₦airaland Forum

BascoVanVeli:
The joke was about Sanchez. Even if he named Iwobi it would still have been about Sanchez.

No mind the guy.

Was he even born the last time Egypt played in the WC?

KevinDein:
And he forgot his fellow African Alex Iwobi.
Joke dead on arrival, for me

Exactly.
I was also expecting to see Iwobi on that list. Person wey Iwobi is even having a better playing time over.
Mtchew

Mujtahida:
My dear forumites I pray you all to read this expose I want to do: Well, forgiveness you just put out the fact that Eguavoen was playing in Belgium. That's deceptive and you know it. Let's take a deeper look at the condition of Fc kortrijk from 1990-1994 that Eguavoen was there: 1990/91 season they were fourth from the bottom of 18 teams in division one. 91/92 season they were 17 on the 18 team table and were relegated. 93/94 season they were still in relegation. He played two seasons in division one in a low ranking team and another two seasons in relegation. But through your romance filled eyes this is still better for you than famagusta that is topping the league in Cyprus and Ebuehi who is just two seasons in the Eredivise.


When I saw Iroha's wretched club stats I just shook my head at your deception or ignorance. Here are the facts people: Iroha was at Vitesse from 1992-1996.he played just 21 times for a period of 4 years. Verdict: correct benchwarmer. Meanwhile he had been playing professional football for seven years before this time. Yet he is one of our best LB till date. This shows that what matters most for us is what a player does in the Gwg



Oliseh was at RFC liege from 1990-1994, he played 75 matches and scored three goals. Now divide the number of weeks in the four years with 75.that would give you an indication of his regularity(in fact he was first playing for their u -19 side). As for his goals just 3. Yet you are comparing him with Ndidi who played for two years at Genk with 64 appearances and four goals and is barely a year at Leicester with 33 appearances and two goals (all Oliseh's facts are settled but Ndidi's are still unfolding but one can see who already has better stats. He didn't feature in those UEFA matches for RFC Liege.



Uche played for 9 years for Fernerbahce with 191 appearances and 19 goals. Quite solid.



1993-1995 at Anderlecht 14 matches no goals
From his Wikipedia page: After three seasons he was bought by giants R.S.C. Anderlecht, who won the league twice during his stay. Nwanu played very few matches; he retired after an unsuccessful spell in RKC Waalwijk..
Truly no verdict.



I wanted to run away from this our first champions league winner Finidi but I still checked:1993-96, 85 appearances 18 goals for Ajax. VicMo has been more of a journeyman. Hard to put his stats together for club. In any case he doesn't play offensively for Chelsea. But when I checked their stats for the Super Eagles I was shocked: Finidi played for the Eagles from 91-2002(11 years) played 62 times and scored 6 times. VicMo has 28 appearances with 10 goals from 2012 till date. I just weak



Amokachi is an outstanding average player better than Ighalo and Nwakaeme. Seriously and I love him



We all love Rashidi. He is great. But by your standard and that of komekn, Rashidi who played just one season of first division football in Portugal will not smell Super Eagles team. Your adulation of him smacks of hypocrisy. It is we who insist that clubs should not be used to screen out good players whose adulation of him is authentic. You opposed Nwakali just because of his club. You would have jettisoned Rashidi for Ekoku since Ekoku was in a more fancy club.



Let us look at Siasia you have used to bullet Iheanacho. Siasia was at Lokeren for six years from 1987-1993. Played 151 times and scored 31 times. Now let's look at him at Nantes. He was there from 1993-1995. He played 44 times and scored 4 goals. Iheanacho played 46 times at City and scored 12 goals. So who has better stats? Moreover note that Siasia had been playing professional football for ten years as at the time of his stint with Nantes while Iheanacho is just two years in the game
In the gwg Siasia played from 1984-1999 that is 13 years, appeared 51 times with 16 goals. Iheanacho has played from 2015 for the Gwg 13 times with 8 goals and he has not done even half of Siasia's time in the team.
Verdict: out of respect for Siasia let me keep quiet.


I checked Amunike's stats and that of Musa. Amunike's stats is just a bit better. Amunike won APOTY at zamalek playing 71 times and scoring 26 goals from 91-94. Musa did not win APOTY yet look at his stats for CSKA Moscow:2012–16 125 appearances, 42 goals. This should tell us how low the level of football in Africa was as at 1993.

Bottom line is that the 94 set were not better both for club and country more than this set as such(yes they won an Afcon but remember 2013 we won Afcon) . We have not even talked about those in the 94 set who were not in the first 11 ooo. But in the end such comparisons are deceptive because one set is done and dusted. Another is still unfolding.

However we can all see that it's through the soft eyes of a blind lover that forgiveness and komekn looks at the 94 set. The reality shows a completely different picture when compared to this current set. What I think is that football has improved so much from that time(personally I still prefer the 90's football but then I recognise that football has improved) and that is why the 94 set looks so glorious (plus they won Afcon) and this set looks ordinary in the eyes of some.

Cc
For record sakes let me tag you guys.
Goodjoe, icon4s, Safarigirl, Joebie, Kog45, Goldfish80, daveP, kennysville, realpoacher, tbaba1234, joseph1013, AIG07

An excellent write up. With facts and figures.

Some of us here should be considering sports writing as a second career.

Now, as a person that has seen several generations of Eagles, not just what I saw on Wikipedia. And as one that has followed football globally, I have this to say.

A lot has changed in football.

In the late 80s and early 90s which marked the Genesis of the Exodus of our players from Africa to Europe, a lot of African players were underrated!
In fact as at the late 80s Africa's best performance at the WC was Algeria's second round qualification, so why blame the Europeans?

So as an African player going to play in Europe then not much was expected of you. Thank God for Cameroon and their heroics in 1990. But even at that the situation still didn't change much.

At that time also there were restrictions on the number of foreign players to be paraded by clubs on match days in certain countries, England for example. Komekn can confirm this for us. There are still restrictions now but it is more relaxed.

That said, a player like Yekini with the kind of form and national team record he had at that time if it were now would have been playing for may be a top 4 team in England or Spain.

Amuneke was a Zamalek player when he won APOTY. A title that now only goes to players in Top English, German or Spanish clubs.

Statistics alone cannot tell the stories. On statistics Iheanacho looks better than Siasia based on average goals per game, but we knew Samson Siasia's abilities and contributions to the team enroute the 1994 qualifiers.

Go feed your eyes with those videos of our 1994 WC and assess their individual abilities, eg excellent handling of the ball, passing accuracy, ease with which they create chances etc.

Compare Keshi or Nwannu- Okechukwu back wall with that of Ekong-Balogun.

However, Kog45 said something vital pointing that we should wait for this current crop to feature in the 2018 WC before we do any form of comparison.

Yes a good number of our players then didn't have it good in terms of club placement. But as I said, that was the early period of players migration when even playing in Romanian second division makes you a "foreign pro". And a lot of players and agents were OK with that.

Now in terms of achievement, I have always stated that the performance of this team should not be pegged to that of the 90s. A lot has changed in football. This team even though may not have the best of abilities compared to those of the 90s but they still have what it takes to outperform the 90s generation.

tbaba1234:
Alampasu finally makes the bench in a cup game...

Aaaay!!! This calls for a celebration......

Humility017:
Alex...good...
but I have an eye for nwakali kelechi....

or possibly we get the English groomed onomah....
pinnick already said...alot of work is going on underground as regard capping some of this queens boys....

Which Kelechi Nwakali?

When last did you even see him play?

safarigirl:
we will get a replacement after the World Cup....the time is too short between now and World Cup to start doing trial and error with possible replacwments

Alex Iwobi is the best immediate successor.

Danielnino00:
Its a few days to the end of the year...


Who is your Nigeria player of the year??




CC: Forgiveness, TheGoodJoe,Safarigirl,Komekn,Icon79, icon4s, Mujthida,Kog45,Goldfish,soetanoreoluwa,Mikeal2,elyte89, and other distinguished members of the thread



PS: You can add another player that's not on this list

Victor Moses

korlahwarleh:
All these people saying we have poor or below average players. Please I want to ask you a question o. Going by your submission that our players are poor, which I acquiesce to only because of this question by the way, PLEASE WHAT SHOULD WE DO?
Tell FIFA to replace us with Ivory Coast, since they have star players and we do not?
Wait till "February" when the "international transfer window" opens, then urge Buhari to solicit more loans from Paris Club so we can buy Neymar, Van Dijk, Kante and De gea?
Please I will be happy if you can answer the question.
WHAT MUST WE DO TO BE SAVED? Some of us are really confused. So you can allay our fears and confusion by answering the questions

Thanks

Your second point is really a very good idea.
We need to buy the entire Barcelona attack and then the top 3 rated goalies in Europe.

Icon79:
Yea. I don't think that they are taking us too serious. But I would definitely be watching those two games. Mexico actually plays a little similar to Nigeria tho.

And by the way, any info on Iceland friendly schedules? That's one team I would be interested to watch since they are the dark horse of the group.



O pari

Europeans are not like Africans that leave some stones unturned.

Not having any sealed friendlies against any African side yet does not mean they are not taking us too seriously. There is still a window for more friendlies.

That aside, Argentina are the strongest team in our group. So they deserve all the attention.

junnyjake:
How many teams would release their senior players to play U-20?

Just recently we saw how many teams stopped their boys from turning up for us at the U-23

The U20 WC is played at the end of the season. It falls within the FIFA free window. Clubs are obliged to release these players.
The youths players are available at that time of the year. Look at England. They even paraded two different teams for the U20 WC and European U21.

The Olympics doesnt fall into the FIFA calendar so clubs are not obliged to release players.

We do not give the U20 tournament the respect and attention it requires which is why we have continued to fail.

Kog45:
It has already be confirmed by AIG that it was played in late 2002 to mark the remembrance of people that die in ferry mishap in Senegal.

Then are you sure Nwanneri was in that team?

junnyjake:
Was it thesame Nwanneri that later partnered Apam in our defense??

Only one Nwanneri has played for the Super Eagles.

So he is the one

Mujtahida:
U-17 and u-20 are age grade competitions. They are on the same level with the u - 20 a notch higher. Winning u-20 award is not a huge award. Not even u-23 is. Don't push it because of Solanke. If a Nigerian player wins this same award now you will change your song. I have read you so many times and slowly my perception of your views has crystallised. I didn't compare Osimhen to Solanke. I only pointed out that if Osimhen were to do what Solanke did you won't regard it. I can't for the life of me compare Osimhen to Solanke. Who is Solanke? Is he a Nigerian player? If not for you guys I don't even give a hoot about him and I truly wish him the best. But you are unduly prejudiced against our players. Do you know how I know you are prejudiced? You are not aware of it, you are blind to it. That's classic prejudice.

There's something about Osimhen that triggers some angst inside of you. I do not say this lightly. A man might be down and struggling. If I turn that fact into a song and making a dance out of it then the issue is no longer with the struggling man, the issue is with me.

Look at all Nigerian players- especially the Nigerian players not those of uncertain national allegiance - with the eyes of hope, show believe, show faith in them. Players should be criticized but it need not be always as I see you do once Iheanacho and Osimhen are mentioned. The truth is if you do not believe or have hope in these players why then are you criticising them? It is only those who have faith in them that ought to criticize them. Those who do not have faith should be sincere enough to acknowledge that their joy is to see this players go down rather than to mask their ill will under the guise of criticism. It is not your criticism that riles me. It's the spirit behind it: you don't want this two boys to come to any good in football. Examine yourself Sir. I say this with deep soberness.
I will not defend Iheanacho(and I have criticised him here or Osimhen(after his outing against SA I opined he wasn't ripe for the SE) but till the end I will show faith in them. Let them succeed. It's my joy. Their failings will give me no joy at all not even when I see better options. They are human beings like me. I know how incredibly difficult it can be to succeed and for some it's not a straight journey.

No. The U20 is like 3 steps higher.

This mind set is the reason we parade academy and clubless players at U20 and be believing we are favorites to win it.

Kog45:
I can't really say much on Nwanneri but i know he always paired with Seyi Ogunsanya in Amodu old days home eagles.

That is the index player to ascertain when that game was played

If Nwanneri was in that game then it was played after Enyimba won the 2003 CAF champions league. Because Obinna Nwanneri and Onyekachi Okonkwo were invited to the SE following Enyimba's success at that year's CAF champions league

goldfish80:
No, Martins is too old for this team. Even if we disregard his age, the attackers we have currently better than him.

Choi!

Kog45:
No they are always part of Amodu home based.Eric Ejiofor was a close pal when he was playing for Kwara Bomber(United)He got his first invitation into eagles as Kwara United player but became popular at Enyimba before moving to Isreal.

What of Nwanneri?

komekn:
Firstly, you cannot compare U20 world cup with the U17 world cup even if they are both age grade competitions or not. All of the players in the England U20 indeed across Europe you will find are seasoned young professional at some very top clubs. Some with over a hundred professional games under thier belts.

Most U17 players have not even had one senior professional game and are simply youth players with potential, that's all. Winning best U20 player is a huge award, completely different in quality, standard and indeed can not be compared to the U17.

Considering your emotive allegation of bias. My comparison is between clearly different standard components that do not have equal value. That's objectivity not deductions based on emotive preejudice unsubstantiated deductions.

So I ask you, WHO IS BEING BIASED HERE

Osimhen has not even got on the starting line-up of Wolfsburg a team that missed relegation by the skin of thier teeth. A team he is struggling to make the bench indeed he has probably not played up to 3 hours of professional football in his entire career.

So in comparing Osimhen to Solanke is that BIAS in your definition. I didnt make that comparison you did to present a unfounded ridiculous notion of bias.

Your first paragraph is what I have been hammering on here.

The U20 is not for academy players but for young professional players some of whom have seen up to 3 years of senior team action in their respective leagues.

In Nigeria we often underrate the challenge at the U20 level. Until we stop doing so, we will continue to get disappointed.

Kog45:
I can't really recollect the year but it should be 2002 or 2003.

Eric Ejiofor and Obinna Nwanneri only got SE call ups after their heroics with the Enyimba team that won the CAF champions league late 2003. That's why I said 2003/2004.

Kog45:
The 2-2 draw was a friendly match prosecuted by home based players against star studded Senegal team.It was not showed live but relayed in the night.

In the home based team we have Seyi Ogunsanya,Seyi Olajegbeshi,Sani Abacha,Oluwole Johnson, Seyi Olofinhana,Obinna Nwaneri,Eric Ejiofor,Tony Alegbe,Friday Ejedegba while Senegal team had Tony Sylva,Papa Diop,Hadji Diouf,Sane.

That must be around 2003/2004 then.

Thought u were referring to the late 90s.

Kog45:
Yes very strange names but the same players held very in form Senegal team to 2-2 draw in Dakar,hope you remember.

Sani Abacha was not part of Ecuador 95 but parr of home based Under 23 team prior to Atlanta 96.Lati Alanamu was a solid footballer but not that serious,he played for Stationary Stores and Rangers now in UK

Oh Ojokojo was a well known to guys who are real fans of Nigeria local league in the 80s especially Shooting star fans.

Ow Sani Abacha didnt that play Ecuador '95 U17. Must have mistaken him for someone else.

That 2-2 draw against Senegal was in 2000 AFCON qualifiers right? Not sure we saw that game live in Nigeria and the internet was not as useful as it is now. So hardly will you know all players in the squad.

Kog45:
My man France 98 squad was overrated.A team with players who have passed their prime, players like Rufai,Yekini,Eguavoen, Iroha,Okafor.

Hope you remember we took injured Amokachie to WC,Oparaku was not that solid like Atlanta 96 even his club status was suspect,Taribo was a suspect all through,check Denmark match,Kanu not able to replicate his Atlanta magic,just playing like normal player,Finidi form had dropped,Amuneke not the real guy again,Okocha as usual continue where he stopped against Italy,playing to the gallery.

The business minded guys in that team are Sunday Olishe,Adepoju Mutiu,,Celestine Babayaro while Victor Ikpeba, Wilson OrumaTijani Babaginda,Godwin Opara who are ready to prove a point where always on the bench,remember Ikpeba,Oruma,Babangida had a goal each at France 98.

My point is this based on paper the players look solid but as a team they are not solid,beating Spain was one of those things and beating Bulgaria was the confidence of US 94.

My man i don't rate this team.

All those Okafor, Eguavoen, Iroha that you mentioned were not starters in the team.

Yekini was not bad during the qualifiers for the WC. We didn't see him as a player that will be an excess luggage in that WC. So nobody questioned his inclusion.

Yes Amuneke and Amokachi were not at their best but some other players like Ikpeba and Babangida were in blistering form.Recall The CAF APOTY for 1997 was Victor Ikpeba. Okocha had improved, same goes for Kanu Nwankwo. Oliseh had also grown in status and confidence. Celestine Babayaro was one of the most exciting young LBs in England with his modern style of play and goals scoring prowess. Taribo was still solid and very dependable. Garba Lawal , Mr Utility, was at his prime. Wilson Oruma though over shadowed by Okocha was another young enterprising midfielder. Mutiu another utility player was also doing good. Finidi up to 2000 AFCON was still deadly not to talk of France 98.

Our RB was the weakest point as Mobi Oparaku had not raised his game from that of a junior international to a senior international.

About 70% of the Atlanta 96 team played in that France 98 WC. Something very commendable.

That team underachieved in my opinion due to poor preparations. The quality was there.

Seanonaira:
http://dailymedia.com.ng/who-is-daniella-down-daniella-down-biography-daniella-down-profile-daniella-down-history-meet-white-actress-who-starred-in-nollwood-movie-wedding-party-deardre-winston-aka-daniella-down/

How can I forget how she pronounced Gbeg-i-r-i

Kog45:
Yes you are correct cos i have some pals that were in the squad that played that match,guys like Sani Abacha,Friday Ejedegba,Lati Alanamu.

Hmmm....those were some of the strange names that donned our jerseys that day.

With the exception of Sani Abacha who was part of the 1995 Eaglets we no even know where them pick some of those other players from.

Tomorrow now wikipedia will refer to one Lati Alanamu as former Super Eagles international and we go dey wonder when him play for us. I still Nova recall that Ojokojo own. Hahahaha.

owbabs:
Nigeria Results in 1998

Nigeria vs Germany 0-1
Nigeria vs Yugoslavia 0-3
Nigeria vs Holland 1-5
Nigeria vs Spain 3-2
Nigeria vs Bulgaria 1-0
Nigeria vs Paraguay 1-3
Nigeria vs Denmark 1-4
Nigeria vs Catalonia 0-5

Was this team overrated or what?

The team was not overrated.

The real class in that team showed when they played against Spain and Bulgaria.

What affected the team was lack of early preparation. We didnt take part in the 1998 AFCON due to ban as a result of political interference by the Nigerian government in 1996.

We found out our deficiencies too late and we quickly tried to make amends by making some fire brigade calls.

That team was loaded with individual quality but there was no coordination as a team.

In that Catalonia game I think Amodu was in charge. Following the disappointment of losing 4-1 to Denmark there were loud calls for the inclusion of "Hungry" home based players into the team. We had a couple of strange names and faces that night. And we were trashed 5-0. We got the hint that home based was not the answer.

I cannot forget the loud jubilations in the streets that evening after we beat Spain 3-2.

We saw the highs and lows of Nigerian football that year.

So many high scoring matches.

tglobal:
It was Willy Opara

Didn't have time to comment earlier, but I was surprised when folks insinuated that he was overlooked in the national team.

Willy was actually the second choice keeper in France 98 and took part in two friendlies prior to the tournament: He was at the LG cup and played the second half friendly games against Germany and Holland. However, he never inspired confidence in the fans - not unsimilar with Daniel Akpeyi.

Men...that guy was terribly bad.

terzurum5:
Liki liki defence

These eagles weren't motivated.

But they rose up to the challenge and beat Spain and Bulgaria when it mattered.

One of our major strength is our epileptic nature.
You cannot predict us. We are fund of recording shocking results both positive and negative.

terzurum5:
Thank you Sir for showing us what poor goalkeeping can do to a team.

The goal keeping was atrocious. Still trying to recall that guy that kept in that 2nd half against Holland.

Awful.

Holland vs Nigeria 1998:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TKud5Wv6SBI

Just to spice up our afternoon

Yugoslavia vs Nigeria 1998:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQbR-iR5jXI

joseph1013:
If we crash out at the group stage, Rohr will be sacked.

We will be back to square one.

Our players are not playing and those that are playing are not setting their clubs on fire. But since we don't have better replacements, all we can hope is for the teamwork that has always worked for us to keep working.

That's the best we can hope for going into the Mundial.

I was only reacting to those that make it seem as if the world will end if the team disappoints.

eazyjakes:
Smiles....it's actually Angers SCO....dey play in French ligue 1 as well....they gained promotion in 2015 and are currently 19th on the table just a point behind Lille.

Thanks. Me no too follow French league like that o.
It will be a good move then. Hope he becomes first choice.

That will be the first step.....

daveP:
Seems like Enyeama would get a club come January. Angers cso on his radar!

Which one is Angers CSO?