₦airaland Forum

andrew444:
Thank you for telling that guy there was zero power from that shot.

If na super eagles keeper do that blunder dem no go allow us hear word

There was no way dat keeper go catch dat Banana curved ball that passed over the Spanish wall. Impossible.

Except em wan bend or he should stand behind his wall and expose the net.

People should not try to take anything away from dat master class freekick that the keeper can't save. EOD

andrew444:
French team thou,Nobody up to 30 apart from the goal keeper

Do you mean the first eleven or the whole team?

andrew444:
Mikel is a DM he played DM in his Chelsea and he his playing DM in china so he his a DM and not an AM

Players are judge with club performance.

Belhanda john utaka and Oliver giroud made montepieller won the French league.

Mikel is played lately as an attacking midfielder in his club.

Mujtahida:
I go with Marcus the mystic pig jare. At least they gave us his history and it shows 100% accuracy. No be one mumu farah the falco with no history whatsoever, whose brain has been fried by the hot sun of the Arabian desert.

Whether the pig is right or wrong, his prediction aligns with my desires and in classic confirmation bias I go with the pig oo

As an aside: pigs are reputed to be very intelligent animals.

Now, that is hilarious. Hahahaha!

Hmmm!

TheSuperNerd:
Rohr: Super Eagles Physically Ready For Croatia; Russians Should Support Their In-Law Mikel, Son Idowu


https://wwwcompletesportsnigeriacom-xzvtxvtv.stackpathdns.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Super-Eagles-3.jpg
By Nnamdi Ezekute in Kaliningrad:


Super Eagles head coach Gernot Rohr has stated that the team is battle ready for Saturday’s Group D clash against Croatia at the Kaliningrad Stadium and stated he will make a final decision on the starting line-up on the eve of the game, Completesportsnigeria.com reports.

The three-time African champions will hope to start their campaign on a winning note when they confront the Vatreni here in Kaliningrad on Saturday.

“Now the team is ready. We are physically ready. We have two training sessions today (Wednesday) and we will see the players again,” Rohr stated during his interaction with the media at the team’s base in Essentuki.
“We have a full week in Russia and the players showed good commitment. Technically and tactically we have three days to work on some things.

Rohr benched Ogenyi Onazi in the team’s final build-up game against Czech Republic a week ago with Israel-based midfielder John Ogu now firm favourite to start ahead of The Trabzonspor midfielder.

The likes of Tyronne Ebuehi and Oghenekaro Etebo are also pushing for starting berths in the team having impressed in training but the German is not willing to give out any information on what his line-up will look like for the game.
“We have our team in our heart already but we will wait till the final moment before we give it out,” Rohr declared.
“We spent nine days in Austria, two training sessions everyday.
“This preparation gives us a possibility to see who is fit physically and who needs more time to be ready.”

The Super Eagles will come up against an experienced Croatia side with a number of quality stars like Luka Modric, Ivan Rakitic, Mario Mandzukic, Ivan Perisic and co but the German coach believes his side’s enthusiasm can help them beat the Croats.

“Croatia watched us against England and Czech Republic. The game will be a good one for both teams. It is an important game for the two teams as it is good to start with a win,” Rohr added.
“They are more experienced than us but we have young team. There is big enthusiasm in the team. You know this desire, big enthusiasm can make a team perform better.”

The former Niger Republic and Gabon coach also provided update on the injury front and delivered positive news on defender Tyronne Ebuehi who picked a nose injury during training on Tuesday.

“Yesterday, we had a little shock in camp.Tyronne Ebuehi had a nose injury. It was not a broken nose. The doctors did a good job,” Rohr stressed.
“The treatment was okay. Aside from that little injury, everyone is fit at the moment.”

He also spared a thought for the duo of Moses Simon and
Carl Ikeme, two members of the team who are be in Russia due to injury and Illness.

[i]“Before we came here, Moses Simon was injured but he is getting better now. He was not able to make the final 23,” he added.
“We have our goalkeeper Carl Ikeme who is always in our mind all the time.
“All the players here are fit. The challenge for us is to work hard without sustaining any injury. ”[/i]

The likes of Ahmed Musa, Bryan Idowu are well known to the Russian fans, while skipper of the side Mikel Obi is married to a Russian and Rohr hopes that will work in his side’s favour.


“The distance here from one city to another is very long. But our camp is nice and peaceful. There is good possibility to recover,” he revealed.
“We arrived here late in the night because of the delay we had and some of our luggage is still not here. We got here around 1am and people still came out to welcome us.
“We have some our players who have special relationship with Russia. Idowu who is Russian and Nigerian born and Musa who plays for CSKA Moscow.
Of course there is also Mikel who is married to a Russian. We hope this will help us get the sympathy of the Russian public.
“We won’t have the possibility of our fans back home coming out to support us as the distance is very far but we hope the fans can give us their support
because of these players.
“Croatia is not far from here and we expect their fans to come out in large numbers to support their team.”


Source: https://www.completesportsnigeria.com/rohr-super-eagles-physically-ready-for-croatia-russians-should-support-their-in-law-mikel-son-idowu/


Russia 2018 Final clock countdown: 18 hours to go

Humility017:
http://punchng.com/world-cup-magical-pig-predicts-nigeria-three-others-will-make-it-to-semi-finals/

Without the predictions, I think we can go far after seeing the chat. It looks to good.

Mickael2:
When I make reference to a good African coaches I always use Siasia.

a cursory look at that 2008 Olympics shows everything that Africa needs to excel. First of all we do not need a foreign coach, there is a bone in the foot which Europeans call Os Magnum but here we have another name for it. So it is in every field, what they know from their cradle is way way different from the basics we learn here. so how do you expect a foreign coach to be able to make use of our own basics while teaching us? The few White men who have come close to learning this have flourished way more than expected with lesser talented teams. Let the truth be told as at 1994 we did not have that much talent in our squad, most were raw players who later developed into good players during the 1998 World Cup but we had a far better tournament in 1994, Why? Because the coach in 1994 was one of the few guys who knew how the basics of African football. He was one of the few that understood that Africans had egos so he tried as much as possible to let that flow. There was a conversation I had with Siasia a long time ago and he said that the coach would come to....say Okocha and tell him something like ' you know you are a way better dribbler than Amuneke, show what you have', he will go to Amuneke and tell him ' you know you can easily bully your way through defences unlike that tiny Okocha with brown hair, show what you got'. In these two statements he has managed to tap into each man's ego but under this he still maintains this kind of strict African parental care which the players then were used to. He didn't care about the formation that other teams are playing, he used the one that he knew would suit our ability to run from 0-90mins. Trust me if this 3-5-2 formation was available then he would have used it or even a 3-4-3 to fully utilise out ability to run and also give our flair players the opportunity to express themselves and if he had cracked that then, that match against Italy would have easily been a 4-0 scoreline never mind that 1-2 loss. If Westerhoff had been able to take Nigeria to another CAF he would have won it again because he had imbibed the African basics and he totally ignored the European style of football. Another coach who has seemingly imbibed this African basic is Harve Renard and that's why he can take any team now to the summit of African football, trust me if he had the talent we have in this present super eagles squad, making the semifinals would have been very very possible. Beside all that, only a few African coaches sef understand that we have our basics too which they need to consider when coaching African teams. Imagine person like Amuneke wan coach Nigeria like we are Barcelona. it may work for U17 players who do not have any club, no ego and no stand but when they start getting clubs and the ego starts setting in he will fail, forget the tactics. He may go to a European club and start performing wonders no problem but not with our national team. Keshi and Siasia are perfect examples of people that have been able to inculcate those African basics into their coaching. If only they could eliminate greed and pick players based on form and merit we wouldn't be needing any foreign coach at all. For a normal European social media life has nothing to do with your performance, for us Africans social media has led to a greater failure rates in school, so a foreign coach may come and lay absolutely no emphasis on social media life thinking it has no business with our performance but then it does. In their club sides were they know that they need to perform else they will get kicked out how many of them have the time to post these number of pictures that they have been posting? that's one part of the reasons.



then we come down to tactics. What works for us? in the three world cups that we have performed well our wingers and SS have been very good, never mind the strikers themselves. Players like Babatunde and Osaze were the main reasons why we got to the round of 16 in 2014. But who are our wingers presently? Which of them can damage opponents? Victor Moses isn't even much of a threat to me and when you consider that we have like 4 or 5 other terrific wingers who could cause serious damage you start to wonder if the coach does not know what works for us. Is Iwobi a terrific winger? OK he is a good SS why still play him in that wing role? destroying two buildings at once. Emenike did not score a single goal at the World Cup and neither did Yakubu score from open play in 2010 and who was the main striker in 1998? many may recall the name because he is popular not because he did anything important in that tournament so this criticism of Ighalo is pointless to me, so long as he puts in a good shift for the team I am okay. Again the coach has the option of playing a 3-5-2 or 3-4-3 which would give us the ability to run and run and use that to our advantage but he decides to stick with a 4-2-3-1 formation? no need saying more.




Finally team chemistry. You won't get that by playing together for two weeks, probably Hummels and Boateng will be the first choice CBs for Germany, two players that started playing together from U20 and are in the same club. Ramos and Pique, players who study each other every week since they play in the same league. I can assure you that Balogun has never even watched Ekongs matches for his club side never mind the fact that they have hardly played together for 6-7 times. The only semblance to team chemistry that we have is between Onazi and Mikel which is why till today Onazi performs better with Mikel no argument but that alone will not work since we now play with Mikel higher up the pitch. In football, national teammates actually influence the movement of players, De Gea wanted to go back to Madrid because of that, Neymar to PSG and some others. but presently how many clubs have more than one Nigerian team? I wouldn't blame anybody for that though.


In conclusion I believe the right mixture of team chemistry, proper tactics and proper tactician/manager/team father would be enough for us to win the world cup

I am still trying to figure out the bolded on how we will play with just one winger. Peradventure, this is one is out of a game, how do we play?

Well, make I dey look. No bi say wingers no bokun but Rohr has another idea.

TheGoodJoe:
Fine point. The bolded is what I agree with. We just need to refine our U17 model but work with it on a higher level. From the selection to playing style. If we do this, we fly.

I agree. As you said, we must refine and at the same time be able to switch to another style.

Mujtahida:
I so appreciate your perspective on this issue and your suggestions are quite beautiful. I agree with you that different countries in Europe have different playing styles but whatever the style Europeans always want to play in an organised way and currently because of the infusion of technology into football, the emphasis on organised football is increasing. I believe we don't have to play that way. We can infuse effectiveness into our style. Our style from the 90's wasn't exactly European Sir. No European country played the way we played in 90's.

But on the whole I agree with your points.

I agree with you without any reservation on the bolded.

I think we adopted the Dutch style of play in the 90s. Anyway, I get your point but which why forward?

Mujtahida:
MY THOUGHTS ON THE EVE OF THE WC
since 2002 no country apart from european countries has won the WC(and more european countries have won the WC than any other country from other continents since the inception of the FIFA WC in 1930. while it can be argued that this is because europeans have proportionately more teams than other continents -could there be other causes?) could this be as a result of the fact that global football is tailored to suit the style, the nature and character of Europeans?
take this issue of pressing that has almost become the alfa tactics employed by most teams for example. it is about choking and pressuring the opposition when they(the opposition) have the ball. now i think this is what happened: europeans eliminated the dribble(yes dribbling is almost dead) because i do not see how pressing can be effective when you have a team of good ball dribblers. can you press maradona, or okocha or any team with a good number of dribblers like Brazil 82 team? they will just dribble themselves out of the choke and pass the ball to a team mate who is free from the press. just a moment of sheer individual brilliance, a sweet turn, a flick and dance with the ball and the whole press will collapse.but you see what europeans have done: they eliminated the dribble, clamped down on individual displays and erected a temple to the god of passing, passing, passing and laid more emphasis on team game.
europeans thrive on organization and efficiency: they hate anything disorganized which is how they regard anything free flowing(meanwhile africans want expressiveness and flair). check out classical european music, opera and the ballet dance. everything is timed and organized. the world of music was cold until africans and south americans(and it was still africans if you know your history)with the their toms toms, sense of natural rhythm and free flowing dance brought in the blues, jazz and pop culture was born. for the life of me i have tried to enjoy mozart, bach, handel and others but omo i still prefer the sound of the gong, ekwe, beaded gourd and talking drum. to the european ear african music is disorganized but as africans we know theres a method to that seeming "disorganization". our music is all about rhythm and improvisation.

my point is we must break away from this european model of playing football: we cannot beat them when it comes to an organized approached to football. no wonder xavi said that they understand football as a space-time concept. this is nothing but the scientific european mind speaking. the black man has no such concept. (thats why he cannot operate by the 24 hour clock). africans understand football as a dance, as rhythm, as beat, as robustness and vigour.
this is how we must play our football. we must play football according to our soul. we are africans and its not a matter of race- its a matter of an outlook on life which we can perfect and use to define our game.

my brothers i would appreciate your thoughts on this issue
cc
Icobn4s
asha80
bascovanveli
goldfish80
tbaba1234
safarigirl
servik
kennysville
oasis07
thesupernerd
goodjoe
joebie
chriskels
davep
AIG
mikael2
kog45
forgiveness
soetanoluwa
martz07
charlesemeka
and every other esteemed poster on this great thread

First of all, from what I deduced from your write up, is that, the reason Europe has won more world cup has to do with the fact that global football is tailored to suit the style, the character and the nature of the Europeans, and that Africans have to break away from this European model of football, if at all we want to win the trophy.

If this is so, I will agree with you on the fact that football has been tailored to suit the style of the European but I don't agree that this style has failed us because this same European style won us the Olympics, the AFCON, took us to the finals of the U20 and even recently won us the U17 World cup twice (Manu Garba & Amuneke tiki taka football).

The reason African have not really done well using Nigeria as a case study has to do with lack of winning mentality, ego among players, biased selection of players, consistency (which has to do life span of Nigerian players), disunity and the fact that Nigerian players are not in the best clubs in the world.


Although, a template for a style of play can be created and adopted before it is passed down on players at a very tender age but to achieve this, we mus have a functional and well equipt age grade academies that must be run by every clubsides that want to operate in any of our tier leagues.

These clubs and League must also be bouyant enough to attract and retain players from all over third World countries or other countries interested. And players from this league must be able to work straight into any of the top 5 leagues in Europe.

My point is that the financial aspect of it must be able to allow players stay for long to master this adopted style of play, so that even if these players go abroad to learn another style, they can quickly adapt to our style once they are assembled together. Else, anything short of this will not work and we will be forced to play only according to the European style.

However, Each European has different style of play. The Italians adopted park the motor and counter attack style of football and it won them the 2006 World cup if I am correct. In 2010, Spain adopted Cruff tiki taka football to win the world cup while the Germans subdued the world with their compact fast counter attack football and technology.

These styles of play didn't start yesterday, they ran it for years in their academy and even mastered it playing together in the league.


For me to win the world cup, we must either use the method that won us the Olympics, U17 etc or we develop our league and adopt a style of play.

andrew444:
Not too late,age is on his side.

John didn't play top flight football till his 28 and it's even in Portugal before he ended up in Israel,if he will have a good World Cup who knows

Make we dey see den.

TheSuperNerd:
On learning, we all are, Egbon... And no the MRI is rated to be 99% accurate scientifically. The 1% is for a slight margin of error as human anatomy do have its rare varieties in certain youth cases.

Even its upgrade put it as 99.9%..... But it is proven and far more trusted at U-17 level than all the postulations and speculations on players ages flying around this thread.

Hmmm! It is interesting to know it's almost 100% perfect.

Well, at least, it is better than before when grandpapas will be claiming 16 years old when dem don dey grow white hair.

I just want to believe it is better than before..

andrew444:
Ramon azeez is a player with potential no doubt,i didnt not expect him to be where he is now,he is one of the best on his U17 set.

He is even still playing active football,i believe if he keeps working hard a laliga side will snap him soon or another better club.

In his U17 set he should be proud many of them career is on the cross road ride right now.

Well, hopefully. It depends on him.

It would have been better the iron was hot. I mean when he was Almeria Young player of the year going to the world Cup but now.. I hope it's not too late.

TheSuperNerd:
Egbon, then let it be repeated to thee that in 2009, MRI testing was not done for a whole team. It was done randomly like drug tests with three players selected for testing. In 2009, one could dodge as the team officials could help see to that.

It started full fledged in 2011 and we can still see several of the stars of that tourney like Raheem Sterling, Victor fischer, Marquinhos, Benjamin Mendy, Emre can, Jordan Pickford and more around today. Since 2011/2012, we have successfully churned out genuinely young boys from the U-17 program. Even some that were screened and passed and later dropped due to either not making the final cut due to coaches picking the better players at the time OR failing a later MRI test (as the MRI has a six-grade classification system based on the epiphyseal plate anatomy) have gone on to start bright careers.
Some of the 2016 boys who didn't even qualify for the CAF tournament in 2017 have secured decent deals abroad... Igho Ogbu is one of such players. Nazifi Yahaya also belongs to that 2016 class. Genuinely young chaps.

That was the reason I said no wonder few of the 2009 U17 set remained, since they could dodge the MRI test then.

I no the 2011 till date sets went through a compulsory MRI test and I have no doubt that most of them are very young but I am curious to know if MRI is 100%.

I am learning every day.

Certitude:
Oga, the 2011 set never even made CAF. That was when the MRI was made compulsory. Aina looks old facially and y'all believe his real age cause he is FB. Even Echiejile no even get old face sef.

I wanted to type 2009. It was a blunder.

Aina looks older with small bear bear while Ogu looks smaller with bumps on his repeatedly shaved bear bear!? Ok na!

Danycrusoe:
We didn't even qualify for the Caf u17 in 2011

Abeg, no vex oga. Na 2009 set I bi wan type.

andrew444:
If you are good you are good,ramon azeez has been in the segunda for some time,dont tell me he is there because of Spanish passport,are you his elder brother?

If they are good offer ramon azeez will move to a better club,But he is just 25 and there is time on his side.

Somebody who had successful trials with Man City and Man United but due to work permit, the deal was stopped.

He went to Almeria and was already in the first team within 2 seasons.

Played in the La Liga for two years. His performance in his first season in the La Liga got noticed by Everton, Athletico Madrid and Monaco (in ligue 2) who contacted him before he went to the world Cup, and hoped to see him replicate the same form at the world cup but because he managed to play once though it could have been twice if Mikel Obi didn’t block the poor boy from coming in against France, two out of these clubs backed out while Monaco pursued to sign him but he can't leave a la Liga team for ligue 2 club. Though I wanted him to choose Monaco because Ranieri was the coach then but he stayed in the La Liga. Monaco was promoted to ligue 1 but Almeria was relegated to the Segunda Division the next season.

However, after second season in the La Liga, Swansea-city-afc tabled a bid of £2.4 m for him but his club regetted it because they wanted to keep him for the next season to help them gain promotion to the La Liga after they were relegated. He demanded for transfer to force his move but his club refused and asked him to sign a professional deal with them which he refused.

Due of this, he was relegated to the academy for 1 and the half season before he was reinstated to the first team last season after he agreed to a professional deal. By this time, his value don depreciate badly.

Anyway, before he was bought by Lugo this season, Malaga came for him and some clubs outside Spain but he choosed Lugo because the coach that promoted him to Almeria's first team, and even played him in the La Liga, is the coach of Lugo, and he convinced him to join Lugo.

His problem is bad Agent. About the passport stuff, I followed players in the Spanish leagues, so I am aware of something like that.

Mickael2:
As in eh, they just dey believe that this MRI is something directly from God that cannot be argued

Wow! I also thought like that but not until now l am seeing it in a different way.

Well, make I dey learn dey go.

tbaba1234:
Nope, MRI only became compulsory in 2011. In 2009, it was done randomly like drug tests. So several players fell through the cracks.

The 2013 and 2015 under 17 teams are all young boys...

No wonder most of the 2011 don fade commot. Only few are still doing well.


Modified
2009 U17 set, I mean.

safarigirl:
.....to run?

Quite empty news TBH

So, you didn't see fully fit, ba!

Simon Moses is FULLY FIT. That's the point.

Danielnino00:
Can we just stop posting all this rubbish from owngoal website??
there are more credible sites to get super eagles news pls.

Na still news.

komekn:
Biggest thing in football is OPPORTUNITY not necessarily ability.

Then you have the politics of football which is simply CORRUPTION.

People have very short memories in football not surprising it's a short term career. Onazi should have striked when the Iron was Hot. He didn't now he is in Turkey.

When Omeruo came back to Chelsea he was left to train with the U18. Do you really think Chelsea even remember his name.

Kayode is in BEST place for upward progression Shaktar is a great airport for outstanding football careers to TAKE OFF.

Azeez needs a better Agent in my opinion.

Honestly, Lazio deceived Onazi to stay when the iron was hot but after a new coach came, he was declared surplus to requirement hence the need to move but he moved to Turkey.

You are right. Azeez's agent is not good. Besides, I think he is chasing Spanish passport.

komekn:
What always happens when Nigerian officials get together. SELF INTEREST

Hahahahahaha! Chai! My people!

komekn:
It wasn't a mistake the transfer to Reading put £1 million in his pocket. Financially a fabulous in terms of football not good.

Like they say for everything gained something is lost.

Well, he is trying to secure his future since dey have indiscriminately sidelined him from the National team..

MetalJigsaw:
I used to state this about Moses but some people would be screaming selfishl

No mind dem. Dem no sabi.

Simon Moses is fit.

Super Eagles forward, Moses Simon speaks on move to Liverpool after World Cup snub

Genk forward, Moses Simon, has admitted he would like to play in the Premier League, amid speculations linking him with Liverpool.


The 22-year-old is back to full fitness, after being dropped from the Super Eagles squad to the 2018 World Cup.

Moses Simon was cleared to start running by Gent doctors three days ago.


In an interview with OwnGoalNigeria, the player reiterated his backing for his team-mates ahead of the World Cup.

“We have a very united team and that is largely due to the effort of the coach Gernot Rohr and the leadership of the NFF. A healthy spirit in camp is really important going into a major tournament like the World Cup,” he said.

‎Speaking on the rumours linking him with a move to Liverpool, Moses Simon added: “I am aware of the report linking me with Liverpool and all I can say is let us wait and see. Gent and my agent have also received offers from clubs in some other European countries. My wish is to play in England, we have to wait and see.”


http://dailypost.ng/2018/06/09/super-eagles-forward-moses-simon-speaks-move-liverpool-world-cup-snub/amp/

Nigeria to disappoint, Morocco and Senegal to progress: How will the African teams fare in Russia?

With two days to go until the World Cup starts, we take a look at how the African nations will get on.

by Salim Masoud Said Jun 12, 2018

Reuters/John Sibley

With FIFA extending the African quota for the 2018 World Cup, there will be five teams from the Confederation of African Football heading to Russia when the finals begin in June.

In Brazil in 2014, both Nigeria and Algeria made it through the group stages and into the Round of 16 where they lost to France and Germany respectively.

This time around, a repeat performance would represent a good World Cup for the African nations. But how well will they fare in Russia?

We look at each African side and assess their chances ahead of the tournament’s opening this week.

Egypt

In case you didn’t know, Egypt’s fortunes hinge on the recovery of Mohamed Salah.

With an entire system built around countering with the Liverpool attacker’s pace and clinical conversion, Sergio Ramos has inadvertently destroyed coach Hector Cuper’s only plan.

Fortunately for Egypt, though, they have been placed in the kindest group when compared with the other African nations at the tournament.

Added to this – and unlike their African counterparts – they are also proudly defensive under Cuper and play a brand of risk-averse football that could pay dividends in tournament football.

The only nagging issues is the question of who will now score goals on the break for Egypt. With only one recognised striker in the squad, the subpar Marwan Mohsen, the warm-up friendlies have laid the Salah problem bare.

Prediction: Group stage exit. The Pharaohs are not brimming with confidence and it’ll be a miracle if Salah is at his optimum best by the start of the tournament.

Nigeria

The pre-World Cup friendlies have raised more questions about Nigeria than provided answers.

Gernot Rohr appears to be experimenting with a new 3-5-2 formation that he could potentially unveil for the first time in a competitive action in the opening game against Croatia.

The importance of that first game can’t be overstated. It does look like Nigeria will need those sorts of marginal gains to overcome a Croatia team with great chemistry and world class players in its midfield.

Indeed, all the teams in Group D are ranked above Nigeria in the FIFA rankings. The Super Eagles also have issues in critical positions, namely goalkeeper and striker.

The unintimidating history of Croatia and Iceland in the tournament give Nigeria hope but they will really have to overperform to progress to the second round.

Prediction: Group stage exit. They have the potential to defy expectations but they have major issues hanging over them heading into the tournament.

Morocco

The most in-form African side and, judged by his CV since the turn of the decade, the best coach of an African team at the tournament in Tyrone Lannister doppelgänger Herve Renard, Morocco could be one of the surprise packages of the tournament. Renard, the mastermind of miracles in Africa, gives Morocco hope to set themselves free.

Morocco’s style of football and high pressing can leave opponents dazed and confused and, for the last 18 months, it has made them just that. Yet the question remains: can they sustain such intensity against an ultra-technical side like Spain?

It’s one thing doing it in Africa against the hapless likes of Mali and Gabon in front of a baying home crowd, quite another doing it again two of the most astutely coached sides under the floodlights of the World Cup.

There is a danger they could worry too much about Spain and Portugal. First, they have to overcome a well-drilled Iran, probably by taking the game to them, before they look to slay the big beasts in the group.

The versatility of Morocco’s personnel means they should be able to be reactive and proactive.

Prediction: Second round. Slaying Spain is a tough task, slaying Portugal is a more realistic one given their form and the track record of their coach.

Senegal

The Teranga Lions now seem like a team. This may sound like a trite statement to make but that that’s because the core of their problems recently can be traced to getting the basics wrong.

A tactically solid coach would be able squeeze more out of this group of players in key moments that require tactical curveballs. However, they might struggle to reproduce the avuncular manner of Aliou Cisse that has galvanised the squad.

Cisse will look to the spine of this team to activate the target of reaching the second round. Napoli’s towering centre-back Kalidou Koulibaly will set the tone at the back.

An aggressive, dogged midfield that includes Idrissa Gueye and Cheikhou Kouyate will be difficult to play against. Senegal also have one of the tournament’s glittering individuals in Sadio Mane and he will be their main source of creativity, especially in a team that desperately lacks players of his ilk.

The Lions have perhaps the second most favourable draw out of the African sides after Egypt. The second round is a reachable destination but their key players, especially Mane, will have to be at their best.

Prediction: Second round. It’ll be tight as Aliou Cisse isn’t the most wily tactician but Senegal are hard to beat and Cisse has fostered a feel-good factor in this team which may work in his favour.

Tunisia

Goals have always been in short supply in this Tunisia team and the injuries to their best marksmen, Youssef Msakni and striker Taha Yassine Khenissi, give coach Nabil Maaloul an incurable headache.

The men Maaloul may now turn to are Wahbi Khazri and Naim Sliti. If these two can translate their club form into this World Cup, they can bring what Msakni would have brought: goals and assists, albeit without the pizzazz.

Tunisia have shown plenty of heart during qualifying, with laudable results away to Guinea and DR Congo in their wake but it’s hard to foresee them displaying that when playing against such dynamic sides and when they have lost their protagonist to injury.

While Morocco have the cohesiveness and coach as a platform to mastermind a shock, that isn’t quite the case for Tunisia. Even being at their best may not be enough against dynamic England and Belgium sides.

Prediction: Group stage exit. They’ve done well to be at the World Cup but it’s hard to envisage them in the second round.

http://c.newsnow.co.uk/A/941890580?-20575:8630:3

Mikel, Ogu Responsible For Eagles’ Loss – Rohr


Posted By: Staff Writeron: June 12, 2018In: Breaking

Ahead of the Super Eagles’ opening match at the 2018 World Cup against Croatia, head coach Gernot Rohr, has taken steps to address his team’s weaknesses.

OwnGoalNigeria reports Rohr has particularly noted that captain John Mikel Obi and John Ogu, were responsible for the two goals Nigeria conceded from dead ball situations, in their last two friendly games.

The German has taken out time in training, to address their positioning and assigned special roles to the duo, who happen to be the tallest players in his squad.

Although zonal marking has been preferred by most coaches, Rohr is not keen on that style and favours the man-to-man marking style.

Ogu, who has been converted to a defender when the Eagles play with a back three, has been mandated to pick the tallest man in the team of the opposition, while Mikel Obi will defend the first pole.

Mikel will be the Eagles’ first defender on the line, with Ogu behind him. The central defence duo of William Troost-Ekong and Leon Balogun will concentrate on winning the second balls.

Nigeria play Croatia on June 16.

http://c.newsnow.co.uk/A/941901288?-20575:8630:3

isan:
This eden hazard prediction

I am sure we can beat France if we meet them.

gamaliel9:
Including Stanley Okoro and Chukwudi......What a scam!

These players are no where to be found in Europe.

They have been forgotten.

Martz101:
i agree with you on this, Ogu playing while Omeruo on the bench dont make sense to me and for Moses he must play.

i watch neymar against Austria i keep seeing him take on players even when he should pass and he pass when i thought he will pull another move that's exactly what moses do for us. it makes the team unpridictable.

Barca with messi most time is like and an arsenal team, pass and pass without any penetration or short

Omeruo is in the form of his life, the last time I saw him played against England. So, why bench him?

Exactly! Against Croatia, Brazil found it difficult to penatrate and score but Neymar came on and created a goal from nothing.

In short, he changed the game. And this is exactly what Victor Moses brings to the team.

komekn:
After being involved in youth football for quite some time. I find potential and promise is not a enough. Once you get too 18 you have to start to show your ability not just promise.

Playing youth football can be very deceptive.

Consider Chuba Akpom (Arsenal)he won everything at youth level but has struggled to transfer that ability to
to senior professional football.

Look at England U20 all if those players play senior football not just U23.

I remember John Coffy they said he was Fantastic unbelievable talent. Manchester United bought him from Burnley for yes as teenager for £1 million. He played youth cup final with Pogba.

Do you know within three years after multiple opportunities I numerous clubs loan he ended up playing Non league.

I have seen many like that great at 17 but nothing to offer at 21. Look at all the players if 2009 Eaglets after winning accolades where are most of them Now.

Onazi did well with Lazio before work permit stopped him from going to Tottenham. He is currently in the Turkish league.

Omeruo is still around in the Turkish league though he is a Chelsea player. I hope he does well to be noticed by the new Chelsea's coach.

Abdul Ajagun had good seasons with Panthaniakos before he left for Eredivise and currently Belgium pro league. He really did well this season to deserve a call-up by the National team coach.

Kayode Olanrewaju seems to be moving up the ladder. The 2016/2017 Austrian league player of the year and Austrian League highest goalscorer was once on the book of Manchester City before he was bought currently by Shakhtar Donetsk this season.

Ramon Azeez was blocked by his la Liga club from joining Swansea-city-afc in 2015. They even lodged 2.4 million pounds bid for him but Almeria rejected it. He requested a transfer to force his way out but to no avail and due to this reason he was demoted to the reserve until he reluctantly signed a professional deal.

Last season he refused to join Malaga and one club in Turkey to sign for a second division la Liga team who inserted clause of €3 million in his contract for any club in La Liga interested in his services. His team almost qualified for promotion but missed out with 4 or 5 points.

In June 2015 he requested a transfer, and after failing to sign a professional contract, he was demoted back to the reserves in August.
On 26 January 2016, Azeez returned to the main squad, seriously threatened with relegation, after agreeing to a professional deal.

These are the players remaining from that 2009 U17 team.

If we look at each teams, only two or three players are doing well. Though Brazil has 4 of these players going to Russia. Neymar, Couthinho, Allisson and Casemiro.

However, many players have been forgotten from that set.

Modifypost

Lugo missed the promotion with 10 points.