Truidstarr:
The problem with many so called “SE Fans” is fear. Tournament form and qualifiers form are two different things. Na SA dey make you quake so? Am expecting nothing less than 6 points from both matches.

Napoleon55:

Wake up.
Even with our full squad, we will struggle to beat them.

4 points is the best we can hope for,otherwise 2 points is what we are getting.
We shouldn't have dropped those 4 points in our previous matches.

Napoleon55:

Wake up.
Even with our full squad, we will struggle to beat them.

4 points is the best we can hope for,otherwise 2 points is what we are getting.
We shouldn't have dropped those 4 points in our previous matches.

Odunayaw:
,Which one is "we" can hope for. Who is we? Speak for yourself only o

Napoleon55:

Wake up.
Even with our full squad, we will struggle to beat them.

4 points is the best we can hope for,otherwise 2 points is what we are getting.
We shouldn't have dropped those 4 points in our previous matches.

Oasis007:




He assumes everyone is like him. "We" like he is spokesperson for this thread. No crime being a Pessimist, but he must know we have Optimists on this board as well.

Amedino99:
when last SA beat us last my bro. For afcon we don comot Dem for quarter and semi final yet na we still dey form underdog. Which kind life Nigerians dey live sef.

Danielnino00:
Onuachu, Ajayi, Bassey, Osayi and Onyeka are in camp now

Odunayaw:
,Which one is "we" can hope for. Who is we? Speak for yourself only o

AndSunGorilla:

That 4th goal for Enyimba was orgasmic.

BascoVanVeli:


Yes oh the build up and final pass was madness

Subzerooo:


You think these guys will beat South Africa?

Napoleon55:

And u presume u are more optimistic than me?
Being realistic is not pessimism.

So in ur pessimistic mind,4 points out of 6 points is not a very good result considering our depleted squad against our main rival in this group?
When u are not adequately prepared for a battle but think u are going to win because u are optimistic, u r wasting ur time.

If u think u r going to beat SA in their home,u better think again.

AndSunGorilla:
With Iwobi and Luku not in camp, i won't be surprised if they don't start against SA but hopefully they would be fully available for Benin.
Read that Chuks might have gotten injured in training. Hopefully no be Mr. Man or Igboke injure am

Truidstarr:
The problem with many so called “SE Fans” is fear. Tournament form and qualifiers form are two different things. Na SA dey make you quake so? Am expecting nothing less than 6 points from both matches.

elyte89:



I no knw when SA TURN BRAZIL 🇧🇷🤣🤣🤣,if not for peseiro dt decided to play defensive allowing dem to have most of d balls ..Dey make dem fear

zuchyblink:

I have always been an advocate of home grown players, and for the fact that he is injecting home grown and home based players is commendable. I have faith in Finidi's team.
My major problem with indigenous coaches is there pride and Nigerian mentality of being rude and showing seniority in everything.
Did you hear him call Tanimu 'Mr man'? That was rude in my opinion.
Biggest shortcomings of indigenous coaches are mainly behavioural and the fact that they are stuck in the old ways of doing things.

komekn:


This is the most stupendous retrogressive backward approach I can find here so far.

What happened to ability, competence, excellence, quality, objectivity, merit, etc

The only qualification needed is if you are a local player.

Its like saying I have confidence in only people from the northern for political appointments because I'm a Northern president. Or because I'm a Yoruba president I'll appoint only Yorubas to my core positions.

As it stands in the SE who are the most technically proficient player's and high quality players in your small mind it's those that came from the local league.

You are like a blind bat 🦇but you think 🤔 you have eyes 👀.

Marjoribanks:
I have a feeling, Finidi will succeed!

Nigeria 2- South Africa 0

Nigeria 3- Benin 0

See you on the 11th!

Mind you SA is not our biggest obstacle, Rwanda is!

zuchyblink:

Not just home based or home grown players,but the best of them. You, calling it retrogressive is purely your warped opinion.
[b][/b]Nwabali, Osimhen, Boniface[b][/b]and others are homegrown players. Most of our best players are homegrown. Relying on them is far better than relying on foreign rejects.

naptu2:
CAF secretary general speaking to the BBC.

They have a scheduling nightmare. Some people are pushing them to hold WAFCON out of the FIFA calendar, but he says that's not possible. He says that the best players are based outside of Africa and, with all due respect to the homebased players, they have raised the standard of WAFCON, it's very professional, so they can't do that (have WAFCON with only home based players).

He said that the problem was caused by the fact that AFCON was meant to hold in June last year, but you can't have a football competition in June in Ivory Coast because it's the rain season. So AFCON was held at the time that WAFCON was supposed to hold. So now they need to find a date for WAFCON.

The BBC reporter said that he talked about professionalism, but it doesn't look professional that CAF still doesn't have a date for WAFCON. He spoke to Desiree Ellis and she complained and is angry and disappointed that there is no date. Can he give Desiree Ellis and others that are waiting and disappointed a date?

The secretary general said that there will be an announcement by. . . (I didn't hear well if he said at the end of the week or end of the month). He is assuring everybody that there will be an announcement.

He mentioned possible dates this year (that won't clash with the Olympics), but he said that it could also be next year (he also mentioned possible dates).

The BBC reporter then pointed out that if WAFCON is held next year, then it will clash with the date for AFCON. The secretary general them mentioned possible options.

The BBC reporter summed it up that it's possible that WAFCON might be held next year and AFCON might be held in 2026.

naptu2:
I'm searching for a rebroadcast or text version of that interview, but it's not on the BBC's websites or social media handles. It's only the short clip that was on News Day.

I found out from the CAF secretary-general's Twitter feed that the interview took place 2 days ago and is longer than the clip I heard.

naptu2:
No wonder I couldn't find it. They only just published it right now.

Caf admits Wafcon and Afcon ‘scheduling nightmare’


South Africa (left) won the Women's Nations Cup title in 2022 while Ivory Coast triumphed at the 2023 Nations Cup earlier this year

Ian Williams, Rob Stevens
BBC Sport Africa
Published 18 minutes ago

Organisers of Africa’s premier men’s and women’s international football tournaments have admitted they face a “scheduling nightmare”, but dates for forthcoming editions are closer to being agreed, the BBC has been told.

During a rare in-depth interview Veron Mosengo-Omba, general secretary of the Confederation of African Football (Caf), promised that an announcement on the 2024 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (Wafcon) in Morocco would arrive by the end of this month – revealing there is a strong chance it could be switched to next year.

“We are supposed to play this year but we have teams engaged in the Olympics, so we have to find another date,” Mosengo-Omba explained to BBC Sport Africa.

“We are talking with Uefa, because most of the players are playing in Europe, the European Club Association and also with Fifa in order to find [a] suitable date.”

Meanwhile, Mosengo-Omba confirmed that Caf could stage the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon), also set to be hosted by Morocco, in early 2026 because of the timing of Fifa’s new 32-team Club World Cup in June and July next year.

“For the men, we need to make sure that the dates that we'll be choosing will be in the interests of the players,” said the Swiss-Congolese, highlighting issues around the workload of the continent’s elite players.

“For this we need to balance different aspects and also discuss with our partners and then we complete [the dates]. Scheduling is a nightmare for everybody.”

Big dilemma for Women’s Nations Cup

Caf’s statutes say both iterations of the Nations Cup should be held once every two years - rather than once every four as is the case with most major championships organised by other confederations.

However, that puts pressure on the African game’s governing body to fit its competitions into an ever-more-crowded international calendar.

Qualifying for the 2024 Wafcon was completed last December, but deciding when to hold the 12-team finals is complicated by the fact that record nine-time winners Nigeria and Zambia will be participating in the Paris Olympics during July and August.

Desiree Ellis, coach of reigning continental champions South Africa, says the crowded schedule is evidence of rapid growth in the women’s game – but she remains critical of Caf’s handling of the situation.

“If it (Wafcon) is postponed or cancelled, it will be a huge, huge disappointment,” the 61-year-old told BBC Sport Africa, pointing out that the 2020 Nations Cup was cancelled because of the coronavirus pandemic, unlike the men’s 2021 tournament which was merely postponed.

“The growth of women's football over the last couple of years has really shot through the roof, especially on the African continent.

“Just communicate whether it's happening or whether it's not happening so we know how to prepare going forward.”

The growth of women’s football in Africa has been made clear this year by two record-breaking transfer fees paid for Zambian players.

In February, forward Rachel Kundananji set a new world record when joining American team Bay FC for $860,000 (£685,000) and the next month Copper Queens skipper Barbra Banda moved to fellow National Women's Soccer League side Orlando Pride for $740,000 (£581,000).

Mosengo-Omba says Caf’s only option for scheduling Wafcon this year would involve playing it outside of an agreed international window – meaning club sides would not be compelled to release their stellar names.

“Do we play Women's Afcon without our best players? This is something that personally I think is not good,” he said.

“We cannot come back by using only local (domestic-based) players. They are good, but the standard would not be the same.”

The alternative is a postponement until 2025.

Player welfare a factor in 2025 Afcon timing


Record 12-time African club champions Al Ahly will play at the expanded Club World Cup next year - but also provide several players for the Egyptian national side

When it comes to the men’s Nations Cup, Caf’s “nightmare” has been caused by global governing body Fifa introducing its expanded Club World Cup.

The 32-team tournament will be played in the United States from 15 June to 13 July next year – dates which potentially could have been earmarked for the 2025 Afcon, with Caf having previously stated its aim of aligning its flagship competition with the European summer window.

“We have a problem that we're still discussing now with the same stakeholders and partners: the European Club Association, Uefa and Fifa,” said Mosengo-Omba.

He denied that Fifa has pressured Caf not to hold Afcon at the same time as the Club World Cup – something that Concacaf, the continental confederation for North and Central America, has decided to do with its Gold Cup competition.

Fifa has been forced to defend its new addition to the football calendar after criticism from unions that players are being “pushed beyond their limits”.

“We can play after the Club World Cup, but is this good for the interests of the players who have played all the season and then they travel to America to play [and then] immediately come to play Afcon?” Mosengo-Omba continued.

“We have to put this in balance before [we] take a decision.”

Despite concerns around heat, the 2019 Nations Cup in Egypt was hosted in June and July that year and the 2021 and 2023 editions were also due to be staged around the same time of year to avoid the regular club versus country clash caused by the tournament’s traditional January-February time slot.

However, the 2021 tournament in Cameroon was pushed back to early 2022 because of the pandemic and weather concerns, while the 2023 tournament was held in Ivory Coast earlier this year to avoid the West African rainy season.

Despite Caf failing to meet its aim of aligning the past two tournaments with the European football calendar, Mosengo-Omba admits it could very well happen again in Morocco.

“If this is for the interests of the player, why not? Because we have to focus in terms of the player," he said.

Meanwhile, the date for the qualifying draw for the 2025 Afcon is set to be announced after the next meeting of Caf’s executive committee.

Qualifiers are expected to be held in September, October and November this year.


Veron Mosengo-Omba was appointed as Caf's general secretary in March 2021, having previously worked at Fifa

zuchyblink:

Not just home based or home grown players,but the best of them. You, calling it retrogressive is purely your warped opinion.
Nwabali, Osimhen, Boniface and others are homegrown players. Most of our best players are homegrown. Relying on them is far better than relying on foreign rejects.

komekn:


This is the most stupendous retrogressive backward approach I can find here so far.

What happened to ability, competence, excellence, quality, objectivity, merit, etc

The only qualification needed is if you are a local player.

Its like saying I have confidence in only people from the northern for political appointments because I'm a Northern president. Or because I'm a Yoruba president I'll appoint only Yorubas to my core positions.

As it stands in the SE who are the most technically proficient player's and high quality players in your small mind it's those that came from the local league.

You are like a blind bat 🦇but you think 🤔 you have eyes 👀.

naptu2:


https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/articles/c299ng4r370o?

komekn:


You are on a public written forum 😞 changing your diction and narrative without shame.

Let me quote you verbatim , "injecting home grown and home based players is commendable."

Apart from Nwabali, who came out of the local league nobody else you mentioned is homegrown and or home based.

VO, Boniface are youth academy players that left Nigeria as teenagers to learn develop and improve their talent and potential in European clubs.

For instance KC is classed as UK homegrown according to FIFA guidelines because he was developed by Manchester City football team academy.

When you use the terminology of homebased and home grown in the context of the senior national team SE. It's not youth players we are talking about.

You are talking about in the here and now NPFL players who are home based and homegrown that's the pertinent description.

You are Shameless bigoted and retrogressive, you are the Nigerian problem.

Calling players of Nigerian origin foreign rejects imagine the audacious hypocrisy.


Below 👇🏿 the story of rejection of Eberechi Eze and his rejection even rejected by Nigeria. A Nigerian reject taken up by England.

https://vm.tiktok.com/ZGeVoywJd/