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).