Cybereagles

Ayo Akinfe wrote:Everything in life is relative. We lament about the state of Nigeria because of her potential. We all know that Nigeria should be a G10 nation with her human and natural resources, which is why we agonise over our socio-economic woes.

However, if we want to put everything into context, just appreciate the fact that every other African nation wishes they were Nigeria. Just imagine being say Gambian, Sierra Leonian, Eritrean, Mauritanian, Malawian, Libyan, etc. Do you know that you will never be able to tag yourself African champion in any event?

We in contrast take such things for granted. In 2019, we are aiming to win the U17, U20 and senior football tournaments. Yes, Naija can win all three trophies as we did in 2013.

Golden Eaglets win Wafu football tournament and qualify for Nations Cup by beating Ghana - See more at: https://goo.gl/8EM8Tt

Orion wrote:

Enugu II wrote:

DIMKA76 wrote:What? I thought Nigeria and Ghana had already qualified. This new format does not make logical sense. You cant use a lowest common denominator to determine the best teams in Africa. The system is rubish!!

I am truly amazed at how many on CE are unaware of this rule which was mentioned here severally before the last CAF elections! This and the movement of AFCON to the summer were both mentioned here. All CAF youth competitions will follow this format. Previously, under Hayatou, the only competition that followed this format was the Olympics/U-23 competition. The justification put forward was that youth competitions are not necessarily to win trophies but that the main goal was to develop football across the continent. Moreover, they (East/Central Africa mainly) argued that World Cup qualification follows the same basis of regional qualification e.g. one for Africa, Asia, etc and thus nothing wrong in an African competition using same regional concept i.e East, West, Central Africa, etc. They won the argument and here we are folks!

BTW, a similar argument was put forward a few years ago for the league in Nigeria where either a South and North zone will be created where champs from each of the leagues will then contest for the overall trophy. In this case, finance was used as the main but other support were reduce travel distance and team expenses, reduction of car road hazards and banditry attacks on teams.

I see the point but if they wanted to follow the WC format than they should have given West Africa more slots. As someone pointed out here, from 20 appearances West Africa won the cup 7 times. The other regions won 0 cups from 50+ appearances. Europe has more than double the WC slots of Africa even with fewer countries. So, if they used regional WC qualification as their argument then for the sake of fairness they should reward the regions that have put more work into developing their youth systems. This will, in fact, encourage the other regions to work even harder so they too can get rewarded with more slots.

Edit: OK, looking at the draw, West Africa does have more spots than the other regions so it seems they've taken past performance into consideration. However, they split WA into two sub-regions and gave 2 spots to a bunch of weaker nations in youth football, leaving the stronger nations in WA (i.e past winners of the African cup) Nigeria, Ghana, and CIV with only one spot.

pajimoh wrote:

TonyTheTigerKiller wrote:Congratulations to Nigeria but I hope you guys now realize that in soccer terms, Amaju Pinnick is the anti Christ. For personal ambition, he is supporting policies that have the potential to degrade Nigerian and African football drastically. Already, one of Africa’s strongest U17 prospects, Ghana, has been sidelined. With this reprehensible format, it’s only a matter of time before Nigeria suffers the same fate. Furthermore, who’s to say that this format will not eventually be extended to AFCON proper? Somebody said earlier, shame on AFC. More to the point, shame on Amaju Pinnick


Cheers.

Why are we blaming Pinnick alone? Nyantekyi was second in command when the format was changed. How can we tell whether Pinnick voted for or against the new format?

Was West Africa out voted due to the collective votes of the rest of Africa?

All I know is this new format ain't it. Who is to blame would require more info but collectively, CAF has failed

Damunk wrote:

pajimoh wrote:

TonyTheTigerKiller wrote:Congratulations to Nigeria but I hope you guys now realize that in soccer terms, Amaju Pinnick is the anti Christ. For personal ambition, he is supporting policies that have the potential to degrade Nigerian and African football drastically. Already, one of Africa’s strongest U17 prospects, Ghana, has been sidelined. With this reprehensible format, it’s only a matter of time before Nigeria suffers the same fate. Furthermore, who’s to say that this format will not eventually be extended to AFCON proper? Somebody said earlier, shame on AFC. More to the point, shame on Amaju Pinnick


Cheers.

Why are we blaming Pinnick alone? Nyantekyi was second in command when the format was changed. How can we tell whether Pinnick voted for or against the new format?

Was West Africa out voted due to the collective votes of the rest of Africa?

All I know is this new format ain't it. Who is to blame would require more info but collectively, CAF has failed

Interestingly, the Ghanaians are blaming Nyantekyi.

JACKAL wrote:

Damunk wrote:

pajimoh wrote:

TonyTheTigerKiller wrote:Congratulations to Nigeria but I hope you guys now realize that in soccer terms, Amaju Pinnick is the anti Christ. For personal ambition, he is supporting policies that have the potential to degrade Nigerian and African football drastically. Already, one of Africa’s strongest U17 prospects, Ghana, has been sidelined. With this reprehensible format, it’s only a matter of time before Nigeria suffers the same fate. Furthermore, who’s to say that this format will not eventually be extended to AFCON proper? Somebody said earlier, shame on AFC. More to the point, shame on Amaju Pinnick


Cheers.

Why are we blaming Pinnick alone? Nyantekyi was second in command when the format was changed. How can we tell whether Pinnick voted for or against the new format?

Was West Africa out voted due to the collective votes of the rest of Africa?

All I know is this new format ain't it. Who is to blame would require more info but collectively, CAF has failed

Interestingly, the Ghanaians are blaming Nyantekyi.

Dafunk, our winning must make you really mad !! considering you and your hero pinnick dont think winning matters so much at this level !!

Enugu II wrote:I am just surprised that CE suddenly woke up on tis matter. I wrote about this new format and how it disadvantages West Africa at the CAF election time but no one, at CE, even cared to discuss it.

pajimoh wrote:

Enugu II wrote:I am just surprised that CE suddenly woke up on tis matter. I wrote about this new format and how it disadvantages West Africa at the CAF election time but no one, at CE, even cared to discuss it.

We knew the repercussion of the format when you highlighted it. The fight against it rests with the people who passed it and not fans.

Imagining the effect and actually witnessing it are totally two different things. Had Ghana played badly and lost by 4 goals or something, I don't think the uproar would have been this much.

aruako1 wrote:Wow! Not one person has mocked Ghana. However, our resident troll has just opened another thread mocking the Super Eagles.

Enugu II wrote:I am just surprised that CE suddenly woke up on tis matter. I wrote about this new format and how it disadvantages West Africa at the CAF election time but no one, at CE, even cared to discuss it.

TonyTheTigerKiller wrote:

Enugu II wrote:I am just surprised that CE suddenly woke up on tis matter. I wrote about this new format and how it disadvantages West Africa at the CAF election time but no one, at CE, even cared to discuss it.

I recall expressing my total disgust about the situation either in your post or another but you know that everything in Nigeria is a popularity contest so that when you finger a popular person like Pinnick for blame, his supporters who are numerous either turn on you or avoid the discussion like a plague. As long as we continue to favor style over substance, I’m afraid Nigeria will continue to enjoy only fleeting moments of success in international competition. As for the premise that this format will improve the overall standard of African football, you and I both know that’s hogwash. You can’t improve the standard of football in Africa by sectionalizing qualification for tournaments but by expanding the scope of the tournament. Nigeria is a regular participant in the World Cup nowadays mostly because the number of participants was increased, first to 24 and then to 32. Why can’t Africa learn to do things properly


Cheers.

marutimon wrote:Senegal and Guinea join Tanzania (hosts), Angola, Morocco, Cameroon, Uganda and Nigeria at the final tournament.

Easy bets to make the 2019 World Cup would be Senegal, Morocco, Cameroon and Nigeria.

Abbey wrote:

marutimon wrote:Senegal and Guinea join Tanzania (hosts), Angola, Morocco, Cameroon, Uganda and Nigeria at the final tournament.

Easy bets to make the 2019 World Cup would be Senegal, Morocco, Cameroon and Nigeria.

Depends on the grouping

TonyTheTigerKiller wrote:

Enugu II wrote:I am just surprised that CE suddenly woke up on tis matter. I wrote about this new format and how it disadvantages West Africa at the CAF election time but no one, at CE, even cared to discuss it.

I recall expressing my total disgust about the situation either in your post or another but you know that everything in Nigeria is a popularity contest so that when you finger a popular person like Pinnick for blame, his supporters who are numerous either turn on you or avoid the discussion like a plague. As long as we continue to favor style over substance, I’m afraid Nigeria will continue to enjoy only fleeting moments of success in international competition. As for the premise that this format will improve the overall standard of African football, you and I both know that’s hogwash. You can’t improve the standard of football in Africa by sectionalizing qualification for tournaments but by expanding the scope of the tournament. Nigeria is a regular participant in the World Cup nowadays mostly because the number of participants was increased, first to 24 and then to 32. Why can’t Africa learn to do things properly


Cheers.

Oguleftie wrote:Why are you complaining?
Pinnick voted for it in CAF meetings so they will put him in the executive council.
Blame Pinnick not CAF.

folem wrote:

TonyTheTigerKiller wrote:

Enugu II wrote:I am just surprised that CE suddenly woke up on tis matter. I wrote about this new format and how it disadvantages West Africa at the CAF election time but no one, at CE, even cared to discuss it.

I recall expressing my total disgust about the situation either in your post or another but you know that everything in Nigeria is a popularity contest so that when you finger a popular person like Pinnick for blame, his supporters who are numerous either turn on you or avoid the discussion like a plague. As long as we continue to favor style over substance, I’m afraid Nigeria will continue to enjoy only fleeting moments of success in international competition. As for the premise that this format will improve the overall standard of African football, you and I both know that’s hogwash. You can’t improve the standard of football in Africa by sectionalizing qualification for tournaments but by expanding the scope of the tournament. Nigeria is a regular participant in the World Cup nowadays mostly because the number of participants was increased, first to 24 and then to 32. Why can’t Africa learn to do things properly


Cheers.

If there is no sectionalizing, Africa may not even be at World Cup.

ohenhen1 wrote:Quota system is wrong.