zicky:
A team get wallop 8-0 and you call that exposure, the Npfl all stars playing malaga, Atl Madrid is what I term exposure, you expose them to their counterpart(not their seniors) outside the country, what the nff succeeded in doing was to kill the little confidence that is left in those boys after being knocked out from the U-17 qualifiers

TheGoodJoe:


It is not about the score but the chance of these young boys to play quality professionals. They learned things that will benefit them for the rest of their lives.

TheGoodJoe:


It is not about the results but their development. You are the one breaking your head. These young boys got the chance to play against Pros. It means a lot to them.

komekn:


At maybe U11 and younger results are irrelevant player development is paramount.

When you get to over 12 positional and tactical appreciation has to be developed to complement personal ability.

If you go to play in a match to be completely humiliated and rolled over by 8-0 score line you learn nothing. Indeed you may be completely demoralised and you may struggle collectively and individually to recover.

A few years ago John Fashuna Brought an U18 Nigeria All stars team to Manchester. Expectations were high games were set up with United and City U18 teams.

As a warm up, a game was arranged with a local academy with some players who were U16. After the game all stars lost 8-1. Head of recruitment from Fulham selected one player to go to his academy he was U16 Nigerian origin but from the local team.

That game did tremendous damage possibly irreparable damage to our reputation. Of course games with City and United did not suffice after that.

I will not go into the innuendo about over age players. If they played well and lost even 3-0, it would not have been a problem. When you lose with score lines exceeding 4/5 zero. It's a shambles you can't play any better football.

TheGoodJoe:


That is your belief. Not a concrete fact. It is better these boys made this trip than staying in Nigeria. The exposure will do them good. I bet that if your younger brother was among the players in that team, you will prefer he goes and loses 8-0 to the likes of Ovie than to stay in Nigeria whipping Academy boys.

PietroRico:
I am a keen follower and have been a silent observer of this thread, similar age grade threads and the national team thread but I'm going to break my silence now to support thegoodjoe on this one.
I'm a bit surprised nobody here seems to be getting his point.

Etebo in Rio with Akpeyi

TheGoodJoe:


That is your belief. Not a concrete fact. It is better these boys made this trip than staying in Nigeria. The exposure will do them good. I bet that if your younger brother was among the players in that team, you will prefer he goes and loses 8-0 to the likes of Ovie than to stay in Nigeria whipping Academy boys.

BascoVanVeli:


What if ur younger brother was Samuel Chukwueze who could have used this chance to seal a bigger move?

BascoVanVeli:


What if ur younger brother was Samuel Chukwueze who could have used this chance to seal a bigger move?

PietroRico:
I am a keen follower and have been a silent observer of this thread, similar age grade threads and the national team thread but I'm going to break my silence now to support thegoodjoe on this one.
I'm a bit surprised nobody here seems to be getting his point.

TheSuperNerd:
And who says not even one gets his point??

I do get it... But a balance in view must be struck as regards exposure.

I believe the "neonate" lads will learn from this. But again, we know we were not expecting them to go out there and trump anyone. Some of Our U-20 boys still in Nigeria would have been mixed with this team to provide a fine tune of "getting exposure" and "building on exposure".

TheGoodJoe:


Samuel Chukwueze has more exposure than these boys. These boys have zero exposure. The NFF made the right choice and I doff my hat to them.

TheGoodJoe:


By the way, this answer is even off the point I raised.

I have repeated that this tournament is an opportunity to give our young players exposure and some of you said it will damage them instead of educating them.

I am asking if your younger brother was among this kids, will you think it is wrong for the NFF to carry him to play against players like Ovie and stay in Nigeria playing academy boys.

Most will say going abroad and playing is better. That means the NFF made the right choice.

BascoVanVeli:

Honestly ur question was out of order, who wouldn't want their brother playing for Nigeria?

I won't even consider Nigeria for another thing like this, i would be very angry if i were England. U don't bring kids to play with men. Ovie just played in the premier league. Would u be happy if England used their u21 to play our national team? This was a chance to get all our young talent in one place, i hope Rohr gets more involved in this because it is becoming a mess, we are just depending on luck to build our players. They should be playing on their breaks like their mates. We can't have them idle until they get called to the SE.

TheGoodJoe:


This is not luck. This is foresight. City U19 plays the U23 League. The City heads feel the boys will gain playing against Older players.

The truth is, you will value your 16 years brother going to Korea and his team losing 8-0 than to play academy football within that time frame.

zicky:
I will value my brother of any age going to Korea and his team losing 8-0, so that point holds no water,cos its still same exposure boys of U13, U17, U18 or U19 will gain, but the question is who will it benefit more. In all, what we are saying is that the right thing should be done

TheGoodJoe:


This is not luck. This is foresight. City U19 plays the U23 League. The City heads feel the boys will gain playing against Older players.

The truth is, you will value your 16 years brother going to Korea and his team losing 8-0 than to play academy football within that time frame.

komekn:


If you are saying that all the players in the Manchester city U23 team are under U19 you are entirely wrong.

The U23 League consists of players across a number of age groups from as low as 16 to over age players above 23. Danny Ings is 24 and Sakho is 26 both in Liverpool fc U23's.

In Scotland Celtic in particular Dembele the 13 yr old has played for the U21 team.

The issue is talent exceptional talent is often not restricted by age. It's often said if you are good enough you are old enough.

In this regard if those boys were good enough they are old enough. However, if they got completely rolled over, then the question arises, were they good enough

No amount of exposure will make you a better player if you have not attained a certain level of football proficiency and or have any talent.

The Nigerian factor has reared it's head. The question was raised if it was your brother We must remain objective and not concede to favoritism based on prejudicial sentiment. This remains a big problem in Nigeria.

Finally I could easily put together an age group (true age) of Kids of Nigerian origin in the UK that would make Nigeria proud.

zicky:
I will value my brother of any age going to Korea and his team losing 8-0, so that point holds no water,cos its still same exposure boys of U13, U17, U18 or U19 will gain, but the question is who will it benefit more. In all, what we are saying is that the right thing should be done

joseph1013:


You're singing to the choir, bro. thegoodjoe will not listen to you. If he has his way, U9 will play against Barcelona main team and he will still call it exposure. That's the way he thinks. Save your breath!

joseph1013:


You're singing to the choir, bro. thegoodjoe will not listen to you. If he has his way, U9 will play against Barcelona main team and he will still call it exposure. That's the way he thinks. Save your breath!

joseph1013:


You're singing to the choir, bro. thegoodjoe will not listen to you. If he has his way, U9 will play against Barcelona main team and he will still call it exposure. That's his view on this debate. Save your breath!

TheGoodJoe:


That is like saying when the former Santos players go to train and play with the Academy children of Santos, they play no role in educating them.

joseph1013:


You see...I said it! He doesn't mind the U9 playing the Barcelona main team in a competition.