goldfish80: Haruna was a stubborn player. Too stubborn for his own good. I recall in the All Africa games, coja 2003. He was substituted by coach Musa Abdulahi, he simply walked up to the coach and demanded for his international passport. Some Nfa members pleaded and intervened. After that tournament his career took a turn for the worse. I think he later played in Greece or so the last I heard of him. If I was in Musa Abdulahi shoes, I would have handed him his passport and called his bluff. He never went far in the game because of his petulance.
Nice addition. Yes Haruna Babangida played for Olympiacos in Greece with Rivaldo. Another stubborn player. Musa Abdullahi was another fantastic coach. Emmanuel Aniele also made that COJA 2003 team and they were brilliant.
komekn: In what way was my judgement on Success wrong
Talking factually using statistics he has played a total of 62 professional league games and scored 7 goals as a striker. Within those games 13 are for Watford with one goal.
Statistics don't always tell the full story I admit to that. I have watched him at Watford he has shown small flashes but nothing commensurate with his £12.5 million price tag. My assessment was prior to the Senegalese game.
So using the information at hand what would you call him a resounding success
When Joke Jervis playing for League 2 Plymouth Argyle turned Liverpool 's Moreno and Lallana inside out several times even hitting the bar in the last minute did not propel him to to winger over night. He has to be consistent and prove he can do that time and time again.
In the same vein Success had a great game I am told, what constitutes a great game by what yardstick How many assists did he make , goal scoring opportunities created and of course goals. Is that unfair to ask of a £12.5 million striker playing in the premiership.
And the tag about I don't hail Nigerian players I had already highlighted Etebo when he was playing at Warri Wolves. I will not enthron mediocrity but I will hail exceptional talent.
You did not explain why the price tag is not justified. You are neglecting that Atletico Madrid were ready to sign Success and he was one of Granada's best players. That is a far cry from your waste idea.
komekn: In what way was my judgement on Success wrong. Talking factually using statistics he has played 62 professional league games and scored 7 goals as a striker. Within those games 13 are for Watford with one goal.
Statistics don't always tell the full story I admit to that. I have watched him at Watford he has shown small flashes but nothing commensurate with his £12.5 million price tag. My assessment was prior to the Senegalese game.
So using the information at hand what would you call him a resounding success
When Joke Jervis playing for League 2 Plymouth Argyle turned Liverpool 's Moreno and Lallana inside out several times even hitting the bar in the last minute did not propel him to to winger over night. He has to be consistent and prove he can do that time and time again.
In the same vein Success had a great game I am told, what constitutes a great game by what yardstick How many assists did he make , goal scoring opportunities created and of course goals. Is that unfair to ask of a £12.5 million striker playing in the premiership.
And the tag about I don't hail Nigerian players I had already highlighted Etebo when he was playing at Warri Wolves. I will not enthron mediocrity but I will hail exceptional talent.
You start with a wrong notion. Isaac Success was not played as a striker for Granada but a winger.
This site gave an account of the Nigeria vs Costa Rica game. They listed Yobo as a Df/ midfielder. In this particular game, he replaced Eddie Dombraye and played an advanced midfield role. Komekn was actually correct about Yobo playing as an attacking midfielder in 99.
Basic attacker for defender sub to secure the goal.
Icon4s: At Nigeria '99 Yobo was a defender. I cant recall exactly Wether RB or CB.
The thing is Yobo moved forward a lot especially when there was a set piece to be taken. Yobo i think is about one of our defenders that scored the most goals.
I think there were times in that tourney when Yobo, bc of his striker abilities, would drift forward to support the strikers. As i said earlier especially during set piece taking.
So goldfish80 may have thought on such occasions that Yobo was a striker.
Big thanks to Haruna Babangida for uploading this nice clip of his goals and assists. It shows how brilliant he was and it is still shocking one of our youngsters exported at such a young age did not make an impact in the Super Eagles.
goldfish80: I don't need FifA site to remind me about Nigeria 99. For argument sake, I cited FifA. Could be the technical bench tried experimenting playing Yobo further up the pitch since he pretty much started his career there and our attack refused to click with Eddy Dombraye, Aghahowa, Ikedia and Yaro Yaro playing like strangers. I saw Yobo with my korokoro eyes playing as a striker.
Yaro Yaro did not play Nigeria 1999. The one in Nigeria 99 was Hashimu Garba while Yaro Yaro played Carlsberg Cup and his name was Ahmed Garba.
bigblangston: Really, so it was Chinedu Obasi Ogbuke that did that? I pulled that stunt immediately I went to school so as to be included in the principal cup. I remembered I lost consciousness when I tried that bicycle kick due to the fact that I landed on the back of my head.
Sorry. Hope you applied Ice on your head after the fall.
Icon4s: Sports writing/reporting was my first career.
I was still an undergraduate then though.
Then we wrote more for the fun and fame. U know, ur friends reading ur column and hailing and respecting u. I wrote for Complete football. A one time monthly football magazine in the 90s
I am into something else now.
I knew complete football then and we always looked forward to their last edition before World Cups and World Youth Championships where they profiled players. Much respect. That is remarkable.
goldfish80: I don't need FifA site to remind me about Nigeria 99. For argument sake, I cited FifA. Could be the technical bench tried experimenting playing Yobo further up the pitch since he pretty much started his career there and our attack refused to click with Eddy Dombraye, Aghahowa, Ikedia and Yaro Yaro playing like strangers. I saw Yobo with my korokoro eyes playing as a striker.
He did not. Icon4s explained to you that Yobo was converted to a defender when he left for Belgium. We would not drop Aniele to experiment with a defender as a striker. It is too illogical.
goldfish80: How come Fifa listed him as a striker? FIFA for all their incompetence and and corruption do not make such typos.
Emmanuel Aniele would even make the forward line before Yobo and the coaching crew dropped him. So how can Yobo play as a striker/forward in that team.
goldfish80: How come Fifa listed him as a striker? FIFA for all their incompetence and and corruption do not make such typos.
Just as Icon4s pointed out, I do not need FIFA website to tell me about Nigeria 99. Yobo in 1998 was already playing as a defender for Standard Liège. That FIFA site list is wrong and the Wikipedia site correct.
Yobo was not a striker in the team and there was no way he would smell that role with players like Shittu, Melkam, Musa, Ikedia, Aghahowa, Hashimu Garba, Dombraye and Haruna Babangida in the squad.
goldfish80: I watched live not in TV the Nigeria vs Mali quater finals in Enugu. I was still to gain access to the jam packed Nnamdi Azikiwe stadium when fans screamed Goal! Those of us outside started jubilanting,we thought Nigeria scored only to gain access into the stadium and saw a different thing in the score board. Ikedia was the only Nigerian player who came to the party. He was so good that one Hausa man sitting in front of me wrote on a white handkerchief "I love Ikedia" we all cheered.
One player who who had a very bad game was Musa. We were all screaming to the bench "change Musa put Shittu". The Malians were just too good on the day. Diarra and Seydou Keita. We just couldn't handle Seydou Keita on the day. There was visible panick whenever Keita was in the ball. Lots of locals nicknamed him Ogbete because of a market in Enugu called Kenyatta,it was like a funny way they could connect to him.
After the tournament, Ikenna Eneh bought a blue Mercedes-Benz flat boot. We stayed in the same neighborhood at the time. When he fought with his elder brother Ziko, he used to run to my house and hide. I followed Nigeria 99 bumper to bumper. Ikenna Eneh's mother used to come to our house to watch her son on TV.
I repeat, Yobo did not smell the pitch as a right back in 99.
Either way, nice trip down memory lane. I visited Enugu not long after that game against Mali and I even got information from some footballers that the young ball boy who delighted the crowd with a brilliant ball control on the touch line and return the ball with a bicycle kick was Chinedu Obasi.
Also interesting thinking back on Ganiyu Shittu yesterday, I remembered how skillful he was and had a similar style to Abubakar Musa. It is a long time back. You could easily have missed the memory of Libregts.
Two players you missed from the Malian side were Bagayoko and Mahammadu Dissa.
goldfish80: I watched live not in TV the Nigeria vs Mali quater finals in Enugu. I was still to gain access to the jam packed Nnamdi Azikiwe stadium when fans screamed Goal! Those of us outside started jubilanting,we thought Nigeria scored only to gain access into the stadium and saw a different thing in the score board. Ikedia was the only Nigerian player who came to the party. He was so good that one Hausa man sitting in front of me wrote on a white handkerchief "I love Ikedia" we all cheered.
One player who who had a very bad game was Musa. We were all screaming to the bench "change Musa put Shittu". The Malians were just too good on the day. Diarra and Seydou Keita. We just couldn't handle Seydou Keita on the day. There was visible panick whenever Keita was in the ball. Lots of locals nicknamed him Ogbete because of a market in Enugu called Kenyatta,it was like a funny way they could connect to him.
After the tournament, Ikenna Eneh bought a blue Mercedes-Benz flat boot. We stayed in the same neighborhood at the time. When he fought with his elder brother Ziko, he used to run to my house and hide. I followed Nigeria 99 bumper to bumper. Ikenna Eneh's mother used to come to our house to watch her son on TV.
I repeat, Yobo did not smell the pitch as a right back in 99.
The facts is very clear and people has confirmed he was not a striker. We never changed our central defensive pair with Rabiu Afolabi and the other tall, lanky Igbo Guy. Eneh always played at the left back role and Obinna Okpala replaced him once at the left back role. So if Yobo a Standard Liège defender played a cameo role in the WYC, what role did he play because he could not smell the forward role.
bigblangston: so on point... about the Nigeria 99 thingy... Thijits libregts, the worst coach to ever coached Nigeria took the reins after Tunde disu was sacked in the competition and yobo played as a defender. I can still see him in my subconscious playing in Lagos
Thijs Libregts seemed to suffer from NFA interference and selecting squad for him that affected his performance. However, his game against Ireland in the second round was impressive. The Nigeria '99 team was performing poorly before Libregts took over the team. NTA aired clips of his first training session and the knowledge dropped by the coach was golden.
His unleashing of Pius Ikedia to run at goal transformed Ikedia' s game and he made the team build up better. Sad it did not work out for he Dutch tactician but that game against the Irish was memorable.
Icon4s: To join TheGoodJoe, Goldfish80 and Tbaba1234 in the Yobo discussion.
We all know that Yobo started off as a striker bt then he was at the Michelin team based in Port Harcourt.
In 1998 he moved to standard liege of Belgium. He was in their youth team where they remoulded him into a defender.
In Nigeria '99 Yobo was a defender. I recall how he being a striker thing came about. Some press men hu knew him in PH or hu heard he was a striker in that PH club listed him as a striker but he really was a defender in that tourney.
And i hope u guys are not confusing Joseph with his elder brother, Albert Yobo who played for the Eaglets in 1995.
If i can recall vividly well, Nigeria went with 3 strikers: Julius Aghahowa, Eddy Dumbraye and Danny Shittu.
Gabriel Melkam was an Attacking Midfielder, Haruna Babangida was a winger, Hamishu Garba was a Wings Forward/ AM. Gbenga Okunowo who was captain of the 1997 Flying was a midfielder. Barca converted him to a RB.
Goldfish80 our first game was against Costa Rica and not Paraguay. Julius Aghahowa opened scoring for Nigeria at the national stadium in Surulere. Costa Rica equalised while we were in search of an insurance second goal. It ended 1-1. Tunde Disu was sacked after the 3rd game against Paraguay and Thijs Libregts who was then Super Eagles coach was made to continue with the team.
I am not just quoting from wikipedia, i am giving you from my own memory. Also i was already a sports writer as at that time.
Thanks for the clarification and top notch addition.
Icon4s: To join TheGoodJoe, Goldfish80 and Tbaba1234 in the Yobo discussion.
We all know that Yobo started off as a striker bt then he was at the Michelin team based in Port Harcourt.
In 1998 he moved to standard liege of Belgium. He was in their youth team where they remoulded him into a defender.
In Nigeria '99 Yobo was a defender. I recall how he being a striker thing came about. Some press men hu knew him in PH or hu heard he was a striker in that PH club listed him as a striker but he really was a defender in that tourney.
And i hope u guys are not confusing Joseph with his elder brother, Albert Yobo who played for the Eaglets in 1995.
If i can recall vividly well, Nigeria went with 3 strikers: Julius Aghahowa, Eddy Dumbraye and Danny Shittu.
Gabriel Melkam was an Attacking Midfielder, Haruna Babangida was a winger, Hamishu Garba was a Wings Forward/ AM. Gbenga Okunowo who was captain of the 1997 Flying was a midfielder. Barca converted him to a RB.
Goldfish80 our first game was against Costa Rica and not Paraguay. Julius Aghahowa opened scoring for Nigeria at the national stadium in Surulere. Costa Rica equalised while we were in search of an insurance second goal. It ended 1-1. Tunde Disu was sacked after the 3rd game against Paraguay and Thijs Libregts who was then Super Eagles coach was made to continue with the team.
I am not just quoting from wikipedia, i am giving you from my own memory. Also i was already a sports writer as at that time.
Impressive. You were a sports writer at that time. No wonder you writing flows with ease.
With respect to Haruna Babangida, in the game against Costa Rica, he played an attacking role. He was a winger who could play as a forward role. Well, I was a bit young and did not know too much on the attacking roles of our players. However, that was a nice attacking team.
That Costa Rica game hurt, with Gen. Abdulsalami in the stadium. We were all over the Costa Ricans looking for a second goal when they scored us towards the end of the game.
bigblangston: Ajibade omolade, John Aranka, Endurance Idahor (my senior in Julius Berger fc), David Anumunu , Yaro yaroand also David Tyvkase et al. those were the guys I thought will break into the super eagles but sad to say, they weren't eagles material
I think it has to do with more of us mismanaging these players and without a growth plan for them. We need to do more like an earlier suggested friendly ties for our U17, U20 and U23 teams during international breaks. We have to keep engaging and growing the players.
You can see Standard Liège listed Yobo as a defender and Rabiu Afolabi, the other Nigerian defender in the team was also in Nigeria 99. He was the one who got the captain band from Abubakar Musa after we lost the AYC finals to Ghana by a goal.
Nigeria. It hurts. When I think of the talents we have produced and how behind we are in World Football, it is so sad. When I think of a player like Haruna Babangida who was announced as the best young player coming to Nigeria 99. When I think of how magical Ikedia was. I hope someone, someday makes a versus clip of Ikedia vs Ireland in Nigeria 99. Let people see talent. Abubakar Musa, Aniele who was brilliant. Later came Ajagun who won the Shell Cup and then came the brilliant Osunwa. Blessing Kaku, Emma Issah, Ogbeche, Okunowo, Sunday Ibeji and many more.
We so mismanaged that Golden generation of top quality players. I hope we get it right this time.
komekn: Coaches, Managers and pundits agree to disagree it's not a problem. I accept Rohr is in charge, he is doing an excellent job. However, I do not have to agree with all of his decisions.
I am unapologetically and undeniably English Nigerian players biased but not by sentiment or prejudice. But from experiential knowledge and understanding, I could add empathy as well.
I know about and I am involved in the English football system. I know a whole lot of players and watch a huge amount of games Live including U23's and down.
Statistics are indicative and not necessarily absolutes, I make comparison from facts, figures and from what I know. It may be hard cold and clinical but it's the way the truth is sometimes.
In a previous post I made an objective comparison of Onyedinma and Bazee giving my rational not just sentimental assumption. To give the reasoning behind. my preference.
It is good to have your view and it makes room for debate. You have your reasons why you prefer the English players but that does not mean you should consistently run down those you do not know.
You are talking about the players you know. Do not talk down on players other people know. You can see how wrong your judgment of Success was. It means you could be wrong with others.
goldfish80: If you can recall all these I wonder why it skipped you that Yobo was a striker in the 99 team. I recall seeing the baby-faced Yobo for the first time against Paraguay or so in the group stages. He made a cameo as a striker. Even in his testimonial game in Ph,the commentators mentioned that he started as a striker for the Flying Eagles when he was moved up front and scored a goal in the second half of the game.
It is very obvious you did not watch Nigeria 99. Your Libregets post exposed it. Tunde Disu got fired and Libregets coached the team in the Second Round and Quarter finals. I even watched his first training session and the Quarter final game was at Enugu.
Forlan and Ronaldinho played at the same time with us. Uruguay eliminated Brazil. I repeat, the competition was too stiff for Yobo to play attack. Eddie Dombraye who was a sharp striker was on the bench. There were other players who could play upfront before Yobo.
How can Yobo get a cameo role before Dombraye. Melkam could, play upfront Shittu could play upfront.
Sports › Re: "The Super Eagles Thread: The Road To AFCON 2027, 2028 And 2030 World Cup by SharpJoe: 11:02am On Mar 25, 2017
