TheGoodJoe:


This is not just conspiracy theory. When it was time to select the African Footballer Of The Year, it was Mikel who stood along side Yaya Toure. Not Moses or Musa or Emenike or Pitroipa.

Mikel was there because of his AFCON performance. That Pitroipa award was fake.

TheSuperNerd:
Chaiiiii..... I remember the name. Kelechi Osunwa... Chaiiii.... From the days of Dolphins FC when they took Nigeria by storm.

Wow! What is it about the name "Kelechi"?

joseph1013:


So you think that Player of the tournament automatically means Player of the Year nominee?

goldfish80:

LOL... Pitroipa was the best player in that competition. That young man was a manace. Defenders couldn't even come close him.
On the Nigerian side, I rate Emenike, Moses and Sunday Mba ahead of mikel.

goldfish80:

I agree with you, on a second thought, Kingsley Madu will slot in and replace Ahmed Musa.
Madu I believe will offer more verve and energy than Elderson playing as a left wing back not a left back. Joel Obi is another good option.
Most people don't realise alot of teams which play a high pressing kind of system employ 3 defenders at the back when in possession while switching to a standard 4 at the back when defending.

Pep Guardiola's Barcelona and Marcelo Bielsa's teams usually set up like this.

TheGoodJoe:
[size=14pt]
Why John Obi Mikel Should Have Been Named AFCON MVP[/size]

That honor falls to Nigeria’s John Obi Mikel, and he should have been given the official recognition to confirm what everyone already knows. He should have been crowned Player of the Tournament.

With Ogenyi Onazi and Sunday Mba alongside in the centre of the park, Mikel marshalled what proved to be the tightest, most organized midfield in South Africa.

That the centre of the park was shut to Burkina Faso’s passing was largely down to him, and Nigeria won the tournament’s showcase match because of it.

There was an array of stars at the 2013 Cup of Nations, and Pitroipa was certainly among them. But Mikel was a supernova. And when he shone, the stars disappeared.

http://m.bleacherreport.com/articles/1524167-why-john-obi-mikel-should-have-been-named-afcon-mvp

TheGoodJoe:


How can you ask that? One of the criticism I had was the AFCON did not produced stats result. That is something we as Africans can look into.

If you feel other defenders did better than Omeruo does not change my point.

I said, it is hard to say Moses is the best when I feel other players contributed more defensively.

I listed Onazi, Oboabona and Omeruo.

So hanging on Omeruo to compare with other defenders dodges my point.

My point is, I do not place Victor Moses contributions oger players like Mikel, Omeruo, Oboabona and Onazi.

TheGoodJoe:
I never said this before. The first time I noticed Icon4s on one of these threads, I thought he was Jonathan Akpoborie. Especially, when he cautioned against praising Iheanacho so he would continue working hard.

I was so convinced, even when he talked of the youth teams of the eighties being better than the 2015 Flying Eagles.

I said in my mind, keep praising your team-mates.

How wrong I was. LOL.

bigblangston:
For not mentioning Vincent Enyeama I'm not buying you a drink, Did you see Mikel's penalty kick against zambia? The kick lacked class, he almost not made us qualify into the knockout stage by that singular act, Thank God he picked up and some Enyeama's saves, Mba and oboabona frm local clubside names to household and beyond names

goldfish80:


That's the opinion of one blogger. Pitroipa to me deserves the recognition he got. Its no mean feat piloting a tiny nation like Burkina Faso, minors if am to spell it out to medal at a competition of such magnitude.
Name one defender who got the better of Pitroipa at that tourney. Even at the finals, he still caused us headaches non stop. There was usually a roar from the crowd whenever he was on the ball.
Here is another article from the same bleachers report you quoted.


His country might have fallen at the final hurdle in the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations , but Burkina Faso's Jonathan Pitroipa's Most Valuable Player Award was one thing that the star midfielder did manage to win.
And it couldn't have been more deserved.
BBC Sport's Farayi Mungazi posted the news via Twitter:
The Stade Rennes midfielder was integral in the Stallions' remarkable run through the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations —getting the minnows of the tournament all the way to the final in what had quickly become the Cinderella story of the competition.
[b]And whilst they couldn't go all the way and clinch the title from a deserving Nigerian outfit, [/b]Burkina Faso will no doubt take plenty of encouragement and heart from AFCON 2013—and deservedly so given their strong performances throughout.
Pitroipa came to the fore incredibly well when goal-scoring machine Alain Traore was ruled out for the rest of the tournament with injury—netting huge goals when his country needed him, but also providing the spark and creativity required in attack.
The 26-year-old finished with just two goals in the tournament, but his extra-time finish against Togo was pivotal in the Stallions' run to the title.
He will now go back to French club, where he has netted six goals and three assists from his 19 appearances this season as Rennes try to push their way into the top four of Ligue 1.
And if Pitroipa can carry over his international form that was displayed in South Africa, you'd have to think they're a real chance of doing so.

http://m.bleacherreport.com/articles/1524065-nigeria-vs-burkina-faso-jonathan-pitroipa-deserved-to-win-2013-afcon-mvp-award

goldfish80:

Enyeama caught everything, he even caught cold
I remember that penalty miss. Trolls on twitter had a swell time making memes of that penalty miss.

TheGoodJoe:


There is nothing in this article that says Pitroipa was a better choice than Mikel. Even in the finals they met, Mikel won the man of the match.

The article I posted tells that Mikel was the reason we were tough. People like you can laugh make memes while Mikel makes the team successful.

Three man of the match and four Assists is not beans.

goldfish80:


Mikel's penalty miss was one of most talked about event of the day. He got a lot of Stick for it and rightly so.
The miss was so bad Moses had to personally sieze the ball and made sure he was the one who took the penalties he earned against Ethiopia.
I will ignore your subtle dig about people like me making memes/trolling and attack the issues you raised.

First of all, Pitroipa got 2 goals and a good number of assists. He also won 2 man of the match awards in crucial games at the quater finals and their final group game win which ensured they came tops in our group.
In the semifinals, the corrupt Tunisian referee had to go out of his way to get him sent off just to help Ghana. Probably spotting him as the livewire of Burkina. Caf had to step up and recind that decision when the whole continent was up in arms.
People wanted to see the best player display his skills at the showpiece game.

Yes, Burkina did not win the afcon but its not a must the best player should come from the winning team. In 2010 Diego Forlan was the best player at the world cup but his team came third. Ejike Ezoenyi was the best player at the home based nations cup but Nigeria came third.

Abeg leave matter, Pitroipa was dazzling. I heard onazi made jokes to frighten Egwuekwe that Pitroipa would come for him when we played Burkina in a friendly sometime in 2014 in kaduna. That should tell you something.

goldfish80:


Mikel's penalty miss was one of most talked about event of the day. He got a lot of Stick for it and rightly so.
The miss was so bad Moses had to personally sieze the ball and made sure he was the one who took the penalties he earned against Ethiopia.
I will ignore your subtle dig about people like me making memes/trolling and attack the issues you raised.

First of all, Pitroipa got 2 goals and a good number of assists. He also won 2 man of the match awards in crucial games at the quater finals and their final group game win which ensured they came tops in our group.
In the semifinals, the corrupt Tunisian referee had to go out of his way to get him sent off just to help Ghana. Probably spotting him as the livewire of Burkina. Caf had to step up and recind that decision when the whole continent was up in arms.
People wanted to see the best player display his skills at the showpiece game.

Yes, Burkina did not win the afcon but its not a must the best player should come from the winning team. In 2010 Diego Forlan was the best player at the world cup but his team came third. Ejike Ezoenyi was the best player at the home based nations cup but Nigeria came third.

Abeg leave matter, Pitroipa was dazzling. I heard onazi made jokes to frighten Egwuekwe that Pitroipa would come for him when we played Burkina in a friendly sometime in 2014 in kaduna. That should tell you something.

goldfish80:


Mikel's penalty miss was one of most talked about event of the day. He got a lot of Stick for it and rightly so.
The miss was so bad Moses had to personally sieze the ball and made sure he was the one who took the penalties he earned against Ethiopia.
I will ignore your subtle dig about people like me making memes/trolling and attack the issues you raised.

First of all, Pitroipa got 2 goals and a good number of assists. He also won 2 man of the match awards in crucial games at the quater finals and their final group game win which ensured they came tops in our group.
In the semifinals, the corrupt Tunisian referee had to go out of his way to get him sent off just to help Ghana. Probably spotting him as the livewire of Burkina. Caf had to step up and recind that decision when the whole continent was up in arms.
People wanted to see the best player display his skills at the showpiece game.

Yes, Burkina did not win the afcon but its not a must the best player should come from the winning team. In 2010 Diego Forlan was the best player at the world cup but his team came third. Ejike Ezoenyi was the best player at the home based nations cup but Nigeria came third.

Abeg leave matter, Pitroipa was dazzling. I heard onazi made jokes to frighten Egwuekwe that Pitroipa would come for him when we played Burkina in a friendly sometime in 2014 in kaduna. That should tell you something.

TheGoodJoe:
We are talking winning Man of the match against an Ivorian team of Super Stars. Many did not believe we would win.

The passes, controlling midfield and interceptions. The blocks Mikel made in that match. You are talking dazzling.

safarigirl:
Don't know what most people here are yapping about, I personally did not notice Pitroipa till late in the tournament so I doubt he was as dazzling as some want us to believe...the only Burkinabe player I and most people noticed was Bance...

Mikel, on the other hand, is the face of our National team, so, even when he's not trying to get noticed, you guys will still notice him because you need someone to blame and make memes for

Instead of y'all to discuss his stellar performance against CIV, y'all are trying to slate him for a silly penalty miss in group stage that anybody could have made. Let's imagine other nations had petty fans like us...what do you imagine the Argentines should have done to Messi when he missed a penalty at COPA finals? If the roles were switched and Mikel missed a penalty at AFCON finals then chose to quit the team cuz of that, ungrateful Nigerians would have sent him to hell

We ought to worship the ground Mikel walks on rather than bring up his faults every chance we get considering all the shiiit he takes for us...even Angel Enyeama doesn't love Nigeria the way Mikel does, yet some of you still feel the need to continually make memes and remind the world that the face of your national team is a bench warmer

Mikel will always be the REAL MVP

Signed:
Vice President of Mikel Avengers

TheGoodJoe:
We are talking winning Man of the match against an Ivorian team of Super Stars. Many did not believe we would win.

The passes, controlling midfield and interceptions. The blocks Mikel made in that match. You are talking dazzling.

TheSuperNerd:
@bolded..... Who's president then?

safarigirl:
TheGoodJoe

TheSuperNerd:
Pitroipa dazzling? Looooollllll..... Don't mind them.... I wonder what we will call Victor Moses if Pitroipa was "dazzling"... Hahahahahahahaha

maputohq:

The hate against Mikel is real that I have stopped listening to any criticism of him. Apart from Iheanacho and let me say Osaze, I don't think there is any active Nigerian player with talent above him. All players have their bad day and Mikel is not a kind of player who gets match rusty sitting on the bench. Na the same thing you go see whether he plays regularly or sits on the bench regularly.

safarigirl:
TheGoodJoe

TheSuperNerd:
Pitroipa dazzling? Looooollllll..... Don't mind them.... I wonder what we will call Victor Moses if Pitroipa was "dazzling"... Hahahahahahahaha

Mickael2:



aren't you going to consider Azubuike at all for that game? I understand your point exactly, you want us to play with caution but don't you think that the present condition that they are in can afford us the oppurtunity to not only win but to do so handsomely? I would prefer that Etebo-Mikel-Ndidi combination(with Azubuike replacing Ndidi for me) or we could add a true winger to replace Iwobi on the left and push him into the middle too, with him providing the assist, Iheanacho converting those assists and Mikel setting the tempo of the game, God have mercy on the Zambians