TheGoodJoe:


The team failed to qualify due to sabotage. They were dumped on a pitch with poor drainage and were hindered from playing their brand of football.

No matter the negativity, they played about fifty games and only lost one. If it was a league, they would have been top.

The lack of exposure hindered their growth, but it does not mean they were not good.

The fact is that we can run a healthy program with open trials and comprehensive screening.

Danielnino00:


The bolded should put the discussion to bed.. the players are good,but they didn't have the exposure.... So why should we continue toeing that path when it isn't producing results?
There are numerous football academies across the country that these street players can be recruited into for long term football development rather than the short term approach that the national youth team provides ..

Danielnino00:


The problem with EPL team is that their fans are quick to turn on players when the team is underperforming...They run out of patience quickly... I don't want him to join Man Utd for obvious reasons . Plus there's a general belief among fans that Man Utd isn't favorable to African players..

IMO, Bayern,Madrid or PSG soil be good for him....those are clubs were he can score well and is guaranteed at least a trophy every season

mostob:
Arsenal won't go for him. Although, I would like to have him at arsenal but he is just not Arteta's type of striker.

codemaniacs:


Street can't beat academy in terms of raw talent...

All the best players in the world weren't picked from the streets they were in all in academies.

TheGoodJoe:


The U20 does not work like that. Why do you think Emmanuel Amunike was able to play about 50 matches with his U20 team? It was because he camped for a long time with them.

The idea is to have a team of quality professional and academy-trained players, while you built a top-grade team B made from scouting through open trials. Then towards the regular camping, you do the final screening. The aim is to find the best players, not the best opportuned players.

Finito.

Odunayaw:
Take raw talents to a competition?

TheGoodJoe:


I am talking of after the U20. A successful U20 would have beamed the spotlight on them and some would have made it like the u17.

No one is against the academy recruits.

We said open trials and let them compete against the academy recruits. Those players better than the academy recruits should play.

It is about getting the best. Not just selecting academy recruits.

Open trials. Professional players, academy recruits, and street players, etc. Select the best from them.

If the academy player is not better, why should he go ahead of a street boy that is better than him?

Finito.

Danielnino00:


The bolded should put the discussion to bed.. the players are good,but they didn't have the exposure.... So why should we continue toeing that path when it isn't producing results?
There are numerous football academies across the country that these street players can be recruited into for long term football development rather than the short term approach that the national youth team provides ..

TheGoodJoe:



Open trials. Professional players, academy recruits, and street players, etc. Select the best from them.

If the academy player is not better, why should he go ahead of a street boy that is better than him?

Finito.

typicalgamer:


Pick a mixture of street (pro league or amateur league) and we’ll known academy together mash them up watch before comes June we’ll see something good

Amedino99:
lmao. tournament wey go start by may

codemaniacs:


A street boy cannot be better than an academy player. An academy player is a professional footballer while a street boy is complete amateur footballer.

It's the same reason you won't visit a street doctor over a university graduate doctor with 10 years experience.

Someone who joins an academy at 10 years old will have at least 8 years experience of professional football before he/she is 20 years old compared to a street footballer who has no professional experience.

Academy players play on grass from a young age while street footballers play on concrete, sand, bumpy grass, wood e.t.c. so most street players especially in Africa have poor ball control and movement.

codemaniacs:


A street boy cannot be better than an academy player. An academy player is a professional footballer while a street boy is complete amateur footballer.

It's the same reason you won't visit a street doctor over a university graduate doctor with 10 years experience.

Someone who joins an academy at 10 years old will have at least 8 years experience of professional football before he/she is 20 years old compared to a street footballer who has no professional experience.

Academy players play on grass from a young age while street footballers play on concrete, sand, bumpy grass, wood e.t.c. so most street players especially in Africa have poor ball control and movement.

hatakekakashi:

You don't say o, if Pep can sign Haaland then I'm sure Arteta can tweak his system too. The problem is, where will G. Jesus play?

codemaniacs:


A street boy cannot be better than an academy player. An academy player is a professional footballer while a street boy is complete amateur footballer.

It's the same reason you won't visit a street doctor over a university graduate doctor with 10 years experience.

Someone who joins an academy at 10 years old will have at least 8 years experience of professional football before he/she is 20 years old compared to a street footballer who has no professional experience.

Academy players play on grass from a young age while street footballers play on concrete, sand, bumpy grass, wood e.t.c. so most street players especially in Africa have poor ball control and movement.

TheGoodJoe:


Let me repeat it again, Mikel Obi was discovered by Babawo Mohammed, taken to Kashimawo Laloko, who was the person that opened Pepsi Football Academy. As soon as Laloko watched Mikel Obi played, he said he knew he has found the best player in the country.

That was a street footballer, and few years from there stood out training for Manchester United.

It totally defeats your point.

TheGoodJoe:

What academy offers is tactics especially, a lot of technical play can be developed on the street. Listen to Naby Keita.

“I was never exposed to the professional side of the game,” Keita explains. “I didn’t grow up in an academy, everything I knew was from the street. I would get the ball, I would run with it, show some skill to beat a player and score.

“During these trials, coaches were asking me to do things I’d never heard of! They were using football terms that I couldn’t understand and giving instructions that I had no clue about. I didn’t know about tactics and when I was rejected that is what I was told.”

It was only six years ago when Keita received that crushing feedback, and yet now, you would struggle to find a midfielder as astute and effective as him both offensively and defensively. Schalke director Christian Heidel aptly exclaimed that Leipzig possess a “12th player” because "Naby is like two, this boy is incomprehensible”.

https://www.goal.com/story/naby-keita-goal-50-exclusive/index.html

---

Six years from a street footballer, he became one of the best midfielders in Europe. Better than hundreds of kids in Germany that grew up in some of the best academies in the world.

That is what the scouting of street talents can do. If it is us, we will abandon a talent like Naby Keita because he was not 8 years old in academy.

charlesemeka85:
Wow, onyedika is very similar to Bernado Silva 🥱🥱🥱

AndSunGorilla:

Is he playing poorly? I believe he came in as a 2nd half sub.

charlesemeka85:
not at all, he was stringing passes in midfield for Brugge all night 🥱

Kog45:
Ademola Lookman was discovered from the street and we have players like that who don’t have the opportunity of going to academy.

TheGoodJoe:


You are running with your own perception. The screening process I posted was done by Emmanuel Amunike. Keep in mind, he trained under Sir Bobby Robson, one of the best tacticians of the game. He trained under Luis Van Gaal and was part of one of the best-scouted Super Eagles era (USA 94 and Atlanta 96 teams).

So, calling it madness is funny. Instead, you should learn from him.

Keep in mind, he was part of those that scouted the likes of Isaac Success, Kelechi Iheanacho, Wilfred Ndidi, Taiwo Awoniyi, Kelechi Nwakali, Victor Osimhen, and Chukwueze. He knows his stuff.

Now, what he is looking for are gems. Let me explain what gems are. When Diego Maradona joined Argentinos Juniors, I think he was 10 years old, his manager said, he could not teach Maradona anything. He knew it all at that age.

What the open trials are for, is to find special talents. Yes, you can find them on the streets. When you find these special players, you give them a crash course in tactical play. As soon as they assimilate the basics, they grow from there. And, yes, they can even outclass players that grew up playing in some of the best academies in the world.

Odunayaw:
Take raw talents to a competition?

jihday:
using Amunike’s U-20 journey as yardstick is very hilarious because he couldn’t even get past Sudan to qualify them for the African tournament

AndSunGorilla:

On a serious note, I didn't watch the match that's I am asking you. Comparing him to Silva is of course an exaggeration.

Odunayaw:
Take raw talents to a competition?

charlesemeka85:
thegoodjoe said few weeks ago that onyedika is very similar to Silva 🤣🤣🤣

TheGoodJoe:


Because of a bad pitch that hindered their playing style. They played about fifty games and only lost one match because the NFF selected a pitch that was not suitable for the team and an advantage to their opponents. On any good pitch, they would have white washed Sudan.

That one game does is not close to the numerous games they won. If it was a league, they would have won it in grand style.

jihday:
of course the usual rhetoric but the fact is they lost out to Sudan end of story