₦airaland Forum

Had we not sacked Troussier, all three probably would have been at France 98.

modified
Actually Okpara was in that team

tbaba1234:
Good list but our team was so loaded in some cases that it was difficult for some of these players.

Chris Ohenhen for instance was scoring a lot of goals for compostela in La liga but we had already a pretty full squad.

Godwin Opara could not really replicate the Strabourg form for Nigeria.

Ojigwe, one of the most unlucky, i believe he deserved a slot but on the bench.

dude made similar remark as regards Nigeria's approach.. of course, we all know their preferred choice. Most, if not all of them in a similar situation, will do the same.

kingphilip:
''I am very pleased. I have been working for this and I am grateful to be given the chance to prove myself. It is a good confidence boost for me and shows I have been doing the right thing,'' said Abraham to Swansea City's official website on Thursday evening.




so his heart was never with us after all

e dey pain u too?

safarigirl:
this is irrelevant to the entire point.

Whether he found out via the news on TV or a WhatsApp broadcast message, he is still going to play for England

SEE WHY I DIDN'T TRUST THE TIMES' REPORT.

---

Tammy Abraham Reveals How He Found Out He Was Named In England Squad
Published: November 03, 2017

Tammy Abraham Reveals How He Found Out He Was Named In England SquadTammy Abraham has revealed how he found out he was named in the latest England squad and has suggested that Three Lions boss Gareth Southgate did not inform him of a potential call-up before it was announced on Thursday afternoon.

The 20-year-old, who remains on the radar of the Nigeria Football Federation until he's cap-tied, became the second player in the history of Swansea City to earn a call-up to England seniors, following in the footsteps of Jonjo Shelvey.

''I am very pleased. I have been working for this and I am grateful to be given the chance to prove myself. It is a good confidence boost for me and shows I have been doing the right thing,'' said Abraham to Swansea City's official website on Thursday evening.

''I found out this afternoon that I was in the squad. It was a nice surprise.''

The Chelsea loanee added : ''I was in the physio room and it came up on the TV that I had been included.

''All the boys congratulated me. It was a good feeling and I am excited to link up with the team.

''Getting an England call is a nice achievement. Now I have to make sure I grab it with both hands.''

Since arriving in South Wales in the summer of 2017, Abraham has registered his name on the score-sheet five times from 13 appearances.

Ifeanyi Emmanuel

--ANS

I had to dig this out from the archives

TheGoodJoe:
Echiejile lost his place in the squad in the last qualifying games of Coach Keshi after consecutive poor performances led us to a bad position in the qualifiers.

How can people ask about Echiejile instead of asking the true question. What made Sunday Oliseh not call Juwon Oshaniwa after Juwon Oshaniwa became the left back under Coach Keshi.

Why did Coach Siasia not call Juwon Oshaniwa?

Solanke send Naija? Tammy's heart is with both countries. it's a dilemma as tbaba1234 rightly put it. It was a hard decision, but he had to take it.
Now can we just move on?
Abi have i not said it before that if the other country comes calling, most if not all of these naija players in diaspora will reject us?

jotey:
I am not supporting the insults but I think he deserves it

the guy use us play ten ten

why not come out like solanke did and say plainly I WANT TO PLAY FOR ENGLAND

if solanke plays for England today he won't get this kind of backlash I promise you

it's so terrible of us. For mouth na we dey dominate the world

Mujtahida:
This is what riles me. If you toast a lady and she no gree, you chin up and move to the next babe no be to dey insult her. Just wish him all the best and move on.

i dey shame for Nigerians. yeye. Leon Balogun no dey support nonsense.

jotey:
Why are we like this

Dem dn insult Tammy tire for Instagram

Gbozoa!!! The queen of England just called me, asking who wrote this piece. She is inviting you over for dinner.

Modified
emmmm.. Cc forgiveness

Kog45:
If i can understand you very well you believe one section in this country were being treated unjustly when it comes to invitation to the national team.I just guess,so am not tagging you a tribal guy because you are expressing your view.

I don't think there is anything like that and if you want to look it at critically,truly invitations to national team should be based on merits but sometimes we see a player in the team that warrant question,my man it happens and only coach can explain.

Good you mentioned Gbenga Okunowo case when he was doing well at Barcelona meaning you want us to go to memory lane to discuss this issue.I can tell you a lot of players that find themselves in such situations in national team, some find their way forcefully some couldn't get invitations.

1.I believe you remember Richard Owubokiri, this was a player that paint Europe with goals,highest goalscorer in the whole in the whole Europe but find it difficult to get invitation. He was forced on Westerhoff against South Africa and in that match he had a goal.This great player was substituted and never get a call up again.

2.Mike Obiku was a very good player doing it well with Feyenord in dutch league scoring goals but couldn't make it to the national team,his exploit in dutch league can only be rival by Finidi George but this guy was not given chance,may be few caps.

3.Chris Ohenhen was one of the greatest Nigeria striker in LA liga history scoring goals for compostella every season but find it difficult to get invitation made just few appearances for Eagles, the rest is history.

4.Godwin Opara was a very good CB playing in French league for Strasbourg later PSG but did you know Godwin forced his way into the team prior to France 98 after being denied the opportunity for so long with Nigeria preferred using average CB like Uche Okafor,Isaac Semitoje.

5.Karibe Ojigwe was a perfect DM/CM having a good time then with Karlsruhe later Bayern Leverkusen but did you know what,this guy was denied invitation despite doing well but a very average player like Garba Lawal was getting invitation with coaches telling us he was playing to instructions.

6.James Obiorah was a mercurial player,marvellous to watch,very skillful and highly rated youngster who was denied invitation when it matter most.This guy saved Nigeria qualifications to Atlanta 96 with stunning free kick just two minutes to the end of that particular match i can't really recollect the match.

Did you know Obiorah was forced to be invited for that match but after the match no invitation again until a Jamaica match prior to France 98,he put on a superlative performance but was dropped. It was this frustration that forced him to make a confession prior to 2002 W/C that national team coaches are collecting bribes, he came into the team and displaced Wilson Oruma.

7.Benjamin Nzeakor a very good winger in his days but couldn't get the call when necessary one of the very few Nigerians to play in Brazilian league.

8.Uwem Ekarika good winger in his days but couldn't smell national team like others who are not better than him,very few caps.

9.James Etokebe a good winger who was doing well but not giving much chance in eagles to impress.

10.Kalu Uche the senior bro of Ike Uche find it so hard to break into Eagles,though he later did but that was at the later end of his career.A lot don't know that Kalu was the best player at COJA but was denied invitation despite doing well every season in Europe until he find his way and appeared at 2010W/C scoring two goals.

11.Ajibade Babalade had a great appearance at Senegal 92 paring Keshi at the CB better than Uche Okafor but after Afcon he find it difficult to get into the team .

12.Chidi Nwanu was doing well in Europe and was the best Nigeria CB playing for Anderlecht but Westerhoff denied him invitation preferring even player like Isaac Semitoje,he gatecrashed into US 94 when it was obvious that his presence was needed in the team.

Honestly we have a lot of them and is not based on where you come from,it happens and only coach can gives reasons because sometimes is a puzzle for fans seeing certain player doing well and not getting invitation.

I'm not done yet

wiket sister hahahaha

safarigirl:
we have always known what forgiveness is about.

The issue is not that Rohr called up someone, the issue is that Rohr calls up someone name CHIDIEBERE, not a Kayode or Taiwo like he would prefer. If it was even some random Femi from one league in Kazakhstan, he wouldn't have complained this much

OPINION

---

TAMMY ABRAHAM: NIGERIA AS A FALLBACK OPTION?
Add Comment 5 hours ago by Bryan Efe 96 Views
KicKed by Bryan Efe

https://spotkik.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Tammy-Abraham-England-16x9-Latvia-810x456.jpg
Tammy Abraham | SwanseaCity.com


The FIFA Russia 2018 World Cup may just be 8 months away, but one starts to feel the world cup fever at the commencement of the qualifiers stage. It is usually during this stage that names start flying around as to who should represent the respective nations vying for a place in the global football fiesta. With Nigeria, “blessed” with footballers in diaspora, it’s never out of place for one to hear the names of players, some of which have never stepped into the shores of Nigeria, on the lips of many Nigerian fans. In this particular period, one of such names stand out for Nigeria — Tammy Abraham.

The quality of the just turned 20-year-old Chelsea loanee should never be put in question. Let me put this in Nigerian perspective.

https://spotkik.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Screen-Shot-2017-11-02-at-6.40.23-PM.png
Odion Ighalo versus Tammy Abraham Whoscored.com

At the age of 19, Tammy Abraham was already painting England with goals in the Championship 2016/17 season. Then with Bristol City, he scored 23 goals and made 3 assists from 41 appearances. Bringing a familiar Nigerian footballer to draw a logical comparison, Odion Ighalo at age 24, then at Watford FC in the Championship 2014/15 season, scored 20 goals, and made 3 assists from 34 appearances. Ighalo continued from there the following season, as the top scorer for his club in England’s first-tier, a similar path Abraham is currently threading on, with Swansea City.

With the above whoscored.com stats comparison in mind, one can argue that as it stands, Abraham can walk into the Super Eagles team and at least make the bench. With the potentials he has demonstrated so far against top sides like Arsenal in the English Premier League, it is certain that he would be a solid option for Nigeria going into the future — a future that will likely not come to be considering the way the matter of his international switch was handled by the NFF supremo, Chief Amaju Pinnick.

Granted, the chairman of the NFF had never been seen or heard beaming with confidence as regards player allegiance-switch matters. Nevertheless, in this one, the chairman considered his relationship with Tammy Abraham’s father a leverage, and mapped out a strategy to perfect convincing Tammy to opt for Nigeria instead. According to Amaju Pinnick’s statment as found in NFF’s official website, he had a meeting with the boy’s agent and his father, and also a senior member of the Super Eagles called in lend his support. However, the chairman’s public utterances in the tune of an early victory song, branded it a war against England for Tammy Abraham. This placed the English Press and FA on alert.

Subsequently, Tammy Abraham’s name was first on the list published by the English FA for players invited by senior team coach, Gareth Southgate, to prosecute England’s international friendly games with Germany and Brazil this November. With this just announced maiden call up, Nigeria is set to go into another round of guessing — will Tammy Abraham be cap-tied eventually?

--Spotkik.com

Even Ambrose paired Balogun and they did very well against Cameroon(friendly).
What we want to see is two CB combinations without Balogun. That's the real test.

Mujtahida:
This one that so many people criticize Ekong so while saying he has improved, I hope he doesn't let us down some time soon as we go forward. They should try Awaziem with Balogun oo

haha, and since then the public have not forced Kayode back.. i dey see u oh..

forgiveness:
You can't cover the sun with your two pams

Rohr was forced to invite Kayode to the national team by the public and that was why he gave him only 10 minutes in those two matches. Nevertheless, he provided Ihesnacho an assist.

The previous time he did not honor it abi?

tbaba1234:
Udoukhai has been invited to Germany under 21...

good point!

ChrisKels:
Since una dey fear to call names, make I cause trouble bkus my Papa tell me say if I wan chase out owl from my courtyard, say make I tell d owl the particular tree wey in dey petch Dat moment.

Eheeee Da komekn and Da forgiveness ur boys are showing where their hearts lie with their reaction to this issue at hand. Before you go try call dis assertion ur usually word "prejudice", plz tell me how many of dem dat thumbed up Aina and Iwobi when they made their Eagles debut.

D next time wey una go ever ridicule our boys just to make those innit boys look better eeehhh. I dun comot red eye for u and forgiveness lol

Another good news

To other news:

EUROPA League
Vitesse 0-1 Waregem

Kingsley Madu sent off in the 22nd minute. It's half time.

in fact anyone can be wrong. I want to see quotes. Today Tammy said he is elated to be called up by England. And that's expected, I wasn't surprised. However, the Nigerian option is still open until he kicks that ball in a competitive match for England.
oya come fight me

Famocious:
Oluwashina got this wrong sha ..

hahaha So if England had called him while he was busy loving to play for England, he would have turned them down still abi for his preferred choice? I know that's what you'd so love to believe.

TheGoodJoe:
He would have loved to play for England does not mean he would have preferred playing for England over Nigeria. England is his home.



"Iwobi has apparently talked of feeling unwanted by England, though, in fairness to the FA, it did presumably play a part that the player’s uncle is Jay-Jay Okocha, football royalty in Nigeria."

You are even posting why Iwobi picked Nigeria over England and trying to make it the opposite. He chose Nigeria because his heart is with us.

Gerrit?

So the boy should have just turned down England after Pinnick put us out there? And you call that disgrace? if disgrace is a word we want to apply here, I'd say Pinnick disgraced us.
It was okay for pinnick to show interest, but not announce it to the world when matter never even reach near advanced stage. The boy reacted well. Very diplomatic for his age. For Pinnick, it was a childish one. What an irony!

Welcome to the thread officially though!

Curtisaxel27:
Here are a few lessons we can learn from Tammy's snub:
1. Catch them young:
NFF must learn to catch talented foreign borns before they start making big waves. Moses was playing in crystal palace when we got him, now think what would've happened if we waited two more years when he became a Chelsea star. Same applies in Iwobi's case. If we had gone for Abraham two seasons ago when he was just another young rookie, we would've been singing another song now. That is why I keep calling for the inclusion of young foreign borns like Deji Beyreuther. The truth is, if Deji joins Bayern Munich next season and Germany gets interested in him, no Jupiter or Pluto will convince him to look our way again. The sheer prospect of glory and assured success with the German team will be enough to tie him to the Europeans.

2. Don't beg them:
Let's face it ; Tammy has disgraced us. It pains me to think that a nation of our caliber that has millions of above average players scattered across the world will stoop to beg one disinterested foreign boy to play for us.
I seriously believe that if Pinnick had not began to
show interest in Tammy, the English FA wouldn't have looked his way. The young man rode on our backs into the three lions. I believe any player that needs to be "begged" to play for us doesn't deserve to don the green and white. Foreign born players should indicate interest in the national team, not the other way round.

Finally, we need to improve on our scouting. Like I have said Nigeria has numerous talents in different leagues all over the world who are more than willing to represent us many of which we don't even know. It's up to the technical crew to expand thier radar from the top European leagues to other leagues. Let them stop making it look like we don't have players.


BTW:
This is my first comment in this section. I've been viewing in ghost mode before sha.

hahaha. the name go disappear magically na. Worse still for them, he may just win the next MOTM.

elyte89:
I don't knw y we keep arguing on gone issues


Still cin peeps arguing y chidi nwakali was invited.



If we argue till tmao,his name won't b removed from d list,so y wasting time on IRRELEVANT TALKS!


ABEG make we hear word jare on dis chidi issue.

That's a fact. make we no deceive ourselves. Even Okocha said he convinced Iwobi. why Iwobi no tell he uncle since say he would so love to play for Nigeria like he did?
Anyways these boys are still more patriotic than our leaders and so many Nigerians for that matter who are claiming they love Nigeria so dearly. And you know what I mean.

Mujtahida:
Abeg oga I didn't make anything up. If it's my opinion I'd say so but what I have stated thus far is informed by an article I read.
'Yet Iwobi said himself in January that he would have “loved” to play for England and it would be intriguing to know why the FA did not try harder to make it happen before Friday’s cutoff point"
"Iwobi has apparently talked of feeling unwanted by England, though, in fairness to the FA, it did presumably play a part that the player’s uncle is Jay-Jay Okocha, football royalty in Nigeria."
Here's the link to the full article and pay attention to what Wenger said: https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2016/mar/26/arsenal-alex-iwobi-england-nigeria

haha abi oh.. we dey deceive ourselves.

Mujtahida:
Nigeria never develop, them say make NFF develop football. See logic ba

To speak the truth e no pain me.. The only thing that pains me about Nigeria, is Nigerians -- very gullible people. They put priority and all their emotions on things they should care less about especially as the country has always been in a hot mess.

"slap on face"? Make the face red well well if they want to see it like that.

Mujtahida:
Hahahaha hahahaha. That's what I noticed oo. Seems na them e dey pain pass us that had hopes of him playing. I thought they've cancelled him out of their minds. Turns out that even Jotey wanted him to play for us. On the other hand, I guess some are hurt not because he chose England over Nigeria, but because of 'the slap on our face.' But then was there really a slap on our face?

So you don't know Okeleji? lol

TheGoodJoe:
Pulease.

Jordan Ibe is just another Queen hips watcher whose heart got broken. We already got Onyekuru.

we keep making calls that we should develop our own. na today? it's not actually an NFF problem. It's in fact a Nigerian problem. And of course NFF is ran by Nigerians.

Mujtahida:
Exactly to declare for Nigeria is the betrayal oo. Don't you guys see this thing we do as some sneaky poaching stunts? That's why goldfish80 says let's develop our own cos it looks like we want to reap where we have not sown. But then I don't know the day we will develop our own ooo. That's like waiting for Godot.

I got good news. real good news

u dey talk as if u no know how we dey do.. ur papa call u to come snap picture you go refuse?
Pinnick is like his uncle. He has to give him that due respect. But Tammy makes the final decision. His dad can only advise.
Forget 180 million Nigerians that cannot unite to push for good governance. na decision of a 19 year old dey pain them? make e pain them die.

safarigirl:
ehn, the recruiter is 180 million people. Abi?

Did Tammy say he was considering other options? Even Dominic said that, Onuoha said that.

Tammy went about snapping pictures.

very correct!!

We are suppose to be hugging those who identify with us early. We have to accept out place until we make Nigerian football really attractive.

Mujtahida:
See ehn it's painful cos we've lost one whether by hope or in actuality but I tell you that when you get to talk to him one on one you will change your opinion on alot of things. There's so much undercurrent to these kinds of things.

If we will be sincere we are second option to these guys. Many of them look at the wind to see the direction it's blowing before making up their minds. As long as they fancy their chances with England, they put us in second Base without actually coming out point blank to reject us(although some do reject us point-blank like lookman and Solanke if I remember correctly) but when they look, see say England no sure, they open up towards us. That's why it pains me when we ignore those who declare for us voluntarily and we don't so much as send even a word of appreciation to them, talk less of invitation. Dessers got no invitation for even training. It's that Deji that will drive me mad if we lose him and he turns out to be as good as Alaba.

madam.. at job interviews, I tell the recruiter I'm considering other offers. There is nothing to lie about that. Unlike Naija. it is a win-win situation if I take their offer. That's the real world, and that's no sin in that. If we must go religious, there is a reason why God gave us the ability to make choices.

safarigirl:
look them, but make the whole world no know say you dey look them.

If the world wasn't so phucked up, many behaviors would not have been seen as normal.

lol how na?

play with people's emotion in his personal life decision? You think he wasn't considering Nigeria at all. If I get two job offers, I go look both of them well oh, before I choose. How many girls today consider ONLY one guy at a time? Such is life o.

Na the people when dey put all their emotion I go blame then?

I'm the one that suppose to be crying more than most of you. But i've always said that these are personal/professional decisions and we have to respect their decision last last.

safarigirl:
oh. So you did not see where I said that I would turn down both if I had to?

I would not have entertained Nigeria to begin with, like what Ibe did. So, everyone knows where I belong, but he courted both countries and ended up slapping the other.

It is a question of integrity, you can see it however.

My conscience would not even allow me play tumbo tumbo with two countries. Never....

Better to never have given Nigerians hope to begin with, he played with people's emotions. That is not alright. Look how pissed off some people are, some feel slighted, it's a terrible situation.

He is responsible for that, not Pinnick.

I would never pull that sort of stunt, never. That is a question of integrity.