TheGoodJoe:


If a rich man has the money to fly his child overseas to use better facilities, have his child train with better coaches, have better kits,why keep his child in Nigeria? Is that not ridiculous?

If a man has money and he wants his child to develop into a professional player, his best bet is to take the child to a quality Academy in Europe.

Such a child at that point does not qualify as a player from our grassroot system.

It is so simple. You just choose to dig yourself in illogical arguments.

The logic is simple. If a player is exposed to European training at a grassroot stage, he does not qualify for the U17.

THE U17 IN NIGERIA IS USED FOR GRASSROOT DEVELOPMENT.

BascoVanVeli:


Now its exposed wasn't our keeper Akpan Udoh exposed to European whatever, didn't he train in Italy. Either was i said totally poor so don't try to logical ur way out of this. Ur plan is flawed and the more i think about it i don't believe it actually exists.

safarigirl:
Y'all bee arguing as if NFF will allow anybody see progress sef.

Okay, the Iwobi we got, wetin dem use am do over 2-legs of AFCON qualifiers?

You think it's by packing foreign-based players in National teams? So if they play for U17 and U20, what guarantees do you have that they won't switch allegiance to England or Portugal dem? After all, didn't Iwobi play U17 and V Moses U20 for England before switching to Nigeria?

Do you know all the great English kids the English age grade teams passed up to field Iwobi and Moses? And what did they get in return? Just when the kid seems to be bearing fruits, he dumps them.

This argument is highly irrelevant and petty, so y'all drop it. No be by inviting players, are you willing to play them? A good player will get frustrated eventually and decide to feature somewhere he'll be played. Una think say if Iheanacho had a choice, e for play for Nigeria after what Manu did to him at U20? Same BS Siasia pulled once again at the qualifiers.

Y'all better take your argument to NFF cuz na dem dey spoil business for una

Cc Bascovanveli, thegoodjoe and forgiveness

thegoodjoehunt3:


What is flawed? You keep writing flawed but you are yet to explain what is flawed. Yes once in a while a player or two from Europe creep into the squad. Maybe due to lack of talents in a particular role. That does not change the fact that the U17 is used for grassroot development.

Can you tell me a U17 Nigerian team with up to five players based in Europe?

It not an ideology we pursue and it is a good idea that we use it for grassroot development.

edi287:

I get the point you're making with the U17 being used for grassroots development, but what's the point if we keep using overaged players and coaches accepting bribes to choose certain players. Doesn't it defeat the "purpose" of development you're talking about?
What's the point of leaving out an Alaba for an Edile who'll fizzle out after 2-3 years and isn't of any use to the u20-SE teams. Nothing saying all do fizzle out, but must of our stars at age grade never get to be Ballon d or contenders or even APOTY.

BascoVanVeli:


Don't mind TheGoodJoe i am sure he is a lawyer or should have been one. The problem is us. We Nigerians are too proud, we don't even want to admit Alaba was a loss, while Wenger openly lamments losing players when they were 14 and 15.

safarigirl:
Y'all bee arguing as if NFF will allow anybody see progress sef.

Okay, the Iwobi we got, wetin dem use am do over 2-legs of AFCON qualifiers?

You think it's by packing foreign-based players in National teams? So if they play for U17 and U20, what guarantees do you have that they won't switch allegiance to England or Portugal dem? After all, didn't Iwobi play U17 and V Moses U20 for England before switching to Nigeria?

Do you know all the great English kids the English age grade teams passed up to field Iwobi and Moses? And what did they get in return? Just when the kid seems to be bearing fruits, he dumps them.

This argument is highly irrelevant and petty, so y'all drop it. No be by inviting players, are you willing to play them? A good player will get frustrated eventually and decide to feature somewhere he'll be played. Una think say if Iheanacho had a choice, e for play for Nigeria after what Manu did to him at U20? Same BS Siasia pulled once again at the qualifiers.

Y'all better take your argument to NFF cuz na dem dey spoil business for una

Cc Bascovanveli, thegoodjoe and forgiveness

BlackAlbino6:
[b][size=14pt]
EXCLUSIVE: AMUNEKE EYES NWAKALI BROTHERS FOR U-20
[/size]

They are strong indications that newly appointed coach of the Nigeria U-20 team Emmanuel Amuneke will call up the duo of Chidiebere and Kelechi Nwakali to his team in their bid to qualify for the Africa Youth Championship and World Youth Championship.


Chidiebere Nwakali is still eligible for the Nigeria U-20 and the coach who is looking for experience players so as not to make same mistake like Manu Garba did at the last World cup has pencilled him down for na invitation.


Amuneke is very much aware of the talent of Chidiebere Nwakali whose career has stalled since the 2013 U-17 WYC where he shone like a million stars as Nigeria raced to the title.


Presently out on loan to IK Start of Norway from Manchester City he could possibly line up in midfield alongside his younger brother Kelechi who recently won the U-17 WYC most valuable player that saw him move to Arsenal.


However they are not expected to be among the players to resume camping next week as they could possibly join the team later on if not few days to their qualifying game.
http://owngoalnigeria.com/2016/04/06/exclusive-amuneke-eyes-nwakali-brothers-for-u-20/
[/b]

Icon4s:
Arsenal Signs Another Nigerian Player, Marc Bola


Arsenal has signed another Nigerian player, defender Marc Bola, to its team and have handed him a professional contract too. Bola, who is of dual nationalities- England and Nigeria, helped Arsenal’s under-18s to the FA Youth Cup semi-finals this season and is a regular for the club’s under-21s much to the delight of coach Arsene Wenger who gave the go ahead for the club to sign him.


Arsenal said on it's official website:

“Everyone at Arsenal looks forward to Marc’s continued development at the club.” “Equally adept on the left or in the heart of defence, the powerful teenager was often called up to the under-21s as cover and he caught the eye with several encouraging performances for Steve Gatting’s side.

"The lively defender has shown plenty of promise so far and will be hoping to continue his development by featuring for the under-21s on a more regular basis this term.” Marc Bola tweeted “Pleased on Signing My First Professional Contract At My Dream Club,” he said.
Marc Bola joins a growing list of Nigerians already on the club's chequebook. Alex Iwobi, Chuba Akpom, Kelechi Nwakali, Samuel Chukwueze, Asisat Oshoala, Chiori Johnson and Tolaji Bola are the Nigerians currently in Arsenal FC.

BlackAlbino6:
[b][size=14pt]
Josh Onomah Fails To Rescue Tottenham Hotspur In Their Loss To Boro U21s
[/size]

England U19 international Josh Onomah and Emmanuel Sonupe were in action for Tottenham Hotspur U21s as they fell to a 2-1 loss to Middlesbrough in the U21 Premier League Division 1 on Wednesday .


On the other hand, Nathan Oduwa was an unused substitute in the first game played by the Londoners at that level since he returned from international duty with the Nigeria U23s squad.

Goals from Mark Kitching and Joe Wheatley saw the visitors secure the the three points while Miller pulled a goal back for Spurs.


Onomah could have restored parity for Tottenham Hotspur in the 17th minute but his shot went wide and the attacking midfielder’s effort in the second half was parried by goalkeeper Fryer.

The 18-year-old has appeared 18 times for the first team of Spurs this season, with seven of those games in the Premier League.

Ifeanyi Emmanuel
http://www.allnigeriasoccer.com/read_news.php?nid=18583
[/b]

Icon4s:


Is Chidiebere still eligible?

Modified:

Chidiebere Nwakali

Born: December 26, 1996 (age 19), Nigeria.

https://www.google.com.ng/#q=Chidiebere+nwakali.

To play for the next FIFA U20 : a player should be born on or after January 1, 1997.

Chidiebere was born 5 days earlier.

Amuneke's media officer please take note before we receive a FIFA ban.

I do not have worries about our midfield in that Team as long as Kelechi Nwakali, Ifeanyi Mathew and Azubuike Okechukwu, would b there to boss things.

Icon4s:


"The 18-year-old has appeared 18 times for the first team of Spurs this season, with seven of those games in the Premier League"

Amuneke over to you.

safarigirl:
Y'all bee arguing as if NFF will allow anybody see progress sef.

Okay, the Iwobi we got, wetin dem use am do over 2-legs of AFCON qualifiers?

You think it's by packing foreign-based players in National teams? So if they play for U17 and U20, what guarantees do you have that they won't switch allegiance to England or Portugal dem? After all, didn't Iwobi play U17 and V Moses U20 for England before switching to Nigeria?

Do you know all the great English kids the English age grade teams passed up to field Iwobi and Moses? And what did they get in return? Just when the kid seems to be bearing fruits, he dumps them.

This argument is highly irrelevant and petty, so y'all drop it. No be by inviting players, are you willing to play them? A good player will get frustrated eventually and decide to feature somewhere he'll be played. Una think say if Iheanacho had a choice, e for play for Nigeria after what Manu did to him at U20? Same BS Siasia pulled once again at the qualifiers.

Y'all better take your argument to NFF cuz na dem dey spoil business for una

Cc Bascovanveli, thegoodjoe and forgiveness

Icon4s:


Iwobi's inclusion in the Egypt tie was mainly to secure his international future. We didnt expect much impact from him in d 2 games. Mayb u guys expect too much from these young players.

He is a Gem to Nigeria going into d future.

TheGoodJoe:


Iwobi was our best performing creative midfielder in both legs. It is time we look into impact in the team than just experience. In both legs, he created two great chances that any other midfielder did. His pass to Victor Moses in the first leg and his pass to Ighalo in the second leg.

The truth is that we expect too much from our experienced players at the detriment of the team.

Ighalo was wasteful in camp and in training and we dropped the Performing young players because of his experience and Rep. I think it is time we rethink.

Same with Iheanacho having more impact than Ighalo but most times we go for experience of impact.

TheGoodJoe:


Iwobi was our best performing creative midfielder in both legs. It is time we look into impact in the team than just experience. In both legs, he created two great chances that any other midfielder did. His pass to Victor Moses in the first leg and his pass to Ighalo in the second leg.

The truth is that we expect too much from our experienced players at the detriment of the team.

Ighalo was wasteful in camp and in training and we dropped the Performing young players because of his experience and Rep. I think it is time we rethink.

Same with Iheanacho having more impact than Ighalo but most times we go for experience of impact.

Icon4s:


Before d kick off of d first leg, would u have selected Iwobi to start d two legs?

If u recall my proposed starting line up ahead of d 2nd leg, I started Iwobi. However, Siasia chosed to start Umar ahead of Iwobi bc he expected a highly physical and resilient Egyptian back-line. Umar, to Siasia, seemed to b in a better position to face that opposition also considering the impact he made after coming in in dat 1st leg.

I prefered Iheanacho starting ahead of Ighalo bt Siasia prefered otherwise.He chose experience ahead of creativity. That is his choice.

I respected his choices cos i know he went for experience and experience counts for much in football.

TheGoodJoe:


I think it was a case of Coach Siasia choosing to use strength and experience against the strong Egyptian defenders. If I wanted to go a physical route, I would have selected exactly the same squad Coach Siasia chose.

Unfortunately, it was a wrong choice. Especially for most of us here, including you who felt we should have used a more creative approach than strength.

I also believe the short time for Coach Siasia to work with his foreign pros also affected the team. As time goes, he will rely on his creative players when they blend with his philosophy and style (if he keeps the job).

I just feel the coaches should give the younger ones the benefit of doubt if they do well in training. It is not just Coach Siasia but even on the European grounds.

You can see Pellegrini will pick Bony ahead of Iheanacho even though Iheanacho contributes more to the team statistically.

Icon4s:


Ok see d Pellegrini case too.

I think it is an issue of trust. Coaches trust d experienced players more to deliver d goods.