jotey: IWOBI: I CAN CONVINCE ARSENAL TO SIGN IHEANACHO Taiye Taiwo The Nigeria international wants his compatriot in the Emirates Stadium just because of an off-field behaviour Arsenal forward Alex Iwobi believes he can influence a transfer move for Manchester City 's Kelechi Iheanacho to the North London club. Iwobi feels the Gunners can cash in on the 'funniest guy he knows' but doesn't see it happening in the coming months. The 20-year-old hailed his companion with the City forward and disclosed why he would love to see him in Arsenal's traditional red and white jersey. ‘I tell you, you should see us [him and Iheanacho] on Snapchat! Always bantering," Iwobi told Daily Mail. "We’re roommates right now and he’s just the funniest guy I know. 'We do get on well off the pitch as well as on the pitch. "Maybe I can try to convince Arsenal to sign him – but I don’t think that’s going to happen." Iwobi amazed everyone when a video of him speaking fluent Pidgin English was posted on Twitter by teammate Ogenyi Onazi. And reacting to how he has learned to speak the prevalent language in the Super Eagles' camp, he said: "Everyone could speak English, I’d get along fine, but they’d all say, “come on, you need to learn your language”. So yeah, I’ve learned a bit, which helps. ''When I first went I felt like I’m an alien! I know they used to take the mick out of me, and I didn’t know what they were saying. But now I can understand!"m.goal.com/s/en-ng/news/4055/main/2017/03/26/34020972/iwobi-i-can-convince-arsenal-to-sign-iheanacho
Nigeria Premier Football League players will have an opportunity to showcase themselves in the Super Eagles when Nigeria takes on South Africa in the Afcon 2019 qualifiers going by the mindset of Super Eagles Coach Gernot Rohr who is due back in Nigeria next week.
Coach Rohr who is currently in Europe twittered on thenff handle that: “I’ll be back in Lagos next week to watch some NPFL games and see some of our home stars in action as we continue to plan ahead.”
“Our immediate focus and preparations are on the 2019 AFCON qualifiers against South Africa in June before the 2018 World Cup qualifiers in August.” .
Gernot Rohr has turned around the fortunes of the Super Eagles since his appointment as coach in August 2016, with the three-time African champs winning three competitive matches and drawing once in a friendly versus Senegal.
On the camping of the Eagles in London, Rohr had this to say: “We’ve been able to see some new players and young Nigerian talents here in the U.K. that could be part of our group in future.”
“We planned 2 international friendlies but could only play one. However, we were still able to do some work. Our 10 days of camping and training in London during this FIFA break has ended. It was a very good period for us to bond and get together again.”
Out of favour Super Eagles defender Juwon Oshaniwa was among the players coach of the Super Eagles of Nigeria Gernot Rohr handed a late call up to join his team in training.
The Super Eagles were scheduled to play Burkina Faso in a test game in London but the game was called off due to logistics bothering on the Burkinabes securing visas for the game.
A test game involving the players was organised by Rohr, with the players divided into Team A and Team B, and Oshaniwa played for Team B captained by Kenneth Omeruo.
Oshaniwa who was part of Nigeria’s squad to the last World Cup was on for the entire duration of the game and gave a good impression of himself, despite his lack of game time at Scottish side Hearts.
The 27 year old former Sharks of Porthacourt defender is eyeing the left back spot of the team, which Elderson Echiejile presently enjoys the favour of coach Rohr.
TheSuperNerd: Looolll.... I am sure he meant "during the time he was on the pitch for The Super Eagles"
Onazi wasn't exactly average during those 25mins. He was practically our most composed player before his injury. Even the matchday commentator agrees with this. I have watched it so have others but again we got to view things critically as to what Onazi did wrong or right... truth is... he hardly put a foot wrong... he had only one misplaced pass sef and was everywhere in that midfield. Onazi did hold his own and was indeed our brightest spark closely followed by Ndidi during those first 25mins.
So Sir Mickael2.... abeg... make we just move on... Ndidi was eventually even MOTM by far in the end.
Probably bc he was among the most experienced at international level in that team.
The commentator, Thesupernerd, the two who made comment after watching the match and my humbly self agreed that Onazi was the best player on the pitch that night.
How can a player who played only 25mins be adjudged the best player on the pitch.
Nigeria set to move to 5th place in Africa and above 40th in the world in next FIFA ranking. Nigeria is currently ranked 7th in Africa and 41st in the World.
alaricsaltzman: Found this interesting piece on facebook and i decided to share...enjoy
The most difficult age for any man born in Nigeria should be between 24 and 29 years, the pressure to be something, to be someone is so immense. When you look around you everyone seems to be doing something for themselves, people seem to be living a life you only dream of. You have applied for jobs and the results have been more disappointing than Yakubu Aiyegbeni goal miss at the world cup.
Sadly this is the age when most guys lose it, the age when if not careful one is consumed by alcohol or drugs, because the disappointments become too much and you find alternative ways to face reality. Worse is when a few people you studied with have been lucky enough to land jobs, soon your circle of friends gets thinner – mostly they don’t even cut you out but you will be real with yourself and cut yourself off. I mean what will you do when you are in a WhatsApp group of friends and they are discussing about last week’s trip in Dubai and planning another trip to South Africa while you are not sure of what your next meal would be?
Most times you follow the conversation silently, all alone like a cross on the grave. Soon you realize this is no longer your kind of crowd because the more you keep around the more the pressure to be something, takes a toll on you. You know when stories about house parties come up and you act deaf because you don’t know where an extra 5 guys would fit in your house. Have you ever sat in a group of people discussing the new iPhone on the market or how British Airways offers poo services and you can feel your heart whisper to you "boss this is chest pain hour, can we just go and find a group that talks about GMAT, SHL, Dragnet, jobberman or job vacancies sites".
But you sit there as these people are lost in their lifestyle conversations, you are like a secretary taking minutes in meeting. You are totally forgotten like one of a woman’s breasts during pre-intimacy. Once in a while one of the friends will turn and ask if you need another drink and you wonder if you should just say No and head home, but head home to do what? So you grudgingly drop in the comment “I will have just one last one“...Lie!!!
But after a few years of job hunting, you are now ready to take anything even if is to smell a rich man’s farts as long as it pays, so you end up as an office messenger in one blue chip company in town. To imagine that 4-5 years of studying and getting a degree is now reduced to picking and dropping off letters and if you are not doing that, you are being sent for cheap lunch by the employees when they are broke and they can’t order with fast food. This is when conversations about where people schooled start, you go silent for it’s no longer of any use to say you also reached University, it doesn’t matter – you have resorted to surviving.
Once in while you will bump into your now well to do classmates, they would offer you lunch, but not even eating the meals at Eko Hotel or Sheraton will make you feel better about yourself, because in your mind you wish instead they would give you the 30k and you sort your meals for the next 5 weeks. As it is the norm you will have photos taken, and uploaded on Facebook, but always it’s your face that would look the odd one out – not even the best filters can hide a face which has suffered the city's dust and sun but survives on boiled beans.
The worst mistake you can do during this period is to try and date – there is nothing that a person going through such times can offer in terms of love. How are you going to do evening romantic walks when you are tired from walking delivering letters in offices around town? What are you going to tell your lady when she says she wants to go for relaxation at the bar, pool or love garden sites that are in town? That your financial religion doesn’t allow it or what? This is the age when you sit back and watch as the ladies you would want to date are dating or getting married to guys 10 years older than you. And you can’t blame them – it’s only that your life seems to be progressing slower than their goals in life. Most of the ladies you meet during this period, if you are lucky will be patient with you till you hit 28, and if by then your life is still in disarray like Leicester city's performance in the EPL then my friend be prepared for a walk out.
But then this is the age when you learn a lot of about life, if you can hack through this stage of life the only hard moment in your life would be when you lose your parents - that’s if you are still lucky enough to have them. This stage teaches you a lot about perseverance, about appreciating the small wins you have each day, it teaches you something about friendship, love, career growth and personal responsibility. This is always your rise or fall moment depending on the choices you make.
How you live your life in the 30’s is determined by how you handled your life in this phase. Do not Give up. Do not Be Depressed. remain focused and create a Strategy. Be consistent, you must Surely Win. Peace
TheSuperNerd: I wouldn't Rule out MuaZam just yet..... I think he can be useful for our CHAN team alongside Odey and Any experienced forward like Mfon Udoh in attack.
And you are right about Nazifi.... he is indeed a big young takent. Watched him at Gauteng and I must say he got qualities needed in a fine striker.
From this list I would sieve out the following players: 1. Ibrahim Alhassan aka Muazam 2. Ifeanyi Ifeanyi 3. and Etor Daniel
We have seem them and know what they are capable of. Good players but not much expected from them.
4. Obinna Nwobodo we have seen and also believe would be a national asset if he keeps working hard.
The younger ones are where my interest would fall on now. Who ever the next coach of the Flying Eagles would be, these boys deserve a look-in:
5. Nazifi Yahaya: In my opinion next big thing since after Victor Osimhen. He was the leading striker in the ill-fated 2017 U17 team. He jst came back from South Africa where he scored 4 goals in an invitational tourney.
6. Stephen Odey: Hot MFM striker. Already in the CHAN Eagles team. Though not eligible for the next U20 but would still be eligible for the next U23. He should give players like Victor Osimhen, and Orji Okonkwo a run for their money.
7. Elijah Akanni: Never seen him play but my eyes would be on him hence-forth.
8. Otun Fawaz: Seen him a couple of times with the 3SC team. Quite good and comfortable on the ball. Blessed with great skills. I would recommend this guy to the 2019 Flying Eagles coach.
9. Adebayo Waheed: MFM is known for parading youngsters in their squad and this is one of them. Our U20 handlers should be hanging around the MFM team.
10. Alhassan Ibrahim: A younger Alhassan Ibrahim. Never seen him play. But for him to have made the Kano Pillars squad even as a 17yrs old it means he is highly talented. Another player for the next U20 handlers to have a look-in.
Mickael2: we've always had fantastic goalkeepers at youth level, by always I mean ALWAYS. From Vanzekin to Ajiboye to Dami Paul to this new boy in portugal. But the problem is where and how to develop them. No team can have more than 4 goalkeepers at a time, and even then only 2 will be getting good play time. So I believe it's time we abandon the foreign leagues and look into our local leagues. If we can't then I have to jump back into the 'call-back-Enyeama' train, he still has 5 solid years to give to us so no harm done. But our league should be our main provider
Comments like this though....
That aside, I hope you have not forgotten that Daniel Akpeyi and Ikechukwu Ezenwa are products of our youths system.
So you cannot say our youths goalies have not been progressing to the Super Eagles.
As you rightly said, teams typically have 3 goalie and may be just abt 2 are typically involved in game action. Look at the number of teams in the NPFL and multiply by the 2 goalies. Meaning just 40 goalies in the NPFL exposed to league football. Even if you multiply by 3 goalies it is 60. Not including the lower divisions.
Now, every 2 years we produce 3 goalies from the U17 and 3 from the U20.
Some of the goalies that kept goal since way back 2005 at youth level are still in active service. Calculate from then till now how many goalies our youths system would have produced.
Now also you must recall that majority of the goalies in the NPFL never got to play in any of our youths team.
So you see how difficult it is for goalie to break through?
Dedebanky85: Initial analysis was on the negatives. On the positives,
Echejile is not giving up that his shirt anytime soon. I don't care if Ola Aina and co come, they'll find out that Elderson may just be a bit much to displace. Very good but underrated player. It seems the only 2 break out stars from that his 2007 under 20 set are degradingly underrated - Efe Ambrose being the other.
Ndidi is one hell of a player. That his octopus leg gives him great advantage. Biased somebori said Idrissa Gana outshine him, I can't recall Naija playing another game with Senegal. Cos the one I watched Ndidi outperformed Idrissa and this is not me being sentimental. Ogu was alright nothing extraordinariè. I was impressed with Success and Kayode. Their movement offered more options in our attack, hence the very enthralling last 8 mins of the game. Kayode may not even be considered as a 9 as most are assuming. Rohr may just use him in the wings due to his speed.
It is very positive to see the intent to play friendlies, but NFF needs to do better with regards to planning. I know Burkina caused d cancellation of the friendlies, but to think that some of our own lauretta missed due to visa shows lack of planning. I may be wrong, but I was under the assumption that the FA makes special arrangements with regards collective Visa approval by obtaining the players Passport ahead of time to apply for the visa at the respective consular. For the past 5 months I've been noticing that it seems like the players go solo in obtaining these passports. If it's the latter then NFF needs to make special expediting arrangements so that these players face no delays. Or better still have the players attempt to collect these visas a month ahead of the game.
I like the objectivity in ur write up.
Just to add to the bolded. Brown Ideye is another member of the 2007 U20.
SharpJoe: With Mikel, we have a rare get that is difficult to find. Just like how long it has taken us to replace Jay Jay Okocha.
Although we have a promising creative midfielder in Kelechi Nwakali. We Obinna Nwobodo l and Ifeanyi Matthew also show promise. However, I do not see them having the touch and class of Mikel. I hope they can reach that level.
Talking about Jay Jay Okocha. It was as though he would never retire. He almost became an immortal to us. We could nt imagine the Super Eagles without him. Two to three yrs after he retired fans were still calling him back.
maidaboi: Just listened to an interviewed with 2002 super eagles head coach he said that fans said that they will killed his family if he invite players that fail at the afcon. was he a good coach?
I am sure u are talking about Adegboye Festus Onigbinde. aka the Modakeke high chief.
I dnt think that was completely true.
Players like Taribo West, Celestine Babayaro, Garba Lawal, Austin Okocha, Mutiu Adepoju, Nwankwo Kanu, Julius Aghahowa, Ike Shoromun featured in the 2002 AFCON under Amodu (RIP) and also 2002 WC under Onigbinde and nobody called for Onigbinde's family's head for that.
A young fellow here (forgotten his moniker) recently raised the question as per what happened in that 2002 AFCON. I was going to reply but other events took over.
Let me seize this opportunity to take us down memory lane on that.
After narrowly losing the AFCON title to Cameroun in front of the Lagos fans in 2000 Nigerians and the team desperately needed to win that 2002 AFCON to heal the 2000 AFCON wounds.
We got to the semis. So far so good. The team was doing well. Topping our group and beating Ghana easily in the Q. Final to book a meeting with Senegal in the semis. The other semi final was between Mali and Cameroun and that was the first semi final game. Cameroun won so we knew we stood a chance to take a revenge against Cameroun if we qualify for the final.
Nigeria vs Senegal: The game ended 1-1 on regulation time with Senegal playing 1 man down for the greater part of the second half i think. Senegal went ahead in the first half of extra time. Nigeria had a penalty in the second half of extra time but Wilson Oruma missed.
West lost 1-2 to Senegal.
Hell was let loose in Nigeria. We were not used to losing. The previous 2 AFCONs we played in we reached the final plus that much awaited opportunity to snatch the trophy back from Cameroun, who we felt was a weaker team compared to their 2000 team, was gone.
There was seemingly a 'Mafia' in the team. Information leaked that the 'Big boys' were calling the shots and not Amodu. There were reported cases of the 'Mafia' influencing choice of players selection.
Who were the so called members of this Mafia? They were some of the senior boys in the team. No official list but from what we gathered they were Sunday Oliseh, Finidi George, Tijani Babangida, Mutiu Adepoju, Austin Okocha. All i can remember for now.
The NFF summoned Oliseh to give an account of what transpired in that tourney. I think Oliseh damned them and travelled back to Europe.
The NFF and Nigerian fans became more infuriated. Oliseh, Finidi, Babangida and i think Mutiu were banned from the Super Eagles. Some how Okocha was let off the hook due to pleas from fans. WE LOVED JAY-JAY DIE!
Amodu was sacked and Onigbinde was appointed coach to lead the team to the 2002 WC.
So back to ur question. The fans did not want to see the banned members of the Mafia not the whole team that took part in that 2002 AFCON.
binhozie: Nigeria needs good full backs and wing backs for starters and back up option and omeruo should go back to bench CB at least to create competition between awaziem and agbo for the last spot. The Cameroonian team like to sit back if the opponent's plays possession football and try to hit on the counter they have fast strong and intelligent players, they don't try to wrestle possesion, we need to attack on all fours and defend enmass when needed, WelI thank God for the kind of competition we have in the attack and midfielders as well. I think Musa s time as a winger is over he should be considered as a back up CF he can chase balls over the top from ndidi and finish them, he is never going to deliver that perfect cross as a winger If I was rohr I will start like this C.Ikeme Shehu Balogun Ekong Madu Ndidi Etebo Mikel Iwobi Iheanacho V.Moses
tbaba1234: This one that Porto has converted Musa Yahaya to right back..
Beats me hollow too. But such is the dynamism in modern day football.
He may turn out to be the best RB we ever had. Gbenga Okunowo started as a midfielder at U17 but got converted to a RB by Barcelona. He broke into Barca's senior team as a RB at a young age.
Sports › Re: "The Super Eagles Thread: The Road To AFCON 2027, 2028 And 2030 World Cup by Icon4s(m): 8:39pm On Mar 29, 2017
