Soccer
The Super Eagles of Nigeria fell short in their friendly against the Pharaohs of Egypt at the Cairo International Stadium, Soccernet.ng reports.
Mahmoud Saber broke the deadlock in the 28th minute, tapping into an empty goal after Zizo’s ball across the box found him in good space.
Chidozie Awaziem levelled the scores for the three-time AFCON winners just before half-time, reacting first to a loose ball after Zaidu Sanusi’s ricocheted off several bodies in Egypt’s six-yard.
Chidozie Awaziem equalises for Nigeria.
Egypt 1 – 1 Nigeria
— 49th. (@the49thstreet) December 16, 2025
Zizo turned provider again in the second half, feeding FC Nantes striker Mostafa Mohamed. The Egyptian striker’s shot bounced off Amas Obasogie before the ball went into the goal.
Soccernet.ng rates the performance of the Nigerian players as they lost to Egypt in their AFCON preparation fixture.
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How the Super Eagles fared against Egypt
1. Stanley Nwabali 6.3/10: The Chippa United goalkeeper didn’t make a save in the game. However, his decision to come off his line cost the team dearly as Saber was left unopposed in front of goal for Egypt’s opener.
He was replaced at half-time by the Tanzania-based Amas Obasogie
2. Bright Osayi-Samuel 6.3/10: The Birmingham City right-back, on the right, was isolated for most of the game. He was also beaten by his opposing winger, and it’ll be a worry if he puts in performances like this during the AFCON tournament.
3. Chidozie Awaziem 6.8/10: The FC Nantes defender scored Nigeria’s only goal of the game, but could’ve done better in shutting out Egypt’s first goal. He was replaced at half-time by Semi Ajayi.
4. Igoh Ogbu 6.6/10: The Slavia Prague defender was calm in possession, dealt with the aerial threats and helped in the build-up play.
5. Zaidu Sanusi 5/10: The FC Porto defender had a worrying first half. He tracked Zizo’s run late in the first half, and the resulting cross led to Egypt’s opener.
Additionally, he was poor in possession and looked out of place several times. His crosses in attack didn’t find a teammate. Bruno Onyemaechi replaced Sanusi at half-time.
6. Frank Onyeka 6.5/10: The Brentford midfielder started the game with a few heavy touches, but settled in as time went on.
7. Raphael Onyedika 6.3/10: The Club Brugge midfielder probed the Egypt defence with key passes in the early moments of the first half, but he faded out as the game went on. He was replaced by Ademola Lookman in the second half.
8. Fisayo Dele-Bashiru 6.2/10: The Lazio midfielder didn’t have a good game. He looked out of place and lacked the positional awareness of being a central midfielder in a diamond midfield.
9. Ebenezer Akinsanmiro 6.2/10: The Inter Milan loanee was misprofiled by Eric Chelle in the game against the Egyptians.
Largely a box-to-box midfielder, the Pisa midfielder was tasked with breaking the lines and feeding Chidera Ejuke and Paul Onuachu.
He wasn’t up to the task and had a debut to forget. Akinsanmiro was replaced by Cyriel Dessers at half-time.
10. Chidera Ejuke 6.6/10: The Sevilla forward put in the dirty work in attack, filling up the spaces on the left, and his dribbling was a joy to behold.
However, like always, there was no end product to the skills put on display by the former Hertha Berlin winger.
11. Paul Onuachu 6/10: The Trabzonspor attacker fed off scraps and constantly had to track back to help a midfield that cannot hold onto possession to hold onto the ball.
Substitutes
Amas Obasogie’s debut saw his weak palm unable to stop Egypt’s second goal. Other than that, he didn’t have anything to do on the night.
Given how poorly Nigeria played, Ademola Lookman, Cyriel Dessers, Bruno Onyemaechi and Semi Ajayi couldn’t affect the game positively.
Only Salim Fago came on with five minutes to spare and tried to spark some life into the game, but it was too late.
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