Joebie:
big stage get grade oh

Keshi's defense to 2014 WC how many had previous WC experience?

The Senegal team that reached the 2002 WC Quarter final, how many had WC experience?

Joebie:
Experience will come to bear especially in the later stages of the World Cup. Can the inexperienced stand the occasion and the tension that the play off stage brings in a competition of that magnitude? Until France hosted and won the world cup in 98, it has been the usual winners that win it again and again. Reason -- partly experience.

Not discounting experience in any way. Just stating that having a competition specific experience is not more important than the quality of the teams paraded.

Your last line however suggests that world cup winning experience is the reason only a few teams have been winning the world cup. I don't agree with that as none of the winning players since that same 1998 had ever played in a world cup winning team before their triumphs.

I agree that experience is valuable, but only when form is present. I also accept that we would probably have beaten Italy with more experience on our side

You can't buy experience.. it comes with time.. For now they look like our best option. Grade A international friendlies will be very helpful.

Icon4s:


Yeah, experience at that stage will help the team.

But you cannot tell me matured players like Balogun and Ekong cannot cope with the demands of the WC by next yr. If so then why are wasting time building the defense around them? We should flush them out of the team then.

tglobal:


@goldfish, Chidi Nwanu didn't have AFCON experience before USA 94 neither did Taribo in 98

Like safarigirl pointed out, our AFCON winning CB pair didn't even have a lot of national team experience before the tournament and we are not even going to win the world cup next year anyway.

Regarding the bolded, 23 or the 24 teams in the tournament came up short. Nigeria had one of the best defenses at the stage we went out of the competition and they kept out the bulgarian attacking force. Our vulnerability was set pieces which was responsible of for 3 of the 4 goals we conceded!

Did u remember Chidi Nwanu went Seoul 88,this was d period National team played Olympic not U23.Nwanu at that time had a great experience at home and very advanced in age before moving to Beveren and later Anderlecht,USA 94 was like a normal tournament for him.

Sometimes major tournament count as experience to some players but to some their club experience can withstand any tournament.Taribo may not have Afcon experience before France 98 but his club experience was enough to play in any tourney.

Truly our CB needs cohesiveness and understanding but i believe with time d CB w blend.Truth must be told d CB are not yet there but with time they w go places.

my last words says "PARTLY experience". Same reason why you said we would have probably beaten Italy. At least you get my point.

tglobal:


Not discounting experience in any way. Just stating that having a competition specific experience is not more important than the quality of the teams paraded.

Your last line however suggests that world cup winning experience is the reason only a few teams have been winning the world cup. I don't agree with that as none of the winning players since that same 1998 had ever played in a world cup winning team before their triumphs.

I agree that experience is valuable, but only when form is present. I also accept that we would probably have beaten Italy with more experience on our side

how far did Senegal go? How far did Nigeria go at the World Cup? You seem not to get my point.. maybe you need to read my comment again.

Icon4s:

Keshi's defense to 2014 WC how many had previous WC experience?

The Senegal team that reached the 2002 WC Quarter final, how many had WC experience?

tglobal:


@goldfish, Chidi Nwanu didn't have AFCON experience before USA 94 neither did Taribo in 98

Like safarigirl pointed out, our AFCON winning CB pair didn't even have a lot of national team experience before the tournament and we are not even going to win the world cup next year anyway.

Regarding the bolded, 23 or the 24 teams in the tournament came up short. Nigeria had one of the best defenses at the stage we went out of the competition and they kept out the bulgarian attacking force. Our vulnerability was set pieces which was responsible of for 3 of the 4 goals we conceded!

I have studied teams who have made it to the later stages of the world cup in the last 8years and I came to the conclusion that you need experience in the heart of the defence.
That diamond that is the Gk, CBs and Dm is the most important unit in a championship winning side.
This unit could have been solidified if we had played a major tournament since 2014. Unfortunately we haven't and this is a little bit of a handicap. Its not about the personel but about the unit.




Talking about Chidi Nwanu, you do realise we had an experienced Rufai in goal, Okechukwu and Sunday Olise. It is not am unstable unit at all.

Most people do not realise, we had a great chance of winning the world cup in 1994.

Our defence shipping in 2 goals after we had gone 1 goal up, against a 10 man Italian team was a huge let down.
Imagine the scenario if we had won that game, we would have played an underachieving Spanish team in the quarter finals. The same Spaniards we won in 1998 with a below ebb squad.
In the semi finals, we would have faced our side kicks, Bulgaria. The same Bulgarian team we won 3:0 in the first game.
In the finals, we could have faced Brazil. The same Brazilian team a squad of part timers that was the USA held to a goalless draw.

We simply dont have experienced defenders. But we should build the team with that in mind -- Hence, grade A friendlies. Inexperienced forwards can score against big teams. But you need experienced and well tested defenders to protect the lead, because Big teams are highly tactical and come up with different tricks when down.

goldfish80:


I have studied teams who have made it to the later stages of the world cup in the last 8years and I came to the conclusion that you need experience in the heart of the defence.
That diamond that is the Gk, CBs and Dm is the most important unit in a championship winning side.
This unit could have been solidified if we had played a major tournament since 2014. Unfortunately we haven't and this is a little bit of a handicap. Its not about the personel but about the unit.




Talking about Chidi Nwanu, you do realise we had an experienced Rufai in goal, Okechukwu and Sunday Olise. It is not am unstable unit at all.

Most people do not realise, we had a great chance of winning the world cup in 1994.

Our defence shipping in 2 goals after we had gone 1 goal up, against a 10 man Italian team was a huge let down.
Imagine the scenario if we had won that game, we would have played an underachieving Spanish team in the quarter finals. The same Spaniards we won in 1998 with a below ebb squad.
In the semi finals, we would have faced our side kicks, Bulgaria. The same Bulgarian team we won 3:0 in the first game.
In the finals, we could have faced Brazil. The same Brazilian team a squad of part timers that was the USA held to a goalless draw.

goldfish80:


I have studied teams who have made it to the later stages of the world cup in the last 8years and I came to the conclusion that you need experience in the heart of the defence.
That diamond that is the Gk, CBs and Dm is the most important unit in a championship winning side.
This unit could have been solidified if we had played a major tournament since 2014. Unfortunately we haven't and this is a little bit of a handicap. Its not about the personel but about the unit.




Talking about Chidi Nwanu, you do realise we had an experienced Rufai in goal, Okechukwu and Sunday Olise. It is not am unstable unit at all.

Most people do not realise, we had a great chance of winning the world cup in 1994.

Our defence shipping in 2 goals after we had gone 1 goal up, against a 10 man Italian team was a huge let down.
Imagine the scenario if we had won that game, we would have played an underachieving Spanish team in the quarter finals. The same Spaniards we won in 1998 with a below ebb squad.
In the semi finals, we would have faced our side kicks, Bulgaria. The same Bulgarian team we won 3:0 in the first game.
In the finals, we could have faced Brazil. The same Brazilian team a squad of part timers that was the USA held to a goalless draw.

Yea u are on point,not being in Afcon didn't make Nwanu inexperienced coz d same Nwanu was at Sroul 88.I can tell anybody that Nwanu was more experienced than Okechucwu and Olishe when it comes to football though he did not make any Afcon coz of Stephen Keshi's form.He made US 94 coz of Keshi poor form and injury which was glaring at Afcon 94.

Joebie:
You can't buy experience.. it comes with time.. For now they look like our best option. Grade A international friendlies will be very helpful.

This is what u were supposed to say all along.

They are best option for now.

That's why i earlier said we need to continue playing them to attain cohesion. Not only Grade A international friendlies. These our WC qualifying group games are even more testing than international friendlies.

Kog45:
Yea u are on point,not being in Afcon doesn't not make Nwanu inexperienced.I can tell anybody that Nwanu was more experienced than Okechucwu and Olishe when it comes to football though he did not make any Afcon coz of Stephen Keshi's form.He made US 94 coz of Keshi poor form and injury which was glaring at Afcon 94.

That is my point. Experience in the game helps u to cope at any given level. Nt jst only WC experience.

BascoVanVeli:


I think there is a level of over reaction, yes we do have some bad apples but what league doesn't? Man u were just denied a clean goal because of bad officiating. I think if the public can understand that these refs are human and do make mistakes the quicker we move on.
The LMC should not take the blame because they don't have the power over referees, that power belongs to their union. The LMC tried to ban that female ref u talked about but were stopped by the union, the rules actually says what she did was not wrong very annoying but within the rules.
Ifeanyi Ubah has been getting unfair press with the penalty issue, I watch Naija made every week on supersports and all the penalties i have seen awarded to IUFC were right calls with maybe one or two that depend on the kind of ref involved.
The only thing I need to see improve is discipline. Players and fans need to chill at these NPFL matches. I don't see fans in Spain running on the field to slap referees or players chasing the ref around the field. I saw a ref award a pk and as he was showing a yellow the player slapped it out of his hands.

if u think the controversial calls are out of error which every human is poor too then y is the referees in the lower league doing their thing with little or less error and as well as less controversies. Apart that if referees are making mistakes every now and then, the LMC should find a criteria which will make only the best referees in the country who has or pass the criteria to be the ones to be at the centre of the matches n not just anyow person.

furthermore I think the fans and the players' descipline has increased and improved this season because if not we would v had incessant crowd troubles with the inconsistencies and poor call we v had.

Remo stars were cheated in Ibadan against 3sc, Rivers also were cheated in Gombe and their players all showed professionalism by moving on with the games

Kog45:
Did u remember Chidi Nwanu went Seoul 88,this was d period National team play Olympic not U23.Nwanu at that time had a great experience at home and very advanced in age before moving to Beveren and later Anderlecht,USA 94 was like a normal tournament for him.

Sometimes major tournament count as experience to some players but to some their club experience can withstand any tournament.Taribo may not have Afcon experience before France 98 but his club experience was enough to play in any tourney.

Truly our CB needs cohesiveness and understanding but i believe with time d CB w blend.Truth must be told d CB are not yet there but with time they w go places.

@Kog 45

You just proved the crux of my post: You shouldn't be considered inexperienced because you never played in a big tournament. This was the reason I mentioned Taribo West

goldfish80:


I have studied teams who have made it to the later stages of the world cup in the last 8years and I came to the conclusion that you need experience in the heart of the defence.
That diamond that is the Gk, CBs and Dm is the most important unit in a championship winning side.
This unit could have been solidified if we had played a major tournament since 2014. Unfortunately we haven't and this is a little bit of a handicap. Its not about the personel but about the unit.




Talking about Chidi Nwanu, you do realise we had an experienced Rufai in goal, Okechukwu and Sunday Olise. It is not am unstable unit at all.

Most people do not realise, we had a great chance of winning the world cup in 1994.

Our defence shipping in 2 goals after we had gone 1 goal up, against a 10 man Italian team was a huge let down.
Imagine the scenario if we had won that game, we would have played an underachieving Spanish team in the quarter finals. The same Spaniards we won in 1998 with a below ebb squad.
In the semi finals, we would have faced our side kicks, Bulgaria. The same Bulgarian team we won 3:0 in the first game.
In the finals, we could have faced Brazil. The same Brazilian team a squad of part timers that was the USA held to a goalless draw.

The last sentence in ur 2nd paragraph underlines my point. It is not about the personnel but the unit.

That is why i give kudos to Rohr. He understands this fact and so has maintained a fairly similar backline even in a friendly where people were expecting all kinds of experiments

The key here is cohesiveness and playing as a unit. This will really help the team even if the CB do not have a WC or tournament experience.

Kog45:
Did u remember Chidi Nwanu went Seoul 88,this was d period National team played Olympic not U23.Nwanu at that time had a great experience at home and very advanced in age before moving to Beveren and later Anderlecht,USA 94 was like a normal tournament for him.

Sometimes major tournament count as experience to some players but to some their club experience can withstand any tournament.Taribo may not have Afcon experience before France 98 but his club experience was enough to play in any tourney.

Truly our CB needs cohesiveness and understanding but i believe with time d CB w blend.Truth must be told d CB are not yet there but with time they w go places.

Olympic football has always been for the U23.

Good points though.

Icon4s:


What is the status of the nationality switch for Aina?

Do u think he will available to us in June against SA?

100% Can't see any issues.

Icon4s:


Just single out Balogun on the lack of tournament experience. Echiejile and Omeruo have been to AFCON and WC. Ekong played in the last Olympics.

Honestly, I dnt have issues with our CB. What is needed is for Rohr to play them more together for them to achieve cohesion.

As it stands they are about the best we have. But let's not deceived ourselves none of them is anyway near top class. Good yes but that's about it.

Kog45, you just took me back memory lane with that mention of Seoul '88 team. A team that had players like: Chidi Nwanu, Austin Eguavoen, Silvanus Okpala, Ademola Adeshina, Emeka Ezeugo, Samuel Okwaraji, Osaro Obobaifo, Dominic Iorfa, Andrew Uweh, Samson Siasia, Rashidi Yekini among others. And got trashed by Brazil, Yugoslavia and Australia. What really went wrong I cant fathom till date.

In ur opinion what really went wrong with that stars studded team?

EXCLUSIVE: How Ezekiel Bassey bombed 1 million Euros Barcelona deal

SCORENigeria has gathered more details why Enyimba forward Ezekiel Bassey will not be offered a contract that would have fetched Enyimba over a million Euros from mighty Barcelona at the end of his much-celebrated loan move to Spain.

Bassey, nicknamed ‘Hazard’ by Enyimba fans after the Chelsea star, has failed to impress with Barcelona ‘B’ during his loan spell at the Catalan giants.

Despite joining Barca second team without any trials, he did not impress in training but the deal breaker was his below-par performance for Barcelona B in an international friendly against a Zambian team.

“Bassey is not Barcelona standard and those who recommended him to the club do not know football,” a top source told only SCORENigeria in sheer frustration.

“He did not measure up during the friendly match he played for them and even in training he has failed to impress.

“He has now blocked more deserving Nigerian players from Barcelona.”

SCORENigeria was reliably informed Enyimba stood to be richer by a million Euros had Bassey been given a contract in the summer.

It was further understood that his residence papers will come through, but after what he has showed on the pitch, the papers will no longer be necessary.

Bassey, who has already debuted for the Super Eagles, was to have been offered a permanent deal had he impressed at the end of his loan spell in the summer.

http://scorenigeria.com.ng/2017/04/05/exclusive-how-ezekiel-bassey-bombed-1-million-euros-barcelona-deal/

komekn:


As it stands they are about the best we have. But let's not deceived ourselves none of them is anyway near top class. Good yes but that's about it.

No wahala but we'll continue scouting as we are in a building process.

But for now until we see better replacements they need to play more together to attain cohesion

komekn:

100% Can't see any issues.

Ok. Time will tell. Dnt say i didnt raise concerns abt it.

Icon4s:


I say again, that is no problem. Balogun and Troost are matured and experienced enough to suit into any tourney be it AFCON or WC. Omeruo i am sure u know his level of exposure.

Where are those Nigerian CBS outside this team that have those tournament experience?

I understand ur worry but that is what we have for now. After all the 1994 WC defense did nt have any WC experience.

Remember we are not Brazil, Germany, France or Spain.

What that defense needs now is cohesion. If there is any CB that u feel is better than what we have now bring forward his name.

Unfortunately we don't have any centre backs playing in the top teams and or have played in the Champions league.

Top players get eventually into top teams consider Ndidi not even one complete season in the EPL and he is a target for the big clubs in the premiership already. That is a reflection of quality.

komekn:


Unfortunately we don't have any centre backs playing in the top teams and or have played in the Champions league.

Top players get eventually into top teams consider Ndidi not even one complete season in the EPL and he is a target for the big clubs in the premiership already. That is a reflection of quality.

Dnt worry, after a fantastic 2018 WC showing our CB would be considered in big clubs. And by 2022 WC we'll have CBs that play both in big clubs and with WC experience. Hahahaha!

Icon4s:

Ok. Time will tell. Dnt say i didnt raise concerns abt it.

The only issue that can impede it is NFF incompetence. It does not take long at all.

Icon4s:


That why i have always maintained that Omeruo's presence in that defense is key.

Or do we call back Yobo, Obaobona and Ambrose? Since na CBs with tournament experience u dey find.

Ambrose possibly yes he is having a resurgence in his carrier after being frozen out by Brendan he will soon get his Scottish nationality and that means no more work permit issues.

Which means he could be in the EPL next season.

goldfish80:


I think that's the reason Rohr have been calling for Enyeama. He would have brought a fine balance to the CBs.
Omeruo is a key man in the defence. It will take an unrealistic fellow to write him off.

To be honest and objective Enyeama is the best goalkeeper in Africa or at least one of the top 3 in Africa.

The calls for him are clearly justified and the abysmal way he was treated by Oliseh is simply atrocious.

With regard to Omeruo he is far from great but he is among the best we have for now.

Well the qualifiers, yes and No. While international friendlies may not be a true test, it adds another dimension to their experience. I always like to ask, what will give us an edge over other teams? If we do the average, we should not expect big results in the long term. Most teams are also in the qualifying round and they will be working on building a cohesive unit as well. Hence, we should always be on the look for better players.

Icon4s:


This is what u were supposed to say all along.

They are best option for now.

That's why i earlier said we need to continue playing them to attain cohesion. Not only Grade A international friendlies. These our WC qualifying group games are even more testing than international friendlies.

komekn:


Ambrose possibly yes he is having a resurgence in his carrier after being frozen out by Brendan he will soon get his Scottish nationality and that means no more work permit issues.

Which means he could be in the EPL next season.

Ambrose is currently playing in the Scottish Championship though. That is probably equivalent to league 1 or 2 in England.

Does he still have the legs for the EPL?

tbaba1234:


The only issue that can impede it is NFF incompetence. It does not take long at all.

The NFF. That is my point. I wont say much.

Icon4s:


Yeah, experience at that stage will help the team.

But you cannot tell me matured players like Balogun and Ekong cannot cope with the demands of the WC by next yr. If so then why are wasting time building the defense around them? We should flush them out of the team then.

With respect these guys are not playing for Bayern, Real, PSG, Chelsea or any of the big boys. They are simply not top class.

However, it is seemingly the best we have.

Joebie:
Well the qualifiers, yes and No. While international friendlies may not be a true test, it adds another dimension to their experience. I always like to ask, what will give us an edge over other teams? If we do the average, we should not expect big results in the long term. Most teams are also in the qualifying round and they will be working on building a cohesive unit as well. Hence, we should always be on the look for better players.

See my brother, no Grade A friendly can be as testing as playing Cameroun in Uyo and 4 days later playing them in Younde. Also playing Zambia in Uyo and going to face Algeria in Blida.

These 4 fixtures are tougher than so many WC games already. Friendlies are what they are: 'friendlies'. These these 4 WC qualifiers battles are what they are: 'Battles'.

I am not ruling out friendlies but what IMO opinion will toughen that defense more are those 4 WC qualifying battles including the games against SA.

komekn:


With respect these guys are not playing for Bayern, Real, PSG, Chelsea or any of the big boys. They are simply not top class.

However, it is seemingly the best we have.

Yes. We have come to a safe landing in that.