Following the Super Eagles 2-1 defeat to the El Tri of Mexico in Sunday’s friendly encounter, Completesports.com’s ADEBOYE AMOSU appraises the performance of the players…
FRANCIS UZOHO 7/10
The Omonia Nicosia goalkeeper made three vital saves in the first half. He was not at fault for the two goals conceded by his side.
CHIDOZIE AWAZIEM 6/10
Started as part of a back three, but moved to right-back after the break. Awaziem put up a strong performance in the game.
LEON BALOGUN 6/10
Unlucky to score an own goal in the second half. Did well against a strong Mexican attack.
SEMI AJAYI 6/10
Not really at his best in the first half, but recovered well after the break. Showed he could hold his own against a strong side.
CALVIN BASSEY 8/10
What a performance from the Rangers man. He was at his marauding best in the game and set up Cyriel Dessers for Nigeria’s only goal.
INNOCENT BONKE 4/10
Struggled to cope with the pace of the Mexicans and was duly replaced after the break by Sani Faisal.
Read Also: Exclusive: Friendly: Eagles Will Impress Against Mexico –Rufai
JOE ARIBO 7/10
Struggled a bit in the first half, but improved after the break. His combination with Alex Iwobi turned things around for the Super Eagles in the second half.
ALEX IWOBI 8/10
The Everton man was lively all through the game. It was one of his best games for the Super Eagles.
MOSES SIMON 6/10
Came alive after he was moved to an attacking role in the second half.
TEREM MOFFI 6/10
A lively display from the Lorient forward. Unlucky not to get a goal before his substitution.
CYRIEL DESSERS 7/10
Scored Nigeria’s only goal of the game. Showed he can excel at the international level.
SUBSTITUTES
SANI FAISAL 6/10
Replaced Innocent Bonke after the break. Put up a good display on his international debut.
VICTOR MBAOMA 5/10
The Enyimba striker took the place of Terem Moffi in the 73rd minute. He showed flashes of brilliance following his introduction.
ISHAQ RAFIU
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CHIAMAKA MADU
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29 Comments
Oga,
It’s not Balogun that scored the own goal. It’s Ekong.
On action one one leg, oga.
Kolawole has scored his first goal for Nigeria. Congrats to the lad.
He has demonstrated what all of us saw in him, what OUR OWN could not see. That this lad is a PREDATOR in front of goal.
Lovely assist from Bassey. It’s his crossing ability that made me a fan in the first instance. Look at the quality of the cross to Kolawole. Our strikers will benefit a lot from Bassey’s crosses in the future.
Poor Ekong. He had a decent game, but the own goal was a stinker. He made ALEX DJIKU the own goal specialist green with envy with that one. How he managed to position his body to slot that ball with such force past Uzoho is indeed incredible. I hope he has not entered the bad books of Peseiro with that own goal. It was a really poor error. The game could have ended 1-1, but that own goal handed the match to the vatos Mexicanos.
Has Uzoho redeemed himself with this game? Looks like it to me. He hardly put a foot wrong, and stood tall, thwarting several Mexican attempts on goal. He did himself no harm with this display.
The midfield looked ok. Bonke was effective without being spectacular. Iwobi was good, and Aribo did well. I still think Aribo should be a forward or a winger. But he did ok in the middle today.
I also loved the initial formation of 3-5-2. My only issue was why start Simon at right wing-back when Aina is available? Perhaps there was a valid reason. But the 3-man center back once again was ok, and showed what we already know, that these set of players are stronger defensively when they play 3 center backs.
An encouraging first game for Senhor Peseiro. Ecuador next.
I have always said it that Ekong doesn’t deserve playing for Nigeria!
He is always displaying lack of confidence, always uncomfortable with the ball, suspicious passes from the back, lack commanding characteristics yet he is the captain after Ahmed.
I don’t really understand that what a layman like me is seeing watching super eagles football matches for a very long time… I HOPE PESEIRO UNDERSTAND THAT EKONG DOESN’T DESERVE PLAYING FOR THE SUPER EAGLES AT ALL…
Ekong’s jittery attributes in the heart of our defense line always cost him with some mistakes and that’s to the detriment of super eagles and Nigerian football aficionados in general…
Nigeria needs a ball-carrying central defenders like Olisa Ndah, Kevin Akpoguma and CB…
When one states the obvious… they will call you an alarmist and racist…
This thing Ekong is playing… Will he smell playing for Netherlands in a thousand years?
He was largely part of the reasons due to sloppy plays that Watford FC got relegated.
Anyone can say what they like… but for some us, Ekong’s talent level is not at par with Super Eagles.
For God sake, we have Ndah who everyone knows is better ten times than an Ekong even now playing in ABSA SA Premier League. Same goes with Akpoguma who is also clearly not better than Ekong but playing for a better team and division now.
Ekong needs to be stripped of his captaincy, demoted to bench with Super Eagles permanently… I mean, how many own goals and calamitous plays do we need from him to be Frank with ourselves he does not cut it?
Ekong is a disgrace, a spoiler and not worthy of wearing the jersey he put on. His poor showing is all over the news here in US and raised many questions as to why he is always chosen to Captain the Nigeria team. or where he brought Watford Team to its knees. He was the sole reason why Nigeria is not playing in the World-Cup this summer. Once l saw him in the lineup, l knew assuredly, that Nigeria will lose to Mexico. Ekong made it happen. He is never there. He is a playboy.
I agree that Ekong needs to step up his game. He is just too error prone at the moment. Lack of game time at Watford has not helped his case. He needs to go to a club where he can get a good run of games.
While I appreciate his past contributions to the national team, at the moment, he’s status as a starting center back for the SE has to be called into question.
Balogun will be 34 next month, and his days as an SE player are likely winding down, unless he can continue playing into his late 30s, like Luka Modric, Thiago Silva and others are doing. If he can carry on playing, he looks like the new captain to me. Other center backs I would consider for selection are Ajayi, Awaziem, Ndah, Akpoguma (if available), and possibly Val Ozonwafor. Of course, Calvin Bassey can also play that role.
I have not watched Anthony Izuchukwu recently. If he’s still active, that guy is a good option.
I would hesitate to discard Omeruo just yet. At 28, he still has some football left in him, and if he’s in good form, his experience is invaluable. If fit and in form, he’s definitely one I would keep an eye on.
With all these options available to select from, Ekong may fall into irrelevance, unless we see improvement in performance levels.
@Pompei… You are always saying “Ekong should step up his game”
The man has no capacity to step up any game. He is playing at his potential.
I don’t think anyone needs to ask more questions why is he not rated at Watford.
The dude is simply not good enough… this is the same guy that was always number one on Rohr’s list.
The weakest central defender in the history of Super Eagles is Ekong.
Defenders score own goal yes, but see the one he scored like an attacker striking at the opponent’s goal. Yet this is the man with repeated calamitous plays captaining Nigeria.
So Simon was played at right wing back? Thought he said he like to express himself? And people did not say anything about it, well I reserved my comment as time will tell.
Did he play has wing back at the Nations cup. So deluded asshole will just come here and be commenting
What is the qualification of this guy who rates players? What are the criteria for scoring points? Stop making a nuisance of yourself and disrespecting players
Keep quiet with your inferiority complex and iliteracy, anyone can rate players you either agree or disagree.
The Nigerian man of the match was Calvin Bassey, closely followed by Dessers. Calvin Bassey was positive driving forward and overlapping. He acted as a defender and a forward and was impressive in both roles. He even showed Moses Simon – a winger, how to cross the ball onto the head of Dessers for the goal.
Moses Simon was poor, if not for Bassey’s inter-passing with him I would say he made no impression. However, his substitute Ishaq Kayode (17) was very positive and willing on several occasions to drive forward from the right with the ball rather than make square passes and back passes as was typical of quite a few Super Eagles players. Unfortunately, his final balls – either shots on target or attempted crosses, were poor. In fact, his one shot at goal was the only Super Eagles shot on target of the match.
Another home-based player that showed positivity in taking the ball into the opposition’s half was Sani Faisal (7). He showed even better positivity than Moses Simon in combining with Bassey on the left, and only his lack of experience stopped a goal-making opportunity late in the game.
Awaziem had a creditable performance, but Aribo was careless in possession, seeming to want to show off his on-the-ball skills to the Mexicans in Nigeria’s half, and could well have cost us a goal. He however improved as the game progressed.
Iwobi had a better game than usual but still not good enough for his critics like myself. In this game, he adopted the role of the creative attacking midfielder but was always hand-signaling his team mates indicating his lack of creative ideas on what to do with the ball when he progressed near the opposition penalty area. His best effort was later in the game when he combined on the right with the positive Ishaq Kayode.
Tactically, although many would dismiss the first-half as being a poor show, I saw it as a tactical experiment by the coach. Nigeria allowed Mexico to retain more of the possesion in the first half in order to adopt a pressing game tactic – much like Liverpool FC. The idea was to force the Mexicans to make mistakes that could be capitalized on through counter attacks.
Unfortunately, some of the players did not receive the memo from the coach and didn’t capitalise when they regained possession. Instead, they slowed the forward momentum and speed of attacks by square passing or back passing.
The entire Nigerian midfield were culpable of this type of play and bad decision making.In my view certain players appear to be risk averse and lacking in confidence to progress the ball quickly into the opposition half, instead resorting to cautious back and square passes.
As the coach is recommended by Mourinho, I believe his first half tactical decision was inline with Mourinho ‘Seven point’philosophy which is:
1. The game is won by the team who commits fewer errors.
2. Football favours whoever provokes more errors in the opposition.
3. Away from home, instead of trying to be superior to the opposition, it’s better to encourage their mistakes.
4. Whoever has the ball is more likely to make a mistake.
5. Whoever renounces possession reduces the possibility of making a mistake.
6. Whoever has the ball has fear.
7. Whoever does not have it is thereby stronger.
The essence of this philosophy is counterattacking football from a defensive pressing game approach. Unfortunately adopting Mourinho philosophy on a bunch of players too cowardly to progress the ball when they regain possesion from the opposition’s mistakes is where the tactic failed.
Nigeria is a team that loves ball possesion for the sake of ball possesion, rather than using it as the bridge for goal scoring. Changing this, is going to be the task for the coach.
CYRIEL KOLAWOLE DESSERS, GOD WILL CONTINUE HELPING YOU TO BE SCORING MORE GOALS FOR NIGERIA. YOUR POTENTIALITY IS UNDOUBT.
** UP DESSERS
** UP NIGERIA
Everything should be taken into context.
The Super Eagles barely trained together in a day or so under a new coach and management with a depleted squad playing against a world cup bound Mexican team double motivated by the fact they are playing in Texas which is figuratively their home ground baring in mind the boisterous Mexican fans. In that regard the Super Eagles tried.
I appreciate the passion and dedication of the boys. One can feel it in their willingness to play and key into the tactics proscribed by the Coach. Hopefully with more drills, better quality and time , things fall into place correctly.
I commend the fact that the coach is willing to try out different tactics as we played to different formations in both halves. It gives us the opportunity to see the flexibility of our lads. Majority of the boys played different positions in just this game.
Bassey is simply a gem. He can play both at centre back and left back a beautifully. Technically and tactically sound. Physically fit. Just amazing. With the right mentality and coaching he will definitely become elite.
Iwobi is more like our Swiss army knife. I appreciate his zeal to wanting the ball and been everywhere. He was lively. Hopefully he works more on his ‘outcome’.
Moffi and Dessers did great upfront. Both of a different breed from Osimhen. But in a positive way. They don’t have high energy and press of Osimhen but I argue, Dessers is technically better. Cyriel is simply a fox in the box. With vital assists ,he will score goals. The good news is we got strikers upfront with different characteristics that can learn from and support each other.
I will score the defence average. They did weather the storm of the Mexicans and were very physical and aware of their surroundings most of the game. The bane of the defence lies in the midfield where we didn’t really hold it as much as we should. But that could be excuse for lack of regular personnel in that part.
Uzoho was in his element tonight. He did well. I guess I am the only one in this box but I commend the coach for giving him the chance to man the post. It will build his confidence going forward and make him perform better. It also send a message to every member of the team that the manager got your back and trust you to learn and make amends when mistakes are made.
I like forward to further games and improvement in our all around structure and play. For what’s worth,it was good game necessary for both teams. Mexico for the world cup. Nigeria for the rebirth and Afcon qualifiers.
It can only get better.
Respect my man @Hush, the man wet Sabi..
What else will I say? People with better understanding have spoken.
Over all, the boys did well. They gave a good account of themselves, particularly the home based players, I was quietly impressed. They did not look out of place.
Iwobi’s engine is a weapon, he was everywhere , pressing , charging and linking up play. He however needs to improve his delivery in the final 3rd. In fact , I am amazed why people are rating dessers higher than iwobi. I thought he was one of our better players on the night.
Uzoho showed jitters in the early stages, steadied his nerves and gave a good account of himself as the matched progressed. One thing that I saw from Uzoho in the 2nd half was his distribution. I don’t know if it is this coach that introduced it but I like how on many occasion we were playing out from the back. Uzoho should keep it up.
Bassey, what more can one say about this kid, brilliant. He is the reason I can’t stay mad about Eguavoen. Eguavoen may have gotten a lot of things wrong but I am indebted to him for securing this kid. What a player! Even in the early stages when we were under the cusp, he still had a decent game.
Dessers, some of us have always believed in you and you did not disappoint. Life is all about taking chances and I believe you have taken yours.There are players who know where the back of the net is, they just know it instinctively. You can not teach what this guy has. We just need to work on our midfield and this guys will score a truck load of goals. Feed the Dessers and he will score.
Ishak,I need to see more of this kid. He had a very good game. I dear say looked more of a threat that the prestigious M.Simon.
Ajayi, struggled earlier on but recovered well to make some vital interceptions. Much improvement is needed in the Ecuador game.
Awaziem was poor, He needs to recover for the next game.
Moffi, played well but fluffed his lines when goal scoring opportunities came his way. Much improvement is needed.
Ekong is a conundrum at times, he is the kind of defender that would have a decent game and still cause you to concede 3 goals. There are always too many errors in his game. He was at fault for the 1st goal when the Mexican striker peeled off him to score . He then conceded an own goal. This is what we see from him when He played for watford. He has The capacity to be a good defender but his concentration level during the game is appalling. He really needs to sit up and improve and if he can’t then the coach needs to find a new centre back pairing. If we condone these errors, it would come back to hunt us in crucial games.
Peseiro, I like what I see with this coach already. It was so refreshing to see him bring on the home based players. His predecessor would have used the same regulars even for a friendly. Also, tactical tweaks he made that made us to pressure the Mexicans. Good work coach.
Finally, I do not advocate for players not being criticised, how then will they improve? All this talk about ” if we criticise them , we would not have any one to play for the SE”, is not right and builds a weak mentality in our players. So if the fans at their club criticise them, would they also decide not to play for their club sides? I know club fans are more brutal with their criticism. We have to be careful here that we do not build sensitive babies in our team. Look at the black stars, they knew that they dare not go back to kumsai without the wc ticket, their captain was heard telling rhe players that if there was anyone who is not ready for this game, that person should stay back. That shows their mentality, our players were having a tea party and no wonder we lost. There were only 2 players in the SE who were mentally ready for the game , osimehen and ekong, the others were still in their bath robes. Ghana came for war, our boys came to play a football match, the former edged it.
@Golden Child, a very fair, thoughtful analysis. Well done!
Though I didn’t watch the game fully but I watched 6 minutes highlights of the game on YouTube and I must say that, they tried their best and am supporting the new technical adviser and his coaching crew. You are on points sir
1. When are we going to end this ekong project? He does not deserve the first team of Nigeria. His mistakes are too many.
2. Moses Simon again. What can we say. Mr inconsistency. Ejuke can come back to the fold. Simon can’t be trusted all the time. Oh I miss kalu. Whatever went wrong with kalu. He made me not to miss Moses but he just lost form. Painful
3. I will always say that uzoho is better than okoye. Okoye still has confidence problem when he plays for Nigeria. Let us nurture uzoho as number one.
4. Iwobi… Should always be in the eagles. He showed that again.
5. Aribo. I wonder why Aribo is till not doing the rangers thing for eagles. Is it still the formation problem? But something tells me he is still needed in the first team.
6. Bassey… What a player. Thank you eguavon for tying this olayer down. Thank you bassey for being strong tomolay for Nigeria..what a player. What a gift for Nigeria.
7. Dessers: He has what oshimen does not have . Though oshimen also has what he does not have. Dessers is a striker I love. Very disciplined too. He scored a goal oshimen might not have scored. My opinion though. But we are blessed to have him in eagles color. Thank you deseeers for not getting angry when eguavon goofed by saying he does not know about you. Nigerian coach and their magic!!! Dessers will give oshimen good run for his money. He will make him become cool headed and disciplined.
8. This bonke project. We should do away with it. Not good enough.
9. I want to see aina next game.
Overall. Great play. Good coach for switching tactics. Shows he is not rigid like Mr Rohr. Early days anyway.
Regulars like chukwueze, balogun, sanusi, iheanacho, ndidi, sodiq, awoniyi etc did not play. We will get better.
Dessers… Son of Destiny. On a journey to Spanish second division, gets a call to detour. Lands in Holland’s top division and continental finals.
Blatantly refuses to change his mind from donning the green, after being humiliated perennially.
Being an international puts the bigger clubs on alert.
Dessers and Bassey; the SE men to watch out for.
Ishaq Kayode Rafiu looked quite exciting when he came on. Not shy at all to take on opponents, dribbles well, shoots well, and made some dangerous runs at the Mexican defense. With more games, he could be a great option for the wings.
And he’s only 21 in fact all the NPFL players did really well when they came on. He would be a player to watch in the U23, CHAN and the main SuperEagles in the nearest future. Hopefully he doesn’t flatter to deceive. I hope he starts the next game.
@Ayphillydegreat… I thought NPFL has no talent? You echoed this sentiments with @Dr.Drey here on this forum.
Nobody said NPFL have no talents. Nigeria have never lacked talents anywhere they play. It’s the level of competitiveness we are talking about. When your league has been nothing to write home about for close to a decade why would you expect me to pick players from that league???
If I’m not mistaken maybe this year is the only time our league have not been interrupted prematurely over the last five years(I stand to be corrected). Almost every foreign coach we’ve had always gives the home based players their fair chance to impress with the exception of your own who was looking for midfielders like Oliha and Adepoju. Lmao!! Still living in fantasy.
However, in the situation that a player earn just one cap with the SuperEagles the next thing you know he is in Malta or Estonia if not Libya or other Mediterranean leagues. The most important thing at this point is to have a plan for this NPFL players to be able to gain valuable experience with the CHAN team and our U23 for those in that age bracket and the ones that shows quality can be valuable to the main SuperEagles. Finidi went from Calabar Rovers straight to Ajax first team not Lithuanian or Moldova. That’s the kind of plan this players should have at this point. Ishak Kayode Rafiu shows promise, but let’s hope he’s not another Iwuala or Opotu or Lokosa and the likes.
That is why Dr Drey hasn’t shown his face since the match. Shame is killing him. The homebased players really proved that Drey is a sham. That is why they call him Doctor shit.
Heaven bless Ishaq and all deserving Super Eagles homebased players.
What exactly did Moffi contribute? The man plays like an 80’s striker. No defensive work. When he pretends to mark, he leaves the attacking opponent’s front and starts marking his back, as if he’s going to turn around and pass back to the keeper, with acres of space in front of him and no pressure. Ridiculous shadow marking!! For a man that is number 37 in the scoring leaders’ list in the French league, l expected him to give it all he had, now that a rare opportunity to make a case for himself came. Disappointing!If you watch Mexico’s 1st goal, it was the zero pressure from him and Dessers that allowed the Mexican defender all the time in the world that he needed to pick out their scorer. Iheanacho and Osimhen will not allow you that type of space and time. SE better thank their God that lwobi was able to make it to the game. Like all the Mexican players, he was the only SE player showing up in spaces for passes. The rest will stay rooted behind opponents and watch you waste unnecessary energy trying to dribble three players to come and find them. The Mexicans? Not so! They always create a passing outlet triangle for their player who has the ball. This simple trademark style they always use allows for one or two touch neat football that saves energy as you don’t have to twist and turn to beat anybody and will work regardless of if you’ve trained together for one day or 3 years. There was nothing special about that Mexican squad. Ekong had a good presence. As an active, regular playing defender, especially in high intensity competitive atmospheres, scoring an own goal comes with the territory as it’s bound to happen to one at some point, no matter how good or careful you are. The keeper kept the score respectable with that one save. Iwobi, kudos all around!
Where does CS get these clowns who do their ratings?
Whoever rated Innocent Bonke a 4/10 must really have been smoking something.
Innocent was a rock in the midfield before his injury. Very impressed with is performance.
I’ll say it again. Moffi doesn’t know that modern forwards are expected to defend and in an honest way too. When he pretends to mark, he often chooses to mark the sides or back area of the attacking opponent while leaving them a clear path forward to waltz through like one approaching a toll gate without a gate or attendant.lt’s the same shadow marking or lack of any marking or pressure that allowed the Mexican defender to relax as much as he wanted and dropped the ball to their first goal scorer. Our players don’t show for passes. Only lwobi was doing it and linking passes and players. Without him there, we would have been a totally disjointed, embarrassing mess. Forget the never trained together excuse. How about doing the basics that will give you a chance. Watch Mexico, an average squad this time. They were all showing for passes. No need for them to waste energy to dribble because one was always given passing options. Thankfully, it wasn’t a team with size and two or three talented forwards. Uzoho’s save helped in keeping the score respectful. No, we didn’t need to have Osimhen and lheanacho to beat the team l saw. We made them look better than they should. That’s basically my take on it.
I’ll say it again. Moffi doesn’t know that modern forwards are expected to defend and in an honest way too. When he pretends to mark, he often chooses to mark the sides or back area of the attacking opponent while leaving them a clear path forward to waltz through like one approaching a toll gate without a gate or attendant.lt’s the same shadow marking or lack of any marking or pressure that allowed the Mexican defender to relax as much as he wanted and dropped the ball to their first goal scorer. Our players don’t show for passes. Only lwobi was doing it and linking passes and players. Without him there, we would have been a totally disjointed, embarrassing mess. Forget the never trained together excuse. How about doing the basics that will give you a chance. Watch Mexico, an average squad this time. They were all showing for passes. No need for them to waste energy to dribble because one was always given passing options. Thankfully, it wasn’t a team with size and two or three talented forwards. Uzoho’s save helped in keeping the score respectful. No, we didn’t need to have Osimhen and lheanacho to beat the team l saw. We made them look better than they should. That’s basically my take on it.