₦airaland Forum

^^^
like some people say. . . .God is a Nigerian

i'm finding it difficult to get to the Fantasy website thru the provided links . . .
is it just me, or it,s a general palava?

in that 2nd pic . . .he looks like a Grandfather giving his Grandson some advise.

the Confederation Cup went well despite the annoying sound of the vuvu-blabla
the WC won't be different, so i won't go mute.

mbulela:
.

No be me talk am o, na Sarah Winterburn

who the Bleep is she?

Danny Shittu in defense?

that's gonna be disastrous

JOE COLE TO ARSENAL?


http://www.goal.com/en-us/news/85/england/2010/06/10/1968028/exclusive-joe-cole-has-signed-a-contract-to-join-arsenal

Italy arrive to defend World Cup title

JOHANNESBURG — Reigning champions Italy arrived in South Africa on Wednesday to defend their crown after tournament favourites Spain showed off their firepower as they scored six times in their final warm-up game.

Coach Marcello Lippi's Italian squad, which includes nine of the players in the squad which triumphed four years ago in Germany, were guarded by dozens of police after their plane touched down at Johannesburg airport.

They headed off to the Leriba Golf Lodge, just outside Pretoria, to prepare for their opening Group F match against Paraguay in Cape Town on Monday.

The Italians' arrival ups the tempo two days before Friday's big kickoff when the host nation take on Mexico in front of 90,000 spectators -- including former president Nelson Mandela -- at Johannesburg's Soccer City stadium.

Italy have rarely shone since their triumph against France in the 2006 final in Berlin, but the country's football federation chief Giancarlo Abete insisted it would be a mistake to write off Lippi's squad.

"Italy are world champions, that should not be forgotten but you cannot deny that other teams have done better than us in the last few years," Abete said on the plane to South Africa.

"For everyone the favourites are Brazil, Spain, Argentina and England, but we've got great belief.

"For Italy we're talking about tradition and in big competitions our strengths show through."

But history is against the Italians -- no country has won back-to-back World Cups since Brazil in 1962.

Lippi has already lost key man Andrea Pirlo to a calf strain for the Paraguay game and the playmaker faces a race against time to be involved in any of the group games.

mukina2:
spot on Mbulela.

The Italians have a very easy group

its like they fixed it, nothing's impossible in mafia land

I wish Slovakia and Paraguay upsets them , cuz they will seriously deal with New Zealand,

Italy might come out of this group in 2nd place
i've got a gut feeling about that

New Zealand are going to find it very difficult in this group
the other teams will very likely earn 3 sure points off them.

dayokanu:
^^ I think Bendtner deserves it or Silvestre

Ibime:
Shweinsteiger contract was due to expire this summer, but the punk went and signed new contract last November. He should have done a JC so we could have copped him on a free. £25m is not excessive by todays standards, but its excessive by previous standards. I think we should wait out this bubble in the transfer market. Prices will crash eventually. . . . and they will definitely crash in 2 years time when Platini financial rules come into play. . . . in the meantime, lets look for quality but cheap players. . . . if Schweini is worth £25m, then why not buy out Gourcuff contract for £21m?

i like that idea a lot

^^^that's very easy for you to say
i can see that your pepper is well rested

aaah, finally!!!
we have some space to fill with quality players.

v3:
News coming-in

Joe Cole and Ballack have been released by Chelsea

To : Monsieur Prof Miser Arsene Wenger

Could you PLEASE see to it that BOTH players are secured whilst they still fresh out the pan and are FREE agents?

Thank you

you want Ballack in your team?

please somebody should pinch me. . . .i'm dreaming

if you give an artist just one colour, he'll do the best he can with it and give you a masterpiece
Adidas don't know sh'it about art. you you can't blame them

oisehumen:
How do u define an average man or who is an average man in Nigeria?

a man who earns N30, 000 a month . . .or there about, i think
maybe i'm wrong, i ain't into economics.

oisehumen:
Let's even get the facts straight please.
What are they criteria used to determine the most expensive city in Nigeria anyway?

Is it in terms of accommodation, transportation, feeding or per capital income summarily?

it depends on how expensive the basic necessities can be for the average man.
and from the way i see things down here, the average man is not complaining.

transportation costs are only high in PH when there is Petrol scarcity, once the price of Petrol  normalizes, the prices return back to normal. but the Taxi drivers have unions who fix/increase these prices from time to time, and those guys are greedy basterds.

Accommodation is not that bad, compared to Abuja, PH residences are  quite affordable, except you wanna stay in GRA, or the newly transformed ''Amadi Flats''  Those are the only places i can think of now which might be above the average man's pocket. . . .Buying Land is another area where the expenditure is abysmal

It is true that some traders believe that everybody driving a jeep is working for Shell, or Total or an Off-shore guru, so they think the money is endless and they try to extort as much as they can.
but when they see a guy who is barely able to keep food in his stomach, they'll know, and won't charge him exorbitantly.  

People only think PH is expensive because we have people who are willing to spend, or to flaunt their wealth.

Kanu wants a world cup goal.

@Jencejyde

I love your patriotism bro . . .i just hope you don't get too disappointed on D'day

ezebaba:
Nigeria has NO chance to beat Argentina. Who will mark Messi? I just hope they can keep the score under 4-0.

do you mind commiting suicide?

Essien, Ballack, Mikel, Drogba?
all out?

and when England plays later today, we might hear ''Joe Cole ruptures this . . .''

or ''Terry's back injury re-occurs''

[size=15pt]Haruna Lukman
[/size]
* Date of Birth: 4 December 1990
* Height: 177 cm
* Shirt number: 15
* Position: Midfielder
* Current club: Monaco (FRA)
* International Caps: 4
* International Goals: [/b]1
* [b]First international: Nigeria - Sudan (09-01-2008)

Club History

* AS Monaco (FRA): From 2008 to 2010
* Crystal FC (NGA): From 2007 to 2008

One of the most precocious gems of Nigerian football, Lukman Haruna burst on to the world scene at the 2007 FIFA U-17 World Cup, where he captained the team to the world title from his central midfield perch. Just as he displayed while assisting the Golden Eaglets earlier win the African championship, Haruna proved to have world-class drive, leadership and dribbling skills. Then a player at domestic club Global Crystal Academy, a number of big clubs began circling Haruna after the finals, and he signed with French club Monaco soon after. Haruna was also on the Nigerian U-20 team that competed last year at the World Cup in Egypt, but a straight red card in the first match meant the tournament was never going to be as special as the U-17s. He came back from suspension just in time to play in the 3-2 second round defeat to Germany, who came from behind twice and scored the winner in the third minute of second half injury time.

Despite missing the start of the season for the U-20 finals, Haruna worked his way into the Monaco first team and was a force to be reckoned with in Ligue 1 this year. The composed 20 year-old burst into the starting line-up the second half of the season, scoring two goals against Montpellier in January in his first start. It was his fine form and ability to push the midfield into attacking positions that made him a late choice for Lars Lagerback.

Mikel was one of the players i wanted to see perform on the world stage
playing at this level requires the sort of mentality which i believed he possesses, considering what he did in Holland 2005.
but risking his long term future for this short term one wouldn't have been a good idea, i believe they will still qualify for 2014 and come back to show themselves to the world.

As for the Nigerian team, i can see some improvement in some departments, although we are still lacking in the left full back position and the Right wing.

It is inevitable that we will be doing more of the defending against Argentina, so having Kaita down the right side of midfield won't be a bad idea. the only problem with Kaita is that he lacks the speed for a counter attack, but the way Nigeria plays, we don't utilize our counter attacks so well.

i think Lagerback will want to go for a draw with Argentina.

and like some one pointed out, there's a possibility of S.Korea causing an upset against the Argies too.

Herbert's warning for group rivals

Ricki Herbert claims FIFA World Cup™ group opponents Slovakia, Italy and Paraguay will underestimate New Zealand at their peril in South Africa.

The All Whites departed for the tournament on Saturday ready for their first taste of the FIFA World Cup since 1982.

After a last-gasp defeat to Australia in Melbourne, a decent build-up in Europe where they beat Serbia 1-0 and battled hard in a 3-1 loss to Slovenia, coach Herbert is left feeling buoyant about their chances.

''I think we're punching above our weight now and it's great. It's consistent. If anybody wants to take us lightly at the World Cup then good luck to them.''
says Ricki Herbert, New Zealand coach

If we can keep the percentage of chances coming and increase the percentages of those hitting the back of the net then it will certainly stand us in good stead."

Friday's defeat in Maribor highlighted areas New Zealand still need to work on - their defensive work at set-pieces and their finishing skills. Slovenia's first two goals came from excellent free-kicks by Milivoje Novakovic, while a goalkeeping blunder by Mark Paston handed Andraz Kirm a simple third.

At the other end the New Zealanders created several opportunities but only had a 20th-minute goal by Rory Fallon to their credit when the final whistle went.

"Whether they were free-kicks or not, and we can argue that, the reality is people at this level are going to punish you. We can do better there," said Herbert.

"We also just need to be much more clinical. We probably had four or five goal-scoring opportunities and we took one of them. If we can keep the percentage of chances coming and increase the percentages of those hitting the back of the net then it will certainly stand us in good stead."

New Zealand have just one training match against Chile - a game that will be played over three 30-minute periods - ahead of their opener against Slovakia on 15 June