₦airaland Forum

Samueltemi337:
Mtcheew

I second this, not even a hattrick of goals will ever impress me with these players anymore.

BascoVanVeli:
Samu with the delicious assist

But when he plays in the national team he will dance atilogwu, abeg...

Samueltemi337:
Which creative young midfielder do we have to try?

If you want creativity, then maybe convert Chukwueze, Sani Suleiman or Lookman to permanent CAMs.. football is dynamics and all about trying players in new positions etc.

Samueltemi337:
Sanusi is decent
Na midfield be the koko

We dey talk this midfield like say we no get other younger options to try, we already have some established young midfielders in various clubs across Europe and two of them are even playing champions league football but our dumb football administration keep recycling the same old and tiring legs by playing a 2 man midfield of Iwobi (who isn't a midfielder in my opinion but a RW) and Ndidi (who is past his best days)...David Moses, Onyedika, Fisayo Dele-Bashiru, Akinsamiro, Gibson Yah etc are all young and promising midfielders all playing at their best levels, what's holding the NFF and Chelle from calling up these boys?

Only African team i can see myself supporting will be Cabo Verde, and then if they don't go far I'll support other smaller teams like Haiti, Curacao etc...I know these teams won't go far, but I always love an underdog/Cinderella story of small nations making their debuts in big tournaments.

owobokiri:
They are not mediocre players. That tag is way too ruthless..
Iwobi is not mediocre. Ndidi is not mediocre. Bassey plays to his best. Ditto Nwabali. They are not mediocre. They just don't have the drive to play to their potentials while playing for Nigeria.
Can you say that the Congolese players have more individual qualities than the Eagles? I don't think so. But the Congolese showed up because they were hungry and wanted it more.
That desire pushed them to their limits..

They are mediocre and no amount of sugar coating the truth can change that, I don't even care what leagues or clubs they play in/for, but you if fail to qualify for 2 world cups back to back with the latest one being the easiest path of qualification a tournament can ever offer (9 slots for Africa), and then you go on to barely survive a group that has teams like Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Rwanda and Benin Republic with FIFA and CAF even giving you enough lifelines to qualify (deducting points from South Africa, using small mathematical ojoro to give Burkina Faso's playoff spot to you) and yet you Bleep it all up at the most crucial point by playing with no heart or passion...then you're a mediocre team full of average yet overhyped players. It's time Nigerians start telling themselves the truth, this present generation of players excluding Osimhen and newly discovered Benjamin Fredrick should easily rank as our worst ever in Nigerian football history. I miss when we had fighters like Yekini, JJ Okocha, Adepoju, Oliseh, Enyeama, Mikel Obi, Osaze, Onazi, Victor Moses, Emenike, Ideye Brown, Oboabona, Egwueke etc...those men qualified to world cups when qualifying was far harder for African teams.

What we have now are overpampered babies and TikTok dancers

Honestly this world cup still dey pain me especially when I see tiny nations like Curacao, Haiti, Scotland etc celebrating their first ever world cup qualification on my X timeline...when I remember how Nigeria botched the easiest qualification process ever with this expanded format, I immediately get depressed and overheated with rage...and the fact that so many Nigerians seem to have moved on so easily even baffles me the more. We're back to making funny skits and talking about other things- the gnawing insecurity in the country has even created a perfect distraction. Nigeria has broken, failed and betrayed me so many times that I question why am still even patriotic at all?

Meanwhile the real culprits who are behind our football misfortunes who should be resigning by now are still staying put, no accountability, no Federal government interventions to probe the alleged mismanagement of funds by the NFF, the likes of Eguavoen with his record of mediocrity are still there...when FIFA dropped the list of all the countries that have already qualified, it seemed almost painfully surreal not to see a whole Nigeria on that list...it's really painful sha I won't lie, I don't know how you guys move on fast from this, but una dey try...on to AFCON I guess...

yemyke001:
Tunisia has improved

We play them at the AFCON sef, they're in our group.

Me I've stopped investing my emotions on this set of players, the world cup hurt unsurprisingly took me less than 24 hours to recover from. Right now, while much needed changes starting from compulsory resignations must be enforced on the NFF starting from that waste of space Eguavoen, the Super Eagles team itself now has to be drastically changed, only players like Osimhen, Benjamin Fredrick (who should be made the poster boy of the new generation), Nwabali (still a good GK despite his unbearable antics but needs massive competition now), Maduka, Aina, Felix Agu (need to see more of him at the AFCON), Bassey (he and Benjamin have a perfect partnership), and then for other full-backs: players like Bruno and Sanusi can be kept around till we find better replacements hopefully soonest; which makes me hope we still get a chance to make Michael Kayode consider Nigeria, along with Ahanor.

Players that MUST BE RETIRED OUTRIGHTLY

William Troost Ekong (bye, you've served well but football has left you),
Simon Moses ( same with Ekong, should have been phased out 5-6 years ago),
Semilore Ajayi ( a player who has always blown hot and cold, decent on his best days but very uneventful on his normal days),
Wilfred Ndidi (done and dusted, he's just not it anymore...that moment when he kicked air when a simple tap in was all but needed from that Lookman's pass to make it 2-0 against DRC was the highlight of it all, any other player would have scored that easily and the dynamics of that game would have been different today).

Players who should be phased out

Osayi-Samuel- just a boring and uneventful player, decent sometimes but a largely forgettable player.

Tolu Arokodare- just a very average player who flattered to deceive in Belgium, haven't seen a more unbalanced player who can't hold up play and lacks aerial intelligence and abilities despite his height advantage, Congolese midgets pretty much bullied and out-jumped him all game, thought he was the perfect backup to Osimhen but he just isn't it.

Alhassan Yusuf: This dude is so forgettable that I reckon calling him up is just to fulfill some necessary quota slot for Northerners to be in the team for sake of national belonging, cause his inclusion makes no sense in every footballing logic.


Players who should be on probation depending on how their AFCON performances go:

Alex Iwobi: The less said the better, but this brother was never the second coming of his uncle Jay Jay, it just wasn't to be and it's fine, we might never see another like JJ Okocha ever again. He has one last chance to make a redemption arc for himself this AFCON, play your heart out and win gold for Nigeria, and write youe name in gold Alex.

Chukwueze: A very frustrating player whose international career story can only be summed up in the conjecture of "what ifs?"...maybe he's just better suited as a CAM but we will never know with Chukwueze, AFCON is his last chance.

Ademola Lookman: Something isn't quite right with this brother, granted his stint at Atalanta hasn't quite been favorable lately but he isn't just at his best right now, Ademola on his best days is a world class player, but he needs to get it all together and perhaps use this AFCON to prove he is still THAT GUY...with age no longer on his side in football terms, he has to step up big time and win this AFCON...Nigerians have been patient enough.

Players who still need time to settle

Akor Adams
Uche Christiantus
Chidera

Time to build around:

Benjamin Fredrick (face of the new generation)
Ebenezer Akinsanmiro
Frank Onyeka
Raphael Onyedika
Rafiu Durosimi
Sani Suleiman
Philip Otele
Franklin Uchenna Tebo
Micheal Kayode (if he decides to switch)
Ahanor (if he decides to switch)
David Moses
Odinaka Emmanuel Okoro
Chibuike Nwaiwu
Gibson Yah
Fisayo Dele-Bashiru
Arthur Okonkwo (if he decides for Nigeria)
Ryan Alebiosu
And any other young and exciting Nigerian player out there whether foreign or local born and based.

Osimhen must be made captain and will lead this large core of new generation players from the AFCON where most of them will be integrated as we build towards the next world cup by playing top quality friendly games next year, NFF must schedule those games and make sure our 2026 football calendar is busy, no excuses anymore and we are done with the player bonus rows and drama, all that nonsense should end now.

Lastly Chelle must be retained and supported to win the AFCON...he's still a good coach and the fact that the team even got this far after the rubbish he inherited from Finidi and Peseiro is a testament to that. Depending on the AFCON, he should be given a contract extension and given a freehand to invite his own players and build his team, enough of this disgusting madness of NFF using player agents to force rubbish deadweights on the coach, let all the end going into 2026.

I think this should signal the immediate disbandment of NFF and a larger part of this team, my mind no even dey the AFCON anymore...right now it's ONLY Osimhen I feel the most for, all those efforts to get us to the lifeline wasted by shit, mentally weak, soulless players. And then the daft coach who allowed mostly defenders take crucial spot-kicks, why didn't he sub in Ekong a proven PK taker? It's obvious they even train for PKs at all. Onyedika who has been balling at the Champs league never even got a minute when our midfield was badly struggling.

I think my interest in Nigerian football will take a back seat until we miraculously get a good team again, this country much less it's useless mens national team isn't worth a shred of my time.

Nwabali has a chance to make history for himself, he's a good shot stopper so I'll hope he steps up for these PKs

Lookman is rubbish right now, he needs to be dropped for a while until he gets it together.

Benjamin is finally receiving his baptism of fire as to be expected in a cagey final game.

Emmy450:
regardless of what happens today win or lose, he should remain our couch minimum of three years.
Because it seems the super eagles have an identity and also a direction with him in charge.

Absolutely

Goke7:
This boy na rock of Gibraltar and he seems to know where every of his teammate is on the pitch per second. The boy is either extraordinary or supernatural. In summary na winch 😂

The thing sef shock me cause we've never really produced a defender this exciting...typically we get to see one or two exciting wingers or strikers and defensive mids, but Benjamin just take his own to a whole new level.

Benjamin Federick individual highlights vs Gabon

Omo, we've really unearthed a true gem in this kid...and the future looks promising with the likes of Vince Osuji, Akinsamir, Tebo Uchenna etc already in the picture


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBPTTOPEQfk

DRC is a good team but they lack that "IT" factor, we will beat them on Sunday but it will be on close margins...fate has aligned for us to qualify for this world cup.

Osayi-Samuel should be kept far far far away from this team, dude is absolute crap.

Goke7:
The problem is that when they face us, they will become something else, as if we deported their people from our country

Walahi you sabi these teams

CapitalCee:
I dont expect him to feature at in the play offs. Let him just be in the squad for leadership

Exactly.

LegendHero:
When did Fulani herdsmen turn to Islamic bandits again? You go fear headline.

So IPOB terrorists are now Christian terrorists?

When last did you hear about "IPOB killings" in the East? the sponsored criminals like Gentle the yahoo and his gang have either been killed or captured and peace has finally returned to the areas they terrorized, focus on the ongoing terrorism going on across Nigeria especially in thr North and Kwara where your Yoruba brothers getting pulverized and leave IPOB alone.

Naz34:
Easterners wey dey fear to join Army . How them wan take dey there . Every recruitment year, na so all the forms meant for easterners to join dey always return empty back to army headquarter because all the boys for east don run go Lagos and Ogun state go look for money at all cost .

Why should any sane Igbo person join your nepotic and corrupt-ridden military? There are lots of Igbos in the US Army and they are some of the highest ranked officers, there are even Igbos fighting in the Ukraine-Russia wars on both sides, and they are better off there than in your useless army of boys scouts.

Sugarboyy:
Troos Ekong scored an own goal today in his club El Kholood 2-3 home lose

Wow! color me surprised! Mr owngoal strikes again

nickxtra:
Edo always among the top 5 or top 10 in good developmental and leadership indices. Kudos to all Edolites

I think Edo state finds ways to excel inspite of who is governing them, a credit to the people of the state than anything else.

Or maybe the governor is doing something right.

Racoon:
The changes of the service chief is a routine thing in government, but the suddenness of this one shows that something is amiss. Pray the ones on board succeed.

Are there even any high ranking Igbo officers currently who have attained the ranks to be qualified as COAS? The last Igbo COAS we had was Ihejirika under Jonathan, I've never seen an Igbo Lieutenant-General before.

aylipple:
Kogi (Okuns) eating good under PBAT. Prominent Okun sons are getting strategic and very important appointments under this administration - first it was Prof. Joash Amupitan (SAN) as INEC Chairman & now, Maj.-Gen. Waidi Shuaibu as COAS.

I hope these two appointees will justify the confidence reposed in them by the President and also represent Okunland well.

I wish the new COAS success.

Thought Waidi Shuaibu is Igala?

Well, good luck to him. Not a fan of Tinubu but he is at least balanced in his military appointments and fair to the Igbos, from appointing an Igbo man as Chief of Navy staff to Chief of Air staff. We all know Buhari wouldn't have given a damn, last last name wailing we for dey wail.

Congratulations to all the appointees.

saintopus:
Igbo kwenu! Now una go rest now!

Na play I dey play ooo!

My mama na Owerri woman ooo!

So you dey enjoy better Owerri soup abi, lucky you

The few Igbo officers in the NA are really trying in their various theaters, Maj Gen Chinedu Nnebuife, Maj Gen Victor Ezugwu- first Nigerian to produce a Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicle— EZUGWU and Brig-Gen Uwa Chidiebere of the 6 Brigade in Taraba etc all come to mind.