SE List for Portugal

[iworo]

Iwobi scorned, Osimhen swamped as club football breaks for Qatar

Nigeria may not be heading to Qatar this month, but Super Eagles players were still generating headlines in Europe's biggest leagues as club football signed off for the World Cup.

While Victor Osimhen -- arguably Africa's outstanding performer in Europe so far this season -- was swamped by adoring Napoli fans as he attempted to leave the stadium following yet another decisive contribution.

Osimhen ensured that Napoli headed into the World Cup break with an eight-point lead at the top of Italy's Serie A after setting them up for a 3-2 victory against Udinese.

The Nigeria forward found a gap between the visiting centre-backs to head home from inside the six-yard box after being picked out by Eljif Elmas in the 15th minute.

He was a menace, playing a part in the build-up to Napoli's second goal -- a superb curling effort from Piotr Zielinski -- as he turned one defender, held off another, and laid the ball off to Hirving Lozano to set up the Poland international as the hosts doubled their lead.

Osimhen's decoy run also helped Elmas find some space for Napoli's third, with the Macedonian midfielder being picked out by Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa.

"I think this game was really intense, especially the second half," Osimhen told DAZN. "We played as a team to get the three points, the most important thing is to keep going and remember no game is easy, so we did great.

"I'm happy to contribute and we want to keep the momentum going."

Last weekend, Osimhen became Nigeria's all-time record scorer in Serie A, and his latest goal has taken him up to 33 top flight strikes -- two beyond Simy Nwankwo.

The 23-year-old Osimhen lasted the full 90 minutes, only for the Nigeria Football Federation to confirm on Monday that the striker has picked up an injury that has ruled him out of the Super Eagles' friendly against Portugal on Thursday.

He'll be replaced in the squad by Cremonese striker Cyriel Dessers, who has yet another opportunity to impress and get his stuttering international career off the ground.

There were few indications that Osimhen was hurt when footage caught him leaving the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona, with fans flooding the striker with selfie and interview requests.

The striker politely responded to the Napoli public, who in Osimhen, have found a talisman to give them genuine belief that a Scudetto could be on the horizon. They are without an Italian title since 1990, when Diego Maradona inspired the Partenopei to their second Serie A crown.

Osimhen has now moved up to nine league goals for the season, and while he won't be starring at the World Cup, expect the forward to be one of the most sought-after stars in the world game during 2023.

While Osimhen was being revered by his adoring Naples public, the same cannot be said for Iwobi this weekend, despite the good will the ex-Arsenal man has built with Everton fans this season.

A revelation under Frank Lampard, Iwobi actually wasn't one of the Toffees' poorer performers as the Merseysiders were utterly outclassed by Bournemouth on Saturday. With Dominic Solanke lively and inventive in attack, the Cherries ran out 3-0 winners, handing Everton their third consecutive defeat.

Iwobi and some of his teammates attempted to console the visiting supporters at the end of the contest, although the gesture appeared to be -- quite literally -- thrown back in his face as the fans seemed to reject the Nigerian's offer of his jersey and hurled it back at him.

Lampard and Jordan Pickford attempted to intervene to calm the situation, but the Everton fans had already made their feelings known.

It was a sorry way for the first part of Iwobi's season to end considering the immense progress he's made under Lampard, where the 26-year-old has become an integral part of a (largely) functioning side having previously struggled to find his place at Goodison Park.

https://www.espn.co.uk/football/english ... -for-qatar

[mcal]

Dennis emmanuels birthday

Nigerians players must be the only Premiere league players still praying for prosperity even though they have fat contracts though their teams are fighting relegation. Lai lai to lai lai. You must pay for DNQ. Jesus wasn’t home for the prayers vs Ghana, he sure as hell not home for a bday prayer from a useless player. 6-0. It is written.

...was that a player praying for money prosperity or a benefactor? na so e dey dey for Nigeria, na person wey wan gain go dey pray for you to get abundant so as to spread to them too

[green4life]

No Osimhen?
Game just became much less interesting

There must be some gripe behind the scenes potentially linked to the NFF's handling / checking in on the player's welfare following his prior injuries. Otherwise, the player clearly is 100% fit and available to play and the venue is a stone throw from his Naples base.

[EMIR KONGI JAFFI JOFFA]

No Osimhen?
Game just became much less interesting

There must be some gripe behind the scenes potentially linked to the NFF's handling / checking in on the player's welfare following his prior injuries. Otherwise, the player clearly is 100% fit and available to play and the venue is a stone throw from his Naples base.

Osihmen shouldn’t waste his time playing meaningless games for a DNQ team days before the WC. Abeg let the boy rest and enjoy his month off jare. Call Ighalo instead, he’s available.

[packerland]

I hope Portugal bring their A game and give us a serious serious beating, a 4/5 goal defeat would be perfect.
We need to feel the real pain of DNQ and not take away any moral victories when most decent teams are preparing for the WC . WC is all national teams are about, a stern reminder of failures is what the doctor ordered at this time. Cmon Portugal!

This is gonna be the WC for our boys, we gonna win bigly

Berra text ya boy Uzoho to call in sick or this game could do damage to his career as a goalie. It’s gonna be ugly. The Gods of football admin must punish Nigeria for the malpractice that led to DNQ. 6-0 insha allah in Jesus name. Ase.

He said because CR7 is there he will play like he did against Manure so expect some heroics from Uzoho

Ronaldo is unavailable to play due to a stomach bug.

[highbury]

No Osimhen?
Game just became much less interesting

There must be some gripe behind the scenes potentially linked to the NFF's handling / checking in on the player's welfare following his prior injuries. Otherwise, the player clearly is 100% fit and available to play and the venue is a stone throw from his Naples base.

Osihmen shouldn’t waste his time playing meaningless games for a DNQ team days before the WC. Abeg let the boy rest and enjoy his month off jare. Call Ighalo instead, he’s available.

With all due respect, you're chatting nonsense! There is no such thing as a meaningless game. So you think the other players who chose to show up for their country are stupid for showing up? Trust me, Osimhen is trimming his supporters by this action. Whatever, you sow, you will reep

[packerland]

when Westhoff and Keshi [duyring some period] national team was luxurious to play for with blended serious home base players with serious foreign base players .that only that time we won something last, like the nation cup, but now is no serious foreign coach or home coach that all wants to do is to call foreign base players any time they have matches. instead of them checking the history of how they won last time? NO, probably some of this NFF is taking half of the coach money, all government of Nigeria is corrupt.

To apply the highlighted to Westerhoff is a fallacy. In 1994 only 2 of the 23 were homebased at the Afcon the 0 made the squad for the World Cup. That was our most dominant performance at the nations cup. In 2013 we just "winged" it. That's why the team didn't progress after the AFCON because of the low-quality players in the team. We should stop peddling this mixture of homebased and foreign based rhetoric and chose the best players. We have clearly seen the homebase players crumble under slight pressure year after year. They are not mentally and tactically ready for that level. The reason we are not as dominant as before is because of the improved quality of our opponents nowadays, teams like Senegal, Algeria, Morocco, Ivory Coast, Ghana. Tell me how many homebased players were in Algeria's 2019 AFCON winning team or Senegal's 2021 team?

Well said. The best players should be selected and if they are foreign based players then so be it. I just looked at Senegal's world cup list and the closest they have to a homebased player is one dude that plays in Cyprus. The rest plays in top clubs around Europe.

[EMIR KONGI JAFFI JOFFA]

No Osimhen?
Game just became much less interesting

There must be some gripe behind the scenes potentially linked to the NFF's handling / checking in on the player's welfare following his prior injuries. Otherwise, the player clearly is 100% fit and available to play and the venue is a stone throw from his Naples base.

Osihmen shouldn’t waste his time playing meaningless games for a DNQ team days before the WC. Abeg let the boy rest and enjoy his month off jare. Call Ighalo instead, he’s available.

With all due respect, you're chatting nonsense! There is no such thing as a meaningless game. So you think the other players who chose to show up for their country are stupid for showing up? Trust me, Osimhen is trimming his supporters by this action. Whatever, you sow, you will reep

Ok. Ban him from SE. How about that? Is that enough punishment? Abeg, leave stone chop rice. Betta teams are preparing for WC, na DNQ one night stand you dey worry Osihmen for. Infact, I won’t be surprised if Osihmen retires from SE the next pim that comes out of anybody’s mouth.

[EMIR KONGI JAFFI JOFFA]

I hope Portugal bring their A game and give us a serious serious beating, a 4/5 goal defeat would be perfect.
We need to feel the real pain of DNQ and not take away any moral victories when most decent teams are preparing for the WC . WC is all national teams are about, a stern reminder of failures is what the doctor ordered at this time. Cmon Portugal!

This is gonna be the WC for our boys, we gonna win bigly

Berra text ya boy Uzoho to call in sick or this game could do damage to his career as a goalie. It’s gonna be ugly. The Gods of football admin must punish Nigeria for the malpractice that led to DNQ. 6-0 insha allah in Jesus name. Ase.

He said because CR7 is there he will play like he did against Manure so expect some heroics from Uzoho

Ronaldo is unavailable to play due to a stomach bug.

They don’t need to risk him against a lowly ranked DNQ like SE. 4 Kondo is still in order.

[1naija]

EII, I hope you can see now that this is exactly the same average team we've been parading the past few years with just different names on the back of the jerseys.

The point is nothing is being shaken up. Apart from one or two players? Is there anyone on the list you've not seen multiple times?

1naija

Perhaps, but it will be clear in the next few call ups. We shall see.

As for whether these are better or not is the reason why new guys have to be tried. You wouldnt know until they prove ghemselves. I like the approach to shake things up and seek to improve. Lets not get into the rot of settling for what we niw have the same way some on CE wanted to settle with Rohr instead of shaking things up with a chance of being better. I like Peseiro's willingness to dare to change.

EII, you are reading waaaayyyyy too much into the list. This the same group of mostly average players we've been selecting from for the past few years. Musa's ommision does not make us any better than when he selected. Akpoguma does not make is any better than Awaziem and vice versa. Dennis and Onuachu do not make us better than Dessers anf Awoniyi and vice versa. They are all average players being interchanged between games. As far as i am concerned, this the same list as all the other lists we've had when Osimhen, Iwobi, and Ndidi have been available. They are the only players that if healthy and available and any is omitted we can read meaning into it.

For me, this list is a major shift by Manager Peseiro. The next call up will either confirm that list or proof this to be only an aberration. Here are my thoughts.... Is he making the definitive cut asway from Ahmed Musa? Is this linked with Pinnick losing the NFF Presidency? Note that Pinnick previously insisted that he (Pinnick) was responsible for musa receiving the call ups. We will know in the coming call ups, for sure......Awaziem none call up may signify Peseiro's exasperation with the former's play. Awaziem is a guy who has previously worked with Peseiro before Peseiro's appointment. Peseiro gave Awaziem ample opportunities but there is no denying a FACT that Awaziem has underwhelmed in thosde call ups. This is perhaps the end of the rope for him.... the decimation of the old guard in the defense confirms issues that I had written on previously i.e. it is CLEAR Peseiro intends to change that central partnership. More coming.

[maceo4]

I hope Portugal bring their A game and give us a serious serious beating, a 4/5 goal defeat would be perfect.
We need to feel the real pain of DNQ and not take away any moral victories when most decent teams are preparing for the WC . WC is all national teams are about, a stern reminder of failures is what the doctor ordered at this time. Cmon Portugal!

This is gonna be the WC for our boys, we gonna win bigly

Berra text ya boy Uzoho to call in sick or this game could do damage to his career as a goalie. It’s gonna be ugly. The Gods of football admin must punish Nigeria for the malpractice that led to DNQ. 6-0 insha allah in Jesus name. Ase.

He said because CR7 is there he will play like he did against Manure so expect some heroics from Uzoho

Ronaldo is unavailable to play due to a stomach bug.

They don’t need to risk him against a lowly ranked DNQ like SE. 4 Kondo is still in order.

Emir na the cause....