₦airaland Forum

SymphonyRad:
It wasn't a goal

Okay

We did well in that regard, yes
But truthfully, the respectable score line was majorly because Ronaldo missed like 3-4 clear cut opportunities he would usually score..
Make we no lie, the scoreline flattered us
But somehow we didn't fold, we kept trying to do something in the game, we stayed positive..
But the difference in quality was too much to overcome

SymphonyRad:
That high line pressing game we played was really a bad idea, but honestly if we had Osimhen, Lookman, Femi Azeez, and Benjamin/Nwaiwu partnering Bassey...we should have drawn this match, the backline save for Bassey was as bad as any makeshift backline can get so we did well to hold arguably the best team in the world to a 2-1 game.

Tinneh:
After being played out of positions in past games, he got an opportunity to stamp his authority in a very familiar role and unfortunately he ghosted for most parts ,,,

Bro!!!

elyte89:
If the whole ball crossed the line..d ref gadget will beep ..so it wasn’t a goal .

Guess we were let off the hook then..

Amedino99:
I think the ball landed on some paint.

Baba that goal na clean goal

Amedino99:
He plays like aribo. Useless in the midfield but somehow you will see him in the opponent's box 18.

🤣🤣🤣

Goke7:
Once Iwobi can’t get his rhythm we are cooked

Same thing against Morocco at the AFCON
This is where you need midfield drivers to take the game by the scruff of the neck, like Bassey was trying to do..

Lookman too would have done that though

The referee even helped us sef
That other ball that hit the crossbar, the ball even crossed the line sef
That was a clean goal
Baba just throway face
😃😃

Goke7:
💯 your head Dey there, I like honest assessments

My bro...
Just said it as it is
Our midfield work never complete o
LBs too
We are adequate in other positions

Samueltemi337:
We will see them at the world cup they won't reach the semis

Okay bros
We gather dey

Mujtahida:
I really don't understand that FDB

I'm not really sure what his strengths are
I know TheSuperNerd talks about it all the time, but I just don't see what FDB brings to the fold..
I know he's mostly disciplined and positionally aware, can pop up with a few goals, apart from that, I no know again..

But again, Portugal s superior midfield exposed flaws in our system and playing personnel
We should continue scouting for midfielders, proper CMs and AMs, not DMs again abeg..
This is where I would have loved to see Chrisantus

Samueltemi337:
They are not that good
They don't have a good defense or attack
Na midfield them get

That's good enough
You no see their midfield yesterday?
On another day, we for don chop 5 goals for first half

BascoVanVeli:
Match Highlights

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yuQ9nVg47UQ

Omo
On another day, we for chop like 5:0 this first half alone
The chances Ronaldo himself missed, very uncharacteristic of him..

minfelix:
Chukwueze is gradually losing that spark…he is threading the form of Iheanacho that made coach to discard from selection

Truth

Karlovich:
I have no idea why some of you love to blame goalkeepers, did you see the amount of saves he made in this game.

Instead of people to be proud that the SE has 3 excellent goalkeepers now, they are busy with meaningless comparisons.

Word

Meliforme:
Regarding his midfield selections, Eric Chelle could have done better.
Featuring FDB and Iwobi at the same time, is a bad recipe especially during phases that involves breaking up opposition play through making and winning tackles, defensive duels, and loose ball situations.

I cannot recall a single defensive duel that Iwobi and FDB won in the match against Portugal. They were always beaten.
This poor mix of players is not new. I pointed it out during the AFCON.

Why not include an extra midfielder who can help break up play and win possession. FDB does not help defensively. Ademola Lookman in FDB's position contributes far more defensively, the same as Samuel Chukwueze.

You know book
Fisayo was almost useless in this game

Meliforme:
.

Yes, we need midfielders who can not only win the ball, but can create chances.

Simple

WarHammer2000:
It's actually the highest test if you ask me. Portugal is a strong contender for the WC trophy. They've got Mendes, Vitinha, Neves, all current Champions League winners. Plus other elite talent in all departments. And they started their best against us.

Any other African country would have conceded more than 2 without scoring any. In fact, only few European countries can survive this current Portugal.

If Portugal don't get to the semis, the whole world will see it as an upset
They are that good..
That's a potential WC winning side and we remained competitive throughout

Meliforme:
All these facts about Alhassan Yusuf are not true, especially his passing range.
His passes are good both in the short and long range.

We even still need like 3-4 more midfielders

Meliforme:
If Bruno were to play the RB, only Aina has what it takes to sideline him.
As far as the defensive phases of football in the Super Eagles is concerned, He has outperformed every fullback including Aina.

Bruno even played CB for around 15-20 minutes today and was flawless
Intercepted balls to Ronaldo I think twice ..

Dude is an elite defender..
No one is benching him in that LB position

Clint02:
Just look at this bro.

Even me that's not a professional, I know to just pass the ball in front of the defender for Moffi to run to and be one on one with the keeper

Chukwueze is too frustrating and hasn't grown over the years

SymphonyRad:
My main worry now is that there is no certainty NFF have any plans to renew Chelle's contract, after the September games for the AFCON qualifiers, it won't be far above NFF to pull a shocker and frustrate Chelle out of the job...those idiots are very predictable.

At this point, they can do what they like
They have a choice.. to continue to grow with the team and Chelle, or to fall back into the doldrums of mediocrity and irrelevance..

The choice is theirs

..

After Chelle rang the changes in the second half, we seemed to up the tempo a bit, we were pressing, forcing Portugal to make errors and even seemed fluid in our passing..
But that's as good as it got..

Portugal responded by stepping it up even higher..
Started swarming our players, pressing the life out of us, suddenly we couldn't string 4-5 passes without losing the ball
We dropped deeper and deeper into our half and I knew the second goal was just a matter of time..

Very big lesson learned today..
How Chelle responds will tell me how far he can truly take this team..

Clearly Portugal and Poland are not mates..

Then again, if Bewene had started, we might not have conceded that first goal, another mistake I think Chelle made, Starting Akpan in this game..

My major take in this game is how limited we are in the midfield..
The Portuguese, swarmed us, pressed us into submission and blocked passing lanes..
Iwobi couldn't find any line breaking passes today..
Even our goal came from route 1 Football.. Okoye to Akor
Same thing with the chance that Chukwueze squandered
The search for players must continue..
Let's prioritize LBs and technically adept midfielders abeg..

This midfield cannot take us to the next level
Portugal showed us that next level and we folded
That we still remained competitive is a testament to the good work Chelle has done on this team

minfelix:
almost 1yr now i don avoid betting companies…u see this game…im betting Super eagles win or draw

I predicted 3:2 in favour of Nigeria, on X

Samueltemi337:
Una dey over hype this leao sha

Leao be like Chukwueze
Immensely talented but also inconsistent
If he brings his A game on Wednesday, he go torment our RB tire..
We just pray he brings his 'other days' performance

jihday:
bring your evidence

😃😃

Goke7:
Oga the YouTube page I watched the friendly match had 30k views which tells you how Nigerians will do anything to watch the eagles no matter the conditions we are still one of the largest passionate fans out there

Na NFF dey dull us
By now they should have developed that their NFF TV to show all our national team games

Mujtahida:
It was as if Akor Adams did not play yesterday's match.

Plays better when Iwobi and one of or both Lookman and Osimhen are present..
Those ones understand him better

TheSuperNerd:
Abdullahi Bewene vs Poland....

First cap, First start.. 90mins display. Good/Solid debut from the Banik Ostrava lad.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMypr2z-DV8?si=CWhnYLZ2-raFkFLn

Massive player!!
What a debut!!??
Dude didn't look out of place at all
He wan even kill Zalewski for that wing
Dude put in 3 okay crosses
Defended his area well
I noticed Onyeka wasn't finding his runs
I believe that would be worked on in training..

At this rate, I no fear Portugal again
Bewene is fearless
Him go chop Rafael Leao, even Neto for dinner..
Reminds me of a young Chidi Ordiah
I even see the step overs sef!

Bring on Portugal!!

And we are winning the next 2 AFCONs!!!
Let's go!!!

Subzero047:
Lol the ball moved to the right then to the left, nobody's saving that

Watch the goal again my bro