The Nigeria U-23s started their campaign at the Rio 2016 Olympics by edging a 9 goal thriller 5-4, to move to the top of their group despite arriving Rio, few minutes to the game.
Owngoalnigeria.com, brings to you ratings based on how the players fared, done by our expert in match analysis.
Emmanuel Daniel: Made some decent saves but conceded four times, although can be excused for at least two of the goals including the penalty, Still not a good thing for a goalkepper to pick the ball out of his net four times….5/10
Seth Muenfuh: A full back playing as a central defender and as expected looked lost in the role, came up strong in the second half but still lacked the discipline of a centre back….5.5/10
Shehu Abdullahi: Won more tackles than any defender in green for Nigeria but still wasn’t adventurous enough, was also caught out of position couple of times in the game with one of such occasion leading to a goal for the Japanese….5/10
Stanley Amuzie: Struggled to cope with the pace of the Japanese on the right, gave away the penalty from which Japan leveled scores to 1-1, a very poor showing from the highly rated left back….4/10
William Troost Ekong: Failed to control the backline despite been the only central defender in the defender, twice lost his man which lead to goals for the Japanese, shoulld have done better….5/10
John Obi Mikel: Captain of the team, came close to scoring with a left foot effort, kept it simple with neat touches, tired out before the end of the game, obviously struggled from jet lag, no thanks to their late arrival….5.5/10
Azubuike Okechukwu: Full of Energy and quick to turn defence into attack, put in a tireless shift all night long, unlucky not to be on the score sheet….6.5/10
Usman Mohammed: By his standard had an average showing, the former FC Taraba man didn’t do enough defensive job and was guilty of venturing far into the opponent box, which gave Japan enough space to exploit….5.5/10
Imoh Ezekiel: What a performance, strong, good on the ball and can also hit it very well when presented with a chance, his spilled effort was tapped in by Sadiq Umar for Nigeria’s first…..6.5/10
Ogenekaro Etebo: Four goals, which include a penalty says it all, truly a delight on the night, by far the best player on the pitch for both sides,should get a 10/10 but for greed sake, we keeping one for ourselves….9/10
Sadiq Umar: “New Kanu” , although he loves it when he is called “Jololo” , scored and created two goals, hold up play about the best Nigeria has seen in a player in a while, the AS Roma start is surely a star in the making….8/10
Substitutes:
Kingsley Madu: First substitute introduced for Usman Mohammed to help shore up the Nigeria backline with scores at 5-3, but was no where close when Japan got their fourth goal of the game….4/10
Ndifreke Udoh: Replaced Ezekiel but didn’t do enough to justify his inclusion, although he did some defending for the team….4/10
Sadiq Popoola: Came in for Mikel Obi and the petit midfielder who provokes comparism with French midfielder Mathieu Valuebuena, helped in keeping possession for Nigeria with some neat and deft touches….5/10
