₦airaland Forum

lol, this time they actually foul Ronaldo and their is no call this ref has no clue.

8 minutes and two dives by Cristiano Ronaldo = two fouls + 1 yellow card

Terribly one-sided refereeing so far. The ball just left the field of play in the Cote d'Ivoire side and the linesman pretends not to see it.

The Tipster was not only wrong today. I've checked. He missed a whole lot of predictions.

Huge news for Senegal! It adds to the already hot young lineup that Senegal has. In 4 years time Senegal could be as strong as Cote d'Ivoire is now.

Aly Cissokho is among the 5 best leftbacks in the world. Problem is the 3 of those 5 already play for France (Abidal, Evra, Clichy).

http://www.goal.com/en/news/1863/world-cup-2010/2010/06/15/1977730/world-cup-2010-aly-cissokho-ready-to-quit-france-for-senegal/comments

Liar liar.

It's 1:0. Slovakia couldn't score their second if they had an empty goal in front of them.

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LOLOLOLOLOLO!!!!

New Zealand score with the last action of the game!

1:1

Slovakia not looking that bad at the moment. Nothing good, but not bad. Still wouldn't bet a nickle on them to progress,

Wow, just so surprised someone managed to score,

Terrible marking IMHO.

Both sides should get thrashed by Paraguay and Italy,

BTW: Been working during the match. Can't remember the last time a game motivated me to work.

Wow, if that is 'piling the pressure' than how would you call Italy against Paraguay yesterday? Slovakia had one shot on goal and the only pressure that the New Zealand keeper had was the pressure he creating himself.

But I must admit it's a great game! My mother had a bad night, but this match had her go to sleep better than any sleeping pill.

Two worst teams of the competition. More boring game than Algeria-Slovenia and Cameroon-Japan. Whoever said this dire Slovakian squad would thrash New Zealand needs some reality pills.

I actually initially was head over heels about Le Guen. Does anyone remember the first 4 qualifiers under Le Guen? Cameroon played beautiful, scintillating football. I.e. their game against Morocco was just perfect - total control and almost German like efficiency in creating chances.

But it's been all bad since the African Cup of Nations. Hopefully they'll pick up like they did after the Gabon game and still progress. It's still very likely:
Holland wins over Japan and guarantees themselves the second round. Cameroon win over Denmark. Denmark win over Japan and than goal difference will count as to who progresses.

RuuDie:
First of all Cameroon should be playing with two strikers up front and 4 men in midfield. They lost the game in midfield with the three DMs packed so close together that they had no room for manouveur. They really should have played wider out. Up front they will do better if they have two strikers closely working with each other in Eto'o and Webo or Choupo Moting.

No matter how mediocre Alex Song plays he ALWAYS brings stability to the midfield. Cameroon CAN NOT play WITHOUT Song. And it's been like that since 2008. Dropping him to the bench is unfathomable.

Eto'o does play on the wing for club, but at Barca he was mainly a pushed up striker and that's when he worked best. He is second to none in offside traps and running down the man. In order to do that you need to be closer to the center. On his right wing Eto'o can't lead the team,  he would even do much better as a '10'. And I think we can all agree that whilst playing rightwing at Inter he has not been a match winner. But notice that almost every time he is played up front he scores goals!

You say Emana is a forward and not a midfielder. But you are wrong. He is a midfielder and has always been a midfielder. He is almost never played as a striker for club in 10 years of club football. He is a typical '10' that is played just behind the strikers. I understand people mistake him for a striker, because he scores so many goals for his club, but he does that from an attacking midfielder position.

Makoun is a box-to-box midfielder and is better played higher up. He is not and never should be played as the deep defensive midfielder.

N'guemo is an central midfielder often played as defensive midfielder, but he does just fine played higher up and has enough creativity to create chances.

Geremi - lack of creativity I'm sorry, but I believe Cameroon started going downhill under Le Guen the moment he benched Geremi, who is the king of creativity, a great winger and decent right back. Also he may not be the paciest RB, but he still has some impressive legs.

You could also add that one of the most creative midfielders in the Cameroon squad is Stephane Mbia, who has been playing as a CB all season long for OM. Still the moment he pushed up and went in midfield he had Cameroon's best chance on goal.

I agree that Cameroon lack in creativity, but that's why Geremi, Emana, Eto'o and Song SHOULD ALWAYS START! Because THEY ARE CREATIVE. The problem with Cameroon is not that they lack talent - almost every single player on the Cameroonian bench is extremely talented. Problem is that there are too few players which you could call 'gamechangers' (Geremi, Eto'o, Assou-Ekotto and Emana for now) and that too many players in midfield are just too similar to each other - it's hard to differentiate one midfielder from another.

The Italians (unlike the Cameroonian) improved significantly after the break.

Still the Italians should have been down to 9 men, they must be the dirtiest footballers in the world and all the stereotypes about them are true.

Don't know if it makes Cameroon feel any better, but Italy has played just as badly as they did against Japan The even lost the goal about the same time. Absolutely no creativity or clue in the final third for Italy. Did they even have a shot on goal?

So far the only games that were any good at this World Cup were RSA - Mexico, Nigeria - Argentina, Ghana - Serbia and Germany - Australia. Today's matches have all been terrible.

I would really blame the coach for how badly Cameroon played:

PAUL LE GUEN'S 'S GUIDE
HOW TO LOSE A GAME AS CAMEROON'S COACH WITH JAPAN IN AFRICA:

1. Bench Africa's best keeper, who can pull off the spectacular save. Replace him with a keeper who managed to let in 4 cheap goals (a cheap penalty inclusive) in your previous friendly.

2. Try out 10 variations of your defensive line - inclusive of testing 10 players in your right back position - and than play a new one when the world cup starts. All because your most trusted and creative right back made one very silly mistake in one game.

3. Play three defensive/holding midfielders with the most offensive of them (Makoun) played the deepest.

4. While playing three defensive midfielders have your best defensive midfielder sit out the whole match on the bench.

5. Play a 18 year old defender with 2 caps (Joel Matip) as your creative midfielder, whilst you have at least two quality attacking midfielders to choose from on the bench.

6. Play with absolutely no creative midfielders. Especially your star creative midfielder (Emana).

7. Play your star striker as a right winger.

8. Knowing you are extremely low on quality in the attack department (apart from your star striker) play three strikers.

9. When 1:0 down at the break after a terrible half by your team against a side you are expected to win with wait until the 60th minute to make a substitute. Then wait until the 75 minute to 'change the game'.

10. Wait until the 85th minute to tell your players to shoot from distance.

Did I miss anything?

I don't know why people are thrashing Nigeria. Nigeria played a very decent game against Argentina. It's not like Nigeria were favourites for any result, but they were inches away from grabbing a draw.

And the played miles better creatively than Cameroon did. And were much better in every aspect of the game than Cameroon. Nigeria still look good for the second spot.

Cameroon - I have never seen them play so badly. It's much worse than at the African Cup of Nations.

The ref is very suspect. He seems to be very lenient towards the English team and their tackling.

Look on the bright side, they had Messi, Higuain, Milito, Tevez, di Maria on the field and none of them could score against Nigeria. It took a defender to break down the Nigerians

BTW: Enyeama was chosen MOTM.

Great change - Masilela for Thwala (who has had a terrible game).

sulad82i: Have no idea about the rules of football or a Mexican fan? Clear offside and it isn't even debatable.

Only a bunch of people knowing nothing about football or of Mexicans fans would ever see that as a goal, correctly offside.

Goal.com with a piece of journalistic rascism.

http://www.goal.com/en/news/1863/world-cup-2010/2010/06/10/1968576/breaking-news-two-british-tourists-and-21-others-injured-in

LEAD:
Two British Tourists Dead And 21 Others Injured In South African Coach Crash

CONNECTION WITH WORLD CUP:
Not Football Fans, Say Authorities. The students were not planning on taking in any World Cup games.

Were this in Japan or in Germany do you think goal.com would have even reported about it?

Yeah. I messed up on the 'fast' thing, wanted to write something different and messed it up (one is slow, the other is unreliable).

My rundown of the game:
NIGERIA - ARGENTINA
12.05.2010 - 16:00

One of two big matches on Saturday (the second being USA vs England). I expect a shock in at least one game.

Argentina first XI has supposedly leaked and I must say it looks relatively good for Nigeria. Their are no surprises up front - we all know that whatever Maradona does the attack formation will kick ass - Messi, Tevez, Higuain backed by di Maria and the somewhat slow but still creative Veron. That said the back four is looking extremely vulnerable from fast strikers that Nigeria do possess in abundancy. The back four is to be guarded by an out of form Mascherano, who can be a penalty or red-card liability. Apart from superb (possibly best defender in the world?) Samuel we have a decent right back in Gutierrez, who will however expose the back due to his forward runs (albeit even if he is their at the back he doesn't give a lot of good cover defensively), as well as the incomprehensibly slow Demichelis and the slight faster Heinze at left-back. Heinze is decent defensively, but is often unable to cope with the pacier wingers and strikers. Teaming up with Demichelis it is an opportunity begging to be used. Taking that into account a fast winger on the right can and probably will break through on more than one occasion giving Nigeria opportunities to score.

But that's about as good as it gets for Nigeria. I can't see the Nigerian defence cope with Argentina anywhere on the field - be it through the middle or from the wings. That said they will probably outmuscle the Argentinians from setpieces (if they are able to take out Higuain) and most of Argentine's opportunities will probably come from open play.

The loss of Obi Mikel is especially hurtful in this opening game, as he is reliable as a DM and would offer significant hope of disrupting the flow of the Argentine midfield. The backups in Etuhu or Kaita are decent, but I don't see them performing against Messi,

The back four is another issue of contention. Their leftback Taye Taiwo is arguably the only world class player in the squad, but he has been dire for his country and nowhere near the defensive stallwart he has been for years for Marseille. If he ups his game and the defensive midfielders fill in for him properly when he does his forward runs he could minimalize the threat from Gutierrez and maybe put some dent into Messi's confidence. Doubtful, but one can always hope. Chidi Odiah is good, but again nothing that will frighten players like di Maria and expect Odiah to be left dumbfounded more than once. That leaves the center two - a two that have to be strong, fast and reliable. All Nigerian defenders are definitely strong, but the other two characteristics are not in Shittu's or Yobo's list of strengths. Adeleye and Afolabi could possibly fit the needs perfectly - Adeleye was great as a defender at the Olympics, whilst Afolabi has been a reliable defender for years, Somehow I don't believe Lagerback will bench Yobo, so the back four will have more leaks than necessary.

That leaves us with the strike force, Martins, Yakubu, Kalu Uche, Obasi, Obinna, Odemwingie and Utaka looks quite impressive, but when you realize that all of Nigeria's strikers together have scored about as much goals at their clubs this season as Lionel Messi it stops looking as good. Odemwingie will probably remain Nigeria's main threat, especially since his speed and trickiness will focus on the right side of the field inhabited by Heinze and Demichelis.

Interestingly the topscorer at clublevel in the Nigerian squad this season is, Vincent Enyeama, the Nigerian goalkeeper who has 9 goals to his name. Equally impressive is Rabiu Afolabi (DF) with 5 goals. Goal count for the Nigerian forwards: John Utaka - 1 goal, Yakubu - 5 goals, Kalu Uche - 9 goals, Obafemi Martins - 6 goals, Peter Odemwingie - 4 goals, Chinedu Obasi - 7 goals.

Now, Nigeria has a history of showing up at big games against big teams. They don't always win them, but they perform admirably and their loss is usually a minimal one. They managed the upset of the tournament back in 1998, when they outplayed Spain in the opener. That said the squad in 1998 had way more talent and creativity. Somehow I don't see players of the same calibre in this Nigeria squad and unfortunately it seems that Nigeria has gone downhill since 1998.

Even though the above unless Taiwo scores a hattrick of long distance left-footed megagoals and Haruna turns out to be a prodigy Nigeria still looks to be toast. They may find some comfort in the defensive line of Argentina being much weaker than it could be, but when the shots come pouring in I doubt the Nigerians will find any consolation in this.

Nigeria's hopes remain in Maradona really being as crap a coach as he is made out to be. I'm still keeping my fingers crossed for Nigeria to make a case for Cambiasso's, Banega's and Zanetti's inclusion to the Argentine world cup squad, but won't be betting my money of the Super Eagles.

One must also take into account that the game is being refereed by Wolfgang Stark, who has a long history of being lenient towards favourites
and harsh towards contenders, which means the uphill battle for Nigeria is even more uphill.

PREDICTION: High scoring entertaining game ending 4:2 for the Argentines.

Fact: A prediction is never a fact. It's the opposite of a fact.

I'm sorry, but there was a time when George Finidi was generally held as one of the best, if not the best, wingers in the world. I remember back in the day Eurosport had this series where football experts around Europe chose the best players in certain positions and Finidi had a landslide victory as a winger.

Anyone stating that Finidi was not one of the greatest wingers of his time just doesn't know anything.,

I must admit that this Nigeria team is very lacklustre in comparison not only with the Nigeria team of the 90s but also in comparison with other African teams going to the World Cup. With all respect to Lukman Haruna - Haruna is probably going to be Nigeria's key player, now please compare him to Okocha, Finidi, Amunike, Oliseh and others, or Kwadwo Asamoah, Alex Song, Achille Emana, Yaya Toure, Didier Zokora, Karim Ziani or Steven Pienaar from other African sides.

apam, yobo and elderson? and who exactly is supposed to defend? besides Apam is Nigeria's best defender.

Was it just me but I felt that Suswan was by far the best player for Nigeria. He was sure defensively and provided some great movement up front. As far as I'm concerned he was the only Nigerian player that did exceptionally well and I hope he gets to the final 23. Makes you think that the coach should have invited more players from the local league.

One thing is for sure:
Lagerback >>>>>> Maradona

And no one noticed but Maradona took his own Papilo:
Palermo is going and will likely play.

But you guys are aware that Argentina's killer attack force:
a) Will not be able to play together at once with probably 2 featuring at once;
b) Scored a measly 23 goals in qualifying for the World Cup in 18 games while losing 20 in the process,

The defence line does how ever look very ordinary with only Samuel a standout. The team is very much strong in attack, but the defensive lines are nothing special. Even moreso that Mascherano has had a pathetic season at Liverpool.

Players like Demichelis are liabilities worse than Yobo,

I agree with Gekko. If Haruna doesn't make the starting line-up than we could have just as well sent Amodu to the World Cup, I believe Eriksson was supposed to introduce change, and change has to start in the midfield.

Afolabi is also unlikely to be dropped. And Haruna is the only proper midfield Nigeria has.