The Super Eagles of Nigeria started their preparation for the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations in earnest with an inspiring performance and 1-0 win against the Pharaohs of Egypt in an international friendly match at the Stephen Keshi Stadium Asaba on Tuesday, March 26 2019. Completesports.com’s ADEBOYE AMOSU rates the performance of the Gernot Rohr’s men, player-by-player.
DANIEL AKPEYI 6/10
He was largely untested in the 45 minutes he spent on the pitch. Handled the ball well and was good with his distribution.
SHEHU ABDULLAHI 6/10
The right-back was at his marauding best but was still let down by his poor delivery.
WILLIAM TROOST-EKONG 7/10
The captain on the night was a rock in the defence for the Super Eagles. He stood up to the challenge of the Egyptian forwards.
LEON BALOGUN 7/10
Restored in the starting line-up after he was benched for Kenneth Omeruo in the last game against Seychelles. He put up a solid performance at the back and made a number vital clearance in the game.
JAMILU COLLINS 6/10
Failed to replicate his performance from the last game against Seychelles. He was troubled by the Egyptians which limited his forays upfront.
WILFRED NDIDI 7/10
Continued from where he left off against Seychelles even though he fizzled out a bit after the break.
JOHN OGU 7/10
The powerful midfielder didn’t do his chances of a regular playing berth in the team any harm as he put up a fine display before his substitution as a result of injury.
ALEX IWOBI 6/10
Gave a glimpse of his best even though he never really hit the height expected of him.
MOSES SIMON 6/10
Tried too hard to impress with little or nothing to show for it. He will do well not playing to the gallery in subsequent games.
HENRY ONYEKURU 7/10
He was a thorn in the flesh of the Egyptians with his trickery on the ball. Showed he can be relied upon in future.
PAUL ONUACHU 8/10
Scored a breathtaking goal in the first minute of the game. The Egyptians had a torrid time stopping him and his hold-up play was excellent too.
SUBSTITUTES
IKECHUKWU EZENWA 7/10
Produced two superb saves towards the end of the game to deny the Egyptians from scoring the much needed equaliser.
SEMI AJAYI 5/10
Replaced the injured John Ogu, but didn’t do enough to affect the game positively.
OGHENAKARO ETEBO 5/10
Helped to tidy things in midfield after replacing Alex Iwobi.
ODION IGHALO
Not Rated in cameo role
NDIFREKE EFFIONG
Not Rated in cameo role
IKOUEWEN UDOH
Not Rated in cameo role
4 Comments
Ezenwa tried. Thank God that the coach brought him in in the second half to handle those shots.
I saw a mobile team against Egypt yesterday. I’m particularly impressed with the midfield and defence. John ogu is fantastic. He has always had a good command of the ball in that midfield. He could only improve in giving killer passes that could earn us goals. As for the striking department, we are home and dry. Ighalo, onuachu, and osimhen are there as finishers. But the super eagles will need to improve on working out balls to our strikers from the middle. I’m happy that onyekuru is doing that from the wings. Samuel kalu will be back soon and the super eagles will be indomitable. Hopefully we’ll get to the quarter finals and then to the semis of the afcon and anything can happen from there. The defence was tested against Egypt and they proved their worth. I will always prefer ezenwa to uzoho. He commands the defence and appears confident.
e be like say iwobi go move back to left wing again ooh. at arsenal when playing from the wing he uselesses defence, open defence no matter how strong it is…moving to midfield seem uneasy for for him..we need a dribbling and hold up play attackmidfielder who can commit freekick in dangerous area and penerlty. and some time rifle shot. etebo got the potential but he is a fool…i think we should try igbekeme because he love speed.
Well from what I saw of the match yesterday, I’d say it’s cool . Seeing that we’ve got strikers now,shows we have no complaints . What’s needed to be done is the issue of midfield . We still need midfielders who can create accurate passes and q good network with the strikers for them to be able to score vital goals for victory.
The issue of the goal keeping Dept needs a talk into . Putting s uzohor as a number choice keeper isn’t ideal at all . Daniel Akpeyi will have to show that he’s more mature to handle to posts . Ezenwa has what it takes to man the post , he will have to keep working harder . Just has one says works still needs to be done before the AFCON