₦airaland Forum

SharpJoe:
Icon4s already explained that Yobo could go forward. During Chelsea vs Barcelona in 2009, Guus Hiddink brought in Belletti to help secure the win. He was not positionally disciplined and it caused Chelsea to lose.

So the screen shot can not give detailed explanation but the changes showed the Basic dynamics that took place.

You did not know Yobo was a Standard Liège defender. Now you know. I repeat if we needed an extra striker/forward in our squad, we would not drop Aniele to carry a defender to play attack or shore up midfield. Yobo was a Standard Liège defender 1997/1998. This was 1999.

Yobo was registered by standard liege in 1998 not 97. It was standard liege who converted him. To Nigerians he was known as a an attacker.
Picture they say is worth a thousand words. I didn't photoshop this image.
Kindly show me the 5th defender in this picture. A snap shot taken at 92'.

If he wasn't playing in defence when he came on, why do you still argue he was a defender in the game?

Icon4s:
Disu's team was leading 1-0.

They needed a second goal. They laboured so hard and dominated their opponent. Yet the second goal did not come.

At 79th min he pulls off the lone goal scorer, Julius Aghahowa, who is a striker, and brings in a Standard liege defender.

Even a novice in the game can easily explain the tactical switch.

Costa Rica scored a few seconds after this action. Its very clear this is a flat back four, I wonder where the "extra defender" Yobo was.

cc TheGoodJoe, SharpJoe

SharpJoe:
In such a tournament, you will not play with any team. Let alone a tough group as we were. Costa Rica were not seen as a write off, if you think so. They ended up beating the favorite team in our Group, Germany that ended up last on the log. Despite stars like Erico Kern, Andreas Voss and Christian Timm.

Unfortunately that wasn't the case. We weren't under severe pressure from the Costa Ricans. We should have got an insurance goal but our strikers kept hitting the ball off target. Lagos fans were cheering the team on! In such a situation, do you think any coach would have decided to invite pressure on his team by switching to a 5 man defence when we were closer to score a second goal than conceeding.
The Costa Ricans got a lucky break on a rare attack which resulted in Okoye bringing down an unrushing striker.
Disu would have been murdered in Lagos if he played defensive football against Costa Rica.

SharpJoe:
Funny. Which sure up midfield. Ten minutes to go. Have you not heard that term before? Will you say thirteen or fifteen? It I ten minutes to go. At that time, it is very basic to remove the attacking player for a defending one to prevent a goal. You sure up the midfield when the opposing team is controlling the midfield.

This is past. Yobo was a Standard Liège defender when he was called up. It is so clear. If we needed an extra striker, We would not drop Emmanuel Aniele.

Any proficient manager will make chances in view of the added time. I've seen games were 2 goals were scored in additional time. Standard additional time these days is 3 minutes. We are talking football not basketball where the buzzer sounds on the dot of the clock.

Please answer the question in my previous post.

SharpJoe:
Why does any coach pull out an attacker for a defender when his side is winning by a loan goal? To secure the lead.

If you were a manager with 12-15 minutes to play, will you pull off a striker and put a defender on to play a 5 man defence against a presumed weaker opponent in a home game?

SharpJoe:
The debate is in respect to why Coach Tunde Disu sent in Yobo in that game and why he pulled out Aghahowa.

We were leading 1-0 and it was between 12-11 minutes to go. It was a basic switch to deny the Costa Ricans the chance to score. Tunde Disu sent in a Standard Liège defender invited to the competition to help prevent the goal.

It is so simple.

Your 11-12 minutes does not include stoppage time. How many matches have you watched and the ref called off the game on the dot of 90'?

Yobo maybe listed as a defender at Standard liege but it's very clear the Nigerian coaches still saw him as an attacker which he was known for before signing for Standard liege and he was rightly registered by FIFA as an attacker. Just like Mikel being made to play attacking midfield for the super eagles while he played deeper for Chelsea.

Disu brought Yobo in to shore up the midfield, not to play as a defender. Does it make tactical sense to play 5 man defensive formation to protect a 1 goal lead against Costa Rica of all teams.

SharpJoe:
Please, the dynamics of the game changed after the Costa Ricans scored. At the 79th minute, we were to secure the win. At the 83rd minute we were going for a win. So your 15 minutes timetable is off the point.

When Yobo entered the pitch at 79', he had between 12-15 minutes including additional time. This is simple plus and minus.
I ask again, why would the coach put on a defender for a striker, opting for a 5 man defence to secure a 1:0 lead against almighty Costa Rica?

SharpJoe:
11-10. Minutes you mean. Why make it 15 minutes when it is clearly stated Yobo came in at the 79th minute. That is a basic attack for defender change.

11 minutes plus a standard 3 Minutes of injury time or 4 minutes as the case maybe brings everything to 15 minutes.
I ask, why would Disu bring on a defender for a striker playing a 5 man defensive formation in a home game against freaking Costa Rica?
Take your time and digest this.

Icon4s:
Ow I see.

Firstly even from the site u are quoting from Yobo came in for Aghahowa and nt for Dombraye.

Secondly are u saying bc Yobo came in for Aghohowa that Yobo went straight to play a striker's role?

I am sure u are knowledgeable enough about football to know that not all substitutions are like for like. That substitution could have just been a tactical switch jst to beef up the midfield and defense bc we led for the greater part of that game only to concede a late equalizer.

Yobo was running around very high up the pitch when he came on. Disu wouldn't have played 5 at the back with 12-15 minutes to go just to contain the Costa Ricans who were not that threatening.
The Costa Ricans equalised 3 Minutes after Yobo came on via penalty.

SharpJoe:
Big thanks to Haruna Babangida for uploading this nice clip of his goals and assists. It shows how brilliant he was and it is still shocking one of our youngsters exported at such a young age did not make an impact in the Super Eagles.

cc: Icon4s, Kog45, TheSuperNerd, safarigirl, Joseph1013, lakesidepapa, goldfish80, Xzbit91, terzurum5, Bascovanvelli, lexyman, Humility017, ChrisKels, bigblangston, komekn.

Haruna Babangida Goals, assists and skills in Barcelona B.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kg4t-wEKAdo
Can someone tell Haruna to retitle the video.

Haruna was a stubborn player. Too stubborn for his own good. I recall in the All Africa games, coja 2003. He was substituted by coach Musa Abdulahi, he simply walked up to the coach and demanded for his international passport. Some Nfa members pleaded and intervened. After that tournament his career took a turn for the worse. I think he later played in Greece or so the last I heard of him.
If I was in Musa Abdulahi shoes, I would have handed him his passport and called his bluff.
He never went far in the game because of his petulance.

Icon4s:
At Nigeria '99 Yobo was a defender. I cant recall exactly Whether RB or CB.

The thing is Yobo moved forward a lot especially when there was a set piece to be taken. Yobo i think is about one of our defenders that scored the most goals.

I think there were times in that tourney when Yobo, bc of his striker abilities, would drift forward to support the strikers. As i said earlier especially during set piece taking.

So goldfish80 may have thought on such occasions that Yobo was a striker.

http://www.11v11.com/matches/nigeria-v-costa-rica-03-april-1999-266819/

This site gave an account of the Nigeria vs Costa Rica game. They listed Yobo as a Df/ midfielder.
In this particular game, he replaced Eddie Dombraye and played an advanced midfield role. Komekn was actually correct about Yobo playing as an attacking midfielder in 99.

Bad roads can cause engine knock. Wierd but true. I found this out first hand this January.
I drove over a presumed shallow pot hole only to be surprised it was very deep. The impact created a resonance which caused the crankshaft and engine block shift from allignment. This resulted in the crankshaft not turning properly thereby creating a knocking sound. I had to replace the engine block and the wounded crankshaft.

SharpJoe:
Just as Icon4s pointed out, I do not need FIFA website to tell me about Nigeria 99. Yobo in 1998 was already playing as a defender for Standard Liège. That FIFA site list is wrong and the Wikipedia site correct.

Yobo was not a striker in the team and there was no way he would smell that role with players like Shittu, Melkam, Musa, Ikedia, Aghahowa, Hashimu Garba, Dombraye and Haruna Babangida in the squad.

I don't need FifA site to remind me about Nigeria 99. For argument sake, I cited FifA.
Could be the technical bench tried experimenting playing Yobo further up the pitch since he pretty much started his career there and our attack refused to click with Eddy Dombraye, Aghahowa, Ikedia and Yaro Yaro playing like strangers.
I saw Yobo with my korokoro eyes playing as a striker.

SharpJoe:
Either way, nice trip down memory lane. I visited Enugu not long after that game against Mali and I even got information from some footballers that the young ball boy who delighted the crowd with a brilliant ball control on the touch line and return the ball with a bicycle kick was Chinedu Obasi.

Also interesting thinking back on Ganiyu Shittu yesterday, I remembered how skillful he was and had a similar style to Abubakar Musa. It is a long time back. You could easily have missed the memory of Libregts.

Two players you missed from the Malian side were Bagayoko and Mahammadu Dissa.

Chinedu Obasi and Solomon Okoronkwo were ball boys in Nigeria 99

SharpJoe:
The facts is very clear and people has confirmed he was not a striker. We never changed our central defensive pair with Rabiu Afolabi and the other tall, lanky Igbo Guy. Eneh always played at the left back role and Obinna Okpala replaced him once at the right back role. So if Yobo a Standard Liège defender played a cameo role in the WYC, what role did he play because he could not smell the forward role.

How come Fifa listed him as a striker? FIFA for all their incompetence and and corruption do not make such typos.

Icon4s:
To join TheGoodJoe, Goldfish80 and Tbaba1234 in the Yobo discussion.

We all know that Yobo started off as a striker bt then he was at the Michelin team based in Port Harcourt.

In 1998 he moved to standard liege of Belgium. He was in their youth team where they remoulded him into a defender.

In Nigeria '99 Yobo was a defender. I recall how he being a striker thing came about. Some press men hu knew him in PH or hu heard he was a striker in that PH club listed him as a striker but he really was a defender in that tourney.

And i hope u guys are not confusing Joseph with his elder brother, Albert Yobo who played for the Eaglets in 1995.

If i can recall vividly well, Nigeria went with 3 strikers: Julius Aghahowa, Eddy Dumbraye and Danny Shittu.

Gabriel Melkam was an Attacking Midfielder, Haruna Babangida was a winger, Hamishu Garba was a Wings Forward/ AM. Gbenga Okunowo who was captain of the 1997 Flying was a midfielder. Barca converted him to a RB.

Goldfish80 our first game was against Costa Rica and not Paraguay. Julius Aghahowa opened scoring for Nigeria at the national stadium in Surulere. Costa Rica equalised while we were in search of an insurance second goal. It ended 1-1. Tunde Disu was sacked after the 3rd game against Paraguay and Thijs Libregts who was then Super Eagles coach was made to continue with the team.

I am not just quoting from wikipedia, i am giving you from my own memory. Also i was already a sports writer as at that time.

I don't recall saying our first game was against Paraguay. Of course our first game was against Costa Rica. I think it was on the game Ikenna Ene was red carded for deliberately handling the ball.
Libregts was only in charge for one or two games. Disu prepared the team from day 1. If I can recall, Dudu Orumen was a strong voice who fostered Libregets to us.

SharpJoe:
It is very obvious you did not watch Nigeria 99. Your Libregets post exposed it. Tunde Disu got fired and Libregets coached the team in the Second Round and Quarter finals. I even watched his first training session and the Quarter final game was at Enugu.

Forlan and Ronaldinho played at the same time with us. Uruguay eliminated Brazil. I repeat, the competition was too stiff for Yobo to play attack. Eddie Dombraye who was a sharp striker was on the bench. There were other players who could play upfront before Yobo.

How can Yobo get a cameo role before Dombraye. Melkam could, play upfront Shittu could play upfront.

I watched live not in TV the Nigeria vs Mali quater finals in Enugu. I was still to gain access to the jam packed Nnamdi Azikiwe stadium when fans screamed Goal! Those of us outside started jubilanting,we thought Nigeria scored only to gain access into the stadium and saw a different thing in the score board.
Ikedia was the only Nigerian player who came to the party. He was so good that one Hausa man sitting in front of me wrote on a white handkerchief "I love Ikedia" we all cheered.

One player who who had a very bad game was Musa. We were all screaming to the bench "change Musa put Shittu". The Malians were just too good on the day. Diarra and Seydou Keita. We just couldn't handle Seydou Keita on the day. There was visible panick whenever Keita was in the ball. Lots of locals nicknamed him Ogbete because of a market in Enugu called Kenyatta,it was like a funny way they could connect to him.

After the tournament, Ikenna Eneh bought a blue Mercedes-Benz flat boot. We stayed in the same neighborhood at the time. When he fought with his elder brother Ziko, he used to run to my house and hide.
I followed Nigeria 99 bumper to bumper. Ikenna Eneh's mother used to come to our house to watch her son on TV.

I repeat, Yobo did not smell the pitch as a right back in 99.

TheGoodJoe:
Did I say Yobo did not start as a striker? I said in Nigeria '99, he was a right back. I am not browsing this. I can tell you Eddie Dombraye was left footed and was one of those who took penalties against Robbie Keane and Damien Doff's Ireland. He placed a low trick penalty and beat the keeper. He carried a bald cut.

Shittu scored the winner in the penalty and danced with his hands open. Hashimu Garba scored in the quarter finals against Seydou Keita's Mali. He scored from a cross from Ikedia down the right flank. Hashimu headed the ball and was running to celebrate when the keeper tipped the ball. It came back to Garba and he buried it.

I even did not mention Abubakar Musa who was playing for Eagle Cement of Port Harcourt. He was the captain of the team in the AYC and we lost the final to Ghana. Then there was a shuffle in the team and a brilliant forward, Emmanuel Aniele (I believe Icon4s knows him) lost his place.

I can tell you against Costa Rica, Aghahowa scored the first goal and the commentator said Nigeria just found a star. Haruna Babangida was through on goal towards the end and decided to show boat with a turn and a defender nicked the ball off him.

Melkam came in as a sub in some games. So, it is not Internet things. Rabiu Afolabi was the captain and in defence. Eneh had dada hair as right back. Obinna Okpala, a relation of Coach Sylvanus Okpala was a talented left back but hardly played because of negative reports of him getting a place into the squad through his uncle.

Dominic Oruma was a keeper and Wilson Oruma's younger brother. Looked a lot like Oruma and wore Wilson's Lens jerseys during training. Please, this is not browsing.

Yobo was not a striker in flying Eagles 1999 as you said. Finish.

If you can recall all these I wonder why it skipped you that Yobo was a striker in the 99 team. I recall seeing the baby-faced Yobo for the first time against Paraguay or so in the group stages. He made a cameo as a striker. Even in his testimonial game in Ph,the commentators mentioned that he started as a striker for the Flying Eagles when he was moved up front and scored a goal in the second half of the game.

TheGoodJoe:
Yobo played right back and not attack. Which space would Yobo see to play attack in that team. Dombraye and Melkam were strikers and they were on the bench. At that time, Haruna Babangida was rated higher than Ronaldinho. He was the star coming to Nigeria '99. We had too many top quality players for Yobo to even get picked as a striker.

We still had Hashimu Garba.

Gabriel Melkam was not a striker. He was a midfielder /winger. He was layer converted to a left back at Hansa Rostok.
I remember when he pleaded to be invited to the Super Eagles but He couldn't get a look in because of the collosus that was Ifeanyi Udeze.

TheSuperNerd:
Viola.... I knew wikipedia could be wrong.... loll


Fifa.com records Yobo as a forward...
and that was my first U-20 world cup as a seven year old... I remembered ikedia moments against Ireland and aghohowa... Sam okoye... awwwwwwwwn... yobo in jersey no 14 but couldn't tell what role was playing then as he always ventured forward on the right... #littleboymemories


http://www.fifa.com/u20worldcup/archive/nigeria1999/teams/team=1888282/index.html

Wikipedia is not the right place to source for information most times. Funny enough they listed Libregets as Flying Eagles coach in 99 which is wrong, Disu was the manager in charge of that team. While Libregets was the manager of the super eagles for a few months. The man was a car crash.
Erroneously they listed Yobo as a DF. If not for some of us who followed the team, we would have gone with the flow that Yobo played as a defender in that tourney.

TheGoodJoe:
Yobo played as a right back in Nigeria '99. We had Aghahowa, Haruna Babangida, Ikedia, Hashimu Garba, Melkam and Eddie Dombraye as our forward going players.

Yobo started out as a striker. You may need to dig really deep into the back end of the Internet to find this out.

safarigirl:
every time I see Yobo, the first thing that comes to my mind us a blue jersey, then a stretched leg, then Pogba and finally, an own goal

Apart from that memory the only other one i have is of him sitting on the bench during AFCON ....

Yobo needs to return from retirement and play one more game so I have better memories of him

He was pretty solid in South Africa. Our defence was almost impregnable.

Generally speaking, Yobo did very well for us in his playing days. Lots of people don't remember he used to be a striker for the Flying Eagles of 1999, switched to right back and where he understudied Taribo. He's well respected at Everton.

Mickael2:
what is your definition of a captain's game? Yobo used to play a captain game but when we replaced him during the Afcon we got better.

How many goals did we concede when Yobo held sway in the run up to the Afcon gold medal?
At the top of my head I recall we only conceded one goal (a penalty gift from the ref) in the group stage against Zambia.
How exactly did we get better when Yobo was replaced?

TheSuperNerd:
Akpeyi was quite good between the sticks. He made some good saves from Sow and Ndoye.

The goal sow scored wasn't entirely Akpeyi's fault. **he did fluff at the cross but also the positioning of the defenders caused it... and a little ding-dong in the area permitted Sow to convert**

And yeah.... Iwobi was poor. I am not necessarily making excuses for him but only stating that it will take him time to adjust his game to the extreme physical demands of African football.... Especially with die hard teams like Cameroun and Senegal who have defenders and midfielders who don't give a damn or know what the word, "smile" is....


Iwobi is bigger than Nacho in size although Nacho is slightly taller than he is. But Nacho copped well against Koulibaly and co.... Nacho grew up in Nigeria here naa and played street football which most times involves "jam body" hard soccer and playing against bigger boys.... but Iwobi grew up under "Air condition" kinda football environment.... (lemme just call it that).

So it will take him some time shaa.... Iwobi is still one of our very best and most impactful game-changing players.

Good to know Akpeyi was in good form. We need a strong deputy for Ikeme since its almost a given we rely on him because of illness. I hope Akpeyi gets to play the next game. He needs all the confidence he can get before the Afcon qualifiers.
I hope to see him start against South Africa, am sure he will be geared up and extra motivated to shut out the Bafana.

Iwobi really need to get his head back in the game. I don't want to believe his latina girlfriend is responsible for his slide in form.

Mickael2:
guess who had a good game...why Ndidi of Course

guess who didn't have such a good game....why Onazi of course

I've read through some minute by minute account of the game from various sources and from what I gathered Onazi was heralded for playing a captain's game till he got injured.
You're not doing your reputation any good with some biased and prejudiced comments you've been making over the last few days.

maidaboi:
bros senegal has better players so its a good scoreline for me

That's a myth. Senegal do not have better players than we do. Apart from Mane and to an extent Koulibaly I don't think I will pick anyone in their squad out of the lot.
Keita Balde have not gotten to the height his career promised as a teenager in Lazio. Henri Saviet used to be tagged the new Eto'o when he represented France at the U17 world cup.
Seriously, I don't get the hype about Senegal.
Even the much talked about Mane have not completed his first season at Liverpool. He's still building a reputation for himself gradually. As far as am concerned Caf got it wrong nominating him for the APOY. Salah should have been in company with Mahrez and Aubameyang not Mane.

TheSuperNerd:
The summary..... well....

It was a game of physicality and power.... The Senegalese were alll over Nigeria in the first 20-25mins of the encounter but eventually the Likes of Ndidi and Ogu held sway.... hard to pick a MOTM between the two but I will pick Ndidi.

Onazi started but got clattered into by the rough Senegalese midfielders... his injury is pretty serious kinda.

Senegal and Nigeria both had chances... Iheanacho squandered Two good chances in the first half.




Omeruo did creditably well as Right back and Troost and Leon did good in central defence also...

Echiejile held sway on the left....


Iwobi had a very poor game due to his inability to cope with the physical aspects of the game the Senegalese hardmen were giving us. He was eventually replaced in the second half by Etebo.

Musa was not so good too and left injured. Kayode replaced him.

Iheanacho won the penalty and converted it himself.


Isaac Success came in for Simon and showed why Rohr had always wanted to cap him... his entrance gave the lions of teranga hell.... he got past his markers with ease and overpowered them most times... he also got one or two freekicks... one of whick Nacho took which found Kayode but he missed from a few yards out...


It wasn't all Nigeria shaa... Senegal did have their moments of domination and the likes of Sow troubled us and got the game's first goal. Kouyate, Ndoye, Gueye gave our young midfield a super battle but I must confess Ogu and Ndidi replied fire for fire...

Ndoye and Ndidi especially had a big midfield battle in which Ndidi mostly prevailed.

This is Senegal's starting XI...

23 Pape Seydou N'Diaye
25 M. Wagué
3 K. Koulibaly
26 S. Sané
11 C. Ndoye
8 C. Kouyaté
5 I. Gueye
24 A. Mbengue
9 M. Diouf
7 M. Sow
15 O. N'Guette
Le

Sadio Mane came into the fray in the 65th min....


Come on Sir Goldfish... no Mikel... no Moses Victor, No Ikeme, No Ighalo, No ideye (as battering ram).... yet Nigeria held their own.....

Remember their team have stayed linger than ours as a unit... Nigeria deserve your plaudits... not condemnation...

Thanks a lot. This is the most comprehensive summary I've read so far.
How good was Akpeyi in goal? Was he culpable for the goal conceded?
From your report, Iwobi had another poor game. That's two games in a row he has been poor for the super eagles. I don't think it's right making excuses for him, sentiments aside. If he had a poor game, he had a poor game.
He plays week in week out against rough, rugged and raw teams like STOKE and Burnley in bruising conditions in the premiership.

Can I get a summary of the game? I understand it was 1-1 final score. We should be smashing a stranded Senegalese team like this. Am not impressed with the scoreline am seeing at all.

BascoVanVeli:
Abeg lock up. For every goal scored there has to be a mistake made.

The eyes only see what the mind is prepared to comprehend.

tbaba1234:
Watch videos of the new players initiation to the Super Eagles

Isaac Success Sings

https://twitter.com/ogujohnugo/status/844292129283289088

Noah Bazee dances

https://twitter.com/ogujohnugo/status/844291155403640833

Ebuehi the stepper

https://twitter.com/ogujohnugo/status/844290702481731584

Kayode dances

https://twitter.com/ogujohnugo/status/844293079205105664

Abeg who win?

Bazee seems too shy. I hope he's a different animal on the pitch.

Ebuehi appears a confident young man. Onazi seems to take special interest in his case.

Not surprised with Kayode's move. He normally dances like a willow when he scores.

Issaac Success, proper Naija boy.
Onazi seems to be the social prefect of the group.

krattoss:
bet365 group owns the highest shares in stoke city..

How bout that

Is that why they renamed their stadium bet365 stadium. No wonder.

Danycrusoe:
Remo stars is owned by the owner of bet9ja that's Kunle Soname, he is also the owner of Etebo's club in Portugal. so I see nothing wrong init

I don't think it's right. Because Portugal allowed him ownership of Fierence doesn't make it OK. Portugal is renowned for endorsing so many shady deals in football. They allow 3rd party ownership/purchase of players which is illegal in most countries.
I don't think such arrangement will be permitted in England.