₦airaland Forum

forgiveness:
We neutralized their midfield with two DMF and rendered their wingers impotent by defending with two players.

Those two areas are the Croats strength.

So all those balls from Modric to Kramaric that kept exposing Shehu was evidence of impotent Croatian wingers or a neutralized Croatian midfield?

Na wa o

forgiveness:
The tactics we used made Croatia average.

joseph1013:
THE WITCH AND THE SUPER EAGLES
by Leon Balogun

My sister’s best friend’s mom had a best friend, and she was the witch.

She could read auras, or some crazy nonsense like that. I was 19 years old when I was told about her. I was trying to become a professional soccer player in Berlin — I didn’t have time for nonsense. But I had this issue … I was injury prone. Every year I felt like I would take one step forward and two steps back in my career because of the injuries. My sister, who is 13 years older than me and also my best friend, had an idea: The witch. Maybe witch is a bad term. I’m not sure. But she was a little spooky.

When my sister first pitched me the idea, I sort of rolled my eyes, like, Yeah … I’m sure she’ll know what’s wrong with me.

“No, Leon,” she’d say to me, “She sees things.”

“Fine, fine. Let’s give it a try.”

Let’s meet the witch.

She was a middle-aged Russian woman. She didn’t look like much of a witch, or an oracle for that matter. Her eyes walked up and down me as soon as I entered the room. My eyes darted around. She started to talk to me and my sister. It was about nothing in particular really, but I think she was studying me — my energy. Her first diagnosis was that there was an hole in my aura. I was like, Alright, well, anybody could have guessed that.

She said, “It’s on your right side.”

“The hole in my aura?”

“Yes.”

That’s where I had a scar from a bad right-shoulder injury. She had no idea about it, and she had never seen me with a shirt off … she just, felt it, I guess. Now she had my attention.

Then — and I’ll never forget this — she really blew me away.

“Four or five years ago, you lost a person very close to you, but someone who you didn’t completely know, either.”

I don’t think I said anything. She went on about how all people have someone like this in their lives, whether they know them or not. Someone who, no matter the strength of your connection, you will feel connected to — your soulmate, in a way.

She said, “Is this true, Leon?”

“Yes, my grandma.”

https://cdn.theplayerstribune.com/uploads/649ed230-d8357ae4-328f-45e1-819a-b0db084e9967.jpg?width=1000

I was amazed. I hadn’t thought about my grandma that much since she passed when I was 16 years old. But, this lady was right. My grandma’s death had a huge effect on me, and I had never even met my grandma, who lived in Nigeria. That’s the part that was wild to me. My sister didn’t know anything about my reaction to grandma’s passing. This woman, though, she saw it. She told me I had to heal my soul, my heart, before I could become the player I wanted to be.

After we left, I didn’t completely understand if my experience with her was successful. The most important thing that came out of that day was that it got me thinking about my grandma. When I got home, my mind went straight back to the day my dad told me the news.

Because I had never met her, my dad didn’t tell me right when it happened. He actually waited a few days — that’s how distant my relationship was from her. She only spoke Yoruba. So when we talked on the phone when I was little, my dad would try to translate for us. He had never taken me to Nigeria, for reasons he didn’t make clear to me, and I only ever saw photos of my grandma.

When my dad told me, he pulled me aside in our home. I have this vivid memory of the feeling — like, this terrible, terrible feeling of sadness. I crawled up the stairs, sobbing my eyes out. I cried for an hour. My mom had to come to my room and ask me what was wrong … she couldn’t understand why I was so sad, either.

I think, what I knew at a young age was that my grandma represented a part of my life that I didn’t completely understand. I was mixed race. My mom was a German, my dad Nigerian. I was different than the other kids. And I knew that my grandma, and Nigeria, had a lot do with it.

I now wanted to understand more about that part of my life. And because of a witch, I knew how important that part of me truly was.

My dad used to walk three miles every day before school when he was growing up in Nigeria. I knew this because he never let me forget it. It was one of a handful of stories he would tell me about his childhood. He moved to Germany in 1966, learned the language, got his diploma and met my mother. He was the blueprint for immigrants. He made it sound easy — being a foreigner who looked different — but I knew it wasn’t. Because even though Germany is a progressive country, there is that group of people, especially in sport, who still lurk around waiting to knock you down if you’re different.

I met one of them when I was playing U-16 in Berlin, in 2003. I had given up on my dreams of being Thierry Henry or Ronaldinho, so I was playing at center back. The other team had this huge striker. He was bad news. I played really well, and I kept him in my pocket. We were up 1–0 at halftime, and as I was walking to the locker room, the striker kicked the ball at my head. It missed me by about an inch. Woosh. I turned, and he was yelling at me. He was calling me the n-word, using other racial slurs.

Nobody did anything. There were people all around us, and nobody did anything. After the game, while we were still at the park, I told my dad about him kicking the ball at me.

“Leon, you must always be calm. You’re smarter than they are. You’re better than they are.”

Then I told him what the boy said to me. And that, for the first time in my life, was when I saw my dad lose his cool. He had this look on his face. I told him I wanted to go home because Mom said she was making a nice dinner.

“No, we have to fix something.”

https://cdn.theplayerstribune.com/uploads/cfa66c8b-72bf6182-c4ba-4886-86d6-ca82342296f3.jpg?width=1000

So we waited in the parking lot for the boy to come out with his parents. They did. And my dad let them have it.

“Hey, how can you raise your kid like this? Do you know what he said to my boy? We all come here to play football, and you lost, and that’s the game. But your son is 15 — he’s 15! — and he acts like this. I hope that you can one day fill his heart with love, instead of hate.”

Their back-and-forth went on for awhile, and the other parents weren’t very nice. But I will remember what my dad said forever: Love, instead of hate. He was very upset in that moment, but he used empathy over rage. And I began to understand, little by little, how he made being an immigrant look so easy. I think because my dad worked so hard to integrate into society in Germany, it gave me the opportunity to do the opposite and connect with my Nigerian roots.

I never supported the German national team, mostly because I thought they were arrogant and their football was boring to watch. Even in 2006, when Germany hosted and the whole country had World Cup mania — I secretly cheered for them to lose. Because I was a kid, and I was rebellious. And because, even though I felt in my mind that I was just as German as all the other kids, a lot of people didn’t see me like that.

I was always asked, “Where are you from?” Or, “How long have have you been here?”

I would think to myself sometimes, Maybe I was meant to be Nigerian.

Even after I overcame some of the injury issues I had as a teenager and began playing regular minutes in the 2. Bundesliga and Bundesliga, that thing — the part of my soul that I had been told to heal all those years ago — was still missing from my life. In 2014, I was coming to the end of my contract with Fortuna Dusseldorf. I wasn’t sure where I would go next. There was uncertainty in my life, and from time to time I would think of the witch. What did she mean, “heal my soul?”

One night in March, my phone rang. It was a Nigerian number … it was Stephen Keshi, the Nigerian National Team manager. I was sweating as soon as he introduced himself. I wanted him to say the words I had thought about for so long. He spoke for awhile about how he wasn’t totally familiar with me, but he liked how I played.

Then he said it: “I would like to invite you to be a Super Eagle.”

Those words … they meant so much to me. It meant validation for every step of my footballing journey. It meant happiness for my family. Most of all, it meant an opportunity to go to Nigeria.

And that … that was everything to me.

https://cdn.theplayerstribune.com/uploads/49bba59f-balogun_quote-card.jpg?width=1000

When I told my dad the news, he was skeptical. “Are you sure it was the coach?” he said.

And he had a point. I don’t want to speak poorly about the people of Nigeria, but there are some that are real scam artists. They spoil our name. I think that was a part of why my dad never took me back there.

“Yes, Dad, it was the coach. I even listened to his voice on YouTube right after to make sure it was him!”

He warned me about some of the things I could encounter in Nigeria. It wasn’t quite the celebratory phone call I had played out in my head, but that was my dad, always preparing me. But he was proud, I could hear that in his voice. I knew, as much as I understood about myself, about my father, I would learn even more on this trip.

My first impression of Nigeria was probably same as that of any person who has lived in Germany his whole life: Man, it’s hot — heat like I’ve never experienced. I flew down with Anthony Ujah, a striker playing for Koln at the time. He helped me prepare for the trip a bit, too. Tips on what to do, how to act, all that stuff. When we stepped off the plane — the craziest thing was that people knew who I was. Some smiled and asked for photos. I couldn’t believe it. Just as I knew that in Germany I would always be seen as black, I assumed that in Nigeria I’d be seen as another white guy on a business trip. But they knew me, they were happy for me. Maybe I was meant to be Nigerian.

We landed in Abuja, the capital city. We were there for a few days before training started. When we drove to practice that first day, I was listening to music, headphones in. “Nobody Knows” by August Alsina was playing. I like that song because, as somebody with a little fame, people sometimes seem to forget that I go through things, too. As I was listening, I saw a boy on a skateboard on the street. He had a disability. He had to sit on the board and use his hands to get around — something you would never see in Germany. And I just started to cry. I think, because I had seen some of the poverty in the city — in this beautiful city, with wonderful people — that it just sort of put things into perspective for me. It made understand how fortunate I was to grow up in one of the world’s greatest countries, to have the family I did. It was a humbling few days, and that boy’s problems made mine seem so inconsequential.

https://cdn.theplayerstribune.com/uploads/5927726e-gettyimages-966588870.jpg?width=1000

It was a such an important trip for me, such a great trip. I felt a sense of … healing. I felt like I was connecting with a part of me that had been lost — or better yet, never truly found — a long time ago. I love Nigerian food; I love the culture. Everyone is always playing music, laughing … trying to have the best time. I felt at home. And I understood that I could have two homes.

I want to make both of them proud in Russia at the World Cup. Because Germany gave me this opportunity to have success with Nigeria. It is my footballing heritage. I get that. But when I wear that Super Eagles kit … it feels so good. And when we beat Zambia in October 2017 to punch our ticket to Russia, it felt amazing. I remember the final whistle, our stadium in Uyo erupting. I fell to my knees in tears. John Obi Mikel, our captain, came up to me.

“No, no, you don’t get to cry. You don’t get to cry. We’re going to Russia!”

We’re going to Russia. It still feels surreal to say. I just can’t wait.

I know when we get there and I hear the national anthem, I’ll feel that much closer to my family, to my two homes, to my grandma.

And that, more than anything, is going to make the World Cup incredible.

https://storage.googleapis.com/www-theplayerstribune-com/uploads/8b8afc99-leon-balogun-signature-black.png
Leon Balogun
NIGERIA

Source: https://www.theplayerstribune.com/en-us/articles/leon-balogun-nigeria?utm_source=social&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=worldcup18&utm_term=Balogun

What a guy! We must always try to remember the man behind the player.

The McClure twins are an internet sensation.

TheGoodJoe:
Most of the problems the Croats caused us was after clever build up plays. That gave them enough time to attack from Shehu's wing. With pressure from our striker, the build-up plays of the Croats would have been less organized.

Rohr instructing Mikel to help press is because he know Ighalo lacks the capability. If some of you want us to continue that way, feel free.

Ighalo can press excellently well high up the pitch. without support though this cannot work.

Anyone who thinks we played well yesterday should perhaps reconsider watching this sport.

These are some of the points of note following the game last night:

1. The Croats won almost all the key headers contested. It surprised me they were that good in the air, or were we just poor?

2. We don’t press the opposition as a team. Ighalo going to press for the ball without the support of the players behind him is pointless.

3. Though pressing high up the pitch is one of Ighalo’s strengths I’m not sure sure he can excel as a lone striker against an organised defence. His movement is not clever enough so he never draws defenders out of position to create space for runners from behind and also the ball doesn’t stick with him when he is used as an outlet for the the team. His hold up play is not good enough, this is partly down to the difficult balls played to him though.

4. Mikel as an AM against African opposition may work but against proper ball playing teams? Well the evidence suggests despite his best efforts, the team need more. We did not create a single chance from open play yesterday. In the match where we created the most chances since we qualified for the World Cup (vs Argentina friendly) Mikel was not present.

5. Rohr does not trust Ebuehi. This is sad because I think if he had been allowed to play enough minutes since he joined the set up he would by now have played himself into being one of the first names on the team sheet, like Ekong is now.

6. The referee yesterday did not protect Nigeria enough. Modric’s rugby tackle on Etebo after losing the ball should have been carded, Strinic also made several fouls without being booked and the penalty though can’t be argued against, was a soft one from a consistency in decision making point of view.

7. Rohr’s subs indicated to me didn’t know what he needed to do to turn the game so he just made subs for the sake of it. This is worrying, I had trusted him to be an astute tactician until recently.

8. If we play with the same set up in our next game we will lose. I will offer you any odds you like on this.

9. The odds on Nigeria exiting at the group stage is now 1/10. To the bookies we are already out. To me we are out but the door is still open to walk back in...can we?

Goke7:
Even an amokachi will not lose to that poor Croatian side. Rohr has himself to blame but this is not the first time a german is ruining our national team. Even a Berti vogts could not take us beyond an afcon quarter final. For me am done with foreign coaches.

They lack good knowledge of our players and we are not realising this

Okay Rohr set up a purposeless team but I won’t pick any indigenous coach for Nigeria right now. They are not only tactically just as bad if not worse, they are 100% worse when it comes to player selection. For example if Siasia was the manager we will have Stanley Amuzie and Seth Sincere in that squad and Efe Ambrose starting. This is the truth.

Father give us this day...

Edoblakky:
Did you watch Spain '82? Or you can't read what I typed? The guy typed without stating the year and you rushed to quote me without stating the year and you think you made sense? Read again please

Give it up playa....deep down you know

BluntBoy:
That is my point. Against Czech, even when we went forward, we never seemed to trouble the French teams.

It is the same thing Messi said. African teams do a lot of running around. This ought to be utilized as one of our strengths but it just never influences results especially against more experienced team who prefer to wait wisely and take their chances.

Okay so how does that running around aimlessly translate to 'having the game under control'?

mvem:
...Germany where divided b4 1989 as east and west Germany... But they are same thing because the WC west Germany won is still regarded as being won by Germany...they are same country....

True today the trophies won by West Germany are now added to the tally for Germany. This does not change the fact that West Germany competed in its own right in 1982 and it is they who lost to Algeria. THIS IS THE FACT AND THE ONLY FACT OF THE MATTER.

BluntBoy:
Nigeria outplayed France for the better part of the game. Even some the French players attested to it.

Stats is a different ball game. You can beat up possession by kicking the ball aimlessly around. The stats showed that France was more serious at getting the goals. I remember the match very vividly. Our players were so relaxed that there was even a time when Osaze kept on turning a player for almost a minute instead of putting Nigeria on the counter.

France came into the game in the later part of the second half.

This is not a matter of watching highlights on YouTube.

I totally disagree.
Apart from Emenike putting the ball in the net early doors from an offside position , how many dangerous attacks and chances did we create in the entire 90 mins?

At what point did France appear to be troubled at all in the game, remind me so i can fast forward to that part of the game.

Reference:
No sir, they did not outplay us. We had vast lengths of the game under control. The callous foul and injury by Blaise Matuidi changed the balance of the game and it immediately went downhill from there. We deserved at least a drawn on the balance of play.

LOL okay o dey there na. not sure what you mean by under control but no need to explain.

Edoblakky:
Don't just type rubbish. What year did Germany beat Algeria? In Spain '82, Algeria beat Germany 2 - 1

My guy na you type rubbish here o. Germany beat Algeria 2-1 AET in Brazil 2014.

In fact it was WEST GERMANY that lost to Algeria in 1982, not Germany

BluntBoy:
I said this yesterday or so.


I said African teams have to take their chances.

Germany vs Algeria (Algeria did a lot of the playing, German won 2-1)

France vs Nigeria (Nigeria did a lot of the playing, France won 2-0).

We need to convert our chances.

hahaha Nigeria did a lot of which playing? Bros abeg watch the match again or if no time just the highlights or if still no time check the stats or if still no time just trust what i say, on the balance of play France richly deserved to win and of course they did.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/27969976

Asowari:
Egypt and Saudi Arabia will not make it out of their group stage

why the smiles though.

Zanas:
They have conceded a goal its 1:0 to Uruguay

Painful Painful defeat. Very hard to take so you can imagine the feeling of the Egyptian people. Chin up guys, the other 2 games are very very winnable. It is a tough loss but still A LOT to play for.

Please Egypt hold on for Africa. We need to start earning some respect.

Yesterday i had £40 on Russia 1 Saudi 1

Today no bets but i predict

Spain 1 Portugal 2
Morocco 2 Iran 0
Egypt 1 Uruguay 2

MetalJigsaw:
My people I dey eye one game:

Morocco vs Iran

Morocco @ 2.20 odds for 30K

Make I nack am?

Vigorously!

Martz101:
Morocco, Egypy, Algeria, libya and Tunisia consider them self Arab first before Africa

Are you from one of these countries? If you are then I won't argue if not can you provide irrefutable evidence to prove what you're saying? If so please do.

The Spanish FA needs to join CAF. We have too much in common for this not to happen

Why do 'village people' always carry the can for a persons misfortune which in reality is sometimes caused by the person's ignorance or outright stupidity?

I'm asking for a friend.

Bolowolowo:
Lmao, those folks don't even consider themselves African

They told you that? You have any Moroccan friends?

Sad day for African Football... #IstandwithMorrocco

a few years ago news appeared on Nairaland about someone i know so well she could be my younger sister. I remember vividly the day she was born! in fact i used to drop her off at primary school. at the time her pic appeared on nairaland she was 25. every comment here went like

'ha! if this one na 25 then i still dey use feeding bottle na!'
'which level this aunty pass 35 o, fear God!' etc etc

At the other end of the spectrum, one of my university class mates eventually played for one of our national teams (I wont mention the sport) and when when i checked his profile his date of birth was 1986. Now i simply cannot imagine that I am older than this guy. when we were in 100Level I was on the fringes of the school team and when we played one on one basket ball he destroyed me. The puzzle is this, if that was his real date of birth he was 6 years my junior when we played and not only was he bigger than me (I'm 6ft 1 and he's 6ft 4) he was 12yrs old and I was 18 yrs old. He played few about a decade for the national team and did okay. But a 12 yr old 6ft 4 kid in university?

Praise da lorrrrrrd!!

I can't say I am surprised by some of the ridiculous comments I have read here. But this is evidence that your environment and experiences mould you into the person you become.

Think about this for a second, why is Nigeria, so rich in "MOG's"( that abbreviation makes me laugh no end), in number of churches etc in the state that it's in?

Praise the Lord...and pass him/them your cheque book. The highway to heaven is heavily tolled.

gamaliel9:
With the exception of Oliseh,i have not seen a Nigerian player hit long range shots...Karibe Ojigwe tried to do that ...the rest were based on luck..not really talent or practice pitch technique...and constantly powering it....is it difficult to learn?

Oguuuuuuuuu!!!! Watch the Nigeria 2 South Africa 0 friendly where Nwofor scored from a back-heel.

Martz101:
Tunisia have a very good chance against this England team

How? Please explain.

Icon79:
Actually, that England group in 2002 was comparatively a very easy group. The goal was for England to qualify behind Argentina. FIFA knew that the Nigerian team was in disarray and nothing much was expected from them. The 2002 Sweden World Cup wasn't one to scare nobody. Zlatan was young and inexperienced. Freddie Ljungberg was a little above average player. Henrik Larsson - average. ON paper, who do they really have exactly to challenge England?


O pari

So allegedly the draws have been made to favour England right? In 2002 England had tried and failed to beat Sweden in 13 attempts over the preceding 34 years! If there was 1 team England fans did not want it was Sweden even Sven Goran Eriksson suggested this in a subtle manner back then. So back to your suggestion/claim, the draw was rigged for England to face their bogey team so they can progress easily. Ironic no?

For you to then say Sweden wasn't one to scare nobody is so off point I won't argue this point with you further bro.

Icon79:
Yes but, still, the draws are not as random as they would have you believe. Ask yourself this question: why is it that the host nation almost always gets the easiest group? Even South Africa has a very easy group although they still failed to qualify. Secondly, why does England almost always get one of the easiest groups? Luck of the draw?

Yea right! The whole thing is rigged. It's a rigged system.


O pari

England almost always? Lol They either do or they dont! 2002 World Cup: England Argentina Sweden and Nigeria was easy? 2014 world cup: England Italy Uruguay Costa Rica was easy? Wonderful!

The host nation in theory should always have an easier group than they perhaps may have had because they are placed in pot A alongside most of the favourites.

Taliban:
Thank you jare. The way our Pseudo Gareth goes on about these boys is something else sotay he indirectly condemns the other guys in our team. Imagine the names he suggested when he expressed his displeasure with the draft list. Long story short if they are not good for the 3 lions they are not good enough for us too. I can boldly say that the 3 lions sef respect and fear our team with the boys we have now.

Read the England fans comments on the BBC Facebook page under the Nigeria world cup squad article.