The BS about only Foreign-Based deserving call ups......

[Cellular]

Enugu, the issue with the SE is coaching, it matters not if the players are FB or LB.. We do not have a good system or style of play with the manager, the gap between the midfield and the strikers are too huge. This is what we need to address instead of scapegoating the players. However the likes of Uzoho and Bassey aren't good enough. Either they put Bassey as a LB, i do not fancy him in CB

Kpom!

[ahidjo2]

Amas Obasogie deserved an oppotunity to play. Benjamin Tanimu has also been doing well. these guys would have done far better than Ajayi and Bassy.

What did Ajayi and Bassey do wrong in the 180 minutes of the recent games? Why do you guys like picking on the wrong players?

Not sure why they keep on doing that and that invalidates the points they try to make with the obvious bias

[txj]

...and I have been making same argument since imo river.
Now that it has downed on many and complaints and doubts abound about these over hyped foreign based in light of losing valuable points to minnows of the continent will the ogas turn towards local stars?
I doubt that will happen because as next match approach everybody will forget this latest embarrassment, and shout for this hey-yous and that hey-yous from some european league.
And their CE promoters will post their mesmerizing utube video clips.

I can tell you for free right now that the term ‘overhyped’ can and will be equally applied to ALL Nigerian footballers, both ‘foreign’ and local.
All it takes is a string of bad results. Trust me.
But more importantly, trust Nigerians on that.

Let’s go back and find the insults rained on our CHAN teams, because it seems we all have selective memories.
Or maybe we have genuinely forgotten?

People have every right to think the primary problem is with the ‘foreign-based’ players.
But it’s one thing to spot the problem.
It’s a completely different skill to interpret it and make an accurate diagnosis.

This is “I have malaria because I have a fever” kind of thinking.
Izzokay.

Damunk. Thank you very much…

Same home based players that cannot qualify for CHAN all of a sudden are world beaters….


We should be asking ourselves why a team of chicken farmers are beating a professional team and trust me, it has nothing to do with the players….

I put this to you, if u swapped the coaches, Zimbabwe won’t win or even get a draw…. It will be 10-0 to SE.

That does not make their coach great, it just means that peseiro is super bad.

Btw…..Brazil has a far better local league than Nigeria yet their National team are mainly populated by foreign based players

Maybe they are also wrong or does this theory only apply if ur team is playing badly?

I get what Enugu II is trying to say but I still have no faith in our local players. These local dudes can’t even qualify for CHAN, they usually lose in the first round of the Champions League and have we forgotten the Mexico and Costa Rica friendlies.

Was it not the local players that failed to get a result against Angola that affected our qualification to the 2006 WC because the likes of Okocha missed their way to the airport?

Packerland,

You have to asked why they cannot qualify for CHAN or why they did so well in CHAN under Keshi, for instance. Those details matter.

The difference is preparation. They did well in CHAN because of the camping time provided under Keshi that led to team chemistry. That preparation time was abandoned under Pinnick. Under Pinnick, homebased teams were quickly picked and the lack of chemistry meant that they imploded regularly. It is similar to someone using their recent 0-5 loss to Mexico as a measure of HB performance. What exactly does one expect from a hastily picked HB team playing against Mexican NT that had been training together for eons?

The details above matter.

E11, those days are gone. National team coaches don’t have the luxury of long term camping anymore. Keshi exposed the local players to international football and I remember he took a wholly home based squad on a tour of South America where they played a full Peruvian national team. I also remember the local boys played against a full strength CIV team in the UAE amongst other international exposure they had under Keshi. That enabled him to whittle them down and pick those who could step up into the full national team for a major competition. He picked 6 home based players namely Egwueke, Oboabona, Mbah, Gabriel, Agbim and Uzoenyi for AFCON, out of which only 2 tasted any action I.e. Oboabona, who played all the matches and Mbah, who played in the knockout stages, in essence the AFCON was won by a team mostly made up of foreign based players

What is more, we had FEWER OPTIONS in Europe at that period, unlike now where we have many more options.
The debate about HB players is really about folks living in the past and reminiscing about 'when we were king'!!!
Its never been based on reality.

Contrary to what they say, Keshi is not the only SE who successfully used HB players. Westerhof did, as did Jo and Troussier. But even under Keshi the number continuously declined and by the time of the WC was down to 5.

What is more, and I stand to be corrected, none of the HB players from his project ever went on to have successful careers...

[ahidjo2]

The Zimbabwe team that started against Nigeria today. Take a look at the team list and note that the team had a mixture of players and there are no exclusions of any capable lo9cal talents. On there bench include players from Malaga City (SPAIN), Reading (ENG), ExeterCity (ENG). The point is that your club may earn you a call up but you compete with local guys whose play earn them a call up. Let the best man win. No BS about only foreign-based players being good enough to earn a call up. See Stephen Keshi and winning the AFCON circa 2013.

GK Donovan Bernard (Chicken Inn, ZIMB)

D Andrew Mbeba (Highlanders, ZIMB)
D Gerald Takwara (Uhod, S/ARABIA)
D Teenage Hadebe (Houston Dynamo, USA)
D Jordan Zemura (Udinese, ITAL)

MF Marshall Munetsi (Stade de Reims, FRA)
MF Marvelous Nakamba (Luton Town, ENG)
MF Andy Rinomhota (Cardiff City, WALES)

F Prince Dube (Azam, TANZANIA)
F Tino Kadewere (Olympique Lyonnais, FRA)
F Walter Musona (Platinum, ZIMB)

We seem to forget that in a game of football, which is a team game, several factors, not one, not two, influence the outcome of a game or games. Just because a team plays with all home-based players and have more wins than a team made up of all foreign based teams does not necessarily mean that the success is solely attributable to where the players play. That will be a simplistic argument. Just because it works to an extent for other countries does not mean it will work for Nigeria. There are several other factors that determine the success. For far too long, the Nigerian local players have been doing badly at the continental level and the reason is clear. The good ones and the semi good ones leave at the slightest of opportunities due to the disparities in world economy (Compare the 70s and 80s when Nigerian economy was good). So who do you now invite from the local league? Those not good enough or those who a marginally good, undeveloped and waiting for the next opportunity to jappa? The truth is that the leagues of the world are graded: English, French, German, Italian... What is the position of the Nigerian league even in Africa? It is common knowledge that the Nigerian league, in my estimation does not even rank among the top 5 in Africa today. So why should we be looking in that direction? What we need is a scientific way of assessing the qualities of players for every department of the game. That can not be left overzealous and emotional fans to do. It should be the job of the NFF scouting department and the coach. We seem to make too much noise as usual without getting into the nitty gritty of what needs to be done to get the right players. We always complain and want the coach sacked or have homebased players injected when things don't go well. We never sit down and do a thorough and comprehensive scientific analysis of the problems and solutions with less emotions. Well, the problem will continue as long as we continue in our knee-jerk reactions.

[Enugu II]

The Zimbabwe team that started against Nigeria today. Take a look at the team list and note that the team had a mixture of players and there are no exclusions of any capable lo9cal talents. On there bench include players from Malaga City (SPAIN), Reading (ENG), ExeterCity (ENG). The point is that your club may earn you a call up but you compete with local guys whose play earn them a call up. Let the best man win. No BS about only foreign-based players being good enough to earn a call up. See Stephen Keshi and winning the AFCON circa 2013.

GK Donovan Bernard (Chicken Inn, ZIMB)

D Andrew Mbeba (Highlanders, ZIMB)
D Gerald Takwara (Uhod, S/ARABIA)
D Teenage Hadebe (Houston Dynamo, USA)
D Jordan Zemura (Udinese, ITAL)

MF Marshall Munetsi (Stade de Reims, FRA)
MF Marvelous Nakamba (Luton Town, ENG)
MF Andy Rinomhota (Cardiff City, WALES)

F Prince Dube (Azam, TANZANIA)
F Tino Kadewere (Olympique Lyonnais, FRA)
F Walter Musona (Platinum, ZIMB)

We seem to forget that in a game of football, which is a team game, several factors, not one, not two, influence the outcome of a game or games. Just because a team plays with all home-based players and have more wins than a team made up of all foreign based teams does not necessarily mean that the success is solely attributable to where the players play. That will be a simplistic argument. Just because it works to an extent for other countries does not mean it will work for Nigeria. There are several other factors that determine the success. For far too long, the Nigerian local players have been doing badly at the continental level and the reason is clear. The good ones and the semi good ones leave at the slightest of opportunities due to the disparities in world economy (Compare the 70s and 80s when Nigerian economy was good). So who do you now invite from the local league? Those not good enough or those who a marginally good, undeveloped and waiting for the next opportunity to jappa? The truth is that the leagues of the world are graded: English, French, German, Italian... What is the position of the Nigerian league even in Africa? It is common knowledge that the Nigerian league, in my estimation does not even rank among the top 5 in Africa today. So why should we be looking in that direction? What we need is a scientific way of assessing the qualities of players for every department of the game. That can not be left overzealous and emotional fans to do. It should be the job of the NFF scouting department and the coach. We seem to make too much noise as usual without getting into the nitty gritty of what needs to be done to get the right players. We always complain and want the coach sacked or have homebased players injected when things don't go well. We never sit down and do a thorough and comprehensive scientific analysis of the problems and solutions with less emotions. Well, the problem will continue as long as we continue in our knee-jerk reactions.

ahidjo2,

There is no doubt that several factors are involved and that is exactly why simply claiming that players are from Top % leagues mean diddly.... Not so? Remember, there are multiple factors. What really is important is having the best players drawn from wherever and relying on performance when they are in camp. Take for instance, while one cannot rely on inviting just players from the local Nigerian league for obvious reasons but we must also understand that the same Nigerian league ranks above the Lesotho leagues and that there is a reason why Nigeria has often had two representatives in continental club football and Lesotho rarely ever has that. Why, because that poor Nigerian league clubs regularly outperform their Lesotho counterparts. But that is just an aside but an important note. What is simply important is to note that there are multiple reasons that account for a team's performance.

[Enugu II]

...and I have been making same argument since imo river.
Now that it has downed on many and complaints and doubts abound about these over hyped foreign based in light of losing valuable points to minnows of the continent will the ogas turn towards local stars?
I doubt that will happen because as next match approach everybody will forget this latest embarrassment, and shout for this hey-yous and that hey-yous from some european league.
And their CE promoters will post their mesmerizing utube video clips.

I can tell you for free right now that the term ‘overhyped’ can and will be equally applied to ALL Nigerian footballers, both ‘foreign’ and local.
All it takes is a string of bad results. Trust me.
But more importantly, trust Nigerians on that.

Let’s go back and find the insults rained on our CHAN teams, because it seems we all have selective memories.
Or maybe we have genuinely forgotten?

People have every right to think the primary problem is with the ‘foreign-based’ players.
But it’s one thing to spot the problem.
It’s a completely different skill to interpret it and make an accurate diagnosis.

This is “I have malaria because I have a fever” kind of thinking.
Izzokay.

Damunk. Thank you very much…

Same home based players that cannot qualify for CHAN all of a sudden are world beaters….


We should be asking ourselves why a team of chicken farmers are beating a professional team and trust me, it has nothing to do with the players….

I put this to you, if u swapped the coaches, Zimbabwe won’t win or even get a draw…. It will be 10-0 to SE.

That does not make their coach great, it just means that peseiro is super bad.

Btw…..Brazil has a far better local league than Nigeria yet their National team are mainly populated by foreign based players

Maybe they are also wrong or does this theory only apply if ur team is playing badly?

I get what Enugu II is trying to say but I still have no faith in our local players. These local dudes can’t even qualify for CHAN, they usually lose in the first round of the Champions League and have we forgotten the Mexico and Costa Rica friendlies.

Was it not the local players that failed to get a result against Angola that affected our qualification to the 2006 WC because the likes of Okocha missed their way to the airport?

Packerland,

You have to asked why they cannot qualify for CHAN or why they did so well in CHAN under Keshi, for instance. Those details matter.

The difference is preparation. They did well in CHAN because of the camping time provided under Keshi that led to team chemistry. That preparation time was abandoned under Pinnick. Under Pinnick, homebased teams were quickly picked and the lack of chemistry meant that they imploded regularly. It is similar to someone using their recent 0-5 loss to Mexico as a measure of HB performance. What exactly does one expect from a hastily picked HB team playing against Mexican NT that had been training together for eons?

The details above matter.

E11, those days are gone. National team coaches don’t have the luxury of long term camping anymore. Keshi exposed the local players to international football and I remember he took a wholly home based squad on a tour of South America where they played a full Peruvian national team. I also remember the local boys played against a full strength CIV team in the UAE amongst other international exposure they had under Keshi. That enabled him to whittle them down and pick those who could step up into the full national team for a major competition. He picked 6 home based players namely Egwueke, Oboabona, Mbah, Gabriel, Agbim and Uzoenyi for AFCON, out of which only 2 tasted any action I.e. Oboabona, who played all the matches and Mbah, who played in the knockout stages, in essence the AFCON was won by a team mostly made up of foreign based players

What is more, we had FEWER OPTIONS in Europe at that period, unlike now where we have many more options.
The debate about HB players is really about folks living in the past and reminiscing about 'when we were king'!!!
Its never been based on reality.

Contrary to what they say, Keshi is not the only SE who successfully used HB players. Westerhof did, as did Jo and Troussier. But even under Keshi the number continuously declined and by the time of the WC was down to 5.

What is more, and I stand to be corrected, none of the HB players from his project ever went on to have successful careers...

Txj,

Actually those days are not gone. I strongly disagree with that. Nothing has changed much in the international match calendar when you compare Keshi's days and today. Can you please elaborate on the changes?

The difference is simple and it is based on NFF's decision under Pinnick. That can change under this NFF administration or any other. What Keshi did, and still can be done as we speak is invite local players to the local NT camp. These players are released to play league games on weekends as Keshi did under his watch and still can be done today. By the end of the day, a HB national team can be built with a core given that a few of them will from time to time move overseas.

[Dammy]

Amas Obasogie deserved an oppotunity to play. Benjamin Tanimu has also been doing well. these guys would have done far better than Ajayi and Bassy.

What did Ajayi and Bassey do wrong in the 180 minutes of the recent games? Why do you guys like picking on the wrong players?

Bro, I thought you have been watching football for a long time? Do the duo of Ajayi and Bassey fill you with confidence? The fact that they did not do much wrong against minnows is not something to take comfort from but I fear for our defence when they meet a competent team. Bassey is all brawn and has no positional sense and is often drawn out of position leaving gaps in the defence. There’s a reason why Ajayi sits on the bench at championship level with WBA. He saved a point for us against Lesotho but he’s so easy to get past and that leads him to commit fouls like pulling his opponents and picking up cards in the process. Imagine if he’s pulling the shirts of players from Zimbabwe and Lesotho, what will he do against players from Morocco, Senegal or CIV? Unlike Bassey, he cannot pass the ball out of defence effectively, it’s mostly short or overhit. The combination is a disaster waiting to happen and the fact that we have not kept a clean sheet against minnows with the duo says it all

[maceo4]

Amas Obasogie deserved an oppotunity to play. Benjamin Tanimu has also been doing well. these guys would have done far better than Ajayi and Bassy.

What did Ajayi and Bassey do wrong in the 180 minutes of the recent games? Why do you guys like picking on the wrong players?

Bro, I thought you have been watching football for a long time? Do the duo of Ajayi and Bassey fill you with confidence? The fact that they did not do much wrong against minnows is not something to take comfort from but I fear for our defence when they meet a competent team. Bassey is all brawn and has no positional sense and is often drawn out of position leaving gaps in the defence. There’s a reason why Ajayi sits on the bench at championship level with WBA. He saved a point for us against Lesotho but he’s so easy to get past and that leads him to commit fouls like pulling his opponents and picking up cards in the process. Imagine if he’s pulling the shirts of players from Zimbabwe and Lesotho, what will he do against players from Morocco, Senegal or CIV? Unlike Bassey, he cannot pass the ball out of defence effectively, it’s mostly short or overhit. The combination is a disaster waiting to happen and the fact that we have not kept a clean sheet against minnows with the duo says it all

Bassey also seems to switch off a lot and is kinda slow plus is not the best passer out of the back. I’m not comfortable with him there against fast opponents…

[Enyi]

...and I have been making same argument since imo river.
Now that it has downed on many and complaints and doubts abound about these over hyped foreign based in light of losing valuable points to minnows of the continent will the ogas turn towards local stars?
I doubt that will happen because as next match approach everybody will forget this latest embarrassment, and shout for this hey-yous and that hey-yous from some european league.
And their CE promoters will post their mesmerizing utube video clips.

I can tell you for free right now that the term ‘overhyped’ can and will be equally applied to ALL Nigerian footballers, both ‘foreign’ and local.
All it takes is a string of bad results. Trust me.
But more importantly, trust Nigerians on that.

Let’s go back and find the insults rained on our CHAN teams, because it seems we all have selective memories.
Or maybe we have genuinely forgotten?

People have every right to think the primary problem is with the ‘foreign-based’ players.
But it’s one thing to spot the problem.
It’s a completely different skill to interpret it and make an accurate diagnosis.

This is “I have malaria because I have a fever” kind of thinking.
Izzokay.

...a team or workers in any establishment prospers when they are treated well.
You and I, and all Nigerians know the FA never treat footballers well, foreign and local.
The local based are even worse treated hence poor performances at CHAN.
If the FA will provide at least half of the support they give to them foreign based, I believe the CHAN players will produce.
We Nigerians have that mentality culture of "abroad is better".
Note the local goalie that was invited for this 2 matches, how he was stranded at the entrance gate as he reported for practice. Will that ever happen to say a Euro based player?
We are our own killers.
The day will come when all this will be corrected, but gonna be a long long time because everyone of these guys when they ascend to FA chair they wan chop.
Look at the last one, the oblong headed one paying millions to host a musician. Makes no sense.
The English we emulate, you will never see them behave as such, it will be a scandal and investigated.
Meanwhile, see how all power house teams performed during this international break, dispatching minnows easily.
All matches played with seriousness and professionalism the players are expected of.
Ours from the kickoff whistle did not inspire, the only time they panic and became serious was when they conceded in both matches.

If the FB are treated half as well as they do in the teams….they wil prosper…

No homebased defender is better than Bassey - sorry

No homebased midfielder is better than Iwobi

No homebased striker is better than Osimhen

I can guarantee you that if I manage Osimhen against against the Homebased players managed by Pep….I WILL LOSE….not becos Osimgen has no discipline….its because I am clueless compared to Pep.

[txj]

I can tell you for free right now that the term ‘overhyped’ can and will be equally applied to ALL Nigerian footballers, both ‘foreign’ and local.
All it takes is a string of bad results. Trust me.
But more importantly, trust Nigerians on that.

Let’s go back and find the insults rained on our CHAN teams, because it seems we all have selective memories.
Or maybe we have genuinely forgotten?

People have every right to think the primary problem is with the ‘foreign-based’ players.
But it’s one thing to spot the problem.
It’s a completely different skill to interpret it and make an accurate diagnosis.

This is “I have malaria because I have a fever” kind of thinking.
Izzokay.

Damunk. Thank you very much…

Same home based players that cannot qualify for CHAN all of a sudden are world beaters….


We should be asking ourselves why a team of chicken farmers are beating a professional team and trust me, it has nothing to do with the players….

I put this to you, if u swapped the coaches, Zimbabwe won’t win or even get a draw…. It will be 10-0 to SE.

That does not make their coach great, it just means that peseiro is super bad.

Btw…..Brazil has a far better local league than Nigeria yet their National team are mainly populated by foreign based players

Maybe they are also wrong or does this theory only apply if ur team is playing badly?

I get what Enugu II is trying to say but I still have no faith in our local players. These local dudes can’t even qualify for CHAN, they usually lose in the first round of the Champions League and have we forgotten the Mexico and Costa Rica friendlies.

Was it not the local players that failed to get a result against Angola that affected our qualification to the 2006 WC because the likes of Okocha missed their way to the airport?

Packerland,

You have to asked why they cannot qualify for CHAN or why they did so well in CHAN under Keshi, for instance. Those details matter.

The difference is preparation. They did well in CHAN because of the camping time provided under Keshi that led to team chemistry. That preparation time was abandoned under Pinnick. Under Pinnick, homebased teams were quickly picked and the lack of chemistry meant that they imploded regularly. It is similar to someone using their recent 0-5 loss to Mexico as a measure of HB performance. What exactly does one expect from a hastily picked HB team playing against Mexican NT that had been training together for eons?

The details above matter.

E11, those days are gone. National team coaches don’t have the luxury of long term camping anymore. Keshi exposed the local players to international football and I remember he took a wholly home based squad on a tour of South America where they played a full Peruvian national team. I also remember the local boys played against a full strength CIV team in the UAE amongst other international exposure they had under Keshi. That enabled him to whittle them down and pick those who could step up into the full national team for a major competition. He picked 6 home based players namely Egwueke, Oboabona, Mbah, Gabriel, Agbim and Uzoenyi for AFCON, out of which only 2 tasted any action I.e. Oboabona, who played all the matches and Mbah, who played in the knockout stages, in essence the AFCON was won by a team mostly made up of foreign based players

What is more, we had FEWER OPTIONS in Europe at that period, unlike now where we have many more options.
The debate about HB players is really about folks living in the past and reminiscing about 'when we were king'!!!
Its never been based on reality.

Contrary to what they say, Keshi is not the only SE who successfully used HB players. Westerhof did, as did Jo and Troussier. But even under Keshi the number continuously declined and by the time of the WC was down to 5.

What is more, and I stand to be corrected, none of the HB players from his project ever went on to have successful careers...

Txj,

Actually those days are not gone. I strongly disagree with that. Nothing has changed much in the international match calendar when you compare Keshi's days and today. Can you please elaborate on the changes?

The difference is simple and it is based on NFF's decision under Pinnick. That can change under this NFF administration or any other. What Keshi did, and still can be done as we speak is invite local players to the local NT camp. These players are released to play league games on weekends as Keshi did under his watch and still can be done today. By the end of the day, a HB national team can be built with a core given that a few of them will from time to time move overseas.

Football changes everyday bro! And much of this is dwelling in the past of 2103!

We have many more players available to NT selectors than we had in 2013, and for good reason. The League is worse than it was in 2013 and many more players are leaving.

Don't get me wrong, I am in support of CHAN and we need to learn the lessons from what Keshi did, which IMO is embodying it in a proper NT football program and having the SE Manager be responsible for CHAN as part of his remit.

But THAT IS DIFFERENT from your issue of quotas for HB players just because they are HB.
Our best players are abroad. But scouting by NT selectors must be comprehensive and for the most part, IT IS COMPREHENSIVE!

There are no JJ Okochas hiding under any bridge. Its a myth and its a 1970s mindset...

Our problem is molding the qualities of the players we have into a high level team. And providing a high level management support to drive performance.

That is where we are lacking...

[Dammy]

I can tell you for free right now that the term ‘overhyped’ can and will be equally applied to ALL Nigerian footballers, both ‘foreign’ and local.
All it takes is a string of bad results. Trust me.
But more importantly, trust Nigerians on that.

Let’s go back and find the insults rained on our CHAN teams, because it seems we all have selective memories.
Or maybe we have genuinely forgotten?

People have every right to think the primary problem is with the ‘foreign-based’ players.
But it’s one thing to spot the problem.
It’s a completely different skill to interpret it and make an accurate diagnosis.

This is “I have malaria because I have a fever” kind of thinking.
Izzokay.

Damunk. Thank you very much…

Same home based players that cannot qualify for CHAN all of a sudden are world beaters….


We should be asking ourselves why a team of chicken farmers are beating a professional team and trust me, it has nothing to do with the players….

I put this to you, if u swapped the coaches, Zimbabwe won’t win or even get a draw…. It will be 10-0 to SE.

That does not make their coach great, it just means that peseiro is super bad.

Btw…..Brazil has a far better local league than Nigeria yet their National team are mainly populated by foreign based players

Maybe they are also wrong or does this theory only apply if ur team is playing badly?

I get what Enugu II is trying to say but I still have no faith in our local players. These local dudes can’t even qualify for CHAN, they usually lose in the first round of the Champions League and have we forgotten the Mexico and Costa Rica friendlies.

Was it not the local players that failed to get a result against Angola that affected our qualification to the 2006 WC because the likes of Okocha missed their way to the airport?

Packerland,

You have to asked why they cannot qualify for CHAN or why they did so well in CHAN under Keshi, for instance. Those details matter.

The difference is preparation. They did well in CHAN because of the camping time provided under Keshi that led to team chemistry. That preparation time was abandoned under Pinnick. Under Pinnick, homebased teams were quickly picked and the lack of chemistry meant that they imploded regularly. It is similar to someone using their recent 0-5 loss to Mexico as a measure of HB performance. What exactly does one expect from a hastily picked HB team playing against Mexican NT that had been training together for eons?

The details above matter.

E11, those days are gone. National team coaches don’t have the luxury of long term camping anymore. Keshi exposed the local players to international football and I remember he took a wholly home based squad on a tour of South America where they played a full Peruvian national team. I also remember the local boys played against a full strength CIV team in the UAE amongst other international exposure they had under Keshi. That enabled him to whittle them down and pick those who could step up into the full national team for a major competition. He picked 6 home based players namely Egwueke, Oboabona, Mbah, Gabriel, Agbim and Uzoenyi for AFCON, out of which only 2 tasted any action I.e. Oboabona, who played all the matches and Mbah, who played in the knockout stages, in essence the AFCON was won by a team mostly made up of foreign based players

What is more, we had FEWER OPTIONS in Europe at that period, unlike now where we have many more options.
The debate about HB players is really about folks living in the past and reminiscing about 'when we were king'!!!
Its never been based on reality.

Contrary to what they say, Keshi is not the only SE who successfully used HB players. Westerhof did, as did Jo and Troussier. But even under Keshi the number continuously declined and by the time of the WC was down to 5.

What is more, and I stand to be corrected, none of the HB players from his project ever went on to have successful careers...

Txj,

Actually those days are not gone. I strongly disagree with that. Nothing has changed much in the international match calendar when you compare Keshi's days and today. Can you please elaborate on the changes?

The difference is simple and it is based on NFF's decision under Pinnick. That can change under this NFF administration or any other. What Keshi did, and still can be done as we speak is invite local players to the local NT camp. These players are released to play league games on weekends as Keshi did under his watch and still can be done today. By the end of the day, a HB national team can be built with a core given that a few of them will from time to time move overseas.

I don’t know how much the Keshi exercise cost the NFF, but at the end of the day, it only produced ONE player of relative international quality, Goedfrey Oboabona, who remained in the SE after Keshi had left and was good enough to confine the team’s captain, Joseph Yobo, to the bench. Would you count the likes of Gabriel, Egwueke, Uzoenyi, Agbim as international class players? The likes of Kunle Odunlami, like the others, went to the WC just to make up the numbers but never played a full international for Nigeria. We can all recall how Gabriel Reuben stunk up the joint when he replaced the injured Onazi in the RO 16 match against France in the World Cup.
The ROI on the Keshi exercise was poor and frankly it’s like looking under the bridge for talent I.e. looking for a needle in the haystack!
The solution in my opinion is for the coach of the SE to also be in charge of the CHAN team, that way he will have first hand knowledge of the HB players and then decide if anyone of them can be upgraded into the SE

[Enugu II]

Damunk. Thank you very much…

Same home based players that cannot qualify for CHAN all of a sudden are world beaters….


We should be asking ourselves why a team of chicken farmers are beating a professional team and trust me, it has nothing to do with the players….

I put this to you, if u swapped the coaches, Zimbabwe won’t win or even get a draw…. It will be 10-0 to SE.

That does not make their coach great, it just means that peseiro is super bad.

Btw…..Brazil has a far better local league than Nigeria yet their National team are mainly populated by foreign based players

Maybe they are also wrong or does this theory only apply if ur team is playing badly?

I get what Enugu II is trying to say but I still have no faith in our local players. These local dudes can’t even qualify for CHAN, they usually lose in the first round of the Champions League and have we forgotten the Mexico and Costa Rica friendlies.

Was it not the local players that failed to get a result against Angola that affected our qualification to the 2006 WC because the likes of Okocha missed their way to the airport?

Packerland,

You have to asked why they cannot qualify for CHAN or why they did so well in CHAN under Keshi, for instance. Those details matter.

The difference is preparation. They did well in CHAN because of the camping time provided under Keshi that led to team chemistry. That preparation time was abandoned under Pinnick. Under Pinnick, homebased teams were quickly picked and the lack of chemistry meant that they imploded regularly. It is similar to someone using their recent 0-5 loss to Mexico as a measure of HB performance. What exactly does one expect from a hastily picked HB team playing against Mexican NT that had been training together for eons?

The details above matter.

E11, those days are gone. National team coaches don’t have the luxury of long term camping anymore. Keshi exposed the local players to international football and I remember he took a wholly home based squad on a tour of South America where they played a full Peruvian national team. I also remember the local boys played against a full strength CIV team in the UAE amongst other international exposure they had under Keshi. That enabled him to whittle them down and pick those who could step up into the full national team for a major competition. He picked 6 home based players namely Egwueke, Oboabona, Mbah, Gabriel, Agbim and Uzoenyi for AFCON, out of which only 2 tasted any action I.e. Oboabona, who played all the matches and Mbah, who played in the knockout stages, in essence the AFCON was won by a team mostly made up of foreign based players

What is more, we had FEWER OPTIONS in Europe at that period, unlike now where we have many more options.
The debate about HB players is really about folks living in the past and reminiscing about 'when we were king'!!!
Its never been based on reality.

Contrary to what they say, Keshi is not the only SE who successfully used HB players. Westerhof did, as did Jo and Troussier. But even under Keshi the number continuously declined and by the time of the WC was down to 5.

What is more, and I stand to be corrected, none of the HB players from his project ever went on to have successful careers...

Txj,

Actually those days are not gone. I strongly disagree with that. Nothing has changed much in the international match calendar when you compare Keshi's days and today. Can you please elaborate on the changes?

The difference is simple and it is based on NFF's decision under Pinnick. That can change under this NFF administration or any other. What Keshi did, and still can be done as we speak is invite local players to the local NT camp. These players are released to play league games on weekends as Keshi did under his watch and still can be done today. By the end of the day, a HB national team can be built with a core given that a few of them will from time to time move overseas.

I don’t know how much the Keshi exercise cost the NFF, but at the end of the day, it only produced ONE player of relative international quality, Goedfrey Oboabona, who remained in the SE after Keshi had left and was good enough to confine the team’s captain, Joseph Yobo, to the bench. Would you count the likes of Gabriel, Egwueke, Uzoenyi, Agbim as international class players? The likes of Kunle Odunlami, like the others, went to the WC just to make up the numbers but never played a full international for Nigeria. We can all recall how Gabriel Reuben stunk up the joint when he replaced the injured Onazi in the RO 16 match against France in the World Cup.
The ROI on the Keshi exercise was poor and frankly it’s like looking under the bridge for talent I.e. looking for a needle in the haystack!
The solution in my opinion is for the coach of the SE to also be in charge of the CHAN team, that way he will have first hand knowledge of the HB players and then decide if anyone of them can be upgraded into the SE

Dammy,

Actually, I disagree. It was not just Oboabona. One of the heroes of that AFCON win was Sunday Mba who had not been expected to start but ended being one of the team's heroes after he confined Daniel Igiebor to the bench. Then there was also Juwon Oshaniwa who made an appearance at the AFCON or the WC. On that AFCON-winning squad was a total of 7 local players! (Egwuekwe, Gabriel, Oboabona, Uzoenyi, Mba, Oshaniwa, Agbim:: now add Musa and Fegor who were discovered locally before they ended up going overseas prior to that AFCON!). ....That is slightly above 30%! A ridiculously high number! Take Oboabona and Mba for instance, 2 out of 11 starting players represent close to 20% return on the starting team. BTW, do not take my word for it. You can find the AFCON-winning squad list here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2013_Afri ... ons_squads .... In my view, that is more than I would expect from a country like Nigeria that produces quite a lot of good players plying their trade outside their homeland. In my mind, I often figure no more than 4-5 locally-based players in a team of 23 for a Nigerian national team will be an excellent return given the circumstance. This will be 17-20% of a squad of 23. Not the 30+% that Keshi achieved.

[packerland]

...and I have been making same argument since imo river.
Now that it has downed on many and complaints and doubts abound about these over hyped foreign based in light of losing valuable points to minnows of the continent will the ogas turn towards local stars?
I doubt that will happen because as next match approach everybody will forget this latest embarrassment, and shout for this hey-yous and that hey-yous from some european league.
And their CE promoters will post their mesmerizing utube video clips.

I can tell you for free right now that the term ‘overhyped’ can and will be equally applied to ALL Nigerian footballers, both ‘foreign’ and local.
All it takes is a string of bad results. Trust me.
But more importantly, trust Nigerians on that.

Let’s go back and find the insults rained on our CHAN teams, because it seems we all have selective memories.
Or maybe we have genuinely forgotten?

People have every right to think the primary problem is with the ‘foreign-based’ players.
But it’s one thing to spot the problem.
It’s a completely different skill to interpret it and make an accurate diagnosis.

This is “I have malaria because I have a fever” kind of thinking.
Izzokay.

Damunk. Thank you very much…

Same home based players that cannot qualify for CHAN all of a sudden are world beaters….


We should be asking ourselves why a team of chicken farmers are beating a professional team and trust me, it has nothing to do with the players….

I put this to you, if u swapped the coaches, Zimbabwe won’t win or even get a draw…. It will be 10-0 to SE.

That does not make their coach great, it just means that peseiro is super bad.

Btw…..Brazil has a far better local league than Nigeria yet their National team are mainly populated by foreign based players

Maybe they are also wrong or does this theory only apply if ur team is playing badly?

I get what Enugu II is trying to say but I still have no faith in our local players. These local dudes can’t even qualify for CHAN, they usually lose in the first round of the Champions League and have we forgotten the Mexico and Costa Rica friendlies.

Was it not the local players that failed to get a result against Angola that affected our qualification to the 2006 WC because the likes of Okocha missed their way to the airport?

Packerland,

You have to asked why they cannot qualify for CHAN or why they did so well in CHAN under Keshi, for instance. Those details matter.

The difference is preparation. They did well in CHAN because of the camping time provided under Keshi that led to team chemistry. That preparation time was abandoned under Pinnick. Under Pinnick, homebased teams were quickly picked and the lack of chemistry meant that they imploded regularly. It is similar to someone using their recent 0-5 loss to Mexico as a measure of HB performance. What exactly does one expect from a hastily picked HB team playing against Mexican NT that had been training together for eons?

The details above matter.

E11, those days are gone. National team coaches don’t have the luxury of long term camping anymore. Keshi exposed the local players to international football and I remember he took a wholly home based squad on a tour of South America where they played a full Peruvian national team. I also remember the local boys played against a full strength CIV team in the UAE amongst other international exposure they had under Keshi. That enabled him to whittle them down and pick those who could step up into the full national team for a major competition. He picked 6 home based players namely Egwueke, Oboabona, Mbah, Gabriel, Agbim and Uzoenyi for AFCON, out of which only 2 tasted any action I.e. Oboabona, who played all the matches and Mbah, who played in the knockout stages, in essence the AFCON was won by a team mostly made up of foreign based players

Oboabona didn’t even see action at the WC the following year. He got benched by old man Yobo. Egwueke and Agbim were just squad players that didn’t get any game time. Mbah didn’t even make the WC squad. Not taking anything away from Keshi but we got lucky to win that AFCON. Cameroon and Zambia got lucky to win theirs too within those periods.

[Dammy]

I get what Enugu II is trying to say but I still have no faith in our local players. These local dudes can’t even qualify for CHAN, they usually lose in the first round of the Champions League and have we forgotten the Mexico and Costa Rica friendlies.

Was it not the local players that failed to get a result against Angola that affected our qualification to the 2006 WC because the likes of Okocha missed their way to the airport?

Packerland,

You have to asked why they cannot qualify for CHAN or why they did so well in CHAN under Keshi, for instance. Those details matter.

The difference is preparation. They did well in CHAN because of the camping time provided under Keshi that led to team chemistry. That preparation time was abandoned under Pinnick. Under Pinnick, homebased teams were quickly picked and the lack of chemistry meant that they imploded regularly. It is similar to someone using their recent 0-5 loss to Mexico as a measure of HB performance. What exactly does one expect from a hastily picked HB team playing against Mexican NT that had been training together for eons?

The details above matter.

E11, those days are gone. National team coaches don’t have the luxury of long term camping anymore. Keshi exposed the local players to international football and I remember he took a wholly home based squad on a tour of South America where they played a full Peruvian national team. I also remember the local boys played against a full strength CIV team in the UAE amongst other international exposure they had under Keshi. That enabled him to whittle them down and pick those who could step up into the full national team for a major competition. He picked 6 home based players namely Egwueke, Oboabona, Mbah, Gabriel, Agbim and Uzoenyi for AFCON, out of which only 2 tasted any action I.e. Oboabona, who played all the matches and Mbah, who played in the knockout stages, in essence the AFCON was won by a team mostly made up of foreign based players

What is more, we had FEWER OPTIONS in Europe at that period, unlike now where we have many more options.
The debate about HB players is really about folks living in the past and reminiscing about 'when we were king'!!!
Its never been based on reality.

Contrary to what they say, Keshi is not the only SE who successfully used HB players. Westerhof did, as did Jo and Troussier. But even under Keshi the number continuously declined and by the time of the WC was down to 5.

What is more, and I stand to be corrected, none of the HB players from his project ever went on to have successful careers...

Txj,

Actually those days are not gone. I strongly disagree with that. Nothing has changed much in the international match calendar when you compare Keshi's days and today. Can you please elaborate on the changes?

The difference is simple and it is based on NFF's decision under Pinnick. That can change under this NFF administration or any other. What Keshi did, and still can be done as we speak is invite local players to the local NT camp. These players are released to play league games on weekends as Keshi did under his watch and still can be done today. By the end of the day, a HB national team can be built with a core given that a few of them will from time to time move overseas.

I don’t know how much the Keshi exercise cost the NFF, but at the end of the day, it only produced ONE player of relative international quality, Goedfrey Oboabona, who remained in the SE after Keshi had left and was good enough to confine the team’s captain, Joseph Yobo, to the bench. Would you count the likes of Gabriel, Egwueke, Uzoenyi, Agbim as international class players? The likes of Kunle Odunlami, like the others, went to the WC just to make up the numbers but never played a full international for Nigeria. We can all recall how Gabriel Reuben stunk up the joint when he replaced the injured Onazi in the RO 16 match against France in the World Cup.
The ROI on the Keshi exercise was poor and frankly it’s like looking under the bridge for talent I.e. looking for a needle in the haystack!
The solution in my opinion is for the coach of the SE to also be in charge of the CHAN team, that way he will have first hand knowledge of the HB players and then decide if anyone of them can be upgraded into the SE

Dammy,

Actually, I disagree. It was not just Oboabona. One of the heroes of that AFCON win was Sunday Mba who had not been expected to start but ended being one of the team's heroes after he confined Daniel Igiebor to the bench. Then there was also Juwon Oshaniwa who made an appearance at the AFCON or the WC. On that AFCON-winning squad was a total of 7 local players! (Egwuekwe, Gabriel, Oboabona, Uzoenyi, Mba, Oshaniwa, Agbim:: now add Musa and Fegor who were discovered locally before they ended up going overseas prior to that AFCON!). ....That is slightly above 30%! A ridiculously high number! Take Oboabona and Mba for instance, 2 out of 11 starting players represent close to 20% return on the starting team. BTW, do not take my word for it. You can find the AFCON-winning squad list here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2013_Afri ... ons_squads .... In my view, that is more than I would expect from a country like Nigeria that produces quite a lot of good players plying their trade outside their homeland. In my mind, I often figure no more than 4-5 locally-based players in a team of 23 for a Nigerian national team will be an excellent return given the circumstance. This will be 17-20% of a squad of 23. Not the 30+% that Keshi achieved.

You have hit the hammer on the head! You have just confirmed that you are asking for quotas in the squad ( 5out of 23) in 2023! This is so archaic!
Every squad place is important and having players in the squad for cosmetic reasons will come and bite us just like it did with Reuben in the 2014. With the exception of Oboabona and a smaller extent Mbah, all the HB players you mentioned were bit part players and hardly contributed to the success of the SE under Keshi. They were there for the ride and none of them had a successful professional career. The Keshi squad was usually made up of 15 to 17 players who did the hard graft and the remaining places given to HB as quota system while just being training materials.
This is a far cry from the 80s to the 90s, where the likes of Shofoluwe, Eboigbe, Omokaro, Adeshina, Yekini etc held their own against foreign based players and started ahead of them for the SE.
We are talking of the days that Keshi had to beg national team managers not to disgrace foreign based players by leaving them out of the squad but find a place for them on the bench. Prof, those days are long gone!

[packerland]

...and I have been making same argument since imo river.
Now that it has downed on many and complaints and doubts abound about these over hyped foreign based in light of losing valuable points to minnows of the continent will the ogas turn towards local stars?
I doubt that will happen because as next match approach everybody will forget this latest embarrassment, and shout for this hey-yous and that hey-yous from some european league.
And their CE promoters will post their mesmerizing utube video clips.

I can tell you for free right now that the term ‘overhyped’ can and will be equally applied to ALL Nigerian footballers, both ‘foreign’ and local.
All it takes is a string of bad results. Trust me.
But more importantly, trust Nigerians on that.

Let’s go back and find the insults rained on our CHAN teams, because it seems we all have selective memories.
Or maybe we have genuinely forgotten?

People have every right to think the primary problem is with the ‘foreign-based’ players.
But it’s one thing to spot the problem.
It’s a completely different skill to interpret it and make an accurate diagnosis.

This is “I have malaria because I have a fever” kind of thinking.
Izzokay.

Damunk. Thank you very much…

Same home based players that cannot qualify for CHAN all of a sudden are world beaters….


We should be asking ourselves why a team of chicken farmers are beating a professional team and trust me, it has nothing to do with the players….

I put this to you, if u swapped the coaches, Zimbabwe won’t win or even get a draw…. It will be 10-0 to SE.

That does not make their coach great, it just means that peseiro is super bad.

Btw…..Brazil has a far better local league than Nigeria yet their National team are mainly populated by foreign based players

Maybe they are also wrong or does this theory only apply if ur team is playing badly?

I get what Enugu II is trying to say but I still have no faith in our local players. These local dudes can’t even qualify for CHAN, they usually lose in the first round of the Champions League and have we forgotten the Mexico and Costa Rica friendlies.

Was it not the local players that failed to get a result against Angola that affected our qualification to the 2006 WC because the likes of Okocha missed their way to the airport?

Packerland,

You have to asked why they cannot qualify for CHAN or why they did so well in CHAN under Keshi, for instance. Those details matter.

The difference is preparation. They did well in CHAN because of the camping time provided under Keshi that led to team chemistry. That preparation time was abandoned under Pinnick. Under Pinnick, homebased teams were quickly picked and the lack of chemistry meant that they imploded regularly. It is similar to someone using their recent 0-5 loss to Mexico as a measure of HB performance. What exactly does one expect from a hastily picked HB team playing against Mexican NT that had been training together for eons?

The details above matter.

Enugu II

Neither do the foreign based players get any camp time. These guys meet 2-3days before a crucial match. Most of them don’t arrive on different days. They spend half a day on meet and greet and dinner initiation. Plus our invites are never the same. Honestly, I don’t know if the foreign based players have any advantage over the local ones in that department. How come we never groom the same local players? We seem to field new faces whenever we use them for friendlies.

[Gadfly]

Oboabona didn’t even see action at the WC the following year. He got benched by old man Yobo. Egwueke and Agbim were just squad players that didn’t get any game time. Mbah didn’t even make the WC squad. Not taking anything away from Keshi but we got lucky to win that AFCON. Cameroon and Zambia got lucky to win theirs too within those periods.

Dis na revision. Oboabona was the starter and got injured in the first game allowing Yobo to come back in. The starting CBs were Omeruo and Oboa.

[Enugu II]

Packerland,

You have to asked why they cannot qualify for CHAN or why they did so well in CHAN under Keshi, for instance. Those details matter.

The difference is preparation. They did well in CHAN because of the camping time provided under Keshi that led to team chemistry. That preparation time was abandoned under Pinnick. Under Pinnick, homebased teams were quickly picked and the lack of chemistry meant that they imploded regularly. It is similar to someone using their recent 0-5 loss to Mexico as a measure of HB performance. What exactly does one expect from a hastily picked HB team playing against Mexican NT that had been training together for eons?

The details above matter.

E11, those days are gone. National team coaches don’t have the luxury of long term camping anymore. Keshi exposed the local players to international football and I remember he took a wholly home based squad on a tour of South America where they played a full Peruvian national team. I also remember the local boys played against a full strength CIV team in the UAE amongst other international exposure they had under Keshi. That enabled him to whittle them down and pick those who could step up into the full national team for a major competition. He picked 6 home based players namely Egwueke, Oboabona, Mbah, Gabriel, Agbim and Uzoenyi for AFCON, out of which only 2 tasted any action I.e. Oboabona, who played all the matches and Mbah, who played in the knockout stages, in essence the AFCON was won by a team mostly made up of foreign based players

What is more, we had FEWER OPTIONS in Europe at that period, unlike now where we have many more options.
The debate about HB players is really about folks living in the past and reminiscing about 'when we were king'!!!
Its never been based on reality.

Contrary to what they say, Keshi is not the only SE who successfully used HB players. Westerhof did, as did Jo and Troussier. But even under Keshi the number continuously declined and by the time of the WC was down to 5.

What is more, and I stand to be corrected, none of the HB players from his project ever went on to have successful careers...

Txj,

Actually those days are not gone. I strongly disagree with that. Nothing has changed much in the international match calendar when you compare Keshi's days and today. Can you please elaborate on the changes?

The difference is simple and it is based on NFF's decision under Pinnick. That can change under this NFF administration or any other. What Keshi did, and still can be done as we speak is invite local players to the local NT camp. These players are released to play league games on weekends as Keshi did under his watch and still can be done today. By the end of the day, a HB national team can be built with a core given that a few of them will from time to time move overseas.

I don’t know how much the Keshi exercise cost the NFF, but at the end of the day, it only produced ONE player of relative international quality, Goedfrey Oboabona, who remained in the SE after Keshi had left and was good enough to confine the team’s captain, Joseph Yobo, to the bench. Would you count the likes of Gabriel, Egwueke, Uzoenyi, Agbim as international class players? The likes of Kunle Odunlami, like the others, went to the WC just to make up the numbers but never played a full international for Nigeria. We can all recall how Gabriel Reuben stunk up the joint when he replaced the injured Onazi in the RO 16 match against France in the World Cup.
The ROI on the Keshi exercise was poor and frankly it’s like looking under the bridge for talent I.e. looking for a needle in the haystack!
The solution in my opinion is for the coach of the SE to also be in charge of the CHAN team, that way he will have first hand knowledge of the HB players and then decide if anyone of them can be upgraded into the SE

Dammy,

Actually, I disagree. It was not just Oboabona. One of the heroes of that AFCON win was Sunday Mba who had not been expected to start but ended being one of the team's heroes after he confined Daniel Igiebor to the bench. Then there was also Juwon Oshaniwa who made an appearance at the AFCON or the WC. On that AFCON-winning squad was a total of 7 local players! (Egwuekwe, Gabriel, Oboabona, Uzoenyi, Mba, Oshaniwa, Agbim:: now add Musa and Fegor who were discovered locally before they ended up going overseas prior to that AFCON!). ....That is slightly above 30%! A ridiculously high number! Take Oboabona and Mba for instance, 2 out of 11 starting players represent close to 20% return on the starting team. BTW, do not take my word for it. You can find the AFCON-winning squad list here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2013_Afri ... ons_squads .... In my view, that is more than I would expect from a country like Nigeria that produces quite a lot of good players plying their trade outside their homeland. In my mind, I often figure no more than 4-5 locally-based players in a team of 23 for a Nigerian national team will be an excellent return given the circumstance. This will be 17-20% of a squad of 23. Not the 30+% that Keshi achieved.

You have hit the hammer on the head! You have just confirmed that you are asking for quotas in the squad ( 5out of 23) in 2023! This is so archaic!
Every squad place is important and having players in the squad for cosmetic reasons will come and bite us just like it did with Reuben in the 2014. With the exception of Oboabona and a smaller extent Mbah, all the HB players you mentioned were bit part players and hardly contributed to the success of the SE under Keshi. They were there for the ride and none of them had a successful professional career. The Keshi squad was usually made up of 15 to 17 players who did the hard graft and the remaining places given to HB as quota system while just being training materials.
This is a far cry from the 80s to the 90s, where the likes of Shofoluwe, Eboigbe, Omokaro, Adeshina, Yekini etc held their own against foreign based players and started ahead of them for the SE.
We are talking of the days that Keshi had to beg national team managers not to disgrace foreign based players by leaving them out of the squad but find a place for them on the bench. Prof, those days are long gone!

That is not a quota, BTW. A quota is when a number of space is actually reserved for a certain group. What I state above is simply my expectation given my estimation of deserving talents available in the country. Moreover, I do not believe Keshi ever employed any quota system. In my estimation, the number of locally based talents may actually vary to up to say 10 players and sometimes down to 1 or even 0. The bottomline is that the coaches must show interest in scouting locally. But by no means should places be reserved.

May I ask, how would one actually carry out a quota system? Think of it. It is not even possible even if wanted to. First, understand that a guy who is local today may move overseas the next day. Do you then replace him with another local player because he has gone overseas? It makes no sense at all! What is being advocated is continual search for deserving local talents and that number will logically fluctuate from 0 to whatever. In my estimation, I believe you more likely will have 4-5 in a squad of 23 and even this cannot be definitive.

[wiseone]

Does the Zimbabwe GK really play for a team called "Chicken Inn"?

[Enugu II]

Does the Zimbabwe GK really play for a team called "Chicken Inn"?

Yes. Chicken Inn in an establishment like McDonald's, I suppose and indeed he plays for such a club.

[Dammy]

E11, those days are gone. National team coaches don’t have the luxury of long term camping anymore. Keshi exposed the local players to international football and I remember he took a wholly home based squad on a tour of South America where they played a full Peruvian national team. I also remember the local boys played against a full strength CIV team in the UAE amongst other international exposure they had under Keshi. That enabled him to whittle them down and pick those who could step up into the full national team for a major competition. He picked 6 home based players namely Egwueke, Oboabona, Mbah, Gabriel, Agbim and Uzoenyi for AFCON, out of which only 2 tasted any action I.e. Oboabona, who played all the matches and Mbah, who played in the knockout stages, in essence the AFCON was won by a team mostly made up of foreign based players

What is more, we had FEWER OPTIONS in Europe at that period, unlike now where we have many more options.
The debate about HB players is really about folks living in the past and reminiscing about 'when we were king'!!!
Its never been based on reality.

Contrary to what they say, Keshi is not the only SE who successfully used HB players. Westerhof did, as did Jo and Troussier. But even under Keshi the number continuously declined and by the time of the WC was down to 5.

What is more, and I stand to be corrected, none of the HB players from his project ever went on to have successful careers...

Txj,

Actually those days are not gone. I strongly disagree with that. Nothing has changed much in the international match calendar when you compare Keshi's days and today. Can you please elaborate on the changes?

The difference is simple and it is based on NFF's decision under Pinnick. That can change under this NFF administration or any other. What Keshi did, and still can be done as we speak is invite local players to the local NT camp. These players are released to play league games on weekends as Keshi did under his watch and still can be done today. By the end of the day, a HB national team can be built with a core given that a few of them will from time to time move overseas.

I don’t know how much the Keshi exercise cost the NFF, but at the end of the day, it only produced ONE player of relative international quality, Goedfrey Oboabona, who remained in the SE after Keshi had left and was good enough to confine the team’s captain, Joseph Yobo, to the bench. Would you count the likes of Gabriel, Egwueke, Uzoenyi, Agbim as international class players? The likes of Kunle Odunlami, like the others, went to the WC just to make up the numbers but never played a full international for Nigeria. We can all recall how Gabriel Reuben stunk up the joint when he replaced the injured Onazi in the RO 16 match against France in the World Cup.
The ROI on the Keshi exercise was poor and frankly it’s like looking under the bridge for talent I.e. looking for a needle in the haystack!
The solution in my opinion is for the coach of the SE to also be in charge of the CHAN team, that way he will have first hand knowledge of the HB players and then decide if anyone of them can be upgraded into the SE

Dammy,

Actually, I disagree. It was not just Oboabona. One of the heroes of that AFCON win was Sunday Mba who had not been expected to start but ended being one of the team's heroes after he confined Daniel Igiebor to the bench. Then there was also Juwon Oshaniwa who made an appearance at the AFCON or the WC. On that AFCON-winning squad was a total of 7 local players! (Egwuekwe, Gabriel, Oboabona, Uzoenyi, Mba, Oshaniwa, Agbim:: now add Musa and Fegor who were discovered locally before they ended up going overseas prior to that AFCON!). ....That is slightly above 30%! A ridiculously high number! Take Oboabona and Mba for instance, 2 out of 11 starting players represent close to 20% return on the starting team. BTW, do not take my word for it. You can find the AFCON-winning squad list here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2013_Afri ... ons_squads .... In my view, that is more than I would expect from a country like Nigeria that produces quite a lot of good players plying their trade outside their homeland. In my mind, I often figure no more than 4-5 locally-based players in a team of 23 for a Nigerian national team will be an excellent return given the circumstance. This will be 17-20% of a squad of 23. Not the 30+% that Keshi achieved.

You have hit the hammer on the head! You have just confirmed that you are asking for quotas in the squad ( 5out of 23) in 2023! This is so archaic!
Every squad place is important and having players in the squad for cosmetic reasons will come and bite us just like it did with Reuben in the 2014. With the exception of Oboabona and a smaller extent Mbah, all the HB players you mentioned were bit part players and hardly contributed to the success of the SE under Keshi. They were there for the ride and none of them had a successful professional career. The Keshi squad was usually made up of 15 to 17 players who did the hard graft and the remaining places given to HB as quota system while just being training materials.
This is a far cry from the 80s to the 90s, where the likes of Shofoluwe, Eboigbe, Omokaro, Adeshina, Yekini etc held their own against foreign based players and started ahead of them for the SE.
We are talking of the days that Keshi had to beg national team managers not to disgrace foreign based players by leaving them out of the squad but find a place for them on the bench. Prof, those days are long gone!

That is not a quota, BTW. A quota is when a number of space is actually reserved for a certain group. What I state above is simply my expectation given my estimation of deserving talents available in the country. Moreover, I do not believe Keshi ever employed any quota system. In my estimation, the number of locally based talents may actually vary to up to say 10 players and sometimes down to 1 or even 0. The bottomline is that the coaches must show interest in scouting locally. But by no means should places be reserved.

May I ask, how would one actually carry out a quota system? Think of it. It is not even possible even if wanted to. First, understand that a guy who is local today may move overseas the next day. Do you then replace him with another local player because he has gone overseas? It makes no sense at all! What is being advocated is continual search for deserving local talents and that number will logically fluctuate from 0 to whatever. In my estimation, I believe you more likely will have 4-5 in a squad of 23 and even this cannot be definitive.

Having 4-5 HB players in the SE is either wishful thinking or a desire for a quota to be introduced to the squad.
I don’t believe that there are that number of HB players who can add value to the SE, maybe one or possibly two, midfielders who can bring much needed energy to the midfield.

[Lolly]

Amas Obasogie deserved an oppotunity to play. Benjamin Tanimu has also been doing well. these guys would have done far better than Ajayi and Bassy.

What did Ajayi and Bassey do wrong in the 180 minutes of the recent games? Why do you guys like picking on the wrong players?

Bro, I thought you have been watching football for a long time? Do the duo of Ajayi and Bassey fill you with confidence? The fact that they did not do much wrong against minnows is not something to take comfort from but I fear for our defence when they meet a competent team. Bassey is all brawn and has no positional sense and is often drawn out of position leaving gaps in the defence. There’s a reason why Ajayi sits on the bench at championship level with WBA. He saved a point for us against Lesotho but he’s so easy to get past and that leads him to commit fouls like pulling his opponents and picking up cards in the process. Imagine if he’s pulling the shirts of players from Zimbabwe and Lesotho, what will he do against players from Morocco, Senegal or CIV? Unlike Bassey, he cannot pass the ball out of defence effectively, it’s mostly short or overhit. The combination is a disaster waiting to happen and the fact that we have not kept a clean sheet against minnows with the duo says it all

You didn’t answer my question.

If I had better choices, I would consider them. But for now, they are the best combination and they have rarely put a foot wrong. At least, they have not been directly responsible for the goals scored against us. And it doesn’t matter if it Zimbabwe, Mozambique or Lesotho. Bassey plays week in, week out against top attackers, so why should be be scared of players from Morocco, Senegal or CIV?

Meanwhile, Ajayi started and finished the first 7 games for his club this season before he got injured and was out for about a month. So it is understandable if he has been used as a sub in their last 3 matches. He is just getting back to fitness.

[Lolly]

Does the Zimbabwe GK really play for a team called "Chicken Inn"?

Yes. Chicken Inn in an establishment like McDonald's, I suppose and indeed he plays for such a club.

We have a SE player who plays for a club named Yum Yum FC.

[Cellular]

Oboabona didn’t even see action at the WC the following year. He got benched by old man Yobo. Egwueke and Agbim were just squad players that didn’t get any game time. Mbah didn’t even make the WC squad. Not taking anything away from Keshi but we got lucky to win that AFCON. Cameroon and Zambia got lucky to win theirs too within those periods.

Dis na revision. Oboabona was the starter and got injured in the first game allowing Yobo to come back in. The starting CBs were Omeruo and Oboa.

You dey mind dem. Na pipu way watch game on BBC Teletext.

Also don't forget that NFF leaned on Keshi to 'beef up' the squad... forcing players on him.
The next round of qualifiers is in June. Before that is the AFCON.
They better not be inviting players sitting on anyone's bench.