EGUAVOEN: Rohr Should Invite Babatunde.....

[Ayo Akinfe]

Ayo,

TBH, I am surprised and amused by your insistence on a major overhaul of the team. I assume that is what you have stridently called for since Nigeria qualified for the World Cup. I have hoped that my assumption is wrong but reading several of your comments I have become convinced that I am NOT wrong.

I am surprised because you have followed Nigerian football for a long period and that history should have taught you a lesson on what is effective and what is not. However, it does not appear that you care about such history. Let me remind you about one that is very difficult for me to forget.

Go back to the qualifiers of the 1982 World Cup, two years after Nigeria was crowned African champions for the first time. I hope you remember then. It was in preparation for the game against Algeria at the last stage of the World Cup qualifiers. Nigeria was desperate to qualify. We had been so close in 1970 and then 1978 qualifiers but as you may remember, we failed on both occasions. In 1982 qualifiers we had Coach Otto Gloria who had just won the AFCON for Nigeria. This was a man associated with the great Benfica teams of the 1950s and 1960s, a man who led Portugal to their best placing ever at a World Cup in 1966, and a man Brazil courted to coach its National Selection at the 1970 World Cup. Nigeria had him in 1982.

At the time, we thought that Nigeria's best chance against Algeria was to invite our best players wherever they may be to join the NT. Only very few journalists opposed this, citing the importance of chemistry that was developing with a team that had a young Stephen Keshi, among others. The warnings were ignored. Instead, the calls grew louder for inviting the best players. The NFA recalled Christian Chukwu from retirement. The NFF called back Thompson Usiyan and Andrew Atuegbu from the USA. We were estatic. With such firepower, we certainly would not only beat Algeria but humiliate them.

In a warm up game in Benin, we lost 0-1 to Uganda. It was a warning. It was ignored. On match day, Algeria ran rings around our so called best players in Lagos and we were 0-2 down at home in Lagos. Instead of Keshi, we started Chukwu. Instead of the likes of Aloysius Atuegbu, we started Andrew. We started Usiyan. None of those so called stars did anything worthwhile on the field. You should remember that day. You watched it and yet....

Now you are calling for a similar overhaul just before the World Cup? IMHO, it is a dangerous call. My only hope is that Gernot Rohr is a conservative man and will be best served by ignoring such calls. He has relied largely on building chemistry and introducing new players gradually. It has paid off. He will not start changing that philosophy now for a pot of gold. At least, I assume that he will not. He will make changes but they will be minimal and that should be the logical expectation and not a kamikaze strategy of an overhaul.

This is just my tuppence.

The difference in your example is that they didn't overhaul the team with better players. To be fair that's not what wAyo is calling for. For all we know back then in 1982 the problem could've brb recalling inferior/old/out of form players and not necessarily a lack of team chemistry.

If we want to take Enugu II’s argument to its logical conclusion, if we put Enugu II, Gotti, Danfo Driver, Yemster, Sir V, Flexi Swift, Synopsis, Tobi 17, Mr Shows, Dammy, Cito, etc together in camp for the next five years and get them train together every day, by 2022, they will be ideal to represent us at the next World Cup. What he is effectively saying is that talent and quality count for nothing!

[Flex Swift]

Ayo,

TBH, I am surprised and amused by your insistence on a major overhaul of the team. I assume that is what you have stridently called for since Nigeria qualified for the World Cup. I have hoped that my assumption is wrong but reading several of your comments I have become convinced that I am NOT wrong.

I am surprised because you have followed Nigerian football for a long period and that history should have taught you a lesson on what is effective and what is not. However, it does not appear that you care about such history. Let me remind you about one that is very difficult for me to forget.

Go back to the qualifiers of the 1982 World Cup, two years after Nigeria was crowned African champions for the first time. I hope you remember then. It was in preparation for the game against Algeria at the last stage of the World Cup qualifiers. Nigeria was desperate to qualify. We had been so close in 1970 and then 1978 qualifiers but as you may remember, we failed on both occasions. In 1982 qualifiers we had Coach Otto Gloria who had just won the AFCON for Nigeria. This was a man associated with the great Benfica teams of the 1950s and 1960s, a man who led Portugal to their best placing ever at a World Cup in 1966, and a man Brazil courted to coach its National Selection at the 1970 World Cup. Nigeria had him in 1982.

At the time, we thought that Nigeria's best chance against Algeria was to invite our best players wherever they may be to join the NT. Only very few journalists opposed this, citing the importance of chemistry that was developing with a team that had a young Stephen Keshi, among others. The warnings were ignored. Instead, the calls grew louder for inviting the best players. The NFA recalled Christian Chukwu from retirement. The NFF called back Thompson Usiyan and Andrew Atuegbu from the USA. We were estatic. With such firepower, we certainly would not only beat Algeria but humiliate them.

In a warm up game in Benin, we lost 0-1 to Uganda. It was a warning. It was ignored. On match day, Algeria ran rings around our so called best players in Lagos and we were 0-2 down at home in Lagos. Instead of Keshi, we started Chukwu. Instead of the likes of Aloysius Atuegbu, we started Andrew. We started Usiyan. None of those so called stars did anything worthwhile on the field. You should remember that day. You watched it and yet....

Now you are calling for a similar overhaul just before the World Cup? IMHO, it is a dangerous call. My only hope is that Gernot Rohr is a conservative man and will be best served by ignoring such calls. He has relied largely on building chemistry and introducing new players gradually. It has paid off. He will not start changing that philosophy now for a pot of gold. At least, I assume that he will not. He will make changes but they will be minimal and that should be the logical expectation and not a kamikaze strategy of an overhaul.

This is just my tuppence.

The difference in your example is that they didn't overhaul the team with better players. To be fair that's not what wAyo is calling for. For all we know back then in 1982 the problem could've brb recalling inferior/old/out of form players and not necessarily a lack of team chemistry.

If we want to take Enugu II’s argument to its logical conclusion, if we put Enugu II, Gotti, Danfo Driver, Yemster, Sir V, Flexi Swift, Synopsis, Tobi 17, Mr Shows, Dammy, Cito, etc together in camp for the next five years and get them train together every day, by 2022, they will be ideal to represent us at the next World Cup. What he is effectively saying is that talent and quality count for nothing!

I know I am wasting my time. Ayo please share with us your criteria for determining one player is better than another? For Example how were you able to determine Sola was better than Ike? Or Babatunde was better than Joel Obi? Or Oyeruru is better than Simon Moses ? the criteria I am looking for cannot be based on your subjective view it cannot be based solely on number of goals scored in a weak league and it cannot be based on your personal preference against certain players in the national team. It must be based on the way Nigeria plays football.example Nigeria does not and never has played the ball down the wing and whipped in crosses. Nigeria doesn’t play the ball long from the back to a target man. Nigeria plays the ball on the ground and builds up from the back the ball is always on the ground.

Please share with us your experience of team building ? The criteria for making great teams and performing teams? “I put is to you you haven’t got a clue”

[cchinukw]

I honestly do not see what the fuss is about if Babatunde is currently in form.

If he has improved on his impressive world cup form (before he was injured) then wetin be the wahala?

No one is advocating an overhaul.

Egu is only asking for Babatunde to be given a fair crack of the whip in national team call ups. Nothing wrong with that.

[truetalk]

I honestly do not see what the fuss is about if Babatunde is currently in form.

If he has improved on his impressive world cup form (before he was injured) then wetin be the wahala?

No one is advocating an overhaul.

Egu is only asking for Babatunde to be given a fair crack of the whip in national team call ups. Nothing wrong with that.

Giving him a chance will be extremely unfair, and borderline shady. That is what all the fuss is about. The likes of Esiti, Dennis Bonaventure, Cyril Dressers, Taiwo Awoniyi, Joel Obi are yet to get a look due to the quality of competition and someone has the nerve to mention BabaMESSI. That is just fraud.

We said it before the last World Cup. His so called 'assist' to Musa was by mistake. I was at the games, the TV may not capture everything, but it was the 1st time I had seen SE players sometimes avoid passing to an open player except absolutely necessary, since Kaita in previous World Cup. We said he was not SE quality before the last WC, and would do nothing significant clubwise after the fact (despite the SE WC boost), and he has rightly ended up in Qatar. Now another WC has come around and he is either pressing some buttons, or having someone press them on his behalf.

Eitherway, e no go work.

[Goldleaf]

It is times like this that I am thankful for Melvin Amaju Pinnick's logic that the necessary coach to guide the SE has to be an FC technically capable. There have been far too many times that we have qualified with a set of players only to succumb to local pressure and injected moves that end up in complete catastrophy. From what I have observed about Gernot Rohr, he already has his core of players and he understands that with growing confidence from international matches, they will come very good.

There is far too much rubbish from those asking for an overhaul. It is just insane. How can you jettison chemistry? The squad that won the Olympics had players like Teslim Fatusi, Mobi Oparaku, Garba Lawal, Wilson Oruma and Joseph Dosu who were not particularly outstanding in the technical department but they fitted into the team like a glove. Gernot Rohr who came from the technical department in the German Federation will know more than most that you can assemble 11 so-called gifted talent but if they don't have chemistry, spirit and character from overcoming setbacks, you have nothing. Come March and the next set of friendlies, Gernot Rohr will stick rigidly (and rightly) to the core that saw us through the qualifiers (Iwobi, Kele, JMO, Victor Moses, Simon Moses, Balogun, Troost, Shehu, Ebuehi, Ighalo, Musa, Nwakaeme, Onazi, Ndidi). He will only add about 2 or 3 max fresh players and they would have been outstanding in the friendlies.

The football world prays to see a particular Nigeria SE and they recognise it when it shows up; the Nigeria SE that may have doubts defensively but offensively it has pace, guile and even when down, will come back and overcome deficits. The world knows the other Nigeria; the fragile, weak and uneventful Nigeria that showed up in WC 2002, 2010 and 2014; the Nigeria that lacks cohesiveness, chemistry showing more individual talents than a common goal. That Nigeria will never win anything. The SE that shows the same team spirit as the U17s and the U23s at the Olympics that fights to the end is the one that the world wants to see. So, the likes of Ayo Akinfe can keep throwing up names until he is blue in the face. My pleasure is that Gernot Rohr will NOT depart from that core because he has already seen that core overcome a 2-goal deficit against Argentina and overwhelm Argentina in the 2nd half. That was a strong lesson for Rohr and it is exactly what Johannes Bonfrere found when he took the U23 to Atlanta in 1996. It is not about the new names and new faces; it is about the team spirit, the chemistry, the character. Rohr will back his set to the hilt and will not fall by the wayside to the noise like the likes of Keshi and Onigbinde did.

Period.

[Goldleaf]

Ayo,

TBH, I am surprised and amused by your insistence on a major overhaul of the team. I assume that is what you have stridently called for since Nigeria qualified for the World Cup. I have hoped that my assumption is wrong but reading several of your comments I have become convinced that I am NOT wrong.

I am surprised because you have followed Nigerian football for a long period and that history should have taught you a lesson on what is effective and what is not. However, it does not appear that you care about such history. Let me remind you about one that is very difficult for me to forget.

Go back to the qualifiers of the 1982 World Cup, two years after Nigeria was crowned African champions for the first time. I hope you remember then. It was in preparation for the game against Algeria at the last stage of the World Cup qualifiers. Nigeria was desperate to qualify. We had been so close in 1970 and then 1978 qualifiers but as you may remember, we failed on both occasions. In 1982 qualifiers we had Coach Otto Gloria who had just won the AFCON for Nigeria. This was a man associated with the great Benfica teams of the 1950s and 1960s, a man who led Portugal to their best placing ever at a World Cup in 1966, and a man Brazil courted to coach its National Selection at the 1970 World Cup. Nigeria had him in 1982.

At the time, we thought that Nigeria's best chance against Algeria was to invite our best players wherever they may be to join the NT. Only very few journalists opposed this, citing the importance of chemistry that was developing with a team that had a young Stephen Keshi, among others. The warnings were ignored. Instead, the calls grew louder for inviting the best players. The NFA recalled Christian Chukwu from retirement. The NFF called back Thompson Usiyan and Andrew Atuegbu from the USA. We were estatic. With such firepower, we certainly would not only beat Algeria but humiliate them.

In a warm up game in Benin, we lost 0-1 to Uganda. It was a warning. It was ignored. On match day, Algeria ran rings around our so called best players in Lagos and we were 0-2 down at home in Lagos. Instead of Keshi, we started Chukwu. Instead of the likes of Aloysius Atuegbu, we started Andrew. We started Usiyan. None of those so called stars did anything worthwhile on the field. You should remember that day. You watched it and yet....

Now you are calling for a similar overhaul just before the World Cup? IMHO, it is a dangerous call. My only hope is that Gernot Rohr is a conservative man and will be best served by ignoring such calls. He has relied largely on building chemistry and introducing new players gradually. It has paid off. He will not start changing that philosophy now for a pot of gold. At least, I assume that he will not. He will make changes but they will be minimal and that should be the logical expectation and not a kamikaze strategy of an overhaul.

This is just my tuppence.

(1) You and I take different lessons from the 1981 loss to Algeria. As far as I am concerned, we lost that tie due to Otto Gloria’s conservative refusal to drop Best Ogedengbe

(2) Best Ogedengbe cost us both matches against Algeria as he did the 1980 Olympics

(3) In 1981, Peter Rufai was by far the best goalkeeper in Nigeria but alas, Gloria refused to call him up. We paid a heavy price for such stubbornness

(4) If you are blaming the stars for the first leg loss, how come we still lost the away leg when Gloria reverted back to his “old team?”

(5) in any case, I fundamentally disagree with your premise that conservatism breeds chemistry. If you chemicalise junk in the laboratory, you will get a junk end product, no matter how many years you put into the project

(6) According to the logic of your argument, teams like Libya, Sierra Leone and Liberia that have had few changes over the last three years should be dominating African football

(7) Otto Gloria enjoyed his greatest success in 1980 when he was brave enoiugh to bring youngsters like Ifeanyi Onyeadika, Henry Nwosu, Okey Isima, Sylvanua Okpala, John Orlando, etc into the team, dumping veterans like Patrick Ekeji and Annas Ahmed

(8) I notice that you conveniently failed to mention our match with Tunisia in the 1982 World Cup qualifiers. Well, let me refresh your memory. Our “chemicalised” old team lost the first leg 0-2 and the NFA took the drastic step of bringing in John Chidozie, Tunji Banjo and Emmanuel Osigwe. The rest is history. They went on to win the return leg for us, eliminating Tunisia. Within a week, team chemistry was forged to the neutral victory

(9) There is no evidence to suggest that the players we used in the qualifiers will be able to forge better chemistry during the one month pre-World Cup camping period than any new invitees

(10) According to the logic of your argument, we should have been disjointed against Argentina with the introduction of new faces like Uzoho, Ebuehi and Idowu. Well, I know which half of that match showed “greater chemistry.”

This selective reasoning get as e be. How can you blame Best Ogedegbe's selection against Algeria for our ouster when it was actually Best Ogedegbe who saw us through the penalty shoot-out against Tunisia in Lagos? After Leotis Boateng headed home a Tunji Banjo free kick and Osigwe followed with a volley from a John Chiedozie cross, it was Best that saved 3 penalty kicks in the ensuing shoot-out.

The failure against Algeria was as EII rightly stated because of the nostalgia prompted by the press for the return of CCC, Atuegbu and Usiyan and our 2 goals conceded in Lagos was a result of CCC's faded pace.

[metalalloy]

I honestly do not see what the fuss is about if Babatunde is currently in form.

If he has improved on his impressive world cup form (before he was injured) then wetin be the wahala?

No one is advocating an overhaul.

Egu is only asking for Babatunde to be given a fair crack of the whip in national team call ups. Nothing wrong with that.

Those are the key words. there is no indication that either is the case. There are strong indications that person asking for a "fair crack" hasn't seen him play in 3 years!!!

All dis one nah noise, unless there are several injuries, barring the upgrades in the gk and fullback positions, the team is pretty much set. Anyone we no like am can go find a u-12 team and coach them to their local world cup.

[Enugu II]

Ayo,

TBH, I am surprised and amused by your insistence on a major overhaul of the team. I assume that is what you have stridently called for since Nigeria qualified for the World Cup. I have hoped that my assumption is wrong but reading several of your comments I have become convinced that I am NOT wrong.

I am surprised because you have followed Nigerian football for a long period and that history should have taught you a lesson on what is effective and what is not. However, it does not appear that you care about such history. Let me remind you about one that is very difficult for me to forget.

Go back to the qualifiers of the 1982 World Cup, two years after Nigeria was crowned African champions for the first time. I hope you remember then. It was in preparation for the game against Algeria at the last stage of the World Cup qualifiers. Nigeria was desperate to qualify. We had been so close in 1970 and then 1978 qualifiers but as you may remember, we failed on both occasions. In 1982 qualifiers we had Coach Otto Gloria who had just won the AFCON for Nigeria. This was a man associated with the great Benfica teams of the 1950s and 1960s, a man who led Portugal to their best placing ever at a World Cup in 1966, and a man Brazil courted to coach its National Selection at the 1970 World Cup. Nigeria had him in 1982.

At the time, we thought that Nigeria's best chance against Algeria was to invite our best players wherever they may be to join the NT. Only very few journalists opposed this, citing the importance of chemistry that was developing with a team that had a young Stephen Keshi, among others. The warnings were ignored. Instead, the calls grew louder for inviting the best players. The NFA recalled Christian Chukwu from retirement. The NFF called back Thompson Usiyan and Andrew Atuegbu from the USA. We were estatic. With such firepower, we certainly would not only beat Algeria but humiliate them.

In a warm up game in Benin, we lost 0-1 to Uganda. It was a warning. It was ignored. On match day, Algeria ran rings around our so called best players in Lagos and we were 0-2 down at home in Lagos. Instead of Keshi, we started Chukwu. Instead of the likes of Aloysius Atuegbu, we started Andrew. We started Usiyan. None of those so called stars did anything worthwhile on the field. You should remember that day. You watched it and yet....

Now you are calling for a similar overhaul just before the World Cup? IMHO, it is a dangerous call. My only hope is that Gernot Rohr is a conservative man and will be best served by ignoring such calls. He has relied largely on building chemistry and introducing new players gradually. It has paid off. He will not start changing that philosophy now for a pot of gold. At least, I assume that he will not. He will make changes but they will be minimal and that should be the logical expectation and not a kamikaze strategy of an overhaul.

This is just my tuppence.

The difference in your example is that they didn't overhaul the team with better players. To be fair that's not what wAyo is calling for. For all we know back then in 1982 the problem could've brb recalling inferior/old/out of form players and not necessarily a lack of team chemistry.

TheYemster,

The players called then were in fact more widely agreed as better compared to those being touted today. Usiyan and Chukwu, for instance, are considered GOAT players (even today) and were still playing when they were called in 1982! Thus your assumption is wrong, bros. The issue about the recall being ineffective occurred only after the team lost and not before. We are going down that slope now! We won't see it or realize, like in 1982, until afterwards and it is usually late.

[Mr Shows]

It is times like this that I am thankful for Melvin Amaju Pinnick's logic that the necessary coach to guide the SE has to be an FC technically capable. There have been far too many times that we have qualified with a set of players only to succumb to local pressure and injected moves that end up in complete catastrophy. From what I have observed about Gernot Rohr, he already has his core of players and he understands that with growing confidence from international matches, they will come very good.

There is far too much rubbish from those asking for an overhaul. It is just insane. How can you jettison chemistry? The squad that won the Olympics had players like Teslim Fatusi, Mobi Oparaku, Garba Lawal, Wilson Oruma and Joseph Dosu who were not particularly outstanding in the technical department but they fitted into the team like a glove. Gernot Rohr who came from the technical department in the German Federation will know more than most that you can assemble 11 so-called gifted talent but if they don't have chemistry, spirit and character from overcoming setbacks, you have nothing. Come March and the next set of friendlies, Gernot Rohr will stick rigidly (and rightly) to the core that saw us through the qualifiers (Iwobi, Kele, JMO, Victor Moses, Simon Moses, Balogun, Troost, Shehu, Ebuehi, Ighalo, Musa, Nwakaeme, Onazi, Ndidi). He will only add about 2 or 3 max fresh players and they would have been outstanding in the friendlies.

The football world prays to see a particular Nigeria SE and they recognise it when it shows up; the Nigeria SE that may have doubts defensively but offensively it has pace, guile and even when down, will come back and overcome deficits. The world knows the other Nigeria; the fragile, weak and uneventful Nigeria that showed up in WC 2002, 2010 and 2014; the Nigeria that lacks cohesiveness, chemistry showing more individual talents than a common goal. That Nigeria will never win anything. The SE that shows the same team spirit as the U17s and the U23s at the Olympics that fights to the end is the one that the world wants to see. So, the likes of Ayo Akinfe can keep throwing up names until he is blue in the face. My pleasure is that Gernot Rohr will NOT depart from that core because he has already seen that core overcome a 2-goal deficit against Argentina and overwhelm Argentina in the 2nd half. That was a strong lesson for Rohr and it is exactly what Johannes Bonfrere found when he took the U23 to Atlanta in 1996. It is not about the new names and new faces; it is about the team spirit, the chemistry, the character. Rohr will back his set to the hilt and will not fall by the wayside to the noise like the likes of Keshi and Onigbinde did.

Period.

that about sums it up. If we had 10 messi's they will all be in Ayo's squad.

Rohr has his plan and all this beer parlour team selection analysis is like water off a duck's back.

[Enugu II]

Ayo,

TBH, I am surprised and amused by your insistence on a major overhaul of the team. I assume that is what you have stridently called for since Nigeria qualified for the World Cup. I have hoped that my assumption is wrong but reading several of your comments I have become convinced that I am NOT wrong.

I am surprised because you have followed Nigerian football for a long period and that history should have taught you a lesson on what is effective and what is not. However, it does not appear that you care about such history. Let me remind you about one that is very difficult for me to forget.

Go back to the qualifiers of the 1982 World Cup, two years after Nigeria was crowned African champions for the first time. I hope you remember then. It was in preparation for the game against Algeria at the last stage of the World Cup qualifiers. Nigeria was desperate to qualify. We had been so close in 1970 and then 1978 qualifiers but as you may remember, we failed on both occasions. In 1982 qualifiers we had Coach Otto Gloria who had just won the AFCON for Nigeria. This was a man associated with the great Benfica teams of the 1950s and 1960s, a man who led Portugal to their best placing ever at a World Cup in 1966, and a man Brazil courted to coach its National Selection at the 1970 World Cup. Nigeria had him in 1982.

At the time, we thought that Nigeria's best chance against Algeria was to invite our best players wherever they may be to join the NT. Only very few journalists opposed this, citing the importance of chemistry that was developing with a team that had a young Stephen Keshi, among others. The warnings were ignored. Instead, the calls grew louder for inviting the best players. The NFA recalled Christian Chukwu from retirement. The NFF called back Thompson Usiyan and Andrew Atuegbu from the USA. We were estatic. With such firepower, we certainly would not only beat Algeria but humiliate them.

In a warm up game in Benin, we lost 0-1 to Uganda. It was a warning. It was ignored. On match day, Algeria ran rings around our so called best players in Lagos and we were 0-2 down at home in Lagos. Instead of Keshi, we started Chukwu. Instead of the likes of Aloysius Atuegbu, we started Andrew. We started Usiyan. None of those so called stars did anything worthwhile on the field. You should remember that day. You watched it and yet....

Now you are calling for a similar overhaul just before the World Cup? IMHO, it is a dangerous call. My only hope is that Gernot Rohr is a conservative man and will be best served by ignoring such calls. He has relied largely on building chemistry and introducing new players gradually. It has paid off. He will not start changing that philosophy now for a pot of gold. At least, I assume that he will not. He will make changes but they will be minimal and that should be the logical expectation and not a kamikaze strategy of an overhaul.

This is just my tuppence.

(1) You and I take different lessons from the 1981 loss to Algeria. As far as I am concerned, we lost that tie due to Otto Gloria’s conservative refusal to drop Best Ogedengbe
If you accurately recall the game, the goals were not the fault of the goalkeeper. Thus, I am uncertain why you think Rufai would have saved Nigeria on the day that Chukwu could not keep up with the Algerians and had to be taken off at half time?

(2) Best Ogedengbe cost us both matches against Algeria as he did the 1980 Olympics
Addressed already.
(3) In 1981, Peter Rufai was by far the best goalkeeper in Nigeria but alas, Gloria refused to call him up. We paid a heavy price for such stubbornness
Addressed already.

(4) If you are blaming the stars for the first leg loss, how come we still lost the away leg when Gloria reverted back to his “old team?”
We lost 1-2 AWAY in Algeria. That was not unexpected. What was uUNEXPECTED was a HOME LOSS of 0-2. There is a difference between playing at home and playing away from home.
(5) in any case, I fundamentally disagree with your premise that conservatism breeds chemistry. If you chemicalise junk in the laboratory, you will get a junk end product, no matter how many years you put into the project
There is some correlation there but the crucial thing is that time together breeds chemistry. TIME is the key factor. There is now little time before the World Cup. This is not Sunday Sunday choose the best players and take one post. Players have to fully understand the coach's tactics, have time to practice it and have time to play together. If you continually chop the team then that TIME disappears.
(6) According to the logic of your argument, teams like Libya, Sierra Leone and Liberia that have had few changes over the last three years should be dominating African football
That will be a simplistic conclusion. Talent, psychology, time, etc play a huge role and so also does chemistry. If you get the best talents together with little time such a team will not get far even if it is a WORLD SELECTION.
(7) Otto Gloria enjoyed his greatest success in 1980 when he was brave enoiugh to bring youngsters like Ifeanyi Onyeadika, Henry Nwosu, Okey Isima, Sylvanua Okpala, John Orlando, etc into the team, dumping veterans like Patrick Ekeji and Annas Ahmed
He had months pof preparation with the team in Brazil (see TIME). That is the difference. Such a TIME does not exist now going into the World Cup.
(8) I notice that you conveniently failed to mention our match with Tunisia in the 1982 World Cup qualifiers. Well, let me refresh your memory. Our “chemicalised” old team lost the first leg 0-2 and the NFA took the drastic step of bringing in John Chidozie, Tunji Banjo and Emmanuel Osigwe. The rest is history. They went on to win the return leg for us, eliminating Tunisia. Within a week, team chemistry was forged to the neutral victory
Bros, the introduction of new players was minimal and not the wholesale changes that you seem to be advocating. Changing one or two players is going to happen at this World Cup with little effect on team chemistry but making wholesale changes will just not cut it.
(9) There is no evidence to suggest that the players we used in the qualifiers will be able to forge better chemistry during the one month pre-World Cup camping period than any new invitees
Is there evidence that they will not? In fact, they are more likely to do so that introducing a largely new team because they have TIME on their side. In any case, I expect one or two changes but that is it. No need for massive number of changes.
(10) According to the logic of your argument, we should have been disjointed against Argentina with the introduction of new faces like Uzoho, Ebuehi and Idowu. Well, I know which half of that match showed “greater chemistry.”That was a friendly where both teams put in new faces. BTW, Ebuehi has ben on the team for months now and thus he isn't new to the team, its players, and the tactics.

[Cristao II]

I must admit I am perplexed as to how this boys career did not take off after the World Cup. he looked like a very good playmaker.

I must admit I have not watched him since but it would be a good idea for Rohr to have a look at him. If Mikel is sitting alongside Ndidi in front of the defence, we need an agile and mobile playmaker who can orchestrate things upfront.

For now, I only really see Kelechi Nwakali as that man but having Michael Babatunde compete for the shirt with him sounds like a great idea to me. Our team is finally taking shape.

You are joking right ... IS the World Cup squad for making players' careers take off? You must be joking if you are perplexed why his career didnt take off. You are calling Kelechi and Babatunde yet you want to drop Ogu?

[Cristao II]

I honestly do not see what the fuss is about if Babatunde is currently in form.

If he has improved on his impressive world cup form (before he was injured) then wetin be the wahala?

No one is advocating an overhaul.

Egu is only asking for Babatunde to be given a fair crack of the whip in national team call ups. Nothing wrong with that.

Giving him a chance will be extremely unfair, and borderline shady. That is what all the fuss is about. The likes of Esiti, Dennis Bonaventure, Cyril Dressers, Taiwo Awoniyi, Joel Obi are yet to get a look due to the quality of competition and someone has the nerve to mention BabaMESSI. That is just fraud.

We said it before the last World Cup. His so called 'assist' to Musa was by mistake. I was at the games, the TV may not capture everything, but it was the 1st time I had seen SE players sometimes avoid passing to an open player except absolutely necessary, since Kaita in previous World Cup. We said he was not SE quality before the last WC, and would do nothing significant clubwise after the fact (despite the SE WC boost), and he has rightly ended up in Qatar. Now another WC has come around and he is either pressing some buttons, or having someone press them on his behalf.

Eitherway, e no go work.

Borderline ke? You mean VERY!!

[Cristao II]

I honestly do not see what the fuss is about if Babatunde is currently in form.

If he has improved on his impressive world cup form (before he was injured) then wetin be the wahala?

No one is advocating an overhaul.

Egu is only asking for Babatunde to be given a fair crack of the whip in national team call ups. Nothing wrong with that.

What has Babatunde been doing since 2014?

[Cristao II]

They have started. Read his wiki page

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Babatunde

Michael Babatunde (born 24 December 1992) is a Nigerian football midfielder, who plays for Qatar SC in the Qatargas League.
Nigerian native Michael Babatunde has established records for goals scored and great performances en route to worldwide recognition as midfielder and forward.

At least they couldnt lie about appearances... At club level, he has only played 21 games in the last 3 years (2015-2017) and 36 games from 2013 to 2015. In his time at Qatar, he has only played 6 games since 2016!!

[Ayo Akinfe]

Ayo,

TBH, I am surprised and amused by your insistence on a major overhaul of the team. I assume that is what you have stridently called for since Nigeria qualified for the World Cup. I have hoped that my assumption is wrong but reading several of your comments I have become convinced that I am NOT wrong.

I am surprised because you have followed Nigerian football for a long period and that history should have taught you a lesson on what is effective and what is not. However, it does not appear that you care about such history. Let me remind you about one that is very difficult for me to forget.

Go back to the qualifiers of the 1982 World Cup, two years after Nigeria was crowned African champions for the first time. I hope you remember then. It was in preparation for the game against Algeria at the last stage of the World Cup qualifiers. Nigeria was desperate to qualify. We had been so close in 1970 and then 1978 qualifiers but as you may remember, we failed on both occasions. In 1982 qualifiers we had Coach Otto Gloria who had just won the AFCON for Nigeria. This was a man associated with the great Benfica teams of the 1950s and 1960s, a man who led Portugal to their best placing ever at a World Cup in 1966, and a man Brazil courted to coach its National Selection at the 1970 World Cup. Nigeria had him in 1982.

At the time, we thought that Nigeria's best chance against Algeria was to invite our best players wherever they may be to join the NT. Only very few journalists opposed this, citing the importance of chemistry that was developing with a team that had a young Stephen Keshi, among others. The warnings were ignored. Instead, the calls grew louder for inviting the best players. The NFA recalled Christian Chukwu from retirement. The NFF called back Thompson Usiyan and Andrew Atuegbu from the USA. We were estatic. With such firepower, we certainly would not only beat Algeria but humiliate them.

In a warm up game in Benin, we lost 0-1 to Uganda. It was a warning. It was ignored. On match day, Algeria ran rings around our so called best players in Lagos and we were 0-2 down at home in Lagos. Instead of Keshi, we started Chukwu. Instead of the likes of Aloysius Atuegbu, we started Andrew. We started Usiyan. None of those so called stars did anything worthwhile on the field. You should remember that day. You watched it and yet....

Now you are calling for a similar overhaul just before the World Cup? IMHO, it is a dangerous call. My only hope is that Gernot Rohr is a conservative man and will be best served by ignoring such calls. He has relied largely on building chemistry and introducing new players gradually. It has paid off. He will not start changing that philosophy now for a pot of gold. At least, I assume that he will not. He will make changes but they will be minimal and that should be the logical expectation and not a kamikaze strategy of an overhaul.

This is just my tuppence.

The difference in your example is that they didn't overhaul the team with better players. To be fair that's not what wAyo is calling for. For all we know back then in 1982 the problem could've brb recalling inferior/old/out of form players and not necessarily a lack of team chemistry.

If we want to take Enugu II’s argument to its logical conclusion, if we put Enugu II, Gotti, Danfo Driver, Yemster, Sir V, Flexi Swift, Synopsis, Tobi 17, Mr Shows, Dammy, Cito, etc together in camp for the next five years and get them train together every day, by 2022, they will be ideal to represent us at the next World Cup. What he is effectively saying is that talent and quality count for nothing!

I know I am wasting my time. Ayo please share with us your criteria for determining one player is better than another? For Example how were you able to determine Sola was better than Ike? Or Babatunde was better than Joel Obi? Or Oyeruru is better than Simon Moses ? the criteria I am looking for cannot be based on your subjective view it cannot be based solely on number of goals scored in a weak league and it cannot be based on your personal preference against certain players in the national team. It must be based on the way Nigeria plays football.example Nigeria does not and never has played the ball down the wing and whipped in crosses. Nigeria doesn’t play the ball long from the back to a target man. Nigeria plays the ball on the ground and builds up from the back the ball is always on the ground.

Please share with us your experience of team building ? The criteria for making great teams and performing teams? “I put is to you you haven’t got a clue”

Hot air. Football is a subjective matter like most other sports. Coaches will always have their individual philosophies. I believe you already know my views on how my team will play.

[Ayo Akinfe]

Ayo,

TBH, I am surprised and amused by your insistence on a major overhaul of the team. I assume that is what you have stridently called for since Nigeria qualified for the World Cup. I have hoped that my assumption is wrong but reading several of your comments I have become convinced that I am NOT wrong.

I am surprised because you have followed Nigerian football for a long period and that history should have taught you a lesson on what is effective and what is not. However, it does not appear that you care about such history. Let me remind you about one that is very difficult for me to forget.

Go back to the qualifiers of the 1982 World Cup, two years after Nigeria was crowned African champions for the first time. I hope you remember then. It was in preparation for the game against Algeria at the last stage of the World Cup qualifiers. Nigeria was desperate to qualify. We had been so close in 1970 and then 1978 qualifiers but as you may remember, we failed on both occasions. In 1982 qualifiers we had Coach Otto Gloria who had just won the AFCON for Nigeria. This was a man associated with the great Benfica teams of the 1950s and 1960s, a man who led Portugal to their best placing ever at a World Cup in 1966, and a man Brazil courted to coach its National Selection at the 1970 World Cup. Nigeria had him in 1982.

At the time, we thought that Nigeria's best chance against Algeria was to invite our best players wherever they may be to join the NT. Only very few journalists opposed this, citing the importance of chemistry that was developing with a team that had a young Stephen Keshi, among others. The warnings were ignored. Instead, the calls grew louder for inviting the best players. The NFA recalled Christian Chukwu from retirement. The NFF called back Thompson Usiyan and Andrew Atuegbu from the USA. We were estatic. With such firepower, we certainly would not only beat Algeria but humiliate them.

In a warm up game in Benin, we lost 0-1 to Uganda. It was a warning. It was ignored. On match day, Algeria ran rings around our so called best players in Lagos and we were 0-2 down at home in Lagos. Instead of Keshi, we started Chukwu. Instead of the likes of Aloysius Atuegbu, we started Andrew. We started Usiyan. None of those so called stars did anything worthwhile on the field. You should remember that day. You watched it and yet....

Now you are calling for a similar overhaul just before the World Cup? IMHO, it is a dangerous call. My only hope is that Gernot Rohr is a conservative man and will be best served by ignoring such calls. He has relied largely on building chemistry and introducing new players gradually. It has paid off. He will not start changing that philosophy now for a pot of gold. At least, I assume that he will not. He will make changes but they will be minimal and that should be the logical expectation and not a kamikaze strategy of an overhaul.

This is just my tuppence.

(1) You and I take different lessons from the 1981 loss to Algeria. As far as I am concerned, we lost that tie due to Otto Gloria’s conservative refusal to drop Best Ogedengbe
If you accurately recall the game, the goals were not the fault of the goalkeeper. Thus, I am uncertain why you think Rufai would have saved Nigeria on the day that Chukwu could not keep up with the Algerians and had to be taken off at half time?

(2) Best Ogedengbe cost us both matches against Algeria as he did the 1980 Olympics
Addressed already.
(3) In 1981, Peter Rufai was by far the best goalkeeper in Nigeria but alas, Gloria refused to call him up. We paid a heavy price for such stubbornness
Addressed already.

(4) If you are blaming the stars for the first leg loss, how come we still lost the away leg when Gloria reverted back to his “old team?”
We lost 1-2 AWAY in Algeria. That was not unexpected. What was uUNEXPECTED was a HOME LOSS of 0-2. There is a difference between playing at home and playing away from home.
(5) in any case, I fundamentally disagree with your premise that conservatism breeds chemistry. If you chemicalise junk in the laboratory, you will get a junk end product, no matter how many years you put into the project
There is some correlation there but the crucial thing is that time together breeds chemistry. TIME is the key factor. There is now little time before the World Cup. This is not Sunday Sunday choose the best players and take one post. Players have to fully understand the coach's tactics, have time to practice it and have time to play together. If you continually chop the team then that TIME disappears.
(6) According to the logic of your argument, teams like Libya, Sierra Leone and Liberia that have had few changes over the last three years should be dominating African football
That will be a simplistic conclusion. Talent, psychology, time, etc play a huge role and so also does chemistry. If you get the best talents together with little time such a team will not get far even if it is a WORLD SELECTION.
(7) Otto Gloria enjoyed his greatest success in 1980 when he was brave enoiugh to bring youngsters like Ifeanyi Onyeadika, Henry Nwosu, Okey Isima, Sylvanua Okpala, John Orlando, etc into the team, dumping veterans like Patrick Ekeji and Annas Ahmed
He had months pof preparation with the team in Brazil (see TIME). That is the difference. Such a TIME does not exist now going into the World Cup.
(8) I notice that you conveniently failed to mention our match with Tunisia in the 1982 World Cup qualifiers. Well, let me refresh your memory. Our “chemicalised” old team lost the first leg 0-2 and the NFA took the drastic step of bringing in John Chidozie, Tunji Banjo and Emmanuel Osigwe. The rest is history. They went on to win the return leg for us, eliminating Tunisia. Within a week, team chemistry was forged to the neutral victory
Bros, the introduction of new players was minimal and not the wholesale changes that you seem to be advocating. Changing one or two players is going to happen at this World Cup with little effect on team chemistry but making wholesale changes will just not cut it.
(9) There is no evidence to suggest that the players we used in the qualifiers will be able to forge better chemistry during the one month pre-World Cup camping period than any new invitees
Is there evidence that they will not? In fact, they are more likely to do so that introducing a largely new team because they have TIME on their side. In any case, I expect one or two changes but that is it. No need for massive number of changes.
(10) According to the logic of your argument, we should have been disjointed against Argentina with the introduction of new faces like Uzoho, Ebuehi and Idowu. Well, I know which half of that match showed “greater chemistry.”That was a friendly where both teams put in new faces. BTW, Ebuehi has ben on the team for months now and thus he isn't new to the team, its players, and the tactics.

Enugu II, we all know the core of the team already. We know they Ekong, Balogun, Mikel, Ighalo, Moses and Ndidi will all start for Rohr come what may. It is fitting in the other key pieces of the jigsaw that remain challenging.

I honestly fail to see your point. We all know how the team is expected to play.

[heavyd]

Ayo,

TBH, I am surprised and amused by your insistence on a major overhaul of the team. I assume that is what you have stridently called for since Nigeria qualified for the World Cup. I have hoped that my assumption is wrong but reading several of your comments I have become convinced that I am NOT wrong.

I am surprised because you have followed Nigerian football for a long period and that history should have taught you a lesson on what is effective and what is not. However, it does not appear that you care about such history. Let me remind you about one that is very difficult for me to forget.

Go back to the qualifiers of the 1982 World Cup, two years after Nigeria was crowned African champions for the first time. I hope you remember then. It was in preparation for the game against Algeria at the last stage of the World Cup qualifiers. Nigeria was desperate to qualify. We had been so close in 1970 and then 1978 qualifiers but as you may remember, we failed on both occasions. In 1982 qualifiers we had Coach Otto Gloria who had just won the AFCON for Nigeria. This was a man associated with the great Benfica teams of the 1950s and 1960s, a man who led Portugal to their best placing ever at a World Cup in 1966, and a man Brazil courted to coach its National Selection at the 1970 World Cup. Nigeria had him in 1982.

At the time, we thought that Nigeria's best chance against Algeria was to invite our best players wherever they may be to join the NT. Only very few journalists opposed this, citing the importance of chemistry that was developing with a team that had a young Stephen Keshi, among others. The warnings were ignored. Instead, the calls grew louder for inviting the best players. The NFA recalled Christian Chukwu from retirement. The NFF called back Thompson Usiyan and Andrew Atuegbu from the USA. We were estatic. With such firepower, we certainly would not only beat Algeria but humiliate them.

In a warm up game in Benin, we lost 0-1 to Uganda. It was a warning. It was ignored. On match day, Algeria ran rings around our so called best players in Lagos and we were 0-2 down at home in Lagos. Instead of Keshi, we started Chukwu. Instead of the likes of Aloysius Atuegbu, we started Andrew. We started Usiyan. None of those so called stars did anything worthwhile on the field. You should remember that day. You watched it and yet....

Now you are calling for a similar overhaul just before the World Cup? IMHO, it is a dangerous call. My only hope is that Gernot Rohr is a conservative man and will be best served by ignoring such calls. He has relied largely on building chemistry and introducing new players gradually. It has paid off. He will not start changing that philosophy now for a pot of gold. At least, I assume that he will not. He will make changes but they will be minimal and that should be the logical expectation and not a kamikaze strategy of an overhaul.

This is just my tuppence.

(1) You and I take different lessons from the 1981 loss to Algeria. As far as I am concerned, we lost that tie due to Otto Gloria’s conservative refusal to drop Best Ogedengbe
If you accurately recall the game, the goals were not the fault of the goalkeeper. Thus, I am uncertain why you think Rufai would have saved Nigeria on the day that Chukwu could not keep up with the Algerians and had to be taken off at half time?

(2) Best Ogedengbe cost us both matches against Algeria as he did the 1980 Olympics
Addressed already.
(3) In 1981, Peter Rufai was by far the best goalkeeper in Nigeria but alas, Gloria refused to call him up. We paid a heavy price for such stubbornness
Addressed already.

(4) If you are blaming the stars for the first leg loss, how come we still lost the away leg when Gloria reverted back to his “old team?”
We lost 1-2 AWAY in Algeria. That was not unexpected. What was uUNEXPECTED was a HOME LOSS of 0-2. There is a difference between playing at home and playing away from home.
(5) in any case, I fundamentally disagree with your premise that conservatism breeds chemistry. If you chemicalise junk in the laboratory, you will get a junk end product, no matter how many years you put into the project
There is some correlation there but the crucial thing is that time together breeds chemistry. TIME is the key factor. There is now little time before the World Cup. This is not Sunday Sunday choose the best players and take one post. Players have to fully understand the coach's tactics, have time to practice it and have time to play together. If you continually chop the team then that TIME disappears.
(6) According to the logic of your argument, teams like Libya, Sierra Leone and Liberia that have had few changes over the last three years should be dominating African football
That will be a simplistic conclusion. Talent, psychology, time, etc play a huge role and so also does chemistry. If you get the best talents together with little time such a team will not get far even if it is a WORLD SELECTION.
(7) Otto Gloria enjoyed his greatest success in 1980 when he was brave enoiugh to bring youngsters like Ifeanyi Onyeadika, Henry Nwosu, Okey Isima, Sylvanua Okpala, John Orlando, etc into the team, dumping veterans like Patrick Ekeji and Annas Ahmed
He had months pof preparation with the team in Brazil (see TIME). That is the difference. Such a TIME does not exist now going into the World Cup.
(8) I notice that you conveniently failed to mention our match with Tunisia in the 1982 World Cup qualifiers. Well, let me refresh your memory. Our “chemicalised” old team lost the first leg 0-2 and the NFA took the drastic step of bringing in John Chidozie, Tunji Banjo and Emmanuel Osigwe. The rest is history. They went on to win the return leg for us, eliminating Tunisia. Within a week, team chemistry was forged to the neutral victory
Bros, the introduction of new players was minimal and not the wholesale changes that you seem to be advocating. Changing one or two players is going to happen at this World Cup with little effect on team chemistry but making wholesale changes will just not cut it.
(9) There is no evidence to suggest that the players we used in the qualifiers will be able to forge better chemistry during the one month pre-World Cup camping period than any new invitees
Is there evidence that they will not? In fact, they are more likely to do so that introducing a largely new team because they have TIME on their side. In any case, I expect one or two changes but that is it. No need for massive number of changes.
(10) According to the logic of your argument, we should have been disjointed against Argentina with the introduction of new faces like Uzoho, Ebuehi and Idowu. Well, I know which half of that match showed “greater chemistry.”That was a friendly where both teams put in new faces. BTW, Ebuehi has ben on the team for months now and thus he isn't new to the team, its players, and the tactics.

Well said EII
However I don't think Ayo was arguing for wholesale changes. Like you say that will be senseless.
The argument here seems to be about Babatunde getting an invite. Ayo did say IF he was fit he as well as any other Fit and in Form Nigerian footballer regardless of whether they played in the qualifiers or not could be called up by Rohr IF he thinks they will add something to his team. At the end of the day that decision is down to him.

There has been precedence for players not playing in qualifiers but being picked for a tournament and doing well (e.g Chidi Nwanu did not play in the qualifiers for the 1994 world cup but was selected for the final and played excellently well forming a formidable partnership with Uche in central defence)

[Dammy]

Ayo,

TBH, I am surprised and amused by your insistence on a major overhaul of the team. I assume that is what you have stridently called for since Nigeria qualified for the World Cup. I have hoped that my assumption is wrong but reading several of your comments I have become convinced that I am NOT wrong.

I am surprised because you have followed Nigerian football for a long period and that history should have taught you a lesson on what is effective and what is not. However, it does not appear that you care about such history. Let me remind you about one that is very difficult for me to forget.

Go back to the qualifiers of the 1982 World Cup, two years after Nigeria was crowned African champions for the first time. I hope you remember then. It was in preparation for the game against Algeria at the last stage of the World Cup qualifiers. Nigeria was desperate to qualify. We had been so close in 1970 and then 1978 qualifiers but as you may remember, we failed on both occasions. In 1982 qualifiers we had Coach Otto Gloria who had just won the AFCON for Nigeria. This was a man associated with the great Benfica teams of the 1950s and 1960s, a man who led Portugal to their best placing ever at a World Cup in 1966, and a man Brazil courted to coach its National Selection at the 1970 World Cup. Nigeria had him in 1982.

At the time, we thought that Nigeria's best chance against Algeria was to invite our best players wherever they may be to join the NT. Only very few journalists opposed this, citing the importance of chemistry that was developing with a team that had a young Stephen Keshi, among others. The warnings were ignored. Instead, the calls grew louder for inviting the best players. The NFA recalled Christian Chukwu from retirement. The NFF called back Thompson Usiyan and Andrew Atuegbu from the USA. We were estatic. With such firepower, we certainly would not only beat Algeria but humiliate them.

In a warm up game in Benin, we lost 0-1 to Uganda. It was a warning. It was ignored. On match day, Algeria ran rings around our so called best players in Lagos and we were 0-2 down at home in Lagos. Instead of Keshi, we started Chukwu. Instead of the likes of Aloysius Atuegbu, we started Andrew. We started Usiyan. None of those so called stars did anything worthwhile on the field. You should remember that day. You watched it and yet....

Now you are calling for a similar overhaul just before the World Cup? IMHO, it is a dangerous call. My only hope is that Gernot Rohr is a conservative man and will be best served by ignoring such calls. He has relied largely on building chemistry and introducing new players gradually. It has paid off. He will not start changing that philosophy now for a pot of gold. At least, I assume that he will not. He will make changes but they will be minimal and that should be the logical expectation and not a kamikaze strategy of an overhaul.

This is just my tuppence.

(1) You and I take different lessons from the 1981 loss to Algeria. As far as I am concerned, we lost that tie due to Otto Gloria’s conservative refusal to drop Best Ogedengbe

(2) Best Ogedengbe cost us both matches against Algeria as he did the 1980 Olympics

(3) In 1981, Peter Rufai was by far the best goalkeeper in Nigeria but alas, Gloria refused to call him up. We paid a heavy price for such stubbornness

(4) If you are blaming the stars for the first leg loss, how come we still lost the away leg when Gloria reverted back to his “old team?”

(5) in any case, I fundamentally disagree with your premise that conservatism breeds chemistry. If you chemicalise junk in the laboratory, you will get a junk end product, no matter how many years you put into the project

(6) According to the logic of your argument, teams like Libya, Sierra Leone and Liberia that have had few changes over the last three years should be dominating African football

(7) Otto Gloria enjoyed his greatest success in 1980 when he was brave enoiugh to bring youngsters like Ifeanyi Onyeadika, Henry Nwosu, Okey Isima, Sylvanua Okpala, John Orlando, etc into the team, dumping veterans like Patrick Ekeji and Annas Ahmed

(8) I notice that you conveniently failed to mention our match with Tunisia in the 1982 World Cup qualifiers. Well, let me refresh your memory. Our “chemicalised” old team lost the first leg 0-2 and the NFA took the drastic step of bringing in John Chidozie, Tunji Banjo and Emmanuel Osigwe. The rest is history. They went on to win the return leg for us, eliminating Tunisia. Within a week, team chemistry was forged to the neutral victory

(9) There is no evidence to suggest that the players we used in the qualifiers will be able to forge better chemistry during the one month pre-World Cup camping period than any new invitees

(10) According to the logic of your argument, we should have been disjointed against Argentina with the introduction of new faces like Uzoho, Ebuehi and Idowu. Well, I know which half of that match showed “greater chemistry.”

This selective reasoning get as e be. How can you blame Best Ogedegbe's selection against Algeria for our ouster when it was actually Best Ogedegbe who saw us through the penalty shoot-out against Tunisia in Lagos? After Leotis Boateng headed home a Tunji Banjo free kick and Osigwe followed with a volley from a John Chiedozie cross, it was Best that saved 3 penalty kicks in the ensuing shoot-out.

The failure against Algeria was as EII rightly stated because of the nostalgia prompted by the press for the return of CCC, Atuegbu and Usiyan and our 2 goals conceded in Lagos was a result of CCC's faded pace.

This compulsion to tell lies by a grown arsed man like Ayo Akinfe, just to make a point is really worrying. Not only did Best Ogedengbe save us in the penalty shoot-out against Tunisia, he also saved us against Guinea in Lagos with a world class full length save before Nwosu scored the only goal of the match in the last minute. Christian Chukwu was at fault for one of the goals against Algeria and over the 2 legs best was not at fault for any of the Algerian goals.

[Dammy]

They have started. Read his wiki page

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Babatunde

Michael Babatunde (born 24 December 1992) is a Nigerian football midfielder, who plays for Qatar SC in the Qatargas League.
Nigerian native Michael Babatunde has established records for goals scored and great performances en route to worldwide recognition as midfielder and forward.

At least they couldnt lie about appearances... At club level, he has only played 21 games in the last 3 years (2015-2017) and 36 games from 2013 to 2015. In his time at Qatar, he has only played 6 games since 2016!!

So Ayo Akinfe, come and defend this! BabaMessi has played only SIX matches since 201 and you and Eguavoen want him invited to the SE. This is even worse than Ahmed Musa that you criticize!

[Dammy]

They have started. Read his wiki page

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Babatunde

Michael Babatunde (born 24 December 1992) is a Nigerian football midfielder, who plays for Qatar SC in the Qatargas League.
Nigerian native Michael Babatunde has established records for goals scored and great performances en route to worldwide recognition as midfielder and forward.

At least they couldnt lie about appearances... At club level, he has only played 21 games in the last 3 years (2015-2017) and 36 games from 2013 to 2015. In his time at Qatar, he has only played 6 games since 2016!!

So Ayo Akinfe, come and defend this! BabaMessi has played only SIX matches since 201 and you and Eguavoen want him invited to the SE. This is even worse than Ahmed Musa that you criticize!

[Ayo Akinfe]

They have started. Read his wiki page

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Babatunde

Michael Babatunde (born 24 December 1992) is a Nigerian football midfielder, who plays for Qatar SC in the Qatargas League.
Nigerian native Michael Babatunde has established records for goals scored and great performances en route to worldwide recognition as midfielder and forward.

At least they couldnt lie about appearances... At club level, he has only played 21 games in the last 3 years (2015-2017) and 36 games from 2013 to 2015. In his time at Qatar, he has only played 6 games since 2016!!

So Ayo Akinfe, come and defend this! BabaMessi has played only SIX matches since 201 and you and Eguavoen want him invited to the SE. This is even worse than Ahmed Musa that you criticize!

I have not watched Babatunde so am in no position to comment on his current form. I think you should address your question to Austin Eguavoen

[truetalk]

Ayo,

TBH, I am surprised and amused by your insistence on a major overhaul of the team. I assume that is what you have stridently called for since Nigeria qualified for the World Cup. I have hoped that my assumption is wrong but reading several of your comments I have become convinced that I am NOT wrong.

I am surprised because you have followed Nigerian football for a long period and that history should have taught you a lesson on what is effective and what is not. However, it does not appear that you care about such history. Let me remind you about one that is very difficult for me to forget.

Go back to the qualifiers of the 1982 World Cup, two years after Nigeria was crowned African champions for the first time. I hope you remember then. It was in preparation for the game against Algeria at the last stage of the World Cup qualifiers. Nigeria was desperate to qualify. We had been so close in 1970 and then 1978 qualifiers but as you may remember, we failed on both occasions. In 1982 qualifiers we had Coach Otto Gloria who had just won the AFCON for Nigeria. This was a man associated with the great Benfica teams of the 1950s and 1960s, a man who led Portugal to their best placing ever at a World Cup in 1966, and a man Brazil courted to coach its National Selection at the 1970 World Cup. Nigeria had him in 1982.

At the time, we thought that Nigeria's best chance against Algeria was to invite our best players wherever they may be to join the NT. Only very few journalists opposed this, citing the importance of chemistry that was developing with a team that had a young Stephen Keshi, among others. The warnings were ignored. Instead, the calls grew louder for inviting the best players. The NFA recalled Christian Chukwu from retirement. The NFF called back Thompson Usiyan and Andrew Atuegbu from the USA. We were estatic. With such firepower, we certainly would not only beat Algeria but humiliate them.

In a warm up game in Benin, we lost 0-1 to Uganda. It was a warning. It was ignored. On match day, Algeria ran rings around our so called best players in Lagos and we were 0-2 down at home in Lagos. Instead of Keshi, we started Chukwu. Instead of the likes of Aloysius Atuegbu, we started Andrew. We started Usiyan. None of those so called stars did anything worthwhile on the field. You should remember that day. You watched it and yet....

Now you are calling for a similar overhaul just before the World Cup? IMHO, it is a dangerous call. My only hope is that Gernot Rohr is a conservative man and will be best served by ignoring such calls. He has relied largely on building chemistry and introducing new players gradually. It has paid off. He will not start changing that philosophy now for a pot of gold. At least, I assume that he will not. He will make changes but they will be minimal and that should be the logical expectation and not a kamikaze strategy of an overhaul.

This is just my tuppence.

(1) You and I take different lessons from the 1981 loss to Algeria. As far as I am concerned, we lost that tie due to Otto Gloria’s conservative refusal to drop Best Ogedengbe

(2) Best Ogedengbe cost us both matches against Algeria as he did the 1980 Olympics

(3) In 1981, Peter Rufai was by far the best goalkeeper in Nigeria but alas, Gloria refused to call him up. We paid a heavy price for such stubbornness

(4) If you are blaming the stars for the first leg loss, how come we still lost the away leg when Gloria reverted back to his “old team?”

(5) in any case, I fundamentally disagree with your premise that conservatism breeds chemistry. If you chemicalise junk in the laboratory, you will get a junk end product, no matter how many years you put into the project

(6) According to the logic of your argument, teams like Libya, Sierra Leone and Liberia that have had few changes over the last three years should be dominating African football

(7) Otto Gloria enjoyed his greatest success in 1980 when he was brave enoiugh to bring youngsters like Ifeanyi Onyeadika, Henry Nwosu, Okey Isima, Sylvanua Okpala, John Orlando, etc into the team, dumping veterans like Patrick Ekeji and Annas Ahmed

(8) I notice that you conveniently failed to mention our match with Tunisia in the 1982 World Cup qualifiers. Well, let me refresh your memory. Our “chemicalised” old team lost the first leg 0-2 and the NFA took the drastic step of bringing in John Chidozie, Tunji Banjo and Emmanuel Osigwe. The rest is history. They went on to win the return leg for us, eliminating Tunisia. Within a week, team chemistry was forged to the neutral victory

(9) There is no evidence to suggest that the players we used in the qualifiers will be able to forge better chemistry during the one month pre-World Cup camping period than any new invitees

(10) According to the logic of your argument, we should have been disjointed against Argentina with the introduction of new faces like Uzoho, Ebuehi and Idowu. Well, I know which half of that match showed “greater chemistry.”

This selective reasoning get as e be. How can you blame Best Ogedegbe's selection against Algeria for our ouster when it was actually Best Ogedegbe who saw us through the penalty shoot-out against Tunisia in Lagos? After Leotis Boateng headed home a Tunji Banjo free kick and Osigwe followed with a volley from a John Chiedozie cross, it was Best that saved 3 penalty kicks in the ensuing shoot-out.

The failure against Algeria was as EII rightly stated because of the nostalgia prompted by the press for the return of CCC, Atuegbu and Usiyan and our 2 goals conceded in Lagos was a result of CCC's faded pace.

This compulsion to tell lies by a grown arsed man like Ayo Akinfe, just to make a point is really worrying. Not only did Best Ogedengbe save us in the penalty shoot-out against Tunisia, he also saved us against Guinea in Lagos with a world class full length save before Nwosu scored the only goal of the match in the last minute. Christian Chukwu was at fault for one of the goals against Algeria and over the 2 legs best was not at fault for any of the Algerian goals.

I remember that Nwosu's goal like yesterday. I have some recollection of the 1980 Nation's Cup victory and the celebration thereafer, but that Guinea match was when the details of SE matches started registering in my brain.

[aruako1]

What else does he stand to gain from it? What club do babatunde play for? Why didn’t eguavoen call for baabatunde prior to us qualifying for World Cup? Actually, it might not just be monetary gain that these agents receive they might just be friends that’s why eguavoen would just speak silly. Also, this issue transcends babatunde micheal because the moment 1 “hey you” is called up every hey you would take notice and will be expecting similar call up. Ayo, babatunde wasnt better than Mikel Obi at that last World Cup nor is babatunde currently better than him or Etebo now

Eguavoen cannot have an opinion again without your baseless accusations right? Every set of fans for countries going to the WC debate player selection. Eguavoen has been a player and coach of the SE and has therefore earned his right to an opinion. I wasn't happy when Babatunde was selected but he didn't do too badly at the WC. Eguavoen can like a player you don't fancy without being an agent.