₦airaland Forum

TheGoodJoe:
Who were the proven players? We suffered a fall in quality players then. Keshi was reviving the team.

TheGoodJoe:
Inside the dressing room, his approach was to create a siege mentality with his players -- "they don't like us out there so we must prove them wrong" -- while putting a hand on every shoulder and making each player believe he was capable of more.

"He called me aside and told me to believe in myself," Godfrey Oboabona told me after Nigeria beat the Ivory Coast at the 2013 African Nations' Cup. "He said [Didier] Drogba does not have two heads or four legs and if I play to my best, I could do it. That's what I did.".. Colin Udoh on Big Boss Stephen Keshi.

ChrisKels:
Thing is that we blacks just wouldn't let go the humiliation our great grandfathers suffered during the slave trade, hence we become overly sensitive and just wouldn't loosen up, there by viewing every little thing via the lens of racism. Check out this bias, we can easily call a Caucasian an oyibo but would frown when we get addressed as negros or black. Some of us even go as far as getting offended when called an African.

junnyjake:
Thanks for this.

There are words from other languages with offensive meanings that we've adopted and nobody seems to be raising money eyebrows.

tbaba1234:
Well, with the number of players in camp, he needs to find a way to reduce the number. I guess this is the approach, he has chosen.

junnyjake:
Americans are getting annoyingly sensitive these days, and it's unfortunate everyone else is catching the fever.

tbaba1234:
They have one more friendly. I believe that will be closer to the tournament squad.

DrLikita12:
Manu Garba has provided good U17 football teams for us over the years and we haven't really heard any complaints...until this competition.
Now he is corrupt, looking for egunje, lazy, refusing to screen in all the 36 states, refusing to carry players from the SE and SS, has a godfather, has a preference for players born in Nigeria, etc. It's basically open season on Manu Garba.

First of all, camp opened late so there was no time for open screening. According to the links below, Manu and his assistants were ready to start but the NFF delayed them.

http://www.allnigeriasoccer.com/read_news.php?nid=27463

http://owngoalnigeria.com/2018/02/15/manu-garba-speaks-on-chances-of-nigerian-players-born-abroad-making-his-u17-team-open-screening/

Someone said that Manu only considered players in Lagos and can you really blame him? If you needed a good sample size and you had to pick one location where you could see a good representation of young Nigerians you'd probably pick Lagos too.
Think about it, Lagos is the most populous state and it is home to a good number of Nigerians from different parts of Nigeria.

Imo, most of these complaints started when Lateef was dropped. Most people only waited until they could get to the point where they could say, "I told you so."
But how many of you actually watched the screening? How many of you watched them in camp? The fact that someone is more popular does not make him a better player than someone whose skills/efforts have gone unnoticed.

I'm sorry but the whole godfather thing makes no sense to me. To begin with, it's two against one. Secondly, Pinick is the boss here. And finally, why are we just hearing about it? Manu has been the U17 coach for a number of years and no one has complained of this until today. We didn't even hear of this when Manu coached the U20 side and benched Iheanacho and co.

Someone even said that maybe Manu's scouts are here that is why people are supporting evil. People have the right to support who they want. That you think Manu did wrong does not mean that others share your opinion. It does not mean that Manu even did wrong.

Don't get me wrong, Manu Garba is not perfect and he is not above criticism but that criticism needs to be fair and constructive. Many things said here can easily be verified by people in the know or by interviews we have access to. The fact that we are upset does not give us the right to throw unsubstantiated accusations around. If you are going to go on about how evil Manu is, do your due diligence and back it up with proof. You don't get to accuse others of whatever you like because they see or do things differently.

Everyone deserves the benefit of the doubt. You, me, and yes, Manu Garba.

tbaba1234:
Aigbogun is playing mainly home based boys against Saudi... I understand that he is using the game to decide who to drop among the locally based men.

Last chance to impress.

Bashir brothers and co did not travel.

tbaba1234:
Line up..

ChrisKels:
As much I dont wanna blacklist Manu Garba, I think Forgiveness aint entirely wrong, after all. Manu aint as clean as he seems. There is more to his selections and matchday squads than meets the eye. How does one explain his decision to sideline Adrian Akande after spending alot to get him all the way from England? Why does he not have players from the South East, Delta and Edo in his squad?

Earthquake3:
And captain

Earthquake3:
Forgiveness what's the purpose of bringing up this rubbish here?

tbaba1234:
Two of the Guinean players played an invitational tournament in Japan using different ages.

They are supposed to be 18 not 16 as they claimed.

gamaliel9:
the last penalty taker should not have prayed...HE DID A RIGHT THING AT A WRONG TIME

We are OVERLY SUPERSTITIOUS,OVER-PRAYING...When tact and guile was needed..he resorted to religion
GOD HAS ALREADY GIVEN HIM BRAIN TO PICK HIS SPOT AND BURY THE BALL...he failed GOD,he failed Nigerians,and himself. He will remember, forever , that last kick.

TheGoodJoe:
Sad we lost but the better side clearly won. Although the Guineans did not need to be so physical on our players, they played the better football.

We came into the game late but still overall, our poor play is unacceptable.

We relied a lot on long balls when we were playing against players who were on better physical stature than us.

As we go back now, I hope Manu Garba and Ndukka Ugbade invite some of the players dropped and screen a fine team with the technical ability to keep the ball. I believe against a European side, the stamina and physical strength of our team will help us. But, in the long run, it won't due to deficiency in keeping the ball.

Napoleon55:
u r right,they tagged nigeria advanced before but it has been updated now,
Either way,we have superior goals difference against angola,they have to score 3 unreplied goals against tanzania who would not want to lose all their 3 matches in front of their fans,

komekn:
I am jumping in blind nit getting the full substance if what is in contention.

Nonetheless, l know a certain Nduka Obiagbiona from Agbor in Delta state. Would you then classify his surname as IGBO derived.

I will add that the language of Ika people's would not be described as IGBO. It may have some derivation but presently it's very far from the pure Igbo language.

Icon4s:
Besides, that U15 side was just a crop of hurriedly selected U15 players. A lot of them may not make the cut at the next U17(2021) including Omidiji.

komekn:
Never heard of this before.

Have you got your wires crossed Semi Ajayi plays for the kick and rush masters of the English Championship.

BascoVanVeli:
Anyway you put it it is still discrimination. I don't care what the foreign pros have they should be allowed to represent their country in peace. Can you look one of those children in the face and tell them they can't play for their country because bla bla bla?

Why is Kelechi Nwakali bouncing around on loan if the U17 is the perfect market. I put it to you that he would be doing way better if he had just gone on trials. This proves that playing in the U17 is not the end all. After all Osimhen wouldn't have been on the u17 team if he had made the Lagos state team that year.

komekn:
There is a no huge difference to what he said in comparison to the German boys.

However it was perceived VERY BADLY and Very wrongly by many including here. But his intention was very different.

Also it's gone into the realm of politics he really can not say too much.

Earthquake2:
Those that are criticising the goalkeeper you know this is our first match

Well get a clearer picture of the team, their strengths and weaknesses in subsequent matches

forgiveness:
I don't believe in Nigerian coaches judgement. EOD

Is the goalkeeper used today the best in team?

BARAJ92:
This is definitely tribal, we only hear this kind of complain when the team is not from one part of the country

Humility017:
No one can convince me that the other 2 goalie are no way better than this guy who man the post today.

I don't wanna divulge into this much before some peeps will call me a tribalist.
I think the problem with most nigeria coaches still raises it's ugly head in manu's team.... you can tell their tribe or religion by simply looking at their team composition
anyway I am happy because he is doing well with the lad

forgiveness:
Don't be deceived, there are scouts here on ground. I can't believe Nigerian coaches judgement. It's not by force to do so. Is it?

You can can believe them no problem.

forgiveness:
Two heads they say is better than one. I don't think all those scouts na mumu because of one coach.