₦airaland Forum

9JAMac10:
As somebody that grew up watching a golden era of Brazilian footballers, it’s actually quite sad seeing where they’re at now.

That country is football obsessed, but something has gone wrong somewhere. Where are the Ronaldos and Ronaldinhos and Cafus? That Selecao is gone.

I feel same way watching Brazil. A bit strange how they are the most regressed team of the powerhouses in South America.

Brazil players have become so unrecognizable these days. The flair and swagger associated with their play is gone. No surprise they have lost to European teams in the last 5 world cups.

Neymar and Vini Jnr are the only players that give that samba vibe...the others could pass for Polish players.

Senegal. The real African Champs for a reason. I like the confidence.

They qualified from an insanely difficult group. Teams playing against France in this WC will testify.

Southgate should go down as one of England's best ever national team coach.
This current England team is basic.

DR Congo.. let's see how this goes.

Maroc! Respect!

Best "African" team in WC history.

2022 was no fluke.

The Xenophobes are going beck home.

End of the road for SA after getting a favourable draw. Senegal/CIV/Maroc would have edged this Canadian team.

Y

caprikon:
This expanded world cup may be the best African outing based on qualification to the knockout phase.

It will be interesting to see how the teams fare in the second round.

Morocco look the most likely to advance to the QF.

This should be Africa's best outing at a world cup which justifies the number of slots.

Senegal has suffered from missteps and misfortune.

Quite shameful for Nigeria. No world cup appearance in 2020s and no guarantees that the next decade will be better.

This expanded world cup may be the best African outing based on qualification to the knockout phase.

It will be interesting to see how the teams fare in the second round.

Morocco look the most likely to advance to the QF.

CAF needs to ban Tunisia from participating in WCQ.. Total waste of time.

The irony though is that Tunisia is more successful in AFCON than some of their more talented Mahgreb neighbors like Morocco.

Kog45:
Chelle should go and learn how countries without real creative midfielders are doing it cuz without Okocha in starting line up in 1994 ,eagles are getting results,remeber Okocha did not start against Bulgaria,Argentina and Greece...football tactics is about what you have to get desire result

I think that in part was due to the presence of "creative" DMs/CMs like Oliseh. The buildup play of that team wasn't as predictable as it is today.

Any team that intends to stifle the current SE simply have to "control" Iwobi. Morocco gave the blueprint at the last AFCON.

Scotland vs Maroc..an interesting game with some questionable refereing decisions going Morocco's way.

Morocco looked vulnerable in the second half.

FiveFootNinja:
If South Korea beat Mexico today and qualify for the second round, what incentive would they have to start their best legs against Banana Banana instead of resting them for the knockouts?

Na why part of me dey lowkey pray make South Korea draw Mexico, so that dem go play South Africa with red eye.

Your prayers were answered. Lol.

SA are in for a bumpy ride with those S. Koreans who are a very good side. SA can get their bags packed to head home.

SA should have won in the end. Can't see them getting anything from South Korea in the final group match.

FIFA citing technicalities could be a face saving measure. Same technicalities were breached in the Mokoena case but they still ruled against SA. The DRC case is a very tricky one and any judgement that goes against the result on the pitch requires irrefutable evidence.

Like I mentioned, wouldn't be surprised if FIFA amends their Statutes to provide clarity for future cases.

The big irony for me is the fact that Nigeria helped SA reach the world cup while losing out in the end. We should have allowed Benin qualify instead.

JohnBullMySon:
Now una don dey get sense. When I said this thing months ago some of y’all were just arguing.

The World Cup delulu folks can now go to bed.

Not part of the "una". It didn't seem right to me from the onset. This case was deflection tactics by the NFF..now no one remembers the NFF's failings during the WCQ.

Wouldn't be surprised if this cycle repeats in 2030. Our attention span is pretty limited.

The fact that the players in question have Congolese ancestry put the DRC in a very strong position. It could have been a lot different if those guys were naturalized South Americans etc.

The Congolese dual nationality law isn't strictly enforced in the country ...FIFA would have been in a messy situation if the decision went against DRC.

The NFF needs to be called out for their gross incompetence. This case has been a smokescreen to cover their failure.

FIFA's disciplinary committee must be at some crossroads coming to a final decision on the DR Congo case. There are precedents but it appears this case exposed some lacunas in their current statutes on Nationality switches...which might actually favour DRC. I foresee amendments to their statutes at the end of this case.

Not keen on the whole court issues but the FIFA ruling, in an event it favours NGA, may involve Cameroon since those Congolese players featured against them as well. If Congo is penalized, then FIFA may need to call for a playoff btw NGA and CMR.

Amedino99:
What type of fouls were morocco committing to become the least carded team. 141 fouls but 10 cards.
Chelle's tiki taka showed up. Nice.

Best two teams in the tournament were Nigeria and Senegal. NGA vs SEN should have been the final. I think Senegal had the edge because of their squad depth. Our key men ( Ndidi, Osimhen & Bassey) were already out with injuries/suspensions towards the end of the competition.

It is good that the the NFF are looking at keeping Chelle but they also need to sort out the issues with the cadet teams on the short and long term.

The scouting and recruitment has to be based on meritocracy and transparency. We need square pegs in square holes.


Most of the guys in this current SE have not had the opportunity to play at an Olympic games.


The squad depth and talent pool of the SE cannot grow of these issues are not addressed .

The Atlas Lions are guaranteed to carry the baggage of this AFCON around for a while. Unfavorable refereeing decisions against them will be seen as retribution.

Algeria for me were the best Mahgreb team at AFCON despite their loss to the SE.

Now that the AFCOn dust has settled. I must say I usually like AFCONs held during WC years because it gives a clue to the African teams that could make a statement at the mundial.

Tipping Senegal, CIV, Morocco and Algeria to make it past the group stage at least. Senegal look likely to go the farthest.

SA, Tunisia, Egypt and our Bredas are most likely coming home after the first round.

Senegal now have almost equal number of AFCON titles with Nigeria just within 4 years!

Senegal are the best team in Africa.

They played without fear or respect. Nigeria gave too much respect to Morocco in hindsight. I believe the SE grow will from this.

If it ends like this, tomorrow will be a national day of mourning for Morocco.

The actions of the Senegalese certainly unsettled Diaz. What a robbery if that went in.

I think going forward, CAF should appoint referees from UEFA,CONMEBOL etc to ensure fairness for games from the Semis to the final going forward in CAF competitions.

Rubbish officiating in AFCON. It baffles me how NPFL refs aren't in this tournament.

It appears the Senegalese have the best midfield on the continent. Morocco has struggled to stifle their forward transitions.

Senegalese showing no respect to the Moroccans. If the officiating remains fair, I can see Senegal winning this one.

I want a Senegalese win so I can see the reaction of that Moroccan FA chief.

Like how it was after WAFCON final.

Saw the Egyptian coach giving clues to their keeper on where our players usually put their PKs but he could only save one.lol.

I like how Nwabali handles penalties..he anticipates the opponent but delays early movement..reason why even for the penalties scored against him, he usually dives in the right direction.

Nwabali deserves his flowers!

PKs is a psychological game.

If the played PKs against Maroc in a neutral venue, we could have won.

Surprised though the Moroccan fans were famzing Nigeria.