₦airaland Forum

Argentina is a slightly better version of Uruguay, with the greatest player to ever walk the surface of the earth. The only reason this team made it this far was simply because of Messi. Egypt had them on the ropes but stupidly gave the game away. Switzerland played them off the field and was on their way to dispatching them out of the tournament before the red card incident. England simply threw the game away after going ahead. I was never sold on this Argentine team; it was a team running on luck and with a little magician. Spain, Portugal, and France were levels above any other team in this tournament.

World Cup contenders for me going into the tournament

France

Spain

Portugal (I taught Martinez had two balls between his legs to bench Ronaldo, and his inability to make that decision ended Portugal hopes).

Dangerous teams I had in mind that with luck and rub of the green can win it, but I still had them a level below France, Spain & Portugal.

England

Brazil

Germany

My dark horses were

Colombia

Argentina (I never really rated Argentina; I had them as a dark horse simply because of that little magician wearing number 10.)

Netherlands

Norway

Japan

Surprise Team (teams I felt could reach the quarter finals with a bit of luck)

Ivory Coast

Senegal

Turkey

USA

Mexico

I have been hearing about this Akpe Victory, and I never really commented on him because I had never seen him play before. I just finished watching the preseason friendly between FC Basel and Juventus, and this boy is good. To be that good and commanding at 19 is scary. I know it is only a preseason friendly, but this boy has caught my attention, and I will definitely be closely monitoring him this season. I am highly impressed with what I saw. The boy that I saw today will not be at FC Basel next season.

His physique and playing style remind me so much of Edmond Tapsoba the Burkinabe Bayer Leverkusen gem. Super-eagle centerback positions in the coming years will be a thing of beauty to witness the mouthwatering competition that will take place. Until the recent emergence of proper centerbacks we never really had a proper centerback since the retirement of Joseph Yobo. Eric Chelle in the coming years will have sleepless nights trying to pick the starting centerbacks in the SE.

The other Nigerian lad K. Olaigbe did not impress me at all. It is only one friendly game, so I will not totally write him off, but based on what I saw, he is nowhere near Super Eagles quality. Wish the lad good luck in his career.

Papi85:
but he has played for them in chan with another name

There are still some controversies surrounding his nationality, but when he was in great form with Gent The NFF invited him to play for Nigeria. His dad is Nigerian, and his mom is Togolese, but he was born in Nigeria. Going by FIFA rules, he has not been cap-tied in a senior official match for both nations. The Togolese football federation wanted to complicate the issue, but he made it absolutely clear to them that he was not interested in playing for Togo and that he only wanted to play for Nigeria.

Papi85:
he is Togolese so he should go ahead and play for them

He is Nigerian. He already told the Togolese that he is not interested in playing for them that he is all in for Nigeria.

Papi85:
Gift Orban to Amedspor on loan from Hoffenheim. Deal agreed in principle and personal terms agreed.

Gift Orban had a half-decent season with lowly Hellas Verona last season. He scored 7 goals in Serie A in 28 games, which is not prolific but definitely not terrible. I don't know the man personally, and I will not follow oyibo jump to the conclusion that he is hot-headed and difficult to work with, which is the allegation they have labelled against him. I believe he is today in Turkey due to those allegations.

That altercation he had with that Hellas Verona fan in the parking lot also did him no good in changing those perceptions. I rate this boy, Gift Orban; he is a deadly finisher. Some people will chuckle at this, but this boy is good enough and talented enough to be in the supereargles worldcup squad in 2030. Gift Orban needs to rebuild his image. He will need to stay level-headed, have an honest self-reflection if required, go and enrol in an anger management programme; and stay as far away from controversies as possible. Tear up the Turkish league next season, and he will be back to a good club in the top 5 leagues. The ball is in his court now.

Papi85:
💰 €30m + €2m bonuses
✍️ 4year deal
🫰30k p/W
🤝The deal is agreed
Paperwork due to be done over the weekend.
All going to plan Nwaiwu will be a Fulham player 🇳🇬
⚫⚪#FFC #Transfers #TransferNews

Good move for the lad. I remember the first time I saw him play; I knew the kid was supereagles ready. Benjamin Fedricks, Chibuike Nwaiwu, Calvin Bassey, and Emmuel Fernandez are the profiles of players we used to have in the 90s. Completely comfortable on the ball and can initiate an attack with those qualities.

Watching the supereargles in the last 10 to 15 years having to endure centerbacks that are simply not ball-playing, can't carry the ball, and always aimlessly booting the ball down the field makes it difficult for the supereargles retain possession. I also love our options at rightback. I am still not in love with any of our leftbacks. I believe this is a position that Eric Chelle should be scouting for better options.

Papi85:
📰 @PassionePescara: Victor Eletu is set to join Pescara on a permanent transfer. AC Milan will retain a 50% sell-on clause on any future transfer.

Football is a really strange sport. I watched Victor Eletu at the U20 World Cup, and I absolutely loved what I saw. Technically sound and very good on the ball with a sweet left foot. I felt that boy was a proper midfielder. In fact, I rated him at that time over Nnadi and Daniel Daga.

I saw him again last summer playing in AC Milan preseason games, and he looked good to me. Why is this boy going to Pescara in Seria C? I find it absolutely difficult to believe that this boy cannot find a decent side to join in good developmental leagues. There are centainly midtable sides in Holland, Belgium, Switzerland, Austria, or even the Czech Republic that can mold this boy in to a proper DM/CM.

Is this move simply money-motivated? Did Pescara promise him a wage too good to pass on? The Eletu I saw with AC Milan last preseason is not a Seria C level player and is a calamity he is going there. These things really break my heart. Why do these boys continue to self-destruct by chasing petty wage increases over football development? Who, for God's sake, is advancing this boy? Absolutely stunned by this news. Absolutely disgusted at how these boys often self-destruct. They just can't seem to see beyond their noses. God abeg tell me this is a fake news.

This is squarely on Tuchel. He ruined it for England with his utterly defensive approach. He completely bleeped it up for England. It is so unfortunate how a coach can ruin a game for a team. This one is 100 percent on him.

When people were shouting about how great this French team was, I never quite saw it that way. Prime Pogba, Kante, and Griezmann are levels above the current French midfielders. Michael Olisa, to me, is a better and significantly more talented version of Chukwueze, but he is not a natural 10. He is a winger that can split a defense with a pass, but he is not a real 10 like Martin Ødegaard, who is a natural creative midfielder.

Spain have better midfielders than France, and it showed up in this game. Aurélien Tchouaméni, Manu Koné, and Adrien Rabiot will not smell the Spain starting 11. None of the current French midfielders are at the same levels as prime Kanté, Pogba, and Griezmann. Spain won the midfield battle today and deservedly comfortably won the game.

Furthermore, I still have doubts about Dembele in big games. You just cannot trust him to show up on big occasions. Superstar players constantly show up on the biggest stage; Dembele constantly fails to show up on big occasions. This is why, in my opinion, I will never view him as a world-class player.

TheSuperNerd:
Chibuike Nwaiwu to Fulham for 30M Euros draws closer...

We currently have the best goalkeeping trio in Africa. I will not swap Okoye, Okonrowo, and Nwabali for any goalkeeping trio in Africa. The central defense used to be a weak point of the Supereagles, and it is now becoming the strongest position. Chibuike Nwaiwu, Calvin Bassey, Benjamin Federicks, and Emmanuel Fernandez will make Nigeria have the best center backs in Africa. The Supereagles is really getting stronger by the day. There are reports that Ethan Nwaneri and Tim Iroegbunam have had conversations with Eric Chelle, and switching nationality is now when rather than if. If the NFF just doesn't Bleep shit up, Nigeria will win one of the next two editions of AFCON, and we will make a deep run in the World Cup in 2030. For the first time since the 90s, I feel like we are building a team that can compete with anybody. The Last time i felt this way about Nigeria was in 1998. Good days ahead for the supereargles.

JohnBullMySon:
Good one for him. Hope he's able to regain his place.

I don't know why it is very difficult for AFCON breakouts to get any serious career move after.

Stanley Nwabali came at a time when Nigeria was going through a goalkeeping crisis and stabilised this position with his calm performances in AFCON 2023. There was a considerable dropoff in performances at the group stage of Afcon 2025 compared to his performances in Afcon 2023, but at the business end of the competition, he regained his mojo. His performance for Nigeria in the semifinals against Morocco was legendary.

His performances at that 2023 tournament made a lot of Nigerians fall in love with him. I like Nwabali, and my intention here is not to belittle his contributions to the Super Eagles. I have absolutely no problem with Stanley Nwabali as a man; all my opinions here are strictly based on football and not on the man as a person. I look at issues from a critical thinking point of view. If Nwabali is what a lot of Nigerians think he is then why was he playing at Chippa United? First of all, I don't really rate the South African league, and I do not think that any player playing in the South African league should be in a Super Eagles squad if we are really pushing to be a global force in world football. Let's assume that Stanley Nwabali was just unlucky with scouting and he only managed to move to Chippa United; then why has he not been able to establish himself as at least one of the top 3 goalkeepers in the South African league? He has been in the South African league for 5 years now; so why are clubs like Orlando Pirates, Mamelodi Sundowns or Kaizer Chiefs not pushing for his services if he is among the best goalkeepers in the South African league?

Tournament football is different to club football. In club football you are sometimes playing 2 games in a week for 10 months, and all your flaws and shortcomings will be exposed compared to tournament football, where you get to play 5 or 6 games the whole tournament.

I have watched him, and there are glaring fundamental flaws in his game. Stanley Nwabili, to me, is a victim of poor grassroots coaching and development in Nigeria football. He does the hard thing very well, and he struggles with the basic fundamentals like decision-making. I think his age is also a big factor. If Stanley Nwabali were in his early 20s, a club in Europe would have taken a chance on him to refine and address these flaws, but since he is 30 years old, it is just too late in his professional playing career to do that now.

I love his mentality and passion for the Super Eagles, and Stanley Nwabali, to me, should always be remembered as the guy that came in from nowhere and stabilized the Super Eagles' goalkeeping quagmire when we needed it the most. He is going to end his career having played in multiple AFCONs and hopefully 1 World Cup, and very few people on this planet can brag about that on their résumés. I wish the lad all the best.

I hear that Akor Adams has joined Venezia. I am really disappointed in this move, but I will never fault a man for chasing a living. Sometimes I really feel some of these Nigerian players cannot just see beyond their noses. Akor Adams will struggle to score for this team because Venezia will be just like another poor newly promoted Serie A side that will struggle to score all season. I don't really know what is happening behind the scenes in Sevilla, but you see, this move doesn't make sense at all. I wish the lad all success but am highly disappointed in this move because I rate Akor Adams. I like what he brings to the game for the Super Eagles. A completely effective team player for the Super Eagles.

Sugarboyy:
Are you indirectly throwing shades at Onyedika that has been at club Brugge since 1930? 😂😂

I am a big Super Eagles fan, and I dream of having a Nigerian team as strong as we used to have in the 90s. For that to happen, we need to have our players playing at the highest level. Back in the late 80s to early 90s, football was not as globalized as it is today. The Nigerian league back then was also a very good league. JJ Okocha and some of the stars we had in the early 90s that Clement Westerhoff brought to the spotlight from the local league would have been carried off to Europe at an earlier age if it were in today's market.

Football today is as much a business model as it is about winning trophies. Imagine a club gets a player from some African country for 500 thousand euros and 2 years later sells that player for 10 million euros and a 20 percent sell-on clause; if the same player is sold for 30 million euros 2 years later, this club that has spent 500k on this player would have made 15.5 million euros just in sales profits within 3 years.

This is the reason why you have scouts all over the world scouting and analyzing players because football is now a business for many clubs. This is why it irritates me when I hear people saying that a player languishing in some backwater league is there because he was just unlucky; people just cannot see what he brings to the table, he has a bad agent, or he is so unlucky.

These are all fallacies. Look at the teams that are in the quarterfinals of the World Cup. Look at their rosters, and you will see that they are filled up with players in the top 5 leagues. We often find it difficult to confront the truth in Nigeria; we consistently create justifications for mediocrity, which is why Nigeria constantly fails to perform on the global stage, as we tend to excuse every shortcoming.

Some people believe that players in the NPFL can lead Nigeria to the World Cup, and they argue that some of these players are in the league due to bad luck. Some will tell you that playing in the NPFL is not the true definition of their talent level. Just making excuses for nonsense.

AndSunGorilla:
Ok o, my eyes are on you.

If you Sabi ball you Sabi ball. People making excuses for players who no top level club want can continue deluding themselves. This boy will not be at Brentford two years from now. The first time I saw the boy l knew he Sabi ball.

Brazil needs to get away from these European influences in their game and go back to what brought them success. Seeing Holland and Brazil playing this defensive brand of football this tournament really frustrated the living hell out of me.

Holland and Brazil really introduced me to soccer with their brand of football in USA '94 and France '98. I always have a soft spot for both countries, and outside of Nigeria are always the teams I supported. We saw Holland play against their DNA versus Morocco, and they are home. Brazil played against their DNA today, and they are on their way home.

I was watching the game with my dad, and my dad was saying the Brazilian team of yesteryear would be shocked at what they are watching. My dad became a lover of football watching the 1970 Brazilian World Cup-winning team. Brazil is never and can never be a counterattacking team. It is not in their DNA. Get rid of all this European influence and go back to what made the world love the Brazilian national team. Norway dominating Brazil is an unforgiven sin against soccer and shall never be forgiven.

Carlo Ancelotti, you have committed an unforgivable sin against the lovers of Joga Bonito football associated with the Brazilian national team. Carlo Ancelotti, Brazil is not Italy; they are completely different people that thrive playing the game completely differently from each other, and trying to impose the Italian philosophy on Brazilian football is a crime against the lovers of the beautiful game.

TheSuperNerd:
Folarin Balogun red overturned...

FIFA is such a corrupt organization. When I saw the United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio advocating for the suspension of Balogun to be revoked, I knew some business deals and money had exchanged hands and Balogun's suspension would be revoked. Some of the officiating in this tournament—you can clearly see how unfair and unpredictable it has been. If Folarin Balogun were playing for an African team, I am confident that this suspension would not have been revoked.

That penalty that the referee awarded to Belgium against Senegal was incredibly harsh considering how soft the contact was and the time in the game that incident happened. Nowhere on earth would that penalty be given to an African or Asian team to knock out any of the big nations in this World Cup. They are not even doing a good job hiding this corruption anymore. FIFA is a corporation, and like most corporations, decisions and business models are designed to produce profits, and these are the reasons why we are all witnessing all these shady decisions we are getting at this World Cup.

There are clearly different rules for Ronaldo and Messi. To eliminate Ronaldo and Messi from this World Cup, you have to play a clean game, and you cannot afford to do anything that will bring VAR into consideration because it will definitely not be in your favor. That penalty they awarded Portugal against Croatia was soft, some people will say, but the defender was holding Veiga from getting to the ball, which is correct, but anybody that watches football knows that holding happens all the time inside the box, and if penalties are to be awarded anytime it occurs, we will be having at least 5 penalties every game.

Lionel Messi should have been sent off against Algeria, but I dare any referee born of a woman to send him off in a World Cup; that would be the end of his career participating as a referee in any FIFA competition. You see, people need to understand how these things work. These referees are paid and rewarded based on the number of games they officiate, and that particular referee and the VAR crew knew that a red card to Lionel Messi would have resulted in all of them being blacklisted from officiating any game in a FIFA competition.

This is a terrible Ghana team, and I am not surprised about their abysmal performance. The Ghanaian coach is on something like $120000 a month. Ghanaian journalists and fans must demand an explanation on why Jordan Ayew started every match at this World Cup and why he was on the pitch for 75 minutes today.

There must be some deep-rooted corruption going on in the GFA. The condition for appointing that man must be that Jordan Ayew should be undroppable and he must get his minutes. Carlos Quiroz cannot possibly be this bad at coaching. My 10-year-old niece can see how ineffective Jordan Ayew and Inaki Williams were today. Colombia is a significantly better team than Ghana, but Ghana's coach decided to make this game very easy for them with his absolutely boneheaded decisions today. I can never remember the last time I watched a game in which the commentators were essentially almost begging a coach to take out a player. Even the blind can see how completely ineffective Ayew was the whole game. What this man did today should be investigated.

78 Wasted minutes. SMH

Why is Jordan Ayew still in this game? Absolutely disgusting.

You set your team up to play counterattacking football, and you have a center forward who could barely move and Iñaki Williams, who is not going to outrun anybody. Their pressing is uncoordinated. Semenyo is pressing, and Jordan Ayew and Inaki Williams are too slow and lazy to press with him. Consider substituting Jordan Ayew and Inaki Williams, then bring in Abdul Fatawu and Brandon Asante. Ghana's front three should be Semenyo interchanging with Brandon Asante and Fatawu doing his thing on the right. I have not been impressed with Semenyo. Give him 10 to 15 mins in the second half, and if his performance does not improve, replace him with Sulemana or Ernest Nuamah. The right back who replaced Senaya Alidu Seidu does not appear convincing at all; perhaps a change or tweak to the system could be implemented.

I just don't know what this Jordan Ayew brings to the table. African teams and seniority nonsense.

This is the worst Australian team to ever be at the World Cup. Egypt is a significantly more talented team than Australia. You scored a goal, and all of a sudden, you are playing them like they are some European or South American powerhouse. I watched the USA and Mexico teams score against a significantly better team than Australia, and they were still pushing to score more. Africans just have this low self-esteem that I really don't know how it can be solved. Play your game. If Australia outplays you while playing your game, then you can go home knowing that you went out on your terms.

Watch how they will start playing again now. I don't understand why they all keep doing the same thing. This is so sad man.

Egypt is playing scared and it is too early to start time wasteing. You are better than this Australian team and the low self-esteem of most African teams are beginning to creep in. Go play your game.

ChrisKels:
If this boy was as good as most would want us to believe, he would be getting better offers from better leagues and clubs.

He is a good player. When I evaluate a defender, there are parameters that I look at.

1. How good they are in the air (Good, Ok, or Poor)

2. How well they read the game (positioning and anticipation) (Good, Ok, or Poor)

3. How they communicate and organize the backline (Good, Ok, or Poor)

4. Pace and recovery speed (Good, Ok, or Poor)

5. Technicality on the ball (ball carrier, ability to thread a bass that will break a pressing forward line, passing range, composure under pressure) (Good, Ok, Poor)

6. One-on-one defending (Good, Ok, Poor)

To play for a big club in Europe, you have to be good in 1, 2, 3, 5, and 6.

My ratings of prominent Super Eagles defenders. (I included Troost)

Emmanuel Fernandez, to me, is good in 1, 2, 3, and 5. He is poor in 4 and Ok in 6.

Calvin Bassey, to me, is good in 1, 3, 4, 5 and 6. He is poor in 2, and he always tries to make up for it with his athleticism. This might be the reason why big Premier League teams are holding off and are hesitant about him.

Benjamin Federicks, the reason why I highly rate this boy is that he is developing into being good in all 6 of them. I have not seen an area in the game where I would say this boy is poor in. This boy will be on a champion league contending team in 2 years.

Troost Ekong, to me, is Good in 1 Ok in 2, Good in 3, Ok in 4, Poor in 5 and Ok in 6.

Semi Ajayi is Good in 1, Ok in 2, Ok in 3, Poor in 4, Poor in 5 and Ok in 6

charlesemeka85:
🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿➡️🇹🇷🎙️Galatasaray has opened negotiations to sign Emmanuel Fernandez, the 24-year-old Rangers defender.

The offer would be £17 million, the player has shown interest in transferring to Istanbul and has already received positive recommendations from Victor Osimhen about the club.

Fotogol 📰

Can the Turkish league please refrain from pursuing our players? Why are these motherfuckers always chasing Nigerian players like a buck chasing a doe during mating rut season? This is fucking getting annoying, man. Fucking leave us alone. They are chasing Osimhen, Lookman, Iwobi, Bassey, Onyedika, and Chukwueze; they swear una for Nigerian players. Leave us the Bleep alone. Is it by force?

Does Oshimhen actually want to win anything for Nigeria? Because if he does, why is he encouraging players that will actually help him win something to come to a bad, subpar league like the Turkish league? Emmanuel Fernandez, please aim higher. If you go to Turkey, 90 percent of the games you will play will be against English League 1 quality opponents, and you are only in the Champions League to make up the number. You are good enough for a solid, established top 8 team in the top 5 leagues in Europe. Do not waste your talent in that backwater league.

opes:
Internal team tensions in Senegal camp, maybe the reason they lost..

The Senegalese team I saw at this World Cup just did not look right to me. I really thought there was something off about that team. Pape Gueye was very good for Villarreal this past season; he is by far Senegal's best midfielder. I can never understand why he was getting benched in some Senegalese games. He was running the midfield today and never looked tired to me, and when he was substituted in the early part of the second half, I was stunned.

I said it before that I never really rated that Senegalese coach, and I advocated that Senegal need to go get a proper coach after the World Cup because I felt he was just getting carried by the talent on that Senegalese team. Kalidou Koulibaly, Idrissa Gueye, and Sadio Mane now need to make way for the younger generation to take over.

Senegal needs to go and appoint a proper football head coach that will tactically, mentally, and psychologically get that team ready for AFCON 2028, 2029, and the 2030 World Cup. Coaching is a big part of football; if Eric Chelle was the manager of this Senegalese team, you would have seen a high-tempo, high-pressing team that would have been on the front foot. He would have taken this Senegalese team to at least the quarterfinals in this competition.

Pape Thiaw a décidé de niquer notre match à partir de ce moment-là.

Même en chaise roulante et sur une seule jambe, Pape Gueye est 10.000 fois meilleur que Pape Matar Sarr et Lamine Camara réunis.

Pape Gueye savait pic.twitter.com/n6fs6y4hDL

— ABDOU FALL (@ABDUUUFAAAAL) July 1, 2026

/video/1

Disgraceful Senegal. 4 games at the World Cup and 3 losses against European teams. African champions kpai them there. The dumbest team I have seen at the World Cup for a very long time. Let them run an IQ test. I can bet my mortgage that none of these Senegalese players have an IQ higher than 60.

I have not been this angry for a long time. How can a team at this level simply throw it all away like this fucking team by simply making dumb decisions and lacking concentration? Senegal and a lot of these African teams have talented low-IQ players. They simply cannot concentrate and play for a prolonged period of time.

Senegal is better than this Belgian team, but this Belgian team simply have smarter players. The problem we have in Africa is that the brightest among us just don't really play sports. Most of the people that play sports in Africa are usually from poor, educationally deprived areas.

Senegal simply gave the game away through just a simple dumb decisions. It is really frustrating and annoying watching these African teams. Just plain dumb players with an inability to fully concentrate. Why are they always conceding late near stoppage times or in stoppage times? That fucking P.M. Sarr is a fucking disgrace of a footballer, and he is definitely on his way to Turkey. There is nowhere in hell that fucker is a Premier League player. Disgraceful Senegal.

Senegal, you are better than this Belgian team. Don't take your foot off the pedal and start trying to hang on. Continue playing and start looking to score more. Do they have that mentality, or will they go back to the normal routine of playing scared when up against supposedly superior opponents? Go and beat this team.

Amedino99:
Bad belle aside the numbers are not looking good bruh. 9 teams to the round of 32, we are currently down 3 remaining 5. At this rate we might not even make 50%. Makes all the group stage action initial gra gra

Morocco, Senegal, Algeria, and Egypt were the only 4 African sides that realistically had any chance of making it into round 16. Dr. Congo played the best football I have seen them play in a very long time, and that team should be welcomed as heroes back home. They played Portugal, Colombia, and England, and they were never outclassed or humiliated. Those boys gave everything they had today, and you cannot possibly ask for more. DR Congo is a good team. If Dr. Congo can get an elite-level striker, with the coming of Senny Mayulu, this team will be a stronger contender for AFCON 2027.

The Ivory Coast historically has underperformed on the world stage. Even their golden generation failed to make it past the group stages. They are the most talented African team alongside Morocco, but there is something psychologically wrong with Ivory Coast at World Cups. They keep losing concentration, and they keep conceding late-minute goals.

They conceded in stoppage time against Greece in 2014, which knocked them out of that World Cup. They conceded in extra time against Germany, which could have pitted them against Paraguay instead of Norway, which I believe is a very dangerous team in this tournament. I have learned to not trust Ivory Coast in World Cups. They have concentration problems.

Cape Verde and Dr. Congo, round of 32 opponents, are World Cup contenders, and so I expected both of them to lose. South Africa to me is just not a very good team. South Africa reached the World Cup primarily because Nigeria self-destructed, which was anticipated due to the widespread decay and corruption affecting every aspect of life in Nigeria. The rest of the team outside Nigeria in that group was weak; the corrupt CAF president allowed them to play 80 percent of their World Cup matches at home. Talent-wise, South Africa is not even a top 15 country in Africa.

It will take a heroic effort for Ghana to make it past Colombia. I don't really see that happening. I have my fingers crossed for Senegal simply because this Belgian team is old, and if Senegal plays with no fear like they played against France in their first game, they will send this Belgian team packing tonight. Egypt and Algeria are simply down to favorable matchups. Egypt is better than Australia, and I don't really rate the Swiss team.

The Ivory Coast has nothing to be ashamed of; they played well today, and they were beaten by a very good, well-drilled Norwegian team with the best striker in the world. If Ivory Coast had Erling Haaland, they would have beaten this Norwegian team today.

People saying Ivory Coast relaxed after scoring have probably never played any form of competitive football in their lives. From experience, it takes a lot of energy to push and get yourself back into a difficult match, and most times when you do, you need some time to recover and recoup to your regular routine. These players are human beings; they are not robots, and they cannot sustain the extra energy they exerted to get themselves back into the game.

Today's loss was not on the players; the Ivorian coach showed a lot of inexperience in this game. Coaching is still a big part of winning at the highest level, and I don't think a lot of these African teams can really afford to go and get grade A coaches. If you watched the Brazil and Japan game yesterday, you could see how Carlo Ancelotti tactically won that game for Brazil in the second half. This is why he is on 7 million dollars a year, something no African FA can afford.

Frank Kessie at this point in his career, should not be playing 90 mins a game, and the Ivorian coach should have refreshed that midfield before they conceded. I understand Pepe has been having a good tournament, and he actually played well today, but Bonny has not really brought anything to the team this tournament. I don't know why he started today's game, and he definitely should have been replaced at halftime. Diomande, Pepe, and Diallo should have started this game today. The Ivory Coast should have played a false 9 today.

Norway is a very good team and can beat anybody in this tournament on their day. One more thing that I think academies all over Africa need to start putting emphasis on is striking a soccer ball. A lot of the African players are still significantly behind their European and South American counterparts when it comes to striking the football.

All in all it was a good World Cup for Ivory Coast; they played 3 games against really top-quality oppositions, and they were at no time looked as an inferior opponent to any of them.

Germany were never going to win this World Cup. Their games against Ivory Coast and Ecuador exposed them as a simply mediocre team. Injury to Lennart Karl was a nail in their coffin because he was the one player who was on form and could actually take players on.

Jamal Musiala has been a shadow of himself since coming back from that devastating injury, and I am really worried if he will ever be the player he once was. Florian Wirtz has been subpar and off form all season, so counting on him to turn it on in this World Cup was actually wishful thinking. I anticipated their victory over the Paraguay team, but I also expected France to easily brush them aside in the round of 16.

Football is changing, and the gap between the elite teams and everybody else is closing. Brazil narrowly escaped Japan, and I expect many upsets in these knockout rounds.

Spain is another of the elite teams I'm paying close attention to in this World Cup. Yamal and Williams are not fully fit, and the dynamism this duo brought to the Spanish national team has not been there in this World Cup; the Spain we are seeing is the same old team that dominates positions but does little with it. I can easily see Austria ending their World Cup dreams on Thursday.

Outside of France, I have not seen any of the so-called elite teams in this tournament that I will say look scary and almost impossible to beat. Argentina, England, and Spain are beatable on any given day. This is a wide-open World Cup if you take out France, who I simply think is just too loaded.