₦airaland Forum

This list has Keshi's fingerprint all over it. Between him and Amokachi, they have decided on the tactics they will employ against Bolivia and South Africa. This is why slow wing backs like Ambrose and Echejile are out. They are also relying on the local boys to fill in those places to prepare them for the forth coming CHAN Qualifiers.
I am surprised people are still talking about foreign coach for Nigeria. For 33 years now Ghana has used all shades and kinds of foreign coaches yet they have not been able to win the AFCON. Even with the great tactician Avram Grant they still could not win it this year. No trophy for Ghana in 33 years with all the great footballers - Yeboah, Abedi Pele, Essien, Asamoah, etc. Even the U20 world cup win by Ghana was with a local coach. Since Westerhof all the foreign coaches Nigeria have engaged contributed nothing, zero, to Nigerian football. Even South Africa is sticking with their local coaches.

I am just glad that Congo with their foreign coaches were knocked out. Bottom of the table for them in spite of their Italian coach and French technical director. Some African countries just like to waste Money. Even our Amuneke will have done better. Some of these African countries should just bury their pride and come to Nigeria for coaches. People like Obuh and Eguavoen will serve them better.

Finally!!! Keshi more than deserves a new contract. People forget that he won us the Nations Cup in 2013 out of nothing. Got us bronze at CHAN. All this with an FA out for his fall. Don't forget that immediately after the Nations Cup in 2013, a group within the FA started sabotaging him. Okpala whom they removed to spite and weaken his bench recently got a judgment in his favor at CAS against the NFF. He qualified us for the last world cup and got us to the last 16. A feat no other Nigerian has accomplished. Rather than quickly renew his contract they began to play games, dilly dally till the last minute. How so called football supporters can ignore these facts and continue to blame Keshi continues to amaze me. The games we lost against Congo and Sudan were bad, yet can it not be argued that these were games he undertook WITHOUT a contract. During those matches, both the eagles bench and players did not know whether they were going or coming. They played those games under a cloud of uncertainty that was created solely by the FA. Equally wins against those two Nations proved that he and his bench are quite up to the task. I salute the FA for this good decision as well as the Nigerian Government who saw through all the sabotage against a worthy icon of Nigerian football.

Daninya11:
Hmm, there is one big lanky striker who has quality like Success Isaac.. His name is Auta. The coach actually said he is of the same quality with success
He will join the team for the world cup, he plys his trade abroad
To answer your question, let the coach decide.. I remember the coach saying that he would invite players in the diaspora to fight for shirts.
With Manu garba, no favourite.. Your performance yesterday does not give you an automatic shirt.. You can easily lose your shirt.. His team B is almost of equal strength to the team A..

Right from scoring that winning goal against Sweden during the U17 World Cup, Awoniyi has not looked back. Who can forget his two goals against Uruguay? What I like most about his game is that he is unselfish and a team player. Even today he set up 2 or 3 on a plate that his team mates could not bury. With this performance and his exploits during the Super 6, it looks like Success, Auta, etc will have to queue up behind this boy. Don't forget he is vice Captain as well. See how he was going round encouraging his team when Enaholo was sent off. On top of all this, he is a master finisher!

M-A-S-T-E-R-C-L-A-S-S performance!!

I am surprised that those who have been serially abusing Keshi have not commented on this story. Is this not the same battle Keshi has been fighting with NFF since 2012?

Was it not the NFF President who first went to the Press? Was Pinnick not the one who first discussed Keshi's contract with the Press telling them that the contract will get to him on Tuesday? Did Keshi say anything up till that time? Why blame Keshi for their own error?

People, Keshi is not the problem. Only today our U17 proved that we have an incompetent FA. The same way they were embarrassed by Guinea and SA is the same way our U20 will be embarrassed in Senegal. Poor preparation, poor planning, poor technical and logistical support from an incompetent FA.
Pinnick is visiting parents of likely players for Super Eagles in London at the time his U17 is playing a continental tournament in Niger. Yet the sad press and football commentators do not see that this is irresponsible. When last did they check on current Super Eagles players? Meanwhile the Ghana U20 is on a training camp in Turkey, our own team camping in Gambia has just been cancelled. In 2013 our U17 spent time camping in Dubai before the CAF tournament. What is the reason for the shoddy preparation this time?
When you read comments from Nigerian football followers, I really worry for Nigeria. As of today, no other Nigerian coach dead or alive has Stephen Keshi's record and achievements with the Super Eagles. He has every reason to be proud. Folks hate him because he is own man and that is really sad.
Presently, Nigeria has just average senior players, no Nigerian player plays regular 1st team for any top European side. Period!! Yet Keshi and his team got these average players to the last 16 of the World Cup and won the 2013 Nations Cup with them.
The guy is not just a national hero, he is an asset. He will remain the National Coach not just because he is qualified, you will struggle to get a coach with his record for the package he is on. The Government know this and they have made it clear to the NFF.

I did not know that Nigerian football was broken! We are currently African Women Champs, runner up world U20 women, world U17 champions, last 16 in World Cup. If with all this our football needs rebuilding I wonder why Wenger has not helped England who cannot boast of this record. England failed at the World Cup, our U20 women team beat them. Their national teams both men and women has won NOTHING in Europe for close to 50 years. Enough of this doom and gloom analysis of Nigerian football.
What needs rebuilding is the confidence of football administrators in Nigeria NOT Nigerian football.

The boys did not play well in the 1st half. The is no presence in the midfield. The forwards are isolated. Maybe the Guineans bench have done their homework on our team. I hope the Eaglets turn things around tactically in the 2nd half. If they don't, it may be a repeat of Nig-CIV group game in 2013.

If this news is correct, then it is very good news.

If Flying Eagles win this game, they win the Super Six with a game to spare. Remarkable achievement!

The last NFF were playing hide and seek with factions, elections and court cases till FIFA banned them in August. This resulted in our poor performance against Congo and Bafana. Before those 2 games in September we were not sure if the ban will be lifted, Keshi was still negotiating contract with NFF. Less than a week to the first game, the players were not sure if the ban will be lifted. How can anyone prepare seriously for an event you are not sure will take place? In the case of a coach, how can anyone seriously do a job if you neither know who is your employer nor how long the job is for? The outcome of all that NFF mess is clear to us now.
The new NNF now wants Amodu to select 23 players from 66 to play two must win games in less than 3 weeks time. How does he blend them, how will they understand his tactics or even his signals? You do this kind of thing for friendlies not crucial games. By the time Amodu's list of 23 is out, he will have created for himself in the 43 rejected players, new enemies and saboteurs. These 43 rejects in tandem with their friends in the Press and Glass house will start plotting his downfall. This is not just a calamity waiting to happen, NFF are the calamity that is confronting Nigerian senior male football

Siasia they are clamouring is a dwarf in coaching at the senior level compared to Keshi and they know it. Keshi has unearthed more new talents than any coach before him. We are singing the praises of Onazi, Musa, Omeruo, Babatunde, Oboabona and Oshaniwa today because Keshi preferred them to the known 'stars'. Keshi is a true promoter of Nigerian and African football. All these he has done without the need to engage or rely on the input of an 'Oyinbo' technical adviser like Siasia did.
Even with this AFCON qualifiers, as usual, Keshi tends to start slowly but he will finish well. At the last AFCON he started with 2 draws and by the 3rd match, the Vultures were already circling him to tear him up, yet he won that cup. At the last CHAN, he started with a defeat, and ended up with a Bronze medal. At the World cup, we struggled against Iran and still ended up in the last 16 ahead of the likes of Ivory Coast, England and Spain. He will not only qualify us for AFCON, he and the boys will defend the title. Let us not get carried away with the dooms day prophets and their fifty-kobo journalists, most of them have personal (non-football) issues with Keshi, so what do we expect them to say that is new.

Let us cast our minds back, Keshi tends to start slowly. At the last AFCON he started with 2 draws and by the 3rd match, the Vultures were already circling him to tear him up, yet he won that cup.
At the last CHAN, he started with a defeat, and ended up with a Bronze medal.
At the World cup, we struggled against Iran and still ended up in the last 16 ahead of the likes of Ivory Coast, England and Spain.
Keshi has unearthed more new talents than any coach before him. We are singing the praises of Onazi, Musa, Omeruo, Babatunde, Oboabona and Oshaniwa today because Keshi preferred them to the known 'stars'
He will not only qualify us for AFCON, Keshi will defend the title. Let us not get carried away with the dooms day prophets like Ikpeba and their fifty-kobo journalists. It is sad that journalists continue to put their interview mics in front of loud-mouths like Ikpeba. He has personal issues with Keshi, so what do we expect him to say that is new. Both him and the Siasia they are clamouring for are dwarfs compared to Keshi and they know it.

Another sad chapter in African football management. African football will have no future till National FA's empower local coaches, keep faith with them and stop this rush for foreign handlers. Ghana's performance in the World Cup was poor because of their over-reliance on big names, the over-sized egos of a number of their star players, the debacle with allowances and also the last minute integration of players who hitherto had 'retired' from the Black Stars. None of these can be laid solely at Coach Appiah's doorstep. The Ghana FA too has its share of guilt.
By the way when will these dysfunctional African FA's that are clamoring for foreign coaches agree to sack themselves and be replaced by expatriates when they too fail in the management of the Sport in their countries?

Congo 2-0 Sudan (Ongoing)
It's now Cameroon 4-1 Ivory Coast (Ongoing)

Congo 1-0 Sudan (Ongoing)

I thought we were discussing CHAN 2014. When did it become yet another opportunity for some to insult Nigeria. Our banks in Nigeria may be smaller than the South African ones, BUT the money in Nigerian banks belong to NIGERIANS. Not the rewards of oppressors and colonialist. Most of the wealth in South Africa is STILL in the hands of the 9% white minority. We NIGERIANS own and run our country and we are not second class citizens like many black South Africans. Those stadiums in South Africa are OWNED by the the White minority ALL our stadiums in Nigeria are owned by Nigerian taxpayers. We may live in huts in Nigeria, but we OWN those huts. A very large number of lecturers in the Universities in South Africa are Nigerians. Companies like Stanbic, MTN and Shoprite will be nowhere without their interests in Nigeria. Our 170 million population in Nigeria is thee times the population of the blacks in South Africa, but we BUILT our Country OURSELVES. South Africa was built (and still run) by the white minority. Folks, THE REAL reason some Ghanians and South African disrespect Nigeria is because we are a very ARTICULATE and INTELLIGENT people who know what they want and know exactly how to get it. We don't suffer the inferiority complex they suffer, we are proud to show off our culture, nor are we intimidated by anyone anywhere in the World. Our GREEN National colour only stirs up their envy, we should feel sorry for them.

I had been hoping that Taiwo Awoniyi's talent is recognised by the Coach. We should not forget, he was not in the U-17 first team. he came in as a sub and delivered. That shows not only the depth of the U-17 team, but also that Awoniyi is good and very confident. He is also a team player which Keshi appreciates. Same situation for Alampasu, he was not first choice, but he delivered. Don't forget that is how Omeruo was uncovered, same with Onazi, they were sitting on the bench, but as soon as they get their chance, they did not look back. Ihenacho too was for a long time in the shadows of Success till he got his chance. That show a very deep desire and drive in them. They will be successful in making the CHAN cut and I suspect Awoniyi and Ihenacho may go all the way to Brazil. These are the type of players that Keshi is after. Very confident yet very humble

I am 50 today and these boys (and their coaches) have given me a G-R-E-A-T birthday present. Up Nigeria!!!!!

Mexico scores!!!