JohnBullMySon:
There was a clear foul before the goal. Na just say the goal sweet and Egypt Guniea Bissau na the underdog. Na why all this talk dey reign.

That was not a clear foul Baba ,if that thing no lead to goal dem no go check am

Guinea Bissau goal was a clean goal

Joezinho:


Of course it does. But backward passes are worse.

back passes are not....At times, back passes are like a bait, you use them to draw your opponent and when they all assemble in your half, then you break their press with a quick one-twos or with a long pass and then boom! You score.
Arsenal have been scoring this type of goal lately.
PS: this has nothing to do with yesterday's match o. ..

Danielnino00:


If you ask me, I think they are trying to keep Egypt in the competition because of Salah...

In that case it's no more competition.
In few years time, people would look at head to head and think Egypt won fairly
Fifa/caf keeps pampering the big teams and host and they keep winning unfairly.

Tolulopefinest:


As they kept Egypt because of Salah against South Africa in the round of 16 in 2019 abi.

Una go just dey type nonsense. The Guinea player obviously wrestle that guy to the floor.

South Africa choke that match ,no ojoro work that day ,make one day player mistakenly fall salah inside 18 make you see for yourself

Danny should not be certain but he is not speaking nonsense .

Which kind yeye wrestle the guy ,if that goal no enter dem no go go back go check that foul abeg

JohnBullMySon:
There was a clear foul before the goal. Na just say the goal sweet and Egypt Guniea Bissau na the underdog. Na why all this talk dey reign.

If it was a clear foul, how come the ref no blow whistle as it happened? They just look for a wu to disallow the goal.

safarigirl:
House, what is your opinion on this take?

Only people that VAR caught their bluff are complaining. There's nothing shady about VAR. It is ordinary technology simply meant to show the red what his eyes missed not to take decisions for the ref. Any mistake henceforth is from the ref not VAR.

Anybody complaining about VAR is just unhappy about a foul or offside they almost escaped with. You can never rationally dismiss VAR.

Infact, goal line tech has proven to be more error prone than VAR. It simply takes decisions on its own.

mostob:
Is Kante a b2b midfielder,a DM or a CM?

Kante strikes me as a more of a box-to-box midfielder than a rigid DM..

We didn't have to be at our best best to beat Sudan, but, watch Rohr make a prime Brazil out of this same Sudanese team of he were still in charge.

I expect at most changes to the lineup against Guinea.

PS: Danielnino, I work with a radio station at Abakaliki, I may be able to help with the publicity of the Nairaland award. Tell me more about it.

andrewbaba44:


That was not a clear foul Baba ,if that thing no lead to goal dem no go check am

Guinea Bissau goal was a clean goal

Is pushing a defender in front of you a foul? Yes or No.

The statistics provided by Whoscored has highlighted the individual performances of some Super Eagles stars during yesterday's 3-1 win over Sudan at the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations.

Nigeria had seventeen shots to Sudan's five. Taiwo Awoniyi scored with one of his game-high six attempts, Simon hit the target twice with one ending in the back of the net and Chukwueze scored with the only shot he registered.

When it came to key passes, there was a four-way tie between Wilfred Ndidi, Moses Simon, Kelechi Iheanacho and
Walieldin Khedr with two each; the Leicester City midfielder won a team-high two aerial duels.

Ola Aina led the way in interceptions with four - a game-high figure - followed by Wilfred Ndidi (3) and Aribo (2).

The Glasgow Rangers ace finished with a joint game-high four tackles despite spending 64 minutes on the pitch, and Kenneth Omeruo made a team-high two clearances and also gave away a team-high two fouls.

Simon was the best rated player at 9.05, placing first ahead of Chukwueze (8.38), Awoniyi (7.83) and Aribo (7.65).

The Nantes winger was also the top dribbler with four successful take-ons; Aina and Chukwueze were next with three each.

Zaidu Sanusi had a game-high 105 touches ahead of Ndidi (86), Mustafa Karshoum (72), Aina (66) and Omeruo (66); the Porto star also made the most passes (85).

Of the outfielders Aribo was the most accurate passer, finding a teammate 93.5 percent of the time, followed by his replacement Kelechi Nwakali (92.3 percent).

Six separate players won two fouls : Simon, Aribo, Ndidi, Sadiq, Awoniyi and Algozoli Hussien.

JohnBullMySon:
Is pushing a defender in front of you a foul? Yes or No.

An advantage ,but a foul

So any player wey dem nack body Na foul ?

Go and check how benzema bullied snailsquet at the super sup against Barca

mank1234:


If it was a clear foul, how come the ref no blow whistle as it happened? They just look for a wu to disallow the goal.

Ref cannot see everything. That's why we have VAR in the first place.

andrewbaba44:


South Africa choke that match ,no ojoro work that day ,make one day player mistakenly fall salah inside 18 make you see for yourself

Danny should not be certain but he is not speaking nonsense .

Which kind yeye wrestle the guy ,if that goal no enter dem no go go back go check that foul abeg

Why wasn't that Penalty Against Nigeria given to Egypt when that was an obvious foul. I'm talking of the foul committed by Simon.

Nigeria produced another exquisite performance to seal a 3-1 victory over Sudan on matchday two of the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations in Cameroon.

First-half goals from Samuel Chukwueze and Taiwo Awoniyi put the Super Eagles in the driving seat before Moses Simon added the third moments into the second period.

Nigeria’s defence was breached for the first time in this competition via a soft penalty, but the result was never in doubt.

Mozzart
Qualification to the knockout round is now guaranteed even with a game to spare, and it is a fantastic time to be a Super Eagles’ fan.

Soccernet.ng‘s Imhons Erons points at some of the notable things to takeaway from that pleasant win.

Moses Simon is Nigeria’s best player so far
No Super Eagles star has stepped up the plate to be counted more than the Nantes forward. And that is in a Nigerian team full of top performers.



Simon was the tormentor-in-chief against Egypt and could have easily claimed the man-of-the-match award given to Kelechi Iheanacho in that game.

But there was no denying who was the best player on the pitch on Saturday. His assist to Chukwueze’s opener and his well-taken goal only told half the story.



Simon won seven duels, completed three of his four attempted take-ons, created two chances and had two shots on target. CAF has picked his strike as the goal of the day.

The 26-year-old is in the form of his life and long may it continue.


The Super Eagles are favourites for the title
With many first and second-choice players missing out of Nigeria’s squad for Afcon 2021, no one knew what to expect from the Super Eagles in Cameroon.

But after two comfortable victories backed by excellent displays, the three-time continental champions are back in the conversation of the likely winners of Cameroon 2021.

Hosts Cameroon look strong. Defending champions Algeria remain solid. Senegal have some of Africa’s best players. Nigeria are well organised, defend well, and look dangerous in attack.

Any of those four will end up winning the Afcon.

Samuel Chukwueze must step up
The Villarreal wing-wonder side-footed in his first goal of the tournament after just three minutes to hand Nigeria the lead in Garoua.

That is his second Afcon goal, following his fine strike against South Africa in the quarterfinals of Egypt 2019.

But while Simon was dazzling the Sudanese on the left flank, Chukwueze was not that lively on the right side.

And aside from his goal, he did not affect the game much more and was replaced at halftime by Everton star Alex Iwobi.

But none who watched Chukwueze drive Villarreal to the final of the Europa League last year will doubt the youngster’s quality.

Chukwueze remains one of Nigeria’s most gifted attackers.

And the road to the Afcon final would be smoother for the Super Eagles should the 2015 U-17 World Cup winner gets into his groove.

Iwobi is still one of the Eagles’ best
Many Everton fans have knocked the midfielder for the hefty transfer fee the club paid Arsenal for his services in 2019 and some of his recent displays.

Despite his struggles at Merseyside, Iwobi is a different beast when wearing the green and white kits.

With Joe Aribo’s masterful handling of matters in the Eagles’ midfield, the team could afford to do without Iwobi in the game against Egypt and the first half of the tie against Sudan.

But Iwobi’s introduction gave Nigeria more bite in attack, with his sleek passing and composure on the ball reminding everyone that he is one of the Eagles’ finest.

The best of Maduka Okoye is yet to come
After keeping a clean sheet against Mohamed Salah and co, Okoye finally picked the ball from his net, albeit from a Sudanese penalty.

Placed behind a solid and organised defence marshalled by William Troost-Ekong and Kenneth Omeruo, the Sparta Rotterdam goalkeeper has had little to do between the posts so far.

But Okoye’s concentration was not at high levels against the Falcons and he fumbled one or two crosses that would normally be routine catches.

The competition will get tougher in the latter stages of the championship, and only Okoye’s A-game will get the Eagles past stormy times.

The Huesca midfielder has only made late cameos in the two games the Super Eagles have played at the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations

Super Eagles interim boss Austin Eguavoen has admitted that it is difficult for him to find a role for Kelechi Nwakali in the Super Eagles team because he does not have enough experience with the team.

Nwakali was called up for the biennial competition to provide more attacking options, but he has only made two substitute appearances in the games against Egypt and Sudan.

Mozzart
Eguavoen has gone with a midfield combination of Wilfred Ndidi and Joe Aribo, which has proven successful.

But there is still a section of Nigerian fans that would like to see Nwakali, considering his track record at the 2015 FIFA U17 World Cup.

However, Eguavoen believes the former Arsenal man may find it difficult to play, and he needs to be patient because he has no understanding with the team as it is his first time with the national team.



“More patience, I’ll say, and he’s been a fringe player in and out of the team, Eguavoen said after Nigeria’s game against Sudan,” as per Modo.

“And now we’ve given him the confidence to come in and not to start the game because Aribo has been there, good understanding with the team and of course with Ndidi in the middle of the park.”



“Ndidi actually haven’t played with Kelechi, so it’s a little bit difficult to just change the team’s formation,” Eguavoen added.

Nwakali could get his chance in Nigeria’s final game against Guinea-Bissau, though, as the Super Eagles have already secured top spot and qualification to the second round.

Nigeria vs Sudan could have been easily 7-0.

Nigeria created that many clear cut chances....

mostob:
back passes are not....At times, back passes are like a bait, you use them to draw your opponent and when they all assemble in your half, then you break their press with a quick one-twos or with a long pass and then boom! You score.
Arsenal have been scoring this type of goal lately.
PS: this has nothing to do with yesterday's match o. ..

A "creative player" that does nothing for the attack, because he only ever passes sideways and backwards and even when he does push the ball forward, those passes are never ambitious or incisive? Isn't that funny for a creative player like Nwakali?

Even Aribo whose job was to spread passes from the area between the defenders and the more attacking midfielders didn't make back passes like Nwakali...

Abeg make una talk another thing jare.

Okay now. Done with Church. What did I miss?


Uhmmm My Learned one. I will have to watch the game again to bring out the exact mins he delivered all 3 long balls aiit.

But from memory and from watching the replay late yesterday (most of it coz I had other things to do before bed), It was easy to see he switched plays from right to left with a long ball to Zaidu.

So you saying you didn't see any at all despite seeing that replay means you missed these moments.

Mujtahida:

Ball. Balls.

Joezinho:


Kante strikes me as a more of a box-to-box midfielder than a rigid DM..

the bolded is exactly my point. Many defensive midfielders operate differently. It only depends on the midfield combination. Ndidi and Onyeka are two different types of DM so Nwakali is not competing with Onyeka IMO

Papi85:
mk I create YT channel Dey monitor Kano pillars and adamawa United cum Dey talk like person wey dem press em neck

Am not that idle bro!

you dey trip for basco americanize accent laugh wan kee me here

TheGoodJoe:


I probably would also like to see the Onyeka-Nwakali-Iwobi midfield too. We play in a more possessive pattern than direct. I believe we will face another compact side when we meet Guinea and it is nice to try an alternate approach. Keep the ball in the midfield, just in front of the opposition wall with daring off the ball runs to expand the wall.

Just a little spice to the philosophy we are playing.

By the way, I was impressed with Iwobi's work rate and there was a track back run he made that was amazing.

Iwobi is still vital for us. I enjoyed his movement and the quickness of his passes. It would be brilliant idea to have him play in the hole just before the main striker. His passes are juicy.

mostob:
the bolded is exactly my point. Many defensive midfielders operate differently. It only depends on the midfield combination. Ndidi and Onyeka are two different types of DM so Nwakali is not competing with Onyeka IMO

Onyeka is not a DM.. Vataly Janelt is the DM for brentford FC. Frank plays as an 8 in their system.. He's a box-to-box midfielder, capable of linking up play and shifting the tone of the game from defence to attack...

People think he's a DM because of the workrate of brentford midfielders. The holding midfielder Norgaard, Onyeka and Janelt are three highly gifted players.

When the team wins the ball back and finds itself in the opposing box, Janelt occupies one of three functions: supporting his wingback as a pivot or a decoy, both to lure in opponents and drag opponents out of position, as well as receiving the ball and crossing the ball with his first touch. And when he does this, other midfielders tend to cover for him.

Nigeria team in this competition has an identity, a style of play visible to any one with tactical eyes, though have not perfected it yet, but it's visible to see.

Nigeria does not play like mancity or Barcelona, Nigeria in the past two games have played like Jurgen klopp's liverpool...

Gen gen pressing with high intensity from the beginning, and fast wing play, a lot to improve on yes, but so far, Nigeria has been the most tactical and technical team in the afcon.
Good thing I saw yesterday was also a switch in play immediately nwakali came, Nigeria reduced the gengen press and played more expensively, more ball retention, slow build up because they were in the lead and that was another tactical master class.

Aribo was a beauty, and nwakali very effective when he came in...
Moses Simon played well but he should reduce the unnecessary dribbles, chukwueze too, he was wasting Aina's run , moses should also learn to cut in, draw the player in, and let zaidu run into space, release the ball, let the full backs cross.

I see what the coaches aim at.. our play is very identical to the liverpool side.

TheSuperNerd:
Okay now. Done with Church. What did I miss?


Uhmmm My Learned one. I will have to watch the game again to bring out the exact mins he delivered all 3 long balls aiit.

But from memory and from watching the replay late yesterday (most of it coz I had other things to do before bed), It was easy to see he switched plays from right to left with a long ball to Zaidu.

So you saying you didn't see any at all despite seeing that replay means you missed these moments.

Rewatching the match, of course not with all attention. In fact I was reading comments on this thread while watching the replay.

But then if he made the long passes, I'm okay even if he does not, it doesn't hurt. All that matters is that he's not played badly so far. Maybe not up to the hype per se, but he's been putting a fair shift.

A long run say 45 minutes spell in our next match will enable us see him well.

Naah, nothing like Convolution here Citizen. The use of in/into is very deliberate.
There were passes he made while in Opposition half that were possessive only and passes he executed that were progressive.

Example is the late driving run he made from midfield on the right channel which saw him beat a man (his only recorded take on from yesterday) and weighed the perfect pass into Iwobi's path for a crossing chance. That was progressive passing on display.

There was another he made while standing in our own half but it ended up at Iwobi's feet in the opposition half. There are a few others I can cite.

Now ofcos, most of it were possessive and that is what enabled us keep possession and record our best passing sequence of plays all game. Our average passing sequence was 6 passes per sequence (Average pass streak) according to your new found stats love, Whoscored.

Even the back passes he gave helped to recycle possession and help us rebuild, shifting our plays from right to left or left to right, seeking to maintain control as well as exploit gaps in the Opponent's defensive structure.



Let me bring up another instance in a small digression.

Aribo in the first half made a beautiful move towards the box, beating a man and setting up Awoniyi on the left side of the box. Awo had to cut back for Iheanacho who was waiting to tap in but Aribo, being unaware of Nacho's presence just to his diagonal side, tried to connect with the ball and thus soiled the chance.

Now, Aribo started that move. He opened up that chance. But stats didn't record it as a Key pass. But we all saw that and thought perhaps it should be counted in his favour.


So what am I saying? If I was to fully analyse Aribo, I would deliberately include that action moment in my stats evaluation. And will explain if anyone asks.

So in/into was deliberate because I was trying to show something. Finito.

TheLoneCitizen:


I'm not in support of the other brethren, but, with all respect, you're convoluting the stats here to favour Nwakali.

Kelechi completed 8 passes while standing in Nigeria's half.
And 16 passes while standing in Sudan's half.

In is different from into, and can't be interchanged as you implied in your post.

While the latter shows progression, the former depicts possession.

Respect, mate.

Joezinho:


A "creative player" that does nothing for the attack, because he only ever passes sideways and backwards and even when he does push the ball forward, those passes are never ambitious or incisive? Isn't that funny for a creative player like Nwakali?

Even Aribo whose job was to spread passes from the area between the defenders and the more attacking midfielders didn't make back passes like Nwakali...

Abeg make una talk another thing jare.

ok

zuchyblink:
All these funny comparison with Ighalo is uncalled for, the same tournament Awoniyi is playing Ighalo has won the golden boot in the last edition. No coach will bench Ighalo for Awoniyi,he is making it to the first XI because Ighalo's club refused to release him There is no baseline for comparison

Forget it, Ighalo is gone. At best he will be a third attacking option behind Osimhen and Awoniyi

Joezinho:


Onyeka is not a DM.. Vataly Janelt is the DM for brentford FC. Frank plays as an 8 in their system.. He's a box-to-box midfielder, capable of linking up play and shifting the tone of the game from defence to attack...

People think he's a DM because of the workrate of brentford midfielders. The holding midfielder Norgaard, Onyeka and Janelt are three highly gifted players.

When the team wins the ball back and finds itself in the opposing box, Janelt occupies one of three functions: supporting his wingback as a pivot or a decoy, both to lure in opponents and drag opponents out of position, as well as receiving the ball and crossing the ball with his first touch. And when he does this, other midfielders tend to cover for him.

This doesn't rule out the fact that Onyeka can play as a defensive midfielder. Onyeka was called up to back Ndidi up and that means he is playing as a DM for us. Finito
Go read more about Onyeka abeg

But the thing is he did. And the stats picked it up. Says he executed 100% of his long balls attempts. 3/3.

If we all watch the game with keen attention again, we would all see the exact moments he recorded all three long balls. The one that easily comes to mind was the one to Zaidu because it was quite effortless and sweet.

And yes, he has been very decent as a sub and doing what a bonafide central Midfield player would do. I mean he is doing exactly what we all hail Pedri for. Even Jorginho for goodness sake.

Pedri is a pass master and so is Nwakali. Both are adept at ball recycling and keeping the possession going for a team. They are also playmakers from deep. We hail Pedri as a Baller but we look down on Nwakali. It's funny

This is not hype. Nwakali came in and we had better control of the middle. He did what he was instructed to do. Keep possession. Progress if necessary and just generally keep things tidy and cool in the middle.

Ndidi even fared better alongside Nwakali but Eguavoen is still keen to allow things gel gradually. I think this is why he still haven't gone with a 3 man midfield.

The moment Eguavoen unleashes an Ndidi-Nwakali-Aribo trio combo may just be the moment in time we all finally see what I have been cross-analysing on all 3 players finally bear fruit on a tactically Balanced scale.

Against Bissau, let's see what Eguavoen and the crew unleash as our Middle game approach.

Mujtahida:

Rewatching the match, of course not with all attention. In fact I was reading comments on this thread while watching the replay.

But then if he made the long passes, I'm okay even if he does not, it doesn't hurt. All that matters is that he's not played badly so far. Maybe not up to the hype per se, but he's been putting a fair shift.

A long run say 45 minutes spell in our next match will enable us see him well.

mostob:
This doesn't rule out the fact that Onyeka can play as a defensive midfielder. Onyeka was called up to back Ndidi up and that means he is playing as a DM for us. Finito
Go read more about Onyeka abeg

He can play as a DM doesn't make him a pure DM.. You should read more about him too..

And who was Nwakali called to back up?

Hanibal:

How else are we supposed to explain that Nwakali and onyeka are different players and one cannot do the other's job? Nwakali is playing ahead of onyeka because we needed someone to stabilize the midfield.
Eguavon is not Rohr that will play Ndidi and onyeka (both pure DMs) together against an inferior team.
In the current set up onyeka is not competing with Nwakali, his competition is Ndidi ! And Nwakali has no competition (at what he does) in this AFCON squad.
How else are we to explain this? TheSuperNerd and TheGoodjoe have explained this over and over again.
And I find it surprising that Komekn with all his supposed involvement in football at the highest level still find it difficult to understand the simple point: Frank the TANK Nwakali the Ferrari (maybe Aba made Ferrari at present but a Ferrari all the same) you don see where Dem replace Ferrari with Tank before? .... They serve different purposes my man.

Good exposition. Frank and Nwakali are not like for like players. Frank's competition is with Ndidi and Ndidi has been superb. So credit to us for having such depth.

Dannyxy:
Nigeria vs Sudan could have been easily 7-0.

Nigeria created that many clear cut chances....

Awoniyi could have scored an hatrick