WOULD also test Azubuike whenever he is back fit from injury… not all invited players have to be in the matchday squad and double headers give you good room to rotate the squad when you have players at similar technical and physical level… Let’s stop inviting every defender we have once we are calling up player, strictly four centre backs and five full backs are ok each time… I believe an invitation of between 23 and 25 at any time is just perfect… We should always have six(6) midfiders at any time and six forwards/wingers. For tournament proper we can have 3-8-6-6 that’s 23 and for qualifiers we can always have 3-9-6-7 which makes 25. The additional two (2) to the 23 in qualifiers should be those wildcard players you are trying to watch closely in trainings and training match situations to see if they prove themselves worthy of displacing suspect individuals in the traditional 23… inviting 10 defenders is surplus to need and limits spaces in midfield or attack for players who are not yet fully part of the anointed 23 but have earned enough ratings from clubside performances to challenge for squad place… If NFF can accommodate 24, then accommodating one more to make 25 should not empty their purse… Henceforth players not invited should stop jamboree of coming to camp and getting into the training mix like Ezenwa did… But honestly I rate Ezenwa above Okoye… Okoye to me is clearly one for the future. Osigwe, Uzoho and Alampasu should be our keepers for now… No one has really given Dele Alampasu any real chance. Akpeyi is good but his advanced age means he can only be in the team for the short term…
Sunday oliseh, oya dey pack your bag, na you we want
If the Super Eagles invested as much time in the midfield department as they have in the attack, defence and goalie, they might not be in this position. Anytime we have a match, the coach will invite 4 central midfielders 2 of which will be creative, the other 2 defenders. The remaining mfs in the team operate on the wings and cant influence the midfield much.
We need more midfielders like mikel(retired from the team), ndidi, Ejaria, Nwobo to add to this team so when the ones we have are tired they can be replaced. First I think the team should look for atleast two good Defensive mfs, players that can shield the defence and make good tackles.
Ndidi is the best we have but he isnt available. There are players out there who can do the job as well.
Rohr needs to wake up and make good selection of his players.
Why will you have 3-4 regular right backs and still choose a centre back in that position? Its baffling. I was expecting Awaziem to play because he is suited for the African game, he played well at the last Afcon but no the coach didnt use him, Aina, Tyrone or even shehu. It doesn’t make sense.
Uptill now the coach hasnt resolved the teams defensive frailties, with all the defenders invited (9-10) the coach cant present a good defense.
I see him packing the team with defenders in the next game.