Let's not delude ourselves: Nigeria's team is no big deal

goldfeet2 · Post by **goldfeet2** » Thu Mar 02, 2006 4:15 pm

Ayo welcome to my world, the world of true situation - over rated, overhyped, unpatriotic, inflated ego players; self centred, maladministrative, corrupt NFA and over zealous and high expectant supporters. I've been saying this since the days of ccc. Given our outing in Egypt2006, I am cautious to say that the future is bright with the present setting if we can find a working dedicated NFA- 2010 WC is a posibility on African soil. We need to start building that team with Egu and Siasia with Obi $ Taiwo as the fulcrum.

mouko · Post by **mouko** » Thu Mar 02, 2006 4:27 pm

balo wrote:
wiseone wrote:Ayo, I agree entirely. We tend to look at the SE with rose tinted glasses and we don't seem to have realised that the current team is nowhere near the standard of the team we had a decade ago, and that the other African teams have caught up with us in all aspects of the game.

We have not won a senior trophy for over a decade, yet we still claim to be "the best team in Africa"!! We're living off our past reputation.
We are not claiming to be the best in Africa. We are the best in Africa. A month ago, Cameroon were the best. While our football style may be diminishing, our Ws are not diminishing. No point is awarded for playing beautiful soccer. Lets get real!!!

Having said that, I would be the first to agree that we need a better play handle for our games.

If ever there were mugus I shall tell my kids I have seen one....

goldfeet2 · Post by **goldfeet2** » Thu Mar 02, 2006 4:30 pm

But they always pay foreign coaches and Ayo and co will be criticising the LC. Even CCC may not have recieved his entitlements and salaries by now. COLOMENTALITY

Ayo Akinfe · Post by **Ayo Akinfe** » Thu Mar 02, 2006 4:46 pm

Those of you who have nothing to contribute to this debate, please excuse us. Your silly, childish, bad-mannered, infantile, juvenille, senseless and irritating jibes are distracting us.

I would highly appreciate it if you could allow this thread to flow. If you guys want to yab or throw bricks, you are free to open another thread doing so but please do not pollute this debate.

Back to the debate at hand, those of you who watched the Wales vs Paraguay game will attest to the fact that Nigeria did not play any better than either of them in Egypt. We have a few problems that need to be addressed. These include:

[1] As African Star has pointed out, our players need to be taught the fine basics of the game
[2] In Francophone countries like Cameroon and Ivory Coast, they have football academies that train boys from the age of 11. These academies are run by ex-internationals and French coaches frequently come there to run clinics
[3] I hope you realise that the Kadji Sports academy produced players like Geremi, Eto'o, Wome, Kameni etc. When these boys got to Europe, they had no problem adapting because they were used to playing in a trained manner
[4] However, we have the traditional problem of what you do not know, you cannot impart. Our coaches are about 10 yerars behind those in Francophone and North African countries. I think we need to send about 12 of them overseas for about four years
[5] When Awolowo was premier of the Western Region, he used to send batches of trainee doctors, accountants, architects, lawyers etc overseas for training. MKO Abiola and Richard Akinjide benefitted from this. We need to do this with the likes of Siasia, Amokachi, Adepoju, Ammunike, Shorunmu, Nwanu etc.
[6] Two-month refresher courses are of no use to us. Our coaches need to start from scratch with four year "degree" courses at teams like Juventus, AC Milan, Barcelona, Ajax etc
[7] I have no problems with you guys wanting an IC but it has got to be a trained IC! For the next 10 years, no one is even on the horizon
[8] Nigerians have to make a choice: Do we allow the losses to keep mounting until our coaches are trained up or do we get a world class coach in today to handle the team while the coaches get trained up?
[9] Our players also need some sort of reorientation about their attitude. They always claim they behave this way because the NFA is bad but for me, that excuse is not acceptable.
[10] Being manager of the Eagles is not just about coaching. It includes man-management, discipline, influence with foreign FAs, having the clout to talk to clubs, commanding the respect of the players, having the clout to stand up to the NFA, being a master tactician etc. Does any Nigerian manager really have all this today?

Gotti · Post by **Gotti** » Thu Mar 02, 2006 7:34 pm

African Star wrote:FC's can not solve that problem, we have to really sit down for once and actually develop something from the ground up.

Unfortunately, we cannot solve that problem or build anything with an FA headed by a man that did not even understand simple WCQ rules...

<

balo · Post by **balo** » Thu Mar 02, 2006 7:38 pm

mouko wrote:
balo wrote:
wiseone wrote:Ayo, I agree entirely. We tend to look at the SE with rose tinted glasses and we don't seem to have realised that the current team is nowhere near the standard of the team we had a decade ago, and that the other African teams have caught up with us in all aspects of the game.

We have not won a senior trophy for over a decade, yet we still claim to be "the best team in Africa"!! We're living off our past reputation.
We are not claiming to be the best in Africa. We are the best in Africa. A month ago, Cameroon were the best. While our football style may be diminishing, our Ws are not diminishing. No point is awarded for playing beautiful soccer. Lets get real!!!

Having said that, I would be the first to agree that we need a better play handle for our games.
If ever there were mugus I shall tell my kids I have seen one....

And I am sure when u look in the mirror, u would have found one. Nonsense. Who is the #1 African team on FIFA's list? Yeah you guessed right, it's Nigeria. Now when u come up with a new method of determining who leads the list, we can discuss.

Until then, shut the hell up and bow down to your betters.

wiseone · Post by **wiseone** » Fri Mar 03, 2006 2:08 am

How can you say that Nigeria is the best team in Africa given: (a) that we've not won a trophy for over a decade, and (b) we couldn't even qualify for the world cup from a group featuring "heavyweights" of football like Rwanda, Angola, Gabon and Zimbabwe!! If we are the "best team in Africa" then Somalia and Mozembique are in with a shout too - they've not won any trophies in living memory either!

balo wrote:
wiseone wrote:Ayo, I agree entirely. We tend to look at the SE with rose tinted glasses and we don't seem to have realised that the current team is nowhere near the standard of the team we had a decade ago, and that the other African teams have caught up with us in all aspects of the game.

We have not won a senior trophy for over a decade, yet we still claim to be "the best team in Africa"!! We're living off our past reputation.
We are not claiming to be the best in Africa. We are the best in Africa. A month ago, Cameroon were the best. While our football style may be diminishing, our Ws are not diminishing. No point is awarded for playing beautiful soccer. Lets get real!!!

Having said that, I would be the first to agree that we need a better play handle for our games.