William Troost-Ekong scored the only goal at the Stade Olympique Ouattara in Ivory Coast as the host surrendered three points to Jose Peseiro’s men.
A foul on Victor Osimhen by Ousmane Diomande led the referee, Mustapha Ghorbal, to the VAR screen before awarding a penalty to Nigeria, which Ekong wasted no time in putting the ball in the back of the net.
Soccernet.ng rates the performance of the Nigerian players as they carted three points in front of the home crowd.
1. Christian Nwabali 7/10: Another great performance from the Chippa United goalkeeper. His decision-making, the way he cleared the ball from set pieces and how he commanded his back-line stood out. He made three solid saves to deny the hosts and has proven to deserve his number-one spot so far.
2. Ola Aina 7/10: The Nottingham Forest full-back was locked in with his duels. He put his body on the line several times and made sure he kept Jeremie Boga quiet for most of the game.
3. William Troost Ekong 8/10: Captain on the day, Ekong stood up to take the penalty amidst the plethora of attacking talents in the Super Eagles team and executed it perfectly. At the back, the PAOK centre-back won all of the tackles he went into, and kept a clean sheet for the Nigerian team.
4. Semi Ajayi 6.5/10: The West Bromwich Albion central defender once again struggled with the game’s physicality in the first half, but unlike the game against Equatorial Guinea, he grew into it and got his head back into the game. On the other end of the game, he disrupted the opponent’s defence by being a threat in the air from set-pieces.
5. Calvin Bassey 7.1/10: Bassey won nine duels, and had fifty-three touches all game. His physical strength played a huge role at the back for Jose Peseiro’s men, and he combined well with Zaidu Sanusi when the Porto full-back made overlapping runs.
6. Zaidu Sanusi 6.5/10: The Porto full-back was solid defensively and handed the set-piece duties to Ademola Lookman today. In attack, the final ball was mostly lacking from the wing-back, but he was solid at the back, winning eight of the duels he was involved in.
7. Frank Onyeka 7/10: The Brentford man put in a decent shift in midfield, although in an advanced position today with a solid back-three behind him. He caused all sorts of problems for the Ivorian team, causing break-ups in their ball progression.
8. Alex Iwobi 7/10: Surprisingly sprung into the central midfield position by Jose Peseiro, the Fulham player made five creative passes into the opposition’s box, and was very involved defensively, making six ball recoveries.
9. Ademola Lookman 6.8/10: The Atalanta man created three chances today, and 75% of his crosses were accurate. His set-piece deliveries were on point, but the physicality of the game looked to knock him off-course, and he was replaced by Bright Osayi-Samuel with eleven minutes left on the clock.
10. Samuel Chukwueze 6/10: The Milan winger couldn’t exploit the Ivorian defence with his trickery and pace, as his decision-making in the final third let him down on several scenarios.
11. Victor Osimhen 7/10: The Napoli striker won the penalty for Nigeria, and his hold-up play was excellent today, as he received loads of long balls from the back as they constantly cleared the ball out during times of intense pressure.
Substitutes
Bright Osayi-Samuel 5/10: The Fernabache man came on with eleven minutes to go, and his decision-making cost Nigeria the chance to score the second goal, as he opted to go all by himself rather than pass the ball.
Moses Simon 5.5/10: The Nantes winger replaced Samuel Chukwueze with eighteen minutes left on the clock, and struggled to effect any real change in the game.
Kenneth Omeruo: Came on to seal the game for Nigeria with ten minutes left on the clock.
View Comments
whoever gave this rating is a goat. A giant Goat. I don't mean Messi type of goat, I mean Nnama, red Bororo Goat. what nonsense are you talking about. The rubbish Super eagles played from beginning to end, Abi the goals Osimeh couldn't convert. None of the Eagles players deserve a 7 rating apart from that right back Aina. Dear Adefolahan, If you don't know how to reviews a football game, please stick to the basics the one you know well and we'll all be happy. Yours sincerely, A concerned Nigerian.
Your utopian expectations dey whine you. Strong team like Cote d' Ivoire as hosts and the Super Eagles beat them before their over 50000 fans and you can't appreciate that. If it is as easy as you think I wonder why you are not football star yourself.
they tried. cite d vior did not believe they loose the match.
Aina the best
You are not patriotic citizen, whoever you are, the boys deserve every rating. I guess you could even attempt to shoot them , if it happens that they lost??
Aina deserve 8/10, the keeper 7/10 and the rest 5/10
Agreed
Calvin Bassey did great also
iwobi was our worst player today .there is no way in hell u got a 7 more like a 4/10 same as Chukwueze
I don't think U watched the match
for and offensive midfielder to be playing defensive all thru
den he deserves the 7
I'm still wondering if you aren't Ghanaian!? You dey smoke Igbo? AINA was the star man! Ekong follows, Chukwueze and Osayi is worse!
Zaidu deserved better rating. He was all over the field making crucial tackles.
no formation in the build up
Aina was the best player for me because he executed his duties excellently more than any other player on the pitch. He defended and attacked well, if it wasn't for players like chukwueze and osayi who instead of passing the ball at crucial stages preferred to dribble themselves, we might have scored more than one goal on the night.
the defenders did well but zaidu didn't match Aina's performance, he wasn't using the ball well on that wing and he wasn't giving good passes. He almost caused a goal.
iwobi is a creative player being asked to play a deeper role in midfield. So he defends and attacks in. Equal measure, he is adapting to this formation and i think he is doing well along with onyeka even though he doesn't have much opportunity to come up, he still gives some good passes from that position.
lookman played well, fought for every ball against bigger and stronger players and took some of the pressure on the team.
osimhen is still shouldering a lot of the goal scoring responsibilities so i forgive overlook any mistakes he makes plus he did his part.
all the defender deserve at least a 6.5 except zaidu, he gets a 5. Aina get a 7.5
osimhen gets 7, iwobi and onyeka get 6.5, chukwueze, Simon and osayi get 5, lookman gets 6.5, the goalie gets 6.5
I hope Daniel Apeyi had seen himself disappointed by hosts country he tipped to win over the Super Eagles? What a God-cause surprise on all, who wrote out our chances to stake a claim!
Peseiro is a coach with club-side knowledge not national team football though he’s a committed coach with good European attitude but sadly time is running out for him. Samuel should be dropped from the team and Musa should be giving a chance while Moses try working from the right wing instead, Victor needs physical yet technical gifted like Oliseh while the whole team should work on shots accuracy, Quick decision making and speed if planning to make any impact at this AFCON.
(Group A final standing)
1) Equatorial Guinea 7pts
2) Nigeria 5pts
3)Ivory coast 3pts
4)Guinea-Bissau 1pt
God bless Nigeria, God bless Africa and Peace to the world.
nah big lie be that. I rather go for this
1. Nigeria 7 points
2. Ivory Coast 6 points
3. Equatorial Guinea 4 points
4. Guinea Bissau 0 points
This is a great rating!
Some of you condemning the rating you are not been fair. It is because of the mixed emotions you get in the match. You have to be neutral to make good rating