komekn:


The comparison lacks merit it don't make any sense Mikel is a DM and Dele is essentially an Attacking midfielder or plays as No.10. They are totally two different players.

It's like comparing super car car to high powered SUV

goldfish80:

He was not a recognised defender for the Flying Eagles. I wasn't watching Standard liege B team in 1998 like you did.

SharpJoe:


Nigeria 1999 World Youth Championship was one of the best Junior World Cups. Memorable. I even forgot David Suazo and Leon.

Mickael2:


Lol. On current form sha, Mikel no reach sha. I am pretty sure Komekn agrees with me

BascoVanVeli:
Where is Senegal going sef? Can't we just play them again?

TheSuperNerd:
Wait.... lemme see if I recall Suazo... he played for Honduras? right? **scratches head** Or am I wrong?

TheSuperNerd:
Wait.... lemme see if I recall Suazo... he played for Honduras? right? **scratches head** Or am I wrong?

komekn:


That's an unfair comparison.

Consider Mikel when he was got the silver behind in 2005 FIFA Youth championship. That would be more justified comparison , Dele is 10 years younger than Mikel that is not fair.

Add to that they play completely different roles.

SharpJoe:


You are right. John Fashanu was in NTA studios when Honduras played Brazil in a cracking game and the Ronaldinho came to life in that game. With lots of trickery and brilliance. Brazil won 3-0 but Leon played his personal best in that game but ended up with a missed penalty.

Honduras lost that they but their team gained unified strength from that game. We met most of that team in Sidney 2000 Olympics in another cracker which ended 3-3. The Nigeria 99 striker John Fashanu predicted will be great scored in that game. Also did Leon who tricked Greg Etafia with a wonderful cross shot.

Mickael2:


I have nothing against that. But pyrex was trying to point out that as at now, as in let's say we had a match by 7pm on the 25th day of March 2016, and he had Alli and Mikel in the team, that he would choose Mikel over Alli right now for the AMF role. That makes no sense

SharpJoe:


I would chose Mikel over Alli too. Makes a lot of sense to me. I am not blown away by the craft in Alli's play. I will take Dembele of Tottenham over Alli in a heart beat.

SharpJoe:


In short, you do not know. You did not know he was already a defender in a professional club in Europe. It is long ago and it is understandable.

SharpJoe:


Suazo played for Cagliari, captained them and was their best player. He later joined sides with the menacing Inter Milan.

komekn:


The comparison lacks merit it don't make any sense Mikel is a DM and Dele is essentially an Attacking midfielder or plays as No.10. They are totally two different players.

It's like comparing super car car to high powered SUV

Mickael2:

lol. Hahahahahahahahahhahahaha. Yes I would

Mickael2:

lol. Hahahahahahahahahhahahaha. Yes I would

SharpJoe:


I would chose Mikel over Alli too. Makes a lot of sense to me. I am not blown away by the craft in Alli's play. I will take Dembele of Tottenham over Alli in a heart beat.

komekn:


One of the things I find English coaches look at is end product.

It's something I have had to concede on, a lot of the times African infact African players are technically more proficient than English players period. However. after all the skills and mesmerising dribbling thier quite often no end product. English players will keep it simple for lack of technical ability but may have more end product.


Dembele is an example for me should be a World class player, but his end product does not match his approach play. This guy goes past 2/3 players for fun but his decision making and end product leave much to be desired. He hardly scores but has everything, it's an enigma to me.

When we can those two components right approach play and end product we Totally stand Out.

SharpJoe:


Now that is a joke. I told you repeatedly that I did not know Yobo until Nigeria 99 unlike you that wants to pretend you saw Yobo play nine before he left the Shores of Naija.

Another fantastic highlight of Nigeria '99 was the Cameroon vs Mali game where there was an impressive comeback for the Malians. With Mahammadu Dissa being the Hero of the night but Keita got repeated praise for his midfield mastery.

I can even tell you that England had only one shot on target in the whole tournament from a header from Luke Chadwick who later joined Manchester United.

komekn:


This is not from Wikipedia.

From what I know at his first club Standard Liege he played attacking midfield and Wing. When he went on loan to Tenerife he didn't play any games.

He continued at Leige never played as a defender. When he got to Marseile he played right wing. It was after playing right wing back at AFCON 2002 that the word defensive became associated with him.

By the time he got to Everton he flirted with being a right wing back and CD. Moyes with time entrenched him as a bona-fide Central defender.

SharpJoe:


Without a player like Dembele, I do not think the current Tottenham Hotspur team will be that effective. It is just like a player like Luka Modric who makes the Madrid players more accessible.

I think the English coaches celebrate end products, just like thier media but forget that it still takes and innovator to weave the team together.

This is why England stagnate at the Big stage because of a lot of end products but few players to get the team dominating.

The greatest players as for me must have that magic. From Kaka, Pirlo, Xavi and even the English Scholes who to me had a different brain from most English players. Alli might have the end product but with a player like Mikel, you have a silk thread that weaves the team together.

SharpJoe:


Stop dribbling like Maradona on his best days. I said I did not know Yobo until Nigeria 99. I am not arguing whether he played that role. You can not always be correct. It is an honest mistake thinking Yobo was a striker in Nigeria '99. Just as people mistook Hashimu Garba to be Yaro Yaro.

You did not know that Yobo was already a defender in a professional club before Nigeria '99. You can be excused. Do not drown yourself trying to be right in every comment you make.

TheSuperNerd:
The Nigerian FARCEball Federation



BY BABA GRUMPY


I was delighted to attend the Nigeria v Senegal match at The Hive on Thursday. It was the 3rd Nigerian match I was attending, the previous two at Craven Cottage, football grounds of Fulham FC. Both previous matches were decent football outings. I particularly enjoyed the match versus Italy. The Nigerian defence pitted its guile against Prime Balottelli and totally distinguished themselves. 



When I heard whisperings of this week’s Super Eagles friendly, I was thrilled we were finally organizing a friendly during the international break. Senegal and Burkina Faso are decent teams, friendlies in Europe make more sense as the transport / travel & logistics expenses for the NFF is probably lower given the bulk of the expenses should be on the boys. I hope but I am sure there are some creative football administrators out there who might be willing to persuade me otherwise.



In the months/weeks leading up to the match itself the publicity was pathetic. The communication from the NFF was scandalous. They must be specialists at Ghost Whisperings. A series of ‘we are planning two friendlies in London’, very little information on opponents, venues, ticket pricing, ticket outlets etc.


The information was only provided a few weeks to the event in a country where people are already planning their ski trips for next winter. In a country where the France v England match taking place on June 13, 2017in Paris was announced in September 2016 and you can already buy tickets for that match now.


What is the problem of the NFF? The same problems with Nigeria? Why is arranging friendlies such a difficult job? There are FIFA mandated international breaks in the football calendar every season. CAF fixtures are well known in advance. If we don’t have World Cup or AFCON qualifying matches, Nigeria should be having a friendly during every international break. Simple. Pleading lack of funding is lame. Football is big business. Well organized / properly organized high profile social events by Nigerians always sell out. NFF THINK DON’T BE THICK.


To be fair and attempting some balance, after the AFCON win when the NFF administrators (current and past) treated Stephen Keshi badly and were inept in their appointment of a misfit in Sunday Oliseh, it looks like we are finally getting the football side of things right. Long may that continue.


Despite this positive, I think we should be having more commercially viable and commercially self funding friendlies and more prestige friendlies versus top tier countries if we can be a bit more organized. There are documented Nigerians all over Europe. Enough to sell out any stadium the size of The Hive in Barnet if only our NFF football administrators can get their acts together.


Six years ago, I was at Wembley to watch Ghana play England. I was jealous. Asamoah Gyan and his generation of the Black Stars playing in front of 90,000 football fans in the home of football. Ghana in all its glory and colorful splendor beautifying Wembley.



When is the NFF planning to play England again at Wembley? Ask each and every one of your players what it will mean to them to play at an iconic stadium? Ask us the fans if we want to watch the Super Eagles at these big name stadiums? There are historical links between our countries and many European countries that can be exploited to arrange high profile friendlies if only our administrators will put on a thinking cap rather than carry a begging bowl.



If only they can plan a bit more long term, do serious background work and develop a reputation for reliability. I believe the England FA will seriously consider playing a friendly against the Super Eagles as long as they are certain we will not pull out of the match at the last minute after they have sold 90,000 tickets.



Back to the Senegal friendly on Thursday. I was scandalized. Nigeria was playing in England at a location that was suitable for Londoners and people living in the Midlands and less than 3,000 fans turned up in a country we are told houses over 1 million documented Nigerians. SHAME.



About 6 weeks ago, Basketmouth sold out the Wembley SSE Arena with a 12,500 capacity on a colder and drearier Tuesday night. Maybe we should beg Basketmouth to help us run the NFF or plead with Ropo of Cokobar to organize ticket sales for Super Eagles friendlies. He does a great job already on the Entertainment front so why not football? In case our super football administrators in the NFF are sadly unaware, football is entertainment now.  In case they have not signed a 1000-year contract with their current agent, they need a new one as the current one needs to be put to pasture.



Not only was the turnout on Thursday night piss poor, there was no official merchandise to sell. My friends had to buy Barnet FC hats to fend off the cold. A couple of independent smart Caucasian traders were selling Nigeria Super Eagles scarves at affordable rates. Why is it so difficult to get official, licensed merchandise at a Super Eagles friendly? Apparently a fan asked the NFF chairman and he said that replica shirts / jerseys will be available in a few months time. Can you imagine the poverty behind this comment?



The NFF Chairman had something of a one year plan to topple Isa Hayatou as CAF President but we have no plan to sell Super Eagles merchandise until a few months time. Does he realize the gold mine he is sitting on with respect to this merchandise issue?



As an extension to the merchandise issue, there was no match day program. The team I support sometimes prints three 60-page match day programs in a week. Its not rocket science, your skin color can be black and you don’t need too much thinking bandwidth to do it. There is a template that you can modify from time to time, update a few days before your next match, push the button. DONE.



If print edition is too much of a logistics hassle, restrict yourself to the digital edition. It is cheaper and you will make more money because those who can’t attend physically will buy.



As far as I can tell, Thursday’s friendly was bereft of any corporate involvement obviously because NFF has most likely burnt its bridges with many corporate organizations in Nigeria but there are still many looking to get involved if the opportunity is right. For example, The England & Wales FA have several corporate partners. If you go to their website now, you will see some of the players performing media duties (advertisement to you and I) promoting Vauxhall in a subtle way. Many Nigerian corporate organizations with UK/Europe/Diaspora presence or intent will give their right arm to organize an event around this week’s friendly.



But no, we are happy with the estacode. Why should I lift a finger when Daddy government can be black balled to fund our champagne lifestyle.




Its time for our football administrators to wake up. Partner with progressive people in different fields and make a decent fist of our football business. There is a significant commercial opportunity we are leaving untapped.


Ka Chineke Mezie Okwu.



Baba Grumpy works in Financial Services in the United Kingdom. He blogs mostly about football at http://babagrumpy..co.uk. His Twitter handle is @BabaGrumpy



Source: https://www.thecable.ng/nigerian-farceball-federation#.WNaoT0F6mKQ.twitter

goldfish80:

Luke Chadwick? That's the ugliest footballer I ever saw. The quartet of Luke Chadwick, Taribo West, Bance and Ian Dowie have something in common.

Mickael2:


I have nothing against that. But pyrex was trying to point out that as at now, as in let's say we had a match by 7pm on the 25th day of March 2016, and he had Alli and Mikel in the team, that he would choose Mikel over Alli right now for the AMF role. That makes no sense

SharpJoe:


Maybe you are right but he is registered as a defender by Standard Liège. I doubt they did not know their defenders. Yobo was not much of a regular at Nigeria 99 for me to hold tight on his role.

The FIFA website writing striker is writing Babash and the Wiki listed him as a defender which matches Standard Liege's opinion.

However, I can not debate the issue so much because I did not know much of Yobo. Hence you seem to know much of him, I will accept your point.

Joebie:
Shehu Dikko will do a better job as NFF Chairman.

But I'm glad we have him as the LMC chairman.

Joebie:
My brothers this Mikel debate is a hard one because we end up shifting the goal post because of Mikel's versatility.

Let's pin him to a position before we make comparisons. Else compare him to equally versatile players.. lol

goldfish80:


Drop this argument already. Be grateful you learnt something new today.

goldfish80:

You speak as if Yobo was a top Pro in 1998, when he was just about 18.
Yobo developed grew into being a defender. He was never a straight out of the box defender like you wrongly assumed.

Where did I say Yobo grew straight out of the box a defender? Stop lying with my name. I am warning you.

Drag your ears. I said, I did not know Yobo until Nigeria 99 unlike you who knew him before he left Nigerian Shores.