₦airaland Forum

A lot of folks have forgotten that Afcon just became a 24-nation tournament not long ago. The last time we won it in 2013 it was a 16-nation- tournament and there was no second-round knock-out stage. Anybody diminishing the semi-final achievement of the Eagles should have his head examined. This also raises Paseiro's profile whether you like him or not. In fact, I watched a Sunday Oliseh interview yesterday where he mentioned that the South African coach should not be taken for granted. Any coach that has gotten to the semi-final of this very rugged Afcon is a national hero especially that younger CIV coach. I throw away salute for all the coaches in the semi-final.

minfelix:
How many defense okocha open up for 2002? How many set pieces okocha score for 2002 Afcon?..
no b so so 1-0,and 0-0 we dey play sotay we branch go 3rd place.
How many set piece he score for 2006?

dem get eye? shebi we still dey argue why okocha no win APOTY till today

MetalJigsaw:
So because of that we should not aim higher abi?

I have answered this in my comment above

Unlimited22:
By Sunday, e suppose be only Cameroon and Egypt, God willing.

That's our hope and desire but nobody should say the number of our semi-final appearances is a disgrace with only 3 trophies, will the other countries be looking at you and not fight for the same trophy?

Blueelf:
Yes, I love him more than his parents. Oya knack your head for wall

and who cares? Moffi ain't better than Oshimen, Paseiro send me to tell you so, oya abuse him

Ppogbae:
Having the most semi finals appearances isn't something that I'm proud of especially considering all those appearances have only converted to 3 trophies.

We must win this tournament at all costs. My short term wish is that we catch up to Cameroon in this decade.

because the other countries just came as tourists to the competition, na wa for una, apart from Cameroon, Egypt, and Ghana which other country has won the Afcon more than us?

Blueelf:
He has been given multiple chances. Give the other attackers a chance

It is unfair to keep Moffi (a starter in ligue 1) on the bench. Why call him up if you're not going to play him

You don't suddenly become a better player at the AFCON. Osimhen is technically poor and he won't change overnight

HIs wastage of chances will hunt the SE against SA. I can bet you.

Moffi is not bigger than Nigeria, if he's angry or tired he can leave the team. He was not in consideration in the first place. Stop forming you love him than his parents

Blueelf:
Okocha role was not primarily to score goals but to open up defences.

Also, okocha was a set-piece specialist.

You can't claim to be a world class striker and be bad at basic things like positioning, first touch and finishing

You think Mourinho would've continuously started Osimhen if he were the coach despite liking him?

forming excuses for okocha bad behaviour dem don get you

Nomyth:
Me I don't know if Osimhen should be benched but what i know is that he needs to start against South Africa.

His athleticism and bully-ish nature is exactly what we need to traumatize that SA defence much like chukwueze did to them in 2019.

Come to think of it, I never heard a single fan clamoring for Okocha to be benched in his playing days no matter how bad he plays.

because Nigerians prefer entertainment to results, na wetin don spoil our football since okocha days, awon sexy football generation

Ppogbae:
Having the most semi finals appearances isn't something that I'm proud of especially considering all those appearances have only converted to 3 trophies.

We must win this tournament at all costs. My short term wish is that we catch up to Cameroon in this decade.

at all cost? I don't understand this

minfelix:
i sat in the viewing centre on Friday in our match vs Angola,i met a particular and typical Nairaland ekuke fans screaming “this our boys are F**king slow in build up and transition, Iwobi is rubbish midfielder always slowing game pace for us” bla bla bla, i confronted him and told him “Guy farabale!!! Guy resst!!…do you expect Nigeria to be running kitikiti katakata with the pacey angolans?…so as they are running at us we should be running back at them?”
na so we dey argue as we carry eyes up Iwobi don throw long pass that connect Moses Simon and boom weve scored…na so baba shut up!.

Like can we just chill and understand that we are not the best team in the world? and that we have a formula thats pulling us to a direction of success?

Na sexy football and penetrating passes dem they find, watching epl weekly is the problem of most Nigerians. They can’t differentiate btw a league and a tournament.

Curtisaxel17:
It should be an eye opener as to the capabilities of our striker especially considering the fact that we have had more big chances than any other team.

Osimhen has not performed well in this tourney and the coach should try another striker, preferably Moffi. Simple and short.

dead the matter, moffi is not better than oshimen, all na assumptions, make una rest. No more time for experiment.

Curtisaxel17:
We are struggling to score. Lowest scoring side in the tourney at this stage.

is there an award for this?

kennysville:
I think we are getting this wrong. All it takes for South africa to beat us is a mistake at the back which they can capitalize on and then we start chasing games. Notice that in this tournament, we are yet to come back from behind apart from the Equatorial Guinea match. Let's not get ahead of ourselves. Ask or rather pray that our strikers take their chances when they need to. Enough of game management ideas. If you have 8 chances, bury 7. That's the only way to come out on tips.

To be saying SA can't beat us will be a very bad and condescending way to approach our game. Let's not forget they beat us 2 nil in Uyo... star studded or not.

The same South Africa we have seen so far? Guy na dem dey lucky to be in the semis pass us. Morocco underrated them and Cape Verde was just unlucky.

Talking about chances, anybody expecting a high-scoring game in the semis of an Afcon is not realistic, Yes in 2013 we beat Mali 4-1 but with the standard of this Afcon haba, e no easy like that. At this stage, it's more of mental toughness and awareness. The better side will win whether it's SA or us but with the mental strength our boys are showing, they can go all the way.

komekn:
No coach is going to come into the public domain and say one of his players is not match fit.

don’t let the nacho gang come for you o. I no Dey there

komekn:
Why do people create a self birthed narrative and present a pack of lies as truth.

Fact, KC is not match fit , he has not played since December 2 , came to SE straight from the treatment room. Leicester actually said he was not fit for the AFCON.

Peseiro has said essentially the same thing,not fit enough though play.

Add to to the fact that he has been poor over the past three seasons. He is not going to change anything. He really shouldn't be in the squad.

There’s no need to over flog this matter and am not a member of the Iheanacho gang either. What you quoted was what the coach said initially but after the Cameroon game the coach went to say if he needed goals against Cameroon the player would have been featured.

https://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/top-news/663193-afcon-2023-why-iheanacho-has-not-played-for-nigeria-peseiro.html

Curtisaxel17:
Yes we were. Last AFCON. We played sweet sexy football and smashed all the teams in our group with ease. Without Osimhen.

We would have beaten Tunisia too had Okoye not had his moment of madness.

Check all the games we fumbled recently or struggled to score. Whether against Ghana or our loss to Guinea Bissau in Abuja. Osimhen played.

so we are fumbling now

yinkeys:
It’s not hype
Im only stating what they’ve got going positively for them
We must win in 90 minutes if we really want to get to the finals
No extra time
They have a goalie that’s great with penalties
I watched their games in 2nd round & Quarter finals

and we don't have a goalie? look it's a competition and the best side on the day will win so relax

Mujtahida:
We have gone beyond Osimhen now. Naija is what matters now.

we don leave the anti-oshimen peeps behind long ago

yinkeys:
Favoritism
Coach will not change Osimhen even if he’s playing badly lol
I’m hoping Osimhen took two days off to recover fully because the next game is gonna be harder than others
South Africa have a fantastic penalty stopper and a good free kick taker

make una dey hype SA dey go, wetin concern us

bisqit:
did you see that cape verde player that was angry he was removed? He almost damaged the water cooler. Which of our players can do that? Let me guess. Iwo...

is that not what Paseiro is trying to avoid? Do you want him to begin to have problems individually with players? At the end una go talks say e sabi human management, make una rest.

bisqit:
no but he's rigid. Why call them and not use them

sorry if those on the bench are your relatives or friends, the nation comes first, thank you

PurpleHouse:
Don't listen to this bitter soul. He doesn't want us to win.

you dey mind am, he wants us doing same things Cape Verde and Angola did by removing their most dangerous players

bisqit:
dangerous with no end results to show for it

na you dey worry yourself

Mujtahida:
Eguavoen was flexible to the point him allow SM analyst to influence am. Result - that's what matters.

JPes gave some guys like Bruno opportunity against GB. I wasn't too impressed. Those guys on our first team are there for a reason. See Moses has edged out Chukwueze. We practically don't have a right winger because Lookman is a striker in this set up. He starts from the wings and in the midst of the game he situated himself centrally, coming in behind Osimhen to knack them kpako

na wetin people no wan understand be this, the coach has his plan b already and we are here breaking our heads. He has said if he's looking for goals Iheanancho can come in, I wonder what's all this fuss about oshimen not scoring. I was worried earlier during the group stages but having understood the coach's intention in later games, I calmed down.

bisqit:
Eguavon picked players based on form at club level. What are you telling me

and the current coach is doing otherwise abi

Mujtahida:
Eguavoen was flexible to the point him allow SM analyst to influence am. Result - that's what matters.

JPes gave some guys like Bruno opportunity against GB. I wasn't too impressed. Those guys on our first team are there for a reason. See Moses has edged out Chukwueze. We practically don't have a right winger because Lookman is a striker in this set up. He starts from the wings and in the midst of the game he situated himself centrally, coming in behind Osimhen to knack them kpako

so disgusting! chai

All these anti-oshimen peeps should take a chill, if he can't score, others will and that's why it's a team game.

No sane coach will bench his most dangerous forward even if he's not scoring, na for nairaland I dey hear such things

bisqit:
Pes is just like rohr. He wont use them. They are there to warm bench. I hate coaches that are rigid

Eguavoeen that was flexible, where did we reach?

Blueelf:
Benching Osimhen would make Nigeria actually win comfortably

that's what both Angola and Cape Verde did and where are they today?

Blueelf:
SA will be the SE toughest game yet

Similar stingy defense, good GK and then to top it off 8 of their starters play in the same team (Sundowns), so there's team chemistry

Won't be easy

Abeg no change o, maintain your negative stand. It’s working for us 😜

Hanibal:
If Nigeria wins this tournament, some people here will still complain that we didn't win "properly"

Many here including me wrote off this team, but here they are in the semifinals, complaints still full everywhere
Na wa

except you just started watching afcon, same thing was said in 2013