₦airaland Forum

minfelix:
it will really take a miracle, i feel the 31 years record will be broken this year…The last non North African country to win afcon on the North African soil is Nigeria since the Tunisia 1994 Afcon

Tunisia 1994 =Nigeria
Tunisia 2004 = Tunisia
Egypt 2006 = Egypt
Egypt 2019 = Algeria
Morocco 2025 = ?
This Morocco team looks ordinary to me jare, if Mali can play them that way..they are not too good jare…

what iif Tunisia didnt qualify out of our group ....? i just want one major upset

A minute silence for Obizenas. He was a passionate super eagles and Arsenal fan

Ndidi was the CDM sitting in front of the defence and played full 90 + added time. Onyeka was his double pivot partner who was also policing the RCM channel and played 79mins.
So it is expected to have Ndidi record more defensive stats.

Saying Onyeka was not as involved is funny because after Ndidi (who played 90+), Onyeka had the next highest defensive contrubutions despite not finishing the game and despite not being the sitting CDM.

If there is anyone you should come for defensively, it is Iwobi, who recorded just one 1 defensive contribution for an entire 90mins+ display.

Meliforme:
The following submissions were made by me proving how correct i am and how hasty you are to conclusions.

#1 I said this:
Someone wrongly pointed out that Frank Onyeka was the one doing all the mopping and dirty work.
That is a complete lie.
The proof:
Frank Onyeka made 4 interceptions against Ndidi's 2.
Frank Onyeka won 3 duels against Ndidi's 11
Frank Onyeka made and won 1 tackle, Ndidi made 7 tackles winning 6 of them
Frank Onyeka made 2 recoveries against Ndidi's 5
From the stats above who was doing more of the cleaning. Ndidi was far ahead of Onyeka.
I quoted myself verbatim.

#2 I said this:
Had it been that Alex lwobi and Frank Onyeka were involved defensively as Wilfred Ndidi, our fullbacks wouldn't have faced the magnitude of pressure they faced against Tunisia.
The proof:
From the stats indicated above, Alex lwobi and Frank Onyeka weren't as involved defensively as Wilfred Ndidi.
Ndidi operated from a central position, but had to move to the flanks to make his tackles
The image below reveals the various zones Ndidi had to ply to make his tackles.
The image proves that one man, just one man was covering both flanks.

#3 I did not say or try to paint:
That Onyeka was not involved defensively.
Please go through my post and see if you can find that phrasing or any nuances of it. I said and i repeat that "Alex lwobi and Frank Onyeka weren't as involved as Wilfred Ndidi in the teams defense".

I did not lie, you are the one allowing your blas to paint a narrative that has no grounding.

Mujtahida:
Elyte89 baba is like you have not told him. Anyway, by the new year the big announcement will be made here on this thread

Una don dey on this announcement matter for over 1 year.

Anyway, Till then.

TheSuperNerd:
Ndidi was the CDM sitting in front of the defence and played full 90 + added time. Onyeka was his double pivot partner who was also policing the RCM channel and played 79mins.
So it is expected to have Ndidi record more defensive stats.

Saying Onyeka was not as involved is funny because after Ndidi (who played 90+), Onyeka had the next highest defensive contrubutions despite not finishing the game and despite not being the sitting CDM.

If there is anyone you should come for defensively, it is Iwobi, who recorded just one 1 defensive contribution for an entire 90mins+ display.

Onyeka was not as involved, period.
What is there to say or see again.
The gap is even wide: 1 tackle to 7 tackles, 3 duels won to 11 duels won.

Frank Onyeka made just one tackle for the entire 79 minutes of play time.
Wilfred Ndidi made most of his tackles on Frank Onyeka's wing.

Frank Onyeka is a fantastic player, and i am not even criticising him, i am just pointing to the sense in Eric Chelle's player substitutions.

2025 AFCON has so far matched the 2023 edition for on field quality of play, drama, and fantastic goals.

Still lacking that off field vibe in my opinion.

Leave Onyeka alone. He played 79mins not 90 yet was the most involved defensively only after Ndidi who played the entire 90.

Take your angst out on Iwobi who did little to nothing defensively despite featuring for the whole 90.

The Onyeka sub was wrongly executed. Chikena.

Meliforme:
Onyeka was not as involved, period.
What is there to say or see again.
The gap is even wide: 1 tackle to 7 tackles, 3 duels won to 11 duels won.

Frank Onyeka made just one tackle for the entire 79 minutes of play time.
Wilfred Ndidi made most of his tackles on Frank Onyeka's wing.

Frank Onyeka is a fantastic player, and i am not even criticising him, i am just pointing to the sense in Eric Chelle's player substitutions.

TheSuperNerd:
Ndidi was the CDM sitting in front of the defence and played full 90 + added time. Onyeka was his double pivot partner who was also policing the RCM channel and played 79mins.
So it is expected to have Ndidi record more defensive stats.

Saying Onyeka was not as involved is funny because after Ndidi (who played 90+), Onyeka had the next highest defensive contrubutions despite not finishing the game and despite not being the sitting CDM.

If there is anyone you should come for defensively, it is Iwobi, who recorded just one 1 defensive contribution for an entire 90mins+ display.

Iwobi against Tanzania
Defensive contributions- 0
Tackles (won)- 0 (0)
Interceptions- 0
Clearances- 0
Blocked shots- 0
Recoveries- 3
Ground duels (won)- 3 (1)
Fouls-1
Dribbled past- 0

Iwobi against Tunisia
Defensive contributions-1
Tackles (won)- 0 (0)
Interceptions-1
Clearances- 0
Blocked shots- 0
Recoveries- 5
Ground duels(won)- 2 (0)
Dribbled past- 2
From the way Iwobi plays, he doesn't tackle anybody. He is afraid of being carded. Anything just walk pass him. Making tackles or any physical contact at all is forbidden to him. Watch him closely you will see. He jogs after an opponent, once he got very close, he would pause & that's it. The opponent is free to continue.

Three Super Eagles players make the Sofascore AFCON Team of the Week for Round 2 after their performance against Tunisia 🇹🇳!

Victor Osimhen - ⚽🅰️ (7.8]
Ademola Lookman - ⚽🅰️🅰️ (9.1)
Wilfred Ndidi - ⚽ (8.4)

Go Eagles! 🦅🇳🇬

Thank you.

In as much as we praise Iwobi's ball distribution and creative eye in the middle, it must be said how poorly his defensive contributions have been across 2 games so far. 2 games and only 1 defensive contribution. It is not nice. Not nice at all.

zoboizee:
Iwobi against Tanzania
Defensive contributions- 0
Tackles (won)- 0 (0)
Interceptions- 0
Clearances- 0
Blocked shots- 0
Recoveries- 3
Ground duels (won)- 3 (1)
Fouls-1
Dribbled past- 0

Iwobi against Tunisia
Defensive contributions-1
Tackles (won)- 0 (0)
Interceptions-1
Clearances- 0
Blocked shots- 0
Recoveries- 5
Ground duels(won)- 2 (0)
Dribbled past- 2

Happy birthday 🎂 to one of the world's greatest strikers! Victor Osimhen! 🇳🇬

Victor Osimhen's stats for Nigeria since his debut in 2017:
🎮 47 games played
👕 40 starts
⚽ 32 goals
🅰️ 13 assists

Will he be a Super Eagles legend in the nearest future?

The following image reveals Chidera Ejuke's involvements defensively.
1 tackle, 2 clearances, 1 recovery.

Chidera Ejuke had 1 shot saved by the keeper.

I was dreading the flurry of attacks that might come from the Tunisians since the beginning of the game and voila it did come.
But contrary to popular opinion we stood more chance of scoring more goals than the Tunisians after the introduction of the wingers and that was what Chidera Ejuke and Moses Simon could have proven had the game lingered. (A lot of you might argue this but i know what i am saying)

Say all you can about Moses Simon, Moses is a very dangerous winger that can spin his magic anytime.

BankyGee:
Happy birthday 🎂 to one of the world's greatest strikers! Victor Osimhen! 🇳🇬

Victor Osimhen's stats for Nigeria since his debut in 2017:
🎮 47 games played
👕 40 starts
⚽ 32 goals
🅰️ 13 assists

Will he be a Super Eagles legend in the nearest future?

27. The Prime age of Perfection.

To answer your question, he is there already.

Felicitations Monster Machine!

TheSuperNerd:
27. The Prime age of Perfection.

To answer your question, he is there already.

Felicitations Monster Machine!

JAGUN JAGUN ⚔️🇳🇬🦁

🚨 BREAKING

Eric Chelle confirms injury worries in camp:
• Nwabali – knee pain
• Frank Onyeka – ankle pain
Both players will be assessed by the medical team. ⏳🇳🇬

#AFCON25 #SuperEagles #SoarSuperEagles

©OJB Sports

Ehen, I don remember. Someone here mentioned that Osimhen going to Galatasaray hampered his growth as a striker, which is a big fat wrong statement. If anything, Galatasaray's intense and fast style of play has made Osimhen even grown more as a striker, apart from his consistent lack of offside awareness, he has improved in every aspect of his game since he joined Galatasaray.

He now creates more chances, he links up now way better than he does before Galatasaray, he now even helps in defence more and his defensive attributes are now better.

Osimhen scored 6 goals in the UCL for the first time in his career while playing for Galatasaray, a tally that'll still increase by the way. Osimhen is at Galatasaray and still doing wonders for Nigeria after the same people said going to Galatasaray will make him useless in the UCL and for Nigeria, now them wan change narratives say Galatasaray dey hamper him growth, is Osimhen even a player that can be "hampered" at this point of his career even if he played for Enyimba?

I tracked and I'm still tracking Osimhen's overall attributes on Sofascore from January till now, and I can tell you categorically that his current December attribute update is better than any other attribute he has ever had on Sofascore in his entire career, even from the Napoli league winning season.

Attacking, defending, technicality, tactical attributes and creativity are all on another level. Galatasaray made Osimhen to become a better player than he was, believe it or leave it. Na the Hausa League slander dey make una no dey see massive improvement for Osimhen play...

Not related to my above post, but who has noticed that only Iwobi in our squad knows how to calculate Osimhen's run and give him a pass when he's not offside?

The thing no hard, Osimhen has mad level of both acceleration and speed, he's one of the fastest center forwards in the world, if not the fastest. Watch Iwobi's through-passes to him, he let the defend be ahead of Osimhen a little, let Osimhen turn to start his run, then he releases the ball past the side of the defender for Osimhen to run up to it and twice in this AFCON, it has been perfect. None of those defenders fast reach Osimhen, but other players will wait for Osimhen to start running and before they pass the ball, he has marginally or even by a mile run into an offside position.

Danielnino00:
🚨 BREAKING

Eric Chelle confirms injury worries in camp:
• Nwabali – knee pain
• Frank Onyeka – ankle pain
Both players will be assessed by the medical team. ⏳🇳🇬

#AFCON25 #SuperEagles #SoarSuperEagles

©OJB Sports

Omooo

Uzoho ke

Onyedika could have his chance

Odunayaw:
Omooo

Uzoho ke

Onyedika could have his chance

Uzoho might have repented, who knows


But Omo, make I no lie, poor goalkeeping could be our undoing in this AFCON..

After this tournament, whatever the outcome, the NFF and Chelle (or anybody that replaces him in case he quits or is fired) should prioritise that position...

Danielnino00:
Uzoho might have repented, who knows


But Omo, make I no lie, poor goalkeeping could be our undoing in this AFCON..

After this tournament, whatever the outcome, the NFF and Chelle (or anybody that replaces him in case he quits or is fired) should prioritise that position...

I fear that repentance

Danielnino00:
Uzoho might have repented, who knows


But Omo, make I no lie, poor goalkeeping could be our undoing in this AFCON..

After this tournament, whatever the outcome, the NFF and Chelle (or anybody that replaces him in case he quits or is fired) should prioritise that position...

I think it's highly unfair to Chelle for him to be sacked after this tournament. I know he signed a contract and all, but it's obvious he's building a ruthless team that can match even the very best in the world. Imagine having no reliable backup for Nwabali. Nnadi for Onyeka would be a huge gamble that may or may not pay off. We have a serious personnel issue, and that's not on Chelle. That's on:

1. Our poor league that can't produce superstars.
2. An incompetent technical committee who can't brainstorm ideas or scout players to save their lives.

The Malian coach is doing a lot of heavy lifting. The NFF realistically should keep him on board no matter what, but I know the organization is replete with woefully incompetent administrators who can't see further than their nose. It's a shame really.

BankyGee:
Ehen, I don remember. Someone here mentioned that Osimhen going to Galatasaray hampered his growth as a striker, which is a big fat wrong statement. If anything, Galatasaray's intense and fast style of play has made Osimhen even grown more as a striker, apart from his consistent lack of offside awareness, he has improved in every aspect of his game since he joined Galatasaray.

He now creates more chances, he links up now way better than he does before Galatasaray, he now even helps in defence more and his defensive attributes are now better.

Osimhen scored 6 goals in the UCL for the first time in his career while playing for Galatasaray, a tally that'll still increase by the way. Osimhen is at Galatasaray and still doing wonders for Nigeria after the same people said going to Galatasaray will make him useless in the UCL and for Nigeria, now them wan change narratives say Galatasaray dey hamper him growth, is Osimhen even a player that can be "hampered" at this point of his career even if he played for Enyimba?

I tracked and I'm still tracking Osimhen's overall attributes on Sofascore from January till now, and I can tell you categorically that his current December attribute update is better than any other attribute he has ever had on Sofascore in his entire career, even from the Napoli league winning season.

Attacking, defending, technicality, tactical attributes and creativity are all on another level. Galatasaray made Osimhen to become a better player than he was, believe it or leave it. Na the Hausa League slander dey make una no dey see massive improvement for Osimhen play...

Listen in hindsight it was a very terrible move


But osimen brought media activity and a better to the league not just his team gala

It made other teams stepped up in their overall signing

It is now proven that osimen has the Ronaldo effect no matter what scummy league you throw him in millions will still tune in to watch

Now I’m honestly glad he didn’t took the saudi deal

NasirIbnLaAhad:
I think it's highly unfair to Chelle for him to be sacked after this tournament. I know he signed a contract and all, but it's obvious he's building a ruthless team that can match even the very best in the world. Imagine having no reliable backup for Nwabali. Nnadi for Onyeka would be a huge gamble that may or may not pay off. We have a serious personnel issue, and that's not on Chelle. That's on:

1. Our poor league that can't produce superstars.
2. An incompetent technical committee who can't brainstorm ideas or scout players to save their lives.

The Malian coach is doing a lot of heavy lifting. The NFF realistically should keep him on board no matter what, but I know the organization is replete with woefully incompetent administrators who can't see further than their nose. It's a shame really.

I agree, after the AFCON, we should keep Chelle, regardless of the outcome... He has his flaws, but he has really done well in improving the team's overall performance..

But there was a post from a reputable journalist (I can't remember who) that said Chelle has decided to call it quit after the AFCON...

Yes, Doc it's not pleasant but on the flipside if he's making very good contributions in attack then I can overlook that since it's not his primary.

I think his qualities will be wasted doing defensive work when he can be doing the damage for us in the final third.

Last AFCON when he was doing defensive work no be abuse and insult e end last last.

TheSuperNerd:
Thank you.

In as much as we praise Iwobi's ball distribution and creative eye in the middle, it must be said how poorly his defensive contributions have been across 2 games so far. 2 games and only 1 defensive contribution. It is not nice. Not nice at all.

I no like Uzoho, but to be fair to him, watching his last four games for Omonia, he has been good.

His reflexes are now sharper than this version of Nwabali we have on our hands now, like far sharper.

His problem before was confidence and anticipation, I don't know if he has worked on that. If he has, then he's better than current Nwabali. Even his ball distribution now is good. Judging by his last 4 games ooooo, 2 in the Conference League and 2 in the Cypriot League. He's even one of the highest rated keepers in the Conference League.

typicalgamer:
Listen in hindsight it was a very terrible move


But osimen brought media activity and a better to the league not just his team gala

It made other teams stepped up in their overall signing

It is now proven that osimen has the Ronaldo effect no matter what scummy league you throw him in millions will still tune in to watch

Now I’m honestly glad he didn’t took the saudi deal

💯💯💯

You get, moving to Galatasaray was because of the unpleasant situation on ground, but so far so good, that move has helped him as a player and the league as you have pointed out, but no matter what he does, some people still don't want to agree that he's not doing bad at all there.

Iwobi's passing ability has been near peak levels of recent.

BankyGee:
Not related to my above post, but who has noticed that only Iwobi in our squad knows how to calculate Osimhen's run and give him a pass when he's not offside?

The thing no hard, Osimhen has mad level of both acceleration and speed, he's one of the fastest center forwards in the world, if not the fastest. Watch Iwobi's through-passes to him, he let the defend be ahead of Osimhen a little, let Osimhen turn to start his run, then he releases the ball past the side of the defender for Osimhen to run up to it and twice in this AFCON, it has been perfect. None of those defenders fast reach Osimhen, but other players will wait for Osimhen to start running and before they pass the ball, he has marginally or even by a mile run into an offside position.

chrisooblog:
Iwobi's passing ability has been near peak levels of recent.

I swear, there was one he did against Tunisia early in the game, from one end of the pitch with a trivela, it curved in front of two Tunisian players to meet the targeted player on the other end of the pitch, I shout 😂

He is not expected to drop Kante stats defensively. Not even close. But he should contribute decent defensive output.
This was the same case/angle made against K.Nwakali during his Afcon debut at Afcon 2021 when he paired Ndidi so why the flip on Iwobi? Nwakali was brilliant offensively and creatively and put out better chance creation numbers than our other midfielders but was constantly knocked for his defensive lapses. Same but even worse is showing at this afcon with Iwobi defensively.

He needs to step up a bit in that department while executing his primary duties. Afterall, it is not in every transtion that he is creating.

chrisooblog:
Yes, Doc it's not pleasant but on the flipside if he's making very good contributions in attack then I can overlook that since it's not his primary.

I think his qualities will be wasted doing defensive work when he can be doing the damage for us in the final third.

Last AFCON when he was doing defensive work no be abuse and insult e end last last.

BankyGee:
I no like Uzoho, but to be fair to him, watching his last four games for Omonia, he has been good.

His reflexes are now sharper than this version of Nwabali we have on our hands now, like far sharper.

His problem before was confidence and anticipation, I don't know if he has worked on that. If he has, then he's better than current Nwabali. Even his ball distribution now is good. Judging by his last 4 games ooooo, 2 in the Conference League and 2 in the Cypriot League. He's even one of the highest rated keepers in the Conference League.

I dey tell you. As of right now, Nwabali (cos of injury), Uzoho and Obasogie dey the same WhatsApp group. Anyone wey start the next match, it is what it is. The only thing wey dey vex me na say we get decent keeper like Arthur Okonkwo in Championship and people dey do like say he no even exist.

What do you think of this lineup against Uganda?

junnyjake:
What do you think of this lineup against Uganda?

I think I'll prefer Nnadi where you put Akinsanmiro..

I'll bring Akin on in the second half, maybe to replace Lookman
Or start Akin, move Lookman to where Akor is, and rest Akor