₦airaland Forum

Happy birthday brother. Have a wonderful birthday experience

BankyGee:
+1 today! 🎉

Grateful for life, growth, lessons, laughter, and every opportunity along the way. Thank you to everyone who has been part of my journey.

Here's to bigger wins, good health, and unforgettable moments ahead. ❤️

When you make statements like this , pls try to give us instances that validates your opinions.

Meliforme:
Good coaching has for the most parts been a problem for the Super Eagles. That is the reason why a lot of us celebrate Eric Chelle whose modern approach is a step ahead of what we are used to in the Super Eagles.

Eric Chelle has a lot to learn, because from what i have seen so far in the matches that he has overseen we may not get the best of the quality we own. I say this from a technical and tactical standpoint as a very sound analyst.

Aside techniques and tactics, Eric Chelle's player management especially during matches is mediocre. He overworks some players without an indepth study of these players in order to clearly understand what these players can take at the time. A lot of factors can affect a player's stamina,

if Eric Chelle does not improve and we cannot afford a more sound coach then just like what you are trying to imply we should not expect much from the Super Eagles.

This is hard 💯🔥 and quite emotional

🚨🤍 𝗡𝗘𝗪: Yan Diomande emotional letter to his late sister:

"Dear Roxane,

Remember when somebody bought me a fake United jersey, and I wrote Ronaldo 7 on the back with the black marker?"

"We didn’t know rich or poor. We just knew happiness."

"Remember 25 people sleeping in one house back in Abidjan? Mum wanted to watch her soap operas. Everyone else wanted to watch movies. Remember how I always used to fake like I was asleep and then go into the TV room after midnight? I’d put the TV on real low. Just like 2 volume bars. I’d watch football in the dark and dream."

"Remember when the adults saw me playing football in the dirt and nicknamed me “Roberto Carlos” because of how hard I would shoot? And remember how I was secretly so mad about it, because CR7 was my idol?"

"Remember when I went to play so far from home? I was 9 years old. Inter Foot Sud Comoé, all the way near the Ghana border. Just a little boy on his own. I don’t know if I ever told you this story, but me and the other kids used to go into the village and steal potatoes because we were so hungry. We did a “bank heist.” Two kids distracting the shop owner, and 18 other kids running out with two potatoes. They weren’t even good. But they tasted amazing. Hahahah. It’s still my favorite thing to eat. Boiled potatoes with some oil. It reminds me of those times."

"Remember when I got my first real football boots, and I used to sleep with them? Growing up, I always played in those white plastic sandals. Even when I go back home now, I still play in them. It’s our tradition."

"Remember when I would come back home, and you would tell my friends from the neighborhood, “Why did you stop training? Yan is not going to buy you cars. You have to keep working."

"You were 10 years old, and already my agent."

"Remember how we used to sit and dream about moving to France? How we were going to go shopping and get our own apartment and I was going to be a rich footballer with cars and a big house, and you wouldn’t have to worry about nothing. You were the one who always believed that I could be the next Cristiano, when everybody else laughed."

"Remember when I moved to America for high school at 15, and I was so homesick? I didn’t know what anybody was saying for months. They sat me next to a French kid, and he tried to translate everything the teacher was saying. Remember when I called you, saying, “You won’t believe it, the kids here argue with teachers."

"Back home, you know we wouldn’t even dare to blink at our elders."

"Remember when I couldn’t believe the kids were smoking after school? You used to say it sounded like I was in an American TV show."

"Remember when they took me on trial at Bournemouth? At Chelsea, Rangers, Olympiacos, Crystal Palace? Eze and Olise even came up to me after one training and said, “Yo kid, you’re really good.”"

"But they still didn’t sign me."

"Even the B teams in the MLS didn’t want me. I didn’t even know why. They never gave me a reason. The adults handled everything. They just kept taking me all around Europe, and everybody kept saying no."

"My visa was up. My dream was over. They sent me back to Africa, and we cried together."

"You were the one who never stopped believing. A few weeks later, I signed for Leganés and we cried different tears."

"That was back when I used to have emotions. Now, I don’t feel anything. It’s like I’m not even human. Since you died, I’m just blank."

"I don’t even think I shed a tear the day they told me that you were gone. I was just in shock."

"It was a few weeks after I made my debut for Leganés. Who makes their debut at 18 against Real Madrid? It was too crazy. It was a dream."

"And then it was a nightmare. Someone kept calling me from back home. I was annoyed. I didn’t understand why they kept calling me."

"I picked up, and they didn’t even soften it. You know how it is back home. No emotions. Just……..

“Your sister is gone.”
“What?”
“She died.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Somebody put something in her drink at a party, and she never woke up. She is gone.”

"You were 15."

"15."

"I never got any answers. I don’t know if I want to know why. Maybe it was jealousy. Maybe it’s just something that happens in our country. Maybe I could have protected you. I don’t know."

"I try to trust God’s plan. It’s all I can do. I don’t try to forget, because I know I won’t forget. All I can do is use the pain to work harder, and to do everything we dreamed about."

"I wrote this because I can’t speak about it. I wrote this because I want you to know that I will make sure that you live on. I will make sure that everybody knows your name. The whole world."

"Everything I do on a football pitch, it’s for you."

"So much has happened since I last saw you…… You would not even believe it. I don’t know if I believe it."

"You know what’s crazy? After my debut against Madrid, I actually swapped shirts with Mbappé. Remember when we used to watch him on TV, and you’d say, “Mbappé? Yeah, he’s good. But my brother is better.”

"I was wrong about one thing. I don’t want to be rich. I see what it does to people, even to family. When I was at Leganés, everything I was earning, I was sending home. It got to the point where I didn’t even want money anymore. It was just a burden. They never stopped asking. I guess they thought I was a millionaire already. I didn’t even have an apartment. I was living at the training ground in a room with no TV. Just football and sleep, football and sleep."

"I didn’t want a big house. I didn’t want cars. I just wanted to put everything into football. Everything to show the world that my sister was right……."

"Ha…. you will think this is funny. When I moved to play at RB Leipzig, I was always late. Well, not late. But I was on time, which in Germany means you’re very late."

"So you already know what I did next. I started arriving 90 minutes early to everything. I was so early all the time that the guys started calling me “The German.”"

"I always have to overdo everything. I have zero chill. You always said that."

"The pitch is the only place that I feel at home anymore. It’s the place where I feel calm, and I can speak to you. I just wish you were still here so I could tell you….. We did it."

"Everything you said came true."

"We’re leaving for the World Cup tomorrow. For real. Your brother is going to play for Côte d'Ivoire, like Drogba, like Yaya, like Gervinho."

"I don’t even look at it like a game. I look at it like a stage. This is my chance to show the whole world what you saw in me. Every time I score, I’ll make sure everybody knows your name. I’ll make sure they don’t forget you."

"You always said that I could be better than Cristiano. If I see him there, I’ll tell him hello for you."

"I’m going to do what you predicted, I swear. Before I even had real boots, you were telling everybody, “My brother is going to be the greatest in the world.”

"I will prove that you were right, or I will die trying... Your brother, Yan."

— @PlayersTribune

Relax man. You are talking of a Messi, how many Messis' do we have. Those are outlier

Goke7:
I think we push out our very best out of the national team too early especially when they mess up in a particular game.

From what am seeing from many nations in the World Cup, I think we should keep players like Iwobi, Lookman, Ndidi, Oshimen for as long as their legs continue to carry them. In fact if iheanacho can be sneaked in again I don’t mind, does it hinder new younger players? I don’t think so as you need so much of experience in tournaments. If they are even on the bench fine.

For the argeis , I think quarter finals is gonna be their best

Sugarboyy:
You don't know this Argentina squad. They played Algeria like they were training for when the WC will really commence. In the last WC they lost their opening game to Saudi Arabia don't forget. They still have demons Martinez, Romero, Otamendi and De Paul that are always ready to fight to the last minute when this WC progresses and Enzo Fernandez, Alvarez and Mac Allister have come of age, and not forgetting the ever present goal keeper

Semis wouldnt be bad

Mujtahida:
They are crashing out. Wait and see

The boys look young enough to the eyes to easily pass MRI test. But they need to feed them to bulk up and develop more muscles.

SolaFide:
Nigeria's U17 team camp is bubbling with young, talented players.

The opening games of big teams define their character. Argentina lost its opening game against Saudi Arabia at the last world cup yet went on to win the tournament. Spain lost its opening game in 2010 to Switzerland and still won the tournament. We càn go on and on in history to see this pattern. If there is one side that is capable of adjusting itself and reinventing itself, it's easily the Spanish team with it's given quality.

Mujtahida:
You can only play the opponent that is in front of you. Spain no sabi play ball. All that sleek and endless passing is not football jare

If they played 9 out of 10 times , Spain will win. That one time Spain wouldn't win is what we call luck. Will u dare stick your neck out tomorrow for Cape Verde to get a draw again, now that the Spanish side recognizes their opponent better? I bet you'd almost not.

realpoacher:
I repeat, it's not luck.

Luck has always been a part of any football match, it doesn't matter whether you win 7-0 or you drew. Its a constant k... So it doesn't count.


Also in football, you can always create your own luck, it's what we know too. And when you do, its no longer called luck..... It will be called Strategy.



Cape Verde created their own luck for this draw...

Give them their flowers and stop calling it "Luck"

And how many did Chile concede against them ?

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.

We shouldn't be fooled by the score line. We were the luckier team. And it was a deserved victory for the Portuguese...

He actually knows and mentioned our 4 biggest players. Osimhén , lookman, Bassey and Iwobi

TheSuperNerd:
Portugal Coach, Roberto Martinez speaks in yesterday's Press conference ahead of the Nigeria game today...

🚨 🗣️ “I love the way Nigeria played against Poland and I love the ideas of the coach…”

— 🇵🇹 Portugal coach Roberto Martinez ahead of tonight’s game. pic.twitter.com/0r3KqopbiR

— GNB (@GHNaijaBallers) June 10, 2026

Lol. We've lost two prodigies who were accused of rape by their Scandinavian women . Their playing career have suffered significant damage. Toro- kobo way dem suppose dey send to family for Nigeria , dem dey use am pay lawyers

Goke7:
Make Una nice small na 😂

With the way he is sounding innocent and excited, he should be focused and careful about their women. He should wisen up . If kasala burst, white man no dey understand kinikan kinikan

[quote author=BankyGee post=139658981]😂😂😂

😅🇳🇬🇸🇪 𝗪𝗛𝗘𝗡 Sodiq Lawal signed for Kalmar FF in Sweden from Nigeria and gave his first interview. As you listen may you be blessed!

“Kinikan kinikan” 😂
If e reach your turn no represent your tribe for Europe! 😂 pic.twitter.com/fxdgljLTp6

— Banky G 🎤⚽ (@BankyGee_) April 23, 2026

]

mekabuachi:
I strongly doubt if South Africa can win any games at the WC... If you can't win Jamaica, then who you won win?💀

The world cup is usually a different ball game. Forget about all this friendly matches.

Exactly, that was the save Enyeama made in 2002 world cup against England's Paul scholes ...this is where Enyeama is better than Okoye. He could have done better. I feel Okoye will always improve. Look after the Tunisian blunder, he has proven himself greatly in his league. In the game today he made two massive saves . There are little pockets of spaces in terms of improvement for hím to fill. I believe we've made a good choice and it's left to the newly added goalkeeper to make a name for himself

minfelix:
Na save wey Enyeama use retire Ike Shorunmu b that oo….
Okoye is an amazing goalkeeper, but somehow somehow sand dey always pour for him garri🤣🤣…
Even that game against Tunisia at afcon 2021…He made one sweet save like that, but that samd dey always find him garri….
Another thing again i will blame the players around that position to have allowed that polish guy to pick a spot to shoot

This is the quickest damage control game here. Osimhen is really leaving Gala. Chelle is not a child, Chelle was sure he was working on leaving . And this has actually not been taken well by gala fans. If he was not going to leave ....this line will have been in the statement he issued..'my heart and soul remains with gala, blah blah ' he has not stated this emotional line because as it is, it is not what it is . He has rather stated his future commitment to Chelle's Nigerian team.

opes:
Osimhen has responded

Cape Verde 3-0 Serbia
A big result for the little west African island.

Poland 0-2 Ukraine
Our next match opponent lost to their neighbour. They will definitely want to make up for the loss in their next match . It is up to us to further drill that stake into their hearts.

Definitely

TheSuperNerd:
The end of the 2026 summer window will reveal if this is all lies or all true or with some twist in between.

We will have the strong benefit of hindsight come September 2nd, 2026.

Nope, he might want to leave ..but having Chelle say ít might have caused an uproar and panic amongst Galatasaray fans, hence the damage control by on his X-Men influencer

Amedino99:
This is an even bigger indictment on him if true. So he is not in the process of changing club but he just decided to pick the match to play. Not looking good at all

If his British passport allows him to make the trip, that's fine. It cost us nothing to have him in and gain some experience for himself. What he makes of that experience is up to him. England will have nwaneri as well as Rio join their team to train. Let's have someone whose heart is with us as well train with the first team. I hope whatever he learns from that experience can help define his career and build his confidence in future.

ChrisKels:
So, a so called Owen Oseni that could not even get up to 10minutes of action in the unity cup is listed as one of the players to prosecute our matches against Portugal and Poland?

SymphonyRad:
Alhassan Yusuf doesn't get enough credit for how good and composed he is, Onyedika gets all the hype but I think Alhassan is the better player tbh

This is a very good observation. For someone who now plies his trade in the USA. He clearly is the better player in midfield

It was Olisah Ndah back when he was in Orlando Pirates. Before his long spell with injury

Papi85:
the way una observe Bassey, even many saying Tanimu was better than him 🤣😁

This story is very true. Olise even posted the freekick goal Daniel Akpeyi conceded in the hands of Mahrez. He will later delete the post but it was well known. I guess he was younger back then and a bit immature or insensitive.

ChrisKels:
Olise never wanted the super eagles. His choices were France and Algeria. The NFF went all out for him and he said no. If Algeria had put in the type of effort the NFF put in, Algeria would have bagged him. Dude was even celebrating Algeria's win over Nigeria in 2019. Don't let the name "Olise" deceive you, that boy doesn't identify with anything Nigeria.

Truidstarr:
After Paris St-Germain’s masterclass a day earlier, the quality portrayed by Bayern Munich and Real Madrid further mocked any notion that the Premier League is currently Europe’s best.

Premier league still tops all this league. It's the CL , who else can France and Germany boast of than this single teams who occasionally do well when the big English sides numbering four , fails to perform. Have you not seen Aston villa, Forrest who defeated Porto in the Europa league. It still says a lot that the quality of England is above the rest.

You are right.

Goke7:
This is a friendly bro the coach has achieved what he wants with these games we have seen what other players who are not regulars can bring to the table and that’s what it’s all about

Same NFF gave us this Chelle . They didn't deny us this one.

minfelix:
NFF really denied us of so many things meehn…especially not qualifying for the world cup…Chelle would have swept pass that group, maybe with just an exception of drawing only SA in their potato bloemfontein..
If he had started that qualifiers

I think his shot stint coaching one of those Arab cluside in Algeria opened his eyes to the inner workings , style , system and mindset the Arabs play with.

minfelix:
Chelle no wan use eyes see anything arabic…
Algeria
Tunisia
Egypt
Iran
Jordan

if not for that stupid Ghanaian ref, Morocco for chop am for afcon

Don't mind all this assumption permutations

mank1234:
That means Argentina own is in the gutters as they played Mauritania this FIFA window.

And guess what the result was?

Assuming assuming....since we are assuming, let's also assume south Africa will see us cut that lead and beat Zimbabwe too instead of playing the draw. We lost out, square and fair. Forget assumptions

Damioduso1:
The draw against Zimbabwe in the word cup qualifiers in uyo cast host the world cup ticket South Africa finish 1 point ahead of the super eagles of Nigeria



Assuming we won that game the super eagles will finish on 20 point and South Africa will finish 18 point

The ongoing war in the middle east is sort of mental. Qatar and the UAE cancelled theír friendlies. But two main protagonists, Israel and Iran have refused to cancel theirs .

I remember this period, because everytime lille played I will be looking at live scores hoping Enyeama doesn't concede. His 11 games consecutive çleansheets run made him second in all time league 1 consecutive cleansheet run. His later deputy and ríval goalkeeper in lille is now current french and AC Milan number one shot stopper mike maignan

TheSuperNerd:
Throwback Thursday: Vincent Enyeama, 🇳🇬 G.O
A.T. GK


Do you know former Super Eagles goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama still holds the record for the most clean sheets in a single Ligue 1 season?

In 2013/14 season, he kept 21 clean sheets for Lille. He also kept 11 consecutive clean sheets, lasting 1,062 minutes 🇳🇬🧤

Note, it was also a 20-team ligue 1 and 38 games season. So na full package season. Lille finished 3rd on the table that season.

https://x.com/i/status/2035999412774748272