Super Eagles Caoch Stephen Keshi has made a shock move to pick Weder Bremen striker Joseph Akpala ahead of in-form Turkey based Michael Eneramo as replacement for injured Emmanuel. Emenike for the busy schedule ahead of the national team .

The Big Boss as Keshi is fondly referred to told the BBC that Akpala ‘brings a lot’ to the table in the absence of the injured Spartak Moscow’s Emenike.

Preferred choice:

-We've handed Akpala a late recall because he brings a lot in the absence of Emenike, coach Stephen Keshi said.

-It's very important to give a chance to other players when the opportunity comes.

Akpala, who made his debut in 2008 has one of his fond memories in the national team colours when his solitary strike ensured rare win for Nigeria over former world Champions France in an international friendly.


http://www.futaa.com/football/article/keshi-snubs-eneramo-for-akpala

Eneramo is my candidate.

I sat Keshi down on a round-table and advised him but he turns around and goes for Akpala


Eneramo scores in Turkey almost everyday. . .and he scored another hat-trick just this May.

On the other hand Akpala has not scored any league goal since LAST YEAR!, and through-out April he's been on injury. He wastes chances more than he assists and offers far less quality compared with Eneramo.

Silly decision!

Keshi better prove to me what this is.

breezy047: Eneramo is my candidate.

I sat Keshi down on a round-table and advised him but he turns around and goes for Akpala


Eneramo scores in Turkey almost everyday. . .and he scored another hat-trick just this May.

On the other hand Akpala has not scored any league goal since LAST YEAR!, and through-out April he's been on injury. He wastes chances more than he assists and offers far less quality compared with Eneramo.

Silly decision!

Keshi better prove to me what this is.

I actually would prefer to haeve Kalu Uche back in the squad. He's actually outscoring Eneramo in the Turkish league (19 goals to 11 goals). Whenever he played for Nigeria he was always pure quality.

marutimon:

I actually would prefer to haeve Kalu Uche back in the squad. He's actually outscoring Eneramo in the Turkish league (19 goals to 11 goals). Whenever he played for Nigeria he was always pure quality.

Kalu Uche is already on the list. I'm disappointed with his choice of Akpala. He has no business in the squad.

joseph1013:

Kalu Uche is already on the list. I'm disappointed with his choice of Akpala. He has no business in the squad.

Thank you!

I wonder by what criteria Keshi selected him with.
But let's wait and see what he can bring to the dinner table. . .

Becuz I remember Ogenyi Onazi too was close to NOTHING prior to the nations cup.

Mr Regular bench warmer at Lazio all through last year. . .

But after proving himself at the nations cup, Lazio have used him in every game since then and he even scored a tantalizing goal against Intermilan.


At the moment, Akpala is ZERO.

Prove yourself against Mexico like Onazi or we return you back to where you came from asap.




You can check up and follow every Nigerian player on this site

http://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/en/ogenyi-onazi/leistungsdaten/spieler_131709.html

breezy047:


Thank you!

I wonder by what criteria Keshi selected him with.
But let's wait and see what he can bring to the dinner table. . .

Becuz I remember Ogenyi Onazi too was close to NOTHING prior to the nations cup.

Mr Regular bench warmer at Lazio all through last year. . .

But after proving himself at the nations cup, Lazio have used him in every game since then and he even scored a tantalizing goal against Intermilan.


At the moment, Akpala is ZERO.

But above all else, shouldn't performance be the first criteria? Look at Haruna Lukman for instance, this guy has been incredibly consistent at his club, scoring goals, creating invaluable assists. He even scored the winning goal for his club last weekend.

His club confirmed that Bayern Munich sent some of their scouts to watch him during league matches. They are interested in him.

The question then becomes: why has Keshi continually snubbed this guy? Does he have a beaf with him? He has scored more goals than Ideye, a striker,(who is also in the same club) this year yet Keshi ignores him. The question begs an answer.

Keshi calls Akpala who many does not even knoe plays for Werder Bremen cos he's been out injured for a long time. He just came back and still recuperating. H has not scored this year and research shows he is very wasteful in front of goal. Why are strikers who keep banging goals every week like Imoh Ezekiel, Nwofor, Eneramo not called. If he was actually sincere about people fighting for shirts, why not invite Eneramo and Akpala to camp and choose the one that performs better?

It's high time Keshi dumped his 'Big Boss' attitude and allow the best players feature for the Eagles.

joseph1013:

But above all else, shouldn't performance be the first criteria? Look at Haruna Lukman for instance, this guy has been incredibly consistent at his club, scoring goals, creating invaluable assists. He even scored the winning goal for his club last weekend.

His club confirmed that Bayern Munich sent some of their scouts to watch him during league matches. They are interested in him.

The question then becomes: why has Keshi continually snubbed this guy? Does he have a beaf with him? He has scored more goals than Ideye, a striker,(who is also in the same club) this year yet Keshi ignores him. The question begs an answer.

Keshi calls Akpala who many does not even knoe plays for Werder Bremen cos he's been out injured for a long time. He just came back and still recuperating. H has not scored this year and research shows he is very wasteful in front of goal. Why are strikers who keep banging goals every week like Imoh Ezekiel, Nwofor, Eneramo not called. If he was actually sincere about people fighting for shirts, why not invite Eneramo and Akpala to camp and choose the one that performs better?

It's high time Keshi dumped his 'Big Boss' attitude and allow the best players feature for the Eagles.

Exactly. Haruna looks like class and is still very young. Meanwhile we keep experimenting with unknown quality like Oduamadi or Babatunde, who have yet to really prove themselves anywhere.

marutimon:

Exactly. Haruna looks like class and is still very young. Meanwhile we keep experimenting with unknown quality like Oduamadi or Babatunde, who have yet to really prove themselves anywhere.

Kenya defeated us 1-nil in 90 mins of our last game but same Oduamadi came on and SAVED us an everlasting disgrace

There seems to be some magic working for Keshi and his 'very casual selection'

Keshi won't bring in Haruna to upset the (Mikel - Onazi - Mba) nations cup winning midfield. . .
And no space for him as a substitute too because the 'Precious home-based players' are there already.

Dilemma!!

joseph1013:
If he was actually sincere about people fighting for shirts, why not invite Eneramo and Akpala to camp and choose the one that performs better?

Very true.

By merit you bet Eneramo is very much better than Akpala.
Based on current form. . .he will DUST Akpala home and away and make him look irrelevant

breezy047:


Kenya defeated us 1-nil in 90 mins of our last game but same Oduamadi came on and SAVED us an everlasting disgrace

There seems to be some magic working for Keshi and his 'very casual selection'

Keshi won't bring in Haruna to upset the (Mikel - Onazi - Mba) nations cup winning midfield. . .
And no space for him as a substitute too because the 'Precious home-based players' are there already.

Dilemma!!

This is the way I see it: last game's draw was a huge luck and my prayer is that that precious luck will not run out. Some will argue that maybe we'd have won the game if Haruna played. I dont totally subscribe to that logic.

But what I subscribe to is for meritocracy to be the basis for selection.

Take for instance, the issue of Obafemi Martins. We all clamoured for his call-up for the last game. He came and we saw he did not bring much to the table and nobody complained when he was omitted from the summer games. Nobody!

We all saw Moses at Wigan, we wanted him to play for us. He came and right now, he's one of our best players.

This is my point: Once a player is doing well at club level, give him a chance, especially if he has not gone astray on a personal level like Osaze and Yobo. Let his performance in the Eagles' colours be the judge.

There should be nothing like an untouchable midfield. If he insists that he's still developing his team, then let them fight for shirts. What's the rational behind inviting Ogu and Babatunde and leaving out Haruna? I can list ten midfielders that have outplayed those two in europe this season.

The team can always get better. If Haruna contests with Mba, and Mba wins, we keep quiet the same way we're not castigating Keshi for dropping Nosa Igiebor for Mba. It's fair! But he should not mouth one thing and his actions say otherwise.

One of the hallmark of a great team is the fact that it has a strong bench. We escaped from a poor bench at AFCON cos the oppositions were arguably unsophisticated. World tournaments are knit from a different set of materials. We need a great bench, not a set of bench warmers at club levels.

Wont it be great to have Haruna, Ezekiel, Varese of Italy's Ebagua, Nwofor, on our bench? Wont our minds be more at rest?

.

joseph1013:

This is the way I see it: last game's draw was a huge luck and my prayer is that that precious luck will not run out. Some will argue that maybe we'd have won the game if Haruna played. I dont totally subscribe to that logic.

But what I subscribe to is for meritocracy to be the basis for selection.

Take for instance, the issue of Obafemi Martins. We all clamoured for his call-up for the last game. He came and we saw he did not bring much to the table and nobody complained when he was omitted from the summer games. Nobody!

We all saw Moses at Wigan, we wanted him to play for us. He came and right now, he's one of our best players.

This is my point: Once a player is doing well at club level, give him a chance, especially if he has not gone astray on a personal level like Osaze and Yobo. Let his performance in the Eagles' colours be the judge.

There should be nothing like an untouchable midfield. If he insists that he's still developing his team, then let them fight for shirts. What's the rational behind inviting Ogu and Babatunde and leaving out Haruna? I can list ten midfielders that have outplayed those two in europe this season.

The team can always get better. If Haruna contests with Mba, and Mba wins, we keep quiet the same way we're not castigating Keshi for dropping Nosa Igiebor for Mba. It's fair! But he should not mouth one thing and his actions say otherwise.

One of the hallmark of a great team is the fact that it has a strong bench. We escaped from a poor bench at AFCON cos the oppositions were arguably unsophisticated. World tournaments are knit from a different set of materials. We need a great bench, not a set of bench warmers at club levels.

Wont it be great to have Haruna, Ezekiel, Varese of Italy's Ebagua, Nwofor, on our bench? Wont our minds be more at rest?

I agree with you here.
We had a weak bench at the afcon and the confed is more sophisticated.

But let's be rest assured. . .

If you confront Keshi today with this, he'll still reply with the same words he used to defend his list.

Here are his word:

"Nigeria is blessed with thousands of players and with time we would get to see most of them. For now, no going back on them. They have no place in my busy June schedule.

“I have submitted my initial list of 30 players to FIFA for the Confederation Cup of which 23 will be finally picked. I have also submitted my plans to the NFF for other assignments billed for later this month and the busy June schedule and it would be difficult making other inclusions now.

“We are not ready to alter it for now. We would stick to the list and see how it would go.  After the matches in June, they may be given another chance but not for now"

http://dailyindependentnig.com/2013/05/no-going-back-on-yobo-osaze-keshi/

breezy047:


I agree with you here.
We had a weak bench at the afcon and the confed is more sophisticated.

But let's be rest assured. . .

If you confront Keshi today with this, he'll still reply with the same words he used to defend his list.

Here are his word:

"Nigeria is blessed with thousands of players and with time we would get to see most of them. For now, no going back on them. They have no place in my busy June schedule.

“I have submitted my initial list of 30 players to FIFA for the Confederation Cup of which 23 will be finally picked. I have also submitted my plans to the NFF for other assignments billed for later this month and the busy June schedule and it would be difficult making other inclusions now.

“We are not ready to alter it for now. We would stick to the list and see how it would go.  After the matches in June, they may be given another chance but not for now"

http://dailyindependentnig.com/2013/05/no-going-back-on-yobo-osaze-keshi/

Then, we patiently wait. We are incredibly passionate about this team. It's the only one we've got.