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BascoVanVeli:
5 Players Nigeria' Super Eagles need back against Cameroon

Colin Udoh, KweséESPN

As was to be expected, the slipstream trailing Nigeria's 2019 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying loss to South Africa continues to flow days later, and shows no signs of abating.

At least, not until the next game ...

Crisis meetings have been called by both the NFF and Sports Minister Solomon Dalung in a bid to decipher what went wrong against Bafana Bafana in Uyo on the weekend.

In the meantime, here are five players that Nigeria coach Gernot Rohr needs to have back for the 2018 World Cup qualifier double-header against Cameroon in August and September.

LEON 'TERMINATOR' BALOGUN
A beast in defence, Balogun not only has the intelligence to read plays, but the legs and lungs to hunt things down and terminate them either before they start, or at the point of danger. With him in the game, the probability is high that Nigeria would not have conceded the first of two goals against Bafana Bafana, and it is doubtful the Super Eagles would have suffered the breakdown that led to the second.

Here is why: either William Troost-Ekong or Balogun is normally designated to attack set-pieces in the opposition box, while the other stays home. In Saturday's game, the defensive midfielder (Ogenyi Onazi) and one other defender (Shehu on this occasion) stayed back to defend against breakaways and somehow lost their man. If Balogun was in the team, either he or Ekong would have remained, and Percy Tau would not have had the time and space he got to race away and score.

If Balogun gets fit, and stays fit till that Cameroon game, that defence will perk up considerably.

JOHN OBI MIKEL
Many have spent much of Mikel's international career defending his immense importance to the Nigeria team when many were questioning what value he adds. Now it is obvious for all to see.

Mikel is no flashy Austin Okocha-style number 10. What he gives is a world-class ability to control the midfield with calm efficiency and direct play at his own pace, forcing both his teammates and opponents to play the game his way. More like an Andrea Pirlo, Michael Carrick and Paul Scholes combo in one.

His reading of the game and the way he breaks up play is second to none, and his passing (in range and accuracy) is almost peerless in Africa. Deployed in a free, albeit advanced role, for Nigeria he has recently added the odd goal to his toolkit, as he showed against Algeria.

With him in the team, Nigeria would have found the solution to open up the narrow Bafana tactics, Iheanacho would have had chances, and every single player on the team would have a calm, controlled and available outlet under pressure.

Mikel's rehabilitation is going swimmingly and he should be ready for Cameroon.

VICTOR MOSES
The Chelsea star has the ability to open up the tightest of defences, especially from wide, or to arrive at the right time inside the box for a simple finish. With him out wide, the Super Eagles could probably have scored one of those first half chances they created.

Victor Moses is always a dangerous attacking winger for Nigeria and is also great at tracking back to support his fullback, a lapse that cost the Eagles the first goal, when both the left-back and wide forward pinched in, leaving defensive midfielder Onazi as the man to try to stop the cross that led to the goal.

Hopefully Moses recovers on time from his toe surgery to bring the cutting edge back in September.

ODION IGHALO/BROWN IDEYE
Now this is a choice that Rohr will not like because he is all about building a team of young players. But looking at Saturday's game, Nigeria needed an old-fashioned centre-forward who could have given the South African centre-backs more than enough to think about.

They needed someone who could have knocked down balls and held up play for arriving midfielders or wide forwards. It is hard to recall Iheanacho winning one aerial battle, even though his hold-up play was of a generally decent level. At least one of these two are desperately needed in the team at any point in time.

Rohr, who does not appear to rate players playing in China - except for Mikel - would do well to get one of these in when he names his squad for Cameroon.

VINCENT ENYEAMA
This chap needs to come back ASAP. Rohr has spoken to him, communicates with him regularly, and is hoping he will change his mind about not playing for the Super Eagles. KweséESPN understands from sources close to the player that he is mulling over the situation.

His presence, organization and stability he brings to the back - not to mention his quality goalkeeping in one-vs-one situations - will greatly help an inexperienced backline. In the absence of Balogun or a competent defender, Enyeama would have attacked that ball before Tokelo Rantie got to it and that first goal could have been avoided.

For the second, Enyeama would have called Shehu and Onazi to watch Tau on that breakaway and would have been quick off his line to meet him halfway to stop the ball. In any case, whenever the Super Eagles attack, Enyeama is always outside his box. He probably would have got to that ball before Tau.

The Lille goalkeeper is still in great form, and only missed two games of the French Ligue 1 season with injury. His return would not only provide a confidence boost for the squad, but would mean that Carl Ikeme's injuries would not be cause for hair-tearing. Until he decides whether he wants to return or not, Nigeria will just have to hope that Ikeme is fit for Cameroon.

superb, jst crazily superb, jst what we need, is a vis positional play,

who ever comply dis list for UDO to write up, should be in NFF technical committee,

furthermore, we need a competent and technically, tactically minded assist for ROHR, and a good goalkeeper trainer, not AGU

Napoleon55:
e taya dem .

ah tell you..

Mickael2:
unfortunately he is a nigerian. If he was a white guy he would have been in one top club and he wouldn't even need to study anymore, or he can study while playing. Here in Nigeria football takes all your time

that's the sad reality of the system we find ourselfs

AIG07:
All this claim that Godswill Akpabio International stadium is bewitched to me holds no water and if we must change our home venue then the national stadium in Lagos should be next on the line-it has proved to be the best ground for our national teams over the years and never to abuja cos uyo is far better than that national stadium in abuja in structure and support...

I don't tink the stadia is the main problem, most of our home loses has always come on a SATURDAY, I don't tink we have break that Saturday jinx yet,

even our nations cup win was on a SUNDAY,

Mickael2:
Vanzekin(hope that's the name), is studying Engineering in a university in Nigeria, can't remember the exact one

yes you get it, but that guy is a goalie ooo

Guys wetin dey happen nah, chaiii na wa ooooo, original wa......
since we lose that game, who done see our ogas for this thread,

abi dem kidnap dem,
wia THESUPERNERD

. TBABA

even SAFARIGIRL sef ?, chaiii defeat oooooooo........ See wetin e don cos

Daninya11:
I learnt Ambrose has gone back to school..

maybe, cos tha last I heard of him, I think warri wolves

Daninya11:
Favouritism and incompetency..

Between akpeyi and agbim ,who is better?.

Do you anything about the whereabout of Ejide,Greg Etaphia,Ambrose,Aiyenugba dele( pk expert)?

I think ETAFIA is still in south African, while ejide still ISREAL, and maybe same with DELE, , but VENZIKI is in NPFL

Daninya11:
To be honest with you,I have listened and read how former ex footballers and coaches have clamoured for a better shot stoppers for all our national teams.

Most of them want Akpeyi to be axed from the team.I forsee this is the end of Akpeyi.Alloy Agu has been lackadaisical with this sensitive department of the team.If he is not ready to sit up,he should ship out.

can you imagine him leaving AKPEYI out of trainings and still we went ahead to field him after jst one or two training season, what does that says to you

Daninya11:
The highlights of the NFF technical committee were as follows;
1.Coach Rohr match day squad will be vetted by the technical committee.He must give reasons why each player was selected.
2.Only after the technical comtee are satisfied with the match day squad before the match day squad team list will be made public.
3.Coach Rohr will make the match day squad team list public before journalist in a press conference.
4.Coach Rohr will answer questions raised by journalists in the press conference.He will defend why he selected his players.
5.A thorough search for better goalkeeper for all our national team has began.They are not satisfied with the choice of some gk when the need arises.

no 5, is good and ok, but we have ALAMPASU , and wee need a keeper like ENYEAMA, and a goalkeeper trainer like AMUSA ADISA, to mature and prepare the keepers for any task ahead

sontoly:
hahahhahaahhaa, let's get over all this old legs, so because we lost now means we shld call back all this old legs, may be martins n osaze never lost a match when they played.
please we shld look ahead and let retired players rest they have done their best.

that's y we will continue to fail, once. We saw a promising youngster, we jst discard our old reliable legs, all in the name them don old,

we need those old guards to show the youngsters how its being done, when the going get tougher,

so to my best knowledge, ENYEAMA, MARTINS,IGHALO,IDEYE,AMBROSE, ALUKO, even OSAZE, and some who I can't remember are still needed, to show those young exciting talent of ours how its being done

Iamtosignno:
It been long time ago now bought it 18K then in January 2016

new one,, do you thinks its still in the market

Iamtosignno:
Gionee are one of the best their phones are bomb experience from my Gionee M3Mini

how much did you buy it

Garrirevenge:
Yeah there are...

babe ah go fear you ooooo, garri ke

Loyalblak007:
I have been hearing about "them" but am yet to come across one

and when i mean *virgin guys*... Can a guy actually be in a relationship and stay without sex for 6 months or more or probably not even having a thought of it at all?

you dey find virgin guy ni Shey you be virgin girl sef,
Dem virgin guys dey, and if you dey find one, look no further than ma nick

but ah sure say you be virgin,

If I might ask What are the basic things

slyrone:
igbos have a big problem, today they want someone from their tribe to be the president, tomorrow they ll agitate for Biafra. Make dem make their mind up abeg and stop the blame game. what has the south eastern governors done for their respective states.

thank you!........ Even top position in GEJ government were had by igbos, not forgetting COAS,

let AMEACHI continue his blame game, those that knows better will just be shaking their heads at his stupidity

YOUNGSTUNNA:
I foresee dem selling it at 1.5m ...
I fear Nokia and Samsung prices

that's what happens from durable, trusted brands

Interesting!!!!...... Now I know why some people get cocks like a five years old

signz:
I'm not sure we have another big tall Striker that can hold on to the ball like Anichebe.

Apart from Ideye and Anichebe, we also need to check that tall Nigerian striker that plays for migdtland in Denmark.

All I know is that we need a serious mix of experience and youth in SE. We need Enyeama back, Efe Ambrose and for the love of God we should never bench Omeruo for Awaziem to play. Awaziem should be prepared for next Olympic.

Midfield and attack we need the likes of Sone, Ideye, Anichebe/any other tall big striker.

This thread is a goldmine and sincerely wish NFF big wigs and Rohr are reading all the comments here.

that's it, cos am sure if they are reading it, all naija players around the world would be invited ,

on a serious note you are right to said so, but we can make it easier for them, by sharing a link of this thread to their TWITTER, FACEBOOK, SNAPCHAT, and their website,

by so doing we will be killing two to four birds with a stone

[quote author=piice post=57481385][/quote]wwich happens to be you

tbaba1234:
What does airport have to do with the present subject? Why did you relate it to GEJ? The state of infrastructure in the country under GEJ is nothing to write home about. Nothing.. Picking one airport from the host of dilapidated and abandoned infrastructure show the level of prevarication, you have stooped to defend incompetence.

What was the budget allocation for capital expenditure during the more than 5 years of GEJ run?

sorry to disgree with you, even if I agree , what had your change achieve since two yrs in office

SAFARIGIRL, she is such a darling, and with her there is no boredom

chiwetaluAGU:
Police should take care of this ... nothing tribal here biko. It could have been the other way round. Una good morning.

yea, you are right, but those hausas/Fulani's,
need to understand something very important, all they care about are themself and their daggers

smartty68:
In the other way round,
1. FG should be summoned before its citizens for why they've caused untold hardships faced today in the country.

2. And why the changes so far has been on paper and virtual...

3. And why CBN FX interventions has been futile...

4. And why the $100 limits placed on Naira MasterCard...

5. And why there have not been uninterrupted power supply since the APC government took over...

6. Add yours..

7. Why had there been uninterrupted fulanis kill,

8. Why is a cow more valuable than a human life

guys add yours oooo......

Chaiii na wa ooo, see what a defeat in our opening qualifier did to this thread,

hmmmmm jst wondering what will happen in we don't...............

if you put qualify nah you sabi

maidaboi:
When we win with this players nobody came here to critizised us here, now we lose every body is saying what he want continue
you will all put to shame again

bros ah Taya oooo

somebody even say make we recall IKEME &AINA

Buying her expensive gifts,

ghu to be fair, you still have alot to do, you meet her January dis year, and its straight into dating, do you knows what that means to her, its means DESPERATE,


you having moni and hiding it from her means, NOT TRUSTING HER,

she had been acting weird not chatting wit you, always on twitter means, YOU DO NOT ACCORD HER THE ATTENTION she need,

blocking her, and wanting to move on without, doing anything to know the reason for her actions, means............. PRIDE &ARROGANCE ,

finally marriage is a PROJECT, a FUTURE PROJECT,

if you need my advice let me know thanks

talk2rotman:
development.
thats what we want.
more of it in jesus name.....garri, rice and beans next

guy no deceive yourself, when I buy fuel last week nah still 150, and how much you tink say dey go sell diesel, even kerosine sef still, cost,

if ah ask, who get maind use diesel cook, no be die be dat
even gas wey our momsi, market women dey use cook still high,

go filling station go do some research dia

as for GARRI, BEANS & RICE,

for those three, until those herdsmen, leave our farmers corps alone, we will continue to feel the sting of high cost

NwaAmaikpe:
nice one.
This is just a metaphor... Jesus is probably one of the prison wardens

If old woman like this could not stay celibate in prison...

You wonder why cases of married women infidelity are so common where she's from.

lolzzzz guy you bad ooo, sorry for her small nah