soetanoreoluwa:


I'm really enjoying it... Very nice... Staying glued with it right now.. Thanks... I can see all goodjoe and Michael talks now ...

Icon4s:


Comparing benching at Arsenal that had Henry and Beckamp as strike partners with Leicester that has Vardy and Okazaki as strike partners. Even at that Kanu had a fairly good run of games. You are even comparing benching Iheanacho at Leicester with benching Morata at Real Madrid. Chai na was o.

He should continue being a bencher all his career. Is that what you want for him? So if he is not in Mancity where he is benched he should not play anywhere else?

Look, he better performs tonight against a lower division team like leeds, else his case will get worse.

Icon4s:


Comparing benching at Arsenal that had Henry and Beckamp as strike partners with Leicester that has Vardy and Okazaki as strike partners. Even at that Kanu had a fairly good run of games. You are even comparing benching Iheanacho at Leicester with benching Morata at Real Madrid. Chai na was o.

He should continue being a bencher all his career. Is that what you want for him? So if he is not in Mancity where he is benched he should not play anywhere else?

Look, he better performs tonight against a lower division team like leeds, else his case will get worse.

Mujtahida:

I'm glad that you are enjoying the feast. After reading some of the articles there I came out with a renewed appreciation of the job of coaches and the players. There's more to football than we assume. It's not just kicking balls or merely scoring goals. It's a deep and rigorous endeavour.

Dedebanky85:
What always killed us was the Nations cup in a world cup year. We had stupid administrators that used that as a yardstick and opportunity to boot the qualifying coach out if they didn't win the Nations cup. Happened to Amodu twice. In 1998 they wanted first class coach. But in 2014, there was no moral justification to remove Keshi as you cannot base a sack on friendly games.
But while they respected late Keshi, he selected his team in a criteria that was beyond any logical human comprehension. Though, we had an ok first 11, we had a rubbish bench and you need a good bench for competitions. He succumbed to the cries of journalists and agents. Hence, I like Rohr, cos he would not fall for this yama yama suggestions of players I see everywhere. He has that tough German coaching mentality and that would help us a lot.
Radical changes to a team never helps a team regardless of how good the new players are.

The same tough german mentality that made him invite Aron Samuel for camerroon double header?

Napoleon55:
what if the decision to play unselfish could affect his game negatively,where he could no longer contribute to d success of the team.
which will lead to counter productive just because he wanted to please some people.
the truth is that Victor Moses is very effect with the way he plays,nobody need to tell him to adjust his game and becomes unselfish,because it gives us results.
there should be one player in a team that should be given the liberty to play that way as long as it produces results.
eg. NERMER,OKOCHA,RONALDINHO,etc.
the problem would be when most of the team start playing to their galleries. exception of just one player is ok for me.

safarigirl:
so, the problem is with his striking partner then?

Napoleon55:
what if the decision to play unselfish could affect his game negatively,where he could no longer contribute to d success of the team.
which will lead to counter productive just because he wanted to please some people.
the truth is that Victor Moses is very effect with the way he plays,nobody need to tell him to adjust his game and becomes unselfish,because it gives us results.
there should be one player in a team that should be given the liberty to play that way as long as it produces results.
eg. NERMER,OKOCHA,RONALDINHO,etc.
the problem would be when most of the team start playing to their galleries. exception of just one player is ok for me.

Humility017:

someone should please tell that Leicester to get a coach...
not another Shakespeare....
because from what i am seeing now..they might later confirm the appointment of this caretaker manager

safarigirl:
your work here now na to dey critic players. Any time you wuestion a player, dem dey play well.

Ebuehi

Awaziem

...now Nacho

Abeg ehn, before our first World Cup match, finish the entire first XI

elyte89:





One billion like for dis post.do u knw y I don't take most of our unofficial scout serious here is DT,dey re not ROHR,all what dey say on dis forum,is just for dem to make demselves happy and wyle away time


Rohr av made it clear countless times in his interviews of his recent dt he would consider majorly those who were called up against Cameroon and zambia,barring no injuries to dem,

Peeps here,don't realise d importance of team chemistry and bonding, I just laff when some persons here will suggest an ogu to be dropped for ajagun or ezenwa to b dropped for AIYENUGBA and so on

Compiling of list goes beyond " FOOTBALL REASON",for example let us assume A Mikel obi loses form and its obvious,he would never b dropped for An AJAGUN/ALUKO,even if d later scores 100goals for deir teams respectively.


Mikels presence alone in d team goes beyond his performance on d pitch of play,its present in d team also lift d psyche of d young players around,Mikel is d PSEUDO assistant coach of our team. also some persons mite not b too gud eg echiejile,but if u ask me,God forbid,na Only DEATH fit stop echiejile from been on d plane to Russia,not even bad form.he would b rewarded for his commitment and also being a nucleus of d team who worked tirelessly for us to qualify, though he may not b a starter when d tournament starts,but he's going.

Having said DT,Rohr knows 90 percent of his team going to world cup,we shld only expect a lil change from his defence/striking dept of d team

Mujtahida:

In 1994 though we had a really good team inexperience took us out. It was a first for the players, the technical crew and also the officials. And then in fighting and squabbling among the players as there are stories that players refused to pass the ball to Rashidi.
Lesson: Rohr too is a newbie. He should ask coaches who've been to the World Cup to learn from their experiences, he should brush up tactically and maintain the good spirit in the team. Apart from Mikel, Echiejile, Moses, Omeruo (? dey him head sha) Enyeama (if he makes the squad) Musa, the rest of the players are new. Team spirit and morale should be the highest priority cos it is where there's unity that anything worthwhile can be achieved. As for the officials, we lack continuity. I doubt if there's still any of the officials that went to Brazil that is still with the federation to give useful hints and guidelines.

France 98: first error was to change the coach who qualified us Phillipe Trousier for Bora Militunovic . We took a fairly experienced World Cup squad but yet had weak spots in the attack and GK departments. Rashidi was old and out of form, ditto Rufai. We had no real CF as Ikpeba wasn't an out and out forward for the Super Eagles (though he scored in the game against Bulgaria). That team too had serious issues of disunity as those were the heydays of the much talked about Super Eagles mafia(Amokachi was injured but he still went to the World Cup). Hubris took over us after we topped our group and we began dreaming of Brazil instead of Denmark who were our next opponents(I read that the Danes got our tapes, watched it and you all know the end)
Lessons: Don't change the coach. Washed up players of the old brigade should be totally left out(of course except Enyeama who also must prove himself). Players must be united and should not let pride eat into them should they win matches. We must also study our opponents thoroughly and take each game as it comes.

Korea/Japan 2002: Pre World Cup preparations were fair as we played three friendlies against Paraguay and Jamaica and Scotland- not top sides though. We didn't learn from the previous World Cup as we changed Shaibu Amoudu who qualified us and replaced him with Onigbinde. Newbies like Ogbeche who flashed a bicycle kick in one friendly had everybody hollering his name. He went to the World Cup and was a flop. That team also lacked depth. We heard stories about Taribo refusing to play to instruction.
Lesson: Do not change the coach. We need quality grade A friendlies not teams like Liechtenstein or Azerbaijan. We need discretion to be able to sift real quality from empty showmen who will disappoint when crunch time arrives. Players should avoid insubordination. The team should have depth.

South Africa 2010: preparations were poor. I can't remember that we played any friendlies. Same mistake again occurred (them jazz us abi) as Amoudu qualified us again and was ditched. Lars Lagersback took charge and I swear I really can't pin point what the problem was except to say our players played like they had drunk Lager beer: Yakubu suddenly became epileptic in front of goal, Kaita flared up for no reason. Of course since we didn't participate in Germany 06 we took an inexperienced side to the World Cup. They were not just inexperienced, they also were not hungry enough because our group wasn't that tough(Nigeria, Argentina, South Korea and Greece) The team also lacked depth as our lean years had begun from 2006 or even farther back. First round we were out.
Lessons: Don't change the Coach. The team must be robust in all departments and deep in depth and quality.

Brazil 2014: The lesson had been learnt or so it seemed cos Keshi qualified us and was at the Mundial as our Coach. Preparation was poor as we played just two or so friendly matches. Uchebo, Reuben Gabriel, Oshinawa, Babatunde broke into the squad and some into the first eleven. In fact much of the players that won the Afcon 2013 and played in the qualifiers were dropped. It even looked like a new squad was taken to the World Cup a new squad that was seriously lacking in depth as can be seen from the Onazi injury in the match with France. Those were the peak of our lean years because truly everywhere was barren (in terms of quality) as personally I couldn't reel off players doing well at least not like we can do today. Player agents played their cards well and succeeded, the coach compromised and wafflers made the squad. Issues of player bonuses made headlines and a chartered flight with cash had to be flown to Brazil to save us from international embarrassment.
Lessons: Preparation for the tournament should be top notch with quality friendly matches at least four. FIFA handles much of the logistics regarding hotels and flights during the tournament proper so no excuses. No compromises: players should go by merit. New bloods should be of high quality and should not be more than seven so that baring injuries, loss of form etc 90% of those who played the qualifiers should form the nucleus of the squad. We should be hungry to go far beyond our best yet. Nothing stretches and brings out the best like a dream that is deep and glorious. Our coach should also brush up tactically because football has become an intensely intellectual endeavour where men have turned the sport into a battle field of the mind. Tactical strength, suitable tactical game plan and flexibility should come to play in our strategies.

I wish our team the best. Mikel greet Olga family on our behalf.
Assignment:Project Vladimir
Codeword: Victoria
Location:Russia
Time:June/July 2018

Viva Super Eagles!!!!

Goke7:
Some lessons so far on our failed world cup attempts from responses so far include

1. Stick to the coach that qualifies you for the world cup cos you you need that strong bond between the coach and the players who have been working tirelessly together.
2. Do not discard half or majority of the players that qualified you for the world cup as it affects team spirit and you end up with players in the world cup who are strange bed fellows. Case in point keshi despite qualifying for the world cup and going to the world cup ended up with players who were not really used to each other. This may be the reason Mikel rejected the inclusion of ramon azeez in the game against France.
3. Go with at least 90% of your players who qualified you for the world cup. case in point USA 94 team. If you must bring in new players, very very few.
4. Nff need to sort out issues of bonus and players welfare on time. I heard before the end of this year, Nff will meet with the players to tell them how much they will earn during the world cup next year. Good one I must say.
5. Quality warm up games for the team, perhaps warm up games against Germany and Yugoslavia brought out the best of Nigeria against Spain in France 98.

Goke7:


my guy it's all in the past, let's not loose sight of the discussion, what lessons can we learn from our past failures, e.g. Be careful with players close to retirement making the world cup list. This is where am afraid with the enyeama thing though am one of his biggest fans. Players getting close to retirement making our world cup list has not paid us at all including your beloved Yobo and the list goes on, rufai and yekini 2002 inclusive. I hope we won't start hearing calls for Obafemi martins and taiye taiwo soon.

This world cup should even be the last for players like musa, onazi, mikel, echeijile, omeruo if makes it and even moses if we say we want to improve our football in the long term.

TheGoodJoe:


Just wanted to point out that the Super Eagles were not performing in 1997, struggling to get results and I think we lost 1-0 to Kenya. This led to the NFF deciding to disengage coach Phillipe Troussierre.

Coach Monday Sinclair replaced him and when he coached us in the last leg of the qualifiers against Kenya, we looked a different team, playing brilliant football and thrashed Kenya 3-0.

I think Coach Monday Sinclair should have been given the chance but the NFF was not going to risk going with a home based coach to the World Cup. That is what led to the employment of Coach Bora Milutinovic.

Goke7:


apart from age, how hungry are these players? pls let's not derail this conservation, if you think you will better in collating the points, then do it. there is already a growing consensus that players like yekini and okocha did not give their very best even at the prime of their careers, so you think those players mentioned earlier will still give their best in another four years? Pls think again, we are just looking for the very best solution to our previous world cup woes, nothing personal here but how we can perform better at the world cup.

TheGoodJoe:


Just wanted to point out that the Super Eagles were not performing in 1997, struggling to get results and I think we lost 1-0 to Kenya. This led to the NFF deciding to disengage coach Phillipe Troussierre.

Coach Monday Sinclair replaced him and when he coached us in the last leg of the qualifiers against Kenya, we looked a different team, playing brilliant football and thrashed Kenya 3-0.

I think Coach Monday Sinclair should have been given the chance but the NFF was not going to risk going with a home based coach to the World Cup. That is what led to the employment of Coach Bora Milutinovic.

TheGoodJoe:


Just wanted to point out that the Super Eagles were not performing in 1997, struggling to get results and I think we lost 1-0 to Kenya. This led to the NFF deciding to disengage coach Phillipe Troussierre.

Coach Monday Sinclair replaced him and when he coached us in the last leg of the qualifiers against Kenya, we looked a different team, playing brilliant football and thrashed Kenya 3-0.

I think Coach Monday Sinclair should have been given the chance but the NFF was not going to risk going with a home based coach to the World Cup. That is what led to the employment of Coach Bora Milutinovic.

imatalks:
this iheanacho goal reminds me of a striker that rarely shoots but only places the ball beyond the reach of goal keepers....
Romario.

tglobal:


The Kenyan match you are talking about was in 1995, for the 96 olympic qualifiers.

The change made to the team after the uninspiring goalless draw in Lagos was the inclusion of Oliseh, Okocha, West and other Europe based players. Up until the draw, the only foreign based star to have been integrated in the team was Kanu and even he didn't play in the match against Kenya. We went into the all important "do-or-die" return leg in Mombasa with our "stars" and returned with a 3-0 victory. Not sure the coach was changed as Willy Bazuaye was still in charge of the dream team until Bonfrere Jo arrived months later

TheGoodJoe:


Even Kanu Nwankwo was on the bench at Arsenal. Making benching at 21 a taboo does not add up. Morata, a player I watched in awe in the last game against Watford, where his play sparked light bulbs in my head, coining a term I tagged a deep lying striker, was benching at Madrid last season at 24.

The development at Man City is more important than the playing time and fighting for shirt at Leicester City. I just hope Nacho lands in the hands of a quality coach although I doubt the ambitions of Leicester board members.

Icon4s:


Read your first paragraph again. Were you not clearly making a case for Iheanacho being on the bench comparing his case with those of Morata and Kanu? Abi I know understand English again.

So if Iheanacho does not play or 'develop' at Mancity he should not play for any other club?

OK he scored and gave assist last night. Are we not happy for it?

The boy go chop Mancity bench all him life?

tglobal:


Just to put the records straight...

We were grouped with Burkina Faso, Guinea and Kenya and Amodu was in charge at the start of the qualifiers (the first two matches).

Due to the hangover from the olympics victory, Nigerians expected the team to play in a certain way and resoundingly defeat any opponents we faced (especially in Africa). Such was this confidence in the players abilities that deep down, many felt we didnt need a coach to perform well. With this type of expectation, anything less than an imperious performance will be put down to the coach. This was what Amodu faced:

We beat BF 2 - 0 in the first match in Lagos from two second half goals. The second match was a different story altogether as we needed a header from Akpoborire to draw level against Kenya in Nairobi. The result was greeted with anger by the fans and the blame fell at the feet of Amodu. That was when he famously declared that Nigeria needed a foreign sports minister when Jim Nwobodo decided that the local coaches would not do it.

In came Phillipe Troussier with his own brand of football. He introduced the 3-5-2 system to the Eagles and led them to two uninspiring 2-1 victories (Guinea at home and BF away). The fans and the press blamed his system for the performance and he had to revert to 4-3-3/4-4-2 in the return 3-0 victory against Kenya where we picked our ticket with one match to spare. IT is worthy to note that, in the midst of Nigerian's dissatisfaction at his playing pattern, Clemens Westerhof was at the stands and received a resounding welcome(Troussier accused Kodjo Williams who was a friend of Westerhof of orchestrating this)

We went to Guinea for the final dead rubber match and lost 1- 0. The Guineans dominance over the eagles in that match led to a clamor for his sack and he was relieved of his role shortly afterwards (forget the fact that we have always found it difficult to get the upper hand against Guinea in senior matches, be it CHAN, WAFU or tournament qualifiers)

I have read that Bora had little time to prepare for the word cup, but he had at least 6 months to do that