Ighalo shocker on return! Player ratings: Nigeria 1-1 Cape Verde

On Tuesday, Nigeria inked a place in March’s Playoff Round of CAF World Cup Qualifying with a 1-1 draw against Cape Verde. The performances on the day are rated here, on a scale of 1-10.

The Sparta Rotterdam man was infrequently called upon over the course of the proceedings, in all honesty. His defence largely kept him cocooned, aside from the goal and the incidents that led up to it. Could have commanded his area more, but wisely stuck to what he is good at, which was fair enough. Was caught behind his goal line for the equalizer, a small technical failing that harms his rating.

If assurance had a name and face, it would be Balogun’s. Not the swiftest, but showed fantastic recovery pace on a couple of occasions, and he put himself about with a couple of strong tackles. The Rangers man also benefited from having another passing option to his left when playing forward. Had a rush of blood to the head late on, giving away a needless free-kick and earning a booking for his trouble.

They say centre-back pairings are made by opposites complementing, but that is based on styles, not output. Whereas Balogun was secure, the team’s captain was anything but. Gave away the corner-kick for Cape Verde’s equalizer, and then lost his man on the delivery to boot. Was iffy in possession, wildly oscillating between the ridiculous and the sublime, which is not the sort of variability on the ball you want from your centre-back.

Not quite as impressive as four days ago in Tangier. Was caught out on a few occasions, and misjudged his timing when stepping out. However, in one-on-one situations, Awaziem is turning into an almost impassable opponent. His body shape and reflexes are seriously impressive, and are coming to the fore more and more for Nigeria.

The only way to go from Saturday was up, really. However, kudos to Paderborn’s Collins for a much-improved showing. Even though having just one direct opponent helped, he got forward to good effect on a number of occasions and put in some threatening deliveries that could have amounted to more with a little bit of good fortune. Also defended much better and was not so easily bypassed.

The Everton man brought it today. His deeper positioning opened up passing lanes to Collins, and he linked with the wing-back to good effect himself. Had a lot more space in which to work and revelled in it, hitting some delicate switches into the channel for Osimhen and timing his passes extremely well. Also defended extremely well, providing support for Collins on the inside. Faded as an attacking force after the hour.

Ndidi was very fortunate to not get sent off for the elbow in the first half. The manner in which he managed himself - and the game - after that showed a great deal of nous and experience. went forward more than was necessary at times, popping up in advanced areas and leaving the back door open, even if he recovered well to stem the bleeding. Crucial block late on elevates his rating, and ultimately his performance on the basis of its importance.

It has been a little while since Nigerian fans saw Aribo produce his best for the national team. They were treated to exactly that on Tuesday. Came close to scoring by arriving late on the edge of the box, drawing a superb save from Vozinha. Put his foot in as well, nicking the ball off opponents on a couple of occasions and generally playing forward with intelligence and great technique. Exertions took a lot out of him and he flagged physically late on.

Another solid performance from Simon, who seems to have embraced this role with gusto. Could literally just rewrite the summary from his outing against Liberia, although here there was a bit more end product, as he forced Vozinha into a scrambling save (he will argue he meant to do that with his miscued cross) and his delivery led to the opener. Was fortunate not to be booked in the final action of the first half.

It is a fearsome thought: Osimhen being unavailable to play for Nigeria. He does a ridiculous amount of work cajoling the team’s mostly formless attacking play into something remotely coherent. Scored the opener, chased everything down, carried the fight to Cape Verde and ran the Super Eagles attack almost single-handedly. Created a fantastic chance for his strike partner, which was not taken.

His presence on the pitch was important tactically as, unlike Kelechi Iheanacho, he played with Osimhen as a proper front two and occupied defenders, but his actual performance was what you would expect from a retiree who has been kicking it in the Gulf: he looked leggy, could barely get off the ground for the peach of a cross he headed over, and whiffed at a sweet cut-back from Collins. Laid off the ball for Aribo’s shot, but beyond that, a nothingburger of a performance.

Came on for Simon, who went off injured. Did little of note beyond one instance of neat link-up play with Aribo and Iheanacho, but looked less than secure in defensive transition in the latter stages.

Did a fine job retaining possession in the final third on a couple of occasions, but unfortunately could not make more of one promising situation in particular. This is a role that might actually suit him for Nigeria.

The Brentford man was brought on for a more defensive, controlling presence, but remarkably found himself ahead of the ball as Cape Verde broke inside the final ten minutes.