Africa Football Discussion || Current Topic: AFCON 2025 Qualifiers - CAF.

[Majestic-milf]

 Someone predicted Nigeria - South Africa game to end in a draw but didn't give a correct score line and I wanted to prove him wrong that the Super Eagles can exceed expectations and played it otherwise, giving them to win since it was their home ground and the fact that they have a new coach who would be looking to impress the fans; but alas, my faith in them was broken. I don't know who to lay the blame on; whether it's on the coach for not bringing in some players like Victor Boniface, or the ref for not awarding the penalty or the players.
 By right, South Africa aren't a team that should be given Nigeria challenges but we find that everytime they meet, it's either a draw, a slim win or they win the Super Eagles. As it is, they aren't intimidated by Nigeria anymore and if they can come to their home turf and get a point, I wonder what happens if we go to their home.

[dezoel]

I think it is now obvious that any time the super Eagles is playing with south Africa that we should always expect a draw at the end of the day, because although I didn't see the reason why super Eagles can not beat south Africa although I was even seeing the game as draw but when I look at the odd that was giving to super Eagles I could not be able to bet the game again, however I think that most times looking at odd before place your bet is really making us not to win.

I was expecting win for the Super Eagles but having disappointment after this draw because I have feeling they are strong enough to have spot into world cup but now after having three draws from three games look like things are going to be not easy for them to have spot into World Cup which is surely huge disappointment for the Super Eagles fans but still good thing happening for them, they are having no lost against South Africa in last four games with 2 wins and 2 draws.

Even odds were favourable for the Super Eagles, but I never go on them because these are usually trick by the bookies for having some mess-up in last few years we are having good development in South African soccer, and they are doing good job for having better results now Super Eagles needs to convert their draws into wins for having spot into world cup.

[Richbased]

South Africans has been one of Nigerian greatest rivals when it comes to African football, so I don't bother much whether we win them now or not, even while I saw they had the lead I was confident enough that the match would end in draw or Nigeria to win. Both countries played really well, judging from the kind of goals scored by both teams, it shows how developed Africans are getting in football since most of our players are now playing in international clubs. I feel like the players still needs to blend even more, there is enough available rooms for development in the Super Eagles squad.

Yes Nigeria and South Africa are strong competitors when it comes to national competitions and if you check by their head to head  you will see that most of their meetings always end in draw that to show how strong the both teams are so about yesterday game the both side played very well from my own view.

Likewise me as well when South Africa scored first I also had the feeling that they will definitely end in a draw or win because there was no way Nigeria would have afforded to lose that match so had it been they lost it would have been a bad experience for the team so even though they didn't win instead of losing the match the draw they ended was better for them.

Yes Nigeria have international professional players from various competitive leagues in the world and they are expected to also play more better in country matches just same way they play for major leagues in Europe example is the likes of Ademola Lookman, Victor Osimhen, Boniface, Alex Iwobi, Kelechi Iheanacho and some others so the Nigerian team have better squads that plays in major leagues so a lot is expected from those combination of players.

[CryptoHeadlineNews]

By right, South Africa aren't a team that should be given Nigeria challenges but we find that everytime they meet, it's either a draw, a slim win or they win the Super Eagles. As it is, they aren't intimidated by Nigeria anymore and if they can come to their home turf and get a point, I wonder what happens if we go to their home.

That would have only been possible if the Super Eagles were consistent in their pattern of playing a more attacking game at the onset of the match to score more goals in the first 30 minutes, before a defensive game, rather than playing a defensive game before attacking at the die minutes of the match. Because if we are to have a look at the Head-to-Head review of the past 13 matches between both teams, Nigeria has won 7 times, South Africa won 2 and both played draw 4 times. Hence, when Nigeria is playing with South Africa, it's always best bet on either "Nigeria to win or draw"

[Amphenomenon]

By right, South Africa aren't a team that should be given Nigeria challenges but we find that everytime they meet, it's either a draw, a slim win or they win the Super Eagles. As it is, they aren't intimidated by Nigeria anymore and if they can come to their home turf and get a point, I wonder what happens if we go to their home.

That would have only been possible if the Super Eagles were consistent in their pattern of playing a more attacking game at the onset of the match to score more goals in the first 30 minutes, before a defensive game, rather than playing a defensive game before attacking at the die minutes of the match. Because if we are to have a look at the Head-to-Head review of the past 13 matches between both teams, Nigeria has won 7 times, South Africa won 2 and both played draw 4 times. Hence, when Nigeria is playing with South Africa, it's always best bet on either "Nigeria to win or draw"

Actually every match between Nigeria and South Africa goes deeper than the match, no matter how it seems Nigeria has more qualities of players they are usually with their heads up high still trying to make it difficult for Us.

While with a proper tactics and consistency from the Nigerian players defeating South Africa will be easier most times, Though if our players can set their heads up and the coach can learn from his mistakes and go for a more attacking minded tactics against South Africa I think Nigeria should be able to win away.

[GiftedMAN]

By right, South Africa aren't a team that should be given Nigeria challenges but we find that everytime they meet, it's either a draw, a slim win or they win the Super Eagles. As it is, they aren't intimidated by Nigeria anymore and if they can come to their home turf and get a point, I wonder what happens if we go to their home.

That would have only been possible if the Super Eagles were consistent in their pattern of playing a more attacking game at the onset of the match to score more goals in the first 30 minutes, before a defensive game, rather than playing a defensive game before attacking at the die minutes of the match. Because if we are to have a look at the Head-to-Head review of the past 13 matches between both teams, Nigeria has won 7 times, South Africa won 2 and both played draw 4 times. Hence, when Nigeria is playing with South Africa, it's always best bet on either "Nigeria to win or draw"

The playing pattern of the super eagles has always been defensive even during the last African cup of nations the Nigerian team maintained the defensive pattern even when the team was losing against the host nation they didn't push much of attack because they are now used to the defensive system of the team. The truth is that most times the playing pattern of a team is changed due to the team they play against but in the case of the Nigerian team, they always find it very difficult to switch they prefer to start with defense and end with defense they can only try to attack a little when they are losing and can't score due to their formation. The performance of the team against South Africa was very poor because the south Africans were attacking more than us in the game they got an early goal which shows that we couldn't defend properly even when we are playing more of defense else I expected the team to have won against South Africa because the level of players in the Super Eagles team right now is two times to that of South Africa but our coach is still finding it difficult to have his starting eleven I believe we need to improve in performance and work on improving the attacking force of the team if we really want to qualify for the tournament.

[CryptoHeadlineNews]

By right, South Africa aren't a team that should be given Nigeria challenges but we find that everytime they meet, it's either a draw, a slim win or they win the Super Eagles. As it is, they aren't intimidated by Nigeria anymore and if they can come to their home turf and get a point, I wonder what happens if we go to their home.

That would have only been possible if the Super Eagles were consistent in their pattern of playing a more attacking game at the onset of the match to score more goals in the first 30 minutes, before a defensive game, rather than playing a defensive game before attacking at the die minutes of the match. Because if we are to have a look at the Head-to-Head review of the past 13 matches between both teams, Nigeria has won 7 times, South Africa won 2 and both played draw 4 times. Hence, when Nigeria is playing with South Africa, it's always best bet on either "Nigeria to win or draw"

The playing pattern of the super eagles has always been defensive even during the last African cup of nations the Nigerian team maintained the defensive pattern even when the team was losing against the host nation they didn't push much of attack because they are now used to the defensive system of the team. The truth is that most times the playing pattern of a team is changed due to the team they play against but in the case of the Nigerian team, they always find it very difficult to switch they prefer to start with defense and end with defense they can only try to attack a little when they are losing and can't score due to their formation. The performance of the team against South Africa was very poor because the south Africans were attacking more than us in the game they got an early goal which shows that we couldn't defend properly even when we are playing more of defense else I expected the team to have won against South Africa because the level of players in the Super Eagles team right now is two times to that of South Africa but our coach is still finding it difficult to have his starting eleven I believe we need to improve in performance and work on improving the attacking force of the team if we really want to qualify for the tournament.

And that's the mistake our Nigerian team the Super Eagles keep making, of which until they start a match with a more attacking manner just like Man-City always do while playing with big teams, I doubt if our Super Eagles will be able to keep match with South Africans team next leg. But the funny part is that we have all what it takes and good players to win each match, but the style of play is our biggest problem, of which I will be happy if our new coach finidi george will be able to offer solution to this our current lapses.

[Slow death]

Nigeria usually doesn't find it easy with defeating the South African team lately whenever they meet, despite the fact that when it comes to the H2H meetings between both teams, and from 2004 down here, the super Eagle team have won a total of 6 games whereas South Africa has won only 1, and both has played 5 draws. However, I see this draw as what that has just repeated itself in this their today's game because winning South Africa is recently not an easy task for the super Eagle of Nigeria.

In most of the comments I'm reading, I realize that people are trying to be optimistic to the point of saying that it's not easy to beat South Africa, but it seems to me that they're forgetting that Nigeria has 3 draws in a group where they have very accessible teams. and that nigeria was supposed to have at least 7 points easily, look at the teams in nigeria's group:

Lesotho = we all know they are weak at football

Rwanda = we all know they are weak at football

Benin = we all know they are weak at football

Zimbabwe = we all know they are weak at football

So when a team that was supposed to be strong is in a group of teams as weak as the teams I mentioned and that team is doing very badly to the point of not having managed to even have 1 victory at least, then that team that was supposed to be Being strong has serious problems and if it is not corrected early, something like changing coaches, then this team will not get far and there is a risk of not even qualifying. In my opinion it is clear that Nigeria today is weakened and needs another coach if they want to qualify and even if they are lucky to qualify they will not be embarrassed in the world cup

[Hyphen(-)]

That would have only been possible if the Super Eagles were consistent in their pattern of playing a more attacking game at the onset of the match to score more goals in the first 30 minutes, before a defensive game, rather than playing a defensive game before attacking at the die minutes of the match. Because if we are to have a look at the Head-to-Head review of the past 13 matches between both teams, Nigeria has won 7 times, South Africa won 2 and both played draw 4 times. Hence, when Nigeria is playing with South Africa, it's always best bet on either "Nigeria to win or draw"

To some extent, I blame the coach for making the match looks like that, and the players for misusing the opportunities they had in the early minutes of the match; Nigeria could have scored more than two goals in the first half to end the match as early as possible, but they played as usual and let us down at the end of the match. Kudos to South Africa for keeping it up till they get a goal in the match because I do know why the Nigerian players were so comfortable with just one goal.
After all it’s a draw, let’s keep pushing, all I know is that we have players that when properly managed, they can lead us to the World Cup and do something better.

[nelson4lov]

Nigeria usually doesn't find it easy with defeating the South African team lately whenever they meet, despite the fact that when it comes to the H2H meetings between both teams, and from 2004 down here, the super Eagle team have won a total of 6 games whereas South Africa has won only 1, and both has played 5 draws. However, I see this draw as what that has just repeated itself in this their today's game because winning South Africa is recently not an easy task for the super Eagle of Nigeria.

If we're going to be honest with ourselves, The South Africa team have been in a really good form lately. Even in the Afcon back in February, South Africa has been one of the standout performers and yesterday, they showed once again why they top contenders to represent Africa in the world cup. Nigeria on the other hand have don't play a thorough / coordinated strategy but only lucky to be blessed with some of the best players in Africa right now and those lackluster moments have been enough go aid the team at crucial game times.

It kind of reminded me about how Liverpool had constantly escaped losing despite going down multiple times in the just concluded EPL season and they ran at of luck at some point. Hopefully, Nigeria doesn't.

[Docnaster]

Nigeria usually doesn't find it easy with defeating the South African team lately whenever they meet, despite the fact that when it comes to the H2H meetings between both teams, and from 2004 down here, the super Eagle team have won a total of 6 games whereas South Africa has won only 1, and both has played 5 draws. However, I see this draw as what that has just repeated itself in this their today's game because winning South Africa is recently not an easy task for the super Eagle of Nigeria.

If we're going to be honest with ourselves, The South Africa team have been in a really good form lately. Even in the Afcon back in February, South Africa has been one of the standout performers and yesterday, they showed once again why they top contenders to represent Africa in the world cup. Nigeria on the other hand have don't play a thorough / coordinated strategy but only lucky to be blessed with some of the best players in Africa right now and those lackluster moments have been enough go aid the team at crucial game times.

It kind of reminded me about how Liverpool had constantly escaped losing despite going down multiple times in the just concluded EPL season and they ran at of luck at some point. Hopefully, Nigeria doesn't.

Anyone who's been watching the South African national team in the last one year will agree to the fact that they've really improved in their performances than how they were in recent years. Nigeria without doubt eliminated South Africa from the CAF African Cup Of Nations in the semi finals of the tournament that was played in the beginning of the year but it wasn't an  game for Nigeria as the game was decided by penalty shootout. Despite South African rise in performance, I was still not expecting them to be at the Super Eagles of Nigeria in that game that was played yesterday or even get a draw but surprisingly, it was the home team that even forced South Africa for a draw in that game.
I think the Super Eagles should've done better in that game and if there's any decision that was taken by the coach of the Super Eagles that I think cost them a win in that game, I think it was the decision to start Paul Onachu ahead of Bayer Leverkusen's striker Victor Boniface. Hopefully the Super Eagles gets a good result when they face Benin Republic on Monday.

[SatoPrincess]

To some extent, I blame the coach for making the match looks like that, and the players for misusing the opportunities they had in the early minutes of the match; Nigeria could have scored more than two goals in the first half to end the match as early as possible, but they played as usual and let us down at the end of the match. Kudos to South Africa for keeping it up till they get a goal in the match because I do know why the Nigerian players were so comfortable with just one goal.
After all it’s a draw, let’s keep pushing, all I know is that we have players that when properly managed, they can lead us to the World Cup and do something better.

I knew from time that the manager will get criticized when the Super Eagles lose a game. We had a draw and people are still calling out the coach that he’s not fit for the club. Nigerians are quick to pick a target to blame for the team’s failures whether it is a coach or a player. I only hope we do not find ourselves in a place where we get into a discussion of if Peseiro was a better Super Eagles manager than Finidi George.

[Majestic-milf]

That would have only been possible if the Super Eagles were consistent in their pattern of playing a more attacking game at the onset of the match to score more goals in the first 30 minutes, before a defensive game, rather than playing a defensive game before attacking at the die minutes of the match. Because if we are to have a look at the Head-to-Head review of the past 13 matches between both teams, Nigeria has won 7 times, South Africa won 2 and both played draw 4 times. Hence, when Nigeria is playing with South Africa, it's always best bet on either "Nigeria to win or draw"

You are right on your observations of how Nigeria plays. Truthfully, it seems like they don't know how important the game is and chose the option of defense from the start. South Africa are understandably bitter rivals to Nigeria and as such will do anything to make things difficult which they did. If you ask me, I'd say the Eagles take international games less important than they do at their clubs.

[snipie]

If you ask me, I'd say the Eagles take international games less important than they do at their clubs.

That's the problem with all African players that are playing in Europe in fact. They care a lot about their teams more than their nations. They make less efforts and contacts to avoid injuries.. You can see Salah in Liverpool and with Egypt, you feel like there is two players with the same name. Same for so many players in Nigeria or other nations.
Talking about Nigeria, they will have a game tomorrow against Benin which is third in the group for the moment and Nigeria is expected to win and jump in front of them.

[Marvelockg]

Nigeria usually doesn't find it easy with defeating the South African team lately whenever they meet, despite the fact that when it comes to the H2H meetings between both teams, and from 2004 down here, the super Eagle team have won a total of 6 games whereas South Africa has won only 1, and both has played 5 draws. However, I see this draw as what that has just repeated itself in this their today's game because winning South Africa is recently not an easy task for the super Eagle of Nigeria.

In most of the comments I'm reading, I realize that people are trying to be optimistic to the point of saying that it's not easy to beat South Africa, but it seems to me that they're forgetting that Nigeria has 3 draws in a group where they have very accessible teams. and that nigeria was supposed to have at least 7 points easily, look at the teams in nigeria's group:

Lesotho = we all know they are weak at football

Rwanda = we all know they are weak at football

Benin = we all know they are weak at football

Zimbabwe = we all know they are weak at football

So when a team that was supposed to be strong is in a group of teams as weak as the teams I mentioned and that team is doing very badly to the point of not having managed to even have 1 victory at least, then that team that was supposed to be Being strong has serious problems and if it is not corrected early, something like changing coaches, then this team will not get far and there is a risk of not even qualifying. In my opinion it is clear that Nigeria today is weakened and needs another coach if they want to qualify and even if they are lucky to qualify they will not be embarrassed in the world cup

there is no two ways about this issue, the Nigerian super eagles didn't do well so far and regardless of how optimistic we are about the possibility of seeing a magical comeback, we all know that they missed out on an opportunity that would have helped them secure a lead in the there group. The result they got in the South African match is what is ideal for both teams as they are the strongest in the group and knowing that the two nations are rivals in most context, it's just normal to expect a draw in that match.

I had expected Nigeria and South Africa to top the group but sometimes being an underdog is an advantage you could leverage on and the smaller teams that most persons must have written off came out big and gave a good performance pushing the two giant behind. Every nation is hungry to play in the world cup and if Nigeria feels that they are going to use calculation to qualify for the world cup, they should know that they aren't going any where.

[Rruchi man]

If you ask me, I'd say the Eagles take international games less important than they do at their clubs.

These players earn more from their clubs than they do from the national side, and the spirit of patriotism in Nigeria has died down, so you will not expect these players to give their all playing for Nigeria knowing that they could jeopardize their chances of playing a whole season for their clubs, thus reducing their club value. That is a nightmare for some of these players and not what they want, so they are always careful when they play for the national side because, to some of them, it is not worth it.

The only two players who have been inspirational to me in how they play for Nigeria are Victor Osimhen and Ademola Lookman. They put their minds into the game, and you can just see it.

I assume that the poor attitude of players towards the game is also a consequence of the bad governance that we have in the country. If every player on the national team can really be very patriotic and put their best effort into wearing the Nigerian jersey to represent the country in any football competition, I believe that we would see a different Nigerian team.

[SatoPrincess]

If you ask me, I'd say the Eagles take international games less important than they do at their clubs.

That's the problem with all African players that are playing in Europe in fact. They care a lot about their teams more than their nations. They make less efforts and contacts to avoid injuries.. You can see Salah in Liverpool and with Egypt, you feel like there is two players with the same name. Same for so many players in Nigeria or other nations.
Talking about Nigeria, they will have a game tomorrow against Benin which is third in the group for the moment and Nigeria is expected to win and jump in front of them.

That’s one of the problems African teams have. They lack a sense of patriotism to their country and sometimes may feel as though they are doing the country a favour by playing for them. This is often the case because most of the players have dual citizenship.

Another problem is that the players lack chemistry. They are not used to playing together and as such they lack a bond with each other. The Super Eagles for example have quality players who are individually top tier but they find it hard to come together and play as a team.

[Cryptomultiplier]

That would have only been possible if the Super Eagles were consistent in their pattern of playing a more attacking game at the onset of the match to score more goals in the first 30 minutes, before a defensive game, rather than playing a defensive game before attacking at the die minutes of the match. Because if we are to have a look at the Head-to-Head review of the past 13 matches between both teams, Nigeria has won 7 times, South Africa won 2 and both played draw 4 times. Hence, when Nigeria is playing with South Africa, it's always best bet on either "Nigeria to win or draw"

You are right on your observations of how Nigeria plays. Truthfully, it seems like they don't know how important the game is and chose the option of defense from the start. South Africa are understandably bitter rivals to Nigeria and as such will do anything to make things difficult which they did. If you ask me, I'd say the Eagles take international games less important than they do at their clubs.

It was more or less a matter of finidi George, not having a winning strategy I'm mind against the south Africans.
Although the chances of the Eagles qualifying for the world cup is slimmer than it should, there's still hope if they add a bit of seriousness to every match they play from hence forth, mostly with the new launch of jerseys by Nike.

[Marykeller]

At the end it all settled one a piece (1-1). And Nigeria did very well to get the comeback. The African world cup qualifiers matches today all had quite a good number of goals which for some time now has been the era with African football because goal scoring was actually some sort of problem for their games.The Algeria game that they lost was a shock to me because they lost to a very big odd of which I even played them to win and they were defeated by guinea.

The draw Super Eagle had with South Africa was not a good one I must say. it kinda discouraging and in the same vein reduced their chances of qualifying as the top contestants of the Group C table.

Currently, the Super Eagle is placed in the 5th position with 3 points, having Lesotho at the 1st spot with 5 points, Rwanda, Benin Republic, and South Africa, all have 4 points. However, according to the ranking of the table(Group C), there's still hope for Super Eagle "if" they win their away match against the Benin Republic. At least the win can push them to the 2-3rd spot, determining the results of other teams in the Group C table. That notwithstanding, towards Monday, we will get to learn about, whether the Super Eagles win, lose, or draw their last match of the year for World Cup qualification against the Benin Republic.

  Some people are saying that Finidi George should be sack now because Super Eagles is now on the danger zone not to qualifying from the world cup and if they didn't qualify then things will go wrong in the club.  But really was a shame for Super Eagles to draw with Bafana Bafana in their own home land. And as it is now, Super Eagles has 3 points which is second to last. And Zambia has 2 points which is the last in the group. Nigeria team can only qualify if they win the return match and if not then they will not go to anywhere and they have to watch the match at home. And if they k ow that they will not do well then they have to stay at home than going there to come in the group stage of the match. They didn't even sang the new National Anthem. But let see what they can play in the next match. This match they played yesterday disappointed many predictions.

LOL....have you forgotten your country again that they are always using their last match to have hope of qualifying. They are not always leading their group or to be second, the do mess up opportunities that will make their qualification a probability. Since I know Nigeria, I have not seen them qualifying and still have more matches left to play.

This orientation should be changed, because it is not a good one, and it does not speak good about the country performance in football. Imagine that they must win their next match before they will qualify for CAF. If they lose the game, it over and Finidi did not enjoy his contract.

It will not be spoken well of if the Super Eagle miss to qualify for the World Cup for two consecutive times, after much anticipation they will come top and make the nation proud with the list of world-class players in the team, and they fail woefully to qualify for the World Cup.

It is so tiring and annoying at the same time that the Super Eagles winning and qualification for any tournaments do come with probability and calculations of their upcoming matches for them to win and their opponent to lose. They haven't qualified for any given tournament without having Nigerians calculating for them on the match to win and make them appear on top of the table.

By tomorrow, their fate will be put on the line. Nigeria will be praying for Super Eagles away wins against Benin Republic, so that they can appear top of the Group C table.

[Docnaster]

If you ask me, I'd say the Eagles take international games less important than they do at their clubs.

That's the problem with all African players that are playing in Europe in fact. They care a lot about their teams more than their nations. They make less efforts and contacts to avoid injuries.. You can see Salah in Liverpool and with Egypt, you feel like there is two players with the same name. Same for so many players in Nigeria or other nations.
Talking about Nigeria, they will have a game tomorrow against Benin which is third in the group for the moment and Nigeria is expected to win and jump in front of them.

That’s one of the problems African teams have. They lack a sense of patriotism to their country and sometimes may feel as though they are doing the country a favour by playing for them. This is often the case because most of the players have dual citizenship.

Another problem is that the players lack chemistry. They are not used to playing together and as such they lack a bond with each other. The Super Eagles for example have quality players who are individually top tier but they find it hard to come together and play as a team.

For anyone who's taken time to study the level of dedication among African players when they're representing their respective clubs as well when they're playing for their national teams, you'll find out that they're very much concerned about their performance in their clubs especially those of them that are playing for big European clubs. That's unpatriotism and it's not even found among  their European counterparts .
The game the Super Eagles of Nigeria played against the Bafana Bafana of South Africa two days ago was a World Cup qualifier so I expected the team to be more show more determination to win the game than what we saw. The new coach of the Super Eagles Finidi George has a lot of work to do in the team if he really wants to succeed with the national team.