funny how everyone seems to agree drogba is a 'class 1' world class player. even more shocking when the same people say kanu is a 'class 2' world class player.i'm flabbergasted!
drogba has had only one 'world class season' in his entire career, and he is unanimously deemed a 'class 1' world class player?
next thing u know, adebayor and kevin phillips are 'world class'

Drogba has one world class season. How many world class season has Kanu had start from 1993. and Highlight what he did/ contributed to every club he played for. To me Kanu has always been a substitute all his LIFE. Ajax, Inter, Arsenal, West Brom, Portsmouth

dayokanu:

To me Kanu has always been a substitute all his LIFE. Ajax, Inter, Arsenal, West Brom, Portsmouth

Thank God, you said 'To me'

Tell me in which club he was a first team player now.

dayokanu:



Rooney World class?? What an abuse of the phrase.

The fact that he is the best English player makes him world class when everyone knows England is a sankwa team on the same level with Cyprus and Saudi Arabia. That means the best player in Cyprus should be world class?

I don't even agree he is the best English player because in My rating Terry and Gerrard are better than him. But because you put in his generation which include (David Bentley, Chris Eagles and Mc Eveley) He might be the best.

Rooney can not play in the national team of Spain and Germany to start with because David Villa, Fernando Torres, Lukas Podolski and Miro Klose have better records than him.

@TKB, Check Rooney and Crouch scoring records for the National team and compare.

it still baffles me when people downplay rooneys abilities and his potential (considering the fact that he is still young and not using football age)

rooney is without a shadow of a doubt, the best british player playing the game right now. lets leave emotions and club affiliations aside for a momment and watch that boy play, that boy is simply brilliant, a consumate proffesional and his ability to read the game is second to none. he just is not a very good finisher. afterall, he is a shadow striker

back to the topic
i think only kanu and finidi are the world class 1 players nigeria has ever produced. they managed to distinguish themselves for both club and country and have played at the highest level and with distinction.
okocha is exceptionally talented, but he has never played at the highest level worldwide, that is the achilles heel of his career. notwithstanding, he is still one of the most respected midfielder of this generation to ever play the game.

nigerian players harldy get to the summit of world football because they always lie about their age. by the time you expect them to develop, they are in the twighlight of their careers. just take a look at aghahowa (who was touted as the "nigerian micheal owen".

Drogba has one world class season. How many world class season has Kanu had start from 1993. and Highlight what he did/ contributed to every club he played for. To me Kanu has always been a substitute all his LIFE. Ajax, Inter, Arsenal, West Brom, Portsmouth

any half-brained slowpoke who has watched both players play should know drogba is by no means a better player than kanu(in his prime).so i'm shocked when people say drogba is a 'class 1' world class player and kanu is a 'class 2' world class player. putting drogba in the same class as ronaldo, dinho, zidane, pele, maradona etc is soccer blasphemy and for that, no punishment is too great.

rooney is without a shadow of a doubt, the best british player playing the game right now.

apparently u havent heard of a certain Stevie G.

Nigerians are the most sentimental set of people I have ever come across. In many Nigerians' reckoning, no other African players can be better than Nigerian players. Pitiably, when it later becomes glaring, they will tie the player's performance to 'playing in big club'.

Until a couple of years ago I had a friend that used to say Aghahowa was better than Eto'o. What an abuse of comparison! Till today, many Nigerians will tell you Eto'o and Drogba are not better than Martins. Their argument: Drogba and Eto'o play in big teams. Some people even say without Ronaldinho, no Eto'o. The last time a Nigerian won African FOtY was 1999(Kanu).For about nine years now the only Nigerian that came close to it was JJ(3rd in 2003 and 2004). But instead of Nigerians to admit that the era of Nigerian players as best in Africa has gone, they will be cursing CAF,Hayatou or the so-called Franco-phone gang-up. When Nigerians(Yekinni,Amuneke,Ikpeba,kanu) dominated the award between 1993 to 1999, Hayatou was still CAF President. Nobody raised an eyebrow. When Eto'o came of age and won the award three consecutive times(having won African Young POtY and runners-up several times before),and could have won it for the fourth time if not for injury,uninformed Nigerians started shouting Hayatou 'gave' it to him because he was his countryman. So annoying to me is this argument that anybody that tells me one single person can single-handedly give award to a player, loses my respect. I immediately consign such people to my list of armschair analysts, that do not deserve arguing with. For me, Eto'o deserved all the three awards he won. Gaskiya.
The problem with many Nigerians is that other than premiership and few clubs in other leagues like Madrid,Barca,Inter,AC, and maybe Juve, they do not watch other clubs, especially the so-called small clubs. If anybody watched Eto'o at Real Mallorca and Drogba at Marseille, then he will not join the bandwagon of those that say Barca and Chelsea made these players. They were made before their move to these clubs. By the way, didn't Barca or Chelsea see Martins or Aghahowa before going for Eto'o and Drogba? Eto'o earned his first nomination for world player of the year(first list of 30) as a Mallorca player and Drogba as a Marseille player. At Mallorca, Eto'o specialized in wrecking big clubs especially Real Madrid(Uche seems to be taking over now) and Carlos will never forget in a hurry how Eto'o reduced him to amateur in the 2003 Kings club final, where he led Mallorca's humiliation of Madrid, tearing apart the much feared Madrid defence. So respected was Eto'o that the 'Dean' himself,Zidane, raised an alarm on how Eto'o made their taem look ordinary. He scored 17 goals against Madrid only in his spell in other clubs in Spain. In his last season as Mallorca, he had 19 goals to his credit
and saved Mallorca from relegation. How can we also forget Eto'o performance at the Confederation cup of that year! Does anybody remember that Cameroun-Brazil match where Eto'o played first half of his Mallorca match, quickly flew to join his national team while the match was already on, came on for Cameroun in second half and delivered the goal that wrecked Brazil. That was vintage Eto'o. Bereaved Cameroun(due to Foe's death in semifinal aginst Colombia) only lost to France in final, courtesy of Henry's goal.
A lot of Nigerians did not know this because this was not related to premiership, so I was not surprised when they opened their mouths and said Hayatou gave African FOtY 2003 to Eto'o instead of JJ. While JJ was also single-handedly and successfully helping Bolton fight relegation that season, Eto'o was doing excatly the same thing to Mallorca,but his edge over JJ came over his performance in Confederation cup,which Nigeria,and of course JJ, did not play, won him African player of the player 2003.All these were before his move to Barca. No Ronaldinho, no Deco behind him.
At the end of that season Madrid regretted giving him out(being the team that discovered him at 16), and made frantic efforts to get him back, but Barca were smarter and landed him. I need not say anything about his performance at Barca.
Who then says Eto'o lived on Ronaldinho? Who says Eto'o is not a world class player? Pls Nigerians let's be objective!!!

I would have loved to give a comprehensive detail on Drogba, though less an achiever compared to Eto'o, but let me quickly remind you that Drogba at Marseille propelled his team to UEFA final in 2004, scoring in every game except final. He also emerged best player in French league that season and scored 19 goals. Is that not a world class performance? Who then is saying drogba has only one world class season at Chelsea? Who among Nigerina players has ever done that?

Come on, let's be objective !

@Gabe logan,

Your answer is already written.

So the best British player makes him world class when every one knows that all british teams are below par. Which of the qualified for the last Euro?

The fact that he is the best English player makes him world class when everyone knows England is a sankwa team on the same level with Cyprus and Saudi Arabia. That means the best player in Cyprus should be world class?

I don't even agree he is the best English player because in My rating Terry and Gerrard are better than him. But because you put in his generation which include (David Bentley, Chris Eagles and Mc Eveley) He might be the best

In 2004, Drogba was the highest goal scorer in all UEFA competitions

Tell me in which club he was a first team player now.

Ajax Ajax Ajax Ajax

gabe_logan:


it still baffles me when people downplay rooneys abilities and his potential (considering the fact that he is still young and not using football age)

rooney is without a shadow of a doubt, the best british player playing the game right now. lets leave emotions and club affiliations aside for a momment and watch that boy play, that boy is simply brilliant, a consumate proffesional and his ability to read the game is second to none. he just is not a very good finisher. afterall, he is a shadow striker

Haba, how can someone say Rooney is England's best? Where do you want to put Gerrard?

dayokanu:

Drogba has one world class season. How many world class season has Kanu had start from 1993. and Highlight what he did/ contributed to every club he played for. To me Kanu has always been a substitute all his LIFE. Ajax, Inter, Arsenal, West Brom, Portsmouth

Kanu is no doubt a fantastic player full of tricks and skills and appears refreshingly evergreen in the game. But let's compare the highest point in his career with that of Drogba:
KANU:Granted he was Arsenal's rave of the moment in the 1999/2000 season, but recall he didn't score up to 15 goals. Won champions league with Ajax but he was not exceptional in that team, just a team member. Yes, wrecked Brazil in Atlanta '96(an age grade competition) and led Nigeria to victory-I agree he was exceptional there. Piloted Portsmouth to their first FA cup in over 70 years, by scoring a goal even my grandmother would have scored if she was in that position.
DROGBA: Highest goal scorer in UEFA competition.Highest gola scorer in EPL 2006/2007 season. Like Kanu also delivered FA cup to Chelsea in 2007 netting in the final against Man-U. At Drogba's peak a couple of years ago, rated the world's best striker. Singly carried Chelsea at Chelsea's trying period(2006/2007 season).

Kanu was a substitute largely in Ajax if you watch those games then. Litmannen was the main guy . Kluivert and Kanu always pair him upfront and they replace each other.

Kluivert usually the preffered choice and kanu the sub.

Who says Kanu, JJ, Finidi and even Rashidi Yekini are not exclusive world class players? What we have forgotten is the fact that most of these players we call world class are over hyped by european journalists who belived everything european is the best save brazillians. Drogba as a striker is only termed world class because he plays for a good club where he gets good assists. I believe there are many unsung heroes out there who are really world class.

Maradona, Pele, Platini, Weah, and recently zidane ronaldinho, henry, eto'o, riquelme to mention but a few are undoubtedly world class players so also okocha, kanu, finidi were they europeans

Is Etoo European yet you put his name. Is george Weah European, or Drogba. Class can not be hidden regardless of the country you play for . Is any Nigerian in the class of Etoo, Weah? NO

I said this few hours ago:

ife-eco-06:

Nigerians are the most sentimental set of people I have ever come across. In many Nigerians' reckoning, no other African players can be better than Nigerian players. Pitiably, when it later becomes glaring, they will tie the player's performance to 'playing in big club'.

Not surprisingly, this one is proving right:

omodapson:

Who says Kanu, JJ, Finidi and even Rashidi Yekini are not exclusive world class players? What we have forgotten is the fact that most of these players we call world class are over hyped by european journalists who belived everything european is the best save brazillians.[b] Drogba as a striker is only termed world class because he plays for a good club where he gets good assists. [/b]I believe there are many unsung heroes out there who are really world class.

Maradona, Pele, Platini, Weah, and recently zidane ronaldinho, henry, eto'o, riquelme to mention but a few are undoubtedly world class players so also okocha, kanu, finidi were they europeans

But let me ask him: Didn't these good/big clubs see our so called world class players before going for Eto'o,Drogba and Weah? The reason is simple: Most of our players are only average and not exceptional enough to attract serious interest in big/good clubs like Barca,AC,Madrid,Chelsea etc. And for your information Drogba and Eto'o were already big stars in Marseille and Mallorca before signing for big clubs. There is just no hiding place for real great players, even if they play in Cyprus, these big clubs will fish them out and catch them-Luca Toni hit limelight as Fiorentina player,Shevchenko as Dynamo Kiev player,Ronaldo and Nisterooy as PSV players. If you are good enough to play for big clubs they will surely find you.

Another question: National team apart, can Nigeria match CIV player for player? If Arsenal plays Chelsea, four Ivorians will be on field. CIV has players in Barca,Lyon and other big clubs and the highest Nigeria can table is Mikel of Chelsea. Kalou is enough to dwarf our representative,and Kalou will rank behind Drogba(Chelsea),Kolo (Arsenal),Yaya Toure(Barca),Kadri Keita(Lyon). Pls if they are deceiving us don't let us deceive ourselves.

How many Nigerians play in the Champions league from season to season in the last 3 years .

Dont mention Mikel cos he hardly gets to play.

Check the number of Ivorians and Camerounian.

A Malian plays in Sevilla-Kanoute, Juventus-Sissoko, Real Madrid-Diarra and Barcelona- Seydou where are the Nigerians

Ivorians ? Dont even go there.

We are just parading a bunch of average players that are not good enough to attract interest from big clubs,but Nigerians hate to hear this!!!

dayokanu:

@Gabe logan,

Your answer is already written.

So the best British player makes him world class when every one knows that all british teams are below par. Which of the qualified for the last Euro?

The fact that he is the best English player makes him world class when everyone knows England is a sankwa team on the same level with Cyprus and Saudi Arabia. That means the best player in Cyprus should be world class?

I don't even agree he is the best English player because in My rating Terry and Gerrard are better than him. But because you put in his generation which include (David Bentley, Chris Eagles and Mc Eveley) He might be the best

In 2004, Drogba was the highest goal scorer in all UEFA competitions

i am not judging rooney because he is an english player (we all know how the english love to hype their players), i am imploring you guys to take an objective look at his game.
he is a bit inconsistent, but that boy has loads and loads of talent.

he is a very good passer of the ball
he use both feet
he is aggressive
he has pace
he reads the game excellently
he has shot
he can dribble (not ronaldinho, ronaldo or okocha type of dribble but he can get past his marker)
he is a consummate proffessional
he plays the game with so much heart
he is simply brilliant
and best of all, he's still young

i think i'll rate him above gerrard and terry, heck ferdinand is even better than terry.

ife-eco-06:

Another question: National team apart, can Nigeria match CIV player for player? If Arsenal plays Chelsea, four Ivorians will be on field. CIV has players in Barca,Lyon and other big clubs and the highest Nigeria can table is Mikel of Chelsea. Kalou is enough to dwarf our representative,and Kalou will rank behind Drogba(Chelsea),Kolo (Arsenal),Yaya Toure(Barca),Kadri Keita(Lyon). Please if they are deceiving us don't let us deceive ourselves.

this is a tired and worn out excuse, nigerians are guilty of playing this card all the time. personally, i dont think the ivorien team are better than nigeria. in the last two nations cups, they needed a bit of luck (and also coaching incompetence) to be able to overcome the nigerian team.

football nowadays is not based on individual players but is a team effort. just look at recent competitions and u'll get what i mean. the spanish team in the just concluded euro's were not the most star-studded team, germany too or even russia and croatia. look at the last euro's that greece won, they were the worst team on paper. the list goes on and on.

At Drogba's peak a couple of years ago, rated the world's best striker.

rated by who? drogba has NEVER at any point in the history of football been the best striker in africa not to mention "worlds best striker".

he is a very good passer of the ball

not 'very good', just 'good'.

he use both feet

rooney's left foot is no more accurate than that of the average right footer.so why mention it?

he is aggressive

ok.

he has pace

u mean he used to have pace.at the moment my great grand momma would outpace rooney.

he reads the game excellently

true

he has shot

power is nothing withouth ACCURACY

he can dribble

debatable

he is a consummate proffessional

WHATEVER!

he plays the game with so much heart

good for him

he is simply brilliant

u mean academically?

and best of all, he's still young

age has nothing to do with this.

i think i'll rate him above gerrard

blasphemy! . . . . REPENT! . . . . , for the 08/09 season is at hand!

Ritchboi

wasnt Drogba regarded as the best striker worldwide a couple of years ago ?

Maybe people don't get facts before coming to post. From an internationally recognised tv programme, George Finidi was rated as one of the few world class footballers of his generation. I stand to be corrected.

Secondly, if Okocha is not a world class how come Pele listed him among best players of all time. Pele is an authority in the game. abeg naija this is not a question of sentiments. Nigeria has and will continue to produce world class players.

About Kanu, which other player(s) in Africa has won more honours than him? The records are there to be disputed. In 1996, he was recognised by fifa as one of the top 6 players in the world. If not for the heart problem that incapacitated him, I am sure he would have done more amazing things than he had done till date.

Why is Nigeria constantly on the world map of international football if not for our world class players? Make we think again ooooooooo,

Like I said, Kanu and Finidi are the closest we have to world class. Can you now compare any of tem to Eto'o, Weah and Drogba

Pele said something about Okocha does that make him world class? The same Pele said stuff about Nicky Butt and Godwin Okpara does that make them world class?

@dayo
Regarded by who? Dayokanu and ife-ico?
Where were henry,sheva,totti,eto'o,ruud,toni,ibra etc 'a couple of years ago' when u claim drogba was the best?

ritchboy:

@dayo
Regarded by who? Dayokanu and ife-ico?
Where were henry,sheva,totti,eto'o,ruud,toni,ibra etc 'a couple of years ago' when u claim drogba was the best?

Yes, regarded almost unanimously the world over.

oya,let's see:

A couple of years ago was 2006/2007, abi.

In 2006, Henry was not only battling injury but had also dipped in form. Sheva is out of it because Drogba was outshining him week in, week out and Mourinho had to finally consign him to bench for Drogba. Eto'o? Injury cut his form short. Ruud? Making some impacts at Real then but not much impact at Europe. Toni-Yes, banging goals for Fiorentina but not beyond Serie A because his club didn't play in Europe. DROGBA-Painting Europe and premiership red with goals at a time Chelsea as a team didn't have the best of season. Chelsea signed Sheva and Ballack and a lot of people had expected a great season for Chelsea but contrary to expectation, it was Drogba(and Essien) carrying them, outclassed Sheva. Haba, almost every informed football follower agreed Drogba was the world's hottest at that time.

maybe Ritcboi doesnt know the meaning of couple no more . . .

Haba, almost every informed football follower agreed Drogba was the world's hottest at that time.

there is a BIG difference btw the 'hottest' and he BEST.
drogba was probably the hottest striker that season(06/07), does that mean he was the BEST during that time? NO!.
adebayor was the 2nd hottest striker in the epl last season, but i doubt he's among the 5 BEST strikers in the league.
david guiza was the 'hottest' striker in la liga last season, so using ur questionable logic guiza is the best striker in la liga? i can probably say the same of del piero in serie A.
like they say, form is temporary, class is permanent!
etoo has been the best striker in africa since 2004. . . translation = drogba has NEVER been the best striker in africa, not to talk of the whole world!

maybe Ritcboi doesnt know the meaning of couple no more . . .

when you say 'a couple of years ago', it means at least two years(or 24 months) ago.
2 years ago = august 2006. so ur telling me as at august 2006 drogba was the best striker in the world? u must be having a laugh! THIERRY HENRY was the best striker on planet earth then.
apparently ur the one who doesnt know the meaning of 'couple'!

some people claim drogba is a world class player. well i think appealing to sentiments rather than fact. every real world class player i know must have at least won a continental trophy for either club or country. what has drogba won? pele, maradona, zidane, henry, ronaldinho, eto'o, kanu etc had at one time or another inspired their team to victory at the premium level. it is true that frogba is good but he is not yet qualified to be called a world class player.

Where will you now put David Beckham? Sometimes people take popularity to totally mean world class. To be a world class player you've to be famous agreed but, other things have to be your attribute as a player. I know a lot of player that are categotised 'World Class' today just because they are famous not for the quality of their games.
I think Steven Gerrard is even better than David Beckham but, David Beckham is far more famous than Steven. Somebody might just come up to label FRANK LAMPARD, SHAUN WRIGHT PHILIPS, etc world class if anyone is thinking of doing that just think of where to put KAKA

ritchboy:

there is a BIG difference between the 'hottest' and he BEST.
drogba was probably the hottest striker that season(06/07), does that mean he was the BEST during that time? NO!.
adebayor was the 2nd hottest striker in the epl last season, but i doubt he's among the 5 BEST strikers in the league.
david guiza was the 'hottest' striker in la liga last season, so using your questionable logic guiza is the best striker in la liga? i can probably say the same of del piero in serie A.
like they say, form is temporary, class is permanent!
etoo has been the best striker in africa since 2004. . . translation = drogba has NEVER been the best striker in africa, not to talk of the whole world!
when you say 'a couple of years ago', it means at least two years(or 24 months) ago.
2 years ago = august 2006. so your telling me as at august 2006 drogba was the best striker in the world? u must be having a laugh! THIERRY HENRY was the best striker on planet earth then.
apparently your the one who doesnt know the meaning of 'couple'!

story, story . . .story

Drogba was the hottest and best striker a couple of seasons ago . . .case dismissed

why on earth do people think we never produced a world class player.ave you forgotten names like these and so called world called name
tijani babangida[/b] was once called the fastest man in the world
[b]finidi george was once called the best right winger in the world
kanu don't bother yourselves is bin a world class from japan 93 uptill today
okocha recognition all over the world.

if you then rate[b] pele [/b] of brazil even thou football was not that followed then so,why can't you call mathmatical[b] ODEGBAMI AS ONE AND OUR OWN FASHANU.[/b]