₦airaland Forum

See me wey don dey hope say our rankings fit push sub 20..
Chai
Omo!

TheSuperNerd:
Afcon history have never been kind to us whenever we come up against a tier 1 host nation.

Algeria in 1990 - Final

Tunisia in 2004 - Semis

Ghana in 2008 - Quarter final

CIV in 2024 (Afcon 2023) - Final

All laced with controversies especially with 1990 and 2004 being far worse.

2025 edition vs Morocco we witnessed one that tops the rest.

We just have to step up and play the game
These nations are clearly playing a game with CAF
Na we dey do gentlemen and fair play
Others do not send
They just want to win by all means!

Can't we be that ruthless for once??

minfelix:
aahh yes oo this very one made me shout…im like baba play am anyhow….no pass abeg…everywhere dom choke…just knack leg ontop the ball make e even go off target

Asin!!!

Goke7:
In all this was a successful Afcon for us in the light of a woeful wcq series. I never gave this team so much chance like that and they delivered excellently.

But lessons must be learnt especially by our players as for nff I have no hope but let the players know that moments redefine their careers. I see players like Bassey making a big move soon and that’s what great performances brings. Nwabali deserves a better club he’s that good.

I think Nwabali will get a big move this summer

Goke7:
There were moments our attackers had the ball in the box but they were still looking for each other for that kind of combo against Algeria whereas the Moroccans were faster. Sometimes you got to be dynamic. This is why we had like just one or two shots at goal haba

You've said it all
E pain me we didn't really test Bono

TheSuperNerd:
Honestly, I really pity Senegal right now. First Ref Atcho of Gabon removed 2 of their main men for the final (Egypt too got carded & got a suspension just in case). People felt he was being fair but he favored neither team. He had a job and he did it. Morocco will get their wish. They will head to WC 2026 as African Champs.

Faouzi Lekjaa will again have his way.

The way we determine Champions in Africa is so corrupt in several editions yet people still ask why Nigeria has only 3 Afcon titles and multiple podium finishes.

I think it's deliberate self deception..
The big teams if they host will feel they have to win as some form of compensation for hosting ..

How our own people have not caught on even with tangible evidence everywhere is truly shocking..

Like I opined earlier..
CAF and Morocco left no stone unturned
I make bold to say Osimhen would have received a yellow card too if he was his usual aggressive self and we were on the front foot..

See how the ref rushed to show Bassey a yellow card!
That tells you everything

Abeg make we leave story!
Until our FA step up and start playing these boardroom and administrative games, we will keep getting close and missing out, especially if we meet a tier 1 host nation

minfelix:
Games like yesterday is where we needed the individual brilliance of Lookman…just cut in and wipe shot..forget teamwork abeg

Even Osimhen
E get one ball he trap finish
Wipe shot!
Guy go pass ball
Omo
I shout

Morocco that had 15 shots, no be outside shot Dem dey play?
Plus all those dubious free kicks

Papi85:
If this afcon was hosted outside of Morocco I bet you that they highest they can get is the second round or quarter finals

Exactly 💯

minfelix:
one of these guys will score after that Morocco miss to give us a 2-1 advantage

Simple!
That's all we needed
If that kick had gone in, our spirits would have been lifted
Every other kicker would know he just needs to score and we win

A lot was hinged on that kick, because Morocco had just lost
That kick suddenly became our most important kick
Lookman or Simon should have taken it
Someone who understands the stakes, not someone with a lackadaisical attitude

Goke7:
Apart from Lookman no other eagles player attempts to shoot from outside the box even the one from onyedika was too woeful. Make our players Dey more adventurous. If Oliseh didn’t shoot from outside the box we won’t have beaten Spain in France 98.

Even look at mane goal against Egypt it was from outside the box after another teammate has attempted initially and mane hit it again after the initial one was blocked.

Simple!
The Moroccans knew Lookman ability from outside the box, that's why they always swamped him whenever he had the ball..

These guys sat down and studied our game while we dey inside bus they sing and travel back and forth..

I respect Morocco sha
They are ruthless
They leave no stone unturned
They make it easy for CAF to back them

mrwilliams9:
That is what I meant about crumbling. 4 key examples in the past 4 years.

2022 WCQ - Just needed to beat Ghana 2-1 at home. Managed a toothless 1-1 draw and lost on away goals.

2023 AFCON final - See out a 1-0 lead against CIV. We regressed and played our worst match that tourney.

2026 WCQ Playoff - We were outplayed for 120 mins but still didn’t have the composure to convert our kick.

2025 AFCON SF - Played our worst football of the tournament after looking like the team to beat up till the QFs. Again, no composure to convert our kicks.

There’s a mentality issue we have to address.

17 semi-finals, 8 final appearances, 3 titles. Not good enough, simple.

To be fair, I think we had the right mentality in yesterday's game..
With all the ref's antics, our boys didn't show frustration or fold
We still matched Morocco toe to toe..
Unfortunately the Pks again were our undoing..

I'm seeing this as a lesson
I find it hard to blame the boy's mentality after what I saw yesterday
The gave everything..

Famocious:
They see us as a more competitive team compared to the Senegalese. Sure, they wouldn’t like to meet us again in an open field!

Exactly
I pray we meet them in the next AFCON

Goke7:
You need to listen to foreign analysts they are praising our players especially our defenders and midfielders for keeping the Moroccans at bay! They are even blaming our strikers for not taking enough shots at goal when they had the ball.

Some are now asking where was our experienced players and strikers during the spot kicks

Osimhen, Akor and Lookman should have played those Pks

And we need to learn to shoot from outside the 18
That's one area I'm not too happy with Osimhen for

Papi85:
what about Bruno?

Bruno's was a good kick
The keeper just happened to move in his direction
But if Chuks had scored his, momentum for shift
Our players confidence would have risen

mrwilliams9:
We crumbled because we had the PK advantaged in the shootout and threw it away when Chuks missed.

We crumble in the big, pressure cooker moments.

This was the final before the final due to the Moroccans home-field advantage. Win this and we are in a better position for the final.

Then say it like that..
Because some of you are talking like the coach messed up yesterday..
As far as I'm concerned, Chuks shouldn't have played that pk yesterday..

In fairness though, Chelle said these were the best PK takers in training
Unfortunately Chuks killed the advantage
We will take the lessons and we will be back

Famocious:
I thought about this as well, but what’s the assurance that alternative ref wouldn’t be worse ?

CAF is not hiding their intentions, changing of ref wouldn’t alter their agenda!


We also need to accept that Morocco team is one of the top 2 teams in Africa, a very solid team. I can’t see the Senegalese winning the Moroccans in Sunday ..

Yes but they couldn't beat us in over 120 mins with all their ojoro
You think they will want to play us again?

Papi85:
and caf didn’t know he had questionable reputation before they appointed him to officiate the guy?

Bro the script hv been written since and Morocco lobbied Caf to help them in winning the competition atleast to compensate them for the amount of money they spent in hosting the competition

No matter how well super eagles might have played yesterday they won’t win that game because all odds were against them

If Chuks had scored yesterday, we would have torn that script
Alas, Chuks had other ideas

lbrichman2:
We kept another clean sheet..
For a defence that was a source of concern, that's massive!
3 consecutive clean sheets

This team is becoming hard to score against
We played the number 1 team on the continent, on their home turf and against a biased referee, and yet still didn't concede..

Bruno, Osayi and Ajayi stepped up massively 🔥🔥
With the returning Frederick, we would become even stronger
Our defence didn't panick yesterday
No anxious moments
My heart no even skip any beat..

Rest Osimhen and Akor..
Let's see Fago and Onuachu

Rest Iwobi, Ndidi and Onyeka
Let's see Akinsanmiro, Nnadi and Usman

Rest Bruno and Osayi
Let's see Zaidu, igoh, Awaziem and Ajayi

Let's see uzoho

Simon can captain them

These SE players enthusiasm and desire has been deflated
Except Chelle does some monstrous psychological and motivational work, we would lose the game against Egypt

For me, just play the boys that have not played
Let's even begin the process of replacing some dead woods in the team

Goke7:
As much as I don’t want the player to be scapegoated but all the anger against him is justified.

We won SA on penalties last Afcon because iheanacho another experienced player converted so what was chuks problem sef

The boy was too casual

Procashtips:
CAF doesn't belong to Morrocco, yet CAF made sure Morrocco enjoyed all the undue benefits.

Football or sport business as a whole is full of corruption.

Ditto: Stepp Blatter, Isa Ayattu and the likes.

Simple
And we need to start playing the game too
To pretend that corruption doesn't exist, is to deceive oneself..
CAF clearly wants Morocco to win
Senegal have an edge in the final because they would be fresher, and they also have a proactive FA that would likely reject any controversial referee..

But be ready to see Morocco and CAF make attempts to steal the game on Sunday

Goke7:
Yes and I think it showed in the game they indeed spied on us including the coach tactics I heard some analysts said this and even suggested that the Moroccans should be punished if true.

In all it would have been a very sweet victory if the guys took advantage of the spot kicks to send the host packing. The way the game was going it was if all their dark arts were failing until the spot kicks.

You're right
This is where Chuks miss becomes very painful
I mean with everything, God still gave us a chance..
He go there go chew gum like roadside ashawo
Painful!

Procashtips:
If morrocco actually have the players to perform magic, why the need for a 12th man?

That's the desperation to win that we sometimes lack
We are too nice as a nation
These Moroccans didn't care about global perception, they just wanted to win

Our own, we care too much about public perception
That's why we treat everyone fairly
See how SA played almost all the WC qualifiers at home
Morocco did the same here in this AFCON

Our own, common to protest the choice of referree, we no fit..
SMH

Goke7:
Chuks should have converted his kick so we crumbled there bro. The Moroccans after missing a kick were there for the taking if we had converted all our kicks. That’s where our players can raise their game no matter how hard.

This is where the likes of oliseh will continue to run their mouths our boys need to shut such kind of people up finally na wetin Dey pain me be this

If that's what you mean, I understand
But Chelle wasn't out coached
If anything, I was highly impressed with how he managed the game..

Left to me sef, I would have only replaced Onyedika simply because of the yellow card
Other than that, we fit play that game for 5 hours, nothing go happen..

Chuks miss killed all our work
Especially because if he had scored, the momentum would have swung in our direction

minfelix:
bro majority of 9ja fans no sabi calm down to analyse match…..This super eagles didnot crumble to
morocco at aaaaaalllll….people no wan still gree say 2025 Morocco is a beast of a soccer nation…plus dem come b host🤣🤣.
even our golden generation dey chop 5-1 against host in 1990 afcon…go and research how our super eagles of old fared against host…the only knockout stage we beat host na senegal 92 for pk shootout…when Senegal were still “underdogs” trying to gain their feet in africa…powerhouse hosts those years dey beat us like tiff
1976 host morocco flog us 2-1
1990 host flog us 5-1 for group stage still flog us 1-0 final

We just need to retain Eric Chelle, let him keep helping us sweep baby african teams…we just need to be qualifying for world cup and afcon tournaments abeg….

Exactly!!!
What do they mean by crumbling
Morocco play 15 shots, only 5 on target
Is that domination?

Even possession, we had more than them especially in the second half and ET
Na just that chukwueze miss save them

Odunayaw:
The 2nd half and the ET was what a semi final between two juggernauts look like. I really couldn't see the crumbling hence he located it [surprisingly] in PSO.

If only we had a moment of brilliance or something

Simple!
Even me I saw no crumbling

Goke7:
I agree with you but nff will never change the same nff that was ready to play that Libyan game after all their terrorist act

I was actually shocked when the nff play down the choice of the ref Abi dem don collect money 😂 I heard an nff official was even selling tickets for the match they got free of charge 😂 na those ones we wan rely on?

A sound FA is what teams like Senegal, Morocco and CIV have over us..
If we fix that, we have the players and now the coach to get results on the continent

Famocious:
Honestly, the Super Eagles deserve respect and some serious slack. They fought hard, but the referee sucked the life out of the game with obvious one-sided decisions. Our boys had to play on eggshells, while Morocco played freely, knowing fully well they had the referee on their side.

Add to that the fact that Morocco were comfortably based in Rabat all through the tournament, while our lads had to move twice, both physically draining and mentally unsettling. Then throw in a massive home crowd roaring behind the hosts; that kind of pressure can overwhelm even the best teams.

Yes, Chelle could have done more tactically in the second half, the changes and substitutions didn’t quite spark the boost we needed. But even with all these odds stacked against them, the boys showed heart, grit, and character.

For me, they played beyond expectations. Proud of them.

God bless you
I feel like asking for your account number

Sarsaparilla524:
who saw this?
That was why my prediction failed.

Dude even has a reputation as a controversial ref

kingphilip:
They had enough time in their hands to do that as they played a day before us and also didn't have to travel.

But we should have a system to atleast take a look at all our possible opponents when we get to the round of 16 subsequently to help us with this too.

There are even some rumours that they secretly installed spy cameras in our training location
But with all of that, they still couldn't win in over 120 mins of football..

It seems I'm the only one seeing what a great job Chelle is doing

etebefia:
Eric Chelle, has been praised greatly by majority of the Nigerian football fans and while I appreciate his zeal to succeed with the Super Eagles, I still think he's not the right man for the position.

He is poor tactically and finds it hard to change tactics. Yesterday's game game was seriously yearning for tactical change but he couldn't read the game.

His whole front was completely inactive, playing 2 point men (Osihmen and Akor) for a game you were expecting to absorb pressure and your key midfielder missing was a complete amateurish decision.

Playing Lookman behind the front men may have worked in other matches but definitely didn't work against Morocco and a tactical change to the wing would have taken off pressure from the back wingers who were obviously over laboured.

Eric Chelle obviously doesn't know his players. Awaziem is a better penalty taker than Chukwueze. How did Chukwueze get selected for penalties?

Generally, the game yesterday was poor from both teams and the CAF-backed referee killed it entirely.

The only correct point you made was your last paragraph
Okay with all the terrible tactical decisions Chelle made, how many goals Morocco score?