₦airaland Forum

Chuba Akpom with a goal for PAOK in their 2-1 home win over Penetolikos

Iwobi starts at RW

Joel Obi to start for Chevio vs Bologna

'Chinese Coach Saw My Name On Super Eagles List' - Lokosa Explains Why He Returned To Nigeria
Published: November 10, 2018

Kano Pillars star Junior Lokosa has denied that a proposed move to Chinese club Heilongjiang Lava Spring FC has fallen through and stressed that he had to return to Nigeria after he was called up for international duty.

The striker is believed to be on the radar of several foreign teams ahead of the January transfer window after emerging top scorer in last season's Nigeria Professional Football League and making the Super Eagles provisional World Cup roster.

''I came back on Saturday night but I flew back to Lagos on Sunday. I have the contract, for me it is the perfect time I went there,'' Lokosa told SuperSport Naija Made.

''I was talking to the coach directly and he told me it is the end of the season, that they have played their last game, all players have returned to their destination and there's no need for us to stay back.

''He noticed that he saw my name on the Super Eagles list and for him he was so happy and said I should go back. The team is happy that they will have such player in their team.''

Junior Lokosa concluded by saying that he has what it takes to play for the Super Eagles.

''I know I am ripe for the Super Eagles, I have played a game against DR Congo. If I should rate myself, I'll say 7-8 over ten. It is just for me to have the opportunity,'' he added.

Lokosa was presented with the maiden edition of the Eunisell Boot Award in Lagos on Thursday after netting 19 goals in 21 matches for Kano Pillars last term.

Ifeanyi Emmanuel

ANS

Ighalo’s changchun yatai has been relegated

GBAM. That last sentence we hardly talk about.

BascoVanVeli:
That is a story not history. Blacks in Argentina were removed by different causes but none was mass killings. Everyone should be ashamed of slavery, even us here in Africa because we allowed people to take our brothers and sisters.

Dem still dey hype akpeyi again. Agents sef no dey shame lol

tbaba1234:
By the way, this is a lie.. Akpeyi has 3 clean sheets not 10.

And it is not straight..

Hahaha

tbaba1234:
See, Akpeyi will wear the Nigerian jersey and start shaking like a leaf.

We have been here before.

Haha I dey wait u and tbaba.

ChrisKels:
A very yeye talk

Only una go come back talk say he don injure again. Make una leave Bazee matter Abeg lol

ChrisKels:
Yes as expected buh he did well for someone who had been out for more than a year. He still has it in abundance, with the few flashes of brilliance he showed here and there. If he remains fit, a few run of games would be enough to sharpen him up. It is looking good.

So happy for the kid

Odubajo earns his first start and he is the highest rated player on the pitch at HT according to Whoscored. Brentford lead Ebere Eze’s QPR away
Modified
Eze also started

This is the time to start working to get our very best regardless of where they play. The Seychelles game should be used to cap-tie the willing and deserving FBs, so they will be available for us at the U23 level. But first, we have to beat SA. Nothing less.

Icon4s:
Nigeria to face Libya in the second round of 2020 Olympics qualifiers. First leg slated for 29th March, 2019 in Libya and the return leg 2 weeks after.


Nigeria was drawn-by for the first round while Libya's opponents in the first round, Gambia, withdrew.

Full First round fixture: November 14th, 2018

Libya vs Gambia (Withdrew)
Burundi vs Tanzania
Rwanda vs DR Congo
Kenya vs Mauritius
Ethiopia vs Somalia
Uganda vs South Sudan
Mauritania vs Guinea
Seychelles vs Sudan
Equitoria Guinea vs Sao Tome and Principe.
Ghana vs Togo
Cameroon vs Chad
Angola vs Namibia
Mozambique vs Eswatini(Formerly Swaziland)
Burkina Faso vs Niger
Botswana vs Malawi

Zambia, Mali, Morocco, Nigeria, Algeria, Tunisia, Sierra Leone, Gabon, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Cote Di Ivoire, Congo and Senegal have been drawn-by.

Well, at least let he pass trials, then maybe he can give the Togolese a good competition.

BascoVanVeli:
For what? These people know nothing about football just signing for signing sake. There is a fabulous Togolese left back on the team, what they need are younger players specifically in the middle. We lost a whole lot of common sense the day Maikaba walked out of the door.

Pinnick dey chop on top the matter na. Wike, now Okowa. All logic thrown out the window.

TheGoodJoe:
Wow. Pinnick is on a rush now of making wrong choices. How can the coach not select stadium. He is the one in charge of delivering results and his knowledge of delivering results is far superior to those who feel they have the right to choose stadium. Mr. Pinnick, if you know too much, please, why not take over the coaching job.

Nigeria Football League goes on British Television

The Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) has commenced plans to broadcast live matches on British television,National Daily learnt.

League Management Committee (LMC) chairman Alhaji Shehu Dikko made this disclosure over the weekend from London where he had gone to open discussions on what would be an unprecedented project in Nigerian football history.

Dikko added that If things go according to plan, Nigerians living in the United Kingdom will soon be able to watch Shooting Stars versus Enugu Rangers and Enyimba International versus Kano Pilllars from the comfort of their living rooms.

“We have opened talks with some television networks in the United Kingdom to broadcast live Nigeria football league matches on their platforms,” Dikko told me exclusively over the telephone from London last Saturday, before reconfirming the story on Monday on his return to Abuja, the Nigerian capital.

Dikko told National Daily that we is relying on the huge Nigerian audience in the U.K. to make a commercial success of this venture. “A lot of Nigerians in the U.K. are football fans who are willing to pay to watch matches of their local Nigerian club sides,” he says with optimism.

“Actually, they have been asking us for this, at least I can speak for a lot of my friends out there. The plan is to secure a channel on any of the networks that I’ve mentioned, put our league matches on it and charge affordable pay-per-view rates.

“The channel will be pay-per-view because it will not broadcast round the clock 24/7 like mainstream television channels. It will only broadcast when there are matches to be shown. If we charge half a pound or one pound per game and we get like 5,000 to 10,000 regular subscribers to the service, that will come to a tidy sum of money on a weekly basis. At these times when foreign exchange is a big issue in Nigeria, that would be a critical revenue source for the NPFL.”

The primary content of the proposed channel will be Nigerian football league matches but other relevant content may be featured as well. “We can put Super Eagles or other national team games on the channel when they come up,” Dikko says. “We can also ask our local broadcast partners, DSTV SuperSport to put some of their local league programmes like “Naija Made” on the channel. Furthermore, we plan to do live streaming of the league matches so that if some people choose not to watch on television, they can watch via the internet either on their desktop or mobile devices.”

The LMC will be working with international media consultants to handle the discussions with the British television networks. Former SuperSport Head of Africa and founder of London-based Sports News Africa, South African-born Gary Rathbone, and the director of sport and corporate affairs for Ben TV in London, British-Nigerian Chris Chinedu Obukwelu, will act as project advisors to the LMC, says Dikko.

—OnlineNigeria

Pinnick: Rohr cannot choose venues for Eagles matches

President Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), Amaju Pinnick has declared that Super Eagles head coach Gernot Rohr cannot continue to decide which stadium should host the team’s international home games.

Pinnick was speaking on a radio programme “Sports Zone” on Lagos-based Radio station Lagos Talks yesterday where he was asked to respond to “some report” insinuating that the German head coach of the Super Eagles is not comfortable with the choice of Asaba for Nigeria’s friendly against Uganda later this month.

“Gernot Rohr is our employee, we have a good working relationship with him but he cannot determine where Nigeria will play. He doesn’t have that strength to do that.


“He doesn’t understand the dynamics of this country, we have a very wonderful relationship with him and like I said, he cannot determine where we play,” emphasised Pinnick

The Stephen Keshi Stadium in Asaba, Delta State – the home state of Mr Pinnick – hosted the final of Nigeria’s Cup competition last month after it hosted the Africa Athletics Championships in August.

The stadium was touted to be in the race to host Nigeria’s Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against Libya last month but the game was held in Uyo after Gernot Rohr publicly pleaded with the NFF to give his team a good and big stadium. Pinnick insists Asaba is a good facility.

Tearful Leicester City fans gathered to lay flowers at the King Power Stadium Sunday after the owner’s helicopter came crashing down to earth and burst into flames shortly after taking off from the ground on Saturday night.

“His (Rohr’s) contract did not say he should determine where we want to play. There is nothing wrong in Asaba, fundamentally it is a brand new stadium, of course there are little issues but for the grass, I know where there are bad pitches and where there are good pitches.

“The pitch in Asaba right now is one of the best in the country, he should come out to say otherwise then I will agree with him,” adds the CAF 1st Vice President.

Nigeria will face Uganda in an international friendly at the Asaba Stadium on Tuesday, November 20, three days after the Super Eagles might have faced South Africa in Johannesburg in their penultimate match of the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying series.

—Vanguard

Wildcard Chukwueze could break the Super Eagles' attacking matrix
17:37 08/11/2018
By Solace Chukwu

https://images.performgroup.com/di/library/Goal_Nigeria/3a/a2/samuel-chukwueze-cortes-mexico-u17-nigeria-u17_ahrqqh4iqh8d1d682iol8b4o5.jpg

With Villarreal sinking deeper into the muck of at the foot of the Spanish table, it may come to be that Javi Calleja's great legacy is the launching of Samuel Chukwueze.

These are overcast, gloomy days for the Yellow Submarine, adrift like some ghastly relic. Two wins from 11, no wins at home—the prognosis is decidedly grim for Calleja, who has perhaps only lasted this long due to his playing connection with the club.

Chukwueze, however, has been the streak of silver in the drabness, and while it may be too much to ask for a 19-year-old in his first top-flight season to make the difference, he is already demonstrating interesting potential.

So much so, in fact, that his handful of appearances so far have caught the eye of Super Eagles coach Gernot Rohr.
It is easy to see why.

For one thing, the German has made no secret of his desire to reduce the average age of the national team. At the World Cup in the summer, Nigeria named the youngest squad in the competition.

While the team was unable to progress beyond the group stage, it opened up a whole new world of opportunity, and solidified the idea of a building process.

There is also a greater need for dynamism and forward thrust in wide areas in the team.
The retirement of Victor Moses, abrupt as it was, may well have been a blessing for the side; no longer able to call upon the Chelsea man for moments of flair while the rest of the team keeps a solid shape, Rohr seems keener to play on the front foot and explore a wider range of attacking movements and patterns.

This has seen Samuel Kalu come into the fold, even though his deployment and decision-making so far have been somewhat muddled.
He offers pace on the outside, as well as an interesting delivery into the box.

Chukwueze is a continuation of this speculative theme, and could flip the script almost completely due to the uniqueness of his skillset.

A left-footed forward who plays on the right, cutting in to shoot or dribbling diagonally toward goal: now there is the sort of weapon the Super Eagles have never had!
With his lightning speed and strength, there is the very real prospect that the former under-17 international could totally break the matrix, and redefine entirely how the national team attacks and transitions.
Samuel Chukwueze, Cortes - Mexico U17, Nigeria U17

Typically, the focus has been on quickly forming two solid banks of four without the ball, but he offers the option of retaining threat in forward areas with which to break quickly.

He could allow the team field three proper forwards at the same time, transitioning to a 4-3-3 from the usual 4-2-3-1 set-up: Chukwueze, Ahmed Musa (Henry Onyekuru waiting in line) and Odion Ighalo -- or perhaps Isaac Success, in the long run -- would be a terrifying trio upfront for any team to face, and has the potential to keep any defence honest.
Iheanacho, Akpom, Chukwueze, Nwakali: Nigerian football comes good

With all three dovetailing and popping up all over the frontline, all capable of being the nominal focal point per play, and all possessing tremendous speed, the possibilities suddenly seem endless.
With the South Africa game being as crucial as it is, it may be too much to expect Chukwueze to be thrown into the fray right away. However, his particular set of skills should be on show in the friendly against Uganda, and we will afforded a clearer view of what Rohr's conception of him is.
If he continues to get minutes at Villarreal, he may well be the Super Eagles' biggest wildcard going into next year's Africa Cup of Nations.

—goal

Ex-Super Eagles Defender Oshaniwa On Trial At Akwa United

By Adeboye Amosu:
Former Super Eagles defender, Juwon Oshaniwa , is training with NPFL side, Akwa United with a view of securing a permanent deal with the Promise Keepers, Completesportsnigeria. com reports.

Oshaniwa, 28, has been without a club after he was released by Scottish club, Heart of Midlothian in June 2017, a year before his contract was due to expire.

Akwa United are in the market for a new left-back after Gabriel Wassa left the club for former NPFL champions, Plateau United this week.

The Uyo club named Brazilian Rafael Everton as their new head coach on Monday.

“Oshaniwa is one of the few players training with us ahead of the new season,” Akwa United media officer, Mfon Patrick told CSN.

“He is working hard in training and if our new head coach (Rafael Everton) is happy with his performance, he will be offered a contract.

“He is a quality defender if one want to consider his antecedents, but it is important for him to prove he still has what it takes to play at the highest level.”

Oshaniwa, who was capped 17 times by Nigeria, has featured for NPFL clubs; Kwara United, Lobi Stars and defunct Sharks Football Football Club of Port Harcourt.

He was part of the Super Eagles team that won the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations in South Africa and played all four matches four Nigeria at the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil.


—CSN

Musa could start as LW and Success as CF

MetalJigsaw:
success will likely start but I don't see him playing anywhere apart from the CF position where you put Musa

Okocha excited for Bafana showdown
BAFANA / 9 NOVEMBER 2018, 11:30AM / MATSHELANE MAMABOLO

https://inm-baobab-prod-eu-west-1.s3.amazonaws.com/public/inm/media/image/iol/2018/11/09/17831907/5648378.jpg

JOHANNESBURG – Nigerian legend Jay Jay Okocha is anticipating next weekend’s Africa Cup of Nations qualifier between his country’s national team and Bafana Bafana to be a humdinger.

“Everyone knows that there's always pride at stake and that always translates into a great game. That’s why I think it will be an interesting encounter,” he said yesterday.

Okocha is in Joburg for the weekend on a Bundesliga/StarSat legends tour that will see him engaged in a number of activities.

With Nigeria top of the table in Group E of the qualifiers for next year’s tournament that will be hosted by Cameroon, Okocha believes his countrymen have what it takes to seal the deal soon.

But he acknowledges that Bafana will be hard to beat.

“It could be that whoever wins this match will have one leg in the Africa Nations Cup, so that adds to the excitement of the match. I can’t wait to watch the game but it is hard to say who will win because Bafana will be confident after winning in Nigeria.”

He is happy with the strides being made by his countrymen, though, and foresees them going from strength to strength.

“Of course our team is fairly young but we can now see some level of consistency. These players have grown after the World Cup (in Russia) and the experience they got there is very good. Also there is a great transition in that the senior players are passing on their experience to the younger ones who got some good exposure at the World Cup.

“We are moving in the right direction and we stand a good chance of having a great national team again.”

Whether he is right will become evident at the FNB Stadium next Saturday when the Super Eagles take on a Bafana outfit who have blown hot and cold in the qualifiers that they kick-started with a maiden official victory against Nigeria.

—iol.co.za

Na because Rohr na stiff-neck abi? Make we wait for the official line up?

EEGA:
Rohr has no plan of playing Success as a 9.In our 1st game against Libya, he(Success) came on as a sub for Ighalo.If we re to go by your formation, it means Rohr would have subbed in Success for either Musa or Kalu in the last match.

Recall that ,if not for Ebuehi and Shehu's injuries Aina wouldn't have played RB because he was invited for the LB position.

Musa played the no.9 position against Serbia but didn't deliver.

Amuneke Ready to build Tanzania Challenge

Tanzania coach Emmanuel Amuneke admits leading the Taifa Stars is a challenge but his team is ready to build.

The former Nigeria international is now preparing to face Cape Verde in Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers in October.

The 1994 Caf African Footballer of the Year is confident he has the strategy to lead Tanzania to a first Nations Cup finals since 1980.

“Being the head coach of the Tanzania senior team is a challenging job,” he told BBC Sport.

“Hopefully, we do our best and I believe that hard work is a non-negotiable term in whatever we do in life. You just have to do what you know best.”

The Taifa Stars are Amuneke’s first role as coach of a senior national team and he began with a goalless draw in neighbouring Uganda in a 2019 Nations Cup qualifier.

“We achieved our objective. We were clear with what we want to do and we worked towards it.

“I am proud of the players – I had only spent 10 days with the team and we could see the character in the team.

“I told them that we were coming here to fight and that is exactly what we saw.”

While the 47-year-old, who won the Nations Cup as a player in 1994 with Nigeria, was happy with his first result he knows there is more work to be done.

“What we actually want to do is to continue to look at our teams and the areas we can continue to grow,” he continued.

“The four teams in that group all have one ambition and the objective is to make it to the Nations Cup.

“Every game is totally different. Every game comes with different challenges and a different approach.”

“What we are doing is to be realistic and be truthful to ourselves as a team, look at the areas we want to improve and look at the areas we have been doing good and continue to improve on that.”


Ahead of their back-to-back games against Cape Verde the Taifa Stars are on two points from their two Nations Cup qualifiers after a 1-1 draw with visiting Lesotho last year.

Amuneke, who also played for Portugal’s Sporting Lisbon and Zamalek in Egypt, made a name at youth level with Nigeria.

He was an assistant when Nigeria won the 2013 Under-17 World Cup in the United Arab Emirates and was head coach when they retained their title two years later in Chile.

With Tanzania set to host the 2019 Under-17 Africa Cup of Nations and having already organised a regional qualifier for the tournament Amuneke is already putting his past experiences to good use.

Tanzania’s under-17 side competed in the qualifying event, despite having qualified for the finals as hosts, and finished third after losing to eventual champions Uganda 3-1 in the semi-final.

“I was not involved directly (with the under-17 qualifiers) but I was using the avenue to see the level of the team and to see what can be injected, how we can improve,” he explained.

“The most important thing is that we shall be one of the teams that will be at the finals. The under-17 journey is a very, very long journey.”

The next step on Amuneke’s journey is a trip to face Cape Verde in mid-October.

—Africa.com

Rohr’s likely starting lineup VS SA

Ezenwa has permanent slot.

gamaliel9:
Since Wednesday i have been thinking this...who can answer it... Why is Rohr inviting two goalkeepers from the same club?

I will start Success as #9

safarigirl:
Lol.... So because Edo witches have finally grounded Ighalo's SE career that had finally achieved some level of flight, we have come back to the Nacho hate?

And who better to spearhead it than the one who accused me of hating on Ighalo?

Abeg, does anybody have an idea what our front line will look like? Cuz I don't know about some people here, but it's looking pretty likely that Kelechi will start against SA and I'm not sure how I feel about that.

I mean, considering his abysmal showing against them last year, would it be advisable for him to spearhead the attack? It would be like playing Akpeyi in goal (which may actually happen)


I'd have liked a front three of Samuel Kalu, Musa and Onyekuru.....but I don't think Rohr trusts Onyekuru enough. Chukwueze and Osimhen are obviously out of the equation.

Akpeyi and Iheanacho on the pitch against SA simply doesn't sit well with me.

All the thief thief politicians u know dey see dem for front of church on Sundays?

junnyjake:
We can be religiously stupid in this country.

So a slap on the wrist is punishment for someone who was caught with his hands in the cookie jar?

How does this serve as a deterrent to others interested in practicing the despicable act of bribe taking in the future?

Which kind country be this self?

Hahahaha. Madam u don talk am finish. Even d devil know when to quote Bible.

safarigirl:
as in. Can you see the idiocy of it all?

Quoting the Bible to defend corruption? This is something that is about ethics and Pinnick in all his glorious ignorance thinks we are talking about Bible and Christianity. Nigerian leaders are a disgrace to the parents that birthed and trained them, whatever shred of integrity and decency their parents may have painstakingly tried to infuse in them has been carried away by greed and other such terrible vices.


When Oga Pinnick finish quoting Bible, he should remember that greed is one of 7 deadly sins and such sins cannot be forgiven. He should also remember the story of Ananias and his wife, both of whom tried to scam God and we're duly dealt with. There was nothing like forgiveness there.

Useless and unscrupulous fellow

oga e don enter Christian matter o. Make i siddon look.

TheGoodJoe:
I totally disagree with this. An outright sack is the best solution because Coach Yusuf's action brought disrepute to the selection process of the Super Eagles. Keeping him makes it look like there are shady deals going on in the selection process and a sack would have begun to restore confidence in the coaching crew.

NFF Boss Pinnick Cites The Bible To Justify Reinstatement Of Disgraced Super Eagles Coach
Published: November 08, 2018

https://www.allnigeriasoccer.com/football_pics/70548Yusuf.jpg

Nigeria Football Federation supremo Amaju Pinnick has cited the Bible to justify his decision to reinstate disgraced Super Eagles coach Salisu Yusuf as soon as he finishes serving a one-year ban.

It would be recalled that the CHAN Eagles boss was banned from all football-related activities by the NFF following its consideration of a complaint as well as the coach's defense of a video documentary in which he was seen to accept the sum of $1,000 from an undercover reporter posing as a players' agent.

''Salisu Yusuf would come back as the Eagles assistant coach after his suspension. He still has a contract with the NFF,'' Pinnick told a local radio station, as reported by Guardian Nigeria.

''It is not that I am supporting Salisu Yusuf for what he did. In life, there is nobody that has not fallen short of anything one way or the other. The coach has realised his mistakes and he needs to be forgiven.

''If God could forgive us for our sins, who are we as human beings not to forgive others.

''In the Bible, Jesus Christ told the people, whoever had not committed sin before should cast the first stone on a woman who committed sin.''

Salisu Yusuf had accepted a cash gift $1,000 from Tigers Player's Agency, an undercover reporter, purportedly interested in acting on behalf of Osas Okoro and Rabiu Ali, for their inclusion in the list of players for 2018 CHAN in Morocco.

Igho Kingsley

ANS

You mean Iwobi to where Etebo is, and Ighalo to where Musa is?

daveP:
I'll swap Iwobi and Ighalo to the left wing rather. what dyu think?

...

Danielnino00:
The 3-5-2 is more like our weapon against non African teams.. Right now, our strength lies in our wing play . Those South Africans are quite fast... Playing a 3-5-2 will limit us to playing long balls. let's unleash our full strength against them jare...

South Africa strengths is their free flowing passes not necessarily speed. And they play more like Europeans.

Danielnino00:
The 3-5-2 is more like our weapon against non African teams.. Right now, our strength lies in our wing play . Those South Africans are quite fast... Playing a 3-5-2 will limit us to playing long balls. let's unleash our full strength against them jare...