₦airaland Forum

Thomas Tuchel's introduction of the 2.01m Dan Burn proved a true defensive masterclass switch as he literally became England's clearing machine, repelling the Mexican crosses and swing ins.

England finally win a WC game after being reduced to 10men.

England becomes the very first team in WC history to beat Mexico at the Iconic Azteca Stadium.

Mexico 10 games unbeaten. Fell at the 11th.

Harry Kane lost his voice after fulltime when giving a postmatch onfield interview. Lol

LionHearts of England.🦁🦁🦁

Arsenal has 2 players on 3 assists at the ongoing 2026 WC.


3 - Arsenal players with 3+ assists at a FIFA World Cup tournament on record (from 1966):

Dennis Berkgamp, 1998 (3)
Martin Ødegaard, 2026 (3)
Bukayo Saka, 2026 (3)

Magicians.

Courtesy: OptaJoe

Jude Bellingham 🤝🏿🤝🏿 Diego Maradona


Azteca Stadium WC Icons

TheSuperNerd:
2026 WC Top Scorers (Updated)

Mbappe - 7 goals

Haaland - 7 goals

Messi - 7 goals

Kane - 5 goals

Mikel Oyarzabal - 4 goals

Vini Jr - 4 goals

O.Dembele - 4 goal

Ismaila Sarr - 4 goals

C.Ronaldo - 3 goals

Ismael Saibari - 3 goals

Cunha - 3 goals

Balogun - 3 goals

Julian Quinones - 3 goals

Brian Bobbey - 3 goals

Y.Wissa - 3 goals

Manzambi - 3 goals

Cody Gakpo - 3 goals

D.Undav - 3 goals

Havertz - 3 goals

Just - 3 goals

J.David - 3 goals

Barcola - 2 goals

Emam Ashour - 2 goals

Soufiane Rahimi - 2 goals

Azzedine Ounahi - 2 goals

Breel Embolo - 2 goals

Lukaku - 2 goals

Youri Tielemans - 2 goals

Raul Jimenez - 2 goals

Pape Gueye - 2 goals

L.Trossard - 2 goals

A.Ueda - 2 goals

Nicolas Pepe - 2 goals

R.Mahrez - 2 goals

A.Elanga - 2 goals

Ruben Vargas - 2 goals

C.Summerville - 2 goals

D.Kamada - 2 goals

C.Larin - 2 goals

Amad Diallo - 2 goals

Habib Diarra - 2 goals

Daniel Munoz - 2 goals

J.Bellingham - 2 goals

Arnautovic - 2 goals

Ayari - 2 goals

R.Rezaeian - 2 goals

Maxi Araujo - 2 goals

Ermin Mahmic - 2 goals

2026 WC Top Scorers (Updated)

Mbappe - 7 goals

Haaland - 7 goals

Messi - 7 goals

Kane - 6 goals

Jude Bellingham - 4 goals

Mikel Oyarzabal - 4 goals

Vini Jr - 4 goals

O.Dembele - 4 goal

Julian Quinones - 4 goals

Ismaila Sarr - 4 goals

C.Ronaldo - 3 goals

Ismael Saibari - 3 goals

Cunha - 3 goals

Balogun - 3 goals

Raul Jimenez - 3 goals

Brian Bobbey - 3 goals

Y.Wissa - 3 goals

Manzambi - 3 goals

Cody Gakpo - 3 goals

D.Undav - 3 goals

Havertz - 3 goals

Just - 3 goals

J.David - 3 goals

Barcola - 2 goals

Emam Ashour - 2 goals

Soufiane Rahimi - 2 goals

Azzedine Ounahi - 2 goals

Breel Embolo - 2 goals

Lukaku - 2 goals

Youri Tielemans - 2 goals

Pape Gueye - 2 goals

L.Trossard - 2 goals

A.Ueda - 2 goals

Nicolas Pepe - 2 goals

R.Mahrez - 2 goals

A.Elanga - 2 goals

Ruben Vargas - 2 goals

C.Summerville - 2 goals

D.Kamada - 2 goals

C.Larin - 2 goals

Amad Diallo - 2 goals

Habib Diarra - 2 goals

Daniel Munoz - 2 goals

Arnautovic - 2 goals

Ayari - 2 goals

R.Rezaeian - 2 goals

Maxi Araujo - 2 goals

Ermin Mahmic - 2 goals

TheSuperNerd:
Next up: Spain vs Portugal. Unfortunate meeting but one must and will go home.

Will Yamal and co end CR7's last dance at the round of 16 or will Portugal somehow squeeze past the Spanish masters?

This one is another classic in the making just like the Uefa Euro Nations League final last year between both and ended in penalties after 2-2.

Tick tock.... tick tock... tick tock... ⏳️

A big battle. A clash of 2 of my Pre-tournament top 5 favorites and 2 of my overall 12 top sides selections of favs, darkhorses and outside force.

I tip Spain to win this classic but we will see whether the football gods agree with me or not pertaining this one game involving one of the G.O.A.Ts.

Till then....

mrwilliams9:
It’s not about bagging goals, but when he gets those goals.

Osimhen has really yet to perform in a crucial match for Nigeria.

AFCON Final, SF, WC playoff etc

Who won our penalty at afcon 2023 SF

Whose goals got us to WC playoff in the first place?

Odunayaw:
Who won our penalty at afcon 2023 SF

Whose goals got us to WC playoff in the first place?

I don’t even understand all these gnashing of teeth, instead of enjoying the World Cup games na for all our national team and players to Dey collect left right and centre. Yes we no qualify and so? Can’t you enjoy the games and catch fun but no na to lament over what osihmen Dey chop 😂 and when he vanishes like wiliwili! Our matter don tire me jor

Messi - 7 goals
Mbappe - 7 goals
Haaland - 7 goals
Ronaldo - 7 letter words

TheSuperNerd:
Jude Bellingham 🤝🏿🤝🏿 Diego Maradona


Azteca Stadium WC Icons

Your Opta Joe no wan count Maradonna two goals against England at the Mexico 86 Azteca Stadium because of the 'Hand of God' goal 😀😀

ChrisKels:
Messi - 7 goals
Mbappe - 7 goals
Haaland - 7 goals
Ronaldo - 7 letter words

Una don start. It's too early for this. 😂

ChrisKels:
Messi - 7 goals
Mbappe - 7 goals
Haaland - 7 goals
Ronaldo - 7 letter words

Seriki (osimhen)- 7 plates of rice 😃😃

No. The game vs Belgium was the semis. England was in the quarters. Both games in the Azteca and both saw Maradona score braces but the last brace was vs Belgium so OptaJoe is spot on.

Mujtahida:
Your Opta Joe no wan count Maradonna two goals against England at the Mexico 86 Azteca Stadium because of the 'Hand of God' goal 😀😀

elyte89:
Seriki (osimhen)- 7 plates of rice 😃😃

God abeg 😭😭😭

elyte89:
Seriki (osimhen)- 7 plates of rice 😃😃

With heavy bling bling like real poor man seriki 😀😀

Mujtahida:
It's not about tactics. It's not about being broken by Germany in 2014. Brazil simply does not have enough talented players like they did in the past.

Their players are mediocre.

Modern football has finished Brazil pata pata. I've never supported Brazil (even though I loved Brazilian players) but to see one of the great footballing nation fall so drastically like this makes me sad.

Even Brazil has no proper 10. I hate this modern football that nullified the 10.

We have to wake up, football is experiencing a paradigm shift, worldcup powerhouses are now relinquishing their positions gradually….Brazil, Germany,Netherland,Italy(Now almost going into mediocrity extinction) and etc’s do not possess those quality players again…
From all the “Inhos” ronaldo,Dunga,Cafu,rivaldo of the mercurial Brazil to the Lahm,Klose,Kroos,Metersacker of Germany to all the “Van”, Kluivert,Davies,Robben of Netherland, to the Baggios,Romarios,Buffon,Del Piero of Italy ….This generation of Germany,Brazil,Italy,Netherland no longer strike fear again….If Messi retires Argentina will join that league(imagine a 39yrs old man leading the race of highest goals scorer, what happen to the other young Argentine players, it tells you that after Messi, you will see teams like Capeverde eliminating Argentina)
That goes to Nigeria, we have really lost our fear factor on the African soil, Morocco is taking up that mantle if we totally snooze, and so many other African nations will have the boost to wanna fight to the top

minfelix:
We have to wake up, football is experiencing a paradigm shift, worldcup powerhouses are now relinquishing their positions gradually….Brazil, Germany,Netherland,Italy(Now almost going into mediocrity extinction) and etc’s do not possess those quality players again…
From all the “Inhos” ronaldo,Dunga,Cafu,rivaldo of the mercurial Brazil to the Lahm,Klose,Kroos,Metersacker of Germany to all the “Van”, Kluivert,Davies,Robben of Netherland, to the Baggios,Romarios,Buffon,Del Piero of Italy ….This generation of Germany,Brazil,Italy,Netherland no longer strike fear again….If Messi retires Argentina will join that league(imagine a 39yrs old man leading the race of highest goals scorer, what happen to the other young Argentine players, it tells you that after Messi, you will see teams like Capeverde eliminating Argentina)
That goes to Nigeria, we have really lost our fear factor on the African soil, Morocco is taking up that mantle if we totally snooze, and so many other African nations will have the boost to wanna fight to the top

Senegal and Morocco are the Batman and Superman of CAF now. The Big 2. No other African country commands more respect than them presently.

Then you can say that Egypt, Nigeria and Algeria would round up the Big 5.

The fact that Egypt - and especially Nigeria with all of our disorganization and unseriousness - haven't totally vanished into obscurity is a testament to the insane pool of talent they both have.

If I'm not mistaken these are the only two teams that have remained prominent on African football for the past 50-60 years. Other African countries come and go. Zambia and Guinea were big in the 80s and 90s. Cameroon and Ghana were big in the 90s and 00s. I don't think there's been any decade where Nigeria and Egypt didn't shine. Even the 2010s that was arguably our worst decade in my opinion still included 2013 where we won the AFCON and played in the confederations cup.

Cameroon and Ghana are in the doldrums now. Ivory Coast, DRC and SA have caught up with, and possibly overtaken them.

It should actually be pretty easy for us to reclaim our top spot if our government finally wakes up and takes us seriously. But my fear is that they won't. The problem of Nigerian sports is so deep and intricate and woven into the very fibre of our culture as a country.

Baba Chriskels

See your ororo

TheSuperNerd:
England becomes the very first team in WC history to beat Mexico at the Iconic Azteca Stadium.

Mexico 10 games unbeaten. Fell at the 11th.

Harry Kane lost his voice after fulltime when giving a postmatch onfield interview. Lol

LionHearts of England.🦁🦁🦁

Oh.. Declan Rice was the captain. No wonder England won even with 10 men. I can picture Declan shouting at the guy during the match, 'It's not done'

TheSuperNerd:
Mostob, your boy got owned again ooo. This was prior to the Brazil v Norway Kickoff.

We never add the duels lost for today ooo. and Oopps... Haaland scored again vs Gabriel 😅 Twice. And in a WC match. What sort of Ownership is this now? EPL and WC... same thing.

Arteta actually called him to take things easy now that his defensive partner might be out for a long time. He needs to come back home and rest because he will have to carry that defence.

Ancelotti: "It was difficult to press Norway because they put a large number in defense and rely on Ødegaard. Odegaard is hard to press"

mostob:
Ancelotti: "It was difficult to press Norway because they put a large number in defense and rely on Ødegaard. Odegaard is hard to press". They should go back to jongo bonito. not totally but put more elements of expressive, creative football in their game.

Brazil lacks true talent. They should go and look for another Ronaldinho or Rivaldo, dem zico, socrates, falcao etc. So no brazilian midfielder is as talented as Odegaard. Na wa

A big shout out for Jordan Henderson who's been booked and injured in football match that he didn't even play in.

Sensational work.

FiveFootNinja:
Senegal and Morocco are the Batman and Superman of CAF now. The Big 2. No other African country commands more respect than them presently.

Then you can say that Egypt, Nigeria and Algeria would round up the Big 5.

The fact that Egypt - and especially Nigeria with all of our disorganization and unseriousness - haven't totally vanished into obscurity is a testament to the insane pool of talent they both have.

Cameroon and Ghana are in the doldrums now. Ivory Coast, DRC and SA have caught up with, and possibly overtaken them.

It should actually be pretty easy for us to reclaim our top spot if our government finally wakes up and takes us seriously. But my fear is that they won't. The problem of Nigerian sports is so deep and intricate and woven into the very fibre of our culture as a country.

Bro you see this point, trust me its we Nigerians still seeing that point to take solace in,You see those nations outside Africa amd maybe also those in Africa they are now seeing Nigeria the way i analyzed Germany,Brazil,Italy in my previous post…Missing back to back world cup will make them see us that way too…But i will agree with you still on the emboldened why becos since our back to back world cup miss, we are still competing heavily at Afcon showing that we are NOT gradually going oblivious…we are still in the mix.
back to back afcon losing to the host at final stages of the competition shows we are still a force to reckon with

Nothing I despise more than ojoro and I consider FIFA suspending the red card given to Folarin Balogun such.

USA certainly has leverage on Gianni Infantino and the FIFA brass cos this decision is embarrassing.

Should we even expect fair and unbiased officiating in the match when FIFA is going overboard to please Trump/USA?

Belgium your job is cut out for you. Defeat the USA. Anyhow wey una wan do am, just do am

All people of good conscience around the world are supporting and rooting for you.

As somebody that grew up watching a golden era of Brazilian footballers, it’s actually quite sad seeing where they’re at now.

That country is football obsessed, but something has gone wrong somewhere. Where are the Ronaldos and Ronaldinhos and Cafus? That Selecao is gone.

minfelix:
Bro you see this point, trust me its we Nigerians still seeing that point to take solace in,You see those nations outside Africa amd maybe also those in Africa they are now seeing Nigeria the way i analyzed Germany,Brazil,Italy in my previous post…Missing back to back world cup will make them see us that way too…But i will agree with you still on the emboldened why becos since our back to back world cup miss, we are still competing heavily at Afcon showing that we are NOT gradually going oblivious…we are still in the mix.
back to back afcon losing to the host at final stages of the competition shows we are still a force to reckon with

Baba even with our terrible, smelling missteps over the recent years, no other African country is clearly, undeniably ahead of us right now besides Senegal and Morocco. Yes, that's a fact. 3rd or 4th out of 54 abi 57 is not a nation that has fallen off entirely.

That being said, it won't last for long if we continue with our unseriousness. I'm only mentioning these things to show how easy it should be for us to get back to dominance if we decide to be serious. At least we're not like SA or Ghana that is dragging 10th or 11th position in Africa today. Those ones for example have a long way to go before people start talking about them the way we're talking about Morocco today.

I just dey wait make Spain deliver Portugal for me today.

Semid4lyfe will have to give me a short ban from this thread

Mujtahida:
Baba Chriskels

See your ororo

elyte89:
Seriki (osimhen)- 7 plates of rice 😃😃

He isn't crying over it, Ronaldo is 🥴

ChrisKels:
He isn't crying over it, Ronaldo is 🥴

lol later Una Dey go Dey compare am with haaland..baba now don get 7goals for World Cup

Seriki Neva participate let alone of scoring…na 7plates of rice 🍚 baba still get 😃😃😃

He took the captain band when Kane subbed off on 90mins. Lol.

mostob:
Oh.. Declan Rice was the captain. No wonder England won even with 10 men. I can picture Declan shouting at the guy during the match, 'It's not done'