Players with the potential to become world class in Russia

[Ayo Akinfe]

[1] In football, there is a general consensus about the fact that to win the World Cup, you need at least four or five world class players. In 98 we had this but alas, we were short in certain key areas as injuries conspired to expose the lack of depth in certain key positions

[2] If Nigeria is serious about ever wining the World Cup, we need to pay attention to player development over a long period, doing our best to ensure that we get as many players as possible performing at the highest level, playing week-in-week-out for teams like Barcelona, Real Madrid, Athletico Madrid, Man U, Chelsea, Man City, AC Milan, Inter Milan, Juventus, Bayern Munich, Borrussia Dortmund, PSG, etc

[3] If we want to be honest, we have mainly struggled in this area because of age cheating. These clubs cannot afford to risk buying a 30 year old when they were hoping to purchase a 22 year old who they could work on for the next five years

[4] We are not doing too badly to be fair. Uzoho, Alampasu, Iheanacho, Success and Awoniyi all came through right from the 2013 U17 team and are now part of the Eagles senior squad. Who knows where they will end up after the World Cup

[5] Onazi, Omeruo and Kayode also all came through from the 2011 U17 squad. On this forum there are calls for their team mates Abdul Ajagun and Ramon Azeez to be called up for Russia 2018, although I question whether a player who has not established himself over six years is going to deliver. Sometimes, we get late bloomers but in the main, quality tends to come through pretty quickly

[6] Personally, I want to see Victor Osimhen and Kelechi Nwakali from the 2015 U17 team called up to squad for the World Cup and allowed to fight for shirts too

[7] Back to the issue of world class players, I think that if we want to be honest, we can only lay claims to two borderline cases at the moment. They are Mikel Obi and Victor Moses. They are not even undisputable the way say Okocha, Kanu, Taribo and Finidi were

[8] If we are to advance to at least the semi finals in Russia 2018, a certain number of players have to come into their own and use the tournament to establish themselves as world class. In my opinion, players with the potential to do this are - Francis Uzoho, Tyronne Ebuehi, William Ekong, Wilfred Ndidi, Kelechi Nwakali and Friday Onyekuru. If they come into their own with Mikel and Moses delivering, we could be a revelation

[9] In 2006, Italy won the World Cup with arguably, a team that had fewer superstars than any of its other recent squads. In my opinion, only Buffon, Cannovaro, Pirlo and Totti were world class players on that team. They had Del Piero too but by 2002, he was way past his best

[10] For a country like Nigeria, the Golden Eaglets and Flying Eagles are vital to the development of our football. They will always produce more quality players for us than the league. However, to get the optimum from them, we need to address this serious matter of age cheating.

[marko]

I hope the MRI tests are accurate, any player caught age cheating should be banned for life

[pajimoh]

Make I take some roadside rest from my cycling expedition to Saudi Arabia and answer this Ayo.

One minute you list the countries that have won the wc then you allude Nigeria's inability to win it to age cheating. You seem to discount the football tradition of those countries, going back a century. The economic and infrastructural superiority of those countries. The political stability and sophisticated bureaucratic systems driving the internal machinery of government.
Our age cheating stems from lack of proper documentation and the ease one easily circumvent all legal requirements.
How much do we invest in our league, sports, grass root and coach training etc.
You can't treat football in isolation and think we can suddenly be producing 1st world standard with a 3rd world mindset and investments

[wanaj0]

Make I take some roadside rest from my cycling expedition to Saudi Arabia and answer this Ayo.

One minute you list the countries that have won the wc then you allude Nigeria's inability to win it to age cheating. You seem to discount the football tradition of those countries, going back a century. The economic and infrastructural superiority of those countries. The political stability and sophisticated bureaucratic systems driving the internal machine of govts.
Our age cheating stems from lack of proper documentation and the ease one easily circumvent all legal requirements.
How much do we invest in our league, sports, grass root and coach training etc.
You can't treat football in isolation and think we can suddenly be producing 1st world standard with a 3rd world mindset and investments

Our problem include agents masquerading as fans pimping players up and down! They are the beneficiaries of the corruption in Naija football.

[Eaglemaniac]

Make I take some roadside rest from my cycling expedition to Saudi Arabia and answer this Ayo.

One minute you list the countries that have won the wc then you allude Nigeria's inability to win it to age cheating. You seem to discount the football tradition of those countries, going back a century. The economic and infrastructural superiority of those countries. The political stability and sophisticated bureaucratic systems driving the internal machinery of government.
Our age cheating stems from lack of proper documentation and the ease one easily circumvent all legal requirements.
How much do we invest in our league, sports, grass root and coach training etc.
You can't treat football in isolation and think we can suddenly be producing 1st world standard with a 3rd world mindset and investments

This

[EMIR KONGI JAFFI JOFFA]

Ayo,

How can a player that’s stuck on the bench at Venlo be considered for a spot let alone be a star at the wc? The boy can’t even get garbage time anymore.

He was an unused sub again today.

[Ayo Akinfe]

Ayo,

How can a player that’s stuck on the bench at Venlo be considered for a spot let alone be a star at the wc? The boy can’t even get garbage time anymore.

He was an unused sub again today.

Keep monitoring him. I see him coming into his own before the season ends.