Awful, leggy and inconsequential- Ibrox ace is slammed after World Cup exit

Joe Aribo, Leon Balogun and Calvin Bassey can look forward to an extended winter break following their Sydney Super Cup commitments in November. 

The Ibrox trio were in the Nigerian side that lost out on a World Cup place to Ghana, after a 0-0 draw away from home the Super Eagles became just the eagles after being knocked out on away goals after a 1-1 draw. 

Nigeria have qualified for the last three World Cup Finals but after leaning heavily on their Ibrox contingent they’ll be watching on telly as the action kicks off in Qatar. 

Picking up on reaction from Nigeria, The Sun reports: 

Pulse Nigeria, one of the country’s top media outlets, pulled no punches in their player ratings from the game. 

Goalkeeper Francis Uzoho was given a ONE out of ten after he failed to stop Thomas Partey’s shot from squirming under him and into the net.

Bassey was given a rating of three by the outlet. They wrote: “Difficult game to make a first start in for Bassey, who was the target of rotational fouling by Ghana and made a positioning error in the first half. Combined well in spells in that opening period though, when all that Nigeria did well came down the left.” 

Fellow defender Balogun fared slightly better with a rating of four out of ten. 

His certainly wasn’t a glowing review either, however. 

Pulse wrote: “Same as William Troost-Ekong, minus the penalty goal (in that he didn’t have much to do defensively). Struggled with his distribution as well, and looked heavy of foot on a couple of occasions.” 

Without doubt the Nigerian press went in hardest on Aribo, who is described in Pulse’s headline as “awful”. 

The midfielder was dubbed “leggy and inconsequential” as he earned a player rating of three out of ten for his performance against the Black Stars. 

Pulse said: “On a bumpy, uneven surface, Aribo looked leggy and inconsequential. Simply could not create separation from his marker at any point, and when he did receive in space his touch was heavy.”