₦airaland Forum

It is no longer news that no Nigerian was listed in FIFA’s player awards for the 2014 World Cup players’ achievement award.
However, Nigeria could be compensated in the goals category.
Nigeria conceded 5 goals in total, scoring 3, two of those coming against Argentina from one man, Ahmed Musa.
The CSKA Moscow player’s goal has been included in the Top 10 goals for the tournament.
With the final showdown set to take place between Argentina and Germany, FIFA TV ran a compilation of the best goals so far with Ahmed Musa’s first stunner against Argentina coming fourth just before the final.
The first on the list is Van Persie with the header against Spain in the first game, followed by Australian, Tim Cahill’s half volley strike against the Netherlands and then James Rodriguez of Colombia’s strike against Greece in the first game.
Meanwhile rising reports have it that Ahmed Musa may not be renewing his contract at Russian club CSKA Moscow at the end of the current one.


http://pulse.ng/incoming/goal-king-fifa-lists-musa-goal-against-argentina-in-best-10-of-brazil-2014-id2981479.html?utm_source=&utm_medium=twitter

10 million is not much when u consider the fact dat he gets owed for months and he pays his assistants himself,reportedly.
NFF havent come out to deny that,so we assume its true for now.

coded01: Nigerians and hypocrisy...


When i said this guy don't deserve to be our coach, people shouted "blue murder"... --- Now the guy is greedy!


On a serious note, No coach in this World earns that much but yet our coach wants to take Nigeria as a whole for ransom! For what?

Does he want to sell Nigeria ni?


Who gives a ............. abt him...

Eeeeerm no coach in d world earns that ?.
You kidding right ?

HAH: Greedy man NFF should allow him to go and coach anywhere he want to me their is nmothing tactical about Keshi, infact that Ghanian coach is better than him. The only thing Keshi has is luck.

Moreover Nigeria was helped by the referee to qualify to the second round courtesy of the Bosnian wrongfully disallowed goal, if not we would have gone out at the group stage.

My major problem with Keshi is his ego.

And how do u know if dzeko's goal had been given nigeria wouldnt have qualified ?.

Prowizy2: What is this man feeling like?

He's not a world class coach he should go and sit down, like coach like player.

Like mikel like keshi

He might not be a world class coach(i dont think africa has ever produced a world class coach),but based on his achievements both in africa and on d global stage,he is nigeria's best ever indegenous coach(only westerhof match his achievements)and one of the best ever indegenous coaches in africa.
Even far worse coaches earn more than dat amount keshi is requesting for,
And reportedly he pays his assistants from the little 5 million naira he was earning monthly.And the salary wasnt even paid monthly.
Sometimes he was owed for 6-8 months.
Lager-back as terrible as he was earned far more and NFF never dared to owe him.
So keshi has the right to demand for even more than that amount.

Ashantiking: Bin, what kind of nonsense is this. Non of those guys are Ghanaians. They are Ghanaian descent. There is no difference between those guys and african Americans and other black diaspora except that can pinpoint their exact country of origin. You gonna give these Eba eaters ammo to shoot us.

You get brain.Actually bin is looking for ways to console himself after ghana's terrible showing at d world cup.
Before d world cup,Bin boasted ghana would top their group and reach d semi-finals.
But d exact opposite happened.

I dont get.When people say mikel was d worst 10 at d world cup,do they mean the worst player with the no.10 jersey or the worst 10 in terms of role ?.
Cos the no.10 is just a jersey number.
Mikel didn't play d no.10 role.He was used very deep in a 2-man holding pivot just like d way he is used at chelsea.Players that played the 10 role for nigeria were azeez,babatunde and moses.

xtervaganza: against you in your area 5 a side match Abi?

oga na u no know wetin u dey talk.Mikel had a shot on target at d world cup.And dats a fact.

Quelme: oga, he hasn't won everything there is in football. Get your facts right.

he was talking about club football.
The only thing mikel hasnt won in club football is the uefa super cup .

brownlord1: Just say was in Chelsea, he spent most of his time on the bench bros, there is different between playing for a club and to be in a club with seat belt.

eeeerm that is a big lie.if he spent most of d 8yrs on d bench then i dont think he would have made over 300 appearances.
Aside from last season and d season AVB was in charge,Mikel featured in over 70 percent of chelsea's matches per season and STARTED over 50 percent #FACT.

xtervaganza: The only number 10 without a shot on target at the world cup





Lol




And some mumus still think this guy is good?

Everyone knows mikel had an awful world cup,but that doesnt mean u should post lies.Mikel had a shot on target.

byrron: But the same mikel has played in Chelsea for 8yrs now and under numerous coaches so whats ur point?

Was he suppose to play forever there?
Were is essein , Arjan roben, galas, lasana, balack, deco, luiz etc, were they not sold by chelsea? Didnt they moved on?

Players comes and go but the club remains so what's the senseless rants here all about?

Best comment.dont mind the mumus.
8 yrs at chelsea.Over 300 games.Won everything winnable.
Dont know whether tgey were expecting him to remain at chelsea forever.As if he is the 1st chelsea midfielder to be sold.

freshprincex49: I am sorry but this is the end of Mikel's career. His situation was worsened by his lacklustre world cup performance. If Pirlo and klose could still be banging in goals at their age, Mikel has no exuse for his woeful performance. I guess Mourinho has been vindicated!.......Moses next on the line unless he improves drastically..

is moses a chelsea player ?

Nwakali and iheanacho have only signed pre-contracts because they aren't up to 18 yet.
Can they be sent on loan ?

tbaba1234: Mikel Agu got a serious injury that will keep him out for a while. Maybe second half of the season. http://www.supersport.com/football/nigeria/news/140704/Mikel_Agu_injured

I am interested in where Nwakali and Iheanacho play next season. They have to push for loan moves.

Isaac Success and imoh ezekiel are really the only ones to look up to on your list.

Chuks Aneke, good player now in belgium's top flight. Has real talent, this kid. Future of Nigeria's midfield. Time for him to get noticed.

Wow,
Heard about agu's injury, but i didnt know it was that serious.
I heard its a 2 months injury.He could return late august or early september which is just the begining of d portuguese season.
He is still one to watch out for.

Danycrusoe: Left 2 me i wuld lyk 2 c d lyks of chuba akpom(arsenal), sammy ameobi(newcastle) etc in topflyt football dz new season, plus doz u mentiond ar quality playaz dat needs to imprv dia games

ummn akpom maybe.
Arsenal has signed sanchez a new and if they also keep Giroud/sanogo,im afraid there would be no EPL game time for akpom next season unless he is loaned to an EPL club.
Sammy started a handful of games 4 newcastle last season due to injuries to some key players,but i dont think next season would be better if he remains at newcastle.
Newcastle are looking to re-inforce their squad by signing new attackers,that might push sammy down d pecking order if he stays.

Syenite: Okaka has played for Italy so forget him
Anthony Ujah, we know him already and what he can cannot do. He is nt that promising. So forget him. The other 3 players are the real prospects to watch.

Okaka represented italy only at youth level just like moses and ameobi for england.
He can switch nationality.
NFF were reportedly about working on a nationality switch for him before d WC.
He has also declared his interest in representing nigeria.
So i see him playing 4 us soon.
What im focusing on is club not national team.
Ujah was poor at confeds cup same with babatunde.
Babatunde was given a 2nd chance and he did well.
Ujah too can do well if given a 2nd chance.

Last season wasn't that bad in terms of young nigerian players having their break-through in europe.
Onazi went from being a lazio reserve player to a regular figure in lazio's 1st XI,Ramon azeez went from being an almeria team B player to be a regular and important 1st team player in the la liga and later on made his international debut and went to the world cup,Michael Olaitan went from being a Greece 2nd division player to be the top striker for Greek champions Olympiakos and also feature in the UEFA Champions league.
Now We take a look at five nigerian players that might have their break-through in europe next season :-


1) Mikel Ndubisi Agu(FC Porto):-
Can this Mikel turn out to be a better Mdfielder than John Obi ?.
The 20yr old defensive midfielder has been with FC Porto since 2011 but in the B team.
He made his 1st team debut last season and also featured for 90 minutes in porto's final match of the season against Benfica.
His superb performance in that match got many in portugal talking about him.
He has been promoted permanently to d 1st team for this coming season.
And with porto's 1st choice Defensive midfielder,Fernando sold and no REAL intention presently from porto to buy a replacement,Mikel Agu is reportedly been considered to be fernando's direct replacement in porto's 1st XI.
The 2014/2015 season might just turn out to be Mikel's break-through season.
He might be playing in the champions league too if porto scale through the qualifying rounds.

2) Stefano Chuka Okaka(Sampdoria) :-Big,Strong,fast and Skillful Okaka was tipped by many to lead italy's attack in future during his days with the italian U-21s.
But having failed to command a place in Roma's 1st team after 7 years and also at Parma,okaka seemed to be a forgotten issue.
But his move to sampdoria in January is turning out to be great .
Okaka had a decent 2nd half of last season.
Tormenting serie A defenders,creating and also scoring some important goals.
He scored 5 goals and also provided 4 assists in his 9 starts for sampdoria in the serie A 2nd half.
His performace sparked up interests from Schalke 04,Torino and galatasaray in this transfer window.
But as things stand,he is likely to remain in italy.
With sampdoria's coach having faith in him to lead the attack,
Okaka would likely get regular playing time next season(for d 1st time in his 7yrs in d serie A) and might score a lot of goals.The 24yr old forward is eligible to play for nigeria.
Okaka was reportedly close to making Keshi's provisional list for d world cup.
But NFF couldnt process his nationality switch in time.
He has reportedly declared his interest in representing nigeria.

3) Imoh Ezekiel(Standard Liege):-With only one cap for nigeria,20yrs old ezekiel is already a house-hold name in belgium.
Regarded as one of the best forwards in the pro league,ezekiel has consistently scored double figure goals since his move to Standard liege from badagry club 36 Lions.With
29 goals and a huge number of assists in his last 2 seasons,ezekiel has been linked with a number of clubs this summer>>CSKA Moscow,FC Porto,Bremen and Tottenham.
Whether he makes a move or remain in belgium,ezekiel looks a forward that can shine at any league.
He can play as a center forward or a supporting striker.The latter being where he played for most of last season.He has been great in his last 2 seasons,but
2014/2015 may be better especially if he moves to a better league.
If he remains at standard liege,he would get to play in d champions league for d 1st time,which is equally good.

4) Anthony Ujah(FC Cologne):-
23yr old striker Ujah may have been dissapointinng in the few games he played for nigeria pre and post-confederations cup.
But at club level,he has never dissapointed.
In the last 2 seasons,he has been one of the best strikers in germany's 2nd division with a decent goal record,
25 goals in the last 2 seasons.
Ujah was a very key figure in cologne's fight to return to the bundesliga.Scoring 13 goals last season,Ujah would look to continue his good goal-scoring record in the bundesliga next season as his club cologne gained promotion.
If he hits double figure goals again next season(this time at d highest level),he'll no doubt be considered for a return to the national team.

5) Isaac Success(Granada):-
The oldest among the victorious golden eaglets,18yrs old
Success looks the most likely among that eaglets set to explode first.
Barely a month after signing his 1st professional contract with udinese and loaned to granada,Success was listed in granada's 1st team squad to face barcelona in a la liga match,he also made the 1st team squad for the next match too.
Even though he wasnt brought in to play from the bench,being listed among the subs alone in those matches goes to show the kind of belief granada has in him.
He might get some game time with the 1st team next season and do what he knows how to do best>Score goals.

Any new coach coming might find it hard to even qualify nigeria for afcon.

I agree with d writter to some extent.
If keshi leaves anybody coming in is bound to fail at afcon 2015 IMO due to the short period of time he'll have to work with d team(by "failing" i mean not defending the afcon tittle or failing to reach the finals).
Anything short of a runners-up finish at afcon is regarded as failure by nigeria's standards.
As seen from the way coaches have been sacked immediately after failing to take d team past d semi-finals in d past.
So if any new coach is appointed on a permanent basis,it is likely that d coach would be unfairly sacked if he fails at afcon 2015.
That wouldnt be good.
So the best thing to do is renew keshi's contract by a year.
He has been with d team for close to 3yrs now.He'll be d best man to lead nigeria to afcon 2015.
After d afcon we can then appoint a new coach to start building a team for the 2018 world cup.
If any new coach is appointed now it would be very hard to make a huge impact at afcon after only 5 months with d team.
Which would likely result in another sack.

“Will he or will he not?” is the existential question of Nigerian football right now. The man in question: Stephen Keshi, the Big Boss, the coach who ended two decades of hurt on both the African and global stages.
His decision to seemingly call it quits with the national team in the aftermath of Nigeria’s elimination from the World Cup at the hands of France was a fierce body-blow. Once the dust had settled on the Estadio Mane Garrincha turf, it was clear that the Super Eagles had not done altogether badly. Whether or not the team could have done better though, at least on the day, is open to debate.
Les Bleuswere there to be had, and their lacklustre showing in the next round against Germany served to highlight this.
Here are a two major reasons why Keshi must renew with the NFF, and fast.
Is there more to come from the Big Boss?
He has not delivered on his promise
The Big Boss has long promised to give Nigeria a team for the future, one which the country would be proud of. His template is the 1994 vintage, which he had been a part of. He also pledged to return the Super Eagles to a style based on pace, power and width.
Fast forward thirty months, and one cannot say with any certitude that Keshi has fulfilled any of these self-imposed targets. He has blooded the likes of Godfrey Oboabona, Kenneth Omeruo, Ogenyi Onazi and Juwon Oshaniwa, but there is so much young talent yet to be unearthed and promoted, especially with gaps opening up in the squad.
Joseph Yobo has played his last and retired a deserving centurion, Osaze Odemwingie’s last-hurrah was memorable in patches, Vincent Enyeama is said to be considering his future.
There remains a lot of work to be done yet.
While this team has restored Nigeria to the acceptable minimum of a Round of 16 place, it will not be remembered with particular pride. The 1994 team were trailblazers, both in terms of style and results. Four years later, the Super Eagles reached the second round in France, but are not regarded nearly as highly. He has given us a steady team, not so much one to inspire nostalgia.
In terms of style, his team has delivered piecemeal, but remains somewhat undefined. Against Cote d’Ivoire at the last Cup of Nations tournament, the team played with patient build-up from the back and a slow tempo. At the Confederations Cup, the tempo was higher but the team was less sturdy. At the World Cup, the team favoured a counter-based strategy.
The result of this indecision has been the tendency for the team to start slowly at tournaments, before gathering steam. It has worked nicely so far (with the exception of the Confederations Cup), but it is far from ideal.
Is now really the right moment to change things around?.
The qualifiers for the 2015 Afcon begin in September.
South Africa (mooted as a Keshi suitor, ironically) and Sudan are unlikely to pose too much of a challenge on the face of it, but the scenario if a change of manager becomes necessary may throw a spanner in the works.
First off, the proximity of the qualifiers means that whoever comes in has his hands tied. He cannot be his own man, or stamp his authority on the team in any meaningful way. This team is very much Keshi’s, and has to continue to function as such.
The best solution possible would be to appoint someone on an interim basis, at least until after the Afcon next year. Who would be unambitious enough to take such a contract though? No coach worth his salt would not want the job on a permanent basis, and the Nations Cup in Morocco would be the perfect audition. How do you audition with a team that is not yours?
Granted, a coach is found who is willing to go along with this arrangement. What then after the tournament? It is worth remembering that the Super Eagles are defending African champions, and a credible defence is a must. If the team does not retain the crown (unrealistic, yes, but this is the NFF), the interim manager will surely be let go. So begins the search for a new manager, amid calls for an overhaul of the team.
Whichever way you look at it, there is no logical argument for Keshi to leave. It is a shame that he has had to work within the sort of strictures he complained about: no official residence or means of transport, and having to pay his assistant out of his pocket. That said, for the good of Nigerian football, a meaningful resolution must be found.
Otherwise, Keshi may see the legacy he has struggled to build come crumbling down.



http://m.goal.com/x/en-ng/news/4943059/?page=2

Like it or not,Call it luck.
Fact remains no nigerian coach can match what keshi achieved under 2 years.
African champions,World cup R16s no bi beans.only westerhof could achieve those.
It took keshi just 2 yrs to achieve those,It took westerhof five.
Keshi also achieved those with very average players.
OP said keshi was lucky.
I'll rather have a tactically poor lucky coach that would bring results and success,than a tactically sound unlucky coach that would be a failure(like siasia).
He also said we had an easy group.
We've always had easy groups since 1994.
It was only in 2002 we had a tough group.
Our group in 2010 was equally easy,still we couldnt get out of d group.And
How d Bleep was afcon won by luck ?
We won all our knock-out stage matches under 90 minutes.
We didnt have to wait till extra-time/penalties to win games.
We dominated every game.
We started slowly in d group-stage but picked up.
So stop playing down someone's achievements.
Keshi's reign was nigeria's most succesful since westerhoff 19 years ago.
The last time we experienced d kind of success we've experienced in nigerian football over d last 3 years was 17-19 years ago.
Its stupid to compare siasia who couldnt qualify nigeria for common afcon with keshi that qualified us for it,won it,qualified us for d world cup and took us 2 d round of 16s under 2 yrs.
I dont care if we play badly and win 1-0.
What matters is getting results.
And keshi did just that.
Best nigerian coach ever.
His achievements speaks for him.

Jigga_man101: Argentina would not spank Portugal. Four years Argentina met Germany and Germany spanked them 5-0 which worst than portugal's defeat. Both teams are built around one super star. The only team Argentina seems to dominate is super chinchins. Mark my words Switzerland will expose them.

Oboy this is 2014 not 2010.
Spain were world champions in 2010 but in 2014 crashed out in d groupstage.
Argentina has a much better team than the one of 2010.
The same germany u are hailing were trashed by italy at euro 2012.
They havent been tested yet.
U.S.A and portugal are average teams while ghana is a poor team.
Argentina had a great record in qualifiers.
They topped the whole of south-america.They also won almost all their matches leading to d world cup.South-American teams are doing well at dis world cup.
Thats an evidence dat it wasnt a fluke.
Same with bosnia,they topped their qualifying group and qualified for the world cup with games to spare.
They also won almost all their matches leading to d world cup.
Thats why they were tipped as one of the teams that can pull up surprises.
But Portugal has been terrible since 2012.They were in an easy qualifying group with teams like russia and Israel,yet they couldnt qualify directly.
They had to play play-offs to qualify.
Its absurd to compare Argentina or even Bosnia with Portugal.
Just becos the black rats of ghana couldnt even get a draw from them.
Many predicted portugal's failure at dis world cup becos they have been poor in the last 2 years.
Well its expected.
You only know how to do e-wars and defend your black rats of ghana.
Aside from that you dont know anything about football.

Lmfao.He has opened another account.Jagga Jagga.

abatically: Nigerians are very difficult to please. Before it was Musa this Musa that, Musa is useless, Musa should never play, bla bla bla. I mean sometimes Musa will have the ball and Nigerians will start blaming him for no reason. Now he scores 2 goals and everybody shuts up. Now u want to pick on Onazi. Is it Onazi's fault that his midfield partner Mikel can't shoot? Onazi is the only midfielder we have that can shoot.



I can confidently tell u Onazi had about 2 shots against Bosnia that could have gone in was it not for the goalkeeper's heroics. All outside shots can't go in, but u keep trying and one might just do it. I don't like players taking unnecessary outside shots. Osaze is an example, he tries to take outside shots even when the angle is impossible but u won't blame him because he is Osaze. Onazi sees a good angle to shoot and u blame him.. Nigerians I hail o.

Anyway, just so u know, the Musa that u people hate so much has one of the best shot accuracies at the world cup. 6 shots, 5 on target, 2 goals.. 83% shot accuracy, but trust naijas, since he is not emenike or osaze nobody gives a damn.

No mind them.Nigerians complain about everything.Its not like all his shots have bin off target.
Onazi has taken 5 shots so far.
2 were off target,One babatunde stood in its way.While the other two were ferrocious shots that stung d goalie's palm.So dats like 50 percent shot accuracy which is a good record especially for a DM
At least even if those two didnt go in,it won us corner-kicks.
You cant expect onazi not to shoot whenever there is an opportunity,doesnt matter if its off target.One might eventually go in.
Onazi scored an amazing screamer for lazio 4rm long distance.
So he can score if he continues to shoot.

Jigga_man101: Whatever. Is still doesn't Change the fact that your strikers can't score and you are into the next round because of affirmative action, not because of your talents.

Stop making a fool of urself.
Strikers cant score.
Were d 3 goals scored by goal-keepera ?

Jigga_man101: Just shut up you are embarrassing yourself. You won afcon through penalty, u qualified for the World Cup through penalty. Like it said without the ref you would be cursing big stomach Keshi.

Hahaha doesnt change d fact that in less than two years.
Nigeria-African champions,U/17 World cup Champions,World cup Round of 16s(and still moving).Success is very sweet u know
Ghana in d last 3 years-Failure in Afr ica,Failure in d world stage.

Jiggaman.How does it feel to constantly be a failure ?.
Cos success is so damn sweet.
And u can only be jealous of success.
You can never be jealous of failure.

Jigga_man101: One he fouls a player and the second goal by musa was bad clearance by an anemic Argentina defense. Your strikers still can't score. How many goals did they score between friendlies and the World Cup.

Like I have been saying without the ref you guys would be cursing out Keshia d your players. From World Cup qualifiers to the World Cup you have been getting questionable calls.

lmao i want to avoid insults but u are tempted to make me say u reason like a dumbo.
Musa's goal came from a one two with emenike.he passed to emenike,while emenike returned the ball to him in a good position.Musa used his pace to get behind d defence and finished with great composure.
That was a well worked goal.
It didnt come as a result of any clearance.
Even if it did does it change d fact that it was a goal ?.

At least we qualified for d round of 16s with 3 goals scored from open play unlike ghana that quslified for d round of 16s without scoring a single goal from open play in d 2010 world cup.
2 dubious penalties got ghana out of d group-stages in 2010.

Jigga_man101: Look at the highlights and tell me which team was better in the game.

http://www.espnfc.com/video/latest-videos/600/video/1901499?&ex_cid=espnapi_affiliate_Google_World_Cup_Video

Nigeria of course.

Jigga_man101: I never said it was a stat, I am just proving your ignorant azz that sometimes just shooting blindly doesn't to get more shots on goal doesn't mean shit and that's what your strikers who can't score were doing. When was the last time your God emenike scored a goal.

Emenike isnt our only striker.
If emenike didnt score as long as we have other strikers like odemwingie and musa scoring its okay.And
Emenike assisted all 3 goals we have scored so far.d assists are as important as d goals.
Also our team is setup in a way that d striker is d creative force.Hold-up play and bring other players into play.
Emenike is meant to be d CF but he is more like d creative player and plays almost as a winger.He drifts to d wings to create while d mobile wing-forwards(odemwingie and musa) drift infield to score.Thats why odemwingie and musa have all d goals and emenike has all d assists.
Thats d way our attack is set-up and it has worked well for us so far.
As ur football knowledge is poor,i dont expect u to understand all i've just said.