₦airaland Forum

You can never go through any game or competition without high BP. Even the Spanish team of 2010, if you checked their fans bp in the games against Paraguay and Holland you'd know some fainted. As a true fan you must always have ur heart aching

forgiveness:
Yes, you are right Keshi team did it but with BP, hypertension, heart attack, kwatankwa football etc.

I hope you can spot the difference.

We are too biased as individuals when it comes to Naija players. Iheanacho has a little bit of fault in that Chelsea's first goal. Out of 100% he'd get 25, cos he put the ball behind Mahrez and DID NOT open up as expected for Mahrez to give him a pass, thus making Mahrez attempt to dribble and create more space. Mahrez also has 60% fault, Ndidi has 5 just for not fouling and Morgan has 10 for not anticipating to block that Willians pass. Gosh!!! This f%*jing Iheanacho's worship has gotta stop, he ain't the only bloody player for crying out loud. Jeeezzz! I praise him when he does well, and I point his flaws when he under performs. Did he play badly today? Hell naw. He was very good bar that chelseas goal. He caused the MFs of chelsea to foul him a lot. He had a good game. But we should say the truth when it comes to some things. Had it been that roles were switched and Mahrez gave the bad pass to Iheanacho and Iheanacho was the one that lost the ball, most of the people saying Mahrez is wholly at fault now would still say Mahrez is at fault citing the fact that why would he pass that kinda ball to Iheanacho - thus making Iheanacho to adjust to the pass. Habaaaaa. Abeg naaaauuuu, make we de talk truth. I watched the game from beginning till end.

Then I personally think you don't follow current affairs of late. Just go to Ahmed Musa's IG page and see who was at his base about a week ago then inform us.

Icon79:
Hmm. I was honestly unaware that Ahmed Musa has a lot of fan in this forum.

Unfortunately, you guys might be left a little disappointed on this one. I think Musa burned his bridge with Rohr when he declined to be the assistant captain, after Mikel was made the permanent captain. I don't see him going to Russia with Rohr unless there's an order from the above ... and there should be. After all, this is Nigeria we're talking about


O pari

Bro you based in MI?

tbaba1234:
In Dearborn Michigan for instance, there is a large Arab population. Arabs are the majority there. You will find that a lot of structures/businesses accomodate that fact.

I guess Nerdy is trying to say RAM (right attacking midfielder) RAM or AMR na same thing. And yes there's a RAM cos EA sports FIFA games are replications of all formations and all possible footballing positions in real life scenarios. This is based on tactical researches that they perform every year.

MetalJigsaw:
Oga, you want to argue what you don't know?

RW is right wing and that's where Yahaya was placed. No such thing as AMR. Only AM which is attacking midfielder

Onazi would not start from the bench in Russia. I don't care if they invite 2m Joel Obi's. The way we play with our quick transitions, Onazi is a big part cos he releases the ball very fast and with precision. Sometimes, the passes may not be accurate. But once he releases the ball accurately there's this kinda speed and transition everyone assumes with the exception of Mikel. I'm telling you guys to start eliminating these thoughts of Mikel to CM or DM and Iwobi to AM. It ain't happening. Mikel would AM and Ndidi and Onazi would DM and CM. Iwobi would be on the wings. I have already read Rohr's body language and game style and seen that Onazi is so key to how we play.

Icon79:
KPOM! Let's keep pushing the theory. I think that's what gives us the strongest line up, especially if Onazi is going to start on the bench. Another good news is that Alex Iwobi is improving his energy level and he fit well in AM role. This team is definitely coming together at the right time. I have not been this excited about the World Cup since 1994!


O pari

Bros the way u talk am, it's like nothing de there being that you tagged it as GF. My guy that was a whole wife he snatched. That's big bro! And Maxi Lopez and Messi are super close from their days at Barca. Although Messi denies it, even the blind can tell that he's got a lot to do with Icardi's non-invites... Recently though, I dunno if Messi's mind has changed recently cos Icardi was invited for the recent Russia and Nigeria friendlies but Icardi pulled out for some reasons.

Danielnino00:
I don't think Icardi has been invited to d Argentina national team for 3 years now... Rumour has it that Messi is behind it.. Cus Icardi dated Maxi Lopez's ex girlfriend...

Echejile was very very decent in 4 out of 5 qualifiers. He was abysmal against Zambia in Ndola, very sokid against Algeria in Uyo, was very very very good against CMR in bothe legs and was great against Zambia in Uyo until they took him off injured. The only time he was found wanting in Uyo vs Zambia was when one new guy entered and beat him for pace.
I can agree he didn't add much going forward but he always made himself available for a pass. Anyway I digress.
Well, I don't care if we play best of the world in a friendly, u can never rate a friendly more than a competitive game. Even FIFA does not do it. So for now, even tho I acknowledge that Ebuehi and Idowu performed well vs Argentina, I would not pull Echejile down based on their performances against Argentina, rather I am only agitating for them cos I have seen them play competitively for their clubs and I have been very impressed with them.

TheSuperNerd:
Looolll.... Superb performances.... Look, if Echiejile have had any sort of "superb" performances in recent times, we won't even be having this discussion...

What he had had are decent performances of late. Judging his performance as a stand alone, you will hardly find "superb" as a label for Echiejile's performances. Let us be honest abeg. As for Echiejile's place on that plane to Russia, I recall also being among the few who said that Rohr will likely take him to Russia as long he plays and also based on his experience and his being part of the team's WC campaign through out as the team's no.1 LB.

And Idowu's 45 mins as well as Ebuehi's 45 mins all against Argentina were truly top notch. This was Argentina. Rohr's biggest opponent/test since he took over. And the players he selected for that game that passed in flying colors cannot be ignored. THEY HELD THEIR OWN AGAINST A WORLD CLASS TEAM NOT BASED ON "NAME" ALONE BUT ALSO BASED ON THE PLAYERS PARADED THAT DAY BY ARGENTINA. One cannot look past that so easily. Even Rohr cannot which is why he mentions once that Idowu will not just be an interpreter for the team in Russia. Or you never heard him say that, since you are the one with long-term memory... Lol

How do you know it's not their B-team as well? I don't think anyone here knows the full Nigerian A team let alone Ghana's B team. I like a guy on twitter called chaplinez, he said the sake thing. To me they used their B team as well.

Daejoyoung:
Na wa, so the Ghanians are so delighted that an almost complete Ghanian squad beat super falcons team B on penalties? superfalcons are truly respected across Africa.

Your list is one of the most realistic predictions I have seen on NL. It's not filled with fantasies.

zoboizee:
Our world cup team is as highly predictable as my list below barring injury or loss of form to our key players. The coach oftentimes work with same players so as to attain high team chemistry.

Goalkeepers
1. Daniel Akpeyi
2. Ikechukwu Ezenwa
3. Francis Uzoho

Defenders
4. Leon Balogun
5. William Troost-Ekong
6. Chidozie Awaziem
7. Kenneth Omeruo
8. Elderson Echiejile
9. Shehu Abdullahi
10. Bryan Idowu
11. Tyrone Ebuehi/Ola Aina

Midfielders
12. Victor Moses
13. Oyinye Ndidi
14. Ogenyi Onazi
15. Oghenekaro Etebo
16. Alex Iwobi
17. Joel Obi
18. Moses Simon
19. Mikel Obi
20. John Ogu/Mikel Agu

Attackers
21. Ahmed Musa
22.  Odion Ighalo
23. Kelechi Iheanacho

And who again is eplcatchup? Just a bunch of clowns behund a laptop and a myopic opinion? Please tell me something authentic not a some bunch if bofoons. What stops me from starting my blog and listing flops as well?

Kog45:
Alex Iwobi nominated for flop 11 in week 27,a list released by eplcatchup

CC tbaba1234

We might as well forget about next olympics.

TheSuperNerd:
According to strong rumors emanating from the NFF and Journalists in Abuja....


@thenff name coaches for each of our national teams

U-17

Manu Garba - Head Coach

Jolomi Atune - First Assistant

Bunmi Haruna - Second Assistant

Ernest Salolomo - Goalkeeper Trainer



U-20

Abdul Maikaba - Head Coach

Fidelis Ilechukwu - First Assistant

Abubakar Bala - Second Assistant

Baruwa Olatunji - Goalkeeper Trainer



U-23
Salisu Yusuf - Head Coach

Kennedy Boboye - First Assistant

Imama Amapakabo - Second Assistant

Suleiman Shuaibu - Goalkeeper Trainer

You can't use that single scenario of scoring on his debut. Didn't he do same against Man City? And he's still out on loan? You don't rate Nacho but he also scored for City on his debut. Why are u notpraising him based on that?

komekn:
Hope is being expressed because they have moved from mere potential to quality proven players who are on the ascendancy.

Every player has potential proving it is another matter with consistent continous top class performances is the issue.

With regards to SE selection for what you call the innit boys of which some may speak more Nigerian languages than you do. It should be about perfomance first then the politics of selection comes in for boys who will NEVER pay settlement fees.

There are no doubters assessment is not based on sentiment. Prove your ability that's all its very simple.

Lookman played his first game in the Bundesliga after coming on for barely 10 minutes and impacted the game and scored.

Batshuayi a bit player at Chelsea comes on in the Bundesliga for Borussia and almost scores a hattrick. Again this highlights the quality of the EPL. But then I am biased I guess.

I read and was like where is the statistics that supports the claim. All these beer parlour journalists sha. Even Colin Udoh said we should keep an eye for PayPorte in the future for the jersies. If PayPorte has not started selling where did these 1.2m come from

Icon4s:
Some of these our media houses can exaggerate things. How many Nigerians in all were even aware of yesterday's Jersey unveiling, way in less than 12hours 1.2 Million have pre-ordered?

Maybe NFF marketing strategy.

With the collar in the first one, it looks like the tunnel-walk-out tracksuit for anthems and all those other good stuff. Also, there are two types of warm up attire - one for pre game warm up and the other for training at your training base.

Then they may have the one I call "boarding house uniform" that they wear while they are in their rooms in the hotel. Ain't seen that yet. But I may be wrong as I was not privy to nike's thought process.

soetanoreoluwa:
What about the first two ...kind different with the last one... Just thinking though

This is the warm up kit.

soetanoreoluwa:
Could this be the third kit?

I'd be surprised that ANS hasn't blocked the guy that commented in favor of OGN. One of the worst sites ever. Hate those guys

TheSuperNerd:
It is a new year but it seems the War between ANS and OGN won't stop just yet.... Lol

ANS - Allnigeriasoccer

OGN - Owngoalnigeria

On the Etebo deal and who broke it first

Iheanacho has always been a talent. He just beeds to be more involved in games. If he can do what he did today on a consistent basis, City may request for him to come back. Without Vardy today, Liecester played intelligently, slow build up, no long balls to find the speedy Vardy. They played to Iheanacho's style. Andre Silva was very key to that play. But funny thing is that this coach would still play Vardy and Okazaki no matter what happens.

Source please. Until I read where they have a quote attributed to these players pledging allegiance, they ain't on my hopeful list for WC.

forgiveness:
Onomah wan play. Sheyi wan play. Iorfa wan play. Tomori wan play etc wan play.

Which kind yans be this? If the coach knew, then why did he pull him off? The pressure Naija was putting on them was increasing by the minute. They had to alter their formation to take out an attacker. At that time Bebeto was more rated than Ronaldo and they still had Bebeto on the pitch. So why we no chop 7. I could also say if we had Oliseh them for score only 1.

forgiveness:
If Ronaldo was still on the pitch we for chop 7 goals.

I am not in the school that ever selects players. Read my comment again. I want us to be cautious in our approach to wiping out all our teams in our group. We just have to make do with what we have as there are no better options. But the truth is the odds are against us especially against Croatia and Argentina. But I believe we could cause a surprise. But in terms of players, I try not to suggest as Rohr is tasked with that and so know national team football is a different ball game from club football.

Lucque:
Cc: Goldfish80..
Dedebanky..
Let us all assume dat we have all. Come to our senses, and realised dat u are right.. These bench warmers dat u spoke of, are we taking them to the WC at d expense of any player dat is performing extremely wonderfully in Europe??.
So Wat do u advise we do, strip this team of its key players cos they are bench warmers and bring in a new 11 consisting of world class players dat have never kicked a ball for d SE b4 now, or wat exactly.... How about we start proferring solutions like maybe d players we should call up instead... Cos I dunno y u guys will still criticize d team players wen they are obviously delivering... It's not we can field Aguero or Gaby Jesus,abi na ogbeche, Martins ,Fred Friday , &Bonaventure Una wan carry??

I too gbadu this your comment. Nigerians are so biased and lopsided in their analysis especially when it comes to SE. We have a very average squad. I was watching elclassico and asked myself how we ever felt that Croatia should be the underdogs when compared to Nigeria? Not saying wet can't beat them, of course anything can happen, but our pride and confidence towards the Croats is very baseless. We have an almost average squad. No gambler would put a debt on Nigeria. We have very few players in top leagues to be too boastful.

goldfish80:
So in a nutshell, we are going to the world cup with a semifinal target with cast offs who sneak into games at the death for their clubs, but somehow we believe strongly that when they play together as a team, they will be better than the other 28 teams in the world.
God is a Nigerian indeed

What Felix or Akooguma are u referring to? Let's be realistic here for once please

ChrisKels:
Yes he is, that's the position begging for personnel(s) in that midfield. If Sokari comes good (secures a move to France), then, we would have a better sub in him for John Mikel. The few times Ndubuisi Agu subbed Mikel, our midfield crumbled and it lead to calls for Joel Obi, Azubuike Okechukwu et al.

Come March, I would wanna say thank goodness for the emergence of Sokari.


Off topic; From an insider, Rohr is making progress with his pursuit of the German trio. I heard they were sent a template to study the plans of the coach and how they will fit in. Rohr is seriously considering the 3-5-2 formation and OLA Aina might miss the World Cup. It's a straight battle between Aina and Shehu whoever does better in the scrimmages gets the nod to join Ebuehi who has booked his ticket with his impeccable performance against Argentina. Aina is better going forward when we play four at the back but Shehu defends better, it's a pussle (Rohr's headache).

Fingers crossed ; if Rohr succeeds in luring these boys before March, then expect this rearguard against Poland ;


..................................Uzoho

................... Ekong Balogun Felix*

...........Ebuehi Ndidi Mikel Onazi Idowu

............................Moses Iwobi



Bench;

Awaziem or Akpoguma* for Balogun
Toru* for Idowu
Etc etc

Lol. You're funny. No complain later, when Iwobi can't control ball becus of anyhow bouncing. Haha

safarigirl:
abeg, anyhow the pitch is, we wey dey Abuja go like watch live match too

Read most of this thread, and I like the supereagles guy. Very respectful.

MetalJigsaw:
Hello guys!
Some Nigerians have moved to one of the Croatians soccer forums to initiate banter and war of words with their fans. See some of their posts below and the link...

First of all can I say it is great to chat with you all here. I hope we will have great fraternal and good natured banter between now and June when we meet at the World Cup.
Now, here is my perception about the current Croatian national football team. You have a talented squad and I actually believe you will qualify as group runners-up behind Nigeria:
Croatia:
[1] By the time the World Cup starts, this will be the ages of your star players:
Luca Modric -32
Ivan Rakitić - 30
Mario Mandžukić - 32
Nikola Kalinić - 30
Ivan Perišić - 29
[2] Croatia will not be able to deal with Nigeria's pace
[3] By the time Croatia attack, we will have had defenders back in place
[4] Croatia relies on slow methodical build-ups
[5] Croatia do not have the legs to deal with our swift counter-attacks
[6] Domagoj Vida the Dynamo Kiev centreback and rock alongside Dejan Lovren, does not strike me as someone who can handle say Victor Moses or Odion Ighalo
[7] Ivan Strinić, your leftback who plays for Samdoria is 30. How will he gallop up and down the flanks at the same rate as Tyronne Ebuehi?
[8] Croatia is not a high scoring side. If you look at your qualification, most of your victories were 1-0 affairs. Croatia was lucky to have Kosovo in your group, who you beat 6-0 away, boosting your goal aggregated
[9] From what I can see, Croatia, Ukraine, Iceland and Finland were all equally matched in their qualification group
[10] I can see Croatia struggling to break down a stubborn Iceland defence. However, you may beat them 1-0 and defeat Argentina by the same margin. They have a terrible defence too. Mascherano and Otamendi are very vulnerable to pace.

http://www.xtratime.org/forum/381-vatreni-croatian-national-team/477138-what-we-nigerian-football-fans-think-croatia.html

He say "most expensive stadium". Hahaha. I laugh. Have you seen the grass lately? They just had some commonwealth trial there. Some Twitter handle called "makingofchampions" followed the trials. My brother, I saw pitch and I think even nama would reject the grass as being non nutritious.

krattoss:
I personally like the Egypt friendly...
Egypt is a ball playing side and their pattern is same as that of other European teams like Spain,Germany etc...

I think to play the best team in Africa currently is a welcome development for me...

And also the decision to play the match at Abuja is a top notch decision I applaud..
It's been long we played a match at the most expensive stadium in Nigeria. ..and I would like to see what the arena and atmosphere has to offer...

Good one by the nff committee. .

Just seen this reply. You know how it is on Nairaland, too many pages to read. I just respond as I read. No vex for my earlier comment.

komekn:
To be confirmed but June is the date being tentatively presented.

Venue not confirmed.

My preference Old Trafford.

Thank God u said by one side - Nigeria. Which is a lie if this friendly is being hoped for March. England's playing Netherlands and Italy. It's already pre-planned. Most of these countries tend to book their schedules ahead. The most we can get England is June....

komekn:
England vs Nigeria friendly confirmed officially by one side Nigeria.

I am sure they have someone. But these over sights happen and from Amaju's tweets, I think they were already mooting the idea of reorganizing the Technical Group. I just think this has triggered it. Expect changes sooner than expected.

junnyjake:
No one knew??

Well, it's their job to know, they are paid to know, you mean, no one is paid to read and interpret the FIFA rule book? No legal adviser to the NFF technical committee?

As I said earlier nobody in Africa knew. I'm even sure that the Asian and CONCACAF teams that have different preliminary rounds would have not known these rules. I bet every one is looking to see where the rule is embedded. Although I'm sure the WC starts with a clean slate it'll be good to ensure that no single yellow card offence is transferred to the actual WC. But I know that it's wiped out. But with FIFA u no de know when them de change rules.

junnyjake:
Wait a minute, what about the match commissioner? We were supposed to be notified immediately Shehu received that card against Zambia. "Shehu misses the next match" should have been displayed on the screen. CAF were also uninformed??

I'm hearing that Nigeria is playing Poland in Marchkudos to NFF. But please, NFF should ensure we have a 2nd game in that March window. Most teams are playing 2 games. Even non-worldcup bound teams are playing 2 friendlies. How much more a WC bound team. We could use that avenue to play against either, Denmark, Norway or Finland. I hear Lagerback is now coach of Norway and you know he moulded the core basics of the Icelandic team. I believe we can quickly get Norway to play in March. Not every time big team.

Where did you read that Algeria notified FOR A? They were as unaware as Nigerians. I dare say iy that no African nation was aware of these rules. Most single card offences wipe out after one stage of a qualifier. But hey we are all aware now. But is love to see where u read that an Algerian notified FIFA.

tbaba1234:
Algeria notified FIFA. Meaning they had our records but we did not.