₦airaland Forum

Good analysis. As scary as the French are, we must remember they beat a side the Dutch crushed 5-1 and the Dutch are OUT now... beaten by a side who the french will likely cross paths with in the Quarter finals.
But indeed the French remain scary. Their attacking flow and the freedom Deschamps affords Olise as the orchestrator and Dembele as the wide receiver all working in Sync with "General" Mbappe makes them a lethal force.


And I agree with you on the likely oppositions to worry France. Argentina is not likely to be much of a problem but Spain and Morocco will be problems for the French, most especially Spain because, in addition to having the quality depth and dominant possession style, Spain are the only side to beat France TWICE within 90mins in competitive fixtures in the last 2 yrs (at Euros 2024 and in the Euro Nations League Semis last year). Both games were tight but had same result: A Spanish Win.

Italy and Croatia secured Nations League wins over France in one game only in 2024 and 2025 respectively but ultimately lost the reverse fixture.

So Spain are like some sort of major worry for France but France would only get to worry about the Spaniards if Spain themselves get past Portugal or Croatia in the round of 16. Titanic path.

UncleHaba22:
The only team that'll give France problem will be Spain and Morocco Argentina might get a good fight Aswell

Just keep the ball away from them and you're on your way to deal with them

And the Midfield will be where France lose the game

Except you haven't been really watching this people

They haven't met a strong side the game Vs Norway would've given us that but Norway Benched players

Let's see how it goes sha

Oboy

Like play like play, Morocco wan win World Cup.

Tochukwu Nnadi has a new coach at Marseille. It is now official. The Former Lille Coach, Bruno Genesio.

https://x.com/i/status/2072255216024477941

Seeing John Obi Mikel doing World Cup punditry gives me immense joy as a super eagles fan.

A proper legend. Let’s give Mikel John
Obi the NFF presidency and see what he can do

Thierry Henry once said that the defendant he found most annoying was Taribo West because during their time at French ligue one, Taribo would man mark him and not give him space at all.

I am saying this against the backdrop of my observation in modern football: they don't man mark players anymore.

Messi roams free, Mbappe too. Dangerous players oo. Dem go leave them to dey prowl like hungry lion.

Old football will assign at least one player to follow these guys. Yes Messi is hard to mark but he's old now na. I don't agree with some aspects of these modern game

Mujtahida:
Thierry Henry once said that the defendant he found most annoying was Taribo West because during their time at French ligue one, Taribo would man mark him and not give him space at all.

I am saying this against the backdrop of my observation in modern football: they don't man mark players anymore.

Messi roams free, Mbappe too. Dangerous players oo. Dem go leave them to dey prowl like hungry lion.

Old football will assign at least one player to follow these guys. Yes Messi is hard to mark but he's old now na. I don't agree with some aspects of these modern game

Saliba and Gabriel carry that mentality come World cup. They're the two that are man marking hard while their cb partners seem to do the opposite. The way Saliba marked Gyokores yesternight 😂

It beats me why man marking is now old school.


I expect a factory reset for football philosophy after this world cup sha.

Let's bring back dribbling, man marking and one touch, 1v1 duels.

Trevor Noah said some about why team go see chance after holding possession only to turn back to rinse and repeat the back and forth and this shape thing. 😂

NasirIbnLaAhad:
A minor - if slightly unnecessary - quibble here, but Ghana reached the quarterfinals in 2010, and not 2014.

Thanks for the correction. Noted

minfelix:
They are actually, atleast getting further in a world cup tournament is our level as Africans for now, so dropping that trend is like dropping our qualities and history…

We are improving. But we never get pedigree.

daveP:
Saliba and Gabriel carry that mentality come World cup. They're the two that are man marking hard while their cb partners seem to do the opposite. The way Saliba marked Gyokores yesternight 😂

It beats me why man marking is now old school.


I expect a factory reset for football philosophy after this world cup sha.

Let's bring back dribbling, man marking and one touch, 1v1 duels.

Trevor Noah said some about why team go see chance after holding possession only to turn back to rinse and repeat the back and forth and this shape thing. 😂

SA epitomises that kind of football you describing in your last paragraph.

But Nigeria doesn't play that way.

Mujtahida:
SA epitomises that kind of football you describing in your last paragraph.

But Nigeria doesn't play that way.

Im glad Super Eagles no sabi do that thing. We've even tried it but we are terrible at it 😂😂😂
To face opponent and go past them is now a big issue. Urghhh!! Mbappe doesn't care. Messi arrives at the right time. If i were any coach I'll man mark him. It will help. Most goals he arrived at the perfect time when nobody was acting like the dangerous man was on the pitch.

Mujtahida:
We are improving. But we never get pedigree.

Pedigree means history in my context, so what has been our history in world cup football…It has been advancing to knockout stages and also reaching quarterfinals and at best Semifinal…we need to keep up that and also improve on it

That Ghanaian witchdoctor has predicted that Cape Verde will knock out Argentina.

TheSuperNerd:
Good analysis. As scary as the French are, we must remember they beat a side the Dutch crushed 5-1 and the Dutch are OUT now... beaten by a side who the french will likely cross paths with in the Quarter finals.
But indeed the French remain scary. Their attacking flow and the freedom Deschamps affords Olise as the orchestrator and Dembele as the wide receiver all working in Sync with "General" Mbappe makes them a lethal force.


And I agree with you on the likely oppositions to worry France. Argentina is not likely to be much of a problem but Spain and Morocco will be problems for the French, most especially Spain because, in addition to having the quality depth and dominant possession style, Spain are the only side to beat France TWICE within 90mins in competitive fixtures in the last 2 yrs (at Euros 2024 and in the Euro Nations League Semis last year). Both games were tight but had same result: A Spanish Win.

Italy and Croatia secured Nations League wins over France in one game only in 2024 and 2025 respectively but ultimately lost the reverse fixture.

So Spain are like some sort of major worry for France but France would only get to worry about the Spaniards if Spain themselves get past Portugal or Croatia in the round of 16. Titanic path.

I'll be very happy if they get to meet each other ❤️

Spain will definitely need Nico Williams in that match if they get to meet all the attention will be on Yamal then he do have enough space to do the damage except he woke up on the wrong side of bed he was literally the cause of Spain losing the nations league Vs Spain
He had all the space and chances to bury that game at half time but he was wasteful that was Raphinha specialty

Olmo or Munoz will be a good option for the left wing but Olmo has been really poor lately and Experience might be at disadvantage to Munoz

Fermin will be missed
Spain went into the world cup with an unfit wingers and that had been dealing with them

Spain might not get pass Austria

Blueelf:
Chatlesemeka85, do you know this guy

Alessandro Marcandalli

Plays as a CB in Serie A

Heard he has started the process of switching from a quite reliable source
.

yea I know him but haven’t seen him play before to be honest. Supernerd Abi Chriskel have mentioned him couple of times here

𝗡𝗘𝗪: Belgian-Nigerian striker, Akpa Chukwu Hemsley has joined SV Zulte Waregem 🇧🇪.

Fermin is a miss but Spain will beat Austria.

Fuente has eased Nico back in with no rush. Yamal as well. They are primed to be close to their best in the K.Os.

UncleHaba22:
I'll be very happy if they get to meet each other ❤️

Spain will definitely need Nico Williams in that match if they get to meet all the attention will be on Yamal then he do have enough space to do the damage except he woke up on the wrong side of bed he was literally the cause of Spain losing the nations league Vs Spain
He had all the space and chances to bury that game at half time but he was wasteful that was Raphinha specialty

Olmo or Munoz will be a good option for the left wing but Olmo has been really poor lately and Experience might be at disadvantage to Munoz

Fermin will be missed
Spain went into the world cup with an unfit wingers and that had been dealing with them

Spain might not get pass Austria

Mujtahida:
Thierry Henry once said that the defendant he found most annoying was Taribo West because during their time at French ligue one, Taribo would man mark him and not give him space at all.

I am saying this against the backdrop of my observation in modern football: they don't man mark players anymore.

Messi roams free, Mbappe too. Dangerous players oo. Dem go leave them to dey prowl like hungry lion.

Old football will assign at least one player to follow these guys. Yes Messi is hard to mark but he's old now na. I don't agree with some aspects of these modern game

You just remind me about the epic battle of Chelsea and Barcelona when the demonic messi was coming up and Ronaldinho was still in Barcelona, Chelsea coach had to asigne Bularohze to follow Ronaldinho every were he go in that match.

Justice505:
You just remind me about the epic battle of Chelsea and Barcelona when the demonic messi was coming up and Ronaldinho was still in Barcelona, Chelsea coach had to asigne Bularohze to follow Ronaldinho every were he go in that match.

Yeah. I remember the tackle of aisle del horno on Messi in 2006. Very horrible tackle

If America’s best athletes played soccer, could they win the World Cup?

9JAMac10:
If America’s best athletes played soccer, could they win the World Cup?

they won’t. That’s just their cope. Football isn’t just about the physicality if not African teams will be dominating. There’s the technical part ,the mental part , tactics as well. There’s no cheat code to it. That’s why no country dominates for a long time because there are several ways to get to the top unless in other sports like basketball or athletics where you just need the best talent.

Mujtahida:
Thierry Henry once said that the defendant he found most annoying was Taribo West because during their time at French ligue one, Taribo would man mark him and not give him space at all.

I am saying this against the backdrop of my observation in modern football: they don't man mark players anymore.

Messi roams free, Mbappe too. Dangerous players oo. Dem go leave them to dey prowl like hungry lion.

Old football will assign at least one player to follow these guys. Yes Messi is hard to mark but he's old now na. I don't agree with some aspects of these modern game

That's because football is now advanced. There has been a lot of fluidity. Enrique once said his vision is to have 11 players who are comfortable in every position on the pitch. These players would constantly rotate throughout the match, frequently changing position. How do you man mark a team like that? 😁

Messi? He would drag the defender all the way to meet Dibu and turn back to score from the space the defender vacated. 😂

So the solution is to modify the press to disrupt their buildup or perfect your zonal marking.

But if super eagles should catch this current France team... Ooh lah lah lah
Dem go too collect

mostob:
But if super eagles should catch this current France team... Ooh lah lah lah
Dem go too collect

France go too collect abi?

mostob:
But if super eagles should catch this current France team... Ooh lah lah lah
Dem go too collect

Tax collector ni….ordinary Congo Una no fit beat

Dr Congo...goalll in 6 mins

England plays like South Africa. Make Congo win them. I hate teams that always pass pass pass.

Wire shot from outside na!!!

elyte89:
Tax collector ni….ordinary Congo Una no fit beat

Ordinary Congo don dey shine England Congo o.
They shouldn't go ultra-defensive now. With the way the game has gone so far, Congo surprisingly have been doing well.

Mujtahida:
England plays like South Africa.

Imagine see their horrible defence 😂

Charlesemeka85 abeg wetin be that igbo word you de call England again

AndSunGorilla:
Ordinary Congo don dey shine England Congo o.

Your heaven fit hard o

I'm not surprised. The game against Ghana told me everything I needed to know about how poor this English side is.

Goke7:
Your heaven fit hard o

With God, all things are possible!!