₦airaland Forum

heard this guy shared his story on radio recently and I was deeply touched.

Joebie:
Rohr won’t pull off any surprises in 25-man Eagles squad, team off to Morocco Sunday – official
By admin - October 30, 2017, 9:53 am182 0

Gernot Rohr will not pick any player outside the pool of players he has been working with for next month’s matches against Algeria and Argentina and the team will begin training camp in Morocco on Sunday, officials have said.

Nigeria face Algeria in an inconsequential 2018 World Cup qualifier on November 10, before they take on Argentina in a friendly four days later in Russia.

Eagles spokesman Toyin Ibitoye disclosed the team’s training camp will open on Sunday in Casablanca, Morocco, and 25 players have been picked with two others placed on standby.

Ibitoye said there will no surprise call-ups by Rohr as he will work with the pool of players he has been working with over the months.

The squad will be made official today.

“We should not expect players who have not been in the pool of players the coach has worked with,”Ibitoye said.

“There will be 25 players called up with two others on standby.”

--ScoreNigeria

looks like someone has been reading nairaland sports forum after all!

Ovamboland:
Easier access of European goods into ECOWAS and destruction of Nigeria production. All those trucks coming to load products in Lagos warehouses will now go to Morocco, the industries will close down and send your brothers and sisters to the labour market.

Shebi na can fish and holiday you come do for this world while others are making money for your head and fixing their country for their children,

This point even looks better than Falana's point. I think the EU is trying by all means to force its EPA program by all means into west africa which Nigeria has been its stumbling block due to Nigeria trying to prevent the Nigerian Manufacturing industry from total collapse.

safarigirl:
first off, that interview is dated February, 2017. It has been on this thread earlier this year sef. As at that time, we had only won two games. Hardly a reason to tag him an opportunist

Secondly, the boy is just 15, do you really think he's dreaming of a chance to feature in the 2018 World Cup?

Call him up first, even if it's for the age grade competitions, then we'll see what happens

It's because of the way discussions here are going with calls for small children and grandpas to represent us at the 2018 world cup. Am just getting sick of all the calls for all players from all manner of places. As for those small children, whoever is our u-17 or u-20 coach should have an eye on them. Let's leave them out of the senior team for now abeg.

tbaba1234:
Komekn, The argument for martins is a recurring decimal. We argued for Martins under Keshi. He was invited but could not justify his invitation on the pitch. Martins has not scored since July so he is in bit of a drought. His present form does not justify an invite. However, he is a Nigerian and can be given a shot.

and folks are making a case for him? I think we have not learnt any lesson from our previous world cup woes with the way discussions have been going on here as regards players selection, am afraid Russisa 2018 may not be different, same sentiments ruined our chances in the past and It's haunting us again

obailala:
A man with his level of education and exposure, and also a former honourable minister of the country, obsessed with throwing abusive and unprintable words everyday to his political opponents, using uncouth words which are only expected of common garage touts, but yet some people actually see this degenerative act as an admirable virtue expected of a person of FFK pedigree as a leader?... probably cos he speaks in queen's English? ... someone above just described this art of throwing insults as 'bravery' on the part of FFK, wonderful!

the enemy of my enemy is my friend principle is the reason ffk's madness looks like bravery to many dumb fellows, that' all

terzurum5:
Operation Capture German Youth Internationals

EXCLUSIVE: Germany-based younsgter ready to play for Nigeria.

International Edition By: Ayodeji Tunde | 25/02/2017
www.nairaland.com/attachments/6166689_midhatjpg_jpeg183e34bc88f041c255b6796c79953eee

At 15 years old, Midhat Bajric is already carving a niche for himself in the round leather game, little wonder he has been nicknamed the new ‘David Alaba’.


Churning out a wonderful performance for the youth side of FC Nurnberg week-in-week-out, Bajric may just be the next big thing on Nigerian football scene as he is already one of the top-rated prospects in German youth football.

Already Nigeria football officials are said to be looking at the direction of Ademola Lookman at Everton and Chelsea loanee, Tammy Abraham

In this exclusive interview with .com from Germany, Midhat through his representative, Kennedy Chukwuodii opens up on his desire to don the Nigeria colours very soon even though he is eligible to play for as much as three other countries.

Excerpt.....

: Can you please tell us about yourself:

My name is MIDHAT BAJRIC, my father is a Croatian and my mother a German with a Nigerian father, possibly from Lagos. I am 15 years old. I started playing football when I was just 9. I was afraid of injury then, but my brother encouraged me to push even harder. It wasn't easy at first, so many young players like me and it has to be competitive. And the training becoming quite difficult at first but now I am very comfortable and enjoying it a lot.


There are reports that you are keen to play for Nigeria, what informed your interests and how has your parents reacted to your planned choice?

Yes, that has been my dream; I am white by skin but Nigerian inside. I am a Nigerian, I like to watch Nigeria football players, like Kelechi Iheanacho, John Obi Mikel, Ahmed Musa and others, so many of them. I want to say that I will be very proud to play for Nigeria and make Nigerians proud. My parents support my choice, though my parents are no more together but they still support my dream of playing for Nigeria. I want to visit Abuja, Lagos one day.


How much of Nigerian football do you know, and who are your role models?

I have been following Nigeria football, recently I watched them in Rio Brazil, I was so proud when they performed well. My role model is Kelechi Iheanacho, Victor Moses, John Obi Mikel and so many of them I can’t remember their names.


What target have you set for yourself... Are you keen to start with the age grade sides or you have a tall dream of giving the Super Eagles a shot?

I would mind starting with the big boys, it depends on where I am called to represent, but if I should be gambled to the senior team, I play the game of my life to pick a place and make the coach trust me. But if I am called to play in the junior team, why not? I can grow from there. But German football is very strong, we are given big training.

Does the likes of Leon Balogun who was raised in Germany and now doing well with Nigeria inspire you in any way?

Yes, Leon is a very good player, in FSV MAINZ, He is quite a strong player, I look at him and I think I have got a chance in the Nigeria team.


What’s your favourite position on the field?

I am a central defender, that has been my position and enjoy it so much. I look forward one day to wear green white green. Maybe they will invite me, I don't know but I am so crazy about it.

Thank you for your time and all the best

The pleasure was mine... Thank you very much.

http://.com/exclusive-germany-based-younsgter-ready-to-play-for-nigeria

na when we wan go world cup or win something all these small oyinbo children go dey talk say they wan play for Nigeria, as far as am concerned if they are really serious let them come and start playing for us against african sides that will break their leg first, then we can start taking them serious.

BluntBoy:
So, Kemi is now a Cockney? This FFK has no sense.

All those words he used qualifies him too. He is himself a traitor and a reprobate. I don't understand how they use politics to fool us in this country. An unprincipled man like FFK should not even be calling someone a reprobate. It would seem like Evans calling someone a kidnapper. Something it would be better to leave for more morally superior people.

The guy is just envious of the folks who have jobs currently in aso rock, nothing more!

Benita27:
FFK is one of the sound Nigerian politician with an impeccable English accent and command of English. Heard him speak once on air, I doff my hat. The man is really sound.

Another one I remember is former speaker; house of representatives, Dimeji Bankole.

how has his impeccable English contributed positively to Nigeria?

Sammy07:
Honestly, I have arrived at this conclusions.
Judging from the comments..

1. Igbo people are the most hateful tribe in Nigeria...

2. Igbo people always disagree with whatever that does not suit them.

Before I used to fight for some igbos over Yorubas here in my state..
I can now see why Hausas hate igbos very much, and I can see that igbos will never get a president in this Nigeria if they continue with their hating..

If nah waec result them post, and imo or anambra state is leading, they will be happy..

but whatever that doesn't suit them, they won't be happy..

Its called Identity crisis! that is the problem they have. Your identity is not defined by what others are or have but who you really are. Our SE folks need to stand up to their identity. They are not inferior to anybody or superior to anybody, that's what they don't understand.

ab11baddo:
Oh my God!!!! My people from d other side of d Niger.... I came to this thread knowing fully well... They will chest-beat about how their region is a paradise..... U guys have this utopic sense about urself.... Keep living in your delusion alright, no point in arguing... I stay in Lagos and in osun... N I can tell u... This people feed better than most lagosians....good electricity, water, health care system ..what else do they want ?? They are predominantly farmers ...they cater for their family just enough... I tire for una

I served there so I can testify, when I was in osun, I don't need to iron pressed all my clothes at once because there will always be light when am about to go anywhere. am surprised with my se folks here cos when I was in osun, many se folks that were corpers confessed to me how food was so cheap compared to what obtains in their states in the east. I knew lots of corpers from the se who never left osun after service year.

I just laughed when I read comments here on nairaland, so misleading and funny

Great4God:
How do you define poverty, have you been to Anambra state before, I can categorically tell you that poverty has been defeated in Anambra state, that is one state that looks like where every family is living confortably, Anambra people are not struggling for basic things in life, their eyes are on bigger stuffs, so it baffles me how this research was conducted

Anambra is doing well, fine but many other states are also doing well and better. The problem is that you folks depend too much on nairaland for your information. Do more research and know for yourself.

senatordave1:
As a neutral person,i think standard of living or poverty rate is not measured by the number of millionaires and billionaires a state has or how commercialized or developed the state is but how the common man is faring.the wealth in anambra is concentrated in their wealthy ones but in osun,it is dispersed to almost everyone.the poor in anambra are worse off than those in osun.the gap between the rich and poor in osun is lower than that of anambra.if we say osun is an idp camp,just last week peter obi was distributing 1000 naira notes.

I served in osun state and I was told that their folks in the diaspora sends money regularly to their kits and kin back in osun, reason you will not see many companies in osun yet many folks are thriving, if the way aregbe owed salaries in osun is the way many other states were owing salaries, mhen na die o, but the remission from the diaspora looks like a mitigation factor for many osun people. Back then in osun I often wonder why shop owners wait till around 10 am to open and before 6pm they are closing until I learnt about the diaspora funds that flow well into osun. mhen i give those people respect o

ffk and his so called sanctimonious ways, always using the name of God to deceive his brainwashed followers

Mujtahida:
Guy forget about the recall of Martins and co. It's going to be counter productive. I'd rather an Onyekuru be drafted in, even a Tammy or Dessers or Onuachu than Martins. We've seen them before. At least I know Martins is not Rashidi even if he might be painting Chinese league red with goals. Ighalo is doing that almost every week. We don't need Martins or Osaze. Let's move forward abeg and stop trying to color the future with paint from the past. We have newer beautiful colors I am hungry to see.

both martins and osaze that messed us up at the 2010 world cup? osaze tried in 2014 but to bring these old pales back in 2018 may just show how backwards our football is andwith the emergence of players like moses, iwobi even ihenacho, why are we still discussing folks like martins and osaze for christ sake haba. with old players like musa and mikel already in the squad, its a shame to be talking about osaze and martins. smh

stonemasonn:
The funny thing is that you don't find such fanaticism in Muslim dominated countries around us like Senegal, Mali, Chad, Niger e.t.c. Only in Nigeria...Thanks to the caliphate.

its because islam is not dominant in Nigeria, in senegal and others islam is almost 90% dominant if not more so the fanaticism is unnecessary as there is nothing more to prove about the religion there

Mujtahida:
You need big game players like Pirlo. See this https://s4.scoopwhoop.com/anj/pirloquotes/257746508.png
I however differ from you on the number of players we need. We need one in GK, at least one in the defence, one in the midfield, two wing forwards and at least one CF.

so who are the big players that are not in the eagles set up presently, I no wan hear martins o!

Mujtahida:
Yes that bench looks enticing in African setting but when you x-ray it vis - a- vis what would be on parade at the World Cup we would realise that the bench can still be and should be upgraded. In your opinion how many players as in new (in terms of having not featured at all) players should Rohr include to balance the need to go with the core team with the need to reinforce the team?

not more than 3 as we don't really have much options out there, remember you need players with a big heart for the world cup not players that will have sleepless nights before their debut game for the eagles. You know we don't small children to face the kind of teams we will meet at the world cup and those teams won't parade small children either but tried and tested players and we all know this

sagod:
How could Gowon be lying at old age? What a shame!

were you in the meeting, how do you know he is lying?

what is ffk's business? unless he has the video of what actually transpired the guy should keep shut. You can't easily counter what transpired in a meeting if you were not there physically or have a video reference.

jotey:
i think they finally listened to our advice about staying away from the media

NFF dae follow this thread joor

tell them! we aren't making noise here

Mujtahida:
I read one time of the NFF complaining about immense pressure on them from player agents. I just pray that the core 15 are fit and in form. Still we need a full squad rich in depth spilling over to the bench. Iwobi came from the Bench and decided the match against Zambia. At the World Cup proper the bench- if solid enough - can still ultimately decide some crucial games.

I think we do have a solid bench already may be with the addition of a few players, will be better. Having a bench with musa, iwobi or even if its simon, iheanacho, etebo, ogu is not bad o! some big African teams can't boast of such.

Joebie:
Well i thought u were speaking about player selection interference.

the technical team is also key especially when you talked earlier about video analysts, a coach may have his own preferred video analyst, what if the nff disagrees with him like they disagreed with keshi over okpala. That can affect a team going into a tournament negatively.

safarigirl:
lol...it's funny now, but I was positively livid when I first saw that World Cup list

Like, I had to Google half the team to know who they were and let's not even consider the clubs these people played for. It was a poor team through and through.

I was even angry Sunday Mba didn't make the team, it was a proper case of monkey dey work, baboon come chop.

I'm glad this team is doing well so far, however, I must warn Ror that these coming months will be the most trying period of his coaching career because THEY will come. Agents, players, the press, hell, family members even...and everyone will be trying to secure a slot, he will be toasted heavily and he will need a strength of mind to overcome the pressure and swim with half of this current team.

you have not added prayer warriors, imams, pastors and babalawos . we may need to start raising some mfm prayer points for Rohr.

Seriously that's why we are identifying lessons from our previous world cup woes

Joebie:
Permit me to comment on point 11.

I remember in the aftermath of the 2014 World Cup, Pinnick (before he became the president) criticized Super Eagles tactical department, saying we needed a "consortium of coaches", with each specialized in a certain area. I think at this point Pinnick needs to revisit that idea, and work with Rohr into seeing if his assistance team needs reinforcement. And should any at the moment be deficient, they should be dropped without sentiments. Hence, Rohr needs to be sincere to revaluate his assistants.

And let me correct something, the 2014 team was not overhauled without the consent of Keshi. Keshi was very much in charge I strongly believe.

Sylvanus Okpala was kehsi's right hand man during afcon 2013, he was sacked for criticizing the nff after afcon but keshi insisted that he must be brought back all to no avail, one of keshi's major brawl with nff was about Okpala. Some folks believe he was keshi's game reader. I think it was an issue we discussed here on this forum if I can remember. Reason folks think we saw another Super eagles during the confed cup and world cup after the afcon display.

Kog45:
I disagreed, did u remember Chidi Nwanu nearly missed d WC despite having a wonderful season at Anderlecht.

Remember it took d intervention of goalkeeper trainer before Rufai could make Afcon team.

If Westerhoff had his way players like Peter Rufai,Chidi Nwanu w not make US 94 squad.

As u said Yekini was far better even Amokachie, Siasia are better than Owubokiri but not Efan Ekoku i watched in Norwich and against Zaire.

Efan Ekoku made d team solely on Kojo Williams who happened to.be Westerhoff close ally.

Did u realised John Fashanu nearly made d team after he refused to play for Nigeria, then Chief Akinwumi recommended him but Kojo Williams block him and used Dudu Orumen to paint Fashanu black through his sport show.

It was later discovered there was terrible family scandal between Fashanu and Kojo's Father SB Williams.If not for that Fashanu w make US 94 team.

My man a lot are happening behind d scene when it comes to players selection even with foreign coach.If I may ask icon4s can u explain how Aaron Samuel came into reckoning before Cameroon match.

truth is personal sentiments can never be avoided even all of us here, we all have our personal bias against one person or the other. if am a boss in an organisation and someone whose father did my own father evil in their days is about to get an appointment in the organisation and I then have influence to make a decision on that person's appointment, it will take God the father, Son and Holy Spirit for that person to get that job. We are all humans, we just have to make sure it doesn't affect things much but such things do happen. Even in different teams across the world, we often marvel with some coach's decision when it's obvious there is no footballing reason for such decisions.

1. Stick to the coach that qualifies you for the world cup cos you you need that strong bond between the coach and the players who have been working tirelessly together.
2. Do not discard half or majority of the players that qualified you for the world cup as it affects team spirit and you end up with players in the world cup who are strange bed fellows. Case in point keshi despite qualifying for the world cup and going to the world cup ended up with players who were not really used to each other. This may be the reason Mikel rejected the inclusion of ramon azeez [though unprofessional of mikel] in the game against France.
3. Go with at least 90% of your players who qualified you for the world cup. case in point USA 94 team. If you must bring in new players, very very few however there seems to be strong cases for the inclusion of Kayode Olanrewaju, Henry Onyekwuru and Sone aluko to the team. They are not strangers to the Eagles as they have been invited before. Rohr can also consider and monitor strongly those who have never been don the green white jersey who could fill in the weak gaps in the current team especially the foreign born Nigerian talents who are all over Europe.
4. Nff need to sort out issues of bonus and players welfare on time. I heard before the end of this year, Nff will meet with the players to tell them how much they will earn during the world cup next year. Good one I must say.
5. Quality warm up games for the team, perhaps warm up games against Germany and Yugoslavia brought out the best of Nigeria against Spain in France 98.
6. We must check over confidence from the players, case in point is one of the reasons we lost the Denmark game in 1998 as the players were already thinking about brazil when they haven't finished with Denmark
7. We must check players who tend to be selfish in the game, result against argentina in the 2010 world cup would have been different if the likes of martins were not selfish in their play. Okocha was another culprit in past world cups. Victor Moses need to be checked on this. Players in better position must be given the ball for clinical finishes in front of goal like we saw against zambia with Iwobi's goal. This could decide games.
8. Team selection must be based on those who are hungry for the team success and not those who just want to appear as some big players have failed to turn up on the big occasions, e.g. Yekini of blessed memory and Okocha.
9. Good mix of youthful and experienced players. One of the reasons we failed in the 2002 world cup was the way we discarded experienced players who were still in form and hungry. Thank God Rohr had admitted that it was the mix of young and experienced players that achieved qualification. So those who feel the likes of Mikel, musa, onazi, echiejile even omeruo are not relevant may need to have a rethink. One advantage of the crop of young players we have now like iwobi, iheanacho, ekong and co is that by the next world cup, they will be very experienced players.
10. Updated FIFA rules must be understood by players and coaches to avoid naive situations. Reason we even failed to qualify in 2006 as we knew nothing about head to head rule. Players also need to be warned about inscriptions on their inner wears as they risk unnecessary yellow cards like we saw in the match against Cameroon involving Ighalo.
11. The technical bench assisting the coach need to have a good balance of competent and experienced hands that will complement the coach technically. e.g. in 2014 world cup the technical team that won the afcon in 2013 was overhauled without coach kehsi's consent which in turn affected the balance of the team from what we saw in afcon earlier. Video analysts to identify opposition strengths and weaknesses can not be overemphasized if we must reach the quarter-finals and beyond in the world cup.
12. Discipline on and off the pitch must be maintained by coach and players. This cost us in the 2010 world cup where kaita was sent off and the indiscipline acts and rows among players that happened in both 1994 and 1998 world cups including the lack of concentration that cost us the match against Italy 1994 in the dying minutes. Unity is key among players and issues must be quickly sorted before it degenerates.
13. Undue interference from the Nff and the Government in the choice and selection of players. Government role should be limited to providing logistics and quick handling/payment of match salaries and bonuses to the team. The coaches and technical team should not be owed salaries and all outstanding allowances should be paid before the world cup begins to have an hitch-free tournament.

Joebie:
Another addition.

The utilization of video analysts during game time would prove really crucial if we are really serious about getting to the Semi-finals. Even top teams like Germany can show signs of weaknesses in certain areas during game time. Players that posses that extra thing will come handy in those situations with specific instructions given. Our tactical decisions should be on point. How about players that will take advantage of dead ball situations? Week after week that responsibility is put on the shoulders of Moses Simon at Gent. Just yesterday, I watched again the U17 2015 finals, and realized how tactically gifted Amuneke is. Just when the Mexicans thought they were avenging us for the the two defeats we dealt them in the previous edition, and when it seemed our forwards had no answers in the their 18, we pulled it off twice outside the 18 yard box to end the first half on the lead -- Kelechi Nwakali's beautiful free-kick was one of them. In the second half the Mexicans came all out, and after they equalized, we had no problems breaking them down in the 18, coupled with the introduction of Osinachi.
So here comes my question again, who will be in charge of our dead ball situations? Mikel? Victor Moses? I'm not impressed.

Now am beginning to enjoy this, well done sir, Nice one

Kog45:
Thanks Goke,i read most of your comments on how to avoid d past mistakes we made during preparation for WC and during d WC,ranging from changing of coach,administrative lapses,tactical issues,disunity in d team etc.

Well said but from my own opinion i w only make reference to US 94 team if i have d opportunity of advising this present team,cos they share a lot of things in common.

Clemens Westerhoff enjoyed d total support of Nigeria fans just like Rohr is having today, also Westerhoff had d backing of football administrators then even to d presidency.

I remember Alex Akinyele got sacked as d sport minister for going on air to criticised Westerhoff especially Keshi after we secured our qualification in Algiers.Same thing can be said of Rohr,having d backing of NFF to d extent he doesn't complain much about his salary payment.

US 94 yeam got everything right till they reach WC,started well and qualified from d group to 2nd round,fans were happy to see a wonderful team but before Italy match a lot of things happened that caused distraction to d team.

Disunity,we heard a lot of rumours that some players gang up against Yekini which i did'nt believe,generally Yekini was poor at US 94.A brawl really occurred between Siasia and Olishe and it really affected d team against Italy coz some players believe Westerhoff should not have take side.Due to d brawl Siasia was dropped from d team against Italy.

Disunity among players must be avoided in this present team.Unity is d key to success in any team and thank God d bond in this present team is awesome.

Players selection,we should be careful with our players selection, d best should be picked and d bench must be strong.During preparation to US 94 Westerhoff make sure all positions were well covered up.

Despite winning Afcon,Westerhoff was'nt satisfied with his CB coz Keshi has lost form due to knee injury and Uche Okafor was a suspect,this paved way for unwanted Chidi Nwanu to make d team.Also Ugbade was dropped for Emenalo,one of d best tactical decision by Clemens Westerhoff coz Iroha couldn't finish our first match and ruled out of WC due to injury

I believe US94 team should serve as an example to this team.Rohr should fix d grey area is having issues and no sentiments should override his judgements on any players,remember sentiments override Westerhoff judgment regards Siasia brawl with Olishe and it affected our match plan against Italy.

Great point sir, don't just allow ugbade see this one o, the man still de swear for westerhof. ugbade would have created record of being the first player appearing in the u-17, u-20 and senior world cups but you see, the team making history is more superior to an individual player making history. Nice one sir

Joebie:
Good job. My suggestion, ss regards number 3, there is no need mentioning names as two players of those three are known to Rohr and IMO are in the Super Eagles set-up. If we must mention names, let it be players Rohr has not ran the rule over or have probably not taken notice of. Granted, it's okay if you want to put Aluko there. Ajagun and Onuachu are other suggestions.

well noted, will update too, but could we all agree on the names of players who have strong cases for inclusion or at best players rohr should monitor strongly before I update so we don't continue to post names and more names continue to pop up. Thanks

Some lessons so far on our failed world cup attempts from responses so far include

1. Stick to the coach that qualifies you for the world cup cos you you need that strong bond between the coach and the players who have been working tirelessly together.
2. Do not discard half or majority of the players that qualified you for the world cup as it affects team spirit and you end up with players in the world cup who are strange bed fellows. Case in point keshi despite qualifying for the world cup and going to the world cup ended up with players who were not really used to each other. This may be the reason Mikel rejected the inclusion of ramon azeez [though unprofessional of mikel] in the game against France.
3. Go with at least 90% of your players who qualified you for the world cup. case in point USA 94 team. If you must bring in new players, very very few however there seems to be strong cases for the inclusion of Kayode Olanrewaju, Henry Onyekwuru and Sone aluko to the team. They are not strangers to the Eagles as they have been invited before.
4. Nff need to sort out issues of bonus and players welfare on time. I heard before the end of this year, Nff will meet with the players to tell them how much they will earn during the world cup next year. Good one I must say.
5. Quality warm up games for the team, perhaps warm up games against Germany and Yugoslavia brought out the best of Nigeria against Spain in France 98.
6. We must check over confidence from the players, case in point is one of the reasons we lost the Denmark game in 1998 as the players were already thinking about brazil when they haven't finished with Denmark
7. We must check players who tend to be selfish in the game, result against argentina in the 2010 world cup would have been different if the likes of martins were not selfish in their play. Okocha was another culprit in past world cups. Victor Moses need to be checked on this. Players in better position must be given the ball for clinical finishes in front of goal like we saw against zambia with Iwobi's goal. This could decide games.
8. Team selection must be based on those who are hungry for the team success and not those who just want to appear as some big players have failed to turn up on the big occasions, e.g. Yekini of blessed memory and Okocha.
9. Good mix of youthful and experienced players. One of the reasons we failed in the 2002 world cup was the way we discarded experienced players who were still in form and hungry. Thank God Rohr had admitted that it was the mix of young and experienced players that achieved qualification. So those who feel the likes of Mikel, musa, onazi, echiejile even omeruo are not relevant may need to have a rethink. One advantage of the crop of young players we have now like iwobi, iheanacho, ekong and co is that by the next world cup, they will be very experienced players.
10. Updated FIFA rules must be understood by players and coaches to avoid naive situations. Reason we even failed to qualify in 2006 as we knew nothing about head to head rule. Players also need to be warned about inscriptions on their inner wears as they risk unnecessary yellow cards like we saw in the match against Cameroon involving Ighalo.
11. The technical bench assisting the coach need to have a good balance of competent and experienced hands that will complement the coach technically. e.g. in 2014 world cup the technical team that won the afcon in 2013 was overhauled without coach kehsi's consent which in turn affected the balance of the team from what we saw in afcon earlier.
12. Discipline on and off the pitch must be maintained by coach and players. This cost us in the 2010 world cup where kaita was sent off and the indiscipline acts and rows among players that happened in both 1994 and 1998 world cups including the lack of concentration that cost us the match against Italy 1994 in the dying minutes.

forgiveness:
How can Yekini not be at his best when players ganged up against him?

What could Okocha had done in 98 when the rest where fatigued during the match against Denmark?

Okocha was the only player that carried the match for head like gala though he looked for suitors with his display. Nevertheless, the rest were not in that game and the coach messed up with the submissions .

If he had brought in Tijani earlier we for don do something.

the way we absolve players and in turn blame the coach as Nigerians is amazing, even some folks are still blaming keshi for enyeama and yobo's mistakes against france in the last world cup. Nigerians I hail thee as our beloved players never go wrong but the coach and others.