Nigeria 1 – 0 Guinea (Player Ratings): Omeruo heads Eagles into Round of 16

The Super Eagles on Wednesday became the first team to reach the Round of 16 in Egypt. They have played two matches, won both, scored two goals and obtained the maximum six points.

In truly hot conditions at the Alexandria Stadium, Kenneth Omeruo capped a man of the match performance with the only goal of the encounter.

Gernot Rohr made five changes to the starting 11, who kicked off the AFCON campaign against Burundi last Saturday. Mikel Obi was the highest profile player dropped as Moses Simon and Leon Balogun made their first ever appearance at a Nations Cup tournament.

Here are the player ratings as the Eagles sealed the top spot in Group B.

Name	Mins.	Performance	Rating
Daniel Akpeyi	90	Was not as bothered or as jittery as he was in the match against Burundi. Was strong coming out to claim or punch crosses and dealt well with the shots that came his way. His confidence would have been boosted by this performance.	June 10, 2019
Chidozie Awaziem	90	Looked solid throughout and was successful in his five attempted tackles. He was also not dribbled by any Guinean as he combined well with Simon all match long.	6.5/10
Kenneth Omeruo	90	The star man. He completed 100% of his tackles, was commanding with his clearances and launched attacks with his long diagonal passes. He then added the topping with a terrific headed goal to send Nigeria into the round of 16. The Leganes defender showed why his loan move to La Liga has been the best thing to happen to his career since Chelsea started loaning him out seven years ago. Rightly picked up the Man of the match award.	August 10, 2019
			January 1, 1970
Leon Balogun	90	The returnee was steady and was not afraid to move into midfield and tackle. Also showed his pace in the first half when he recovered to clear a dangerous move.	July 10, 2019
Ola Aina	90	Was not as swashbuckling as he was against Burundi but showed intelligence in the way he attacked and defended.	6.5/10
Wilfred Ndidi	90	The Super Eagles motor. Many would have feared for him against a very mobile and skillful Naby Keita, but it turned out that the Leicester midfielder was more than a handful for the Liverpool man. As he progresses in his career, his forays into the final third must improve for him to become the complete package.	7.5/10
Oghenekaro Etebo	90	His energy and positional sense was spot on though more would be required of him further up the field in subsequent matches.	6.5/10
Alex Iwobi	78	Though he had the most attempts on target, his sloppy play cannot be discountenanced. Iwobi needed too many touches to bring the ball under control and he looked to be playing at a different wavelength to that of his mates. Had two clear goal scoring chances in the first five minutes and fluffed his lines.	June 10, 2019
			January 1, 1970
Ahmed Musa ©	90	Did not get on the ball as much as he would have liked. But whenever he got the ball wide, he was intent on committing the Guinea defenders with his pace. Could have had a tap-in if Ighalo had not been selfish in the first half.	June 10, 2019
			January 1, 1970
			January 1, 1970
Moses Simon	90	After missing the World Cup because of injury, it was good to see Simon back in the team. Did very well to help his full back deal with the Guinean threats down the right flank and was dangerous on some occasions.	June 10, 2019
Odion Ighalo	88	Though it is the character of strikers to be selfish in front of goal, Ighalo could have made the better choice of squaring to a free Musa. He caused the central defenders problems all day, and their fouls on him fetched both yellow cards.	June 10, 2019
Subs
Samuel Chukwueze	14	Could not get into the flow as quickly as he would have wanted.	N/A
Paul Onuachu	2	Sent on for a flagging Ighalo.	N/A
Samuel Kalu	1	No touch of the ball yet for Kalu in Egypt.	N/A
Manager
		Rohr made some hard decisions, which seemingly paid off though the most telling fact is that his team looks a complete unit – from the first 11 to his bench - and he is not afraid to ring the changes.	July 10, 2019

 

Name	Mins.	Performance	Rating
Daniel Akpeyi	90	Was not as bothered or as jittery as he was in the match against Burundi. Was strong coming out to claim or punch crosses and dealt well with the shots that came his way. His confidence would have been boosted by this performance.	6/10
Chidozie Awaziem	90	Looked solid throughout and was successful in his five attempted tackles. He was also not dribbled by any Guinean as he combined well with Simon all match long.	6.5/10
Kenneth Omeruo	90	The star man. He completed 100% of his tackles, was commanding with his clearances and launched attacks with his long diagonal passes. He then added the topping with a terrific headed goal to send Nigeria into the round of 16. The Leganes defender showed why his loan move to La Liga has been the best thing to happen to his career since Chelsea started loaning him out seven years ago. Rightly picked up the Man of the match award.	8/10
Leon Balogun	90	The returnee was steady and was not afraid to move into midfield and tackle. Also showed his pace in the first half when he recovered to clear a dangerous move.	7/10
Ola Aina	90	Was not as swashbuckling as he was against Burundi but showed intelligence in the way he attacked and defended.	6.5/10
Wilfred Ndidi	90	The Super Eagles motor. Many would have feared for him against a very mobile and skillful Naby Keita, but it turned out that the Leicester midfielder was more than a handful for the Liverpool man. As he progresses in his career, his forays into the final third must improve for him to become the complete package.	7.5/10
Oghenekaro Etebo	90	His energy and positional sense was spot on though more would be required of him further up the field in subsequent matches.	6.5/10
Alex Iwobi	78	Though he had the most attempts on target, his sloppy play cannot be discountenanced. Iwobi needed too many touches to bring the ball under control and he looked to be playing at a different wavelength to that of his mates. Had two clear goal scoring chances in the first five minutes and fluffed his lines.	6/10
Ahmed Musa ©	90	Did not get on the ball as much as he would have liked. But whenever he got the ball wide, he was intent on committing the Guinea defenders with his pace. Could have had a tap-in if Ighalo had not been selfish in the first half.	6/10
Moses Simon	90	After missing the World Cup because of injury, it was good to see Simon back in the team. Did very well to help his full back deal with the Guinean threats down the right flank and was dangerous on some occasions.	6/10
Odion Ighalo	88	Though it is the character of strikers to be selfish in front of goal, Ighalo could have made the better choice of squaring to a free Musa. He caused the central defenders problems all day, and their fouls on him fetched both yellow cards.	6/10
Subs
Samuel Chukwueze	14	Could not get into the flow as quickly as he would have wanted.	N/A
Paul Onuachu	2	Sent on for a flagging Ighalo.	N/A
Samuel Kalu	1	No touch of the ball yet for Kalu in Egypt.	N/A
Manager
		Rohr made some hard decisions, which seemingly paid off though the most telling fact is that his team looks a complete unit – from the first 11 to his bench – and he is not afraid to ring the changes.	7/10