₦airaland Forum

Kog45:
Goals don dey enter now but na goal celebration is the issue abi...

I tell you oo. Too much excitement.

WarHammer2000:
One reason why the Tshabalala goal has stuck so well in people's memories and become so iconic is the choreographed celebration that followed it.

These little things are what give life to tournaments.

But don't forget that some iconic celebrations are iconic because they happened once - Rashidi holding the net, Finidi's dog piss, Amokachi's makossa dance etc

WarHammer2000:
Not cinematic enough. You barely even notice him doing that in the midst of his chaotic celebrations. The cameras don't pay special attention to it either.

Maybe if he took it off in a unique ceremonious way, it would bang. Something like The Undertaker taking off his hat when he enters the ring.....you get the point.

But the commentators almost always say the mask is off whenever he scores.

I understand your point but he doesn't care about it, so be it. He's already got a brand. One man cannot have everything.

daveP:
Morocco loves to foul. Will be key to make them commit in their final 3rd the most. Means Chuks is needed in that game. Chelle might tweàk to halt predictability. But seeing our pathway, he can hit them at their fragility

Bro, Morocco? You don enter final?

mekabuachi:
Try find work for your client first😂

This is the final straw. I have the instruction of my client to sue but the elders of this thread have pleaded for clemency on your behalf.

comodo:
I have this odd feeling that NG super eagles will win this AFCON.
Ekong will miss out on having AFCON gold medal in his cabinet.

Ekong's retirement on the eve of Afcon was ill timed. He should have waited until after Afcon before retiring.

charlesemeka85:
Everton have an interest in Blackburn Right Back, Ryan Alebiosu. Wolfsburg, Genoa and Sassuolo also hold an interest in the 24 year old Nigerian. Alebiosu however is currently away at AFCON

(Source - @espn )

That boy is good. If he can improve on his defensive abilities, he will go far.

charlesemeka85:
heard his knee requires another surgery and also Bremen wants to terminate his loan with them

The guy is going through a lot and need our prayers this period. I truly feel for him

It's not easy walahi. The way we come hard on these play yers, we forget that they are human like us. We selfishly focus only on the football, not the players.

Idiko1:
It is important to score goals and win a match in football competition. However, the pattern of play lingers in memory. There was nothing to remember about Nigeria/Tunisia match besides Nigeria won. In fact, if the stoppage time was extended beyond noted, Tunisia would have equalized or even won the match. This scenario would have wiped the memory of the match from the mind of many Nigerians.

Your comment is full of would have, would have.

The match is won already. It's the team that loses that takes refuge in what would have been. The victorious team glories in what is.

Nigeria would have defeated Congo if Chukwueze and Ndidi had not bumped into each other.

mekabuachi:
Why does a coach making the CAF best XI, give you "same vibes as second round exit"??👀
When it's literally two different coaches in this scenario?
You dey eye Eric Chelle job Sha so I understand Sha🌝

Be careful with this your last line else you'd be involved serious litigation with my client.

Danielnino00:
Aribo was quite good at it in his early days with the super Eagles

He fell of so bad

Bossoflife25:
I have written it here, Onyedika and Bashiru should always be the two subs in for Onyeka/Ndidi and Iwobi
in a 433 after 65-70minutes They both bring energy, technicalities, and shooting tech.

Bashiru is dangerous. He's a space hunter just like Lookman. You never see them coming.

ChrisKels:
I doubt that.

Lookman

[quote author=chrisooblog post=137981994]Nwabali still understandably feeling the loss of his parents.

These players are at the end of the day still human and deserve grace and empathy.

Remember posting a comment that Stanley was a ticking time bomb which on reflection was harsh.

Yes it's fair to criticize players but insults or abuse shouldn't follow.

Stanley Nwabali; "I almost quit football when my parents died."

This is sad. Footballers are humans as well. 🥲🥲🥲

Nwabali critics should watch this emotional video.
pic.twitter.com/C2EB4TCKZs

— OgaNlaMedia 🇳🇬 (@OgaNlaMedia) December 31, 2025

deserves our support at this time.

yinkeys:
Tolu has scored 2 important goals for Nigeria
Especially when we needed it
You cannot bring on Onuachu when we desperately need a goal & expect him to deliver
Thé goals against Russia away & Rwanda at home were vital
I didn’t see Onuachus work in the EPL
Arokodare has caused serious problems for teams like Arsenal
Onuachu missed one decent clear cut chance in the 1st half against Uganda
When has Onuachu scored or come through when we desperately need a goal for Nigeria
Its the same Boniface argument
Looks like Arokodare has too many haters on this thread, I just speak fact
I don’t even know any of these guys
Arokodare has seemed more lethal for Nigeria than Onuachu
They may have better club achievements but Nigeria is a different ball game
Which club achievement does Sunday Mba have to Obi Mikel, but in that tournament Mba played better than Mikel in the KO rounds
Even if you don’t like Tolu’s personality, this is just the fact
Id rank him ahead of Boniface & Onuachu when it comes to making things happen when we desperately need it
Uganda was a friendly match lol
We already qualified
I hope Onuachu can get more goals in the KO rounds now that we need him & other strikers

What was vital about the goal he scored against Russia in a friendly?

M7even:
Those peeps who always ranked Tolu Arokodare ahead of Paul Onuachu. How fa , how market?

Even when Tolu himself acknowledged that Onuachu was a big shoe to fill in Belgium. Paul at 31 looks slim and fit. Tolu , Dolphin estate boy, butty boy. And he carries himself like mummy's boy.

Paul is a real fighter oo, the team is not playing his style and pattern but he has adjusted. Dare I say , he is a worthy backup to Osimhen

Was Tolu that bad in the game against Congo? I didn't watch the second half. Cos from what I read online, he was horrible chesting ball down for the Congolese to clear.

CapitalCee:
I too like that Cameroon wey de go meet. The match go hard them eeeh

Dem go hear wien. Body go tell those Amapiano boys.

CapitalCee:
But you addded Morocco who last wom AFCON 40 years ago and has been to less WC than Tunisia. Im African Football Tunisia is more of a power house than Morocco and Senegal.

The real Power House in African football are Cameroon, Egypt, Nigeria, Ghana Tunisia and Algeria

Remove Ghana. They won 4 Afcon when the tournament was hosting 8 teams. In fact I'm thinking of petitioning CAF to withdraw two of their titles.

Joebie:
How we wan take revenge na? I go prefer them.

Not now. If we meet then now, dem fit knack us again oo, which will be more painful

do4luv14:
Dey play me wey be Omo jesu 😁😁

Buh that's what we usually do growing up in the 80/99s while playing street football,

I had had injuries deep enough to invite catanus ( ahbi weytin dey dey call am again )
To prevent such from happening, and to make it heal on time, my popsi go carry spoon and red oil put for fire heat am gbam, naso 3 people go hold me down, e go use am dey the injury 😁😁😁

You wan fry our latest innit boy leg abi

minfelix:
they are very very huge…they are just silently breezing past opponents conceding only 1goal in the group stage

Them torture Benjamin that day. If not for his
Immense quality, the DRC players would have made a mince meat of him.

Please whoever has assess to Uzoho should tell him to continue to be calm. I liked his composure yesterday.

I hate it when a player is shaky or panicky
It affects my enjoyment of the match.

Dem score you, dem score you. No need being panicky. That's one quality Stanley has that I love so much. He's very calm unfortunately arrogance, carelessness and rash mindedness make Nwabali come dey jogodo

charlesemeka85:
playing such teams against Onyeka na die wey dey

But this one everybody dey hype DRC na so dem don good?

Baba, those guys good oo
They are big, strong, skillful, fit and swift. They went toe to toe with Senegal.

CornOak:
Tiki-taka.

Bia take ya time 😂😂

charlesemeka85:
exactly, the likes of Ogbu, Fisayo, Alebiosu, Nnadi, Akor, Fredrick Chiemela, Akinsanmiro, Chrisantus plus those that are yet to be uncapped like Nwaiwu, Dennis Anthony, Seriki, Azeez, Otele etc the future looks bright and well taken care of

It’s left for the NFF to get the administration aspect right

It's good that we are quickly blending the old and new guys so that transition will be smooth and seamless.

charlesemeka85:
Onyeka is a must in our starting 11 especially if the team is facing a tough and superior opposition

Bobo na tank wey fit run 120 mins harassing opponent’s midfield and attackers

Imagine DRC or Cameroun without Onyeka.

But how come Europeans and South American teams dey knack all these gidigbo African teams wetin no good for world cup?

WarHammer2000:
Since the Egypt friendly, I've been calling for Onuachu to start alongside Osimhen in attack instead of Akor.

Onuachu brings superb holdup play and ball distribution and being a big target man, draws defenders to himself thereby taking pressure off Osimhen.

His aerial threat also means defenders can't concentrate only on Osimhen during corners/ indirect free kicks.

I hope Chelle will listen to me now.

I hope not.

minfelix:
The winner of Algeria vs DRC will face Nigeria if we advance to the quarterfinals…..guys if DRC beat Algeria and advance omo na em b say DRC is a menace oo…

The way I dey fear that DRC, I no even fear Brazil like that.

Bro, you don check those guys body? All of them thick like our 94 Eagles. Abeg make Algeria win them oo.

Do you guys not see that like a snake moulting Nigeria is imperceptibly getting it's next generation of players?

A new team is being created right in front of us!

TheSuperNerd:
Onyeka or Onyedika: KOs football, Chelle's choice

Now to be honest, a midfield 3 of Onyedika, Ndidi, Iwobi should give us more control and extra passing class in the middle. I believe it will free up Ndidi a bit to be the roaming battering midfielder who can tackle and also drive forward while Onyedika sits deep to orchestrate and allows Iwobi to play oftentimes closer to the final third to do damage more frequently.

Building up with Onyedika at the base, Iwobi at LCM and Ndidi doublepivoting and RCMing seems a bit more balanced to me with Onyeka coming in later to shore up things if need be, tactically.

I would prefer it and drop Onyeka but then the chemistry Onyeka has with Ndidi and Iwobi is key as well. Onyedika has not exactly started a lot of competitive games alongside those latter 2 and I think this alone would make Chelle stick to the midfield 3 he started with vs Tunisia.

Also, Onyeka is a harder worker than Onyedika but Onyedika excels at keeping things simpler and tidier than Onyeka.

Onyeka is a hustler while Onyedika is a metronome.

Onyeka covers more ground than Onyedika but
Onyedika has better positional intelligence than Onyeka.

Onyeka is a combatant and will roam to snuff out danger while Onyedika reads the game to cut out passing lanes.

Both Onyeka and Onyedika are good at arriving late into the box to ball strike. So we can be rest assured this quality will be present if we drop one and start the other.

So this is a choice for Chelle.

Onyeka's Grit, Power and relentlessness or Onyedika's calm, poise and control. Both are Solid defensively but have their distinct strengths.

And truthfully, Onyeka edges on Team Chemistry metrices for now.

Omo, good analysis. But you see that Frank the Tank ehn, he's just suitable because of his bustling energy. There's a way he keeps us buzzing not with sleekness or poise. He's a real bull in that midfield scattering and charging about.

I enjoyed Onyedika tremendously yesterday and I'm torn between him and Onyeka but Onyeka takes it. Ndidi should not be playing full time. Onyedika should take some of Ndidi's time.

kennysville:
Unfortunately, it doesn't work like that, especially for a team that is gunning for glory. And that is the real genesis of our Super eagles football woes. SELFISHNESS!!!! Not forgetting that Osimhen misses 6 chances to score 2. I'd take an Afcon title over top scorer award that put Yekini in trouble with his team mates

Many players of the 94 set have come out to dispel the notion that there was beef with Yekini. Yekini was just a quiet man.

Go on YouTube and watch the interview Amokachi had with Emma Babayaro. I think Oliseh too has spoken about it.

TheSuperNerd:
Do you know that all of Raphael Onyedika's 3 goals for Nigeria have come from only 3 competitive starts and that all 3 were assisted by one man, Samuel Chukwueze?

Yes. Chukwueze assisted Onyedika in that WCQs game vs Benin that saw us lose 2-1 under Finidi's tutelage.



Also, Onyedika has 8 Super Eagles Starts from 19 caps counting the Egypt friendly just before Morocco 2025.

Only 3 are competitive starts. The other 5 starts are friendlies.

They should allow him to play more at least sub Ndidi when we are winning. For him to have this number of goals with so few caps, means he's very productive.

We have three midfielders who can give us goals randomly
Onyeka
Bashiru
Onyedika.

Since Alex was pushed deep, he's not been scoring but I see him scoring if he's allowed to play just in front of the DMs.