i am not looking out for super Eagles victory , but i want to see :


cohesiveness
togetherness
pure attacking style
good defensive style
also a compact midfield

and readiness for the mundial ....

ones i see all this intact , i know where to place my hope ... so far Rohr has done well . but we expect more from him .

England is defensive minded and very deadly at counter attacks. Underrate them at your own peril. This is also what an English fans will say about Nigeria counter attacks football. Just some few hours to go. We go know the scores.


International Friendly: England vs Nigeria Lineups, Preview & Prediction

The Three Lions begin their World Cup preparations with a friendly against Nigeria this weekend.


by Oli Stein

Jun 01, 2018Jun 01, 2018

17:15 (GMT), Saturday 2nd June, Wembley Stadium (London, England)
England begin their World Cup preparations with their third-ever fixture against Nigeria with both Gareth Southgate and Gernot Rohr using the fixture as a chance to test the depth of their squads for Russia.

The Three Lions last faced Nigeria in a 0-0 draw at the 2002 World Cup, previously beating the Super Eagles 1-0 in 1994, the only other side the two countries have met.

For England, this is the first of two international friendlies, the second coming against Costa Rica on Thursday.

The logic is simple although perhaps not ultimately compelling: Nigeria will offer a good test ahead of England’s fixture against Tunisia; Costa Rica will present a comparable team to Panama.

Whether or not this proves to be the case, Gareth Southgate will treat both fixtures as a chance to iron out the final problems before their opening fixture against Tunisia on the 18th of June.

Nigeria, on the other hand, have already played their first friendly of this tranche, running out a 1-1 draw with DR Congo on Monday.

With a few of their key players missing, Gernot Rohr won’t be too worried. However, with a game against the Czech Republic coming up on Wednesday the 6th of June, he will hope the remaining two fixtures can kick-start the Super Eagle’s World Cup campaign.

Can Nigeria earn their first victory over England at Wembley?

Last Time Out
England 1-1 Italy (Internation Friendly)

England were denied victory against the Azzurri back in March after the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) awarded late penalty to Italy.

Jamie Vardy fired the Three Lions in front in the 26th minute and they looked to be en route to a respectable 1-0 victory, despite some lapses in defensive concentration.

However, VAR awarded the Italians a penalty in the 87th minute after Burnley centre back James Tarkowski clashed with Federico Chiesa. Napoli forward Lorenzo Insigne made no mistake from the spot.

Nigeria 1-1 DR Congo (International Friendly)

Nigeria did not earn the result they would have liked against the DR Congo, as they were held to a 1-1 draw on Monday ahead of this weekend’s friendly at Wembley.

William Troost-Ekong, a former Tottenham youth player, got the Super Eagles off to a strong start with a 14th-minute goal – his first for his country – but the Congolese continued to force saves from keeper Francis Uzoho.

The surface didn’t make life easy on Nigeria, whose short passing game was hampered by the state of the Congolese pitch, though this cannot excuse the fact Ola Aina gave away an 85th-minute penalty, resulting in a 1-1 draw.

England Lineup


Harry Maguire did not train with the Three Lions on Monday, although he should be fit for this World Cup warm-up fixture.

The Manchester City title-winners have joined up and trained with England ahead of Saturday, but rests could be given to Liverpool’s Champions League runners-up Jordan Henderson and Trent Alexander-Arnold.

Gareth Southgate could use this as an opportunity to experiment with formation and personnel before settling on a starting XI for Russia, with the likes of Nick Pope potentially seeing some playing time.

Nigeria Lineup


After a promising performance between the sticks for Francis Uzoho, it seems as though manager Gernot Rohr has settled on his number one ahead of the World Cup.

Kelechi Iheanacho performed poorly as a midfielder against DR Congo, which could see Rohr change his shape to incorporate the Leicester City man up front.

Victor Moses could return after missing the first game due to participation in the FA Cup final.

Key Battle: Harry Kane vs William Troost-Ekong
William Toost-Ekong, the Nigerian centre back, was formerly a youth academy player at Tottenham, thus may have some prior experience of Harry Kane. However, Kane then compared to Kane now is an entirely different prospect.

The two have had very different career paths, with Troost-Ekong now plying his trade in Turkey with Bursaspor and Kane captaining England at the World Cup after winning two Premier League Golden Boots in three seasons.

Kane poses all sorts of problems up front. Troost-Ekong will have to work out when to track his runs in behind and when to close him down or hold position when Kane decides to drop deep.

It’s not just his shooting that Troost-Ekong needs to focus on, but his movement and the subsequent space it creates for the likes of Dele Alli and Raheem Sterling.

The centre back will have a lot to contend with at Wembley.

Talking Points
The number one Super Eagle

Having started his third game in a row for Nigeria, it seems as though Francis Uzoho has earned the right to start in goal at the World Cup, following another impressive display in the draw with DR Congo.

However, that was only Uzoho’s third cap for his country, highlighting his inexperience on the international stage. As a 19-year-old with two senior appearances for his club, Deportivo La Coruna, Harry Kane will certainly be the best striker he’s had to face.

Uzoho will do well to keep the 24-year-old from scoring, whilst also managing his nerves, but the key for Kane and his teammates is to get shots away continuously at the Nigerian goal in the hope Uzoho makes a mistake or parries the ball back into a dangerous area.

England’s midfield creativity

Perhaps the biggest criticism levelled at Southgate’s squad selection was the lack of creative options in the centre of midfield.

Eric Dier is predominantly a defensive midfielder, whilst Jordan Henderson is typically a safe passer which leaves creative responsibility on the shoulders of Crystal Palace midfielder Ruben Loftus-Cheek.

With Henderson jaded from last Saturday’s defeat to Real Madrid, this is a great opportunity for Southgate to experiment with Loftus-Cheek and Dier as a two-man combination.

Loftus-Cheek created the most chances (25), assisted the most (3) and scored the most goals (2) of the trio. His passing accuracy (82%) was only a fraction behind Henderson (84%) and Dier (86%), furthermore.

With this degree of creativity from a deeper position, it takes the pressure off Dele Alli and Raheem Sterling.

The fullback dilemma

As we approach the World Cup, it’s fair to say that Southgate is still undecided on his starting pair of fullbacks for Russia.

Expected to start are Tottenham duo Kieran Trippier and Danny Rose, though the latter hasn’t come close to resembling his 2016/17 form since his injury and subsequent setbacks, whilst Trippier isn’t athletic enough to perform the duties of a right wing back in a back five.

Ashley Young, a converted winger, has arguably been in better form for Rose – and started more consistently – whilst Liverpool teenager Trent Alexander-Arnold has had a brilliant breakthrough season, culminating in a mature performance in the Champions League final.

With all four likely to receive minutes either in this friendly or the next, all will have to be at the top of their game to ensure they start against Tunisia in England’s opening World Cup game.

Prediction: England 2-1 Nigeria
Gareth Southgate should perceive this match as winnable, hence selecting the slightly more attacking 3-4-3 formation over a 3-5-2.

The Three Lions are stronger than their visitors, but Nigeria are no walk in the park and will test England’s resolve.

http://c.newsnow.co.uk/A/940410079?-18946:4882:3

Famocious:


For benefit of doubt, I will see how those long passes will help us this evening.
England friendly will be a good litmus test for his proper appraisal

proper appraisal of the team or onazi?

AIG07:
Fight ke? Who Akpeyi wan fight? Akpeyi na gentle man.

Rudiger is jittery on the ball and that's why he is synonymous to Akpeyi. Give him a back pass and see him dance alanta

How he is even a pro-amazes me.

i totally disagree with you brother man, Rudiger is a very good defender, maybe not technically gifted but his really good

goldfish80:


Joel Obi is a good player, the problem with him is adaptability. As you may know, the Serie A is a very niche league, it suits certain type of players and Joel has over modified his game for the Serie A that he looks like a fish out of water outside Italy.
I feel 2 weeks might be too short to re-modify his game, it is what it is. If the going was good, he is the kind of player you want coming in from the bench to close out games, in my opinion.

i know joel is a very good player but national team matter no be by you are good but by showing it to a coach.

I'm sure his doing something good in training.

hopefully all the boys do well today

Oasis007:


Drama on Twitter..... LOL

Possibly showing solidarity for their son, Rohr who is a German..

BascoVanVeli:


I complained about this from the start, this was nothing but a slave contract. We always underestimate our worth.

Contract was signed before we qualified for world cup. Then our worth was very low having missed out on qualification for two consecutive AFCON and with a slim chance of qualifying for world cup. Nike actually took a gamble and you can't blame NFF for it.

NFF has no right to review unilaterally. We can only hope that the contract ends soon.

Martz101:


proper appraisal of the team or onazi?

Both

charlesemeka85:
a combination of Joel obi,mikel and ndidi will be a delight to behold. any day any time i rate joel ahead of onazi who with omeruo are those whom i had high hopes on when they emerged but bad career decision seem to have stunt their progression. onazi's surprise move to the Turkish league was the worst decision of his career so far, also omeruo's constant loan moves to Turkish clubs have dont been of any positive to his progression. i am not saying kenneth should fight for a place in chelsea which is impossible for now but a move to a league where his talent will be well harnessed would have done him a lot of good, and good example is awaziem's loan deal to nantes in the french league last season.

Thank God you have your opinion, joel started our last 3 matches. as a midfielder can you remember
*any forward goal scoring opportunity he created
*shot at goal on target
*beating his man

he can just be good in our lips and not in the pitch.

i want to give you a task today, put a very clode eyes on Onazi, especially when he double up with the full backs when we are on pressure.

Interestingly, Nigeria do well against highly rated opposition.

Our best games in 2014 WC were probably the 2 we lost - against Argentina and France.

We have also beaten Argentina and France in friendlies in the past.

I suspect Nigeria vs England tonight is going to be a very balanced game - no humiliation by either team.

I'm suspecting a draw or a narrow 2-1 or 3-2 win by either side.

forgiveness:


Off course! I still remember his debut for Nigeria, that was when he played alongside with Mikel Obi.

He's the oldest capped player in the team save Mikel Obi.

I hope he takes things easy after he makes the team.

Musa and Echijele have been in the team longer and have more caps than Onazi

also can rohr stand in the touch line for 30 minutes?in our qualifiers he do sit down like a mere spectator. nonsense!

Icon79:
The THREE things I would be watching for in today's game:

1. Can Obi Mikel be effective for 90 mins. I don't know if you guys realized that Mikel rarely plays 90 minutes these days. In all our qualifiers, he usually becomes ineffective after about 75 mins. The China effect

2. Can Alex Iwobi (if he starts) play 90 mins. Iwobi has never been a 90 mins players, even at Arsenal they tend to sub him after about 60-70 mins in most games. Same with the Super Eagles, but he seems to be improving ... I noticed that he did play some 90 mins matches for Arsenal towards the end of the season.

3. Can Francis Uzoho cut out those silly, elementary school errors we saw against Poland and Serbia. I expect him to grow in confidence and experience the more he plays with the national team, so I would be expecting a much better performance from him today.

I am really excited for today's game but the big question mark is where to watch it LIVE on TV


O pari

forgiveness:


Off course! I still remember his debut for Nigeria, that was when he played alongside with Mikel Obi.

He's the oldest capped player in the team save Mikel Obi.

I hope he takes things easy after he makes the team.

Echiejile debut in 2009 and musa debut in 2010

andrew444:


Na back of tv you dey watch,yaya toure fast are you kidding me? they should stop calling you southgate and call you Gary Neville for this you just said.

yaya was not slow, maybe he got slow last season...but yaya strength is in his pushing the ball through the middle, his not slow

Oasis007:


NFF need to review the Contract with Nike.

The contract should be reviewed especially if Nigeria writes a beautiful story at the world cup. Although, it must be said, the Super Eagles brand was shambles at the time the contract was signed with Nike. Failures to qualify for Afcon and no big name player in the Super Eagles. Addidas left and Puma weren't interested to do business with Nigeria till Nike were cajoled by Nff.

Martz101:


yaya was not slow, maybe he got slow last season...but yaya strength is in his pushing the ball through the middle, his not slow

Yaya is slow bros,yaya got strength but slow,he knows how to hold the ball and guide a player does not make him fast

Also can Rohr make enough changes to test players or wait until the 89th minute


O pari

charlesemeka85:
also can rohr stand in the touch line for 30 minutes?in our qualifiers he do sit down like a mere spectator. nonsense!

Serie A club Lazio are among a rash of top clubs who are in hot chase of World Cup-bound Simeon Nwankwo, SCORENigeria can exclusively reveal.

‘Simy’ still has a year left on his contract at FC Crotone, who were relegated on the final day of this past season.



His rush of late goals did not help save modest Crotone from dropping to the lower Serie B, but at least it has alerted top clubs to take notice of what he can do at the club.

“There several top clubs in Serie A like Lazio who want to sign ‘Simy’, but we just have to wait and see what happens after the World Cup,” a source close to the big target man told only SCORENigeria

“But is almost certain is that he will be staying put in Serie A.”

The player himself told SCORENigeria his immediate target is to do well with the Eagles.

More suitors will come in for the striker, who impressed on his Eagles debut against DR Congo, should he make the final cut to Russia 2018.

somehow:
Rohr said no one is to be sent here until the last friendly incase of injury. meaning even if the names of the 2 to be dropped are announced, they will stay with the team till the last friendly match.

So "Aina and Agu" should be hopeful but don't pray that your colleague gets injured o.

Ogu should be dropped because If he is good enough, he wouldn't be playing in obscure league.

Sentiment that he will be retired after the world cup and therefore not make the team next world cup should be discarded.

Besides, Agu is a replica of Ndidi.

If we go by the current form of Echiejile this season, there is nothing to right home about. Barely played and struggled to play in Belgium second division.

The career threatening tackle he made was a as a result of fatigue and rustiness. We should expect more of that in the coming days.

If he is picked ahead of a player that played consistently this season, it is based on sentiment.

However, he must be played today to see if he is fit enough for the tournament and deserves to be in the team, and if Brian is the first choice then he must also play to see if he really deserves to be the first choice.

if this be the case that only these two players play today, Ola is out.

But before Rohr takes this decision he should see if these players are good enough for the 4 man defense else he should just gegeli play a 3 man defense and forget about the 4 man defense.


For me, Shehu could do another Kieta and could cause us a game if he doesn't know how to react to provocation. In addition, I don't think he is good enough be a starter. Ebuehi is better but I have to see him against England again.

My point is that the performance of our wing backs should determine the formation which should eventually determine the right choice of players for the formation/formations.

somehow:

Ah, we need him in that match o, Croatia is blessed with great midfielders and we need capable hands to match them.

I hope so too.

But it is better Rohr also plans that game without him. Just in case.

Oasis007:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PqlJjHt04ms

#NaijaAllTheWay

What a Dope Advert by Pepsi for the Super Eagles.

Pepsi have a way with adverts. Those ads they had Carlos, Totti, Ronaldinho, Kanu, Beckham and the Sumo wrestlers was gold. Nice one

somehow:


Too slow what? Is he slower than Balogun? Did he just become slow? Was not slow all through thr qualifiers?

Like we will be playing England every time?

Pace this pace that like we are on the track. Is he the slowest known LB in the world? Infact send us evidences that proves his slowness.

Same was said of him when we were to play Cameroon on both legs, they said bassong and co would get him swallowed and useless. At the end of the day, what happened?

When you say slow, kindly cite 2 incidence that his "slowness" led to goals from his wing.

Thanks

This your campaign for Echiejile Eéeeeeee get as e be.

You want to change the dimensions or football for Obe player.

somehow:

Ah, we need him in that match o, Croatia is blessed with great midfielders and we need capable hands to match them.

Ndidi is fit already. The coaches just decide not to take any risk today.

asha80:
reminds me of pirlo's performance against England in Euro 2012.. it was like he was in his own slow motion video while english players were chasing shadows

Forget that man o. He used more of his brain than his physical body. No gragra football and he was beauty to watch.

England is overrated. Especially this their current squad



My predictions



England 1 - 3 Nigeria

goldfish80:


Fingers crossed. We are just a few hours from kickoff. Could be a very good game or a very bad one from Nigeria. No in-betweens

any team that wants to defeat nigeria should press us and disorganize our play. i watched nigeria v poland this week as well as nig v serbia yesterday. our play was at best patchy(as it was noted then) i am watching nig v cam now and i saw the flow, i asked mysself why the difference. i think it would be too simplistic to pen it down to the absence/presence of Mikel. omo cameroun gave us a lot of space but poland and serbia pressed us relentlessly, even argentina did so in that first half before things went south for them. but i think any team with pressing can give us serious problems

Danielnino00:




Musa and Echijele have been in the team longer and have more caps than Onazi

Chai! My bad. I thought it was around 2008 or 2009.

Thanks.

Super eagles official suit,already out as expected...I know Aba boys are up to something

my prediction england 0-1 nigeria

MarijuanaLORD:
England is overrated. Especially this their current squad



My predictions



England 1 - 3 Nigeria

elyte89:




Y is everything always attached to Mikel to achieve a better result. He's human also,even d like of messi or c ronaldo do av off days on pitch

I wish d England players can tame Mikel and let c aw oda players will response with deir play

thank you elyte. let them not only tame him let them cage him. if not this over reliance on mikel will finiish us when at a more critical time. the other players must learn to rise up to the occasion.

forgiveness:

Chai! My bad. I thought it was around 2008 or 2009.
Thanks.

.Onazi was with the u-17 in 2009.. I think he made his debut in 2012

forgiveness:

Chai! My bad. I thought it was around 2008 or 2009.
Thanks.

.Onazi was with the u-17 in 2009.. I think he made his debut in 2012