Super Eagles player ratings : Balogun rises to the occasion.; Aribo stars; Ighalo not himself; Ekong struggles

The Super Eagles were held to a 1-1 draw by Cape Verde in their last group fixture in the 2022 World Cup qualifiers.

 

The Starters

 Goalkeeper 

Chidozie Awaziem : The Boavista loanee played on the right side of a 3-5-2 formation and was at his battling best. His long throw-ins were a source of goal threats. 7/10.

William Troost-Ekong : Made some good tackles in the second half but he was wasteful with his passes in the first half thereby putting the team under pressure. Was guilty of poor marking on Cape Verde's equaliser 4.5/10.

Leon Balogun : The Rangers of Scotland defender was booked in the second half. He was under enormous pressure and failed to score with a header off a corner kick in the first half. On a day his defensive partner Troost-Ekong was largely off colour, Balogun rose to the occasion. 8/10.

Midfielders

Jamiliu Collins : The Paderborn star was deployed as a wing back from the left side. Other than his long throws, he was sloppy with the ball and conceded possession a lot. Offensively, he delivered some gorgeous crosses. 6.5/10

Moses Simon : Injured in the second half and now a doubt for Nantes for their Ligue 1 game against  PSG in the coming weekend. The diminutive but skillful player helped shore up the defence, willing to track back and help press the visitors. 7/10.

Wilfred Ndidi : Yellow carded for a foul on an opponent. As usual, the Leicester man performed well with his breaking plays. 7/10.

Alex Iwobi : The Everton winger kept things simple with his neat passes albeit he had a chance to pass the ball at a better positioned Kelechi Iheanacho in the second half which he didn't do. 6/10.

Joe Aribo  : Had three goal attempts, the pick of the bunch being his rasping shot after he was teed up by Odion Ighalo. Looked tired in the last quarter of the game and was replaced by Onyeka.  7.5/10.

Attackers

Odion Ighalo : The returning striker had a rather quiet evening . Uncharacteristically missed decent chances that he had in the first half though it was encouraging that he was selfless and picked out Osimhen with some good passes. 4.5 /10.

Victor Osimhen : The Napoli star can do no wrong these days. He was the scorer for the Eagles and also had other chances. Osimhen won back the balls than he gave away. Was strong in the air and on the ground. 8/10.

The Substitutes

Shehu Abdullahi : Brought in place of injured Moses Simon. His first effort was a wayward cross that went out of play. Had little to contribute. 4/10.

Kelechi Iheanacho : Almost every touch he had was poor. The Leicester forward lost possession at will and was not better than the man he replaced, Ighalo. 4/10.

Frank Onyeka : Brought on to shore up the midfield. Good addition to the team from the bench but he had no ample time to make any telling contribution. 5/10.

Paul Onuachu : Late, late entrant into the game with two minutes to play. Not had much time to make any impact. NA