TOP 10 MISCONCEPTIONS ABOUT THE NIGERIA VS MOROCCO GAME

[ROSSIKE]

Solowe, thanks for recognising the contributions of KANU.

It was KANU's defense splitting pass to JAG that saw JAG tear tye Moroccan net, a goal that would have counted had JAG not foolishly placed himself a yard offside.

KANU came back to defend and made a couple of crucial clearances from our box.

Probably this to and fro-ing tired him out in the second half. But he was nowhere near as bad as people on this site are trying to paint him.

Perhaps they've caught Arsene Wenger 'crucify Kanu' fever.


I suggest they re watch the game with cooler heads.

[SITH]

well generally, CCC has to play Kanu late in the game when the opposing team is getting tired about the same time hadji came in 30 mins to go.

Utaka and Jag should start up front with pius on the right wing. Considering how weak our mid field was i'll play baba on the left wing and Udeze on the left back position with specific instructions to Baba.

Agali and Yakubu should only come in if the others are tired or we need more strickers in the game the switch of Kanu and pius is fine only with Pius starting and kanu in for last half hour.

[PMZOkocha]

I have read a number of “eye witness” reports on cyber eagles on Nigeria’s game vs. Morocco and I have to wonder what game they were watching. Here are the Top misconceptions I am here to dispel:


10. TELEVISON

This ART station is not readily available everywhere in North America. I had to go to a Philadelphia back alley location to watch a Setanta tape delayed version of the game. It seems North America is regressing it its coverage of the ANC.

Mr. Dolly what’s up with that??






9. STADIUM

The Monastir stadium was nothing more than a glorified municipal stadium. Think Olubadan stadium with a fresh coat of paint. These Tunisians are going to have to do better than this if they intend to host 2010 World cup.


8. KANU

Kanu played well. He held the ball well in the midfield and made some of his characteristic great passes. It’s only those of you expecting him to play defense that were disappointed.

I wasn’t, he didn’t, so no disappointed here.


7 DEFENSIVE MIDFIELDERS

A former member of the Cybereagles Industrial Complex started the 2 DM theory that seems to be pervasive on this board. Please stop it all of you.

There is more than one way to play defense. I have seen Italian teams use as many as 4 consistently in games, but most of the time teams use 1 and then employ other defensive schemes that work for them. If you don’t believe me then tell me in a quick 2 seconds who the second DM is on Arsenal. Oya quick, what’s the answer????

......See what I mean!!


6. TEAM JERSEY

Our uniforms were fine. It would probably look even better in white. At least it isnt an illegal jump suit concocted by our Kung fu fighting plantain-eating neighbors.


5. TACTICAL INEPTITUDE

In this particular game Chukwu’s game plan was not so bad. His big mistake was simply picking the best players in camp to play in this game rather than picking the best players for each position. As an example, Utaka and Yakubu didn’t play wide enough because they are not natural wingers. Ikedia and Ekweme are better wingers than Utaka and Yakubu, but not better players


4. TEAM PLAY

Contrary to most reports, the Eagles actually played well. The problem is that they did not dominate Morocco and played the game at the opponents pace.


3. ABBEY

Abbey is no Sodje.

I was impressed with him. He has a beautiful first touch; his crosses were good and showed a lot of heart. His only problem was passing the ball out of the back. He kept passing it out to a tightly marked teammate or whopping it up field.


2. PLAYER RATINGS

Vincent Enyeama: Didn’t make too much Manyana out of crosses, he was ok

George Abbey: He will be playing in the premiership next year

Celestine Babayaro: Pleasantly surprised at his good performance. Perhaps its because Udeze’s shadow is not looming over him

Isaac Okoronkwo: One or 2 miscues, still thought he had a good game

Joseph Yobo: Yobo needs to concentrate throughout a game. He always seems to have one lapse in games that always proves fatal to his team

Seyi Olofinjana: Vieratonian..... Timely tackles, good passes and showed appropriate toughness

Jay-Jay Okocha: Still in a Bolton state of mind.

John Utaka: Good, but needs to be a winger when he is asked to.

Nwankwo Kanu: Played as well as kanu can muster these days

Yakubu Ayegbeni: Yakubu has a jerkel and Hyde playing personality. Sometimes he is great, at other times you just don’t know with him.

Julius Aghahowa: 2 incredible strikes that were disallowed for good reasons

Ikedia: Showed flashes of wing brilliance

Agali: I am not a fan anymore. His antics since the world cup has turned me off this guy.


1. ORACLE OF CYBEREAGLES
The oracle sees Suya calling the South African embassy 3 times on Saturday.

- Kanu played well?
- Chukwu's game plan was not bad?
- Isaac had one or two miscues and still had a good game by you analyzes but Yobo may have one lapse...and thats commiting murder?
- What else do you have to say? The eagles did not really lose?
It's obvious you saw another game that was probably played in another universe.

[lagos777]

Me thinks if all your points were true , The SE actually won the game . lol.

[MYMIND]

The second DM for Arsenal is Gilberto or Palour!

And ART is readily available in N America if your have Dish Net. Oya, did you bury your head in the sand only for the sun to bake your yansh? Where were u when all the threads about ART were gong on?

Yujam,

Only an ITK like you would know all those things. ART is available if you have Dish network, not comcast and Direct TV.

ART is in some parts of Virginia on Adelphia Cable. You have to request it.

[JACKAL]

Solowe, thanks for recognising the contributions of KANU.

It was KANU's defense splitting pass to JAG that saw JAG tear tye Moroccan net, a goal that would have counted had JAG not foolishly placed himself a yard offside.

KANU came back to defend and made a couple of crucial clearances from our box.

Probably this to and fro-ing tired him out in the second half. But he was nowhere near as bad as people on this site are trying to paint him.

Perhaps they've caught Arsene Wenger 'crucify Kanu' fever.


I suggest they re watch the game with cooler heads.

Rossike,

Dont mind these yeye people bashing Kanu. Kanu played well and put in a good performance, not great, but good. he just needs to pick up the pace against SA and they will love him again.

[JACKAL]

well generally, CCC has to play Kanu late in the game when the opposing team is getting tired about the same time hadji came in 30 mins to go.

Utaka and Jag should start up front with pius on the right wing. Considering how weak our mid field was i'll play baba on the left wing and Udeze on the left back position with specific instructions to Baba.

Agali and Yakubu should only come in if the others are tired or we need more strickers in the game the switch of Kanu and pius is fine only with Pius starting and kanu in for last half hour.

Sith,
I am not so sure I would switch kanu for Ikedia. I would rather see Garba Lawal for Kanu. But if we are going to use wing play a lot, Pius should play instead of Utaka. It was obvious utaka prefered to play from the middle, so he kept crowding the middle for Julius and Yakubu. Yakubu had only one cross to Julius from the left all game. it was a good cross that Agali would have put away easily.

[PMZOkocha]

Abeg solowe, no swear for us. Kanu does not deserve to put on the shirt again. If that sort of performance is what you call good, then I see why people like Chukwu feel that can do whatever they want...ruin the only joy we had coming out of our country.
I hate to see a bad performance by your standards.

[JACKAL]

- Kanu played well?
- Chukwu's game plan was not bad?
- Isaac had one or two miscues and still had a good game by you analyzes but Yobo may have one lapse...and thats commiting murder?
- What else do you have to say? The eagles did not really lose?
It's obvious you saw another game that was probably played in another universe.

PMZOkocha,
Because we lost does not mean they didnt play well ! I see us destroying SA in the next game by 3 goals.

[Upbendel]

I have read a number of “eye witness” reports on cyber eagles on Nigeria’s game vs. Morocco and I have to wonder what game they were watching. Here are the Top misconceptions I am here to dispel:


10. TELEVISON

This ART station is not readily available everywhere in North America. I had to go to a Philadelphia back alley location to watch a Setanta tape delayed version of the game. It seems North America is regressing it its coverage of the ANC.

Mr. Dolly what’s up with that??


9. STADIUM

The Monastir stadium was nothing more than a glorified municipal stadium. Think Olubadan stadium with a fresh coat of paint. These Tunisians are going to have to do better than this if they intend to host 2010 World cup.


8. KANU

Kanu played well. He held the ball well in the midfield and made some of his characteristic great passes. It’s only those of you expecting him to play defense that were disappointed.

I wasn’t, he didn’t, so no disappointed here.


7 DEFENSIVE MIDFIELDERS

A former member of the Cybereagles Industrial Complex started the 2 DM theory that seems to be pervasive on this board. Please stop it all of you.

There is more than one way to play defense. I have seen Italian teams use as many as 4 consistently in games, but most of the time teams use 1 and then employ other defensive schemes that work for them. If you don’t believe me then tell me in a quick 2 seconds who the second DM is on Arsenal. Oya quick, what’s the answer????

......See what I mean!!


6. TEAM JERSEY

Our uniforms were fine. It would probably look even better in white. At least it isnt an illegal jump suit concocted by our Kung fu fighting plantain-eating neighbors.


5. TACTICAL INEPTITUDE

In this particular game Chukwu’s game plan was not so bad. His big mistake was simply picking the best players in camp to play in this game rather than picking the best players for each position. As an example, Utaka and Yakubu didn’t play wide enough because they are not natural wingers. Ikedia and Ekweme are better wingers than Utaka and Yakubu, but not better players


4. TEAM PLAY

Contrary to most reports, the Eagles actually played well. The problem is that they did not dominate Morocco and played the game at the opponents pace.


3. ABBEY

Abbey is no Sodje.

I was impressed with him. He has a beautiful first touch; his crosses were good and showed a lot of heart. His only problem was passing the ball out of the back. He kept passing it out to a tightly marked teammate or whopping it up field.


2. PLAYER RATINGS

Vincent Enyeama: Didn’t make too much Manyana out of crosses, he was ok

George Abbey: He will be playing in the premiership next year

Celestine Babayaro: Pleasantly surprised at his good performance. Perhaps its because Udeze’s shadow is not looming over him

Isaac Okoronkwo: One or 2 miscues, still thought he had a good game

Joseph Yobo: Yobo needs to concentrate throughout a game. He always seems to have one lapse in games that always proves fatal to his team

Seyi Olofinjana: Vieratonian..... Timely tackles, good passes and showed appropriate toughness

Jay-Jay Okocha: Still in a Bolton state of mind.

John Utaka: Good, but needs to be a winger when he is asked to.

Nwankwo Kanu: Played as well as kanu can muster these days

Yakubu Ayegbeni: Yakubu has a jerkel and Hyde playing personality. Sometimes he is great, at other times you just don’t know with him.

Julius Aghahowa: 2 incredible strikes that were disallowed for good reasons

Ikedia: Showed flashes of wing brilliance

Agali: I am not a fan anymore. His antics since the world cup has turned me off this guy.


1. ORACLE OF CYBEREAGLES
The oracle sees Suya calling the South African embassy 3 times on Saturday.

Solowe:
With this analysis, I am begining to forgive your goal keeper mixup during the build up to this ANC. Next time you put up a decent performance like this I will totally forgive.
BTW if Suya did end up calling certain embassy 3 times on saturday then my katakata with you will be over even.

[JACKAL]

Abeg solowe, no swear for us. Kanu does not deserve to put on the shirt again. If that sort of performance is what you call good, then I see why people like Chukwu feel that can do whatever they want...ruin the only joy we had coming out of our country.
I hate to see a bad performance by your standards.

PMZokocha,

There is a lot of joy coming out of Nigeria other than soccer ! You need to stop with that horrible view of Nigeria, no wonder you dont see anything good about our teams Performance.

[PMZOkocha]

PMZOkocha,
Because we lost does not mean they didnt play well ! I see us destroying SA in the next game by 3 goals.[/quote]


Played well? What part of that game was good?
Normally when teams play good and loose, it means they tested the keeper several times and he was up to the task. It means they had a lot of chances that were just a few inches wide or high.
Let me help you by giving you an example...Italia '90: Italy Vs Argentina...that was a game dominated by the Italians from start to finish but they lost. If you turned your heard from the tv and just listened, all you would hear is- Bergami, Maldini, Baresi, Donadoni, Vialli, Schilachi, Genini, Albertini e.t.c All game long, it was rear to hear the commentator mention an Argentine name. That was a team that played Well and lost.
Not the pathetic display we just saw a few hours ago!

[PMZOkocha]

Abeg solowe, no swear for us. Kanu does not deserve to put on the shirt again. If that sort of performance is what you call good, then I see why people like Chukwu feel that can do whatever they want...ruin the only joy we had coming out of our country.
I hate to see a bad performance by your standards.

PMZokocha,

There is a lot of joy coming out of Nigeria other than soccer ! You need to stop with that horrible view of Nigeria, no wonder you dont see anything good about our teams Performance.

Really? Give me an example of what other joy comes out of Nigerian. our globe-trotting prsident? Lack of gas when we are amongst the largest producers in the world? Or is it the fact that we still have power problems? bad roads maybe? If you want to admit it or not, football is about the only thing that brings smiles to the faces of the masses. The only uniting factor! Open you eyes and stop day dreaming!

[NEDI]

The second DM for Arsenal is Gilberto or Palour!

And ART is readily available in N America if your have Dish Net. Oya, did you bury your head in the sand only for the sun to bake your yansh? Where were u when all the threads about ART were gong on?

Kai Yujam, you don Naijarize finish

[JACKAL]

PMZOkocha,
Because we lost does not mean they didnt play well ! I see us destroying SA in the next game by 3 goals.

Played well? What part of that game was good?
Normally when teams play good and loose, it means they tested the keeper several times and he was up to the task. It means they had a lot of chances that were just a few inches wide or high.
Let me help you by giving you an example...Italia '90: Italy Vs Argentina...that was a game dominated by the Italians from start to finish but they lost. If you turned your heard from the tv and just listened, all you would hear is- Bergami, Maldini, Baresi, Donadoni, Vialli, Schilachi, Genini, Albertini e.t.c All game long, it was rear to hear the commentator mention an Argentine name. That was a team that played Well and lost.
Not the pathetic display we just saw a few hours ago![/quote]

PMZokocha,

We had at least 5 clear cut chances in the second half that put us one-on one with the keeper and our boys just missed the target with miskicks. Julius had 2 clear cut misses(one header), Utaka had 2 unbeleivable ones and Yak had one too. We created the chances in the 2nd half, just didnt hit the target.

Morocco is a very competetive team that even the best teams in the world struggle agaisnt so i am not sure where you get the idea we are going to just spank them anyhow.

[Molue Conductor]

from what i read nigeria was pressing

from what i heard the match was even and could have gone either way

from what i saw Naija deserved the loss

[JACKAL]

Abeg solowe, no swear for us. Kanu does not deserve to put on the shirt again. If that sort of performance is what you call good, then I see why people like Chukwu feel that can do whatever they want...ruin the only joy we had coming out of our country.
I hate to see a bad performance by your standards.

PMZokocha,

There is a lot of joy coming out of Nigeria other than soccer ! You need to stop with that horrible view of Nigeria, no wonder you dont see anything good about our teams Performance.

Really? Give me an example of what other joy comes out of Nigerian. our globe-trotting prsident? Lack of gas when we are amongst the largest producers in the world? Or is it the fact that we still have power problems? bad roads maybe? If you want to admit it or not, football is about the only thing that brings smiles to the faces of the masses. The only uniting factor! Open you eyes and stop day dreaming!

PMZOkocha,

How about the fact that we are not at war with people dieing in the thousands. How about he fact we were able to help our Neighbours stop a war that was killing them in the hundreds, how about the fact that we sent a satelite to space.

People are still going to school, looking forward to the next hoping that it gets better. Dont underestimate hope my friend. Be thankful we are not Iraq, Afganistan, Bangladesh, Burundi, Malawi, Congo, Sudan, the list is endless. I would take our problems over theirs anyday.

I am happy my family is alive and well in Nigeria, that brings a smile to my face. I will take that 7 days a week and 3 times on Sunday over a good roads, petrol lines etc etc. .

[PMZOkocha]

PMZOkocha,
Because we lost does not mean they didnt play well ! I see us destroying SA in the next game by 3 goals.

Played well? What part of that game was good?
Normally when teams play good and loose, it means they tested the keeper several times and he was up to the task. It means they had a lot of chances that were just a few inches wide or high.
Let me help you by giving you an example...Italia '90: Italy Vs Argentina...that was a game dominated by the Italians from start to finish but they lost. If you turned your heard from the tv and just listened, all you would hear is- Bergami, Maldini, Baresi, Donadoni, Vialli, Schilachi, Genini, Albertini e.t.c All game long, it was rear to hear the commentator mention an Argentine name. That was a team that played Well and lost.
Not the pathetic display we just saw a few hours ago!

PMZokocha,

We had at least 5 clear cut chances in the second half that put us one-on one with the keeper and our boys just missed the target with miskicks. Julius had 2 clear cut misses(one header), Utaka had 2 unbeleivable ones and Yak had one too. We created the chances in the 2nd half, just didnt hit the target.

Morocco is a very competetive team that even the best teams in the world struggle agaisnt so i am not sure where you get the idea we are going to just spank them anyhow.
[/quote]



I never expected us to walk all over them, but only 5 reasonable chances from a team of that caliber? Especially knowing we needed to win? Common now, I can see that happening if we were leading but not when we were at a stalemate. I have seen the eagles hungry before and they are a menace when they want to be. e.g Senegal '92 QF against Ivory Coast and even Atlanta '96 against Brazil...especially when we were behind.
Again I never expected us to walk all over them but I did not expect mediocrity either.

[PMZOkocha]

Solowe, you are right about the situation in Nigeria and the fact that we are not all those other countries. But that doesn't mean we should be happy with our troubles either. Am sorry but there are a lot of poor people in Nigeria when we have the capacity to be one of the richest country in the world...and you know this. Cause we are grateful doesn't mean people are happy with the state of life...and until we resolve our obvious problems, football is a major factor that brings happiness to people(at least thats my opinion). I mean people look forward to these games, some have sleepless nights the night before. Some close down private businesses and get together with people they would not normally get together with to watch games. Isay this because national stadium is the only place I have seen a a Christain and a Muslim get together and are praying and cheering for our eagles. Where else can you see that right now? I haven't seen it elsewhere but if you have, let me know.

[JACKAL]

[

I never expected us to walk all over them, but only 5 reasonable chances from a team of that caliber? Especially knowing we needed to win? Common now, I can see that happening if we were leading but not when we were at a stalemate. I have seen the eagles hungry before and they are a menace when they want to be. e.g Senegal '92 QF against Ivory Coast and even Atlanta '96 against Brazil...especially when we were behind.
Again I never expected us to walk all over them but I did not expect mediocrity either.

Team of what Caliber??? What are you talking about ? Perhaps you are overestimating us and underestimating them. Okocha with his current form is the only player right now on that team that could possible walk onto any team in the world and start. All the others are still tring to find their way.

Kanu's best days are behind him...yak, jag, utaka, yobo are not super stars yet. Right now, we are just a better than average team. We still have a lot to do to prove to ourselves talk less of the rest of the world. Half of our team are not first teamers and some play in low levels of the game.

Lets keep things in perspective.

[JACKAL]

Solowe, you are right about the situation in Nigeria and the fact that we are not all those other countries. But that doesn't mean we should be happy with our troubles either. Am sorry but there are a lot of poor people in Nigeria when we have the capacity to be one of the richest country in the world...and you know this. Cause we are grateful doesn't mean people are happy with the state of life...and until we resolve our obvious problems, football is a major factor that brings happiness to people(at least thats my opinion). I mean people look forward to these games, some have sleepless nights the night before. Some close down private businesses and get together with people they would not normally get together with to watch games. Isay this because national stadium is the only place I have seen a a Christain and a Muslim get together and are praying and cheering for our eagles. Where else can you see that right now? I haven't seen it elsewhere but if you have, let me know.

I totally understand what you are saying.......Life is tough in Nigeria but I am telling you, that there are many many places in the world that I would never trade for Nigeria. If 4-1-9 is the worst thing they can say about us, then its not so bad. We still have a lot of work to do to get our country to a place that can be considered great, but Nigeria has made a lot of strides that nigerians just dont appriciate.

There are African countries where mid level civil servants live in wooden Containers with their entire families. I have met a lot of Africans here in the US who have been to Nigeria and they tell me getting to Nigeria was their dream.... Its like coming to America for Nigerians. Most people from west African countries look at Nigerians like they are gods.

Nigerians have a very difficult time putting the progress of their country in perspective and thats why they keep denigrating every thing about Nigeria.

I love Nigeria come rain or shine. 8) 8)

[PMZOkocha]

[



Team of what Caliber??? What are you talking about ? Perhaps you are overestimating us and underestimating them. Okocha with his current form is the only player right now on that team that could possible walk onto any team in the world and start. All the others are still tring to find their way.

Kanu's best days are behind him...yak, jag, utaka, yobo are not super stars yet. Right now, we are just a better than average team. We still have a lot to do to prove to ourselves talk less of the rest of the world. Half of our team are not first teamers and some play in low levels of the game.

Lets keep things in perspective.

yes they are not first teamers except for JJ but their level of talent is never a question. Even Okocha made an impact with the national team when he was not a first teamer at his earlier clubs. These other guys can do the same. And when i said caliber, I meant the eagles, Nigeria...we have done so much and have so much talent that we should be able to field a team of unknowns and be able to compete at least in African. It's not like the moroccains came at us with a team thats as good as say the french or Brazilian nation team.
The bottomline is we can and should have put up a much stronger fight.

[PMZOkocha]

Solowe, you are right
I totally understand what you are saying.......Life is tough in Nigeria but I am telling you, that there are many many places in the world that I would never trade for Nigeria. If 4-1-9 is the worst thing they can say about us, then its not so bad. We still have a lot of work to do to get our country to a place that can be considered great, but Nigeria has made a lot of strides that nigerians just dont appriciate.

There are African countries where mid level civil servants live in wooden Containers with their entire families. I have met a lot of Africans here in the US who have been to Nigeria and they tell me getting to Nigeria was their dream.... Its like coming to America for Nigerians. Most people from west African countries look at Nigerians like they are gods.

Nigerians have a very difficult time putting the progress of their country in perspective and thats why they keep denigrating every thing about Nigeria.

I love Nigeria come rain or shine. 8) 8)

Obviously, if we didn't like our country we won't be arguing about it.
It used to be better though eventhough these other countries have people that want to come to nigeria. We used to send folks back home to their countries before but it's not what it used to be or what it should be. i watched a news coverage once on nigerians that were being deported from Angola and it sickened me.
There is definately hope that we would get to where we want to be