₦airaland Forum

lexyman:
@icons ....just like yesterday ,memory lingers , the picture is still very clear in my head . When 2am looked like 2pm .

I think history has a way of repeating itself . Team Nigeria was stranded that same year . The money allocated for the journey was stolen . You should remember this Icon . Someone stole the briefcase of dollar and this lead the dream team to be stranded .

Yeah I remember that missing dollar brief case story.

But after we won our first game against Hungary, we swept the case aside and cheered the team until they won Gold.

The boys should just win against Japan tonight and lets start the healing process.

Meanwhile Honduras trashing Algeria 2-0.

goldfish80:
Sorry to digress, but I think we have over celebrated the achievement of beating Brazil in Atalanta 96.
Wining a game after coming from behind by virtually the last kick of the game is stuff of dreams, should be memorable and rightly so. But the extent we have gone as a nation celebrating this one victory after 20 years is starting to bother me.

Isnt it high time we move on from that victory which was an U23 tourney?

I feel ashamed whenever I hear Rafiu Ladipo and Co singing "Bebeto wants to cry when Nigeria win Brazil" in this era.

Imagine Nigeria on the ropes against Congo and the Atalanta 96 songs comes on like the game was played 24hrs earlier. It simply shows we are not ready to move on.

The Germans won Brazil at the maracana 7:1 yet they seem to have moved on.

I don't see the Spanish making songs and dances of the 4:0 thumping of Italy at the Euro 2012 finals.

It's just like England still making songs about about their famous 1977 heroics.

Am sorry to say this, but u think it's time we move on. The rest of the world have left us behind.

Let me diagnose the problem here.

Did you watch Atlanta 96?

I dnt mean through a youtube video. I mean live in July to August 1996.

The Olympics is here again!

MY WORST AND BEST MOMENTS OF PAST OLYMPICS.

Worst moments:
Seoul 1988: Nigeria 0-4 Brazil.

Nigeria paraded a highly rated squad of some of the then young emerging players.Some players from that squad(as far as i can remember): Sam Okwaraji, Emeka Eziugo, David Ngodiga among others.
Coming fresh from a 4-0 defeat suffered at Chile '87 WYC, we all applauded as Nigeria was drawing 0-0 at half time more so as we were d better side!

The Brazilian coach made 2 substitutions at half time and the rest is history. Romario and Bebeto tore into shreads our defense exposing David Ngodiga and we conceded 4 goals!

I wept!

Best moments:
Atlanta 1996: Brazil 3-4 Nigeria.

It was the semi final match.

Nigeria featured a highly talented and experienced squad. It was like a complete super Eagles team without Rufai, Finidi, Iroha, Keshi & Eguavoen( the later 3 names were already rounding up their careers).

Imagine a team that had Amuneke, Amokachi, Oliseh, Kanu, Babayaro, Ikpeba, Taribo, Okocha, Okparaku and Okechukwu, In one starting 11 line-up!

Brazil had Bebeto, Ronaldo De Lima, Cafu, Ze Roberto, Roberto Carlos, Joninho, Dida among others.

Brazil led 3-1 at half time. Our only goal was even an own goal credited to Babayaro.
Okocha blew away a penalty in 2nd half.
Ikpeba pulled a goal back to make it 3-2.
And at the stroke of 90mins Kanu worked his wonder and scored a kind of goal even Messi and Ronaldo of today would nt b calm enough to score.

A counter attack in the first half of Extra -time ended it as Kanu volleyed the ball into d net off from a through pass from Victor Ikpeba.

I wept for joy & jumped down from d balcony of a storey building to celebrate with my friends who were already setting the streets alight with the song "Ose, Ose o, Ose o, Ose Baba!".

We won d final bt d joy was nothing like the semi final win over Brazil.


Guys lets hear ur experiences. Dnt mind me, I am old school. No matter how old or recent it is, lets share.

cc: TheGooJoe, Tbaba1234, Joseph1013, safarigirl, Bascovanveli, confun, lakesidepapa, forgiveness, other forumites too

TheGoodJoe:


We can not count on Amunike to make complains. The NFF have a gag order which restricts coaches from complaining. That was why Coach Sylvanus Okpala, despite his brilliance and technical know how does not work with the Super Eagles.

You complain and you lose a chance to work with the National teams.

Amuneke has failed as an U20 coach.

A person that even openly said he cannot recalled what happened at Chile '87 WYC. Simply means he has nt learnt from history.

Manu is a better U20 coach. Atleast he avoided that singular mistake Amuneke made by inviting early enough players dat were nt part of the U17 winning team. Jst dat at dat time we did nt have enough quality 19-20 yrs olds as we do now.

Amuneke should be taken back to U17 with the 2019 set. Manu should graduate with the 2017 Eaglets to form d 2019 Flying.

Talking about the pitch. Teslim Balogun pitch though astro-tough is abt d best we have in d country. It was jst unfortunate dat it rained in the whole of Southern Nigeria that day. So had they taken d game to Uyo, Port Harcourt or Benin the condition would have almost also been the same.
The northern cities were ruled so as not to give Sudan an due advantage of playing under a familiar wethear condition.

As for the strike before the game, dey have jst shot themselves on the foot bc dey have jst let 180million Nigerians down. Nobody, nt even d press would join solidarity with them in asking for their unpaid allowances. And that team would soon be disbounded so under what platform would dey come and ask d NFF for their unpaid allowances?

Worst still the careers of 90% of them have nt even kicked off so how else would dey have d opportunities to sell themselves?

The players are the biggest losers in all this.
This team when blended with some older, & more experienced boys had d potential of winning the WYC.

Well Nigerians have surely moved on and in d next 2 years another U20 would emerge.

TheGoodJoe:
It is not U19 or U21 but meticulous development of their players at a very young age. Training the players and coaches to have similar styles and philosophies.

The running leagues at different age levels. Other European teams are adopting their methods because it works. Our boys are working in terrible conditions, miles from the likes of Spain, Germany and Belgium.

That is what affects the development of our players.

Even with d meticulous development they have not won d U17.

There strength lies mostly in the U19 & U21.
A typical Spanish U21 side would parade players from the la liga hu would have had at list 3 yrs of senior team football.

Bt what we have as U20s are a bunch of academy players

TheGoodJoe:
[b][/b]

This is the main point. All other thing he is talking there does not add up.

For instance, talking of Amunike,should have mixed bigger players. That is totally absurd. Amunike is from a ball playing philosphy and lots of the smallish players are better on the ball. The big and bulky players will not fit in if they are not good ball controllers and players.

Saying that the team failed because the squad was promoted from the U17 is also funny. Manu Garba's just promoted U17 qualified and won the AYC.

Saying Amunike should have played friendlies against Ifeanyi Ubah does not mean that the behavior of the players will not affect the team.

It is time Amaju Pinnick and his gang get something straight. There is a reason for home and away matches.

When you are at home, select a stadium that favors the strength of the team. This stadium did not favor them and we had better pitches that would have suited them.

It seems people are forgetting we beat this same Sudanese team. Where these not the same boys? Where they not smallish? Did they not play the passing game?

When they beat the Dream team, were the dream team not bigger than them?

These boys were betrayed by the NFF due to lack of care. This disrupted the camp. Then the poor condition of the pitch did not favor them. Those are what caused them to lose.

In as much as i dnt agree 100% with the thinking of that writer, there is a lot of sense in what he said. Particularly in the areas of sticking with his U17 boys and inexperience.

Manu almost made that mistake bt later introduced Wilfred Ndidi, Moses Simon and Kingsley Sokari of which i still felt was nt enough.

I understand ur pt from which u have been defending them bt those pts to me are nt enough to lose 3-4 at home to Sudan. Amuneke himself has come out to say no excuses.

TheGoodJoe:

Success Of Spain: A Lesson For Every Football Nation

The seniors showed how to do it! And now the juniors showed that even they can do it. Next what? Even the Spanish U5 might win their respective football tournament in the very same way. It’s that time to say that Brazil is no more the most feared football country in the world. It’s time for Spain to take the throne. The victory of Spain U-21 in the European championships recently has further substantiated the claim of the kings of world football. But how has Spain managed this unprecedented success, this unbelievable consistency that every country wants to emulate the Spanish success model?

https://www.nairaland.com/3019225/success-spain-lesson-every-football

A vital ingredient to their Success is having the most competitive and technical league in the world.

We dnt have that in Nigeria and u expect us to beat Spain to the game?

[quote author=forgiveness post=47854620]5 REASONS WHY FLYING EAGLES CRASHED OUT

Nigeria’s Flying Eagles will not be in Zambia next year to defend the U20 AFCON trophy they won last year after they were shocked out of the qualifiers by Sudan.

The excitement of having won a record fifth U17 World Cup in Chile in November got the better of coach Emmanuel Amuneke, his assistants and even the players, who felt they have arrived on the world football stage after what they had achieved in South America.

They probably equated the demands of U17 football to that what is expected of a team at a higher U20 level, where the players are a lot more matured with some even knocking on the door of the full international side.

Such thinking almost derailed coach Manu Garba last year, before he welcomed superior ideas to open his team to players outside those he has previously worked with at the U17 cadre.

The wrong assumption that there is not much difference between U17 and U20 has affected over time the appointment of the coaches for the Flying Eagles as well as the faulty selection of players for the country’s youth team.

Poor tactics

On a day the rains poured down on Lagos, Amuneke got his tactics totally wrong by still insisting on the boys playing his passing game on a waterlogged pitch, while the more experienced and bigger Sudanese chose the more practical kick and rush style to their advantage.

The Flying Eagles lack of size certainly did not help their cause as they always played second best to their opponents even after they reduced to 10 men midway in the second half.

When it was 3-3, Amuneke should have shut the game as a draw was enough to qualify Nigeria.

Is Amuneke really the tactical genius he has been packaged as?

Team not good enough

The Flying Eagles Class of 2016 did not have the quality and had they managed to advance to Zambia 2017, they would have been badly exposed by better teams at the AFCON finals.

Even at the U17 level, what got them going was their raw determination, the goals of Victor Osimhen as well as their conditioning.

The team were shut out from other players even after a much-advertised screening exercise as Amuneke insisted on working with only the players he tinkered at the U17 level.

This killed the competitive spirit in the team as players in Amuneke’s U17 pool were always considered ahead of those who were outside this group.

Team selection was biased and there was hardly a serious consideration for the physical size of the players especially in key positions like goalkeeper, defensive midfield and central defence.

It must say something about the quality in this team that after all the hype and expectations, only a handful of these players have since secured contracts overseas.

Goalkeeper Akpan Udoh was safe at U17 level, but was clearly exposed at a higher level, the team’s defence was below average, skipper Kelechi Nwakali failed to shine after he was named MVP at the U17 level and Osimhen could not reproduce the magic that fetched him a pro deal a top Bundesliga club Wolfsburg.

Both players, coaches lost focus

At last year’s U17 World Cup, these same boys had fought like wounded lions to make a name for themselves even when they had not received any allowances and bonuses.

Their character and focus were praised, but only eight months later, it was a different story altogether after it got out to the media that they threatened to boycott Saturday’s match over unpaid monies.

Attitude and discipline were sacrificed for immediate financial gains.

“They lost the game even before they kicked the ball because suddenly they lost their focus and drive,” a top former international told AfricanFootball.com

It was also understood that several of these players openly challenged the instructions of their coaches with Amuneke also angling to be Super Eagles coach after he was brought on board in an interim capacity for the AFCON qualifiers against Egypt in March.

For Amuneke, it was not about qualifying for the AFCON, but winning the elusive U20 World Cup in South Korea next year.

It is possible nobody really told him that you first have to qualify for the AFCON before you could start targeting the World Cup.

Inexperience and lack of exposure

At the U20 level, experience is a major factor and these Flying Eagles lacked it because most of the players are still with academies with not one of them playing even in the lower Nigeria National League.

It was only three years ago that the likes of Paul Pogba and Kurt Zouma helped France to win the U20 World Cup in Turkey and today they have established themselves at Juventus and Chelsea, respectively.

Amuneke’s team prepared for these qualifiers by playing mediocre academies around Abuja with their only tough test games being against the country’s U23 team.

Matches against Premier League sides like FC IfeanyiUbah, which could have toughened them and got them the much-needed experience and exposure, were rejected outrightly.

The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) would have done better by arranging for test matches in neigbouring countries like Benin and Ghana as was the case in previous years.

Probably, these big wins in their friendlies mostly at their training base deluded them into thinking they were unbeatable until Sudan delivered the sucker punch right in front of their home fans.

http://c.newsnow.co.uk/A/2/841325881?-18946:4882:3

/quote]

attn: TheGoodJoe

TheGoodJoe:

Spain who have won the U19 and U21 Euro trophies many times are yet to win the Olympics and won the U20 only once. Last time in 1999. About 17 years ago.

It has not helped them dominate the U20.

The reason why these players like Toni Kroos, Xavi, Ronaldinho, Aguero develop is because their local leagues are developed. Our players do not have that luxury of growing on home ground. If a European club do not take you, you will hardly make it.

Brazil can assemble a strong U20 team because most are based in Brazil. Same thing with the Olympics. Same goes to Argentina Spain, Belgium, Mexico etc.

Look at how late Iheanacho, Success and Simon Moses made it late to camp in New Zealand. They missed the camping in Germany. Same thing is happening now. In the Olympics.

So, picking pros is going to delay camping an preparation. Our current U20 team is good but the mismanagement affected them. Not the promotion of the team. This was a string team.

Talking abt Spain, it is that continuos domination in Europe at U19 & U21 that has taken them to where they are. And yes their league ensures those U19 & U21 remains in Spain.

A typical Spanish U19 or U20 side is made up of players hu have been well drilled in several Spanish clubs while our own U20 players would b composed mainly of player from "My People FC Academy" & the likes and u expect them to conquer d world?

The problem is we keep down playing d competition at d U20 level. A very large percentage of those Amuneke boys are nt U20 materials. Forget d issue of nt training for 3 days.
We were at home for God's sakes. And nt dat we played against Mali, Guinea, Ghana or CIV. It was Sudan! Sudan for Christ's sakes!

TheGoodJoe:

Mikel played U17. Ronaldinho played the U17. There are many great players who played the U17. The problem we have is that, if the players do not win trophies, we discard them.

Fabregas, David Silva played in the U17.

Our problems have never been the talents but lack of support. Making it here is a tough battle.

That is why I hope their U17 Title rewards are released to these boys so they can use it to run around for clubs.

I agree with Napoleon55 on this.

We celebrate too much our U17 titles and go to sleep at U20.

We take d pains to do a thorough screening process for d U17 bt when it comes to U20 we jst promote d previous U17 & shot out other players.
Etebor, Ajayi and Azubuike could have played d 2015 U20 bt were dey considered? Can Akinjide Idowu's game level b compaired with dat of Azubuike? Compare Sokari with Etebor and Junior Ajayi had always been ahead of Awoniyi.


Yes a couple of stars have played at d U17 bt d age where d real stars emerge is d U20.
Remember our argument some time ago where I maintained only few U17 graduates get to play at senior level? The U20 crop are d ones dat usually more likely graduate to senior level.

Producing 2 consecutive world smashing U17 classes has nt led to an U20 success.
And also as Napoleon55 said lets produce 2 or 3 consecutive U20 & see whether it will nt impact positively on d Super Eagles. Ghana's 2009 U20 success directly influenced their 2010 performance.


Until we start taking the U20 serious we will keep failing.

Napoleon55:
It's high time we become more serious with U-20 completion than any other competitions.
This is where the real players are been born,MARADONA,MESSI,MIKEL,RONALDINHO,POGBA,XAVI,ETC.
This competition produces more great players than the U-17.

Any time we r able to produce good U-20 team consecutively for at least 3 editions,just b rest assured that it must reflect on our Senior team without any doubt.
It has happened in the past.

Spot on bro.

Napoleon55:
It's high time we introduce U-18,U-19 teams in our football calendar. Not every year we won U-17 world cup,we rushed them straight to U-20 without allowing them to develop properly.
That's why European players will always be more technically better than us.

Good observation.

In Europe they have the U17s-which are made up of cadet/academy players, U19 and U21.

However, while d European tourneys take place in even years FIFA tourneys take place in odd years.

Eg team to represent Europe in 2017 WYC would play d U19 this year, 2016. This implies dat players that represented European teams at last U17 would b 18 & below. This makes it possible for several European players dat played against Iheanacho's U17 set 3 yrs ago to feature at d U19s. But mean-while we are already fielding Awoniyi, and co as U23s.Thereby creating that gap in experience for an 18/19 yr old playing as U23. Only exceptional players can do well under this condition.

The European players would have a proper structured growth.

CAF needs to restructure its age grade programmes to something similar to those of Europe where the U19 & U21 tourneys are held at d end of season and with dat u expect a full house for d teams.

Likes of Awoniyi, Mathew, Yahaya, Sadiq, Nura, K. Nwakali, Osimhen, Chukwueze for instance should be with d U19.

While Likes of Success, Iheanacho, Simon, Ndidi, Iwobi, should even b playing U21 and nt even U23.
If dey play together at age grade levels from U17, U19, & U21 they can better bond and blend at d senior level.

I have had several arguments with peeps here on relationship between age and a player's performance.. And i still solidly stand by it. What Amuneke presented as U20 is U18. Yes cos the oldest player in that team, K. Nwakali jst clocked 18.

I personally believe in structured development for players.

As long as the development of these youngsters is always zigzag we will hardly get it right.

cc:TheGoodJoe

BascoVanVeli:
point is they were over 23 and still couldn't beat this team, twice.

A pointer that we are in for a disappointing outing in Rio.

TheGoodJoe:

If we are talking of the main competition, then I am for calling the pros. The African Championship I think, falls during the season and clubs will not release their promising players.

As soon as I saw that these boys stopped training, then I knew there was going to be a problem.

But since d pros are on break now why nt engage them to secure qualification for AYC.

U remember Iheanacho was part of d AYC qualifiers bt was nt available for the AYC.

When it comes to U17 we try to field d best bt at U20 we will field green horns.

BascoVanVeli:
No competition but they are champions of africa.

A good number of d boys dat won dat CAF U23 were nt part of those build up games.

adrainuche:
So this is our only hope !!!

Bros I hope u have a large?

BascoVanVeli:
I would agree but this team beat our u-23 home and away.

Forget that U23 team that played those games. Were dey nt d same crop that Denmark trashed?

They are a no competition.

U pple are just arguing away from the main issue.

That team to me is nt competitive enough.

I raised eye brows when i saw the team being composed of 90% of the last U17. Some of those boys are nt U20 materials.

I got concerned when d team struggled against Burundi. They needed 2 late goals against Sudan away.

The U20 is nt for academy players bt young professionals.Players that are already playing professional football. Bringing in more experience into dat team would have made d difference. Taiwo Awoniyi, Ifeanyi Mathew, Chidozie Awaziem, Musa Yahaya, Chidera Ezeh, Nura Abdulahi among others should have been in that team.

We keep treating d U20 with kids gloves.
Nigeria will never get it right at the U20 until we stop underrating d competition at this stage.

cc: TheGoodJoe, safarigirl, Bascovanveli, tbaba1234, adrainuche, Napoleon55, lakesidepapa, joseph1013.

Napoleon55:
It's a shame none of the players that won us U-17 world cup three years ago will be representing us in an U-23 football event.
In '96,a similar scenario presented itself and we were able to present for about five players from the all conquering '93 U-17 set for the Olympics.

This year,players like Musa Mohamed,Success and even Iheanacho ought have been the main players representing us,if proper negotiation were been carried out.
How about Ifeanyi Mathew and Musa yahaya that no negotiation was needed.
At least,Yahaya could play from the wings which there was no natural winger on the list.

Of course you know the exceptional ones were nt released by their clubs while the others(majority) are still trying to put themselves together career-wise.

A lot of them are still U20 which makes them elligle to play in the next WYC and 2020 Olympics.

A player like Awoniyi for me is nt ready for the level of competition has been made to go through( I have been saying this all along).

The truth is same goes to a lot of that U17 set. MRI made sure there was little or no age cheating. Alot of them are still kids. 90% of those guys playing U23 would have failed the MRI had it been it works for 23yrs olds.U understand what I mean.

My opinion is Awoniyi should b sent to d U20 camp. At that level he will compete more favorably, contribute more and would also develop his skills more. Same goes for Chidera Ezeh and Musa Yahaya.
Zaharadeen Bello was at the CAF U23 bt was dropped after that first game against Mali. Nothing has been heard of him ever since. He too should go compete for position with d current crop of U20 defenders.

I need nt also tell u what Ifeanyi Mathew can bring to d U20 team. The thing is Amuneke would need to know how best to combine him and K. Nwakali in d same team, for though they play similar position bt in contrasting styles.

I personally believe in career progression. Not all players' development are rapid. Some exceptional ones like Iheanacho and Success have already started making waves while some others are enjoying some loan spells and expecting some thing good at d end of it.

Some of that U17 class are even no where to b found! Eg where are Edwin Okon and Chigozie Obasi?

Okon i know recently got married.

tbaba1234:
I do not understand the attempt to degrade foreign born players.

The problem with the English national team has never been player quality. The always have world class players..

Bale, ramsey, Allen and much of the fantastic Wales team were groomed in England.

England went throug the qualifiers unbeaten.

Iwobi, Victor moses etc learnt their trade in England. Nigeria had precious little to do with their talent development.

Fact, Dele Alli, Barkley and Alaba would have added quality to the Nigerian set-up. For a Nigerian team that struggles to beat minnows,that quality would have been invaluable.

Is it not the same Nigeria where Onobi became our starting number 4. A Nigeria with no quality right back. We can do with as much quality as we can get and that includes Nigerians born abroad that are willing to play for us.

The local talents are important as well. There is no need for a divide.

No doubt Dele Alli, Rose Barkley and David Alaba could have added quality to d Super Eagles.

Were the argument spans from is the saying that no Nigerian player is half as talented as Dele Alli, Sheyi Ojo, Ross Barkley and David Alaba.

That i cannot accept and would defend even at gun point.

tmtech:
looks like CHM 201 result back then in OAU.. chai public sch mehn. u go suffer no be small

Jst also like CHM 201 of OSU in 1998 where my score of 57 was d highest in the whole faculty of science.

TheGoodJoe:
We wasted money camping and drawing up lists.

Coach Siasia had his team ready long before the African Championship.

I wish him good luck.

From the list do u see a recogmised CMF?

This y i have told u dat Mikel is in for d CMF while Azubuike will man d DMF position. Siasia wants to market Azubuike. This is the plan all along.

Seeing that list of attackers I feel like crying

Joniboi:
Barring any last minute change, head coach of the Nigeria U-23s Samson Siasia has submitted a list of 19 players that will represent Nigeria at the Rio 2016 Olympics.

The list of 19 players has one player in as standby although the name of the player wasn’t mentioned but the move we gathered was done by the coach to make up for any disappointment that could come from any of the expected foreign based in the team.

Daniel Akpeyi
Emmanuel Daniel
Sincere Seth
Kenneth Omeruo
Stanley Amuzie
William Troost Ekong
Saturday Keigo Erimuya
Erhun Obanor
Mikel Obi
Azubuike Okechukwu
Ogenekaro Etebo
Usman Mohammed
Shehu Abdullahi
Stanley Dimgba
Aminu Umar
Imoh Ezekiel
Taiwo Awoniyi
Junior Ajayi
Sadiq Umar

This honourable forum and other sports sites forced Siasia to include Wilfred Ndidi and Kingsley Madu on the provisional list.

However, Siasia kept to his plans of making sure his boys Amuzie and Azubuike made it to Rio. Hence Madu and Ndidi have been dropped.

TheGoodJoe, can u remember the comment where i stated dat Siasia would drop Ndidi from d squad to ensure his captain Azubuike males it?

Siasia has really taken 180million Nigerians for granted. He does whatever he likes for his selfish gains.

His defense trojans have failed him which is why he has gone for Omeruo and Troost-Ekong.The other players(except Sadiq Umar) have been in his plans all along.

My prediction is we will likely scale through our grp bt any other result we get from then on would b like a bonus.

tbaba1234:
Nigeria Olympic team defeated local side Charleston Battery 1-0 in a rescheduled warm-up game after the original game rained rained off hours earlier in Atlanta.

Portugal-based defender Stanley Amuzie was the match winner in the 33rd minute against a team with an average of 17 years.

Coach Samson Siasia’s team created several chances but could not add to this go-ahead goal.

They enjoyed the ball possession, but their young opponents had a goal disallowed in first half stoppage time.

Their final test game is on July 27 against another Rio-bound team Honduras.

Any where we can get players rating for this game?

Napoleon55:
Siasia is the cause of his problems,the players r no longer enthusiastic about playing for him,he is too hash on them,lash them every now and then,talks any how,gives so many excuses, he is so unforgiven,there is no reason why he shouldn't have accepted Sokari and Yahaya back for leaving camp due to club engagements,but he never looked their ways back again after the little incidents. The players and the coaching crew are even tired,they just want this to be over. This is one of the most malign team ever in Nigeria colors. I will still repeat this,the only hope this team has is the fact that they have been written off,it makes them so dangerous,a Nigeria team tends to perform so well in situations like this. By and large,the dream team still have my support. But on the long run,what has befallen this team will be counted as blessing contrary to what everybody thought,moreover,I do not want what happen in '98 to repeat itself in 2018,a situation where we have exhausted and exposed all our strength to the world in an Olympic event n that affected our performance in France '96 adversely. If we hadn't participated and won the Olympic gold,the story of France 98 would have been told different. Imagine a situation where we were already looking forward to playing Brazil forgetting the game at hand all because of our exploits at the olympics. If u ask me,it's better we channel all our energy towards qualifiers n 2018 world cup itself. If we r to be represented by our best talents,the pressure would b 4 them to win the gold medal,thus sacrificing the aim and objective of 2018, The likes of I. Success,Nacho,Iwobi will be ready to take on the world by 2018. We have nothing to lose. Let's hope one or two players will be a revelation in this team to b included in our already allay stars coming thru to take the world of soccer by storm.

Bros u have written a lot here but proper indentation and spacing would really do readers good. Thanks.

adrainuche:
Sia sia I just want him to be disgraced like this

Sweden 2 -0 Nigeria
Colombia 4-0 Nigeria
Japan 1-0 Nigeria

Siasia 0 - 1 NFA (final score line)

Hey! This is Nigeria we are talking about here and nt Siasia.

Pls pls abeg stop this.

safarigirl:
thank you for this

I personally thought the line about Deke Alli and Ross Barkley being better than our homegrown talents was an insult.

How many goals did Dele or Barkley score for England at the Euros? How many assists did they get? Those two are just beneficiaries of the English press' hype room.

Na Awoniyi and K. Nwakali level dem be, no dey mention Kelechi and Odion if you want to do comparison, those two are far above them

My sister the thing tire person o.

adrainuche:
Nigeria 1 - 0 Charleston Battery ...

goal by amuzie... youtube video should be up in a bit ...

So what is the update now?
I trust the Golden Eaglets them for don win like 5 or 6 zero by now.
The Dream team sef

I am really particular abt Sadiq Umar's performance.

terzurum5:
[b][size=14pt]
Turkish club stop Musa Mohammed from Rio Olympics
[/size]
https://africanfootball.com/bp_images/2016/07/Samm_31_Mar_2.jpg
Musa Mohammed in action for Olympic team in Brazil

by Samm Audu

Samson Siasia has suffered yet another big blow in his build-up to next month’s Rio Olympics after Turkish club Istanbul Basaksehir announced they will not release defender Musa Mohammed for the tournament.


Musa this week joined the Turkish Super League club for pre-season training in Austria with the hope they will agree for him to later join up with Siasia’s squad in Atlanta, USA, prior to the summer games, but that has now been refused.


They face Serbian club Rijeka in a UEFA Europa League qualification on July 28.

“Musa is unlikely to be at the Olympics as his team don’t want to release him for the tournament,” a top source told AfricanFootball.com


The rightback, who was recently capped at full international level, is on the provisional 35-man squad after he featured for the team in a recent friendly against Rio Olympics hosts Brazil.

He was expected to shore up a suspect defence, which Siasia himself has admitted has given him sleepless nights.
http://africanfootball.com/news/633620/Turkish-club-stop-Musa-Mohammed-from-Rio-Olympics
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The IOC need to try and fix the Olympics during the end of Season(June/July). All these withdrawals have become too much. It will definitely reduce the glamour and excitement of d football event.

Every game would count to d players now.

This would even spur them more to beat Zambia in Lusaka come October.

forgiveness:
Bros, so you mean Naija blood is no longer running in their veins because they were born abroad?

How many home grown players do we have self that is half talented than Dele Alli, Ross Barkley, Sheyi Ojo and David Alaba?


Let us talk about English talented players self. We have not produced what they have produced until now. Hain!

We should be thinking about how to discover talents and not segregating or discriminating btw foreign breed and home breed. That is how we can think of reaching the British's level and not to talk of the Spanish national team.

Firstly, they are the ones that segregate themselves by saying things like "I feel English blood flowing through my veins", "i have a dream of playing for the three lions" bla-bla-bla. Ola Aina and Adarabioye jst recently pledged their allegiance to England and u expect us to keep hoping on such players? Or we should send Buhari and Saraki to go beg them?

U said no Nigerian player is half as talented as Dele Alli, Ross Barkley & the likes. Are u for real?

Well, Kelechi Iheanacho has the record of the highest ever goals ratio (goals/min) in the entire EPL history. Neither of Dele Alli, Ross Barkley nor Jodon Ibe comes close.

Did you see a player named Alexander Iwobi play for Arsenal last season? A player that sent Theo Walcott and Oxlade Chamberlain permanently to d bench. Dele Alli, Sheyi Ojo, Jodon Ibe and Ross Barkley are nt even Arsenal materials.

In terms of goals scoring did any of Alli,Ojo, Barkley or Ibe come near Odion Ighalo?

You also forget that Victor Moses is a Nigerian


Come 2016/2017 season u will see the likes of Isaac (the beast) Success, Ahmed Musa and Kelechi Nwakali join the Super list of the Super Nigerian talents in the EPL.

Then this David Alaba u are always mentioning are u saying we have never produced a better player than him. The guy is now an Austrian. Forget him and lets focus on the ones we still have the opportunity of switching their natiomality.

In as much as I am happy some of them have pledged allegiance to Nigeria I will nt wail if any of them snubs Nigeria. Simple.