Nig 1:2 Aus - Golden Eaglets Player Ratings

The Golden Eaglets of Nigeria blasted their way to the second round of the ongoing Under-17 World Cup despite narrowly losing to Australia last night.

Despite dominating possession and having more shots on goal, Garba's boys managed to contrive to lose the match 2:1. They still top the group with 6 points from 2 previous matches.

Olawale's 21 minutes goal was sandwiched between a brace by Botic for the Australians in 13 and 54 minutes.

Afrofooty reflects on how Nigerian players rated:

The Starters

Goalkeeper

Joseph Oluwabusola : a porous defence and a penalty led to the 2 goals he conceded. Other than those, he made some eye catching saves. (3 out of 5 stars)

Defenders

Ferdinand Ikenna : visibly struggled to curtail the Australians on occasions. He was decent in aerial battles. (2.5 out of 5 stars)

Usman Ibrahim : a performance characterised by some rash challenges; one led to the penalty for Australia's second goal. (2.5 out of 5 stars).

Oluwatimilehin Adeniyi : did the basics right and showed visible improvements from previous matches. (3 out of 5 stars).

Quadri Ebun : neither here nor there. A defensive performance that failed to convince that he can be trusted in the bigger games. (2.5 over 5 stars).

Midfielders

Samson Tijani : was not much of a conduit to which transition from defence to attack flowed seamlessly. He will hope to dominate the middle better in the next fixture despite a decent outing here. (3 out of 5 stars).

Hamzat Ojediran : a live wire in the midfield that saw him have a target on goal while winning back possession for his side. (3. 5 out of 5 stars)

Ibrahim Said : the 3 goals he scored in the last match may have taken a toll on him as he had a rather subdue performance here. (2.5 out of 5 stars).

Attackers

Olakunle Olusegun : a basket full of wasted goal scoring chances characterised a performance not lacking in endeavour and desire. (2.5 out of 5 stars).

Akunkunmi Amoo : the imaginative player excited and frustrated in equal measures with efforts lacking in end product at the sharp end. (3 out of 5 stars).

Peter Olawale : the goal he scored was perhaps his most noteworthy contribution on the night as he became almost ineffectual shortly afterwards. (3.5 out of 5 stars).

The Substitutes

Ibraheem Jabaar : the second half substitute did not affect the game as he would have loved. (2.5 out of 5 stars).

Divine Nwachukwu : he brought little divine intervention to the match with the limited time he had to make his mark. (2 out of 5 stars).