Ghana is slightly better

Ghanaian players that were poached by 1st world footballing countries are jerome boateng, Marcel Dessaily,

Ghana has Abdul razaq, Abedi pele,

^^
Kanu was rated 4th, while Abedi Pele was between 1-3(will google the ranking). Go check your records again.
To say Okocha was miles ahead of Abedi is an insult to football.
Abedi, apart from winning Champions league with Marseille and winning African footballer of the year 3 times, was the most dreaded player by Nigerian NT when the Ghana/Nigeria rivalry was at its peak in early 90s.

Don't argue brothers, Cameroon is the best...

Jarus: ^^
Kanu was rated 4th, while Abedi Pele was between 1-3(will google the ranking). Go check your records again.
To say Okocha was miles ahead of Abedi is an insult to football.
Abedi, apart from winning Champions league with Marseille and winning African footballer of the year 3 times, was the most dreaded player by Nigerian NT when the Ghana/Nigeria rivalry was at its peak in early 90s.

na big lie oo

As for me talk of football administration and organization,Ghana is above Nigeria but when we talk in terms of talent and qualities of players,Nigeria is far above Ghana. I rest my case.

Both are all goood

chucky234:
Guy Kanu is ranked 4th best in African player of all time and has far more laurels than Abedi Pele.
In terms of talents Okocha is miles ahead of Abedi pele,bros no dull me.

You lie by,Kanu won Champions League with Ajax and Pele won it with Marseille.
Pele has won African best player three times,how many times has Kanu won it?
Okocha cant even compare himself with Sammy Kuffour how much more Pele?

Anybody that does not know the history of Ghana and Nigeria as regards football should try and find out before making comments.
It has been a very fiery, but healthy rivalry between the two countries. Ghana was simply better than Nigeria in ALL ramifications in football in the 50s through the 70s/early 80s.They beat us more, won more laurels and had better players. There was a time they hammered us 7-0 in Lagos. When the National Stadium was opened they played and the Eagles and also beat us here in Lagos.
When their economy collapsed in the 80s, their game went down drastically, they had to withdraw from major competitions; that was the period Nigeria started catching up with them and out-performed them!



In terms of Quality of Players and Football artistry, Ghana is far ahead of Nigeria. They produce better quality players, mostly the midfielders. Their player(s) had won the African Player of The Years as far back as 1970/71 and on 3 or 4 other occassions, before Rashidi Yekinni won it in 1993 for the first time for Nigeria in very controverisl circumstances.

The first African professional footballer to play in Europe was from Ghana.

Abedi Pele was the best African Footballer in the world between 1990-1994. I am yet to see any Nigerian player that is as skilful and technically gifted as Abedi.
Nigeria may produce players in larger quantities (because of our 150m population), but Ghana produces better quality! If you compare their 25m population and juxtapose that with the quality of players like Osei Koffi,Kuku Dadzie, Abdul Razak, Mohammed Polo(people like Odegbami/Chukwu/Fabio Lanipekun etc will know them)Robert Mensah,Joseph Carr(best keepers in Africa during their time)Yeboah, Abedi,Sammy Kuffuor,Tony Baffoe,Essien,etc.you would realise they have a relatively richer football pedigree!
Overall, Nigeria seems to be better in producing more strikers, while Ghana looks better in other departments of the game. Nigeria also made more success in the 90s when Ghana had a lot of problems, and Nigerian players achieved a lot, winning a lot of individual prizes.

Despite the hot rivalry, the 2 countries have been very friendly and cooperative. Some Ghanaian players migrated to Nigeria and played for the Green Eagles e.g. Leotis Boateng was part of the 1980 team that won the African Nations Cup for Nigeria.
The Kayode brothers(Dan and Ben) were Nigerians born in Ghana, they grew up there, naturalised and called up to play for the BlackStars.
It has been a friendly rivalry between the 2 countries, and this is why it baffles me when some people who knew nothing until the advent of the internet starts to say that Ghanaians hate Nigerians. They dont, but the attitude of some Nigerians in foreign lands in recent times has caused some tension in the way we are seen

^^^

well said

chucky234:
Guy Kanu is ranked 4th best in African player of all time and has far more laurels than Abedi Pele.
In terms of talents Okocha is miles ahead of Abedi pele,bros no dull me.

You dont seem to know thw difference between INDIVIDUAL and TEAM LAURELS. An average player can benefit from a team's performance to win laurels.
A player can win laurels if his teams wins something, even if he is a bench warmer and does not play very regularly! How many matches did Kanu play for the teams where he won the laurels? Was he a regular sub or super-regular player?!

But Individual performance laurel is purely on the overall individual SKILLS,abilities and consistency of a player. For example, Keita is a member of Barcelona and he must have won more laurels, but he is not better than a player like Drogba! For instance, Amuneke is better than Keita, eventhough has won more laurels because of the success of his team, Barcelona, and not because of his oustanding skills/performance. You need to understand that first before anything!

And if I may ask, which and who made the ranking you are talking about? In African history, only George Weah and maybe Roger Milla can be mentioned in the same breadth as Abedi. And Abedi is the most skillful. Abedi is ranked higher than the likes of Rabah Madger,Theophilus Abega etc.

Abedi was ranked/rated the 5th best footballer in the world in 1991/92, at a time when players like Gullit, Baggio,Romario,Van Basten, Maradona,Schlacci, Papin, Klinsman, etc were playing active soccer.He was recognised on the strength of individual abilities on the ball, despite the fact that Ghana was not doing well and did not even qualify for the World Cup. It is like George Weah not going to the world cup.
Abedi was ranked and rated by FIFA higher and better than all other African players from 1991-1994. It was only in 1995 that George Weah broke the records to win African, European and World Footballer of the year awards. Before 1995, African players were not considered for the European footballer of the year award.

My brother, dont compare Okocha with Abedi. Please, before you talk, try and get some tapes of when Abedi was playing for Lille and Marseilles in the French & Champions League and watch. He was the Diamond of African football. He was not just called 'Pele' for nothing. Many people who did not watch European club football did not get to see him because Ghana did not qualify for the the world cup during his time, but Okocha was lucky to go to the world cup and Olympics....even at that Okocha was always a substitute under Westerhof. Our midfield then was controlled by Oliseh/ Thompson Oliha/Amokachi.It was after Westerhof had left that Okocha started playing full 90 minutes.

Okocha played for Frankfurt, but the main star of Frankfurt at that time was Tony Yeboah. Okocha confirmed that he was not always playing full time, so he used an opportunity he had to dribble a whole defence of players in a particular match before he scored the goal. That was a singular wonderful performance, but go and watch ucnountable spectacular displays by Abedi in ther French aleague and European Champions League between 1990-1993.His goals were breath-taking incredible individual wonders!
Do you remember the goal he scored at the 1997 Africa vs Europe match at the Meridian Cup in Portugal? Super Class Goal from sheer individual brilliance!

is it true george weah has a ghanaian father?

how about samuel kuffuor having a nigerian father??

just asking

bin gbagbo: is it true george weah has a ghanaian father?

how about samuel kuffuor having a nigerian father??

just asking

Yes.....to both questions!
They are well acknowledged facts by both Weah and Kuffour

It appears you're an encyclopedia of Ghana/Nigeria football.

Heard Muntari too has a Nigerian(Kano) father? True?

djfiifi:


You lie by,Kanu won Champions League with Ajax and Pele won it with Marseille.
Pele has won African best player three times,how many times has Kanu won it?
Okocha cant even compare himself with Sammy Kuffour how much more Pele?

Kanu won the under 17 world cup,Olumpic gold medal,Champions league with Ajax,Toyota cup with Ajax (now world club cup),won 3 Dutch league and 3 Dutch cups with Ajax,UEFA cup with Inter,2 times African player of the year,premiership and FA cups with Arsenal and Portsmouth while Abedi won Champions league with Marseille in '93 and African player of the year 3 times.
Beside Eto'o Kanu is the second most decorated player in African football history.
In terms of natural talent and football skills no player come close to Okocha the world over,Ronaldihno can attest to that.
You don't know anything about football,na follow follow you be.

mikeapollo:


You dont seem to know thw difference between INDIVIDUAL and TEAM LAURELS. An average player can benefit from a team's performance to win laurels.
A player can win laurels if his teams wins something, even if he is a bench warmer and does not play very regularly! How many matches did Kanu play for the teams where he won the laurels? Was he a regular sub or super-regular player?!

But Individual performance laurel is purely on the overall individual SKILLS,abilities and consistency of a player. For example, Keita is a member of Barcelona and he must have won more laurels, but he is not better than a player like Drogba! For instance, Amuneke is better than Keita, eventhough has won more laurels because of the success of his team, Barcelona, and not because of his oustanding skills/performance. You need to understand that first before anything!

And if I may ask, which and who made the ranking you are talking about? In African history, only George Weah and maybe Roger Milla can be mentioned in the same breadth as Abedi. And Abedi is the most skillful. Abedi is ranked higher than the likes of Rabah Madger,Theophilus Abega etc.

Abedi was ranked/rated the 5th best footballer in the world in 1991/92, at a time when players like Gullit, Baggio,Romario,Van Basten, Maradona,Schlacci, Papin, Klinsman, etc were playing active soccer.He was recognised on the strength of individual abilities on the ball, despite the fact that Ghana was not doing well and did not even qualify for the World Cup. It is like George Weah not going to the world cup.
Abedi was ranked and rated by FIFA higher and better than all other African players from 1991-1994. It was only in 1995 that George Weah broke the records to win African, European and World Footballer of the year awards. Before 1995, African players were not considered for the European footballer of the year award.

My brother, dont compare Okocha with Abedi. Please, before you talk, try and get some tapes of when Abedi was playing for Lille and Marseilles in the French & Champions League and watch. He was the Diamond of African football. He was not just called 'Pele' for nothing. Many people who did not watch European club football did not get to see him because Ghana did not qualify for the the world cup during his time, but Okocha was lucky to go to the world cup and Olympics....even at that Okocha was always a substitute under Westerhof. Our midfield then was controlled by Oliseh/ Thompson Oliha/Amokachi.It was after Westerhof had left that Okocha started playing full 90 minutes.

Okocha played for Frankfurt, but the main star of Frankfurt at that time was Tony Yeboah. Okocha confirmed that he was not always playing full time, so he used an opportunity he had to dribble a whole defence of players in a particular match before he scored the goal. That was a singular wonderful performance, but go and watch ucnountable spectacular displays by Abedi in ther French aleague and European Champions League between 1990-1993.His goals were breath-taking incredible individual wonders!
Do you remember the goal he scored at the 1997 Africa vs Europe match at the Meridian Cup in Portugal? Super Class Goal from sheer individual brilliance!

Guy what are you talking about,seem your father down own a coloured TV set in 1993. Too bad you were depending on newspaper stories,Kanu was a super regular for Ajax along side Finidi George and was the creator of many of the goals scored by Ajax including Patrick Kluivert winner in 1995,he played for 90mins in their lost to Juventus in the 1996 final.
Luis Van Gaal said Kanu was a genius and that to me has nothing to with team Laurels but individual talent,Wenger described him as a magician and Rednapp wished he signed Kanu when he was 20.
Kanu's goal is rated 3rd best in Arsenal history while Kanu is also rated as 13th in Arsenal all time best 50 players.
You mentioned Drogba and that to me is an insult to Kanu,Drogba came to limelight in the 2003/2004 French league season where he was the league to scorer and was signed to Chelsea by Mourihno in 2004,that's to say Chelsea and Marseille are the only too major teams he has played for and started his football career with a second division team when Kanu was already a first team player with Ajax at 17 years. Ajax then was the best football club on the planet with the likes of Dennis Berkemp,Michael Reizger,Seedorf,Edgar Davis,Kiki Musampa,Deboar brothers,Mar Overmas and Finidi George and you think Drogba is a better player to Kanu.
Inter's coach before signing Kanu from Ajax said Kanu is the best starlet alive and that's why they did everything to support his heart surgery in the US.

Kanu Nwankwo won the European Champions
League, UEFA Super Cup and the Dutch Title all in
1995. He also won the African Footballer of the Year
in 1996, 1999 and was the 6th FIFA World Player of
the Year in 1999. He won the Olympic Gold medal in
1996, two English Premier League titles, two English
FA Cups and a few other awards.


Abedi Pele is the all-time Ghana top scorer with 33
goals in 73 games. He won the African Nations Cup in 1982 and was the African Footballer of the Year in
1991 and 1992. He won four league titles and one
European Champions Cup with Marseille (1993). He
was the 9th FIFA World Player of the Year in 1992.

Abedi scored 33 goals in 73 appearances for Ghana and you tell me he was a prodigy when Yekini score 32 goals in 34 games in a single season for Victoria Setubal and was top scorer in his first season in Portugal. He also 40 goals (official record) in 58 games for Nigeria, so Abedi's return of 33 goals in 73 appearances is not in any way a healthy record for a striker. Many Ghanians like Kwesi Owusu (Black Stars captain) and Koffie still believe that Abedi did not scored up to 33 goals of Ghana.

You were talking of team glory and individual talent but you forget that the Marseille team that won the Champions league against AC Milan in '93 had such great talents like Bartez,Angloma,Voller,Boksic,Di Meco,Boli,Decamps,Desailly and Sauzee.
The team was successful that season because of the goal record of Boksic as well as Boli's match winner against Milan in the final.
George Weah is a far better player haven played with for PSG,Milan and Chelsea with great goal scoring record at both PSG and Milan before the emregence of Oliver Biehoff and Shevchenko in the Milan team.

As for Okocha,he was regarded as a football god by his coach at Frankfurt where Tony Yeboah was the captain of the team. No player in the history of football has been able to bring out bags of tricks with the ball the way Okocha did,most of the skils Critiano Ronaldo uses today were the ones Okocha introduced at France '98 world cup. Zidane was a great player but was never a great skillful player,the only player that come close to Okocha in terms of talents and skills is Ronaldihno who was also benched for Okocha at PSG and also trained with Jay Jay to learn from him.
At Bolton they he was so good and name twice,my brother African player come close to Jay Jay in terms of skills. Westerhof had him on the bench because Oliseh and Siasia was in the team before him and not because they were better player,in the match against Italy at the USA '94 Okocha was exceptional and Roberto Baggio was running away from him. Shaibu Amodu took the Eagles to Wembley for a friendly match against England and Okocha was a delight to watch,he hold fans spellbound with his touches and dribbles.
My brother we analyze football based on talents but not by achievement,the all time best 10 players in Africa was done by achievement and was biased because Ghanians,South Africans,Zambians,Cameroonians all said that the list is not complete without Okocha in the top 3 and also said that Roger Milla shouldn't be in the top 5 because only significant achievement in world football was the 4 goals he score at Italian '90 at age 38 years.
Drogba was rated 5th while Kanu was rated 6th and also did not go down well with people because is a more bigger talents than Drogba and has far greater achievement than Drogba who only made his mark with Chelsea.

mikeapollo:


You dont seem to know thw difference between INDIVIDUAL and TEAM LAURELS. An average player can benefit from a team's performance to win laurels.
A player can win laurels if his teams wins something, even if he is a bench warmer and does not play very regularly! How many matches did Kanu play for the teams where he won the laurels? Was he a regular sub or super-regular player?!

But Individual performance laurel is purely on the overall individual SKILLS,abilities and consistency of a player. For example, Keita is a member of Barcelona and he must have won more laurels, but he is not better than a player like Drogba! For instance, Amuneke is better than Keita, eventhough has won more laurels because of the success of his team, Barcelona, and not because of his oustanding skills/performance. You need to understand that first before anything!

And if I may ask, which and who made the ranking you are talking about? In African history, only George Weah and maybe Roger Milla can be mentioned in the same breadth as Abedi. And Abedi is the most skillful. Abedi is ranked higher than the likes of Rabah Madger,Theophilus Abega etc.

Abedi was ranked/rated the 5th best footballer in the world in 1991/92, at a time when players like Gullit, Baggio,Romario,Van Basten, Maradona,Schlacci, Papin, Klinsman, etc were playing active soccer.He was recognised on the strength of individual abilities on the ball, despite the fact that Ghana was not doing well and did not even qualify for the World Cup. It is like George Weah not going to the world cup.
Abedi was ranked and rated by FIFA higher and better than all other African players from 1991-1994. It was only in 1995 that George Weah broke the records to win African, European and World Footballer of the year awards. Before 1995, African players were not considered for the European footballer of the year award.

My brother, dont compare Okocha with Abedi. Please, before you talk, try and get some tapes of when Abedi was playing for Lille and Marseilles in the French & Champions League and watch. He was the Diamond of African football. He was not just called 'Pele' for nothing. Many people who did not watch European club football did not get to see him because Ghana did not qualify for the the world cup during his time, but Okocha was lucky to go to the world cup and Olympics....even at that Okocha was always a substitute under Westerhof. Our midfield then was controlled by Oliseh/ Thompson Oliha/Amokachi.It was after Westerhof had left that Okocha started playing full 90 minutes.

Okocha played for Frankfurt, but the main star of Frankfurt at that time was Tony Yeboah. Okocha confirmed that he was not always playing full time, so he used an opportunity he had to dribble a whole defence of players in a particular match before he scored the goal. That was a singular wonderful performance, but go and watch ucnountable spectacular displays by Abedi in ther French aleague and European Champions League between 1990-1993.His goals were breath-taking incredible individual wonders!
Do you remember the goal he scored at the 1997 Africa vs Europe match at the Meridian Cup in Portugal? Super Class Goal from sheer individual brilliance!

Guy what are you talking about,seem your father don't own a coloured TV set in 1993. Too bad you were depending on newspaper stories,Kanu was a super regular for Ajax along side Finidi George and was the creator of many of the goals scored by Ajax including Patrick Kluivert's champions league winner in 1995,he played for 90mins in their lost to Juventus in the 1996 final.
Luis Van Gaal said Kanu was a genius and that to me has nothing to do with team Laurels but individual talent,Wenger described him as a magician and Rednapp wished he signed Kanu when he was 20.
Kanu's goal is rated 3rd best in Arsenal's history while Kanu is also rated as 13th in Arsenal all time best 50 players.
You mentioned Drogba and that to me is an insult to Kanu,Drogba came to limelight in the 2003/2004 French league season where he was the league top scorer and was signed to Chelsea by Mourihno in 2004,that's to say Chelsea and Marseille are the only two major teams he has played for and started his football career with a second division team when Kanu was already a first team player with Ajax at 17 years. Ajax then was the best football club on the planet with the likes of Dennis Berkamp,Michael Reitziger,Winston,Seedorf,Edgar Davis,Kiki Musampa,Deboar brothers,Mar Overmas and Finidi George and you think Drogba is a better player to Kanu?
Inter's coach before signing Kanu from Ajax said Kanu is the best starlet alive and that's why they did everything to support his heart surgery in the US.

Kanu Nwankwo won the European Champions
League, UEFA Super Cup and the Dutch Title all in
1995. He also won the African Footballer of the Year
in 1996, 1999 and was the 6th FIFA World Player of
the Year in 1999. He won the Olympic Gold medal in
1996, two English Premier League titles, two English
FA Cups and a few other awards.


Abedi Pele is the all-time Ghana top scorer with 33
goals in 73 games(Ghanian and his former teammates still argue this record). He won the African Nations Cup in 1982 and was the African Footballer of the Year in
1991 and 1992. He won four league titles and one
European Champions Cup with Marseille (1993). He
was the 9th FIFA World Player of the Year in 1992.

Abedi scored 33 goals in 73 appearances for Ghana and you tell me he was a prodigy when Yekini score 32 goals in 34 games in a single season for Victoria Setubal and was top scorer in his first season in Portugal. He also 40 goals (official record) in 58 games for Nigeria, so Abedi's return of 33 goals in 73 appearances is not in any way a healthy record for a striker. Many Ghanians like Kwesi Owusu (Black Stars captain) and Koffie still believe that Abedi did not scored up to 33 goals of Ghana.

You were talking of team glory and individual talent but you forget that the Marseille team that won the Champions league against AC Milan in '93 had such great talents like Bartez,Angloma,Voller,Boksic,Di Meco,Boli,Decamps,Desailly and Sauzee.
The team was successful that season because of the goal scoring record of Boksic as well as Boli's match winner against Milan in the final.
George Weah is a far better player haven played for PSG,Milan and Chelsea with great goal scoring record at both PSG and Milan before the emregence of Oliver Biehoff and Shevchenko in the Milan team.

As for Okocha,he was regarded as a football god by his coach at Frankfurt where Tony Yeboah was the captain of the team. No player in the history of football has been able to bring out bags of tricks with the ball the way Okocha did,most of the skils Critiano Ronaldo uses today were the ones Okocha introduced at France '98 world cup. Zidane was a great player but was never a great skillful player,the only player that come close to Okocha in terms of talents and skills is Ronaldihno who was also benched for Okocha at PSG Fernandez ,Dino always trained with Jay Jay to learn from him.
At Bolton they said he was so good and named twice,my brother no African player come close to Jay Jay in terms of skills. Westerhof had him on the bench because Oliseh,Thomson Oliha, and Siasia was in the team before him and not because they were better player,in the match against Italy at the USA '94 world cup Okocha was exceptional and Roberto Baggio was running away from him. Shaibu Amodu took the Eagles to Wembley for a friendly match against England and Okocha was a delight to watch,he hold fans spellbound with his touches and dribbles.
My brother we analyze football based on talents but not by achievement,the all time best 10 players in Africa was done by achievement and was biased because Ghanians,South Africans,Zambians,Cameroonians all said that the list is not complete without Okocha in the top 3 and also said that Roger Milla shouldn't be in the top 5 because his only significant achievement in world football was the 4 goals he score at Italian '90 at age 38 years.
Drogba was rated 5th while Kanu was rated 6th and also did not go down well with people because Kanu is a more bigger talents than Drogba and has far greater achievement than Drogba who only made his mark with Chelsea.

You also refers to Keita as average player but you forget that he was named the best players at the Nigerian under 20 world cup in '99 where the likes of Xavi,Ronaldihno,Pablo,Carles Puyol,Santa Cruz and many great players featured. Keita was a regular starter for Lens where John Utaka played and was signed by Villareal,at Villareal he was a regular even with such great player as Marcos Sena. Keita is a great player and he is one player Guadiola cannot do without,
Guy stop watching pictures ,watch real football from deep within.

My friend, stop arguing out of context.

I mentioned Drogba in comparism to Keita, just to show that winning more team laurels(e.g Keita) does not necessarily make a player better that another in terms of INDIVIDUAL ABILITIES. You also must compare their roles/positions and the era they belonged to
Can you say Ronaldo/Ronaldinho were better than Maradona just because they won more laurels than Maradona?. Would you say Kanu/Keita was better than George Weah because Kanu/Keita won more laurels(even if George Weah did not win the World Footballer of the year in 1995)?
Abedi first played for Ghana at age 16(in 1981 during a 1982 Nations Cup qualifier against DRC Congo in Zaire) at a time when there was nothing like U-17 or U-20 competitions.

If you do not know that Okocha is far below Abedi in terms of overall football abilities, then I am sorry to say, it is either you are ignorant of Abedi's exploits in France/Italy, or you dont know football, or you are delibertately defending your fellow citizen blindly. Please, get in touch with Lille and Marseille and ask for his tapes. Or you may watch the Ghana/Nigeria Semi-Final match at Senegal 92!

By the way, Tony Yeboah was not the captain of Frankfurt when Okocha was there...he was the top score for about 3 years!

mikeapollo: My friend, stop arguing out of context.

I mentioned Drogba in comparism to Keita, just to show that winning more team laurels(e.g Keita) does not necessarily make a player better that another in terms of INDIVIDUAL ABILITIES. You also must compare their roles/positions and the era they belonged to
Can you say Ronaldo/Ronaldinho were better than Maradona just because they won more laurels than Maradona?. Would you say Kanu/Keita was better than George Weah because Kanu/Keita won more laurels(even if George Weah did not win the World Footballer of the year in 1995)?
Abedi first played for Ghana at age 16(in 1981 during a 1982 Nations Cup qualifier against DRC Congo in Zaire) at a time when there was nothing like U-17 or U-20 competitions.

If you do not know that Okocha is far below Abedi in terms of overall football abilities, then I am sorry to say, it is either you are ignorant of Abedi's exploits in France/Italy, or you dont know football, or you are delibertately defending your fellow citizen blindly. Please, get in touch with Lille and Marseille and ask for his tapes. Or you may watch the Ghana/Nigeria Semi-Final match at Senegal 92!

By the way, Tony Yeboah was not the captain of Frankfurt when Okocha was there...he was the top score for about 3 years!

Abedi Pele was rated 9th in the world by FIFA in '92 with just 10 votes while Kanu was 6th best in the world by FIFA in '96 with 32 votes above Paolo Maldini,Romario,Gabriel Batistuta and Davor Sukar
Kanu was a brilliant football while Abedi relied on his pace,between 93' and 95 the world regarded Finidi George as the best wing player to come out of Africa and that to me is not a team laurels but individual quality.
Ghanians even most Abedi's former national team mates still maintain that Abedi was over rated in Ghana.
Kanu signed for Ajax in '93 aged 17 for €208,000 which made him the highest signed African teenager and became a super starter in '94 aged 18,won the Champions League,Dutch cup,Toyota cup in '95 aged 19.
Kanu playing for Ajax at such young age shows his immense talent because Ajax was what Barca is today,Inter paid Ajax initial fee of $4.7 with add ons according to how many games Kanu played and he was only 20 years in 1996 and went ahead to conquer the world at the Olympics still only 20 years, Kanu played 54 games for and scored 25 goals while George Weah scored 55 goals in 137 games for PSG. Abedi Pele made his significant mark in world football in '93 aged 29,Kanu played 11 games for Inter scored one goal before signing for Arsenal for £4.150 in 1999 and went on to carve a legend statue at Highbury. How many 17 years old African players cost €208,000 in 1993 or $4.7m initial in 1996? That tells you the enormous of Kanu's talent, Abedi Pele was never a super starter for a top European club at 17 years. Kanu scored 25 goals for Ajax in 54 appearance despite playing behind Dennis Bergkamp and Patrick Kluivert as a link midfilder, Pele of Brazil as rated Okocha far above Abedi Pele in his list of 125 best players as Okocha was listed as top 70 while was 125 in that list.

mikeapollo: My friend, stop arguing out of context.

I mentioned Drogba in comparism to Keita, just to show that winning more team laurels(e.g Keita) does not necessarily make a player better that another in terms of INDIVIDUAL ABILITIES. You also must compare their roles/positions and the era they belonged to
Can you say Ronaldo/Ronaldinho were better than Maradona just because they won more laurels than Maradona?. Would you say Kanu/Keita was better than George Weah because Kanu/Keita won more laurels(even if George Weah did not win the World Footballer of the year in 1995)?
Abedi first played for Ghana at age 16(in 1981 during a 1982 Nations Cup qualifier against DRC Congo in Zaire) at a time when there was nothing like U-17 or U-20 competitions.

If you do not know that Okocha is far below Abedi in terms of overall football abilities, then I am sorry to say, it is either you are ignorant of Abedi's exploits in France/Italy, or you dont know football, or you are delibertately defending your fellow citizen blindly. Please, get in touch with Lille and Marseille and ask for his tapes. Or you may watch the Ghana/Nigeria Semi-Final match at Senegal 92!

By the way, Tony Yeboah was not the captain of Frankfurt when Okocha was there...he was the top score for about 3 years!

Guy don't know anything about football,Tony Yeboah was the first African player to captain a German team scoring 68 goals in 123 games is by far a better record than Abedi Pele managed in his career.
Tony Yeboah was stripped of his captaincy by Jupp
Heynckes when he refused to play in defence of Okocha and Gaudino who were suspended for refusing to play important match after the duo were racially abused,the three players were sacked and Yeboah left for Leeds United while Okocha left for Fernabache in Turkey. Jupp
Heynckes was later sacked when Frankfurt was relegated,he became Madrid coach and won the Champions league with Madrid and ironically Jupp
Heynckes just defeated Madrid as Bayern Munich coach on Tuesday.
Learn from the masters before you open your mouth to talk,I grow up watching every club matches on TV/ satellite when there was no DSTV in Nigeria as NTA was never interested in football until Rotmans sponsored the European Football show on NTA which was shown every Wednesday and Friday night,so you don't have the credentials to argue football with me with those your hearsay ideas

My brother, Tony Baffoe (of Ghana) captained his club in Germany, long before Yeboah became a hit at Frankfurt. You cannot know about Ghana-Nigeria football history more than me. I can give u the list(off-hand, without reference to any source,)of the Ghana Black Stars from the 1992 to present day. Same for Eagles
If Tony Yeboah (a striker)scored more goals than Abedi(a midfielder), does that automatically make him a better footballer? Is Ronadlo a better footballer than Maradona just because he(Ronaldo) scored more goals? You are using number of goals to judge who is better between a playmaker and a striker!

There is no amount of blind sentiments that can make Okocha equal to Abedi. Go and check the annual FIFA ranking of players from 1990 to 1995. George Weah was ranked higher than Abedi only in 1995. Tony Yeboah made the list in 1993. Roger Milla was ranked for the 1990 W/Cup tournamant only .Abedi was the overall best and highest for the rest years. That was an era of great worldclass players like Baggio, Romario, Papin, Klinsman, Van Basten, Gullit, Schilacci, etc. Abedi dusted most of them on the field of play.
Go and watch UNCOUNTABLE unbelievable wonder goals that he scored at Lille and also at Marseilles....Okocha was not up to half of Abedi. Go ask Eagles defenders of the early 90s and they would tell you. Okocha plays to the galllery most of the times. Abedi did the impossibles on numerous occassions. Dd you watch the 1991/92 European Champions League match betwee Marseilles and Red Star Belgrade? Did you watch the 1995 friendly between Norway and Ghana? Did you watch the 1992 Nations Cup?Go watch and come tell me

http://www.how2playsoccer.com/list-of-the-best-soccer-players-in-the-world/

Have a look at the list of the best-rated footballers in the world. Show me the name(s) of your much vaunted players. Milla, Abedi, Weah made the list.

mikeapollo: My brother, Tony Baffoe (of Ghana) captained his club in Germany, long before Yeboah became a hit at Frankfurt. You cannot know about Ghana-Nigeria football history more than me. I can give u the list(off-hand, without reference to any source,)of the Ghana Black Stars from the 1992 to present day. Same for Eagles
If Tony Yeboah (a striker)scored more goals than Abedi(a midfielder), does that automatically make him a better footballer? Is Ronadlo a better footballer than Maradona just because he(Ronaldo) scored more goals? You are using number of goals to judge who is better between a playmaker and a striker!

There is no amount of blind sentiments that can make Okocha equal to Abedi. Go and check the annual FIFA ranking of players from 1990 to 1995. George Weah was ranked higher than Abedi only in 1995. Tony Yeboah made the list in 1993. Roger Milla was ranked for the 1990 W/Cup tournamant only .Abedi was the overall best and highest for the rest years. That was an era of great worldclass players like Baggio, Romario, Papin, Klinsman, Van Basten, Gullit, Schilacci, etc. Abedi dusted most of them on the field of play.
Go and watch UNCOUNTABLE unbelievable wonder goals that he scored at Lille and also at Marseilles....Okocha was not up to half of Abedi. Go ask Eagles defenders of the early 90s and they would tell you. Okocha plays to the galllery most of the times. Abedi did the impossibles on numerous occassions. Dd you watch the 1991/92 European Champions League match betwee Marseilles and Red Star Belgrade? Did you watch the 1995 friendly between Norway and Ghana? Did you watch the 1992 Nations Cup?Go watch and come tell me

Guy you are talking of how wonderful goals scored by Abedi Pele was forgetting Kanu's goals at Ajax and Arsenal remained some of the best goals in history of football,his last goal in the hat trick he scored against Chelsea and his sublime goal against Aston Villa made Arsenal's all time best goals and those two goals simply out class all Abedi's goals.
Cristiano Ronaldo plays same role as Abedi and scored more goals than Abedi and not ever say its out of place to come him to a striker,same can said of Messi,Steven Gerald,Eric Cantona,Mathias Sammer,Frank Lampard,Ronaldihno are some midfielders that have scored above 150 goals in their career. Those are midfielders with good goal scoring record so your Abedi has no excuse about his goal returns

Kanu played 54 games for Ajax scored 25 goals,played 197 games for Arsenal with 44 goals and more than half of the 197 games he played for Arsenal were as substitute because he current hold the record of the highest substitute by a player in history of EPL.

Kanu is the most intelligent player to come out of Africa and that's why Ajax paid €208,000 to sign him after the Japan '93 under 17 tournament instead of tournament favourite like Daniel Adu of Ghana,Anosike,Wilson Oruma and Karibe Ojigwe.
In 2000 BBC rated Kanu above Weah,Abedi,Mila and he was equate with Pele of Brazil,Eto'o come close to
Kanu not because of talent but because of achievement as the most decorated player in Africa.
If African top ten players is rated by talent and not achievement then Okocha will come first before any other player,no one plays with the ball like Jay Jay except for Maradona and Ronaldihno.
Abedi won 3 African footballer of the year award because there was no stiff competition like we have no with top players vying for the crown each year,now there more quality players from africa playing for top European club sides unlike in 1990 - 1993 when Abedi won the award.
Abedi is regarded as a legend at Marseille because of the '93 Champions league triumph,but Tony Yeboah was regarded as a goal king in German and a legend at both Leeds United and Franfurt FC.

You mentioned about rating players based on laurels but forget to acknowledge the fact is regarded as Africa's finest simply because of his achievement and awards earned and not of his talent because have had bigger and better talents than Samuel Eto'o

Between Nigeria and Ghana we are far better in terms of football talents while Ghana is ahead with achievement haven won the nations cup more than Nigeria.
Between 1990 to 2012 Nigerian have produced more better players than Ghana and can give the list of outstanding players both countries have produced in 12 years starting with Abedi,Tony Yeboah,Tony Baffoe,Koffie,Appiah,Essien,Muntari,Adu,Gyan,Andre Ayew,Jordan Ayew,Mathew Amoah,Emmanuel Boakye,Otto Addo,Kwame Ayew,Blay,Samuel Yeboah,Samuel Kuffor,Eric Addo,John Mensah,Kwadjo Asamoah,Samuel Johnson,Issa Mohammed,Augustine Ahinful,Massoudu Naddah,Charles
Amoah, ,Yakubu for Ghana while players like

Jonathan Akpoborie,Rasheed Yekini,Steven Keshi,Amokachi,Amunike,Finidi,Sunday Oliseh,Efan Ekoku,Kanu,Taye Taiwo,Okocha,Rufai,Obafemi Martins,Odewingie,Yakubu,Udeze,Celestine Babayaro,Joseph Yobo,Aghahowa,Solomon Okoronkwo Taribo West,Uche Okafor,Uche Okechukwu,Mikel Obi,Joel Obi,Emenike,Joseph Akpala,Owomoyela,Obasi,Victor Moses,Mutiu Adepoju,Victor Ikpeba,
Gbenga Okunowo,Batho Ogbeche,Stanley Okoro,Rabiu Ibrahim,Ahmed Musa,Ramon Azeez,Omeruo,Uche Nwofor,John Utaka
The above players are listed based on outstanding performances for club and country and their pure talents.

As for who is the first African to captain a German team read the link,there is no time arguing with you on that
ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/soccer/pop-up.php?ID=96

mikeapollo: http://www.how2playsoccer.com/list-of-the-best-soccer-players-in-the-world/

Have a look at the list of the best-rated footballers in the world. Show me the name(s) of your much vaunted players. Milla, Abedi, Weah made the list.

You copied a link posted by a blogger,below is FIFA 100 players for 2000

The FIFA 100

FIFA 100

UEFA
Baggio
· Ballack
· Banks
· Baresi
· Beckenbauer
· Beckham
· Bergkamp
· Bergomi
· Best
· Boniek
· Boniperti
· Breitner
· Buffon
· Butragueño
· Cantona
· Ceulemans
· Charlton
· Cruyff
· Dalglish
· Dasayev
· Davids
· Del Piero
· Desailly
· Deschamps
· Emre
· Eusébio
· Facchetti
· Figo
· Fontaine
· Gullit
· Hagi
· Henry
· Kahn
· Keane
· Keegan
· Klinsmann
· Kluivert
· Kopa
· B. Laudrup
· M. Laudrup
· Lineker
· Luis Enrique
· Maier
· Maldini
· Masopust
· Matthäus
· Müller
· Nedvěd
· Neeskens
· Nesta
· Owen
· Papin
· Pfaff
· Pirès
· Platini
· Puskás
· Raúl
· Rensenbrink
· Rijkaard
· Rivera
· Rossi
· Rui Costa
· Rummenigge
· Rüştü
· Schmeichel
· Seedorf
· Seeler
· Shearer
· Shevchenko
· Stoichkov
· Šuker
· Thuram
· Totti
· Trésor
· Trezeguet
· van Basten
· R. van de Kerkhof
· W. van de Kerkhof
· Van der Elst
· van Nistelrooy
· Vieira
· Vieri
· Zidane
· Zoff
CONMEBOL
Carlos Alberto
· Batistuta
· Cafu
· Crespo
· Cubillas
· Di Stéfano
· Falcão
· Figueroa
· Francescoli
· Júnior
· Kempes
· Maradona
· Passarella
· Pelé
· Rivaldo
· Rivelino
· Roberto Carlos
· Romário
· Romerito
· Ronaldinho
· Ronaldo
· Djalma Santos
· Nílton Santos
· Saviola
· Sívori
· Sócrates
· Valderrama
· Verón
· Zamorano
· Zanetti
· Zico

CAF
Diouf
· Milla
· Okocha
· Abédi Pelé
· Weah

CONCACAF
Akers
· Hamm
· Sánchez

AFC
Hong
· Nakata

Abedi Ayew adopted a Brazilian name "Pele" while a Brazilian football player named Elias Olivera Rosa adopted the name "Kanu",hahahaha

Ghana is better than Niageria in term of achievement

Abdul-la:
Ghana is better than Niageria in term of achievement

Agreed,but Nigeria has produced more outstanding talents than Ghana especially between 1995 to 2002

djfiifi:


You lie by,Kanu won Champions League with Ajax and Pele won it with Marseille.
Pele has won African best player three times,how many times has Kanu won it?
Okocha cant even compare himself with Sammy Kuffour how much more Pele?

How did I missed this post,hmm na nyash u dey use watch match Samuel Kuffor wey Andy Cole,Solskjaer and Dwight Yorke wan kill for '99 Champions league final,if no be Oliver Khan,Effenberg and Mermet Scholl wey cover in nyash for 2000 final na him you dey use compare Kanu and Okocha for talent.
Abedi was good because he played a style that suit his pace and dwarf nature but that's not to say he was more talented that Okocha or Kanu in terms of skills.
Its like saying that Messi is more skillful or talented that Ronaldihno,Okocha and Zidane,Messi plays a one way football that allow him to run at defenders with the ball at his feet which is similar to Abedi's style because they are both diminutive in nature.
In the other hand hand Okocha and Ronaldihno will not run at/away from defenders with the ball at their feet but would come face to face with defenders and dribble past them with flashy trickery piece of skill that will left the spectators agape.

My friend, stop deceiving yourself.

Anybody that knows and understands football would never put Abedi and Okocha in the same rank. Abedi is far ahead of him.
In modern day soccer, skill,speed, stamina and ability to score and/or create great goals are what stands a player out, especially strikers and midfielders. Maradona, Romario,Messi and Abedi are all noted for these.Do you think Abedi was called to Ghana BlackStars team at the age of 16 for nothing? Rememeber Ghana beats us, so we cannot say their team was a weak team! He was the best rated African footballer by FIFIA from 1990 to 1994, before George Weah was voted WFPOY in 1995. His ball control, speed, dribbles, skills and goal scoring abilities are generally at the highest level. He never played at the world cup, but he is better known, respected and honoured by FIFA president and officials than even other players like Okocha that went to the world cup 3 times. He is better known and recognised by UEFA, CAF, Pele, Beckenbeur, Platini,Maradona, Gullit, etc more than African players that played at the world cup. Can you tell me why?
George Weah is the only African player that played at the level of Abedi's performance. Go watch their exploits in the French League and you would realise that Okocha is a baby when compared to them

mikeapollo: My friend, stop deceiving yourself.

Anybody that knows and understands football would never put Abedi and Okocha in the same rank. Abedi is far ahead of him.
In modern day soccer, skill,speed, stamina and ability to score and/or create great goals are what stands a player out, especially strikers and midfielders. Maradona, Romario,Messi and Abedi are all noted for these.Do you think Abedi was called to Ghana BlackStars team at the age of 16 for nothing? Rememeber Ghana beats us, so we cannot say their team was a weak team! He was the best rated African footballer by FIFIA from 1990 to 1994, before George Weah was voted WFPOY in 1995. His ball control, speed, dribbles, skills and goal scoring abilities are generally at the highest level. He never played at the world cup, but he is better known, respected and honoured by FIFA president and officials than even other players like Okocha that went to the world cup 3 times. He is better known and recognised by UEFA, CAF, Pele, Beckenbeur, Platini,Maradona, Gullit, etc more than African players that played at the world cup. Can you tell me why?
George Weah is the only African player that played at the level of Abedi's performance. Go watch their exploits in the French League and you would realise that Okocha is a baby when compared to them

You seem very clued up on African football but I have to disagree with this. Drogba and Eto'o have both played at that Level. Eto'o is also IMO the better player in terms of Individual amd Team accomplishment.

Eto'o and Weah are without a shadow of doubt ahead of Abedi

Yeah, I would agree that Eto played at the highest level, but I am referring to players that were in an era that was close to or same as that of Abedi/Weah. Eto/Drogba became hits much later after Weah/Abedi have long retired, so I did not compare them.
Please, note that I am not just talking about goal scoring(which grabs all the attention/publicity/awards).Strikers are naturally advantaged in that regard. Eto and Weah were very good strikers who scored a lot of goals, so naturally,they would most probably win more awards(FIFIA encourages goals).
But Abedi was a midfielder who had a knack for scoring incredible wonder goals out of individual brilliance, as if he was a striker. Am talking about overall abilities, including goal scoring,dribble,defending,playmaking,motivating and carrying a team on his shoulders with individual performance....the complete football artistry on the field of play that motivates teams mates for results......
Even at the twilight of his career, he dusted players like Gullit and Baggio when he played against them in the Italian league. He was voted the best foreign player in the Italian league in 1994 when the likes of Gullit, Rikaard etc were playing actively. That was a season before Weah was voted best world player in 1995,

I agree with most of what Mikeappollo has said

it would be bordering on insanity to compare Okocha to Abedi

Okocha might be in the class of Odartey lamptey though

mind you, okocha wont be in my own top 5 Nigerian footballers