₦airaland Forum

safarigirl:
this article is filled with half-truths.

First off, Ebuehi was a victim of injuries, since he was injured, he hasn't really gotten back to full fitness, so, I don't know if this writer out that into consideration when he penned this. It is not because he could be discarded, and considering the team still doesn't have a Right Back of his quality, he cannot state that Ebuehi has been discarded by anyone.

Rohr works with players in form, who are playing games. If golden boy, Kelechi was dropped from AFCON, and didn't play a game for Super Eagles this year, it should give a perspective of the kind of coach Rohr is. If the same Keelchi keeps up this form till March of next year, then surely, he will get a call-up

On the average, the number of FBs that have benefitted from this SE set-up, outnumber those who haven't. As long as you play regularly and you fit into the style of play, Rohr has space, in fact depending on your position, you may not even have to be all that regular, but nobody should expect automatic slots every Super Eagles game just because they have foreign passports.

Joebie:
you are right. However, the narrative that England cap our players, use and dump, is also filled with half-truths.

Modified
@ the bolded, i find it hard to single out any moniker here with such expectations.

zayyadidris:
With what I just saw there is no way Anthony Joshua can win deontay wilder. Absolutely no way, let him better respect himself and just avoid him for now.!!

charlesemeka85:
Super Eagles coach Gernot Rohr and his employers - the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) may have opened another chapter of contention over player's selection.

NFF president Amaju Pinnick has been making effort to convince Queens Park Rangers midfielder Eberechi Eze to pledge his international allegiance to Nigeria.

While that effort has not yielded a result, Rohr has sighted someone else, a midfielder, who could easily agree to play for the Super Eagles.

His name is Ovie Ejaria, signed to Liverpool, but currently on loan at Reading.

The 22-year-old midfielder who is valued at £1m has shown versatility under Mark Bowen at the Madejski Stadium and Rohr is keen to add the Liverpool player to his squad.

“He’s (Ovie Ejaria) a good player no doubt and I will prefer him in the team now than the player (Eberechi Eze) the Federation are in talks with,” Rohr revealed.

“We will contact him and know what must be done to make him play for us. He is a better player than Eze.

“My fears are if we start chasing him in the media, England may join the race and it could be difficult.”

Pinnick met with Eze in London last month in a bid to lure the 21-year-old to switch allegiance to Nigeria but he requested for the chance to continue to focus on his club career which is going well so far.

Rockyrascal:
ndidi came as a replacement. but if Bonaventure make a move to either Leceister or Manchester United, he will have to struggle for playing time.

andrewbaba44:
I hope iheanacho ends up scoring more epl goals than nicolas pepe at the end of the season

Pepe should score 12 epl goals unless i will confirm him a flop for this season

Some arsenal fans here wont have it easy with me, especially those ones that usually diss iwobi

Humility017:
it will linger for a long time because nothing presently is being done to solve this problem now and in the future....

the leaders/political robbers pay less attention to education, poverty alleviation programs, birth control etc. ..
currently we have over 10million amajiri kids who are not in school...but roaming around with plates...

none of the political class took the educational policy introduced by GEJ for this kids serious..... the former governor of Niger State even claim that almajiri part of their culture....
and recently Rev. Fr. kukah wanted initiate a means to see this kids feeding and education it was grossly resisted probably because of fear of them being converted to Christianity and all....

you can simply project the future by can taking a close and objective look at the happenings now.

charlesemeka85:
Super Eagles coach Gernot Rohr and his employers - the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) may have opened another chapter of contention over player's selection.

NFF president Amaju Pinnick has been making effort to convince Queens Park Rangers midfielder Eberechi Eze to pledge his international allegiance to Nigeria.

While that effort has not yielded a result, Rohr has sighted someone else, a midfielder, who could easily agree to play for the Super Eagles.

His name is Ovie Ejaria, signed to Liverpool, but currently on loan at Reading.

The 22-year-old midfielder who is valued at £1m has shown versatility under Mark Bowen at the Madejski Stadium and Rohr is keen to add the Liverpool player to his squad.

“He’s (Ovie Ejaria) a good player no doubt and I will prefer him in the team now than the player (Eberechi Eze) the Federation are in talks with,” Rohr revealed.

“We will contact him and know what must be done to make him play for us. He is a better player than Eze.

“My fears are if we start chasing him in the media, England may join the race and it could be difficult.”

Pinnick met with Eze in London last month in a bid to lure the 21-year-old to switch allegiance to Nigeria but he requested for the chance to continue to focus on his club career which is going well so far.

Blueelf:
Can we all agree that the African Nation with the most in-form players is Nigeria

TheGoodJoe:
If Rohr said this, then I am disappointed in him. He should have talked about deficiency in a particular role or preference in playing style due to the need of the team.

Running down another player is totally wrong.

charlesemeka85:
Super Eagles coach Gernot Rohr and his employers - the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) may have opened another chapter of contention over player's selection.

NFF president Amaju Pinnick has been making effort to convince Queens Park Rangers midfielder Eberechi Eze to pledge his international allegiance to Nigeria.

While that effort has not yielded a result, Rohr has sighted someone else, a midfielder, who could easily agree to play for the Super Eagles.

His name is Ovie Ejaria, signed to Liverpool, but currently on loan at Reading.

The 22-year-old midfielder who is valued at £1m has shown versatility under Mark Bowen at the Madejski Stadium and Rohr is keen to add the Liverpool player to his squad.

“He’s (Ovie Ejaria) a good player no doubt and I will prefer him in the team now than the player (Eberechi Eze) the Federation are in talks with,” Rohr revealed.

“We will contact him and know what must be done to make him play for us. He is a better player than Eze.

“My fears are if we start chasing him in the media, England may join the race and it could be difficult.”

Pinnick met with Eze in London last month in a bid to lure the 21-year-old to switch allegiance to Nigeria but he requested for the chance to continue to focus on his club career which is going well so far.

nairalandankrah:
Dessers’ Nigerian dream intact but harsh reality beckons



By Toby Prince

Monday
Background Image: Turing92, CC-BY-3.0


Cyriel Dessers is on course to fulfil a childhood dream of representing Nigeria instead of Belgium at international level. However, the 24-year-old Eredivisie top scorer risks extinction afterwards. He must tread carefully.

It isn't novel anymore for the Nigerian FA to poach players with any link whatsoever to the country. By birth, paternal or maternal, they hunt those perceived to possess exceptional traits, like hunters going all out for animals’ rhino horn. There's no limit to their desperation.

England is the primary target. Colonial ties and the Premier League's razzmatazz appeals. As any major tournament arrives, a British-breed is targeted. Camberwell-born Joe Aribo is the latest to fall prey.

Semi Ajayi, Ola Aina, Josh Maja and Alex Iwobi were the other one-time English prodigies that featured alongside the Glasgow Rangers midfielder on his debut against Ukraine in October. Jamilu Collins (Germany), William Troost-Ekong (Netherlands) and Anderson Esiti (Portugal) make it octet of ‘foreign mercenaries’.

As deplorable as it may seem, the system is yielding dividend. More and more Nigerian stars in the diaspora are showing interest to don the green and white jersey. In the current Super Eagles roster, there is about 11 eligible for other nations. Cyriel Dessers rounds it to a dozen.

Born in Leuven to a Belgian father, the 24-year-old qualifies for Nigeria through his mother. His Super Eagles path is cleared by his uncapped status for The Red Devils at any level. For Dessers, his motherland was always the first choice even though the obvious competition in Roberto Martinez's team contributed.

It took Dessers a ton of blood, sweat, and tears to get Nigeria's attention. He’s toiled in the fringes of the lower leagues, from Belgium to the Netherlands before reaching the elite class. His 61 goals and 25 assists in the last three years for NAC Breda, FC Utrecht and Heracles Almelo hastened the process.







Soar Super Eagles

SSE_NGA





Cyriel Dessers �:

"There's already been contact with the NFF. After the match against ADO Den Haag (last Saturday), an official from Nigeria sent me a message that I was doing well.

"But it's not going to be easy for me there either -

Dessers began his career at OH Leuven in his neighbourhood but made a solitary senior appearance. City rivals Lokeren gave him a fresh start in 2014. There he enjoyed regular football, hitting seven goals in 40 appearances across two seasons.

Dessers’ real poachers qualities came to the fore after crossing the border to the Netherlands in 2016. At second-tier Breda, he buried 29 goals in 40 matches, helping them secure promotion. He, however, elected to have his first feel of Eredivisie elsewhere – Utrecht. Two seasons at Stadion Galgenwaard yielded 19 goals.

Despite finishing sixth last season, Dessers ditched Utrecht for Almelo. He must be glad he did. With 11 goals, the 24-year-old is the division's top marksman. An additional five assists mean the soon-to-be capped Super Eagle is involved in over 55 per cent of Heracles’ 29 strikes. He was named the league's November Player of the Month after scoring six goals and producing three assists.

Dessers bears all the hallmarks of the archetypal goal-getter. Headers, scrappy follow-ups, 20-yard drives straight out of the top drawer, he notches them all. Standing at 6'1", he possesses a similar physique to Lille's Victor Osimhen. While not blessed with abundant pace like the 19-year-old, he doesn't relinquish possession without a fight.

Without a doubt, Dessers would be a great addition to a young and exciting Nigerian bunch. Although Osimhen already locked down the solitary starting berth in the attack, Gernot Rohr could do with extra firepower from the bench. Regular backup Paul Onuachu hasn't quite been up to the task.

Dessers, though, might be caught up in Rohr's experimental web, especially in the final third. For every Iwobi success story, there is a Maja yet to click. For Aina, a certain Tyrone Ebuehi was sacrificed. While a Brian Idowu had to make way for Collins. It doesn't always follow the plot.

Rohr is notorious for inviting players and not capping them. Sometimes, he ceases to extend invitation after just two matches. Ndifreke Udo, David Okereke, Maja, Peter Olayinka, Emmanuel Dennis are just a few victims with barely an hour of international football among them.

Dessers could be next. Beware, you're warned.

komekn:
I support my country Nigeria.

But that doesn't mean l loose objectivity.

In this regard look at Senegal and tell me we have better players than they do.

TheSuperNerd:
Brendan Rodgers On Kelechi Iheanacho's Rebirth

Culled from the Leicester Mercury:

“I thought he was great. He played the role how we wanted him to play. He creates Jamie’s first goal, gets the second one with a good finish,

"I just think with Kels now that he’s settling in to being a Leicester City player. He’s come in and he was playing second fiddle to Jamie without many appearances.

“Probably before when he’s come into games... When you’re not playing so much, sometimes can you force it. You come and try to force the performance.

"All I said to him was just work hard in training, that’s all you can do. Don’t worry about being picked or not, that’s the manager’s choice.

“But as long as you’re working hard and giving me something to think about, then that’s all you can do. He’s been first class in his training.

"You saw him in the cup games, he comes in and he scores. He did it at Everton, came on and made a great impact. It’s just a case of him coming in with confidence. I thought he was very good [against Aston Villa], his hold-up play, his link-up with the midfield. He was excellent.



When asked if Nacho is a "confidence" player:

“With any player, if their confidence is low, they don’t play so well. Every single player has confidence. For him, you can see his level is at a nice high level. He just needs to keep working, that’s the key to it.”

komekn:
I support my country Nigeria.

But that doesn't mean l loose objectivity.

In this regard look at Senegal and tell me we have better players than they do.

BascoVanVeli:
Thegoodjoe knows football wella. Training is everything.

komekn:
Wise words and a far better approach to player recruitment.

This is what sensible and focused managers do. lts no longer speculation you can see that his approach and requirements are different from the NFF.

That's the problem of the NFF pursuing different agendas.

TheGoodJoe:
If Rohr said this, then I am disappointed in him. He should have talked about deficiency in a particular role or preference in playing style due to the need of the team.

Running down another player is totally wrong.

DrKlever:
We have better players than them and also a better team. Except you see every Senegalese players as a Mane.

safarigirl:
nobody said 'better', the term used was 'in form'

Joebie:
yes na

BascoVanVeli:
He always does that. I remember him saying Nosa was better than John Ogu but one thing is that he has an open mind. Even though he said it he still gave Ogu the chance to prove him wrong

komekn:
Good mornng.

It seems you missed me so much.

Your comment is pedantic and without substance, i find no difference considering the context in which the term in-form is used and the meaning it conveys.

You missed me my only conclusion LOL

nairalandankrah:
Mancity fans now want nacho back!! They say he is better than Jesus...

komekn:
KC is improving and the more he plays the more he will improve.

However, playing the adventurous system Leicester did against Villa is tactical by the Manager. And a reflection of how they see Villa.

I doubt if they would play that same system against a stronger EPL team.

TheGoodJoe:
I too want Nacho back. However, there is some effortless hardwork Gabriel Jesus brings that Nacho still needs to learn. However, Nacho trumps Gabriel Jesus hands down in build up plays and finishing.

I think Nacho is okay at Leicester City but I think we need him more than Leicester City.

TheGoodJoe:
That is okay but Rohr should be aware of players feelings. Eze might feel not liked by Rohr with such statements. Rohr should always emphasise on tactical needs of the team than saying a player is better than the other.

nairalandankrah:
Nacho performed incredibly well in a city shirt

BascoVanVeli:
It is called mind games. Wouldn't that make you want to hurry up and decide so you can prove Rohr wrong? I think the message was cryptic somewhat because he is catching the proverbial 2 birds with one stone. Ejeria feels loved and wants to come while Eze feels slighted and storms to prove his class. Either way we have serious competition in our midfield.