JohnBullMySon:
Sentiments Na wa oh. There are many Musa-like players in some of these North African National teams we admire. Many of our experienced players are already out, and some people are eager to dump Amoo, an untested player straight into AFCON. No na.

I guess you are one of them calling for igahlo's inclusion, am not saying experience is bad but bring in those who are better fitted and deserving

humility33:


Don't mind him
It was possible for us to win Algeria the last time which we almost did couple with the fact it was players like Chuks,Kalu, Simon, Onyekuru,Ekong,Leon, Aina, awaziemetc first AFCON unlike now with the growth and experience one pessimistic man somewhere is writing us off

You better mind him oooo... he is just doing his work naa.

“I can tell you we struggled a little bit with the weather, but in terms of ball possession and movement, I think we were very impressed,” Eguavoen told NFF TV.

“Winning this game is a very good thing for us.”

Eguavoen added: “As the game progressed, you could see fatigue started setting in. So the ball movement became a bit slower.

“But whenever they recuperate, they always go out there and do exactly what we want them to do.

“But in front of goal, we are too few. That’s something we have to work on too. Because crosses are coming in well, ball possession is good.

“Playing to the sides, which is our strength, is very good. But arriving in the box with fewer players is not so good. That’s what we are going to work on in the next few days.”

FROM SOCCERNET .NG

Danielnino00:
On paper, considering their squad strength and recent form, my top 10 ranking of the teams likely to win the AFCON is:

1. Algeria
2. Senegal
3. Morocco
4. Nigeria
5. Ivory Coast
6. Cameroon
7. Egypt
8. Tunisia
9. Mali
10. Ghana

How did you come to that conclusion ? past history, quality of players, coaching staff, friendly matches etc

Or emotive preference?

Kog45:
Pls are you in Goura Cameroon.

If you are,pls we need you here for live updates.

Ebuehi is having his first training today cos he came in yesterday..

When will our number one striker arrive Ighalo.❓

Kog45:
Oh my God it was 1999 in Dutse Jigawa state,nothing like GSM and the satellite network was bad,am always on the road to Wudi(police college) in Kano State to watch matches cos a friend was serving in police college.

We are here with dem agbalagba o. I was in Nursery 1 in 1999���

darkelf:


All this una talk na to give una self hope

Algeria will win and there's nothing any of you can do about it

Senegal will get to the finals and either Morocco or Egypt or Tunisia will place third

Nigeria with their shoddy preparation and Olosho-loving players will be lucky to smell the Quarter finals

I don talk am - Bookmark this comment

And If I end up being wrong, I will deliver a public apology

And don't forget to admit how foolish you were for publicly embarrassing yourself for ascertaining the team that will win the tournament and the ones that will win the second and third place even before the competition starts.

Icon4s:

Now, this is what I am talking about. Ivory coast was the best before they played Nigeria but Nigeria eventually dominated and won that game. Someone like darkelf would predicted a 4:0 defeat against Nigeria

There are some teams that are no pushovers when it comes to the AFCON, irrespective of the kind of team they present. Nigeria is one of Such.

If I look at the team we have presented over the past two decades,I would say on paper this is the weakest.

darkelf:


Nigeria should be in tenth place

Egypt or Tunisia in 4th and 5th

Apart from that, nice list

You think Mali and Ghana have a better chance to win it than Nigeria?

drDoom3:


Remember the match against CAR away where Osimhen received a through pass and dribbled the keeper only to have his weak footed shot cleared off the line? That was the best through pass in the SE for the entire year.

Guess who gave the pass? Ejuke? Iwobi? Nwakali?

It was Aribo of course.

Guess what? It was a long overhead pass from midfield too. The type they said only Nwakali in the whole Nigerian history of football can give?

Your arguments hold no water.

Stop capping Doom. The pass was not long. It was more of a chipped overhead pass into space for Osimhen to run on to.
I analysed that move here on this thread after the game. I praised Aribo's Performance and picked him as my MOTM that day but he still didn't conduct the game as a genuine Playmaker would. He did his best alongside Onyeka to give us strong footholds in the middle game but nothing more.


Below is an extract of it...

TheSuperNerd:
Wild Beasts of CAR 0-2 Super Eagles of Nigeria: Redemption Completed, Revenge Achieved, But the Rohr Virus remains.

Aribo, My MOTM
Osimhen needs to be more clinical in the GWG, gets his 8th goal in 14 caps though.
Ejuke's a game changer and Highly Creative Magician.
Awaziem's long range passing Vision on show again.
Balogun was on a Mission and achieved it. MOTM contender but Aribo edges for me.
Oyibo Wall gets their redemption.
Rohr Virus suppressed today by the Anti-retrovirals - ARTs (Today the ART was The Raised Performance level of the lads).


First of all, I wanna say Congratulations (not a Big one bcoz we ought to be dispatching teams like CAR anytime, anyday) on our well deserved Victory.
A Victory that restores Order in the WCQ group and on the continent. Power is not changing hands.... the CAR win in lagos was a huge flux for CAR but was also a reminder of the depth of Rohr's tactical deficiencies.




Joe Aribo, My MOTM

MOTM performance in my books. There was no one better. His best game in a good while in the GWG. A far cry from his soulless display 3 days ago.
This is the Aribo I wanna see constantly in the Super Eagles, yet his performance could be even better than we saw. Yes, He is that talented.

He is still not the Genuine Playmaker I seek as there were moments where I felt he could have taken a more forward passing or forward driven decision rather than hold on to the ball or look to go sideways but you will be untruthful if you don't admit that he really stepped up to the plate today. Really grew into control of the middle as the game matured.

He started the game a bit slowly but he indeed had a big hand in creating the freekick chance that Iheanacho should have done better from.

It was an Aribo lines-breaking pass (yes, he delivered that today) to the feet of Osimhen who held up the ball well and turned to draw the foul that created our first real chance of the game. After that, Aribo faded for a while but he came back stronger towards the end of the first half.

His midfield influence became more apparent towards the final 15 mins of the first half. He was winning aerial battles effortlessly and really throwing himself into duels in a bid to win the ball back and drive forward.

His industry paid off as he was on hand to pick up the loose ball from a freekick which he instantly fed into Ekong's path who centred well for Osimhen to finish emphatically! That was an Aribo Pre-assist. His decision making in that instant was vital to seeing us take the game further away from the CARians.

He took it up a good notch in the second half with his passing and quick decision making in certain instances of play. One of such saw him brilliantly set up Osimhen with a ball over the top of the defence. We should be talking about an Aribo assist had Osimhen decided against using his weaker foot to execute that chance.

Aribo's workrate was obviously on show and he contributed to Defensive phases when needed. Not like we needed to defend much anyway. We were hardly troubled by the CAR attack and Midfield.
T'was a complete Dominant performance and a strong part of such was down to the Massively improved display and Quality of Joseph Ayodele Aribo and his improved synergy with Frank Onyeka.

The duo worked tirelessly to control the middle game.

Give the man his thumbs-up and props. He deserves it today.

Do we still need midfield reinforcements? Oh yes we still do. The perfection of Midfield balance is still needed.

But Aribo was the man today. Played like a true Midfield lieutenant. Hopefully he keeps this up and lives up to a good measure of the Weight of expectations that normally accompanies the Nigerian #10 Jersey.

So cool down on the subtle agenda. Aribo is gold. I have analysed his strengths already and where he can be super effective for us but playmaking from deep and conducting is not one of them. Happy Weekend.

stevemarkdangot:

We are here with dem agbalagba o. I was in Nursery 1 in 1999���

My son well done...naso ebi.

komekn:


When will our number one striker arrive Ighalo.❓

Number one striker?

If Eguavoen can see what I see and play Aribo in the #10 role, this issue of few arrivals into the box when chances or crosses come in won't be much of an issue.
Aribo is very adept at contributing to an attack overload in the opponent's box from his position between the lines in the final third.

With Aribo, we can be sure to have at least 2 or 3 players waiting to pounce up top. Hope he considers this and don't play Aribo too deep in the middle coz yesterday's practice saw Aribo play deeper.

MainJoe:
“I can tell you we struggled a little bit with the weather, but in terms of ball possession and movement, I think we were very impressed,” Eguavoen told NFF TV.

“Winning this game is a very good thing for us.”

Eguavoen added: “As the game progressed, you could see fatigue started setting in. So the ball movement became a bit slower.

“But whenever they recuperate, they always go out there and do exactly what we want them to do.

“But in front of goal, we are too few. That’s something we have to work on too. Because crosses are coming in well, ball possession is good.

“Playing to the sides, which is our strength, is very good. But arriving in the box with fewer players is not so good. That’s what we are going to work on in the next few days.”

FROM SOCCERNET .NG

mkrest:



I guess you are one of them calling for igahlo's inclusion, am not saying experience is bad but bring in those who are better fitted and deserving

I did not call for Ighalo's Inclusion but rather exclusion. He retired and should remain retired. However, experience is still very important and helps with team coordination. Teams like the Swiss National team do not have "World class players" but are a big threat to the biggest teams in the world.

The egypt national team should not be a problem for now. Our problem right now is our coach crew to they have the emotional intellegence to do the right thing. Do that coach crew have what it takes to do the right selection ie the first eleven with any external interferance from any mummy G O. Do the back up crew have specialist like nutricitist, video review expert, stewards, cooks psychologist e. t. c A model that only the morocco national team have in these tournament.

darkelf:


Nigeria should be in tenth place

Egypt or Tunisia in 4th and 5th

Apart from that, nice list

Go and sit down
Youve been saying nonsense since

So only Omeruo and Musa are still surviving from the 2013 squad

Dem don try oh

In Afcon 2000 Nigeria/Cameroon/Tunisia sailed to the semifinals(towards the end of our golden era)
In Afcon 2002 Nigeria/Cameroon/Senegal/Mali sailed to the Semifinals (Final competition to most of our 94 all conquering squad)

In 2004 Nigeria met Cameroon and eventually edging them to progress to the Semifinals (having new Assemblage of eagles with few veteran)
Nigeria/Morocco/Tunisia/Mali

In 2006 Nigeria/CIV/Senegal/Egypt sailed to the Semifinals after the later edged Cameroon in the quarterfinals
(The start of the Egyptian invincibility)

In 2008 a shocking outster, Nigeria fail to progress to last four after Ghana edging to in the quarterfinals, having Egypt/Cameroon/CIV/Gha sailing to the last four

In 2010 Nigeria/Ghana/Egypt/Algeria progress to the last 4
(Algeria raising eyebrows of African gigantism)

In 2012 Nigeria failed to qualify, having CiV/Zambia/Mali/Ghana

In 2013 Nigeria/Ghana/Burkina/Mali sailed to the last 4

In 2015 Nigeria didn't qualify, CIV/Ghana/DRC/E-guinea sailed to the Semifinals
In 2017 Nigeria didn't qualify Cameroon/Egypt/Ghana/Burkina sailed to the last 4
(end to 16 nation tourney)

In 2019 Nigeria came back and advanced to last for alongside Algeria/Senegal/Tunisia
(Beginning of 24nations tourney)

This chart shows
Nigeria are the king of top 4 no matter who is picked to play, you see that top 4 we go reach am, others can follow

The horns are ready and the fans are eagerly waiting to cheer up their favourites. It time for CAF African cup of Nations. With all the controversies that have surrounded the game from the Covid 19 pandemic to the issues from the host countries. I think it will be a good tournament.


Great tournament are always full of controversies that's the elements for greatness most times. Every CAF tournaments will most times not be given desired relevance by the foreign clubs because the African nations have not really come to appreciate the importance of these tournaments. It up to us to brand the tournament to be highly desirable. Let appreciate the marquees that have given their blood and sweat for this event not at the CAF award night alone but in every aspect. Let them be highly involved in subsequent event, an ambassador of the events in every facet of their careers. Let them mode the young to play in future Afcon tournaments.

Now to the events starting in few days. The tournament will be without big names, however I think it going to be a really good tournament. I do not think big names will win this tournament, but the eventual winner will grow into the tournament without big names.

Somehow similar to the 2013 event and how Nigeria grew into the tournament and even though they struggled in the group stage. They eventually switched it on in the knockout stage. Knocking out ivory coast and Mali and lifting the trophy.

Football today had gone through a series of revolution in tactics and technology and i feel this time around the impact will be felt in the tournament.

Nigeria might not have the fire power it used to have upfront, but I. Feel they have got enough to do well and challenge the best team, motivation and drive certainly come within and it only takes a spirited player to win trophy. I hope someone like kelechi iheanacho can dig deep within and find the inspiration to drive the team. He looks a perfect match for cup events only if he can stay disciplined. Ekong may not always be consistent at the back but he's got a good personality, so is Ahmed Musa. The wingers still have a lot proof. I feel they are all deadbeat without end product. Always going for personal glory that pays off in one out of fifty games. Only when they understand that team work surpasses all personal glory will they know the true nature of a winner.

Good players only doesn't win tournaments but with the right attitude and personality Nigeria can really set the pace. Good luck Nigerians.

JohnBullMySon:
So only Omeruo and Musa are still surviving from the 2013 squad

Dem don try oh

Omeruo was one of those that used his real age at the 2009 U17 world cup, that's why he is still lasting and strong for about 13yrs now in the colors of Nigeria another real small boy spotted at the U17 world cup was chidera Eze, during the 2013 WC, e pain me that boy no translate into super eagles
Omeruo is one quiet personality in the eagles fold otherwise he should be a commanding captain in the eagles of today

darkelf:


Nigeria should be in tenth place

Egypt or Tunisia in 4th and 5th

Apart from that, nice list

This one go just wake up everyday and be misbehaving like a toddler. Afobear wannabe

Icon4s:


Historically, the most rated team on paper more often does not win the AFCON.

Also there is the factor of Climate/weather. North African teams struggle when the AFCON is held outside of North Africa. They perform best when the AFCON is played in Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia or Egypt. But when the AFCON comes to sub-saharan Africa they more often struggle.

I am predicting that this AFCON is going to either a West African team or Cameroon.

Egypt won in Burkina Ghana and Angola respectively, a good team is a good team, this Algerian team go press people neck for this Afcon

Danielnino00:
On paper, considering their squad strength and recent form, my top 10 ranking of the teams likely to win the AFCON is:

1. Algeria
2. Senegal
3. Morocco
4. Nigeria
5. Ivory Coast
6. Cameroon
7. Egypt
8. Tunisia
9. Mali
10. Ghana

Cameroon at 4 (host nation) Nigeria then Ivory Coast

No wonder I see this is your other.

Was it the spambots, my good man?

If it is, perhaps you should mail the supermods (via frontpage) and the mods of this section. It's fine.

MainJoe:
Got banned unnecessarily but we move.

Like Eguavoen's ideas so far. I think he is getting the teams where he wants. However, they need to get up to speed fast.

Looks an interesting progress.

So Ghana lost to Algeria by three goals with no reply from Ghana whatsoever, not even a consolation goal.
Hmmm, this is disturbing.

darkelf:


Nigeria should be in tenth place

Egypt or Tunisia in 4th and 5th

Apart from that, nice list

the fact that you think Tunisia can win it shows you have no idea what you talking about

TheSuperNerd:
If Eguavoen can see what I see and play Aribo in the #10 role, this issue of few arrivals into the box when chances or crosses come in won't be much of an issue.
Aribo is very adept at contributing to an attack overload in the opponent's box from his position between the lines in the final third.

With Aribo, we can be sure to have at least 2 or 3 players waiting to pounce up top. Hope he considers this and don't play Aribo too deep in the middle coz yesterday's practice saw Aribo play deeper.

100%

humility33:

I am sure there will be VAR

African ref never shock you before? Epl ref dey learn where them dey

Icon4s:


There is always that year in a Man's life. Mine was the 2005 FIFA U20 WC. I was on Youths service in a remote village. I missed all our group matches, plus the second round match. I managed to watch our quarter final game against Holland because I traveled to Lagos for an aptitude test. But for the semi and final, I traveled a long distance to go watch them and came back to the corpers lodge at the middle of the night

A legend I stan!

Icon4s:


It is called Pedigree as a football nation. Same thing that makes a country like Italy win tournaments meanwhile teams like Holland, Belgium and England would be struggling from generation to generation.

On paper and current form teams like Senegal, Mali, Ivory coast, Ghana and Morocco might be ahead of Cameroon but I would rather put my money on Cameroon to win it. Not Just because they are the host but because they have proven from generation to generation that they have that tournament winning mentality. They have that Champions pedigree.

the mentality is ‘we’ve always done it and we can still do it’. Even in year 2000, nobody gave them any chance in that final plus they struggled through the tournament but on the day of the final they played their best game and should have wrapped it up by halftime.

Truly they are the team to beat. No team in Africa presses like the Algerians and they are targeting a world record in terms of the best unbeaten run for an international football team.

Italy holds the record currenly at 37 matches undefeated before they fell to Spain in the Uefa Nations League semis late last year.

Algeria is on 34 games unbeaten. Who says they won't equal it by the end of the 1st round? Shaa, time will always tell.

jihday:
Egypt won in Burkina Ghana and Angola respectively, a good team is a good team, this Algerian team go press people neck for this Afcon