₦airaland Forum

Luckyroro:
Sir, If you don't mind pls share your experience too. I would really love to picture it from your own perspective. As old as that World cup tournament is, the footages are still evergreen. It might not be in ultra HD but watching the clips will make you see something more unique than the recent ones. To me, another tournament close to that one in terms of followership was Korea/Japan 2002 (To me oh!). Unfortunately other editions haven't lived up to my expectations. They are just so ordinary and random. Pls don't forget to share like I earlier requested Sir. Thanks

tbaba1234:
Iwobi and Kelechi are already in Nigeria

TheGoodJoe:

If I was to pick the best World Cup, it would be France 98. It was action packed with lots of great games and star studded teams. From Raul, Hierro, Enrique, Alfonso, Zubizarreta, Campo of Spain, to Okocha, Oliseh, Finidi George, Oruma, Ikpeba, Taribo, Uche of Nigeria, Laudrup Brothers, Sand of Denmark, Baggio, Del Piero, Albertini, Vieri of Italy, Thuram, Zidane, Djorkaeff, Lizarazu, Dugarry, Deschamps, Desailly, Barthez of France, Klinsmann, Bierhoff, Jeremies of Germany, Seedorf, Kluivert, Edgar Davids, Bergkamp, Zenden, De Boer twins, Reizeiger, Hoijdonk, Cocu of Holland, Ronaldo, Carlos, Sampaio, Dunga, Bebeto, Leonardo, Denilson, Cafu, Rivaldo of Brazil, Davor Suker, Bilic, Boban of Croatia, Beckham, Scholes, Shearer, Owen of England, Batistuta, Ortega, Diego Simeone of Argentina and a host of other stars in the competition.

With cracking games like Nigeria vs Spain, Spanish demolition of Bulgaria 6-1, Nigeria vs Denmark another demolition course, Argentina vs England had the best first half in the competition 2-2 first half with the game getting ruined after Beckham kicked Diego Simeone and got sent off. Croatia vs France, Denmark vs Brazil, Brazil vs Holland one of the best star studded World Cup games, France vs Italy and lots of other great games, climaxing with the 3-0 demolition of Brazil by France in the final. A Brazilian team that had the best two players in the World, Ronaldo and Roberto Carlos.

To me, France 98 ranks the best when it comes to onfield display. Can't talk about followership and support.

tbaba1234:
I had a super eagles poster in my bedroom. I tore it after the Denmark display.

Joebie:
Hahaha. Who is watching the DFB cup? See drama o. VAR don kill Bayern.

tbaba1234:
More dependable based on what? Where are your data points? Atleast wait for the other player to get some caps first.

Martz101:
For me i think france 98 was the best, very good football on display

Joebie:
Hahaha. Who is watching the DFB cup? See drama o. VAR don kill Bayern.

tbaba1234:
Nowadays, i am far better.

I remember, i used to listen to all the radio/tv shows on the day before a match. From Larry ichiejiele (now Izamoje) on radio to paul bassey and co on tv..

By the time, it is 4.. I would have built so much expectation. The tension used to be so much.

Joebie:
Sorry he is Ghanaian.

Icon4s:
As we speak Shehu has proven to be more dependable and more solid than Ebuehi.

A right back is first a defender before being a winger. Shehu has better defensive abilities than Ebuehi even though the former is better going forward.

We are up against teams that can mount pressure on our defense for full 90mins. Here, defensive ability advantage far outweighs offensive abilities.

I would pick Shehu's abilities over that of Ebuehi in the game against Croatia.

Shehu is still Rohr's first choice.

Icon4s:
As we speak Shehu has proven to be more dependable and more solid than Ebuehi.

A right back is first a defender before being a winger. Shehu has better defensive abilities than Ebuehi even though the former is better going forward.

We are up against teams that can mount pressure on our defense for full 90mins. Here, defensive ability advantage far outweighs offensive abilities.

I would pick Shehu's abilities over that of Ebuehi in the game against Croatia.

Shehu is still Rohr's first choice.

Icon4s:
As we speak Shehu has proven to be more dependable and more solid than Ebuehi.

A right back is first a defender before being a winger. Shehu has better defensive abilities than Ebuehi even though the former is better going forward.

We are up against teams that can mount pressure on our defense for full 90mins. Here, defensive ability advantage far outweighs offensive abilities.

I would pick Shehu's abilities over that of Ebuehi in the game against Croatia.

Shehu is still Rohr's first choice.

TheGoodJoe:

If I was to pick the best World Cup, it would be France 98. It was action packed with lots of great games and star studded teams. From Raul, Hierro, Enrique, Alfonso, Zubizarreta, Campo of Spain, to Okocha, Oliseh, Finidi George, Oruma, Ikpeba, Taribo, Uche of Nigeria, Laudrup Brothers, Sand of Denmark, Baggio, Del Piero, Albertini, Vieri of Italy, Thuram, Zidane, Djorkaeff, Lizarazu, Dugarry, Deschamps, Desailly, Barthez of France, Klinsmann, Bierhoff, Jeremies of Germany, Seedorf, Kluivert, Edgar Davids, Bergkamp, Zenden, De Boer twins, Reizeiger, Hoijdonk, Cocu of Holland, Ronaldo, Carlos, Sampaio, Dunga, Bebeto, Leonardo, Denilson, Cafu, Rivaldo of Brazil, Davor Suker, Bilic, Boban of Croatia, Beckham, Scholes, Shearer, Owen of England, Batistuta, Ortega, Diego Simeone of Argentina and a host of other stars in the competition.

With cracking games like Nigeria vs Spain, Spanish demolition of Bulgaria 6-1, Nigeria vs Denmark another demolition course, Argentina vs England had the best first half in the competition 2-2 first half with the game getting ruined after Beckham kicked Diego Simeone and got sent off. Croatia vs France, Denmark vs Brazil, Brazil vs Holland one of the best star studded World Cup games, France vs Italy and lots of other great games, climaxing with the 3-0 demolition of Brazil by France in the final. A Brazilian team that had the best two players in the World, Ronaldo and Roberto Carlos.

To me, France 98 ranks the best when it comes to onfield display. Can't talk about followership and support.

Icon4s:
As we speak Shehu has proven to be more dependable and more solid than Ebuehi.

A right back is first a defender before being a winger. Shehu has better defensive abilities than Ebuehi even though the former is better going forward.

We are up against teams that can mount pressure on our defense for full 90mins. Here, defensive ability advantage far outweighs offensive abilities.

I would pick Shehu's abilities over that of Ebuehi in the game against Croatia.

Shehu is still Rohr's first choice.

tbaba1234:
I totally disagree.

Shehu was not defensively sound against Argentina and even against Poland. He gets caught out too often. In the African qualifiers, he was great but he has shown some vulnerabilities recently. I recently watched the Poland game again and Shehu was caught out too often for my liking.

Ebuehi is a more rounded defender and a natural Rb. This is based on what i have seen in his league form and in his games for Nigeria.

Shehu is first choice but i dare say, the Ebuehi is the better RB IMO.

Certitude:
I disagree on your choice of Shehu as a better defender. Shehu though is Rohr first choice but I don't see it persisting.

Icon4s:
I can see that Ebuehi had a good game against Serbia. In the only game he has ever played for 90mins.

Icon4s:
I can see that Ebuehi had a good game against Serbia. In the only game he has ever played for 90mins.

tbaba1234:
When the match was on, i could not eat because of tension.. When it finished, i was too excited to eat.

No dinner that day.

Icon4s:
Personally, that was the very World Cup!

To me maybe because of Nigeria's participation. There is something differently special about that WC.

Right from the quality and standard of player to the quality of the venues and also the timing. Venues for USA 94 set the stage for modern WC stadium designs. Most games were played between 9 and 12pm GMT, which is the prime time of TV viewership across Europe and Africa. That will also co-incide with Afternoon to Early evening in North and South America and Early the next morning in Far East Asia. So you got the whole world watching at very convenient times.

People stayed glued to their TV sets to see their Super Stars and heroes as the tournament was best attended by a host of Super stars! I don't think I have seen such quality of players packed in one tournament ever since.It also marked the end of an era of big name footballers of the 1980s. All top footballing nations except England and France were present. The standards of participating teams were so high. I still feel if we had presented the quality of our Super Eagles then in this recent WC we would at least get to the semis.

The 1994 WC was the very WC.

Mujtahida:
As a child I never liked watching football. I recall that NTA used to show football on Saturdays. I never was quite interested. Na USA Champions (wrestling with people like Mike O'hayes, the Mangoes, Kamala the Ugandan Giant, Sergeant slaughter, Roddy Piper Andrew the Giant, Mighty Igor, Jimmy Superfly before it became WWF) na im dey interest me.

Only thing that struck me then in football and was a wonder to my childish mind was how footballers could give long passes and locate the others on the pitch. The thing was a mystery to me.

My interest began to pick up during the miracle of Daman. Then I remembered watching our Afcon qualifying against Angola in 1989 in which Okwaraji slumped and we later heard he died. I still remember say na for dem Ogbonna house I watch that match.

Then my interest died again. Wrestling with all them Hulk Hogan, Warrior, Undertaker, Briefcase etc continued to hold me spellbound.

Japan 93 I picked up again. Then Tunisia 94 I started following the SE as a matter of passion. I watched only the final for one black and white TV and it wasn't clear. I no send. USA 94 I didn't watch any of the matches cos we had moved out of the Airforce Base and there was no power supply where we were. But I was following proceedings. After that tournament I became so intensely passionate about football ehn, my appetite was huge(but I didn't like our local league and still don't). I started watching the premiership then sponsored by Rothmans of Pall mall. Overmars, Bergkamp, Seaman were in Arsenal, Andy Cole, Paul Scholes, Peter Schiemechel were in Man U, Paul Ince and Robbie Fowler were in Liverpool, Andre Flo and Vialli were in Chelsea, zola was in Aston villa and Ginola was in Tottenham.

By France 98 I was already so deep and I watched almost all the matches, often going far away from home to watch matches so that in school one will not be left out of the gist. I will never forget Bergkamp's divine control bringing the ball down from a De Boers' long pass, turning the on rushing Ayala aside and twisting the ball over the head of a hapless Roa who stood transfixed. It was in extra time. Holland won 1-0.and then Kluivert's killer header to equalise against Brazil.

Korea/Japan wasn't that sweet sha but I still enjoyed it. It was from 2005 that my fervour for football began to wane gradually.

I al

Bolowolowo:
Fellow Eagalians, any football matches today?

tbaba1234:
USA 94 was a novel experience. Nigeria had never been at such a stage. Watching football in Nigeria in the early 90s is totally different from today. Very few people were on cable so almost everyone was watching the match. A goal by Nigeria was accompanied by thunderous screams. It was crazy. You could tell when Nigeria scored or missed a close chance even when you were not watching the match..

For me, there was also a lot of education. I remember being fascinated by the Bulgarian names all ending in V. Yordan Letchkov was one of my favorite Bulgarian... Bald headed baller.. Scored a great headed goal against Germany in the quarters to knock them out.

This was also the WC of great number 10s. Hristo Stoichkov (Bulgaria), Gheorghe HAGI (Romania), Roberto Baggio(Italy), VALDERRAMA (Columbia), Lothar Matheaus (Germany), BERGKAMP (Holland), Martin DAHLIN (he was a striker though not a typical number 10) (Sweden), .. Maradona was disgraced out so i won't count him.

Sad to see that the number 10 role has died out..

Things had changed a lot by 2002.

tbaba1234:
Many of our players are already in the country.

Mujtahida:
As a child I never liked watching football. I recall that NTA used to show football on Saturdays. I never was quite interested. Na USA Champions (wrestling with people like Mike O'hayes, the Mangoes, Kamala the Ugandan Giant, Sergeant slaughter, Roddy Piper Andrew the Giant, Mighty Igor, Jimmy Superfly before it became WWF) na im dey interest me.

Only thing that struck me then in football and was a wonder to my childish mind was how footballers could give long passes and locate the others on the pitch. The thing was a mystery to me.

My interest began to pick up during the miracle of Daman. Then I remembered watching our Afcon qualifying against Angola in 1989 in which Okwaraji slumped and we later heard he died. I still remember say na for dem Ogbonna house I watch that match.

Then my interest died again. Wrestling with all them Hulk Hogan, Warrior, Undertaker, Briefcase etc continued to hold me spellbound.

Japan 93 I picked up again. Then Tunisia 94 I started following the SE as a matter of passion. I watched only the final for one black and white TV and it wasn't clear. I no send. USA 94 I didn't watch any of the matches cos we had moved out of the Airforce Base and there was no power supply where we were. But I was following proceedings. After that tournament I became so intensely passionate about football ehn, my appetite was huge(but I didn't like our local league and still don't). I started watching the premiership then sponsored by Rothmans of Pall mall. Overmars, Bergkamp, Seaman were in Arsenal, Andy Cole, Paul Scholes, Peter Schiemechel were in Man U, Paul Ince and Robbie Fowler were in Liverpool, Andre Flo and Vialli were in Chelsea, zola was in Aston villa and Ginola was in Tottenham.

By France 98 I was already so deep and I watched almost all the matches, often going far away from home to watch matches so that in school one will not be left out of the gist. I will never forget Bergkamp's divine control bringing the ball down from a De Boers' long pass, turning the on rushing Ayala aside and twisting the ball over the head of a hapless Roa who stood transfixed. It was in extra time. Holland won 1-0.and then Kluivert's killer header to equalise against Brazil.

Korea/Japan wasn't that sweet sha but I still enjoyed it. It was from 2005 that my fervour for football began to wane gradually.

I al

gamaliel9:
Salvatore `Toto` Schillaci.....from prison to world cup...six goals ...after the world cup...The End.

My most exciting world cup remains 1994 because of wonderful football played by un unbelievable assemblage NATURALLY ENDOWED TEAMS AND PLAYERS

Maradona...Armando....there is something that makes him different from Messi.....mentality and off the field social behaviour....Messi can never top him...even if he wins a world cup...there is that ting of madness in Diego,something that attracts you about his person...an exciting streak in him...it is not in messi who is about goals and dribble

This is why Mohammed Ali is the greatest sports person ever..not only in boxing...He had a ting of madness...off the field socio-polico disposition that attracts everyone including the US army..hehe

Mujtahida:
You initiated him into the unspeakable mysteries of the beautiful game. I can't really pin point it but I like the joy and lavishness with which the oldies played. The field seemed more spacious. Players could drive from the defence with flair. While those days cannot come back let us enjoy the memories of days gone by

Luckyroro seems to have made today history and recollection Sunday. Season has ended. Let's talk about our own personal stories and experiences of this beautiful game

Icon4s:
Good memories bro. I enjoy the fact that you still remember those the names of those wrestlers.

I was like you too. I didn't like football. I only loved wrestling. I only started following football with our 1985 youth teams and had became addicted by 1987 participation at the U17 and U21 WCs. Something left me after France 98. I still followed football but the passion had died compared to pre-98 WC.