Completesports.com’s live blogging of the AFCON 2025 Qualifiers Group D matchday 2 game between the Amavubi (the Wasps) of Rwanda and the Eagles of Nigeria at Amahoro Stadium, Kigali.
Rwanda Vs Nigeria Live Blogging – AFCON 2025 Qualifier: Group D Matchday 2
Nnamdi Ezekute
Nnamdi Ezekute, a sports reporting expert, has risen through the ranks at Complete Communications Limited (CCL) famed for publications like Complete Sports. Was Senior Staff Reporter and News Editor, Sports Souvenir; Editor, Complete Sports Saturday and Editor, Complete Football magazine.
Email: [email protected]
X (Formerly Twitter): @Ezekutive
75 Comments
Eguavoen is not taking any chances at all, man want that position permanently, see killer lineup, I’m loving this. Up eagles.
Taking nothing for granted – this is a “developing situation” as it is and so the smart money is surely on “optimistic caution” or in lay-man’s parlance “Siddon Look mode very much still in force” and will be for as long as is necessary which will probably be for the foreseeable future for now.
P.S- We, personally are only here for the football and opinions are like s**t holes, every tom, dick or even harry has one and is entitled to the same – so I don’t want to hear any dim witted, slow-mo, retarded plank, like sam etc, questioning my OPINION or hurling brainless insults looking for attention from me – If your life is dull, then seek validation elsewhere, you won’t be getting none from us. So there!
Oya let’s goo!
Any link?
Onwa, search youtube.
Search Youtube
Koor tv
Any site to watch?
2 Very quick observations:
1) Anyone with eyes and football understanding should already be able to see even now in the very early minutes of this game, how much more solid we are without Iwobi in the middle, Rwanda have to earn it every time they advance through our midfield simply because we haven’t got any leaks in the middle where they are allowed to stroll through without resistance ie Iwobi
2) And this still ties back to point one – can you see how Rwanda are being forced to shoot from ridiculous distances? Again , this is simply because they are finding the middle hard to negotiate through and are being reduced to taking long range shots, but they are barking up the wrong tree because they have forgotten that we no longer have calamity Frank manning the posts, we now solid rock between the sticks and if they’re going to beat that guy then it must be with an effort that’s well worth it!
Vamos!
How do we watch the online
For all those looking for links try – kooralives
Rwanada trying to take our head off in the early minutes lol
Search on Youtube guys
See daylight robbery guys. The referee is biased
WHAT??? How was that disallowed??? Kai!!!
@Field Marshall, that referee is corrupt. Iwobi has to sit up.
Watch out for this referee he is a very bad man
We need to start turning all this dominance into goals!- Take advantage of our dominance! Rwanda are just defending for their lives! Don’t wait until they get lucky and score before you kill this game or start scrapping around to survive a game you should have won at a canter. Abeg now! Kai!
Good points Fieldo. We need to convert more chances.
Lool! Rwanda are thieves! hehehehe, they know there is no way that they can survive this game by legal means so they are trying every trick in the book! Tee hehehehehe, one guy clearly headed a ball wide and he is shouting that some foul was committed then the other one tried a cross into the box which clearly hit the defender on the top pat of the shoulder and he is crying handball – they know the ref is crooked and are trying to use him to gain unfair advantage lool! God will not allow it!
@Field Marshall, that should have been a penalty for the pushing of Boniface in the box 18. You are right, these people are corrupt.
Osihmen is needed in front. Maduka Okoye needs to be introduced.
The pitch though, I know I’m not suppose to complain cause they said charity begins at home, but our boys should take it easy to avoid injury, boniface, chukzy, bashiru and of cause the man of the moment lookman are all livery and playing well.
Eguavoen has always shown he is a good coach, but he has always been unlucky as one. His team is always attacking for 90mins irrespective of the formation he uses. He is really showing he wants the job and should be retained. Foreign coach will not do more than this one with this team.
They have started lmaoo
IN TOTAL AGREEMENT WITH YOU BRO. IT IS MALICIOUS NOT TO SEE ANYTHING GOOD ABOUT THE PERFORMANCE OF THIS EGUAVOEN. WE WON THE GAME IN MY OPINION. WHAT WAS WRONG WITH THE GOAL LOOKMAN SCORED?
Dele Bashiru is an absolute workhorse in that midfield. The guy’s always on the move, finding pockets of space, and he’s lethal in 1v1 situations. I love his energy; he tracks back and defends just as well as he attacks. He reminds me of Onazi during AFCON 2013, constantly turning defense into attack and giving Ndidi the freedom to roam and dominate. Honestly, the potential is there, and it’s been a while since I’ve seen a Super Eagles team this hungry and dynamic, fighting for every ball in an **away** game!
It’s hard to even tell who’s playing at home. We should be talking about at least two goals by now if not for some bad luck. If they had played like this against South Africa and Benin, those teams would have collected wotowoto. And let’s not forget—Simon Moses, Osimhen, Iwobi, Iheanacho, and even Awoniyi are still sitting on the bench! Wow! That just makes this performance all the more satisfying.
If Eguavoen wins this match, the NFF should stop messing around and make his appointment permanent. Of course, with a few quality additions to the technical crew, because we’ve got something promising here!
This Simon is struggling. We need Iheanacho.
How would you play yiur main goal poacher for less than 90mins and expect to win? Look @Egu, should you fail to get a point fromm the away game, we will 5ell ourGusau to kick you out.
Is anything spectacular about Nigeria midfield? Someone was talking out of hatred that the midfield is good due to the absent of Iwobi. To cap it all see the kind of substitution made by our world class coach. Bringing out ndidi and basiru for onyeka and onyekachi what the hell is he doing. Most of Uganda play still come from that midfield mtcheew. Wait until you meeet a formidable team then you see pepper.
Mumu – due too the ABSENT of Iwobi?? lol – It is obvious your brain is in your yash – I can bet a million naira that you definitely did not go to school and if you did, it is either they have cheated you due to your stupidity or you were too slow to understand what the teacher was teaching – Ever heard of tenses?? MUGU!
Busybody AKA early riser, wetin our Super Eagles of NIGERIA dey play sef, any link… Ha ha ha
Should the SE owned by Nigeria draw this match, then all of them including Egu boys should go to WCeeeee. It is my kobo not cent.
Eguavoen should get out. To hell with all of you clamouring for indigenous coach. Eguavoen is still useless and clueless
Cheap fans I’m surprised you people are swayed no wonder NFF and corrupt Nigerian leaders disrespect you people. You people easily get carried away by fake things!!!!
At one point during the match, we had **three** defensive midfielders on the pitch. Not a single creative spark in sight! How exactly were we supposed to score? After Dele Bashiru was subbed off and with Iwobi chilling on the bench, our midfielders seemed more focused on either holding onto the ball or hacking down the Amavubi players. I mean, seriously, what was the game plan?
Unless there’s some top-secret reason for keeping Iwobi on the bench, it made absolutely no sense to leave him out when Bashiru was substituted. We essentially traded any hope of creativity for a defensive brick wall, but who’s supposed to break through the lines and create chances? We can’t just expect our strikers to magically produce goals without any support from the middle.
Dude, we continued to CREATE CHANCES until the very last whistle…
Problem today was definitely NOT the lack of any so-called “creative spark” but rather finishing our myriad goal scoring chances (and you can throw in poor officiating and a poor pitch) with some credit due to the Rwandan GK as well.
At one point during the match, we had **three** defensive midfielders on the pitch. Not a single creative spark in sight! How exactly were we supposed to score? After Dele Bashiru was subbed off and with Iwobi chilling on the bench, our midfielders seemed more focused on either holding onto the ball or hacking down the Amavubi players. I mean, seriously, what was the game plan?
Unless there’s some top-secret reason for keeping Iwobi on the bench, it made absolutely no sense to leave him out when Bashiru was substituted. We essentially traded any hope of creativity for a defensive brick wall, but who’s supposed to break through the lines and create chances? We can’t just expect our strikers to magically produce goals without any support from the middle.
Again, can someone tell me what exact formation Eguaveon played with Ndidi, Onyeka and Onyedika on the field all at once?
Where did you watch your TV from?
Ndidi,onyeka and frank on the pitch at the same time?
He watched the back of his television. Nonsense
LMAOO!
My observations from this game only –
1) Osimhen has started to grind on my gears again. It doesn’t take him long to do so – instead of playing to give us an advantage, he is only ever playing to the gallery, for his own rep! Imagine always gesticulating and telling others where to be when his own positional sense is bordering on woeful, always running into offside- very poor for a so called top striker, why does he feel that he always has to go and help up an opponent whether they have dived or not, whether it concerns him or not? Who is he trying to kid? Trying to make himself look good but to who’s advantage?? Only his own, this behaviour is bad and dangerous in so many ways- it plants a seed in a referee’s mind, making him think we are rough players and also makes him and his team mates look bad and whether they have committed a foul or not! from now on, we must re-evaluate our striking hierarchy, Osimhen should no longer be our top striker or even in the first 2, until such a time as he proves and shows it again!
Awoniyi needs to play and let’s give him a chance to show us where he’s at, while all that is going on, Boniface and Awo must be our first 2 strikers pending when/if Osimhen proves himself again, until then, he is third choice!
2) We are much more solid at the very least without Iwobi in the team – anyone with a problem with me saying this should go and jump in front of a fast moving train or commit suicide and make the world a better place – Tayo or wtf ever your nasty name is take note! Absolute brainless tosser!
Did you notice how Eguavoen left him out of that game? Let me tell you something my brainless frenemy, we would have lost that game by the odd goal had Iwobi been on the pitch for any length of time – now take that and go and hug a transformer – Werey!
Finally, Eguavoen seems to have the right ideas, but these are very early days, he needs to at the very least maintain this standard, but preferably improve in the areas of timing of substitutions and working on the team’s ability to score goals and always take advantage of when they have the upper hand in games – usually in the early parts of games, as the game wears on, fatigue etc sets in and the field is levelled off a lot more, the opponents always get stronger the longer a game carries on, we MUST get more clinical in front of goal and score more – We are not Arsenal and should not be expecting to literally walk the ball into the back of the net! More shots, more unselfishness ie not passing to a better placed teammate when in shooting areas and always going it alone, looking for personal glory – We need to cut all these things out and play more like a TEAM! Football is nothing if not a TEAM game!
Mehn, I tire o!
Because you are stupid. Must you always single out player because of your hatred for him. Was there any spectacular thing in that midfield today. You think your brain is like those coaches who are playing him in his team. Of the coach feel he prefers another person after him so be it but to be castigating someone just because you don’t like him is insane. Maybe you will tell he is the reason you play draw against Uganda. You better grow up ode osi
Na your papa wey born werey like you stupid!
Eranko radarada!
dagfwegqwrberth 4bwsdgrw ce2
Overall good game. Poor finishing over good goal keeping. I don’t think you go into a game with preplanned substitutions. I believe a good coach makes subs based on the game, so I don’t agree with the half-time change. Boniface was having a good game.
Well said! Agreed!
I have no problem with Boniface playing but the timing is where I have issues, since OSIMHEN’s conversion rate is better than Boni and Awoniyi and the eagles have proven to create chances in the first 20mins of their games under Eguaevon, then let OSIMHEN start games for us.
It’s a long time Nigeria played a discipline, determined and exciting football on away match like this,I say kudos to the coaching crew and the players.
As for officiating, I reserve my comment
Well said again, Agreed!
Well said again, Agreed!
Nigerians don come again o. This is definitely an improvement from what we had with Finidi.
I believe eguavon will learn and do something good if he doesn’t lose focus.
If the goal had counted we will not be talking about a draw that goal was a good goal.
Yes Eguadiola is an improvement from Finidi, we must also come to the subject of North African refs manipulating our matches as if we are their subjects. Our leaders are sick of this lying trend must continue.
You are right the substitution was untimely it actually disrupted the flow of the game
When will this selfish lookman stop thinking about himself and think of the team. Egu should have taken him off sooner. How many players does he want to dribble before releasing the ball. His shots were nothing to write about, so also were the corner kicks. This guy is just overhyped. Same with oshimen even though he came in late.
@fieldmarshal， you are the most foolish man in this forum，foolish tribalist，
@ FIELDMARSHAL， hatred for iwobi will kill you and your fellow tribalist， thunder will fire that your dumb head， you and eguavon the most foolish coach in WORLD。
@field Marshall, You arr The biggest fool in This forum, stinky shameless tribalist. Your hatred for Iwobi will kill You, thunder fire You and eguavoen.
Big foolish field crab, You will choose shit ahead of Gold, dumb ass
@field Marshall, You arr The biggest fool in This forum, stinky shameless tribalist. Your hatred for Iwobi will kill You, thunder fire You and eguavoen.
Big foolish field crab, You will choose shit ahead of Gold, dumb ass hole
collin id abi wetin you dey call your kolo self?
I won’t respond to a retarded dog like you in any coherent way! You are not worth it!
Know this though – to me, you and your best friend (dumb and dumber) lool, are nothing but bottom of the barrel scraping POS’s (pieces of shit!) LMAOO!
Go and hug a live transformer werey!
The players tried. They can only get better.
Don’t mind the idiot his problem is always Iwobi. Who care Iwobi play or not by singling out player for blame is what I don’t like. The coach can start whoever he like.
Don’t mind the idiot his problem is always Iwobi. Who cares if Iwobi play or not. Singling out player for blame is what I don’t like. The coach can start whoever he like.
To be honest, Field marshal is right. Iwobi plays better at Fulham with easy game passing. In Super eagles, no. His style of play does not favour us much. You need a player that can mesmerize and move the ball to the box, Fisayo is doing is better currently and he has pace as well. He was able to try shot one or 2 times too which is missing in Iwobi’s play. Iwobi should sit more on the bench for Fisayo.
@Tols… I agree 100% with you.
@ Tols
Bro pls help those mongrels by educating their dumbasses lool!
Mesmerising indeed. Just a matter of time before you start your wailing. This was what you were saying about Aribo then. What is my problem if Iwobi play or not but trying to make it look like the guy is better is a no no. Some that just had is 2nd or how many cap and you are comparing with over 80 caps. His performance today wasn’t in any way better than he iwobi own in the last match just that you people are being sentimental and biased. Anyrhing that fit the coach ball
It is like you did not watch the match with us bro. He was not fantastic but showed great moves and still played better than what Iwobi will give us. 80 matches of more than 50 matches complaints is not a good statistics. Did anyone complain about Jay Jay Okocha, Mikel Obi, or even Oruma that was not regular back then for more than 5-10 matches? First impression matters bro. I know a good player when I see one. It did not take Nwabali, Carl Ikeme or Enyeama more than 2 matches to impress us. Aribo’s case was different, he lost his confidence when he moved to England and he is more of a supporting player in the attack, not someone that should sit back.
Did anyone complain about Jay Jay Okocha, Mikel Obi, or even Oruma …..???
Okocha – 73 caps 14 goals 5 assists = 19 goal contributions
Mikel – 88 caps 6 goals 12 assists = 18 goal contributions
Oruma – 19 caps 3 goals 0 assists = 3 goal contributions
Iwobi – 80 caps 10 goals 6 assists = 16 goal contributions [plus numerous pre-assists].
So pls tell us Who the hell is complaining about Alex Iwobi except lunatics. What exactly is the colour of their hatred for Iwobi.
Was Oruma or Okocha ever forced to play in defensive midfield in a SE shirt that y’all want Iwobi to become a defensive maestro like Ngolo Kante or Genaro Gattuso overnight.
Under Rohr who played him directly behind our strikers in any of his 4231, 433 or 352 formations, the boy was scoring and delivering assists left right and centre. Brazil’s coach even singled him out as the man that must be kept quiet to keep the entire SE team quiet.
All through Peserio’s tenure Iwobi could hardly score nor deliver an assist because he was always played too far away from goal and the strikers.
Under Finidi, with less defensive duties he delivered 2 assists in 4 games.
Eguavoen takes over and brings back Peserio’s much castigated style and you are expecting miracles from Iwobi. Dele Bahiru should play in DM vs CIV or Cameroon or Senegal lets see if he will cover ground the way he did vs Rwanda and gassed out after an hour.
If people like you still cant see that Iwobi is being wrongly utilized then nobody else can help your disabilities.
Wait till teams decode that Egauvoen is a 1 tactic man who only attacks via the wings, and start clipping our wings like Tunisia and Ghana coaches did…..that is when y’all will know Iwobi is the only intelligently incisive midfielder in this current day SE team that can help us split defences through the centre.
And for your information….since you were not old enough, we used to complain about JJ Okocha a lot…..I mean a whole lot. Even westerhof couldn’t stand him. JJ only came into his right senses in the 2000s.
and by the way, Iwobi is only 28yrs old [real age] his nigerian born mates are still playing for the flying eagles…..So if he has contributed and average of 1 goal in every 4 matches from the NO 10 position he has played for the SE till date despite the barren run under Peserio, then he has done EXTREMELY WELL.
You nailed it, @Dr Drey. I like Dele-Bashiru. He’s smart, direct, and adventurous. But Iwobi brings a different proposition to the table. Almost every goal Nigeria scores with him on the field always has his hand in it, even in the last friendly against Ghana. I trust he would have tried something different today to unlock that defense and dummy the goalkeeper for Osimhen or Lookman.
When the camera zoomed in on him sitting lonely outside the Nigerian bench booth, you could see that longing in his eyes, like someone who knew exactly what to do if he were on the turf. It needs to be clarified: Young but experienced (for his age) Iwobi is not a DM. He’s an out-and-out AM, and he plays his role well with crucial goals for Nigeria, including the one that qualified Nigeria for the 2018 WC.
Iwobi is not evn a CM talk more of a DM.
The kid is an AM, a 10. At worst play him as a winger.
Asking a 10 to win balls is like asking Halaand to play goalie because he is tall……..sheer and outright waste of talent.
How many natural 10s in history have even been good tacklers/markers to be co-deployed in DM….Maradona, Zidane, Jayjay, Oruma, Kaka, De-Bruyne, Odegaard, Palmer, Fernandez, Ozil…..etc.
I can name 100 10s who were poor defensively.
Whoever demands Iwobi to get stuck in tackles and bulldoze opponents of the ball need counselling.
For all Dele’s endeavors in today’s game, we lacked incision attacking from the centre. We were so predictable going forward as all balls were feried straight to the flanks for Bruno and Lookman to carry.
Little wonder we ended up playing a draw.
Eguavoen’s team will be the easiest team to face in this group once his tactic has been found out. I guess his only instruction to be boys usually is ‘just fling the ball to the flanks, Ademola knows what to do with it’
I don’t want to argue with you because all you know is attack. You do not even know me for you to talk about age. I will counter all your points if I want to drag with you but will decide to keep mute. Comparing JJ to Iwobi depicts you don’t even know what you saying. Mikel played defensive so well and was good at it. What creativity has Iwobi brought other to be lazy most in most parts of the game. I will end it there.
You that know what you are saying you are asking what creativity Iwobi brings to the SE…..LMAOoo
So it is in the DM where your 343 formation has shoved Iwobi you want to see his creativity abi….LMAOoo….weldone…..clap for yourself….you really know what you are saying.
I’ve just asked up there how many 10s you have seen in football who are good defendively…that question is begging you for an answer. Rather you chose to talk about Mikel who was a sitting DM throughout his club career…..LMAOoo
For you to even open your mouth and claim people never complained about Okocha shows how infantile you and your knowledge of Nigerian football are.
I have 1 assignment for you though. If you can afford it……just go on youtube and watch the highlights of all SE matches when Rohr was coach. Iwobi was involved in nearly 70% of the goals we scored under Rohr. He was either giving the forward pass, the pre assist, the assist or the scoring the goal itself.
GO and rewatch those highlights and come back here to ask us what creativity Iwobi brings.
Maybe it is in front of his own penalty box you want to see creativitt….LMAOoo
Of course I attack with facts and figures, I dont just open my mouth ut of hatred and sentiments to vomit falsities.
Maybe you know more football than Brazil’s coach who said Iwobi is the man that must be stopped in order to stop the SE from being dangerous.
Of course I will compare JJ with Iwobi because they are both 10s, and apart from aimless dribbles, okocha gave us next to nothing in his esrly years until when he matured circa 2000s. There’s a reason why Westerhof played him in only 1 game each at both 94 Afcon and world cup.
Nearly half of the goals JJ scored for Nigeria were from the penalty spot whereas all of Iwobi’s goals are from open play and in terms of assists, Iwobi has done almost just as good as his uncle in a SE shirt in terms of what the no 10 position demands.
So why won’t I compare him with JJ.
Or what else is the job of an AM….?! Dribbling….???? LMAOooo
You are just defending rubbish. See I don’t have anything for Iwobi neither do I have anything against Basiru but truth must be told the comparism isn’t needed. You can’t point to one thing the guy did better in that match apart from being a new bride to most of you guys. He started the last match and he didn’t do badly but most of you that doesn’t know anything were complaining. Nobody know why the coach did not start him today but if it’s due to performance so be it. If Basiru is the one to start so be it but pointing or singling out one player just because you did not like him is bad and not fair. Yes Iwobi was benched and nobody care until somebody started finding what is not missing by making unnecessary comparison.
Toni Anjorin who just moved to Empoli might also add steel to midfield https://youtu.be/y7P8vu2F0Io?si=V9DWd1nud3tl487x
Gradually our midfield is playing exceptionally these days thanks to some players like Nndidi and Dele. Dele offer something Iwobi can not add which makes is game balance , that is defending and ruggedness. He might not be as good as Iwobi skill wise but he is a tough guy in the middle and also a fighter and these are the kind of players we need .
For the coach to bench Iwobi means NFF really want to qualify and I pray this performance will be transformed to World Cup qualifying matches.
‘For the coach to bench Iwobi means NFF really want to qualify, and I pray this performance will be transformed to World Cup qualifying matches.’
So, the all-important goal Iwobi scored against Zambia to take us to the 2018 world cup is now meaningless?
The Iwobi vitriol is shocking. We just chose to forget or nonchalant of his efforts. It’s simply unfair to a player that has given so much and still a vital part of this team if we are really serious.
Take nothing from Fisayo, he is a good player, but he is no Iwobi. They are both different breeds with distinguish skillset.
Iwobi is not a DMF. He doesn’t have the qualities to play there. He plays better much more upfront at the attacking end. Play Iwobi as AMF, LWF, RWF Or SS and see how efficiency. He has done that efficiently well timelessly for both club and country and doing so well in Fulham because he plays around these positions that harness his strength.
Beats me why Iwobi is used as DMF in the Super Eagles by Peseiro and now Eguavoen and we expect him to perform. It is like asking Odegaard of Arsenal, Fernandes of Man United or Berna Silva of Man city to play the Defensive midfield role and expecting them to flourish. Knowing fully well that isn’t daunting task because they are fragile. It is simply a tactical blunder.
There is no reason Iwobi and Fisayo can’t play together, especially against lesser opponents. We don’t have to play 3-4-3 all the time. We should tactically flexible and play accordingly. Infact, I think both playing together with a DMF like Ndidi, Onyedika or Onyeka can really help us. As Fisayo could play as the CMF, since he has the strength to be a ball carrier and Iwobi be more forward of the pair. The irony is, even clueless Finidi knew that much. But hey, even a bad clock can be right twice day.
The point is, Iwobi is still vital to this team until otherwise specified, till we get a better creative outlet then he could be excused or benched.