₦airaland Forum

Truidstar:
When we beat Croatia next week Saturday, what's the new argument going to be? Make una relax. Na Denmark I dey look for round of 16. We must get revenge for France 98.

all reasonable supporters would say ''let not get ahead of our selves take it each game at a time''

is uzoho deserving of a place? yes at least based on what i have seen even if it's as the 3rd rookie choice goalkeeper. no one has said he should always have been number 1 going into the world cup because it's unfair to place the burdens of success at the world cup on a 19 year old but the situation is what it is.

good defensive cover gives you confidence if your opponents are restricted to 2-3 chances then your goalkeeper if decent has a good opportunity of keeping a clean sheet. when your defence keeps giving up 5-6 chances per game then i don't know how you want your keeper to cope let alone a 19 year old.

yes we don't know if francis will be ready same for other super eagles who will be going to the world cup for the first time. we can only infer from their performances in the friendlies and from what i have seen of uzoho he looks good with the other experienced players helping him out he could be one of the top young performers in russia

Icon79:
The way you guys tend to spin this Uzoho thing is really becoming ridiculous. Yes, both his detractors and his supporters are becoming ridiculous with this argument. Here are the indisputable facts:

Is Uzoho ready? No, absolutely not.
Do we have a better option than him at the moment? No, not at all.
Conclusion: he's definitely NOT ready; however, he's the best option we have available so we stick with him.

But trying to blame his ALL shortcomings on poor defenders is a spin too far. Bottom line, everybody has to improve including Uzohor. And by the way, anybody who claims that Uzoho is ready because he has played against the likes of Lewandowski, Kane, etc doesn't understand football. It's one thing to face these strikers in a friendly game but facing them at the world cup is totally different ballgame. Trust me. Bottom line, we won't know if Uzoho would be ready until he takes the field against Croatia on June 16th.


O pari

actually it was ejike uzeonyi who replaced elderson.

yes 1998 team also carried too many unprepared players. akpoborie being dropped for an obviously injured amokachi was a travesty but to be fair the others you mentioned who were there replacements? eguavoen would have been dropped for jero shakpore but unfortunately the latter got injured. rufai yes but shorunmu and joseph dosu were also knocked of by injury. ben iroha apart from him which other decent backup to babayaro did we have. celestine sef was just getting back from months of serious injury.defence was really weak that year apart from taribo and uche ikechukwu can't remember any other decent defender who could have served as cover.

for me the lessons which we should learn is that as much as possible always have a large pool of players to choose from for every position so that in case of accidents or emergencies we won't be left threadbare

Kog45:
Sir if Keshi's team was a disgrace to football then Onigbinde's team of 2002 is what?Nigeria 2010 WC team is what?

Even France 98 team is what cos this was a team that took 5 pensioners to WC,namely Peter Rufai,Rashidi Yekini, Augustine Eguavoen,Ben Iroha,Uche Okafor and took already injured Amokachie to WC and dropped in form Jonathan Akpoborie.

And on 5 CB he took to WC,pls try and sit down and analyse why he took such decision or do you think Keshi was a dummy.

On Kunle Odunlami, he replaced injured Echiejile and was to deputise for Ambrose and Oshaniwa cos he was a versatile defender.

If i may ask is Ambrose a CB under Keshi but RB.Keshi took four CB to WC namely Joseph Yobo, Kenneth Omeruo,Godfrey Oboboana and Egwueke.

exactly! his reflexes are very good he got a good goalkeeping education rohr too sees that hence the reason he has given him a run of games to build his confidence. i agree the defence has to do more to shield him. when you are constantly under attack from the opposition i don't care if you are de gea, buffon or neuer you will surely concede. ezenwa has been mostly lucky that when he plays the defence covers him well hence the call for him to be in goal.

i laughed at the uzoho not ready to face the best strikers bit someone that faced lewandowski, kane, sterling etc he has improved from when i saw him against poland he will come good but defence has to step up

KK555:
He is a good goalkeeper. You can see commitment and humility to learn in him. I think a good and confident defence would motivate him to give his best. He has managed to save lots of shots that would easily have been goals, he has nullified threats by the way he picks aerial balls calmly and distribute to his players. Outfield players should show similar commitment. If he has a solid cover, he might be one of the best young talents in Russia.
A bad and porous midfield will expose his cover and lead to the type of onslaughts Nigeria experienced against England in that first half. In that sort of situations, goalkeepers would normally save unbelievable shots, parry balls sailing into the top angle of the post but would commit silly and school boys errors eventually.

Give that boy good cover and watch him do wonders. Btw, that freekick save against England that resulted in the corner that gave the three lions their first goal would not have been saved by Akpeyi or Ezewa.

i had already commented in a similar vein before i saw this your gem of a post wise words again egbon

Icon4s:
Ow of course we have definitely known more about this team and we have learnt a lot.

And I find it even more perplexing that you can completely write off a team based merely on friendly matches. And even more perplexing that you will always seize every opportunity to talk down a national team you claim to support.

I have been long enough in this game to know the extent to which outcome of friendlies can affect the performance of a team when the major tournaments starts.

Even just recently Siasia's U23 team lost 6-1 to Denmark in a friendly game just before the kickoff of the Olympics. But when both teams met again but this time at the Olympics what was the scoreline? 2-0 for Nigeria.

See, I am not afraid of failure. Even if the team goes to Russia and loses all 3 matches will heaven fall?
I cannot just go into a major tournament like the FIFA WC with the mindset that we will crash out at the group stage.

Finally, always having a defeatist mindset will do one more harm than good. It pays to always remain positive even when all odds are against you. That alone can spur you on to success in life. Food for thought.

wise words football will continue to be played whether or not we do well in russia. if you always use recent circumstances to judge how well your team will be in the future then you will never enjoy the game.

i will back this team regardless of the outcome of the world cup. we do reasonably well i will celebrate and be happy we don't do well i will back them and continue to criticize constructively till they get it right

Icon4s:
Firstly, Look, there is no group or team that doesn't face challenges especially football teams. Not all get out to the public domain. You cannot as an outsider know exactly about all the challenges a team faces or faced. Get that clear.

And on players going against the coach's instructions, it is a common occurrence. They are not robots. They are the ones on the field of play and their footballing instincts sometimes tell them what to do and it is not all only about what instructions the coach has passed down. Sometimes the coach allows the players that little bit of freedom to use their footballing(especially for professionals) instinct at certain situations. I don't know the level to which you played football. But I am telling you based on my knowledge of football both as a player and as a coach.

And please this course you have chosen will not make you enjoy the WC. You have put your self in a position whereby if Nigeria should beat Croatia you you will not know how to face peeps here.

Calm down bro. Just believe. There is no harm in it. Even if we lose will that take food away from your table? You have nothing to lose if you believe and the team fails.

We are fans need to stand together for the team now.

realpoacher:
Yes sir,... We need someone to pass this message to him. Maybe he has forgotten that Nigeria is a big name in international football.

I wonder what the Nigerians close to him are doing... We need Power, aggressiveness and grit in our games. We need to bulldoze our way through teams.

yes we are a big but sometimes you just have to be realistic that in terms of outstanding talents we are not there yet. it's only iceland you can reasonably say you expect us to beat even then they are no pushovers. croatia and argentina have higher rated players than us so it will be a big achievement getting past either of the two teams.

i'm not saying we should go with a defeatist mind set but just appreciate the huge task at hand

my takeaway from the pre- world cup friendlies uzoho has grown in performance and confidence boy will serve nigeria for many years.

can't just put a finger on why we always start slowly in our matches even happened in our qualifiers except for zambia away. we need to get out of the blocks firing.

still can't understand why we are always unorganized during set-pieces it's become a running gag which i'm sure like most super eagles we are not amused by.

only small consolation is that our group rivals are not having the best of times. infact it seems the team that does well in our group is the one that's least shitty.

still behind the super eagles 100% we can do this

forgiveness:
If Croatia think this is the team they will face and have a work over, Rohr has just deceived them.

I can see what Rohr is doing although.....

for all our sakes I hope and pray you're right

Well there's no sugar coating it this run of poor results is not good for the confidence. I won't lie my expectation of us having a decent tournaments has taken a big hit but come rain come sunshine I'm behind this team 100%

The coaching crew has even more serious work to do no more room for failure we just have to deliver next time or we are out.

Speaking realistically if we cannot beat the croatians then we should try and get a draw and work from there

Let's go super eagles

Icon79:
tbaba, did you really post this or did someone stole your handle? You have 3 good strikers in the team and you deliberately decide to play without any striker at all?

Anyway, I will expect either Simy Nwankwo or Iheanacho to start against Czech.


O pari

i wouldn't mind seeing kc pair with simmy again i think that pairing could be fruitful

daveP:
I'm shocked at the praises Ogu is suddenly getting on here.


Wow.


Croatia must be outplayed. Those guys are rock solid at the back, but a rough tackle or two can undo them.



Yeah I also fancy a VicMo coming from the bench. We can try that against Argentina majorly. His selfishness may be useful against those Argies defenders wey no get liver.

ogu has paid his dues. every time he has had the opportunity to put on the GWG he always gives minimum 6/10 performances from keshi's time to now dude has worked had for his callups. nothing was handed to him for free even when he was seemingly wrongly ignored he never complained never orchestrated media campaigns to win undue favour. he just put his head down and worked hard now he's going to the world cup. when our usual ''friends'' come to start complaining of bias and corruption when players they fancy are not chosen john ogu is always the perfect answer

Joebie:
Make una free Onazi. He don apologize. That was the same player that laid a nice cross to Iheanacho to power home against Cameroon. He may not be in his best form, but we can only hope that when given the chance next, he would put in an improved shift.

As regards Agu, if Ghanaians come here to see the player we are making a fuss over, dem go laugh us. We can live without Agu. Agu is not significantly better than any of the DMs in the team. Take that to the bank. We don’t know all the factors Rohr took into considerations before he made his decision. We are only judging from 20, 30 minutes they put in, in a friendly. When Lokosa was dropped how many monikers came to his defense? If Agu is called up tomorrow, it’s up to him to honor the call. There are many deserving DMs dying for their first call. Two players had to be dropped, and it happenes to be Aina and himself. They have to take the disappointment in professional way, and live to fight another day.

my brother the kind of statements you read here sometimes. this same agu was displaced by shehu in his club bursaspor yet some people are moaning like we lost the mixture of makalele and busquets in him. i will not unduly knock the boy because he was a contributor to our qualification just like esiti, like efe ambrose, like paul onobi, like sylvester igbonu all played their part and are not going so let's focus on those who are going than wasting energy over what cannot be changed. on aina i was personally disappointed that rohr didn't take a risk by naming him in the final squad but facts are what they are ola didn't show enough of what he was capable of. the young man should take this disappointment in good faith his time will come.

wish the team the best.

let's go Super Eagles

andrew444:
Try and get your facts right bro,sane won the confederation cup he was Germany number 19,Wikipedia and google is there for you

he's right sane pulled out of the German squad of the confederations cup to go get surgery

Afobear:
beer parlour boi ....I go like watch you cry soon

so you are so jobless that your ambition in life is waiting for people to cry? Ok o anyway you have been an amusing troll now run along and get a life

Afobear:
Bleep your self and your average team ...truth remains you are ousting group stage ...drink it like water

yawwwnnn! U don chop today?

Afobear:
Hahahahahahah...beer parlour folks still gnashing their dirty teeth after the England match ? This is just the beginning....Argentina will make diced beef outta you , Iceland will bring the Icelandic volcano and Croatia will take your average team on a swim on the Danube !!! Then will my joy know no bounds as I watch they tears flood here

dude do we look like united bank of giving f*cks? Please go find a f*cks giving charity we are all out

Just finished watching the game between brazil and croatia forget that they lost 2-0 the croatians are pretty solid. They press very well have good crossers of the ball highly technical couldn't do much in attack because of the midfield superiority of the brazilians but I'm sure against us there will be more offensive right side of the defence looks a bit vulnerable but we have to b sharp to be able to exploit that wing.

Mandzukic didn't play his replacement though looked ok wasn't too threatening but looked dangerous in the air he forced a save out of the brazilian goalkeeper from a header off a good cross. Modric pulled all the strings for them in midfield and they only conceded goals after he was substituted. Rakitic played a deeper role. Kovacic didn't do much but I have to say the fluidity and sharpness of the brazilians didn't allow d Croatians settle to dictate the pace of the game luckily for our fullbacks I'm yet to see any of them that has blistering pace but definitely tyrone should start against periodic. 3-5-2 formation should help against them 2 of victor moses musa or kelechi should starts in attack against them.

Lots of work to be done

Let's go super eagles

Onazi was utterly rubbish truth be told that matuidi tackle four years ago did him in. Joel has finally shown that he's not it. Honestly those 2 deserve to be dropped for such a shambolic first half. Victor moses also needs to be brought down to earth all this prima donna rubbish is irritating. Yes Francis uzoho should have done better with harry kane's goal but after all the pressure he was under from the english attack I think we can cut him some slack.

Overall a disastrous game was redeemed with a good performance in the second half team still needs serious work. As for rohr as much as I commend him for making the tactical switch and enforcing personal changes he can't honestly tell me that he sees onazi And joel in training and still thinks they deserved a starting place really poor decision from him.

Haven't lost hope in the team come rain come sunshine I will still back them but at least one good outcome from this game is that we can all now calm down and manage our expectations.

Let's go super eagles

elyte89:
Y is everything always attached to Mikel to achieve a better result. He's human also,even d like of messi or c ronaldo do av off days on pitch

I wish d England players can tame Mikel and let c aw oda players will response with deir play

sorry my post was in regards to joel have modified to reflect that

goldfish80:
Joel Obi is a good player, the problem with him is adaptability. As you may know, the Serie A is a very niche league, it suits certain type of players and Joel has over modified his game for the Serie A that he looks like a fish out of water outside Italy.
I feel 2 weeks might be too short to re-modify his game, it is what it is. If the going was good, he is the kind of player you want coming in from the bench to close oit games, in my opinion.

I have a sneaky feeling that playing alongside Mikel obi today will bring out the best in joel obi

Bolowolowo:
For those of you that are big on Super Eagles history, will this be our first match ever in Wembley?

technically no because we have played in the old wembley before but this is our first game in the new wembley stadium

Game day want to see team cohesion, discipline and an attack that creates chances. England are favorites but I reckon we will give them a game. No too concerned about the result of the match though a win would be nice but I will be looking at how well we play. My prediction a draw

Seems Aina is out pity cos I like him but in fairness he hasn't blown us away with any exceptional performance his time will come.

Let's go super eagles

sorry nothing in common 2002 team had crucial players dropped from the team due to internal wrangling current team is same set of guys who played throughout the qualifiers

coach replaced months to world cup not the case now

disunited team current team are close knit

the usa 94 squad we love to hail how many were top performers in their clubs before the world cup? even the 98 squad if we analyze them closely had a soft under belly though filled with quality

2002 is far in comparison to this current team

Jarus:
Fair enough. That's the only difference.

Other than that, this team and 2002 team have many things in common - too many below average players.

I'm hoping for a different outcome from 2002 despite the stark similarities.

you have the right to be pessimistic but sometimes we need perspective. has there been any nigerian build up to world cups where we were smoking hot? build up to usa 94 sweden and romania beat us we didn't lose hope

build up to atlanta 96 beaten at national stadium in front of our home fans 3-1 by common togo!

france 98 we all know how we were beaten black and blue

funny enough 2002 that we didn't lose any friendly we dropped in group stage

2010 same thing didn't lose any friendly yet first round exit

2014 struggle against mexico scotland and greece before losing to usa yet got to second round using worse players than we have now

the other teams in our group have their issues croatia and argentina though more talented than us have their issues too

if there's any thing i've learnt from watching super eagles over the years never write them because their build up was poor

Jarus:
Same here.

As enthusiastic as I am about national team football, I'm finding it very difficult to raise my hope.

I keep seeing a repeat of 2002 - 1 point in 3 matches!

But I'm also hoping for some miracle.

Bolowolowo:
Suppose Uzoho made a mistake like that in the world cup? I dey fear ooo

Omo Na make him go on exile be that

But Ramos Na bastard sha

Uzoho ezenwa even you akpeyi I reject every spirit of karius in your lives chai!

komekn:
You deh change mouth under the gaze of bright lights if you no shame, I shame 4 u.

You brought up the comparison NOT ME BUT YOU.

I brought substance to your comparison as it strengthens my position and ridicules your own position.

Fuchs at the same age of Balogun had played near 200 games in the Bundesliga there has never been break in his career, i.e. couldn't get a club. Balogun has not played up to half the Bundesliga games Fuchs has played.

Once again you want to change the goal posts.

you are the one who is shameless after bursting your he can't do well in the EPL because he's bundesliga yada yada

Lol why all the aggressiveness did I get you hot under the collar? Eyah!

komekn:
You are taking comments out of context.


Train in the context of present continous not in the past.

Omeruo trained with Chelsea would you then say that he trains with the Chelsea team. This is very normal train pre season with your parent team doesn't mean you are in the team or train with them on loan.

Even youth players on trial not so signed train with the first team.

What exactly is your point to mislead and misrepresent to portray a view that's not true.

Day you know how many thousands of players are a work in progress. When the work is finished let him show his quality. He is not too young to show that quality consistently and continously in the league he is in.

When you play well you get noticed.

Do you know how many clubs are clamouring for loan moves for Bobby Adekanya, Ademola, Tega Abrahams and Tega Onomah, Ovie Ejaria, because they have performed.

smh did you read my last paragraph? Anyway I don't need to say much about k.nwakali supernerd has done a good job of that already

I wish all the youngsters you listed all the best they are learning k.nwakali is learning I wish all of them successful careers

komekn:
The comparison that you have used to make your deductions is between Fuchs and Balogun.

Compare what Fuchs had achieved in the Bundesliga to what Balogun has achieved. That's the main point.
In this regard Fuchs was miles ahead of Balogun and even at a much younger age.

So your comparative inference is under pinned with thin air, nothing.

What Austria has achieved in football is an irrelevance. The issue is that Fuchs was an established international at a very young age and established player in the Bundesliga. Even with the irrelevant national comparison Austria sits at 35 in the World higher than Nigeria so what's your point.

Because we are yet to see what Balogun will do in the EPL. He also has competition from the best central defender in the championship statistically speaking who is much younger. That Brighton are trying to sign.

My final comments were that it was an EXCELLENT move for Balogun a player who is near 30 and not outstanding in the Bundesliga.

So what's your issue, emotive prejudice

dude lol all this fancy words you post don't move me anyway to the meat of what you wrote.

I'm not comparing Fuchs to balogun don't add to what I didn't write. You claimed balogun might not make it in the EPL because it's tough, he's not fast, bundesliga is a one man league bla bla bla. Now read this slowly if Fuchs came from this same bundesliga and performed decently then it's illogical to say balogun would not do well when he has yet to kick a ball in the EPL

Ooo Fuchs is an established international so what is balogun a cadet ogbeni just go lie down

Lol emotive bias I hope you look yourself in the mirror when you type such things

Mujtahida:
If we are frank and sincere we would acknowledge the fact that Kayode has not been given an opportunity to show what he's got.

The talk about him being given an opportunity is absolutely false. Opportunity is not cameos. If cameos are opportunities then let no one excuse Iheanacho(yes I will mention him again because his situation presents an apt example) not being given opportunities by Puel.

In this context opportunities mean run of games not cameos.

Bias I can accommodate but bias masking as fairness I cannot and that's what we do here and when forgiveness takes our biased units of measurements and applies it to other players he is tarred and blackened.

kayode's situation is no different from many Nigerian players Samuel Kalu, Peter olayinka onyekuru have had better seasons than most of our current chosen forward. If the argument was an average player taking the place of an outstanding one I would buy your point but the back and forth is mainly why is my average player not chosen ahead of your own average player