On Finidi George
Be you family, friend or supporter of Finidi George, there is absolutely no piece evidence, precedence or argument to support why Finidi George deserves the job of Super Eagles manager,that is up to him to prove himself. I definitely would support him but my hopes are not up.

-Edafe Matthew EsoGhene.
CEO Elegbete TV and Radio.

On Amuneke (Before Finidi's announcement as coach).

I have noticed since the early 90's till this day that every single Minister for Sports or Sole Administrator always seems to start well until they become fixated with the NFF and the Super Eagles and then, they derail. Senator John @OwanEnoh started well but he's about to derail.
Those pushing the Emmanuel Amuneke for Super Eagles should also be bold to come out and take the blame, one Green Eagles legend and one senior sports journalists thinks Amuneke is the solution but the Hon. Minister is not seeing the hand writing on the wall.
Let's look at Amuneke
After winning the FIFA U17 world cup in Chile since 2017, he has failed with another age grade team to qualify for the world, he was sacked by an Egyptian club, a country where he was a football god in the 90's and told to go back to the classroom, hired and fired by Tanzania.
On his personal life, he's dealing with a court case that have his house seized. Historically, every qualifiers that is walking on thin ice that we ask the ex internationals to come rescue, we failed woefully. Check AFCON of 2012, 2015 & 2017. Then when Gernot Rohr was fired, who did we hand the Super Eagles to? Another ex international from the class of 94, Augustine Cerezo Eguavoen, we got a round of 16 knock out at the AFCON, Emmanuel Amuneke was drafted in to come help us qualify for Qatar against the worse of the worst Ghana team but we failed.
Honourable Minister of Sports, Senator John @OwanEnoh I can assure you in the voice of Mohammedu Buhari that the people advising you to push this agenda, would be the first to call you names when we fail to qualify for Canada -USA-Mexico 2026 FIFA world cup. You started out well but you are already derailing this train gradually, I still believe you are head and shoulders above the previous ministers that have held your office, but stop walking towards this trap door with quick sands. Your team would tell you to ignore this trouble make but don't say I didn't warn you or do anything for you. So sad to see that our world cup chances is now very very and extremely slim, don't make it worse. Thank you sir.

-Edafe Matthew EsoGhene.
CEO Elegbete TV and Radio.

Still on Finidi George

I have been seeing all these funny comments; “He will be controlled by the NFF.”

Finidi didn't lobby for this job. He didn't call anyone or beg people to give him the job, he applied just like many other coaches. Even after the last friendly games, he didn't engage the NFF, he went back to his job at Enyimba.

The majority of you people don’t know Finidi. Ask about him in Enyimba and the management will tell you. Also, because he is calm and he doesn't do PR stunts.

You all don’t even know, Finidi will only do things that satisfy his conscience and professionalism.

He’s one of the few ex-players without baggage and controversy.

People should also stop the blackmail of the NFF, the coaches get free hands to work, and they make their decisions and all.

There are other issues with the NFF to discuss, controlling a coach is not even their priority.

It's unfair to sit in your room and conclude Finidi is a Yes Man when you know nothing about the man and his personality.

Finidi is not a broke ex-player, he invested properly when he was playing.

- Adepoju Tobi Samuel.

The only sin of Finidi George is accepting to come down to Nigeria and coach Enyimba, and also winning the NPFL title. When we all know one of the most difficult jobs in Africa is coaching and accepting NPFL jobs.

Finidi should have stayed back in Europe and continued working with the Youth teams/players. Then from Europe, he will package himself as the best thing after bread and butter and hustle for National team jobs through his friends in the NFF and Ministry of Sports.

When a coach gets to the highest level of the NPFL, coaching the most successful club in the NPFL, winning the League title in his second season, still in the contest to retain the League title in his third season, worked with a head coach of the Super Eagles for 20+ months, are we saying such human doesn't deserve a chance to coach the Super Eagles?

Is it because he is coaching in the NPFL and he refused to wait in Europe for the National team's jobs? The same attitude anytime we mention quality players in the NPFL and when these talents get the breakthrough to Europe/Abroad, the media and fans will be all over them.

To grow the NPFL/Nigerian Football ecosystem (via coaching and talent discovery), we need more of Finidi to take the job in the NPFL and all levels of our League Football. What is the essence of your playing career and coaching certification when hundreds of people queue for a National team job with limited spots?

Tell your favourite to get back to coaching. Super Eagles' job is just one, there are hundreds of jobs out there.

- from Adepoju Tobi Samuel
Sports Journalist

Nice one. Please, just buy one club abeg

Marjoribanks:
So you didn't see that I corrected myself first or you just want to post?

And you didn't see that I have modified the post after I saw the correction?

Marjoribanks:
Absolutely!
Unlucky against France and Korea respectively!

It's Chile. Not France.

(Modified)
Just saw that someone has pointed it out.

elyte89:


Dis guy Dey really frustrate TheGoodjoe and amuneke hopefuls 😂😂😂.




But u shld av mentioned me 😏

Na wotowoto you just dey give people wey dey support Amuneke and Nwakali.
Both have same thing in common sha -Stagnancy (abi na retrogression sef)

charlesemeka85:
after watching them with CV I knew like 1 or 2 of their players will miss

Atleast their monkey Abi keeper we don humble am

Monkey sabi jump monkey sabi jump no be if tree near tree? 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

Charles no go kill me o
I don learn one proverb today.

Drogba and Osimhen

For Nigerians living in South Africa.

ThunderFireAgba:
Well, I don't know who needs to hear this.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-zkliscH0Mw?si=pW-IdyuQyn44_Gny

This so called prophet says It's Nigeria vs Senegal in the final with Nigeria winning the trophy. Now Senegal is out
Be careful with prophecies.

Please, where can I rewatch our match with Cote d'Ivoire?

AFCON Historical facts

Nigeria 🇳🇬 has never won an AFCON with Cameroon as one of the participant.
In 1980, 1994, and 2013 when Nigeria won the AFCON, Cameroon didn't qualify for them.

Super Eagles Wallop Al Gharbia FC 12-0 In Warm-Up Match


The Super Eagles walloped Al Gharbia FC, a local team based in Dubai 12-0 in a training match in Abu Dhabi on Sunday.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Ademola Lookman scored four goals, while Victor Osimhen, and Moses Simon grabbed a brace each.

Also, Sadiq Umar and Ahmed Musa weighed in with a goal each, while there were also two own goals to complete the dozen-goal rout.

Calvin Bassey as well as substitutes Alex Iwobi and Bright Osayi-Samuel all gave a good account of themselves as an aggressive Super Eagles team laid seige on their opponent’s defence line in a one-sided encounter.

The team, Al Gharbia, play in the third division and paraded a Nigerian midfielder

A post on the team’s official X account noted that it was indeed a comfortable win for the Eagles, adding that coach Jose Peseiro must be pleased his team are firing from all angles.

It noted, however, that the bigger test for the Eagles will come on Monday when they face another AFCON-bound team Guinea in a final warm-up game before they jet out to Lagos.

“Osimhen’s overall play showed that he is in fine shape to justify his coronation as the best player in Africa at the AFCON.


“Fulham defender Bassey was calm and collected in the heart of the back after he started the test match alongside Portugal-based Chidozie Awaziem.


“Both Iwobi and Osayi Samuel did not start the game, but they impressed when they were introduced to the fray.

“Late replacement for injured Wilfred Ndidi, Alhassan Yusuf, also saw action as he played the last 15 minutes of today’s match, which was played behind closed doors at the Cricket Stadium in Abu Dhabi.

“NPFL lone representative Olorunleke Ojo will later replace Francis Uzoho, who started in goal.

“Enyimba shot stopper Ojo kept out a penalty to ensure a clean sheet for the team.

“Coach Jose Peseiro made many changes in the game as he tried to have a closer look at all options available before the team’s opening AFCON game next Sunday against Equatorial Guinea,” it said.

It added that Bayer Leverkusen striker Victor Boniface and South Africa-based goalkeeper Stanley Nwabali did not see action as they were probably rested ahead of the Guinea clash.


The 34th edition of the AFCON is expected to kick off on Jan. 13 and end on Feb. 11. (NAN)

Culled from Daily trust.com

Cecco90:


Na 12-0 I hear o.
6 goals in each half.
We wait for the outcome of tomorrow's match.

Further details from the match...
The Eagles conceded a second half penalty which Ojo Olorunleke thankfully saved.

jihday:
According to owngoal, the SE scored 6 first half goals against a local team in Dubai. Ademola 4 Osimhen 2

Na 12-0 I hear o.
6 goals in each half.
We wait for the outcome of tomorrow's match.

AFCON teams on the map

One of our AFCON opponents (Guinea-Bissau), was ruthlessly dealt with by Mali.

AFCON FACTS

No Super Eagles player has ever scored a hat trick in the African cup of Nations (AFCON).

Official squad number is out

UPDATE

UPDATE

Yet to report

1. Osimhen
2. Uzoho
3. Alhassan
4. Iheanacho
5. Ekong
6. Sadiq

Confirmed

Super Eagles Camp Update

17 players in camp

Musa, Omeruo, Simon, Ojo, Iwobi, Semi
Aina, Bassey, Lookman, Aribo, Onyeka
Bruno, Awaziem, Zaidu, Boniface, Onyedika, Osayi Bright all in.

Training starts this evening.

Source: Andrew Randa

25 man list is out

Cameron will be without Bryan Mbeumo in AFCON.
O God!, Make nothing do Osimhen o.

Pressure is reportedly on Peseiro from NFF to include Nwakali, Ekong, Musa, and Balogun in AFCON squad.

BREAKING!!!

Minister of Sports, @OwanEnoh has invited Super Eagles coach, Jose Peseiro to a meeting.

The meeting will discuss the Super Eagles' poor performance and plans for next year's AFCON.


Source : Adepoju Tobi Samuel.

Cecco90:
To Sack Jose Peseiro, Or Not! –Odegbami

Meanwhile, the present Super Eagles are not strong in two major areas of the field – the midfield and goalkeeping.

There is little that can be done about the team’s strength without the influence of a few players with exceptional skills and abilities in certain areas of the team. Presently, there is a dearth of creative and attacking midfield players who can hold and distribute the balls well.

Goalkeeping has become a problem only because Peseiro refuses to see the difference between an efficient goalkeeper and one whose only qualification is his physical frame.

The last goal against Zimbabwe, scored directly from a free kick 30 metres from his goal clearly exposed Uzoho’s weakness. It is an elementary goalkeeping error.


Source : completesport

The last goal against Zimbabwe, scored directly from a free kick 30 metres from his goal clearly exposed Uzoho’s weakness. It is an elementary goalkeeping error.

Odegbami on the beat.

To Sack Jose Peseiro, Or Not! –Odegbami

A friend, a foremost sports journalist, called me up last week from Abuja to inform me that he was racing to the office of the Minister of Sports to inform him of his decision to lead a national campaign to sack Jose Peseiro, the Portuguese coach of the Super Eagles. He wanted my urgent opinion.

Of course, I do not take decisions in a hurry, nor in a panic mode. I also do not swim with the tide of opinion based on emotional or sentimental outbursts, or be part of a mob action baying for the blood of a foreign or local coach, when everything around is skewed against any form of success.

I politely told him I had no opinion yet on the matter and would make it public when I do. That’s what I am doing now.

I have traversed a similar path in the past and got burnt by the power of narrower interests and personalities that have run and ruined Nigerian football for many years.

The core of the matter is that the Super Eagles are not winning their matches. Even easy ones. As far as the people are concerned, these last two drawn matches are ‘failures’ and someone must pay for them.

That person is Jose Peseiro.I won’t completely fall for such sentiments now.

The Super Eagles should win AFCON 2023. They should also qualify for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

Let’s look at some of the issues that can truncate these goals.

There is no depth to the country’s domestic football. They were neglected for too long by successive football federation boards. The boards concentrated on the more personally ‘lucrative’ Super Eagles. They feasted on the fruits without properly feeding the roots. The tree eventually and inevitably weakened and withered, having been deprived of nutrients essential for the development of players for a career in the domestic leagues – good nurseries, organisation, integrity, infrastructure, capacity-building programs, adequate funding, great welfare packages, and so on. The only available ingredient has been the endless sea of young uncut diamonds in Nigerian players. Ironically, these players are doing everything to flee the country for greener pastures and better opportunities in other parts of the world, and not to strengthen the domestic leagues.

This uncontrolled migration has made nonsense of any attempt to build a serious national team of local players. The failure of the big clubs in the country to win any continental laurels confirms this. That is why all the recent foreign coaches employed don’t take the route of the domestic leagues to seek players for the national teams. The calibre of players is just not there.

So, Peseiro, like the others before him, concentrates on observing Nigerian players in the various leagues in Europe. He assembles the best of them that he finds to form the country’s Super Eagles. He also only has two days before most matches to work with the players before matches, making it impossible to build a team with any level of organised play, pattern and understanding. You do not build solid teams that way. They must have some time to train together, understand each other, be infused with a planned style and philosophy, and be made to play several matches. That’s the only way a good team can emerge.

Under the present circumstances, the Super Eagles do not have such luxury. Coaches have been on this impossible mission for well over a decade.

AFCON and the World Cup are the only championships that provide a little time for the team to train together, play some friendlies, and become a unit. The team uses the earlier group matches of the championship to get better.

That’s what happened during the transition between Gernot Rohr and Austin Eguavoen. A good team started to evolve during the group matches of AFCON 2021, only for the process to be disrupted by a difficult match and a costly error that saw the Eagles exit rather uncharacteristically ‘prematurely’. The baby and the bath water were thereafter thrown into the gully of history. The result is to begin again.

Jose-peseiro-super-eagles-dr-segun-odegbami-afcon-2023-2026-fifa-world-cup

That’s how Jose Peseiro came in to inherit an impossible and unchangeable situation. For as long as the present system is not changed, no coach in the world can change the fortunes of the Super Eagles. The best he can do is what Gernot Rohr and, now, Jose Peseiro have been doing – not wasting time on the local players from the domestic league (they are not good enough for the national team without additional exposure and training in Europe), scanning Europe for players of Nigerian descent, assembling the best of them for the short periods before matches that can NEVER make them a good team with organizational depth, and then going on their knees to pray for undeserved victories. They win some and lose most!

So, Nigerians are disappointed and angry, and bay for the blood of successive coaches.

Yet, deep down, the issues have roots in other issues.
A proper study by proper experts is necessary.

Arm-chair critics masquerading as experts whose noise-making rises above the din of common sense and more careful interrogations blur proper and more meaningful conversations.

Meanwhile, the present Super Eagles are not strong in two major areas of the field – the midfield and goalkeeping.

There is little that can be done about the team’s strength without the influence of a few players with exceptional skills and abilities in certain areas of the team. Presently, there is a dearth of creative and attacking midfield players who can hold and distribute the balls well.

Goalkeeping has become a problem only because Peseiro refuses to see the difference between an efficient goalkeeper and one whose only qualification is his physical frame.

The last goal against Zimbabwe, scored directly from a free kick 30 metres from his goal clearly exposed Uzoho’s weakness. It is an elementary goalkeeping error.

Finally, Nigeria should not panic and make decisions that will not impact anything, will not change the Super Eagles and will not provide guaranteed outcomes.

This is the time to be cool, calm and calculated.

Nigeria is blessed with a lot of good players presently. With a little bit of luck, more patience and the time shortly before AFCON 2023 used properly to build a stronger team, plus the return of one of the deadliest strikers on the planet, Victor Osimhen, in the team, Nigeria shall improve steadily into AFCON 2023.

In January, the team will use the group matches of the championship to get better, and possibly go on to win AFCON 2023. They will then gain the essential confidence to play more consistently and (at the end of AFCON) establish a stronger team that shall be able to go into the World Cup qualifying matches with more strength and purpose and qualify for the World Cup as true champions of African football.

Source : completesport

Odunayaw:
That free kick could have beaten anyone. Thank you.

From that distance?
Anyone like who?