N'KONO: Cameroon was Mentally Tougher than Nigeria

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Mr Shows
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Re: N'KONO: Cameroon was Mentally Tougher than Nigeria

Post by Mr Shows »

Lolly wrote: Sat Dec 04, 2021 3:37 pm If you asked the Nigerian players of the 80s who they don’t fancy playing against, majority will say Cameroon. They were tough to beat and almost physically stronger than our players. I believe Oloye said something similar in the past.
The mental battle was real, it wasn't just on the pitch, even we the fans carried this albatross around our necks until the hoodoo was broken. Before that it was the fear of getting an away win against the North Africans, another jinx also broken..

England until just recently buried their jinx against Germany..
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Re: N'KONO: Cameroon was Mentally Tougher than Nigeria

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Mr Shows wrote: Sat Dec 04, 2021 4:48 pm
Lolly wrote: Sat Dec 04, 2021 3:37 pm If you asked the Nigerian players of the 80s who they don’t fancy playing against, majority will say Cameroon. They were tough to beat and almost physically stronger than our players. I believe Oloye said something similar in the past.
The mental battle was real, it wasn't just on the pitch, even we the fans carried this albatross around our necks until the hoodoo was broken. Before that it was the fear of getting an away win against the North Africans, another jinx also broken..

England until just recently buried their jinx against Germany..
Very true.
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Re: N'KONO: Cameroon was Mentally Tougher than Nigeria

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I can't believe we lost three AFCON titles to this leg breakers! 3???????????????????????????????
I SEE DEAD PEOPLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Re: N'KONO: Cameroon was Mentally Tougher than Nigeria

Post by akamoke »

I tend to Agree with Nkono

We took the lead in the Final against Cameroon in 1984 within minutes but collapsed to a 3-1 defeat

We were within seconds of an epic victory against Italy in a game we were one man up, and we folded

The 1998 team could not maintain discipline in the tournament after taking out Spain and Bulgaria

The 2000 final, we came back from 2-0 deficit but lost the ensuing penalty shootout (at home)

If we had a mentally strong team, we could have been strong contenders and maybe won 2 or more of the three tournaments above
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Re: N'KONO: Cameroon was Mentally Tougher than Nigeria

Post by Scipio Africanus »

akamoke wrote: Mon Dec 06, 2021 10:05 pm I tend to Agree with Nkono

We took the lead in the Final against Cameroon in 1984 within minutes but collapsed to a 3-1 defeat

We were within seconds of an epic victory against Italy in a game we were one man up, and we folded

The 1998 team could not maintain discipline in the tournament after taking out Spain and Bulgaria

The 2000 final, we came back from 2-0 deficit but lost the ensuing penalty shootout (at home)

If we had a mentally strong team, we could have been strong contenders and maybe won 2 or more of the three tournaments above
We definitely have issues with mental strength, and our typically chaotic preparations and lack of organization are probably the major reasons. Mental strength comes from flawless organization and thorough preparation.

Wha choo looking at?!
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Re: N'KONO: Cameroon was Mentally Tougher than Nigeria

Post by Enugu II »

akamoke wrote: Mon Dec 06, 2021 10:05 pm I tend to Agree with Nkono

We took the lead in the Final against Cameroon in 1984 within minutes but collapsed to a 3-1 defeat

We were within seconds of an epic victory against Italy in a game we were one man up, and we folded

The 1998 team could not maintain discipline in the tournament after taking out Spain and Bulgaria

The 2000 final, we came back from 2-0 deficit but lost the ensuing penalty shootout (at home)

If we had a mentally strong team, we could have been strong contenders and maybe won 2 or more of the three tournaments above
Akamoke,

That 1984 game no count ooo! We had an inexperienced team playing against a very experienced Cameroon team and it shown. We were fortunate to score first and we were completely outplayed in that encounter. That was one game that was far from being close.
The difficulties of statistical thinking describes a puzzling limitation of our mind: our excessive confidence in what we believe we know, and our apparent inability to acknowledge the full extent of our ignorance and the uncertainty of the world we live in. We are prone to overestimate how much we understand about the world and to underestimate the role of chance in events -- Daniel Kahneman (2011), Winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics
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