₦airaland Forum

Napoleon55:
World

I'll give it to Ronaldinho

Napoleon55:
Who is the most skillful player of all time?
I need u to answer the question.

Nigeria or world 🌍?

Mujtahida:
Speech might be commonplace but it is very important. It was from his speech that I began to fear for Finidi. In the beginning was the word! After Rohr breezily qualified us for Russia 2018, his speech became diffident and full of excuses.

If the word is not right, everything is likely to go wrong. But I understand that you want action to speak louder than voice.

But like Bishop Fulton Sheen once wrote: speech is the summation of a soul:what it was, what it is and what it will be.

I wish Chelle all the best.

😂 you are right. But for Finidi I was against heis appointment from the start, his speech just added to my conviction. I love Enyimba as a club so I do watch some of their matches and what I saw with Finidi being at the helm of affairs I knew he wasn't ready for SE job.

semid4lyfe:
Pick one target for the Super Eagles coach, Eric Chelle

1. World Cup Qualification
2. Win AFCON
3. World Cup Quarter Final
4. Win CHAN 2025

Which would you choose and why?

pls give me world cup qualification first before we start looking at no. 3

Odunayaw:
Ah what is now skills

Ball control, passing, defending, dribbling, shooting, heading are all skills, maybe leg over is the only skills you know which even modern football have done away with. The focus is more on ball control and passing.
CR7 became even more fierce when he reduce the step over
I don't think I've seen Messi doing leg over or rabona before, rarely.

Napoleon55:
And what do you understand by "skillful"?
If rabona and stepovers are not part of skills in football, then what is?
They are no longer part of football skills to u only because u have seen too much of them.

When R9 popularized stepovers in the '90s,there was nothing like it.

U go just sit back in ur house downplaying other people's effort with ur phone,
just try to enter pitch a little bit and attempt to perform rabona or stepovers against ur opponents, let's see how far.

step over or rabona are skills but you can't classified someone as most skillful base solely on this just as you did for Yahaya. Have you seen kanu doing Rabona or step overs but everyone will agree he's one of the most skillful (if not the most) player produce by Nigeria. Same way I watch Mikel before his Chelsea days to know he's far more skillful than half of the players on your list.

AndSunGorilla:
Can't remember why his career was shortlived though. Ogbeche was another skillful player. Bartho made à name for himself unfortunately he also didn't last long.

that bicycle kick go against chilavert deceive us, just like Idowu

Napoleon55:
U don go watch the Ikedia's video clip wey TheGoodJoe posted and realize he was not all that headless,soon u will watch Yahaya's own,there u will see that u were completely wrong.

Bro I watched ikedia from Nigeria 99, yes his running can be annoying at times but he was a good winger. For yahaya a good player but my top 20 most skillful 🤦‍♂️ he won't make my to 30

TheGoodJoe:

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

This compilation will give you an idea of how good Pius Ikedia was.

very explosive player, full of running, I remember he was nickname okada airline.

Was expecting something similar of yahaya

Odunayaw:
Na that 2005 wyc and confed cup you talk make me shout o. We're not talking about technicality o, na skill.

Stanley Okoro made me shout "Yee!!" those years. It's a shame he didn't blossom

so doing rabona and leg overs are what we see as skills 👏

TheGoodJoe:
Powerful speech I must say. I almost ordered jersey and boot to go to the street and start training. On a serious note, Eric Chelle sounds like someone who can inspire the players to do better.

He also sounds very ambitious and I am glad he believes in how well we can perform.

My support is in.

After many years of following the SEs, all this speeches doesn't move me, I just want to see him do the talking on the pitch.
Im neither for nor against his appointment, just want to see our SE playing good football and winning games. I wish him all the best.

TheGoodJoe:
Ironically, I never saw Ikedia as a headless running footballer. He is one of my best players to ever play for Nigeria. He rejected the U17 and headed straight to the U20. In the U20 world cup in Nigeria, he was one of the best players of the tournament. He walked from the U20 straight into the Super Eagles.

Even in the Super Eagles, Ikedia was the go to guy a lot of times when we were building attack.

I wonder how I can get Nigeria vs Ireland, 2nd round of Nigeria 99, World Youth Championship.

That game will make any doubter understand how good Pius Ikedia was.

no mind me 😂 ikedia I remember causes so much havoc with his running and movement but for me he can't be top of most skillful Nigerian player

Napoleon55:
I'm sure u just want to engage for arguing sake.
Go and make your own top 20 list and stop ridiculing players who could not go further in their careers.

OK sir

Odunayaw:
Haba mana!!!

Buy guy that talk na anyhow talk, that yahaya has more skills than Mikel, Haruna, nwakali and Stanley okoro combine. I was expecting a video to prove his stance but just anyhow talk.

aicon4s:
Odegbami replaces Ikedia
Okwaraji replaces Chidi Odia
Okorowanta replaces Okoronkwo
Nwosu replaces Ogbuke

Even ikedia was mentioned among 20 most skillful Nigeria player 🤦‍♂️. Well headless running na skills too 😂

Napoleon55:
Which amateur skills?

Yahaha at the U-20 and U-17 world cup was displaying skills only the elite players could execute.
Yahaya is by far more skillful than Mikel,Nwakali, Haruna Lukman and Stanley Okoro combined.

Yahaya successfully performed a rabona assist against Brazil,only the elite skillful players can attempt that kind of technique on a serious match.
None of these players u were mentioning can do that,or try a famous Zidan turn with multiple stepovers follow up in cup finals match,those were defining moments that stood him out ahead of others skills wise.

Mikel is a very technical player,
Nwakali,just like Mikel is midfield controller ,
Haruna and Stanley Okoro are dribblers.
All these players have their unique talent, but not close to Yahaya when u talk about skills.
It's just a hard luck that affected his career.

Haruna lookman is indeed a dribbler 😂 now I'm sure you don't even know lookman Haruna

Napoleon55:
Which amateur skills?

Yahaha at the U-20 and U-17 world cup was displaying skills only the elite players could execute.
Yahaya is by far more skillful than Mikel,Nwakali, Haruna Lukman and Stanley Okoro combined.

Yahaya successfully performed a rabona assist against Brazil,only the elite skillful players can attempt that kind of technique on a serious match.
None of these players u were mentioning can do that,or try a famous Zidan turn with multiple stepovers follow up in cup finals match,those were defining moments that stood him out ahead of others skills wise.

Mikel is a very technical player,
Nwakali,just like Mikel is midfield controller ,
Haruna and Stanley Okoro are dribblers.
All these players have their unique talent, but not close to Yahaya when u talk about skills.
It's just a hard luck that affected his career.

Uncle abeg goan watch 2005 u20 tournament or the last confederations Cup Nigeria participated, then come back and tell me one amateur rabona make yahaya more skillful than Mikel, nwakali, Haruna lookman and Stanley okoro combine. Fallacy
Yahaya is not even close to nsofor or Solomon Okoronkwo

Napoleon55:
Some of you guys are always quick to laugh at those players who could not progress beyond U-17 level,as if it's easy to make it in football.

nobody is laughing at this players but if must rate any player among the most skillful player in Nigeria due to underage tournament alone, then you need to think twice, go back and watch all the underage tournaments we have participated in.

Napoleon55:
U-20 African cup of nations and the qualifiers.
U-20 world cup .
Porto b.
Enough to know how skillful a player is.

And understand we are not talking about the greatest or the best Nigeria player,just the most skillful,that's why Etim Esin's name could come up even without him achieving anything with Nigerian.

then I'll refer you to Mikel u20 world Cup and his time at Lynn Oslo so you see yahaya wasn't as skillful as Mikel. I'm not talking about greatest either that's why I rank Nwakali ahead of him. Even Stanley okoro and Lookman Haruna exhibited more skills at junior level than yahaya.
What I'm saying is if your skills can't take you to a level at senior football bar injuries than that's amateur skills. Like Stanley Okoro like Yahaya

Napoleon55:
And you would mention Nwakali and not Musa Yahaya?
What Yahaya can do with the ball,Mikel and Nwakali won't even attempt it not to talk of doing it.

Be aware the list is not for super eagles alone but for all Nigeria players.

pls outside the u17 tournament where else did you watch yahaya.

Mujtahida:
Best dribbler, that is Okocha but as far as skill is concerned Kanu tops

And imagine mentioning Musa yahaya without Mikel and Nwakali if we are to look at underage skills

bisqit:
do you have any idea what yekini was saying? Have been trying to find out

Make I ask westerhof, he might have an idea 😉

bisqit:
did you recall celestine babayaro and kanu’s celebration at Atlanta 96?

Iconic celebration 🎉 I even rate it above yekini USA 94 celebration.

Joebie:
His stats for Mali specifically is average considering the opposition if we are to look at the results.

Outside Mali, his stars are poor

Bro his stats for Mali is far above average, can't think of when last our team had such stat even with the opposition (minions) we face.

TheGoodJoe:
Not true at all. By the next year, Ronaldinho was crowned the world best player and Roberto Carlos was number 2.

Crespo, Lopez, Zanetti were regular in big clubs.

Two years later some of the Atlanta players were stars of the France 98 World Cup. You can't call the Olympics few notches from U-17. Especially , Atlanta and Sidney 2000.

i agree with you totally Atlanta and Sidney Olympics, even the Beijing Olympics we can't say it's a notch above u17 or even u20. This is a competition for established senior players below the age of 23 that's all.

Mujtahida:
Who else reads TheGoodJoe's analysis with more focus now like I do? The way I concentrate to absorb what you write now ehn. Mehn, thank God for preserving you. That's all I can say.

if it was before na to jump pass 😂 😂. Thank God for divine health.

elyte89:
I am happy ….goodjoe is back with breath taking soak up guardiola tactical views 😍🥰

And like his return coincided with mancity return to form ☺️

Jieta2:
We are not patient with our own, pesero was losing friendlies back and front, we wonble and struggle to qualify for the afcon, the only positive in pesero is that he took us to the final apart from that nothing to show for it. Why can't we be patient with our own.

Patient with a coach that will lose to Rwanda at home? Not even in Rwanda. Nigerians don't take losing at home especially to minions lightly so let the incoming coach be informed ☺️

Galatasaray connection? Onyekuru and Osimhen listed as the most followed Super Eagles stars on Instagram with 5. 6 million each.

Napoleon55:
Why not,they beat prime Salah, if they perform better,they would .

Mikel could not beat Yaya Toure because of extremely low goal contributions count for both country and club compare to Yaya.

Did Lookman beat Salah for goals both country and club last year? 2013 Mikel performance was good enough to win Afoty winning Afcon and champions league same year.

Napoleon55:
Well spoken.

When it comes to club level,apart from Kanu,Mikel,Finidi and Taribo maybe,
the achievements of these two(Osimhen and Lookman) dwarves the rest of the super eagles players including the legendary fan favorite Jay-Jay.

However, without specific metrics given to determine the top 10,it will be difficult to rank them properly.

Because the OGs who watched legends like Odegbami,Muda Lawal and Christien Chukwu who never had opportunity to play in Europe but won us AFCON trophy would want to make a case for them ahead of those whose their biggest achievements is in Europe.
And the average Nigerian fans believes that your achievement as player in green and white colors carries more weight.

For me ,the duo of Osimhen and Lookman will certainly make my Nigerian top 15 greatest especially by the time they retire.
But there is no room for Ekon yet.

In no particular order,
Top 15 Nigeria's greatest footballers are:

1.Kanu
2.Okocha
3.Rashidi
4.Mikel
5.Finidi
6.Amuneke
7.Oliseh
8.Enyeama
9.Osimhen
10.Lookman
11.Taribo
12.Ikpeba
13.Keshi
14.Odegbami
15.Muda Lawal

Completing the top 20 are:

16.Celestine Babayaro
17.Christien Chukwu
18.Daniel Amokachi
19.Samson Siasia
20.Uche Okechukwu

And no Yobo?

TheSuperNerd:
Update on TheGoodJoe

Wishing TheGoodJoe speedy and perfect recovery. Merry Christmas 🎄