Cybereagles

marry & I'll stop torturing the Super Eagles.

That was probably the funniest thing I heard in my 3 days in Uyo. The fact that he used a Nigerian street term got me laughing.

Like a number of folks on this site, I have had the privilege of watching live the SE on every continent (Australia doesn't count) and in several Nigerian cities.

This weekend was the 1st time I ever stayed in the team hotel, and despite the fact that it was far from town where Obong had promised 'punishment' & some normal Nigerian 'power show', it was nice to just be in the hotel. I got to speak to coaches, players, journalists and administrators on both sides.

I will share some of what was not passed on in confidence later today or tomorrow.




Rantie has laid down his terms, who is ready to donate his sister?

truetalk, hope you enjoyed my town with all its goodies.

truetalk wrote:I'll stop torturing the Super Eagles.

That was probably the funniest thing I heard in my 3 days in Uyo. The fact that he used a Nigerian street term got me laughing.

Like a number of folks on this site, I have had the privilege of watching live the SE on every continent (Australia doesn't count) and in several Nigerian cities.

This weekend was the 1st time I ever stayed in the team hotel, and despite the fact that it was far from town where Obong had promised 'punishment' & some normal Nigerian 'power show', it was nice to just be in the hotel. I got to speak to coaches, players, journalists and administrators on both sides.

I will share some of what was not passed on in confidence later today or tomorrow.





Rantie has laid down his terms, who is ready to donate his sister?

..can we just insert BigBokey into a Pinafor and decorate the pig wiff a lipstick? heck forget the team..he oughta 'take one' for the country

Obong wrote:truetalk, hope you enjoyed my town with all its goodies.

Uyo seemed really nice. I did not see enough of it because of how far the hotel was (it is actually in another local government past the permanent site of the University), but I was really impressed with the good state of the roads.

I know the intanet Nigerians will say that small things impress us, but if you have driven from Abuja through Kogi or Kwara recently, the state of Akwa Ibom roads will impress you. And it wasn't just Uyo. I met people who drove to Ikot Ekpene, Ikot Abasi and other towns and it seems the good network of roads is state wide.

The resort is really nice. Good golf course for those that play. Good place for a family vacation within Nigeria.

City was very clean & the people were super friendly.

truetalk wrote:

Obong wrote:truetalk, hope you enjoyed my town with all its goodies.

Uyo seemed really nice. I did not see enough of it because of how far the hotel was (it is actually in another local government past the permanent site of the University), but I was really impressed with the good state of the roads.

I know the intanet Nigerians will say that small things impress us, but if you have driven from Abuja through Kogi or Kwara recently, the state of Akwa Ibom roads will impress you. And it wasn't just Uyo. I met people who drove to Ikot Ekpene, Ikot Abasi and other towns and it seems the good network of roads is state wide.

The resort is really nice. Good golf course for those that play. Good place for a family vacation within Nigeria.

City was very clean & the people were super friendly.

I think we may have to move the game vs Cameroon to Lagos. Uyo seems like a happy hunting ground for useless African teams Congo, Ugandabekiddingme and those feeking Zulus have all beaten us in Uyo.

bret- hart wrote:

truetalk wrote:

Obong wrote:truetalk, hope you enjoyed my town with all its goodies.

Uyo seemed really nice. I did not see enough of it because of how far the hotel was (it is actually in another local government past the permanent site of the University), but I was really impressed with the good state of the roads.

I know the intanet Nigerians will say that small things impress us, but if you have driven from Abuja through Kogi or Kwara recently, the state of Akwa Ibom roads will impress you. And it wasn't just Uyo. I met people who drove to Ikot Ekpene, Ikot Abasi and other towns and it seems the good network of roads is state wide.

The resort is really nice. Good golf course for those that play. Good place for a family vacation within Nigeria.

City was very clean & the people were super friendly.

I think we may have to move the game vs Cameroon to Lagos. Uyo seems like a happy hunting ground for useless African teams Congo, Ugandabekiddingme and those feeking Zulus have all beaten us in Uyo.

KPOM!!!!

Uyo is jinxed!

truetalk wrote:
This weekend was the 1st time I ever stayed in the team hotel, and despite the fact that it was far from town where Obong had promised 'punishment' & some normal Nigerian 'power show', it was nice to just be in the hotel. I got to speak to coaches, players, journalists and administrators on both sides.

I remember that very well.

achuzia_the-air-raid, bret-hart, and danfo driver, blame Rohr for parading a counterfeit Super Eagles team. Question Alloy Agu who may be married to Akpeyi's sister for all we know. Uyo has absolutely nothing to do with it. Afterall, we beat a more heralded Algeria chock-full with their star players in the same stadium not too long ago. Raising issue about Uyo as match venue hardly addresses underlying problems like not having the match balls available for our team in training or faulty selections and match strategy. If all logistics are taken care of by the NFF, and the real senior Eagles players are available, Cameroun itself will demur at any suggestions of escaping defeat in Uyo in August.

Obong wrote:achuzia_the-air-raid, bret-hart, and danfo driver, blame Rohr for parading a counterfeit Super Eagles team. Question Alloy Agu who may be married to Akpeyi's sister for all we know. Uyo has absolutely nothing to do with it. Afterall, we beat a more heralded Algeria chock-full with their star players in the same stadium not too long ago. Raising issue about Uyo as match venue hardly addresses underlying problems like not having the match balls available for our team in training or faulty selections and match strategy. If all logistics are taken care of by the NFF, and the real senior Eagles players are available, Cameroun itself will demur at any suggestions of escaping defeat in Uyo in August.

Remember this next time you dey make promises about Uyo

platinum wrote:

Obong wrote:achuzia_the-air-raid, bret-hart, and danfo driver, blame Rohr for parading a counterfeit Super Eagles team. Question Alloy Agu who may be married to Akpeyi's sister for all we know. Uyo has absolutely nothing to do with it. Afterall, we beat a more heralded Algeria chock-full with their star players in the same stadium not too long ago. Raising issue about Uyo as match venue hardly addresses underlying problems like not having the match balls available for our team in training or faulty selections and match strategy. If all logistics are taken care of by the NFF, and the real senior Eagles players are available, Cameroun itself will demur at any suggestions of escaping defeat in Uyo in August.

Remember this next time you dey make promises about Uyo

danfo driver wrote:

platinum wrote:

Obong wrote:achuzia_the-air-raid, bret-hart, and danfo driver, blame Rohr for parading a counterfeit Super Eagles team. Question Alloy Agu who may be married to Akpeyi's sister for all we know. Uyo has absolutely nothing to do with it. Afterall, we beat a more heralded Algeria chock-full with their star players in the same stadium not too long ago. Raising issue about Uyo as match venue hardly addresses underlying problems like not having the match balls available for our team in training or faulty selections and match strategy. If all logistics are taken care of by the NFF, and the real senior Eagles players are available, Cameroun itself will demur at any suggestions of escaping defeat in Uyo in August.

Remember this next time you dey make promises about Uyo

Your apparent glee would make one think you have South African roots! The premise of my statement you bolded in red is on the proviso that all the factors I noted ( which is normally the case) obtains. No one would make guarantees with the under20 team Rohr decided to field against a determined South Africa in a very competitive match.

achuzia-the-air-raid wrote:

bret- hart wrote:

truetalk wrote:

Obong wrote:truetalk, hope you enjoyed my town with all its goodies.

Uyo seemed really nice. I did not see enough of it because of how far the hotel was (it is actually in another local government past the permanent site of the University), but I was really impressed with the good state of the roads.

I know the intanet Nigerians will say that small things impress us, but if you have driven from Abuja through Kogi or Kwara recently, the state of Akwa Ibom roads will impress you. And it wasn't just Uyo. I met people who drove to Ikot Ekpene, Ikot Abasi and other towns and it seems the good network of roads is state wide.

The resort is really nice. Good golf course for those that play. Good place for a family vacation within Nigeria.

City was very clean & the people were super friendly.

I think we may have to move the game vs Cameroon to Lagos. Uyo seems like a happy hunting ground for useless African teams Congo, Ugandabekiddingme and those feeking Zulus have all beaten us in Uyo.

KPOM!!!!
Uyo is jinxed!

... but we can be beaten in Lagos as well, unless the NFF, the coaches and the players do their jobs properly

I don't see why it should be jinxed, why? Calabar which is in the same region has always been a good ground for us.

You can't blame it on the atmosphere, because although it has a track - it's probably the closest track to the stand that we have! Plus it was very obvious from the feed that the fans were in good number and supportive, the supporters club in particular!

The players and the staff can only blame themselves. Uyo was perfect IMO.

Odas wrote:

achuzia-the-air-raid wrote:

bret- hart wrote:

truetalk wrote:

Obong wrote:truetalk, hope you enjoyed my town with all its goodies.

Uyo seemed really nice. I did not see enough of it because of how far the hotel was (it is actually in another local government past the permanent site of the University), but I was really impressed with the good state of the roads.

I know the intanet Nigerians will say that small things impress us, but if you have driven from Abuja through Kogi or Kwara recently, the state of Akwa Ibom roads will impress you. And it wasn't just Uyo. I met people who drove to Ikot Ekpene, Ikot Abasi and other towns and it seems the good network of roads is state wide.

The resort is really nice. Good golf course for those that play. Good place for a family vacation within Nigeria.

City was very clean & the people were super friendly.

I think we may have to move the game vs Cameroon to Lagos. Uyo seems like a happy hunting ground for useless African teams Congo, Ugandabekiddingme and those feeking Zulus have all beaten us in Uyo.

KPOM!!!!
Uyo is jinxed!

... but we can be beaten in Lagos as well, unless the NFF, the coaches and the players do their jobs properly

Don't mind him!
Any stadium in Nigeria or Ghana, is like home to Ugandan players.

So here goes.

I was returning from a quick meeting in Abuja on the Friday of the previous week to the game, when I ran into the Super Eagles at the Nnamdi Azikiwe Airport. I saw them outside, but a few of them were also catching connecting flights to Lagos. I haven't seen the Eagles live since the World Cup and had no plans to go to Uyo, but just being around the team at the airport made me realize just how much I have missed watching the Eagles. I knew I just had to be in Uyo the following weekend.

The next 2 days were spent negotiating with Madam on how and why this was a useful endeavor & by Tuesday night, I had the green light & rushed to make all bookings.

Given the accounts of cancelled flights & all I had read on here about Uyo during the last game, I warned my agent that I did not want to be trapped in Uyo beyond my intended departure date. All was smooth on that end as a number of airlines (2 or 3 at least) now operate daily flights to Uyo.

The drama came with the hotel booking. I figured since it was my 1st time, it was probably safest to go with the most reputable hotel, & I booked Le Meridien through hotels.ng & my booking was confirmed and the payment was made. I intentionally chose hotels.ng over Jumia travel as I will always support Nigerian owned businesses, all things being equal. A day before leaving, they called and said the hotel was full, but they would move me to another hotel. Initially, I was like 'no problem'. I later just 'sparked' and was like, these guys got paid, confirmed a booking and an available room, & just want to bounce me like that. I called them back and demanded a full refunded, & to their credit they complied immediately. (I later realized it wasn't fully their fault as all the South African journalists were moved out of the hotel as well due to the last minute bookings/arrivals of NFF and Govt bigwigs)

I was now stuck between cancelling the whole trip altogether, or looking online for Uyo hotel reviews. While looking at Uyo hotels, I decided to directly check the Le Meridien website and I saw that it was a Starwood hotel. I have an SPG membership and called the listed number for Nigeria (which was in Ireland or Scotland). Lo and behold a room appeared again and I paid instantly and the trip was back on.

The hotel is really nice and Uyo is competing with Calabar & Obudu as the leading getaway spot in the country. If you play golf (I don't), it has an 18 hole course, and it also has a club/marina house with squash courts. It may seem a little pricey, but it is much cheaper than the leading Lagos and Abuja hotels & I think delivers pretty good value if it is a couple or a family

The hotel itself was good, but the environment was somewhat poor. Too many hustlers and beggars hanging around the lobby all day before the match and even on the day after. I'm talking motor-park, NURTW-tout looking folks here, like Tokyo from Kongi's hood in Ibadan and the likes. At a point, hotel management had to announce that those without any business at the hotel should leave, and a number of shoving and shouting matches broke out.

The SE players were upstairs & my room was downstairs next to the BAFANA rooms so I got to interact with them a lot more. Plus, they had a couple of bouncers blocking the accessway to the flight of stairs leading to the SE rooms. All in all, it was easy to meet and talk to a lot of football people around the hotel and despite the distance from town, it was probably the right move to make. I even managed to catch KOC (Colin not Collins) in MI5 mode.

truetalk wrote:So here goes.

I was returning from a quick meeting in Abuja on the Friday of the previous week to the game, when I ran into the Super Eagles at the Nnamdi Azikiwe Airport. I saw them outside, but a few of them were also catching connecting flights to Lagos. I haven't seen the Eagles live since the World Cup and had no plans to go to Uyo, but just being around the team at the airport made me realize just how much I have missed watching the Eagles. I knew I just had to be in Uyo the following weekend.

The next 2 days were spent negotiating with Madam on how and why this was a useful endeavor & by Tuesday night, I had the green light & rushed to make all bookings.

Given the accounts of cancelled flights & all I had read on here about Uyo during the last game, I warned my agent that I did not want to be trapped in Uyo beyond my intended departure date. All was smooth on that end as a number of airlines (2 or 3 at least) now operate daily flights to Uyo.

The drama came with the hotel booking. I figured since it was my 1st time, it was probably safest to go with the most reputable hotel, & I booked Le Meridien through hotels.ng & my booking was confirmed and the payment was made. I intentionally chose hotels.ng over Jumia travel as I will always support Nigerian owned businesses, all things being equal. A day before leaving, they called and said the hotel was full, but they would move me to another hotel. Initially, I was like 'no problem'. I later just 'sparked' and was like, these guys got paid, confirmed a booking and an available room, & just want to bounce me like that. I called them back and demanded a full refunded, & to their credit they complied immediately. (I later realized it wasn't fully their fault as all the South African journalists were moved out of the hotel as well due to the last minute bookings/arrivals of NFF and Govt bigwigs)

I was now stuck between cancelling the whole trip altogether, or looking online for Uyo hotel reviews. While looking at Uyo hotels, I decided to directly check the Le Meridien website and I saw that it was a Starwood hotel. I have an SPG membership and called the listed number for Nigeria (which was in Ireland or Scotland). Lo and behold a room appeared again and I paid instantly and the trip was back on.

The hotel is really nice and Uyo is competing with Calabar & Obudu as the leading getaway spot in the country. If you play golf (I don't), it has an 18 hole course, and it also has a club/marina house with squash courts. It may seem a little pricey, but it is much cheaper than the leading Lagos and Abuja hotels & I think delivers pretty good value if it is a couple or a family

truetalk wrote:The hotel itself was good, but the environment was somewhat poor. Too many hustlers and beggars hanging around the lobby all day before the match and even on the day after. I'm talking motor-park, NURTW-tout looking folks here, like Tokyo from Kongi's hood in Ibadan and the likes. At a point, hotel management had to announce that those without any business at the hotel should leave, and a number of shoving and shouting matches broke out.

The SE players were upstairs & my room was downstairs next to the BAFANA rooms so I got to interact with them a lot more. Plus, they had a couple of bouncers blocking the accessway to the flight of stairs leading to the SE rooms. All in all, it was easy to meet and talk to a lot of football people around the hotel and despite the distance from town, it was probably the right move to make. I even managed to catch KOC (Colin not Collins) in MI5 mode.

Thanks boss.

But you still never learn how to post picture. Abi na Rondon trained pesin you be?

Cellular wrote:

truetalk wrote:So here goes.

I was returning from a quick meeting in Abuja on the Friday of the previous week to the game, when I ran into the Super Eagles at the Nnamdi Azikiwe Airport. I saw them outside, but a few of them were also catching connecting flights to Lagos. I haven't seen the Eagles live since the World Cup and had no plans to go to Uyo, but just being around the team at the airport made me realize just how much I have missed watching the Eagles. I knew I just had to be in Uyo the following weekend.

The next 2 days were spent negotiating with Madam on how and why this was a useful endeavor & by Tuesday night, I had the green light & rushed to make all bookings.

Given the accounts of cancelled flights & all I had read on here about Uyo during the last game, I warned my agent that I did not want to be trapped in Uyo beyond my intended departure date. All was smooth on that end as a number of airlines (2 or 3 at least) now operate daily flights to Uyo.

The drama came with the hotel booking. I figured since it was my 1st time, it was probably safest to go with the most reputable hotel, & I booked Le Meridien through hotels.ng & my booking was confirmed and the payment was made. I intentionally chose hotels.ng over Jumia travel as I will always support Nigerian owned businesses, all things being equal. A day before leaving, they called and said the hotel was full, but they would move me to another hotel. Initially, I was like 'no problem'. I later just 'sparked' and was like, these guys got paid, confirmed a booking and an available room, & just want to bounce me like that. I called them back and demanded a full refunded, & to their credit they complied immediately. (I later realized it wasn't fully their fault as all the South African journalists were moved out of the hotel as well due to the last minute bookings/arrivals of NFF and Govt bigwigs)

I was now stuck between cancelling the whole trip altogether, or looking online for Uyo hotel reviews. While looking at Uyo hotels, I decided to directly check the Le Meridien website and I saw that it was a Starwood hotel. I have an SPG membership and called the listed number for Nigeria (which was in Ireland or Scotland). Lo and behold a room appeared again and I paid instantly and the trip was back on.

The hotel is really nice and Uyo is competing with Calabar & Obudu as the leading getaway spot in the country. If you play golf (I don't), it has an 18 hole course, and it also has a club/marina house with squash courts. It may seem a little pricey, but it is much cheaper than the leading Lagos and Abuja hotels & I think delivers pretty good value if it is a couple or a family

truetalk wrote:The hotel itself was good, but the environment was somewhat poor. Too many hustlers and beggars hanging around the lobby all day before the match and even on the day after. I'm talking motor-park, NURTW-tout looking folks here, like Tokyo from Kongi's hood in Ibadan and the likes. At a point, hotel management had to announce that those without any business at the hotel should leave, and a number of shoving and shouting matches broke out.

The SE players were upstairs & my room was downstairs next to the BAFANA rooms so I got to interact with them a lot more. Plus, they had a couple of bouncers blocking the accessway to the flight of stairs leading to the SE rooms. All in all, it was easy to meet and talk to a lot of football people around the hotel and despite the distance from town, it was probably the right move to make. I even managed to catch KOC (Colin not Collins) in MI5 mode.

Thanks boss.

But you still never learn how to post picture. Abi na Rondon trained pesin you be?

Chairman, this is most cruel. Ban me for 3 months instead, but please don't call me a UK Cyber. People that won't take a 30 minute tube ride to go and watch the Eagles.

The pictures were showing up yesterday, but now google is saying this rubbish below. Maybe because I am posting from 9ja

Your client does not have permission to get URL.

Nice write up. Oh boy post pics jo!

metalalloy wrote:Nice write up. Oh boy post pics jo!

Posted some. Will post a few more. I finally have some breathing space with the long weekend & I will conclude my Uyo chronicles too.

Before the Game:

Everyone (officials, journalists, players) felt confident leading up to the match. The preparation had been excellent, with two friendlies, and a full work week in Uyo to finalize plans for the game. In addition to the preparation, the fact that it was Bafana, and they have never beaten us in a competitive game added to this air of confidence. I said to a few people that Bafana was good and leading their tough WC qualifying group, but in my heart of heart, I was saying ‘We go beat dem’.

The only thing I was worried about was the goalkeeping position. I don’t rate Akpeyi and I’m not holding out much hope for Alampasu, so by a process of elimination, I was hoping that Ezenwa would start. I could not understand the ‘big boy treatment’ Akpeyi was getting (he was not in France), short of release restrictions due to FIFA rules.

Staying at the team hotel also had other small benefits. I had made plans to buy the match tickets at the reception, but 2 VIP tickets were handed to me by, well, 2 separate VIPs.
In terms of logistics & other matters, getting in & out of Uyo was no problem with a couple of flights (1 per airline from Lagos and Abuja) per day. Uncle Cmoke needs to come out and tell us how/why he kept missing his flight for 2 days after the Algeria game.
We are however still very poor in certain aspects of simple organization and crowd management. The Stadium in Uyo is really beautiful with good access roads and huge parking lots all around the mainbowl (The large volumes of parking reminds me of the Eagles stadium in Philly). The parking lots were however empty on matchday as only a few siren blaring convoys and the team buses were allowed into the complex with parking for thousands of cars. The lots could have been a source of extra revenue, if we were focused on that in Nigeria.

Lack of access to the huge parking facilities meant the main roads to the stadium were choked up with impromptu parking arrangements and there was confusion as to where to park. This delayed entrance to the stadium by about 30 minutes & I started regretting my 3:45pm hotel departure time.
Also, just like every match I have attended in Nigeria in the last 3 decades decades (except the FIFA and CAF tournaments), no one really cares about seat, row and section numbers. The tickets (club style paper wrist-bands) were said to have been printed in South Africa, but there were no scanners or any other kind of magnetic or image reading devices. I should mention that I did not see anyone giving cops N100 or N200 to enter the stadium without tickets (common in Lagos and Abuja), although it was easy to get in without tickets, as the check was for everyone to raise his/her hand and there was a bit of a crowd press in the gate I used. I had my hands down and just strolled in

The parking delay meant that I was still looking for the VIP section access when the teams filed out. I abandoned the search and strolled into the closest popular section gate as described above, and settled into a seat in one of the higher rows of the stadium, just in time for the kickoff.

After the game

Back at the hotel, everyone in the Nigerian camp seemed stunned given how well the felt the preparations went. The SE players were mostly in their room, though I ran into a number of them later.

The Bafana camp were trying to play it cool, but you could tell they were super excited. One guy from their embassy was waving the SA flag all over the lobby. I had teased 2 of the 3 journalists that travelled Bafana before the game, so they sought me out to get a good laugh afterwards. My room was around the SA player’s rooms & there was a human side to things as most of them were out in the hallway video calling their wives and kids. I spoke to and got pictures of their senior/star players (Khune, Furman and Rantie).
The Super Eagles checked out early the next morning and were gone around 10:30 am. My punishement continued as I was stuck with the Bafana contingent and the Refs on a 2:30pm flight out of Uyo.

God stuff, Truth... Have faith ali, we go still wax those lions the way Real lions eat gazelles..Ee no go easy For dem...