Ex-Super Eagles star (Victor Agali) reveals why Nigeria missed out on World Cup, impressed

[iworo]

Ex-Super Eagles star (Victor Agali) reveals why Nigeria missed out on World Cup, impressed

Former Super Eagles striker Victor Okechukwu Agali believes the change of coaching crew before the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations in Cameroon and the 2022 FIFA World Cup playoffs in March affected Nigeria's chances of qualifying for the tournament in Qatar.

Gernot Rohr was sacked by the Amaju Melvin Pinnick led Nigeria Football Federation and replaced on interim basis by former international Austin Eguavoen but the Tunisia '94 Africa Cup of Nations winner could not steer the three-time African champions to a seventh World Cup appearance.

Ghana picked one of Africa's five World Cup tickets at the expense of Nigeria on the away goals rule after a goalless first leg tie in Kumasi and 1-1 at the Moshood Abiola stadium, Abuja. Agali shared his thoughts on Brila FM on Monday 13 days to the start of the tournament.

"The Management (NFF) at that time took a drastic decision," Agali who played a crucial role in the Eagles' passage to the 2002 World Cup in Korea and Japan told Brila FM.

Speaking further on the composition of the current Super Eagles team under substantive coach Jose Peseiro who has not been paid of his salaries since his appointment, Agali who played for Hansa Rostok in the German Bundesliga said the following:

"We still have problems defensively but offensively, we are good to go.

"The strikers are in form at the moment. Hopefully that continues so that we pick up a 2023 Afcon ticket. Missing the World Cup is a big disappointment," Agali added.

Nigerian strikers were in great scoring form over the weekend with Victor Osimhen scoring one and assisting the other in Napoli's 2-1 win over Atalanta.

Ademola Lookman scored one of Atalanta's goals from the penalty spot given away by Osimhen.

Paul Onuachu scored four goals for his Belgian side in the Pro leaguein the last round of matches albeit he has not produced so much of that form for the national team.

Terem Moffi also continued his form in the French Ligue 1 as he scored his ninth goal of the season in Lorient's 1-2 defeat to PSG this weekend.

Moffi is third on the goal scorers chart in France behind the illustrious PSG duo of Kylian Mbappe and Neymar junior who have scored 11 Ligue 1 goals..

https://www.allnigeriasoccer.com/read_n ... ?nid=45398

[jette1]

Reveals ?

[iworo]

Reveals ?

[visieC]

I am not too sure Agali is correct because Cameroon also sacked their coach and brought in Song and they qualifies.
Just another point of view.

I believe the reason Nigeria did not qualify is because the players and the country as a whole believed the qualification was in the bag before the game.

My humble opinion.

Visie

[Scipio Africanus]

I am not too sure Agali is correct because Cameroon also sacked their coach and brought in Song and they qualifies.
Just another point of view.

I believe the reason Nigeria did not qualify is because the players and the country as a whole believed the qualification was in the bag before the game.

My humble opinion.

Visie

Osimhen is a great player but he kept going for the spectacular instead of the simple when presented with several chances to score. Just one of those goes in and we would be telling a different story.

[Orion]

Ex-Super Eagles star (Victor Agali) reveals why Nigeria missed out on World Cup, impressed

Former Super Eagles striker Victor Okechukwu Agali believes the change of coaching crew before the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations in Cameroon and the 2022 FIFA World Cup playoffs in March affected Nigeria's chances of qualifying for the tournament in Qatar.

Any rational, honest person knows this by now, given all the events that have transpired since the sacking.

You can say well, it's just the benefit of hindsight, but some of us could see this coming because WE HAVE DONE THIS BEFORE!
Amodu's sacking was a great example. In the time left, there was nothing a new coach could have done with that pool of players that would have been drastically different from what Amodu was getting out of them.

Even when Egu was winning the initial games at the AFCON and folks were celebrating a new dawn, I still had a sense of trepidation for our WC chances because history was telling me that sacking Rohr was a mistake.

[visieC]

Ex-Super Eagles star (Victor Agali) reveals why Nigeria missed out on World Cup, impressed

Former Super Eagles striker Victor Okechukwu Agali believes the change of coaching crew before the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations in Cameroon and the 2022 FIFA World Cup playoffs in March affected Nigeria's chances of qualifying for the tournament in Qatar.

Any rational, honest person knows this by now, given all the events that have transpired since the sacking.

You can say well, it's just the benefit of hindsight, but some of us could see this coming because WE HAVE DONE THIS BEFORE!
Amodu's sacking was a great example. In the time left, there was nothing a new coach could have done with that pool of players that would have been drastically different from what Amodu was getting out of them.

Even when Egu was winning the initial games at the AFCON and folks were celebrating a new dawn, I still had a sense of trepidation for our WC chances because history was telling me that sacking Rohr was a mistake.

Orion:

You said it perfectly. Hindsight is 20/20.

[Bigpokey24]

You people are still crying kai

[vancity eagle]

Rigobert Song
Otto Addo

Both hired right before playoffs and won.

Song beat out a coach who has been with the team for over 4 years.

Egu had much more time with SE, than Addo had with Ghana.

It's more than simply hiring or firing a coach.

There are a number of reasons we failed.

Poor goalkeeping (Uzoho)
Poor finishing (Osimehn)
Selfish play (Moses Simon)
Inability to stay onside (Osimehn)
Poor player selection and tactics (Eguavoen)
Suspended player (Iwobi)
Injured players (Ndidi)
Failure to solidify midfield (Eguavoen)

There's plenty of blame to go around, it isn't one thing in particular

These all contributed. And the things we can blame Egu directly for Rohr was doing very similar things.

[Damunk]

Reveals ?

[Damunk]

Ex-Super Eagles star (Victor Agali) reveals why Nigeria missed out on World Cup, impressed

Former Super Eagles striker Victor Okechukwu Agali believes the change of coaching crew before the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations in Cameroon and the 2022 FIFA World Cup playoffs in March affected Nigeria's chances of qualifying for the tournament in Qatar.

Any rational, honest person knows this by now, given all the events that have transpired since the sacking.

You can say well, it's just the benefit of hindsight, but some of us could see this coming because WE HAVE DONE THIS BEFORE!
Amodu's sacking was a great example. In the time left, there was nothing a new coach could have done with that pool of players that would have been drastically different from what Amodu was getting out of them.

Even when Egu was winning the initial games at the AFCON and folks were celebrating a new dawn, I still had a sense of trepidation for our WC chances because history was telling me that sacking Rohr was a mistake.

Orion:

You said it perfectly. Hindsight is 20/20.

Nope, not in this case.
The debates were fast and furious and the warnings were made with the very predictable outcomes BEFORE Rohr was sacked. Even before Egu was ever mentioned or appointed, it was pointed out that there was NO COACH local or foreign capable of performing magic so close to AFCON.
Go check.

That was foresight, not hindsight.
But as usual, Nigerians will be Nigerians, hoping for a miracle to descend from heaven just in time.

[Lolly]

Ex-Super Eagles star (Victor Agali) reveals why Nigeria missed out on World Cup, impressed

Former Super Eagles striker Victor Okechukwu Agali believes the change of coaching crew before the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations in Cameroon and the 2022 FIFA World Cup playoffs in March affected Nigeria's chances of qualifying for the tournament in Qatar.

Any rational, honest person knows this by now, given all the events that have transpired since the sacking.

You can say well, it's just the benefit of hindsight, but some of us could see this coming because WE HAVE DONE THIS BEFORE!
Amodu's sacking was a great example. In the time left, there was nothing a new coach could have done with that pool of players that would have been drastically different from what Amodu was getting out of them.

Even when Egu was winning the initial games at the AFCON and folks were celebrating a new dawn, I still had a sense of trepidation for our WC chances because history was telling me that sacking Rohr was a mistake.

Orion:

You said it perfectly. Hindsight is 20/20.

Nope, not in this case.
The debates were fast and furious and the warnings were made with the very predictable outcomes BEFORE Rohr was sacked. Even before Egu was ever mentioned or appointed, it was pointed out that there was NO COACH local or foreign capable of performing magic so close to AFCON.
Go check.

That was foresight, not hindsight.
But as usual, Nigerians will be Nigerians, hoping for a miracle to descend from heaven just in time.

I don’t agree with the highlighted. Ghana and Cameroon proved that a coach can perform magic with the right players.

I wasn’t expecting us to win AFCON with a new coach but we would have used AFCON to prepare the team for the WC qualifiers. But typical of the NFF and the usual Naija wuru wuru, we opted for a poor coach. Anyobody familiar with our football should know Eguavoen is poor, really poor. But it’s all history now. Hope we have learnt a small lesson.

[Damunk]

Ex-Super Eagles star (Victor Agali) reveals why Nigeria missed out on World Cup, impressed

Former Super Eagles striker Victor Okechukwu Agali believes the change of coaching crew before the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations in Cameroon and the 2022 FIFA World Cup playoffs in March affected Nigeria's chances of qualifying for the tournament in Qatar.

Any rational, honest person knows this by now, given all the events that have transpired since the sacking.

You can say well, it's just the benefit of hindsight, but some of us could see this coming because WE HAVE DONE THIS BEFORE!
Amodu's sacking was a great example. In the time left, there was nothing a new coach could have done with that pool of players that would have been drastically different from what Amodu was getting out of them.

Even when Egu was winning the initial games at the AFCON and folks were celebrating a new dawn, I still had a sense of trepidation for our WC chances because history was telling me that sacking Rohr was a mistake.

Orion:

You said it perfectly. Hindsight is 20/20.

Nope, not in this case.
The debates were fast and furious and the warnings were made with the very predictable outcomes BEFORE Rohr was sacked. Even before Egu was ever mentioned or appointed, it was pointed out that there was NO COACH local or foreign capable of performing magic so close to AFCON.
Go check.

That was foresight, not hindsight.
But as usual, Nigerians will be Nigerians, hoping for a miracle to descend from heaven just in time.

I don’t agree with the highlighted. Ghana and Cameroon proved that a coach can perform magic with the right players.

I wasn’t expecting us to win AFCON with a new coach but we would have used AFCON to prepare the team for the WC qualifiers. But typical of the NFF and the usual Naija wuru wuru, we opted for a poor coach. Anyobody familiar with our football should know Eguavoen is poor, really poor.

Then a least 60% of our forum members must be unfamiliar with our football.
We argued this thing until we were tired.
I even broke down the final options to Amuneke, Eguavon and Finidi.
Of course, they were all “quite capable” of getting the job done according to the blinkered crowd, despite Yusuff’s abysmal record (and questionable ethics), Eguavon’s lack of active coaching duty and the untested Finidi’s inexperience.
Then of course there were the brilliant local coaches all in hiding or holding back their real skills from the NPFL.

But it’s all history now. Hope we have learnt a small lesson.

YOURE JOKING, RIGHT?
Didn’t we say this after doing the Amodu Thing, twice?

We said that one too, but the comeback was “that one was different”.

We are Nigerians.
We will justify anything, clean mouth, face front.

[Enugu II]

Damunk

Are we to assume that your foresight included the Video replay rendering Nigeria 10 v 11? And the foresight included Uzoho bumbling a harmless ball underneath himself?

[Orion]

Didn’t we say this after doing the Amodu Thing, twice?

That's true. We did that to Amodu TWICE! I keep thinking only of 2010.

Of course, Amodu would have done better at the 2002 WC than Onigbinde's team. I actually preferred his team that got bronze at the AFCON. If it wasn't for that missed penalty by Oruma it could have been a NIG - CAM final.

We've got more than enough experience on this now, yet we keep repeating the same mistake.

[Orion]

I don’t agree with the highlighted. Ghana and Cameroon proved that a coach can perform magic with the right players.

I don't agree that Song improved Cameroon. They had a decent team at the AFCON and I think the previous coach would have defeated Algeria comfortably. Song lost at home and was lucky to win away with the last kick of the game due to just sheer bad luck for Algeria who were the better side on the night.

Regarding Ghana, I have no problem with sacking a coach that failed spectacularly because team morale may be negatively affected as well. They had no choice. Our coach succeeded in his objective.

[fabio]

All these Rohr boys thinking Rohr would have qualified for the WC are just fantasist.

[Damunk]

Damunk
Are we to assume that your foresight included the Video replay rendering Nigeria 10 v 11? And the foresight included Uzoho bumbling a harmless ball underneath himself?

Ah, Prof...we are making excuses now are we?
Where was all this .....understanding when we drew 4-4 with S/Leone and lost 0-1 at home to...who was it again?
I thought those results made up the "proof" that we would not and could not qualifyfor Qatar or go beyond R1 of AFCON.

[Damunk]

All these Rohr boys thinking Rohr would have qualified for the WC are just fantasist.

And you "progressives" are not fantasists in believing we would do better by getting rid of him with nobody capable of replacing?
See as your 'progression' don turn to regression.

[fabio]

All these Rohr boys thinking Rohr would have qualified for the WC are just fantasist.

And you "progressives" are not fantasists in believing we would do better by getting rid of him with nobody capable of replacing?
See as your 'progression' don turn to regression.

There was no guarantee Rohr would have qualified for the WC. I know it's hard for Rohr boys to comprehend.

[Damunk]

All these Rohr boys thinking Rohr would have qualified for the WC are just fantasist.

And you "progressives" are not fantasists in believing we would do better by getting rid of him with nobody capable of replacing?
See as your 'progression' don turn to regression.

There was no guarantee Rohr would have qualified for the WC. I know it's hard for Rohr boys to comprehend.

Fabio, nothing in life is guaranteed.
But you don’t go and jump in the Lagos lagoon because you are not sure you’ll be alive tomorrow.
Not sure why you ‘forward thinking’ boys find that even harder to comprehend.

[OJI]

Rigobert Song
Otto Addo

Both hired right before playoffs and won.

Song beat out a coach who has been with the team for over 4 years.

Egu had much more time with SE, than Addo had with Ghana.

It's more than simply hiring or firing a coach.

There are a number of reasons we failed.

Poor goalkeeping (Uzoho)
Poor finishing (Osimehn)
Selfish play (Moses Simon)
Inability to stay onside (Osimehn)
Poor player selection and tactics (Eguavoen)
Suspended player (Iwobi)
Injured players (Ndidi)
Failure to solidify midfield (Eguavoen)

There's plenty of blame to go around, it isn't one thing in particular

These all contributed. And the things we can blame Egu directly for Rohr was doing very similar things.

Thanks for the holistic approach.
The fatal assumption was Eguavoen, as the technical director, was supposedly privy to the good, bad and ugly facets of the team composed under Rohr.

Eguavoen's nonchalance, coupled with lack of real knowledge of the players despite being the technical director over 4-5 matches with Rohr betrays his lack of seriousness, and understanding of his role.

Misplaced hope as Eguavoen was given that interim coaching position under the impression he was going to have less of a learning curve than a completely brand new coach under those circumstances.


Rohr gone. Pinnick gone. Eguavoen still there.

[bamenda boy]

I am not too sure Agali is correct because Cameroon also sacked their coach and brought in Song and they qualifies.
Just another point of view.

I believe the reason Nigeria did not qualify is because the players and the country as a whole believed the qualification was in the bag before the game.

My humble opinion.

Visie

Kpom!