₦airaland Forum

Sad! I guess he has retired and the match might just be a novelty match.

It's quite unfortunate for Nigeria to find itself in this precarious situation; they have succeeded in turning the soccer-loving populace into emergency mathematicians. Everyone is now calculating the probability or the chances of the Super Eagles of Nigeria making it to the World Cup. This is incompetence at the highest level on the part of the players, coaches, and the NFF, Nigeria's football governing body. I wish Nigeria the very best in her quest for World Cup qualification.

The Super Eagles players should hide their faces in shame; it is absolutely ridiculous for Nigeria to be in this situation in such a weak group, arguably the weakest group in the qualifiers. We can't even beat Lesotho in Uyo; both players and officials are a bunch of disgrace. We should simply forget about the FIFA World Cup because we don't deserve to be there, simply not with these overrated, mediocre players that play like pregnant women for Nigeria and suddenly become exceptional when playing for their various club sides.

Paul Onuachu seems to be at home with Trabzonspor. He had a fantastic loan spell at Trabzonspor the last time, and I felt he should have remained and made the move permanent, but the parent club, Southampton, had other ideas. I'm glad he is there permanently now and banging in the goals. Environmental factors either help bring out the best in a player or destroy the mental state of the player.

Pep Guardiola was definitely afraid of Arsenal; it shows the level of respect most teams now have for Arsenal. It was unthinkable a couple of years ago for Manchester City to be defensive against Arsenal, but the tables have turned, and Arsenal are much stronger, and I just feel that with a little psychological push, Arsenal can win the English Premier League this season.

Gift Orban undoubtedly has huge talent and potential, but the player needs to be more consistent, since his explosive season in the Belgian league a couple of years ago, he has been unable to fully settle at a club and establish himself, at Hellas Verona, I wish he can settle well and play his game week in week out, I think we might well be able to see his best form again, then he will have a chance to play for the Super Eagles of Nigeria.

Arsenal should be able to end the long wait for a major trophy this season. The squad has depth and is arguably the best squad in the Premier League this season. Arteta's boy must learn to shoot from outside the box. Most times, they want to pass the ball into the opponent's net, but it's not that easy because no team will give you that privilege. Also, there's a need for Gyokeres to be more involved in the team's build-up play. Most of the time, he's isolated upfront waiting for the killer pass, and if that pass doesn't come, like in the Manchester City game, he becomes a passenger in the game.

Alex Iwobi has been one of the most consistent performers for Fulham in the English Premier League dating back to last season. He puts in exceptional performances week in week out; unfortunately, he is not able to replicate the same level of performance when in the Super Eagles jersey. It has always been the same story for almost all the national team players; they do well at their clubs but turn to mediocrity when playing for Nigeria.

Kelechi Iheanacho seems to have depreciated so much in the last two seasons, I watched him play for Middlesbrough in the English Championship a couple of times last season and I was extremely disappointed by what I saw. Signing Iheanacho at this point is a huge gamble by Celtic and Brendan Rogers, I just pray he is able to redicosver his form quickly and repay this massive faith the club and coach has placed on him. Fingers crossed, let's see how he fairs at Celtic this season.

Onana at Manchester United was a calamity, a misfortune that shouldn't have been allowed to happen. He was so bad that his teammates had lost confidence in him, you can't allow such a person to remain in the club, it will kill the moral and motivation of the other players. I can't seem to figure out why Erik Ten Hag humiliated David de Gea, just to sign calamitous Andre Onana, I wish him all the very best in his new club and I hope he rediscovers his best form for Trabzonspor in the Turkish Super Lig.

The sacking of Nuno Espirito Santo is definitely not because of his performance, we all know Nottingham Forest to be relegation candidates before Nuno took over and transformed the team to European football contenders. The disagreement between Nuno and the owners has been on since last season but the parties involved kept denying the rift. At last the centre can no longer hold and the most honourable thing is for Nuno to leave the club, Nuno is a great coach and I know he will get a new team in a very short time.

This is a crunch match, rivalry at its peak. Even if Nigeria does not qualify for the World cup, and if there's a match we must win by every means possible, it's the match against South Africa, what's at stake is more than just football, our national pride is at stake. The Super Eagles of Nigeria are at their best when everyone has written them off, I know that we all, will be pleasantly surprised by the result of today's game, I have this strong conviction within me that Nigeria will comfortably defeat South Africa this evening. It will be a very tough match, but I know that the Nigerian team has enough talent and experience to take South Africa to the cleaners. I'm very positive about today's match and I pray that all goes in our favour.

I'm 100% with Brown Ideye on this. These players make a huge amount in their prime as professional footballers; it's common knowledge that a professional football career is extremely short; most times, a maximum of 20 years, your career is over. So it's extremely important to save and invest wisely in the time of plenty, to have something tangible to fall back on after retirement. Most of these players lavish their money on women, cars, and other frivolous things. When there's nothing left, you see them begging for help or calling on the government to come to their rescue. It's absolutely ridiculous and a sickening sense of entitlement to blame the government for the predicament. We make choices in life and should learn to live with the consequences.

I was one of those who felt Reuben Amorim should be given ample time to instill his playing style into the players and mould the squad to play exactly as he wants. The truth is that at this point, with what I have seen going close to a year now, I have lost faith in Reuben Amorim. I doubt he is the right coach to take Manchester United to the next level. At least by now, we should have seen visible signs of hope, but what is evident is despondency. Even with all the huge investments in new player acquisition, the team seems lost with no sense of purpose or direction. Manchester United might battle relegation this season if something drastic is not done to stem the steady decline of the once mighty Manchester United.

I think this Boniface medical saga was badly handled by AC Milan, they know Boniface has an injury prone history, the medical should have been done privately to protect his image and career, that's how it's done, players fail medicals regularly but it doesn't make the news like this, this is a huge setback to the footballing career of Victor Boniface, I just hope he can bounce back from this bad publicity.

I think Victor Boniface needs to wake up from his slumber and take his footballing career seriously; he plays and talks too much for a professional footballer; he is more of a comedian and meme king on social media than a professional footballer. AC Milan has a very critical and demanding fan base. They will quickly turn against him. If he doesn't rediscover his best form, he can ask Samuel Chukwueze how difficult and demanding it can be playing for a big club like AC Milan in the Italian Serie A. Let's hope it works out well for him in Italy.

I just can't fathom the reason for booing Thomas Party on his official debut match for Villarreal, it might be because of the ongoing sexual assault court case against him, but that's ridiculous to say the least, he has not been found guilty yet and he needs all the support that he can get from the club fans at the moment, because he is passing through a very difficult period. I guess African footballers go through a lot to succeed in Europe.

Brown Ideye had an excellent career as a footballer. I guess he has been there and done it all. It's now time to take a well-deserved rest from the game and focus on other areas of interest. He had a bitter sweet taste of the Nigerian Premier Football League, when he played for Enyimba FC for a season, the truth is that the Nigerian league is one of the worst and most disorganised setup in Africa, lack of players welfare, embezzlement by corrupt officials, poor officiating and so many other problems. It's just a reflection of the larger society. I wish you well, Ideye, in all your future endeavours.

It is not a question of English players not been good enough, I guess that are quite comfortable playing in the Englsh Premier League and other top teams around the world, it's just coincidence that no English player has been signed by Barcelona for such a long period, Marcus Rashford is there now, let see what he can offer, even though I'm not one of his fans, I feel he is too lazy and lackadaisical on the pitch, no determination, no fighting spirit, just walks around the pitch and waits for the ball to come to him.

This is a testament to Lionel Messi's exceptional playing abilities. He is a player who can single-handedly change a game; he is a phenomenon, a generational talent, and he will be talked about by generations yet unborn. Mourinho, from his comments, always has sleepless nights strategizing on how to tame Messi during the numerous El Clásico matches in the Spanish LaLiga. Still, most times, he fails to stop the mercurial Messi from inflicting pain and agony on his Real Madrid team.

Wow! What an awesome transformation. Hope she doesn't go back to her old ways.

Surprisingly, Nicolas Pepe is the current most expensive African player of all time. He was such a huge flop at Arsenal that it's almost impossible to understand why Arsenal paid so much to acquire him from Lille. Anyway, that's football, not all buy eventually live up to the huge price tag. Osimhen has justied every penny spent on him in all the clubs he has played for, it's still a huge mystery why the top clubs in the Englsh Premier League didn't do enough to buy him, in recent days we have seen lesser quality and unproven players been bought for higher amounts, so I don't want to believe that finance was the issue why clubs like Chelsea, Liverpool or Arsenal didn't go for him, maybe something else we all don't know about. Osimhen is now permanently in Turkey, and I'm sure he will set the Turkish League on fire this season with goals. Also, more importantly, I wish he would lead Galatasaray to perform creditably well in the UEFA Champions League.

Chiamaka Nnadozie has been quite exceptional in the past few years, and her Ballon d'Or nomination doesn't come as a surprise to me. She is among the best female goalkeepers in the world. I believe she has a very good chance of winning this award, it will be a well-deserved honour to crown all her hard work and dedication she has put in to be at the top. This is another pointer to the exponential growth of women's soccer in Africa. Go girl, the whole of Africa is rooting for you. I wish her all the very best.

This is a huge statement of intent by the Besiktas football club. The Turkish Super League is fast turning into a Mecca of some sort for established football stars. It's good for the league and the development of Turkish football as a whole. Ndidi will definitely be a regular in the Besiktas setup, and getting regular top-flight football action will put him in good shape for the Super Eagles of Nigeria. I wish him luck in Turkey.

Justine Madugu's Ballon d'Or nomination is a huge recognition. It goes to show how far women's football has grown in leaps and bounds in Africa, with the Super Falcons of Nigeria being the trailblazers. I'm happy for him; he has worked hard for this. I was particularly impressed by the effective application and conversion of set-piece opportunities by the Super Falcons. This is one area the Super Eagles have failed woefully; no coach has been able to solve that issue in the Super Eagles setup. Even if he doesn't win the award, the nomination alone is a big win for Nigeria's women's football and Africa as a whole.

I believe sports betting is more of a blessing to Nigerians, and it can only be a curse if one overdoes it or stakes an amount one cannot afford to lose. Sport betting and football prediction, in particular, have brought smiles to the faces of a lot of jobless Nigerian youth. In a hopeless situation, this is what gives the youth a glimmer of hope, although sometimes, when you don't know how to control your betting activities and allow it to grow into an addiction, it becomes a curse. Ultimately, it depends on how the individual involved is able to control his or her involvement in betting.

The question of who is the best football player among Messi, Ronaldo, and Pelé is subjective and generates endless debate among football fans. While all three are considered legends, there's no single, universally accepted answer. Ultimately, it comes down to individual preferences and the criteria used to evaluate players. So President Donald Trump is entitled to his own opinion, and so am I as well.

It's quite unfortunate that no Nigerian club is likely to benefit from this financial windfall in the near future. The highest-ranked Nigerian club side is Remo Stars in 33rd position, which is a disgrace when you consider the fact that Nigeria is a giant when it comes to African football. It will take a miracle for any Nigerian club to win the CAF Champions League within the next three years to be able to participate in the next FIFA Club World Cup. It's appalling how professional football clubs are managed in Nigeria. There's nothing professional about the management of clubs in Nigeria; it's just professional on paper. We still have a very long way to go.