₦airaland Forum

lbrichman2:
Keep cooking them my bro

More like making joke of himself.

A generation that gave us one of the most dominant and certainly the team that played the most fascinating football in Africa in that era,that someone have the effrontery to talk trash about.

A generation that qualified for 3 consecutive world cups before narrowly losing out on the 4th one because of head to head rule,
yet someone is allowed here to compare them to a generation that have failed twice to qualify for world cup even when the slots was increased to 10 slots.

A team that I never watched with my heart on my hand.
But today, I barely finishes any of our matches for fear of heart break and high tension.

Do remember that bulk of the players that made up that team was the ones that won the Atlanta '96 Olympics gold,even though it was U23 competition. But I like to include it as one the their success story of that era.

Our present team should even be encouraged to learn one or two things from those guys, how they use to play with grit,strength of will and resoluteness to succeed inspite of any obstacles,instead of trying to water down their efforts.

EElopa:
My inside source is saying he is already in the bag. The SE shall rise again.

Exactly the position the super eagles needed.
He is coming at the right time.
Our midfield need reinforcement

darkelf:
Been seeing multiple reports of this on twitter

If true, Would be a good one 🔥 🔥 🔥

This one is still young to feel England won't call him to choose Nigeria this early.

Goke7:
You’re just contradicting yourself the issue is in 94 which clubs were our players playing in? All the era or period after they got huge club signings still they couldn’t replicate the 94 feat! It’s still the same 2nd and 3rd place
Afcon finish and in 2006 (funny you left that out 😂) we couldn’t qualify for the World Cup with same players. Stick with the facts please and stop allowing the likes of Oliseh sell you lamba

If you lack the comprehension to understand my post,that's your problem.

Our golden generation and the present generation are the same to you,because they finish second and 3rd,good for you.

But will your explicit bias against our legends ever erase their heroic deeds?
The records and facts are there for everyone to see,even for those who pretend not to see.

My points are far different from what Oliseh was trying to say.

Goke7:
Yeah a very star studded team and some of these players still went on to play in 2002 and 2004! We ought to have to pick at least two afcons in these era. So all these talk of elite players no be today

Because you were not the only country with quality players in top European leagues.

Having elite players in top leagues is just one of the fundamental conditions for consistent achievements.
It's never set in stones that once you have players in top clubs,you must be winning.
There are still other conditions which we clearly fell short then,which we are still failing to get right now,example, administrative and coaching aspects of the game.

Having stated this,

From 1994 to 2004,
so does winning one AFCON trophy,
one 2nd place and two 3rd place finish still counts as nothing despite missing two editions due to political reasons?
Plus 5th place FIFA ranking.
Three world cups appearances,
including back to back second round world cups appearances.

Or were you expecting them to just went all the way to WC Finals and win it at the expense of more quality players playing in biggest clubs in the world?

Compared to this our present generation with 8 years of no WC appearance,just 2nd and 3rd AFCON finish,plus one AFCON to forget.
If the present generation doesn't prove that they can do better than the previous golden generation, it would appear ridiculous by trying to water down whatever they achieved in that era.

M7even:
We had played CIV twice and lost . in 2006 AFCON and they stopped us at the semi finals. For some reason they were becoming our boggie man. They had played the 2012 final and lost to Zambia in penalties. They were finalist before then as well and lost to the greatest Afcon squad of Egypt. They had pedigree with names to boast of. In 2013 we assembled what many felt was out weakest squad coached under Keshi . It was reported that the players had packed up their bags to leave the hotel in the inevitable lose to CIV. It was certainly at that tournament that players like Ahmed Musa, Ideye, Ambrose Efe, Elderson Echiejile , Emmanuel Emenike and Onazi etched their names in the history of Nigerian football. They stepped up and delivered for us. And that was the final tournament for CIV's Drogba who never lifted an AFCON only for CIV to finally win the following AFCON led by Yaya Toure

I can't say the things you were trying to say isn't true,
but I can't quite understand how it relates or negate my own points.

Is it that because CIV have defeated us twice in previous occasion,we should never have defeated them on the next occasion?
Did you u also point out that we have defeated them before the 2006 edition.

Or because they had pedigree and good playes,it should prevent them from losing to Nigeria that also had good players and even greater pedigree?

CIV with some top level players in top leagues losing to Nigeria with some top level players in top leagues is just as normal as anything,
But when CIV lose to Ethiopia or Lesotho that probably won't have players in top leagues, that's when it becomes news.

NasirIbnLaAhad:
‎I personally don't think our current crop of players are outright trash. Although, I'm quite uneasy about the conclusions certain people are drawing from this debate. Don't get it twisted, please: YOU NEED ELITE PLAYERS TO WIN AND/OR AT LEAST COMPETE in any competition. It's not guaranteed that you'll win every tournament, but what it can guarantee you is consistency across multiple competitions, and a much higher ceiling in tournaments and general playing performance. Yes, there'll always be a Greece or Cape Verde that can pop out of nowhere to shock everyone, but these cases are few and far between when you take stock of football history across decades. Elite teams with elite players will most often finish in the final eight of five tournaments back to back. A team with less players may stumble onto a win one moment and then for the next ten years they can't even qualify for the competition. Tournament football has high variance, and a cup run can happen for any team on any given month. Nobody builds a programme around luck. If the plan is "hope we get lucky like Cape Verde," that isn't a plan. You MUST ALWAYS USE your best legs.
‎
‎For me, the question isn't whether our players are at big clubs. It's whether they have the hunger and discipline and ambition to want to succeed at a consistent rate. Yes our current Super Eagles have some talent, but I don't see the same urgency, drive or consistency that I see in teams like DRC or Ivory Coast. What use is your talent if you can't mark, can't track back, give too much respect to your opponent etc.? That's why the only players I respect in the current squad are Bassey, Frederick and Osimhen. If everyone in the squad had these guys' mentality, it's not unlikely that we'd have won the last two AFCONs back to back. Quality without hunger just produces nice highlights and early exits. Spain at the last WC was my favorite team for this same reason. They knew how to fight and squeeze life out of teams and give them no space to play. They had stamina for days. So I'd put it this way. You don't strictly need ten superstars. But you need a core of genuinely high-level players, hunger and drive across the squad, and of course, a working youth system feeding new talent, which the NFF has sworn against.

Finally, someone who seems to understand.

Having elite players in biggest club is not 100% guaranteed that you must win,but it gives you greater success rate against the countries with inferior players in weaker clubs.

Even in Africa today, Nigerian players are still among the best,what they lack is that hunger,drive and determination.
With what we have,they should be winning AFCON consistently under normal circumstances.

The reason I'm particularly concerned about having our elite players in bigger clubs is when you will take it to the global stage like WC,so that we could compete favorably against the very best.

So they should not continue to encourage our players to remain in places like Turkish league,they need to strive for higher.

Goke7:
So you had just two players, yet you defeated a star studded civ team and think it’s a flash in the pan?

See In the year 2000 the Oliseh making mouth now and the national team he captained then could not win Afcon on home soil and I doubt the Cameroonian team had players in bigger clubs than our players then. We had players in arsenal, ac Milan, PSG etc. check the Cameroon team apart from njitap at Real Madrid others can’t be compared to where eagles players were in 2000

These things are just simple things that shouldn't be too difficult to understand, but some of you just like to get it twisted.

CIV and Nigeria were the two countries that had more players in better clubs,or even better players than others.
So if Nigeria defeats CIV,no one should call it an upset.

CIV had the Touré brothers at Man City,Gevinho at Arsenal and Drogba their biggest star even though he was not in Chelsea during the competition.
Nigeria had Enyeama at the top of his game,
Victor Moses and Mikel at top of his game in Chelsea. Emenike and Onazi were big factors even not in big clubs.
Talent for talent, Nigeria could match them,it was 50-50 or 55-45 chance, it was always going to be who had the the better tactics, or who was luckier.

Nigeria defeating CIV with the players at their disposal should not be considered as an upset.

Just as in Africa today,
Among these countries, Senegal,Morocco,CIV, Nigeria.
Even the likes of Ghana and Algeria,
Which ever country that manages to win an AFCON should not be seen as a surprise.
It's not necessary the country with the more players in big clubs that have monopoly of highest chance of winning.
All of them have players in big clubs and top leagues.

chrisooblog:
Honestly I always roll my eyes when some journalists and ex footballers from the 1994 set parrot the narrative that our golden generation of players were playing in the biggest and best clubs that year.

Oliseh? random club in Belgium. Same for Chidi Nwanu, Alloy Agu, Ikpeba etc.

Even baba Yekini na one small club for Portugal he dey.

The only high-profile clubs (then!) one or two of our players featured in then were Finidi (Ajax) and Siasia (Nantes)

Even after Olympic triumph na only few players play for big club even at that some weren't starters.

Ok,be honest,
compare our then golden generation to the rest of the countries they competed against enroute to achieving whatever they achieved in Africa,
Which countries do you think have more players in better or bigger clubs than Nigeria then?

Goke7:
How many of your players were in big clubs when you won Afcon in 2013

We had Victor Moses and Mikel Obi who was reigning champions league winner then.

Now compare our players to other countries that we played against,
apart from CIV,which other countries do you think have more players in bigger clubs than our players then that should give them the edge to win ahead of us.

Were you expecting Bokina Faso to defeat us in AFCON finals?

EElopa:
The only strikers in world football i will take over Victor Osimhen in that 9 position are Kane, Halland and Mbappe. Victor normally should be in champions league contending team. Calvin Bassey is going to Inter Milan in the summer. Chukwueze is at AC Milan and Ademola Lookman is at Atletico Madarid. You don't need to have elite players at every position all you need is 3 to 4 different makers surrounded by good players who play as a unit and you can wreck havoc. Croatia and Norway are a good example of teams where the sums are bigger than the individual talent.

A country that have majority of their players at top clubs will always stand a greater chance of winning competitions almost all the time,less we deceive ourselves,
except for rare occasions,Zambia in 2012 for instance,and Greece in 2004.
Don't always expect that kind of upset to happen.

A big footballing nation need to have their players at big clubs first,if not,expecting to crush those who have their players at Real Madrid,Barcelona,Man city,etc. is wild dream.
Spain or Brazil will not expect their players to win world cup if majority of their players are mid table and relegation bound clubs players.

Plus you still need few players to be top level performers to stand a chance, 3 or 4 players is enough

Our players need to work hard,win something with national team so that better clubs can sign them.

Congrats to to Harry Kane.
Harry have worked so hard over the years, finally it paid off so well .
Michael Owen was the last English player to win ballon d'or 26 years ago.

Another player that have worked so hard that deserves to win it someday is Mbappe.

darkelf:
"I am one of the best strikers in the world"

Him mates dey ballon d'or ceremony while him dey sweat for seriki league

"I am happy where I am"

Osimhen....what a guy

Osimhen is still one of the very best around, he just found himself in complicated circumstances.
My problem is with those who supports he continue to play in Turkish league instead of aspiring to move to bigger club.
Now they are using Diamande to rubbish our players.

darkelf:
It's like you've taken a lot of predator energy drink to argue with him

I saw his takes and ....

well, every man to his opinion sha

Predator energy drink dey intoxicate person?
The guy is clearly on something stronger.

Predator87:
Man you are delusional. What has Eric Chelle achieved? Has he been given the time to build his team?? Has he been given the support he needs after winning bronze in Morocco last year? Ordinary contract your corrupt useless NFF dont want to give him because they want Eguavoen to be interim manager for the 1000th time. It took Westerhof 5 years to build the 94 set. If people like you were around back them we would not have gotten to that level. Make some good? Look at our football today. U17 DNQ, U20 DNQ, Super Falcons DNQ, Super Eagles very likely DNQ. Things are far worse now that they were back then. Instead of you to acknowledge the rot in our football, you keep making dumb silly excuses. People like you are part of the problem.

For your mind I would waste my time to dignify your perpetual delusion.
It was already late when I realized it was you who barely make use of his logical faculty that I quoted.

Na me wey mistakenly go Mach a rabid dog for leg I go blame,by all means bark and bite.

elyte89:
This is d problem I have with u guys ….always quoting past achievements …its not even an achievement; for someone still playing like an amateur ,if not for his recent performances ,chukwueze and inconsistency is 5 and 6

And the problem I have with some of you is running down your own and idolizing others.

Nothing is wrong in taking pride in past achievements in anticipation of even greater achievements.
Brazil is Brazil because of what they have achieved.

And of course I wasn't talking about Chukwueze of today, just as if Diamande fails to remain consistent, he would just be another Chukwueze despite playing for big club.

NasirIbnLaAhad:
LMFAO

Oga,even if you laugh your poo-poo join comot,make Diamande play for Real Madrid finish without achieving anything substantial personally, he should not be used to make mockery of Nigerian players that have achieved great things.

Iheanacho was at Man City and some even tried to place him in the same bracket with Mbappe and other exciting young players then,did Iheanacho went on to lived up his potentials?

Because Diamande now plays for Real Madrid,no Nigerian players can be mentioned in the same language with him,yet when some of us talks about the benefits of Osimhen playing in bigger club,some of you would rather he stays in Turkey and dissipate in value.

Diamande is doing well now in a big club,but he need to maximize his potential before he can be regarded as one of the greats,now he just one of the players in Real Madrid.

elyte89:
🙄🙄🙄🙄, no vex me o

Chukwueze once terrorized both Barcelona and Real Madrid's defense on multiple occasions,so he was once as exciting as it goes.

Only that now,Diamande players in the biggest club in the world.
But they still need to give Diomande 3 to 4 years,if he continues to improve and eclipse all Osimhen and Lookman have achieved, only then it can be allowed to be used to rubbish and make mockery of all present Nigerian players.

Predator87:
How are we going to get players like Diomande when U17 and U20 coaches DEMAND bribes just to make their squads, When hungry corrupt Journalists continue to hype over the hill players like Kelechi Ihenacho because he plays in Turkish 2nd division. Just wait until Chele is finally pushed out. That when your eye will clear. Nigeria is finished.

We've had exciting players winning African footballer of the year awards recently but Dimande is yet to win none.

Iheanacho's performances were being reported not hyped.

You are the one guilty of hyping someone now,
Chelle that you now regards or seen as the only light in our football's obliquity,
what major achievements has he recorded for us compared to his predecessors?
Whenever Chelle chooses to leave, even a better coach might even replace him.

It baffles me that some of you are just realizing the precariousness of our football and NFF's incompetence,whereas we have known this for decades,some of us went even far as calling NFF,then NFA the worst organization as far back as late 90s and 2000s.
yet somehow,Nigeria as a nation sometimes manages to make some good out of some bad situations,winning trophies a country as organized as South Africa could only dream of.
All of these is to object that Nigeria is finished,no we are not finished.

darkelf:
I dey tell you bro

The performance of rangers shows that no local league player deserves to be in the U-23 squad

What if the foreign clubs refused to release the invited foreign pros?
Chelle is inviting them for plan B.

That being said,
Chelle should press hard for foreign clubs to release his invited pros.
Another thing is he should know that DR Congo I know will surely use all their senior players that are still eligible to play U23 to prosecute this matches in order make sure they knock us out,
Chelle should do the same because we need this U23 team to really work, if he press hard enough, he can get the likes of IIenikhena

darkelf:
Some.people said we shouldn't tell him what to do

We cannot tell him what to do,we can only say what we feel is best for us as Nigerian fans.

But those who said Nigerian fans shouldn't complain about their best player and one of the best 3 center forwards in the world still playing in Turkish league in his prime are duplicitous.
They want us to think they care more but it's all performative empathy and ultruism.

zicky:
I think it will be fair we stick to club football, cos Pep never coached any national team that we can have a fair comparison.

Pep as a Spanish national team,would probably be the first coach to win world cup 3 times.

Enrique is very good,but overall,Pep is better.

They abandoned the system that produced results,the U15,U13 projects,the U17 open camps trials in several parts of the country and believed it was archaic.

Now that they are using a modern approach which is to invite some players from few academies, where has it gotten us to?

Some wouldn't even want to hear the name of an ex international as one of our youth team's coaches because they believed all of them are corrupt,but at least some of them have given us results in the past.

We can't even qualify for ordinary CAF U17 competitions anymore.
Some would argue it's because of the qualifying format CAF is currently using,
in the past,we wouldn't have worried about any opponent from any region in Africa,
but now,every country were just beating our darling U17 team black and blue,the most successful U17 team in the world.
The team that gave us the great Kanu,Mikel Obi and monster machine,Victor Osimhen.

Because they deceptively believed they can always run to our foreign born players for recruitment for super eagles duties as though those foreign borns were not produced by system that works,they neglected our entire youth system which used to be our talent factory.
These days, our young players barely make progression from U17 to U20 to super eagles.

I keep saying it,whenever NFF sorts itself out and the new board emerges,their priorities should be to our youth system.

Tinneh:
When the final list for this current under 17 was announced, i remember one moniker here tipping them to do well as it was dominated by players from east and south..now those same players have failed once again

The region where the players comes from does not determine the outcome,the quality of the coach and of the selected players is what matters,

But there is no denying the fact that the east and south are more talented.

solonnachi:
Really?😀

2 goals down, but they will equalize

Correct score
Nigeria 0 - 1 CIV

Diavolo:
lol we are 2 goals down

Na wrong score line I saw.
Both of were wrong.
I heard somewhere on you tube now we are 2 goals down

Nigeria is currently leading by 1 goal .

The Solonnachi guy is giving wrong information

Nigeria 1 - 0 CIV

EElopa:
You are not thinking critically. Go and sit down at a corner and critically think; you will see how wrong you are here. People in Nigeria need to start thinking critically and deeply. When the general populace starts doing that, maybe we will start developing. In Nigeria, government officials build roads with no pedestrian sidewalk and close drainage; that is because they are not thinking, and we are talking of a country where 98 percent of the populace does not own a vehicle. 99.99 percent of clubs in the top 5 leagues will get on their knees and beg Osimhen to come to their club if Galatasaray is willing to let him go for 20 million pounds.

You don't need to be Socrates,Aristotle or John Locke to know that Nwabali is better than Okoye,his records in Nigerian colours shows it.
Now, Nwabali is on the decline, Okoye need to prove he deserves to be our #1.

Because some officials build roads with no pedestrian sidewalk means that all the roads in Nigeria are built with no pedestrian?
Because some of your brothers who rules and occupy important government roles is unable to think critically means that everyone in Nigeria doesn't?

Abeg if there is anything you have learned that can help Nigeria, pls do bring it to the fore to it's viable application,don't just sit at one corner and proclaim the rest of the populace doesn't think with your audio critical and logical thinking.

Nigeria and it's leaders are corrupt, that's correct.
Most things are not working the way it should, that's correct.
But don't sit there and declare that everyone's doesn't think but you.

The percentage of people who owns a vehicle or not does not prove a country is working or not working,
only very few countries in Africa has a greater percentage number of vehicle owners than Nigeria,about five countries even,
but still, it doesn't prove that Nigeria has a better living condition than those other countries.

jihday:
who do you prefer?

Scouting for more midfielders to compete with ones we have already, but mostly U23 players, and keep trying them with the U23 teams and friendlies.
No one knew Fredrick would bench Ekong until he was tried.

EElopa:
Amedino99 he had a bad game last week, and he bounced back this week with an outstanding performance. The players people like you are clamouring for will struggle to make the match day squad of any team in the Bundesliga talkless of starting. All these players you guys are wishing to replace, Onyedika, are inferior players, and with time they will be exposed. I don't follow the crowd and shout 'blue murder' toward certain players due to personal biases. I think logically, and I look at issues from a critical thinking point of view.

I don't need Stanly Nwabili to have atrocious games to know that he is not better than Maduka Okoye. My logical point of view is in Maduka Okoye, I saw a player that won the best player of the season for a Serie A midtable club, Udinese; a player that Inter Milan are after; a player that Roma had an inquiry on this summer with Udinese. On the other hand, Stanly Nwabili cannot even get a club in Africa. There is no logical person that will tell you that Stanley Nwabali is better than Maduka Okoye. People don't think critically or logically in Nigeria. Everything is about emotion, biases and agenda driven. Morocco, Ivory Coast, and Senegal have top quality midfielders across the big 5 leagues. They can get rid of Onyedika, but Nigeria currently cannot afford to do that because we lack midfielders that are currently playing at the highest levels.

Pls speak your opinion and let's stop at that,don't assume that everyone in Nigeria doesn't think critically or logically but you.

Okoye is better to you,that's fine.
Saying those who believed Nwabali is better are illogical and irrational also implicates you as being guilty of what you are accusing others.

Nwabali took us to back to back AFCON semi finals, winning silver and bronze, and almost qualified us for world cup if not for some players who failed to convert their penalty kicks.
When Okoye was given a chance at the AFCON,what did he do? he crashed us out after group matches.
So it's more logical to conclude he is better for us than Okoye

Nwabali is already aging while Okoye is young, he should prove he is better than Nwabali for us,not winning best player at Udinese.

Now because Osimhen couldn't get a club at top 5 leagues means that the likes of Akor,Awoniyi and Sadiq Umar are better than him?if your logic about Okoye and Nwabali is to be accepted.

Just like Okoye, Onyedika need to stamp his authority in that midfield to convince everyone when next the opportunity comes, Ndidi is already old.

Goke7:
A player who held his own against other world-class players is not world class? aah ok o!

You are right to say Mikel is world class, l also think he is.

But Mikel was not globally acclaimed to be world class,
And that does not meant he was not undeniably an elite player who consistently performed at the pinnacle of world football

The term "world class" is open to anyone's interpretation,.

Nigeria have produced 3 players who were undeniably world class by any standards and metrics.
They are:

1. Kanu Nwakwor
2. Jay-Jay Okocha
3. Victor Osimhen

The rest of the players attained an elite footballing status and can be considered as world class players by some of us depending on how you define the term "world class"
Some were among best in their various positions at some point in their careers.

They are:

4. Finidi George
5. Sunday Oliseh
6. Emmanuel Amuneke
7. Rashidi Yekini
8. John Obi Mikel
9. Ademola Lookman
10. Victor Moses
11. Vincent Enyeama
12. Taribo West
13. Victor Ikpeba

Notable mentions:

Celestine Babayaro
Daniel Amokachi
Obafemi Martins