₦airaland Forum

ChrisKels:
Ajax cape town got relegated last season, the less said, the better.

Talking about NgOs Lol, those three clubs u mentioned are privately owned, may be, just may be...lol I didnt say anything

Ajax cape Town won their case at the arbitrary committee and have been restored back to the PSL.
By NGO, I meant charity organization.

ChrisKels:
We know the story of Aspas and Pato. While it didnt workout form them at those clubs U mentioned, it did for them elsewhere. Same cant be said of our boy who also couldn't cut it at the PSL with Sundowns

Ejike suffered recurring achilles injury. If you know anatomy very well you will agree with me that achilles injury doesn't go away easily. This achilles injury finished Cazorla and Diaby. It was unfortunate for Ejike that when he got back fit, Sundowns were already PSL and caf champions, the injury continued at Bidvest and currently he's at Ajax.
If he wasn't good, how do you explain 3 of the best PSL sides giving him contracts? Those football clubs aren't NgOs.

ChrisKels:
Sorry it was an oversight, but that said, Uzoenyi was a big time failure Rennes wish they never encountered

How? Did the spell turn out bad due to his unprofessional conduct? Was he given chances and he flopped? Even Pato didn't get to turn out for Chelsea while on a 1yr loan. Iago Aspas at Liverpool didn't go well too. My point is that some transfers don't just work out, not because of lack of talent or endeavor.
It's not exclusive to Nigerian home-based players.

ChrisKels:
A move Rennes regret till tomorrow bro. His failure is one if the reasons those top teams have turned their backs on us.

Aren't you overreaching too much? The guy spent 6 months there but couldn't settle. How can he be responsible for Nigerian players not getting signed?

edi287:
We're talking Ligue un. I think Taye Taiwo was the last player we had go straight to a top 5 league without trials.

Ejike Uzoenyi went to Rennes from Rangers straight.

ChrisKels:
Lol bro this is the hard truth, our league is crap. Consider Herve koffi joining Lille in ligue 1 directly(without trials) as a goal keeper from the Ivorian league, Arthur joining Olympique Lyon from the Ghanaian league. All these are Western African leagues, I dont even want to compare our league with the northern African leagues because it would be an insult to those Northern African leagues.

Can u compare those guys with the Odeys, Lokosas, Ezes et al of this world who end up in Bulgaria, Denmark, fc Zurich et al after some serious trials?

This is the list of past Ghana premiership top scorers and where they landed (2005-2015).
If you look closely, you will discover most of them ended up in Sudan, Egypt, UAE, Tunisia... The best move I can find from this list was the guy who transfered to Norway.
The story of Ghanaian football is not so different from Nigerians and I dare say the NFL is doing way better than any other league in west Africa.

https://www.google.com.ng/amp/s/amp.pulse.com.gh/sports/ghana-premier-league-last-10-top-goal-scorers-and-where-they-are-id4779653.html

komekn:
Talking about MOTM awards these are awarded by the league via an independent panel usually set up be the league sponsors in conjunction with the FA. They are completely different from the club awards which reflect your performance in relation to your team mates not the opposing team , for example you could be beaten 7-0 but be awarded MOTM and or MVP by your club. Indeed different journals state who they see as their MOTM however, for a balanced approach we tend to make reference to the official league awards.

I am still unable to find any official and or reputable source that confirms he had 5 MOTM awards at least. See the bold you state he has scored braces, thats clearly plural and it gives the impression he has scored a good number of goals. Forgiveness, is a lot better than that at me, so i would humbly ask if he can confirm or any body else for that matter.

I do not know Jeorge Bird have never met and probably never will, what makes him an authority? Is he a coach Part of recruitment Whats his official Arsenal position The people i do know don't say the same thing he is saying.

Being born in Nigeria or England has absolutely nothing to do with it . Like i said if Nwakali was born here he would not have a FREE RIDE to Arsenal. He would have had to battle through local youth football, get noticed, go on trial impress get signed, by pass the politics, corruption , favoritism, injury, etc and sustain continuous development all the way to U18, 21 & 23 otherwise be dropped. There is no guarantee he would even excel at local level, just too many ifs. The only reason he gets a big boost to fly over all the hurdles and jump into Arsenal is his exploits at Nigeria U17. NOTHING ELSE.

I had a talk with Harry Kane's former HO of development at Tottenham, and he told me they considered dropping him at 18 , indeed many got dropped he survived the rest is history.

In 2013, my friend John Fashanu brought the Nigeria all stars U18 Football team from Nigeria (if I'm right they were sponsored by the then Oceanic bank) , they came to play Manchester united and City some of those boys had been selected for Nigeria's u17 Eaglets. The independent academy I was involved with at the time was called to give them a warm up match to prepare them. My team was made up of boys who were predominantly U16 and almost entirely African origin and not playing for any academy at the time.

Cut a long story short we flogged them 8-1, after that game two boys were called to a EPL club for trials none from Nigeria Al stars. After that i don't think the game to play Manchester united and City materialized. Essentially this example tell you that being part of the National team set up gives you credence to get into the EPL in a sense through the backdoor without going through all the hoops.

In reality I don't think too much should be placed on playing for Arsenal Youth because what counts is playing first team football not growing dust playing academy football. The best way to do that is playing first team at any level and fighting your way up. In my opinion 70% of academy boys would be lost playing lower league football.

So when i think of Nwakali i would say he has had it VERY EASY in comparison . I mean that without prejudice

Finally, some of you think that life is easy in England and everything comes easy, it certainly is not.

I am going post Lukukau's story after this , it made me want to cry. he did not see Skytv until he was 16 and his mum had to mix milk with water because of no money. They would not have electricity for 2/3 weeks, that's extreme abject poverty and he is in Western Europe. Thats the kind of poverty some of you here can not even fathom. Yet he was in Europe where its assumed things are easy.

Let me start with the John Fashanu story. When a man like Fashanu arranges a program which he took the participants to UK labeling these guys Nigeria all star, I think you should ask yourself how he came about this program in the first place.
Do we have a functional academy league where he took out the best and labeled them "All star"? I hope you know " football with Fash" was an elaborate scam cooked up by the colorful character that is Fashanu which each participant numbering thousands paid fees and bought forms to participate. As a matter of fact, Efcc was involved at a point to investigate that program.

If indeed, we have a Nigerian U17 all star, can you bet your money that England u17s can get a draw against them in a FIFA organized competition? Do you know how many competitions Fc Abuja academy have won outside the shores of Nigeria? Even Fc Inter academy of Enugu and one other academy from Onitsha, Bolowoton, Buruj academy have participated in organized tournaments in Europe and came out tops. Some of these tournaments these guys have won included participants from England, Spain and the Nordic countries. As a matter of fact, Fc Abuja won a particular finals beating Real Madrid youth team.
I'm going out of my way to say some of these things so as to clear you that the story about a Nigerian all star getting drubbed 8:1 by an English academy means very little because there is indeed nothing like a Nigerian All star. It is not beyond Fashanu to carry people who are not footballers to the UK. I won't say more than this.

Good you mentioned K. Nwakali if born in England would have to play, get noticed and navigate through the murky waters of nepotism and every other bottle neck to get a contract. I agree, but have can you image what guys like K. Nwakali has to go through in Nigeria before they even get attention of national selectors, battle through over 5 thousand players most of who have letter of recommendation from politicians, ex players and the likes.
Take for instance the story of Victor Moses in England. He basically was seen playing in the park by a crystal palace agent who invited him over to their academy, he stood out in his first training session with the U13s and the rest is history. This story is not different from that of Moses Odubanjo and so many others.
A typical Ajegunle born player will have a much more though part, almost e100, to Crystal palace than Victor Moses did.The odds are fully stacked against him.

You have a young Nigerian boy who had to deal with his father's demise early in his life, helped his mother in her petty business to survive and get a soccer boot, navigated his way through politics, man know man, quoter system, nepotism, bribery, hunger to get himself into the Nigerian U17, captained the team and won a world championship, won the Mvp and got signed by Arsenal. In search of development, this same boy was farmed out to Holland at 18, living alone, different language and culture. Proved himself in that league by winning a few man of the match award, adjudged the best Arsenal loanee by a reputable Arsenal youth team expert Jorge Bird, sent on loan again to the Dutch first division were he got less playing time but still have a goal to show for his effort in 300 mins he played (mind you, he is a deep lying playmaker). Back on loan to the 2nd div, he scored 4 goals in the 2nf half of the season. Now, this same guy have a shot at Fc Porto.
Yet, you think he has done nothing and he has things handed to him because Nigerians see him as a golden boy.
I took out my time to say all these so you get the proper perspective, because I see a total disconnection in your narrative and bias.

forgiveness:
Kelechi Nwakali is good but he did not win any MOTM in the Eredivise. Maybe in the lower Eredivise 2.

Do you have any fact to back up your claim that he won 5 MOTM in that league?

Who is talking about Eredivise where he wasn't given enough chances to play.
At Maastricht where he actually played, he gave good account of himself and as you can see in the picture I posted, he won 2 man of the match awards within a space of 4 games and that same season he was rated as Arsenal's best loanee.
You want me to put in the hard yards and find the other Mvps he won? Why not do the research yourself and prove me wrong.

komekn:
I have been around enough clubs in England to take with a pinch of salt, some of the marketing and hyping vthat goes on. Particularly what's put in the press.

If you are not doing it in your club or loan club then there is simply nothing to say.

Why is Seyi Ojo, Tega Abrahams, Tega Onomah, Ovie Ejaria on the too get list of so many clubs in England. I could add to that list Ademola Lookman.

Simply they performed on the pitch, na hard sell required.

I have already talked about my experience with Portuguese clubs. Until he plays for Porto first team and puts in quality performances it means nothing. That's if he even will play for the first team.

By the way I have not been able to confirm any MOTM awards given to Nwakali at MVV, I hope I'm wrong.

You can see reports of games where he was man of the match. Personally I know of atleast 5 games he was the MvP. I suspect he has more because there are games we're he scored braces playing the Pirlo position.

Jeorge Bird is not in the business of player hype rather he gives factual reports on Arsenal youth team players. He is like Arsenal's academy mouth piece.

I have watched Sheyi Ojo, Tammy Abhram and Ovie Ejiara. I legit think they are talented players but in my humble opinion, if any of them were born in Nigeria, I wouldn't imagine they will be considered by Liverpool and Chelsea. We all know about the home grown rule. Take it away and see some of these guys end up working in the subway.

K. Nwakali havent had anything handed to him on a plater. The boy has worked his way up the ladder. The coming season is a big one for him as it will be considered a great conquest if he steps up to their senior team and not just spend the whole season with the Porto B(where it is assumed he'd start)

komekn:
Can you tell me how many MOTM awards he has won in the Eredivisie and the 2nd tier Eerste Divisie, please. Specifically ❓

The basis for selection still has to be about consistent continous top class performances, in your league and club.

If Nwakali was performing on loan, you will not need the Arsenal youth team coaches to say anything. There will be a que of clubs fighting to get him on loan or buy him outright.

So what's special and why is he more of a genuine prospect than anybody else. Convince me please.

But that's not happening, I wonder why ❓

I don't have the exact stats and number of MOTM he won but I'm very sure he won at least 5 which I am aware of.
However, I will be very frank with you, I am quite disappointed you're trying to sweep under the carpet the fact that he was named as Arsenal's best on loan player out of over 20 players sent on loan by the club. This award adds to his growing CV which includes U17 MVP. If you still cannot find any potential in some of these personal accolades this boy have acquired then this discussion isn't worth the while.

You're speaking as if he is a passanger in Holland but ask yourself If he wasn't doing well enough, why will Porto want him on loan with a buy out clause which was turned down by Arsenal?
This young man's record speak for itself. That is not to say he has arrived of course.

ChrisKels:
Lol goldfish80, wetin come be ur point as Yeri Mina just said, it's not yet over?

That is football for you. What will be will be...
At least nobody will accuse Southgate for not doing enough tactically.

This same Barcelona guy again? Has scored 3goals from corner kicks alone in this tournament.

Final 10mins, England sub Dele Ali for Eric Dier.
I hope Gernot Rohr is watching and taking notes on game management.

komekn:
I am very concerned about your comments. I wanted you to move away from biased emotive conjecture which some think is national patriotism. And for you to examine the issue without emotion.

What you have said is that Nwakali does not need to prove himself in the professional game. He has no need to prove his quality in professional leagues. He is already in the SE essentially.

I remember a certain Rabui Ibrahim at once stage among the top 20 promising teenagers in the world. The hype surrounding him exceeded Nwakali by a very large margin. He left Sporting went to PSV and then Celtic and where is he today.

Another Nigerian project completely fallen by the wayside. What is going on is typical Naija packaging. Yobo Mikel and Kanu did not need packaging they proved it on the pitch.

How many MOTM awards has he won in both the Eredivisie and now 2nd tier.

I am very suprised at your comments. I find your take on things to be objective and very well though out. But on this occasion I am lost for words.

You are classing him as the best 20 year old midfielder Nigeria has. And at 20 he is playing 2nd tier in the Dutch league. Wow !!! Do you really believe that. How many MOTM awards has he won is he the most outstanding player in the lowly 2nd tier of Dutch football.

Dele Alli, Ademola Lookman, Gomez, Ngolo Kante, Diabate, etc, etc, were outstanding players in the lower league that's what got them into EPL.

The bolded is a very very BIG IF. If he was born here he would not have had a straight ticket on the basis of National U17 team excellence to Arsenal. He would have to struggle against all the negative variables that we have to fight with dailyas Africans in the UK. And even if he wanted to play for Nigeria he would then face favoritism nepotism and settlement mentality.

I think you need to get some facts correct. I am not in support for an unproven player to be invited to the Super Eagles. But at times you have special cases and you make exceptions when you see a geniue prospect.

Make no mistake about it, Nwakali have won many man of the match awards in his time with Maastricht. As a matter of fact he was rated as Arsenal's best loanee player in the 2016/2017 season by Arsenal's youth team expert, Jeorge Bird (I take it that you're familiar with this name). His man of the match award against Athletico is another indication of his potentials. It is nothing to scoff at trust me.

The Rabiu Ibrahim example doesn't fit in because Rabiu was a victim of bad handling. I know how highly regarded he was at Sporting Lisbon at the time and it all happened in a flash, bounced around European teams, who always get him signed up after just a training session. Must be said though Rabiu wasn't at the best health wise as he had heart failures.

For Nwakali, let's see as the season goes. He has every talent to succeed at international level. The ball is in his court how well he improves and Nigeria will be in for exciting times if he realised his potential, that is if he doesn't get converted to a no9.

forgiveness:
There should be merit in selection of players. It should not be based on past glory.

What if some players are doing better than him in his role should they be overlooked because he is Nigerian project?

If it's about Nigerian project, Emmanuel Sani, Ramon Azeez and Abdul Ajagun should be called to the national team because they were either once Captains or first and third best players in the U17 World cup.

Anyway, I am happy he went to Porto fc where I hope he gets to play and Impress.

Nobody is suggesting he shouldnt merit a call, but I hope you know the Nigerian fans are the ones clamoring for his invite because they were reminded of his quality with that Athletico friendly. 99% who watched that friendly match wants him invited, it is a public clamour we are talking about here and frankly speaking, the boy is quality.

forgiveness:
And you made us believed Iceland Football players are bunch of amateurs packed with salt parkers, bar attendances, film makers etc without letting us know that they have produced great professional players that have impressed in top clubs and Leagues in Europe. That is deception that must be tackled and debunked with facts.

Iceland has produced players that have played and made impression in the top leagues in Europe. They have also produced players that have played in Bayern Munich, Ac Milan, Dortmund, Stuttgart, Anderlecht (when it was one of the top clubs in Europe), Tottenham, Chelsea, Barcelona, Arsenal, Monaco, Bordeaux, Ajax, etcetera. These players were one time highest goal scorers in the EPL, Eredivise, Belgium pro league or second or top goal scorer in the Bundusliga, EPL and Ligue 1. Some even won Bundesliga midfielder of the season and made FIFA best 13th player in the world. Get your facts right.

Hence Eidur Guðjohnsen is never the greatest player that came out from Iceland. There are still some players above him. Players that are far greater than most those Japanese players up there. Fact

What's my business with their former players? Are they the ones who lined up against Ngr? The fact is that they had part timers in that team against Ngr who are film makers, doctors and factory workers.
For your information, I didn't include Japanese players who have turned out for Stuttgart, Mainz, Hamburg Celtic and the likes because I don't rate those clubs as top teams. I only listed those who played for geniue football royalties.

As far as I'm concerned, Eidur Gudjohnson is the one and only great player Iceland produced bearing in mind that he won the Champions league, premiership, FA cup, LA Liga with Chelsea and Barcelona playing a pivotal role not peripheral roles for those sides.

krattoss:
the only backing Giwa have is the ministers and maybe the feds.. But pinnick got fifa and caf on his back, and football doesn't correlate with government parastatals.
I think going by the books, pinnick will come out victorious again but then if giwas connect is strong, he can pull a fast one and maybe disrupt or maybe render our football to a lock down and hostage with government backing.. The only thing fifa and caf can do is to ban us and nothing more..

Let them kill themselves cos I can't really vouch for any of them.. If they re receiving and enjoying the money in it, they should also fight the war in it.. Nothing concern me

My brother, I don't know what went down between the two parties but going back in history, there were 2 parallel elections in Abuja and Warri. Pinick won the elections in Warri while Giwa won the election in Abuja.
You should also realize that Udaghan the former governor of Delta state is Pinick's inlaw. They used the state government resources, staged and won the elections in Warri.
FIFA recognized the Warri elections but funny enough FIFA's credibility is quite questionable as they have their own leadership crisis which later saw executives and the former president banned for life.
The Pinick/Giwa drama has taken a political twist. WHT you're seeing in play now is a PDP /APC tussle. Pinick, PDP. Daloung /Giwa APC. This is a gangster war. They should battle it out to the end. If FIFA ban us, everyone will rest.

komekn:
Yobo left Nigeria as a teenager to Belguim.

Standard Liege didn't give him enough game time went to Tenerife almost a whole season without playing. Comes back goes to Marseille actually played on the wing.

He was now making an impression in the top flight if both the Belgium league and French leagues. He was not anonymous. It was on the back of those performances that he came into the senior team and IMMEDIATELY CLAIMED permanent position in 2002 Afcon.

He came to Everton and the rest as they say is history. He did not leverage his career on past youthful glories. Although he was not impressive in the U20.

You cannot compare Mikel and Yobo to Nwakali. These guys were impressive for thier clubs Mikel was on the radar of top clubs.

Kanu was killing it with Kluivert in Ajax at a time when Ajax was at the pinnacle of European football.


There is NO COMPARISON WHATSOEVER with Kanu, Mikel and Yobo.

Nwakali has been in European football for two years, he is 20 years old and had done NOTHING. And on the basis of that NOTHING he should be in the SE.

Football is not about emotive sentiment and thought. It's cold and unforgiving and about top performances not past youthful glories.

Finally Kelechi is not in Nigeria he is in Europe. The unit for the measurement of quality has changed it is no longer Nigerian but European. We are competing on the world stage now, not the local scene in Nigeria. If he can not measure up to the standard here he is simply not good enough. That's the harsh reality. When I see him play currently ( not U17 Eaglets) I see nothing outstanding, No sentiment.

Finally and Finally, I think he has had it too easy and he and you seem too think so as well, because he is a NIGERIAN PROJECT he will always have a straight first class ticket to the SE.

Would you call that a level playing field a reflection of fairness, equitable and balanced approach to national team selection.

I know even you will agree with me.

Let me remind you that Kanu and Oruma were invited to camp by Westerhof after Japan 93 although they dint make the squad as expected. Kanu at the time wasn't even at Ajax.

Mind you, Yobo was struggling to find himself in Europe early in his career until he settled as a full back at Marseille before he was invited for the world cup qualifiers against Zambia.

In Kelechi Nwakali's case, he is the captain of the Nigerian u20s who didn't qualify for the world cup unfortunately and he cannot play for his parent club due to work permit issues and over time, he has turned out for Dutch clubs on loan where Arsenal farmed him out to gain experience.

Yes, he didn't get much opportunities last season at Venlo that is why Arsenal cut his loan deal and sent him back to Maastricht to make sure he plays. If he wasn't highly thought of. I understand the head of Arsenal academy visits him at Maastricht. Even Olishe gave him lots of praise after playing against his team after which he singled him out and not because of his nationality but the quality of his game which Olishe was very particular about.

Truth is that Nwakali should be given a chance in friendlies. He should be gradually integrated into the national team with plans to have him in full charge of the midfield within the next 2- 3years, which will also coincide with a period where it is expected he will be playing at a decent level in Europe.

The young man is the most talented midfielder of Nigerian stock in western Europe.
If he was born in England, the narrative would have been different.

edi287:
Bleep the guy abeg. The fool will undo all the progress we have made off the pitch for selfish gains. He knows we'll get a Fifa ban. What is the point in pushing on with this nonsense??

I hope you know this order came from the Supreme Court of Nigeria. Why will the apex court of Nigeria give judgment in favour of Giwa if he didn't have a case. Like I said, this palava has more to it that meets the eye. I don't think Pinick is as clean as people think.

komekn:
When I make a contribution it is not based on assumption or emotive sentiment.

In my small time in football particularly youth nobody is a project, just potential to waiting to be realised.

Youth football is just indicative nit conclusive.

In England 76% of players from the football league academies end up not playing professional football. This tells us even more youth football is only indicative.

I will give three examples of recent players who went very high in youth football but are playing now playing non league football.

John Cofie was bought at age 14 from Burnley by Manchester United for the sum of £1 million. He played alongside Pogba. By age 21 he had been to near 10 clubs in Europe. And ended up playing non league.

Adam Morgan was hailed as the new Robbie Fowler hr went on pre- season tour with Liverpool. At a stage he was on £20k a week. Within three years of this peak level he is now playing non league.

Daniel Tricket Smith bought by Liverpool from Crew for near £350k at age 16. He played for Liverpool U23 and England he was released in 2016 not even 2 years he is now playing non league.

I have seen too many players hundreds over the years that promised much but delivered little. Opportunity is the most important thing and then what you do with it.

Nwakali has had a lot of opportunity but he has done nothing with it. Opportunity upon Opportunity.

We are no longer talking about youth football but professional first team senior football. What has he done You base your opinion on past glories not present continous.

He has been in the 2nd tier of Dutch football, let's be honest it's a very weak league. He if he was exceptional should be the stand out player in that league.

It doesn't matter the league you play or club if you are exceptional you will STAND OUT.

So considering all these variables NWAKALI has done nothing. Playing a non competitive friendly with Athletico Madrid and scoring a goal is not evidence of anything. There are hundreds of Nigerian origin players playing non league who could do the same. Even those playing local league in Nigeria but will not get the opportunity.

My deduction is not a emotive but objective experiential based.

I know a few not a lot of vthe coaching staff some who were at Reading and Crystal Palace before coming to Arsenal. I will be honest he is not highly regarded that's just what they say in public.

Is he more regarded than Chuba Akpom who is on the downward spiral. What they paid for him is chicken change means nothing.

You have to understand that the guy in question is just 19. I don't know how many 19year old midfielders who left their continent and aced it in a major European league.
It takes years to train midfielders and defenders, Cesc Fabregas was the only guy who bucked the trend at 19 but that was an anormally and today he is paying for playing too much football very early. Even Xavi and Iniesta weren't starters at Barcelona till their mid 20's. Nwakali is doing very well as far as I'm concerned.

The Athletico game is nothing to write off because even the MLS, Mexican and Japanese teams gauge the strength of their teams and players with pre-season games against top European teams. The young man was very immaculate with his play and crowed his performance by beating European best keeper (in my opinion) Oblak from a distance. I don't know how many times you have even seen this in the champions league. This is not what you take with a pinch of salt. There's ability there in abundance which needs the right environment to unlock.

Finally, our climes with England differs. England can afford to offload talents in their numbers every year, I know about the cut throat world of English academies but they have the culture and structure to replace those lost talents with other ones the following year because their clubs run multi million pounds academies. It's almost like a revolving door.
In Nigeria we usually rely on youth internationals to make the step up, that is the culture here. see Kanu - Yobo-Mikel.... I see nothing wrong in having same thought with Nwakali

The terreses behind the 2 goal posts are too far away from the pitch resulting in poor view for spectators seated there. It is not as if the stadium have tracks so why push the stands that far from action?
That is one major structural flaw of this Aba stadium.

edi287:
This useless Giwa isn't even running his club well enough yet it's the NFF he wants to run??
Dude needs to Bleep off!! Pinnick has been great.

His club was driven under, banned and stripped off all their points resulting in its players dispatched to other clubs. The biggest recipient was Plateau utd who later won the league.
My brother, their case has more to it that meets the eye. Nigeria is a gangster paradise. It is just sad both parties are grandstanding with the soul of Nigerian football. I thought they have made peace and reached a compromise in the past.

sandrahnaub:
How may times ...have they persecuted Dangote...his trucks causes casualties on a daily basis

Legit question.

forgiveness:
There is different between Iceland is a bigger football country than Japan and Iceland has produced players greater than Japan. Gerrit?

So, stop twisting point.

The argument you walked into was which team was better between Iceland and Japan.
You jumped in and claimed Iceland have produced the greater players. Critically looking at the players Iceland have produced, Eidur Gudjohnson alone stands out having played for Chelsea and Barcelona.
Looking at Japan, they may not have produced any player for Barcelona but they have produced the likes of Nakata, Inamoto, Kagawa, Nagatomo, Nakamura, Honda etc who collectively have played for Arsenal, Inter Milan, Ac Milan, Dortmond and Man utd to name a few.
Suggesting Iceland have produced better players because of one man is akin to saying Liberia have produced better players than Nigeria because they have produced a Ballon dor winner. Or alluding Trinidad and Tobago have produced better players than Nigeria because Dwight Yorke is from there. Gerrit?

komekn:
I don't HATE first of all. I don't know Nwakali and probably never will, so what's thier to hate.

What I do HATE is double standard, favoritism and unfair practices.

I have one unit of uncompromising measurement for the SE selection. MERIT and that standard of merit should be not be up for debate.

The basis for selection should be consistent quality current performances in your club. If you are in a low level league then you should be outstanding in your club at least if not the entire league.

If you are in a top class team in top level league there may be exceptions. However, you must be playing to be considered. Youth football is not senior football.

So looking at Nwakali he played one season in the Eredivisie was not outstanding. If he was other teams would come in for him. He then goes to MVV Mastrich a demotion in reality to the 2nd tier of Dutch football. The Dutch Eredivisie league is ranked below the Turkish league it's number 14 in Europe.

In terms of level of football that level is probably on par with the English league 2 or national league.

Now considering all these variables is it wrong to say he at this stage does not merit a call up to the SE.

When a player who has been anonymous and done next nothing to prove his quality. Through the ingenuity of his agent goes to club well above his level. Is it therefore HATE to project to say he Nwakali looks unlikely to be starter in the Porto team. And may indeed end up in the Porto B team.

I am very familiar with Porto and the business model they adopt. As well as similar clubs in Portugal with the same business model.

I know too many African players who have had possible careers in football destroyed by Porto, Sporting and a few other Portuguese clubs.

So what is the HATE in my opinion which is based on experiential knowledge not hear say.

You tell me Mr considerate and level headed

I think you need to understand the context and the reason why Nwakali is highly regarded.
You cannot isolate the fact that he is a Nigerian football project. He came through the ranks and captained Nigerian U17s to a world championship. He's not a random talent who is stuck in Europe, the devil is in the detail here.

Nwakali is such a talent who Nigeria football cannot afford not be part of his growth because it is expected that he will lead the new generation of Nigerian players. He absolutely looks the real deal. Mind you, midfielders don't usually plateau at 19, his celine is very high


Also, he is highly regarded at Arsenal that is why they refused a sale on clause in the deal with Porto. His goal against Athletico was madly celebrated by many Arsenal blogs.

They must have been on his trail on the way from Jos.
Could be an inside job since this is the 2nd time he's been kidnapped.
Thankfully he's unhurt.

AIG07:
Their height too is another thing

This too. Their physical specimen is just a disadvantage for them in football.

forgiveness:
How market?

Iceland is a bigger football country, much more than Japan indeed. I saw your weak attempt to list Icelandic greats and just shook my head.

In my opinion, I believe lack of athletism is the bane of Asian football. If Asians had the athletic genes of Africans, they would have won a few world cups.

justvictor57:
This is where Nigeria would have had the opportunity to lift this world cup. Most threatening teams are out.

Nigeria was never a dark horse in this world cup. The likes of Croatia, Colombia, Suisse and even England could pass as dark horses who can take advantage if France, Brazil, Spain, Germany slip up.
This false regret is not necessary.

I have made this point over and over again. The club a player represents is a spec of nothing and should never be used to judge how good or talented a player is.
Japan doing the business.

By the way, Spain leaving the tournament at this stage is good riddance. Watching their ticki taka these days is like watching wet paint dry.
If they are to be successful on the global stage again, they must review their playing style.