The Super Eagles will line-up in a 3-4-3 formation in tonight’s 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying tie against Benin Republic.
Chippa United goalkeeper Stanley Nwabali will be in goal.
Auxerre star Gabriel Osho will make his full international debut against the Cheetahs.
Osho will feature in central defence alongside captain William Troost-Ekong and Calvin Bassey.
Ola Aina and Bruno Onyemaechi will operate as the two wing-backs.
Leicester City star Wilfred Ndidi and Fulham’s Alex Iwobi will take charge of the midfield.
Victor Osimhen will lead the team’s attack. Kelechi Iheanacho and Ademola Lookman will provide support for him upfront.
Super Eagles Starting X1 Vs Benin Republic
Nwabali
Osho, Troost-Ekong, Bassey
Aina Ndidi, Iwobi, Onyemaechi
Iheanacho Osimhen, Lookman
By Adeboye Amosu
17 Comments
Looks good all i could say for now,after first half we can assess the team…Good-luck super eagles of Nigeria..
Meanwhile,Niger destroying Sudan,so hope for ghana then
Maybe Boniface will finally make a scoring debut coming from the bench.
sharap dere triblastic idiot! anuofhia! goat!
pls were is shema x daneil?
What kind of nonsense formation is this. What happen to 4-3-3 that will enable you to make use of players that will be effective. This is one of my problems with home base coaches, you won few matches and over confidence has set in
Na this brain u dey use cross road
That’s nothing wrong with the formation. In the the two last encounter then, with Finidi, we used 433. It didn’t work against Beninese. Our defense was very porous. I think this formation is a lesson of learning from the past mistakes
@osimenren
on wat graounds?
Bro leave finisi out of this. I’m talking about Eguavoen. He’s playing flare football and he has players that can execute that for him. It would have been better for him to give us the combination of Ndidi/onyeka, dele bash and iwobi for us to see how they will gel together in midfield.
Glad to see the new boy, Gabriel Osho making his debut in tonight’s game. Seen him couple of tines for Luton town last season in the EPL. Solid guy, solid defender – very calm and calculative on the ball. He surely would make a great addition to the Super Eagles defence.
Playing on his debut against Benin in an away fixture will surely be massive test.
Nigeria had qualified already without kicking a ball. Lybia winning.
Two possible short one’s in the shapes of Iwobi and Iheanacho, if we are comfortable in this game and Benin don’t attack with strength through the middle(midfield), then we may be alright with good use of the subs but if Benin come to this game determined to put up a fight, then there may be trouble ahead due to these 2 as they are strictly non-tackling players.
Kudos to Egu for trying something different, how effective the formation proves to be or otherwise will show the direction and viability of the thinking behind this change from 4 to 3 at the back.
Oya, let’s goo!
Why start Nwabali? He came late to camp, and this would have been a good time to play Okoye who seems to be in good form, been patient and also arrived early to camp.
Besides we’ve practically qualified what does Eguavoen expect to learn from having Nwabali in goal again, when he could have tried someone else? To me this is poor squad management.
You have a point this time mate – this is the first call I have heard for Okoye that makes any sense at all, not all the baseless and absolutely ridiculous calls lately from certain quarters, but the way you have rationalised it this time and in this instance actually makes sense and it is true that it calls into question the concept of efficient squad rotation and use by Eguavoen.
Osho, Ekong, Bassey……the return of “Oyinbo Wall”….???
With all the noise these local coaches always make about how good home based players are, one would think the moment they get a shot at the SE job, they will be bold enough to put their necks on the board for their “home-based products”
Our league does not produce players of the quality required to compete internationally at senior level. Our local academies produce good players, but the require the finishing shoools of foreign academies and leagues to bring them up to the required standard.
I will even say something some people here might consider controversial – Our local academies like Siaone and the rest, produce better players than those playing in the NPFL. If you know you know.
I for one am waiting for Benjamin Fredrick (who went straight from academy to Brentford U21), to break into the Brentford senior side and take his place in the Eagles squad in the next year or two.
The front and back 3 look ok to me. Excited to see what Osho has to offer.
The middle is where I’m not so enthused. Iwobi in the midfield again? He will give his 100%, but that position is not the best for him. As it is, our midfield does not have that combative element. This is what cost us the Afcon trophy against CIV. A possible remedy is to move Iwobi to the right wing, and play Onyeka, Onyedika, Bashiru or Yusuf alongside Ndidi.
Rohr will likely exploit the weakness in the middle. It might not be enough to give him the win he craves, as our deficit in the midfield will likely be made up for with compensating performances from our attack and defense.
Another thing that is a bit worrying is that we are light on replacements for the center back positions. In the event of an injury to any of the starting center backs, we have only Victor Collins as a possible substitute! With proper planning and squad selection, we should have at least 2 center backs available for selection if needed.
Anyway, best wishes to the team.
Why start kelechi. He is already -1. Let watch