₦airaland Forum

Nice goal SA.

That said, I don't fully agree with Saga's list. I agree with Top 3. I agree with 90% of the list, but not ranking. He underrated Kanu and JJ. Kanu should be in Top 10, and JJ not more than 13. It is not for nothing to be unanimously agreed as most skilful African player ever. All lists of Top 10 African footballers ever I have come across, even from Naija-rival media like RSA, have either Kanu or JJ in Top 10.

solomon111: 1)How can anybody compare the overhyped essien to j.j okocha or even sunday oliseh?
2)how can anybody compare patrick mboma(good but not spectacular) to rashidi yekini.
Blasphemy all over this thread.

Bring on your facts on JJ being better than Essien and let's see them - even though all the points have been punctured earlier in this thread.

For 2, I agree Yekinni was better than Mboma, but don't underrate Mboma. Just slight difference.

Maroc berra insure this goal now. 2nd half can be funny.

Chimerase: if angola like mak dem win 10-0 and south africa lose dey go stil comot

Yes, by head to head rule. That's why I want CV to win. Unfortunately, CV doesn't look like a team that can win, esp coming from behind.

fredoooooo: bros at d moment , they are second

If Maroc beat SA.
And CV also win, SA are out.

You can ask Barcelona about Essien's critical period, match-winning performance.

Somebody should help me calculate how SA will not qualify. I don't want them to

kramer: Sorry I miss your point?

BTW do you know that ronaldinho was in the same team as okocha as well? I wouldn't have expected him to win best player at the time

I thought some Nigerians say Okocha thought Ronni football in PSG?

It may also interest you to know that Ronnie was never best player in Ligue 1. He was budding in PSG and exploded in Barca.

J12: Goals shouldn't be only yardstick by the way, how many goals has Drogba scored for his country?

Drogba is CIV's all-time highest goal scorer with whopping 59 goals!

BrutusOj: one time abi two time african footballer of d year?na wa for u oo..dn why is Essien dere?he won nations cup abi world cup?Essien wasnt even fit wen chelsea won champions league,Diouf was a force in senegal,n his clubs in europe,so what are u talkin abt

Stop talking like someone that started watching football in 2012. Nobody is talking about Chelsea's UCL title in rating Essien, it was his performance 2002-2008.

BrutusOj: one time abi two time african footballer of d year?na wa for u oo..dn why is Essien dere?he won nations cup abi world cup?Essien wasnt even fit wen chelsea won champions league,Diouf was a force in senegal,n his clubs in europe,so what are u talkin abt

Diouf was great at Lens and for Senegal, but was a disaster in Liverpool.

I think Yekini was more prolific than Mboma.

For country, Yekinni 37 goals in 57 matches, Mboma 33 goals in 58 matches. For club, he also trounced Mboma. Mboma was never highest goal scorer in any league. Both inspired their countries to ANC titles. Yekinni was ahead. It's pretty straightforward.

Hmmnnnn, Ibime, another NL authority on African football is in. Welcome to the show

Some useful facts:

Egyptians hardly fancied playing outside their country, that's why most of their players hardly played outside Egypt , yet trouncing euro based stars in ANC


It should also be remembered here that Yekinni was highest goal scorer in Portugese league 93, 94. His strike rate of 98 goals in 108 matches in Portugal is hardly equalled.

kramer: My friend don't be gullible, I checked Essiens record and i dont see any award for being the world's best ... Please post your source

Moreover, though Essien is a very good player I believe the reason why he was so hyped was because he played at his best in a prominent league!

Okocha spent his best years in PSG and most especially Fenebarche. At the time he arrived at the premier league he was just past his best but still managed to win the bbc african footballer of the year twice!! something Essien hasnt been able to do.

Also please tell me, if your team was 1-0 down and you needed someone to make an impact on the game, sincerely speaking who would you bring on? Essien or Okocha?

My two cents.

Essien played in same French league and was voted best player 2004. Okocha played in same league with PSG.

People underrating Essien also didnt know that he succeeded Drogba as French ligue1 player of the season for 2004

chucky234: Sagamite must be drinking some cheap Korean alomo bitters to have put together a list as ridiculous as this,Kanu won UEFA Champions league aged 19yrs and was an important player at the then world's best football,Ajax Amsterdam and no African footballer dead or alive has ever achieve that fit.
Drogba was average with Marseille and only made his mark with chelsea,Kanu won CL,world club cup,3 dutch titles and 2 dutch cup with Ajax,UEFA cup with inter milan,2 EPL titles,3 FA cups,2 Carlin cup with Arsenal and 1 FA cups with Porthsmouth.

With Nigeria he won the U17 world at 16 and was the tournament 3rd most outstanding player,2 AFCON silver and 3 bronze,2 times African player of the year,Olympic gold medal,played in 3 world cup.

To me Kanu should be up there behind Eto'o in 2nd place.

Missed the point here.

Drogba wasn't average at Marseille, was best player in UEFA cup in 2003, scored in every match except final which OM lost, almost like Falcao that season. He was also highest goal scorer in French ligue that season, and won French ligue 1 footballer of the year. You won't call that average player.

It is also a joke for you to say Kanu is also behind only Eto'o. Abedi also won CL with Marseille and was more key than Kanu for Ajax

Afam4eva: As far as i'm concerned this is not a unique achievement. Some other African players have achieved this feat or even better but did not make the list or are somewhere down on the list.

Name 2 African players that made WPOY list for 3 consecutive years other than Eto'o, Weah and Essien and is not in the list.

CAMEROONPRIDE: I still can't believe you guys let PATRICK MBOMA out

One season/Nation's cup wonder.

Chanchit: But Abou Trika still deserves to be among the top 10 from any angle you look it from, club or country,

Even Egyptians hardly rate Abu Treika among their Top 10, when they have Hassan Hosam, Ahmed Hassan, and other players of their golden generation.

Afam4eva: Apart from winning the UCL with chelsea even as a fringe player, what's Essien's individual achievements as a footballer?

He was the most important player in Lyon's CL run in 2003/2004, getting to S/finals I think. He single-handedly carried Chelsea for 2 seasons, 2005-2007.

And he made the 20-30 man shortlist of WPOY for 5 consecutive years. Could have won African POY if not because of striker role of Eto'o and Drogba.

dayokanu: Sagamite No one from the Senegalese team who made the World cup quarter finals? or the Ghanaian team of 2010 Thats the highest thing an African team has achieved at the world cup

A group of average players can pull fantastic team results, mind you. Case in point is Zambia winning AFCON 2012. So that's not an automatic criteria.

However, I think Diouf deserves a spot. Ghana 2010? Well, don't know anybody Gyan can replace on the list, Dede Ayew is still young and may make the list when redrawn in the next 5 years. Muntari great, but not sure of Top 30. Essien is on list already.

CAMNEWTON4PRES: Marc Vivien Foe(Cameroon) midfielder
Omam Biyik(Cameroon) striker
Alioum Boukar(Cameroon) goalkeeper . Only undefeated goalkeeper in Afcon history.

Foe was a regular player, not extra-ordinary. His death on pitch only popularized him.

Prof Corruption: I have problem with the ranking. Kanu should be among the top three.

Did you 'watch' your own football from 'redio'?

Top 3 ke.

Eto'o, Weah, Drogba, Abedi Pele, Roger Milla and even Essien conveniently rank above Kanu by any standard.

All rankings I have come across have Okocha and Kanu in top 15, whether from top sports journalists, or football portals or even official CAF ranking

When CAF celebrated 50 few years ago, its official ranking had Kanu as 8, Okocha as 12 and Rashidi at 17

This is more agreeable to me, but I recognize different folks, different perspectives.

semid4lyfe: No space for Frederick Kanoute, Mustapha Hadji, Joel Tiehi, Odartey Lamptey, Lucas Radebe, Edward Ansah?

And you have Joseph Antoine Belle and Thomas N'kono in the Top 10 whilst players like *Rabha Madjer*, Rashidi Yekini, Kanu Nwankwo, Tony Yeboah etc are ranked between 20 - 30?

Ridiculous!

If I were an editor of a sports paper and I ask you to come up with a ranking of African Greatest Footballers and you give me this, I'll toss it into the bin straight.

And fire him. Bad boy

Interview with 'illiterate, cattle-rearing, Sudan-schooled, aboki, quota system produced' CBN boss

http://cdn.videos.bloomberg.com/BndDNxODrTxa6iiBHe5Gd6PzL77yGmRW/DOcJ-FxaFrRg4gtDIwOjc5OjBhO9qBTo

Havilah93: there wont be any need for that

any win would do for us

If burkina draws, they have 5 pts, Zambia have 3

If we beat ethiopia, we also have 5 pts

unless you mean for us to top the group

You are talking about just qualifying, DK is talking about topping the group to avoid CIV.

Any win wont make us top the group, if Bf draw.

thegoodjoehunt: You don't understand me. Moses was helping out defensively. At the time we were leading, we needed someone †☺ help defensively And not a striker. That was poor tactics from the coach.

An unfit Moses would be better of than a striker that wȋ̊ℓℓ contribute nothing defensively. He should have brought in a defensive player.

You still don't get it. So you want injury for him?

Posting this from football field. Play football Saturday and Sunday mornings, and weekdays if I don't go to work.