Alarming from ACL, claim Pinnick/Rohr DESPISE NPFL players

[Gotti]

I simply don't have the time right now to go through all his invitations since 2016 to identify these names but I seriously doubt Rohr will lie about inviting 24 locals as it can be easily fact-checked. He has enough critics and detractors who would relish exposing him if he is lying.

Dude, that's exactly what fabio is doing...
And since you dispute fabio's check, make the "time"!

[Gotti]

Falsehoods or falsehood?

After reading the piece I find it rather pedantic that what you took out of the article is the "falsehood" about Madagascar. Does it negate the crux of the article?

Rohr has a willing co-conspirator in Pinnick. Pinnick doesn't care much for the local-based players and the league. So it doesn't matter if the coach prefers using already made players playing overseas. If you scrutinize some of his past selection of some kwekwe foreign-based players you are permitted to ask, what exactly was the benefit of taking such a player who has ZERO upsides as opposed to giving the same opportunity to a local based player? The difference is in commitment and willingness to look. He reminds me of the typical foreigner who comes to Naijaria with an inherent bias. And in turn, surrounded by natives who have a bias that affirms the foreigner's bias.

Pinnick lacks vision just like many Naijarian bureaucrats masquerading as leaders. Here you have an opportunity if not for his inherent inferiority complex to change the narrative of the requirement to feature for the National team. He chose the easier option of pooching and looking for anything with a foreign flavor.

Naijaria lost to Madagascar. We lost to a Malagasy team with all our 'better' players playing in better leagues. Rohr fraudulently claimed that we were going to the World Cup to gain experience. The truth is that HE WENT TO THE WORLD AT OUR EXPENSE TO GAIN EXPERIENCE. He took players to the World Cup he had no plans of using after the World Cup. So what benefit was the experience?

The same Rohr has the penchant of setting us up to play like football minors. He is playing like a football minor while using his preferred foreign-based players. So where is there hope? He, without fail, attributes ALL his losses as 'expected'... expected because the other team according to him is better and is expected to win.

If he is trying to build a team for the future he should have looked inwards as well.

Pinnick gave him the luxury he never afforded local coaches... he accepted him learning on the job. He accepted him choosing his own team. He accepted him not getting out of his group at the World Cup. He accepted him winning a Golden Bronze. He accepted him doing all that despite the best preparation and rancour-free tournaments (World Cup and AFCON) we have had in our history.

The truth is that we have resigned to the fact he will continue on the job. He is best served tweaking his approach when it comes to scouting for talent. Those guys fortunate to be overseas are just fortunate. They are not necessarily better.

Let me take the liberty to reaffirm my stance on this:

1) Rohr is a decent enough coach (not great but I disagree with those who say he's poor)...
2) Rohr has a right to choose his players (even though many CEs tried to strip that from ICs)...
3) Rohr's RECORD has NOT justified his all-but-blanket neglect of home-based players.

Instead of these recurring blanket overgeneralizations about NPFL players, what's so bloody difficult about scouting/evaluating players on an INDIVIDUAL basis just as presumably he does of foreign-based players (albeit the call-up of the dude in Bulgaria raises questions if he even does that or simply employs a different "formula"). Dude may not be as physically LAZY as Betty, but his various pronouncements about on-field and off-field events raises concern about MENTAL laziness.

[Damunk]

I simply don't have the time right now to go through all his invitations since 2016 to identify these names but I seriously doubt Rohr will lie about inviting 24 locals as it can be easily fact-checked. He has enough critics and detractors who would relish exposing him if he is lying.

Dude, that's exactly what fabio is doing...
And since you dispute fabio's check, make the "time"!

Bro, Chief fabio is not fact-checking nuttin.
He operates by putting the onus on others to fact-check and does none himself.
His central 'facts' are essentially the 2013 AFCON gold, the 2014 WC 2nd round 'achievement' and the number of goals conceded in AFCON 2018. Finish.

We should all fact check. I have had my fair share of 'factual' debates with my friend Fabio and he tends to throw it back at you to go do the research yourself.


This is kind of classic Fabio:

Fabio, you are always projecting and you don't even know it.
Your anti-Rohr 'campaign' has always been based on emotion with little or no factual content, yet you accuse every contrary opinion as being "emotional".

For instance, what is "emotional" about giving you cold, hard statistics?
Stats. Remember those annoying little pieces of data?

Its funny, but we recognise the signs in you and your co-travellers.

Rohr stats:
AfCON: Semi-Final
WC: First round.
SE worst defensive records in AfCON´19 since (long, long time ago).

Cold, hard statistics?

When you are free, please explain Dammy´s comment that we were at a loss as to what he was saying.

So you isolate 7 out of a total of 38 matches and use as your study sample?
And you conclude on that?

Chai. Very worrying.

Its only football and Rohr that do you like this.
On non-footballing matters, your judgement is pretty sound.

Abeg, leave matta for Matthias. You are not ready my friend.

We can all research into the locals Rohr claims to have invited over the years. In fact I've had this debate with him before and probably provided a list. Even if only to prove the 'lie', he can research the info.
But Fabio will leave it to others.
I guess he is a very busy man, unlike the rest of us.

Fabio, abi I lie?

[fabio]

I simply don't have the time right now to go through all his invitations since 2016 to identify these names but I seriously doubt Rohr will lie about inviting 24 locals as it can be easily fact-checked. He has enough critics and detractors who would relish exposing him if he is lying.

Dude, that's exactly what fabio is doing...
And since you dispute fabio's check, make the "time"!

Bro, Chief fabio is not fact-checking nuttin.
He operates by putting the onus on others to fact-check and does none himself.
His central 'facts' are essentially the 2013 AFCON gold, the 2014 WC 2nd round 'achievement' and the number of goals conceded in AFCON 2018. Finish.

We should all fact check. I have had my fair share of 'factual' debates with my friend Fabio and he tends to throw it back at you to go do the research yourself.


This is kind of classic Fabio:

Fabio, you are always projecting and you don't even know it.
Your anti-Rohr 'campaign' has always been based on emotion with little or no factual content, yet you accuse every contrary opinion as being "emotional".

For instance, what is "emotional" about giving you cold, hard statistics?
Stats. Remember those annoying little pieces of data?

Its funny, but we recognise the signs in you and your co-travellers.

Rohr stats:
AfCON: Semi-Final
WC: First round.
SE worst defensive records in AfCON´19 since (long, long time ago).

Cold, hard statistics?

When you are free, please explain Dammy´s comment that we were at a loss as to what he was saying.

So you isolate 7 out of a total of 38 matches and use as your study sample?
And you conclude on that?

Chai. Very worrying.

Its only football and Rohr that do you like this.
On non-footballing matters, your judgement is pretty sound.

Abeg, leave matta for Matthias. You are not ready my friend.

We can all research into the locals Rohr claims to have invited over the years. In fact I've had this debate with him before and probably provided a list. Even if only to prove the 'lie', he can research the info.
But Fabio will leave it to others.
I guess he is a very busy man, unlike the rest of us.

Fabio, abi I lie?

Uncle Damunk, where is the list you probably provided, I probably didn't see it.

A simple copy and paste will suffice.

[Damunk]

I simply don't have the time right now to go through all his invitations since 2016 to identify these names but I seriously doubt Rohr will lie about inviting 24 locals as it can be easily fact-checked. He has enough critics and detractors who would relish exposing him if he is lying.

Dude, that's exactly what fabio is doing...
And since you dispute fabio's check, make the "time"!

Bro, Chief fabio is not fact-checking nuttin.
He operates by putting the onus on others to fact-check and does none himself.
His central 'facts' are essentially the 2013 AFCON gold, the 2014 WC 2nd round 'achievement' and the number of goals conceded in AFCON 2018. Finish.

We should all fact check. I have had my fair share of 'factual' debates with my friend Fabio and he tends to throw it back at you to go do the research yourself.


This is kind of classic Fabio:

Fabio, you are always projecting and you don't even know it.
Your anti-Rohr 'campaign' has always been based on emotion with little or no factual content, yet you accuse every contrary opinion as being "emotional".

For instance, what is "emotional" about giving you cold, hard statistics?
Stats. Remember those annoying little pieces of data?

Its funny, but we recognise the signs in you and your co-travellers.

Rohr stats:
AfCON: Semi-Final
WC: First round.
SE worst defensive records in AfCON´19 since (long, long time ago).

Cold, hard statistics?

When you are free, please explain Dammy´s comment that we were at a loss as to what he was saying.

So you isolate 7 out of a total of 38 matches and use as your study sample?
And you conclude on that?

Chai. Very worrying.

Its only football and Rohr that do you like this.
On non-footballing matters, your judgement is pretty sound.

Abeg, leave matta for Matthias. You are not ready my friend.

We can all research into the locals Rohr claims to have invited over the years. In fact I've had this debate with him before and probably provided a list. Even if only to prove the 'lie', he can research the info.
But Fabio will leave it to others.
I guess he is a very busy man, unlike the rest of us.

Fabio, abi I lie?

Uncle Damunk, where is the list you probably provided, I probably didn't see it.

A simple copy and paste will suffice.

I did a quick search earlier and couldn't find it.
I'll do another search when I have a little more time.
Its about finding the right keyword to search with.

Its very strange though that your own search cannot even find ONE local player invited by Rohr.
Or have you not even tried?

[truetalk]

What are you guys arguing about?

Rohr is going to claim he invited the guys that played against Atletico Madrid before the World Cup. The coach on the day was Salisu, but Rohr was around, I believe. The Team A was also around and they may all have trained together.

Starting lineup:

Femi Thomas

Defence: Musa Muhammed, Ebube Duru, Chinedu Ajanah, Olamilekan Adeleye

Midfield: Ibrahim Alhassan, Kelechi Nwakali, Chidiebere Nwakali, Dayo Ojo,

Attack: Emem Eduok, Samad Kadiri

[txj]

This quote from Rohr in his interview with Collin Udoh addresses the issue for me

“I’ve invited about 24 local players since I was appointed. Funnily, most of them get a contract in Europe almost immediately.“It’s difficult getting local players who are better than the ones we already have. That’s why CHAN is important”

https://www.vanguardngr.com/2020/04/eag ... or-eagles/

He has invited about 24 home based players and most (that´s a shortfall of a majority) got contract abroad. How come they don´t get re-invited back to the SE.

Giving us 10 names would be a good start.

Perhaps because they did not meet a performance level higher than the current members?

Agreed. Please do you have the names of 8 of these players, can't find them using Google.

I suggest you go and look in the Real Madrid website.

If you don’t see any of them there, perhaps you should look in Azerbaijan. That in itself will answer your question about their recall to the team.

[ukwala]

Some of the home based players were listed in KoC’s article below

Gernot Rohr does pick Nigerian domestic players, actually, and they benefit from it
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.espn.c ... atform=amp

For me, the problem has always been the high mobility rate of the home based players. It is not a static situation and the home based of today will become foreign based tomorrow. If the local league is continuosly stripped of its best players, it stands to reason that there would be few, if any, of the ones left that could make the SE.

Perhaps we should be looking at home grown rather than home based?? If the number of foreign born (or grown) is more than the number of home grown, then there is a problem. The pool of home grown (or home born) is far larger than that of foreign born and should therefore dominate.

[Cellular]

Some of the home based players were listed in KoC’s article below

Gernot Rohr does pick Nigerian domestic players, actually, and they benefit from it
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.espn.c ... atform=amp

Thanks for the link.

The article just reinforces what people are saying about Rohr.

"But the way to break into the team is as a foreign-based player so that helped me to move abroad, knowing fully well as a home-based player, my chances are limited."

Ifeanyi Ifeanyi had to go to Uzbekistan, seeking to be better positioned to get into a team that according to Rohr had the following in front of him...John Obi Mikel, Wilfred Ndidi, Oghenekaro Etebo, Ogenyi Onazi, John Ogu and Mikel Agu.

Told him he had to play out of this world to beat out these guys...

The folks who replaced the other guys no longer on the team must have played out of this world?

[Cellular]

Some of the home based players were listed in KoC’s article below

Gernot Rohr does pick Nigerian domestic players, actually, and they benefit from it
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.espn.c ... atform=amp

For me, the problem has always been the high mobility rate of the home based players. It is not a static situation and the home based of today will become foreign based tomorrow. If the local league is continuosly stripped of its best players, it stands to reason that there would be few, if any, of the ones left that could make the SE.

Perhaps we should be looking at home grown rather than home based?? If the number of foreign born (or grown) is more than the number of home grown, then there is a problem. The pool of home grown (or home born) is far larger than that of foreign born and should therefore dominate.

As it should.

I read the story of Bobby Firmino of Liverpool and I wonder why NPFL teams along with the NFF don't have a streamlined way for player movement. We end up exposing our players to unscrupulous and outright criminal elements because they get 'smuggled' overseas.

[Enugu II]

Some of the home based players were listed in KoC’s article below

Gernot Rohr does pick Nigerian domestic players, actually, and they benefit from it
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.espn.c ... atform=amp

For me, the problem has always been the high mobility rate of the home based players. It is not a static situation and the home based of today will become foreign based tomorrow. If the local league is continuosly stripped of its best players, it stands to reason that there would be few, if any, of the ones left that could make the SE.

Perhaps we should be looking at home grown rather than home based?? If the number of foreign born (or grown) is more than the number of home grown, then there is a problem. The pool of home grown (or home born) is far larger than that of foreign born and should therefore dominate.

ukwala,

I think you have a point about home grown. However, the issue is a bit deeper, in my opinion. Here are the issues:

1. Rohr mentions that to play for Nigeria you should be active for your club. This isn't the case with Maduka Okoye. If you take Rohr's yardstick and his claim that he is interested in players who are playing locally, then there are goalkeeping options who regularly play for their clubs. Going to Europe at a later date would be besides the point.

2. While there is no doubt that Rohr has invited several home-based players to the NT, the issue is whether these invitations are perfunctory or not. By this I mean is he extending these invitations simply to state "See, I did invite local players" or is he serious about these invitations. I would state that if these players receive subsequent invitations then we can argue that the invitations are not perfunctory. I am mentioning subsequent invitation because if you had carefully selected these players then there surely had to be a good chance that they are good to be squad members. But by dropping them after one invitation or simply because they go overseas leads to the question: Why? Is he dropping other players say from Club X in Germany simply because they go to Club Z in Poland? If not, then such dropping should not occur for a play who goes from Zamfara United to a club in Croatia.

3. Ikechukwu Ezenwa is usually put up as the shining example of a local player that Rohr has kept on the team. However, if you examine closely, Ikechukwu's initial call up to the national team was not even by Rohr.

The point is that when you put these issues up with the known views of Pinnick particularly the public statements he made about his love for players born overseas, his antecedents as director of Sports at the state level, ands preference to fly regularly to England to watch the EPL in lieu of watching the local league, it isn't a revelation as to where his interests lie.

Ultimately, the concern is that there may be a systematic neglect of home talents. This is not far fetched when you think about the interview that Adelakun gave a few weeks ago where he insinuated that the reason is related to the absence of data on home based players. Although he tried to walk it back a few days later, the walk back was unconivincing.

Players available locally is like a revolving belt and they will be there not just now but even 15 years from now. Some have argued that there is no more good local players as if their existence is a zero sum equation. If and when Rohr is done and suddenly one good home based player emerges, what would be the narrative then? We saw this under Amodu and then Keshi. It imply takes someone who is willing to look and scout. For me, I'm not especially concerned about the player later leaving for a foreign club. If he is good enough, he could still remain invited whether he remains in Nigeria or not. We saw that under Keshi and it only demonstrates that the invitation is not perfunctory.

[Damunk]

Some of the home based players were listed in KoC’s article below

Gernot Rohr does pick Nigerian domestic players, actually, and they benefit from it
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.espn.c ... atform=amp

Thanks for the link.

The article just reinforces what people are saying about Rohr.

"But the way to break into the team is as a foreign-based player so that helped me to move abroad, knowing fully well as a home-based player, my chances are limited."

Ifeanyi Ifeanyi had to go to Uzbekistan, seeking to be better positioned to get into a team that according to Rohr had the following in front of him...John Obi Mikel, Wilfred Ndidi, Oghenekaro Etebo, Ogenyi Onazi, John Ogu and Mikel Agu.

Told him he had to play out of this world to beat out these guys...

The folks who replaced the other guys no longer on the team must have played out of this world?

Chief, that article is loaded and has enough for both sides to pick and choose from.
Ifeanyi himself says a lot to support the argument against local players, teams and facilities.
Coming from someone who has been there, done that and quite literally worn the 'T-shirt', I wouldn't dismiss or ignore his views so readily.

[txj]

Some of the home based players were listed in KoC’s article below

Gernot Rohr does pick Nigerian domestic players, actually, and they benefit from it
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.espn.c ... atform=amp

For me, the problem has always been the high mobility rate of the home based players. It is not a static situation and the home based of today will become foreign based tomorrow. If the local league is continuosly stripped of its best players, it stands to reason that there would be few, if any, of the ones left that could make the SE.

Perhaps we should be looking at home grown rather than home based?? If the number of foreign born (or grown) is more than the number of home grown, then there is a problem. The pool of home grown (or home born) is far larger than that of foreign born and should therefore dominate.

ukwala,

I think you have a point about home grown. However, the issue is a bit deeper, in my opinion. Here are the issues:

1. Rohr mentions that to play for Nigeria you should be active for your club. This isn't the case with Maduka Okoye. If you take Rohr's yardstick and his claim that he is interested in players who are playing locally, then there are goalkeeping options who regularly play for their clubs. Going to Europe at a later date would be besides the point.

2. While there is no doubt that Rohr has invited several home-based players to the NT, the issue is whether these invitations are perfunctory or not. By this I mean is he extending these invitations simply to state "See, I did invite local players" or is he serious about these invitations. I would state that if these players receive subsequent invitations then we can argue that the invitations are not perfunctory. I am mentioning subsequent invitation because if you had carefully selected these players then there surely had to be a good chance that they are good to be squad members. But by dropping them after one invitation or simply because they go overseas leads to the question: Why? Is he dropping other players say from Club X in Germany simply because they go to Club Z in Poland? If not, then such dropping should not occur for a play who goes from Zamfara United to a club in Croatia.

3. Ikechukwu Ezenwa is usually put up as the shining example of a local player that Rohr has kept on the team. However, if you examine closely, Ikechukwu's initial call up to the national team was not even by Rohr.

The point is that when you put these issues up with the known views of Pinnick particularly the public statements he made about his love for players born overseas, his antecedents as director of Sports at the state level, ands preference to fly regularly to England to watch the EPL in lieu of watching the local league, it isn't a revelation as to where his interests lie.

Ultimately, the concern is that there may be a systematic neglect of home talents. This is not far fetched when you think about the interview that Adelakun gave a few weeks ago where he insinuated that the reason is related to the absence of data on home based players. Although he tried to walk it back a few days later, the walk back was unconivincing.

Players available locally is like a revolving belt and they will be there not just now but even 15 years from now. Some have argued that there is no more good local players as if their existence is a zero sum equation. If and when Rohr is done and suddenly one good home based player emerges, what would be the narrative then? We saw this under Amodu and then Keshi. It imply takes someone who is willing to look and scout. For me, I'm not especially concerned about the player later leaving for a foreign club. If he is good enough, he could still remain invited whether he remains in Nigeria or not. We saw that under Keshi and it only demonstrates that the invitation is not perfunctory.

On your #2: Has it occurred to you that strictly based on merit and the standards of each player, that these HB players would not be invited to the NT at all in the first place? That their invitation at all, is based on application of a quota for HB players?

In order to for there to be any merit in your argument, you would have to show that any single HB player in a particular position was to be of a standard that is comparatively competitive against a particular FB player or players.

Take the Ifeanyi Ifeanyi example as the article notes:

The five players ahead of Ifeanyi were John Obi Mikel, Wilfred Ndidi, Oghenekaro Etebo, Ogenyi Onazi, John Ogu and Mikel Agu; to be fair, Ifeanyi, then with Akwa United, would have had to display extraordinary ability to beat out any of that quintet.

If he were not a HB player, would Ifeanyi Ifeanyi get any NT invite in the first place, given his standard, relative to the five players ahead of him?

And given his aforementioned standard, why would you then expect him to continue to be invited, simply because he changed clubs from Nigeria to Europe?

Yes the performance levels of players change, for better or worse. They key question you should be asking is, if Ifeanyi's standards have improved beyond his initial level and if so, does it merit continued invitation to the NT?

Written or unwritten, formal or informal, we already have a quota for HB players in NT invitations.

It would be the death of the NT if we now extended this quota to these same players, even when they move to Europe. They must compete with their peers in Europe.

And the real question should ALWAYS be about standards and merit.

Your advocacy for HB players might be well meaning. But it is MISGUIDED in every matter particular.

If you truly want to advocate for HB players, you should look at their development in their domestic clubs: you should be focused on the lack of quality in training, conditioning, nutrition, incentives, etc. Ironically, you see nothing wrong in their development by our local coaches!

The NT is the apex of any country's football. While it is used strategically in some cases to help develop players, like the HB quota, make no mistake, it is not the level in which players are developed.

[wanaj0]

Agents are mad that business has been shut down, so they protest, given all manner of nonsensical reasoning, all in an attempt to make money marketing their clients.

God forbid we ever return to the corrupt days of Keshi.

]

Yes not again will we have the days of Corrupt Keshi and his Elephant slayers

Continue with the days of the 'meat' for the Malagasy stars

Continue with the days of going to the WC to learn

[Damunk]

If you truly want to advocate for HB players, you should look at their development in their domestic clubs: you should be focused on the lack of quality in training, conditioning, nutrition, incentives, etc. Ironically, you see nothing wrong in their development by our local coaches!

We have made this argument relentlessly as one of the major drawbacks for local players trying to compete at the highest elite level. It is not only in football. It has been even far more evident in athletics. When Nigeria was competing shoulder-to-shoulder with the best athletes in the world back in the 80s and 90s, they virtually all lived and trained in America.

Ifeanyi, in the article further buttresses this view:

Ifeanyi also said that training methods in the NPFL were somewhat behind: "A lot is different compared to NPFL trainings. The tactical trainings are quite different, except for a few coaches in the NPFL like coach Salisu [Yusuf] and [Abdu] Maikaba. Their trainings look similar to what I experienced in the Super Eagles camp."

As for the training at his current club in Uzbekistan, Ifeanyi said the NPFL was worlds behind: "Here there are programs for each day. You hardly see teams go to the gym in the NPFL, but here you go to the gym.

"There are programs for only the strikers, programs for only the midfielders, programs for the defenders and the goalkeepers. Every department has their special training programs. It's all about tactical training, quick feet and even the balls we use here are different.

"There are no facilities in the NPFL, but here there are a lot of facilities and equipment to train with. You improve more with the facilities and equipment than when you have no equipment.

"And it is all natural grass pitch, not artificial."

This guy is in Uzbekistan for God's sake!

[fabio]

If you truly want to advocate for HB players, you should look at their development in their domestic clubs: you should be focused on the lack of quality in training, conditioning, nutrition, incentives, etc. Ironically, you see nothing wrong in their development by our local coaches!

We have made this argument relentlessly as one of the major drawbacks for local players trying to compete at the highest elite level. It is not only in football. It has been even far more evident in athletics. When Nigeria was competing shoulder-to-shoulder with the best athletes in the world back in the 80s and 90s, they virtually all lived and trained in America.

Ifeanyi, in the article further buttresses this view:

Ifeanyi also said that training methods in the NPFL were somewhat behind: "A lot is different compared to NPFL trainings. The tactical trainings are quite different, except for a few coaches in the NPFL like coach Salisu [Yusuf] and [Abdu] Maikaba. Their trainings look similar to what I experienced in the Super Eagles camp."

As for the training at his current club in Uzbekistan, Ifeanyi said the NPFL was worlds behind: "Here there are programs for each day. You hardly see teams go to the gym in the NPFL, but here you go to the gym.

"There are programs for only the strikers, programs for only the midfielders, programs for the defenders and the goalkeepers. Every department has their special training programs. It's all about tactical training, quick feet and even the balls we use here are different.

"There are no facilities in the NPFL, but here there are a lot of facilities and equipment to train with. You improve more with the facilities and equipment than when you have no equipment.

"And it is all natural grass pitch, not artificial."

This guy is in Uzbekistan for God's sake!

From the same article

Despite these yawning gaps, the midfielder, who played for MFM FC and Akwa before heading out via Algeria's ES Setif, remains convinced that NPFL players can and will excel in the senior national team if given enough opportunity.

He added: "Yes, there are lots of talented players, very good players in the NPFL. Very, very technical, strong players.

"Everything in life is just opportunity and chance. If they are given the chance the foreign-based players are given, they can do well, even better than some of the foreign-based players.

"If I am a coach, I can play a home-based player over a foreign-based player. It all depends on the position.

"The late [Stephen] Keshi, for example, played home-based players in the Afcon and they did well and won it. Sunday Oliseh did the same thing, and they did very well, too."

Those were different times, different eras, and it is doubtful if Rohr will deviate much farther than he has done so far. But he has not entirely closed the door on NPFL talent.

The man also claims, they are not given the same chance. More like lip service.

[Damunk]

If you truly want to advocate for HB players, you should look at their development in their domestic clubs: you should be focused on the lack of quality in training, conditioning, nutrition, incentives, etc. Ironically, you see nothing wrong in their development by our local coaches!

We have made this argument relentlessly as one of the major drawbacks for local players trying to compete at the highest elite level. It is not only in football. It has been even far more evident in athletics. When Nigeria was competing shoulder-to-shoulder with the best athletes in the world back in the 80s and 90s, they virtually all lived and trained in America.

Ifeanyi, in the article further buttresses this view:

Ifeanyi also said that training methods in the NPFL were somewhat behind: "A lot is different compared to NPFL trainings. The tactical trainings are quite different, except for a few coaches in the NPFL like coach Salisu [Yusuf] and [Abdu] Maikaba. Their trainings look similar to what I experienced in the Super Eagles camp."

As for the training at his current club in Uzbekistan, Ifeanyi said the NPFL was worlds behind: "Here there are programs for each day. You hardly see teams go to the gym in the NPFL, but here you go to the gym.

"There are programs for only the strikers, programs for only the midfielders, programs for the defenders and the goalkeepers. Every department has their special training programs. It's all about tactical training, quick feet and even the balls we use here are different.

"There are no facilities in the NPFL, but here there are a lot of facilities and equipment to train with. You improve more with the facilities and equipment than when you have no equipment.

"And it is all natural grass pitch, not artificial."

This guy is in Uzbekistan for God's sake!

From the same article

Despite these yawning gaps, the midfielder, who played for MFM FC and Akwa before heading out via Algeria's ES Setif, remains convinced that NPFL players can and will excel in the senior national team if given enough opportunity.

He added: "Yes, there are lots of talented players, very good players in the NPFL. Very, very technical, strong players.

"Everything in life is just opportunity and chance. If they are given the chance the foreign-based players are given, they can do well, even better than some of the foreign-based players.

"If I am a coach, I can play a home-based player over a foreign-based player. It all depends on the position.

"The late [Stephen] Keshi, for example, played home-based players in the Afcon and they did well and won it. Sunday Oliseh did the same thing, and they did very well, too."

Those were different times, different eras, and it is doubtful if Rohr will deviate much farther than he has done so far. But he has not entirely closed the door on NPFL talent.

The man also claims, they are not given the same chance. More like lip service.

This is why I told Cellular earlier that there is enough in the article to feed both sides of the argument.
However it doesn't sound too logical if you are asking for locals to be "given a chance" whilst at the same time acknowledging that these same players lack adequate training programs and techniques, tactical awareness etc. He is basically asking for sentimental selections - the emotional argument you people are so quick to project onto others.

[Gotti]

Some of the home based players were listed in KoC’s article below

Gernot Rohr does pick Nigerian domestic players, actually, and they benefit from it
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.espn.c ... atform=amp

For me, the problem has always been the high mobility rate of the home based players. It is not a static situation and the home based of today will become foreign based tomorrow. If the local league is continuosly stripped of its best players, it stands to reason that there would be few, if any, of the ones left that could make the SE.

Perhaps we should be looking at home grown rather than home based?? If the number of foreign born (or grown) is more than the number of home grown, then there is a problem. The pool of home grown (or home born) is far larger than that of foreign born and should therefore dominate.

And the Belgian league player of today will become the EPL player of tomorrow...

Not sure why folks (and now Rohr) keep bringing up this irrelevancy. Should we also stop scouting players in 'minor' leagues abroad because they might move to bigger leagues? Etebo was initially capped when he was home-based. Should he had been ignored because he was likely to move abroad? I don't get the point!

[Gotti]

I suggest you go and look in the Real Madrid website.

If you don’t see any of them there, perhaps you should look in Azerbaijan. That in itself will answer your question about their recall to the team.

Exactly! Like our many FB players at Real Madrid...
In fact our AFCON team looked like it was for El Classico! SMDH

[ukwala]

Some of the home based players were listed in KoC’s article below

Gernot Rohr does pick Nigerian domestic players, actually, and they benefit from it
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.espn.c ... atform=amp

For me, the problem has always been the high mobility rate of the home based players. It is not a static situation and the home based of today will become foreign based tomorrow. If the local league is continuosly stripped of its best players, it stands to reason that there would be few, if any, of the ones left that could make the SE.

Perhaps we should be looking at home grown rather than home based?? If the number of foreign born (or grown) is more than the number of home grown, then there is a problem. The pool of home grown (or home born) is far larger than that of foreign born and should therefore dominate.

And the Belgian league player of today will become the EPL player of tomorrow...

Not sure why folks (and now Rohr) keep bringing up this irrelevancy. Should we also stop scouting players in 'minor' leagues abroad because they might move to bigger leagues? Etebo was initially capped when he was home-based. Should he had been ignored because he was likely to move abroad? I don't get the point!

The great Gotti, the point I was making is that we should be looking at home grown (or home born, whichever is the more correct term) and not home based because the best local players emigrate abroad, usually through youth team exposures or through academies, or through CHAN exposure, leaving the '2nd and 3rd eleven' at home.

So an Etebo who was playing for Warri Wolves when he was selected for the SE emigrates abroad, you now go and select his deputy who Etebo was benching just because he is home based? The Chikatara's, Junior Ajayi's, Sunday Faleke's, Obinna Nwobodo's, Emem Eduok's, etc. who starred in the local league and moved abroad are not good enough to play for the SE and you want to invite those who they were benching because they are still at home? My point is that home based today is foreign based tomorrow so why not look at home grown instead of home based?

The Belgian league player who moves to EPL is still classified as a foreign based player but a home based player who moves abroad is no longer a home based player but is still a home grown player.

In concluding, the absence of a home based player in the SE at a particular point in time does not necessarily equate to the neglect of the local league. Stars come in trickles and it could mean that the next star is still being awaited, who when he comes will get invited to SE, play one game and move abroad and will no longer be seen as home based. We will then start searching for the next home based player!

[Adisboy]

How come they don´t get re-invited back to the SE.

Simple answer. They were invited simply to satisfy the critics even when they're not up to the level of the foreign pros and even the bench. As soon as they got foreign contracts, they no longer had the privilege of a local player who could get a call up even when they're not up to the level of the team.

Please do you know any of them by name? 9 names would suffice.

Thanking you in advance.

I simply don't have the time right now to go through all his invitations since 2016 to identify these names but I seriously doubt Rohr will lie about inviting 24 locals as it can be easily fact-checked. He has enough critics and detractors who would relish exposing him if he is lying.

It's rather strange, you and I can't name 3 - 5 of those players off hand.

Let me help Orion, just from the top of my head Egbuchulam Chisom, Junior Lakosa, Stephen Odey, Ikuwunen Utim, Stephen Eze, the latest was that Enyimba left back (forgotten his name). This just 6 I can think of on the spot. I am sure if you research you will see that Rohr is right. E.g. of the 6 I mentioned, 5 are now playing overseas.

[txj]

I suggest you go and look in the Real Madrid website.

If you don’t see any of them there, perhaps you should look in Azerbaijan. That in itself will answer your question about their recall to the team.

Exactly! Like our many FB players at Real Madrid...
In fact our AFCON team looked like it was for El Classico! SMDH

Not surprisingly, you totally miss the point!

[Orion]

How come they don´t get re-invited back to the SE.

Simple answer. They were invited simply to satisfy the critics even when they're not up to the level of the foreign pros and even the bench. As soon as they got foreign contracts, they no longer had the privilege of a local player who could get a call up even when they're not up to the level of the team.

Please do you know any of them by name? 9 names would suffice.

Thanking you in advance.

I simply don't have the time right now to go through all his invitations since 2016 to identify these names but I seriously doubt Rohr will lie about inviting 24 locals as it can be easily fact-checked. He has enough critics and detractors who would relish exposing him if he is lying.

It's rather strange, you and I can't name 3 - 5 of those players off hand.

Let me help Orion, just from the top of my head Egbuchulam Chisom, Junior Lakosa, Stephen Odey, Ikuwunen Utim, Stephen Eze, the latest was that Enyimba left back (forgotten his name). This just 6 I can think of on the spot. I am sure if you research you will see that Rohr is right. E.g. of the 6 I mentioned, 5 are now playing overseas.

Thanks for the names. ukwala also kindly posted a KoC article that listed most of the local players Rohr has invited. I knew Rohr couldn't have been lying about it anyway as it can be so easily debunked, and there will be Nigerian sports journalists/writers who would immediately jump on it.

https://www.espn.com/soccer/nigeria-nga ... it-from-it