WAFU B U17: GHANA 2 v EAGLETS 4 (FT)

[ukwala]

That free kick goal!! Wow..How come not a single player in the super eagles can come close to striking the ball like that Kid?

That's why we have to massively invest in our youth teams and stop this backdoor nonsense of forcing already made foreign born rejects who see Nigeria as their last resort option to play for us...look at how the U20 team that just won the WAFU U20 tournament played some fantastic football (something our senior team struggles to do), left for me I say we keep few players from the senior NT like Ndidi, Iwobi, Aribo, Osimhen,Bassey,Aina, Zaidu and Lookman, then transition some of that U20 boys into the senior team, if you're good enough then you're old enough.

5 of the 8 are foreign born. Why shut the door to where they came from?

4.
Iwobi was born in Nigeria.

He will have to be classified as ‘foreign born’ in the context it is used here. He was born in Nigeria but travelled abroad soon after, as a toddler. Iwobi is certainly not considered home bred.

[Orion]

That free kick goal!! Wow..How come not a single player in the super eagles can come close to striking the ball like that Kid?

That's why we have to massively invest in our youth teams and stop this backdoor nonsense of forcing already made foreign born rejects who see Nigeria as their last resort option to play for us...look at how the U20 team that just won the WAFU U20 tournament played some fantastic football (something our senior team struggles to do), left for me I say we keep few players from the senior NT like Ndidi, Iwobi, Aribo, Osimhen,Bassey,Aina, Zaidu and Lookman, then transition some of that U20 boys into the senior team, if you're good enough then you're old enough.

I agree that we're getting second-rate foreign-born talent as the first-class players are snapped up before we can get anywhere near them. This is why it is paramount that we produce our own talent at home to even come close to being able to compete with European nations on an equal footing. We have regressed significantly since the early 90s. Right now, I believe a proper combination of local players and foreign players will give us a stronger team than we currently have.

I really object to terms such as ‘second rate’ and ‘rejects’ as it is applies to dual nationality footballers.
Maybe it is semantics but I think it is both disrespectful to the players and self-deprecating on our part.

The fact that a player does not make the squad of any of the world’s top 6 or 10 elite national teams does not make him ‘second rate’ or a ‘reject’ in the true sense.
Of course, everyone knows what they mean when they use such terms, but I get the distinct impression that in our case we consistently use it in a derogatory way.

If a player is in the orbit of the England, Germany, Italy, Brazil, Spain, Belgium or similar national squads and doesn’t make the final cut, it doesn’t negate his quality. It just means there is someone else slightly ‘better’, or ‘suitable’ - and even that can be subjective, depending on the views and needs of the coach. You can only call 23 players for a tournament. Not 230.

I can’t imagine a Chidi Emeka Santos not making the squad of Brazil or a Tonye Oghene Schumacher of Germany being referred to as ‘second rate’ by Nigerians whose only claim to world football fame is the U17 World Cup and the Olympic soccer gold.
That’s really a bit rich.

And anyway, if we insist on calling them ‘rejects’ and for whatever reason they are still better than their Nigerian-born competitors and they are ready to play, then we’d better take them.
No-one remembers that ish when they win the laurels. No-one cares.

I don't like that term as well. I've used it simply for lack of a better term. Perhaps "2nd tier" can be used, but whichever term you use, it still comes across as seeing them as less than.

I agree that many of them are currently better than our homegrown, mostly because we've largely abandoned developing and investing in our local league. We need to look at the long game here. If we start relying more on these "2nd tier" players, we'll never ever be able to compete on an equal footing with top European nations again.

[Gotti]

Yes sir! Those days are long gone. Shame on coach John Obua & his age cheating. I was disgusted with some of the u-17 team that lost in the final.

13 years later and counting, the likes of Kenneth Omeruo, Ogenyi Onazi, Olarenwaju Kayode, Ramon Azeez, Abdul Ajagun, etc., from John Obuh's Eaglets' squad are still thriving. Even wrt the infamous Stanley "Little Messi" Okoro, his OLDER brother Osas Okoro was playing for the Home-Based SE (at CHAN and WAFU tournaments) up until the Covid pandemic.

Obviously cannot vouch for anyone's real age, but the reality is that many folks leap to precipitous conclusions about age often on the basis of the most obtuse and vacuous of reasons, routinely embarking on the sort of stereotypical generalizations that would incense most of us if others made similar generalizations or leapt to precipitous negative conclusions about us on the basis of our race, national origin or Nigerian education. Folks need to do better.

[Gotti]

I really object to terms such as ‘second rate’ and ‘rejects’ as it is applies to dual nationality footballers.
Maybe it is semantics but I think it is both disrespectful to the players and self-deprecating on our part.

It should bother you as it applies to ALL players...
Curiously, when SUBSTANTIVELY applied to HB players, it's crickets from you lot. SMH

[Gotti]

I agree that many of them are currently better than our homegrown, mostly because we've largely abandoned developing and investing in our local league. We need to look at the long game here. If we start relying more on these "2nd tier" players, we'll never ever be able to compete on an equal footing with top European nations again.

Some are better and some (perhaps many) are worse...
At least the last time we won AFCON, we had myriad "homegrown" and HB players.

[Damunk]

I really object to terms such as ‘second rate’ and ‘rejects’ as it is applies to dual nationality footballers.
Maybe it is semantics but I think it is both disrespectful to the players and self-deprecating on our part.

It should bother you as it applies to ALL players...
Curiously, when SUBSTANTIVELY applied to HB players, it's crickets from you lot. SMH

That might be because the terms are almost exclusively used to describe dual nationality players that aren’t quite literally jumping to “play ball” with Nigeria.
You know this but the ‘Mr Sophistry’ in you just had to make your customary silly retort.

As for the HB, if they’re not good enough, they’re not and I’ll say so. Just like I point out players like Ajayi, Balogun and now Ekong. Not to mention the Danny Shittus and even Efan Ekokus of yore.
But again, you won’t see that will you?.

[packerland]

Yes sir! Those days are long gone. Shame on coach John Obua & his age cheating. I was disgusted with some of the u-17 team that lost in the final.

13 years later and counting, the likes of Kenneth Omeruo, Ogenyi Onazi, Olarenwaju Kayode, Ramon Azeez, Abdul Ajagun, etc., from John Obuh's Eaglets' squad are still thriving. Even wrt the infamous Stanley "Little Messi" Okoro, his OLDER brother Osas Okoro was playing for the Home-Based SE (at CHAN and WAFU tournaments) up until the Covid pandemic.

Obviously cannot vouch for anyone's real age, but the reality is that many folks leap to precipitous conclusions about age often on the basis of the most obtuse and vacuous of reasons, routinely embarking on the sort of stereotypical generalizations that would incense most of us if others made similar generalizations or leapt to precipitous negative conclusions about us on the basis of our race, national origin or Nigerian education. Folks need to do better.

Are you saying they played with their real age because they are still active? What about the other 15 squad members? Heck, the highest goal scorer, Sani Emmanuel retired in 2015. Most of the players in that squad are at least 3 years older than their stated age and other than a couple, no one peaked later in their career.

We can keep fooling ourselves by mentioning certain European born players that look older. The point of the matter is that you and I know what 15-17 year old look like in Nigeria. Heck, not many 17 year olds play in the NPL which tells you something. I realize that in a real u-17 squad, one or two players might fail the eye test but if so many “looks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then it probably is a duck.”

[Enugu II]

Yes sir! Those days are long gone. Shame on coach John Obua & his age cheating. I was disgusted with some of the u-17 team that lost in the final.

13 years later and counting, the likes of Kenneth Omeruo, Ogenyi Onazi, Olarenwaju Kayode, Ramon Azeez, Abdul Ajagun, etc., from John Obuh's Eaglets' squad are still thriving. Even wrt the infamous Stanley "Little Messi" Okoro, his OLDER brother Osas Okoro was playing for the Home-Based SE (at CHAN and WAFU tournaments) up until the Covid pandemic.

Obviously cannot vouch for anyone's real age, but the reality is that many folks leap to precipitous conclusions about age often on the basis of the most obtuse and vacuous of reasons, routinely embarking on the sort of stereotypical generalizations that would incense most of us if others made similar generalizations or leapt to precipitous negative conclusions about us on the basis of our race, national origin or Nigerian education. Folks need to do better.

Are you saying they played with their real age because they are still active? What about the other 15 squad members? Heck, the highest goal scorer, Sani Emmanuel retired in 2015. Most of the players in that squad are at least 3 years older than their stated age and other than a couple, no one peaked later in their career.

We can keep fooling ourselves by mentioning certain European born players that look older. The point of the matter is that you and I know what 15-17 year old look like in Nigeria. Heck, not many 17 year olds play in the NPL which tells you something. I realize that in a real u-17 squad, one or two players might fail the eye test but if so many “looks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then it probably is a duck.”

Packerland,

There is No WHERE IN THE WORLD where all u17 players continue playing until the senior level. That is simply impossible and illogical. It just never happen. I provided a worldwide research on that, sampling different teams across the world, and many teams had players who disappeared from football after u17. One of those included a football England u17 captain. Were all those resulting from age cheating? The fact is that at such an age, many new interests can prevent a player from moving further including stunted football development, new interests beyond football, late developers going ahead, etc You name other reasons. The world just happens.

[bret- hart]

Yes sir! Those days are long gone. Shame on coach John Obua & his age cheating. I was disgusted with some of the u-17 team that lost in the final.

13 years later and counting, the likes of Kenneth Omeruo, Ogenyi Onazi, Olarenwaju Kayode, Ramon Azeez, Abdul Ajagun, etc., from John Obuh's Eaglets' squad are still thriving. Even wrt the infamous Stanley "Little Messi" Okoro, his OLDER brother Osas Okoro was playing for the Home-Based SE (at CHAN and WAFU tournaments) up until the Covid pandemic.

Obviously cannot vouch for anyone's real age, but the reality is that many folks leap to precipitous conclusions about age often on the basis of the most obtuse and vacuous of reasons, routinely embarking on the sort of stereotypical generalizations that would incense most of us if others made similar generalizations or leapt to precipitous negative conclusions about us on the basis of our race, national origin or Nigerian education. Folks need to do better.

Are you saying they played with their real age because they are still active? What about the other 15 squad members? Heck, the highest goal scorer, Sani Emmanuel retired in 2015. Most of the players in that squad are at least 3 years older than their stated age and other than a couple, no one peaked later in their career.

We can keep fooling ourselves by mentioning certain European born players that look older. The point of the matter is that you and I know what 15-17 year old look like in Nigeria. Heck, not many 17 year olds play in the NPL which tells you something. I realize that in a real u-17 squad, one or two players might fail the eye test but if so many “looks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then it probably is a duck.”

How many players from that Swiss team that beat us is still active aside from seferovic? Are they now overaged? Stop with your generalizations. Omeruo is still active and part of the SE. Onazi would have been part of the team if not for injuries thanks to that horror tackle from matuidi. Emmanuel Sani had health issues that cut shirt his carrier. Looking at him you can tell he looked young even at U 20. Kayode still plays in the Turkish top flight and really should be in the SEs team ahead of Musa.

And also how about the Europeans? Wayne Roony is 37 officially but looks like he is 57. Michael Owen retired at 26. Bastien Swinsteger has Grey hair despite being only 38. If these guys were Nigerians you would swear they were overaged.

[Enugu II]

Yes sir! Those days are long gone. Shame on coach John Obua & his age cheating. I was disgusted with some of the u-17 team that lost in the final.

13 years later and counting, the likes of Kenneth Omeruo, Ogenyi Onazi, Olarenwaju Kayode, Ramon Azeez, Abdul Ajagun, etc., from John Obuh's Eaglets' squad are still thriving. Even wrt the infamous Stanley "Little Messi" Okoro, his OLDER brother Osas Okoro was playing for the Home-Based SE (at CHAN and WAFU tournaments) up until the Covid pandemic.

Obviously cannot vouch for anyone's real age, but the reality is that many folks leap to precipitous conclusions about age often on the basis of the most obtuse and vacuous of reasons, routinely embarking on the sort of stereotypical generalizations that would incense most of us if others made similar generalizations or leapt to precipitous negative conclusions about us on the basis of our race, national origin or Nigerian education. Folks need to do better.

Are you saying they played with their real age because they are still active? What about the other 15 squad members? Heck, the highest goal scorer, Sani Emmanuel retired in 2015. Most of the players in that squad are at least 3 years older than their stated age and other than a couple, no one peaked later in their career.

We can keep fooling ourselves by mentioning certain European born players that look older. The point of the matter is that you and I know what 15-17 year old look like in Nigeria. Heck, not many 17 year olds play in the NPL which tells you something. I realize that in a real u-17 squad, one or two players might fail the eye test but if so many “looks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then it probably is a duck.”

How many players from that Swiss team that beat us is still active aside from seferovic? Are they now overaged? Stop with your generalizations. Omeruo is still active and part of the SE. Onazi would have been part of the team if not for injuries thanks to that horror tackle from matuidi. Emmanuel Sani had health issues that cut shirt his carrier. Looking at him you can tell he looked young even at U 20. Kayode still plays in the Turkish top flight and really should be in the SEs team ahead of Musa.

And also how about the Europeans? Wayne Roony is 37 officially but looks like he is 57. Michael Owen retired at 26. Bastien Swinsteger has Grey hair. If these guys were Nigerian you would swear they were overaged.

I amazed that packerland believes that all u17 players have to be active as if to state their world is just football. Not possible. These are young guys who have not even made football a career just yet. They are not u23 guys.

[txj]

Yes sir! Those days are long gone. Shame on coach John Obua & his age cheating. I was disgusted with some of the u-17 team that lost in the final.

13 years later and counting, the likes of Kenneth Omeruo, Ogenyi Onazi, Olarenwaju Kayode, Ramon Azeez, Abdul Ajagun, etc., from John Obuh's Eaglets' squad are still thriving. Even wrt the infamous Stanley "Little Messi" Okoro, his OLDER brother Osas Okoro was playing for the Home-Based SE (at CHAN and WAFU tournaments) up until the Covid pandemic.

Obviously cannot vouch for anyone's real age, but the reality is that many folks leap to precipitous conclusions about age often on the basis of the most obtuse and vacuous of reasons, routinely embarking on the sort of stereotypical generalizations that would incense most of us if others made similar generalizations or leapt to precipitous negative conclusions about us on the basis of our race, national origin or Nigerian education. Folks need to do better.

Are you saying they played with their real age because they are still active? What about the other 15 squad members? Heck, the highest goal scorer, Sani Emmanuel retired in 2015. Most of the players in that squad are at least 3 years older than their stated age and other than a couple, no one peaked later in their career.

We can keep fooling ourselves by mentioning certain European born players that look older. The point of the matter is that you and I know what 15-17 year old look like in Nigeria. Heck, not many 17 year olds play in the NPL which tells you something. I realize that in a real u-17 squad, one or two players might fail the eye test but if so many “looks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then it probably is a duck.”

How many players from that Swiss team that beat us is still active aside from seferovic? Are they now overaged? Stop with your generalizations. Omeruo is still active and part of the SE. Onazi would have been part of the team if not for injuries thanks to that horror tackle from matuidi. Emmanuel Sani had health issues that cut shirt his carrier. Looking at him you can tell he looked young even at U 20. Kayode still plays in the Turkish top flight and really should be in the SEs team ahead of Musa.

And also how about the Europeans? Wayne Roony is 37 officially but looks like he is 57. Michael Owen retired at 26. Bastien Swinsteger has Grey hair. If these guys were Nigerian you would swear they were overaged.

I amazed that packerland believes that all u17 players have to be active as if to state their world is just football. Not possible. These are young guys who have not even made football a career just yet. They are not u23 guys.

We like to pretend a lot as Nigerians or just simply lie and think nobody's wise to our lies.

In practically every aspect of Nigerian life ordinary Nigerians falsify ages if necessary to gain one advantage or the other. Civil servants, politicians, etc.

But we think football is magically different, even when there's repeatedly evidence to prove these patterns.

Yes there's natural attrition in the development of young players.

But its frankly dishonest to conflate this with our endemic cheating in youth football.

And it speaks directly to the personal honesty of some of you who continue to defend this practice.

[Sunset]

Good luck to the boys

[txj]

I really object to terms such as ‘second rate’ and ‘rejects’ as it is applies to dual nationality footballers.
Maybe it is semantics but I think it is both disrespectful to the players and self-deprecating on our part.

It should bother you as it applies to ALL players...
Curiously, when SUBSTANTIVELY applied to HB players, it's crickets from you lot. SMH

Why do you make a habit of defending stuff like this?

The use of the term HB is not derogatory and cannot be compared to this situation except to deliberately obfuscate.

The use of the terms HB or FB speaks to location as you very well know.

The references to dual nationality Nigerians on CE is designed to create a sub class of citizens.

What is strange about this is that this would potentially include the children of many of us here on CE, including you.

[bret- hart]

Yes sir! Those days are long gone. Shame on coach John Obua & his age cheating. I was disgusted with some of the u-17 team that lost in the final.

13 years later and counting, the likes of Kenneth Omeruo, Ogenyi Onazi, Olarenwaju Kayode, Ramon Azeez, Abdul Ajagun, etc., from John Obuh's Eaglets' squad are still thriving. Even wrt the infamous Stanley "Little Messi" Okoro, his OLDER brother Osas Okoro was playing for the Home-Based SE (at CHAN and WAFU tournaments) up until the Covid pandemic.

Obviously cannot vouch for anyone's real age, but the reality is that many folks leap to precipitous conclusions about age often on the basis of the most obtuse and vacuous of reasons, routinely embarking on the sort of stereotypical generalizations that would incense most of us if others made similar generalizations or leapt to precipitous negative conclusions about us on the basis of our race, national origin or Nigerian education. Folks need to do better.

Are you saying they played with their real age because they are still active? What about the other 15 squad members? Heck, the highest goal scorer, Sani Emmanuel retired in 2015. Most of the players in that squad are at least 3 years older than their stated age and other than a couple, no one peaked later in their career.

We can keep fooling ourselves by mentioning certain European born players that look older. The point of the matter is that you and I know what 15-17 year old look like in Nigeria. Heck, not many 17 year olds play in the NPL which tells you something. I realize that in a real u-17 squad, one or two players might fail the eye test but if so many “looks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then it probably is a duck.”

How many players from that Swiss team that beat us is still active aside from seferovic? Are they now overaged? Stop with your generalizations. Omeruo is still active and part of the SE. Onazi would have been part of the team if not for injuries thanks to that horror tackle from matuidi. Emmanuel Sani had health issues that cut shirt his carrier. Looking at him you can tell he looked young even at U 20. Kayode still plays in the Turkish top flight and really should be in the SEs team ahead of Musa.

And also how about the Europeans? Wayne Roony is 37 officially but looks like he is 57. Michael Owen retired at 26. Bastien Swinsteger has Grey hair. If these guys were Nigerian you would swear they were overaged.

I amazed that packerland believes that all u17 players have to be active as if to state their world is just football. Not possible. These are young guys who have not even made football a career just yet. They are not u23 guys.

We like to pretend a lot as Nigerians or just simply lie and think nobody's wise to our lies.

In practically every aspect of Nigerian life ordinary Nigerians falsify ages if necessary to gain one advantage or the other. Civil servants, politicians, etc.

But we think football is magically different, even when there's repeatedly evidence to prove these patterns.

Yes there's natural attrition in the development of young players.

But its frankly dishonest to conflate this with our endemic cheating in youth football.

And it speaks directly to the personal honesty of some of you who continue to defend this practice.

Do you have any evidence that these present u17 boys are overaged? We don't care about your "personal experience " . We want factal evidence.

[Lolly]

[packerland]

Yes sir! Those days are long gone. Shame on coach John Obua & his age cheating. I was disgusted with some of the u-17 team that lost in the final.

13 years later and counting, the likes of Kenneth Omeruo, Ogenyi Onazi, Olarenwaju Kayode, Ramon Azeez, Abdul Ajagun, etc., from John Obuh's Eaglets' squad are still thriving. Even wrt the infamous Stanley "Little Messi" Okoro, his OLDER brother Osas Okoro was playing for the Home-Based SE (at CHAN and WAFU tournaments) up until the Covid pandemic.

Obviously cannot vouch for anyone's real age, but the reality is that many folks leap to precipitous conclusions about age often on the basis of the most obtuse and vacuous of reasons, routinely embarking on the sort of stereotypical generalizations that would incense most of us if others made similar generalizations or leapt to precipitous negative conclusions about us on the basis of our race, national origin or Nigerian education. Folks need to do better.

Are you saying they played with their real age because they are still active? What about the other 15 squad members? Heck, the highest goal scorer, Sani Emmanuel retired in 2015. Most of the players in that squad are at least 3 years older than their stated age and other than a couple, no one peaked later in their career.

We can keep fooling ourselves by mentioning certain European born players that look older. The point of the matter is that you and I know what 15-17 year old look like in Nigeria. Heck, not many 17 year olds play in the NPL which tells you something. I realize that in a real u-17 squad, one or two players might fail the eye test but if so many “looks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then it probably is a duck.”

How many players from that Swiss team that beat us is still active aside from seferovic? Are they now overaged? Stop with your generalizations. Omeruo is still active and part of the SE. Onazi would have been part of the team if not for injuries thanks to that horror tackle from matuidi. Emmanuel Sani had health issues that cut shirt his carrier. Looking at him you can tell he looked young even at U 20. Kayode still plays in the Turkish top flight and really should be in the SEs team ahead of Musa.

And also how about the Europeans? Wayne Roony is 37 officially but looks like he is 57. Michael Owen retired at 26. Bastien Swinsteger has Grey hair despite being only 38. If these guys were Nigerians you would swear they were overaged.

I knew you were going to mention European players that look older then their real age. For one, Rooney is/was a heavy drinker. Owen had a chronic knee injury that pretty much ended his career after he transferred to Real Madrid. Besides, none of the guys you mentioned came close to tipping his achievement. I had gray hair in my twenties, so that can be hereditary

For the record, falsification of age is not a Nigerian thing. Yes, I don’t have proof but I highly doubt those Switzerland players are overaged. For what reason? Competitive advantage? You have to understand that it is easier for a scout to go to Switzerland and other parts of Europe to scout players as opposed to going to Africa. Asian & South American clubs pay their players better than in Africa l, so players are more reluctant to stay at home if no scout comes calling. The end result is that some African players falsify their age to get into age-grade competition where they can be noticed by these scouts. No one will pay huge more for an unproven player already in their mid twenties.

Again, African players are not the only ones who cheat. Cuban and Central American baseball players are always falsifying their age. In Cuban, dusting the Castro era, players sometimes risk their lives and it can take years for a Cuban prospect to defect to the U.S. where the real money is. For the record, I believe the current u-17 players are playing with their real/close to their age. I was talking about the sets before Kelechi’s team.
.

[packerland]

Yes sir! Those days are long gone. Shame on coach John Obua & his age cheating. I was disgusted with some of the u-17 team that lost in the final.

13 years later and counting, the likes of Kenneth Omeruo, Ogenyi Onazi, Olarenwaju Kayode, Ramon Azeez, Abdul Ajagun, etc., from John Obuh's Eaglets' squad are still thriving. Even wrt the infamous Stanley "Little Messi" Okoro, his OLDER brother Osas Okoro was playing for the Home-Based SE (at CHAN and WAFU tournaments) up until the Covid pandemic.

Obviously cannot vouch for anyone's real age, but the reality is that many folks leap to precipitous conclusions about age often on the basis of the most obtuse and vacuous of reasons, routinely embarking on the sort of stereotypical generalizations that would incense most of us if others made similar generalizations or leapt to precipitous negative conclusions about us on the basis of our race, national origin or Nigerian education. Folks need to do better.

Are you saying they played with their real age because they are still active? What about the other 15 squad members? Heck, the highest goal scorer, Sani Emmanuel retired in 2015. Most of the players in that squad are at least 3 years older than their stated age and other than a couple, no one peaked later in their career.

We can keep fooling ourselves by mentioning certain European born players that look older. The point of the matter is that you and I know what 15-17 year old look like in Nigeria. Heck, not many 17 year olds play in the NPL which tells you something. I realize that in a real u-17 squad, one or two players might fail the eye test but if so many “looks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then it probably is a duck.”

How many players from that Swiss team that beat us is still active aside from seferovic? Are they now overaged? Stop with your generalizations. Omeruo is still active and part of the SE. Onazi would have been part of the team if not for injuries thanks to that horror tackle from matuidi. Emmanuel Sani had health issues that cut shirt his carrier. Looking at him you can tell he looked young even at U 20. Kayode still plays in the Turkish top flight and really should be in the SEs team ahead of Musa.

And also how about the Europeans? Wayne Roony is 37 officially but looks like he is 57. Michael Owen retired at 26. Bastien Swinsteger has Grey hair. If these guys were Nigerian you would swear they were overaged.

I amazed that packerland believes that all u17 players have to be active as if to state their world is just football. Not possible. These are young guys who have not even made football a career just yet. They are not u23 guys.

We like to pretend a lot as Nigerians or just simply lie and think nobody's wise to our lies.

In practically every aspect of Nigerian life ordinary Nigerians falsify ages if necessary to gain one advantage or the other. Civil servants, politicians, etc.

But we think football is magically different, even when there's repeatedly evidence to prove these patterns.

Yes there's natural attrition in the development of young players.

But its frankly dishonest to conflate this with our endemic cheating in youth football.

And it speaks directly to the personal honesty of some of you who continue to defend this practice.

You dey mind them. They don’t want to say it like it is. My cousin worked at UBA bank before coming to the US. She told me her branch don’t hire applicants over the age of 30 with no prior banking experience. You don’t think people at that bank won’t share that info to their family members. It’s so easy to falsify document in Nigeria. My wife unknowingly laminated her birth certificate which make it invalid here in the U.S, within 2 days her mom was able to go to the place & get a new one backdated with her year of birth.

[Enugu II]

Yes sir! Those days are long gone. Shame on coach John Obua & his age cheating. I was disgusted with some of the u-17 team that lost in the final.

13 years later and counting, the likes of Kenneth Omeruo, Ogenyi Onazi, Olarenwaju Kayode, Ramon Azeez, Abdul Ajagun, etc., from John Obuh's Eaglets' squad are still thriving. Even wrt the infamous Stanley "Little Messi" Okoro, his OLDER brother Osas Okoro was playing for the Home-Based SE (at CHAN and WAFU tournaments) up until the Covid pandemic.

Obviously cannot vouch for anyone's real age, but the reality is that many folks leap to precipitous conclusions about age often on the basis of the most obtuse and vacuous of reasons, routinely embarking on the sort of stereotypical generalizations that would incense most of us if others made similar generalizations or leapt to precipitous negative conclusions about us on the basis of our race, national origin or Nigerian education. Folks need to do better.

Are you saying they played with their real age because they are still active? What about the other 15 squad members? Heck, the highest goal scorer, Sani Emmanuel retired in 2015. Most of the players in that squad are at least 3 years older than their stated age and other than a couple, no one peaked later in their career.

We can keep fooling ourselves by mentioning certain European born players that look older. The point of the matter is that you and I know what 15-17 year old look like in Nigeria. Heck, not many 17 year olds play in the NPL which tells you something. I realize that in a real u-17 squad, one or two players might fail the eye test but if so many “looks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then it probably is a duck.”

How many players from that Swiss team that beat us is still active aside from seferovic? Are they now overaged? Stop with your generalizations. Omeruo is still active and part of the SE. Onazi would have been part of the team if not for injuries thanks to that horror tackle from matuidi. Emmanuel Sani had health issues that cut shirt his carrier. Looking at him you can tell he looked young even at U 20. Kayode still plays in the Turkish top flight and really should be in the SEs team ahead of Musa.

And also how about the Europeans? Wayne Roony is 37 officially but looks like he is 57. Michael Owen retired at 26. Bastien Swinsteger has Grey hair. If these guys were Nigerian you would swear they were overaged.

I amazed that packerland believes that all u17 players have to be active as if to state their world is just football. Not possible. These are young guys who have not even made football a career just yet. They are not u23 guys.

We like to pretend a lot as Nigerians or just simply lie and think nobody's wise to our lies.

In practically every aspect of Nigerian life ordinary Nigerians falsify ages if necessary to gain one advantage or the other. Civil servants, politicians, etc.

But we think football is magically different, even when there's repeatedly evidence to prove these patterns.

Yes there's natural attrition in the development of young players.

But its frankly dishonest to conflate this with our endemic cheating in youth football.

And it speaks directly to the personal honesty of some of you who continue to defend this practice.

You dey mind them. They don’t want to say it like it is. My cousin worked at UBA bank before coming to the US. She told me her branch don’t hire applicants over the age of 30 with no prior banking experience. You don’t think people at that bank won’t share that info to their family members. It’s so easy to falsify document in Nigeria. My wife unknowingly laminated her birth certificate which make it invalid here in the U.S, within 2 days her mom was able to go to the place & get a new one backdated with her year of birth.

Packerland & Txj,

There is a difference, can I assume that both you and Txj are Nigerians and you have both falsified your ages? Not so? If not true, please tell me why you are different given your argument thus far. I await.

[txj]

13 years later and counting, the likes of Kenneth Omeruo, Ogenyi Onazi, Olarenwaju Kayode, Ramon Azeez, Abdul Ajagun, etc., from John Obuh's Eaglets' squad are still thriving. Even wrt the infamous Stanley "Little Messi" Okoro, his OLDER brother Osas Okoro was playing for the Home-Based SE (at CHAN and WAFU tournaments) up until the Covid pandemic.

Obviously cannot vouch for anyone's real age, but the reality is that many folks leap to precipitous conclusions about age often on the basis of the most obtuse and vacuous of reasons, routinely embarking on the sort of stereotypical generalizations that would incense most of us if others made similar generalizations or leapt to precipitous negative conclusions about us on the basis of our race, national origin or Nigerian education. Folks need to do better.

Are you saying they played with their real age because they are still active? What about the other 15 squad members? Heck, the highest goal scorer, Sani Emmanuel retired in 2015. Most of the players in that squad are at least 3 years older than their stated age and other than a couple, no one peaked later in their career.

We can keep fooling ourselves by mentioning certain European born players that look older. The point of the matter is that you and I know what 15-17 year old look like in Nigeria. Heck, not many 17 year olds play in the NPL which tells you something. I realize that in a real u-17 squad, one or two players might fail the eye test but if so many “looks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then it probably is a duck.”

How many players from that Swiss team that beat us is still active aside from seferovic? Are they now overaged? Stop with your generalizations. Omeruo is still active and part of the SE. Onazi would have been part of the team if not for injuries thanks to that horror tackle from matuidi. Emmanuel Sani had health issues that cut shirt his carrier. Looking at him you can tell he looked young even at U 20. Kayode still plays in the Turkish top flight and really should be in the SEs team ahead of Musa.

And also how about the Europeans? Wayne Roony is 37 officially but looks like he is 57. Michael Owen retired at 26. Bastien Swinsteger has Grey hair. If these guys were Nigerian you would swear they were overaged.

I amazed that packerland believes that all u17 players have to be active as if to state their world is just football. Not possible. These are young guys who have not even made football a career just yet. They are not u23 guys.

We like to pretend a lot as Nigerians or just simply lie and think nobody's wise to our lies.

In practically every aspect of Nigerian life ordinary Nigerians falsify ages if necessary to gain one advantage or the other. Civil servants, politicians, etc.

But we think football is magically different, even when there's repeatedly evidence to prove these patterns.

Yes there's natural attrition in the development of young players.

But its frankly dishonest to conflate this with our endemic cheating in youth football.

And it speaks directly to the personal honesty of some of you who continue to defend this practice.

You dey mind them. They don’t want to say it like it is. My cousin worked at UBA bank before coming to the US. She told me her branch don’t hire applicants over the age of 30 with no prior banking experience. You don’t think people at that bank won’t share that info to their family members. It’s so easy to falsify document in Nigeria. My wife unknowingly laminated her birth certificate which make it invalid here in the U.S, within 2 days her mom was able to go to the place & get a new one backdated with her year of birth.

Packerland & Txj,

There is a difference, can I assume that both you and Txj are Nigerians and you have both falsified your ages? Not so? If not true, please tell me why you are different given your argument thus far. I await.

Yes in Nigeria I did to avoid the then age impediment for university admission, but corrected it subsequently.

I'm sure there are your family members who have done so in Nigeria. I'm 110% sure.

[Enugu II]

Are you saying they played with their real age because they are still active? What about the other 15 squad members? Heck, the highest goal scorer, Sani Emmanuel retired in 2015. Most of the players in that squad are at least 3 years older than their stated age and other than a couple, no one peaked later in their career.

We can keep fooling ourselves by mentioning certain European born players that look older. The point of the matter is that you and I know what 15-17 year old look like in Nigeria. Heck, not many 17 year olds play in the NPL which tells you something. I realize that in a real u-17 squad, one or two players might fail the eye test but if so many “looks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then it probably is a duck.”

How many players from that Swiss team that beat us is still active aside from seferovic? Are they now overaged? Stop with your generalizations. Omeruo is still active and part of the SE. Onazi would have been part of the team if not for injuries thanks to that horror tackle from matuidi. Emmanuel Sani had health issues that cut shirt his carrier. Looking at him you can tell he looked young even at U 20. Kayode still plays in the Turkish top flight and really should be in the SEs team ahead of Musa.

And also how about the Europeans? Wayne Roony is 37 officially but looks like he is 57. Michael Owen retired at 26. Bastien Swinsteger has Grey hair. If these guys were Nigerian you would swear they were overaged.

I amazed that packerland believes that all u17 players have to be active as if to state their world is just football. Not possible. These are young guys who have not even made football a career just yet. They are not u23 guys.

We like to pretend a lot as Nigerians or just simply lie and think nobody's wise to our lies.

In practically every aspect of Nigerian life ordinary Nigerians falsify ages if necessary to gain one advantage or the other. Civil servants, politicians, etc.

But we think football is magically different, even when there's repeatedly evidence to prove these patterns.

Yes there's natural attrition in the development of young players.

But its frankly dishonest to conflate this with our endemic cheating in youth football.

And it speaks directly to the personal honesty of some of you who continue to defend this practice.

You dey mind them. They don’t want to say it like it is. My cousin worked at UBA bank before coming to the US. She told me her branch don’t hire applicants over the age of 30 with no prior banking experience. You don’t think people at that bank won’t share that info to their family members. It’s so easy to falsify document in Nigeria. My wife unknowingly laminated her birth certificate which make it invalid here in the U.S, within 2 days her mom was able to go to the place & get a new one backdated with her year of birth.

Packerland & Txj,

There is a difference, can I assume that both you and Txj are Nigerians and you have both falsified your ages? Not so? If not true, please tell me why you are different given your argument thus far. I await.

Yes in Nigeria I did to avoid the then age impediment for university admission, but corrected it subsequently.

I'm sure there are your family members who have done so in Nigeria. I'm 110% sure.

Specify what you did? The point is that you have to realize that you cannot paint everyone with the same brush. No one, and I repeat, no one from m t famy ever cheated on the issue of age. And that is not an exception. U know many other Nigerian families that never cheated. Thus, I do take it seriously when people paint every Nigerian as an age cheat. Simply identify the age cheats, and there are examples, and stick to those rather than painting all Nigerians as age cheats. There is a difference.

[txj]

How many players from that Swiss team that beat us is still active aside from seferovic? Are they now overaged? Stop with your generalizations. Omeruo is still active and part of the SE. Onazi would have been part of the team if not for injuries thanks to that horror tackle from matuidi. Emmanuel Sani had health issues that cut shirt his carrier. Looking at him you can tell he looked young even at U 20. Kayode still plays in the Turkish top flight and really should be in the SEs team ahead of Musa.

And also how about the Europeans? Wayne Roony is 37 officially but looks like he is 57. Michael Owen retired at 26. Bastien Swinsteger has Grey hair. If these guys were Nigerian you would swear they were overaged.

I amazed that packerland believes that all u17 players have to be active as if to state their world is just football. Not possible. These are young guys who have not even made football a career just yet. They are not u23 guys.

We like to pretend a lot as Nigerians or just simply lie and think nobody's wise to our lies.

In practically every aspect of Nigerian life ordinary Nigerians falsify ages if necessary to gain one advantage or the other. Civil servants, politicians, etc.

But we think football is magically different, even when there's repeatedly evidence to prove these patterns.

Yes there's natural attrition in the development of young players.

But its frankly dishonest to conflate this with our endemic cheating in youth football.

And it speaks directly to the personal honesty of some of you who continue to defend this practice.

You dey mind them. They don’t want to say it like it is. My cousin worked at UBA bank before coming to the US. She told me her branch don’t hire applicants over the age of 30 with no prior banking experience. You don’t think people at that bank won’t share that info to their family members. It’s so easy to falsify document in Nigeria. My wife unknowingly laminated her birth certificate which make it invalid here in the U.S, within 2 days her mom was able to go to the place & get a new one backdated with her year of birth.

Packerland & Txj,

There is a difference, can I assume that both you and Txj are Nigerians and you have both falsified your ages? Not so? If not true, please tell me why you are different given your argument thus far. I await.

Yes in Nigeria I did to avoid the then age impediment for university admission, but corrected it subsequently.

I'm sure there are your family members who have done so in Nigeria. I'm 110% sure.

Specify what you did? The point is that you have to realize that you cannot paint everyone with the same brush. No one, and I repeat, no one from m t famy ever cheated on the issue of age. And that is not an exception. U know many other Nigerian families that never cheated. Thus, I do take it seriously when people paint every Nigerian as an age cheat. Simply identify the age cheats, and there are examples, and stick to those rather than painting all Nigerians as age cheats. There is a difference.

I already told you what I did and my subsequent actions to revert it.

Secondly, I did not say every Nigerian is an age cheat. Read my comments again.
You have a insidious pattern of subverting people's words then arguing against the false narrative. You really should stop it.

This is what I wrote:

In practically every aspect of Nigerian life ordinary Nigerians falsify ages if necessary to gain one advantage or the other. Civil servants, politicians, etc.

Thirdly, I also know many, many Nigerian families that do not falsify ages. But the reality is that age falsification in Nigeria is:

1. Easy to do
2. Easily possible when it offers people an advantage, either in their professions, including work, politics and sports.

I do not know your family, but I do know that you cannot be privy to everything your broad external family does. Ditto for me.

People like you keep pretending that all is honky dory about Nigeria. It is not!

We cheat routinely about age. It is easy to do. And when it confers an advantage, NOT ALL, but many, many Nigerians take it up as an option.

That's what Fortune Chukwudi did. At the time, even with the evidence offered, you still defended him.
Stop!

[packerland]

Yes sir! Those days are long gone. Shame on coach John Obua & his age cheating. I was disgusted with some of the u-17 team that lost in the final.

13 years later and counting, the likes of Kenneth Omeruo, Ogenyi Onazi, Olarenwaju Kayode, Ramon Azeez, Abdul Ajagun, etc., from John Obuh's Eaglets' squad are still thriving. Even wrt the infamous Stanley "Little Messi" Okoro, his OLDER brother Osas Okoro was playing for the Home-Based SE (at CHAN and WAFU tournaments) up until the Covid pandemic.

Obviously cannot vouch for anyone's real age, but the reality is that many folks leap to precipitous conclusions about age often on the basis of the most obtuse and vacuous of reasons, routinely embarking on the sort of stereotypical generalizations that would incense most of us if others made similar generalizations or leapt to precipitous negative conclusions about us on the basis of our race, national origin or Nigerian education. Folks need to do better.

Are you saying they played with their real age because they are still active? What about the other 15 squad members? Heck, the highest goal scorer, Sani Emmanuel retired in 2015. Most of the players in that squad are at least 3 years older than their stated age and other than a couple, no one peaked later in their career.

We can keep fooling ourselves by mentioning certain European born players that look older. The point of the matter is that you and I know what 15-17 year old look like in Nigeria. Heck, not many 17 year olds play in the NPL which tells you something. I realize that in a real u-17 squad, one or two players might fail the eye test but if so many “looks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then it probably is a duck.”

How many players from that Swiss team that beat us is still active aside from seferovic? Are they now overaged? Stop with your generalizations. Omeruo is still active and part of the SE. Onazi would have been part of the team if not for injuries thanks to that horror tackle from matuidi. Emmanuel Sani had health issues that cut shirt his carrier. Looking at him you can tell he looked young even at U 20. Kayode still plays in the Turkish top flight and really should be in the SEs team ahead of Musa.

And also how about the Europeans? Wayne Roony is 37 officially but looks like he is 57. Michael Owen retired at 26. Bastien Swinsteger has Grey hair despite being only 38. If these guys were Nigerians you would swear they were overaged.

Bros, the Swiss have more active players from that squad than us. You named Omeruo and 2 other players you think should be on our team. The Swiss have 3 players from that squad that played in the Nations League today. Seferovic, who by the way scored, Ricardo Rodriguez, Granit Xhaka (you probably didn’t realize he was in the team). Kasami is still balling but not in the current national team setup. His 12 international caps is probably more than Azeez & Ajagun’s combined. Saed Hajrovic switched to play for Bosnia and another player I can’t remember his name ended up playing for Albania. That’s 6 active players right there to our 1.

[bret- hart]

Yes sir! Those days are long gone. Shame on coach John Obua & his age cheating. I was disgusted with some of the u-17 team that lost in the final.

13 years later and counting, the likes of Kenneth Omeruo, Ogenyi Onazi, Olarenwaju Kayode, Ramon Azeez, Abdul Ajagun, etc., from John Obuh's Eaglets' squad are still thriving. Even wrt the infamous Stanley "Little Messi" Okoro, his OLDER brother Osas Okoro was playing for the Home-Based SE (at CHAN and WAFU tournaments) up until the Covid pandemic.

Obviously cannot vouch for anyone's real age, but the reality is that many folks leap to precipitous conclusions about age often on the basis of the most obtuse and vacuous of reasons, routinely embarking on the sort of stereotypical generalizations that would incense most of us if others made similar generalizations or leapt to precipitous negative conclusions about us on the basis of our race, national origin or Nigerian education. Folks need to do better.

Are you saying they played with their real age because they are still active? What about the other 15 squad members? Heck, the highest goal scorer, Sani Emmanuel retired in 2015. Most of the players in that squad are at least 3 years older than their stated age and other than a couple, no one peaked later in their career.

We can keep fooling ourselves by mentioning certain European born players that look older. The point of the matter is that you and I know what 15-17 year old look like in Nigeria. Heck, not many 17 year olds play in the NPL which tells you something. I realize that in a real u-17 squad, one or two players might fail the eye test but if so many “looks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then it probably is a duck.”

How many players from that Swiss team that beat us is still active aside from seferovic? Are they now overaged? Stop with your generalizations. Omeruo is still active and part of the SE. Onazi would have been part of the team if not for injuries thanks to that horror tackle from matuidi. Emmanuel Sani had health issues that cut shirt his carrier. Looking at him you can tell he looked young even at U 20. Kayode still plays in the Turkish top flight and really should be in the SEs team ahead of Musa.

And also how about the Europeans? Wayne Roony is 37 officially but looks like he is 57. Michael Owen retired at 26. Bastien Swinsteger has Grey hair despite being only 38. If these guys were Nigerians you would swear they were overaged.

Bros, the Swiss have more active players from that squad than us. You named Omeruo and 2 other players you think should be on our team. The Swiss have 3 players from that squad that played in the Nations League today. Seferovic, who by the way scored, Ricardo Rodriguez, Granit Xhaka (you probably didn’t realize he was in the team). Kasami is still balling but not in the current national team setup. His 12 international caps is probably more than Azeez & Ajagun’s combined. Saed Hajrovic switched to play for Bosnia and another player I can’t remember his name ended up playing for Albania. That’s 6 active players right there to our 1.

Dude that team still had a decent yield considering the Fortune Chwukwudi drama surrounding that set.. Omeruo is still active and is an AFCON winner. Kayode TBF should be in this squad in place of Ahmed Musa but for NFF politics. He is still banging in goals in Turkey more so than Musa. Onazi would still be part of the set up were it not for injuries. He was never the same after Matuidi damn near amputated his leg. Azzez was doing well was earning caps. Last i heard he is still playing in Spain. A better agaent and he will be back in Laliga. Emmanuel Sani passes the eye test. Dude looked like he was 12 years old back then. Health issues cut short his carrier. You mentioned the Swiss yes they had 3 graduates so where are the rest? They won the tournament so logicically they should have had way more player graduate into their senior team but i can only count 3 which is still a poor yield for a country that won the tournament. If this was Nigeria you would be the 1st 2nd and 3rd person to insinuate that they were all overaged. You mentioned some other players that went on to play for football nonentities like Armenia and Albania. That actually makes it worse.