₦airaland Forum

Haha!! But Morocco acquitted themselves very well in the game tho. They were the better team for a vast swathes of the game. I think they were just unlucky and their inexperience cost them as well. Conceding that fluke first goal didn’t help either.

The good news is, I think Messi and Argentina can defeat this French team. France got badly exposed by England and Morocco.


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TheSuperNerd:
France is 1-0 up.

Besides I know why you want France to lose.

UPSET ALERT:

I am picking Morocco �� to defeat France ��

At this World Cup, expect the unexpected.


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OK then, join me in the fasting and prayer for God to carry Messi through. Personally, I think football owes Messi a World Cup.


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Marjoribanks:
They have won.
I think the only team that can stop the Morrocans is France or Argentina.
I will be highly delighted if Messi wins!

My sentiments exactly! Pinnick and the NFF wasted our chances to do damage at this World Cup. And it isn’t Victor Osimhen either, but also players like Calvin Bassey, Terem Moffi, Alex Iwobi, Wilf Ndidi, Samuel Chukwueze, etc. plus the new guy who played RB against Portugal … I can’t recall his name.

We could’ve been the dark horses at this tourney. This World Cup was actually coming at the right moment for many of players.


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Blueelf:
Unpopular opinion and you guys know I don't normally talk like this but here goes:

Argentina has not faced a striker at this world cup like Victor Osimhen yet. I guarantee you guys that

It's sad that a bad country like Nigeria wants to waste his prime years

Bros, I have tweeted several times to Amaju Pinnick that he belongs in Nigeria football Hall of Shame. That man messed up our qualification.


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Blueelf:
Imagine osimhen against the Argentines

It would've been a field day for him..walahi

.strength and speed unmatched

Yup. I am giving away free money if Messi wins the World Cup. I have already announced the promo on Twitter.

And by the way, did you notice how Morocco suddenly stopped playing after the 50th minute? It’s like they want to defend for 40 minutes. These people don’t learn. I don’t think it’s going to end well. They are now getting badly exposed.


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Marjoribanks:
I do hope so too! Messi wants to win and he is determined to give his all!

Yup. Even Messi was complaining about the Netherlands playing high balls yesterday. That almost made me laugh. Hopefully, they can figure it out before Tuesday.


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Marjoribanks:
Quite disturbing! I feel height is an issue in their defense. The Croat strikers are damn tall.

Bros, the Atlas Lions are flying the African flag now. It was stolen from Ghana in 2010, let’s try and grab it this time.


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Mujtahida:
Abeg oooo. Morocco should not win. It will violate tradition. But ultimately it's up to them. I don't see them getting past Portugal

Honestly, Dembele is wickedly talented but with zero end product. As per Griezemann, another good player but I think moving to Barca had done a number on him. He’s not been the same player ever since, especially when it comes to scoring goals.

Trust me, England wins if they can cage Mbappe today.


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AndSunGorilla:
If they cage Mbappe, Griezmann and Dembele are still there.

Folks, I think it’s time we start talking about Morocco as a potential World Cup winners. But I agree that Portugal, especially if Fernando Santos would do the right thing again by starting Cristiano Ronaldo on the bench where he belongs, is the favorites today. But don’t count Morocco out … they are yet to lose a game.

As per the England - France game, I am still sticking with England over France. I am tired of all the media hype about Kylian Mbappe. All these hype would make him go back to PSG and start disrespecting his elders (Messi and Neymar) believing that he is really the best player in the world.

To me, Mbappe is good but not anywhere near the level of Leo Messi at his prime. For one, Mbappe is not a good dribbler of the ball. His game is built on speed. To defend Mbappe, put a good man to man marker on him (a destroyer) to defend him closely and not give him chance to run. Defend him close to the middle of the field and and if he outwits you, foul him right there. But the Polish defenders were so naive to leave him wide open inside the box to score on both occasions. Let’s hope that Garet Southgate will have a better game plan.


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TheSuperNerd:
I see you Elf of Darkness. I see you big.

Today's games.

My Last remaining favorite team at the WC, The Atlas Lions vs Portugal today. All I say is, my boys shall hopefully give them a game.
Portugal remain favourites no doubt.

But it is the big one, England vs France that I am sure everyone got their eyes on. EPL vs Ligue 1. Southgate vs Deschamps. Walker/Trippier vs Mbappe. Maguire vs Giroud. Rice vs Griezmann. Bellingham vs Tchouaméni. Henderson/Mount vs Rabiot. Pickford vs Lloris. Shaw vs Dembele. Saka vs Theo Hernandez. Foden vs Kounde. Kane vs Varane.

Let the battle resume.

My broda, you gotta see me last evening. Let me just put it this way:
It was the best of times - first 80th minutes or so.
And it was the worst of times until the end of the extra time.

All in all, I was quite that I would see Messi play two more games in the World Cup. But the Argies really need to learn how to protect leads if they want to win this tournament. With all the experience in that team, I find it inconceivable that they could throw away a 2 goal lead in about 15 minutes. And don’t forget that the same thing almost happened in the Aussie game as well.


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Marjoribanks:
The Netherlands has not played any good team. This will be their first competitive game and they will falter badly. Their defense is abysmal, midfield porous, and attack average!
The Argentinas are strong now. The Saudi game was a wake-up call.
It will be a very one-sided game.
The two nil is cos I dey respect their history self. Na 4 nil I wan put before.

The Oracle has spoken! Cc: Icon79

Hmmm. Argentina over the Netherlands, huh? Well, as the biggest Messi fan alive, I definitely hope and pray that you’re correct. However, I am afraid that the Argies might just come up short against Netherlands. This Argentine team is not the same without Giovanni Lo Celso. He’s the spine that holds that team together.


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Marjoribanks:
Icon79, I don drop am! I will drop the other two tomorrow.

Oya, oracle, let hear you on these games:

Brazil vs Croatia
Argentina vs the Netherlands
France vs England
Portugal vs Morocco


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Marjoribanks:
Japan vs Croatia.

1-1 draw. Penalty will decide the winner.

Brazil vs Korea

The Brazilian team will scrap through against Korea (3-1).

People are still overlooking this Japanese team but I expect them to perform wonders today. My prediction:

Japan 2 Croatia 1


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Marjoribanks:
Japan vs Croatia.

1-1 draw. Penalty will decide the winner.

Brazil vs Korea

The Brazilian team will scrap through against Korea (3-1).

I pick England to defeat France. I don’t like England either but I am tired of the whole Mbappe hoopla. Now the media into his head that he’s the best player in the world and he’ll go back to PSG to disrespect his elders like Messi and Neymar.

We can’t let that happen. Please join my crew: anyone but France.


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ChrisKels:
I want these charlatans out, and I'm banking on France to help do the needful

Don’t get me wrong, Cameroon has been piss poor today. Not surprising because I have always considered them the weakest African team in this World Cup.

However , that free kick that led to Serbia’s first goal, did anyone see the foul because I didn’t. All I am saying is that the officiating today leaves much to be desired.


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Sorry, I meant to say *Except for Ekiti and Bayelsa states ….

But one can even argue that Ndi Igbo are probably the largest ethnic group in Bayelsa state as well.

Anyway, let me say it again Igbo Amaka, mhen!


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ariesbull:
River is 80% igbo and (n)Wike is the governor

Except for Ekiti and Rivers state, all the states on the top 10 list are Igbo states. Yes, you can count Lagos, Bayelsa, Delta, and Cross River as Igbo states.

#IgboAmaka


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FactBoyz:
The South East has the least number of out of school children age 6-15yrs in Nigeria.

Out of school: Rate
Anambra: 2.9%
Imo: 5.1%
Abia: 5.6%
Enugu: 7.5%
Ebonyi: 16.7%

Out of school: Number
Anambra: 30K
Imo: 50K
Abia: 50K
Enugu: 70K
Ebonyi: 190K

#StatiSense
(NMPI 2022)

Haha!! That tells you everything about our people - the Africans

And by way, Japan really failed my hands today. I was hoping that Japan can take care of Costa Rica and Spain gets a result against Germany, so that Germany can be eliminated in the first round again. Unfortunately for Japan, now I think Costa Rica and Japan will be the two countries going home.


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mytime24:
Japan beat Germany
Supporters clean stadium,

Morocco win na to scatter every where

Yup. Watching the game right now. Canada has definitely impressed me so far. They were supposed to get results from the Belgium game, if not for the bad officiating along with the penalty miss.


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Ogochuks101:
Canada have a good team. They topped their continental qualifying table ahead of USA and Mexico. They are currently beating Croatia 1-0.

What a horror story! Your own biological father and blood brother. What’s wrong with people? I don’t even get aroused by my cousins even though they are some of the most beautiful women in the world. Anybody who gets sexual attraction to his own daughter or sister need a serious deliverance and psychiatric treatment.

How does this poor girl gets healed from this nightmare? And by the way, why always them? Why?? This sorts of things seem to happen mostly in certain parts of the country. Name checkers association, over to y’all … please help me out here


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dre11:
https://pmexpressng.com/man-62-docked-for-impregnating-daughter-with-his-son/

Much respect for Morocco today, no question. They really came out to play today. But let’s not forget that this is an aging Belgium team that even got outplayed by team Canada, despite the score line.

Bottom line, let’s not go overboard yet. This isn’t the 2018 Belgium team. But all in all, a good result for Morocco. And it’s very well deserved too, because Morocco was the better team throughout the game. Let’s hope this result inspires the other African teams. Good things happen when you don’t play with fear. Let’s hope that we’ll see, at a minimum, too African teams making it to the knockout stages.

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TheSuperNerd:
Waiting for Icon79 and every other person who wrote off My Morocco to come and apologise!!!!

I have told you before and now you are seeing parts of the reason I Stan Moroccan football.

The Atlas Lions is the tactically sound and balanced team I want My Super Eagles to become. Fearless, disciplined and creative in transitions. Thing is we have a deeper pool to pick from but we are selecting rubbish.

My Moroccan boys have proven me right.

Up the Atlas Lions!!! AFRICA'S TRUE PRIDE IN QATAR

Yes, I did. But I also watched them meekly lost to Portugal and especially losing to Iran of all countries!

They were a disappointment.


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TheSuperNerd:
Did you watch Morocco vs Spain at Russia 2018?

My dear, I still haven’t recovered from us missing this World Cup. In fact, it’s now that it actually hits me, tbh

But the good news is, going forward, hopefully we ain’t gonna miss another World Cup ever. But never underestimate our ability to self destruct sha.

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TheSuperNerd:
Loooolll... Relax. We have 9 slots (+ 1 via playoffs) for the next WC. Expect to see more "Tunisias"

Haha!! It’s called soccer

Check your dictionary… it’s “Soccer Mom” not “Football Mom”


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TheSuperNerd:
It is England I blame for this. If only they had won yesterday, no one would be calling the beautiful game, Soccer anymore.

Kaaaiiii... Soccer drew with Football. Tyler Adams owned a midfield vs Bellingham and Rice. Chaaaiiii. Soccer rules!

I wasn’t surprised one bit. I wrote them off after watching how the highly rated Morocco collapsed without putting up any resistance against weaker oppositions in Russia 2018.

I wished that we had played Tunisia instead of Ghana in that final qualifier.


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komekn:
There is a mentality of defeat before the battle, they start of so cautiously and without any sense of belief. For goodness sake it's Australia and Tunisia were hugely DISAPPOINTING.

It's a problem we start without a conviction of belief and winning mentality that's we all mist often come alive in the sevknyhslf and start so SLOW.

However, l have great hope for the Lions of Senegal they are the wounded Lion they have no choice but to roar, attack and devour or DIE.

Huh?? Are you putting Croatia in the same category with Australia? Are you for real

Listen, bros, if you will compare losing to Croatia with losing to Australia then soccer isn’t for you


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gustav25:
Same way you beat South Korea in 10 or you Beat Croatia in 18 ?


Giants of Africa that always gets bullied like a kid in the Worldcup and cant accept they reality they aint good enough for the Big stages

Bros, I have watched those sissies in the World Cup for several years now. The only thing they go there to do is to disgrace African. They will perform wonders when it comes to the African qualifiers but, once on the big stage, they will underperform.

They are just wasting our slots, IMHO.


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Ogochuks101:
So what icon79 said about North African teams is true. If you can't beat Australia then why are you even going to the world cup. I can vouch that Ivory coast, Senegal, Nigeria and Ghana can beat this Australian team.

Bia Nerdy, can you hear me now? How can Australia…. Australia of all countries, defeat an African representative in soccer! I mean, it would make sense if we’re talking about cricket or rugby or Aussie football but in soccer!!!

To me, Australia alongside Qatar and Costa Rica are the weakest teams in this World Cup. Either Senegal or Ghana, even Cameroon sef, would’ve eaten Australia for lunch!

What a disgrace! And the Tunisians kept bitching about time wasting but, truth is, even if they were given 100 hours they’ll still not be able to score!

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TheSuperNerd:
FT: Portugal 3-2 Ghana


3 things I was right about today:

- Didn't trust Cameroun to score Africa's first goal at Qatar 2022 despite them playing first. My mistrust wasn't misplaced.

- I felt Ghana would be Africa's first Goal getter at this edition of the mundial and I was right.

- I also knew Ghana would lose. And they have lost.

Respect!!!

Bingo! You just made my point, right there. I disagree with you that any of the teams you listed adopted defensive tactics in the games in question. The Japan team I watched went toe to toe with Germany from the beginning. Same with the Saudi’s against Argentina.

Good things happen when you play without fear. The number one reason why I recommended that we sack Gernot Rohr was his game plan against Croatia. Unfortunately the clueless NFF delayed his sacking 3 years too late.

And you can add the following games to the list, as well:

USA vs England
Japan vs Germany

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fabyom:
What about France vs Senegal (2002), Saudi vs Argentina (2022), Germany vs Japan (2022), Nigeria vs Centra African Republic and many more teams that defended and nick the win. Football doesn't have a particular format. What works for you might not work for others.

True, but it’s better to be brave and lose than to play not to lose. Trust me, you’ll always lose anytime you go into a game trying to play not to lose. And I can give you a few examples:
Nigeria v Argentina 2010 World Cup
Nigeria v Croatia 2018 World Cup
And you can add Ghana v Portugal and Cameroon v Switzerland to the list.

It’s always better to go out and play your game. I am not saying don’t be organized and play with tactical discipline but you shouldn’t play with fear because that always leads to mistakes. You’re more likely to get away with that tactics in club football than in the national team.

Just look at how Ecuador is pushing the Netherlands in this game. That’s how you play the game.


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Amedino99:
their bravery achieved two things. Made them attack more and also made them more open to attacks. Ghana do not recover fast after attacking which means there would be spaces left for bernado and co to run to. It's not a coincidence Portugal scored two goals came when Ghana went on the attack. If they played in that fashion from the start they would still have lost because while they will definitely create chances they are not that clinical compared to their opponents. It would have been a bigger goalfest

Still early days, broda. Early days. We’re still in the first trimester. Let’s wait until the end of the third trimester to see where we stand.

Having said that, I was quite disappointed with Ghana and to some extent with Senegal as well. Granted that they got burned by the ref (or shall we say by VAR) for the penalty on Cristiano but, all in all, Ghana was the architect of their own demise.

That Portugal team was very beatable but Ghana came out playing with fear and timidity. They didn’t really come out to play until they conceded a goal. I think the Portugal friendly game against Nigeria really did a number on Ghana, because I have never seen a Ghanaian team playing with such timidity and naïveté. The amount of mistakes from Ghanaian players were totally unacceptable at this level. Anyway, let’s hope that they haven’t missed their chance to advance because I don’t see them beating either Uruguay and South Korea if they played this poorly again.

And you can say the same thing about Senegal, to a lesser extent. Yes, the Netherlands is a top top team but Senegal has no business losing that game if not for their careless mistakes. The good news is, I still expect Senegal to qualify but I can’t say the same for Ghana. As for Cameroon, the less said the better.


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TheSuperNerd:
African teams are yet to score at the ongoing WC. Hopefully that will change soon. I suspect Ghana may break the trend even though they will lose to Portugal.

Cameroun plays first tomorrow but I'm not so confident in them doing so but then, they also could if things click in the final third for them.


Meanwhile, The North African teams have played with bonafide purpose and true tactical understanding. Kudos to Tunisia and especially my 2nd Favourite African side, The Atlas Lions of Morocco. Well done lads although 20 y/o Elzzalzouli showed his inexperienced in attacking transitions. Talented but decision making still needs lots of work.


Icon79, it seems it is the North African teams who you tagged sissies that are playing the better football and getting decent results among African sides so far.



Up next Tomorrow: Cameroun vs Switzerland AND Ghana vs Portugal.


#Qatar2022DiariesMD