₦airaland Forum

TheSuperNerd:
We have seen Abdullahi Ibrahim Bewene, 21 make his debut and impress at RB, now next up will be Christian Monday Akpan, 21 of Genk

A lad who passed through Asec Mimosas Academy and landed in Belgium firstly as a midfielder and began showing his versatility as a LB and RB for Jong Genk while also featuring as a CDM in several other games.

His Senior debut saw him feature for 120mins at RB and he impressed dropping 26 defensive contributions, 9 duels won and 17 clearances. Na wa.

Like TheGoodJoe will say, let him soak in the Chelle system well ahead of the Portugal fixture. Lad looks really promising.

We asked for a rebuilding project and it's happening now, seems NFF have seen Chelle is massively backed by Nigerians and are giving him a free hand to cook.

Genk boy Christian Akpan has joined the team in Lisbon for the Portugal friendly, it seems Chelle is serious about giving young new faces a chance in his rebuilding project.

minfelix:
Portugal will beat this our hustling super eagles
3-0,4-0🤣🤣never!! its not happening una go shock same high intense game Poland gave us is what Portugal will bring to the table… This current Super eagles will make world class friendly match look like “we are not satisfied with the kinda opponent we played”
we want more

8 out 10 odds that Portugal will beat us, but unlike the embarrassing eyesore Peseiro served us last time we met Portugal. I expect us to be more competitive this time and give them a good game, it definitely won't be the 4-0 type of drubbing we got the last time...I can see maybe a 3-2 type of result for Portugal cause we will surely score goals with Chelle football.

charlesemeka85:
Chidera Ejuke to Bayer Leverkusen?

The Bundesliga side is reportedly leading the race for the Nigerian winger as they look to continue their tradition of signing Nigerian stars. 🇳🇬

I think he's the only Nigerian player with probably the best agent so far cause his club moves have been spectacular for someone who has mostly been a fringe player for Nigeria.

Few observations:
- Our midfield woes are over and I say this with tears in my eyes

- Abdullahi Bewene took his opportunity and owned it, I like a rough diamond in the dirt story, a kid playing in the Czech league showed enough to belong to our depth of exciting players...future looks good.

- Zaidu and Onuachu have no business in any project we intend to build.

- Onyedika has been pushed down the pecking order...Nnadi, Yusuf and Tijani are ahead of him now.

- Moffi and Akor are solid backups to Osimhen

- The competition for that GK position just got more intense.

And oh lastly, Chelle is the fucking man and we love him but he still needs to improve his game management especially at closing out a game efficiently, though that last minute goal from Poland was a worldie.

Maduka Okoye has displayed senior man levels in this game, the competition for that GK position has gotten hotter now but Okoye is back as the numero uno.

Chelle na una papa!

TheSuperNerd:
Bewene has to learn to close down or cut off a cross/shot threat better on his side of the pitch. He seems to leave lots of space between himself and the pole so he can afford to manipulate the ball with a cross or shot.

He's been decent in some phases going forward and in possession but defensively, he still falls short.

True, for a kid making his debut in a high profile friendly he hasn't looked out of place, his defensive lapses can definitely be worked on but that will depend on if Chelle sees something in him that will be worth keeping for the future.

Nnadi has announced himself in a big way, dude is good abeg.

Solid first half from the boys, apparently shaky from set pieces but overall a decent showing.

Goke7:
Very dissapointing just see opportunity to break record and rain goals wasting away

If Osimhen's ego will get in the way of the team seamless progress, then it's absolutely fine if Chelle drops him...I doubt Chelle will do it but he has to start stamping his authority on his team.

Papi85:
not yet I guess

Those 2 have been on vacation mode on their IG, sure say dem go come?

mostob:
Nah.. This is cruel 😂😂😂😂😂

The beautiful thing about being Nigerians is our ability to laugh at ourselves in good and bad times lmao

Papi85:
Fernandez ❤️🔥

See fine boy, Fernandez and Maduka go cause wahala for the ladies o

MetalJigsaw:
So u think we don't need Iwobi and Ndidi. Oga no talk that thing again

Yes I talk am, I'll rather succeed or fail with younger players at this point...after two world cup back to back misses with this same crop of players, my heart is hardened to rational considerations.

I just saw a video of Onuachu and Ndidi training at some pitch in Nigeria which means they are not joining the squad for the June friendlies, we might see some late call up's for new faces based in Europe or play for clubs close to Poland and Portugal...which is good sef, time to access other options and rebuild now.

123jamessmith:
Rumors from owngoal, that chelle has invited one Christian Akpan to come and train with the super eagles for June friendlies. Has anyone heard of that name before.

You beat me to it, was going to ask the same question.

Balogun!!!

LMFAOOO this US goal keeper na Uzoho mentor , see goal wey the werey concede.

USA look so good, that third goal was beautiful

3-1

TheSuperNerd:
Final 10mins of the first half have seen them begin to impose themselves on the US. Second half should see them equalise if they keep up the momentum of the last 10.

To be fair most of their goal scoring opportunities came from lethargic turnovers by the USA, but damn...Senegal are SCARY on the break.

This is more like Senegal

King Mane pulls one back

TheSuperNerd:
USA taking Senegal apart... 2-0

Bara Ndiaye (18) in midfield and 3rd choice GK Mory Diaw are the only reserves faces in the Senegal Starting XI. The rest are starters/first team regulars.

First XI attack (Mane, Jackson, Iliman)✅️

Midfield (Lamine Camara and Habib Diarra)✅️

Defence (Jakobs, Seck, M.Sarr, Krepin)✅️

Senegal look very shaky in that defence

Hmmm Senegal

yinkeys:
Osimhen is injury prone
Let him concentrate on getting a new club
You can’t please humans
From why does he come to camp late to why’s he selecting games
Why should we rely solely on one player, let others have their shine
Surprised Chrisantus Uche isn’t even called, someone struggling to find his feet
Someone who needs game time, must Osimhen play every time
That boy gets injured unnecessarily when playing for Nigeria and you guys will still complain
Nawa o
Gift Orban dey there, many NPFL guys are praying to be called up and everything Nigerians can complain about is Osimhen this and that
It is a team game, not a one man show

Osimhen has played ONLY 6 friendly games for Nigeria in a span of 9 years, let that sink in. Surely he wasn't all "injury prone" in all those friendly games he missed over 9 years but no wahala. This is a learning curve for Nigeria anyway.

Odunayaw:
There is no grade A friendly bigger than playing Portugal.

Exactly, Portugal will roll out their heavyweights and they are easily a top 3 best national team in the world...a window like this would have been Chells's biggest game of his managerial career and a chance to test his best players against the very best in the world...but alas, his best players let him down. I could see the sinking disappointment on his face when he was asked about the Portugal and Poland games.

Are we going to finally address the elephant on the room? why does Osimhen get away with picking grade A friendly games to play? there's always a litany of excuses that crop up for this guy to justify his endless streak of absenteeism from international friendly duties...even better players and legends like Messi, CR7, Drogba etc never had this sort of record.

No wahala sha, I blame the unfortunate Nigerian situation for building an arc of hopeless dependency on Osimhen.

Chelle should play Lookman, Femi and Akor as a front 3...Osimhen's absence ( as usual) is a blessing sef, we need our test our attacking depth especially in this high profile games.

Meliforme:
Alex Iwobi, Wilfred Ndidi and Frank Onyeka retains their places in the starting lineup.

What Alhassan, Tijani, and Nnadi will achieve in five sequences of passes, Alex Iwobi can achieve in one stroke of a pass.
However, the only advantage that i saw in Alhassan, Tijani and Nnadi is in the cover they provide to the backline, their recovery rate is good, as well as their positioning during phases of defense.

Iwobi and Ndidi aren't getting any younger boss, come next world cup they will be in the twilight of their 30's if we make that one...so better start getting used to that word "phasing out" cause it's the inevitable part of football, just like life.

Please the likes of Ndidi, Iwobi, and Simon Moses, and Ajayi can play one more AFCON as send-off and be moved along for the likes of Femi, Nnadi, Tijani, Otele to take over...Alhassan, Onyeka and Onyedika can provide the experience from midfield. Attack is already blessed with Lookman, Akor, Moffi and Osimhen and Femi.

lbrichman2:
About 4-5 of their main players are absent

Makes no difference, we go still wire their triple A team regardless.