Super Eagles player ratings

The Super Eagles played out a 0-0 draw with Jamaica on Wednesday night in London. It was a performance that left a lot to be desired.

KickOffNigeria.com rates the players.

Don’t forget to make your comments on the players and the team below in the comments section.

Austin Ejide – 7
For a man who has not played a league game for Bastia all season, he showed real sharpness in goal and made only one mistake, when he tipped the ball to Wolf.

Made three good saves, stayed calm and organised his defence well.

Chidi Odiah – 5
Has had better games for the Super Eagles. Needed to provide the width in Amodu;s system but tried to much elaboration.

Clearly match rusty, but showed that with a few more games for his club, will be back to his best against Mozambique.

Taye Taiwo - 5
Minus the red card he would have been an easy 7, possibly 8. Offered continuous threat going forward and stayed strong defensively--until the sending off.

Danny Shittu - 6
Again, for a player who has seen little action all season, Shittu recovered from a poor start to give an assured, if unspecatcular performance at the back.

Joseph Yobo - 6
Both centrebacks endured a shaky start, but grew into the game as it went on and Jamaica barely had a sniff at goal for most of the second half.

Seyi Olofinjana - 6
Mr Unspectacular did his job with no frills. Kept the game ticking along with timely tackles and safe passes and could have even got a goal but for a quick defensive intervention.

Even had the conifdence to try a couple of outside of the foot long balls.

John Mikel Obi - 7
Looked much better than he has done in a Chelsea shirt. Linked up well with Olofinjana and Kanu, and showed impressive passing range.

Nwankwo Kanu - 5
Like Odiah, has had better games for the Super Eagles. But showed that he can make a huge difference with one pass, like the reverse ball that went to Odiah.

Along with Mikel, the best player at holding up the ball.

Obinna Nsofor - 6
Looked like he was trying just that little bit too hard. Delivered some stellar balls into the box.

Ike Uche - 5
Just didn’t get his rhythm going. That he still contrived to be at the end of the two biggest opportunities to score for Nigeria speaks of his class and quality.

On another day, at least one of those two would have shaken the net.

Osaze Odemwingie - 6
Superb off the ball running, grafted well, but just seemed to lack that final killer touch for a line-leading striker.

Onyekachi Apam - 8
Came on and showed instant class. Did so well that the ball just never went to the opposite side of the pitch.

Man of the Match

Michael Eneramo 
Came on, but with too little time to be assessed. Barely got a touch on the ball.

Kalu Uche
Like Eneramo, no time to be assessed.

Coach: Shuaibu Amodu 
Has got the team playing with tactical discipline. Unfortunately, without fire in the belly.

The one thing that was lacking on Wednesday night was passion, and Amodu will need to get that sorted. Fast.

The shape was good, the tactics were spot on, but the passion was lacking. At least, not till the last five minutes.

Nigeria drop in FIFA rankings

Nigeria dropped six places to 23 in the monthly FIFA Rankings but still kept their place as Africa's second best ranked team, behind Cameroon, who also dropped two places.

Africa's top five sides all saw dips in their rankings and it was no different from the continent's champions Egypt who lost a massive 15 places to 30th in the world rankings.

But they also kept their third place on the continent.

Ghana also fell a long way down by 10 places to 35th position. Nigeria's World Cup qualifying group rivals Tunisia dropped 8 places to 53 with Kenya dropping 12 places to 96th in the world.

Mozambique were the only one of Nigeria's rivals to pick up points and the climbed one place above Kenya to 95th in the world.

Africa's Top 20
16 1 Cameroon 
23 2 Nigeria 
30 3 Egypt 
35 4 Ghana 
36 5 Ivory Coast 
41 6 Morocco 
45 7 Guinea 
47 8 Mali 
53 9 Tunisia 
60 10 Senegal 
62 11 Burkina Faso 
63 12 Gabon 
66 13 Algeria 
69 14 Congo 
70 15 South Africa 
71 16 Uganda 
73 17 Gambia 
75 18 Angola 
80 19 Libya 
81 20 Benin

Eagles Draws Blank

Nigeria’s Super Eagles failed to continue their winning streak over the Raggae Boys of Jamaica on Wednesday night as they were forced to a goalless draw by the Jamaicans in an international friendly match played at the New Den ground of Millwall FC of England.

The Super Eagles approached the match on a casual note but came out smoking towards the end of the first half playing the Jamaicans strength for strength. 

The physical appraoch of the game by both teams, however, resulted resulted in a red card given to Taye Taiwo and Jarmaine Johnson in the 43rd minute.
At the resumption of the second half, both teams lost a couple of begging chances with the Nigerian side being the worst culprit. 

Nigeria had played Jamaica six times, won four, drawn one and lost one. Wednesday’s match was part of the build-up to the March 28 last phase of the 2010 World Cup qualifiers against the Mamba of Mozambique at the Machava Stadium in Maputo.

ZICO TO GIVE ORDIA 2ND UEFA CUP, WARNS GABBY

Zico, Coach of Super Eagles right back Chidi Ordia at CSKA Moscow insists his side will fight on every front as he has laid his eyes upon the UEFA Cup this season. 

Zico joined Ordia from Bunyodkor of Uzbekistan after leading them to a league and cup double to join the Russian giants in January. The former Brazilian ace now has the task of guiding his men to European success and Gagriel Agbonlahor’s high riding English side, Aston Villa stand between his side and a place in the last 16 of the UEFA Cup. The two teams meet in less than two weeks and Zico has warned Agbonlahor’s Villa that his side are up for the fight.

"Aston Villa? There is plenty of time to decide. In any case we will go all out for victory. CSKA must aim to win every tournament the club enters. It is another question how successful we will be," Zico enthused.

Although the former Udinese man stepped into relatively unknown territory in Russia, he insists he was well prepared for the role in Moscow. The ambitious Zico has stressed that Ordia and all his pals must work extra hard in training if they want to win a place in the first XI.

"I knew the CSKA players very well even before I started working at the club, so I have found nothing new since I came here,” Zico added.

CHRISANTUS ON TRIALS IN NORWAY

Flying Eagles talismanic striker and SV Hamburg forward, Macaulay Chrisantus is on the verge of moving to Norway in other to get first team football. 

Since joining the Bundesliga outfit, Chrisantus has failed to get full reckoning and is now desperately seeking first team football. He will join Norwegian clubside, Stabaek on Monday on a one week trial and if the Norwegians are satisfied, they will take him on a one year loan deal from Hamburg.

Sports director of Stabaek, Lars Bohinen is a keen admirer of the lethal and is ready to snap up the player provided he can impress during the trails. Indeed, Stabæk are looking for a young player to replace Veiga Pall Gunnarsson in their attack.

“Chrisantus is one player I have followed for some time now, he will train with us on Monday and we will give him a run out against FCK Copenhagen next Saturday,” Bohinen revealed.  

Nigeria Beat South Africa For 3rd place

 Nigeria's Flying Eagles claimed bronze at the ongoing 16th African Youth Championship with a 2-1 victory over the Amajita of South Africa in their third place play-off match on Saturday at the Regional Stadium in Kigali.
 
Frank Temile's effort on the stroke of half time was enough to land the five-times winners the bronze medal and also avenge a 2-0 loss at the group phase.
 
After beating the tournament favourites in their earlier meeting, the Amajita were expercted to replicate a similar feat, but erratic shooting in front of goal robbed them of a similra feat.
 
Midfielder George Maluka opened the scores for the South Africans on eight minutes with a long drive that beat Nigerian goalie Uche Okafor before Rabiu Ibrahim drew parity with a close range shot seven minutes later.
 
Temile put the Nigerians in the lead for the first time on the stroke of half time as he flicked past on rushing South African goalie Pule Boalefa, who had come-off his line to clear a challenge.
 
The South Africans had the better of the exchanges in the second half characterised by near misses from the two sides.
 
Maluka who remained a nuisance to the Nigerian defence was unlucky at drawing equal as his shot on 65 minute kissed the cross bar with Nigerian goalie Okafor completely beaten.
 
The Nigerians also came close in their quest to authenticate their lead but Gani Oseni and Yakubu Alfa saw their free-kicks hit the upright in the 74th and 81st minutes respectively.
 
The Amajita multiplied in attack during the closing stages but were unsuccessful in their bid for the equalizer.
 
This is the Flying Eagles' third bronze at the biennial championships after 1981 and 1995.
 

NSOFOR LOANED TO REAL BETIS

After days of speculation, Inter Milan have finally loaned, rave of the moment, Victor Obinna Nsofor (The Rave of The Momebnt) to Real Betis for remainder of the season.  

Real Betis had always been keen to bolster their attack line ahead of the second half of the season and one of their primary targets had been Nsofor. 

The move will see The Rave of The Moment stay in Spain for the remainder of the season, allowing The Nerazzurri to trim their squad down in the process. 

However, there is a proviso for outright purchase if Nsofor and Betis are content at the conclusion of the season, where he can be purchased outright for a fee of six million euros.

Obinna has made eight appearances for the Nerazzurri, since joining the club from Chievo in 2008, where he excelled at from the 2005-06 season.