₦airaland Forum

omar22: The ref dealt with Onazi case so FIFA cannot do anything about it, Naymar was a case of the whole of Brazil who cried foul but in the end FIFA threw it out, Suarez case the ref didnt see it thats why it went for a video review.

Well said bro

ClintonNzedimma: football isnt their sport,their sport is making fake gadgets

Fake gadgets u say? That's what u think? China makes one of the world's best products. In fact, most of the best electronics are made in china to manufacturers specifications. Do u think iPhone and iPads are made in USA? Go ahead, grab one, check the back and u will see made in china. Samsung galaxy phones are made in china. PlayStation, Building materials, pumping machines, etc most are made in china. China has cheap labor and that is why manufacturers prefer to manufacture their products in china. Also the Chinese are very innovative.

Football is not their sports so they don't bother wasting their time in what they are not good at, unlike Nigeria that waste their time in football instead of concentrating on other things. But bring on gymnastics, table tennis, diving, skating, weight lifting, shooting and china will dominate.

ThiefOfHearts: abeg

Howard should be #10

overrated monkey.

Did u actually watch him play at the world cup or u wrote this out of hatred? Tim Howard set a world record of 16 saves in a single match against Belgium. No other goalkeeper in the history of the world cup has made 16 saves in a single match.

yoji: All of them on the list made splendid saves but his error cost his team the match so how can he be no.2? His ranking is okay even though i might put Howard over him after his record breaking night against Belgium

Very correct. Howard made more crucial saves than enyeama

omar22: Exactly!!!!

I could remember the 88th minute against Italy during the 1994 world cup, 2 minutes to go plus injury time and guess what Augustin Eguavon wanted to nutmeg an Italian player at the edge of the penalty box, the ball was won and squared to Baggio who needed no invitation to inflict damage on us. Gianfranco Zola got a red card for something so petty and at worst a Yellow card but he got a Red, The Nigerian player rolling on the floor as if he was shot by a canon. Talking about injustice.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2GVZs3IuDh8


In Okocha turned the 2nd round game into a one man show, the officials said no allowance since the President is dead.

Abi oo. If Zola was a Nigerian we all would have let hell lose blaming FIFA and officials for that bogus red card. But guess what, it was a right decision because it went our way. All these hypocrites fail to realize that in football, u win some and lose some. Sometimes decision goes in ur favor and sometimes it goes against u. Live with it.

blasterman: U have to understand that in those countries where we have the top football clubs like Spain, Italy, UK, Germany they prefer to use their country men and give them enough playing time thus they eventually have more experience than you. So for an african or whatever to be playing in those club he has to be extra ordinary as in better than the white guys by far not close by far.

The truth is if an African player is really good, he will play in the biggest clubs no matter what. Those clubs want to win and if an African player will make their team better they won't only sign them but pay them more. Samuel Eto'o was exceptional at Barcelona and Inter Milan. Yaya Toure is one of the highest paid players in the premier league right now. But we only get these kind of players once in a while. One of the major problem Nigerians and Black Africans have is we play for the money. If for example a young talent is discovered let's say in the under 17. The next thing on his mind and hi's agent's mind is HOW TO MAKE MONEY instead of improving his talent. A Nigerian young player that has an opportunity to join a feeder's team in England or Spain and improve his talent with little pay would rather join an unknown club in Qatar so far him and his agent get lots of money. Tell me how can u improve ur football in Qatar, or Israel, Turkey etc.

In the past when footballers don't get overpaid, we use to have lots of talents. But now in modern football that footballers get paid too much money, we have little talents because everyone is playing for the money, no real passion.

blasterman: Lets say Brasilians how many brasilans are playing in La Liga many right. That is because BRasilian footballer are exceptional because they start from beach soccer. Nigerian footballers really more on physical strength, we rarely only once in a long time before we see a
Kanu, Okocha ,Findi or Ikepba even Mikel in early days

There are lots of Brazilians playing in Spain. Players like Neymar took their time before leaving his grassroot. He had a chance to join Chelsea or real Madrid 2 years ago, but he knew he was not ready, he took his time to develop his talents. If that was a Nigerian believe me he would have jumped to Chelsea 2 years ago because they would pay him more. And they he would end up not playing to his potential because their kind of game might not suite him.

Having players with sharp vision (the Kanu's, Okochas, etc) is mainly dependent on natural talents. Players like Mata, Iniesta, Xavi, Oscar, paul Scholes, Ronaldinho etc. You can't make these kind of players, if u don't have it in u, there is nothing we can do. Ever since Kanu Nwankwo retired, we have lacked a player that can link the midfield with attack in our team and that has made our football so boring and hard to create chances. If u think we have talents, why haven't we been able to replace Kanu? This is also the same problem with England. They lack that special talented player that can link attack and midfield. Ever since Paul Scholes retired England have been playing like shyt.

African football is over reliant on physical strength and in modern football, u need more of techniques and little physical strength. Believe me if modern football is won by physical strength, then Africans should be winning the world cup.

thegoodjoehunt: Tandem Sterling can never have more footballing brains than Mikel. Mikel is nothing short of a genius.

Watch this clip again. What of Asamoah Kwadwo, will you put Raheem Sterling above him?

Azeez and co. have to struggle out to prove their wotprth. He was one of the break through talents in Spain. He saved the club from relegation.

Drop Toni Kroons in Almeda and let us see him flourish.

Watch this clip of Mikel and tell me Tandem Sterling have more brains.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbXYIq4U4TY

Dude, YouTube videos will make even Wilfred zaha or Bebe look like a world class. Raheem sterling is 19, Mikel obi is probably 35 with more experience. Mikel's age is fast catching up on him hence the poor showing at the world cup.

Watch Raheem Sterling... not yet a world class but this video makes him look like one.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VLBM1kMMOiE

Now watch bebe, a big time flop but youtube makes him look good.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1DugjIXD_8

thegoodjoehunt: So Mikel, Moniker and Onoabona were not real talents? What about the revelation of Onerous and Mba.

Pigtails was amazing. Asamoah Meadow was fantastic. What of Damask Mubarak who was so special in the AFCON.

Please I never and would never say no real talents in Africa. Even the CHAN showed a lot of talents.

By the way, did you follow the break through of Azeez at Almeria? Middleborough rates Omeruo very highly.

You call oboabona, MBA, mikel, Mubarak, azeez real talents? They are all average players at best. If these are the best Africans can produce then my point that we have no real talents is valid. Compare them with messi, Ronaldo, ibrahimovic, thiago Silva, ozil, David silva, Tony krooos, Thomas Muller,Gareth bale, koke, Rooney, van persie, Suarez, etc. These are real talents . Even Raheem sterling at 19 has more footballing brains than those players u listed.

It has been confirmed that Zuniga is not facing any punishment for his challenge on Neymar. We can all shut up now, move on and improve our football.

thegoodjoehunt: The fact is that your statement that Africa has no real talent is wrong and baseless.

We keep on producing amazing talents and more will come.

My statement is very valid. So u agreed there was no real show of talent at AFCON 2013? When I said Africa has no real talent, it came with a little bit of sarcasm. It doesn't mean Africa has no talent at all.. but it is way way lower than what we see in European and South American tournaments. We only see flashes of amazing African talents at a very low pace. Like one African talent to 30 European and South American talents. The last AFCON says a lot, very boring and one dimensional, I couldn't even pick out ONE player with the brains of Iniesta, Xavi, Mata, Messi, Aguero, Suarez (when he behaves), Robben, Kroos, Rooney, Neymar, Reus, Ozil, Koke, etc. Even Yaya Toure that was supposed to stand out was screwed by his entire team. Africans so much believe in brute force and speed which is really affecting us. Football has changed from the days of long balls and giving the ball to wingers who use speed to get past opponents and cross into the box. A good example is our own Emenike. Powerful and fast player but lacks technical abilities required in modern football.

Rossikki: If they were Europeans the whole world will be aware by now. Even in Mars and Jupiter.

So? You have problem with Europeans having very good press? This incident happened in San Jose, capital of Costa Rica. It is their own problem and the way they handle it will depend if the whole world would know or not. I don't see what Europe got to do with this.

thegoodjoehunt: So because Mata did not graduate to Real Madrid's first team, heis not a real talent?

We have produced many great African players through time. More will rise. It is funny you continue with this argument. It holds no water. Africa produces great talents the World marvel at. You watched what Musa did to the Argentines. Or Ambrose bombarding through the French midfield. Onazi had to be injured to crest room for the French.

KANU was once listed among the top 10 players in the World. Drogba, Eto'o, Adebayor, Ikpeba have all picked up Golden boots in top leagues.

Aiyegbeni once had the highest aggregate goals in 5 years in the EPL. Finidi George was once the best winger in Europe. Abedi Pele was among the best players in the World.

Africa produces great talents. They will keep on producing talents.

The kanu's? If u read my last comments I said Africa are producing less talents compared to the past. U are calling abedi pele, finidi George, drogba and etoo. I'm talking current, not past. The rate at which we produce talents is diminishing compared to the past. For example, Nigeria has not produced a single world class player since kanu nwankwo.

Rossikki: Africa still has many potential Okochas, Kanus and Weahs around. The main problem with why they are not coming to the fore much these days is that European managers have devised a racist stereotype of who their typical African footballer must be. These days he must be ''big, strong'' or ''with pace''. He must be a brute, not a thinker like Okocha or Kanu. He must act as a defensive shield, or otherwise a ''powerful strong'' guy up front there to overpower opponents with his brute strength.

So any African player who does not meet these criteria is generally shunned by the ''top European clubs''. Look at Mikel. He was a skilful attacking midfielder on his way to becoming the next Okocha. Voted 2nd to Messi in talent at the 2005 FIFA Under 20 World Cup. Mourinho didn't want that. He wanted a new version of Makalele instead. Mikel turned from smart alec to thoughtless brute. This is why we need to develop and empower at least 5 or 6 African leagues so that they can become the base of our far more diversified talent pool.

Ironically African players are all about brute force and speed. Dude if u think European teams don't want to buy technical players, what about African nations cup? Really how many thinkers played in that tournament. How many okocha's and kanu's did u see in afcon 2013?


About mikel being voted second best in 2005... It became very obvious Mikel was over aged and playing against much younger players, that was why he outshined them. Now at 27 Mikel is a shadow of himself. Not only Mikel... Ogbuke, onyekachi apam, sani kaita were bossing everyone, but where are they today? Meanwhile the players they played against in 2005 are still playing at top level football. The fabregas, David Silva, juafran, Fernando gago, messi, aguero, llorente.

lloydtruth: and this. Arjen Robben 30 years old

I know a lot of 28 year old Americans that look older than robben so what are u talking? Physical appearance means nothing. Wayne Rooney developed bald hair since when he was a kid. It became so embarrassing he had to undergo a surgery a few years ago. How many Nigerian players at 30 can run like robben. Robben at 30 is still very fit and plays at the highest level, Mikel at 27 is already past his best. Taiye Taiwo and ogbuke at 29 are past their best. Nsofor at 28 is already a dead wood.

thegoodjoehunt: It is not few African players. They are plenty scattered all over Europe.

Many rising stars are in Europe too. Man City got them, Arsenal, Barca and other clubs hunt for African talents. Chelsea got many too. So quit your talk. Africa got footballing talents.

You mean players with flashes of potential that these teams buy and later sell them to some lower clubs when they find out they can't improve on their potentials? How many of these Africans in man city arsenal or Chelsea academy actually graduate to the first team?

thegoodjoehunt: Tell me who in then list is not top class. As I said, many teams all over Europe buy African players.

Someone like you would never consider James Rodriguez world class till you saw him at the World Cup. I did. Just as I consider Fernando that Man City is about to sign World Class.

So a player like Aurier.

So now you have shifted from no talents in Africa to World class. I guess you agree that Africa has talents.

Africa has no real talents. There are a few talents here and there but they hardly become world class. For u to be world class, u have to play top level football consistently. James Rodriguez is a promising talent, not yet world class but has the potential to become world class. Likewise Paul pogba is a promising young talent, not yet world class. Africans show flashes of talents but most of them never become world class.

thegoodjoehunt: It is a one time event. It is not a regular occurrence. By the way, if the African teams are so irrelevant, why can't they just ban us? Why were we invited in the first place.

I do not even get how flying money in cash to the Ghanaian team was a bigger disgrace than the Suarez incident.

Note Suarez was investigated and Zuniga is also being investigated for incidents on the pitch in front of cameras.

I didn't say Africa is irrelevant. We are very much relevant, the world cup is a global tournament and every continent has to be represented. The topic is asking for Africa to boycott the next world cup. Now if Africa feel they want to boycott the world cup, they won't be missed. Only few African teams are worth watching anyway.

thegoodjoehunt: Muntari was a Super talent but he was denied a work permit. Same with Yaya You're. So it is not the way you see it.

Sir Alex Ferguson collected the money he paid for Adem Ljajic back. Dispute him being one of the upcoming best player in the world because of Darren Gibson. A crap talent. Imagine Adem Ljajic is Serbian. Imagine then what happens to African.

MA Riga, Wanyama's elder brother was denied a work permit. Even after Mancini pleaded with the FA not to deny such talent an opportunity to grow.

Dude, having a few African players here and there doesn't mean they are top talents. Pls can u name 5 current African players that are genuine world class. Don't include done players like etoo and drogba.

thegoodjoehunt: I guess due to the violent conduct of Zuniga and Suarez, both South Americans. The number of South American teams should be reduced. Please.

Suarez is a single player from Uruguayan team. Zuniga's challenge is part of what we see in football everyday. It is a different thing entirely when a whole team fights for money and boycott training and threaten to boycott a match. Jeez Ghana even flew $3 million cash to Brazil. What a disgrace.

tuffgongjo: actually there are talents in africa,but europeans will always favor theirs over us especially in germany where they are promoting their feeders team or second team players,man u is a team that doesn't sign africans(afcon is d excuse),this is where d economic power of africa comes in,if there was no war,poverty,hunger etc u won't see most of those guys in europe,I mean their parents won't have migrated.

If a player is really good, trust me a top team will sign him irrespective of his race. George weah was named Fifa player of the year in 1995. Etoo, kanoute, KANU nwankwo, etc were all playing for top teams. It looks like Africa are producing less talents compared to the past.

If u think Europeans will always favor their players, what about the afcon nations cup. Can u compare the quality of football played with what we see in European or south american tournaments? Is it not the kick and follow football, long range shots with nothing to write home about in the technical aspect.

omar22: I know, it was increased to 5 when they increased the numbers from from 24 to 32

Yes that's right. People talking about more slots for Africa, I don't know if they realized 3 out of 5 countries for 2014 world cup had pay scandals. Now increase the slots to say 10, that means more pay scandals.... Bad image for the world cup. Let's sort ourselves out first before asking for more slots.

tuffgongjo: Hope d op won't come out attacking me cus it seems to be his hobby,I think boycotting the world cup will be more of disadvantage than advantage,that matuidi's tackle is what we see everyday(not saying it is a good 1),fifa will always be bias,politics is everywhere,but instead of whining I think what @abatically said should be done,let africa step up her game,act civilized not like Song$co @ d world cup,if we can get our game up nothing will stop us,like d 1996$2000 olympics

+1,0000000000 likes.

omar22: The continent of Africa has 52 countries and to have 3 slots out of 32 sounds totally unfair and Sepp Blatter doesn't need Europe to win the next 5 elections because he will get his votes from the Latin world, Asia and Africa, these were Mr Blatters promises when campaigning to become the FIFA president when Joao Havalenge retired. Its got nothing to do the African Market, How many replica shirt is sold in Africa? not many, actually low. ADIDAS makes more money from the Springbok (South African Cricket team) than football in Africa, The Jabulani was a huge flop

Africa has 5 slots, not 3.

thegoodjoehunt: Asamoah Kwadwo - Juventus, Gervinho - AS Roma, Adel Taarabt - AC Milan, Ferghouli - Valencia, Ahmed Musa - CSKA Moscow. There are many more. So stop saying no talents in Africa. It is a lie.

Ha ha ha, I said first 11 in top teams. In a continent where Mikel obi is the runners up of African player of the year says a lot.

thegoodjoehunt: It is a lie saying Africa lacks real talents. I will take Yaya Toure over many of the top European mid fielders.

If Africa lacks real talents, why is it that many clubs buy African talents.

Enyeama is one of the best keepers in the World today. He even showed his worth at the World cup.

Aside yaya toure, how many African players are playing top football. How many African players are in the first eleven of top football clubs? Real Madrid zero. Chelsea zero ( Mikel is a squad player, moses so bad they loaned him out), even arsenal that likes to buy cheap players don't have an African in their first eleven. Barcelona too, burussia Dortmund have only aubameyang, Bayern Munich have none (pls don't tell me alaba because he is not African anymore), Manchester united have non, Liverpool have none, PSG , atletico Madrid all have no Africans on their first eleven. So where are the talents?

kingschild123: I have often thought the Ferrari is the fastest car but maybe I might be wrong.
Please forumers which car is the fastest car in the world?

You do understand there are more than 40 models of ferrari all with different speed rating

This actually came from Mikel's mouth. As poor as Mikel was for Nigeria at the world cup, he at least spoke the truth. Good to know at least one Nigerian is not biased and allow sentiment keep him away from the truth. This is exactly what I have been saying in my previous posts. Both players went for the ball, Onazi was faster and got the ball first, Matuidi missed and hurt Onazi. Its 50/50.. some refs might think is red while some would say yellow depending on the angle which they saw it. Well said Mikel.. though u are a snail.

thegoodjoehunt: After increasing it to 32, Fifa should not have increased the African slot and filled it up with only European teams, so Ibrahimovic and Lewandowski can play.

You are missing Gareth Bale, peter Cech, Marek Hamsik, Henrich Mkhitaryan.

Yes Africans are needed to promote global image, but FIFA makes only little money from Africa. Do u wanna talk about the empty Stadiums in South Africa 2010? Africa lack real talents and it looks like its getting worse. Africa had more stars in the 90's than they do right now.

fujirice: I just look at this type of comments and I laugh. How many of those people you mentioned are retired? Or are you going to saddle those whose carreer were blighted by injuries with your point of view? Need i ask you, who and who are the European and American players that are at their peak while ours have feezled?
Oga, before you delve into such outbursts make sure you have facts and quote from it than displaying your displeasure to the whole world with your half baked information.

They don't need to be retired, they are past their best and are playing in some unknown teams. Half baked information u say? You want facts and quotes? I will give them to u.

Let's take a look at the 2005 U20 championship when we had a 'supposedly' future super eagles team.

Nigeria: Onyekachi Akpam (18), Taiye Taiwo (20), Mikel Obi (18), Chinedu Ogbuke (19), Sani Kaita (19).

Now take a look as other teams the then Nigeria team was dominating.

Spain: Raul Albiol (19), Juanfran (20), Llorente (20), David Silva (19), Fabregas (20). All of them are still playing top football and are still in their peak.

Argentina: Pablo Zabaleta (20), Ezequel Garay (18), Fernando Gago (19), Lionel Messi (17), Sergio Aguero (17). They form a good bunch of the Argentina current national team and still playing top level football.

These are just a few.. Our biggest star in that competition (Mikel) is currently a calamity and would probably not play for the Super Eagles again. I'm not saying every youth player should play for the national team, but at least lots of them are still playing at top level in their clubs while our own players have all faded away.

thegoodjoehunt: If the other continents are not needed, why give more slots? It is because they are needed and help promote a global brand and image of the competition.

Trust me no one will be missed if Africa boycott the world cup. Slot was increased to 5 when they increased number of teams from 24-32. Very soon u people would say African teams should be seeded when we have teams like Italy, Netherlands, England not getting top seeds.

fujirice: My friend shut that trap you call mouth! Na oversabi dey worry you. D'u know anybody in that set to substantiate your claims?
I just taya for some of you that just talk because they think they have something to say.
PS: Don't give me the BS about having an opinion cause yours sucks!

E PAIN AM!!!!!!!!!!!!

https://i.imgur.com/b1NIPz5.gif

Sorry I no know say e pain u reach like this. My bad.

Though I don't know anybody in that set, but my point is based on past experience and until these boys prove me wrong in the coming years by playing at top level when they get to their late 20's and early 30's, then my point will remain valid. The basis of my claim?

Taiye taiwo, Obasi, Nsofor, Mikel Obi, Obafemi Martins were supposed to be the future of the super eagles.

Martins and Taiye Taiwo are 29 (officially abi?)
Nsofor is 27
Obasi is 28
Mikel Obi is 27

All these players are past their best while their European and American age mates are at their peak. There is only one logical explanation... AGE FRAUD.

MadCow1: Lol..


The one wey Shock me be say Robben is 30 years old..


That guy wey resemble who senior Giggs.

But if he were Nigerian, them for don use Opata destroy ehn career.

Robben is 30 and he's playing at his peak right now, Ronaldo is 29, also at his peak. Can u show me a Nigerian player at 30 who is playing at his peak? Mikel obi is 27 officially and already past his best. If u show me a Nigerian at 30 playing in the same level as robben then u win.