₦airaland Forum

Lookman has to win the UCL and Copa Del ray scoring in the semis and finals to stand a chance of winning the APOY. The Morrocan mafia that controls CAF will look for any loop hole to give the award to either Diaz or Hakimi. Right now technically they are both in the lead because of the fraudulent Afcon they won and also the Player of the tournament striiped from Mane to give Diaz. If CAS reverses CAF decisions on time that will help lookman.

Another big obstacle for Lookman is that Nigeria did not qualify for the World Cup. If Nigeeia had qualified I wouldn't even be worried because Lookman always shows up in tournaments. We shall see.

1-0 down already

Ghana like Nigeria. 2 unserious countries.

If Iran is not going then Fifa should organize a mini tournament for the top raked fifa teams. It's only fair. If Nigeria wins and Jams Egypt in the same group so be it. Europeans play each other on the same group all the time so I don't see what the problem is.

RIP to the general. When you integrate Terrorists into the army, Sabotage becomes the order of the day.

TheSuperNerd:
Ademola Lookman and ATM vs Manchester Utd Preseason friendly. AUGUST 1.

https://x.com/i/status/2042168444347445681

These players need a break. This is right after the World Cup.

When some of us call out the NFF, We get attacked by some so called Nigerian fans. Just look at this rubbish. No friendly in a fifa window that has space for 3 games. Meanwhile our opponents at the Afcon Malawi and Zambia are playing matches with the likes of Brazzil and Australia. Don't be surprised if the Falcons miss out of the Women's World Cup. Maybe that cataclysmic event will force us to drive out Gausau and Sanusi for good.

Goke7:
It’s that ego and pride that’s killing us. Countries like Morocco despite all they are achieving they keep scooping up talent from anywhere in the world even into their under age teams. We had better wake up before countries like Eritrea start becoming difficult to beat!

The Ivory Coast in this last Afcon was stronger than the one we met in 2023 just because of the addition of players like Amad Diallo who migrated to Italy at the age of eight!

Our arrogance and ignorance is our biggest undoing. We are like Italy They like us have failed to adopt and evolve and now we are both paying the price. Very soon countries like Ivory Coast, Ghana, Cameroon etc will leave us behind and we will be unable to compete with them.

Napoleon55:
I'm not holding brief for the NFF or whatever they are called, I don't even like them but I won't join in making incorrect assumptions.

We have been going to the world cup without the help of foreign born players, and I assure you,even today or tomorrow, Nigeria can still qualify and do well at the world cup without the help of a single foreign born players if the right things are put in place.

Even in our precarity,
All the Nigeria artistes that are doing well globally today,were they manufactured outside?
The Nigerian athletes that usually dominates Africa year in year out,were they always imported from abroad to represent us or born outside?
Even in basketball, movies,comdies,academics,the list goes on.
Now when it comes to football, we suddenly won't be able to find people to represent us from over 200m people born in Nigeria just because some people who were put in charge are unable to do their jobs well enough.

You might think I'm naive,or that I deceive myself in saying all these,
But once the present group of leaders in charge of our football phases out,and we luckily have the better ones in their place,
You will see that even the grassroots you thought are dead,will suddenly becomes alive, our youth teams will start producing formidable teams capable of winning championships again.
Even our league can be revitalized again.
But the system will have to experience a change first.

I stopped reading at Basketball. Majority of our Basketball players are foreign born especially the women's team. Without Foreign born players our Super Eagles would be dead and buried. Football has changed. The world is changing. More countries are tapping into their diaspora to move foward. Only Nigeria is stuck with ego, pride jealousy and corruption. Ok you think we can do without them. Fine. What have we done at the grassroots? Our U17, U20, andd U23 teams have no coach, no team. Our domestic league is dead. Nigerian clubs can't even compete in Africa anymore. The pipeline from Nigeria to top leagues in Europe has dried up. So the means of getting these local born players to the top is broken. You need to wake up my friend. Next world cup in 2030 but no plan. Like play we will miss another world cup. It's becoming our new normal.

Napoleon55:
We won't be left behind because of foreign born.

I don't understand you guys with all these foreign born talk all the time.

Just look at it,
Even with the little the NFF have done with the foreign born acquisition, compare them with the DR Congo's or Morocco, do you think they are of better quality than ours?
I mean we've managed to recruit Lookman, one time Afriica's best and still one of the best wing forwards in Africa,only Mahrez and Kanoute have managed to do so for all the African foreign born.
We've got Aina, one of the best right backs in Africa.
There is Iwobi,one of the best midfielders.
Ekong was once AFCON's MVP.

Foreign born acquisition is not our problem, it's just a fraction of it,we need a working system and every other things will fall in place.

As far as I'm concerned, the players we have missed to recruit since all these foreign born thing started are:
Alaba
Dele Ali
Eze
Olise
Saka
Tomori
And maybe Madueke,the rest are just there.

But I agre the NFF need to work harder and make the super eagles more attractive to make it easier to attract the very best of the best foreign Borns, not just every up and coming foreign born players,because the super is a brand to be competing for the world cup trophy.
But still, we will never going to get them all.

Keep making excuses for the useless NFF. 2030 will come and we won't qualify for the world cup Dey play. Look how aggressive Morocco, Senegal and Congo are. If Nigeria put in as much effort the likes of Kayode, Nnwaneri, and Atubolu would have switched. The reason why some of us are concerned about this is because our grassroots is dead. The nff lead by Pinnick and Gausau killed it, and the only way we can even compete with elite African teams now is by recruiting Foreign born players. U17 no coach U20 no coach, U23 no coach. U17 that we have won 5x we cannot qualify anymore. U23 that we have won Gold Silver and Bronze we cannot qualify anymore. Where are the players that will understudy and take over from this Osimhen set going to come from? Dey play o. Dey play.

Unity cup should be for the U23 team. It's a shame we don't even have a coach for any of our youth teams. Playing India and Zimbabwe is just...ewwww

Middlebelt ballers. Amokachi, Ordega, Simon, Akor Adams and now Charles Agadah. That low center of gravity makes them move like Juggernaut from XMen. No defender can stop them once they are in full motion.

Schemerkhiz:
Update: The Super Falcons are set to face Cape Verde in a double-header in Nigeria on April 15 and 18.

Awaiting official confirmation.

The earlier proposed fixture against Togo appears to have been changed, but if there are any changes, further updates will follow.

Sounds better

Amedino99:
Confirmed and here we go

Morocco out here collecting players like Thanos. We need to be more proactive when it comes to diaspora born players or we will be left behind.

Napoleon55:
Will these players you are mentioning be able to break into super eagles and take over from the aging ones, that's my own.
I remember there were brief period when Nigeria could boast of having one of the best u23,u20 players in the world,yet they couldn't go further with those talents in competitions,but some of those talents went on to carry the super eagles along.
The likes of Iheanacho,Ndidi,Moses Simon and Isaac Success were few of those names who stood out.
Iwobi,Chukwueze and Osimhen still fell into those age bracket then who featured in one or two of our age grade teams.
Some of those talents we were raving about at that time are still available today helping the super eagles because they are truly good.

These names you are calling, will they be able to represent the super eagles well when the time comes and let's not talk about winning the u20 world Cup,because names don't win u20 world Cup but the the system and the structure upon which they were built.
We have not watch our u20 players play together in years, how could we determine if they are capable of winning anything just by their names.

It's not easy I know but in years past when we lock in and prepare well for tournaments we always do well especially at youth level. By now we should already have a U20 coach and engage in friendly matches utilizing the FIFA window. Get the team to gell so they get ready for the U20 wafu, Afcon, World cups etc. The issue now is that this NFF led by Gausau are fire brigade experts. They won't hire a coach untill weeks before a competition. They are so useless and it's affecting us at all levels.

As for the individual players time will tell. This is why I would like to see them at U20 level. From there they can progress into the U23/ SuperEagles.

maidaboi:
finally someone from hometown 😁

The sooner some of you accept that some of our players will be born outside of Nigeria and have dual citizenship the better. Instead of hating on some of these foreign born players adapt and learn to integrate them into Nigerian football. Other African countries are doing just that while we are falling behind.

Philosopher1979:
Yeah you got it.
Local league players are talented but raw.
I think they are badly trained. They are a product of a combination of
poor coaching and raw unrefined talent. Something like rice that is not cooked.
Maybe they do not do well in European football because they are badly coached
and those short commings are easy to notice by European coaches.
Maybe what a 12 year old boy in Europe knows about football a 22 year old
local league player has not even heard of it before.
The gap in knowledge makes European coaches not to rate them.
However, it can be worked on.
Sunday Mba is an example of how raw uncooked badly coached talent can
still be useful.
That is why i dont totally dismiss local league players. the fact that something
is raw does not mean it cannot be useful and refined.

The issue is not how raw or cooked they are. The problem is their ages. Are they using the right age? If you get a young real 18-year-old from the NPFL, they can unlearn the rubbish from the NPFL and still come good in Europe. The likes of Fredricks, Nwainu, Suleman Sani and Emmanuel Ayaosi are good examples. But if you take an overaged player that is too old to Europe, he will not adjust and adapt and will be a waste in investment. Thats why you hardly see NPFL players moving to decent European leagues. If the NPFL can invest in real young talented players(Use MRI, acadamies and school records to verify ages) and get rid of the overaged players that clogg up the leagues, it will become viable again. The sale of these players will fetch these clubs $$$ which they can use to invest in infrastructure, coaching etc Our league will grow exponentially. It does not have to be as "big" as South Africa PSL or the Egyptian league. Make it a farmer's league that attracts scouts from all over top European Leagues like French, Belgian and Dutch leagues.

Napoleon55:
U don't have u17,u20 coach and you are talking about winning u20 world Cup,na play you dey play abi.
Some countries have teenagers playing for many top countries and you are calling names most of don't even know,

We need our youth teams to be able to start playing at the world cup consistently again first before winning it.
And honestly,our u17 team is due for another world cup trophy.

Guy go on google and research these players i have listed. Some of them have been name drooped here before. Promise Meliga for instance scored a brace for his club in the Norwegian top flight not to long ago. Richard Ajayi and Frank Egwuatu both play for Bayern Munich u19 team. Winning U20 or at least getting to the semifinals is not difficult if we start planning. Hire a good coach not a bush man like Ali Zubiru. Call up players based on merit and consistently arrange friendly matches for them. Call the Moroccan FA for instance tell them you want to play a friendly match with their U20 team during the next FIFA window. They will oblige. Our problem is being ok with mediocrity and having useless people like Ibrahim Gausau as NFF president. It has been normalized hence why we are not going to yet another world cup. Once upon a time, we had far better standards.

If we do the right things between now and 2027 we can win the elusive U20 World cup. The likes of Zadok Yohanna, Promise Meliga, Richard Ajayi, Frank Egwuatu, Johhny Spiff, John Otomewo, Simon Cletus, and Mubarak Suleman, Kparobo Ariheri and many more ballers are all 2007 born and are eligible to play in the next U20 AFCON and World cup. This can be the beginning of a new golden generation. The biggest impediment is the NFF. Up till now we dont even have coaches for the U17, U20 and U23 teams.

jihday:
if Usor was called and end up not doing anything you’ll come and say why did they call Usor and not Soor

Rubbish. Even if Usor comes in and does not perform calling him up over sor is still justified because he(Usor) is having a far better season than Yira Sor.

TheSuperNerd:
Just 17mins on the clock in first half but Moses Usor already has a goal⚽️ and an assist🅰️ for LASK vs Austria Vienna in the Austrian Bundesliga.

Usor should have been called up instead of Yira Soor.

Karlovich:
The boy is very good, I'm surprised he made the switch as he's on the right track to make it to the French senior team

This is a big coup. He was also wanted by Algeria. Meanwhile our useless NFF wants more Homebased players in the SEs. Homebased that cant even compete in African competitions. If care is not taken, we wont qualify for AFCONs again talk less of WCs. I have been saying that we need to implement a plan on recruiting our players from the diaspora. If not for Eric Chelle, nobody would have talked to Fernandez and Alebiosu. We have no youth teams. No U13, U15 or U17 so how are we going to even try to recruit that Ejiofor kid tearing up Lamasia? This NFF needs to be dissolved. The people there have no clue on how to manage football. African football is leaving us behind.

Damioduso1:
‼️🇬🇭UPDATE: Joachim Low will take the Black Stars job on a short-term deal focused solely on the 2026 World Cup.

Personal terms are close to being finalized following extensive negotiations between top Ghanaian officials and the German tactician late last night in Germany 🇩🇪.

The 2014 World Cup winning coach is expected to earn around 150,000 Euros a month if everything is agreed.

Via- Nuhu Adams

Short term deal? As if Ghana will do anything at the world cup. They should have hired the former Morocan coach. Low is going to chop their $$$

Are Nigerian girls not into coaching again? NFF really needs to start working on developing young coaches for underaged teams.

jihday:
I understand what you are trying to say and I’m not saying it’s bad but the same Bosnia have a 90 years old Dzeko starting crucial games for them, if Musa is part of any SE squad we won’t hear the end of it

Oga we need balance. I dont mind having 90 year old Osimhen as long as we have 18,19,20,21 year olds YNs doing the heavy lifting for him. Right now our Super Eagles are are basically in the same generation. They will all start aging at the same time. By 2030 Most of them will be either 30 or pushing 30 and that will be a time bomb waiting to explode. That's why i keep saying this cycle of Youth football is crucial for Nigeria. The next U17s, U20s, and Olympics will determine our fate. If we mess up like we have been doing since Pinnic and Gausau took over we may not qualify for another World Cup in 20 years.

mrwilliams9:
Sor, Otele and Fernandez were just added. Nnadi was at the last AFCON. It’s a gradual process but for AFCON27 and 28 (?) we need to have a squad with a mix of folks ready to win now (Lookman, Iwobi, Osimhen, Bassey) and those that have at least 2-3 tournaments in them (Fernandez, Sor, Nnadi)

Sor and Otele are 26 Yers old already and by 2030 they will be aging themselves. Bosnia had a 19 year old take a decisive PK for them vs Italy. We need to start integrating young players into the Super eagles now or we are toast. The next u17, U20 and Olympics are crucial for Nigeria but i wont be surprised if the NFF mess up yet again. We are going the way of Italy. Dey play.

I would like the NFF to re engage with the Italian Nigerians. Honest, Kayode, Luca etc. Italy has not made a World Cup 3x in a row.

TheSuperNerd:
18 y/o and 21 y/o youngsters for Bosnia sent Donarumma to Market during the Penalties shoot out. Ice cold young ballers. One at PSV (21 y_o Bajraktarevic) and another at RB Salzburg (18 y_o Alajbegovic). They handled the pressure with immense composure.

If you are good enough, you are old enough.

Facts. I wont mind if we start integrating the likes of Promise Meliga and Suleman Mubarak into the team. They both pass the eye test.

Blue pill. I will take Uzoho as Goalkeeper for 6 years. With Chelles style of play, we will pepper most top African nations. Uzoho won't be tested as much. Finidi as coach is like torture. We will lose games like Tottenham and fail to qualify for Afcons and World cups.

Man how did all these Equdorians enter Morocco?? Its like Morocco is playing on neutral ground. Also the ref is letting the Equdorians play their fast physical game and its giving Morocco alot of issues. If only that dumb Ghanaian ref allowed Nigeria to play her game against these AFCON Skype Illegitimate AFCON champions.

yinkeys:
Ivory Coast beat us last time out

At home in a final and we beat them a few days prior in the same tournament.

yinkeys:
Nigeria in 2024 & 2026 failed to beat the tournament hosts
I don’t think Nigeria has beaten Senegal since 2002, in fact the we lost in recent times to Senegal

We beat Senegal 2x in the 2006 Afcon. Aside from 2002 Afcon we have never lost to Senegal in a competitive game. If we caught them in that final in Morocco We would have cained them. Only West Africa country that gives us hell is Ghana.