₦airaland Forum

Correct!!!

ProfOrlando:
update, Ola Aina is in abuja, I just saw he and his dad now at the airport.

We are all learning, even in rules of engagement. And thanks my bro!

Kog45:
Jobie u always make it simple and accurate not some people who always show brotherhood love here by turning this thread to a war zone.

I was among those who said Awaziem will start against SA. And I got it right although Rohr's decision backfired. That was my preference, and Rohr's as well, to many people's surprise.

Two things here. Preference and expectation..
I'm sure that's his preferred starting. So arguments like Rohr won't do that should not necessarily come in if someone already indicated that's their starting line up. At the same time, sometimes there may be surprises. (e.g Awaziem versus SA) which will not always backfire. Hence, Aina is not expected to start (that's if he will be in camp/cleared by FIFA), but he could still start -- surpises.

Petrobros:
Firstly, Alampasu is not our first choice goalie. So he is not expected to start.

Secondly, Ndidi. He is a sure starter.

Ighalo not likely to start, Iheanacho is our first choice striker.

I like where you placed Etebo. In the absence of Iwobi, Etobo moves to the Left. I see an Ndidi- Onazi midfield pairing.

The coach is not always right in decisions not limited to player positions, substitutions, invitations/signings... Which is why coaches are fired and hired. But a coach's job must not be compromised, because he get's the credits for victory and the knocks for failure.

Torino Coach Pushes Assistants For Refusing To Substitute Nigerian Midfielder Obi
Published: August 28, 2017
Torino Coach Pushes Assistants For Refusing To Substitute Nigerian Midfielder ObiTorino manager Sinisa Mihajlovic was angry with his assistants Attilio Lombardo and Luca Castellazzi for refusing to substitute Nigeria midfielder Joel Obi in his team's 3-0 win over Sassuolo at the Stadio Olimpico on Sunday evening.

Mihajlovic had instructed the coaches to take off Obi, but they went ahead to substitute the wrong player, taking off Tomas Rincon instead of the Nigerian midfielder.

Under the glare of television cameras, the Lazio and Sampdoria legend reacted by pushing his two assistants, but he later apologized to the two coaches in his post match comments.

With ten minutes left on the clock, Torino were leading 1-0 and the opponents were threatening to equalize, and Obi was his choice to leave the pitch because he is more attack-minded.

Obi, who was supposed to be on the bench, netted Torino's third goal in the 88th minute.

Igho Kingsley

Mikels, Troost-Ekong, Ighalo, Etebo, Akpeyi & Ezenwa Report For International Duty
Published: August 28, 2017
Mikels, Troost-Ekong, Ighalo, Etebo, Akpeyi & Ezenwa Report For International DutyAllnigeriasoccer.com understands that at least seven players invited for the crucial World Cup qualifiers against Cameroon have already reported for international duty.

The Nigerian Federation have kept mute over the players in camp because some of these players chose to fly to Lagos from Europe, and things will become clearer when the squad assembles in Uyo this afternoon.

Tianjin Teda midfielder Mikel Obi, Porto loanee Mikel Agu, Bursaspor defender William Troost-Ekong, goalkeepers Daniel Akpeyi and Ikechukwu Ezenwa, Changchun Yatai's Odion Ighalo, and CD Feirense new number 10 Oghenekaro Etebo are confirmed to be in Nigeria at the moment.

The players in Abuja and the backroom staff are expected to fly to Uyo around 1400 hours, while the players that landed in Lagos will fly straight to the Akwa Ibom State capital.

It is confirmed that Chelsea right wing-back Victor Moses departed the English capital last night.

Ifeanyi Emmanuel

--ANS

@ bolded. In the 2015-16 season, Simon played

10 times as SS
10 times in LW
8 times as CF
1 time as LW

Only the player can tell you his natural position. Coaches do as they wish.

Modified
Kalu played mostly in the Right

Mickael2:
I think we totally agree on this. last season Moses Simon didn't really light up the Europa league but just like you and Icon4s said, there are a lot more that will be considered first.

all that aside, I really want to understand why Moses Simon still plays as a winger for us. he literally played the whole season as the SS probably because Samuel Kalu benched him, why then is he a starter for the SE when we have tons of players who can play that position well enough?

Exclusive – FC Porto Snap Up Talented Nigerian Duo Kingsley Kuku & Isah Musa
August 27, 201701

The Nigerian contingent at FC Porto has swelled by two following the signing of two more Nigerians in Kingsley Kuku and Isah Musa, Owngoalnigeria.com can exclusively reveal.

They are presently awaiting their visa at the Portuguese embassy in Abuja before they join the club to bring to five the Nigerian players on their books.

Chidozie Awaziem, Musa Yahaya and Chidera‎ Ezeh are the other Nigerians at the club, but only Yahaya is with the team where he is presently playing for the B team.

Kuku is a left footed forward who was cited by the club alongside Musa who is a pacy right wing back but can also play as a winger due to his fine ball playing abilities.

They were both picked up by scouts of the team during the annual Geelec scouting tournament in Keffi, Nasarawa State Nigeria earlier this year.



Daniel Martins

--OwnGoalNigeria

exactly

Petrobros:
You cannot be talking about federal character in the national team setting.

Let the best get the nod. Of they are from a particular section of a country so be it.

@bolded, that's a call for Federal Character. I think it's absurd even in our national politics. And that's why we will ALWAYS be backward as a nation. Thank goodness we just won the AfroBasket. Based on our population and love for sports we should be dominating sports in Africa, just as the US dominate the Olympics. Maybe we will get there in the next 100 years.

Petrobros:
My friend, it is not someone like me that you can deceive with all these your comments. I know virtually everyone here.

Please try avoid making statements here that can spark off ethnic combats. You have no moral justification to make that kind of comment on Rohr and the NFF.

No section of the country will feel happy when such allegations are put forward against them.

Even if you feel aggrieved that your section of the country is not getting a fair share there are better ways of going about it and just know also that all sections of the country cannot have equal represent in the national team.

That's the point I've been making. Although I would rather have Onyekuru, I still respect Rohr's decision. No suspicions of foul play..Besides Onyekuru is on stand-by if i'm not mistaken. And that means he is still in SE's set up.

Icon4s:
Simon Moses has the edge for now over Henry Onyekuru. Statistics are not everything.

At least Rohr had Onyekuru in camp twice. And for him to still prefer Simon it tells a lot.

that's exactly my point. As an SS you should score even more goals.. Simon played a few times as a midfielder.

For me Moses Simon has an edge because of Europa League and past decent performances in the SE.. Basing it on Jupiler League alone, Onyekuru has a better stat.

Modified

Maybe I need to break that table down, if you are not getting the whole gist.
MOSES SIMON
In the Jupiler League alone:

14 times as an SS --> 3 goals, 3 assists
2 times as a LW --> 0 goals, 1 assist
2 times as a CF --> 0 goals, 0 assist

ONYEKURU
In the Jupiler League alone:

34 as LW --> 19 goals, 8 assists
3 as CF --> 1 goal, 2 assists
3 as RW --> 3 goals
1 as SS --> 1 goal

Mickael2:
I think it.actually makes it worse. as a SS you are meant to score some more, I don't really get your position in this argument. so a SS with a return of 5 goals and 7 assists is good enough for you?

He still believes those statements strongly. I've asked him to come with his candidates and back it up with their achievements.. I'm still waiting. If I say that section of the country he is defending don't have the best coaches AT THE MOMENT, he or some of us will get emotional. As much as I don't believe in rotation, especially when nothing is broken, I'm satisfied with the shortlist so far, because the credentials of some of them cannot be ignored. However, if he is already suspecting there will be foul play in the coaches selection, he can come up with names from his section of the country, and back it up that they are the best we have at the moment.

In all, we just need to get this tribalism out of our ahead at least on this thread. Outside, this thread, I don't care what you do with your life.

Petrobros:
you didn't report to tglobal about your comment on Rohr practising cultism and he and the NFF favoring a section of the country in terms of players selections and coaches appointments respectively.

Final score

Nigeria 65-48 Senegal

zopaks:
Afro basketball finals live!


1st Quater : Ngr 04 Seng 15

4TH Quater : Ngr 55 Seng 41

J.Obi says he wants to be back in SE, why not? To start with Italian league no be beans.

stats don't lie

tbaba1234:
Joel Obi with a man of the match performance.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DIQZu_cVwAA9NAj.jpg

Onyekuru's All competition:

https://www.transfermarkt.com/henry-onyekuru/leistungsdaten/spieler/380415/plus/0?saison=2016

I've always said stats don't like. Look at Moses Simon's stats below for All competition and Jupiler league alone. I will include the link so you will be so sure it's actually Simon's stats from last season:

now talk true. does that stat support your position or not?

All competitions: https://www.transfermarkt.com/moses-simon/leistungsdaten/spieler/274862/plus/0?saison=2016

Jupiler league alone: https://www.transfermarkt.com/moses-simon/leistungsdatendetails/spieler/274862/saison/2016/wettbewerb/BE1/verein/157

Mickael2:
he was the attacking midfielder, which makes it worse. at least for a winger playing in a 4-5-1 you can argue that he stays too far away from the goal to actually score goals like Samuel Kalu, but this is an AMF with only 5 assists all season long. Even Iwobi, Aluko etc etc made more impact than he did, so your point is?

gbam!

tglobal:
@forgiveness, always blowing things out of proportion to support your narrative.

First of all, Amokachi's claim was that people paid cash to play. That is not nepotism.

On "chance and opportunity happening to those in the National team", there is no occupation or nation in the world where this is not the case. Even in the corporate world in the most advanced countries, opportunity will have to be seized and not necessarily by the best people. The question to ask is "are they are good enough"?. David villa has been invited back to the Spanish national team. Are there no better strikers in the whole of spain? is that also Nepotism? Mutiu Adepoju made the 2002 world cup team list. What did he do to merit that place? It suits you to always highlight the isolated negatives to justify your view point. What you end up doing is poisoning people's minds. You are doing more to stoke the fire of tribalism than those you are accusing

Right. But Rohr's authority is final authority as long as he is the coach.. Whether he is right or wrong will reflect on the team's performances.
If he likes what he sees in camp, then so be it. We don't know his playing philosophy or what he is looking for.

I agree that Kayode is better statistically. I don't know what necessitated Aaron's invitation. But i'm tempted to think that different opponents sometimes calls for different approach based on what Rohr himself said in the past. Rohr has his own playing philosophy. it's either the philosophy fails him, or makes him succeed.

komekn:
To make an assumption based on presumption is a recipe for continous mistakes.

You cannot assume that Rohr know them better than anybody else. Even if he has seen him in training close up,doesn't make him final authority on Kayode.

So many coaches have made big huge mistakes about players who have been close up and personal with them.

Particularly a coach that can invite a player who has essentially only played youth football recovering from injury straight to the national team over and above proven and tested players.


Cohen Bramall 7 months ago was playing non league football. Spent 3/4 weeks on trial at Sheffield Wednesday then Crewe, Crystal palace, and even lowly Keele Town. Goes to Arsenal on trial on the second day Arsene Wenger, signs him. Where the other coaches blind some who were even with UEFA A badges. I'm trying to highlight that some coaches can be blind.

Somehow he Kayode was not blind to Pep Guardiola but is blind to Rohr who has decided to bring in Aaron Samuel over Kayode. I am not able to say too much because I really don't know much about Aaron Samuel. Statistically speaking I would say Kayode is on a different level.

Our players will go anywhere to leave the country. What does that tell you? Besides those countries you mentioned also have players in the so called inferior leagues in Europe.

Let me add that Nwakali is a Man City player

Afam4eva:
I have not said any of those other leagues are and the issue about our domestic league is a topic for another day.

The pint remains that our football is not growing as this should reflect in our players ability to get spots in big teams in europe. Smaller countries like Cote diviore, Ghana, Cameroon and Senegal are making it big in europe. Why should ours be different?

i'm bewildered! Let me see who can come to your defense now..

forgiveness:
If you claim there's no nepotism in the National team, you can ask Amokachi. He was there and confessed oh ha!

In this light, at least drew my postulations and assertions to state my comments,and besides NFF is public office, therefore not immune or exempted from public criticism.


However, it's vividly clear that chance and opportunity happens to those in the National team. It's not necessary because they are the best talent in the whole Nigeria. This is because we can see when see many players doing exceptional well in Europe despite been ignored by the National team selector.

In short, they doing better than all we raised so far.

The real question is how is it that a country of over 180 million that are football crazy can't have a domestic league with a good standard?

Modified.
So you really think that any league besides those big names are whack?

Afam4eva:
Norway? Chai, out footballers don suffer. How is it that a country of almost 180 million heads cannot produce a dozen players who play for elite clubs (Barcelona, Real Madrid, Man U, Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool, Bayern Munchen, PSG, AC Milan, Inter, Juventus, ROMA). Something is definitely wrong somewhere.

lol. What tribe is Akpeyi? He didn't just get his first invite. I'm sure other goal keeper coaches have favored him in the past. So where does tribalism come in?

tglobal:
I couldn't agree more, Joebie. I am also waiting for the accusation that will be made against the new goalkeeper trainer if Akpeyi starts the next match, considering that the "tribalism" tag can will not exactly fit

Chidiebere Nwakali made Whoscored's best XI in Norway last week.

I'm on top of this now. Aina missing!

It seems we are heading for a stalemate.

Esiti, Simon and Onyekuru are still on.
Gent 0-0 Anderlecht

87 minutes played

in fact I didnt want to take you on your earlier accusations. In fact you are waiting to cry foul in the screening of candidates for the national teams. Let's get logical, list the names of coaches among the shortlist, you think are best for our national teams. You can definitely back it up with their achievements.

forgiveness:
*yawn* provide facts and stop ranting. Biko!

where you play can make you either look good, bad, or average.. Pick one

blueto:
still doing what he is known for defensively. The problem is that his attacking prowess are not well utilised. He doesn't get much of the ball when he advances forward. And gets a lot of defensive pressure from Leicester's “parking the bus” system. I think they may need a coach replacement.

cool! lay out the facts on ground, and the player(s) you have in mind in comparison.

forgiveness:
Of course, I still maintain that Tiago Ilori is better than some players based on the facts on ground.

Yes labelling is constant with us. I was nearly labelled as someone who only canvasses for old and "finished players".. lol.. So I guess we all have been at the receiving end.
Trying to understand why someone makes a statements first, listening to their reasons, and countering it with points is a better way to go.. The problem sometimes is people get so mad when someone has an opinion very different from theirs. we need to cool down. There will always be diverse views as long as we are living on this planet. And we can only learn when we try to understand where the person is coming from, also considering that many people are not particularly good at expressing themselves. So it calls for patience while discussing. No be fight.

tglobal:
To everyone else, please get off your high horses and stop pretending that the same syndrome doesn’t afflict you. We are witnesses of how others have accused fellow forumites of what they are not simply because they disagree. Examples of this abound and include the following

1. Criticize KC – Tag him a Kelechi hater (if they are not igbo, use the tribalist tag)
2. Criticize Awoniyi, Success and Manu crew – You hate Nigeria
3. Criticize the local league – You hate the local league
4. Measure Nigerian player using global standards – You are not patriotic
5. Pep doesn’t start KC and other black players - Pep is a racist

There is beauty in diversity of thought and opinion and we should celebrate that. I cringed the other day when komekn was accused of being unpatriotic simply because he rates Nigerian players like any non-Nigerian would. Same way politicians in power label the opposition

Recent club performances

blueto:
in what sense?