₦airaland Forum

safarigirl:
Even the fact that countries like Algeria, Cameroon and Senegal could miss Russia, even Ghana if they're not careful would dim it a bit accepted.

I mean, seriously, who will rep Africa if those guys miss out? All this wahala is the fault of FIFA's flawed ranking and seeding

I prefer this your 4 best second placed teams to the 16 group ish

safarigirl:
Please, I want us to analyze this 48-team World Cup plans very well because it's starting to look like some grand plan to keep the big boys at the top.

So, this morning, I came across some news on it saying the plan is to have 16 groups of 3 teams.

So, it's one team makes it out of the group.

Now, let's imagine these teams are brought about by seeding. So the top seeded 16 teams will each make it into one of the 16 groups each.

So let's imagine the top16 qualified teams on the World Cup are:

Brazil
Chile
Belgium
Italy
England
Spain
Germany
Argentina
Uruguay
France
Netherlands
Japan
Colombia
Mexico
Portugal
Ivory Coast.....

Just imagine these 16 teams in each group, at least 10 of them are sure to qualify from their groups, so why should the other teams bother? why should analysts bother? Save for England, Ivory Coast,Portugal, Japan and maybe Mexico, which other teams will any lower seeded team say with confidence that they can beat to qualify?

Where is the fairness in such a plan?

I mean, they can flood the World Cup with quantity, but by extension, they'll be ridding it of quality

cc Icon4s, Joseph1013, tbaba1234, terzurum5, lakesidepapa, thegoodjoe, cfcman, mickael2, kog45, thesupernerd, goldfish80, forgiveness

Nwogeh:
Where is Ikwerre, isn't it missing

Pavarotti:
Ndidi Outshines Anderson Esiti, Moses Simon As Genk Beat Gent

https://www.soccerassembly.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/Ndidi-vs-Esiti-credit-Dick-Demey.jpg

Nigerian midfielder Wilfred Ndidi was in superb form playing his last game for KRC Genk as the Limburgers defeated visitors KAA Gent 2-0 in a Belgian league game at the Luminus Arena on Tuesday

The 20 year old Ndidi who has confirmed his move to English champions Leicester came out tops when he came up against his International compatriots Moses Simon & Anderson Esiti who featured for Gent

All 3 players started the game for their clubs while Rabiu Ibrahim was an unused Sub for Gent. Ndidi and Moses Simon lasted the distance while Esiti was subbed in the 44th minute . . . http://www.soccerassembly.com/ndidi-outshines-anderson-esiti-moses-simon-genk-beat-gent/

safarigirl:
wish you same dear.

also lemme give a special Merry Christmas shout out to my peeps: jeffreyjamez, Icon4s, thegoodjoe, thesupernerd, twaci, optional1, Ishilove, Seun, Mynd44, semid4lyfe, femi4, kaboninc, emodee, terzurum5, mickael2, tbaba1234, ethereal, tijehi and every other wonderful NLer.

Enjoy your Christmas and may we all see a happy new year

abmart80:
how much is it? last price please no time to be pricing, you can send it to my mail at: martinsbinarryoption@gmail.com and send me more pics and location for inspection

tbaba1234:
Bros, it is just a slow news day... Journalist was looking for what to write.

komekn:
You talk like some of thier careers are already over.

Martins is still relevant and still cutting it.

NLban:
Simon Moses & Ahmed Musa In Danger Of Losing Super Eagles Spot To Kayode & Nwakaeme Over Inconsistency
https://owngoalnigeria.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/image-41.jpg
Reports gathered by Owngoalnigeria.com has it that coach of the Super Eagles of Nigeria Gernot Rohr is unhappy over the form of Moses Simon and Ahmed Musa for their respective teams.


Rohr’s aim is to bring competition to the Super Eagles by inviting only players in top form, which could spell doom for players who are struggling to make hay with their teams.


Simon has been having an inconsistent season for Belgian side Gent, where he has just three goals from 16 games this season in Belgium, although he has already equaled his last season goal haul, his performances have not been the best.


On his part Ahmed Musa is yet to fulfill settle down to life with English Premier League side Leicester City, with the 24 year old struggling to command a regular spot in Claudio Ranieri’s team, no thanks to his two goals from 12 league games so far.


Their form which is in contrast to that of Anthony Nwakaeme of Hapoel Beer Sheva and Olarenwaju Kayode of Austria Vienna could see them lose their spot to the in-form duo.

http://owngoalnigeria.com/2016/12/15/simon-moses-ahmed-musa-in-danger-of-losing-super-eagles-spot-to-kayode-nwakaeme-over-inconsistency/

safarigirl:
so, you conveniently missed out where I mentioned belief in players and academy even after quoting it?

Oh, and let us all pretend thegoodjoe wasn't one of those who extolled on the greatness of the Etihad academy and why Kelechi should join City when all of us were doubting how good the club would be for him.

Icon abeg, I've had a long frustrating day, I would hate to pour frustrations on you. Believe what you will

TheSuperNerd:
Looolllll... Actually you cannot blame Sir Icon4s... I perfectly understand him here.

He's seen so much "real-deal" talents fail to translate their potentials to the national side thus his scepticism for the new rising stars of today. The only way to convince him is for them to consistently produce super and world class performances and win laurels all in the green-white-green..... Looolllll


The generation of Yakubu, Martins, Utaka, Ordiah, Ikechukwu Uche et al comes to mind. They wobbled and fumbled when it mattered most.

Even Etim Esin and Philip Osondu come to mind.

TheSuperNerd:
Sir Icon4s, you can choose to deny it or accept it....

Kelechi Iheanacho is one of the major leaders and driving forces of the new generation and it has nothing to do with his move to man city. He moved there because he was top-quality for a youngster after his UAE 2013 exploits... Not his fault.

Show me a player in U-17 history with Nacho's stats at that Level at the U-17 WC.



Who says he's the only promising player we got?? We're blessed with so many but in every generation, there are leaders and stand-outs.... And right now, Iheanacho leads the way alongside Iwobi...... Same way Kanu and Okocha got all the spotlight in the first golden era even ahead of top players like Oliseh, finidi, amuneke, Yekini, Ikpeba et al.


This is the way things are. It's not his fault. Leave club allegiances aside.... It's obvious Iheanacho is a key force in this rising generation.

So it's not about love for others above others. Personally, I talk about a lot of players and treat them specially.

The truth remains in every generation, there are a few called "the brightest of the lot."


And about theGoodJoe and Man City, come on Sir Icons! You of all people should know He started supporting City long before Manuel Pellegrini even showed up. Na wa ooo... If I know that, so should you... He's said so a few times in past threads. So tying his love for City to Iheanacho and Pep is not correct at all.


And lemme end with this, "some peeps here are very confident that kelechi Iheanacho would become a world beater".......... ARE YOU CONFIDENT HE WON'T??

I REMEMBER YOUR ARGUMENTS IN THE U-23 THREAD OF HIM BEING "NOT THERE YET" WITH RESPECT TO THE SUPER EAGLES AND YOU CALLING HIM "AN AVERAGE TALENT" EVEN CITING YOUR QUESTION TO EGUAVOEN WHO TERMED HIM, "just a good player nothing special"...... And I'm sure that made your day.



Times have passed quickly and Nacho have gone to shame your "not there yet" comments. He's been one of the best players for the Eagles in recent matches and also top scorer for the team. He didn't even take long to settle in. He scored in his third cap off the bench and have been scoring ever since. Before the third cap, he had just one start vs Egypt where his effort saw etebo pounce for that goal.

Iheanacho shattered the "needs time to adjust" and "not there yet" anthems you sang back then. Can't you at least give the lad some credit?


I believe in looking at an issue wholistically. Iheanacho IS NOT THE ONLY PROMISING SUPER TALENT WE HAVE. We also have Ndidi, Iwobi, Simon Moses, Isaac Success, and many more....


...... But fact is this: HE IS AMONG THE VERY BRIGHTEST OF THE LOT. Simple and short.

safarigirl:
Thegoodjoe isn't a City fan because of Iheanacho, he idolizes Pep and believes in the players and academy as well. A city fan cuz of Kelechi would drag Pep under the bus when he mistreats Kelechi just like I do.

You can accuse thegoodjoe of being a fanatic, but he's no fairweather fan.

safarigirl:
was asking about his general play; tackles, dribbles, shots...

Did he look as good as he did when he was the Big 45?

I don't think we over analyse anyone else's game the way we over analyse that of Kelechi and we should be doing that

Even when Kelechi has a good game, we get a blow by blow analysis, so, we should apply same to every player. The way everyone was going on and giving thegoodjoe centre stage this entire weekend, one would think only Kelechi plays for the Super Eagles.

If I were Iwobi, I'd be just a bit peeved that nobody is even sniffing at my game though it was good(I assume). So, next time we're doing a run down, please, someone should equally analyze Iwobi, Moses, Musa the same way we do Kelechi.

We have just one Man City fan and at least three Arsenal fans here, so, why is it the City player getting all the spotlight?

terzurum5:
REVEALED – Man United Matched Leicester City £15 Million for Ndidi But Lost Out As Mourinho Wanted Him To….

Owngoalnigeria.com understands that Manchester United were willing to pay Belgian side Genk same amount of money Leicester City offered for the Nigerian, who had his medicals with the English Champions yesterday.


Although Leicester City have been favourite to sign him for some time now, Manchester United came into the picture last month, when one of their scout Roland Janssen proposed him to manager Jose Mourinho.


Janssen is same scout who brought the Nigerian to Belgium after watching him play in a tournament in Lagos during the 2014-2015 season, and still has close ties with the 19 year old.


The scout who now works for Manchester United pushed the club to equal what Leicester City agreed to pay for him but Mourinho wanted the defender cum midfielder to spend the rest of the season on loan in Belgium.


Mourinho plan was to watch him at close quarters during next pre season as he can’t guarantee him a spot in the midfield or defence of Manchester United this season, The suggestion made Ndidi turned down their approach and opt for Leicester City instead.


Ndidi will now join Leicester City on the 1st of January, when the transfer window reopens for registration of new players in Europe, to bring to three the number of Nigerian players to three at the club.


Super Eagles vice captain Ahmed Musa and upcoming forward Layton Ndukwu are the other Nigerians at the club.

owngoalnigeria.com/2016/12/13/revealed-man-united-matched-leicester-city-15-million-for-ndidi-but-lost-out-as-mourinho-wanted-him-to/

Icon79:
Guys, enough of the hype. Anyone can look good in a 2mins video clips of highlights, ok.


Gosh, I wish I had remembered to document all the highlights from my playing days, you'd think that I am the second coming of Messi.

O pari

TheSuperNerd:
I dey tellsssss yoooouuuu... Dude is a bad-ass.

He can play as a CF but that's not his strong position shaa. He's more of Wing Forward. Basically a LWF and can play RWF too.

Nigeria have always been blessed with quality wingers and wing forwards but for a while now, our left wing/left forward position have lacked quality.

With the rise of Onyekuru, Simon moses, Alex Iwobi (who can play centrally also) and more, Nigeria is on the rise again.

Back then in the first golden era it was Amuneke... Right now, my mouth is watering again.... Our second golden era offers so much potentials... Just pray Sir Icon4s' heart will grow fonder again.

Kog45:
CC:thegoodjoe
Icon4
. Supernerd
. basconvanveli
. tbaba
goldfish
. Joseph1013
pls I had an argument with a friend on why Kanu Nwankwo was one of d best striker to have come out of Nigeria that w always be on my S/E xi but my friend disagreed that cannot w never make his S/E xi,citing his reasons like 87 appearances wit 12 goal,5 Afcon,3 W/C without a goal.

He said i should do my research and i did thorough research on d past and present S/E attacking players with Rasheed Yekini 58 app/37 goals,Segun Odegbami 46 app/23goals,Yakubu Aiyegbeni 57/21 goals,Obafemi Martins 41 app/18,Samson siasia 51 app/16 goals,Aghaowa 32 app/14 goals,Daniel Amokachie 44 app/13 goals,Ahmed Musa 60 app/11 goals,Osase Odewengie app 63/10 goals,Amuneke 27 app/9 goals,Victor Moses 27 app/9 goals,Emenike 37 app/9 goals,Victor Ikpeba 31 app/7 goals,Ideye 27 app/6 goals,Finidi 62 app/6 goals,Agali 12 app/5 goals,Babaginda 36 app/5 goals.

After this,i told him Kanu has more assists than any Nigeria player which he disagreed,citing Amokachie, Siasia and Finidi as d best in assists in super eagle history.

I told him look this guy won Africa footballer of d year twice,he said Ikpeba won it also,is Ikpeba rated than Okocha or Amokachie when w talk of super eagles.

Pls house what really make Kanu so special that he was so valuable to super eagle during his playing career coz i respect his talent than any other Nigeria striker.

terzurum5:
Rohr Wants Home Based Players To Provide Cover At Full Back, Not In Attack

https://owngoalnigeria.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/image-61.jpg
Nigerian players based at home have been given a chance to stake a claim in the Super Eagles by Coach of the team Gernot Rohr.


Rohr has to that effect leave the door open for them to push for a slot in the left and right full back spot, where the team is short of options at the moments.


He has mandated his assistants, Salisu Yusuf and Imama Amakapabo to source for credible full backs in the league, who can push the foreign based options in the team for a starting spot.


The Franco-German manager urged them to lay less emphasis on attacking players as the team is well stock upfront with talented foreign based stars, who have been delivering both for the team and their club sides.


So far Yusuf and Imama have been putting together possible names, who are most likely to be tried out during the friendly game against Egypt scheduled for next year.

http://owngoalnigeria.com/2016/12/12/rohr-wants-home-based-players-to-provide-cover-at-full-back-not-in-attack/

cc;Icon4s

tbaba1234:
I will support the 48 team world cup if there are no more European teams added. They already have the largest slots.

Orkpekyandega:
Infantino backs 48-team World Cup with 16 groups

FIFA president Gianni Infantino wants to expand the World Cup finals to 48 teams featuring 16 groups of three starting with the 2026 tournament, a source within world football’s governing body told AFP on Wednesday.


Infantino, who had until now proposed a 48-team event but with a traditional 32 countries advancing to the finals, will submit his latest proposal at a FIFA Council meeting in Zurich on January 9-10.


A letter outlining the new format was due to be sent to the members of the FIFA Council on Wednesday, the source said, adding that the format was “preferred by president Infantino.”


Under the new format, the source said, “every qualified team would play at least two group matches.
The top two in each group would then go through to the last 32.”


The FIFA Council will vote on several proposals at their January meeting: whether to maintain the current World Cup format of 32 teams, extend it to 40 teams or go to 48 teams.


In the latter case they will vote on whether to have an initial play-off before 32 teams go into a group stage, or whether to go with Infantino’s now preferred option.


The successor to the disgraced Sepp Blatter had previously floated the idea of having 32 teams going into a play-off round, with the 16 winners joining another 16 sides in the group stage.


The play-off matches would be staged in the country hosting the finals, but would mean the losers go home after just one game.


“This way, every team is guaranteed at least two matches and then we have knockout matches from the last 32,” the source added of the 16-group proposal.


“Furthermore, this formula offers two advantages. Each confederation has a guaranteed number of qualified teams and it is easier to understand for spectators, television companies and sponsors.”


The source added that this format “seems to be liked” by the different federations.


The proposal to change the format of the competition is driven by a desire to increase income from marketing and television rights, even if the costs would also increase with an expanded tournament.


Infantino, formerly Michel Platini’s right-hand man at UEFA, said recently he was in favour of a World Cup jointly organised by several countries to share out the burden of providing facilities for the tournament.


“We don’t want white elephants,” he said in reference to stadiums that have been built for past World Cups and then left without a purpose after the tournament.


“We want facilities that will last.”
Infantino was general secretary of UEFA when European football’s governing body expanded the European Championship from 16 teams to 24 for this year’s finals in France.


They also approved staging Euro 2020 in 13 different countries around the continent.


And the Swiss-Italian has also been looking to expand the FIFA Club World Cup from the current seven-team format to a 32-club competition and hosting it in June instead of December.


This year’s competition in Japan begins on Thursday, with Real Madrid the favourites.

www.soccernet.com.ng/2016/12/infantino-backs-48-team-world-cup-with.html

Orkpekyandega:
Why Tosin Adarabioyo And Other Man City Stars Call Iheanacho “Uncle”

On September 13 2015 after Kelechi Iheanacho scored a last minute winning goal for Manchester City against Crystal Palace in an English Premier League game, Social media went overboard when Sterling called the 19 year old “Uncle” in a tweet congratulating him for his goal that gifted them all three points on twitter.


The tweets lead to a whole lot of insinuations which some even saying the tweet brings to question the real age of the Nigerian for Sterling who is older than him to refer to him as uncle.


Same debate was reignited when Anglo Nigerian Tosin Adarabioyo referred to the 20 year old as “Uncle”once again, after smashing his record as Manchester City youngest debutant in the UEFA Champions League.


However in our traditional way of unraveling the mystery behind most stories owngoalnigeria.com can authoritatively reveal that the tweet had nothing to do with his age rather it’s the nickname most of the senior players call the Nigerian who refers to most of them as “uncle” in training.


The word uncle is mostly used in Nigeria to refer to someone who is older during conversation and not necessarily what it means in the real sense and Iheanacho use the word very well in most of his chats with the senior players who in turn jokingly refer to him as uncle once in a while.


Sterling’s tweet was more of the same joke from the training pitch whenever the Nigerian is talked about by senior players of the team and nothing close to all that have been speculated.

owngoalnigeria.com/2016/12/08/why-tosin-adarabioyo-and-other-man-city-stars-call-iheanacho-uncle/

TheSuperNerd:
1984? Whaaaatttt?? Chaaaaaaiiiiiiii...... My indomie generation tag just got super cemented!!!

Abeg ooo Oga Icon4s... Come carry your man into your experience halls and quarters ooo... Ojibijibijibijibijibi.... Kaaiiiii

In the midst of...... gosh!!!! See them!!!! And many of them dey for ghostmode while people like us dey for driving seat for here?? Kaaaiiiii... I don suffer..... Chaaiiiii...

https://www.slate.com/content/dam/slate/articles/sports/sports_nut/2015/04/Kentucky-Notre.gif

TheSuperNerd:
This is a 4-1-4-1 formation or a 4-5-1 too...

I will take out Obodo and put Mikel...

Udeze was bae at leftback mehn! But there are some here who will still pick Taiye "the tornado" Taiwo... #JustSaying

Your squad is good to go shaa... Open to just one or two adjustments... Loollll

Nice 21st century line-up.... Based on "so far" performances since the year 2000.

Lawd!!! Whoever "really really" saw the Super Eagles class of AFCON 2004 and 2006 will know that those were near world-class Super Eagles sides who just couldn't conquer Africa because the Ivorien and Egyptian Golden Generations were all over the place crushing all oppositions.... and also because we were "robbed" against Tunisia in 2004.

Even our 2002 squad fell to Senegal's golden generation who gave us a warning in 2000 in lagos before following that up with defeat that knocked us out in the semis in 2002.

Chaaiiii... #memories

Sir CFCMan.... You are super spot on with Julius Aghawonder.... He's my pick for the no.9 role in this young century so far (I know a few or some will say Yakubu... Not a bad argument if you ask me).

Icon4s:
I don't completely agree about the individualism in that team. That team was very balanced and with squad depth.

You recall that quarter final battle against Tunisia who were the then defending champions?


They met a superior and star studded Ivorian Team in the semis. Our tactics failed us that day.

tbaba1234:
I do not know when goals became the criteria for wingers especially in a Super Eagles teams that had so many potential scorers. You also failed to include that Musa played as a striker several times for CSKA and his stats are not that much better the Tijani. Tijani was purely a winger.

I can not remember a bad game for Tijani, point blank but I can remember several that Musa was frustrating.

Tijani was not always a starter in a star-studded Super Eagles team.

Musa will struggle to get into that team on his best day, he is even struggling to start nowadays with Simon Moses, what if he was dealing with Finidi.

To grade consistency, we need average performance rankings and more detailed statistics. Finidi George was not a scorer either but he created far more goals.

Would you say, Musa is more consistent because he scored more than Finidi?

chrisooblog:
honestly between eguavon, siasia and amokachi they just bungled our teams chances at that AFCON. aside the USA94 squad this one was the most balanced in terms of talent and squad depth. even a hot yakubu wasn't in this squad. the main problem of our team in that tournament was that we showed too much individual play instead of a coherent team pattern. this played out in all our matches. against ghana taiwo's scorcher won us the game, zimbabwe our superior talent wore them down, against senegal martins to the rescue, against tunisia nsofor, enyeama and mother luck saw us through. when we finally met an ivory coast team just as talented as we were their superior organization trumped our individualism. that team had so much promise under the right technical crew that squad should have won that the AFCON and went on to qualify and do great things at the world cup.

BascoVanVeli:
To me talent alone can never win a trophy, u always need a strong will power and stronger luck. Nigeria had too many chiefs and not enough Indians. To me this current team is better balanced than any we ever had and also less selfish.

tbaba1234:
Adarabioyo, decent, potentially one for the future if he is interested in playing for Nigeria.