₦airaland Forum

Mujtahida:
This is why I don't like labels to be pinned on anyone. But did you notice how the goal came? I don't know what position he played but you can see that some other Leicester player had driven forward, keeper tried to clear, Iheanacho came from deep and scored. This is his natural position as in playing behind the main CF.

He is the CF.

Slimani is the SS.

soetanoreoluwa:
Did yobo flop 2002? If I could remember very well.. The only assist we had in that world cup was supplied by yobo..The across from the right wing. And Julius agahowo(pardon my spelling) converted it.

Then Yobo was a Right Back

libero808:
Iheanacho's goal


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

The tap - in crew what do you have to say about this?

safarigirl:
your work here now na to dey critic players. Any time you wuestion a player, dem dey play well.

Ebuehi

Awaziem

...now Nacho

Abeg ehn, before our first World Cup match, finish the entire first XI

No player is beyond criticism. If he doesn't measure up i bring out my stick. Tell me you are pleased with Iheanacho's situation at Leicester.

If the criticism makes them better then we should not spare any player. I am not like many here who have favorites and have turned their attorneys

Iheanacho equalizes. Praise master Jesus!!!

Leeds don knack Leicester 1 akpako.

Mujtahida:
Na the kind of comparison wey tbaba1234 dey call false equivalency. Chai I don learn on this thread.

I tell you.

TheGoodJoe:
Even Kanu Nwankwo was on the bench at Arsenal. Making benching at 21 a taboo does not add up. Morata, a player I watched in awe in the last game against Watford, where his play sparked light bulbs in my head, coining a term I tagged a deep lying striker, was benching at Madrid last season at 24.

The development at Man City is more important than the playing time and fighting for shirt at Leicester City. I just hope Nacho lands in the hands of a quality coach although I doubt the ambitions of Leicester board members.

Comparing benching at Arsenal that had Henry and Beckamp as strike partners with Leicester that has Vardy and Okazaki as strike partners. Even at that Kanu had a fairly good run of games. You are even comparing benching Iheanacho at Leicester with benching Morata at Real Madrid. Chai na was o.

He should continue being a bencher all his career. Is that what you want for him? So if he is not in Mancity where he is benched he should not play anywhere else?

Look, he better performs tonight against a lower division team like leeds, else his case will get worse.

Goke7:
uzoho against algeria? no coach will try that, unless the all other goal keepers are injured, alampasu will get his chance first before uzoho, the guy has not even been invited before so who will rush him into that kind of match. my guy don't be emotional, things don't work that way. the young man will get his chance but not against algeria.

we have a lot of players that already on the fringes so those fellows will get their chances first before others.

It doesn't follow that Alampasu will get his chance first. Football doesn't work that way.

You are right about Uzoho not manning the past Algeria though.

tbaba1234:
Yes. Kelechi starts

Ndidi and Musa on the bench.

We noticed Kelechi's depreciation under Pep.

He thrived under Pellegrini. He was confident and sharp. The system was good for him. Right now, his confidence is shot.

Once he can get a few goals and gain his confidence back. Hopefully, sooner rather than later.

Good. So what's his role in the line up? SS or CF?

edi287:
Both. They chose british passport over what's best for his career. I said it way from time this was a bad move.

Is he even in the starting line up for the league cup against Leeds tonight?

libero808:
oya make una leave Iheanacho. abi is it all this one you are talking that will encourage the boy?

No body needs to encourage him at this point. He has to encourage himself by himself. He is no longer a baby footballer.

The worst that will happen to him is for Rohr to leave out due to lack of action.

Nwakaeme and Kayode have been active even up till recent so who knows? Any thing can happen from now to next June.

libero808:
i was sick o

Pele. No fall sick again o.

Glad to have you back.

libero808:
But he doesn't play like that in Chelsea na.

Where have you been?

komekn:
We are speaking the same language Bro.

I said this donkeys ago and was told to stop undue pressure and criticism.

As if some players are free from criticism.

When Musa went to Leicester and couldn't fit in: 'It is Musa that is not good'. 'Musa has been found out'.

Now Iheanacho has gone there and could not fit in they are looking for his agent and Leicester style to blame. Some blamed Shakespeare and even celebrated his sack as though it will bring better fortunes to Iheanacho.

Chidi Nwakali could not play a single game all season at Diportivo and it was blamed on Racism. Kayode has gone there and is already winning MOTM. The club has suddenly changed from being racist.

joseph1013:
I will keep this short.

1994
1. Lack of a good replacement for Yekini. We relied so much on him that there was no viable replacement
2. Inexperience in the defence
3. Lack of unity. There were reports of players ganging up against each other.

1998
1. Out of form goalkeeper. Rufai had no business being at that world cup
2. Complacency. After leading a group comprising of Spain and Bulgeria, we started talking about meeting Brazil in the Quarter finals instead of focusing on the 2nd round match against Denmark.


2002
1. Grave inexperience on the part of the players. We disbanded the entire team going to the World Cup. Who does that?
2. Rigid coaching. Onigbinde. Awkward man. You can imagine a man that when asked why he never stands up to pass instructions to the players says there is nothing he would tell them that he has not told them in the dressing room. Cocky old-fashioned coaching.


2010
1. Luck. We were unlucky. Keita got a red card. Yakubu failed to score an open goal. I have nothing on the coach. Lagerback is a good coach.


2014
1. Lack of transparency in team selection. Keshi took players that had no business in the team. Uchebo, Agbim, Ameobi, Egwuekwe etc were in our world cup team. Really?
2. Because of the first point, we had no second team.
3. Poor Tactics. Or what do you call not bringing in Gabriel for Onazi instead of Azeez.


For the 2018 World Cup,
POSITIVE:
1. Good atmosphere in the team
2. Fair selections
3. Good tactics by the coach who can read games and use the available resources
4.

NEGATIVES
1. Goalkeeping problems
2. Striking problems
3. Over reliance on Mikel

More points for you Goke7

forgiveness:
Thank you very much for bringing this topic up because this has been giving me worried heart recently. I think this lads must be educated about this issue before the world cup.


Starting with 1994 World cup

1. Disunity
2, inexperience
3, lack of concentration
4. Self glory
5. Ignorance of FIFA rules
6, indiscipline


1. Disunity: Prior to the world Cup, we heard about the disunity in the camp. It gathered momentum during the 1994 Nations cup when a player confronted some players who sneaked out of their hotels to enjoy party before matches. This cold affection was transferred into the 1994 World cup. It worsen after Yekini celebrated in the post alone without running to celebrate with other players. They presumed Yekini was taking all the glory hence the need to stop the supply of passes to him and rather place themselves in a better position to score.


2. Inexperience; One these played out against Argentina when we were leading by a goal. While we were still arranging the wall and naively waiting for the referee to blow the whistle to take a free kick after Maradona was fouled, Maradona stood up and quickly took the free kick that led to the goal.

The second was when Oliseh was supposed to balloon the ball into the stand, instead tried to control and pass the ball. That was end. The rest they say is history.

3. Lack of concentration: The equalizer scored by Baggio was due to lack of concentration btw Austin and Oliseh when Italy took the free kick or throw in while they were still arguing.

4. Self glory: like I said earlier, some of these players were only after their own glory hence the saboteur against team and National glory.

5. Ignorance of FIFA rules: The quick free kicks by Maradona and the tackle in the box 18 that led to the penalty Italy coverted to win the game is also part of it.


6. Players sneaking out to party during tournament and revolt against the NFF are act of indiscipline.

I dey come for the remaining.

Lack of concentration, ignorance of FIFA rules and acts of indiscipline off the pitch by players. Goke7 please add these to the compilation. Thanks bro for the write up. Expecting more.

Kog45:
Honestly too bad for him,then who should we blame for this,Iheanacho or his agent.

Does the agent kick the balls for Iheanacho?

Good players go to lowly clubs and change things for the positive. They turn things around irrespective of the club's philosophy or how they play.

You recall when Austin Okocha went to Bolton? He single-handledly took them out of relegation in his first season. Iheanacho's transfer was meant to catapult Leicester back at least into the top half of the league table.

A player the club spent so much on.

Talking about the way the club plays, is it the club that will change their style of play to what suits Iheanacho or it is Iheanacho that will adjust to Leicester's style. Did he not see them play all these seasons before agreeing to terms with them?

I am just worried about his form for Nigeria. Rohr needs to do some thing fast about our striking department.

Adeyinka12:
https:///LGvNqtmjQldA8dtCCjScYI Only for Real Madrid fans

Then take this outta here.

safarigirl:
as in. It will make a mockery of International football. If we have to technically 'buy' players from other countries, they should kuku removfeghe whole idea of player nationality so you won't have to be from a country or linked to it to play for them

We can place bids for Asensio and Moussa Dembele

Loz....

Why we failed at the 2002 WC.

1. Change of coaching crew. We made this mistake in 1998 we did not learn.
Thank God we are not doing that this time. NFF don't try it o.

2. Axing of Senior players by the coach in collaboration with the NFA.
Lesson to those that want experienced players like Echiejile and Onazi out of the team

3. Parading too many inexperienced players plus some players only took part in one or two friendlies. Batholomew Ogbeche, Femi Opabunmi, Justice Christopher, Efe Sodje. They were not tested but were trusted and lo they failed us.
What happened to their careers after that World cup?
Lesson, every player that will make the next world cup squad be tested and trusted.

4. Lack of tactical inputs to games. Onigbinde sat on the bench with his hands under his chin in all the 3 games irrespective of how the games were progressing. He never got up for once to shout instructions to the boys. When asked he said he had already told them what to do from the dressing room. Is it that he didn't understand that game dynamics change and you could switch formation to counter or to follow these changes in dynamics? And that you can do this by passing instructions by voice or by hand signals?
Rohr is a very active coach we have no worries about that. Although I think Rohr needs a special tactician even if it is just for the world cup. Eg Westerhof had Jo Bonfere.

5. That 'up NEPA' jersey. Commentators could not even read the numbers and names on the jerseys as the Lemon green over shadowed the white prints on it. Some press men even mentioned that players found it difficult distinguishing some of their key players that they needed to get more involved in the game. Funny but could be possible.
Lesson learnt: The NFF should give us one very fine nice Jersey.

Kog45:
I know Iheanacho w be a scapegoat for Shakespeare's sack just like Musa a scapegoat for Ranieri's sack.

How I wish Nacho go back to man city and be warming bench,at least he w be playing in league cup or FA cup,better to warm bench at man city than a team like Leicester.

It seems thegoodjoe was right telling everybody that Nacho should stay put at man city and fight for his place.

I don't know if it's possible to seek out for loan coz not active before WC w affect his confidence just like it affected Mikel at 2014 WC.

He should go back to City and resume warming bench. At age 21? A player rated to be a " future world beater"? A player projected to be better than Nwankwo Kanu, A player that was said to be in a class of his own.

At 21: Kanu Nwankwo had won the UEFA Champions league with Ajax (at age 19), not as a bench warmer but as a strike pertner to Patrick Kliuvert. He had won the Olympic gold medal (at age 20). This was the age he was diagnosed of a heart disease while at Intermilan.

at 21: Obafemi Martins already broke into the Inter Milan senior squad. He played for inter in the final of UEFA champions league scoring in the winning goal in the semi final against AC Milan

At 21: John Utaka was painting French league one red. Emerging the highest scoring African in a league that is blessed with numerous talented Senegalese, Ivorian and Malian players. Note that Didier Drogba was also in that league at that time.

At 21, Yakubu Ayegbeni was banging in goals in Europe for Maccabi Haifa.

At 21 Victor Moses was snapped by Chelsea from Wigan where he had a blistering season.

Some of you may attack me for this analysis. But the truth must be said that Iheanacho has fallen far short of expectations. He seems to be an excess luggage at Lowly Leicester presently. He was bought only to be find out that he wasn't needed in the first place.

I feel for the boy. He may just spend one season with Leicester or end up like Musa who we often forgot is an EPL player.

terzurum5:
How much of Ajiboye have you seen Apart from the game against Guinea?

Good question.

Goke7:
please after some days, let's collate all these points under different headings and probably loaded them to nff's social media pages. we can't afford another world cup failure. Ghana has been to the world cup thrice but have a quarter final finish to show for it, Senegal only once and they are quarter finalist and if this present Senegalese team qualify, they have enough quality to do well at the mundial. This is our sixth appearance and we can't just go and make up the numbers. I don't care which group we are, if senegal could do it against a Zindane led France at 2002, then why not Nigeria.

You have started doing the good job already by collating all the points. Just keep updating as we contribute. We will get to publish it somewhere.
The NFF, Rohr and his crew MUST see it.

Nigerian football must move forward. Enough of the same mistakes, the same results every world cup.

safarigirl:
poor journalism.

If the new rule is applied, whatever happened before the approval will not be subject to it. Nigeria will not pay anyone for those three players, however, we may have to pay for any player that we get after the rule has been approved- if it is approved.

I find the rule stupid though. So, I will have to pay for a player like City's Tosin even if England has no plans for him anytime soon? Wouldn't that be unfair to the player?

Hahaha, na to dey buy players like clubs na him e go finally turn to.

Let's start by bidding for Tammy Abraham. When them pass next year budget we go for Lookman and any other. (Somebody is expecting me to mention Solanke, Hahahaha)

terzurum5:
Iwobi Snr: Alex Is In Super Eagles Squad On Merit, Not Because Of Okocha

https://www.allnigeriasoccer.com/football_pics/41084alex.png

Alex Iwobi's dad, Chuka Iwobi, has dismissed claims that the Arsenal winger was favoured and fast-tracked into the Super Eagles squad because former Nigeria captain Austin Okocha is his uncle.


Iwobi, capped at U16, U17 and U18 level by England, was invited to train with Nigeria's U23 national team in 2015, before he was promoted to the Super Eagles, making his debut against Democratic Republic of Congo.

''For Alex at his age playing with people like Mikel Obi, Echiejile and Onazi it is unbelievable,'' Iwobi's dad told Complete TV.

''I look at it and I say what a joy, what a privilege playing with these guys who are well known throughout the continent and for Alex to be part of that structure and being there on merit.


'' Alex is not here because Jay Jay is his uncle, it doesn't work that way. He's come here, staked a claim, he's done well.''

Iwobi is set to add to add to his international caps when Nigeria battle Algeria and Argentina next month.

Igho Kingsley

http://www.allnigeriasoccer.com/read_news.php?nid=25145

Sure na. Them dey debate that one?

Its just that Okocha acted as the catalyst to speeden up his switch. Maybe by now we would have been looking at him play for Arsenal and be wishing we had him.Just like what England are doing.

terzurum5:
Nigeria to pay England over Moses, Iwobi, Aina nationality switch

https://www.thebreakingtimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/iwobi.jpg

FIFA is currently looking into several options in their bid to effect changes to the rules guiding players’ nationality switch after representing another country at junior level.


Head of FIFA stakeholders committee, Victor Montagliani, confirmed they are looking into the rule, which currently forbids players who have played a competitive international for one team from switching to another national side even when they hold dual nationality.


Already the Cape Verde football federation has proposed for the rule to be relaxed especially when the player has only featured in few games for his original side, but has no chance of earning a recall.


The other option the Montagliani lead committee are looking at is a compensation scheme in cases where a player goes through the training system of one country and represents it at youth level before switching to another.


Presently Nigeria have three players who have represented England at youth level in Victor Moses, Alex Iwobi and Ola Aina representing in the Super Eagles, and if the new rule is approved, England could be entitled to some compensation from Nigeria.

http://www.thebreakingtimes.com/nigeria-to-pay-england-over-moses-iwobi-aina-nationality-switch/

If na money eh no wahala. How much we go pay to get Tammy Abraham join?

Kog45:
Nice analysis but i want to tell u point blank that there is nothing like players refused to give Yekini ball at US 94.

Try and watch our video clips especially our match against Italy.Mike Emenalo made a pass that a pregnant woman would have score but Yekini failed to convert it,this was in d dying minutes of d game.

Yekini wasn't at his best at US 94,he was well read by our opponents and neutralised.One of d worst outing for Yekini is US 94.

Truly conflicts almost ruined d team coz prior to our match against Italy,Siasia had training ground scuffled with Olishe but Westerhoff didn't handle d situation very well and it affect our performance against Italy.

Siasia was dropped from d team and Jayjay replaced him but it was a match that forced me not to rate Okocha as a serious footballer.We had everything to beat Italy but Jay jay was playing to himself just like d way he did against Denmark at France 98.

In that match after injury to Amokachie, Siasia should have replaced him and Ikpeba replace Amuneke but Westerhoff went for Mutiu Adepoju and Thompson Oliha.

The team couldn't build on d momentum of attacking football again especially in d second half we need to defend and this forced Olishe to make a mistake that led to Italy equalising goal.

Good analysis. In fact top notch.

That singular act of keeping Siasia out contributed to we loosing the game. Westerhof was busy packing up the midfield by introducing Oliha and Mutiu. Just one of them could have been OK. And one of Ikpeba and Siasia could have also been introduced.The Italians set a trap for us and we fell into it. That squad did not have alternative wingers. Aside Finidi and Amuneke who were the other wingers? None! Plus also the team did not have much utility players. The only utility players were Mutiu and Siasia. He had dropped Siasia because of the scuffle and then he was left with Mutiu who he threw in to link up play between the midfield and Yekini. I still don't understand why Westerhof would play Okocha, Oliha and Oliseh at once. One DM, two CM and now playing Mutiu as the AM. That was Westerhoff's worst match with Nigeria aside the 5-1 bashing by Algeria in Algiers 90.

Reasons why we failed in France 98.

1. Change of coaching Crew. Bora Militunovic had just months or weeks to prepare the team.
Thank God we are not doing this this time

2. We went to the world cup without a goalie.An Almost retired Peter Rufai was on vacation in his house in Belgium when the NFF sent him an invitation to join the world cup squad after Abiodun Baruwa fumbled in pre-world cup friendlies against Yugoslavia and Holland. Something to remember for those calling for Vincent Enyeama.

3. We went with almost a retiring number 9. Rasheed Yekini. I remember the talks then was that if Rodger Miller could do it. Yekini could also do it. Yekini was almost an embarrassment.
To the present, I am not comfortable with Ighalo whose career generally seems on the down ward trend.

4. Some players went to the World cup to show-off. Number 1 culprit was JJ Okocha who started by dying his head reddish brown. He was so hell bent on dribbling every player in the tournament with the end result always poor or average. Though he ended up winning his way to PSG.
Lesson for Alex Iwobi: Don't behave like your uncle o.

5. Over confidence. We were more interested in the Brazil fixture which could have been if we had beaten Denmark. "Of course haven beaten Spain and Bulgaria (1994 4th placed team) who be Denmark. Denmark that even drew with ordinary South Africa at the group stage." You know....talks like that. We got whipped really hard. The Sand brothers rubbed Sand in our eye.
Lesson learnt: Rohr and the entire crew plus the players must not underrate any team. At least that SA loss was an eye opener. Plus even if we manage to draw or beat Argentina on 14th November, we should still remain humble and maintain that underdog status.

6. Team segregation. There were big boys in that team. Oliseh became too powerful and just like his boss, Keshi, was influencing coach's selection. You must be a big boy to be in the Super Eagles then. Go check out the squad list. Even more stars studded than the 1994 set.
We thank God for a humble captain like Mikel. Moses appears to be arrogant but thank God he is not the captain. The other senior boys in the team are all also gentle and humble: Echiejile, Onazi, Musa, Omeruo. This is the major reason why the team has remained together and it is playing out on the field. If it were teams past, as Musa has not been used in the last 3 games when next he is invited ho wouldn't show up. My respect for that guy called Musa has really increased of late.

7. We didn't participate in the 1998 AFCON. We would have sorted out many grey areas from that tourney as we only had to play Yugoslavia and Holland in friendlies just 2-3 weeks before the world cup, to prepare the team. We found out too late that Baruwa had lost form completely and we couldn't recognise that Baba Yekini should have been watching the world cup from his home in Ibadan.
Lesson learnt: we need plenty of games for the current team to avoid late rush inclusions

Mujtahida:
In 1994 though we had a really good team inexperience took us out. It was a first for the players, the technical crew and also the officials. And then in fighting and squabbling among the players as there are stories that players refused to pass the ball to Rashidi.
Lesson: Rohr too is a newbie. He should ask coaches who've been to the World Cup to learn from their experiences, he should brush up tactically and maintain the good spirit in the team. Apart from Mikel, Echiejile, Moses, Omeruo (? dey him head sha) Enyeama (if he makes the squad) Musa, the rest of the players are new. Team spirit and morale should be the highest priority cos it is where there's unity that anything worthwhile can be achieved. As for the officials, we lack continuity. I doubt if there's still any of the officials that went to Brazil that is still with the federation to give useful hints and guidelines.

France 98: first error was to change the coach who qualified us Phillipe Trousier for Bora Militunovic . We took a fairly experienced World Cup squad but yet had weak spots in the attack and GK departments. Rashidi was old and out of form, ditto Rufai. We had no real CF as Ikpeba wasn't an out and out forward for the Super Eagles (though he scored in the game against Bulgaria). That team too had serious issues of disunity as those were the heydays of the much talked about Super Eagles mafia(Amokachi was injured but he still went to the World Cup). Hubris took over us after we topped our group and we began dreaming of Brazil instead of Denmark who were our next opponents(I read that the Danes got our tapes, watched it and you all know the end)
Lessons: Don't change the coach. Washed up players of the old brigade should be totally left out(of course except Enyeama who also must prove himself). Players must be united and should not let pride eat into them should they win matches. We must also study our opponents thoroughly and take each game as it comes.

Korea/Japan 2002: Pre World Cup preparations were fair as we played three friendlies against Paraguay and Jamaica and Scotland- not top sides though. We didn't learn from the previous World Cup as we changed Shaibu Amoudu who qualified us and replaced him with Onigbinde. Newbies like Ogbeche who flashed a bicycle kick in one friendly had everybody hollering his name. He went to the World Cup and was a flop. That team also lacked depth. We heard stories about Taribo refusing to play to instruction.
Lesson: Do not change the coach. We need quality grade A friendlies not teams like Liechtenstein or Azerbaijan. We need discretion to be able to sift real quality from empty showmen who will disappoint when crunch time arrives. Players should avoid insubordination. The team should have depth.

South Africa 2010: preparations were poor. I can't remember that we played any friendlies. Same mistake again occurred (them jazz us abi) as Amoudu qualified us again and was ditched. Lars Lagersback took charge and I swear I really can't pin point what the problem was except to say our players played like they had drunk Lager beer: Yakubu suddenly became epileptic in front of goal, Kaita flared up for no reason. Of course since we didn't participate in Germany 06 we took an inexperienced side to the World Cup. They were not just inexperienced, they also were not hungry enough because our group wasn't that tough(Nigeria, Argentina, South Korea and Greece) The team also lacked depth as our lean years had begun from 2006 or even farther back. First round we were out.
Lessons: Don't change the Coach. The team must be robust in all departments and deep in depth and quality.

Brazil 2014: The lesson had been learnt or so it seemed cos Keshi qualified us and was at the Mundial as our Coach. Preparation was poor as we played just two or so friendly matches. Uchebo, Reuben Gabriel, Oshinawa, Babatunde broke into the squad and some into the first eleven. In fact much of the players that won the Afcon 2013 and played in the qualifiers were dropped. It even looked like a new squad was taken to the World Cup a new squad that was seriously lacking in depth as can be seen from the Onazi injury in the match with France. Those were the peak of our lean years because truly everywhere was barren (in terms of quality) as personally I couldn't reel off players doing well at least not like we can do today. Player agents played their cards well and succeeded, the coach compromised and wafflers made the squad. Issues of player bonuses made headlines and a chartered flight with cash had to be flown to Brazil to save us from international embarrassment.
Lessons: Preparation for the tournament should be top notch with quality friendly matches at least four. FIFA handles much of the logistics regarding hotels and flights during the tournament proper so no excuses. No compromises: players should go by merit. New bloods should be of high quality and should not be more than seven so that baring injuries, loss of form etc 90% of those who played the qualifiers should form the nucleus of the squad. We should be hungry to go far beyond our best yet. Nothing stretches and brings out the best like a dream that is deep and glorious. Our coach should also brush up tactically because football has become an intensely intellectual endeavour where men have turned the sport into a battle field of the mind. Tactical strength, suitable tactical game plan and flexibility should come to play in our strategies.

I wish our team the best. Mikel greet Olga family on our behalf.
Assignment:Project Vladimir
Codeword: Victoria
Location:Russia
Time:June/July 2018

Viva Super Eagles!!!!

Wow, wow wow! this is top notch analysis.

You are an elder in this game indeed and you are a true follower.

Mickael2:
In reply to Sir Icon4s comment, I will start with 2002.


I don't really know what happened in 2002, against Sweden in the first half we were easily better, if I remember well we went ahead, we were ahead in the first half but somehow our defence collapsed. I think it was just the resignation of most of the players that even if they win, England and Argentina would still qualify. Let me stop there.



2010

Kaita.

1) POOR MAN-MANAGEMENT- I still think to this very day that Lars was the most tactically-astute manager we have ever had but his man-management skills were not so high. I mean Kaita's conduct was close to ridiculous and at some point in those games you would see some players playing entirely out of sync, not because of bad tactics but because they feel they are the boss. Yakubu was guilty, Obasi to a lesser degree.


2) INJURIES- Yakubu was never supposed to be the first choice striker, it was Uche but what happened happened and he wasn't part of the team. People only remember Kaita's incidence against Greece but even after Kaita was dismissed, we still created enough chances to win that game. Countless counters that Yakubu slowed down, he was running like he ate eba that morning. There was one miss, I can't remember how but Yakubu was one-on-one with the keeper, I mean the greek gk's position wasn't great, he should have scored but he hit it straight at the keeper, ok the ball bounced out to Obasi, hardly 6yards from the goal with the GK out and no defender in sight but Obasi just lost his cool and hit it straight away. The game against Argentina also had chances for us, the game against South Korea too. In fact against SK it was like Spain vs Albania, we were by far the better side, even Kanu had a solid game. One of their goals came from a set piece because we lost our two main leftbacks to injuries(INJURIES AGAIN) and we had to play Rabiu who was right-footed, so when the cross came in, he wanted to use his right instead of his left and the ball went past to the guy that scored, heartbreaking really.

3) LUCK- let's be honest, Yakubu has over a 100 Epl goals, he wouldn't have that much goals if he missed chances like that. I mean I can count the ones against Greece as missed chances but that baffling moment against South Korea still haunts my dream every now and then.

Finally I think some forces were at work. Like I pointed out we were better than South Korea, now that same South Korea were better than Uruguay and lost in extra time, if we go with it that way then we would have been far better than Uruguay and we would have defeated them, that would have set up a QF against Ghana in the first world cup on African soil. We met Ghana in the Afcon of that year and if not for incredible misses from Martins we would have won, we were better so that was a rematch I so much wanted to see but it all came crashing down when Yakubu missed. Had it been we managed to tie down Lars Largeback, we would have gotten to the semifinals in 2014, now on to the last one.


2014

Uchebo

1) TEAM SELECTION- When you have a bench that will easily lose to Lithuania in a world cup, sorry but you are not going anywhere. 23 man squad, we remove the first XI and on the bench we have the elders of my clan( Ameobi and Uchebo), a very very slow player(Reuben), one rookie that has no business in the world cup(Uzoenyi) and some other players that should not even be mentioned. Then you come into the first XI and you are baffled how Mikel managed to play all the games, he was the worst player in the world cup that year or atleast should easily make it into the tourney's worst XI. Babatunde was okay but could we have done better than Babatunde? YES. Till this very day I still do not understand what happened.


2) TOO MUCH PLAYER POWER- Mikel was the one telling our coach who to sub in, he probably also tells him what food to eat. Our players were busy requesting for money when we had a match to prosecute, the players were the owners of that team.

3) LUCK- let us be sincere, our first XI was solid, very very solid, some teams can go through a 7-game tourney without losing any player to injury and still win. We lost Babatunde to an injury and Moses stepped in, Babatunde was not missed. It was sheer hardluck that we lost Onazi of all people, I was wishing we lost Mikel not Onazi, these are the luck aspects of the game. The goal we conceeded was also a lucky goal. Enyeama would probably pluck that ball out of the sky 9times out of 10, unfortunately that day was the day he didn't and Yobo completed it with a trademark OG. We had luck too, we could have lost to Bosnia but we deserved the win though.

We should also point out here that the draw was no good to us. We could have met Switzerland but we ended up with France, a France team that scored the highest number of goals in the group stage.


I do not wish to say much about 1998 and 1994, I wasn't up to 10 for either tournament

Your last sentence explains why you don't see a big deal in Nigeria winning Africa's first Olympic gold in 1996. Hahaha. We don't forget things here.

Icon4s:
Goke7 and realpoacher's posts just sparked some thing off my mind.

Can we do an x-ray of reasons for our failures in our last 5 participations?

Best way to solving a problem is actually to get to the root of the problem.

We as fans will not play for the Super Eagles in Russia. We are not part of the coaching crew. But we can make our own contributions by profiling the reasons for our 5 previous failures to go beyond the second round of the world cup.

As I have always said here, do not underestimate the contributions we make here. They go very far.
To be honest , some times, I feel Rohr and his crew get some things from here because we have seen things play out severally after we discuss them here.
Plus I know a couple of officials visit here. Eg Amuneke's U17 media officer and Siasia's late U23 media officer.

Most of us here know the history of Super Eagles participation and performances better than Rohr. So he may just learn a thing or two from us.

I expect opinions and counter opinions. All the same we can keep the discussion or arguments constructive.

To discuss this issue I need enough elders in the house as we may need to go back in time to address issues even from 1990 when Westerhof took over.
The younger generation too can equally contribute as a lot of those old games are available on YouTube.

enomakos, Kog45, forgiveness, tbaba1234, TheGoodJoe, Goldfish80, Michael2, Joseph1013, joebie, komekn, safarigirl, mujtahida, terzurum5, icon79, do4luv14, omanbala1, Chriskel, Chrisoblog, Orkpekyandega, Humility017, elyte89, Dedebanky85, soetanoreoluwa and many others.

It must not be in any order. Discuss any one you followed from 2014 to 1994.

If may start, let me state the problem I feel the 94 set had.

1. The coach and the whole crew was inexperienced.
They got as far as their experience could carry.

2. The team did not have back-up wingers. It was Amuneke and Finidi standing towers above the rest. Take them out and the Eagles wings were clipped. The Italian technical crew identified Amokachi and Amuneke as two of the key supplier of balls to Yekini and they also scored goals themselves. The other two suppliers were Finidi and Oliseh. They tactically injured Amokachi and Amuneke and Yekini was left stranded.

3. This 3rd point is connected to the first. That team is set up to play attacking football. Just like Arsenal, they don't know how else to play rather than attack. Westerhorf decided to choke up the midfield rather than making at least one like for line substitution for Amuneke or Amokachi. I mean Victor Ikpeba was on the bench. The team became immobile.

4. Oliseh made the wrong choice of trying to disposses Roberto Baggio of the ball rather than a "clear throway".