₦airaland Forum

With respect to excellence in youth football, Ghana and Nigeria are Africa's torchbearers, with the latter being the latest of the duo to assert its might after claiming the ultimate at the just-ended Fifa Under-17 World Cup in the UAE.


CHAMPIONS | The Super Eaglets are the 2013 U17 world kings

Occasionally, the likes of Cote d'Ivoire, Mali, and Egypt do make a statement of sorts, yet the status quo has always been the preserve of the two west African giants. Generations of senior sides for both countries have been built on the back of huge feats at junior level, with the likes of Nwankwo Kanu, Samuel Osei Kuffour, Austin Okocha and Michael Essien all emerging from talent factories so productive.

There arises the million-dollar question, though: which of the pair - between Ghana and Nigeria- is better, if not necessarily more productive, at international youth football?

Goal seeks to answer as accurately as possible, using the simplest of statistics.

THE CRITERIA

As a measure of determination, the key to these comparisons is to credit two points for each title won at continental level, and one less for a runner-up finish. A championship triumph on the global stage fetches three points, a finalist slot two, and a bronze-winning campaign gets one. Multiply the deserved point(s) by how often a country has achieved a particular feat, add up, compare the final tallies and, Voila! *

So, then, shall we?

U17s

At U17 level, Nigeria are the top dogs on the international stage, underscoring that very fact with a convincing victory against Mexico on Friday. That conquest puts them on four titles, one better than Brazil and, even more crucially to this analysis, two ahead of Ghana. Nigeria have made the finals thrice more but lost. Comparatively, Ghana are not too far behind. In fact, had the Black Starlets been successful on the two other occasions they made the finals (1993 & 1997), they would have counted as many U17 world titles as Nigeria, and perhaps prop their cause up with the bronze secured from New Zealand 1999. However, the Eaglets' dominance is not so pronounced on their home continent, with their two titles matched equally by Ghana and being just one losing finalists' spot better.

At the end of 'Round One', the scores read as calculated below:

GHANA - AFRICA (WINNER): 2x2〓4
" " (FINALIST): 1x1〓1
4+1〓5
GHANA - WORLD (GOLD): 2x3〓6
" " (SILVER): 2x2〓4
" " (BRONZE): 1x1〓1
6+4+1〓11
SUM : 5+11〓16


NIGERIA - AFRICA (WINNER): 1x2〓2
" " (FINALIST): 2x1〓2
2+2〓4
NIGERIA - WORLD (GOLD): 3x3〓9
" " (SILVER): 3x2〓6
" " (BRONZE): 0x1〓0
9+6+0〓15
SUM : 4+15〓19

U20s


BREAKING GROUNDS | Black Satellites conquered the world in 2009

Nigeria have been twice as successful as Ghana has at the African Youth Championships - six titles to three - and have been at par with their neighbours in finishing second, with two silver wins apiece. Only in 1999 did the rivals contest the final, and Ghana, then managed by Italian Giuseppe Dossena, emerged victors by a solitary Laryea Kingson goal in Accra. At the U20 World Cup, Ghana have claimed four podium finishes - once in third-place, twice as runners-up, before picking Africa's sole world crown four years ago - in six appearances. Nigeria, on the other hand, have achieved all that Ghana have but the title.

GHANA - AFRICA (WINNER): 3x2〓6
" " (FINALIST): 2x1〓2
6+2〓8
GHANA - WORLD (GOLD): 1x3〓3
" " (SILVER): 2x2〓4
" " (BRONZE): 1x1〓1
3+4+1〓8
SUM : 8+8〓16

NIGERIA - AFRICA (WINNER): 6x2〓12
" " (FINALIST): 2x1〓2
12+2〓14
NIGERIA - WORLD (GOLD) : 0x3〓0
" " (SILVER): 2x2〓4
" " (BRONZE): 1x1〓1
0+4+1〓5
SUM : 14+5〓19

U23s

Things are a little more balanced title-wise at continental U23 level where each nation has managed one triumph in five participations at the All African Games. Only when silver medals accumulated at the tournament are factored in do Nigeria distinguish themselves, edging this particular count 2-0. In the larger picture, Nigeria increase their advantage with some five points from fine performances at the Olympics football tournament; three from winning the Atlanta 1996 edition, and another two from finishing next to Lionel Messi's Argentina in Beijing half-a-decade ago. Ironically, the only medal Ghana can boast of - bronze won by that ridiculously talented batch of Black Meteors at Barcelona 1992 - was that which put Africa on the Olympic football podium for the first time. That said, it fetches them no more than a point. Now let's see how that adds up to give us our final, almost conclusive figures:

GHANA - AFRICA (WINNER): 1x2〓2
" " (FINALIST): 0x1〓0
2+0〓2
GHANA - OLYMPICS (GOLD): 0x3〓0
" " (SILVER): 0x2〓0
" " (BRONZE): 1x1〓1
0+0+1〓1
SUM : 2+1〓3

NIGERIA - AFRICA (WINNER): 1x2〓2
" " (FINALIST): 2x1〓2
2+2〓4
NIGERIA - OLYMPICS (GOLD): 1x3〓3
" " (SILVER): 1x2〓2
" " (BRONZE): 0x1〓0
3+2+0〓5

SUM : 4+5〓9

GRAND TOTAL - GHANA: 16 + 16 + 3 〓 35

GRAND TOTAL - NIGERIA: 19 + 19 + 9〓47

CONCLUSION

Ghana's successes at youth football level cannot be understated; they might be third, fourth, or even second best in the world. On home turf, though, they do not seem to run their neighbours close enough. Nigeria are clearly on top, a full 12 points ahead and trumping the Ghanaians on each count, per the units of measurement applied in this analysis.

So maybe statistics are a bit like mini-skirts.
Maybe they do reveal everything.

Well done, 'Naija'.

Yakubu Aiyegbeni finished up his second season with Chinese Super League club Guangzhou R&F with 15 goals and in part one of this interview with Goal, Yakubu says it’s too early to compare Fenerbahçe striker Emmanuel Emenike with Rashidi Yekini.


"It will take sometime for Emenike to be like Yekini"
Aiyegbeni said concerning the new Super Eagles striker


“He will get there with time,” said the 30 year old striker when asked about Emenike who has recently returned to the Turkish Super Lig for a reported 13 million Euro.

“It is too early to compare Emenike to Yekini, Emenike is a good striker but Rashidi Yekini is a legend.”

“It will take some time for Emenike to be like Yekini, he just started playing for the national team two years ago so he has a long way to go.”

“We’ve had strikers that have scored more goals for the Super Eagles than Emenike so for the moment you can't compare Yekini to him,” he said.

Yakubu, a legend himself in Nigeria with nearly 60 caps, does admit that Emenike is rightly receiving praise,

“At the moment, I will give it to Emenike, he is the man of the moment, without his vital goals the Super Eagles wouldn’t be in the position they are now,” he said when asked who Nigeria’s ‘man of the moment’ is.

Yakubu has had another good season in China, following his 9 goals in 14 games last season he hit the back of the net 15 times in 29 games in 2013. Despite his scoring ratio, Yakubu admits that football in China is not as easy as it seems.

“The Chinese Super League is getting harder every season; this season is definitely more difficult. The CSL has more good players and the league as a whole is improving, the league keeps getting better,” he said.

Yakubu is keen to get started on 2014 already admitting that he has even higher targets in China despite an impressive ratio of a goal every 1.8 games.

“I think the season was successful but I can do better and I should be scoring more goals next season.”

“I'm still getting used to the CSL but I'm settled, which is very good. The club and fans can expect more goals from me next season,” he said.

Valmir BERISHA 7 0 0 536 7
Kelechi IHEANACHO 6 0 7 564 7
BOSCHILIA 6 0 3 315 4
NATHAN 5 0 5 427 5
Tomas VESTENICKY 5 0 0 296 4
Taiwo AWONIYI 4 0 5 525 7
MOSQUITO 4 1 2 431 5
Franco ACOSTA 4 0 1 390 5
Joaquin IBANEZ 4 0 1 424 6
Musa YAHAYA 4 0 1 618 7
Ivan OCHOA 4 0 1 630 7
Leandro OTORMIN 4 0 0 356 5
Gustav ENGVALL 3 0 2 562 7
Musa MUHAMMED 3 1 2 630 7
Ryoma WATANABE 3 1 1 180 2
Younes BNOU MARZOUK 3 0 0 125 3
Karim ACHAHBAR 3 0 0 197 3
Kevin MENDEZ 2 1 3 336 5
Success ISAAC 2 0 2 122 2
Ulises JAIMES 2 0 2 387 6
Ramil SHEIDAEV 2 0 1 334 4
Franck KESSIE 2 2 1 360 4
Brayan VELASQUEZ 2 0 1 387 5
Matias SANCHEZ 2 0 1 431 6
Sebastian DRIUSSI 2 0 1 597 7
Alejandro DIAZ 2 0 1 614 7
Samuel OKON 2 0 1 630 7
Jorge BODDEN 2 0 0 73 3
Moussa BAKAYOKO 2 0 0 134 2
Nikola ZIVOTIC 2 0 0 236 3
Jordan HAMILTON 2 0 0 248 3
Luca VIDO 2 0 0 272 4
Aleksandr MAKAROV 2 0 0 360 4
CAIO 2 0 0 370 5
Chidiebere NWAKALI 2 0 0 622 7
German FERREYRA 2 0 0 630 7
Marcio BENITEZ 1 0 4 400 5
GABRIEL 1 0 2 56 2
Carlos STRANDBERG 1 0 2 229 7
Elias ROUBOS 1 1 2 270 3
Chidera EZEH 1 0 2 301 6
Anton SALETROS 1 0 2 338 7
Rembrandt FLORES 1 0 2 412 5
Rodrigo MOREIRA 1 0 2 540 6
Alexandr GOLOVIN 1 0 1 189 4
Nabil JAADI 1 0 1 233 3
Chiheb JBELI 1 0 1 283 4
Hazem HAJ HASSEN 1 0 1 360 4
Meite YAKOU 1 0 1 360 4
Mirza HALVADZIC 1 0 1 497 7
Erdal RAKIP 1 0 1 540 6
Chigozi OBASI 1 0 0 13 2
JOANDERSON 1 0 0 38 2
Michal SIPLAK 1 0 0 56 2
Tobias PELLEGRINI 1 0 0 74 2
Ali GHOLIZADEH 1 0 0 87 4
ALAMERI ZAYED 1 0 0 92 3
Leonardo SUAREZ 1 0 0 99 4
Jose ALMANZA 1 0 0 125 2
Maher GABSI 1 0 0 131 3
Shohjahon ABBASOV 1 0 0 133 4
Marco GRANADOS 1 0 0 136 7
Mohamed DRAGER 1 0 0 139 4
Mohamed BEN LARBI 1 1 0 142 3
Facundo OSPITALECHE 1 0 0 166 5
Jose MARQUEZ 1 0 0 168 3
Daisuke SAKAI 1 0 0 177 4
Yousef SEYYEDI 1 0 0 182 4
Taro SUGIMOTO 1 0 0 188 4
Ervin ZORRILLA 1 0 0 205 3
Hamza SAKHI 1 0 0 208 3
Ante ROGULJIC 1 0 0 211 3
Junior AHISSAN 1 0 0 212 3
Jose CARABALLO 1 0 0 225 3
KHALED KHALFAN 1 0 0 232 3
Werner WALD 1 0 0 232 3
Vittorio PARIGINI 1 0 0 237 4
Alen HALILOVIC 1 0 0 240 3
Kosei URYU 1 0 0 253 3
MOHAMMED SALAM 1 0 0 254 3
SHERKO KAREEM 1 0 0 258 3
Robert MURIC 1 0 0 260 3
Jamshid BOLTABOEV 1 0 0 270 3
Sascha HORVATH 1 0 0 270 3
Ali SULJIC 1 0 0 315 4
Fredy MEDINA 1 0 0 317 4
Denis VAVRO 1 0 0 348 4
Aboubakar KEITA 1 0 0 359 4
Amirhossein KARIMI 1 0 0 360 4
Mostafa HASHEMI 1 0 0 360 4
Rustamjon ASHURMATOV 1 0 0 360 4
Franco PIZZICHILLO 1 0 0 450 5
Joel BREGONIS 1 0 0 450 5
Lucio COMPAGNUCCI 1 0 0 505 6
Ulises RIVAS 1 0 0 599 7

Final Tournament Standings

Winner: Nigeria
Runners-Up: Mexico
Third: Sweden
Fourth: Argentina
FIFA Fair Play award

Nigeria (NGA)
Previous Winners »
adidas Golden Glove

Dele ALAMPASU (NGA)
adidas Golden Ball

1: Kelechi IHEANACHO (NGA)
2: NATHAN (BRA)
3: Ivan OCHOA (MEX)
adidas Golden Boot

1: Valmir BERISHA (SWE)
2: Kelechi IHEANACHO (NGA)
3: BOSCHILIA (BRA)

Nigeria 26 5 1 3.7 7 74 64 0 12 29 6 1 0
Brazil 19 4 1 3.8 5 74 42 0 3 24 4 1 0
Sweden 15 11 0 2.1 7 42 23 0 8 30 4 1 2
Uruguay 14 6 1 2.8 5 48 36 0 11 25 3 1 1
Argentina 13 12 0 1.9 7 51 42 0 13 34 4 1 2
Mexico 11 11 0 1.6 7 61 31 0 10 37 4 1 2
Morocco 8 5 0 2.0 4 27 29 0 3 12 2 1 1
Japan 7 4 1 1.8 4 39 24 0 8 21 3 0 1
Côte d'Ivoire 7 5 2 1.4 5 65 41 0 12 22 2 1 2
Slovakia 7 12 0 1.8 4 34 16 0 9 26 1 1 2
Honduras 6 8 0 1.2 5 28 27 0 3 14 2 1 2
Russia 5 5 0 1.3 4 22 22 0 3 20 1 0 3
Tunisia 5 6 1 1.3 4 18 19 0 8 10 2 0 2
Uzbekistan 4 2 0 1.0 4 23 13 0 9 9 2 1 1
Austria 4 6 0 1.3 3 20 11 0 1 14 0 1 2
Iran 4 6 0 1.0 4 25 23 0 4 17 1 2 1
Italy 3 4 0 0.8 4 25 31 0 4 28 2 0 2
Croatia 3 5 0 1.0 3 17 13 0 6 21 1 0 2
Canada 3 6 1 1.0 3 13 7 0 1 14 0 2 1
Panama 2 7 0 0.7 3 14 20 0 2 11 0 0 3
Venezuela 2 9 0 0.7 3 18 15 0 13 13 0 0 3
United Arab Emirates 2 10 0 0.7 3 8 5 0 5 8 0 0 3
Iraq 2 12 0 0.7 3 28 19 0 8 25 0 0 3
New Zealand 0 11 0 0.0 3 8 8 0 6 10 0 0 3

The Golden Eaglets, fuelled by a deafening atmosphere inside Zayed Stadium, brought El Tri down to their knees with an outstanding display to win the tournament for a fourth time

Nigeria made an easy meat of Mexico 3-0 to win the 15th edition of the Fifa U17 World Cup played on Friday evening in Abu Dhabi.

A first half own goal by Erick Aguirre and second half strikes from Kelechi Iheanacho and Musa Muhammed were all the highly-talented Nigerians needed to seal a fourth title on Asian soil.

The Golden Eaglets were in supreme form inside a rasping Stadium, ripping the defending world and Concacaf champions to continue their unbeaten run, and claim the trophy for a record fourth time, alongside their triumphs of 1985, 1993 and 2007.

El Tri dominated the early seconds of the tension-soaked encounter but were unable to near the rock solid Nigeria defence. Samuel Okon made the first attempt at goal in the fourth minute but his shot was not enough to threaten the Mexican goalie.

Few minutes later, Ivan Ochoa forced Dele Alampasu to a brilliant safe after his header was punched for a corner kick by the towering Nigerian goalie. Mexico’s dominance was short-lived after Erick Aguirre’s own put the Garba Manu boys ahead in an attempt to clear away Taiwo Awoniyi’s well laid pass meant for Musa Yahaya.

Mexico launched a comeback but their attacking forays were brought under constant check by the Musa Muhammed anchored defence. Alampasu made another brilliant save midway in the first half after saving Ulises Jaimes’s header off a free-kick taken as a result of Aliyu Abubaker’s foul on Alejandro Diaz.

The Eaglets could have scored more goals but were unlucky as Yahaya’s chance in the 40th minute rattled the cross bar before Awoniyi’s side-netted his chance off a pass from Kelechi Iheanacho.

With less than a minute to the end of the first half, Awoniyi’s bicycle kick was parried by goalkeeper Raul Gudino who was well positioned to clear away the Imperial Academy forward’s attempt after Iheanacho- who was voted the player of the tournament floated a brilliant cross.


Golden Eaglets’ onslaught continued 11 minutes after the restart when Iheanacho put goal past a shell-shocked Mexico, who showed their ineptitude at both ends when captain Musa Muhammed barrage of shots was parried into the way of Nigeria’s no 10 by Gudino.

Though, Raul Gutierrez made all his changes mid-way into the second half, that could not hand his team a glimmer of hope as Golden Eaglets stamped their authority in every departments of the game.

Mexico had a few chances to restore a little pride, but Ochoa’s header from close range went off target.

However, Muhammed sealed the win with less than nine minutes to play courtesy of a well taken free-kick outside the penalty area of the Mexican after Iheanacho was fouled by Teran.

In addition to this, Nigeria holds the record of the most goals in a single U17 World Cup tournament with 26 goals eclipsing the record set by Germany in Mexico 2011.

oh my god.dat alafara no dy play wit notes ooo.d man dy dictate note as if we be machine.i even get dat man 2moro.god anoda note be dis oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo.my ass con red 2de cos of 3 hours lecture i mean dat chem 101.and d man teaching phy125,dat man be devil ooo.wu was in class wen a guy wrote :if u are looking money,c me: on d board 2de.d guy jst disgraced himself.

Guys abeg wu dy do maths 111 hia.d woman voice no clear at all.dat her small PA system na made in china.God go help us 4 dis woman voice wey no clear.

I dy sch naw and lectures go start by 8 and i neva ç d level adviser.and guys any news about d hostel i mean unilorin hostel

Am i d only dept of physics student hia.and about sch hostel is any new concernin d hostel

Any physics student in da ouse.abeg wier d timetable dy cos i dont anywier in unilorin

Guys has all d unilorin hostels bin booked especially 4 boys.urgent reply asap abeg. Guys has all d unilorin hostels bin booked especially 4 boys.urgent reply asap abeg.

Iphedaryor: I av , but I've not been clrared

wen did u do it.mine was showin transaction error.and ur name came out with wich list

Iphedaryor: I av , but I've not been clrared

wen did u do it.mine was showin transaction error.

Pls has anyone paid his/her acceptance fee.cos mine wasnt goin thru.

Pls wot of subscription.will unilorin provide wifi service 4 us.cos tablet without subscription is useless.

Pls wot of subscription.will unilorin provide wifi services 4 us.cos tablet without subscription is useless.

Worship wit us @ shield of faith ministry at flamigo close on sundays and on tuesdays at the kwara state stadium.

I heard dr oludoyi is d next hod of acct and fin

I tank God ooo.i av bin offered admission into unilorin oooo.

Y him.dere must b somtin bhind dis crash.

Guys pls does anybody know wen d 2nd batch list will b out Guys pls does anybody know wen d 2nd batch list will b out

guys be xpectin d 2nd list ooo.som1 said dis weekend.

karferguso: Unilorin too dey like message.......dey don send me 2 sms and up to 10 e-mail.......d same happened 4 my post utme result

wen d uni send u d message

Wen wil d 2nd list b released.pls say somtin.abeg

any engine aspirant.

United will win

Finally front page

Ah nepa.no light in tanke now.so no ball.but i will follow the match on nairaland

illustrious: YOU CAN NOW CHECK YOUR ADMISSION STATUS ON UNILORIN WEBSITE.

u beta change so dat u wont go 2 hell fire.u lie 2 much.i checked deir website i saw no update.

illustrious: YOU CAN NOW CHECK YOUR ADMISSION STATUS ON UNILORIN WEBSITE.

u beta change so dat u wont go 2 hell fire.u lie 2 much.i checked deir website i saw no update.

Digatron: more shot

pls in d name of GOD share me games i use f7 and i live in ilorin. Tanks