₦airaland Forum

Warming up for SE

junnyjake:
Deportivo La Coruna Officially Unveil Ex Nigeria U-17 Goalkeeper Francis Uzoho
August 2, 2017


Former Nigeria U17 goalkeeper Francis Odinaka Uzoho was among the players unveiled by Spanish La-Liga side Deportivo La Coruna in a ceremony watched by Owngoalnigeria.com correspondent.
His unveiling means he is now officially a player of the first team, thanks to his sterling performances for the team during their pre season training, where he kept a clean sheet in the two games he played.
Tall, commanding and blessed with a fine grip, the 18 year old only joined the club last summer from Qatar based Aspire Academy, but his performances have now earned him a first team spot in just a year at the club.
Uzoho who represented Nigeria U17 in 2013 is now the third choice goalkeeper of the La-Liga side and it also means he will be the first choice shot stopper of the Reserve team who are campaigning in the second division in Spain.
Michael James

Hopefully the boy gets wiser going forward.

junnyjake:
Iheanacho's Father Is Not Different From That Of Neymar, But Not As Smart.

Much has been made about the father of Brazilian footballer Neymar who is on the verge of sealing a world record move to PSG for a fee in the region of £198m.
Various report has pointed fingers at his father as the one behind the player’s seemingly lack of loyalty to Barcelona, which has played a role in stalling his move to PSG.
However his father isn’t much different from that of Nigerian star Kelechi Iheanacho who is on the verge of sealing a £25m move to Leicester City from Manchester City , but a dispute over his image right between two agents has stalled his move.
Owngoalnigeria.com bring to you a piece from Wale Ajayi who is privy to information gathered from sources close to the player, and he revealed how Pa Iheanacho played a role in the impasse.
The Beginning: From 2013 to 2017, Kelechi Promise Iheancho has had five different agents. Starting from (a) Graham Daniel Heydon and his partner Chinedu, in which the father cashed in €5,000 (Five Thousand Euro), to (b) Femi Kingston Olaniran and World In Motion who assisted in paying the cost of laying to rest the late mother of the player – Mercy Iheanacho, who died of a mysterious sickness.
To (c) the American Henry Galeano and First Eleven Management whose financial commitment might be upped compared to others, (d) Raymond Hassey of the same sport company and now (e) David Manasseh and Stellar Group, the biggest sport agency in the UK.
Note: The two agencies in (d) and (e) are locked in litigation with Kelechi Iheanacho for over one and a half year.
James Iheanacho reminds me about the father of Lonzo Ball, La Var Ball (readers might do well to google him), so notorious and clever was James he maneuvered Graham refusing the FC Porto deal, refused to sign for Femi citing he was bereaved but allowed Kelechi and his uncle to sign, while Henry got his paper works tightly knitted and right.
When the player turned 18, the Raymond Hassey contract came in force, so also the conspiracies, intrigues, lies and greed that has since unsettled the player because he made himself somewhat an object only to be used.
Litigation Drama: For those who have inside knowledge of the transfer of Kelechi Iheanacho to Manchester City, there is a familiar figure a certain Robert Calvin Zanicky aka Bob, a Director at First Eleven Management who was invited to meet James Iheanacho by Dan Uni KaKwi (a diploma holder from the National Institute of Sport, Lagos and had his internship in the Technical Department of the Nigeria Football Federation, though on his facebook page (his dearest platform) referred to himself as former coach of National Under 15).

Source : owngoal Nigeria.

More Champions League updates

Cameroon's Onana and Ajax are about to be knocked out of Champs League qualification. At additional time, scores is 2-2. The first leg ended goalless. Nice of France, and Balotelli has the away goal rule advantage. Onana was in goal for the entire duration.

Game over

More Champions League updates:

Partizan Belgrade really mean business. They refuse to succumb away to Emenike's Olympiacos, despite losing their home tie.
Emenike still in bench, but Partizan has just leveled. It's 2-2. Olympiacos lead 5-3 on aggregate.

Mine must try out in EVERY sport.

Kelechi looks like a done deal. The last I read he is to pick a shirt number (72, 4 or 8 )

Nigerdeltaboi:
£500,000 per week for Neymar
who says my children won't play football ?
How far with kelechi's move ?

More Champions League updates

Aaron Samuel progress with CSKA Moscow after getting the better of AEK Athens 1-0 (3-0 aggregate).
CSKA coach did not introduce Olanare until the 69th minute.

Club Brugge and Dennis Bonaventure have been bungled out of the Champions League by Musa Muhammed's parent club, Basiksehir. Many thanks to "OLD" Emmanuel Adebayor, who scored and had an assist to his credit. Final Aggregate Score: 5-3.

Oh yes great we can go on with SA. They got everything right on that day!

junnyjake:
We're saying same thing here, but i'd go forward to say they had discipline in executing their tactics.

More Champions League Qualification News:

Ludogorets currently lead Ogu and Nwakaeme's Beer Sheva 3-0 in the second leg. Aggregate 3-2
60 minutes gone.

Update
Beer Sheva scores. 3-3 aggregate. Sheva has the upperhand on away goal rule. 63 mins gone

John Ogu miss penalty in the 86th minute. Still 3-3 aggregate. 5 minutes of added time.

Game Over: Beer Sheva progress by virtue of away goal rule.

Champions League Qualification

"OLD" Emmanuel Adebayor scores one and has an assist as Basaksehir runs riot at home to Dennis Bonaventures, Club Brugge. The Turkish League 16/17 runner-up, currently lead 5-3 aggregate, after a 3-3 draw away to Brugge in the first leg. 72 minutes played.

Bonaventure started and picked up a yellow in the 23rd minute. He was subbed out in the 56th.

okay good. Firstly, what we do is say what happened in the match -- match report -- We were outplayed (FACT). Secondly, we ask why did Nigeria do badly? was it because we did not have quality in the team? Was it because of our tactics? or a combination of both? Thirdly, What did SA do right? In other words why did they win? Was it because of quality in the team, or match tactics or a combination of both?

if we do it this way, we will have a balanced analysis.

So if your argument is that we had a team that was capable of beating SA. Then you will agree with me that it was our tactics. My earliest position on why we failed, which I still hold is that we lost the match at the midfield. The roles were not spelt out despite having midfielder who were all good in their own right.

Modified.
Why did SA win. They had a match strategy coming to the came. The executed it perfectly -- tactics

junnyjake:
Why were we outplayed??



The team we assembled against SA was good enough to beat them.

Even with Mikel, Moses and CO in the team, we played what we played against SA - playing without purpose then the Cameroonians would have it easy dealing with us.

Did you resolve the issue? Similar problem here. Unlock services in naija claim it is locked, but it really isn't. In my case, I had already activated it with a US SIM.
From my research the particular model of this iphone has restrictions to carriers with certain bands. Still, it should work in Etisalat(9 mobile) which has a 4G band of 3 -- but it didn't.

My last take on the calls for the oldies. Consider this scenario.

You are a new manager of the Super Eagles with no one to tell you which player is good or bad, or who have performed wonderfully well or badly in the past. With no knowledge of ANY Nigerian player. All you have is internet connection, and a wonderful database website, and of course youtube. And your most concern is recent statistics with videos. Who would you pick? Which players will make your first squad announcement?

With this scenario, I have cut out the possibility of sentiments. Let's see if our opinions will change.

I'm praying for you. You will be one of the biggest things ever in football!!! You and all the Golden Eaglets class of 2013 I pray the same.

jimmyiovine:
Medical passed. Announcement in next 24 hours

If you follow my comments very well you will see that i'm not calling for anything close to a 20% overhaul of the team. If those missing stars you mentioned led to our fall to a quickly put together SA team, that shows that we are deficient. Going forward we would need a solid bench that can keep the regulars on their toes. So in all, as Sir Komekn put it, lets pick the best. But my variant of his opinion is that it should be done gradually by selection, comparison, and substitution (where necessary).

Icon4s:
Yes. You are right.

They are just talks and also wishes.

But let me state one fact. That team is not lacking in quality to compete at this level.

Is it not the same team that beat Zambia in Ndola and the highly talented Algerian team in Uyo?

What was the difference against SA? Key senior players were not present. The team lacked a leader.

With the return of Mikel, Moses and Balogun you'll see the real strength of that team.

All these panic calls here and there are not necessary IMHO.

We just hope our key senior players will be back for the next game. The team is in transition and this transition should not be truncated because of just one loss.

Warri go say, players when fit worry like tse-tse fly. I feel you my brother.

It will depend on strategy oh. because sometimes Musa wayward oh. na just to run run. Even Success can worry, but at the end we will need someone to deliver. Moses Simon hmmmm. there are few suspects there. But truth is they will still make the team. Let's keep our fingers crossed.

TheGoodJoe:
This is not about better as in, better striker but the strategy we should adopt against Cameroun. The term I used is run riot. I do not see Emenike fitting that picture. In that term, I can think the players I want in camp.

Iheanacho, Victor Moses, Etebo, Onyekuru, Aluko, Simon Moses, Isaac Success, Ahmed Musa

Mikel and Ndidi is in midfield due to discipline and positioning but Onazi has a big case because he perfectly fits the run riot picture. Hope he stays discipline from now.

Emenike does not fit.

IF this IF that. They outplayed us. They could have scored 4 on that day (they hit the bar twice). We should have scored one, but they missed several. They had way more chances. Let's call a spade a spade.

junnyjake:
I thought we've moved on from our loss against SA?

We had every right to brag about our ability before that game, that's no arrogance,

We had the quality in our squad, we had confidence in their individual abilities and that is in no way, we trying to overestimate our strengths or over hype our players as many would have it.

What we lacked was a cohesive force in the team. Even without Ikeme, Mikel, Moses, Balogun, we could have won them easily, it's not as if they were too threatening with their attacking.

With the reports we had from the training camp, John Ogu regularly played at Centre back. This was just one out of the many experiments Rohr pulled off with the limited time he had with the players at camp and the friendly games we played.

Everyone of the players fielded that day was quality and if each of them played with the discipline required of them at the roles assigned to them then we wouldn't be having this conversation.

Well i was saying if we picked our "best" and it meant at least 50% change to the team list.

TheGoodJoe:
I can Stake heavy that we will top Cameroun in possession. Talk less of stringing three passes.

Anybody who knows me very well knows that i'm far from being sentimental in any giving topic. That said, I've never been a fan of Emenike, especially when he was donning the green white green. But the problem is, even at this moment we do not have a stand out forward besides Iheanacho and Moses. And I mean based on what they have shown on the pitch for SE. You make it seem like the youngsters are clearly ahead. If they really were, I would not even mention Emenike.

Modified
Overtime I would love to see the likes of Nura, Musa Yahaya, and even Sadiq Umar. Joel Obi as well. But the changes should be gradual

TheGoodJoe:
I am just being analogical to explain my point. Apart from some few changes, especially Aluko, I feel Rohr's list is spot on of our best players in every role. I hope Nura beats his injuries and I see him giving the left back role a good fight.

That is why I am using best because the call for the oldies sometimes is sentimental, devoid of the logic of selecting our best players in every role.

oga na.. Cameroon when don play together tire.. I fear you oh..

I fear we won't even be able to string 3 passes before losing the ball. You know individuality have been killing our football. Let's build slowly by selection and substitution. Getting your best players should not happen overnight or it will defeat the purpose. We must go Russia oh.

TheGoodJoe:
Means playing with our best players. We can not talk of a cohesive unit when we have had disjointed run of coaches in recent years. We just started building and it should be done with our best players regardless of Cameroun knocking.

If we have several friendlies lined up and about 3 months before our next game I will agree with you completely. Truth is even Rohr will not make much changes to the team. Barring those who were absent due to injuries we may have just one new face or none at all. It's not realistic to assemble the so called best and expect them to gel in time before Cameroon, especially as they would have just about a week to train together.
That's a riskier alternative.

TheGoodJoe:
We outplayed South Africa in the first half. Had the chance to tear them apart but our final balls failed us. So the talk of their experience did not count in that aspect. We just wasted our opportunity.

If Ghana wants to bring Abedi Pele, it is their business. What matters to me is the best Nigerian players in every role starting with us having a killer bench of the next best players. The experience history does not stand in this case.

It is not about if they have something to offer. It is about if they are better than what we have. If Rohr runs a stamina drill, will they stand out from the players we already have? Can they play at the intensity Rohr wants to play etc. If they can, let them in but I highly doubt it.

Well we have Cameroon knocking at our door. That's the context here.

TheGoodJoe:
I think cohesive unit still falls into sentimental selection. Coherency will come with time from selecting the best. At this stage we are still building and coherency will deter that effort. As soon as we find the best in each role, we will have the cohesive unit we need.

Apart from that point I agree wholeheartedly with your point.

If the criteria is the fastest, then we can field onyekuru, Musa and Kayode as our forwards. But you know how that goes in an actual match haha

modified
Yes even now, at his age he can compete with them in speed and mobility. But how they put all those qualities together in delivering goals is the real question.

TheGoodJoe:
I will check it later but I have watched Emenike so much to put him faster and more mobile than Iheanacho, Onyekuru, Victor Moses and Isaac Success.

Let's not go too far. How about Gyan? And 9jastar rightly said without sentiments that the SA team had a couple players with bags of international experience, as an excuse as to one of the reasons why they beat us. While I don't agree completely with him, but I agree somewhat as long as that's not an excuse but something that counted to their favor, not necessarily against us, because we still had some players with international experience.

modified
To answer your question, I will say yes and no. It's subjective. The real question is are they showing that they still have something to offer? If they are then, let's see how they measure up with our young lads in camp.

TheGoodJoe:
I think you missed the point. Making it look as if Ibrahimovic and co. are in the squad irrespective of their age neglects the fact this are among the best players in the World. When it comes to Osaze, Emenike and co, there is severe doubt that these guys are the best in our team.

Alves and Ibrahimovic are the best their teams can offer. Are Osaze and co. the best we can offer.

I can answer yes.. and we will keep going back and forth. which is why i posted videos of emenike recently. That's him playing against considerably younger players. Watch it and tell me if he still has speed and mobility.

TheGoodJoe:
Physicality should not be the criteria but speed and mobility. Is Emenike faster an more mobile than most of our forwards? Your answer will determine if he is the right fit from the way I feel we must approach Cameroun.

Likewise our youngsters, can they match the likes of Mbappe, Gabriel Jesus etc? I mean realistically, at the moment can our youngsters bench the aforementioned?

TheGoodJoe:
Alves played in the Champions League final. He I one of the best players in the World today. Ibrahimovic had a brilliant season with Manchester United and was brilliant at PSG before joining Manchester United. One of the top players in the game today. Defoe was brilliant in the just concluded EPL. Highly respected.

Do not make Osaze and Emenike in that category. Osaze, Emenike will not start in any of the teams this guy's play/played for recently.

yes. young vs old. abroad born versus Nigerian-born brings bias and sentiments. Level playing field. Look a the stats and invite, and let them do battle, then we pick the starting line up. For now we still need consistency. Meaning we need not make too many changes, because it will defeat the purpose of having a cohesive unit

TheGoodJoe:
I disagree with going with physicality and power against Cameroun. I say we go with speed and mobility. Select a front line with pace and run riot on the Camerounians.

We are saying the same thing. Or you you saying Emenike does not have mobility? Physicality is a plus.

TheGoodJoe:
I disagree with going with physicality and power against Cameroun. I say we go with speed and mobility. Select a front line with pace and run riot on the Camerounians.

Thank you!!!! I agree with you 100%

But @bolded, For me building for the future goes hand in hand with allowing the relevant older players play along with them.

Let's not call a quality player who has served us well in the past and still showing they've got it, finished. Show some respect please.

komekn:
Let me expand are all the current strikers better than Osaze, that the pertinent question.

Add to that Obagoal, Ideye and Anichebe.

If Gyan playing in a completely un-rated moi moi league in some money miss road Emirates. Can still turn it on for Ghana why not our much younger experienced players.

Consider Ribero, Alves, Ibrahimovic, Defoe all above 34 years old. Still cutting it at the highest levels of football.

Let's get up close and personal if Osaze Father had not taken the option to give birth to Osaze. In a country with automatic birth data capture Russia. I can assure you Osaze will claim 27/28 nobody go argue.

Finally as good as these young upstarts are who are mostly unproven. Take them to China and Malaysia and see if they will be scoring hat trick every match.

My view let it be a level playing field.


Finally and Finally before we start building for the future can we qualify for the tournament first. Or there will be no future to prepare our supposed young players for.

Burton currently lead Leicester City 1-0. Thanks to Hope Akpan (finished?).

Musa is on. Ndidi in bench.

Leicester City‏Verified account @LCFC 12m12 minutes ago
More
Bright from #lcfc so far. Musa's pace has caused a couple of problems. We'd love to see him race Lloyd Dyer on the opposite flank! #BtnLei

Leicester City‏Verified account @LCFC 7m7 minutes ago
More
Burton strike first �

Akins lofts a ball to Akpan at the far post, who heads it back across goal and into the bottom corner. #BtnLei

I categorically said I would like an Emenike-Iheanacho partnership, and you guys were calling for my head. Emenike brings speed, physicality and also good assists -- remember 2014 world cup. He also brings international experience.

This suggestion is particularly for the Cameroon encounter. Because for me Iheanacho is the untouchable as support striker.

Who else would you rather pair with Iheanacho? Kayode, Bonaventure, Osihmen, Ighalo? mention and state your reasons with stats like I did.. That's how to have healthy discussion.

It's a discussion. No need to call people names please

Emenike's recent Champions League goal


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1VUznPIR6GI

Highlight Partizan 1-3 Olympiacos


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5pSHzQRJq0

Eminike's brace at home to Monaco (Champs Leauge). Check the quality, physicality and his confidence:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZzWuQz-N4oA

Emenike goal away to Monaco (Champions League)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b6DuTFVtVog