I Finally Watched the Match

[Bell]

Surprisingly, the SE didn't play as badly as some posts have suggested here. And I couldn't find any individual player to heap blame on. Not the coach either. Yet, some posters here have directed invectives on certain players.

CIV won the match but on another day, with the ball bouncing differently, Nigeria could have won it. Maybe, with somebody paying more attention to his surroundings (which defenders must always do), the CIV player would have been covered and prevented from sneaking in to get his nearly free header for their first goal.

Some of the things I saw included VO coming back a lot to help in the defense which is commendable. I think it's his instinct to do so, but maybe he can remain upfront more to be closer to the scoring area, conserve energy and demand constant attention from the opposing defendes. A skillful ballholder along the lines of JJ (if such can be found) would be helpful to feed VO shorter and more precise passes instead of long balls in his general direction. I would like to see VO improve on his ball skills and help his cause - maybe a summer with JJ or Kanu would help.

Players that stand out to me include: Nwabali, Aina, Ekong, Onyeka and Bassey. The last two are destructive midfield forces who probably will have a long shelf life on the team.
Bell

[waka-man]

Truth.

[Bigpokey24]

finally what some of us saw . People overreacted

[packerland]

Surprisingly, the SE didn't play as badly as some posts have suggested here. And I couldn't find any individual player to heap blame on. Not the coach either. Yet, some posters here have directed invectives on certain players.

CIV won the match but on another day, with the ball bouncing differently, Nigeria could have won it. Maybe, with somebody paying more attention to his surroundings (which defenders must always do), the CIV player would have been covered and prevented from sneaking in to get his nearly free header for their first goal.

Some of the things I saw included VO coming back a lot to help in the defense which is commendable. I think it's his instinct to do so, but maybe he can remain upfront more to be closer to the scoring area, conserve energy and demand constant attention from the opposing defendes. A skillful ballholder along the lines of JJ (if such can be found) would be helpful to feed VO shorter and more precise passes instead of long balls in his general direction. I would like to see VO improve on his ball skills and help his cause - maybe a summer with JJ or Kanu would help.

Players that stand out to me include: Nwabali, Aina, Ekong, Onyeka and Bassey. The last two are destructive midfield forces who probably will have a long shelf life on the team.
Bell

You either have this skill or you don't. Frank Lampard was never going to dribble like JJ or be as smooth as Kanu but what he did well was strike the ball with some accuracy. I'm not sure about ball skills but he can learn how to strike the ball like Lampard and Kroos with consistency. I think Osimhen's first goal fro Napoli was an outside shot that was perfectly placed in the bottom corner. I think he can learn to do more of that. I'm a bit tired of all these putting pressure on defenders traits we use to describe him.

[Scipio Africanus]

Surprisingly, the SE didn't play as badly as some posts have suggested here. And I couldn't find any individual player to heap blame on. Not the coach either. Yet, some posters here have directed invectives on certain players.

CIV won the match but on another day, with the ball bouncing differently, Nigeria could have won it. Maybe, with somebody paying more attention to his surroundings (which defenders must always do), the CIV player would have been covered and prevented from sneaking in to get his nearly free header for their first goal.

Some of the things I saw included VO coming back a lot to help in the defense which is commendable. I think it's his instinct to do so, but maybe he can remain upfront more to be closer to the scoring area, conserve energy and demand constant attention from the opposing defendes. A skillful ballholder along the lines of JJ (if such can be found) would be helpful to feed VO shorter and more precise passes instead of long balls in his general direction. I would like to see VO improve on his ball skills and help his cause - maybe a summer with JJ or Kanu would help.

Players that stand out to me include: Nwabali, Aina, Ekong, Onyeka and Bassey. The last two are destructive midfield forces who probably will have a long shelf life on the team.
Bell

You either have this skill or you don't. Frank Lampard was never going to dribble like JJ or be as smooth as Kanu but what he did well was strike the ball with some accuracy. I'm not sure about ball skills but he can learn how to strike the ball like Lampard and Kroos with consistency. I think Osimhen's first goal fro Napoli was an outside shot that was perfectly placed in the bottom corner. I think he can learn to do more of that. I'm a bit tired of all these putting pressure on defenders traits we use to describe him.

My broda, you are a civilized man. That is putting it quite mildly.

[Bell]

Surprisingly, the SE didn't play as badly as some posts have suggested here. And I couldn't find any individual player to heap blame on. Not the coach either. Yet, some posters here have directed invectives on certain players.

CIV won the match but on another day, with the ball bouncing differently, Nigeria could have won it. Maybe, with somebody paying more attention to his surroundings (which defenders must always do), the CIV player would have been covered and prevented from sneaking in to get his nearly free header for their first goal.

Some of the things I saw included VO coming back a lot to help in the defense which is commendable. I think it's his instinct to do so, but maybe he can remain upfront more to be closer to the scoring area, conserve energy and demand constant attention from the opposing defendes. A skillful ballholder along the lines of JJ (if such can be found) would be helpful to feed VO shorter and more precise passes instead of long balls in his general direction. I would like to see VO improve on his ball skills and help his cause - maybe a summer with JJ or Kanu would help.

Players that stand out to me include: Nwabali, Aina, Ekong, Onyeka and Bassey. The last two are destructive midfield forces who probably will have a long shelf life on the team.
Bell

You either have this skill or you don't. Frank Lampard was never going to dribble like JJ or be as smooth as Kanu but what he did well was strike the ball with some accuracy. I'm not sure about ball skills but he can learn how to strike the ball like Lampard and Kroos with consistency. I think Osimhen's first goal fro Napoli was an outside shot that was perfectly placed in the bottom corner. I think he can learn to do more of that. I'm a bit tired of all these putting pressure on defenders traits we use to describe him.

VO IS NOT JJ AND NO ONE EXPECTS HIM TO BE THAT


Sometimes, people have a mental thing, or see things the wrong way, and either may be enough to keep them from achieving. It only takes someone to point it out to them. Or it's just a matter of technique. This is best illustrated in basketball where a player comes in with no ability to make the otside shot, or is terrible at free throws. A few summers later of working on these aspects, sometimes with the help of a coach, of the game and they are at a completely different level. One of the worst things you can say to a person in any area of life is "...you can't..." (See Kobe Bryant).

I believe the Napoli goal you're talking about is the one against Barcelona. If so, once the defender lost the wrestling match, VO was left one on one with the keeper. At that point it was child's play to pick his spot. I wouldn't call that an outside shot.

On putting pressure on defenders, I'm not sure I understand what your disagreement is because it's obvious that if VO spends more time in the opponent's half, it is clear that it would affect the way defenders deploy themselves.
Bell

[Kabalega]

Surprisingly, the SE didn't play as badly as some posts have suggested here. And I couldn't find any individual player to heap blame on. Not the coach either. Yet, some posters here have directed invectives on certain players.

CIV won the match but on another day, with the ball bouncing differently, Nigeria could have won it. Maybe, with somebody paying more attention to his surroundings (which defenders must always do), the CIV player would have been covered and prevented from sneaking in to get his nearly free header for their first goal.

Some of the things I saw included VO coming back a lot to help in the defense which is commendable. I think it's his instinct to do so, but maybe he can remain upfront more to be closer to the scoring area, conserve energy and demand constant attention from the opposing defendes. A skillful ballholder along the lines of JJ (if such can be found) would be helpful to feed VO shorter and more precise passes instead of long balls in his general direction. I would like to see VO improve on his ball skills and help his cause - maybe a summer with JJ or Kanu would help.

Players that stand out to me include: Nwabali, Aina, Ekong, Onyeka and Bassey. The last two are destructive midfield forces who probably will have a long shelf life on the team.
Bell

Which game? The final?
Only on CE.

[kash n' karry]

Surprisingly, the SE didn't play as badly as some posts have suggested here. And I couldn't find any individual player to heap blame on. Not the coach either. Yet, some posters here have directed invectives on certain players.

CIV won the match but on another day, with the ball bouncing differently, Nigeria could have won it. Maybe, with somebody paying more attention to his surroundings (which defenders must always do), the CIV player would have been covered and prevented from sneaking in to get his nearly free header for their first goal.

Some of the things I saw included VO coming back a lot to help in the defense which is commendable. I think it's his instinct to do so, but maybe he can remain upfront more to be closer to the scoring area, conserve energy and demand constant attention from the opposing defendes. A skillful ballholder along the lines of JJ (if such can be found) would be helpful to feed VO shorter and more precise passes instead of long balls in his general direction. I would like to see VO improve on his ball skills and help his cause - maybe a summer with JJ or Kanu would help.

Players that stand out to me include: Nwabali, Aina, Ekong, Onyeka and Bassey. The last two are destructive midfield forces who probably will have a long shelf life on the team.
Bell

Which game? The final?
Only on CE.

Abi Oooo... my brother ...we chosed to play an indefensible worst game of the tournament in that very tournament finals
God unworthily even gifted us with a 1-0 ahead goal score... All our chicken players need do is to play boldly and play like the professionals they claim to be in their top teams in Europe for just 45 more minutes to glory ...

Yet they got scared and played like Super chickens .. ONLY to start waking up with 10 minutes to go when they suddenly found themselves 2 goals down... !!

This thing called "blind Patriotism" is biatchhh. What happen to the undiluted, untainted truth that must be told always in order for us to truly grow ...??

NOTE :::
Verily verily ... i say again ... it's about time we started playing our home games in Lagos,to transform truly back into our Super Eagles philosophies .. .. enuff of the gaaaddaamnnn Super chicken moral victory and losers mentality



You can't see what i can see .. . You blind babe.. . you blind to the fact that you can't see what i can see .. .!! - -
Heavy D & The Boyz
==========================================================
Aaaaagghhh gaaaddammnnn ittt .... wherez my Heineken + big wet bubble booty chics ?

[Tobi17]

We played our worst final in a tournament probably for the first time ever in Nigerian football history, so I'm not sure why we are finding moral victories in that abysmal and cowardly performance from us. That game really made me have second thoughts about us keeping Peseiro as coach, but he met his target set by the NFF (which was to get to the SF) and even surpassed it, albeit with some serious elements of luck. I still want home gone, hopefully to Algeria where reported offers look tempting for any journeyman coach.

We can't turn back the hands of time and replay that game now, and hindsight isn't always 50/50 but a part of me feels that we should have stood a better chance of winning that game had we adopted a 433 formation and just gone on the offensive...and even if we had lost, at least we would have given CIV a final to think about for a very long time.

[Damunk]

Point is, Nigerians find it hard to handle failure so we tend to paint ‘failure’ in the worst possible light.
We are a country of extremes in everything, so we describe likewise: every President is “the worst President ever”; every SE coach the worst ever; every team the worst ever; every game the worst performance ever.
As long as it doesn’t work out well, we no send.
We all know the story of the father that asks his second-placed child whether his first-placed classmate “has two heads”.
That’s us.

If there is a country that catastrophises by default, na we.
Meanwhile na still we wey “no dey carry last”.
Maybe that’s the problem - it’s win or nothing-nothing.
The problem with that is we are more likely not to recognize the positives and will throw the baby out with the bath water.

That final was simply a game strategy gone wrong for reasons we will never all agree on.
There were many many positives in the team and the final game was nowhere near as terrible as we are bitching about.

In our dog eat dog culture, everyone wants to show they are better, more ambitious, more meritocratic and thinks/performs at a higher level than the next man. So it’s fashionable to rubbish everything and everyone that thinks otherwise.
Plus, I guess, we have to let our disappointment out somehow….

[Lolly]

The stats says otherwise. We were embarrassingly poor on the day. How can have just one shot on target and a pitiful 37% possession in an AFCON final yet claim we didn’t play badly?

[aruako1]

Point is, Nigerians find it hard to handle failure so we tend to paint ‘failure’ in the worst possible light.
We are a country of extremes in everything, so we describe likewise: every President is “the worst President ever”; every SE coach the worst ever; every team the worst ever; every game the worst performance ever.
As long as it doesn’t work out well, we no send.
We all know the story of the father that asks his second-placed child whether his first-placed classmate “has two heads”.
That’s us.

If there is a country that catastrophises by default, na we.
Meanwhile na still we wey “no dey carry last”.
Maybe that’s the problem - it’s win or nothing-nothing.
The problem with that is we are more likely not to recognize the positives and will throw the baby out with the bath water.

That final was simply a game strategy gone wrong for reasons we will never all agree on.
There were many many positives in the team and the final game was nowhere near as terrible as we are bitching about.

In our dog eat dog culture, everyone wants to show they are better, more ambitious, more meritocratic and thinks/performs at a higher level than the next man. So it’s fashionable to rubbish everything and everyone that thinks otherwise.
Plus, I guess, we have to let our disappointment out somehow….

We were poor in the final. If we had played well, Nigerians would have acknowledged it. In 2014 we played well in losses against Argentina and France. When you play rubbish football like we did in the final and win, fans will grudgingly accept the win as the price for the abysmal football. But when you play poorly and you lose, you go hear am.

[gochino]

Surprisingly, the SE didn't play as badly as some posts have suggested here. And I couldn't find any individual player to heap blame on. Not the coach either. Yet, some posters here have directed invectives on certain players.

CIV won the match but on another day, with the ball bouncing differently, Nigeria could have won it. Maybe, with somebody paying more attention to his surroundings (which defenders must always do), the CIV player would have been covered and prevented from sneaking in to get his nearly free header for their first goal.

Some of the things I saw included VO coming back a lot to help in the defense which is commendable. I think it's his instinct to do so, but maybe he can remain upfront more to be closer to the scoring area, conserve energy and demand constant attention from the opposing defendes. A skillful ballholder along the lines of JJ (if such can be found) would be helpful to feed VO shorter and more precise passes instead of long balls in his general direction. I would like to see VO improve on his ball skills and help his cause - maybe a summer with JJ or Kanu would help.

Players that stand out to me include: Nwabali, Aina, Ekong, Onyeka and Bassey. The last two are destructive midfield forces who probably will have a long shelf life on the team.
Bell

Which game? The final?
Only on CE.

I tire oh! We had one lucky shot on goal in 90 mins, had ball possession of 30% and were completely dominated in midfield! In short thats the worst final I have ever watched, am sure Pasiero won't be proud of that game.

[kash n' karry]

Surprisingly, the SE didn't play as badly as some posts have suggested here. And I couldn't find any individual player to heap blame on. Not the coach either. Yet, some posters here have directed invectives on certain players.

CIV won the match but on another day, with the ball bouncing differently, Nigeria could have won it. Maybe, with somebody paying more attention to his surroundings (which defenders must always do), the CIV player would have been covered and prevented from sneaking in to get his nearly free header for their first goal.

Some of the things I saw included VO coming back a lot to help in the defense which is commendable. I think it's his instinct to do so, but maybe he can remain upfront more to be closer to the scoring area, conserve energy and demand constant attention from the opposing defendes. A skillful ballholder along the lines of JJ (if such can be found) would be helpful to feed VO shorter and more precise passes instead of long balls in his general direction. I would like to see VO improve on his ball skills and help his cause - maybe a summer with JJ or Kanu would help.

Players that stand out to me include: Nwabali, Aina, Ekong, Onyeka and Bassey. The last two are destructive midfield forces who probably will have a long shelf life on the team.
Bell

Which game? The final?
Only on CE.

I tire oh! We had one lucky shot on goal in 90 mins, had ball possession of 30% and were completely dominated in midfield! In short thats the worst final I have ever watched, am sure Pasiero won't be proud of that game.

You can tell it like it is brother ... oh ..that is the truth ..
I am still convinced that we must have been heavily enchanted, hypnotized or better say "Juju-fied"

[wanaj0]

What's the stats for the other matches that we played in the tournament? I doubt there were any significant difference.

The stats says otherwise. We were embarrassingly poor on the day. How can have just one shot on target and a pitiful 37% possession in an AFCON final yet claim we didn’t play badly?

[Bigpokey24]

stats? Chelsea defeated Barcelona in 2012, we know who had the stats

[aruako1]

stats? Chelsea defeated Barcelona in 2012, we know who had the stats

But would Chelsea fans have been happy if they had lost? I would have celebrated if we managed to hold on but when you lose playing poor football, fans will question you.