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"The Super Eagles Thread: The Road To AFCON 2023, 2025 And 2026 World Cup - Sports (4161) - Nairaland

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Cameroon's Douala Stadium Artificial Grassfield For AFCON 2019 Stolen / Super Eagles Arrive In Uyo, Train Ahead Of Their AFCON 2019 Qualifier (Pictures) / AFCON 2019: Nigeria To Battle South Africa For A Place (Full Draws) (2) (3) (4)

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Re: "The Super Eagles Thread: The Road To AFCON 2023, 2025 And 2026 World Cup by Mujtahida: 4:28pm On Jun 18, 2018
Oasis007:









grin

I do not aim to taunt you, but you suggested the Duo of Ndidi and Etebo to form a defensive midfield Pivot and Mikel as an AM against the Croats - yet you keep blaming Rohr for the Loss.

If you are in charge, what would you have done Difference if I may ask pls?! Tweaking the Formation or changing the Personnel?!
Windvane
Re: "The Super Eagles Thread: The Road To AFCON 2023, 2025 And 2026 World Cup by Nobody: 4:31pm On Jun 18, 2018
So far, bookies are rejoicing as we speak....
Re: "The Super Eagles Thread: The Road To AFCON 2023, 2025 And 2026 World Cup by kennysville(m): 4:31pm On Jun 18, 2018
Is anyone watching Belgium vs Panama? Can we all see that the club one plays for doesnt really matter? What counts is passion and self belief

Who is the world class player in the panama team? Tell me if you know of any

9 Likes

Re: "The Super Eagles Thread: The Road To AFCON 2023, 2025 And 2026 World Cup by Joebie: 4:32pm On Jun 18, 2018
LOVE, LOVE LOVE. You never know people’s story. Learn to love beyond tribe, color, nationality etc
joseph1013:
THE WITCH AND THE SUPER EAGLES
by Leon Balogun

My sister’s best friend’s mom had a best friend, and she was the witch.

She could read auras, or some crazy nonsense like that. I was 19 years old when I was told about her. I was trying to become a professional soccer player in Berlin — I didn’t have time for nonsense. But I had this issue … I was injury prone. Every year I felt like I would take one step forward and two steps back in my career because of the injuries. My sister, who is 13 years older than me and also my best friend, had an idea: The witch. Maybe witch is a bad term. I’m not sure. But she was a little spooky.

When my sister first pitched me the idea, I sort of rolled my eyes, like, Yeah … I’m sure she’ll know what’s wrong with me.

“No, Leon,” she’d say to me, “She sees things.”

“Fine, fine. Let’s give it a try.”

Let’s meet the witch.

She was a middle-aged Russian woman. She didn’t look like much of a witch, or an oracle for that matter. Her eyes walked up and down me as soon as I entered the room. My eyes darted around. She started to talk to me and my sister. It was about nothing in particular really, but I think she was studying me — my energy. Her first diagnosis was that there was an hole in my aura. I was like, Alright, well, anybody could have guessed that.

She said, “It’s on your right side.”

“The hole in my aura?”

“Yes.”

That’s where I had a scar from a bad right-shoulder injury. She had no idea about it, and she had never seen me with a shirt off … she just, felt it, I guess. Now she had my attention.

Then — and I’ll never forget this — she really blew me away.

“Four or five years ago, you lost a person very close to you, but someone who you didn’t completely know, either.”

I don’t think I said anything. She went on about how all people have someone like this in their lives, whether they know them or not. Someone who, no matter the strength of your connection, you will feel connected to — your soulmate, in a way.

She said, “Is this true, Leon?”

“Yes, my grandma.”



I was amazed. I hadn’t thought about my grandma that much since she passed when I was 16 years old. But, this lady was right. My grandma’s death had a huge effect on me, and I had never even met my grandma, who lived in Nigeria. That’s the part that was wild to me. My sister didn’t know anything about my reaction to grandma’s passing. This woman, though, she saw it. She told me I had to heal my soul, my heart, before I could become the player I wanted to be.

After we left, I didn’t completely understand if my experience with her was successful. The most important thing that came out of that day was that it got me thinking about my grandma. When I got home, my mind went straight back to the day my dad told me the news.

Because I had never met her, my dad didn’t tell me right when it happened. He actually waited a few days — that’s how distant my relationship was from her. She only spoke Yoruba. So when we talked on the phone when I was little, my dad would try to translate for us. He had never taken me to Nigeria, for reasons he didn’t make clear to me, and I only ever saw photos of my grandma.

When my dad told me, he pulled me aside in our home. I have this vivid memory of the feeling — like, this terrible, terrible feeling of sadness. I crawled up the stairs, sobbing my eyes out. I cried for an hour. My mom had to come to my room and ask me what was wrong … she couldn’t understand why I was so sad, either.

I think, what I knew at a young age was that my grandma represented a part of my life that I didn’t completely understand. I was mixed race. My mom was a German, my dad Nigerian. I was different than the other kids. And I knew that my grandma, and Nigeria, had a lot do with it.

I now wanted to understand more about that part of my life. And because of a witch, I knew how important that part of me truly was.

My dad used to walk three miles every day before school when he was growing up in Nigeria. I knew this because he never let me forget it. It was one of a handful of stories he would tell me about his childhood. He moved to Germany in 1966, learned the language, got his diploma and met my mother. He was the blueprint for immigrants. He made it sound easy — being a foreigner who looked different — but I knew it wasn’t. Because even though Germany is a progressive country, there is that group of people, especially in sport, who still lurk around waiting to knock you down if you’re different.

I met one of them when I was playing U-16 in Berlin, in 2003. I had given up on my dreams of being Thierry Henry or Ronaldinho, so I was playing at center back. The other team had this huge striker. He was bad news. I played really well, and I kept him in my pocket. We were up 1–0 at halftime, and as I was walking to the locker room, the striker kicked the ball at my head. It missed me by about an inch. Woosh. I turned, and he was yelling at me. He was calling me the n-word, using other racial slurs.

Nobody did anything. There were people all around us, and nobody did anything. After the game, while we were still at the park, I told my dad about him kicking the ball at me.

“Leon, you must always be calm. You’re smarter than they are. You’re better than they are.”

Then I told him what the boy said to me. And that, for the first time in my life, was when I saw my dad lose his cool. He had this look on his face. I told him I wanted to go home because Mom said she was making a nice dinner.

“No, we have to fix something.”



So we waited in the parking lot for the boy to come out with his parents. They did. And my dad let them have it.

“Hey, how can you raise your kid like this? Do you know what he said to my boy? We all come here to play football, and you lost, and that’s the game. But your son is 15 — he’s 15! — and he acts like this. I hope that you can one day fill his heart with love, instead of hate.”

Their back-and-forth went on for awhile, and the other parents weren’t very nice. But I will remember what my dad said forever: Love, instead of hate. He was very upset in that moment, but he used empathy over rage. And I began to understand, little by little, how he made being an immigrant look so easy. I think because my dad worked so hard to integrate into society in Germany, it gave me the opportunity to do the opposite and connect with my Nigerian roots.

I never supported the German national team, mostly because I thought they were arrogant and their football was boring to watch. Even in 2006, when Germany hosted and the whole country had World Cup mania — I secretly cheered for them to lose. Because I was a kid, and I was rebellious. And because, even though I felt in my mind that I was just as German as all the other kids, a lot of people didn’t see me like that.

I was always asked, “Where are you from?” Or, “How long have have you been here?”

I would think to myself sometimes, Maybe I was meant to be Nigerian.

Even after I overcame some of the injury issues I had as a teenager and began playing regular minutes in the 2. Bundesliga and Bundesliga, that thing — the part of my soul that I had been told to heal all those years ago — was still missing from my life. In 2014, I was coming to the end of my contract with Fortuna Dusseldorf. I wasn’t sure where I would go next. There was uncertainty in my life, and from time to time I would think of the witch. What did she mean, “heal my soul?”

One night in March, my phone rang. It was a Nigerian number … it was Stephen Keshi, the Nigerian National Team manager. I was sweating as soon as he introduced himself. I wanted him to say the words I had thought about for so long. He spoke for awhile about how he wasn’t totally familiar with me, but he liked how I played.

Then he said it: “I would like to invite you to be a Super Eagle.”

Those words … they meant so much to me. It meant validation for every step of my footballing journey. It meant happiness for my family. Most of all, it meant an opportunity to go to Nigeria.

And that … that was everything to me.



When I told my dad the news, he was skeptical. “Are you sure it was the coach?” he said.

And he had a point. I don’t want to speak poorly about the people of Nigeria, but there are some that are real scam artists. They spoil our name. I think that was a part of why my dad never took me back there.

“Yes, Dad, it was the coach. I even listened to his voice on YouTube right after to make sure it was him!”

He warned me about some of the things I could encounter in Nigeria. It wasn’t quite the celebratory phone call I had played out in my head, but that was my dad, always preparing me. But he was proud, I could hear that in his voice. I knew, as much as I understood about myself, about my father, I would learn even more on this trip.

My first impression of Nigeria was probably same as that of any person who has lived in Germany his whole life: Man, it’s hot — heat like I’ve never experienced. I flew down with Anthony Ujah, a striker playing for Koln at the time. He helped me prepare for the trip a bit, too. Tips on what to do, how to act, all that stuff. When we stepped off the plane — the craziest thing was that people knew who I was. Some smiled and asked for photos. I couldn’t believe it. Just as I knew that in Germany I would always be seen as black, I assumed that in Nigeria I’d be seen as another white guy on a business trip. But they knew me, they were happy for me. Maybe I was meant to be Nigerian.

We landed in Abuja, the capital city. We were there for a few days before training started. When we drove to practice that first day, I was listening to music, headphones in. “Nobody Knows” by August Alsina was playing. I like that song because, as somebody with a little fame, people sometimes seem to forget that I go through things, too. As I was listening, I saw a boy on a skateboard on the street. He had a disability. He had to sit on the board and use his hands to get around — something you would never see in Germany. And I just started to cry. I think, because I had seen some of the poverty in the city — in this beautiful city, with wonderful people — that it just sort of put things into perspective for me. It made understand how fortunate I was to grow up in one of the world’s greatest countries, to have the family I did. It was a humbling few days, and that boy’s problems made mine seem so inconsequential.



It was a such an important trip for me, such a great trip. I felt a sense of … healing. I felt like I was connecting with a part of me that had been lost — or better yet, never truly found — a long time ago. I love Nigerian food; I love the culture. Everyone is always playing music, laughing … trying to have the best time. I felt at home. And I understood that I could have two homes.

I want to make both of them proud in Russia at the World Cup. Because Germany gave me this opportunity to have success with Nigeria. It is my footballing heritage. I get that. But when I wear that Super Eagles kit … it feels so good. And when we beat Zambia in October 2017 to punch our ticket to Russia, it felt amazing. I remember the final whistle, our stadium in Uyo erupting. I fell to my knees in tears. John Obi Mikel, our captain, came up to me.

“No, no, you don’t get to cry. You don’t get to cry. We’re going to Russia!”

We’re going to Russia. It still feels surreal to say. I just can’t wait.

I know when we get there and I hear the national anthem, I’ll feel that much closer to my family, to my two homes, to my grandma.

And that, more than anything, is going to make the World Cup incredible.


Leon Balogun
NIGERIA

Source: https://www.theplayerstribune.com/en-us/articles/leon-balogun-nigeria?utm_source=social&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=worldcup18&utm_term=Balogun
Re: "The Super Eagles Thread: The Road To AFCON 2023, 2025 And 2026 World Cup by Oasis007(m): 4:33pm On Jun 18, 2018
ChrisKels:





Coming from a man who called him clueless white Onigbinde. Your hypocrisy no be here oo

grin

Read well Bruh I didn't exonerate myself or claimed I wasn't a Victim too. Check the Monikers I listed, did I put myself on the List?!

Yes I called him white Onigbinde, but can you atleast dig out a Post where I called him clueless?!

Though this is a Faceless Forum, but I'm convinced you are an Adult, cos you are a married Man. My Advice; endeavor to control your Emotion and stay off saying or doing things when you are in anger Mood.

Thanks.

1 Like 1 Share

Re: "The Super Eagles Thread: The Road To AFCON 2023, 2025 And 2026 World Cup by Mujtahida: 4:37pm On Jun 18, 2018
Oasis007:


grin

I'm beginning to enjoy you now Bruh. Can you present your Formation and Lineup against the Iceland pls?! Also the Tactics you gonna use to suppress, break and defeat them?!
This guy you bad oo
Re: "The Super Eagles Thread: The Road To AFCON 2023, 2025 And 2026 World Cup by TheLoneCitizen(m): 4:44pm On Jun 18, 2018
joseph1013:
I'VE GOT SOME THINGS TO SAY
by Romelu Lukaku



Romelu Lukaku
BELGIUM


Rom's story gave me goosebumps all through. Damm.
Re: "The Super Eagles Thread: The Road To AFCON 2023, 2025 And 2026 World Cup by Mujtahida: 4:45pm On Jun 18, 2018
toluxe0075:
You guys should stop consoling yourself with this " we neutralized Croatia midfield, we made Croatia tactics looks useless". Croatia played rubbish just as Nigeria was trash. Are we talking of the same croatia team that couldn't utilize the very exposed super eagles midfield, or a croatian side that couldn't really threaten on goal? Or a Croatian side who couldn't capitalize on our disorganisation? A quick counter attack side like Iceland ,mexico or peru or a team with fast dribblers like messi, Isco, would have done so much damage to our side before we could even bat an eyelid. A second half super eagle performance against England would have granted us maximum 3 points against Croatia right from the first half. Croatia side was just as shitty as Nigeria side, but was only lucky to win. If Croatia plays against Argentina the same way the played Nigeria, they will lose heavily, but I'm sure we will see a better croatia side.
We can only hope we see an improved super eagles against Iceland and Argentina. Enough of consolation abeg.
Nothing pained me more than the bolded. With all their star studded team, they played nonsense. We scored for them. They won with that kind of lacklustre performance from stellar players. It felt like cheating
Re: "The Super Eagles Thread: The Road To AFCON 2023, 2025 And 2026 World Cup by andrew444(m): 4:47pm On Jun 18, 2018
kennysville:
Is anyone watching Belgium vs Panama? Can we all see that the club one plays for doesnt really matter? What counts is passion and self belief

Who is the world class player in the panama team? Tell me if you know of any

If na naija dey play belgium go don score us,e too sure me
Re: "The Super Eagles Thread: The Road To AFCON 2023, 2025 And 2026 World Cup by PDPGuy: 4:47pm On Jun 18, 2018
kennysville:
Is anyone watching Belgium vs Panama? Can we all see that the club one plays for doesnt really matter? What counts is passion and self belief

Who is the world class player in the panama team? Tell me if you know of any
Torres.. The heaviest player in the tournament who weighs 218 pounds cheesy
Re: "The Super Eagles Thread: The Road To AFCON 2023, 2025 And 2026 World Cup by Mujtahida: 4:48pm On Jun 18, 2018
ClumsyFlimsy:
I wonder what on earth made rohr to drop ebuehi for bench

You sure say no be quota system


Because ebuehi is miles ahead of shehu in every aspect of the game

Shehu offered almost nothing offensively, his positioning was poor, na just few normal interceptions him get

Crotia fully flexed that his position well sotey vic moses had to be assisting shehu alot yet rohr left a brilliant player like ebuehi for bench

Men i just weak


Rohr deserves full blame. As i see lineup and formation na im i begin fear


if ebuehi and iheanacho no start next match make thunder fire rohr
You guys are the ones who are very sensitive to such insinuations oo. Yet here you are travelling that road with glee. If forgiveness should so much as whisper such a thing, na chorus una go begin sing.

3 Likes

Re: "The Super Eagles Thread: The Road To AFCON 2023, 2025 And 2026 World Cup by Oasis007(m): 4:50pm On Jun 18, 2018
Mujtahida:

This guy you bad oo

grin

The Dude just pressed ignored Button. Prior to the Match, Jay Jay said every Nigerian is a Coach...... he's right after all.

The last thing that should ever come from certain Monikers is calling Rohr an ineffectual Buffoon or calling for his Sack. The Monikers that could die for Rohr few Weeks ago?!

I was never sold on Rohr if my Records on this Thread are to go by. I love Siasia a lot and always come to the Defence of late Keshi anytime he's accused or under-appreciated.

So telling me Rohr flopped with the Lineup, Formation and Tactics shouldn't be born out of Emotion rather with Facts.

2 Likes

Re: "The Super Eagles Thread: The Road To AFCON 2023, 2025 And 2026 World Cup by Mujtahida: 4:51pm On Jun 18, 2018
eterisan:
nor mind the guy... He just they make me laugh. Nothing serious though.

Reminds me of students who pray all night in preparation for exams as if that is the solution.

I wish our team well, would be happy if they succeed. It only affects me emotionally as a fan but for them it affects their career and finances. So basically they don't need reminders on the importance of this? Do they?
Though I understand the ritual significance of that prayer thing, it looks childish abeg. Let them pray in their dressing room. Jesus ma advocated secrecy in prayers. Three times too much.
Re: "The Super Eagles Thread: The Road To AFCON 2023, 2025 And 2026 World Cup by Toylove: 4:52pm On Jun 18, 2018
AIG07:
Even Panama are playing a purposeful football.
The more I see this type of games, the more I dey vex for rohr
Re: "The Super Eagles Thread: The Road To AFCON 2023, 2025 And 2026 World Cup by Icon79(m): 4:54pm On Jun 18, 2018
The man definitely has lots of questions to answer. He was too scared of Croatia attackers to deploy 3-5-2, even though that same formation gave us results against Argentina and England. Does Croatia has better attack than Argentina? And by the way, he actually did his research on Croatia, he should've known that this Croatian team has big problem scoring goals. In fact, that's one of their major weaknesses during the Euro qualifiers. So all that story about their attack doesn't make a lot of sense to me.

I think he gave too much respect to Croatia and prevented our boys from playing their game. Just checking out the way, common Panama is holding their own against the mighty Belgium! And they didn't park the bus either.


O pari

Bolowolowo:


When I saw the lineup head to head, the thought of winning literally left my head. My heart was thumping and I was just praying that they survived the match and not concede much. I nearly lost it when they started dominating possession. AFCON qualifications is right after so sticking with him is best then.

6 Likes

Re: "The Super Eagles Thread: The Road To AFCON 2023, 2025 And 2026 World Cup by TheSuperNerd(m): 4:55pm On Jun 18, 2018
Russia 2018 Group D updates


BREAKING NEWS: Coatia sends home Kalinic

Zlatko Dalić: "Nikola Kalinić had to play in the second half against Nigeria but said he was not ready. The same was repeated in a friendly match against Brazil, and now before training. Three times. I need ready players. I thanked him and he went back home." #CRO #WorldCup

Re: "The Super Eagles Thread: The Road To AFCON 2023, 2025 And 2026 World Cup by ChrisKels: 4:57pm On Jun 18, 2018
Oasis007:


grin

Read well Bruh I didn't exonerate myself or claimed I wasn't a Victim too. Check the Monikers I listed, did I put myself on the List?!

Yes I called him white Onigbinde, but can you atleast dig out a Post where I called him clueless?!

Though this is a Faceless Forum, but I'm convinced you are an Adult, cos you are a married Man. My Advice; endeavor to control your Emotion and stay off saying or doing things when you are in anger Mood.

Thanks.


If I slap u eh!!

Lol bro I'm not married yet.

Are you seeing the Belgium match?
Re: "The Super Eagles Thread: The Road To AFCON 2023, 2025 And 2026 World Cup by andrew444(m): 4:58pm On Jun 18, 2018
Na this Belgium team be world cup favorite?

They might win this game sha but this team is far from being a world cup favorite
Re: "The Super Eagles Thread: The Road To AFCON 2023, 2025 And 2026 World Cup by lexyman(m): 5:00pm On Jun 18, 2018
kennysville:
Is anyone watching Belgium vs Panama? Can we all see that the club one plays for doesnt really matter? What counts is passion and self belief

Who is the world class player in the panama team? Tell me if you know of any

Ludogoret goal keeper grin grin grin grin i must confess no minor in football
Re: "The Super Eagles Thread: The Road To AFCON 2023, 2025 And 2026 World Cup by safarigirl(f): 5:02pm On Jun 18, 2018
Look at Panama.....Super Eagles should be ashamed of then selves

Tomorrow, someone will say we have better players than Panama. Lies from the pit of hell, better is not by football club

This Panama side will beat us black and blue if dem catch us for afternoon

3 Likes

Re: "The Super Eagles Thread: The Road To AFCON 2023, 2025 And 2026 World Cup by TheLoneCitizen(m): 5:03pm On Jun 18, 2018
Digged this up.

3 Likes

Re: "The Super Eagles Thread: The Road To AFCON 2023, 2025 And 2026 World Cup by AIG07: 5:04pm On Jun 18, 2018
kennysville:
Is anyone watching Belgium vs Panama? Can we all see that the club one plays for doesnt really matter? What counts is passion and self belief

Who is the world class player in the panama team? Tell me if you know of any
I thought I was the only one noticing it. Those guys are fighting for every ball. The passion to win is there.
Re: "The Super Eagles Thread: The Road To AFCON 2023, 2025 And 2026 World Cup by toluxe0075: 5:06pm On Jun 18, 2018
Mujtahida:

Nothing pained me more than the bolded. With all their star studded team, they played nonsense. We scored for them. They won with that kind of lacklustre performance from stellar players. It felt like cheating
Pure cheating. The likes of modric, rakitic and perisic were average compared to what we know them for. I thought the coach would read the match, then make our boys step up since those we feared were not at their best even after scoring their second goal. But he did otherwise. To me, Rohr is just pretending and making us believe he knows what he is doing, but the display by our boys says otherwise. I had to watch the match a second time when people kept saying we tried. Well, teams like mexico, Switzerland and now Panama are showing we are not ready for the world cup. I'm tired of analysing our mistakes, I just want a better performance against Croatia and Argentina .

3 Likes 1 Share

Re: "The Super Eagles Thread: The Road To AFCON 2023, 2025 And 2026 World Cup by Oasis007(m): 5:07pm On Jun 18, 2018
Mujtahida:

Nothing pained me more than the bolded. With all their star studded team, they played nonsense. We scored for them. They won with that kind of lacklustre performance from stellar players. It felt like cheating

Bruh..... what Rohr did against Croats can be likened to what Mourinho did against Sevilla in the UCL. Sometimes a Tactician shouldn't play his Tactics to nullify your Opponents, rather play to your Team's Strength.

I swear it's never lost for the Eagles. I had to re-watch the Combo of Mikel and Onazi at the 2014 World Cup with Babatunde as a No. 10, and what comes to my Head is; Ndidi and Iwobi are a bit better than Onazi and Babatunde of 2014.

Pair Mikel with Ndidi, let Mikel plays as a deep-lying Playmaker cos he gets eyes for long, decisive and accurate passes. He can shield the Ball, cool the tempo and coordinate the Defence.

No one tackles better than Ndidi in the Squad, he's young, athletic, fit and can tirelessly cover grounds like Kante. With Iwobi as an AM, he's definitely gonna create something from nothing.

Also we need to play with 2 Strikers - Ighalo for his better and proven Holdup plays and Iheanacho for his decisive off-ball Movements and eyes for Goal.

Tyrone and Moses should play as Wing-backs, with the Trio of Ekong, Balogun and Omeruo as CBs. I didn't include Ogu in the Defence coz I ain't sold he can play the CB effectively in a competitive Game.

3 - 4 - 1 - 2 Formation is all what Rohr needs to bring out the best in the Boys. I hope he listens to ex-internationals, Pundits and Fans who are clamoring for the Formation to be played in the next Game - cos if he fails with the same 4 - 2 - 3 - 1 with Mikel as an AM for the Team - Lord...... he's gonna see the other side of Nigerians.

5 Likes

Re: "The Super Eagles Thread: The Road To AFCON 2023, 2025 And 2026 World Cup by Meliforme: 5:09pm On Jun 18, 2018
The Super Eagles doesn't have the right personnel for a 4-3-3 formation tactics. The absense of players like Moses Simon and co, made it impossible to play that formation to its full strenght. If Rohr has decided aforetime to stick with this formation, why pack the squad with CFs like Musa, Iheanacho etc.
Re: "The Super Eagles Thread: The Road To AFCON 2023, 2025 And 2026 World Cup by TheLoneCitizen(m): 5:10pm On Jun 18, 2018
Oasis007:


Bruh..... what Rohr did against Croats can be likened to what Mourinho did against Sevilla in the UCL. Sometimes a Tactician shouldn't play his Tactics to nullify your Opponents, rather play to your Team's Strength.

I swear it's never lost for the Eagles. I had to re-watch the Combo of Mikel and Onazi at the 2014 World Cup with Babatunde as a No. 10, and what comes to my Head is; Ndidi and Iwobi are a bit better than Onazi and Babatunde of 2014.

Pair Mikel with Ndidi, let Mikel plays as a deep-lying Playmaker cos he gets eyes for long, decisive and accurate passes. He can shield the Ball, cool the tempo and coordinate the Defence.

No one tackles better than Ndidi in the Squad, he's young, athletic, fit and can tirelessly cover grounds like Kante. With Iwobi as an AM, he's definitely gonna create something from nothing.

Also we need to play with 2 Strikers - Ighalo for his better and proven Holdup plays and Iheanacho for his decisive off-ball Movements and eyes for Goal.

Tyrone and Moses should play as Wing-backs, with the Trio of Ekong, Balogun and Omeruo as CBs. I didn't include Ogu in the Defence coz I ain't sold he can play the CB effectively in a competitive Game.

3 - 4 - 1 - 2 Formation is all what Rohr needs to bring out the best in the Boys. I hope he listens to ex-internationals, Pundits and Fans who are clamoring for the Formation to be played in the next Game - cos if he fails with the same 4 - 2 - 3 - 1 with Mikel as an AM for the Team - Lord...... he's gonna see the other side of Nigerians.


I would accept no lineup without Etebo.

1 Like

Re: "The Super Eagles Thread: The Road To AFCON 2023, 2025 And 2026 World Cup by Mujtahida: 5:10pm On Jun 18, 2018
SerVik:
Very inspiring stuff from balogun, i must confess. He went through the fire and came out as refined diamond.

But hey, i'm sure the icelanders have even more touching and inspiring stories, especially considering that most of their players are just parttime footballers

Behind Many smiley-faced footballers are rejects, outcasts, people who have had to weather the storm. Infact, lukaku and kasper schmeichel's stories are currently on player's tribune and i've previously read those of pique and rakitic.

Thats beside the point. Our game against croatia was embarrasing, to say the least. We lost that match even before the blast of the whistle. We gave too much respect to the croats. Rohr's tactics was that of containment and not really explosive and domineering. Our plan for containment was brilliant, we reduced the croats to a miserly 2 shots on target team, Uzoho was hardly tested. But that was just the extent of it, when we had the ball, we were almost always clueless. The containment plan meant that shehu was meant to babysit perisic, he was meant to always have eyes on perisic which meant that even when we were on the attack, he had to make sure that perisic never went out of his sight. This had an awfully demoralizing effect on moses, who was left to do all the attacking work from the right wing whilst also doubling up with shehu to cage perisic - too much respect embarassed.

There were times when all moses had to do was beat a player, and lay a pass out wide for a cross but due to the lack of the luxury of an outlet, he had to try to beat them all, sometimes resorting to cheap gimmicks to win freekicks.

Very poor from rohr, i must confess. Countries have played germany, played spain, played argentina, played brazil in this same tournament and they did it with more courage than we could muster against a not-so-impressive croatian side.

Its going to be a different ball game against iceland, atleast i hope it'll be - scratch that - it must be.

Iceland played argentina with so much coordination, especially defensively. They were okay with ceeding possesion to the argentines, and always had more of their players behind the ball. Against Nigeria, there are going to fancy their chances. If not for anything, but for the mere fact that they also need the 3 points. So they'll come at us, much more than they did against argentina. Also, seeing how we concede from setpieces, they are going to try their luck in that aspect also, and with sigurdsson, it is going to be harder to defend.

In our attack, we need to be quick in thinking and also try some outside shots. I like the way kroos was always sending thunderbolts against mexico. But for ochoa's brilliance, one would have gone in. A team like iceland wont always give you the luxury of strolling into their 18yard box. Our attackers and attacking midfielders should be inventive and always look to force a shot whenever there is a slight opening.

Though practically impossible, a part of me is still praying we qualify, even at the expense of my dear messi.
I don't know what to highlight in your piece cos it's full of meat.

Same players coasted through the WCQ. Even with such a difficult group we never heard him say that we are the underdogs. Instead he made us feel capable.

Right after the groupings for the WC came out Rohr began to sing two songs:we are underdogs and we are the youngest team.

There's no interview Rohr gave from that time till the eve of the WC where he didn't sing those two songs.

Now let me analyse what I think was playing out right before our eyes (some of us noticed it. My brother realpoacher did. I did too but optimism made me step down a bit): against our African peers Rohr evidently reasoned like this: these guys are all at the same level jare. My players can match them notwithstanding that cameroun are the defending champion and Algeria number one in Africa. He made our players believe they could do it.

Against the teams in our WC group Rohr basically projected his own thinking of how weak we are into the mind of the players by telling them that they are the underdogs. Even the youngest team talk was meant to portray us as weak.

Same players played robust football with 4-3-3 during the WCQ. Same players played like wussies during the WC proper.

Rohr has poisoned the mind of the team. The team played with no believe because the coach had told them too often a time that they were underdogs.

Can they grind through the granite rock of the Icemen?

I am now like the man who brought his demon possessed child to Jesus. Jesus asked him 'do you believe I can do this'? The man replied 'I believe; Lord help my unbelieve.

Super Eagles, I believe, help my unbelieve oo. Help abeg.

1 Like

Re: "The Super Eagles Thread: The Road To AFCON 2023, 2025 And 2026 World Cup by Oasis007(m): 5:11pm On Jun 18, 2018
ChrisKels:



If I slap u eh!!

Lol bro I'm not married yet.

Are you seeing the Belgium match?

grin

Senior Bruh.... Guess Madam is offline at the moment?! We all know for Rohr to play to the Team's - 3 - 5 (4 - 1) - 2 is the Answer. Swiss played 3 - 5 - 1 - 1 to good Effect Yesterday too.
Re: "The Super Eagles Thread: The Road To AFCON 2023, 2025 And 2026 World Cup by Nobody: 5:13pm On Jun 18, 2018
Would this work?? Any thoughts??

5 Likes

Re: "The Super Eagles Thread: The Road To AFCON 2023, 2025 And 2026 World Cup by Oasis007(m): 5:16pm On Jun 18, 2018
TheLoneCitizen:



I would accept no lineup without Etebo.

grin

Give Reasons pls.
Re: "The Super Eagles Thread: The Road To AFCON 2023, 2025 And 2026 World Cup by Mujtahida: 5:16pm On Jun 18, 2018
toluxe0075:

Pure cheating. The likes of modric, rakitic and perisic were average compared to what we know them for. I thought the coach would read the match, then make our boys step up since those we feared were not at their best even after scoring their second goal. But he did otherwise. To me, Rohr is just pretending and making us believe he knows what he is doing, but the display by our boys says otherwise. I had to watch the match a second time when people kept saying we tried. Well, teams like mexico, Switzerland and now Panama are showing we are not ready for the world cup. I'm tired of analysing our mistakes, I just want a better performance against Croatia and Argentina .
Panama: No team takes it lying down. Only Nigeria go open leg for Croatia. Choi
Re: "The Super Eagles Thread: The Road To AFCON 2023, 2025 And 2026 World Cup by Oasis007(m): 5:20pm On Jun 18, 2018
Bolowolowo:
Would this work?? Any thoughts??

grin

Jah bless you Bruh. But I will play Moses as a LWB cos I do not trust Idowu for the Job. Let Tyrone plays as a RWB.

1 Like

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