Completesports.com’s Live Blogging of the 2023 U-17 AFCON Group B matchday 3 encounter between Amajimbos of South Africa and the Golden Eaglets of Nigeria at Mohamed Hamlaoui Stadium, Constantine, Algeria.
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Other African counties has caught up with Ghana and Nigeria hahah
This boys are playing well. Nigeria will win.
That was the way they played well in the last game
I dont know to describe this team . is there problem the reflection of there true age ? have we been using over age players to cheat other African countries in the past? or should i say the coach lack ability to select the best players and blend them to play good football? honestly speaking am short of words. we do not deserve to be at the world cup with this kind of play. ever since this north NFF came on board our team has been going down the drain. At under 17 level what makes a team better is skill, dribbling and individual skills nothing more.
My friend they are playing very well. Nigerians just know how to complain to high heavens. Just keep watching
I CAN ASSURE YOU HE IS NOT A NIGERIAN!!!!!
Who be this one? When it’s LiveScores you people will be following matches…how will you know if the boys play well or not? Always looking for ways to put down a good thing. Good bless the coach and the team ….no team in the tournament so far has better game play like the Eaglets…they just need to keep improving in the final third
Is it every time that your team always score first??? Shame catch una circle.
Nigeria Coaches have not yet learnt how to play with a 5man midfield… that is was guarantees results in this day…
Agada scores. Its game on. But ogbabudo and owoyemi na minus 1 ooo.
Although the Eaglets aren’t scoring loads of goals, i still think the Eaglets are the most talented team in dis tournament, they play the best brand of soccer in my view. People will say Senegal bcos they’ve won all 3 games but it will be very difficukt against this Eaglets.
My brother you dey watch match. They are playing very well but let down by lack of experience by their defenders. The last South Africa goal scorer has been threatening but I realised that the coach haven’t detailed a good defensive shield against him. That is what resulted to this goal. This second goal by SA has been coming and I told someone watching with me of what was to come if the coach don’t do anything about him. The SA coach had found a way to isolate the scorer with a defender then sacrificed the attack of the team with a more defensive approach. We should always watch with detailed eyes and not just shouting crucify him crucify him. It’s not game over yet. I still believe they can do something anyways
SA scores again. Its 2:1 so far for SA. THAT #20 of SA is a very good player to be honest. He sliced thru 9ja defense like hot knife on butter.
This eaglets defence line is zero, that Linus has just been wasting ball with his nonsense shoot at sight. A lots of things is wrong with Nigeria sport.
Na look I dey
Their defense is the problem..
What a goal by SA..
We can manage third place and play Senegal
These are buch of tactically indispline eaglets!!!!
if Amunike were to be the coach of this team i bet majority of this boys wont make the team. They are playing clogging football.
Nigeria is all talent and running, while the opposing teams seem to have more shape, play as a unit, and have a definite game plan. I wonder why the defenders are always slipping under pressure and counterattacks (noticed against Zambia too). I still believe we’ll win but this is sheer talent on display and not much of coaching input.
This is all on Ugbade. He’s assembled a group of very skilled lads, but his own tactical skills are poor and inferior to the opposing coaches. Not sure he even studies his opponents and adopts a definite game plan. It’s all the same approach of mass attack. thin midfield. and a wobbling defence, except for the goalkeeper.
All games must not be the same approach.
A good coach will study the. Ext opponent and develop a strategy to win.
Nigeria team is just doing gragra. No purpose. South Africa has less talented players but are more tactical and dangerous
Our no8 doesn’t know how to score goals… Always available for every ball but is so wasteful..
I love that adaga boy, I wonder why he is starting for the first time today, aside the agada no other player knows how to put the goal in the net..
Light should go off and favor Daniel come in for him
They are labouring in vain, apologies to President(s)elect
Not surprised though, the team is just is just individuals playing to sell themselves. The coach has not shown any tactical input to beat a very poor Bsouth African team
Bench Abudullahi and linus, they wasting chnaces. Even Agada, he is just strong but has no finishing sense. Make use of the wing play. Switch emmanuel micheal to take shots.
My brother since I dey watch football I never see this kind kick and follow type of team no team play or patern just give me I shoot
I hate the coaches and any other staff that lead to this selection of mumufu players. Come to Warri, I will pick boys in my area and will give South Africans 7 zero. What! What! What! is wrong with our football administration? Imagine the nonsense I m witnessing. Must we marginalise some regions to satisfy the northern agenda and to the detriment of millions of Nigerians? What a shame! Nawao!
In this game i will fault Ugbade a bit, u have just equalized with 2 minuts to d 2nd half no need to go gung-ho to score, u still have the entire half to do dat. If Ugbade had done his homework property he would have seen dat the #11 and #20 are SAs best players even in the qualifiers. That #20 in SAs 2 previous matches have been electric. The short guy is fkeet footed and if alliwed 1v1 with a dedender dat isn’t fast, dat boy would leave d defender in d dust. Ugbade should have known dis and told Lawali to minimize his foray uofront or ask owoyemi who likes gragra to stay back and shield d defense as he has speed to keep up with dat #20 and provide cover for Lawali wen he goes forward.
Lets see what the 2nd half brings. Linus is a goid player but should stick to using his right foot rayher than try using his left. Him neva sabi use right well well him wan dey use left. He should also reduce his unnecessary shooting.
I see us atleast equalizing.im optimistic
As i write the above, we equalized thru Light Eke
It is sickening watching the eaglets play. It is even more sad when some of us on this platform refuse to face the stack reality that this team is not good enough. A lot of us here are saying the team is good and playing well. Is it tiki taka or meaningless possessions that wins you matches? We are just being untruthful to ourselves. The truth is that this team is not good enough and with two and half matches played, Ugbade has shown that he does not deserve to coach any of our national teams. If he is giving us this display then, he does not deserve to coach any of the national teams, male or female.
From the midfield to the attack, the players are not good at all. When last did the eaglets produce players who can’t dribble or players who play wayward shots of which 99% are way off target (Linus is a prime example). This eaglet have no strikers, midfielders are very poor, and to make matters worse, Ugbade has no bench. This is very sad.
Morocco packed the bus in their match against us. South Africa is doing the same and using counter attack to beat us, Ugbade is there playing narrow and insisting on using the middle to score. What kind of a coach does that. He needed to stretch South Africa by playing wide through the flanks but no, he must play short, vertical, and direct passes through the middle to score. I’ll see how this will pan out.
Nigeria will be lucky to qualify for the world cup with this team and Ugbade as the coach because what we are seeing is a heart attack football.
Thumbs up Josh men. Your comments are always on point.
@josh with all these you have typed, will you sincerely prefer to be playing like SA guys or Golden eaglets? You aren’t analysing properly. There are deficiencies definitely but it doesn’t mean they are not doing well. Stay tuned
So will possession win qualification. You should be comparing Nigeria’s performance with the like of Senegal and Mali and not limiting us to our group opponents. There is a big problem with this team and it should not be ignored.
So Josh ny broda, which teans are in ur opinion better than the Eaglets. Aside the owngoal by Ogboji, would u say morocco were d better team in dat contest?
Football is never about possession but about results. You must be able to combine possession with goals. If you can’t do this then, possession becomes meaningless and a reproach to the teams that adopt this philosophy. Nigeria had better possession against Morocco. But in terms of strategy and technique, Morocco was better
Well said my broda, Morocco barely had any shots on goal let alone on target. Pavking d bus is not foitball my broda. We created tons of chances but were only unfortunate not to have scored. Man city are considered the best team in Europe but there are games where they would create chances but the goals won’t come not for lack of trying. The Eaglets have just been unfortunate in front of goals. Where there should be alarm bells ringing is if they weren’t creating chances and dominating teams. With some few additions, this team will be world beaters in my view. I just hope Ebube and Mbatha are eligible. Ugbade should go to Europe and scout for additional players that can add value to dis team as in all honesty some of the players on parade aren’t good enough especially for d brand of football i think he wants to play. There are better midfieders in europe than d ones on show so far. Of all d midfiekders on show, the only one i will keep is Linus Hope, the rest arent good in my view. I kinda like the few touches of the #10, he kept it simple and willing to receive and move d ball in a positive way albeit it was only for less than 5-10 mins..
Senegal as a team is ok, they convert dia chances which is goid 4 dem but wen they meet a good team like 9ja dat will battle dem toe to toe, dats wen u all will see how ordinary Senegal is. They were lucky in dia 1st match against congo, had congo spcore d penalty, it could have been a different game.
@josh how do you score when you are deprived of the ball? I will rather have my team dominate teams like the eaglets than play like the morrocans and South Africans. These are young players, they will improve better. And as for those saying the coach don’t have anything to offer, you guys don’t know football shaa. He won the tactical battle against the SA coach. He read the threat in the first half and corrected it in the second half. There’s room to improve and react faster while asking questions yourself as a coach. So as the team improves, I expect him to improve too. Read up my match analysis up there. Don’t watch football with emotions if you must see the details and analyse games better. Peace
@Josh, ur analysis is very poor, the boys are good and very talented, the problem is the coach. Apart from Senegal, every other teams in this tournament are playing “academy football” meaning this kids were being taught on how to play football in the academy, but the eaglets are raw talent, it’s only Senegal that on same par with them.
The problem is the coach, no tactical approach, no game plan, no match roles, nothing. The boys are just playing kick n follow. If we have a tactical swavy coach, the boys would have been exceptional.
I don’t know how far we can go in this tournament because the boys are only winning based on individual talent, team work is zero.
Local coaches need to update themselves and be in tune on how football is been played
Who kept agada on the bench in the previous games
APC badluck will never allow the team to succeed. Go and write it down. Nothing good will come to Nigeria again unless God banish away the APC. Country that will be ruled by drug addicted leader.
@akogun,stop this jare like as if Nigeria has never shamefully lost in the past with other party.
This has nothing to do with APC or pdp or whatever.
This team needs to little more injection of an arrow head striker. They move balls quickly and rapidly. Their counter build up is good but what we do with ball just before the opponents box and inside opponents box is the problem.
Can someone help with link to the match
Goal for 9ja
Share link biko
Youtube and in the search type in nigeria vs sA
Now to properly analyse this game. Firstly it’s high time football lovers stop watching with emotions but watch with a lot more eyes for details in mind. I will score the defense 4/10 in the first half and 6/10 in the second half. They didn’t deal with the forays of the SA strikers which was very rare but effective. They improved their awareness in the second half. So kudos to the unit. I will rate the coach 6/10 simply because he saw the threat of the number 20 of SA and gave better instructions on marking which forced the player in field rather than isolating a single defender and the. Start his mazy runs. I also realised too that he was able to transmit to the players when to launch and when to hold it a bit especially during the closing stage. It was nice to see as the boys didn’t panic rather they controlled the narrative instead of the SA piling pressure on them. I also noticed that the team don’t just balloon the ball in field rather they carefully play it out from the back this creating overload inside the SA half when they beat the press by the South Africans. It shows the team is well coached. I also noticed that the wingers and the defenders coming in as false wingers, don’t just balloon hopeful cross into the 18yard box but rather look out for other outfield players. All these are hallmarks of a well coached team so I will say, tactically, he won the game over the SA coach. The deep lying midfielder Linus,is a good player but might seem sluggish and slow to react.actually, his type of game when fully developed, will enable him to have better view of all that is happening around him. I could see that he has very good positional sense. He just needs to improve his shooting skills and be a bit quicker with his decisions and reactions better if he must play in the 5 best league in the world. Eke is very good. The captain is also a very very good player with his forays upfront. The only challenge is that he needs to know when to launch out and when to conserve energy and not expose his position. If he was to play with a more experienced opposition, the team will be ripped apart if no good cover. Infact on one occasion, we were 3:2 up and a midfielder was with the ball while the South Africans had lined up waiting to break and launch. I was praying he won’t go on a run to be given the ball because if the midfielder threads the pass and it’s blocked, the SA will launch. Guess what, that was exactly what happened. Someone covered for him because he was completely taken out of the defensive equation.
Finally, the team is well coached no doubt. You can see that they don’t just loop hopeful balls but are intentional with their play. Defensively, they are not compact and that is because they tend to run at the other team without breaks. That is a knock on the coaches. They need to control and teach the team when to launch and when to stay compact without the ball. Over all, for doggedly coming back twice to win this game, they have 7.5/10. There’s room for improvement and several tactical upgrades needed by the coach and the team but they are a bunch of skillful players. We wish them well.
The way Golden Eaglets dominates teams , they should be winning by at least 7 goals.
39 shots and 12 on target is ridiculous oh
Eaglets makes it to d Quarter finals. The super eaglets lol were dominant again today. I would rather we play tiki taka than park the bus against teams. The boys can put the ball on d ground and move the ball quickly, this is what u want from a team in my view. There are areas to improve 4 sure by both the players and coaches. For me i will allow Lawali to combine with Linus and Owoyemi and use a different rightback to play Lawali’s role. The team will keep getting better, anyone who says dis team is bad hasn’t been watching dis tournament. Morocco parjed d bus, atleast SA even tried to play a little but found the eaglets a stronger opposition. Where we could be complaining is if we weren’t creating chances and dominating other teams. Any country in the QF would be praying they can avoid d eaglets.
CAF stats is ridiculous as I no see where to watch the match online
Eaglets had 39 attempts at goal and 12 on target.
Na Cameroon or Burkina Faso next
I totally agreed.
Una go just come here dey write nonsense….naso football easy? Our boys are practically the best in this tournament….they are organized and they play good brand of football. They are growing well into the tournament and their coach is good as well. He brought two guys into the games today and they both decided the outcome of this game. Also, his reaction to SA’s counter-attack formation was credible. Those goals they conceded are normal for their age group. Stop writing people down because “it’s Nigeria”. I’m looking forward to the quarterfinal….Congratulations to Nigeria.
Good talk bro!!
Those of you looking for links to these games. CAF TV on youtube shows all the games. Just subscribe to their channel or search for their channel anytime there is a game.
I am not satisfied with what I seeing in this team after the first match.
May be the team is recovering from Morocco defeat.
When comparing Manu Garba and Amunike teams, they were playing as a unit.
Am loving what am seeing with our goalkeeper so far.
I am not satisfied with the display of Eaglets against S/A.
The team is showing determination, passion and never say never Nigeria spirit but the coaching crew have to do more.
This is not the best under 17 teams that can represent Nigeria. When Eke is in control of the game, it shows that this is a baller.
Something is not right with the team. I say thing the way it is. I am so happy that we won this match but if this is what we are going to present at the world cup then, am out.
I was really impressed when I watched our first match but after that match, am less impressed with the team and the coaching crew.
I still believe the coaching crew can turn things around and improve the team tremendously as the tournament progresses but for now, this is not our best under 17 team.
Football is all about playing good and entertaining football. That is what makes Marnu Gerba and Amunike teams stand out.
I still believe that our local coaches are the best to be in charge of our national teams but NFF should give them more support and exposure.
Congratulations to our Golden Eaglets. We are proud of you boys. Please, do more to make us proud. Ire o. God bless Nigeria!!!