Players that had no business in the SE

[Gotti]

Ogbeche and Baruwa were decent players. Baruwa in my opinion deserved his call to the SE. He was the best keeper in the local league at one point and would probably have been a better option than Rufai in France 98. He had a poor showing in a friendly against Yugoslavia and don't think he got another shot with the SE after that. However, he performed well in most of the games he played for the SE prior to that game.

Although, I have no evidence I am of the opinion that Baruwa and Furo were well past their stated ages when they played for our junior teams which is partly why they looked so good playing against younger players. In Baruwa's defense though, he actually looked good in most of the games he played for the SE.

Ogbeche was rushed into our world cup squad and should definitely not have started. He was deserving of an invite for friendly games, but was exposed at the world cup. However, with Agali and Aiyegbeni not in the squad, not sure if we had that many options.

Abiodun Baruwa NEVER played for any of our junior teams...

I think he played for the U-23 Olympics qualifier....

He was a stand-by on the Olympic team...
But I cannot recall him playing any of the qualifiers.

[fabio]

But I cannot recall him playing any of the qualifiers.

I think he played against Zimbabwe with the Zimbabwean lodging a protest about his age....

The Baruwa Case of 1996

The Abiodun Baruwa case of 1996 is often forgotten even though it would have prevented NIgeria from winning its now famous 1996 Olympics soccer gold. Abiodun Baruwa, then a top local goalkeeper, had played in the Olympic qualifiers against Zimbabwe. The qualifiers are restricted to players under the age of 23. Zimbabwe turned in a protest to FIFA including a match program from the 1991 Nigerian Challenge Cup final in which VBaruwa played for Kano Pillars. The program had identified Baruwa's birthdate as February 7, 1969. That birthdate would put Baruwa at 27 years and over the 23 age limit for the 1996 Olympics.

However, the NFA rallied around to provide a safe defense. It noted that the match program was not an official medium of the FA and, thus, the FA could not vouch for its authenticity nor could it be held responsible for the veracity of the program's contents. It also noted that FIFA's Article 20 identified passports as the authentic documents for age verification. Baruwa's passport showed a birthdate of November 16, 1974 which made him eligible for the U-23 team. The Olympics Games Bureau headed by CAF's President Issa Hayatou threw out Zimbabwe's protest on April 22, 1996 citing insufficient evidence.

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=155693&start=138

[deanotito]

Honestly feel you guys are being harsh on Baruwa, Iyenemi and Kaita. They weren't that bad, and in my mind, justified their call ups. If we're to follow the title of the thread and say players that didn't deserve to be in the SE, then the 2002 and 2014 WCs take the cake. Those teams were replete with those types...and many of them started too:

Uchebo
Babatunde Michael
Ameobi
Opabunmi
Sodje


....the list goes on

[Gotti]

Honestly feel you guys are being harsh on Baruwa, Iyenemi and Kaita. They weren't that bad, and in my mind, justified their call ups. If we're to follow the title of the thread and say players that didn't deserve to be in the SE, then the 2002 and 2014 WCs take the cake. Those teams were replete with those types...and many of them started too:

Uchebo
Babatunde Michael
Ameobi
Opabunmi
Sodje

....the list goes on

I always chuckle at these partisan lists...

I am personally no fan of Michael Uchebo (and was of those dismayed by his call-up), but exactly how is any less deserving of SE consideration than several of the players on the current SE squad. The dude played 32 games for Cercle Brugge in the season leading to the 2014 WC which is at par with the likes of Daddy Moses (and much more than the likes of Onazi and Musa have played thus far this year). Ditto with Babatunde Michael. Shola Amoebi, whom several Nigerian coaches chased after, might have been a little long in the tooth by the time he finally acceded to an SE invite, but going into the 2014 WC he actually had an SE strike rate that was much better than the likes of Odion Ighalo. Efe Sodje was a beneficiary of our long drawn out paucity at the RB position, whose main competition was against the likes of Friday Onyekwu, Ogbonna Kanu and George Abbey - and frankly was an upgrade over the likes Musa Muhammed who was our intial RB under the Rohr regime, and no worse than a long list of RB pretenders who have been paraded in the RB position over the years (Mobi "Kill-and-Go" Oparaku, Gbenga Okunowo, Nduka Ugbade, Godwin Okpara, etc.). As for Femi Opabunmi, going into the 2002 WC at the unfamiliar LB position, he was at least as good (if not better) than the current posse of Elderson Echiejile and Co. have shown in recent times.

Meanwhile, someone like Furo Iyenemi (who folks are supposedly being too "harsh" on) did not play a single game for Royal Antwerp in the 2000 season that he ended up as a STARTER in central defense for the SE at the 2000 ANC. In fact, between 2000 and 2002, the dude managed to play a grand total of 8 games at club level in Belgium.

[Gotti]

Frankly, the only player that clearly did not 'deserve' any SE consideration was "Hey You" Onoriode (who played one half of the SE v Venezuala friendly in London), but we all know and APPRECIATE how he ended up wearing the GWG...