₦airaland Forum

So I grudgingly decided to watch the Nigeria game against Egypt this morning, just to see how Akinsanmiro, Nnadi and the new lads played. These are the sum of my observations and thoughts.

1. Eric Chelle's profiling of players remains questionable to me. As good as Akinsanmiro is, I never imagined he'll be playing CAM in the SE. I'll give Chelle the benefit of the doubt that perhaps he was saving Iwobi to be fresh for the AFCON proper and Chukwueze wasn't in camp yet.

2. I guess this is Eric Chelle's first official loss coaching the main Super Eagles.

3. Moses Simon might have just lost his starting spot to Chidera Ejuke. He's not perfect but he does literally everything Moses does (or tries to do) and is slightly better.

4. I have to confess, Salim Fago impressed me in the last few minutes. Maybe it's because I was expecting him to be complete dogwater. But I like his intensity. He might be our joker for this AFCON and I wish him well.

5. I found it rather amusing and interesting that an Egyptian Team A (minus Salah and Marmoush) were mostly parking the bus against a Nigerian Team B. Don't let banter deceive you. Nearly every CAF team fears us. Even the so-called elites. 😂

6. TOO MANY BACKPASSES!!!! I'll never understand why Super Eagles can't evolve from this cowardly backpassing. Even in moments were we would have made sharp runs into the Egyptian 18 yard box, we were passing all the way back to the defense. It's starting to look more like cowardice and low self confidence than just being cautious.

7. Our defenders are easily outplayed. A huge downgrade from the great wall of Peseiro at the last AFCON. That's going to be a huge problem.

8. Speaking of our defense, I don't know why Ryan Alebiosu wasn't given minutes to play. He should have at least come on to see the game off. If Eric Chelle is thinking of starting Osayi-Samuel in this AFCON... Lol.

9. I'm happy that Nwabali seems fit to start. Hopefully he stays fit till the final (if we can get there). There's hardly any difference between Obasogie and Uzoho in my eyes.

Overall, I'm slightly disappointed. This same Egyptian side lost woefully to Uzbekistan and Jordan just last month and this month respectively. We're busy overdosing on hopium that Nigeria might sneak into the World Cup. And if we do, we'd end up in the same group as Portugal, Colombia and Uzbekistan. Does this now mean we'll struggle to beat Uzbekistan who are supposed to be the minnows in that group?

I would have hoped that we'd get a draw with Egypt at the very least. I know we played with our second squad but a straight loss is still poor to me regardless.

After reading countless comments both here and on X, I still insist that people temper their hopes of qualifying for the World Cup. This case doesn't feel as strong as the SA Mokoena case to me. FIFA might look at it as the NFF just splitting hairs. Then again it depends on how involved FIFA themselves were in the push of this case, as alleged by certain people.

For me I think the strongest case we have here is the falsification of documents that were submitted to FIFA. If truly DRC presented fake or tampered documents to FIFA, then that's a serious case that might even lead to DRC's suspension or expulsion from competitive football entirely. That's a very grave accusation and one that I believe FIFA won't let slide no matter the context.

Time will tell how true this is and if the NFF truly have evidence for this or it's an exaggeration.

At the end of the day, I'd rather err on the side of caution and assume we don't have a case. It's better to be pleasantly surprised than painfully disappointed. Again.

I was 100% convinced during the South Africa point deduction and Eritrea withdrawal saga.

This one, I'm about 35% convinced, which isn't enough to raise my hopes.

Papi85:
NFF President wear full suit and went to the World Cup draws.. Do you think he’s a fool 🤷🏾‍♂️.
You don’t just go to the World Cup draws.. You get invited for Representation.

from Buchi Alaba’s

To be fair, he is a fool regardless but I get what Buchi is trying to say. 🙃

This hope una dey give us ehn

Anyway, if this case actually pulls through and DRC is disqualified, someone needs to make a 2 hour documentary on Nigeria's roller coaster ride to the 2026 World Cup. It's worth making into a film. 🤧

yinkeys:
I think SA will beat Egypt in North Africa lol

South Africa have a good record against North African countries, so I won't be surprised.

elyte89:
No case 🤣🤣🤣

🤦🏾‍♀️🤣🤣🤣🤣

WarHammer2000:
Who remember say we get match today?😁

I'm personally not watching.

Good luck to them.

semid4lyfe:
If (a very big if) FIFA suspends DR Congo and Nigeria eventually makes it to the world cup

1. Will Troost-Ekong come out of retirement to play in the world cup?

2. How will Maduka Okoye be feeling with his decision to opt out of the AFCON and the possibility of the coach axing him from the team and not selecting him for America?

I imagine both would have conflicted emotions, and be ruing their decisions.

It is what it is. Ekong has to stay put no matter what. He retired on a high note with mountains of accolades from his peers. All of that would be watered down and rendered nonsensical if he returns.

yinkeys:
AFCON group of death is Group B
Zimbabwe will Park bus & frustrate some teams
Other exciting groups are D & F but B will be filled with drama
I don’t see Zimbabwe ending up with 0 points.
They’d possibly get 2 or 3 points
They will end up third in the group with their haram football
Drama filled group loading

Don't know about this. Zimbabwe fired the coach that saw them through the WC qualifying campaign with halal tactics. If they switch up and start from scratch, which they likely will, dem fit collect wella for this AFCON, especially with all their opponents being bloodlusted for this AFCON. Egypt and SA mean business. They might get a draw against Angola though. Maybe even beat them.

The fact that we aren't making moves to cap Arthur Okonkwo and we're busy calling up Uzoho is giving me sleepless nights.

This country is cursed. Seriously.

joelsteron:
Is he right?

I mean, I see where he's coming from. Those three have an annoying habit of folding in major games. It has happened at least twice now.

SymphonyRad:
Another long epistle of more gaslighting, I like how you're trying so hard to tilt this whole conversation into another Northern players stigmatization agenda while still overlooking (perhaps intentionally) the MAIN ISSUES being addressed here. You're the one with a wicked agenda but I'll not play ball to your ethnic baiting cause it's just going to be a cul-de-sac of pointless arguments and rhetorics that will be another dead end.

Ok lets even agree for the sake of conceding to your stats that Usman Mohammed plays regular minutes at his club, what exactly are his best qualities? I'll assume you know this particular player so well to vouch for him, what are the key attributes and qualities of Usman Mohammed in his club in recent years that makes his call up justified? please tell us a notable growth index per his player development trajectory since his U23 Olympics stint? or are you still mesmerized by his solo goal against Atlético de Madrid years ago in that friendly? Pls tell us one good reason (devoid of your ethnic gaslighting and angling) why Usman deserved to be selected ahead of a Sani Suleiman who is younger, more exciting and has a far promising trajectory? I don't want to mention the baffling selection conundrum of a 31 year old player at the tail-end of his career who is stuck in the lower rungs of Isreal over younger prospects who should be displacing the older players?

The Tochukwu Nnadi you keep bringing up isn't my favorite player and I doubt anybody would have cared or noticed much if he was dropped or not, but at least he's very young - still 22 and playing at a far better league with more learning curves for growth as a player, so your comparison is rather baseless even if it was for ethnic ramblings.

Bros, you can choose to live in whatever bubble you create for yourself, but the indelible and incontrovertible truth will always be said. There's no gainsaying in calling out the obvious footprints of NFF corruption, and that has continued to destroy the fabric of our football...Chelle from reliable evidence didn't pick most of the players in that list and that's a very dangerous precedence- when a coach can't pick his own team because some higher-ups have to call the shot for reasons best known to them.

I wish all and sundry the best, hope Usman proves me wrong and serves me humble pies.

Press his neck!!

solonnachi:
If Super Eagles by mistake enter this 2026 world cup, they might perform wonders if NFF does not sabotage the team.

I have to agree here. Our B team drew against Russia. Russia!!

Osimhen and Lookman (in top form o) in that game would have made it 2-1 in our favor for sure.

Mujtahida:
Hell or sunshine, naija must go to the world cup. How it will happen, I don't know. In fact it doesn't concern me but you see that world cup, we must go.

D Law no gree for anybody 😂

CapitalCee:
Guy calm down na you de talk rubbish, riddled with deception and trying pull wool over our eyes.

First Its a lie that Usmans team is in sexond division like most of you falsely claim, and its a lie that he hardly plays. Look at the image of his playing time. Infact he started during the weekend and was sent off, so where did you get that info that he hardly plays?

On several occasions on this thread people have come here to pile on players because they are northerners, this is not the first time. Notably, During the U20, several people came here crying that the reason why we performed badly was because the team is filled with northerners, that when it was mainly southerners that we performed well, amongst many other tribalistic statements made. If you claim nobody criticises players here or on other forums based on being a northerner, then its either you didnt pay attention or you are just being disenginous or just downright a hypocrite. The iwobi, Ndidi etc criticism that you have mentioned, who mentioned their tribes during these critcism? But let a northern player have an off day, na so you go de hear federal chracter, quota system bla bla bla up and down, if you say you dont notice this then you are a big hypocrite. The Zaidu and Musa that you have mentioned, can you swear with your village diety that nobody here criticised them because they are northerners?

My issues with people like you is you want to safely propagate your tribal innuedos, and then deny it, thats cowardice, if you guys want to do, do it with your full chest, no de do corner coner and then deny.

Even just on this AFCON list, a few comments i quickly selected showed the same pattern. When someone was claiming thay Usman replaced Alhassan on the federal character list.

In another image, this person falsely claim that usman plays in Isreali second division, and thwn went ahead to claim he was on the list due to federal character, and questioning the inclusion of Fago, when he was in the same under 20 team with Nnadi whom the same individual has been calling for him to be called up. How ironic! Oh introduce young players? But this Philip Otele is 26, while fago is like 21. Make it make sense to me.

The most ridiculous one is someone calling for Nigeria to be divided, because people were included in the list due to federal charater, and that my own country is a contraption. If you dont recognise this as a tribalistic comment made to talk down on players based on their region and tribe, then i cant help you. Someone was evwn asking, as in "on top this list" that you are making these comments.

So please spare me this your attempt to dribble away from what we are seeing here and decided not to condemn it. Like i said earlier na you de talk absolute rubbi.sh.

North, East, West, South... no one gives a flying sheet.

Usman Muhammad is not Super Eagles material. If e pain you, go and knack your head on the pavement 50 times. Rubbish.

charlesemeka85:
Cameroon haven’t filled a complaint yet but Nigeria have

I imagine if FIFA wanted to take action, they'll start with the Cameroon vs DRC game.

Well, let's see what happens. Personally, I'm not investing myself in this issue.

SymphonyRad:
The ethnic baiting antics is the only weapon they use to guilt trip you into silence, while our football continues to rot because better judgement and standard of doing things right continues to erode us. If Iheanacho was selected in the final squad, I and millions of other Nigerians would have launched a tirade against the NFF as well, and Iheanacho is even from my hometown in Owerri.

You're even going too far. See how people are bashing Uzoho after they called him back. Uzoho has no ties with the north.

I've learnt to restrain myself from engaging people who easily pull up the tribalism card because I'll find it hard discussing with them without using harsh and unflattering words.

EEGA:
He is almost 30.

Gets subbed out, after the hour mark for Besiktas.

The efficiency is no longer there.

We need midfielders with goal threat.

Imagine if Osimhen limps off injured like we saw against DRC Congo



We will need midfielders like Onyeka to bail us in games like that.




Some teams go rough on a team's top striker inorder to maim or reduce his efficiency.

This is where midfielders with goal threat comes in.

In football, a goal is enough to differentiate between a winner and a loser.

Frank bailed us against DRC, but we want more.

When last did Ndidi score in the GWG.

Ndidi and Iwobi midfield is a no no for me.

A midfield with no goal return in as many as 15 games.

Facts.

charlesemeka85:
https://scorenigeria.com.ng/officials-bullish-super-eagles-for-2026-world-cup-on-disqualification-of-dr-congo/

Is it only Nigeria that will benefit from this news? What about Cameroon? They played against the same squad too.

Woh- I'm just confused about the whole thing.

At any rate, I'm still taking this update with a spoonful of salt.

SymphonyRad:
You just wrote a litany of rubbish laced with lots of gaslighting. Nobody is pitching on Usman Muhammed cause he's a Northerner, we are only asking and demanding as sane minded fans the baffling criteria through which he was selected into the final squad. The team he currently plays for in the Israeli league is even at the cusp of battling relegation, and the said player hardly plays! Secondly aren't there Northerners in better form who should have at least been selected? Sani Suleiman for example is doing well and is tipped to be one for the future, he's a Northerner and I can bet there's no Nigerian that will raise a brow or lose sleep if he were selected. Zaidu is a Northerner and he will likely always get a popularity vote of confidence over Bruno Onyemaechi to start all our games, because he's more reliable and sturdy.

Lastly I don't think any player has received more backlash and insults recently from Nigerian fans than Alex Iwobi, even Ndidi sef dey collect, last time I checked all these guys are Igbos.

Stop the gaslighting bro, our football has been riddled with so much decay lately that every move from the NFF must call for thorough scrutiny, it's obvious certain players were picked by the NFF and not by Chelle, and yes the reasons for those bizarre selections are due to Federal character and not plain merit.

I started writing a response to him but gave up because it begs to question the reasoning of someone who can't see the obvious issues with Usman Muhammad's call up. Thank you for the rebuttal.

semid4lyfe:
My Top 5 countries to win the Nations Cup.

1. Morocco
2. Senegal
3. Algeria
4. Congo DR
5. South Africa

If I expand it to top 10 teams, the positions will be occupied by

6. Ivory Coast
7. Nigeria
8. Tunisia
9. Cameroun
10. Burkina Faso

Lets have yours

Algeria can be very inconsistent at times. Plus they have a squad that is aging. Didn't they struggle against Uganda in the qualifiers?

I think Tunisia has a better shot than them.

I agree with the rest

Bossoflife25:
Rafiu is a pure number 9 while Fago can play across the forward line. Fago has been playing on the left yet has 5 goals in 6 games! No one is better than the other but Fago holds the advantage cos he can play across the frontline. Ikebpa was our star going to AFCON 2000, Ike Uche in 2013 but it was Aghawonder and Ideyye respectively from no where that stole the show.

Can you show me highlights of Salim Fago. The few ones I've seen aren't more impressive from what I've seen from the likes of Tolu and Onuachu.

[quote author=charlesemeka85 post=137797032]Durosimi 🔥🔥🔥

Good hold up, good strength, quality finish
Rafiu Durosinmi on target again for Viktoria Plzenpic.twitter.com/mQcAqdLIsJ

— EaglesTracker (@ETMediaNG) December 14, 2025

striker with good hold up technique.

God abeg.

elyte89:
He won’t keep at d afcon

I hope not. People are saying he may start to give Nwabali more time to recuperate.

I watched the so-called highlights of the game Uzoho played in that conference league. It seems he has worked a bit on his ball clearance but the werey is still somewhat shaky in certain moments, punching balls directly towards opponents, having dodgy positioning etc. Even the saves he made didn't look too convincing. I do NOT trust him, and I don't see him lasting a full 90 mins at the AFCON without conceding at least once or twice per game.

chrisooblog:
Akatugba was trying to be all sanctimonious with his criticism of the list couple of days ago until another journalist burst his bubble by reminding him how he lobbied for Maduka to be called up to the SE when he was just an unknown playing in the lower divisions of German football.

Not surprised. Many of our sports journalists are a bunch of hypocritical clowns.

Someone on X said that Uzoho brought all those excess bags and luggage to camp to pack enough goals at the AFCON. I'm weak. 🤣🤣🤣🤣

BankyGee:
They con go 😭😭😭

Ozwor 🤣🤣

BankyGee:
💥🇳🇬 Super Eagles players are firing on all cylinders before coming home for the AFCON!

Victor Osimhen vs. Antalyaspor - ⚽ (8.0)
Calvin Bassey vs. Burnley - ⚽ (8.5)
Samuel Chukwueze vs. Burnley - 🅰️ (8.1)
Akor Adams vs. Real Oviedo - ⚽🅰️🅰️ (8.4)
Chidera Ejuke vs. Real Oviedo - ⚽ (7.
Ademola Lookman vs. Cagliari - 2 key passes (7.0)

The AFCON is not ready for the Super Eagles of Nigeria! 🇳🇬🦅🔥
📈: All ratings from FotMob

Oga make we see the workings for AFCON first.

solonnachi:
Let's just forget this world cup and focus on 2030.
The way una dey raise and fall person hope no good oooo

My brother my tired is tired.

elyte89:
Anybody he wants to use must sha have sense …dts my own

I don't know why this sounded funny. 😃😂😂

ceejay80s:
So we get all these player for good clubs abroad and we couldn't qualify for world cup?
Abeg carry these players out for dustbin and use locals wey dey hungry for fame

Your "locals wey dey hungry for fame" chop 4-0 loss against Sudan in the CHAN tournament. Abi u don forget?