₦airaland Forum

AIG07:
The initial word I used Was PLAY.

One thing you guys don't know is that seconds count in football. If you don't make the right decision at the right time then forget it. He did well to win the ball but spoiled everything by holding longer. Iwobi was already there asking for the pass. But he waited few more seconds which allowed our opponents to fall back and gets into position and that was the end of a potential goal for us and an assist for him.
This he did repeatedly. One was a pass he got at the center circle which he just needed to pass to a running Musa who was trying to get into space as we were 2 against 2. But baba held for so long till he was fouled. That's why we don't score often when he plays.

IIghalo is good at holding up play but his timings are bad and so let the team down. Hope you get it Sir.

I agree with what you said 100% i don't have a problem with ighalo as a player I think his abilities are good and unique to him but based on the style we play at the moment he may not be a perfect fit. Like you said countless times when we are on the counter and he had a chance too quickly pass the ball and break musa free he dwelt too long on the ball and we lost our attacking advantage because the icelandic defenders had gotten back. I think for ighalo to thrive he needs good supply from creative midfielders into the box to flourish but fast counter attacking football is not his forte. Plus I can't remember odion from his time with Watford scoring goals of a fast break

Thank God for the win now we stay humble and work hard to prepare for the Argentinians

Super Eagles issa goal issa goal issa goal

I guess we can see why rohr had so much faith in musa when he wasn't in form ACCOLADES alhaji musa

it's game day all my prayers and best wishes to the boys. play hard, play with courage, play with skill and determination. may God reward our play and hard work. Amen

LET'S GO SUPER EAGLES

shaku shaku loading

bro allow me to list sub-saharan african team's achievements

Nigeria - 2nd round three times 1994, 1998, 2014

Ghana - 2nd round once 2006 quarters once 2010

Cameroon - quarters once 1990

Senegal - quarters once 2002 (will most likely do well this year)


north african teams world cup achievements

Algeria - 2nd round 2014

Morocco - 2nd round way back in 1986

so bros no comparison

wayodude:
hahaha big talk! Remember the best African performance in the last World Cup was from Algeria.

When last did Cameroun get even 1 point at a World Cup? The most embarrassing results from an African team in recent World Cups are Camerouns. What has Ivory Coast achieved in World Cups even with their golden generation? beating North Korea in 2010 and Serbia & Montenegro in 2006? no that one be result? lol

Ghana has had ONE good world cup (2010), same for Cameroun (1990), same for Senegal (2002).

All African teams have it all to prove because right now there are considered nobodies in World football.

yeah but he has a point when it comes to AFCON or WcQ dem go they flex yeye muscle bring them come world cup na so so lose they go they lose. i mean look at egypt yesterday losing to russia the same russia ivory coast flogged 2-0 last year without yaya toure

TheSuperNerd:
But Ghana had the chance naa... To usurp Egypt and qualify in their stead. So what stopped them? As for Cameroon, well they were just unfortunate to be grouped with us.


But mehn @bolded... You are funny here I swear... Loooollll

omo i take God beg Super Eagles all this spirit of african teams getting knocked out after the second game make una reject am o. i don't care how you guys do it play well don't well fluky or genuine make una sha defeat iceland even if na 1/2-0 i go take am like that

sontoly:
I totally support you sir, and I dont know why the coach doesnt see it, the truth is Ighalo has more supporters than Iheanacho thats why no one sees his flaws.

Ighalo position skill is so poor, not good in air
poor decision making, give him ten chance he wont score one, infact you wont even find he to give a chance sef.
He is always with a defender and doesnt lose his marker, slow to react and we call that one a striker, we are deceiving ourself, it will take a miracle for him to score most of his shots are week. Abeg i don tire to see am for pitch, person wey get 5 goals since he started playing for us.
The only lethal striker is iheanacho unfortunately the coach no like am just same way he prefers shehu to ebuehi.
I dont have anyhope in rohr at all.

Ighalo not good enough.

the truth is ighalo can't give what he doesn't have I don't blame him for yesterday because the coach keeps playing him when he doesn't have the skill set for the lone striker position his movements and pace is just not good enough frankly speaking he should not be a starter

Really disappointing result not so much because we lost but because we didn't give ourselves the best chance to get something out of the game the coach has to look at himself in the mirror he wasn't on point at all ordinarily I would have said he was clueless but he knows we perform better under the 352 system but why he keeps ignoring it is a mystery.

Honestly our chance of making it out of the group is now next to impossible but we'll just have to keep trying the coaching crew should now going forward ensure we use the best formation and personnel going into the remaining matches at least to give us ourselves a fighting chance.

Now is not the time to insult or abuse the players they need our support now more than ever I'm not saying we should hype them or have unrealistic visions of them just support back then now

Let's go super eagles

Mujtahida:
marcus!marcus!!marcus!!!

how many times did i call you?

american dollar bills things in God we trust

Today is game day wish the players all the best all positive energy to them may God reward their efforts.

LET'S GO SUPER EAGLES

Mujtahida:
It's not a matter of bringing him down. We are all fans and we want the best for the SE. Some of us are not just comfortable with him- and understandably so. Do we want him to fail? No, we are not Afobear. We want him to succeed. We only just have fears, legitimate fears. You wey get confidence in him should assure us not call us peeps who want to bring him down. If he fails, have we not all failed?

bro you are my guy when I say francis will come good take that to the bank

All hail Ororo

What a game

If Na uzoho commit that kind de Gea mistake people for don crucify am for here

aodis:
Goal iran

chai Morocco lobatan

Mujtahida:
there's this thing-i cant name it- that Uzoho doesnt have.

anyway me i am calm ooo. as you get your own secret wey you want use watch the match na so me too don get my own

#teammysticmarcus

bros I envy you the thought of the epic level trolling and shade we will get tomorrow night if the game goes negatively against us is not allowing me to stay calm anyway let's just continue to be positive

But nawa for FIFA sef musical instruments that will play melodious music they banned yet annoying and irritating vuvuzelas they allowed

Still optimistic about tomorrow let's all keep the faith and God will reward our efforts

Let's go super eagles

My predictions for today

Spain 2 portugal 1
Egypt 0 uruguay 2
Morocco 1 iran 0

Congratulations tbaba and our Muslim brothers and sisters enjoy the Eid celebrations

TheSuperNerd:
First of all, I don't need to do more research into an area I am practically a god in. Everything you have said, I know about but the thing is that you are emphasizing irrelevant and extraneous details.
Listen up, the "koko" is the Anatomical make up of the player's growth plates on his left wrist (and even his right if we go that long). That is the central focus linked to the specific age range the MRI age test is designed to detect and strongly indicate.



Second of all... The MRI cannot be applied to U-21 level because the growth plates fuses before one is even 19-21 years in almost all cases if not all. Normally in almost every case with a few exceptions (a rarity in fact), the growth plates close at 18. So MRI at U-20/21 level won't work. Based on what it is designed to detect, that is.


Thirdly and finally, there is a margin of + or - 2 for certain rare individuals who may be slightly above 17 (I.e. 18 or 18+) and still pass the test because their growth plates are yet to fuse AND also, for those who may be 16 or 17 and still fail the test due to early epiphyseal plates closure. This is Human Anatomy and there is bound to be slight variational detections but the margin of finding such rarity is extremely minimal. This is why the MRI is 99% accurate with a margin of + or - 2 to determine and detect ages for those below 17 or above 17. It is as simply scientifically explained as that. Nothing complex except I go into the deeper classification grade details of which I won't before I turn this thread into a biosciences and medical engineering class.

You say you wanna bury it... So fine bury it... But in burying it, you still had to type all your story again. I just dey look you.

I think his argument is that due to lack of nutrition in this part of the world an overage player could beat the MRI test I.e a 20 year old who is not drinking regular fresh milk or eating hamburger unlike his counterparts in Europe, north America etc will pass for a 16 year old .

Martz101:
nice writeup bros

thanks I think mujtahida deserves more kudos we really need deep introspection on how to turn our national teams from mere also fans to actual cup contenders at world tourneys

they have never jettison it they have just learnt when and how to bring it out of their locker

asha80:
Brazil actually jettisoned the samba in 90 and 94 world cups.. it only made a cameo appearance in 98 and 2002

yes a strong league would be a start but you also need good competition to sharpen your players skills can that be gotten alone from facing enyimba, kano pillars, mamelodi sundowns, tp mazembe, al haly?

i think forward thinking exceptional local coaches will be our redemption. look at south america top argentine coaches like simeone, pelligrini, pochentino. brazil as well produce exceptional coaches.

some how the nff will have to start grooming coaches same way we do for our cadet teams. by the time we identify and train these exceptional local coaches who understand the philosophy of how we play we then ensure most clubs in the land employ these people. we should also put in place a fair system of genuine competition which ensures that the best succeeds. it's from this same pool of top coaches who did well nationally and intercontinental that national team handlers will be picked from

goldfish80:
To become successful, we basically have to go back to the basis and fix our league from Amateur to the premier league. It might sound cliché but that's the only way possible to raise good players who can cause major upset in world cups with our style.

South Africa toyed with the idea of having their national team play in the Psl a season prior to the 2010 world cup,it might sound unattainable, but such radical ideas might actually work.
As Africans, we must be brave and push out our boats. This is one of the reasons I like the idea behind Chan.

brazilian coaches have learnt to apply some aspects of the european style without jettison the core samba but african coaches still haven't caught on they are still employing the ''oya enter pitch and show yasef'' reasoning in their coaching. whenever have you heard a nigerian or even african coach wow you with their tactical knowledge?

somehow:
When last did Brazil employ a foreigner as their coach?

outsiders might say it was petty on the side of the spanish fa but they had no choice in my opinion. lopetequi undermined and disrespected them

TheGoodJoe:
I am so shocked with the drama going on in Spain and feel disappointed with Lopetegui negotiating and entering an agreement with Real Madrid few days to a top World Cup game. Astonishing when you look at the fact he gained most of his experience working with the Spanish FA. The FA supported him and showed faith in him until he became a Manager of the Spanish team.

Today he is a top quality coach but I feel he should have paid back the Spanish FA with his loyalty.

Wish him the best.

true one must always gauge your actions because good or bad there are consequences to every action. that snub of afcon 2015 has come to bite them on the butt. not still sure they would have won with full african vote but knowing you have a bloc vote to call on would have been a good bargaining chip.

a pity heard our own daniel amokachi was picked to pitch for them at the FIFA congress

Goke7:
Good for them after refusing to host the afcon in 2015 due to Ebola which was not a serious threat to their country. I even heard 10 african countries refuse to vote morroco despite caf president instructions. Me am happy they were not given hosting right. They only claim african for their selfish ambitions but they will deny being African when it matters most. Nonsense

hopefully this formation helps us get out of the blocks faster and fingers crossed do damage before the croats can settle. the likes of kovacic, modric and rakitic will want to control the tempo that's why i think it's imperative to use our relative youth to our advantage to run the croats ragged this is where ndidi will be so crucial. i also think adding etebo will be that extra running engine in midfield.

Icon4s:
From 4-3-3 he can also easily switch to 3-5-2 if Ogu starts in the DM position and Ebuehi starts at RB.

i reckon we do what is it that everyone always says about african teams especially those from the west? physicality (strength, pace) unpredictability (dribbles, passion). we just have to find a way to channel the positive aspects of our game to being more result oriented

Mujtahida:
do we have a football philosophy?

true that's why brazilians argentines were so successful in the early years of the world cup. yes the europeans taught them bitter lessons which brazil has adjusted to infact i see neymar and co winning the whole thing because they've managed to incorporate their samba, jogo bonito into european organization and made it purposeful, result oriented. that's the conundrum sub-saharan african teams have been unsuccessful in solving. for some reason players educated here are not imparted with the drive to win but rather show off dribble to get hails and ''accolades'' whereas the real accolade is winning the trophy.

having said that i still feel a team from sub-saharan africa especially west africa will one day soon win the world cup cos our style of disorganization confounds them mascherano as much admitted that lol. north africans style is too similar europeans which is their style on acid.

hopefully the foreign born players will continue to bring in elements of professionalism in their football upbringing back but here at home the nff should thinking of bringing young football brains across the land and not just restrict it to the old boys club of ex internationals

Mujtahida:
MY THOUGHTS ON THE EVE OF THE WC
since 2002 no country apart from european countries has won the WC(and more european countries have won the WC than any other country from other continents since the inception of the FIFA WC in 1930. while it can be argued that this is because europeans have proportionately more teams than other continents -could there be other causes?) could this be as a result of the fact that global football is tailored to suit the style, the nature and character of Europeans?
take this issue of pressing that has almost become the alfa tactics employed by most teams for example. it is about choking and pressuring the opposition when they(the opposition) have the ball. now i think this is what happened: europeans eliminated the dribble(yes dribbling is almost dead) because i do not see how pressing can be effective when you have a team of good ball dribblers. can you press maradona, or okocha or any team with a good number of dribblers like Brazil 82 team? they will just dribble themselves out of the choke and pass the ball to a team mate who is free from the press. just a moment of sheer individual brilliance, a sweet turn, a flick and dance with the ball and the whole press will collapse.but you see what europeans have done: they eliminated the dribble, clamped down on individual displays and erected a temple to the god of passing, passing, passing and laid more emphasis on team game.
europeans thrive on organization and efficiency: they hate anything disorganized which is how they regard anything free flowing(meanwhile africans want expressiveness and flair). check out classical european music, opera and the ballet dance. everything is timed and organized. the world of music was cold until africans and south americans(and it was still africans if you know your history)with the their toms toms, sense of natural rhythm and free flowing dance brought in the blues, jazz and pop culture was born. for the life of me i have tried to enjoy mozart, bach, handel and others but omo i still prefer the sound of the gong, ekwe, beaded gourd and talking drum. to the european ear african music is disorganized but as africans we know theres a method to that seeming "disorganization". our music is all about rhythm and improvisation.

my point is we must break away from this european model of playing football: we cannot beat them when it comes to an organized approached to football. no wonder xavi said that they understand football as a space-time concept. this is nothing but the scientific european mind speaking. the black man has no such concept. (thats why he cannot operate by the 24 hour clock). africans understand football as a dance, as rhythm, as beat, as robustness and vigour.
this is how we must play our football. we must play football according to our soul. we are africans and its not a matter of race- its a matter of an outlook on life which we can perfect and use to define our game.

my brothers i would appreciate your thoughts on this issue
cc
Icobn4s
bascovanveli
goldfish80
tbaba1234
safarigirl
servik
kennysville
oasis07
thesupernerd
goodjoe
joebie
chriskels
davep
AIG
mikael2
kog45
forgiveness
soetanoluwa
martz07
charlesemeka
and every other esteemed poster on this great thread

france was during the world cup not a pre world cup friendly. lol which scotland did we outplay? we were making gordon strachan the scottish coach then look like ancelloti. usa beat us neat nothing like we play well. mexico drab back and forth match. greece the same infact the greeks had clearer chances than us.

now am i saying because we were poor in friendlies that guarantees a good world cup? no but history has taught me not to rely strictly on friendlies to judge how well we might do.

wish the players all the best

LET'S GO SUPER EAGLES

Mickael2:
Losing all your friendlies isn't the problem at all, it's losing your friendlies the way we did. Abysmal first periods and a slightly above average second periods which seems like outstanding periods because of how poor our first periods are. So you can't really compare that to....say before the 2014 WC when we outplayed France, did same to Scotland(a game where even Uchebo was unplayable, lol). However I am sure we can all agree that friendlies aren't the real deal, we just hope, in this case, that those friendlies aren't a precursor of what is to come which is why we are still supporting the team. Saturday isn't far