₦airaland Forum

Humility017:
Who Is On The Plane To Russia? 16 Players Assured Of Places In Nigeria World Cup Squad



Published: November 18, 2017
One of the noticeable highlights of Gernot Rohr's management in the series we witnessed was that he largely showed an unwavering loyalty in his choice of core players, less prone to tinkering, in such a way that has barely tried to improve on the fallout of the team's game-by-game exigencies.
While the midfield pivot of Ogenyi Onazi, Wilfred Ndidi and further forward,J ohn Obi Mikel largely remained unchanged, he had somewhat staunchly kept faith with the duo of Shehu Abdullahi and Elderson Echiejile irrespective of their deficiencies and also, William Troost-Ekong and his partner, Leon Balogun were always called upon to man the defense.
The jubilation and the flow of champagne had been at its utmost since Nigeria secured its participation at the biggest stage of international football billed for Russia next year but then as we savour and watch the dust settle on that stunning run with a return to club football, this review would just about postulate the sixteen dead-cert Eagles who are more than guaranteed a place on the plane to the Eurasian country — of course, barring any last-ditch irremediable development(s).

(1) John Obi Mikel — There is very little to suggest that the 30-year-old would not be leading out the Super Eagles in the World Cup tourney next year. Cohesion, incisiveness and coordination: he has these qualities in bountiful amounts.

(2)Victor Moses — Victor Moses is even more irremovable and the nub of the matter is simply that when he is on song, he gives the team that sprinkling of gold dust that evidently rubs off on his teammates and elevates them to a greater level. Rohr can ill-afford to leave him out.

(3)Alex Iwobi — The Super Eagles attack has bedded well with the explosiveness and trickery of the Arsenal youngster and perhaps, it is on such dispositions that the team would thrive in Russia.

(4)Leon Balogun — Much like his defensive partner, Troost-Ekong, Balogun has been almost impenetrable at the heart of the team's rear guard and would surely form part of it's defensive lynchpin next year.

(5)William Troost-Ekong — Troost-Ekong seamlessly complements Balogun. So what we are primed to continue witnessing in the 2018 showpiece is the duo of the aforementioned Balogun and Ekong reprising the inch-perfect roles they had played at the back line for the Super Eagles.

(6)Ogenyi Onazi — Very few would match his tenacity on the ball and his disposition in helping out defensively in adverse situations. Onazi would, no doubt, walk back into the team when fit.

(7)Wilfried Ndidi — Ndidi's aggressiveness, work rate and midfield agility picks him out as a surebet, even if idyllic passing ability counts against him. It is equally telling that the Leicester City midfielder has featured in almost all the Super Eagles qualification games.

(Kelechi Iheanacho — Iheanacho has shown his brilliance and deadly instincts in large swathes for Nigeria and it is succinctly clear that on his day, the precocious starlet is simply unplayable.

(9)Moses Simon — He has handily held off Ahmed Musa, his direct rival for the left spot and has largely done well whenever called upon. A viable shoo-in for any kind of Super Eagles attack.

(10)Odion Ighalo — In Ighalo, the team's attack have just the perfect poacher to unlock the meanest of defences and we had all at different points witnessed the efficacy of his biggest powers.

(11)Ahmed Musa — Ahmed Musa would surely feel hard done by if he were to miss out of the travelling party but that is very unlikely. Even though he is not getting substantial game time with the team, one would hardly begrudge his quality.

(12) Elderson Echiejile — He might be much-maligned by the local faithfuls but it would be doing disservice to one of the long-serving members of this team. Come the turn of next year, a fit and performing Elderson would get his World Cup wish.

(13) Shehu Abdullahi — His versatility would likely prove crucial in getting him a place on the Russia plane. Having largely filled in well at right back for the team while naturally being a midfielder by trade, Rohr might yet call upon him at any given time.

(14) Ikechukwu Ezenwa — The jury is still out on which goalkeeper would be between the sticks for the Super Eagles but Ezenwa might just be the Occam's razor in a situation whereby Rohr is forced to make do with what he has at his disposal. Yet, the team's goalkeeper position is currently in the melting pot though.

15) Oghenekaro Etebo - The CD Feirense number ten would equally be on the plane because of his ability to thrive in all the positions in the midfield zone and attack.

16) Ola Aina : A no-brainer. The Chelsea product would act as back up option for the regular left back and right back and this makes him a useful option. Can also play in central defense and midfield.
Emmanuel Chinaza

Humility017:
nice one...in that forward role I will expect kayode to pick up the last slot...or even Paul or dessers....but i think kayode will likely pick the remaining spot.

while on the midfield.....
Joel obi will be a perfect notch....
I just pray rohr get to notice him....even though he may not get to play much games...but having such a creative player in the bench...is a plus..he can fit into mikel shoes....
i see his agent to be a lazy dude......can't he blow his hype...

and for the defense..role I still think we can get one of this German born prior the World cup......if none we can then try Uche Agbo..I am not just sold on him reason because of his quick propensity to get bookings...
.

nelszx:
2 teams in a pot can't face each other

MetalJigsaw:
The problem is those guys are just below average. Not that Im nit supporting us but do they deserve it

BascoVanVeli:
No they are in Pot 2 of the draw not grouped yet.

MetalJigsaw:
Forget those home based guys.. I hope you won't bring up and start discussing them here my bro

Let's all focus on the SE

Joebie:
what channel?

Icon79:
Personally, I will rate Ogu slightly ahead of Agu. But having said that, it isn't fair to rate Agu based solely on two cameo appearances. He didn't start in any of those games. On each of those occasions, he was specifically subbed in to do a job. And only Rohr can say whether he did the job well or not.


O pari

Icon79:
How exactly did we reach the conclusions that Mikel Agu and Etebo are now behind John Ogu in the pecking order?

First of all, Mikel Agu was injured and not in camp for the two games. Hence, he wasn't even in contention. Who says that Rohr wouldn't have selected him ahead of Ogu in those two games if he were available for selection?

Secondly, the Argentina game was a friendly. Rohr was just using it to assess some players, especially the players who haven't had many chances to play (this includes Ogu but excludes Etebo who had started many more games under Rohr than Ogu). Bottom line, that Ogu started and finished those two games didn't really tell us anything about the pecking order yet. As far as I know, Rohr is still tinkering and trying to find his best team.


O pari

blueto:
I wonder. People are just against that against that guy (Ogu) ehn. Even some of the things they say about him aren't true. I wonder why his club keeps playing him week in, week out if he truly plays as how people have described him on this thread. They should stop watching players with “preconceived” notions as sir Joseph would say.

Icon79:
Etebo is definitely going to Russia but whether he'll get a game is a different story, especially if Joel Obi gets called into the mix.
Etebo had his chances but he didn't exactly grab it with both hands. Two stellar performances and 2 poor performances under Rohr. I think the bad pitch in Constantine really impacted his game badly.

Verdict: the jury is still out on him, as far as Rohr is concerned.


O pari

komekn:
That's a very unfair statement to make about Dele a boy that was abandoned by his Father left with an alcoholic mother. Who then lost her children as an incapable parent and Dele found himself in the care system like an orphan.

How do you expect him to look at his Father Where we're all his Uncles and Aunty's Where were all the concerned Nigerians that should have offered to look after him.

goldfish80:
I remember Philip Idowu, he represented in England in long jumps.

I sensed political undertone abit from Aluko's case because his sister refused playing for Nigeria. If they were as patriotic as we think, they both should have played for naij.

Sone could have political ambitions in the future. It would have been impossible for him to get top political appointment if he represented another country. Recall Fashanu, even with his connections and influence was not permitted to run for any electoral office in the glass house.
He tried a couple of times and gave up.

Mujtahida:
Aluko is not on the radar at all for the Super Eagles. But some don't want to face reality.

Mujtahida:
Good word of caution. Even Rohr knows not to be carried away by the victory.

I also said something about Idowu not offering as much offensive play down the left as Ebuehi did on the right but note two things Sir:he was in the box when Iwobi scored the equaliser and he was in the box to score the third goal. I expected more movement from him sha after the goals but I think he was being cautious given the short time he had to train with the team. He's not yet used to the team's rhythm. Ebuehi has at least trained with the team so many times but Mikel didn't get the boy's movement cos he opened up on one or two occasions for Mikel to pass to him but Mikel didn't. Mikel even apologised. But Mikel's understanding of Iwobi and Iheanacho's movement is top notch.

I will not however say that Ebuehi is better than Shehu as a RB until he's tested there at least two times and even if he's better it just means our squad has depth. If we see Shehu there we won't panic, if Ebuehi we won't panic too. But the good thing about him was that he was very composed on and off the ball. He didn't panick at the sight of Di Maria, one very dangerous player. Shows that Ebuehi is exposed.

goldfish80:
My apologies for jumping into your discussion. I feel Aluko switched to Nigeria for political reasons.
Sone's dad being a senator from Ogun state, must have thought it wise for his political ambitions to have Sone play for Nigeria. He cannot afford to have his 2 kids represent England, could be a nail on his political career.
His opponents will use it heavily against him.

Secondly, we know how patriarchal the African political climate is. It won't be out of question that the Aluko political dynasty could be eyeing up Sone as a replacement for his father's seat in the future. The Nigerian constitution restricts dual nationals political office.
It could be a political chess move.
I say this because Eniola blatantly refused to play for Nigeria. Being female, she could get away with it.

For me, that is what I can make out of the situation. Not for a fact though, just my thought.

Mujtahida:
Babayanro is easily our best LB of the modern era of Nigerian football. It's not even up for debate.
Taiye Taiwo and Udeze should be hugging each other. They are on the same level as far as performance in the Gwg is concerned.

forgiveness:
Of course.

Mujtahida:
It's expected na. Even if Rohr plays Uche Agbo now and he performs people will say such.

But personally I didn't expect him to be played against Cameroon in the double header or against Zambia which he wasn't even invited for. Cameroun are too physical for him and the stakes too high. Mind you he made a mistake in the friendly against Corsica.

But forgiveness and I really expected him to be capped against Algeria. In any case it's good he had good 45 minutes against Argentina.

forgiveness:
@bolded suggest this writer knows nothing about Nigerian football.

So, he doesn't about Taye Taiwo who was a better player than Babayaro, huh?

Napoleon55:
is it possible that FIFA can manipulate the draw and place a country in a difficult group?

@ Icon4s,Thegoodjoe,komkm

Icon4s:
With the kind of performances Shehu was giving which reasonable coach would have dropped him for an untested Ebuehi especially in our last 2 or 3 crucial WC qualifiers? Shehu even won MOTM against Zambia. Should Rohr had thrown in players at random?

Goke7:
Some lessons so far on our failed world cup attempts from responses so far include

1. Stick to the coach that qualifies you for the world cup cos you you need that strong bond between the coach and the players who have been working tirelessly together.
2. Do not discard half or majority of the players that qualified you for the world cup as it affects team spirit and you end up with players in the world cup who are strange bed fellows. Case in point keshi despite qualifying for the world cup and going to the world cup ended up with players who were not really used to each other. This may be the reason Mikel rejected the inclusion of ramon azeez [though unprofessional of mikel] in the game against France.
3. Go with at least 90% of your players who qualified you for the world cup. case in point USA 94 team. If you must bring in new players, very very few however there seems to be strong cases for the inclusion of Kayode Olanrewaju, Henry Onyekwuru and Sone aluko to the team. They are not strangers to the Eagles as they have been invited before.
4. Nff need to sort out issues of bonus and players welfare on time. I heard before the end of this year, Nff will meet with the players to tell them how much they will earn during the world cup next year. Good one I must say.
5. Quality warm up games for the team, perhaps warm up games against Germany and Yugoslavia brought out the best of Nigeria against Spain in France 98.
6. We must check over confidence from the players, case in point is one of the reasons we lost the Denmark game in 1998 as the players were already thinking about brazil when they haven't finished with Denmark
7. We must check players who tend to be selfish in the game, result against argentina in the 2010 world cup would have been different if the likes of martins were not selfish in their play. Okocha was another culprit in past world cups. Victor Moses need to be checked on this. Players in better position must be given the ball for clinical finishes in front of goal like we saw against zambia with Iwobi's goal. This could decide games.
8. Team selection must be based on those who are hungry for the team success and not those who just want to appear as some big players have failed to turn up on the big occasions, e.g. Yekini of blessed memory and Okocha.
9. Good mix of youthful and experienced players. One of the reasons we failed in the 2002 world cup was the way we discarded experienced players who were still in form and hungry. Thank God Rohr had admitted that it was the mix of young and experienced players that achieved qualification. So those who feel the likes of Mikel, musa, onazi, echiejile even omeruo are not relevant may need to have a rethink. One advantage of the crop of young players we have now like iwobi, iheanacho, ekong and co is that by the next world cup, they will be very experienced players.
10. Updated FIFA rules must be understood by players and coaches to avoid naive situations. Reason we even failed to qualify in 2006 as we knew nothing about head to head rule. Players also need to be warned about inscriptions on their inner wears as they risk unnecessary yellow cards like we saw in the match against Cameroon involving Ighalo.
11. The technical bench assisting the coach need to have a good balance of competent and experienced hands that will complement the coach technically. e.g. in 2014 world cup the technical team that won the afcon in 2013 was overhauled without coach kehsi's consent which in turn affected the balance of the team from what we saw in afcon earlier.
12. Discipline on and off the pitch must be maintained by coach and players. This cost us in the 2010 world cup where kaita was sent off and the indiscipline acts and rows among players that happened in both 1994 and 1998 world cups including the lack of concentration that cost us the match against Italy 1994 in the dying minutes.

elyte89:
Forget aiyenugba, Abdul jeleel ajagun,obafemi martins,sone aluko...Even if FIFA allows 100 man pre-list b4 pruning down to 23man list,dere names won't b dere

Icon4s:
Yeah another excellent piece

On the Enyeama return issue, prio to the Algeria and Argentina game I was of the opinion that one of Ezenwa and Akpeyi would do.

However, I am having a rethink.

The thought of recalling Enyeama became so loud in my mind when Akpeyi picked up that ball outside the 18 yards box.

What I personally feel Rohr can do is invite Enyeama for the march friendly(ies). We also assess him. If he is still good to go, fine he is back for the world cup. Else we take a risk with one of Ezenwa and Uzoho.

Icon4s:
Yeah another excellent piece

On the Enyeama return issue, prio to the Algeria and Argentina game I was of the opinion that one of Ezenwa and Akpeyi would do.

However, I am having a rethink.

The thought of recalling Enyeama became so loud in my mind when Akpeyi picked up that ball outside the 18 yards box.

What I personally feel Rohr can do is invite Enyeama for the march friendly(ies). We also assess him. If he is still good to go, fine he is back for the world cup. Else we take a risk with one of Ezenwa and Uzoho.

Icon4s:
Wow, a good insight into our goal keeping history.

My brother to tell you the truth I was one of those Peter Rufai die hard fans.

I never liked Agbonavbare and Ngodigha after their exploits at the Seoul 1988 Olympics. They didn't inspire confidence.

Alloy Agu was a good goalie IMO but we felt Peter Rufai was better and so we clamoured for his return for the 1994 AFCON. Alloy Agu didn't really have a good outing at Senegal 92 AFCON.

Westerhoff was right about Nigerian fans' knowledge of football then. We were closer to the national and local scene than the European scene. So we knew almost every Nigerian league and national team player and what they were capable of.

Good knowledge Nigerian football bro. Kudos to you.

Icon4s:
Wow, a good insight into our goal keeping history.

My brother to tell you the truth I was one of those Peter Rufai die hard fans.

I never liked Agbonavbare and Ngodigha after their exploits at the Seoul 1988 Olympics. They didn't inspire confidence.

Alloy Agu was a good goalie IMO but we felt Peter Rufai was better and so we clamoured for his return for the 1994 AFCON. Alloy Agu didn't really have a good outing at Senegal 92 AFCON.

Westerhoff was right about Nigerian fans' knowledge of football then. We were closer to the national and local scene than the European scene. So we knew almost every Nigerian league and national team player and what they were capable of.

Good knowledge Nigerian football bro. Kudos to you.

Dedebanky85:
So glad about the game. Everyone's said all that needs to be said. Although, I appreciate Mikel's game a lot, but there are sometimes he poisoned some of our attacks by slowing down the running momentum. He should learn to go with the flow sometimes when we're counter attacking.

Dedebanky85:
So glad about the game. Everyone's said all that needs to be said. Although, I appreciate Mikel's game a lot, but there are sometimes he poisoned some of our attacks by slowing down the running momentum. He should learn to go with the flow sometimes when we're counter attacking.

Dedebanky85:
So glad about the game. Everyone's said all that needs to be said. Although, I appreciate Mikel's game a lot, but there are sometimes he poisoned some of our attacks by slowing down the running momentum. He should learn to go with the flow sometimes when we're counter attacking.

Joebie:
My Observation from watching 35 minutes of the first half of the Argentina match:

1. Balogun is doing too much ball playing than he should do. He needs stay at the back and make simple passes.
2. Aina is good at marking his man. The formation demands that he go forward when we are in possession, this he did very well. Balogun has no business going forward. Balogun made Aina look bad.
3. The second Argentina goal was caused by Mikel. Now let me land before you fight me. Argentina was in possession in their backline and Mikel came forward to tackle, going completely out of the midfield position. Mikel as the pillar of our midfield, was absent as soon as Argentina launched a counter. Balogun in turn as I already mentioned was not at the back line, and was not fast enough to catch up, this exposed us at the rear.
4. Shehu could not keep up with his man. Our wing backs need to be really fast. Even Aina is not really fast. This formation calls for fast wing backs.
6. John Ogu is a very good tackler.
7. Ndidi is a workaholic. I see why he is compared to Kante.
8. We played conservatively. I think for the first 20 minutes or so we had not even managed a single shot at goal.
9. For the lapses mentioned above, especially Akpeyi's blunder, we didn't do badly in the first 35 minutes.