I see no bias here. I have been a very big fan of Iheanacho since 2012 during the U-17 camping period and I can tell you that Iheanacho was given countless opportunities in the senior national team even when he was floundering at club level till a point when he reached his "elastic limit" and Rohr had to take a bold step by omitting his name from the AFCON squad.
Did that signature move help Iheanacho? Yes ,to a tremendous effect. Even himself admitted that the decision to drop him from the squad helped him to work harder and rediscover his form at the club level.

ChrisKels:
The bias in eagles set up. When Iheanacho was off form everybody wanted him dropped arguing that the super eagles was no rehabilitation center, even though some minutes with the eagles could have helped rebuild his confidence and get him back on track. What is this scam of a coach doing with Musa today?


Rohr - “Musa could play because we only have 21 players with him we became 22.” After lying that Musa was a none playing invitee

“So he could come in, he was fit and met the physical test. He’s in good shape and so, there was no reason not to allow him to play.”

“He’s the captain of the team and we want him to do it on the pitch and also we wanted to help him find a good club now,”

I don't know the Osimhen he was referring to but the Osimhen I know is a real gem of a striker with ability to covert half chances, real PRESENCE in the final third, rare creativity, excellent finishing instincts. He reminds me of the Emenike of 2013/2014 though Osigoal is a more refined version. I couldn't wait for Victor Osimhen to become our first choice centre-forward. He gives the fans hope, real hope.

chrisooblog:
guy you need to be fairer in your assessments. Osimhen finished top scorer of the entire qualifying campaign added assists untop yet you are still belly-aching because he didn't score hatrick.

Give the young man some breathing space we want him to improve but at least commend if for being our main man during this whole qualifying campaign. Ighalo that you are mentioning do you know how many years of grinding and support he got from the coach before he hit that run of form?

You are free to constructively criticize Osimhen but choosing to castigate him when he has obviously done well is not on.

One remarkably sad development I observed since I started following this thread from when it was formed till present is how some monikers rate our players after each game with terms such as "useless", " total crap", "below average", "waste" and so on.
One reasons that EITHER those monikers cannot muster enough vocabulary to appropriately critique a game and analyze players' performances OR they are outrightly mischievous. I don't believe ignorance is a factor here because an average member of this thread is thought to be loaded with football information.

Please let's endeavour to employ the right terms when commenting on our players' performances in green. Most of the comments I read about Iwobi, Aina, Ekong and the rest were quite ridiculous and a far cry from their input in the games.

The matter tire me my brother.

lloydtruth:

Aina ahead of Sanusi and Ndidi?

Let's make it three years for now.

Subzero047:
Our left back spot is secure for the next 10 years

Both Iheanacho and Onyekuru get their chance to play in their favourite positions.
It's left to them to maximize the opportunity.
With Iwobi out, Iwuala now has a good chance of making a substitute appearance and I hope he borrows a leaf from Sunday Mba.

The formula for qualifying with game(s) to spare is straightforward: win your first two matches.

Kog45:
Pls from Tunisia match will you start Akpoguma ahead of Balogun.

Akpoguma is a good CB but average so starting lineup is not sure for him in GWG with what we saw in recent friendlies.

I will pair Balogun with Akpoguma

Kog45:
Naso una rate Akpoguma.Pls let see Ehzibue first in GWG colour.

Akpoguma was solid when he played centre-back against Tunisia. Never mind Rohr's silly experiment against Algeria.

BascoVanVeli:
A top class performance by Osimhen..


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XE9LtkbUyM4

Some folks will still tell us he is not good with aerial balls.

benji93:
You this guy, be careful. Na when you start dey watch football? Which one be he found his form in mini matches? Oh na you make the formation? I am defitely pulling back from most of my statements. We'll have to wait for the match today to see something.

Don't mind him. Same training matches Onuachu was scoring for fun.

I think Ebuehi and Sanusi can provide Onuachu with all the crosses he needs. Another element of Onuachu's game is his hold-up play and dribbling abilities which were evident against Egypt. These will be important in bringing in the wing forwards into play and affording the midfielders the leverage to either shoot from distance or steal into the opponents' box to convert chances.

humility33:

by what time please

By 7:30pm WAT(Nigerian time too)

Nigeria-Algeria friendly should be live on DSTV, GOTV, AIT.
DSTV: Compact, compact plus, confam, premium.
Gotv: SS la liga, SS football(GOTV max and GOTV jolli).

Danielnino00:


The French team is filled with French players of African heritage born in France and are a product of French football system...
The French are just reaping the rewards for their own hardwork ..
The reverse is the case for Nigeria...we are reaping another country's hard work...
Our sports administrators need to do more...
Football,and sports in general is one very important sector that can reduce poverty and crime rates among youths in this country...

I agree with you on all the points except our sports administrators doing more. It is a given that our sports administrators have not been alive to their responsibility of ADMINISTRATION but the issue of sports infrastructure is almost totally an index of the level of advancement of the country. You can't expect a country where the roads are in a gory state, government hospitals are lacking in the most basic of tools, schools are pseudo- game reserves, access to portable water is a pipe dream, railway infrastructure are in a shambles, and so on to suddenly have basic sports infrastructure.
It would benefit us to peruse the UNDP HDI rankings to see where those South American countries some of us ignorantly compare Nigeria with are.

temi1290:



At least Awaziem should be a player that is guaranteed to come off the bench during Porto matches even if he can't tie down a starting shirt,that how we know a player that will become a starter once the player that keeps him on the bench moves to a bigger team, Zaidu did it even with World class Alex Tellex at the club.

Awaziem is a below average player

You may be right about Awaziem's situation at Porto, but the Sanusi-Telles analogy unfortunately does not add up.
Porto bought Sanusi to replace Telles outrightly. It also remains to be seen how the Sanusi-Porto relationship would augur in the long run.

Please guys can we stop all these England this, England that and focus on the Super Eagles upcoming friendly matches?

humility33:

but you remember the Nigeria vs Zambia game in lusaka during the last world cup qualifiers
him and Iwobi did well, nacho can play as a 9...all he needs do is to inter change with either Iwobi sometimes
or one of the wingers drift in as 9 depending on who is with the ball

Our game against Zambia was played at Ndola and Brown Ideye started as the centre-forward. Iheanacho played behind him.

Djamel:



Decent team you say?

He plays for Rosenberg....

A team that plays UCL

and starts for the team too.

The goalies that got called up, plays for a lesser team in Europe as compared to what Rosenberg is.

So when you come up with a decent argument..... You can mention my moniker

Is Adegbenro a goalkeeper? We don't have goalkeepers playing for Barcelona or Bayern but we'll make do with the young and talented keepers at our disposal.
Adegbenro should move to a better league so he can compete with the wingers we have. Dennis Bonaventure who plays for Brugge was not even invited.

There are few factors that contributed to the decline in following of the Nigerian national teams. I am going to list some of them. There could be more, so the elders in the house can add.

THE QUALITY(OR LACK OF IT) OF THE LOCAL LEAGUES
Charity begins at home they say. Nigerian league matches used to attract a swathe of fans to the match venues. My father could list at least ten players each from Rangers, Mighty Jets, Ranchers Bees, Shooting Stars, etc. Important personalities like governors, lawmakers used to grace most of the matches. Today, the league venues hardly attract 100 fans, most of whom are street urchins looking to forment trouble.
Issues related to poor funding, corruption, government ownership of clubs, incompetence and poor sporting infrastructure are already well documented.

No national team coach can confidently select players from the league because of poor quality, poor technical abilities and bureaucratic bottlenecks in the league administration.
Most top footballing countries still have their leagues enjoying massive support from their countrymen even if most of the players are not selected from there.

POOR COVERAGE OF THE LEAGUE BY THE LOCAL MEDIA

There was a time when one could tune in to the local radio and television stations and get quality live coverage of matches involving the most adored local clubs, our national teams and even secondary school championships.
Today, our leagues are hardly televised so it's hard for the new generation of youths to follow Nigerian football. The so-called largest television network in Africa(NTA) is an eyesore and is still struggling with anachronistic tools. Tell me which serious footballing country would have its national team playing a high profile match and the national television is not broadcasting it....
Where will the followership emanate from?
During my undergraduate days, I could remember I had to trek miles with few passionate fans looking for where to watch AFCON qualifiers.
The "Super Eagles 2 - Nigeria 1" nuisance is still fresh in our minds. Let me leave it here....

DEATH OF SCHOOL SPORTS
Someone did mention earlier and I totally agree with him that what we have now is a bunch of gambling youths with no passion for the game.
But where is the sports infrastructure in schools to nurture the passion? Are there still zonal, state and regional tournaments to discover and/or showcase talents? Do talented students still drop their pens from WASSCE and walk straight into the cadet teams? Do we still have trained Physical/Health Education teachers in primary and post-primary schools?
These are issues that I think have not been addressed and if they remain so, we would still have the prevailing apathy towards our national teams by the new generation youths.

Danielnino00:
West Brom are heavy relegation candidates....
Na carpenters full this team....

Things might change as the season wears on. Remember the transfer window has not closed.

Subzero047:
Maduka Okoye is not ready

https://twitter.com/FurkanBeg11/status/1303016186477776900?s=09

His body position was all wrong for this goal, he kept his hands low for some seconds restricting his ability to fly

Very Akpeyi-esqe

I think you really have a score to settle with Maduka Okoye. I can't see anything he did wrong in that goal. The scorer waded through a sea of legs to put that through and it can beat any goalkeeper in the world.

MRI is not 100% accurate but it has more than 90% accuracy which is good. It's not today we started hearing stories of so and so person that is 40 but looks 10, all these just to discredit a sound technology like the MRI.
Truth be told, the U-17 boys produced during the MRI era are far younger than their pre-MRI counterparts and we all wish they go places.

HUGE CREDIT to Gernot Rohr for the positive involvement of our players in the current transfer window. The German has created a highly competitive environment in the national team and boys are hungry again to don our colours and by 2022 we should have a very strong squad.

If Saka switches allegiance to Nigeria tomorrow, I think he will join the queue on the right wing which is good for squad strength.
It would be a huge joke to have him play at the back because he is not a defender.
However, having another winger is not our priority. We need attacking midfielders, set-piece specialists, left-back and a reliable ball-playing centre-back.

Subzero047:
Frankly speaking Samuel Kalu has been the player that has benefited the most from Rohr's era as coach, he has had career guidance, help in moving to Bordeaux, personal trainers, personal relations with the coach and sometimes underserved call ups to the national team but his career has been on the decline and his attitude has not helped him at picking up off field obstacles here and there

He should take a serious look at himself

A host of clubs wanted his signature at that time including Bordeaux. Rohr probably advised him to choose them ahead of the others.

Samuel Kalu it was that made Eagles' fans forget about Victor Moses after his retirement. He was going to be Rohr's go-to man at the AFCON 2019 before health issues struck but the few minutes he got at the tournament, he proved himself.
The competition he has in Moses Simon, Dennis Bonaventure and potentially, Chidera Ejuke can only make him get better.

Philosopher1979:


He is the most skillfull winger we have and he can take free kicks.
His performances for the national team are good so rohr cannot do away with him anyhow.
Remember his goal last year in an afcon qualifier and his assist against Ukraine.

Don't mind the pessimists. I have read tons of biased reports here about the same Kalu that has been one of our most productive players post-Russia 2018. That he's having a rough patch recently doesn't obviate the talent that made him one of the most sought-after wingers in Europe at a time.
For those comparing Kalu with Saka, they should wait for Saka to don our national colours first.

With the avalanche of attacking options at our disposal in the Eagles, I think the coaching crew should now galvanize efforts to bring in players with special qualities( free-kicks, bending corner-kicks, headers) in central midfield and in the defence.

TheLoneCitizen:


Rohr doesn't invite by club performance, he's very faithful to his trusted players.

You are right about Rohr calling up trusted players. However club performance wins one the initial chance to get invited and fight to win the trust.
With Onuachu striking a deadly attacking combo with Dessers, I don't see the duo not being invited at the same time for national assignments.

Tolulopefinest:


Onauchu is a very bad Footballer in the Super Eagles Jersey. *No mincing words*

I won't say he's very bad but he hasn't covered himself in glory since his spectacular showing against Egypt in Asaba.
I attribute his unimpressive performances largely to the tactical approaches the coach has employed. Probably we have not played to his strength or haven't seen the need to I guess.

However he has been married to consistent goalscoring time and time again, vital ones too.
And with the invitation-by-club performance posture of Rohr, I think Onuachu would not lack the opportunities to prove himself in the national team in future.