Nigeria 1 - 0 Zambia FT (Alex Iwobi)

[The YeyeMan]

Watching the replay of the game without the tension of watching it live, Ekong was actually very poor in this game.

If the coaches graded the game he would have graded poorly. Most of the defensive lapses came from him. And he is still very poor passing out the ball from the back.

What he has going for him is his chemistry with the far superior Balogun.

Rohr still needs to find a CD that can play as well as Balogun.

Praying that Balogun remains healthy.

I think Awaziem could yet displace Ekong from the starting XI...

[maceo4]

Watching the replay of the game without the tension of watching it live, Ekong was actually very poor in this game.

If the coaches graded the game he would have graded poorly. Most of the defensive lapses came from him. And he is still very poor passing out the ball from the back.

What he has going for him is his chemistry with the far superior Balogun.

Rohr still needs to find a CD that can play as well as Balogun.

Praying that Balogun remains healthy.

I think Awaziem could yet displace Ekong from the starting XI...

To me Balogun also struggled with their pace and weirdly got beat a good amount of times to high balls. Luckily their number 9 didn't score when he got behind and muscled Balogun to the ground before blazing over. He was trying to blame the goalie for not coming out, but that was his ball all the way, the goalie coming out might have caused another PK like the one against Cameroon.

[The YeyeMan]

Watching the replay of the game without the tension of watching it live, Ekong was actually very poor in this game.

If the coaches graded the game he would have graded poorly. Most of the defensive lapses came from him. And he is still very poor passing out the ball from the back.

What he has going for him is his chemistry with the far superior Balogun.

Rohr still needs to find a CD that can play as well as Balogun.

Praying that Balogun remains healthy.

I think Awaziem could yet displace Ekong from the starting XI...

To me Balogun also struggled with their pace and weirdly got beat a good amount of times to high balls. Luckily their number 9 didn't score when he got behind and muscled Balogun to the ground before blazing over. He was trying to blame the goalie for not coming out, but that was his ball all the way, the goalie coming out might have caused another PK like the one against Cameroon.

Agreed.

[eyan]

One cannot deny the fact that Ezenwa has star quality. He reminds me of Lemmy Issa. The bobo go shine for WC no doubt...

Denied.

He was good but needs to know that a ball going 6 ft wide of his goal does not need saving... Imagine if Zambia had scored from an un-necessary Corner kick. And those guys are good at heading the ball....

I have to choose between Balogun and Shehu for my man of the match. I was impressed by both of them.

Iwobi made a huge difference. Although Agu struggled, he made some vital interceptions, the most important being from a Zambian who had broken free on the right and was intercepted by Agu before giving us all a sad face.

Iwobi, what a player.

He was trying to prevent a corner on that one.

[green4life]

One cannot deny the fact that Ezenwa has star quality. He reminds me of Lemmy Issa. The bobo go shine for WC no doubt...

Denied.

He was good but needs to know that a ball going 6 ft wide of his goal does not need saving... Imagine if Zambia had scored from an un-necessary Corner kick. And those guys are good at heading the ball....

I have to choose between Balogun and Shehu for my man of the match. I was impressed by both of them.

Iwobi made a huge difference. Although Agu struggled, he made some vital interceptions, the most important being from a Zambian who had broken free on the right and was intercepted by Agu before giving us all a sad face.

Iwobi, what a player.

He was trying to prevent a corner on that one.

That was a poor decision chasing down a lost cause. At best he'd have kept the ball in play for Zambian players who were nearest but would've been on the turf to save the follow up shot. His judgment is spotty at times and betrays his relative inexperience.

[Dammy]

I always liked Stoppila as far as names go.

Perhaps a nickname? Perhaps named after Yannick Stopyra, the former French international? I don't know, just guessing.

Congrats to the boys. This is our best qualifying campaign ever. Let me begin early to sacrifice chickens and goats to the ancestors for continued success. Perhaps this will be the team to take Africa to the semis, and dare we dream? The Final. Anyway, I will be happy if we play well and get to the quarters.

I don't understand where this comes from. I always thought '98 qualification was better...plus that team had serious TALENT. Tragic how we screwed up at the WC. Amokachi, Finidi, Mutiu, Ikpeba, Oruma, TJ, Okocha, Kanu, Yekini, Oliseh, etc.
No GK (rusty old Rufai), poor #2 (Mobi), requiring deploying Mutiu to that position and isolating Oliseh at DM.

This was our best WCQs as we never had to play catch-up. We led from the first game to the penultimate game and qualified with one game to go. Which WCQs has ever gone as smoothly as his one?

[wiseone]

Nigeria has now been undefeated in 36 consecutive WCQs. That is the best WCQ unbeaten streak in the world (except Spain).