Man of the match: Mikel
Flop of the match: None


Enyeama: Solid saves. Parried goal-bound balls that would have brought Malians back into the game earlier 8

Ambrose: Solid defending. Even better attacking. Daring forward. Graet game 7

Omeruo: The boy has come of age. Solid game at the back, pushing forward once in a while. Pocketed the Malians skilful forwards 7

Oboabona: What can I say of this boy? When I see Nigerian home-based players play in those dusty fields, you will never think they can play like this at this level. Fantastic defender. 7.5

Echiejile: Getting better by each game and more and more confident. Nice outing. His goal was well taken. He positioned himself well, bent calculatedly and nodded teh ball in. That was great. 7.5

Onazi: Much wasn't seen of him, but he did aboev average in the midfield, protecting the back 4. He also made a daring shot at goal. Decent game. He is cleaner than Ogude and better if he retains that position 6.5

Mba: Initially given teh playmaker role, made to operate more deeply, leaving Mikel at the back of midfield, but later swapped that role for Mikel and Mikel executed it well. One nice move forward too. Combined well with Mikel in midfield 6.5

Mikel: My man of the match. Help us keep possession. His long passes were out of this world. His short passes were even a delight to watch. Totally commandeered the midfield. 8.5

Moses: Was looking like the man of the match but removed early. This guy is a beast. So confident with ball. So skilful. His assist for our first goal was world-class. No wonder it was teh first two matches that he didn't feature prominently that Super Eagles struggled. He was key to Eagles' resurgence. 8

Ideye: You hardly see him on the field, but when you him, it's a dangerous attempt at goal. His shot from impossible angle parried away by Malian keeper was touche. His leg twist for that second goal was fantastic too 7

Emenike: It appears African defenders have no answer to this guy, because I'm sure with his performance in our first game, he would be the talking point in next opposition team's training/strategy session, yet he kept defying the defenders' gameplan. Scored yet again, though a deflected shot. Is he the new Yekini? Not far off. 7.5

Musa: His sense seems to have returned with his hair. His first ball was bad, but made subsequent amends. His goal was also well taken. He also delivered a number of quality passes from teh flanks. 6.5


Ejike: falling down too easily, although getting us set pieces from the left and Nigeria using the opportunity to ease tension. Decent game 5

Yobo: Hardly settled. Not rated


Overall, another fantastic game from the Super Eagles. Played Nigeria's traditional possessive and attacking football, passing the ball around. Keshi also did well sticking with his starting 11 vs CIV.


Who, in his wildest imagination, would have given Eagles any chnace of reaching AFCON finals? Even some of us incurable opitimists in the SE never gave them chance. I wonder what Segun Odegbami and other ex-internationals who dubbed these Eagles 'team of teh future' and not one to win AFCON now, would be saying now.

Lowpoint however is teh way Diabate waltzed through our defenders about two or three times, getting an assist in one of them. Modibbo Maiga also did same, although farther from 18-box, earlier in the game. We should watch out for this as our opponents in final are likely going to devise their strategy on this. In Pitroipia, Burkina Faso has a player that can do that, but Ghana don't have (they only have power - their most skilful player, Dede Ayew that can do that, is not in the tournament). So I hope Eagles' handlers will anticipate this strategy.

keshi gets 10/10 from me today!!!


he got his tactics spot on - he must have read my comment in your last thread where i criticised his lack of wing play. we used the flanks well today and all our goals but the free kick were as a result of smart wing play!

all the players but mikel get 8 for me and mikel gets a 9 for the brilliant assist to musa! the pass just split the malian defence open like moses did with the red sea! mikel for me has been the best player of this tournament. i hope his critics can now see chelsea has grossly mismanaged him!

new word:
Keshi(noun) - a word used to describe a state of unusual ability to transform hopelessness into a sudden victory.

example:
• sunday mba's keshiness won us the game against ivory coast.
• emenike is a superb striker - he possesses the keshi quality!

naija kip on...cup on point

For me my man of the Match is Echejile I think he played excellently pocketing the taller and bigger Malian attackers as if he was physically bigger than them. 9 over 10

Victor Moses was fantastic as well I rate him 8 over 10.

Enyeama gets 8 over 10 for excellent goal keeping!

but guy u cram all dier movement..

Mikel = Beast mode!!!!

Up 9ja

The match today was fantastic. God bless Nigeria!

Moses is the man of the match and deserve 9

Yea,Mikel n Moses mehnnn,infact thumps 2 all d players...de r d bomb!!!

Mali Goal Keeper was just too sloppy

And After Elderson the son of
Echejile harkened to the voice and opened the flood gate of goals against the weak Malian Army,

Keshi the leader of the troop knelt down in his heart and cried unto the heavens, saying Jehovah grant unto thy Army victory this day! And the Lord said unto Stephen, the son of Keshi, "I know thy works. I will grant you victory over thy adversary this day. Do as the spirit
says."

And Stephen the Big Boss knew it was the voice of Yaweh! And he spoke unto Brown the son of Ideye, go into the goal mouth and await further instructions. And Brown obeyed the command and a through pass was laid across his path and he headed in nicely to the glory of God for Nigeria's second goal!

And it came to pass that 10 idle
jegudugera gominas sitting in the VIP stand, were happy and they said let us boast the moral of the rampaging Eagles by donating a huge
chunk of shekels to them in order to boast their moral. And when they relayed the message
to Keshi, the Big Boss, he said unto the thieving Gominas; "Get behind me agents of Satan for I am in the spirit! And indeed Stephen the son of
Keshi was truly in the spirit and he received further directives from the spirit and passed same to Emmanuel the son of Emenike, saying "Go forth
and take the free kick." And
Emmanuel went forth and took the short which resulted into the 3rd goal for the Eagles! And there was great jubilations
across the length and breadth of
Nigeria, and the people were happy and they proclaimed, TRULY,

TRULY, GOD is a Nigerian!

the eagles have upgraded, infact they have done what napoleon bonaparte could not have done..they just need to remain focused for the final battle...Up SUPER EAGLES....lets go there

The game was beautiful.

Na cooperation make rice full pot..... They all tried.
10/10

Up eagels...atleast we played far better than chelsea..

YOBO 10/10
T.B Joshua 10/10

All of you that said we cannot do without Osaze, make u na show face ooo

Na me b man of the match!! because i prayed and fasted for this match!! Naija we too much!!

Am a proud nigerian!!

What a splendid performance,bravo 9ja !

our worry is Ghana now.

we shall overcome

I largely agree with Jarus's ratings, except that I rate Mikel a 9. Yes, he was that good!
I think Mikel now has 3 assists to his name in this Nations Cup.

What splendid performance,bravo 9ja !

our worry is Ghana now.

we shall overcome

Nigerians, nigerians , nigerians... Small mistake 2morrow now na critics we go see

Anyway the boys made me proud, with this performance tghe trophy is coming back home

I knew keshi would defeat his former club, he was the one that built that team

CFCfan: I largely agree with Jarus's ratings, except that I rate Mikel a 9. yes, he was that good!
I think Mikel now has 3 assists to his name in this Nations Cup.

He or Moses may win the MVP for this tournament if Nigeria win the cup.

However, how come Okocha won MVP in Tunisia 2004 before final game? And Nigeria was eliminated in semis.

to be sincere mali does'nt have players...

I think the entire team did excellently well, but the stand out player for me is Victor "Holy" Moses, he was simply exceptional for the entire duration that he was on the pitch. John Obi Mikel was also wonderful for his great vision and all round play.

Any bad mouth{way osaze dey}

JideTheBlogger: All of you that said we cannot do without Osaze, make u na show face ooo

Osaze would have caused friction in that team. He wont tolerate being benched like Uche and Yobo. If it was Osaze that was being benched, instead of taking it in good faith like Yobo and Uche, he would have started fighting coaches.

Keshi is evry right dropping him, in hindsight.