₦airaland Forum

TheGoodJoe:
You are not the whole Nigeria. I told you by 1996, Multichoice devices was rampant in a lot of homes in Port Harcourt. People in those houses were following Euro football. By 1997, people were hacking Multichoice devices and cable satellite free to Air devices were littered all over Port Harcourt.

So because you were watching AIT and highlights shows does not mean others were not watching.

I said earlier that I watched the FA Cup final between Liverpool and Manchester United live on a Multichoice device in my neighborhood. We were watching live games of George Weah. Watching live games of Ajax. This was in 1996. They were families like the bosses of NAFCON and some multinationals then who had the big satellite dishes. This was between 1990-1992 era. Many followed euro leagues long before the late 90's.

The point is too simple.

Port Harcourt is not the whole of Nigeria. That was not rampant in Lagos. Even those that had free to air had only very limited channels. The only major station we watched UCL (Which was the only live European league we watched) was AIT and some times NTA. And not Digital satellite TV that a vast majority of Nigerian didn't have then.

And at the bolded, what percentage of Nigerians had this privilege?

TheSuperNerd:
Golden Eaglets Coach Manu Garba Scouts 'Big' Ghana U17 Players, Neglected By NFF

https://www.allnigeriasoccer.com/football_pics/99620FutureEagles.png


Allnigeriasoccer.com understands that Nigeria U17 coach Manu Garba has returned to the country after a scouting trip to Ghana, where he traveled to monitor two-time world champions Black Starlets.

Since February 2018, Garba and his lieutenants have been pleading with the Nigeria Football Federation for the Golden Eaglets to start preparations for the 2019 Africa U-17 Cup of Nations Zone 3 (West B Zone) qualifiers without success.

And after the head coach's trip to Ghana, he has admitted that the Golden Eaglets face a tall order in their bid to qualify for the Africa U-17 Cup of Nations in Tanzania, noting that the Ghanaian players are very physical and big for their age-group.

The players Garba is planning to invite for the training camp are small, legitimate schoolboys, so they will find it difficult to compete with Ghana, Burkina Faso, Niger, Ivory Coast, Benin and Togo except they are properly trained for a long time before the regional qualifiers.

Whilst Ghana have started building a team for the qualifiers and even some of their outstanding players have traveled to Europe to undergo trials with clubs interested in their services, there is no fixed date for the start of the Golden Eaglets get-together.

The most successful nation in the history of the Fifa U17 World Cup did not qualify for the last edition of the tournament after losing 3-2 to Niger in the second round of the African qualifiers.


**Ifeanyi Emmanuel
Photo Credit : thenff.com

Source: http://www.allnigeriasoccer.com/read_news.php?nid=27463

Wait! So CAF has zoned Nigeria with these countries and assigned a slot to them. If Nigeria, Ghana and CIV are made to fight for one ticket to the CAF U17, then which are the teams in the other 6 zones to fight for the other tickets? Being that the hosts Tanzania already has one. I will presume the other West African zone will have likes of Mali, Guinea, Senegal, Niger, and maybe Benin, Gambia and the likes. These two zones have all the countries that have done anything meaningful at the U17 level. That means West Africa were assigned only 2 teams to the CAF U17 when we most times produce all the 4 teams to the U17 World Cup!!!! Plus West Africa has the highest number of footballing nations in Africa and plus this is an age grade that we are the best in the World!!

Who were those that agreed to this nonsense zoning for U17 qualifiers? What were the West African Football Federation officials looking at?
Is this a ploy by the Madagasy CAF President to create more room for youth football development in his sub-region, South Africa?

For God's sakes how can CAF make Nigeria, Ghana and CIV battle for one ticket for the CAF U17 when they are 3 of the top 4 teams in Africa at this level (the 4th team is Mali).

To add salt to injury, the NFF have planned to fail already by failing to start preparations early.

Another Hiatus awaits us.

TheGoodJoe:
You are missing the context of the debate. Some people claim to have been following clubs in Europe since the 90's. I am pointing out it is true. Some people did. Lots even though a large percentage of the current football lovers did not, it does not change that fact.

Finito.

Following live or highlight shows?

The only station I watched the Champions League from in the mid 90s was AIT.

Even if some people were watching live EPL and other European league matches (except UCL) through Digital satellite they will not be up to 1% of our population.

TheSuperNerd:
Golden Eaglets Coach Manu Garba Scouts 'Big' Ghana U17 Players, Neglected By NFF

https://www.allnigeriasoccer.com/football_pics/99620FutureEagles.png


Allnigeriasoccer.com understands that Nigeria U17 coach Manu Garba has returned to the country after a scouting trip to Ghana, where he traveled to monitor two-time world champions Black Starlets.

Since February 2018, Garba and his lieutenants have been pleading with the Nigeria Football Federation for the Golden Eaglets to start preparations for the 2019 Africa U-17 Cup of Nations Zone 3 (West B Zone) qualifiers without success.

And after the head coach's trip to Ghana, he has admitted that the Golden Eaglets face a tall order in their bid to qualify for the Africa U-17 Cup of Nations in Tanzania, noting that the Ghanaian players are very physical and big for their age-group.

The players Garba is planning to invite for the training camp are small, legitimate schoolboys, so they will find it difficult to compete with Ghana, Burkina Faso, Niger, Ivory Coast, Benin and Togo except they are properly trained for a long time before the regional qualifiers.

Whilst Ghana have started building a team for the qualifiers and even some of their outstanding players have traveled to Europe to undergo trials with clubs interested in their services, there is no fixed date for the start of the Golden Eaglets get-together.

The most successful nation in the history of the Fifa U17 World Cup did not qualify for the last edition of the tournament after losing 3-2 to Niger in the second round of the African qualifiers.


**Ifeanyi Emmanuel
Photo Credit : thenff.com

Source: http://www.allnigeriasoccer.com/read_news.php?nid=27463

They have started again. Tomorrow they will axe the team's coaches.

Look at them frustrating our desires to produce more talents for the national teams.

Nigeria Vs Guinea-Bissau
The goal:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=usIUf8shCek

grandstar:
There is 30 plots of land along directly facing Lekki Epe Expressway, just before Total
It has minimum of 2 plots facing the road. The land is fenced and dry.
Title: Gazette.
Price for the entire is 165,000,000 net. Owner is selling all. It is a distress sale
Call me on 08033472004 if interested now.

What is the dimension of each plot and can it be sold in bits, like say 1, 2 or 3 plots?

AIG07:
We're in the season of surprises and with the way coaches are dropping key players from their World Cup list, we need to prepare for the unexpected.

Rohr fit drop Mikel and Nacho for tactical and technical reasons *runs outta thread*.

I saw this post and was like....

13th July, 2018: Mauritania Vs Nigeria.

20th July, 2018: Nigeria Vs Mauritania

Mauritania's previous results:

Mauritania 2: 0 Morocco;
Morocco 1: 0 Mauritania.
Mauritania 1:0 Guinea
Guinea 3:2 Mauritania

It appears Mauritania are very solid at home but poor away. It means we need to give our all in that first leg and get the needed result their first and then finish the job in Calabar.

Note that Morocco and Guinea are strong forces in youth football. And for Mauritania to eliminate them it means they have a strong side.
We need to up our game.

Kog45:
I'm still waiting for left foot attacker better than Adokiye Aimesemeka,Humphrey Edebor,Folorunsho Okenla,James Etokebe and Friday Elahor,hope Chukwueze can keep his head cool cos he has everything to be the best.

Emmanuel Amuneke nko?

realpoacher:
Are going to get stucked on this oldies Nostalgia forever??!!

Our SE camp opens tomorrow for Fuccks sake



Yeah, yeah,.. Yeah... Old memories are good and we have had enough of it already

Lets get back to business boys!

Oga Police you no see when people were discussing America, White or Black husband/wife and other marriage/love issues all through the weekend . You no talk.

At least the oldies talk is directly related to football. Abeg, if u don't like the topic then raise one and let's discuss mbok.

asha80:
a friend from Benin said to me recently that Benin used to be a beehive of sports activities in the 80s but now it is a shadow of it former self when it comes to sports thanks to Yahoo.. owerri has joined the trend too

I spend most of my time in Benin. My dear it is terrible. So tay, when you ask Mama Osas wetin her son, Osas, dey do now. She will boldly say "Osas Don join Yahoo-yahoo".

They are everywhere in Benin and have even bonded amongst themselves. And formed gangs.

tbaba1234:
The countries above us are the usual suspects, Germany, Brazil, Spain, France, Belgium, Portugal, Argentina, Poland and Mexico.

Nigeria has been listed as one of those countries that will spring upsets in this WC. So I am not suprised.

The football world knows we are better than our official ranking.

Kog45:
My man this yahoo yahoo of a things really dealt a blow to our sports development.

The stadiums are scanty now compare to what we have before,you see guys then in Basketball court,Track and field,table tennis, boxing arena,handball,volleyball and football fields doing massive training especially during weekends.

Now they are in clubs jamming WizKids and Davido songs '30 billions in my account 'wey no dey but fictiius' if Yahoo yahoo no gel,then kidnapping and robbery.

Most of Taiwo Awoniyi's mates that started the game with him are into yahoo yahoo,blasting music up and down and wasting away.

My brother you can't be more right. Yahoo yahoo has been around for quite some time. But it has suddenly taken a different dimension. Yahoo plus and Yahoo plus-plus.

Another worrisome thing is this online betting.

Honestly, I don't know the kind of fathers will be having in the next couple of years.

TheSuperNerd:
I was always Nigeria. And I made the WC final in my hood every damn time. The only time I lost the title in the final... Was to my elder brother who was France that year. Goal was scored by a counter top with the name "Thierry Henry"

Table soccer, also called "Bottle tops league" in my hood because we could play it on large or good wide-sized tables, flat rug surfaces, concrete grounds and even carpet-covered floors, was one of my very favorite pastimes as a kid when not reading from my mum's library or watching Cadbury breakfast show(usually after chores is done) or all those Saturday football shows or even best of football on Sundays on NTA.


I was never tired of winning... I played to trash opponents. I didn't give a damn... I just love how winning makes one feel...

Best game ever.

Computer games have taken over.

Kog45:
I remember having our mini Los Angeles Olympics after 1984 Olympics in our area,fun my man but now mind your business,no real integration,the talents for sports are now yahoo boys,so the grassroots sports development in Nigeria is dead.Thank God for FB that came to rescue especially in Super eagles.

Carl Lewis, Innocent Egbenike, Chidi Imo. Golden era of Nigeria's athletics.

Kog45:
Yes competitions from street to street.

Then when houses had no fences.

When children from different homes could mix freely.

When children could play from street to street without parents being scared of kidnappers.

I WEEP FOR THIS COUNTRY.

Life was a lot better.

andrew444:
Lol,i dey like make man senior the wife,my african mentality as sadiq is 21,anyway me am just kidding

Well I understand your view, but sometimes Love will forget age difference o.

Kog45:
Kai chief table soccer! Oh i need to teach my kids the Table soccer by weekend.

Chei!!! Kenny don take me back memory lane this morning o.

We were always playing competitions. And there was a trophy made of Jik container and Philips electric bulb rapped with gold or silver foil, which ever was available or a mixture of both.

We played in this life o.

I was also a Kite Master.

kennysville:
Dont be so quick my bro.... there are kids that actually had understanding of the game back then. Its all about interest. I remember the 86 world cup. There was a dude in my primary school who could list the starting 11 of Argentina. We used to fight on which country to choose when playing "table soccer " with bottle covers. And paste calender numbers on the cover to depict jerseys. Children of today are hounded in the house. Its all about playstation and XBox today

Chei!!! Table soccer!!!!
I was always Brazil and was fond of playing plenty of passing game.

For those that didn't see it. This is table soccer:

andrew444:
Good one for sadiq and i hope the girl is 18

Why?

Petrobros:
Yeah I remember that Meridian Cup.

That Spanish team was really good. They came to Nigeria 2 years later and won the 1999 U20 WYC.

Now I know where your interest in youth football spans from.

Yeah, Youth football. That has always been my major focus.

TheGoodJoe:
However, in 1993, MultiChoice as a subsidiary company was created. As a business arm of M-Net, MultiChoice from outset was then saddled with the responsibilities such as decoder sales, subscriber services and account management.

It was also in that same year that its business operation began in Nigeria.When Multichoice Nigeria Limited took off in 1993, it was registered under the company registration laws of Nigeria, and was established as a joint venture between Adewunmi Ogunsanya (A Nigerian patriot, attorney at law and businessman) and MultiChoice Africa, a subsidiary of the Naspers Group.

Its operations began in Nigeria in April 1994 and today it operates from its Head Office in Lagos and 11 Regional offices in Surulere, Ikeja, Enugu, Jos, Kaduna, Kano, Abuja, Ibadan, Maiduguri and Port Harcourt.

https://www.dailytrust.com.ng/news/others/multichoice-clocks-20-in-nigeria/98081.html

You don't get the point. How many Nigerians had access to satellite TV in the mid 90s? It took till early 2000s before it even became accessible to many.

jihday:
how were you able to gather information on these players considering the fact that there's no internet then, or did you know them personally?

I knew Obafemi Akinwunmi Martins and Ifeanyi Ideze personally. I got Akin Martins's (we knew him as Akin) progress from his elder brother Ladi Martins. Ifeanyi Udeze finished from a secondary school about 15-20 minutes bus drive from our neighborhood. He used to play at Air Force base close to Mile2 in Lagos. They both finished secondary school in 1997. Ify was born in 1980. Meaning he finished secondary school at 17.(age cheating check). He played for our 1997 U17 at the first ever meridian cup. Which we won by beating Spain 3-2 and he was a standout performer.

I used to see Udeze some times when he came around from Europe to play with his old pals. He was in Kavala of Greece. So I had one on one discussions with him. I made him know I was writting for Complete Football so he gave me all the attention.

Other players I got bit by bit info about them from more established media houses and put up write ups on them more on they being prospects for the national team and how they can solve certain problems in certain positions.

It was not easy then but the passion kept me going.

asha80:
oh you were one of the writer's of that magazine? lol I used to buy at 100n if I remember quite well btw late 1993 till usa94 started... another one I also used to read was international soccer review

As at 93-94 I had not started writing for them but I was an addict of their magazines. It was published monthly.

I wrote for them around 1997/98/99. Because of my passion for youth's football, I focused more on the progress of the U17 and U20 graduates. Some notable players I wrote about and they later became Super Stars were Gbenga Okunowo, Obafemi Martins(of course my boy from my hood), Ifeanyi Ideze, Haruna Babangida and a host of others. I was a University undergraduate then and was a freelance writer.

How it worked. You submit your article by the first week of a month. The editors will go then through it to see if it good enough for publishing and also do some little editing here and there and then it flies.

tbaba1234:
Not true, i was passionate about football at 5 years... I read football magazines at that age and could tell you the names of players and types of formations.

My dad used to buy the complete football magazine for me. I followed all the football shows on tv. My uncles used to bring me to the football conversations and people used to be surprised as to how a kid this young knew football.

You read complete football.

I was one of the writers as at the late 90s.

The drive then was to uncover new players that will take over from the then aging 90s squad.

My focus then was more on identifying young Nigerian players in Europe.

BascoVanVeli:
Those players are either not playing or are youth players. There is an article with Samuel Chukwueze explaining that he thought he could come because he was only playing U19 at the time but he got promoted to the B team and that stopped him.

Well, the Final round of qualifiers have been fixed for 13th and 20th July. That is end of season and before pre-season games. So we expect the full complement of players.

tbaba1234:
I remember things that happened when i was 3. I used to shock my mum when i tell her things that happened when i was really young. But it is not the same for everyone, i have a particularly long memory. I remember snippets of 2-3 years.

I was like that too.

But this is quite different from watching a football match at 3 and knowing that Holland was playing Argentina.

tbaba1234:
I loved those review shows.

The European and south American one. We knew so much about south american leagues. Boca Juniors, Sao paulo, indepediente, Colo colo,... etc

Then we had the bundesliga show.

Yeah.

South American commentators that can shout goooooaaaaaalllll.......... for eternity.

Ghana 2 nil up against Algeria in Accra.

BascoVanVeli:
The season is still on for our own players.

And how did the Ghanaians get their own foreign players?

Mind you Guinea Bissau secured the services of their 9 foreign players right from the first leg.

Since when did the Portuguese league go on break?

Nig 1-0 G.Bs. FT. 3-2 aggregate.