After having their nose in front, the Super Eagles trailed 1-2 to Cameroon at half time following two quick fire goals. The Eagles however came back strongly in the second half with two goals in three minutes from the boots of Odion Ighalo and Alex Iwobi.
It was a fantastic evening especially for the forwards who got high ratings from their performances in the game while the defence had a game to forget so soon.
Below is the players’ rating from 3-2 win over Cameroon in Round of 16 clash of AFCON 2019 in Alexandria on Saturday.
Daniel Akpeyi (Goalkeeper): Back in the starting XI and was beaten twice by the Cameroonians. There was little he could do with both goals but it would have helped if he was quicker in his dives on both occasions. Aside the goals, he appeared jittery anytime the Cameroonians launch the offensive. Also, the South Africa based keeper failed to coordinate his defence line properly. 4/10
Chidozie Awaziem (Right-back): Awaziem, a trained central defender continued at right-back and he seemed to be getting better in his new role. He had a torrid time tracking the quick Christian Bassogog and could not stop the Cameroonian forward from crossing for the assist for the Lions’ first goal. He however redeemed himself by sending in a cross that led to Nigeria’s second goal. 6/10
William Troost-Ekong (Central defender): He was guilty of bad positioning several times during the game and especially in the 44th min. He failed to quickly get in position behind his defensive partner, Kenneth Omeruo who had gone to head the ball. The Chelsea player missed the ball and Troost-Ekong wasn’t there to intercept before Clinton N’jie raced on to give Cameroon a 2-1 lead. 5/10
Kenneth Omeruo (Central defender): He got the share of the blame for the two goals conceded by the Super Eagles. The first one was on him as he couldn’t clear a cross that led to Cameroon’s first goal. For the second goal, he got out of position to contest a header which he missed and watched as N’Jie raced towards goal with the ball before scoring.
Omeruo got better later on in the game but by that standard he has set himself off in the tournament, this was his worst game by a mile. 4/10
Ola Aina (Left-back): Had an average game and was also at fault for Cameroon’s second. Aina was caught out of position from a header and couldn’t catch up with N’Jie who went on to score for the Indomitable Lions. 5/10
Wilfred Ndidi (Defensive Midfielder): Covered enough grounds during the game and defended well from the middle. Still failed to dictate the pace of the game from midfield and he needs to get his shots on target in subsequent games. 6/10
Oghenekaro Etebo (Defensive Midfielder): Played with his usual energy but lacked the creativity in midfield. Offered enough grit in the middle alongside Ndidi but still failed going forward. 6/10
Alex Iwobi (Attacking Midfielder): He had a poor first half but he improved as the game went on and scored the winner. Wasn’t able to dominate the game in midfield as he consistently opted for the simple passes and easy way out. Iwobi needs to take more risk. 6/10
Ahmed Musa (Forward): He had a busy day in office as he offered width and penetration from the wings. Musa who was the skipper of the team played closer to the goal than in previous games and had an important assist for the equaliser. 7/10
Moses Simon (Forward): Played well with lots of defensive duties throughout his stay on the pitch but couldn’t create anything from the right. 5/10
Odion Ighalo (Striker): Ighalo put in a Man of the Match performance with a brace and an assist. Was always at the right place at the right time and dropped deep intelligently to pick up the ball several times. For Nigeria’s third goal, he picked up a pass from deep and played in Iwobi who went on to score.
Brilliant game from the striker who now has three goals in AFCON 2019. 8/10
Substitutes
Samuel Chukwueze (Forward): Came on for Simon in the 60th minute to stretch the Cameroonian defence and caused some problems for them. 5/10
Paul Onuachu (Striker): He was introduced for Ighalo but didn’t have any moment of impact. 2/10
Leon Balogun (Defender): He spent little time on the pitch to be rated after he replaced Iwobi in the closing minutes of the match.
