I can Understand not inviting our first team players

[1naija]

Most of our first team players just concluded a long season and participated in the double friendly in Austria last month, so I understand giving them a break for the friendly against Mexico. But what I don't understand is why we couldn't invite players like Nwakali, Denis, Tosin, Semi Nwankwo, Desssers, Sadiq, all the Fulham players and other players that did well at their clubs last season but are not in SE first team. What was the reason for fielding only homebased players for this friendly? Can someone help me understand the logic behind this team selection? Also, why didn't John Noble keep for us if he is SE third goalkeeper? Something ain't right.

[Damunk]

Most of our first team players just concluded a long season and participated in the double friendly in Austria last month, so I understand giving them a break for the friendly against Mexico. But what I don't understand is why we couldn't invite players like Nwakali, Denis, Tosin, Semi Nwankwo, Desssers, Sadiq, all the Fulham players and other players that did well at their clubs last season but are not in SE first team. What was the reason for fielding only homebased players for this friendly? Can someone help me understand the logic behind this team selection? Also, why didn't John Noble keep for us if he is SE third goalkeeper? Something ain't right.

1Naija, the stated aim of this friendly was to give “exposure” to the local players.
It was the whole point of the exercise.

So is it now a bad thing to get them out there?

This is a direct result of the clamor for ‘local content’, whether people want to admit it or not.
Everyone is now throwing a fit.
I’ve been saying it for decades that when it comes to going through the pains of labor, Nigerian fans just can’t hack it.

The players really lack the fundamentals of the international game.
This is the evidence. They won’t get there without exposure to higher level football. They are playing in a bubble of Nigerian football and doing ‘local champion’. Even in Africa (CHAN), we are not exactly excelling.

Now it’s blame shifting. Denials. Fact manipulation. Anything but facing the facts.

There is more to come: Baltimore, November 2021.

We just start.

[Tobi17]

Most of our first team players just concluded a long season and participated in the double friendly in Austria last month, so I understand giving them a break for the friendly against Mexico. But what I don't understand is why we couldn't invite players like Nwakali, Denis, Tosin, Semi Nwankwo, Desssers, Sadiq, all the Fulham players and other players that did well at their clubs last season but are not in SE first team. What was the reason for fielding only homebased players for this friendly? Can someone help me understand the logic behind this team selection? Also, why didn't John Noble keep for us if he is SE third goalkeeper? Something ain't right.

Me sef tire... even without our first team, the likes of Dessers, Nwakali, Tosin, Simi, Maja and other fringe Euro based players would have given Mexico a competitive game and probably even beaten them.. this friendly was a colossal waste of time.

[mystic]

John Noble is nursing an injury. The NFF invited 2 unfit goalkeepers to camp in Ikechukwu Ezenwa and Noble. All the same, I am glad that Noble wasn't available as we would have chopped more goals.

[Damunk]

Most of our first team players just concluded a long season and participated in the double friendly in Austria last month, so I understand giving them a break for the friendly against Mexico. But what I don't understand is why we couldn't invite players like Nwakali, Denis, Tosin, Semi Nwankwo, Desssers, Sadiq, all the Fulham players and other players that did well at their clubs last season but are not in SE first team. What was the reason for fielding only homebased players for this friendly? Can someone help me understand the logic behind this team selection? Also, why didn't John Noble keep for us if he is SE third goalkeeper? Something ain't right.

Me sef tire... even without our first team, the likes of Dessers, Nwakali, Tosin, Simi, Maja and other fringe Euro based players would have given Mexico a competitive game and probably even beaten them.. this friendly was a colossal waste of time.

Who do you think was responsible for the decision and why?
You really think Rohr wouldn’t have loved to do exactly what you have suggested?
But you see how the narrative is being twisted on the game threads.

Makes you wonder whether some of us really want the best for the Super Eagles.
All said and done, this result was inevitable, but the thought behind it isn’t a bad one.

[Damunk]

John Noble is nursing an injury. The NFF invited 2 unfit goalkeepers to camp in Ikechukwu Ezenwa and Noble. All the same, I am glad that Noble wasn't available as we would have chopped more goals.

Sorry, who was in goal?
I didn’t get any feed and was only ‘watching’ on CE.

[1naija]

Uncle Damunkey, the right approach would have been to have a mixture of both homebased player and other good players not currently in the SE mix. This game proves nothing about homebased players. Not all homebased players have the quality to play for the national team. Fielding these players just to prove a point was just dumb. Our first team would struggle to beat Mexico in the US, so what's the point of fielding a clearly inferior team? I think it was a bad judgement by the NFF to play this friendly with these players.

Most of our first team players just concluded a long season and participated in the double friendly in Austria last month, so I understand giving them a break for the friendly against Mexico. But what I don't understand is why we couldn't invite players like Nwakali, Denis, Tosin, Semi Nwankwo, Desssers, Sadiq, all the Fulham players and other players that did well at their clubs last season but are not in SE first team. What was the reason for fielding only homebased players for this friendly? Can someone help me understand the logic behind this team selection? Also, why didn't John Noble keep for us if he is SE third goalkeeper? Something ain't right.

1Naija, the stated aim of this friendly was to give “exposure” to the local players.
It was the whole point of the exercise.

So is it now a bad thing to get them out there?

This is a direct result of the clamor for ‘local content’, whether people want to admit it or not.
Everyone is now throwing a fit.
I’ve been saying it for decades that when it comes to going through the pains of labor, Nigerian fans just can’t hack it.

The players really lack the fundamentals of the international game.
This is the evidence. They won’t get there without exposure to higher level football. They are playing in a bubble of Nigerian football and doing ‘local champion’. Even in Africa (CHAN), we are not exactly excelling.

Now it’s blame shifting. Denials. Fact manipulation. Anything but facing the facts.

There is more to come: Baltimore, November 2021.

We just start.

[1naija]

John Noble is nursing an injury. The NFF invited 2 unfit goalkeepers to camp in Ikechukwu Ezenwa and Noble. All the same, I am glad that Noble wasn't available as we would have chopped more goals.

I'm curious, why do you think a healthy John Noble would have been worse?

[mystic]

Most of our first team players just concluded a long season and participated in the double friendly in Austria last month, so I understand giving them a break for the friendly against Mexico. But what I don't understand is why we couldn't invite players like Nwakali, Denis, Tosin, Semi Nwankwo, Desssers, Sadiq, all the Fulham players and other players that did well at their clubs last season but are not in SE first team. What was the reason for fielding only homebased players for this friendly? Can someone help me understand the logic behind this team selection? Also, why didn't John Noble keep for us if he is SE third goalkeeper? Something ain't right.

Me sef tire... even without our first team, the likes of Dessers, Nwakali, Tosin, Simi, Maja and other fringe Euro based players would have given Mexico a competitive game and probably even beaten them.. this friendly was a colossal waste of time.

Even if we had done that, there would have been a lot of no-shows as this is just a bad time to schedule games for Europe based players. In theory there's nothing wrong with using the CHAN team for this game, if the home-based national team had been actively building for some time. But that was not the case.

[mystic]

John Noble is nursing an injury. The NFF invited 2 unfit goalkeepers to camp in Ikechukwu Ezenwa and Noble. All the same, I am glad that Noble wasn't available as we would have chopped more goals.

Sorry, who was in goal?
I didn’t get any feed and was only ‘watching’ on CE.

Stanley Nwabili of Lobi Stars

[Damunk]

Uncle Damunkey, the right approach would have been to have a mixture of both homebased player and other good players not currently in the SE mix. This game proves nothing about homebased players. Not all homebased players have the quality to play for the national team. Fielding these players just to prove a point was just dumb. Our first team would struggle to beat Mexico in the US, so what's the point of fielding a clearly inferior team? I think it was a bad judgement by the NFF to play this friendly with these players.

Most of our first team players just concluded a long season and participated in the double friendly in Austria last month, so I understand giving them a break for the friendly against Mexico. But what I don't understand is why we couldn't invite players like Nwakali, Denis, Tosin, Semi Nwankwo, Desssers, Sadiq, all the Fulham players and other players that did well at their clubs last season but are not in SE first team. What was the reason for fielding only homebased players for this friendly? Can someone help me understand the logic behind this team selection? Also, why didn't John Noble keep for us if he is SE third goalkeeper? Something ain't right.

1Naija, the stated aim of this friendly was to give “exposure” to the local players.
It was the whole point of the exercise.

So is it now a bad thing to get them out there?

This is a direct result of the clamor for ‘local content’, whether people want to admit it or not.
Everyone is now throwing a fit.
I’ve been saying it for decades that when it comes to going through the pains of labor, Nigerian fans just can’t hack it.

The players really lack the fundamentals of the international game.
This is the evidence. They won’t get there without exposure to higher level football. They are playing in a bubble of Nigerian football and doing ‘local champion’. Even in Africa (CHAN), we are not exactly excelling.

Now it’s blame shifting. Denials. Fact manipulation. Anything but facing the facts.

There is more to come: Baltimore, November 2021.

We just start.

Fair point, but one could also argue that there should be 22 players in the whole of the NPFL that are worth exposing to international football with a view to making the full SE at some point.
Just 22.
Moreover, it’s a bad time for European-based fringe players.
I think if they had done as you suggested - which isn’t without merit - they would still have been criticized.
Now the predictable outcome has come to pass, the naysayers are still trying to spin it.

It is what it is.
I just hope it won’t be registered as a ‘Grade A’ friendly by FIFA.

[1naija]

But no other country does this. I have not heard of a homebased brazil or Argentina, or England, or Spain national team. We should have one National team. CHAN should be for regional tournaments, and not international national team games. It was Nigeria vs Mexico, not CHAN vs Mexico. If we are going to accept friendly games with top international teams, we should field our top players, period.

Most of our first team players just concluded a long season and participated in the double friendly in Austria last month, so I understand giving them a break for the friendly against Mexico. But what I don't understand is why we couldn't invite players like Nwakali, Denis, Tosin, Semi Nwankwo, Desssers, Sadiq, all the Fulham players and other players that did well at their clubs last season but are not in SE first team. What was the reason for fielding only homebased players for this friendly? Can someone help me understand the logic behind this team selection? Also, why didn't John Noble keep for us if he is SE third goalkeeper? Something ain't right.

Me sef tire... even without our first team, the likes of Dessers, Nwakali, Tosin, Simi, Maja and other fringe Euro based players would have given Mexico a competitive game and probably even beaten them.. this friendly was a colossal waste of time.

Even if we had done that, there would have been a lot of no-shows as this is just a bad time to schedule games for Europe based players. In theory there's nothing wrong with using the CHAN team for this game, if the home-based national team had been actively building for some time. But that was not the case.

[mystic]

John Noble is nursing an injury. The NFF invited 2 unfit goalkeepers to camp in Ikechukwu Ezenwa and Noble. All the same, I am glad that Noble wasn't available as we would have chopped more goals.

I'm curious, why do you think a healthy John Noble would have been worse?

He's not a good goalkeeper.

[juventuss]

It was a complete and utter crap show. Talk about level #1 embarrassment. Ppor guys could not go past 60 minutes. Anyways looks like some will hammer from this trip though.

[Damunk]

But no other country does this. I have not heard of a homebased brazil or Argentina, or England, or Spain national team. We should have one National team. CHAN should be for regional tournaments, and not international national team games. It was Nigeria vs Mexico, not CHAN vs Mexico. If we are going to accept friendly games with top international teams, we should field our top players, period.

But that is because they are not under insane pressure to feature home-based players like we are.
They are not ready to risk compromising their national teams for anything.

[Damunk]

John Noble is nursing an injury. The NFF invited 2 unfit goalkeepers to camp in Ikechukwu Ezenwa and Noble. All the same, I am glad that Noble wasn't available as we would have chopped more goals.

Sorry, who was in goal?
I didn’t get any feed and was only ‘watching’ on CE.

Stanley Nwabili of Lobi Stars

Thanks.

[mystic]

But no other country does this. I have not heard of a homebased brazil or Argentina, or England, or Spain national team. We should have one National team. CHAN should be for regional tournaments, and not international national team games. It was Nigeria vs Mexico, not CHAN vs Mexico. If we are going to accept friendly games with top international teams, we should field our top players, period.

Most of our first team players just concluded a long season and participated in the double friendly in Austria last month, so I understand giving them a break for the friendly against Mexico. But what I don't understand is why we couldn't invite players like Nwakali, Denis, Tosin, Semi Nwankwo, Desssers, Sadiq, all the Fulham players and other players that did well at their clubs last season but are not in SE first team. What was the reason for fielding only homebased players for this friendly? Can someone help me understand the logic behind this team selection? Also, why didn't John Noble keep for us if he is SE third goalkeeper? Something ain't right.

Me sef tire... even without our first team, the likes of Dessers, Nwakali, Tosin, Simi, Maja and other fringe Euro based players would have given Mexico a competitive game and probably even beaten them.. this friendly was a colossal waste of time.

Even if we had done that, there would have been a lot of no-shows as this is just a bad time to schedule games for Europe based players. In theory there's nothing wrong with using the CHAN team for this game, if the home-based national team had been actively building for some time. But that was not the case.

Apart from regional tournaments, the CHAN team should be another avenue for grooming players for the Super Eagles. Oghenekaro Etebo is a good example of a player who had a lot of raw talent. He was groomed by Stephen Keshi in the CHAN team, before additional development under Samson Siasia in the U23s. Ditto for Shehu Abdullahi, another graduate of Keshi's CHAN squad. And the same can be said for Ikechukwu Ezenwa (who was part of Oliseh's set).

[DIMKA76]

Naija is benefiting from it's standard "Fire Brigade" approach to everything. Plant beans and expect yam mentality.

[delisyomie don]

because it cost money and lack of orgnization.

[Robotnik]

Cuz of Financial benefits the NFF would get. They don't care the embarrassment..There is another show in Oct/Nov.

[Enugu II]

Cuz of Financial benefits the NFF would get. They don't care the embarrassment..There is another show in Oct/Nov.

Sure.

In addition, the USA friendlies that Pinnick talked about is, in my view, more about FIFA politics that involves him personally as well as USA host cities.

[felarey]

Didn't think it could be worse than fielding SE against president Weah and the boys. Seems the same motivation influenced both friendlies. Obviously, the SE are being used for other purposes. No more useless friendlies pls, Mexico could have played one of thier own clubsides instead of finding a country willing to disgrace themselves.

[vancity eagle]

Most of our first team players just concluded a long season and participated in the double friendly in Austria last month, so I understand giving them a break for the friendly against Mexico. But what I don't understand is why we couldn't invite players like Nwakali, Denis, Tosin, Semi Nwankwo, Desssers, Sadiq, all the Fulham players and other players that did well at their clubs last season but are not in SE first team. What was the reason for fielding only homebased players for this friendly? Can someone help me understand the logic behind this team selection? Also, why didn't John Noble keep for us if he is SE third goalkeeper? Something ain't right.

1Naija, the stated aim of this friendly was to give “exposure” to the local players.
It was the whole point of the exercise.

So is it now a bad thing to get them out there?

This is a direct result of the clamor for ‘local content’, whether people want to admit it or not.
Everyone is now throwing a fit.
I’ve been saying it for decades that when it comes to going through the pains of labor, Nigerian fans just can’t hack it.

The players really lack the fundamentals of the international game.
This is the evidence. They won’t get there without exposure to higher level football. They are playing in a bubble of Nigerian football and doing ‘local champion’. Even in Africa (CHAN), we are not exactly excelling.

Now it’s blame shifting. Denials. Fact manipulation. Anything but facing the facts.

There is more to come: Baltimore, November 2021.

We just start.

Kpom.