₦airaland Forum

oloriooko:
Unfortunately you are the one making immature silly comments for reasons best known to you
So cuz the guy scored 1million goals b4 he should be included in the team even if he's warming bench and fans stand every week? How sensible is this thought of yours? I will not insult you but seem you very saucy and uncultured for all the nonsense you said up there.
Some people will lose out on WC and Nacho is on that path except he works harder in his club or move out on loan for game time.
Please I did not make my comments so you can say rubbish to me if you are not happy about my opinion please skip it and never insult me in your life!
I will not say anything further to you on this matter

realpoacher:
He was one of our creative playmaker as you rightly said, or so I thought, until we met a formidable team and unfortunately he couldn't measure up. Obviously as a player he is below average.

On his chapter, I am forced to want to agree with @komern that levels exist in football. And that is why a player playing and performing in top leagues (which translates as top level) is far better than a player in lower/poor leagues (low level).

I watched Imoh Ezekiel run rings at the earlier stages of the Olympics and was in complete awe of his performance. His runs, dribbles, cutt ins, and decisive crosses into the box was an art to watch. I daresay that most of our wins were inspired by him, he tormented the oppositions 2 and 3 no matter where he played between 7 or 11. He was a joy to watch, several times he left the defenders panting after turning them inside out coupled with his pace.

But there was a big BUT!.. When e jam him level in Germany, he himself know how far. Dude couldn't complete one successful dribble. Heck! I could count the number of times he was allowed to control the passes that came his way. All he could do was to pass sideways or backwards all through the semifinals against Germany.

I was slighted, what the hell. We were 1/2 goals down and each time Imoh Ezekiel got the ball, he lost it, he couldn't even beat anyone of his German marker.

That match confirmed my research postulations about football that "once you no reach, you no reach" there is absolutely nothing you can do once you are not good enough against your opponent.

Eg: Chances are that arsenal will lose 8 times out of 10 to Barcelona, why?.. Because against Barcelona, Arsenal no reach! Simples.

The truth is that the teams we played against enroute the semifinal were wacky, and when we came up against a better side in Germany, Imoh Ezekiel entered "ghost mode", not just him but many of the them that day including Nura Abdullahi who was faced one on one with the German keeper but fumbled.

Now going into the world cup, we are going to be facing top sides right from match day one, do you honestly think that Imoh Ezekiel can deliver better than what we have on ground presently?... The current players delivering for us are at best average. Imoh Ezekiel to me is not even average but below average, especially considering his current form. Canvassing for such a player right now is a disservice to football as a whole.

At this stage of our preparations towards the world cup, if you must suggest a player be sure that such a player is above average atleast before we can start even analyzing who he is going to displace from the current team.

AIG07:
look, club performance puts players in the spotlight and gives them the necessary recognition.

Have you ever wonder why some players keep getting call ups despite under performing in their clubs? Spain kept inviting Torres even while performing abysmally for Chelsea. Fabregas was always one of the first name on the list despite not having enough playing time with Chelsea. That's one country as an example. Do you know while their coach kept faith with them-it was because he knew that they'll deliver.
Marcos Alonso has been phenomenal for Chelsea since last year. Do you know what? He is still hoping for his First invitation.

If I'm too tow your line of proposition, every player that comes to the spot light(is in form) should be invited ba? You can't have a national team by inviting all players base on their club performances alone or else you'll only be having new sets of players to execute each match...

Even Rohr knows this. That's while he has been inviting Musa, Onazi before he moved to Turkey, Moses Simon etc.
Onyekuru has been having Stellar performances consistently for his clubs but still he has only been having epileptic call-ups.

To cut the story short, club performance is one thing and replicating it in the national team is another.

enomakos:
Mikel can plays up to 40

goldfish80:
Our attack is overrated. Remove Ighalo and the much maligned Nwakaeme, the rest of our attackers and midfielders combined cannot boast of 5 goals between them this season.
I hope the chicken don't come home to roast come June next year.

chidi1:
I posted this elsewhere. But since I am looking for a response, I copied and pasted it here....

I may sound a little biased. However, I am an avid supporter of Imoh Ezekiel. In my earlier post, I voiced my concern when I taught he was going to be excluded from the Olympic team by Siasia, after a convincing display during a friendly with Brazil. Ofcourse, he undoubtedly became our most creative playmaker at the Olympics. I watched with dismay as he was overlooked during the world cup qualifiers. Hence, this promoted the creation of this topic.

Guys, I would love your honest opinion on this. What do you think of Victor Moses and Imoh Ezekiel combination on the wings during the world cup. You may rewatch his highlight during the Olympics on YouTube to refresh your memory. I know our attack is one of the best parts of our national team, but my plan is to make it more potent (as to be honest, our defence is very worrisome currently). I sincerely believe that if enough interest is voiced, it may draw the NFF to look more closely at that option. We may start out by trying him out in a friendly match (ideally paired with Moses).

TheGoodJoe:
I’ll say what I thought happened. Sunday Oliseh was very influential in the team and Bonfrere had a lot of respect for him. Oliseh is like a brother to Dosu; Dosu was influential in making Julius Berger sign Oliseh before he moved to Europe. At the time, Dosu was to sign for Reggiana and what stopped him was a national cap. Everybody in the team was very good. So, when Oliseh tried to influence Bonfrere (to use Dosu), it was easy because whoever was in goal, would do well. Before our first match, Bonfrere called me to his room; Musa Abdullahi and Willy Bazuaye were there.

You can enquire from them what I am about to tell you. This is what he told me and I quote, “Due to reasons best known to me, I’ll prefer to use Dosu. I don’t owe any player for inclusion and exclusion from the team.” He said he owed me that much because I was mentally and physically prepared. I felt slighted as a young man and I asked him, “If performance is criteria for being in the first team, have I failed in this regard?” He said, “No.”

I am not going to lie to you, I started insulting him. I told him to go to hell. Tijani Babangida got wind of what happened and he said it was for team interest. He was privy to what was happening. I called Dosu to my room and told him, “I want you to know that I will never hate you and undermine you in any way. I want you to know that I am human but my anger won’t be directed at you but Bonfrere. If I were in your shoes, I will take the chance too but I have everything against the coach.” He was okay with my explanation and we sat together after every game to analyse his performance. He told me to help him out in areas of improvement.

After the Olympics, Sani Toro told me that Bonfrere told him that I was the best keeper but he kept me out because I was not disciplined. There are no hard feelings. I did what I did because of what I was at the time. If it was now, I wouldn’t have reacted the way I did then. I use these experiences to train my players now.

http://www.punchng.com/sports/sportlight/oliseh-made-bonfrere-drop-me-for-dosu-at-atlanta-96-babayaro/

M7even:
Remember the golden generation of the Ivorian team. Compare them with that of the Egyptian golden generation. You will agree with me that the Ivorian side were always a title contender for the AFCON trophy. Pundits would have easily rated their arrays of stars to crush any African side. But there was a challenge for this Elephant side. It was obviously their GOALKEEPING. They were weak without any doubt. While the Egyptian team possessed core home based team, which was equally adept in every field. Not until there was a ripe maturity from the Ivorian goalkeeper, Barry if recall in the penalty shoot out before he was able to help the Ivorian side win the nations cup, at this point the golden generation of the Ivorian side had lost a core of its key players with the absence of drogba and others. But yet they were able to win the nations cup, with a more matured GK. Who saved and scored during PK. Shaky Barry really turning this around at that point made me value experience. I stick with Enyeama. Even as an understudy to the younger GK. Another thing is having a team is capable in every aspect and not leaving a loop hole to be exploited. We can say we have the team, but the GK is still much a worry that we need to resolve to have a Balanced side like the golden Egyptian team, whose GK continues to dominate affairs for the team. Even when he came back from retirement.

Truidstar:
The bitter truth is what we have now is Uzoho, Ezenwa and Akpeyi. At Euro 96 which Germany won, Andreas Kopke was the goal keeper. His club was relegated from the bundesliga that season with him in goal. The Germans looked at the stats and realized that most of the goals conceded that season were not his fault and the outstanding blocks and saves he made contributed to his club not been too embarrassed in terms of goals conceded. He was chosen as first choice ahead of the great Oliver Khan. At the penalty shoot out in the semi final against England he saved Gareth southgates penalty kick. They went on to win the tournament. If it was Nigeria, will Andreas Kopke smell the pre world cup invite? In Rohr I trust to make the best decision in our goal keeping department.

TheGoodJoe:
The Algerians created chances from it and if Ezenwa is in goal for us in the World Cup, I will call any opposing coaching crew who do not exploit that weakness after studying that tape. That will be a recipe for thrashing us.

MetalJigsaw:
The thought if Mikel being our only tested and trusted AM makes me pity Rohr and his team when/ if the dude gets visited by an injury. We need another AM Rohr!!

MetalJigsaw:
How do you asses his performances generally when playing in for Nigeria? In how many appearances has he impressed when called upon compared to his poor displays? We all saw Ogu and what he did with the little chance he was afforded.


You said he put up a " tidy display" . is that all is required of him to feature in our midfield let alone replace Marshall Mikel Obi in crucial matches?

FabioPeter:
We can get a psychologist to make you believe you can man our Post....it takes a lot more bro.
If you watch the games Ezenwa has played for SE, you will notice he has been consistently erratic, even the games he kept a clean sheet.
Akpenyi is terribly poor and Uzoho is inexperienced. If we can’t get an in form Enyeama, we can kiss the group stage good bye

MetalJigsaw:
The thought if Mikel being our only tested and trusted AM makes me pity Rohr and his team when/ if the dude gets visited by an injury. We need another AM Rohr!!

MetalJigsaw:
Oga , forget Agu. Haven't you seen enough of his terrible performances when given a chance? He's a waste of spot bro. We should be talking about replacing him with the other uninvited midfielders.

Kog45:
On Sokari i don't want to talk much cos of my experience with Nwakili invitation.

It was here some just came from nowhere to justify Nwakili invitation but just too glaring it was not a merited one now Sokari which nobody as ever mentioned here as a prospect to replace Mikel is now the ultimate solution.

Let's wait and see how things unfold cos i don't think our solution is in Tunisia league if we are really serious,meaning player like Junior Ajayi should be considered too for CF.

I thought Joel Obi, Raheem Lawal,Ajagun,Azeez and Alhassan Mazzam are available or do we want to say Sokari has a better performance than these players this season.

Humility017:
Lol.......that one if oga forgiveness and he crew go hear .....

I trust rohr though.....he is a man that think of the future...

Kog45:
Kanu was a flop against Argentina,Shorunmu a flop against Sweden,gave them the second goal on a platter of gold and England match was the best with introduction of Enyeama, Akwuegbu,Opabunmi and James Obiorah who controlled the midfield perfectly with Okocha.

Kog45:
As at 2002 most fans want Ogbeche at WC so dropping Aiyegbeni was not an issue,remember Agali was the main man but refused Onigbinde invitation due to his solidarity with Sunday Olishe & co that were banished from the team.The same Yakubu Aiyegbeni had the worst outing for Nigeria ever in the WC at 2010.

zicky:
abeg make ena leave the guy, he was playing for psg so he was worth the hype, my biggest annoying flop of that wc was opabunmi, youngest player my foot. the guy discover late that football was not his calling

Humility017:
since you guys are clamouring for martins...
better we invite all the available old men.

still scouting if there is still any...besides this two....so we can all deliberate on it...if possible rohr invites them all....

Kog45:
Not even net Mikel was officially MOTM against Iran.

Mujtahida:
well i didnt know.he has a bad rep with the fans. such things affect players. thats what is affecting akpeyi. so even if ogbeche is given a chance he will still likely flop.

Mujtahida:
oya mi lenu. i surprise. martins is way way more consistent. ogbeche hear say we don qualify and come begin dey score. my guy i will not be taken in by this sudden bloom in his form. i can safely say that martins stands a far better chance to be in the first 30 than ogbeche. ogbeche has not even been in our consciousness save for the last three weeks. anyway Rohr will do his work. i just desire a good outing for the team

Mujtahida:
hahahaha at the bolded and i think i agree with you. i want those german boys ooo but still i prefer Omeruo over them.

Humility017:
when was that....I am talking of current performance and you're talking of Martins play about 4 years ago.....

abeg...tell me something else....

edi287:
Joel Obi CAN play as a DM. He can also play as a LM, LB, LWB and even as a LW (speaking from his inter days). That midfield is actually great on paper.

Humility017:
what do you mean by the tested....?
you guys make me laugh....you all see the world cup as one Herculean task....different from the football they have all been playing...

if someone can play good football in the Spanish or German league...top flight...then certainly he can play @the world cup....

you don't need to bag so much experience to prove yourself......

you guys really need to re-evaluate this yardstick of experience...same experience cost us the France 1998 and I have seen young players play football at the world cup...wit no experience in their bag....

Mujtahida:
my brother i have not gotten over the psychological drain i suffered from ogbeche's flop after he raised my morale in the run up to the WC in 2002. thats why despite his good form his name has not crossed my mouth. i'd rather stick to martins who has been consistent. as for dessers i like him but he's not getting the attention that i thought he'd get. instead na ryan sanusi nff go romance with( thats if owngoalnigeria news is true)
someone who has spoken to Rohr say that Rohr is desirous of taking osimhen to the world cup and i when i read rohr's interview posted here for our reading he mentioned Osimhen's name and i remembered my discussion with the person.

Humility017:
me wont even take both.......they don't worth it.

I rather take oshimen or kayode instead....

Humility017:
in that attack role...please add ogbeche to it...and also dessers.....

oshimen is just a mile away from making the world cup squad...the boy really need to put some hardwork.....
get a trainer and do extra work.....if he must get it right in his club....being that rohr likes him alot...he needs little conviction to make his team.....

Mujtahida:
the bottom line is 30 players will be invited out of which Rohr will select his final 23 even though I see him sticking with the core 18 or 19 players with four more players edging out some players. fact is the defence needs one solid backup for balogun( which i'd suggest Omeruo takes) one more player in the midfield(which i suggest Joel Obi takes if he is fit) and one more player in the attack (which Martins, Kayode, Osimhen can take)

na suggest i suggest ooo.