@ 12large
Are you confused or what? How come Mikel keeps making your team?

disband the full team

Iyineda:

@OP

Nice topic, 12large. I don't think you'll catch me saying that too often about your posts.

Although it is difficult to forsee as far as 2014, I believe that if all remains equal, the following players must retire internationally:

- Kanu
- Yobo
- Ayila
- Afolabi (huge disappointment in this world cup)
- John Utaka
- Yakubu
- Etuhu

Mohammed, Kaita and Taiwo must seriously improve/be more consistent if they should smell the green jersey ever again.

I don't know much about our local players and most of the "U-20s" so I won't add any other players to those you have already listed. Nedum Onuoha and other foreign-based/born Nigerians who aren't too keen on being part of the national team should stay clear.

I will like to see the following players as the backbone of our 2014 squad:

Goalkeepers: Enyeama and Aiyenugba

Defenders:

Apam Onyekachi
Dele Adeleye
Uwa Echiejile (hoping for a successful spell for him in Portugal)
Chidi Odiah (lots of 'ifs' on this lad)

Midfielders:

John Mikel Obi
Ramon Azeez
Rabiu Ibrahim (if only he could fulfill the hype of his U-17 performances)
Haruna Lukman
Obiora Nwankwo
Emmanuel Ekpo
Ajagun (right spelling? heard good things about him bar disciplinary issues)

Forwards:

Sani Emmanuel (fingers crossed for this gem)
Stanley Okoro (if old age doesn't handicap him too much; yes, at age 24-25 he'll start to feel heavier, go figure)
Aictor Anichebe (probably THE star of the team in 4 years to come. . . hopefully)
Chinedu Obasi
Obinna Nsofor
Sone Aluko
Osaze Odemwingie (mainly for  experience, not a regular starter).

Prefered starting lineup and formation:

                  Enyeama(c)

            Apam        Adeleye
Odiah                                 Echiejile

                      Mikel
          Haruna         Azeez

    Okoro      Anichebe     Nsofor


Anywhoo, Nigeria hasn't yet made it to Brazil 2014 so we shouldn't get too ahead of ourselves. Fingers crossed. Up Eagles.

how can you put kanu to that irritating list. please with due respect remove his name from that black list. b4 i yakubu tear it.

As far as I'm concerned, most of you on this thread are just desperate pundits hopelessly trying to deal with the failure of our team at the World Cup. How can you all be picking a team for the next tournament when none of us could even name a team for this year? Besides, you're all picking players who already exist - or are you telling me there will be no new players coming up between now and 2014? Or that you must carry old, tired legs to a tournament to do well - see what that's gotten us so far! Or that no player under 28 should make the team at all that year?   Instead of searching inside our selves for the reason for our failure, we're just looking for false hope and turning to escapism. THIS IS DESPERATE -  JUST PLAIN DESPERATE!!!

eddiebomba:

As far as I'm concerned, most of you on this thread are just desperate pundits hopelessly trying to deal with the failure of our team at the World Cup.

True. We are disappointed with the Eagles for their failure. So we are trying to look forward to better days. Any harm in that?

eddiebomba:
How can you all be picking a team for the next tournament when none of us could even name a team for this year? Besides, you're all picking players who already exist - or are you telling me there will be no new players coming up between now and 2014?

12large: emmanuel ekpo and any new great talent that we can find from now till 2014;
osaze odemwingie and any new great talent we can find from now till 2014;
chinedu obasi if he can improve tremendously and any new great talent that we can find from now till 2014.

eddiebomba:

Or that you must carry old, tired legs to a tournament to do well - see what that's gotten us so far! Or that no player under 28 should make the team at all that year?   Instead of searching inside our selves for the reason for our failure, we're just looking for false hope and turning to escapism. THIS IS DESPERATE -  JUST PLAIN DESPERATE!!!

You are making it sound like we, the fans, are responisble for this debacle. We aren't the NFF.
I suggest you stop trying to sound too haughty. You'll be surprised how hard you can fall. . .

RED ALERT

kick out NFF b4 your selection,

Defenders
Ibok Edet
Dele Adeleye
Onyekachi Apam
Obiora Nwankwo
Fortune Chukwudi
Kenneth Omeruo
Aliyu
Oliha
Adefemi Olubayo
Uwa Echiejile

Midfielders

John Obi Mikel
Haruna Lukman
Rabiu Ibrahim
Abdul Ajagun
Ramon Azeez
Kayode Olarenwaju
Kalu Uche
Harmony Ikande
King Osanga

Strikers
Sani Emmanuel
Stanley Okoro
Ikechukwu Uche
Victor Anichebe
Gbolahan Salami
Obinna Nsofor


i think with these players we can carve out a brilliant team within the next three years,
the core of the team for me would be


Apam, Adeleye, Nsofor, K.Uche, I.Uche, Anichebe, Osanga, Mikel, Haruna and Enyeama. all others should be invited to camp to prove themselves.
Ideally they would line up thus:
Enyeama
Oliha Apam Adeleye Aliyu


Osanga Mikel Haruna K. Uche

I.Uche
Anichebe


i have opted for Oliha at the back coz he is very strong in defence and good in attack, Apam in the centre is a good marker, very aggressive and fast, Adeleye his partner is slower but much stronger and a very good sweeper and on their left i have opted for Aliyu who is very similar to Oliha. both players possess a strong shot.

in the midfield.i have gone for the best holding player in Mikel who is also a very good passer, partnered by Haruna who is more aggressive, a better dribbler and can shoot better. on the right flank is King Osanga who is not too skilful but is a great crosser of the ball. With the big man Anichebe upfront, Osanga's crosses will prove Useful. On the left flank is Kalu Uche who is a skilful versatile creative player. Uche will provide the option of dribbling infield to shoot, cuttin back to cross or penetrating the opposition with good interplay between him and the attacking full back Aliyu. Up front is the target man Anichebe partnered by Ike Uche. Anichebe is very strong and good in the air. he is also very fast and a good finisher.(similar to Altidore of the US) the midfield and wingers will have the opton of playing long balls up to him to control, drawing out defenders by doing so and then laying it off to his partner Uche. i have chosen Uche for this role because he is very quick, skillful and a good finisher. alternatively/simultaneously while maintaining the same formation, the midfield should be able to string passes together on the ground and Uche as a second striker(this is a specific role in football) should be able to create space for Anichebe by tactical dribbling and good movement outside the box.

all in all i feel this is a good team.

the average age for that team should be 23.5

khydavid orelesi and echijile are far better than aliyu

Yobo and shittu must continue the pairing after this wc, thot they did okay cuz yu need their experience at d back.
Nigerians are very sporadic in their decisions and very impatient too, We need the core of the team and CONTINUITY IS THE KEY WORD, I trust Lagerback anyways, He knows his job n will never listen to internet coaches, go on SE 2014 n CAN to come

Yobo and Shittu? evidently you have never seen Apam and Adeleye play. those two are the future

***Updating my initial post***

Players for the next ACN which is in 2012 should be:

Goalkeepers:
1. Enyeama
16. Bassey
23. Aiyenugba

Defenders:
2. Nwankwo (center)
3. Taiwo (wide)
4. Apam (center)
5. Adeleye (center)
13. Adefemi (wide)
17. Odiah (wide)
21. Echiejile (wide)
22. Odibe (center)

Midfielders:
6. Azeez (hodling)
7. Haruna (creative)
10. Mikel (holding)
12. Ekpo (holding)
14. Ajilore (holding)
20. Ibrahim (creative)

Forwards:
8. Okoro (wide)
9. Anichebe (center)
11. Odemwingie (wide)
15. I. Uche (center)
18. Nsofor (wide)
19. Obasi (wide)

Prefered formation: 4-3-3

Prefered lineup:
Enyeama (c); Odiah, Apam, Adeleye, Echiejile; Mikel, Azeez, Haruna; Nsofor, I. Uche, Odemwingie.

@Iyineda

You forgot Kalu Uche. Uche was quite brilliant in the world cup. You'll need to update your list. Martins also should be there, if he's still in form.

While I agree - to a certain extent - with the inclusion of Kalu Uche, that of Martins leaves me sceptical. He has lost his pace and his finishing seems to have disappeared (cf. huge miss against South Korea).

I guess I could add K. Uche in the 2012 squad but definitely not in the 2014 that's for sure.

iyenada no matter what, there is absolutely no reason for you to bench rabiu ibrahim, infact the whole team should be built around him, all your 3 midfilders are either box to box or defensive midfilders. we must play a out and out player in our starting 11 either ekpo,okoro or ibrahim

plus ekpo iis too skillfull to be a holding midfilder

For your information. there is no player at hand for that space. We have Osaze, and the Uches, but who know what will happen to their form before then. Let us be focused and start from the unknown players

The truth is that the UNKNOWN PLAYERS ARE THE BEST FOR 2014. But we have to discover them now! Otherwise It will still come to be story at the end of the day

abeg mallam shut up, who told you that we don't have a playmaker. ibrahim and okoro are what. moderators you need to know what kind of mumu mumu people you bring on this sport forums

12large:

abeg mallam shut up, who told you that we don't have a playmaker. ibrahim and okoro are what. moderators you need to know what kind of mumu mumu people you bring on this sport forums

See Pot calling Kettle black. Thank God you have cool-headed and easy going moderators in this section, otherwise you for don chop ban tire

kai nairaland don mental, chei so the semid4life mumu guy na moderator oboy seun don colo for him to make this goat a moderator

osaze odemwingie and any new great talent we can find from now till 2014

2014 is a tournament too far for Osaze

What clubs do these people you have nominated played for or which clubs are they playing at?


Stanley Okoro?

martins should go too, oseni would b nice 4rm u17 wrld cup

as if i knew dats why i said and any new good player we find from now till 2006. add emenike to dat list

i have taken time to read almost all of the replies to this tread. but unfortunately i have to inform all of you that most of the players mentioned here would not even be playing by that time. i saw taiwo mentioned a couple of times and chrisantus marculy , {please forgive my spelling} even stanley okoro, most of these players are already approaching their 30s and a few are over 30 so please tell me , which players will be coming to replace them.
not the ones that are going to play the next under 20, or under 17, or under 23 because they are already approaching their 30s too.
people we need to organize our system in producing players, that is the killer of our national team.
i am still saying that no nigerian is capable of handling our national team. i just saw the proof in the first list samson released a few days ago.
thanks

So where/what clubs do these players play for at the moment?

Rabiu Ibrahim, Stanley okoro, Sani Emmanuel, where is chrisantus

talent is GOD giving whether playing for a useless team i rather have stanley okor and ibrahim over ajilore or mikel

Stanley okoro has not been invited for any age graded friendly or tournament since his last outing
even chrisantus? why?

i tink dat dy should stil use d stephen keshi super eagle 4 world cup playerz like EYANMA, OMERU, OBOUBONNA, MIKEL, SUNDAY MBA,VICTOR MOSES, ECIHJILE,MUSA, AMBORSE, UCHE,EMENIKE,OSAZIE, YAKUBU ALFA,OBINNA NWANKWOR,..ETC

Lol time flies sha we now have new set of otondos