₦airaland Forum

Thank-God I don't fancy his style of play before,time to let better midfield player in

martinosi:
OK Africa is still in the world Cup..but dont tell the fench that lol

France's African World Cup Players

1) Presnel Kimpembe - Congo

2) Samuel Umtiti - Cameroon

3) Paul Pogba- Guinea

4) Kylian Mbappé - Cameroon/Algeria

5) Ousmane Dembélé - Senegal/Mali

6) Corentin Tolisso - Togo

7) N'Golo Kanté - Mali

8 - Blaise Matuidi - DR Congo, Angola

9) Steven Nzonzi - DR Congo

10) Steve Mandanda - DR Congo

11) Adil Rami - Morocco

12) Nabil Fekir - Algeria

13) Djibril Sidibé - Senegal

14) kylian adesanmi mbappe - nigeria

15) Benjamin Mendy - Senegal

16) Raphaël Varane - island of martinique (Afro-Carribbean)

Oga!! those are no longer Africans God has uplifted their status don't bring them down

It is 14 years since the Argentine made his debut against Porto and here, some of his ex-team-mates look back at his early days at the Catalan club

But one day, that changed. “We went to their place and we scored three,” Marc Valiente, a defender with KAS Eupen in Belgium and one of the captains of that team, recalls to Goal . It was 2002 and Barcelona’s raw diamond was a tiny Argentine aged 14. He was the difference in an almost unbeatable team.

Hailing from Rosario, he had arrived in Barcelona just two years earlier and turned up in the Infantil B (Infantil is the Under-12 youth category in Spanish youth football) dressing room “without us even hearing him say hello”, another defender, Robert Franch, remembers.

In the youth teams at Barcelona, the new arrivals are always asked the same question. “Where do you play?,” Rodolf Borrell asked Messi in front of the whole team in February 2002. Without lifting his look from the floor, Leo replied in a quiet voice. “As a forward,” he muttered, before taking him off to a corner where he sat in silence.

“I was amazed by him,” says Roger Gribet, who joined Barcelona the same day as Messi. “I was conscious that my physical development had opened doors at the club. I was 1.70m at the age of 12, but he wasn’t even 1.50m,” he exclaims to Goal, still surprised, 15 years later.



Borrell explained to the boys that Messi was a number 10 “who had come from far away” and who was “very special”, says Valiente, who adds: “Back then, there were no players who came from far away to join La Masia”. Messi was an exception, even then, and that was when the players still hadn’t seen him with a ball at his feet.

The Infantil B side soon saw him in action and Valiente remembers that, “on the first day, they played him as a partner to Cesc Fabregas in attack”. There was nothing random about that. “Cesc had a gift,” he adds. “He was a master at reading the game, because he was never well positioned in the rondo (a training drill where a larger group of players tries to keep possession of the ball from a smaller group of defending players), but he always managed to steal the ball somehow.”

That day, however, the players saw something completely new. “We were always shown to play with one or two touches,” Valiente explains. “From a young age, we had been taught about control and passing, so the ball moves quickly. But suddenly, here’s a guy who can move the ball in four or five touches at the same speed it took us to pass it.”



Nevertheless, they still needed to see it in a proper match. And Albert Benaiges, legendary head of football development at Barcelona for more than two decades, recalled in his book, Líbero : “We had to hurry, because if he didn’t play in those two matches, he wouldn’t have been able to play in a national category until he reached the age of 18”.

His first match came on March 7, 2001 against Amposta and he scored a goal. However, his career looked under threat a week later when he suffered a broken fibula away to Tortosa. To this day, it remains the only fracture he has ever had. But at such a young age, it set off alarm bells at Barcelona and one thing was clear: Messi would not play for the Infantil B team again.

When he recovered from injury, he began to play for the Infantil A side and there was no trace of his injury. And again, he only featured in a handful of games because Borrell and Benaiges quickly promoted him to the Cadete B side (Under-16 youth category) in 2002. It was in that group where he left a real mark.

“Up until then, he had gone largely unnoticed in the dressing room where we had been together for so long,” explains Roger Franch, brother of Robert and goalkeeper in the Cadete B team. “We were a very lively group, but he was always in a corner, alone and quiet.”



In training, however, things were different. “He often made us angry because it was frustrating to play against him,” Roger adds. “You asked yourself if you were good enough to do this.” And his brother Robert, a defender, reveals to Goal: “After seeing that the guy was three gears ahead of us all physically and mentally, we decided, with the other defenders, that we would give him a couple of hits to see what happened. But it didn’t matter… he was so quick that we weren’t even able to kick him.”

Desperate, Robert explains that “you would go for him and when you wanted to bring him down, he had already left you behind and was taking on the next defender”. And he adds: “He was a machine and he always was – in the training, his technique, in recovery and in the matches.” He and the other centre-backs always sought to avoid him in the one-on-one exercises. “Because we knew we wouldn’t even get a sniff of the ball, whatever we did.”

Pau Torras, Cadete B goalkeeper, now with Cartagena, could not believe it. “He would come to training without opening his mouth, leave us all speechless and then go home, all in the most natural way,” he said.



Robert sums it up. “Sometimes you thought that the only way to stop him was by getting out a gun and firing a shot, but even then you had the feeling that the guy would swerve the bullet with the ball under his control,” he says. That was Messi at the age of 13.

Nevertheless, he was still extremely reserved. Until the team went to Venice to play in a tournament and there, Messi broke the ice. “He started to make his first jokes,” Valiente remembers. “He was so shy that he hadn’t spoken to anybody before that.” He then began to hang around with Victor Vazquez, one of the jewels of La Masia and a great partner for the Argentine in the youth teams. They were also class mates.

It was in Venice where his team-mates started to call him “enano” (dwarf). “Even though we called him that for a long time, we didn’t start to do so until we had the mutual confidence which came in that trip to Venice,” Roger Giribet, a striker, explains. “Even when he had made his debut for the first team, he came to see us at La Masia and we said to him: ‘enano, how did you get on with the older guys?’ and we cracked up laughing.

“Maybe in private he complained about us, but he was always a delight with his team-mates and I think he is still the same,” Giribet adds. “I have the feeling that if we saw each other tomorrow, we would give each other a hug and it would be as if these 15 years had not gone by.”


The generation of 1987 graduated to the Cadete A category almost all together in 2002-03 and came to be known as one of the best teams ever seen at La Masia, working with the late Tito Vilanova and also Alex Garcia. However, nothing lasts forever and at the end of the season, Cesc left to join Arsenal, and a year later, Gerard Pique set off for Manchester United.

For his part, Messi kept on moving up, jumping from the Juvenil A (Under-19s) side to Barcelona C (which no longer exists) and then to Barca B, all in the space of a year. At 16, he made his debut with the first team and at 17 he was already a fully-fledged member of the senior squad, under the wing of Ronaldinho, the world’s best player at that time.

Giribet, now technical secretary at Balaguer, says: “All of us that knew him and played with him were not surprised by the wonderful technical ability he has but by his ability to adapt so quickly to any given situation.”

And he adds: “Messi 10 years ago was able to accelerate and get up to speed in a very small space without losing the ball and as the years have gone by, he has readapted his game to carry on being decisive but with other qualities, such as his finishing or that ability to give the final pass, which he has shown more recently.



“In every stage of his career, he has been able to determine what his best virtue is and adapted that for the collective, to keep on being the best for more than a decade. Because from the youth teams until now, he has always been the best.”

Giribet also believes that Messi, unlike other players, is unaffected by pressure. “He doesn’t know what pressure is,” he explains to Goal. “There are many talented players who don’t make it because they can’t handle the pressure. My legs were trembling when I played against 1,500 people and he plays the same whether he’s in a Champions League final or in his back garden.”

Valiente agrees. “Those of us who knew him weren’t surprised to see him in the first team at such a young age, but by the way he adapted to each new stage of his progression,” he says. And Torras adds: “He was always an unstoppable player and there was never a formula to stop him.”

Some 15 years on, sides in Spain and most members of Europe’s elite will know all about that. He was unstoppable then, he is unstoppable now, and he has changed the history of Barcelona. The legend continues.

Butterflyleo:
ALL CHRISTIANS WOULD DO WELL TO LEARN TO AVOID SUCH THREADS AS THOSE OPENED BY ATHEISTS. THEY DONT WANT TO LEARN AND INDEED CAN NEVER LEARN FROM YOU ABOUT GOD. ALL THEY SEEK IS AN OPPORTUNITY TO RIDICULE YOU AND YOUR FAITH.

BE WISE AS A SERPENT MY BRETHREN. IGNORE SUCH THREADS AS THESE

NOTICE THE NUMBER OF ANTI CHRISTIAN THREADS THAT WILL FLOOD THE RELIGION SECTION TODAY BEING SUNDAY BUT WE WILL COUNTER ALL.

ITS BECAUSE THEY ARE FIGHTING YOU AND ALL YOU STAND FOR.

WHEN YOU SEE SUCH THREADS, DO NOT BE TEMPTED TO COMMENT ON THEM BUT RATHER IGNORE THEM AND MOVE ON TO MORE PROFITABLE THINGS AS YOU FIGHT THE GOOD FIGHT OF FAITH.

LET HE WHO HAS EARS, HEAR WHAT THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD IS SAYING

Christians indeed!!!! a religion invented by Romans ,propagated, choved down ur throat by ur colonial master, u are here doing anything to defend it,s authenticity.
continue !!!!!

religious artist

Religion

Didcot:
Trying to emulate a loser? SMH!

na wa o ,messi still a loser?

Millenniumlady:
Men do stupid things for football




That's why I tell my boyfriend it's either me or football

football always and forever,nobody knows the tomorrow of this days bae

what is the difference between Christianity and jokes

only a lazy and illiterate deluded fellow who can't do a logical and technical research will take religion serious

asuustrike2009:
Op you're correct. Many of Satan's agents are here.They bear funny names and are hard on Christians. They rarely comment on Muslim thread for the fear of swearing an oath. It takes a matured Christian filled with the holy ghost not to fall for satanic traps.many bloggers have join them in the game but I only pity hem because Yahweh is a consuming fire. By the time God start dealing with them, they will weep

filled with holy ghost indeed, the holy ghost must be mad to choosen deluded nation and citizens like Nigeria

RuthlessLeader:
Abeg which denomination of church is the true heaven inspired one.
Catholicism
Jehovah Witness
Protestant
Seventh day adventist
African churches.

Please let me know

none ,,,there no religion or denomination in heaven

ScienceWatch:
It may help if I repeat myself to you once more.

I say to you with great empathy sir, that your ideal observation on African Pentecostalism is the most insane, deluded, irrational and illusions in the extreme.

You appear to come across as someone turning green with envy at the far superior SPIRITUAL results of African Penticostalism in the lives of it's followers.

Medical Science are still dumbfounded by the scientifically verifiable evidence pouring in daily around the world from their own patients.

Whenever Medical science proved to be impotent, and utterly useless at solving an issue the patient all ready spent millions on, the patient turns to Jesus and in an instant that problem is effectively fix for FREE.

Now that is enough to get cowardly atheist doctors in a greedy panic. They will go online and mock Jesus the greatest healer this world will ever know.

I won't say more than this because I must go to another town where wise persons eagerly await this truth.

keep on deluding itself we all no it what u know how to do best

Butterflyleo:
If you wouldn't mind, do take your argument to a new and different thread which you probably created and stop derailing this one. Thank you

And I don't remember u being the creator of this tread

[quote author=ScienceWatch post=

I say to you with great empathy sir, that your ideal observation on African Pentecostalism is the most insane, deluded,irrational and illusional.[/quote]I don't share any opinions with the atheist,neither was I anytime,but the problem is that the religion and illusions u so cherish just happened to gain popularity cos it is been invented by a particular super power Roman empire who with her influence,spread it across Europe ,and unfortunately another super power who letter emerge and colonized ur state,force it upon u also their language,culture,government system etc

unlike India who resist the religion ,culture of the British,here in Africa cos we are so deluded which in ur right mind u know accept everything the British introduce without questions hence today we are here castigating the religion as if we invented it . The truth is that we no nothing about religion,each one is only parading his own to make it look superior to another

regards

op all what u should know is that the word Jesus means word of God, so any religious person who abide to the supposed word of their acclaimed God will make their acclaimed heaven so there is nothing special about Jesus the son of a Jews carpenter who the Jews themselves did not give fuc,k about

The problem is not about the existence of God or not,something must have created or control the universe . The problem is that no religion teach,interprete and give the correct information,intention and the will of God,and my ideal observation is that,among all religions,African Pentecostalism is the most deluded,irrational,illusional and most gullible group of religious organization

Haphard:
is he GOD, that's how you people will be spitting trash upandan........

does God resides in d world

chuksanambra:
Na so
Messi: 1 goal in 4 matches Musa: 2 goals in a single match
Best player indeed

who cares about musa the way they did 4 Messi

I am not surprised @ Nigerians stupidity on religion, cos it is in our gene,almost stupid at everything

new2012:
Inasmuch as I didn't interfere in your already confused life, why not face it bro.


First of all, I never said I'm a christian, but an ahole born reta.rd like you will conclude that even when I've not chided any of them.

Freeze, the GOs he bashed, idiot like you are Christians

Whenever you forget your brains, keep shut.

oh! u want to denied the fanatics and deluded being u are, u can't cos by their fruit we shall know them.. meanwhile I am not close to a state of confusion cos I am not one of those deluded who shade pastor like a deranged bull as if the are not prone to dubious act

new2012:
Nigga if you don't mind your business, you gotta goto the other side.. Its the law of nature.

so u know how to mind ur biz but u are the first person to interfere in someone else matters,,,, Hypocrite like u as others in ur deluded association called Christianity

HigherEd:
You should check yourself sir. You are at the borderline of insanity yourself because only someone that's unwell would think to utter something this bad..

why are u so illogical, it is better for some one to be unconscious of this economic,religiius,political and social situations of this nation

Hairyrapunzel:
Another one they teach and believe is that Jesus is not mediator to all mankind rather He is mediator to only the anointed 144000 while the gb (8 old men in new York) is the mediator for the remaining jws

what annoyed me most about religion is that each one of them think their beliefs and doctrine us superior to others

But the fact is God is not what and how they claim ,he set up the universe with mysterious natural laws without fear or favor of a given tribe,nation or continent.i t is what u give to the nature you getting back ,no miracles of undeserved expectations if you like pray thousands days

Hairyrapunzel:
You did not mention the part where your leaders said Jesus appeared invisibly in 1914 after looking around and chose their religion as the one true religion.

u can see I don't bother to reply him cos I got no strength for unnecessary argument

That is why I will continue to say this""There no difference b/w religion and stupidity""

Religion ??
I don't no what to say about it again
but I no only the deluded and frustrated beings will take it serious

To me everything about it is just mind controling tool invented by the con men of a given society to gain recognition and commands respect of the people,which has eventually led to the commanding of the people's hard-earned money in the name of representing an invisible God , with no significant benefit of any kind,cos if any I am sure Nigerians would have been the top benefactor

some times I imagine a supposed kan if God who claims have the power to make u wealthy but cannot use same power on himself first to confirm it,s authenticity ,but will rather use a subtle and dubious means to cut a reasonable percentage of ur income and all the peoples who have fallen victim of his scam through varieties of acrobatics means ranging from offerings,tithes,firstfruit,donation,deed sowing,charity offering,evangelism offering
,etc and they are still mimicking on a new plan/way to defraud the innocent but gullible puppet

it is not a coincidence that those things has the intense occurrence here in Africa cos the black race is the most gullible species on planet earth

The dichotomy bw the xtian and the jw is, the former know and teach the truth of the scripture but rather choose to do or act in exact opposite of it,popularly known to be obsessed with money hence everything about them is money oriented, while the latter is a group that is designed and trained to teach people away from the vocal point of the religion,hence they developed their doctrine and belief in disagreement with crucial belief of xtianinity and teaches men so to achieve their supposed goal

U can see their readiness for that mission as they patrol the town daily to carry out the evil assignment

I can see Nigerians about to come out from the illusions of pretentious group of people called men if God