What we learnt from Russia 2018

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EMIR KONGI JAFFI JOFFA
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What we learnt from Russia 2018

Post by EMIR KONGI JAFFI JOFFA »

1,Never give teams so much respect that you refuse to attack them. They have their frailties too.Germany,Spain and Brazil showed that the team that takes the initiative have a better chance to win.

2, England is still useless. The only decent team they played and beat was Sweden, they won barely. The fact that Belgium doubled up on a previous result shows that they were more lucky than good.

3, Musa shut a lot of fools up. He’s the best attacking Nigerian player of his generation.

4, Vic Mo is no longer a forward. He’s now a full fledged RWB. We’re better off converting him to a RB than playing him as a forward.

5, CE is now a football comic book. The comments here were way short of reality for the most part. Kudos to John12 for holding his ground on the SE, almost everything he said came true. The like of van city, Ayo and others were waaaay off. Even Enugu went on tv to tout Morocco only to end up looking like snoop dog after smoking a fat one. Respect to waka man, he was astute in his analysis but even he didn’t think Rohr would be as conservative as the team turned out to be.

6, We missed Onazi. The huff and puff Etebo brought did not compensate for what Onazi brings. Etebo did not make us better offensively or defensively.

7, oyibo wall stood firm. We conceded 4 goals in 3 games. 1 pk, 1 OG and 2 from from MF errors. They did very well.

8, Iwobi is a number 10. If he’s not playing as a 10 don’t invite him.

9, Rohr did very well. Only wish we had attacked Croatia more, otherwise we were mostly solid but our group was tough. England wouldn’t make it out of our group.

10, Nwakali must be called for every SE game for the next yr. our future mf is Ndidi,nwakali and iwobi as a 10.
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Re: What we learnt from Russia 2018

Post by 9jaMan »

EMIR KONGI JAFFI JOFFA wrote:1,Never give teams so much respect that you refuse to attack them. They have their frailties too.Germany,Spain and Brazil showed that the team that takes the initiative have a better chance to win.

2, England is still useless. The only decent team they played and beat was Sweden, they won barely. The fact that Belgium doubled up on a previous result shows that they were more lucky than good.

3, Musa shut a lot of fools up. He’s the best attacking Nigerian player of his generation.

4, Vic Mo is no longer a forward. He’s now a full fledged RWB. We’re better off converting him to a RB than playing him as a forward.

5, CE is now a football comic book. The comments here were way short of reality for the most part. Kudos to John12 for holding his ground on the SE, almost everything he said came true. The like of van city, Ayo and others were waaaay off. Even Enugu went on tv to tout Morocco only to end up looking like snoop dog after smoking a fat one. Respect to waka man, he was astute in his analysis but even he didn’t think Rohr would be as conservative as the team turned out to be.

6, We missed Onazi. The huff and puff Etebo brought did not compensate for what Onazi brings. Etebo did not make us better offensively or defensively.

7, oyibo wall stood firm. We conceded 4 goals in 3 games. 1 pk, 1 OG and 2 from from MF errors. They did very well.

8, Iwobi is a number 10. If he’s not playing as a 10 don’t invite him.

9, Rohr did very well. Only wish we had attacked Croatia more, otherwise we were mostly solid but our group was tough. England wouldn’t make it out of our group.

10, Nwakali must be called for every SE game for the next yr. our future mf is Ndidi,nwakali and iwobi as a 10.


All that was obvious in Russia is Rohr is a coward. Vic mo remains the best attacking player for SE, play him as a wing back and the SE will fail like they did in Russia. You are not very bright so this your daft post is expected
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Re: What we learnt from Russia 2018

Post by kali »

We learnt that:

1) Nigeria from the back to the central midfield is strong

2) Ndidi + Etebo partnership is the start of something great

3) We need to go back to 4-4-2 with the personnel we have

4) We have discovered one of the 2 forwards and his name is Ahmed Musa

5) We need to try Iwobi as the second forward for his quickness

6) We missed Moses Simon and wing play

7) Rohr is a coward

8) Rohr is as mentally strong as a pretzel

9) Rohr is a first class be-yatch

10) We need a new coach with balls (and to paraphrase the Sopranos) - balls as big as an Irish Be-yatchs a$$.
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Re: What we learnt from Russia 2018

Post by Rawlings »

1. No country is indispensable: Even without Italy, Holland, this world cup was a glowing success
2. Africa without Ghana is a joke
3. Naija simply does not have a quality team;
4. France did not deserve the title
5. Belgium deserved the title
6. England will never win a world cup in our lifetime
7. Senegal is a useless team
8. Egypt, Morocco & Tunisia are all useless teams
9. Ghana will win Qatar 2022 world cup
10. Ghana will meet Japan in the finals of Qatar 2022
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Re: What we learnt from Russia 2018

Post by blueangel »

.... Media shoving Neymar & Messi down our throat and ignoring the best forward Kylian Mbappé who scored in group stage, knock out stage and in the final. Who also created goals and was constantly back by his goal defending.

.... Had Mbappe been English we for no hear word.

.... Nigeria need a player with the quality, drive, intensity of Modric

.... There is Luck In Football

.... Next World Cup will be ruthless for 2nd & 3rd tier teams because Germany, Spain, Brazil, Holland , Italy, have gone back to the drawing board to prepare a vicious onslaught on opposing teams. Sadly this was Nigeria & Senegal's chance to do something.

.... Nothing will change for Nigeria and African teams in the next World Cup. It will end up the same wasy as usual with wailing crying and gnashing of teeth for multitude of reasons.

.... France again dependent on Africa for success. Plundering the continent's natural resources and using it to their benefit.

.... With Croatia and Iceland being so very competitive in football. What is Nigeria's excuse ???

.... Rohr was overwhelmed and we hope he has learnt his lesson.

.... VAR is a good idea for major and final matches in competitions
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Re: What we learnt from Russia 2018

Post by pajimoh »

Rawlings wrote:1. No country is indispensable: Even without Italy, Holland, this world cup was a glowing success
2. Africa without Ghana is a joke
3. Naija simply does not have a quality team;
4. France did not deserve the title
5. Belgium deserved the title
6. England will never win a world cup in our lifetime
7. Senegal is a useless team
8. Egypt, Morocco & Tunisia are all useless teams
9. Ghana will win Qatar 2022 world cup
10. Ghana will meet Japan in the finals of Qatar 2022
1. We know you're a cvnt, we've now learnt you're a smelly one :) :taunt:
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Re: What we learnt from Russia 2018

Post by Guv007 »

What we also learned is if the world cup is hosted on the moon or mars, if fans can get there they wouldn't care about anything else. :lol:
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Re: What we learnt from Russia 2018

Post by Tobi17 »

And the most important lesson of all:

Mikel is a DM not a CAM, Ighalo needs to retire to his Chinese league jejely, the likes of Onazi and Echejile are at this stage surplus to requirement and should be phased out with dignity for their services , and finally it's time for the likes of Nwakali, Usman, Awoniyi, Noah Bazee (whatever happened to the lad?), Onyekuru and the other young players to step up with AFCON 19 coming up.
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Re: What we learnt from Russia 2018

Post by mate »

Thanks for all the fellowship this WC. As always. With that, here is my summary of what we've learned. I'm pasting this from what I shared with some friends.

Thick skin. Here it goes.

-----

My observations confirm what I knew since 2010 when Spain won. We all have discussed these things. Western Europe has the advantage due some key factors:

1) socioeconomic wealth: this is the linchpin.
2) acadmies
3) sports science
4) program management: football reach to all kids.
5) top domestic leagues: best players play on nucleus of clubs and hone NT style.
6) top CL competition
7) getting best talent globally.
8) top coaching.

Raw talent alone doesn't cut it. At scale, it helps countries like Brazil stay competitive. But as noted, all other South American countries cannot compete on the same level anymore. South America in particular is going to need their own top leagues and CL competition. Retaining a lot of their best players if they're going to develop top NT squads.

Croatia actually has 2 top academies at Dinamo and Hajduk. They're very tied to the best clubs in Spain, Italy, Germany, and England. Players make moves earlier. But these Croatian kids grow up playing together. And not for nothing, Croatians around the world just by culture try to get players of Croatian descent into the NT.

Croatia benefits by being in the only football center of gravity that is Western Europe. Likewise, no joking, watch Russia and their domestic league development. They too keep investing money and are determined to make break throughs at club level.

There isn't anything comparable elsewhere. Again, my take is that all the Americas should make a plan on upgraded leagues and CL competition. Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, the USA, etc.

You guys know I always championed South America as the slightly better concentration of football decades ago. I call it like it is. European dominion is complete. Has been since 2010, although Italia in 2006 rang the bell to start it.

Croatia has actually outperformed Argentina since 1998. Can you believe that?
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Re: What we learnt from Russia 2018

Post by Coach »

kali wrote:We learnt that:

1) Nigeria from the back to the central midfield is strong
Strong by which yardstick? Just as history is written by the victors, the standard of the day is set by its kings. Pogba, Matuidi, Kante, is what the standard demands to win a World Cup. Modric, Rakatic, Brozovic, to compete a final, Witsel, Tielemans, Hazard, De Bruyne, to bag a bronze. With that in mind, what strength is there in central midfield?
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Re: What we learnt from Russia 2018

Post by akamoke »

What I learnt from this world cup is that you need depth to go far...when you lose a player like Moses Simon and your start gnashing your teeth, you are not ready for WC success
For my sceptical Nigerian Friends : Pessimism is great because you are either always right or pleasantly surprised.
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Re: What we learnt from Russia 2018

Post by mate »

I've learned that for many countries, especially Croatia, going outside is a must. Sending players there. As well as recruiting players who might claim citizenship.

I'll post another example for Croatia:

https://www.fourfourtwo.com/features/an ... n-big-boys

Ante Coric is allegedly our next Luka Modric. His family chose to leave Croatia for other academies. But he still plays for Croatia.

It's a global world. Croatia leverages it. Again, I see no way we can compete if we don't do this.

Much as I want to believe Croatians are specially talented in football, we're simply too small a population to challenge for a WC without going abroad. It's no shame to do this. I'm counting on it.

As I posted previously, we asked Christian Pulisic to play for us. He might have made the difference in the final. Fantasies.

:)
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Re: What we learnt from Russia 2018

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Rawlings wrote:1. No country is indispensable: Even without Italy, Holland, this world cup was a glowing success
2. Africa without Ghana is a joke
3. Naija simply does not have a quality team;
4. France did not deserve the title
5. Belgium deserved the title
6. England will never win a world cup in our lifetime
7. Senegal is a useless team
8. Egypt, Morocco & Tunisia are all useless teams
9. Ghana will win Qatar 2022 world cup
10. Ghana will meet Japan in the finals of Qatar 2022
I stopped reading after that. Made absolute no sense. If you win 7 games, you're Champion. France did that. Hence, they are the best. To say otherwise is having an exercise in coocooland
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Re: What we learnt from Russia 2018

Post by oscar52 »

What I learned:

1) That you don't try to be anyone else or play like anyone else that you be you and play your style and regardless of outcome you will feel better.

2) That you absolutely need a coach whose head in in the right place and believes in the team otherwise you are dead on arrival. I think the advantage is also with a coach from same country, he understands the player better, knows how to motivate them, and generally have a better feel for the pulse of the team because he grew up in the system.

3) That a weakness in the backline cannot be overcome by the best offense so building a team has to start with the best players in the backline.

4) That you can't take a 19yr old goalie in the 3rd divison to the worldcup as your starting keeper, if you do you are telegraphing to your opponents that you are not serious and there to learn.

5) That you need some luck but said luck comes from having a never say dies mentality and that spirit comes generally from the coach.

6) That nothing much has changed at this level of football, it takes players with heart willing to lose a limb for country (or personal glory) not players playing to get into better clubs in Europe.

7) That free flowing football lift the whole team's confidence but when players look like they don't know each other and are playing disjointed football that their confidence drops.

8) That's its a team sport, 11 vs 11, if your a one man driven team then you will struggle when his mind is elsewhere, not fit etc.

9) That big money (and big dreams) are involved and some shady people will approach your players to sell the game and if your players are the morally bankrupt types, you are toast.

10) Africa has what it takes to win it all but every player has to be above average because its those below average players that will be overwhelmed by the occasion and do the whole team in especially if they are in the backline.

Extra: The game is faster so when deciding btw two players give a high weight to the lean athletic speedy types that has pace to spare. Also when deciding btw two players with all else equal pick the taller more physically impossing one. Little adcantages that you give yourself with this little decisions all add up in the end and can be the difference in a close game.
Last edited by oscar52 on Tue Jul 17, 2018 5:09 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: What we learnt from Russia 2018

Post by nemi2002 »

I learnt that Nigeria will never learn any lesson about world cup preparations. Cone 2022 we will be saying the same things we have said since 98
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Re: What we learnt from Russia 2018

Post by Damunk »

nemi2002 wrote:I learnt that Nigeria will never learn any lesson about world cup preparations. Cone 2022 we will be saying the same things we have said since 98
Kindly tell us all the usual things NFF got wrong this time that they have continued to get wrong from the past.
This is why its hard to get out of the habit if you've been in autocritic mode for so long.

It will be interesting to hear - that's if we get to hear anything from you at all.
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