Coach of the national team of Cape Verde Pedro ‘Bubista’ Leitão says his team will find a way to keep returning Super Eagles striker Odion Ighalo in check.

Cape Verde need a win to seal a spot in the final round of the World Cup qualifiers and Bubista is confident that they can get a win if they succeed in caging the forward line of Nigeria.

He said the team already did so in the first tie by restricting Victor Osimhen who could only score from an unfortunate mix up in the away tie which Nigeria won 2-1. He said they are however not sure on the best approach to keep Odion Ighalo in check.

” We have to keep the ball away from the Nigeria attack because they can punish any team when they have space and time on the ball. In the first game we has Osimhen locked down until the mix up gifted him a goal. We don’t know Ighalo and he is the problem we have now to worry about”, he concluded.

Per what we gathered from the training of the Super Eagles of Nigeria earlier today ahead of tomorrow’s 2022 World Cup qualifiers game against Cape Verde, coach Gernot Rohr looks set to make four changes to the starting lineup that played the last game.

Nigeria secured a 2-0 win over Liberia but were not particularly convincing in the win with both goals coming from the spot courtesy of Victor Osimhen and Ahmed Musa respectively.

Ahead of the final group game where they need to avoid defeat, Rohr gave a hint of how the team will line up judging by the changes he made to the team that has lot of players expected to start tomorrow.

For instance, Jamilu Collins wasn’t part of the probable team with his spot taking by Ola Aina who later switched to the right flank for Zaidu Sanusi who started with what looked like the B team.

Alex Iwobi is another who will likely sit on the bench tomorrow as Chidera Ejuke auditioned in his role and didn’t do badly. He could be join on the bench by Kelechi Iheanacho.

It appears Odion Ighalo will start alongside Victor Osimhen in attack but with Ighalo expected to play as the main number 9. Osimhen will operate behind him.

Although Rohr stuck with the same back three that started the game against Liberia but Leon Balogun is facing the prospect of getting dropped with Kevin Akpoguma favourite to take his spot.

Nigeria will tomorrow take on Cape Verde in the final round of qualifiers for the 2022 World Cup in Lagos looking to avoid defeat in order to seal their spot in the next round of qualifiers.

Cape Verde are two points behind Nigeria and they need a win to go top and seal passage to the next round of the qualifiers. A daunting task when one consider that they lost to Nigeria at home.

However the poor nature of the Super Eagles display in their last two games even though they won has opened the door to Cape Verde having a slim chance of an upset in Lagos.

With Nigeria needing to avoid a repeat of the shock 0-1 loss to Central Africa Republic (CAR) in their last home game. The pressure is on the Super Eagles but coach Gernot Rohr sees it in positive light as his team play well when they are under pressure.

“Yes of course. We have to make a result not to lose the final game but we are at home. It’s good to have pressure for my players, if they believe it’s easy, if they believe that it’s done, it’s always difficult so it’s good to play with pressure so they will be able to handle the situation like we did all the time”, he said after the win over Liberia on Saturday.

“We had one accident, we lost one match, we won four so now the final match we want to win it also.”

The Super Eagles of Nigeria laboured to a 2-0 win over Liberia to keep their position as group leaders ahead of their final group game against second place Cape Verde tomorrow.

Victor Osimhen and Ahmed Musa scored from the spot to hand Nigeria the win but the manner which the team played wasn’t satisfying and it has led to several questions about the style of play under coach Gernot Rohr.

Rohr who has been in charge of the team since 2016 was quick to offer an explanation on why his lad struggled against the Liberians. He credited the lone star for their determination and organisation.

He said they made it difficult for Nigeria to play to their strength as they didn’t give them space and time to use the ball how they plan to in the build up to the game.

Speaking at the post match conference, the coach who promised a better outing against Cape Verde in their final group game tomorrow narrowed his team’s boring display to the hard fighting nature of Liberia.

“The game was not easy for us and we knew before that this match like the first match already in Lagos, we scored in the first half leading 2-0, it was even more difficult today despite the good pitch.

“We tried to play our quick football with few touches and going vertically forward but the opponent was very organized and made a big fight so we also had to fight and to accept the duel in the air and on the ground and it was not easy.

Although Nigeria secured a 2-0 win over Liberia on Saturday in the 2022 World Cup qualifiers, coach of the Nigerian team Gernot Rohr wasn’t entirely satisfied with the way the team scored the goals that handed them the win.

Victor Osimhen and Ahmed Musa both converted penalties to help the Nigerian team maintain their lead at the top of the table with two points ahead of their final group game tomorrow.

We got these two penalties but we were not able to score a goal playing football only these two penalties. I think they were clear penalties but I would prefer to score normal goals and we could not. I hope we can do it in three days in the final game.

“I think that the comeback of some players like Ndidi, like Iwobi who didn’t play the last time is a good thing for us. Opportunity to score for them and we have still to work on our realism offensively and there is still a lot of work to do”, the coach said at the post match conference.

Nigeria’s opponent Cape Verde need a win to leapfrog Super Eagles as group winners and also secure passage to the final round of qualifiers. Rohr is leaving no stone unturned and has hinted at handing a spot to returning striker Odion Ighalo.

A win or a draw for Nigeria will see them progress to the final rounds of the qualifiers where they will be grouped with other group winners for a two legged tie which will be played on home and away basis.

“No, the reason we asked Ighalo to come back is that we have such a young team, they are very young 22, 23, 21. Our strikers are all very young, Ejuke is coming now, Chukwueze is coming back from injury.

“Everybody is young, we need somebody to help them with his experience in the striker position and he’s a good goalscorer we know it.

“We are happy to have him back, he only arrived on Thursday that’s why he couldn’t participate in this match. I hope that in the next match next tuesday he will be able to help us much more”, he concluded.

The senior national team of Nigeria move one step closer to qualifying for the final round of the 2022 World Cup qualifiers with a 2-0 win over Liberia at their adopted home ground in Morocco.

Two penalties in each half converted by Victor Osimhen and Ahmed Musa helped Nigeria sealed the win but will still have to wait till on Tuesday to see if they are through to the final stage of the qualifiers.

The other group game between Cape Verde and Central Africa Republic ended in a 2-1 win for Cape Verde, which keeps their hope of qualifying alive until the final round of games, where they need a win against Nigeria who will be thorough with a draw

Here is how the Super Eagles players performed in the win over Liberia.

Maduka Okoye – Need to work on his decision making. Punched a ball he could have handled easily. Didn’t look quite comfortable with the ball at his feet…..5/10

Chidozie Awaziem – Played in Kelechi Iheanacho twice with well timed high balls. Solid defensively and move the ball up the pitch a lot quicker than the rest…..7/10

William Ekong – Came close to scoring with a header and looked very imposing at the back. Nice turn of pace as well when under pressure…..6/10

Leon Balogun – One of the best when it comes to playing from the back among the defenders. A solid but not spectacular display…..5/10

Jamilu Collins – Unlucky to have his first half effort erroneously ruled out for offside. With the ball at his feet in advanced position he wasn’t quite assured but defensively he was solid…..5/10

Moses Simon – Hardworking, determined and full of energy. Brings a different dimension to the team when he goes forward as he is very direct…..6.5/10

Wilfred Ndidi – Screened the defence properly and  also played his part in setting up the team’s attack. Very much the fulcrum upon which the team rotates…..6/10

Joe Aribo – Played Osimhen in with a fantastic over the top pass and worked his socks off for the team. Not at his best attack wise compensated for it by covering lot of grounds….5/10

Kelechi Iheanacho- Bar the fact that he won the penalty which gave Nigeria the opening goal he didn’t do much. Although his clever runs particularly in the first half make him a handful for the Liberians…..5/10

Alex Iwobi – Didn’t have a good game that match his high rating. Showed no urgency and was guilty of letting him move unchallenged thrice. It almost proved costly…..4/10

Victor Osimhen – Took his penalty nicely but showed no particular sign of same player ripping Serie A apart with goals. Wasted a good chance to put Nigeria two goals up and lost possession than any other player in Nigeria’s colour…..5/10

Substitutes:

Chidera Ejuke – Lively when he came on but didn’t match same height like in the previous games he played for the team…..4/10

Ahmed Musa – Showed no nerves when he slot home the penalty that rounded up the win for Nigeria…..5/10

The coach of the senior national team of Nigeria Gernot Rohr has made known the lineup for today’s game against Liberia to his players.

With Super Eagles needing a win to further consolidate their position as group leaders, the coach has decided to go for a lineup that left some senior players of the team in shock.

The duo of Wilfred Ndidi and Alex Iwobi who were missing from the sqaud that defeated Central Africa Republic (CAR) are back in the lineup, and it has led to the axing of two players who started the last game in Frank Onyeka and Ahmed Musa.

However it’s same 3-5-2 formation that the team played in last game that they will use to today’s game. Moses Simon and Jamilu Collins will function as right and left wingbacks respectively.

The Super Eagles currently hold a two point lead over Cape Verde with a game to go after today’s game, and will qualify for the final qualification round if they beat Liberia and Cape Verde fail to get a win against Central Africa Republic (CAR) in the group’s other game.

Maduka Okoye

Awaziem Ekong Balogun

Simon Aribo Ndidi Iwobi Collins

Iheanacho Osimhen

The senior national team of Nigeria will later today take on Liberia in a 2022 World Cup qualifiers game in Morocco with Nigeria needing a win to cement their position as group leaders.

For people base in Nigeria, the game will be aired on Nigeria’s national television NTA but on its local platform and not on the international which is on pay tv. Also it will be live on their platform on Startimes. Kickoff time is 5pm.

AIT will also air the game on its terrestrial platform. Online airing of the game will see FIFA TV take the lead with NFF Tv expected to stream the game as well.

Popular online website for streaming of live games Hesgoal will also stream the game live as Nigeria aim to make it two wins out of their first two games of the qualifiers.

The coach of the senior national team of Nigeria Gernot Rohr has made known the lineup for today’s game against Liberia to his players.

With Super Eagles needing a win to further consolidate their position as group leaders, the coach has decided to go for a lineup that left some senior players of the team in shock.

One of the player who spoke with OwnGoalNigeria.com revealed that the brave decision by the coach came as a shock to many but ended up by saying it’s for the good of the team.

He confirmed that the duo of Wilfred Ndidi and Alex Iwobi who were missing from the sqaud that defeated Central Africa Republic (CAR) are back in the lineup and it has led to the axing of two players who started the last game.

The Super Eagles currently hold a two point lead over Cape Verde with a game to go after today’s game, and will qualify for the final qualification round if they beat Liberia and Cape Verde fail to get a win against Central Africa Republic (CAR) in the group’s other game.

The senior national team of Nigeria had their final training session ahead of tomorrow’s game against Liberia in Morocco.

For the first time all 24 players invited for the game took part in the session under the watch of coach Gernot Rohr and the rest of the technical crew.

Owngoalnigeria.com gathered from sources at the session that it involved the team having some tactical drills at the start and end of the session. The high point however was when they were engaged in practice match.

Al Shabab of Saudi Arabia forward Odion Ighalo who is marking a return to the team after a two year absence lit up the session with two goals for his team.

Victor Osimhen and Paul Onuachu where also on target as the team round up their three days training in preparation for the Lone Stars of Liberia.

Here is how they lined up for the practice game during the course of the session.

Team A

Maduka Okoye
Ola Aina
Jamilu Collins
Leon Balogun
William Ekong
Wilfred Ndidi
Alex Iwobi
Joe Aribo
Kelechi Iheanacho
Victor Osimhen
Moses Simon

Team B

Daniel Akpeyi
Kevin Akpoguma
Zaidu Sanusi
Kenneth Omeruo
Chidozie Awaziem
Frank Onyeka
Shehu Abdullahi
Samuel Chukwueze
Chidera Ejuke
Paul Onuachu (Odion Ighalo)
Ahmed Musa