₦airaland Forum

judedwriter:
So upon all the gra-gra of both the ivory coast players and thousands of their fans last Sunday, we are higher than them and they are ranked 39th by fifa??

This cup was poised for Nigeria's taking but sadly we missed it.

Go use your position collect cup from them.

Jayhome24:
Before nko Ivory won does not mean they played better football although I don't care about ranking nonsense but the truth is Ivory Coast played no football in this last tournament they are just lucky and their yeye superstition that mistakenly favoured them that is all.

Lol...even when they lost 4-0, they outplayed equatorial guinea. Unfortunately they were using the wrong set of attackers in the group stage. The only team to win ball possession from ivory coast was Mali and it was understandable because Ivory coast went a man dow in the 39th minute. No other team came close. Not even Senegal. Ivory coast may have not had good results in the second and third group stage game, in terms of actually playing the game, no team came close to them.

Idiotic element trolling Nigerians.

blackmantis:
Ekong yes
Lookman yes

Aina?

Yes. Adingra bested him in the final but in all games before the finals, he was always in contention for man of the match.

Geekop:
Imagine Aina is in the list and most people complained about him forgetting that we were praising him from the very first match. His only mistake was in the final.
Make we try dey appreciate these guys.

I was also thinking this Adingra guy would be in the list.
Nice one though.

Adingra, Haller, Gradel didn't play in the matches they lost. If any of featured at all, it was off the bench. Their previous coach (group stage) didn't favour them.

Maobichek:
2024 will be worst compared to 2023 and 2024 will be better than 2025!!! This is not good at all, please say something good, be positive about Nigeria. This is not about politics of APC, PDP or LP.

I wish saying that garri will be 100# per paint can make it as that. Unfortunately it can't. Let's however deal with the facts. How many everyday commodity still has the same price as it was in 2023? I can't think of any let alone many.

Do you honestly believe that I'm 2025, the prices will remain the same as it is today or even reduce? Be honest with yourself even in your optimism. I don't hate Nigeria. I have children and wish them well.

I have mentioned it before it will be difficult for there to be a revolution in this country because there are many like you who genuinely believe 'speaking positive' about a truly negative situation. Before you were birthed 'e go better' has been a thing, let us pray for this country has been a thing. The economic stats and realities however shows something antithetical to that.

The economy has become harder on the average man day after day, year after year. If you truly care about this country, you won't be admonishing me to speak positively. You'd be charging me to come out and protest.

ikennaoma:
where was ashola when Uzoho was bullied... people should understand that football is different from movies.. Football fans are passionate about it..just imagine What ONANA is going through now..that's the beauty of football. if the team win everyone is happy but if we loose one person must take the heat... imagine what would have happened to aina if South Africa won us... that's football for you.

Simple. If a team plays well, everyone celebrates them. If they don't, they receive the frustrations of the fans.

If we truly love these footballers, and super eagles as our national team, we must be able to tell ourselves the truth.

1. The coach's tactics hindered any form of midfield creativity.

2. Our midfielders are 'very very' average if not below average.

Our midfielders can never make five consecutive passes in the opposition half wetin no good no good.

3. Way before the finals, some people have been saying it that our midfield and especially Iwobi weren't doing the needful and this was while we were winning. So it's not only because lost that iwobi and the team is getting criticized.

Before the AFCON, we played miserably in the world cup qualifiers and the friendly just before the competition. While we might have reached the finals, this team still has a lot of deficiencies. The midfield play especially is an eyesore. Pretending that all is well will not help us qualify for the world cup. What needs to be said has to be said.

ideatoprince18:
How u wan take speak to your altar with the rubbish talk wey u dey talk ..... illiterate man!!!

The alter they hear ibo

Jokers.

Kajaard:
I really fear for the future of this country.

It's never being this bad

Brace up...the worst is yet to come and the nation on autopilot is headed in that direction.

I remember what I said on the 1st

2024 will be a worse economic year for Nigeria than 2023. The good news however is that 2024 will be a better economic year than 2025. Go figure.

Udoka...na man you be. You just dey serve people bad news 24/7

Scape goat

BreconHills:
I agree with you to a degree.

But the system he is using was very similar to Mourinhos early days at Chelsea and the successful Greek team in the Euros, defend and break. Unfortunately we were very inefficient in carrying out turnovers and catching them on the break.

I am not sure we will make the next worldcup.

We need investments in infrastructure and domestic scouting. Our domestic coaches need to be significantly upgraded and secondary school competitions need to be revived to the level of the old principal cup.

We lack seriousness and sincerity. The NFF is a cabal of rogues. It will need concerted effort from the Vice President downwards.

We are a joke administration wise and there is only so far the ingenuity and talent of our people can take us. What do you think?

You are right... grassroots development is essential and it requires fundamental institutions and infrastructure to be available and to date. Talent and potential wise, we are up there but technically we are lagging behind. This requires intentional actions of re-evaluation, investment and objectivity. Majority of our administrators aren't passionate about sport. They are mostly in it for money. Not even money they generate but the little government gives them to develop. Many of them must be retired.

smokinloud:
tiktok is your source?!. Any mad man can edit any news website and upload it on tiktok to debunk any fact just like they did to the babies killed on October 7 by claiming it is ai generated

K

spiSeyi:
The attack was too dull and that was why Adinga (Ivory-coast 7) had a free movement in the flank to break our defense which caused us the 2nd goal had it been that we used 2 strikers (Osimehn & Kelechi) to play with the support of Simon from the flank and Mofi from the mid-field Ivory-coast would be forced to defend then Eagles might eventually get a PK at least or more corners & freekick

I understand...the attack was dull...the point is that in all the games we won, including against ivory coast, the attack was dull, yet we won. Why should he change the patter especially at the beginning of the second half when we are leading meaning his pattern was working yet again. In the group stage when we won, we had just one shot on target in that game...the penalty by Ekong! but because we won that match bone of you came out with all these analysis. Instead you praised the coach and the team. The coach went for the same tactics and lineup in the final and exposed how lucky we have been

spiSeyi:
Nigeria made it to the final by luck and football is not a game of luck we need a homebased coach like Amunike who knows and understand our football and culture. Senegal , Ivory-coast and Cameroon worn AFCON in 2017, 2019, 2021 and 2024 with homebased coach, and we did the same in 2013 with Stephen Kechi. Jose Posero only leveraged on the individual talents of our players. A good coach would have sub chukwueze with Simon, start Kelechi and Mofi in the 2nd half then change the formation to 4-2-4 in the second half to mount pressure on Cote d'Ivoir. The best way to defend is to attack

Why would he start kelechi and Moffi in the second half when we are leading...in the previous four games we played the same pattern and won...how does it come to mind to change a working pattern that looked like it was succeeding at the beginning of half time. Especially in a final...what happens when you use early subs and then get an injury or a red card? Or the ball drags into extra time...then you don't have fresh legs to bring in?

BreconHills:
You play with what you have. SE squad was low on creative midfielders. We had ball winners, ball carriers but zilch true blue creative attacking midfielders so he surrendered the midfield.

When the competition started, he tried to play through the midfield, but we still didn't win. We drew. In the second game, either through tactical calculations or unavailability of Yusuf, he started playing with the 5 man defense. Because we won the hosts albeit by luck because the hosts dominated that game, Nigerians didn't care, a win is a win and the coach stuck to that pattern till he reached the final. People kept wondering why he started Chukwueze. The reason is simple. When we won in the group stage, chukwueze started the game. It worked on that night but luck can only get you so far sometimes.

MichaelUweh:
The style of play isn't good at all.

Defensive football isn't Super Eagles style.

We need a coach with Guadiola style of play ,and not that of Mourinho.

Check Emerse Fae of Ivory Coast.

Fae didn't teach them possession football. That's how ivory coast played even before he became their coach. What he however did especially for semifinals and final was added Adingra, Haller and Gradel to the front line. Their midfield always dominated. Even in the game Nigeria won them 1-0, they dominated that game...their attackers just weren't good.

Herkim:
He should be retain but he needs to change his defensive tactics to attacking football.

His defensive technique cost us to lose the final. We need free flow of football not hypertensive show of shame.

His defensive approach got you to the final. After the first game which we drew, he changed to a defensive approach. And cos we were progressing, y'all ignored the fact that we were playing shiit.

Laurene:
Defeats do occur in matches... Varieties of conditions could have made them lose 4 nil to Equatorial Guinea.

Seriously? Haller had testicular cancer and he beat it... I think that contributed to some of his below par performances. Dude was fire in Ajax.
Haller is better than Lookman; his control, mentality and finishing from critical positions... No argument.

And who told you Equatorial Guinea is classless? Most of their goals were scored by Emilio Nsue, who's a top flight player. They were one of the best teams in the tournament. Some of their players still play for Top European teams so don't label them as classless.

Stop guessing, players mostly went to the Saudi league for the bag... Check Neymar and Mane. Those players are doing exceptionally well. Anytime they return to Europe they'll bench lots of players still.

Haller did not play in the group stage. In the two matches he started, he scored. The semifinals and the finals. Osimehn started every match and has fewer goals than Haller

Minatouchiha:
Which deep? Abi ma another ball dis wan de talk of? U guys were defending upandan.

That's what deep means in football. To play defense.

IAMBOSS1990:
This is just tragic. Innocent victims having to pay the price for the decisions of others.

In as much as Israel is responsible for what is happening in Gaza, those behind the October 7 attack should equally claim responsibility.

https://vm.tiktok.com/ZM6TcV81G/

Seagodess:
Make all of una shut up.. Chelsea won the champions league 2012.. with this same tactics.. every team that year played them hands down but they were destined to win it and they won.. morroco, south Africa played good possessive football but couldn't make it to the finals... cotedivoire was destined to win this tournament..way forward.. let the coach continue... let him scout for Good midfielders..we have a good attack if you ask me.. bye..see u next afcon

Why does he need to scout or improve? he should simply wait for destiny.

ogawisdom:
The small boy that played against Aina today almost killed his career today.

They were using that wing throughout the game and our coach has no answer to that.

Aina was terrible today or should I say that ivory Coast boy was fantastic.

This little boy from Ivory Coast is my man of the match

Aina played against Vinicious

profmallor:
Congrats to Nigeria for a good run, Beating SA was the height to me, apparently, CAF wanted Ivory Coast to win it at all cost so for that I say congrats to Ivory Coast. I dont think the coash used a strong starting line up but hey, we move!

How did caf want them to win at all cost? Is it that they didn't play enough to win? The match stats didn't indicate enough that Cote D'Ivoire dominated the game?

Caf wanted them to win at all cost yet in their second group stage game when they weren't sure if qualifying a penalty was awarded against them resulting in them losing the game.

Caf wanted them to win at all cost yet against Mali, 16 minutes In, a penalty was awarded against them. Before the 40th minute their player was sent off. Another was sent off before the end of extra time.

Nigeria lost fair and square. Make una go address the team inadequacies and improve on what needs improvement. Making up excuses will not make the team grow.

Wotowotoman:
The Nigerian team should be embarrassed that a team like Ivory Coast that qualified through the back door outplayed them in the finals with an inexperienced coach o. Embarrassing

they outplayed us in the group stage too. We were only lucky to win.

Dennisochampa:
This coach just compounded the pains of Nigerians tonight with his stupid selection....

Why start chukwueze over Simon when you have used Simon to win your matches before?? °°

Why defend against a team you beat before?

See how he made a mess of himself.....

See the way we were defending against them as if it was man city playing against enyimba.....

Iwobi has no business in that team!!!!

He should not be starting... Useless boy

In the game we won against Cote D'Ivoire, we defended na. Our key stats aren't so different.

1 shot on target in both matches

Averagly 36% ball possession in both matches.

Ivory coast had a mire capable attacking line than the one favored by their previous coach...that's what changed. The same midfield dominated us as they did earlier. Adingra, Haller and Konan were not the ones up front in the first match...you can tell with their impact on the game.

Here are the stats from the first match below. But because we managed to win people assumed we were good.

bionixs:
Congratulations to them . I have never been so relaxed watch others win. Super Eagles didn't remember that they came for final. You don't just sit back , hoping and wishing that success comes to you.

Doing nothing and shouting that Nigeria shall be great again . Very lousy in the field of play

This was exactly how we won them in the group stage though. We had just one shot on target in that match too. The fact that we won then made people blind to the fact that we were not good with possession and transition.

Before the final, someone's thread made frontpage talking about how our midfield isn't good and especially mentioned iwobi...a lot of the respondents insulted the OP. Simply because we have been lucky. Cote D'Ivoire only played an improved version of the group stage game they played against us.

Below is the match stats from the group stage game. The ball possession is similar because the same midfield dominated us. The shots on target and of course goals improved because Haller, Arding and Konan replaced the front three that played in the group stage.

Lucky wins often make people blind to the inadequacies of their team. The losses suffered by cote D'Ivoire made them reshuffle their attacking line for the knockouts and it paid off.

In all honesty, Nigeria overachieved by reaching the final

Dougad:
Even though we lost the championship, I feel less pain compared to the moment in our game vs South Africa when our goal was disallowed.

Psychologists explain

Anyway, the better team won

The explanation is your last sentence. It will be terrible hard luck if Cote D'Ivoire lost the game.

simmydebadest:
We owe ebube muonso an apology
He saw this coming

He didn't see shit. He also said he will get the trophy back for Nigeria through his mountain program. Why does Nigeria not have the trophy?

If Nigeria won his people will still say his program or prayers worked that's why Nigeria got the trophy.

Speaking equivocally isn't prophecy.