₦airaland Forum

jotey:
The 22-year-old centre-back, who is known simply as Derik, has played at all
youth levels for Spain including two appearances for the Under-21 team.
But Derik, a regular for European giants Real Madrid's B side, is eligible to play
for the Super Eagles because his father is Nigerian.
And under Fifa rules he is free to switch because he has not yet played for a
country's senior national team.
Despite possessing the talent to potentially make the step up to Spain's senior
side, Derik has issued what appears to be effectively a come-and-get-me plea
to the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF).
"I have lived in Spain all my life and I am not sure the people in Nigeria are
aware that I have Nigerian blood," Derik told BBC Sport.
The immediate plan now is to go out on loan elsewhere,
because at this age I need stability and regular football
Derik
"But I crave for something special with Nigeria because it will give me a chance
to properly connect with the ancestral home of my father.
"My father is from Benin City [southern Nigeria] and even though I have never
been there I always follow events in Nigeria.
"I celebrated when the country won the Africa Cup of Nations in 2013 and I was
cheering the team at the last World Cup in Brazil."
Derik joined Real Madrid's academy in 2002 at the age of nine and has steadily
made the transition from the club's C team to the Castilla side [B side], where
he has become an integral member of La Fabrica.
An extremely athletic centre-back with great vision, Derik's talent has not gone
unnoticed.
Former Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti included him in his 20-man squad
for the 2014 summer International Champions Cup in the United States.
But while Derik bides his time to make the grade at club level, he has already
decided his international future belongs with the country of his father and not
the country of his birth.
"Playing for Spain was the foundation to where I am today and I can never take
that for granted," he said.
"You can't throw away your education or outgrow it, Spain gave me what I
have now and my hard work got me to where I am.
"But somehow I feel one half of my life has always been left untouched and I
need to fix that."
Derik has rejected suggestions he could be using Nigeria as a bargaining chip in
his push for a call-up from the Spanish U-23 or senior selectors.
He insists: "Even if it's difficult for some people to understand, I have made my
decision [to represent Nigeria] and am going to stick to it.
"My father has not influenced my decision in any way. I respect him and adore
his outlook on life but it's my personal desire to play for Nigeria.
"When you look around Europe there are several Nigerian players playing at the
top level and the future looks bright for the team.
"With that in mind I want to be a part of that group. I do not need favours from
anyone, I only need an opportunity.
"I eat Nigeria's wheat meal, listen to Nigerian music and play as Taribo West
[former Nigeria central defender] on video games online.
"If I get a chance with Nigeria, I believe my versatility as a player will make me
stand out."
Despite his ambition of flying with the Super Eagles someday he is only too
aware of the challenges ahead in the coming years.
Derik made his Real Madrid B team debut against Millonarios in 2012, the same
year he won the European Under-19 Championship with Spain.
But in June 2014 Real Madrid B suffered an embarrassing relegation into the
third tier of Spanish football and Derik knows plummeting down that road could
dash his hopes.
He is aware that level is a far cry from the incredible heights being enjoyed by
the likes of Sergio Ramos and Pepe - his more illustrious rivals - in the first
team.
"I would like to play in the Real Madrid first team someday, knowing if I did that
maybe the chance would be there to play for Nigeria," he explained.
"But if I am not playing at the top level week in, week out, I wouldn't expect to
receive a call from anyone because that would be daydreaming.
"The immediate plan now is to go out on loan elsewhere, because at this age I
need stability and regular football to fulfil my dream.
"Training alongside big players like Cristiano Ronaldo, Gareth Bale, Modric,
Sergio Ramos and Pepe gives you a taste of what you can be as a footballer.
"The hard truth is that there is no available shortcut to reaching that level and
staying there. I need to work extremely hard wherever I go and play first team
football regularly. "

Since he is 22yrs old, Siasia can atleast invite him

If he is u23 he can be tested in Siasia's squad.

Icon4s:
Mali.

Well, Mali are out now. Brazil all the way

Mali.

lardy96:
Flying Eagles coach explains Iheanacho bench role at U20 W/Cup
- Following the criticism that trailed his
team selections after Nigeria’s ouster from the
FIFA U20 World Cup, Nigeria U20 coach Manu
Garba has said he only selected the players he
thought would give him the required results.
Speaking exclusively to News24, the 49-year
old explained why he shunned Kelechi
Iheanacho and Isaac Success after they first
game, saying he selected his team based on
what he saw in trainings.
“I selected the players based on what they did
in training,” he said, “I selected all the players
on merit.
“When Success (Isaac) and Kelechi (Iheanacho)
joined the team, the form they showed and
the kind of goals they scored meant they
couldn’t be ignored for that first game against
Brazil.
“But Kelechi (Iheanacho) wasn’t doing enough
defensively and maybe it had to do with the
injury he suffered before he joined us.
“We decided to adopt the pattern we used at
the Africa Youth Championship in our second
game against North Korea because we needed
to attack and defend as a team, which we
didn’t do against Brazil.”
Asked why he never recalled Iheanacho to
starting eleven and why he made certain
changes to the team, Manu said it was his
team and he knew the players better, but
blamed the weather for the loss to Germany.
“Everybody in Nigeria is a coach but it was my
team and I knew the players better. We had
to make sure we qualified from the group and
we used the players we thought would give us
that.
“But in that game against Germany, the
weather was 3 degrees and the players
couldn’t cope,” he said.

The first 2 bolded reasons are valid.

But the last bolded i.e weather? Was is not here on nairaland that we trashed the issue of Camping in Germany( which are experiencing summer) and going to play In New Zealand where they currently experience winter. BTW how come the same weather did not affect Mali?

In other news: Brazil mauled Senegal 5-0 this morning.

The Gold winning 1996 Olympic team had a lot of Super Eagles players. Players like, Amokachi,Okocha, Oliseh & Ikpeba were already full Super Eagles players when they featured for d Olympic team.They nt even among d invited over aged players.Imaging those 4 players plus 3 over aged players making 7 Super Eagles in d starting line up.With Garba Lawal, Taribo, Oruma, Ojigwe,Kanu, Oparaku and Babayaro in dat same squad! What a squad!!

I expect Siasia to invite a couple of Super Eagles players to d team to face Congo.
This is U23 & trust me it is a lot more competitive than d U20.It is a level for mostly 21-23 yrs olds. We hope what happened at d U20 WC does nt repeat itself. Most of those Manu's boys are nt even 20 yet.

Trust me, the Congolese are coming with a very matured squad and we need equally matured players to face them.Manu's boys mayb invited bt jst a handful.

We might say its nt all abt winning bt discovering talents, how come most of us a still pained abt d Flying Eagles' exit.

To face Congo we need a matured squad. Real U23 players.

Well, well, my own is jst that the best available players should b selected for d crucial game against Congo.
Thank God the game is in July (both legs) Our foreign based players will still b available then.

For the Congo game I would like to see Siasia invite players like Aaron Samuel, Kenneth Omeruo and Ekong hu partnered Omeruo at centre back against Chad. Would also like to c Imoh Ezekiel and Kenedy Otigba. We need experienced, established players hu are elligible. Players like Isaac Success,Taiwo Awoniyi, Kingsley Sokari, Simon Moses,Benard Bulbwa, Musa Mohammed and Wilfred Ndidi I think are set to compete at d U23 level.

The best from d crop of home based players should also b integrated.

Ini Edo (before she got married) & Aisha Sesay of CNN cos they both look like my wife. My wife knows abt this .

My wifey:

Bt where are d speakers na?

samueld0:
We are not true fans here on Nairaland so becouse our boys lost you all deserted this Thread. Imagin no new post or quote for almost 24hrs now

Dont mind those guys that were shouting "we are favourites" up and down. They were calling those of us that dnt see the Flying Eagles as favourites "plastic fans".
I mentioned that I pray d Super Falcons should even get 1pt from dat Grp of death and some term me unpatriotic.

Now we know hu d real plastic fans are. They only follow the national teams when we are getting d results.

P0intBlank:
Serbia vs Mali would be a cracker. A rematch of their group match which Serbia won 2-0.

Bt seams d Malians have been improving as d tourney progresses. They(David) even beat the mighty Germany (Goliath)-the slayers of Nigeria.

If they can beat Germany hu is Serbia?
Any way football is no mathematics, it can go either ways.

P0intBlank:
Semifinal fixtures

Serbia vs Mali

&
Senegal vs Brazil

My prediction:

MALI VS BRAZIL -Final

wordychap:
Don't bet on our national team

U think this is like Flying Eagles vs Germany game?

Nigeria is expected to cruiz pass the Chadians.

Ihebrookes u are too much. I jst sent u a mail.

Toyota jst copied Acura MDX in designing this SUV.

Good ride all the same.

Chad has little or no pedigree in football.There is no more likes of Japhet Ndoram in their team. If we are nt complaisant after scoring d first goal, we should win by 4-6 goals margin.

Nigeria is in a much easier grp than d last time.

Comparisons:
Egypt= South Africa
Tanzania< Congo
Chad < Sudan.

Looking at a worst case scenerio:
We are expected to get 6pts from Chad, atleast 4pts from Tanzania and at worst get 1 pt from Egypt. That makes 11pts. Even if we finish second we can still qualify as 1 of d 2 best 2nd placed teams.

We must b in Gabón 2017.

Well, gaining 1pt in this grp shows sign of progress. Playing against 3 of d top 10 female teams and drawing 1 & losing 2 is nt much of a bad result. Yes, losing 2 bc we lost to the USA right from when our grp opponents were announced.

Atleast dat draw against Sweden will boost our FIFA ranking.

ArchEnemy:
your faith strong o

Realistically we may b out bt Mathematically we are nt out.

femolala001:
Are we out of the competition? if no, what are the chances we have?

We are nt out. We need to win against the USA to stand a chance of qualifying.

zinzane:
IF this is their first time in this tournament then YES. The Asisat that played almost till the end equalised.
Go and Sleep Baba.


My little advise : Kill Pride before it Kills You.

U dnt follow d women game. So u dnt know any thing abt this team.

Duru1:
Most Nigerians can easily be likened to the fool at forty comment. I knew Nigeria will not make it out of the group stage.

And y were u nt bold enough to say so before this game?

joachinx:
Ohale. Is a CB, wonder why she started her on the RB.. meanwyl, don't knw why she had to substitute Oparanozie.. if at all she wanted to bring in Nkwocha, she shld av substituted someone else.. Oparanozie's energy is vry important.. we don't av coaches at all.. d problem 2day wz our defence.. keep conceding easy goals... well they can still beat USA. quote author=Pinkylilly post=34714025] actually he needs to remove ohale If not we'll concede more goals

U see, diff schools of thought. Some nairalanders here clamoured for Nkwocha to replace Oparanozie. Did dat sub change anything. Instead we even conceded

zinzane:
Even if she's been playing for ages with the Super Falcons as far as this tournament is concerned and at this level, it is safe to say she is a greenhorn. You that follow women football, you should know that you don't write any player off cos they might just be the joker that turns the game around.

Then u can as well say save for Nkwocha,Dede, Ebi and Nwanbuko the other players are green horns.

D Courtney Dike dat was brought in has equalized for Nigeria abi.

sultan003:
Imagine Australia beating Nigeria, this world don end

FIFA RANKING:
Australia:10th
Nigeria:33rd
So according to FIFA them suppose beat us well well.

RandomVic:
The exact same reason why Courtney should be brought into the game. The big girls you listed above have all failed us in flying colours. There's no better time to put a more vibrant and fresher legs out there. I've seen Courtney played, she's quite a handful for defenders.

Not with this kind of opposition. We have d toughest grp.

VickyRotex:
How can I? Sleep ain't coming. My girls!!!

Eyaa. Sorry dear. U girls are simply nt good enough.

zinzane:
Your assumption is baseless. Oh and lest I forget if Courtney is a greenhorn, Asisat is one too.

Asisat had been playing with the Super Falcons even before the last U20 WC. It simply shows u dnt follow women football very well.Courtney has zero cap as we speak. That is nt a kind of player u bring in when u are chasing a game of this magnitude.