₦airaland Forum

mrwilliams9:
These are the same players that went to the AFCOM 23 final. They should look to push on and take the final step.

Egypt went three in a row. Cameroon went back to back. Senegal lost in 2019 before then winning in 2021.

We might still get to the AFCON finals in Morocco 2025/26 and we will lose. We have not built yet to expect a glorious outing. 3 Quality backups for each position; having 2 or 3 freekick specialists; a relentless hunger for goals in all matches such that a 1:0 lead is considered 0:0 by the players and technical crew, having enough friendlies for preparation, paying of match allowances and bonuses on time to mention but a few.

QueenJazz:
I'm not sure why most people on this thread hate Sunday Oliseh. He's intelligent, rational and easily one of the more likeable individuals out of that 94 set. Look at him here giving Eric Chelle his due credit.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIgi5ppMjyE

They hate him because nobody likes the truth and nobody wants Mr goody 2 shoes around them. The original hate was because of Enyeama Saga. Plus he resigned his position as the Super Eagles coach (which many still feel he ran away from). This is what I personally have experienced and I can relate. Once you start sounding too intelligent, you get your dose of vile and hatred plus disrespect.

Oliseh may not be perfect, in fact he isn't perfect. But you can't call him a liar or clueless

Kog45:
Haha that pass belonged to Chuckwueze but Ndidi messed it up and Osimhen was not in better position...LOOKMAN did well with that pass

Osimhen was in a better position. Go watch the video and see him raving at Lookman. I'm not saying that Lookman was wrong to have cut back that pass. I'm only just wondering why he didn't pass to Osimhen.

Procashtips:
Your point is that he deliberately didn't pass to Oshimen out of malice, what if he felt the others were in better positions to score than Osimhen?

I'm always careful when I make my points. I said IF he was motivated by malice, then it's awful. It is precisely because I want to give him the benefit of the doubt that I used the word 'if".

Amedino99:
I have already come to the realization that as a country we are NGMI. The super eagles are not an exception to this. After every failed outing, the nff will always put out a statement saying the next outing will be better. Its never better. Our hopes were raised by beating benin, raised higher by beating gabon and dashed on Sunday. We should have known it was too good to be true based on the way we started the qualifiers. Be that as it may, we have not option than to move forward, Our next match is meant to be against egypt on dec 14 for an AFCON friendly. Lets look forward to the next outing and hope as always the other team is less useless than us and we get to change the thread title to AFCON champions for the first time by next year.

We will never make it. In the voice of that coach berating his player 😂😂

It's not fair that my second national team were drafted in a group with the number 1 team in the world, yet we didn't lose more than one match and it was to Spain. Yesterday was a sweet entertaining 2–2 draw ☺️

Make Türkiye just drag Osimhen go World Cup if them qualify, they have everything except a striker.

Cocony:
We might still get to the AFCON finals in Morocco 2025/26 and we will lose. We have not built yet to expect a glorious outing. 3 Quality backups for each position; having 2 or 3 freekick specialists; a relentless hunger for goals in all matches such that a 1:0 lead is considered 0:0 by the players and technical crew, having enough friendlies for preparation, paying of match allowances and bonuses on time to mention but a few.

I do hope we all know that we didnt lose because of the defence. We lost because of mentality and grit. The team has been conditioned to double legged affair and not tournament mode. All of these because we got so used to leaving our midfield for opponents to use as they see fit.

If we continue deploying the same set of midfield, we will still become clueless and look lost.

Cocony:
We might still get to the AFCON finals in Morocco 2025/26 and we will lose. We have not built yet to expect a glorious outing. 3 Quality backups for each position; having 2 or 3 freekick specialists; a relentless hunger for goals in all matches such that a 1:0 lead is considered 0:0 by the players and technical crew, having enough friendlies for preparation, paying of match allowances and bonuses on time to mention but a few.

Im not a fan of this coach’s Diamond formation
We don’t have too many fighters in the national team
Is it Semi Ajayi (that doesn’t seem proactive) you really want to martial your defense
Fredrick, Ndidi, Onyeka, Adams & Osimhen are the only warriors in that team
Lookman & Moses help sometimes when they track back
Calvin Bassey’s performance is average, no player below that benchmark should be invited
The rest I don’t understand
We need 2 solid separate teams of 11 to win the Afcon. They better prepare for Moroccan fans laser lights
We need to carefully scrutinize every position
We have wingers, forwards but only Iwobi is the creator in the middle
Our defense made us lose that game
Tired Iwobi lost the ball in a delicate position and everyone couldn’t run back to get it.
In a frustrating position I thought a pro would kick the ball to throw in so that his team can reset or adjust positions
The team needs serious shake up
Stubborn coach will still play Lookman as central creator in Afcon, Lookman seems lost in certain positions. Based on his standard, not the Lookman we know
Younger legs like Fredricks who have legs to run
We really need to carefully look at every position backwards from the midfield to the goalie
Our players seemed tired when Osimhen was taken off
DRC could’ve won in 90 minutes
Ejuke seems heavy & older now and struggles to track back.
I still want Chrisantus back in the team, it’s obvious this coach doesn’t know how to use him
Players like Semi Ajayi to me aren’t proactive
Bright Osayi Isnt good enough
The team may have missed a bit of Dele Bashiru’s energy
Super Eagles quality & standard has dropped tbh
This coach may set them up to fail
Im not a fan of diamond when we don’t have super solid or world class defenders
I think Fredricks Is world class though
Im still a fan of 3-4-3
It hides our defensive flaws
Teams will have to work 3 times hard before they score against us
This team needs serious rejigging else they should forget the Afcon
Some of them over 25 years old like Ejuke have lost pace
See how youthful Fredrick’s legs are
Some of the over 25 year olds cannot run again lol
In all of this many Nigerians only feel sorry for Osimhen because of his work rate for Nigeria National Team
Our team isn’t good enough since they can’t beat South Africa or DRC

kennysville:
I do hope we all know that we didnt lose because of the defence. We lost because of mentality and grit. The team has been conditioned to double legged affair and not tournament mode. All of these because we got so used to leaving our midfield for opponents to use as they see fit.

If we continue deploying the same set of midfield, we will still become clueless and look lost.

Actually, in my own view, we lost because of the following factors:
1) Over dependence on Osimhen with no replica of his kind on the bench
2) Passivity of Wilfred Ndidi to scoring what should have taken us to 2:0 as well as his inability to kick the ball away for a corner kick or throw in
3) Changing a winning formation as opposed to the line up that triumphed over Gabon
4) Long standing sinusoidal inefficient substitutions
5) Most of all NFF indecision prior to the recommencement of the World Cup Qualifiers after the AFCON in Ivory Coast as losing to Benin Republic was the handwriting on the wall on unresolved NFF-COACH-PLAYER Conflict.

Since coach wants to stick to diamond formation
Coach please stop inviting players that cannot run, without pace or not willing to suffer
Else no medal in the Afcon lol
Teams like Senegal or Ivory Coast will expose you

QueenJazz:
I'm not sure why most people on this thread hate Sunday Oliseh. He's intelligent, rational and easily one of the more likeable individuals out of that 94 set. Look at him here giving Eric Chelle his due credit.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIgi5ppMjyE

Nice session, I watched it, and Osasu is right, the current Eagles lack the spine and resilience to pull through, and I like the way he differentiated the mentality between an Oshimen and Iwobi, citing their family background and the environment they grew up in. and he is right, saying some of the current Eagles, especially the foreign-born born don't really understand the demands and peculiarity of the Nigerian environment, so they struggle to handle the pressure and criticisms. I also agree with him and Oliseh that our Home playing turf should be taken back to Lagos, as Uyo fans are not giving the Eagles enough pressure to understand what it means to play for GWG.

Any right-thinking person knows Eric Chelle has tried to knowing what he met on the ground. Still, I also agree with Osasu on Eric Chelle not having enough international experience as a coach, which also informed his outbursts on the allegations of Voodoo by the Congolese. First time I will be listening to that Osasu guy, he's well-grounded as he's been around the national team for ages. The reason some of us here don't fancy Oliseh that much was his reign as Eagles coach, too, where he couldn't manage experienced and mature players like Enyeama and Mikel. Imagine Oliseh managing this team, omo, he will have issues with many of the players, as cool as Finidi is, he had issues with Osihmen, just imagine it was Oliseh, it would have been a global disaster.

Minfelix, DRC are through to the final. You can see we have a bunch of careless players who play for Nigeria

Is it really that difficult to find 22 good players? Such that there won't be need for first eleven as in any player in a position is as good as the next man?

Out of 220 million Nigerians?

Goke7:
Will you also hold Osihmen responsible for Ndidi and Chuks clattering into themselves to blow a glorious chance away? abi na Osihmen alone sabi lead?

Oga my point is this: If he can't Man up and face the battle when the Country and His fellow players needed him most, He should STOP forming overlord in that team. No body send am message. After all during the days of Yekini he wasn't this overhyped. Still maintained a level of decency not feeling like a god among men whenever they are in the field of play. This kind of attitude talking down on your fellow players, brushing them aside birth bad omen amongst them as you & I know something DRAMATIC happened inside that Dressing room during the 2nd half of the game.
Moreover, you need to accept the fact that your "Demigod" fizzles out when faced with strong opponents with a strong defensive line up.
We saw it against: Napoli vs Inter-milan.
-Napoli vs Liverpool.
-Galatasaray vs Liverpool
-Nigeria vs Ivory Coast
You can say whatever you like but I'm being objective. Being able to see a fault and point it out will save you a lot of stress in your doings.

Mujtahida:
Is it really that difficult to find 22 good players? Such that there won't be need for first eleven as in any player in a position is as good as the next man?

Out of 220 million Nigerians?

Based on what they told us and the criteria set, we cant

mrwilliams9:
I, too, want Chelle to carry on. He bungled the Tolu sub but tried to make amends for it. Kudos to that.

Even if the team doesn’t advance from the group, the experience of playing in a world cup is good for the development of the players.

Oliseh is a tough coach that will get the job done
I hope he takes over after the AFCON
We need someone who would tell your biggest player no
Find players hungry enough to get the job done
Despite fatigue I think DRC were better on the night
I can only mention 7 outfield players who deserve call ups
Awaziem & Ekong can be on the bench
Lookman has lost form or this coach’s tactics doesn’t suit him
Maybe we don’t have hungry players
They let DRC boss the midfield
Onyedika couldn’t even get play time when Iwobi seemed tired
Smh
Not a fan of this coach, don’t see us winning Afcon
We don’t have a chief creator & our centre back combo is poor
Fredricks & Calvin is good but no solid replacements
I prefer Fredricks at CB
No good replacement for Ola Aina

NFF messed up our qualification by employing Finidi who wasn’t ready for the job if you ask me
Thé 2 games Finidi handled cost us
DRC is the bench mark, an average team we should’ve beaten
How are we gonna face Senegal, CIV, North Africans if we can’t beat DRC

ThunderFireAgba:
Oga my point is this: If he can't Man up and face the battle when the Country and His fellow players needed him most, He should STOP forming overlord in that team. No body send am message. After all during the days of Yekini he wasn't this overhyped. Still maintained a level of decency not feeling like a god among men whenever they are in the field of play. This kind of attitude talking down on your fellow players, brushing them aside birth bad omen amongst them as you & I know something DRAMATIC happened inside that Dressing room during the 2nd half of the game.
Moreover, you need to accept the fact that your "Demigod" fizzles out when faced with strong opponents with a strong defensive line up.
We saw it against: Napoli vs Inter-milan.
-Napoli vs Liverpool.
-Galatasaray vs Liverpool
-Nigeria vs Ivory Coast
You can say whatever you like but I'm being objective. Being able to see a fault and point it out will save you a lot of stress in your doings.

Oya, tell us what happened since you know. If you can't, then your point is baseless. All you're saying about fizzling out against strong defensive set up is petty, its the job of any defence to stop any striker no matter how good he is but if someone is your highest scorer in the wcq series, highest scorer in the champs league, highest scorer in previous leagues across different countries and you say he fizzels out against stronger defences, omo you're not making sense and saying he's not manning up is the highest level of insult for a player who risk injuries for the national team when others simply avoid putting in their whole body in the game.

It's okay to dislike a player, but to wash down his importance because he could not score or finish up an appearance in a single match is mischievous. No striker scores in every match he appears in. Please stop this pettiness, you're not the only one angry with the loss to Congo!

Meanwhile, please tell us what happened in the dressing room before the 2nd half. I'd like to know and am waiting.

semid4lyfe:
If we boot out the current NFF board and replace them with a different set of people, it'd still be the same thing.

I've been following Nigerian football since '94, and I dare say the early to the late 90's was the only time we had a semblance of a proactive and functional NFF. I think Emeka Omeruah, and Abdulmuminu Aminu were the Chairmen then. That period also coincided with our world cup qualification, U-17 world cup, AFCON and Olympic football triumphs.

Since then, it's been a steady decline. and subsequent NFFs have been worse. Despite the shoddy NFF, we've had some football triumphs. AFCON in 2013, Back to Back U-17 world cups in 2013 and 2015, multiple WAFCONs etc.

My point is, all our football laurels have been in spite of the NFF. I applauded the NFF when Finidi was appointed, and also when he was sacked. The only thing I'll fault the NFF for in our failure is the bonuses issue that led to the boycott of training because FG released funds to the NFF to clear the bonus backlogs and also subsequent payments but the NFF used the money to settle other internal matters.

Every other thing, I'll put on the players 70% and 30% on the coach. I mean, look PK wey Bassey, Simon and Ajayi play. That onr na NFF too?

On Super Falcons, Madugu is. not a bad coach tactically. My issue with him is the shutting out of certain players and the home-based quota thing he seems to be implementing. He's also failed to realize that some players are past their best before dates and he's still giving them call ups. If he selects his squad without sentiments and bias, picks the best 11 to start the matches, we'd do well.

I disagree with you, most especially the part you said the bonus row is the only thing you would fault about the NFF, if we are being honest the NFF is the biggest culprit in all of this, after the last Afcon especially the final against Ivory Coast a lot of Nigerians weren’t convinced with Jose Poseiro, they wanted a change yet the NFF remained undecided about weather to keep him or fire him, eventually we read in the news that they wanted him to sign a new contract with reduced salary, for a responsible organization, the quality of the coach should be top priority yet what the NFF was most concerned about was how to take advantage of spending less on a coach so they can embezzle the rest, eventually Jose poseiro left the job, a responsible organization would eventually quickly undergo the technical process of hiring a new coach identifying a quality coach that fits the style of play , for months the NFF never made a move, the NFF was lackadaisical in its approach, after a long while they brought In finidi George to come and try his luck, now by technical ability and profile neither finidi George nor Jose peseiro match the profile in terms of knowledge and achievements for these set of coaches to be chosen yet the NFF went for them, the NFF never gave an explanation on why these men where chosen to lead the national team, I figure maybe because they were the cheapest option for them, teams across Africa are hiring decent coaches. Even after finidi George was fired, it still took the NFF a long while to get Eric Chelle, now you talked about the bonus row, that alone is a a major flaw that proves the inefficiency of The NFF, every coach is being owed, from Rohr, to poseiro even the players how then can you demand 100 percent from them as a football organization when you aren’t giving even 10 percent of performance as football administrators, if you notice Nigerian football is almost completely dead this decay isn’t just about the super eagles, league football, youth football e.t.c. Ibrahim Gusau and his board needs to go, if we don’t demand this they will continue to act irresponsibly, I am not taking the blame off the players too, we all know how those early qualifying games under poseiro, finidi and Eguavon cost us.

The funny thing with Naija is that I can almost bet that the team will still need calculators come 2029. Our attention span is limited. The NFF board/NSC will carry on like nothing happened.

This should go down as one of the biggest failures in our sporting history. An expanded world cup with possibly 10 participants from Africa doesn't have a Nigeria!!!!

caprikon:
The funny thing with Naija is that I can almost bet that the team will still need calculators come 2029. Our attention span is limited. The NFF board/NSC will carry on like nothing happened.

This should go down as one of the biggest failures in our sporting history. An expanded world cup with possibly 10 participants from Africa doesn't have a Nigeria!!!!

This is true 100 percent, knowing fully well aw we reacted when we lost d ticket to Ghana 🇬🇭…

Russia is reportedly mulling an alternative world cup to be held at the same time with the world cup next year.

Venezuela, Cameroon, Nigeria and other countries who failed to qualify for next year world cup will all be invited.

This rumor has not been confirmed or denied by Russia but its beginning to gain traction.

Riddle me this. We often say Player A, B or C is not fit for African football.

But African football always seems to falter at European or South American style football at the WC..why?

Shattuck:
I disagree with you, most especially the part you said the bonus row is the only thing you would fault about the NFF, if we are being honest the NFF is the biggest culprit in all of this, after the last Afcon especially the final against Ivory Coast a lot of Nigerians weren’t convinced with Jose Poseiro, they wanted a change yet the NFF remained undecided about weather to keep him or fire him, eventually we read in the news that they wanted him to sign a new contract with reduced salary, for a responsible organization, the quality of the coach should be top priority yet what the NFF was most concerned about was how to take advantage of spending less on a coach so they can embezzle the rest, eventually Jose poseiro left the job, a responsible organization would eventually quickly undergo the technical process of hiring a new coach identifying a quality coach that fits the style of play , for months the NFF never made a move, the NFF was lackadaisical in its approach, after a long while they brought In finidi George to come and try his luck, now by technical ability and profile neither finidi George nor Jose peseiro match the profile in terms of knowledge and achievements for these set of coaches to be chosen yet the NFF went for them, the NFF never gave an explanation on why these men where chosen to lead the national team, I figure maybe because they were the cheapest option for them, teams across Africa are hiring decent coaches. Even after finidi George was fired, it still took the NFF a long while to get Eric Chelle, now you talked about the bonus row, that alone is a a major flaw that proves the inefficiency of The NFF, every coach is being owed, from Rohr, to poseiro even the players how then can you demand 100 percent from them as a football organization when you aren’t giving even 10 percent of performance as football administrators, if you notice Nigerian football is almost completely dead this decay isn’t just about the super eagles, league football, youth football e.t.c. Ibrahim Gusau and his board needs to go, if we don’t demand this they will continue to act irresponsibly, I am not taking the blame off the players too, we all know how those early qualifying games under poseiro, finidi and Eguavon cost us.

I did not absolve the NFF of blame but your arguement still leans too heavily on the NFF as if they tied the players legs on the pitch.

Also, you're rewriting history. Jose Peseiro was employed on a 70k USD/month contract but after some mixed results and difficulty paying his salary, the NFF offered him a reduced 50k USD salary to stay on and take the team to the AFCON which he accepted.

He refused to renew the 50K USD/month contract when it expired at the end of AFCON, and demanded an increased salary to stay on as coach stating he had offers from other places.

After failing to reach an agreement with the NFF, JP announced his departure and the NFF moved on to appoint his deputy Finidi George as the substantive coach which I hailed and supported at that time because Finidi had the highest coaching badge, and some experience working in Europe, deputizing JP and coaching in the NPFL.

Your assertion that lots of Nigerians wanted JP gone after the AFCON is not entirely true. Reactions to JP continuing as coach was mixed. I wanted him to continue because he showed his tactical acumen and flexibility after the qualifiers and first AFCON game by deployed a 3-5-1-1 formation that fixed our goals leaking issue, and got us to the FINAL. I mean, from 4-3-3, JP switched to a 3-5-1-1 that made us defensively disciplined, solid and dispatched teams playing some prime catenaccio ball akin to Italy of 2006 world cup.

I also think you overestimate the Super Eagles brand with your quality of coaches statement, and we have to be realistic with the kinda coaches we can appoint.. There's no way we can attract first class coaches like Ancelotti, Guardiola. Mourinho and the likes. They're way above our league. Even the first class Africans/African experienced coaches like Pitso Motsimane, Hugo Broos, Herve Rennard are above our league. I think the right profile of coaches for the Super Eagles are young African, European, South American coaches who are within the age bracket of 40-55. and are eager to make a name for themselves. They also are moderate with their salary expectations. Think coaches like Pedro Goncalves, Djamel Belmadi, Aliou Cisse etc So by my assessment, Eric Chelle is a perfect fit for the job.

As for Finidi, with the benefit of hindsight, I agree he wasn’t ready. But even if Pep Guardiola was coach, the same players that struggled to beat Lesotho would still be the same players. National team coaches don’t perform magic. They work with what is available.

This NFF is the biggest culprit angle ignores the biggest elephant in the room, the players, who did not perform at the level required. You mentioned those early qualifiers. Exactly!. That is where we lost the plot. Even with all the NFF wahala, you don’t drop points at home to Lesotho. You don’t lose against Benin on a neutral ground. That one is not bonus issue or NFF delay. That’s players lacking hunger and performing poorly.

NFF didn't ask Ndidi to play the ball wide one-on-one with the Zimbabwe goalie in Uyo. NFF didn't instruct Troost Ekong not to tackle the Zimbabwean player that scored the 89th minute equalizer against us in Uyo. NFF didn't ask Troost Ekong to score an own goal from a non-threatening square ball in SA. NFF didn't ask Ndidi to get in the way of Chukwueze to possibly score our second goal against DR Congo. NFF didn't ask Ndidi not to clear the ball that led to DR Congo's equalizer. NFF didn't ask Bassey, Simon and Ajayi to play poor penalties. I could go on and on.

NFF has blame. Nobody is arguing that. Their administrative ineptitude is embarrassing. But to pin everything on them while giving the players and coaches a lighter share of the blame is inaccurate

NFF failed in organization (10%). Coaches failed in tactics (20%) Players failed in mentality and execution (70%).

Again, all the laurels we have won in football have been in spite of the NFF. If the players had the spine. mentality, and fortitude, the Super Eagles would have qualified in spite of the NFF.

I rest my fingers.

semid4lyfe:
Baba, I did not absolve the NFF of blame but your arguement still leans too heavily on the NFF as if they tied the players legs on the pich.

Also, you're rewriting history. Jose Peseiro was employed on a 70k USD/month contract but after some mixed results and difficulty paying his salary, the NFF offered him a reduced 50k USD salary to stay on and take the team to the AFCON, which he accepted.

He refused to renew the 50K USD/month contract when it expired at the end of AFCON, and demanded an increased salary to stay on as coach stating he had offers from other places.

After failing to reach an agreement with the NFF, JP expectedly announced his departure and the NFF moved on and appointed his deputy Finidi George as the substantive coach which I hailed and supported at that time because Finidi had the highest coaching badge, and some experience working in Europe, deputizing JP and coaching in the NPFL.

Your assertion that lots of Nigerians wanted JP gone after the AFCON is not entirely true. Reactions to JP continuing as coach was mixed. I wanted him to continue because he showed his tactical acumen and flexibility after the qualifiers and first AFCON game by deployed a 3-5-1-1 formation that fixed our goals leaking issue, and got us to the FINAL. I mean, from 4-3-3, JP switched to a 3-5-1-1 that made us defensively disciplined, solid and dispatched teams playing some prime catenaccio ball akin to Italy of 2006 world cup.

I also think you overestimate the Super Eagles brand with your quality of coach statement, and we have to be realistic with the kinda coaches we can appoint.. There's no way we can attract first class coaches like Ancelotti, Mourinho and the likes. They're way above our league. Even the first class African/African experienced coaches like Pitso Motsimane, Hugo Broos, Herve Rennard are above our league. I think the right profile of coaches for the Super Eagles are young African, European, South American coaches who are within the age bracket of 40-55. and are eager to make a name for themselves. Think coaches like Pedro Goncalves, Djamel Belmadi, Aliou Cisse etc So by my assessment,Eric Chelle is a perfect fit for the job.

As for Finidi, with the benefit of hindsight, I agree he wasn’t ready. But even if Pep Guardiola was coach, the same players that struggled to beat Lesotho would still be the same players. National team coaches don’t perform magic. They work with what is available.

This NFF is the biggest culprit angle ignores the biggest elephant in the room, the players, who did not perform at the level required. You mentioned those early qualifiers. Exactly!. That is where we lost the plot. Even with all the NFF wahala, you don’t drop points at home to Lesotho. You don’t lose against Benin on a neutral ground. That one is not bonus issue or NFF delay. That’s players lacking hunger and performing poorly.

NFF didn't ask Ndidi to play the ball wide one-on-one with the Zimbabwe goalie in Uyo. NFF didn't instruct Troost Ekong not to tackle the Zimbabwean player that scored the 89th minute equalizer against us in Uyo. NFF didn't ask Troost Ekong to score an own goal from a non-threatening square ball in SA. NFF didn't ask Ndidi to get in the way of Chukwueze to possibly score our second goal against DR Congo. NFF didn't ask Ndidi not to clear the ball that led to DR Congo's equalizer. NFF didn't ask Bassey, Simon and Ajayi to play poor penalties. I could go on and on.

NFF has blame. Nobody is arguing that. Their administrative ineptitude is embarrassing. But to pin everything on them while giving the players and coaches a lighter share of the blame is inaccurate

NFF failed in organization (10%). Coaches failed in tactics (20%) Players failed in mentality and execution (70%).

Again, all the laurels we have won in football has been in spite of the NFF.
If the players had the spine. mentality, and fortitude, the Super Eagles would have qualified in spite of the NFF.

I rest my fingers.

The Epistle of Semid4lyfe!!!

SymphonyRad:
Me I've stopped investing my emotions on this set of players, the world cup hurt unsurprisingly took me less than 24 hours to recover from. Right now, while much needed changes starting from compulsory resignations must be enforced on the NFF starting from that waste of space Eguavoen, the Super Eagles team itself now has to be drastically changed, only players like Osimhen, Benjamin Fredrick (who should be made the poster boy of the new generation), Nwabali (still a good GK despite his unbearable antics but needs massive competition now), Maduka, Aina, Felix Agu (need to see more of him at the AFCON), Bassey (he and Benjamin have a perfect partnership), and then for other full-backs: players like Bruno and Sanusi can be kept around till we find better replacements hopefully soonest; which makes me hope we still get a chance to make Michael Kayode consider Nigeria, along with Ahanor.

Players that MUST BE RETIRED OUTRIGHTLY

William Troost Ekong (bye, you've served well but football has left you),
Simon Moses ( same with Ekong, should have been phased out 5-6 years ago),
Semilore Ajayi ( a player who has always blown hot and cold, decent on his best days but very uneventful on his normal days),
Wilfred Ndidi (done and dusted, he's just not it anymore...that moment when he kicked air when a simple tap in was all but needed from that Lookman's pass to make it 2-0 against DRC was the highlight of it all, any other player would have scored that easily and the dynamics of that game would have been different today).

Players who should be phased out

Osayi-Samuel- just a boring and uneventful player, decent sometimes but a largely forgettable player.

Tolu Arokodare- just a very average player who flattered to deceive in Belgium, haven't seen a more unbalanced player who can't hold up play and lacks aerial intelligence and abilities despite his height advantage, Congolese midgets pretty much bullied and out-jumped him all game, thought he was the perfect backup to Osimhen but he just isn't it.

Alhassan Yusuf: This dude is so forgettable that I reckon calling him up is just to fulfill some necessary quota slot for Northerners to be in the team for sake of national belonging, cause his inclusion makes no sense in every footballing logic.


Players who should be on probation depending on how their AFCON performances go:

Alex Iwobi: The less said the better, but this brother was never the second coming of his uncle Jay Jay, it just wasn't to be and it's fine, we might never see another like JJ Okocha ever again. He has one last chance to make a redemption arc for himself this AFCON, play your heart out and win gold for Nigeria, and write youe name in gold Alex.

Chukwueze: A very frustrating player whose international career story can only be summed up in the conjecture of "what ifs?"...maybe he's just better suited as a CAM but we will never know with Chukwueze, AFCON is his last chance.

Ademola Lookman: Something isn't quite right with this brother, granted his stint at Atalanta hasn't quite been favorable lately but he isn't just at his best right now, Ademola on his best days is a world class player, but he needs to get it all together and perhaps use this AFCON to prove he is still THAT GUY...with age no longer on his side in football terms, he has to step up big time and win this AFCON...Nigerians have been patient enough.

Players who still need time to settle

Akor Adams
Uche Christiantus
Chidera

Time to build around:

Benjamin Fredrick (face of the new generation)
Ebenezer Akinsanmiro
Frank Onyeka
Raphael Onyedika
Rafiu Durosimi
Sani Suleiman
Philip Otele
Franklin Uchenna Tebo
Micheal Kayode (if he decides to switch)
Ahanor (if he decides to switch)
David Moses
Odinaka Emmanuel Okoro
Chibuike Nwaiwu
Gibson Yah
Fisayo Dele-Bashiru
Arthur Okonkwo (if he decides for Nigeria)
Ryan Alebiosu
And any other young and exciting Nigerian player out there whether foreign or local born and based.

Osimhen must be made captain and will lead this large core of new generation players from the AFCON where most of them will be integrated as we build towards the next world cup by playing top quality friendly games next year, NFF must schedule those games and make sure our 2026 football calendar is busy, no excuses anymore and we are done with the player bonus rows and drama, all that nonsense should end now.

Lastly Chelle must be retained and supported to win the AFCON...he's still a good coach and the fact that the team even got this far after the rubbish he inherited from Finidi and Peseiro is a testament to that. Depending on the AFCON, he should be given a contract extension and given a freehand to invite his own players and build his team, enough of this disgusting madness of NFF using player agents to force rubbish deadweights on the coach, let all the end going into 2026.

This about Ndidi's miss is why I said had it been he was in the position of Onyeka when he scored the fourth goal against Benin we would not have made the playoffs in the first place. Ndidi would have either missed the shot or ballooned it.

For a player that was known to possess bullet shots in the past. SMH

mrwilliams9:
Riddle me this. We often say Player A, B or C is not fit for African football.

But African football always seems to falter at European or South American style football at the WC..why?

When it comes to playing in Africa, there is an element of Physicality and grit involved. Most of the tackles we see in Africa, if it were in Europe, it's straight red card. But when it is europe, there is always wits involved. We get edged either through narrative of aggression, or through bad calls from referees or better yet lack of self belief which still comes down to colonial mentality that makes you think White people are always better than you

Nomyth:
Russia is reportedly mulling an alternative world cup to be held at the same time with the world cup next year.

Venezuela, Cameroon, Nigeria and other countries who failed to qualify for next year world cup will all be invited.

This rumor has not been confirmed or denied by Russia but its beginning to gain traction.

If Russia hosts such a tournament with Nigeria participating. na my own world cup be that and I'll watch it.

I no get club. Na only our national teams I dey support, and I go ride and die with the Super Eagles until I kpai.

Only thing be say, there may sanctions from FIFA and political ramifications for participating countries from the US if it happens because it will be seen as an affront to their hosting of the FIFA world cup.

mekabuachi:
The way people are saying there's no difference between finidi George and Eric Chelle, in their words Chelle was only fortunate to have victor osihmen and there has not been any improvement in the team
Chai, Nigerians never learn
Takeaway halland from mancity for 10 straight games, let's see mancity
Part of Barcelona problems recently is because raphina is injured
Let mbappe get injured today sef and be out for months, real Madrid will struggle

What am I saying? Of course the players over rely on osihmen and don't have the drive, well expect few

But people coming out to say Eric Chelle is clueless and osihmen is only covering him, that I won't take
Five times this man has made substitution and then these substitutes have scored in those games and won it (excluding the Russia draw) the game for us
Tolu against Rwanda
Tolu against Russia
Akor Adams against Lesotho
Onyeka against Benin republic
Ejuke against gabon
When we won the unity cup and even played against our rival Ghana was osihmen there?... He no win am?
When we drew a very inform Russia, if not that our player scored and own goal we for no win am? Was osihmen there ?
It's one thing to praise osihmen, we deservedly so, but it is another thing to discredit everything this coach has been doing, I just feel very bad for that man honestly, he doesn't deserve all this
With 3 points in 12 games we are not even supposed to make the playoffs, make una no swallow your PRIDE

So if Mbappe, Haaland, and co. aren't available for their respective team they will be struggling and missing glorious chances against Mallorca, Brentford and the likes? Its not like DRC played fantastic football. Our players missed glorious chances even against Gabon.

In fact forget about the 4-1 win against Gabon, we weren't impressive because we should have been 2,3 goals up in the first half to begin with. The game wouldn't have extended to extra time.

We couldn't beat either of Gabon and DRC in 90 minutes despite see so many chances in both games.

mrwilliams9:
Riddle me this. We often say Player A, B or C is not fit for African football.

But African football always seems to falter at European or South American style football at the WC..why?

I'd like to know the answer to this as well.

cc: Cocony, Mujtahida

kennysville:
When it comes to playing in Africa, there is an element of Physicality and grit involved. Most of the tackles we see in Africa, if it were in Europe, it's straight red card. But when it is europe, there is always wits involved. We get edged either through narrative of aggression, or through bad calls from referees or better yet lack of self belief which still comes down to colonial mentality that makes you think White people are always better than you

No offense but the emboldened is nonsense. There are standard rules and guidelines that referees follow for officiating matches and these rules do not vary by location.

A red card offense in Europe is same in Africa or anywhere else.

Moreso, with the introduction of VAR, even if a referee misses a card-able foul, the VAR will see it and draw the attention of the referee. and the offending player go still collect.

I think the reason why European, South American and now Asian countries (Japan, South Korea) outwit African teams is due to superior tactics. They play with structure, discipline, and clear game plans. They utilize fast transitions, exploit space efficiently and anticipate opponents movies. They are also well drilled in their adopted formations and emphasize team work.

African teams,in contrast, often rely more on individual talent and physicality, which can be brilliant but is easier to predict and counter at the highest levels.

Na the reason be that.

Thé entire federation & structure need to go
Else forget about 2030 World Cup
This is not even a joke
Serious surgical intervention
You’d see in this Afcon, teams will no longer be scared of Nigeria & Cameroon
Old giants di ee off & give way to new ones

VO9 will be out for about 5-6 weeks.
AFCON is in 40 days.
Ekong might have quit international football.