₦airaland Forum

TheGoodJoe:

I was sixteen during the 98 World Cup. I watched almost all the matches of that tournament and followed analysis in the local and National stations. The fever pitch of France 98 was insane. What I am talking about is not replays. The memories of that tournament is still fresh in my mind like I watched it yesterday.

That's why you appreciate the 98 WC more than the 94 WC.

tbaba1234:
Haha, Kamala was no Ugandan... I felt betrayed when i learnt that. He lost his legs a few years back. Roddy roddy piper, noise maker with his skirt..

Yes naa Kamala is an American.

Roddy Piper with that his yeye Scottish skirt and pipe. "Ole ko le ja" wey too get mouth.

asha80:
tijani banangida might have made it.. prior to usa94 he played in a friendly match against Georgia and shone do much that there were some talks of bring breaking in the final squad for that tournament

Just Maybe. But you know Finidi was at his prime then?

When T. J finally broke into the team he was not a starter. Finidi was. Some how the coaches later assigned Finidi an SS role. And that was how both wingers were accommodated.

I remember how Bonfere finished South Africa by starting T. J on the left while Finidi played from the Right Wing.

Kog45:
Oh missing 96 Afcon was damn terrible cos the team list remain the best till today.

Check the list

Goalkeeper

Peter Rufai

Ike Shorunmu

Dosu Joseph

Defence

Uche Okechukwu

Chidi Nwanu

Taribo West

Austin Eguavoen

Ben Iroha

Celestine Babayaro

Mobil Oparaku

Uche Okafor

Midfield

Austin Okocha

Mutiu Adepoju

Wilson Oruma

Garba Lawal

Sunday Oliseh

Forward

Rashidi Yekini

Daniel Amokachie

Samson Siasia

Kanu Nwankwo

Finidi George

Tijani Babangida

Emma Amuneke

Oh Abacha political decision ruined all time best 23 man list

Were Dosu Joseph, Garba Lawal, Mobi Oparaku and Tijani Babangida members of the Super Eagles as at the 1995/ early 96? No, o. Dey were only promoted after Atlanta Olympics which was held later in the year. AFCON is in January. So those 4 players wouldn't have made the 96 AFCON list.

asha80:
mexico 86 had some all time classic games namely brazil vs france,soviet union vs belgium,argentina vs england and argentina vs germany..brazil vs france had drama,technique and skills all wrapped in one game

not sure how in the reporters mind brazil 2014 had more drama than usa1994

Abi o the only drama I recall is Germany beating Brazil 8-1.

TheGoodJoe:
Note this excerpt from the same article.

Of course it is better than USA ’94, Italia ’90 and Mexico 1986, tournaments which flickered only occasionally.

The author rated 2014 ahead of USA 94 when it comes to drama.

A good example is the game between Argentina and Holland in France 98. The dark night of the game was when Ariel Ortega who thrilled the World with his repeated brilliant displays decided to head butt Van Der Sar in retaliation to a complaint. Not long after that, a long ball to Bergkamp and one of the most delightful first touch in the history of football from Bergkamp took the ball in between I think Ayala's leg. A fantastic finish beating, I think Goalkeeper Roa of Argentina ended the tie.

This kind of thrill and brilliant display was not felt in USA 94.

That is the author's opinion.

The documentary on Super sports picks USA '94. And i stand with them.

TheGoodJoe:
This excerpt from Telegraph highlights my point. France 98 was a conference made of stars with thrilling drama all the way.


And what about France ’98? Like a proper drama, that was a World Cup that built and built, sustaining its excitement right to its conclusion. Played in fine stadiums which did not appear to be under military siege, this was the competition illuminated by sumptuous goals from Michael Owen and Dennis Bergkamp, in which every municipal fountain anywhere across the country seemed to be occupied by a cheerful Scotsman in a kilt.

It was also a competition in which the host nation embraced local expectation, rather than withered under it, playing with panache and style until the very last kick. That was the tournament against which every World Cup must be measured.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/world-cup/10963667/World-Cup-2014-Was-this-the-greatest-tournament-of-all-No.html

And what did the telegraph say about USA 94?

Mujtahida:
As a child I never liked watching football. I recall that NTA used to show football on Saturdays. I never was quite interested. Na USA Champions (wrestling with people like Mike O'hayes, the Mangoes, Kamala the Ugandan Giant, Sergeant slaughter, Roddy Piper Andrew the Giant, Mighty Igor, Jimmy Superfly before it became WWF) na im dey interest me.

Only thing that struck me then in football and was a wonder to my childish mind was how footballers could give long passes and locate the others on the pitch. The thing was a mystery to me.

My interest began to pick up during the miracle of Daman. Then I remembered watching our Afcon qualifying against Angola in 1989 in which Okwaraji slumped and we later heard he died. I still remember say na for dem Ogbonna house I watch that match.

Then my interest died again. Wrestling with all them Hulk Hogan, Warrior, Undertaker, Briefcase etc continued to hold me spellbound.

Japan 93 I picked up again. Then Tunisia 94 I started following the SE as a matter of passion. I watched only the final for one black and white TV and it wasn't clear. I no send. USA 94 I didn't watch any of the matches cos we had moved out of the Airforce Base and there was no power supply where we were. But I was following proceedings. After that tournament I became so intensely passionate about football ehn, my appetite was huge(but I didn't like our local league and still don't). I started watching the premiership then sponsored by Rothmans of Pall mall. Overmars, Bergkamp, Seaman were in Arsenal, Andy Cole, Paul Scholes, Peter Schiemechel were in Man U, Paul Ince and Robbie Fowler were in Liverpool, Andre Flo and Vialli were in Chelsea, zola was in Aston villa and Ginola was in Tottenham.

By France 98 I was already so deep and I watched almost all the matches, often going far away from home to watch matches so that in school one will not be left out of the gist. I will never forget Bergkamp's divine control bringing the ball down from a De Boers' long pass, turning the on rushing Ayala aside and twisting the ball over the head of a hapless Roa who stood transfixed. It was in extra time. Holland won 1-0.and then Kluivert's killer header to equalise against Brazil.

Korea/Japan wasn't that sweet sha but I still enjoyed it. It was from 2005 that my fervour for football began to wane gradually.

I al

Good memories bro. I enjoy the fact that you still remember those the names of those wrestlers.

I was like you too. I didn't like football. I only loved wrestling. I only started following football with our 1985 youth teams and had became addicted by 1987 participation at the U17 and U21 WCs. Something left me after France 98. I still followed football but the passion had died compared to pre-98 WC.

Certitude:
I disagree on your choice of Shehu as a better defender. Shehu though is Rohr first choice but I don't see it persisting.

No player's position will be persistent. A younger or even older player may take over.

But as we speak Shehu is ahead.

tbaba1234:
I totally disagree.

Shehu was not defensively sound against Argentina and even against Poland. He gets caught out too often. In the African qualifiers, he was great but he has shown some vulnerabilities recently. I recently watched the Poland game again and Shehu was caught out too often for my liking.

Ebuehi is a more rounded defender and a natural Rb. This is based on what i have seen in his league form and in his games for Nigeria.

Shehu is first choice but i dare say, the Ebuehi is the better RB IMO.

I can see that Ebuehi had a good game against Serbia. In the only game he has ever played for 90mins.

TheGoodJoe:

If I was to pick the best World Cup, it would be France 98. It was action packed with lots of great games and star studded teams. From Raul, Hierro, Enrique, Alfonso, Zubizarreta, Campo of Spain, to Okocha, Oliseh, Finidi George, Oruma, Ikpeba, Taribo, Uche of Nigeria, Laudrup Brothers, Sand of Denmark, Baggio, Del Piero, Albertini, Vieri of Italy, Thuram, Zidane, Djorkaeff, Lizarazu, Dugarry, Deschamps, Desailly, Barthez of France, Klinsmann, Bierhoff, Jeremies of Germany, Seedorf, Kluivert, Edgar Davids, Bergkamp, Zenden, De Boer twins, Reizeiger, Hoijdonk, Cocu of Holland, Ronaldo, Carlos, Sampaio, Dunga, Bebeto, Leonardo, Denilson, Cafu, Rivaldo of Brazil, Davor Suker, Bilic, Boban of Croatia, Beckham, Scholes, Shearer, Owen of England, Batistuta, Ortega, Diego Simeone of Argentina and a host of other stars in the competition.

With cracking games like Nigeria vs Spain, Spanish demolition of Bulgaria 6-1, Nigeria vs Denmark another demolition course, Argentina vs England had the best first half in the competition 2-2 first half with the game getting ruined after Beckham kicked Diego Simeone and got sent off. Croatia vs France, Denmark vs Brazil, Brazil vs Holland one of the best star studded World Cup games, France vs Italy and lots of other great games, climaxing with the 3-0 demolition of Brazil by France in the final. A Brazilian team that had the best two players in the World, Ronaldo and Roberto Carlos.

To me, France 98 ranks the best when it comes to onfield display. Can't talk about followership and support.

over 70% of those players you mentioned there also featured at USA 94(excluding those French players because France didn't qualify) plus likes of Diego Maradona, Claudio Caniggia, Frank Rykaard, Ronald Koeman, Dennis Begkamp, Romario, Bebeto, Baressi, Klinsmann and the his Co German machines, Rodger Miller, Hristo Stoitchkov and so on.

USA 94 had more stars abeg. It remains the greatest.

tbaba1234:
More dependable based on what? Where are your data points? Atleast wait for the other player to get some caps first.

As we speak Shehu has proven to be more dependable and more solid than Ebuehi.

A right back is first a defender before being a winger. Shehu has better defensive abilities than Ebuehi even though the former is better going forward.

We are up against teams that can mount pressure on our defense for full 90mins. Here, defensive ability advantage far outweighs offensive abilities.

I would pick Shehu's abilities over that of Ebuehi in the game against Croatia.

Shehu is still Rohr's first choice.

Kog45:
Yes Rohr first choice.

O pari.

Kog45:
Chief don't start Shehu vs Ebuehi debate o.Shehu is more capable?Good to have the two

Shehu is more dependable and he is first choice.

Luckyroro:
Wow! Thanks a lot for this explanation. That's to say we younger ones missed the opportunity to witness one of the memorable World events. Sir, let me tell you again, I noticed that even women and children followed football then because it was so popular. I was still a kid as at that time but I noticed the shouts and everything then. Atalanta 1996 was also like that. People brought their TV sets outside for everyone to watch the matches in unity. I can tell you that almost everybody comes out to watch Nigeria play on match days. It's unbelievable but during match days everything would be on standstill, no businesses, no schooling activities etc. I have never seen Nigerians unite like that again. Women could mention at least 7 Nigerian players then. It's quite unfortunate that things have changed a lot. Nobody even remembers there's a big tournament as the world cup coming up. If you ask me, modernization has done more harm than good to us. I miss the good old days!

Ah...sure naaa. I think we have discussed that issue of followership here before.

It was like crazy men......

The celebrations and shouting that followed every goal and every big win was always thunderous.

Men, women and children usually stayed up late to watch Nigeria's matches and our boys then hardly disappointed.

You could see people singing and dancing after a big win some will be crying for joy. The big boys in the neighborhood then will knock on the doors of the local beer parlour sellers and order for several cartoons of beer.

There was always a carnival at Amuneke's family compound. We had the first one there when he scored twice against Zambia in the 94 AFCON final and again against Bulgaria after he scored that 3rd goal. You needed to see how my mom and his mom(they were look-alike friends) were always dancing and hugging. Drinks would flow and people will come to dash Emma mom's money as she was dancing and displaying. There is no joy like the one parents have when they see their son making their name proud at the world stage.

Emma scored against Italy and we're getting ready for another party with the Amuneke's until Roberto Baggio killed our joy.

Atlanta 96 was no different. Emma killed Argentina. He was such a gift to Nigeria

Luckyroro:
Watched a FIFA world Cup documentary on Supersports yesterday and they described the 1994 World Cup as the best edition since inception. They said it had the best followership across the globe. Oldies in the house, please can you shed more light on this assertion?

Personally, that was the very World Cup!

To me maybe because of Nigeria's participation. There is something differently special about that WC.

Right from the quality and standard of player to the quality of the venues and also the timing. Venues for USA 94 set the stage for modern WC stadium designs. Most games were played between 9 and 12pm GMT, which is the prime time of TV viewership across Europe and Africa. That will also co-incide with Afternoon to Early evening in North and South America and Early the next morning in Far East Asia. So you got the whole world watching at very convenient times.

People stayed glued to their TV sets to see their Super Stars and heroes as the tournament was best attended by a host of Super stars! I don't think I have seen such quality of players packed in one tournament ever since.It also marked the end of an era of big name footballers of the 1980s. All top footballing nations except England and France were present. The standards of participating teams were so high. I still feel if we had presented the quality of our Super Eagles then in this recent WC we would at least get to the semis.

The 1994 WC was the very WC.

ChrisKels:
No wahala, d oda day u throw me dis kind punch, I Dodge am, Today kwa, u dun come again abi? If I catch u ehh

Honestly tbaba1234 is d guy I respect the most here. Dude knows how to handle almost everything in here. Most times I come here just to read his updates while I scroll every other moniker. Sometimes I read other posts mainly from the rational ones, but I try to avoid Southy and Da Saint often bkus their posts bug my bowel. I was a very good fan of Icon4s but he seems to be towing same line as Da Saint recently. It annoys me when I come here to see Gates and Da Saint shouting those weird names and their conspiracy theories while Icon4s go camp for another corner dey berate Awaziem and Uzoho.

Martz101 once said something similar

Hahaha, because you are a fan of Awaziem and Uzoho abi?

They better step up their games else I will kwantinu to berate them.

tbaba1234:
He is more than just a back up...

Shehu is first choice bro. Or can you have two first choices?

asha80:
this ebuehi injury status is quite worrying to be honest.

He is just a back up. Shehu is more than capable.

stevemarkdangot:
I can remeber this game on a Saturday morning, I was in primary 2 then. All thanks to ike shorumu we would have been humiliated .

Sunday Morning bro. 7am.

I remember how most members came to church late, including the Pastor.

fabyom:
I lost my one and only sibling yesterday to the cold hands of death. My elder bro, he was just 40 years old. Got sick the same day he was to start a very lucrative job after years of struggling without a well paid Job. Trying to control how sad I am.

Sad news indeed. Please accept our condolences.
May his soul rest in Peace.

OMANBALA1:
Oga , I dont have a domineering attitude I just feel there are things nobody should teach or remind you. The whites came to Africa to steal,destroy ,ruin,exploit and wipe you off the face of the earth and this need to be taught in our schools...Every African need to know this moving forward ,they(whites) are not your friend and they dont pretend about it rather you are the one romancing them. They take what is good in you and leave but you swallow everything they feed you and latch unto them. Not everything the white brought was bad but we have to be smart enough to identify the ones that can benefit us.

Men.... I know this is a view held by many. I cannot say it is false. But there are even more positives about the Whites visiting our once "dark" continent.

I chose to focus more on the positives.

Happy Birthday to the strong Ladies of the house: Safarigirl and Confun.

This is double grooving for us. Where are the parties taking place Jare? No matter the location I can transmission my self there.

safarigirl:
I was thinking Monaco actually

Wanted to go there since 2009 when I heard there were no black people there and Jay Z had to import niggas to feature in his music video

Anyways I don't know much about Monaco.

safarigirl:
US is another overrated country

Anywhere Nigerians easily flock to, I no dey like am

Then let me recommend two Countries to you: Nepal and Mongolia. You will enjoy your stay since you don't like where Nigerians flock to.

comodo:
Truth remains that Opara was not given the chance to show what he can do. Please it was Rufai that was in goal against Holland & not willy d cat. He only played against Germany when Ike was removed. We lost 1:0 and I mean it, no GK could be caught that ball. But what did Bora Multivitamin say. He prefers tall GK. There comes Rufai against Holland and we went home with 5 goals. Willy was our best choice. He was the best in SA and was just fresh from winning Champions league with Orlando pirates. But we dug up Rufai that was not even playing football.
The video of all d matches are on U tube. Nig vs Holland 1998. Nig vs Germany.
Willy was not given any chance EOD.

Willy Opara was in goal second half of the game against Holland and conceded 3 goals. His goal keeping was so terrible that we found out Baruwa was even better than him. The highlight of the game is on YouTube. Willy Opara was not a SE material.

TheSuperNerd:
But their "would have" never materialised. It never happened. Rufai was the best and look at what happened to the best? Smh... Like I said, football is not run on assumptions in most cases.


His "would have" failed us.

Haha, you want to use Ingris to interpret football.

OK o

realpoacher:
To have your reservations is ok.... But to continually harp on about it means blowing it out of proportion


Try to understand me

Like people have continued to harp on about Echiejile, Like people have continued to harp on about Iheanacho, like people have continued to harp on about Onazi and so on.

Put a rookie as our CF I don't mind. But putting a rookie as our goalkeeper, I am not comfortable with.

The Goalkeeping position is the most important single position in the entire team. So I need to be concerned bro.

But if you don't have issues with that and do not feel like discussing it, no problem.

TheSuperNerd:
@first bolded... Aiyenugba would have? . Thanks goodness we saw a good case of "would have" actually become "did happen" in the person of lesser evil and best option, Rufai play out in 98 and we got busted. Lol... Football cannot be run on assumptions most times.

@second and last bolded.... Berra Chief... Just what I was waiting for.

Haha, Baruwa and Opera would have been drowning in their own basket of goals in that '98 WC.

Rufai was the best choice.

realpoacher:
Oga icons, i think you should die this Goalkeeper issue

Because no matter how you look at it, with all the exploits of ike shorumu we still lost the match... We didn't even qualify from the group

Last last with Uzoho in post, we won't qualify from the group and heaven won't fall... All we can do now is to support those picked.

As a matter of fact, Uzoho performed very well in the last two friendlies. He is not a basket, he is better than Akpeyi and going forward we will have a long-term dependable keeper in our hands

I daresay that you put this present Uzoho in this video and he wouldn't have conceded more than two goals.

Give this matter a rest and i promise you that Uzoho will shine in Russia.... But if we lose out at any stage, it won't be due to uzoho's error - trust me on that

You see, I should die the matter.

Then we should stop discussing other departments of the team.
Have we not been raising concerns over certain players in other positions?

Kog45:
Yes Chief you are right and personally i don't see it as criticism but concern

Thank you. And some don't want me to discuss it at all.

TheSuperNerd:
Good! He was the best option and we still got banged 4-1 by Denmark.

And what question marks? You just said Rufai was the best option naa. Rufai had even been at the previous WC in 94... So yeah... Best option. And he got walloped big time. Case closed.

There are no question marks about our goalkeeping position? OK. I hear.

Imagine the kind of tournament we would have had if Baruwa or Opara had been saddled with the responsibility. Rufai was the lesser evil.

Aiyenugba would have been a lesser evil than Uzoho.

I wish the young man well but I don't trust him well enough.



O pari( in icon79's voice)