₦airaland Forum

easyelliot:
Mikel is the past, time to look for the future. I hope u see that. Planning for at least the next 2 years, Mikel cannot be your playmaker. As long as he is on the team, Iwobi or any other creative type will not be allowed to grow.

Idowu was ok, but bland. Coach likes him so he will continue to play. Im looking at it from risk and reward...I dont see the reward with him. He scored a brilliant goal in our friendly vs Argentina and can go forward, but I know he cannot be our best option.

Omeruo had one great game vs Iceland....He was awesome.....but the Messi goal clearly showed why he hasnt started in a while...he got beaten for pace from a long pass over the top. He has tried for his career, but we need to look at the future, not past.

Iwobi has to earn his spot. Remember Etebo is keeping him to the bench for now and not Mikel.

Joebie:
Pique’s hands was clearly above his head, and adjudged to have done it deliberately. I remember one of SS panelists saying what I said here earlier that it’s natural to raise your hands when u jump to head the ball, however in our case, Rojo’s arms were not above his head. It was clearly not deliberate. Come to think of it, why would he head the ball to his own arms?

You're not getting it. We can all agree on the hand above head ish but intention doesn't come into play in a handball or foul situation. You can make a case for Rojo but intentions shouldn't be part. That said, what is the natural position of your hand when running? Handball are given from such too.
Sir Goldfish80, I just saw a replay of Messi's Freekick which was saved by Uzoho. I remember you saying a goalkeeper shouldn't ne beaten on his side. I think you should stop being overly critical and give the boy credit cause it wasn't on his side.

I really don't understand the criticisms against Idowu. The only problem I've seen in him is his final ball. I'm beginning to feel he is being criticised cause of Ebuehi.

easyelliot:
Looking good as opposed to being good

Im looking at the remaining teams left and all their jerseys are straightforward...while play wise they all have a chance to win the cup.

My country Swag was high... Jersey was fire!!! Celebs were rocking it, foreigners dey rock em....then actual football was played....yuk..yuk yuk...

Cant dribble, cant shoot, cant defend for 10 minutes, cant run, cant adapt, cant take on players, no fire, no desire....flat flat f*cking flat!!!!

Oyingbo wall is soft as cotton candy

I like them, but like doesnt win you anything. If these two are your foundation, then new cement is needed...the wall let in 4 goals in 3 real games. For a team that has difficulty scoring, that aint gonna cut it.

We need to focus our resources on other sports. Football has gone beyond where Nigeria is.
Football is very scientific today filled with analytics to improve and help a team adapt, anticipate, act, react, etc...we are no where close. But it's ok, with 200 million ppl, there are other sports for us to try.

Looking at the teams left it is as clear as rain water the jibronis that represented us would have chopped at least 5 if not for Rojos and messi saving us from going forward.

We dont have players with the mental fortitude and discipline to take us higher, nor do they posses the work ethic, hunger and informed decision making to go further.

All our players care about is money up front, so they can take care of their entire village and show lifestyle, if not why for the love of God would Etebo leave la liga for epl div 2? Isnt that going backwards? And you are a starter for the national team??

As for one of our benchers... Ebuehi(still dont know why is on the bench), .....goes from Dutch league to Portuguese giants, with a champions league ticket already booked. That's growth , a player who wants to improve. Unfortunately he is the exception not the norm.

I read somewhere that Rohr said he had a few players that will no longer be part of the eagles...few ke? Ogbeni.....let me help you..

List of players that should not report for duty again

Mikel - holding back Iwobi
Ighalo - CANNOT SCORE EVER AGAIN!!!
Onazi- It's time
Joel- no comment
Iheanacho ( yes even uncle) - annoyance
Shehu - quota
Idowu - coach's pet
Omerou - it's time
Echiedje - it's time

Snatch that 10 jersey from skippo and give it to Iwobi. Iwobi is not perfect, but he can be a very good 10.

But how are we supposed to know that when u are playing a career definsive midfielder as your play maker. The reason? Well he played it for us for 2 years and nobody complained? What?

So my coach is telling me that playing against mediocre African talent is the same as playing world class talent? Adapt biko,....step it up...

Rohr should be fired, but he wont because he and pinnick are in bed together.


End rant

So the reason Mikel should go is because of Iwobi? Idowu was our best defender at the world cup and you want him to go? Omeruo too? Go and pursue them na.

Joebie:
Hahaha. They will come back with a good excuse like “I was out of data”, or “I had a special assignment”

Modified
Anyone can claim to be anything, but when reality sets in we get to know the truth.

Why are you like this sir? The fact that they ll come back should be enough to know they really were busy or outta data.

goldfish80:
How do you mean? You didn't like the quality of their football?

Of course I do. They were unlucky but result is what matters.

goldfish80:
Many people rate Morocco as the best team which didn't qualify for the next round.
They were unlucky against Iran with that last minute goal after out playing them all night, deserved to beat Portugal from the balance of play and wasted chances and should have beat Spain but for the last minute equalizer. If only Salah was Moroccan.

They gave a good account of themselves.

Baba, forget all this out playing stuff jor. Possession is not even considered for a tie breaker. They rank fourth.

Toks2008:
My older brother who is in his mid 40s don't have any hair at all..very funny.people always think I'm older lol.

What many ladies don't know is that we actually don't love beards but we keep it cos it is very stressful to take it off often.

Everyone thinks I keeps beards to look cool. I don't like it but keeping it is kinda a lesser evil.

babytoun:
Idowu had the highest rating in our defence that day

Fact. I love Ebuehi, so also Idowu. Idowu was really great at the WC.

Rhemmymatician:
1st this report was written by an Ebuehi fan.

2nd Ebuehi didn't say any if the rubbish in the above article.

3rd Messi didn't run Idowu ragged

4th Messi didn't score through Idowu's position, he scored through Omeruo's position (Left Central Defence)

5th Nigeria were not launching attacks at 1-1, we were counter attacking

And lastly you won't find this trash report in any credible tabloid

Thanks sir for this. I wonder how Messi ran Idowu ragged.

edesumpitor:
I disagree with you.Only if they had played Croatia and Argentina.Senegal had an easier group.But Morocco really tried.Morocco is best African team,Nigeria,Senegal,Egypt and Tunisia in that order.

You are so right

kennysville:
Friends, Countrymen, Nairalanders.....

Why Super Eagles Lost

Its a little too late to be shedding tears now and be complaining. What's done is done. I think the only opponent Gernot Rohr put his energy and time into monitoring was Cameroon. He went to the ends of the earth for them. He went to the Afcon 2017, even monitored them all the way to confederations cup and tactically, he knew how to beat them. And we saw the result, a resounding and emphatic win. That off the top of my head is the only time Rohr did opponent monitoring. The rest fixtures became que sera sera, what will be will be. We had known the opponents in our group since november last year. What noticeable technicalities were deployed against individuals we played against at this world cup? I am afraid to say none. We never heard of we are the underdogs in the World cup qualifiers. Then the losses started and we started hearing we are the underdogs (supposedly leaning towards fifa ranking).

What kind of preparation was going on in the camp of Super Eagles? Regular training? What was he telling the boys? I would have expected him to scout out Croatia being our first game and deploy the right tactics against them but alas, he probably felt we still have a luxury of 2games to be played after that 1st match (suffice to say that this is the first world cup where i see that 6points is not even a gurantee of goin thru). Going into the first game, I cant see any meaningful tactics deployed against the croats. He made the boys feel like they were undeserving to have qualified. Excuse me sir! We practically waltzed through our qualifiers even with the knowledge that we were probably gonna be bested by Cameroon and Algeria. That must have taken all the wind out of Rohr's sails cos it ultimately affected his game plan going into the friendlies. Then we started seeing disjointed plays. Our boys couldnt even string 3 passes without it being intercepted. It got bad that we now got labelled 2nd half team.

He started messing with the confidence and self belief of our players from the poland game. I would have expected him to consolidate on the magical 3-5-2 and incorporate whomsoever into that idea but no. He stuck to lone ranger pattern upfront. By the time we played England, those who know will tell you that Nigeria has sworn to beat England right in their backyard. In fact, I for one believed in those boys and in what they could do. But again, our gaffer went with his long ball method (find the lone striker upfront and hope he smashes it into the net).


Why bench Iwobi?

In a team where we didnt have creative midfielders who make things happen, why bench Alex Iwobi? If he tried iwobi in the wings and his best is not there but in the middle, why not play him there? For the life of me, i cant fathom that out. The only answer that comes to me is he is only retaliating on what the media reported Austin Okocha and Mourinho to have said during and after the match against croatia.

#Teamwork
Seems the way our players act, right from the days ofthe qualifiers is "every man for himself, God for us all." I recall when goodjoe was talking about Musa should av passed to Iheanacho (even though on that particular incident i wouldnt advise so), what that simply bred was the desire for self glorification. It didnt start in the final match. It started way back. Everyone trying to show what he can do. We all know the worst culprit and frankly, I wont mention his name but he started that vibe.
The culture of it doesnt matter who scores so long as the team progresses is missing in our team. Heck, the swift business like exchange of passes that we saw in the argentina friendly disappeared into the thin air right after that match. The kind of partnership that exists between Giovanni Dos Santos and Carlos Vela from 2010 world cup, between Suarez and Cavani didnt seem to exist between any of our forwards. Each person fighting for his own portfolio. Other than Mikel who is not competing with anyone, all of our forward were not establishing relationship. I thought the "bromance" between Iheanacho and Iwobi would actually transfer to the pitch but alas, everyone wanted to prove a point.
Now Iheanacho, Musa , Moses and Ighalo disappointed me with their decision making which centered around getting their goal for themselves. It didnt matter who was in a better position. This happened countless times where players try going solo. If we had made our chances count, we wont be talking about crashing out so early. This should have been inculcated into their games. This is national team and not Premier league club. I hope this will not happen again.

Tactically speaking.....

Gernot Rohr goofed a lot and he diddnt start goofing yesterday or last week. He started goofing from the S.A match. (Yeah... I said it.) From his substitutions to his game plans all were wrong. He has not trained this guys to be heavy on possession. Every thing is by chance as far as the gaffer is concerned. While I wouldnt fault his choice of players or his loyalty to his own , I would fault his decision making. I would fault his substitutions and selections for matchdays. He allowed sentiments to cloud his reasoning. He went i to all the world cup matches hoping nothing goes wrong and without plan B. He leaves his substitutions till late and when he does make them, they never make any sense to the cause of the game.


I submit to you.....
The sole reason we crashed and burned was the man..... Gernot Rohr. He played both the Hero and the Villain. I sincerely hope he wasnt paid by external forces to sabotage the team. Cos this world cup display of our team left us livid with anger when we should be riding on the brand SUPER EAGLES. This team is not the one that played the qualifiers with business in mind. The team had all the quality needed but wrongly deployed. It was a case of building a house and sending the bricklayer to do the wiring of the house or sending the plumber to go do landscaping.




Going Forward.....
Should we keep up with this man? Tough cookie. A part of me wants him retained because changing a coach in a year we are supposed to be having qualifiers for Afcon has a way of setting the team as whole back. But then if I have to go by all I have written above, I will not hesitate to have him fired in a heartbeat. His decisions are suspect. In fact I cant even advise any course of action on him. What we need is a coach that understands how Nigeria plays, who Nigerians are and understands our Passion and Pain, our Struggle to keep it all together as a nation and that folks can never be a foreign technical adviser. As much as I like foreign technical advisers, they can be compromised! They have nothing to lose and everything to gain.

On the other hand, our home based coaches are also not fun. The less said , the better. A consortium of coaches perhsps? If only they are willing to work together.

When Rohr decided to play the 3-5-2, he didn't play with a 10. That's the reason Iwobi wasn't played. There was no way Rohr would play Etebo as 10 with Iwobi on the bench.

Icon79:
Thank you! The boys tried their best. No need to call them names. Some of them were willing to die on the pitch and how we pay them back is by posting trash on social media? What kind of people are we

The powerhouse Germany just lost to minnows South Korea, but I am sure that you don't get the level of name callings and emotional outbursts from them like you do from Nigeria. Some of them even went as far as abusing the wives of the players. For what exactly
Anytime we lose, we always start looking for somebody to blame and someone scapegoat ... forgetting that sometimes you lose due to hard luck or simply because the other team was better. Yes, Jude Ighalo's miss was bad but I have seen even Cristiano Ronaldo missed easier chances. And in addition, the dude has acknowledged his error and apologized ... just get over it. Damn it!!!

Some Nigerians make me sick, seriously.


O pari


O pari

I'm one of those who criticised him for the missed chances but on second thought, he did well in that game. But we need him to score.

Icon4s:
This thread can not shut down. The worst that can happen is the traffic will reduce.

This is about the only thread I am active on nairaland. I don build house for this land already, so i no dey go any where.

Me too sir. I don too invest for here.

I don't see why anyone thinks Idowu was bad yesterday. I feel he has made that left spot his. If Ebuehi was to come in, it should have been for Iheanacho, with Moses moved upfront.

mank1234:


Shebi icon4s was attacking Musa here the other day that the best is to pass to people who have forgotten how to score rather than go solo.

It was actually sir TheGoodJoe. If Ighalo had passed instead of going for glory, then... I think I go with him here. In fact, my first thought when he got the ball was that he'd pass it.

goldfish80:
Your team is as average as they come. Deal with it.

And you "most skillful striker" was useless. Deal with it. At least we ain't gonna blame the midfielders for him been starved.

do4luv14:
Can you imagine and they are black.ing ighalo for the lose

Who else should we blame. He had the cleanest chances.

Nacho has to make way.

Rockyrascal:
We need alex iwobi early enough in the 2nd half; the coach should also not hesitate to bring in ebuehi to replace an ineffective LWB in idowu.

Idowu has been great IMO

Icon4s:
Head to Head was never considered because Egypt was already ahead in terms of points.

I think we needed a win to be levelled on points.
*Modified* I think you're right. H2H comes first in CAF.

Icon4s:
I think H2H was used for the last AFCON qualification. We didn't just find ourselves in that situation. And WCQ is organized by FIFA and not CAF. And so FIFA rules and not CAF rules are applied.

The last Afcon qualifications was when we had Egypt in our group. Egypt had drawn us at home and the the calculation stuff started prior to the second leg. I'm very sure the H2H wasn't considered first.

Icon4s:
Goals For has always been ahead of H2H. The H2H was momentarily used ahead of Goals For by FIFA for the 2006 WC Qualifiers. However, CAF has refused to drop it . Since after it cost us that 2006 WC ticket I have hated that rule.

I know. That's what I was trying to point out. But on your penultimate sentence, CAF has dropped the H2H rule. It didn't apply in the last Afcon qualifications and of course the WCQ.

somehow:
I actually thought it is your net goals that is counted. ( Total goals scored minus total goals conceded).

You are right.
The rules states that team rank in group is decided in the order of
1 Points
2 Goal difference (Net goals)
3 Goals scored.
If teams are still tied after all these then
1 Head to head
etc.

Icon4s:
It is not.
That Rule is almost as old as FIFA itself.

There was a time when the head to head rule took priority over Goal difference.

somehow:
But that one na rubbish na. i scored 10 and conceded 10, someone that scored 3 and conceded 3 will now lose out? if you're so good, why did you concede 10 na?

I think it's not fair too. But it's Goal scored before H2H

BascoVanVeli:
Mikel aiming to turn tables 13 years after Messi took his Golden Ball

Mikel John Obi smiles. “Yeah, Messi stole the Golden Ball off me,” the Nigeria captain says, and he remembers how it happened as if it were yesterday. The story comes from the World Youth Championship of 2005, when Mikel drove Nigeria to the final, where they faced a Lionel Messi-inspired Argentina.

“Before the game people said that I was going to win the Golden Ball for being the player of the tournament,” Mikel says. “But then Messi scored twice, both of them penalties, Argentina won 2-1 and I got the Silver Ball. Messi has kept on stealing awards from me!”

Cue more laughter. The serious point is that Messi has been messing with Nigeria and Mikel for too long. Indeed, Argentina have held an Indian sign over Nigeria at World Cups going back to 1994, when the African nation first qualified.

Nigeria are contesting their sixth World Cup and it is a remarkable detail that they have been drawn to face Argentina at the group stage in all but one of them.

In 1994 they lost 2-1 to a pair of Claudio Caniggia goals in a game that saw the biggest bang come afterwards, when Diego Maradona failed a drugs test, was sent home and banned. He would never play for Argentina again. Nigeria suffered 1-0 defeats in 2002 and 2010, on the back of goals from Gabriel Batistuta and Gabriel Heinze respectively, and in 2014 they lost 3-2.

Mikel played in that game, having missed 2010 through injury, and so did Messi, who scored twice. Messi had also played in 2010 and he was a star of the Argentina team that won gold at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, when they beat Nigeria in the final, with Ángel Di María scoring the only goal.

Nigeria can point to the 1996 Atlanta Games, when they beat Argentina 3-2 in the final. That team were from the golden age of Nigerian football and featured Kanu, Jay-Jay Okocha and Sunday Oliseh, among others. Emmanuel Amunike scored a stoppage-time winner. The triumph is fondly remembered but, in terms of tournament successes against Argentina, it stands in glorious isolation.

Mikel and his teammates are determined to break the World Cup jinx when they take on Argentina in Tuesday’s Group D finale in St Petersburg and it has the ingredients of the most decisive meeting between the countries yet.

Nigeria know that after the 2-0 win over Iceland, another victory would ensure qualification to the last 16 while a draw would be enough as long as Iceland do not beat Croatia by a couple of goals. Even then Nigeria could go through on goals scored. For Argentina, the equation is simple. Only a win would keep their hopes alive.

The subplots are numerous and mouthwatering and yet Messi, inevitably, feels like the central figure. His travails against Iceland and the horror-show loss to Croatia have been well-documented but Mikel knows better than to view him as anything other than the player he and his teammates must stop.

Nigeria beat Argentina 4-2 in a Krasnodar friendly last November and they draw a measure of strength from the result. But it was significant that Mikel highlighted how Messi had not featured on that occasion.

“A certain human being wasn’t playing,” Mikel says. “Actually, is he even a human being? Messi is Messi. He decides games and the last time we met he scored two against us at the Brazil World Cup. Without him, they are definitely less of a team. We can’t put all our attention on Messi but he is the man that we need to stop. Do we have to put somebody to mark him? Maybe yes, maybe no because when you do that you are playing with less balance.”

Nigeria played with great balance and purpose against Iceland, when Ahmed Musa scored both of the goals, after the manager, Gernot Rohr, made a tactical change. He abandoned his usual 4-2-3-1 formation and went with 3-5-2.

Mikel, who made his name as a defensive midfielder over 10 and a half seasons at Chelsea and plays for Tianjin Teda in China, has typically operated as a No 10 at international level. It was where he played in the opening group tie against Croatia, which Nigeria lost 2-0.

“I was playing as a No 10 before I went to Chelsea but [José] Mourinho converted me to a holding player,” Mikel says. “I enjoy it. When I was at Chelsea and there was a national team break, I’d go there and I’d enjoy it. I’d have this one or two weeks of freedom – to express myself and play the way I want. But at Chelsea, I did a job.”

Mikel did likewise against Iceland. Rohr started him in the central holding role, although he and the midfielders either side of him– Oghenekaro Etebo and the impressive Wilfred Ndidi – did get up and down the pitch. Rohr will weigh up whether to continue with the approach against Argentina.

And so here Nigeria are once again, confronted by the opponents who have become their nemesis. “We knew we would get them,” Mikel says. “I said to a friend of mine: ‘Trust me, Argentina are going to be in the same group as us.’ It’s crazy. I don’t know why but it keeps happening.”

Mikel and Nigeria crave a different ending.

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2018/jun/25/mikel-john-obi-lionel-messi-nigeria-argentina-world-cup

@ ChrisKels... I was pointing out that Mikel didn't parner anyone in the middle. He was at the base of the Midfield with both Ndidi and Etebo slightly ahead on either side.

safarigirl:
the only phobia I have is of heights...and people. I don't like people

This one weak me. Someone has told me this before. I understand what you mean tho.

forgiveness:
Like Ighalo is blocking some player's chance.

You seem to be more interested in this "blocking player's chance" ish. We dey talk say person hasn't been adding much to the team in recent times. Ighalo na waste. Fact

Icon4s:
And when you think he is beginning to lose relevance in the team he shows up and performs at the biggest stage.

This is a player many here believe he made the squad due to quota system.

He may likely surpass Yobo and Enyeama in number of caps.

He will if he is consistent. He is just 25.

kingphilip:
please can you help with the link?

You have to go through your Facebook. Check for Green eagles HQ. The guy posted the link there. Click on the link from your Facebook.

realpoacher:
He hasn't posted the Iceland game yet... I have been waiting for eternity since yesterday

I really want to watch this game this morning...

Any other links where i can download it?..... Especially the second half only

He has posted it now.