₦airaland Forum

daveP:
Irony was that ball was high too but he rose high and sent it downwards.

dude is not in the best of form make we no lie but a half fit oshimen is still our best striker

daveP:
In this KO stage, Osimhen had a dozen cross and nod chances but didn't bury 1. Most were high when he should be nodding downwards. I want to see he and iwobi on the scoresheets in this final. It will be sweet. No midfielder has scored so far. But Defender and Forwards have scored.

funny thing is that the only goal he has scored, he headed downwards

lovewins:
Ekong is also a strong contender. Except Osimhen scores in the finals he unfortunately may not get the votes even though he's obviously deserving.

wished Lookman scored yesterday He would have been ahead of both ekong and oshimen

Icon4s:
Abeg I get one question:

After all the wahala wey Ekong don dey do, who go collect the trophy on Sunday? Ekong or Musa?

make we win first, leave ekong and musa to decide

Mujtahida:
Omo Osimhen sabi dribble oo. He should please develop his ball playing skills. No be everytime run into space. The PK he got was as a result of take ons he decided to do

shebi some felt he was just dashed APOTY, have we not seen his ball-playing skills at Napoli?

Mujtahida:
Remember how raggedy our midfield used to be with Onazi and Ndidi. You can't play two rugged midfielders. The energy no go jell.

What we should be looking for in our midfield is creativity or efficiency. For gidigbo we already have Ndidi, Onyeka, Frank and Onyedika.

but na wetin we dey expect from Iwobi na, even if playing so deep. He was losing balls carelessly yesterday or am I missing something?

Mujtahida:
Na gidigbo players you dey like. If you understand energy you will realize that even if Iwobi is not there, we can't play all rugged midfielders.

Mind you Iwobi is playing an unfamiliar role as a DLP tasked with defensive and attacking responsibilities.

ruggedness is still needed, mikel used to be soft, he had to become rugged

charlesemeka85:
that’s what many fail to understand

Iwobi even said it in an interview that he is instructed to keep it simple and defend more

Iwobi should take a cue from Victor Moses, he can do more and should do more. The Ola Aina we are all praising today was never like this before, he simply did more

Omanambala:
You didn't see the video analysis where the Ghanaian analyst shredded Iwobi ?? You will still blame me abi. Iwobi thinks playing midfield is a joke...lmao

the analyst even went ahead to say an Onyeka will react differently, omo shame catch me small

Omanambala:
In case you dont know, I play a bit of soccer. Defensive midfield to be exact. So, I know a lazy and inefficient player when I see one. Iwobi is very lazy. I am just calling it as I see it. Nothing personal

I won't call Iwobi lazy, im style no just suit African soccer, same as Aribo. We are all hailing Onyeka cos of his style of play

charlesemeka85:
we hv midfielders just that folks here want zizou, iniesta, Xabi, Scholes and Kroos kinda midfielders

We should learn to work with what with hv

A nation that can boast of midfielders listed below shouldn’t be crying

Onyeka
Ndidi
Iwobi
Alhassan
Onyedika
Fisayo Bashiru
Michael Folorunsho

na so we work with uzoho so tey we enter bush, we need to discover more midfielders bruv, more creative ones abeg. Thank God for Onyeka, we need more

charlesemeka85:
https://owngoalnigeria.com/2024/02/08/caf-clears-super-eagles-star-to-play-in-afcon-final-despite-having-two-yellow-cards-in-the-tournament/

Onyeka cleared by CAF to play in the finals against CIV

this has always been the rule nah

Nomyth:
What is our plan B when opponents decide to double mark our wingers?

Seems some teams have mastered this against us and it seems to be very effective.

Tunisia used the tactic to devastating effect the last time and we just saw SA used the same and it worked.

What exactly can we do differently when teams decide to neutralize our wingers?

we've had a midfield crisis for so long, it's about time we fixed that just the way we have fixed the goal-keeping crisis, I think we have deceived ourselves for so long that since we have attackers we can overlook the midfield but that's our weakest link now waiting for a solution. Traditionally from the Eagles of old, we use the wings but still, we had great midfielders in the past, and am sure there are still midfielders somewhere waiting to be discovered like we discovered Nwababli. Operation fix the midfield

Mujtahida:
He saw how that SA guy took one for the team after fouling Moffi and he was like I too can take one for my team. He's been sterling not just in terms of football but leadership and motivation. Always ready to step up and show the way.

He should get the MVP of this tournament! Absolute fantastic and consistent display from Ekong.

charlesemeka85:
I too like the guy

Same season liverpool were frustrated in old trafford to a goal less draw. After the game Kloop complained that united played anti football and sat back all game

When Jose was interviewed and was told what kloop said he responded by saying he accept that his team packed the bus but it was the duty of kloop and his players to unpack the bus and score since he believed that his team were superior 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

MOU is bae, always a delight during press interviews. If am a money bag I go sponsor MOU salary to coach our national team. He can live anywhere he wants to live in the world but just coach my national team

caprikon:
Watched an interview where a South African complained about Hugo's cocky attitude. He made some disparaging remarks towards Kaizer Chief players and denigrated some other local players in the SA league.

So happy he lost with that kind of attitude.

Am thinking this is why Chippa United made that statement supporting the Eagles over SA, apart from marketing strategies for Nwabali, that Chippa United's statement smells of beef against the national team selection of SA with majorly sundown players.

charlesemeka85:
I won’t blame iwobi because the southies knew that everything going forward in our team came through him so they worked hard closing him down whenever he had the ball which made Alex to resort to simple side ways passes

They knew if givin space that Alex has the ability to easily link up our midfield and attack to create chances and they seriously worked hard in denying him that space

truth is Iwobi no get that African football flair which makes it easy for opposing teams to neutralise him, Onyeka had to be playing two roles yesterday defending and bumping forward to cover for him and he became overworked. We may need to still redefine Iwobi's role in that team with World Cup qualifiers on the way.

charlesemeka85:
as them get more possession mk dem carry ball go house na 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

I remember Jose’s time with united. United won city but the pep and his balls outplayed Jose’s team

After the game Jose was interviewed and the interviewer questioned why United were very poor possession wise and Jose responded by telling the guy that all he needed was 3 points and that pep and his boys can go home with the ball 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

This is why I like MOU, he remains my favourite, dude no get any werey time

zicky:
Jpes is very rigid hard trust his bench, with the absence of zaidu, he just went back to what he already know, switch back to what he used against GB. SA was breaking through the middle and not through the wings.

Blame Iwobi and be grateful that Jpes removed him on time else SA would have opened scoring before us

caprikon:
Hugo Broos was a bit cocky in the post match presser..saying the better team lost .Bar the foul by Yusuf leading to the disallowed goal, Lookman had a clear chance to bury the game at 1:0 which he fluffed.

The bizarre turn of events leading to their penalty swung the momentum in their favour.
Man was a bit disrespectful to Nigeria

I had respected him before now but with that foolish statement, dude should getat, I was even thinking if Paseiro leaves and SA no longer want Broos, he could be considered as our next coach but with those foolish words, I now wan see the man again. You were lucky to even be in the semis because of an inexperienced Cape Verde. VAR gave you a second chance yesterday and you dey talk rubbish. Your boys were good in first half but as predicted gassed out in the second half but for Lookman as you said it would have been another 2-0 victory for us.

Even talking about tactics, he did well by exposing our team but our coach responded by bringing in players in extra time who not only earned his defender a red card but went ahead to take great penalty kicks, Broos should have been more humble in defeat, no one gave SA a chance to come this far at all.

this is risky, I no wan hear story after o!

Barryseal:
I dont know if anyone in our technical area noticed the South African GK had a shoulder injury. He was in pains on his right shoulder. I was screaming that our pk takers should place balls to his right.
I think Omeruo was the only player who seemed to take advantage of this information. Williams almost caught Iheanacho's pk because he placed it on his good side. He dived to his left most of the time.
These minor things can make a difference. Our bench should take note.

is it not SA that wanted to play penalties? Now the SA coach is screaming that his team played better the it was supposed to be SA and not Nigeria in the final? They had forgotten Cape Verde was better in the semis but they won, shoulder injury my foot. Our players must have know about injury though

This man passed out after SA was awarded penalty, so sad

DissTroy:
I am Ibibio. This is exactly what it means. No other meaning - just "war".

so our captain na warrior, interesting. Many thanks

charlesemeka85:
fear catch me ooo cus I thought red go give am red card 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

Ekong fling the guy like say na nylon wey dem comot bread from 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

Thank God he was not the last man

KosiGee:
Omeruo’s penalty was too good. I think he shares same confidence, technique and psychology as Ivan Toney of Brentford. Ivan Toney is class. He understands goal keepers, effortlessly rolls the ball in while the keepers go the other way or even if the keeper dives in same direction, he hits the ball with precision and with a curve that the ball slips through before the keeper hits the ground.

I was worried about Moffi’s. He went midline. Ekong and Iheanacho’s penalties were underrated. Both players combined power and precision.

Aina’s penalty would’ve been one of the best if not for the elevation. Keeper would’ve struggled with that even if he had dived in same direction.

He knew the keeper would dive on either side, it's obvious they studied the keeper well, either go for speed or place it where he won't reach it. Great technique from all our players. They were completely ready for all SA schemes.

ChrisKels:
I expected Omeruo and Aina to miss. Aina is too skillful and anxious to be a PK taker.

Aina has done everything right until yesterday's game, perhaps the change in the position he played. He and Iwobi losing the ball carelessly made SA shone like stars, hope zaidu will be back for the final o make Aina dey him dey

DissTroy:
Most of you don't realize it but Ekong, our captain's name, literally means "war" in his native Ibibio language.

I no doubt you o, the way ekong hold that SA guy shirt wey wan go do counter aaah,

charlesemeka85:
excluding Zirkzee for now, thunder fire the rest

Zirkzee fit join them later if em turn us down 🤣

you too dey vex chai

ChrisKels:
If we make it to the World Cup, Ekong will be done with us after the World Cup.

you sure ekong go play in qualifiers?

caprikon:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_nb0jgdwbY?si=V5b76R8udrwroQ7f

Very apt pre-match analysis by the Ghanaian TV pundits which eventually panned out as Alex Iwobi was exposed defensively in the 3-4-3 set up particularly in the first half.

Difficult one, but wouldn't be surprised if the coach plays a 4-3-3 variant or 3-5-2 in the final to reduce the defensive burden on Iwobi and free him to operate for longer spells closer to the forward line.

Na this analyst give the SA coach expo on us, we need to fix this for our final match, how I don’t know. Iwobi almost cost us the match

Joebie:
Sincerely our team has a long way to go if we are gonna compete well globally. We will have to consolidate on this and build stronger going forward.

We need midfielders that has been our greatest weakness in this competition hence our set up

Imagine SA using tiki taka to give us bp yesterday. We need to solve our midfield crisis like we have solved the goal keeping crisis