₦airaland Forum

The first leg ended 1-1 and Jordan Obita scored for Reading. Obita is a Left back. He played as a wing back for Reading in that game.

MODIFIED.

Tiago Ilori starts again for Reading. He is one of the 3 center backs in Readings 3-4-2-1 (3-4-3 modified) formation

tbaba1234:
Aluko starting as CF in Fulham's playoff game

Ifeanyi Ubah FC is the closest. But it will take some time.

daveP:
What can we do to have a club big and wealthy and creative enough to contest the pride of al ahly and zamalek in african football? They made top 50best in the world. We need an npfl club to do something. football is no longer just kicking around. And sponsorship to aid consistency too. Enough of management by state govt jare. Lasgidi better wake up from the slumber.
In other news, Nacho must move to a team in ucl, more likely europa. saints who? if only juve or sevilla get eye.

What's your pick

Organizers release nominees for Nigeria Pitch Awards
By The NFF

Updated: May 16, 2017
PITCH AWARDS
. Enyeama, Mikel, Ojeikere, Udom Emmanuel contest for honours

The nominees for the 4th edition of the Nigeria Pitch Awards are now known, after SIAO Partners Limited, the collating and verification firm, released the results to the Nigeria Football Federation.



In a letter to the NFF President dated 11th May 2017, and signed by the Managing Partner, Pastor Ituah Ighodalo, the auditing firm explained that the voting was done by Nigeria sports editors/managers across the 36 States of the Federation and the FCT, between 5th – 23rd April 2017.

“The votes were collated and verified by our team of Auditors. We pride ourselves as one of the best accounting and audit firms operating in Nigeria. We have approached this collation process with extreme care and with the standard professional ethics required to sustain the core values of transparency, credibility and integrity. We therefore take professional responsibility for the integrity of the results presented,” stated the letter from SIAO.

There are 18 categories in all, with three nominees for each category. Three –time FIFA World Cup star Vincent Enyeama tops the Goalkeeper of the Year category, while France –based striker Desire Oparanozie leads two other Super Falcons in the race for Queen of the Pitch, and NPFL Club, FC IfeanyiUbah owner, Dr. Patrick Ifeanyi Ubah is nominated for the Sam Okwaraji Award, alongside Super Eagles’ captain John Mikel Obi and Nigeria’s 2016 Olympic Team Head Coach, Samson Siasia.

Akwa Ibom State Governor Udom Emmanuel is nominated for Football Friendly Governor of the Year alongside Akinwunmi Ambode of Lagos and Ezenwo Nyesom Wike of Rivers, while Ferdinand Aniete Udoh leads the Referee of the Year category that also has FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup veteran Jelili Ogunmuyiwa and Adebimpe Quadri.

Ade Ojeikere, group sports editor of The Nation newspapers is in the race for Football Journalist of the Year (Print) while Mozez Praiz of SuperSport heads the race for Football Journalist of the Year (TV).

The 4th Nigeria Pitch Awards ceremony comes up in Uyo, capital of Akwa Ibom State on Saturday, 10th June 2017, hours after the Nigeria/South Africa 2019 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying match of the same day.

THE NOMINEES

Goalkeeper of the Year: Vincent Enyeama; Carl Ikeme; Ikechukwu Ezenwa

Defender of the Year: Leon Balogun; Kenneth Omeruo; William Ekong



Midfielder of the Year: John Mikel Obi; Etebo Oghenekaro; Wilfred Ndidi

Striker of the Year: Chisom Egbuchulam; Godwin Obaje; Kelechi Iheanacho

MVP (Men) In The NPFL: Godwin Obaje; Stephen Odey; Chisom Egbuchulam

MVP (Women) In The NWPL: Osinachi Ohale; Rafiat Sule; Chioma Wogu

Queen of the Pitch: Desire Oparanozie; Onome Ebi; Asisat Oshoala

King of the Pitch: Victor Moses; John Mikel Obi; Kelechi Iheanacho

Sam Okwaraji Award: Dr. Patrick Ifeanyi Ubah; Samson Siasia; John Mikel Obi

Club/Team of the Year: Super Falcons; Dream Team; Enugu Rangers

Coach of the Year: Florence Omagbemi; Gernot Rohr; Imama Amapakabo

Referee of the Year: Adebimpe Quadri; Jelili Ogunmuyiwa; Ferdinand Udoh

Corporate Sponsor of the Year: Globacom Limited; SuperSport; Nigeria Breweries PLC

State with Best Grassroots Football Development Program: Delta State; Lagos State; Akwa Ibom State

Football Friendly Governor of the Year: Nyesom Wike (Rivers); Udom Emmanuel (Akwa Ibom); Akinwunmi Ambode (Lagos)

Football Journalist of the Year (Radio): Bimbo Adeola; Olawale Adigun; Arafat Aliu

Football Journalist of the Year (Print): Tobi Emmanuel; Tana Aiyejina; Ade Ojeikere

Football Journalist of the Year (TV): Mozez Praiz (SuperSport); Austin Okon-Akpan (Channels TV); Toyin Ibitoye (Channels TV)

Players with different styles. Iheanacho will not disappoint, but they shouldn't expect him to fill Auba's shoes perfectly.

tbaba1234:
There are reports that Dortmund want to replace Aubamayang with Iheanacho...What are your thoughts?

My views are believing alone is not enough, irrespective of one's religion. One's life should reflect it.

Mujtahida:
You are right then. It's not just exclusive to Nigeria. What are your religious views or believes?

I don't think his father ever wanted his boys to play for Nigeria.

Icon4s:
But some here will not agree. They would want us to go begging the boy and his father.

Yes we need to wish them the best regardless. They remain Nigerian.

oloriooko:
So no need wasting time trying to persuade him.
I like the father's honesty, wish him the best in his career for Germany

I no blame anybody when turn down Nigeria.. let's move on

Icon4s:
Mtcheeeeew.

My Son Won’t Play For Nigeria – Father Of Bundesliga Rising Star Torunarigha Tell Rohr
May 15, 2017 Nigeria


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Former Nigeria youth international forward Ojokojo Torunarigha has confirmed his son Jordan Torunarigha is not interested in playing for the senior national team of Nigeria.

Torunarigha is rated as one of the upcoming defenders in the German Bundesliga, where he scored his first senior goal over the weekend in their 2-0 win over Darrmstadt from his role as a left back.

He is presently with the U-20 team of Germany, and his father confirmed Nigeria have approached his son over a switch of allegiance as exclusively reported by Owngoalnigeria.com, but he told them his son is not interested in playing for Nigeria.

” I always say to him play like you can play football, and you can see it has helped him progress from the youth team of Hertha Berlin to the main team, and also for Germant through U-16 and now U-20. We were approached by the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF).

” They wanted my son to play for Nigeria but I told them he is not interested “, said the father who played 12 matches for Nigeria and also represented Chemnitzer FC in the 1990s.

Presently he works at Hertha Berlin as coach of the U-10 of the Bundesliga side, and aside Jordan his other son Junior plays for Dutch second division side Fortuna Sittard, who are coached by former coach of the Nigeria national team Sunday Oliseh.

Osas Mahawi

http://owngoalnigeria.com/2017/05/15/my-son-wont-play-for-nigeria-father-of-bundesliga-rising-star-torunarigha-tell-rohr/

Na wa.

Icon4s:
CAF U17 is on-going in Gabon.

Madagascar was stripped of the hosting right and Nigeria was approached but we put politics first and chose not to host to spite Hayatou.
Now Gabon is hosting. A second chance for them after crashing out to Niger.
Nigeria's U17 team would have been offered that second chance instead.

Hayatou still would have lost whether Nigeria agreed to host or not and it would have been a win-win for us.

Mtcheeew for our football administrators.

CAF U17 Results:
14th May 2017 Gabon 1-5 Guinea, Cameroun 0-4 Ghana.

Yes and No.
It's a double header. I can switch formations anytime. It depends.

Mujtahida:
Caution in this regard has nothing to do with the merit of the 3-4-3 system or the versatility and dynamism of our players. Caution here has to do with TIME, TIMING and the nature of the opposition we have to face.

The question is, at this most sensitive stage of our WCQ campaign and with Cameroun as the opponent, would you, I mean you Joebie, as a good coach try out the 3-4-3 system on a team like Cameroun?

Nothing is ever guaranteed. Cameroon is a new opponent as far as our WCQ is concerned. When Chelsea and Arsenal used the 3-4-3 and they made an impact almost immediately. Why?

1.The formation may be easy to adopt after all especially if you have the right wing back players.
2. The technicalities the formation demands may not have been alien to the players.

Any coach that plays out only one formation in training is a bad bad coach.

The reason why coaches try out different formation in training is so they can switch up play easily. A static minded coach will find it hard to bail out his wards when in danger during a game.

Rohr has used the said formation as his second choice formation in the past during training. I will find the link. So let's not make it sound like the 3-4-3 is some rocket science that demands careful experimentation.

At the end of the day, whenever Rohr chooses to adopt it in an actual game, I'm confident he will succeed with it.

MODIFIED

Some of our players are more versatile than we think. For the wing back we need dogged players with a stamina who have speed, can support the attack and can defend well in the flanks.

Some ex-SE players in the past who can play this role: Taye Taiwo, Celestine Babayaro, Chidi Odiah.

Some midfielders we have that can be tried in that role: Etebo, Shehu Abdullahi, Ndidi (Mind you he played as a left back for Genk several times in the past)

Musa Muhammad will play that role perfectly.

Mujtahida:
Well said. The 3-4-3 system is the darling of systems now but let's qualify first before we sacrifice our good run on the altar of a sweet but untested strategy.

Seriously Iwobi as an example? Why didn't tht use Moses? You want a lengthy argument. The weather has changed and we have all been adapting. It has become warmer everywhere

AIG07:
I don't really have strength for lengthy arguements but I just need to answer your mention Sir.

wow! I now see. The beauty of the formation has clouded you guys judgement.

I can't even believe this is also coming from someone like you. The last time we played such formation under Phillippe Trouisser was prior to 98 world cup and thats almost 2decades ago. The weather we had then is incomparable to what we have now across the world.#fact. Africa has become warmer.

We all saw how Iwobi gased out during the second half in Ndola. Or you think our opponents will be fixing our game time to suits our boys coming from europe?

For the pitch I'm not a pro footballer, but I know what it means to play on a good and bad pitch...

Bottomline: weather and pitch quality are big factors when it comes to African Football.

Oh yes. I put it wrongly

Mujtahida:
You mean it's not just a Nigerian thing?

If you want to make a valid argument don't mention the African weather or pitch as it has been rightly pointed out that we have used the formation before in WC qualification successfully Let's restrict the argument to the question of if we have the players in the left flank to do the job. Mind you the best modern wingers play both flanks.

The solution is very easy. Let me hold my thought for a minute.

AIG07:
Good! Aside Moses, Kindly give me another WB we possess in our arsenal?

You need to factor other things when it comes to playing in Africa. I don't expect you to forget how harsh our Weather can be, the pitches are way different from what you can get in europe.

I bet you, the Moses you've just mention will burn out in 65mins if played in that role.

We can try any formation we need be it 2-7-1, 3-6-1, 3-5-2 or 1-8-1. Make we shall qualify first with the conventional 4 man defence our players sabi well well. Even with 4 men we no get clean sheet and you wan make we put 3 otondos for back.

Thank you! Which is why I said dynamism should ne the watchword of a coach. In fact players should be familiar with many formations. Meaning trying different tactics every now and than in training. And it's untrue we don't have the players to execute the sai formation. All I'm saying is we need to master the art of this formation which puts a lot of weight on the wing backs and gives the defensive midfielders an added role as a cover should the wing backs not track back in a timely manner. Let's test it in friendlies.

It's the formation of the future. I said this many pages back. Today Barcelona has joined in. Arsenal as well.

tbaba1234:
Arsenal just switched to a 3 4 3 formation a few weeks ago and their form has drastically improved. They are likely going to make top 4 even though it looked impossible a few weeks ago. It helps when you have two wing backs willing to defend. With Moses, we have one of the best in the world.

Rohr is having a camp, what better time to start testing it out. By the time, the Yaounde game comes, we can be more than ready to play like that if necessary.

It is not true that we do not have the players.

As much as I support the adoption of 3-4-3 which is very closel related to 3-5-2. We must not start this experiment with Cameroon. The idomitible Lions play with so much power and are very good at exploiting the flanks. Dynamism should alway be the watchword of any coach. We must be able to master smooth transition and switching of play before using the said formation in a crucial tie.

tbaba1234:
Iheanacho for Musa. This will be a good formation for the away game in Yaounde.

Germany, hands off he is ours!!! This may yet be our best thing since losing Alaba

tbaba1234:
Jordan Torunarigha's goal, Someone should alert Rohr


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pjUcC7dlBh0&sns=tw

Very well said. But it's not exclusive to majority of Nigerians.

Mujtahida:
The great majority of Nigerian Christians worship an Idol they call God. Believe is the mother of idolatry.

"Those who say they believe in God and yet neither love nor fear Him, do not in fact believe in Him but in those who have taught them that God exists. Those who believe that they believe in God, but without any passion in their heart, any anguish of mind, without uncertainty, without doubt, without an element of despair even in their consolation, believe only in the God-idea, not in God."
Miguel de Unamuno

Strengths and Weaknesses 3-4-3 Formation
by Stewart Flaherty

The 3-4-3 formation is a very offensive minded formation that many credit the legendary Ajax team of the 1970’s with pioneering. The 3-4-3 has the intention of providing options all over the field and creating a dynamic, attacking style of play.



Defending

The 3-4-3 offers a 3 man backline that is very strong against central attacks but can award space to the opposition down the flanks. It is important that one central midfielder has the ability to cover in the defensive spots if a central defender is sucked out side to pressure the ball. For this reason, some teams who use the 3-4-3 designate a holding midfielder to shield the back line, and cover when necessary. This style allows the other midfielder to join the attacks with less risk of being exposed on the counter attack. Diagram A illustrates the diamond formation some coaches adopt, with X4 being the holding midfield player;

Diagram A

3-4-3 Diamond

The midfielder X8 must contribute to defending but X4 has a head start picking up forward runs in this position. Wide midfield players X6 and X7 will be required to pressure out wide in this formation and X8 will be required to fill in the central midfield area. If X2 or X3 are sucked out wide pressuring the ball in this formation, X4 must drop into a defensive cover position.

The 3-4-3 formation allows a team to place pressure on the ball high up the field. Forward X10 can pressure the 2 central defenders while X11 and X9 sit on their pass to the fullbacks and look to intercept the ball and create dangerous turnovers in the attacking zone.

Attacking in a 3-4-3

The 3-4-3 formation provides a team with 3 forward players and many options to pass the ball forward or play through ball in behind the back line. X9 and X11 should look to get onto through balls in the channels between the centre backs and full backs. X9 and X11 should also look to receive the ball into feet and take the full backs on 1 v 1. If either X9 or X11 manage to beat a fullback off the dribble then the defense will be penetrated, or a central defender will be dragged out to cover freeing up space for X10.

When the ball is out wide the opposite wide forward should attack the back post. For example, in diagram A if X9 crosses the ball X10 will be in front of the goal and X11 should run in aggressively to gain goal scoring opportunities from over hit crosses. X8 should also run forward to provide enough target bodies in the penalty area.

From a deep midfield position, X4 should support all attacks by offering an easy get out pass to keep possession. X4 should then switch play if defense is concentrated to one side, or pick put the best pass in front of him.

Strengths

Forwards always high and wide to challenge full backs.
Four midfielders can provide width.
Forwards and midfielders have the ability to freely switch positions, particularly in the wide areas. This can make it very difficult for defenders to know who to pick up.
Defense very strong against central attacks.

Weaknesses

The diamond midfield formation can lead to either a lack of width, or large gaps to exploit for opposition runners. For example in diagram A if X7 and X6 play out wide on the sidelines, large spaces are there between them and the central players.
If a flat midfield 4 is used, midfielders must have the discipline to join the attack one at a time, or ability to recover quickly. Two high midfielders would leave the team very vulnerable to counter attacks.
Narrow back 3 can be vulnerable to wide attacks or quick switch of play.

Requirements

Fast and athletic defenders to cover length and width of field.
Disciplined midfielder to shield against counter attacks and drop into defensive cover spots.
High and wide forwards with ability to beat defenders off the dribble and provide crosses.
Good communication between defense and midfield units to defend well.

I agree with you in some areas. But disagree in other areas. We've had poor foreign coaches in the past. And a few good local coaches.

Secondly pitching Kanu, Amuneke and Utaka among players that have underachieved for SE in the past is a big big sin. Records don't support your assertion.

Calls for inclusion of players will always be a thing any SE coach will have to deal with. It's left for the coach to filter the noise, and invite the right players that fits his playing philosophy.

And yes the chemistry of the team is paramount -- especially a winning team like ours.

elyte89:
Sometimes when I read comment here,I laugh,any player making waves in abroad,we all will b yearning for his call up to d national team.d fact is,D man called Rohr knws what's doing.This is the 1st time I can beat my chest dt we have a first team,we all shld learn frm d past,we av invited so many untested players in d past like Bathlomew ogbeche(famous scissors kick)Ayodele makinwa,Kanu,amuneke,Utaka(brodas),dis gusy mentioned above contributed little or none to d development of d team,
Onyekuru,onauchi and odas,will av d time and proof their worth if need be,we can't just keep inviting evrybody and ulter d chemistry of the team.we need to be patient with Rohr based on his judgement inviting players to d national team,and if we check d trend,we tend to av a more stable under a foreign coach dan our so called local coaches wc really help d foreign coach to succeed dan d later.

I agree. But I'm afraid they will lose relevance in those leagues you mentioned. I'm judging by their quality and past records. At least the Veikkausliiga gives them an avenue to shine, helps them gain some confidence. Those other Scandinavian countries should be a next step.

tbaba1234:
The Finish league is not very good. It is far below the Swedish, Danish and Norwegian leagues.

The best league players should be aiming for better leagues.

Gbolahan Salami assist and goal helps Kups to a 2-1 victory over visiting HIFK in the Finnish top tier.

Azubuike Egwuekwe and Reuben Gabriel were both on parade for Kups for 90 minutes.

Aliyu Abubakar, one of the stand out defenders of Nigeria's world conquering U-17 class of 2013 featured prominently for Kups at Right Back before his free transfer to Georgia. Abubakar now plays for FC Dila.

The Finish league is a good destination for Home based Eagles players.

Please someone kindly direct me to a general Tennis thread on Nairaland. Roland Garros '17 is nigh.

What you really want is for Rohr to be micromanaged. Business as usual. Will Nigeria ever learn from history. In actual business, when you appoint a manager and he brings back reports showing huge profits time and time again you have no cause to worry. The man has shown he knows his job pretty well.

Who decides when they should sit? Pinnick?

goldfish80:
In other words, because we are winning Rohr should continue his job without supervision?
Which serious organisation runs their business like that?
I believe in structure.
I hope you know the technical committee interviewed and recommended Rohr to the executive committee of the Nff?

It's not good news if the technical group haven't been functional for a year.

Please kindly refer me to a general Tennis post on Nairaland

DoubleJon:
The world no 1 in tennis Andy Murray was kicked out of the Madrid Masters by world no 59 Borona Coric in round of the round of 16.
Murray was beaten 6-3 6-3by Coric, ranked 59th in the world, on Thursday.
The Briton has endured a tough season on clay, suffering a shock defeat in the last 16 of the Monte Carlo Masterslast month and also losing in the semi-finals of the Barcelona Open.
"I definitely think I need to be concerned about today," Murray said.
"It's not always the worst thing losing a match, but it's sometimes the manner of how you lose the match which can be concerning or disappointing."
Coric, 20, only gained a place at the tournament after Richard Gasquet withdrew - becoming the first lucky loser to reach the quarter-finals in the Madrid tournament's 16-year history.
The Croat broke his Scottish opponent three times in the opening set, and a further break in the second was enough to secure victory in one hour and 25 minutes.
Top seed Murray hit 14 winners to his 28 unforced errors, but insisted his poor performance was not down to a lack of confidence.
"I was just making lots of mistakes early in the rallies and trying to end points very quickly at the beginning, and the errors just kept piling up.I didn't feel that was down to confidence - I just wasn't focusing as well as I needed to on each point.
"I made a lot of unforced errors and I also didn't find any way to make it a more competitive match, so that's the most disappointing thing for me.
"You can lose matches sometimes, but the manner of today's loss was disappointing."

Okay oh. We have midfielders. From your earlier stats, they are not all world class. Which is why we should welcome those making a case for a call. Lawal is one. For now, he should maintain the tempo and I trust Rohr to look his way someday.

tbaba1234:
Raheem Lawal's goal


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qlUWwcCfAh4&sns=tw

As usual. I knew they won't know what to do with that success. #Clueless

tbaba1234:
Too young for senior football in my opinion..

3-4-3 is the formation for now and the future. I have been clamoring for SE to adopt it. It's not suppose to be a quick transition. But we must prepare for the future now. The experiment must be done again and again in training. Some say it will not work in Africa. Why not?

so who do we blame? The head of the technical committee or does Pinnick decide when they should sit or not?
Secondly, don't try to fix a problem where there is no problem. There are many issues that need to be fixed in Nigerian football and in other spheres of Nigerian life. But certainly not the department of the SE coach. We are on course to world cup qualification and we will qualify for AFCON finally. People need to stop picking the wrong fight. I'm sure if these men have sat our position right now in qualification will be complicated.

Rohr has proved so far he has a mission and he is serious about it. Let's enjoy the game as long as we are winning.

goldfish80:
Mr Lawal said that the technical committee have not sat since June 2016, which should be around the time we were in search of a coach if I am correct.
Lawal's revelation should raise more questions than just player selection.

gbam!!!

tbaba1234:
Garba Lawal statement centered around the selection of National team players. That should be totally the decision of the coach. The technical committee provides technical support for the coach, scouting, videos, reports on opposition etc but they do not select his team. Keshi had a running battle with the technical committee trying to tell him what to do. It is only the coach that loses his job when a team fails.

Theoretically, you are spot on but how much of what you listed was actually done by the technical committee?

Now we know why Rohr keeps inviting him.

terzurum5:
Wolfsburg Coach – Osimhen Has Special Qualities, He Has Great Potential To Be A Star

https://owngoalnigeria.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/DA6FDEE9-065E-4F9A-B9E0-8092DA677311-9670-00000309EE2694C9.jpeg

Coach of German Bundesliga side Wolfsburg Andries Jonker says Nigerian kid wonder Victor Osimhen will could make his debut for the team in this weekend game against Borussia Monchengladbach.


Osimhen was named in the 18 man squad for the game against Frankfurt for the first time since his move to the Bundesliga team became official after his 18th year birthday.


He didn’t get to play in the game but coach Jonker has seen enough in the forward since his return from injury to predict he will have a big future if he maintains his focus.


” He (Osimhen) has made a very good impression, ‎ he can great potential in him. He is ambitious, quick and highly unpredictable, he will be a star in the future if he maintains his focus”, Jonker said in his pre match conference monitored by Owngoalnigeria.com.


While the coach is sure that Osimhen will be in his squad for theb game against Borussia Monchengladbach, he however ruled out ex Real Madrid teen prospect Borja Mayoral from the squad for the game.


” Both are different, Victor is a different type of player, strong, quick and hardworking. He will be in the squad for our next game. His debut is close”.

Osas Mahawi

owngoalnigeria.com/2017/05/11/wolfsburg-coach-osimhen-has-special-qualities-he-has-great-potential-to-be-a-star/