Brazil’s victory over England puts things into perspective for me regarding the Super Eagles

[Ayo Akinfe]

[1] Nigerians are still savouring the improved display of the Super Eagles against the Black Stars on Friday

[2] In the first half of that game, we managed to keep possession of the ball and knock it around a little. We have not done that in a long while

[3] Maybe had Victor Osimhen been playing we would have won that match by three or four goals as Cyril Dessers was very wasteful

[4] As we wait to see what the team will offer us when they face Mali, I cannot but compare our match to yesterday’s England vs Brazil game at Wembley

[5] Brazil played with a very new and youthful team. Five players made there Selecao debuts yesterday

[6] Match winner Endrick is only 17. He is said to be the next big thing in Brazilian football

[7] As per England, watching Jude Bellingham run with the ball was like observing poetry in motion. He was simply a delight to watch and very pleasing on the eye

[8] Also, the cameos from England’s 18 year old Kobbie Mainoo were simply delightful. Both teams have very promising youngsters. Can Nigeria say the same?

[9] One other thing that struck we about the game was the way both teams closed down as a unit. Brazil in particular, simply did not let England shoot on their goal

[10] Yes, we played a lot better on Friday then we did at the Nations Cup but we still have a long way to go if we are serious about competing for the 2026 World Cup

[ohenhen1]

You take style bring England vs Brazil into Eagles nest.

[EMIR KONGI JAFFI JOFFA]

Watching the Bra v Eng game made me realize how far away we still are from competing with the best team in MF due to our lack of depth in 2 way CM who can run with the ball and distribute. We really need to find or fast track MF who fits the bill or we’ll always be a goal short at the top level. The way both teams transitioned from offense to defense was a joy to watch. Moving the ball from the back was a beauty.

Iwobi will suffice for now but we’ll need to find players with his abilities and better to really be relevant in the long run. He can get us into the WC as the sole creative player in MF but we’ll choke on Ndidi and Onyeka at the top level. This is why it’s extremely important to get Chukwuemeka and Uzochukwu asap.
A MF of Iwobi/ Chukwemeka and Ndidi/ Onyeka is likely the best we can get.

[Damunk]

I didn’t watch the match but you can bet that the difference between the world’s top teams and the rest are fine margins on an individual level multiplied by 11.

Occasionally you have a generational talent like a Bellingham for England, an Okocha for Naija or a Messi for Argentina and as long as you have high level complementary talent alongside him, you have a more than average chance of shaking the world.

Our problem has always been the wide disparity between the talent levels within any one SE team.

[Ayo Akinfe]

[1] We need Olise or Ebere to playmake. Someone who can run with the ball is key
[2] Osayi-Samuel and Onyemaechi were nowhere near good enough as fullbacks
[3] Ndidi and Onyeka are both anchormen. One has to make way for a box-to-box midfielder
[4] Our transition from defence to attack tales too long
[5] Do the Eagles ever practise getting the ball from one penalty area to the other in 10 seconds?
[6] We have to learn to hunt in packs like the Brazilians did. They never left a defender isolated one-on-one
[7] We have not even started off-the-ball movement activity. You need to see the way Bellingham and Foden were making unbelievable runs and creating space out of nothing
[8] Holding on to the ball is key. I do not think Brazil lost the ball more than twice in the entire 90 minutes
[9] I would like to see us try out young 17 year old exceptional kids too
[10] See why I insist on a world class coach. I am not prepared to gamble in the run-up to 2026!

[Dammy]

Watching the Bra v Eng game made me realize how far away we still are from competing with the best team in MF due to our lack of depth in 2 way CM who can run with the ball and distribute. We really need to find or fast track MF who fits the bill or we’ll always be a goal short at the top level. The way both teams transitioned from offense to defense was a joy to watch. Moving the ball from the back was a beauty.

Iwobi will suffice for now but we’ll need to find players with his abilities and better to really be relevant in the long run. He can get us into the WC as the sole creative player in MF but we’ll choke on Ndidi and Onyeka at the top level. This is why it’s extremely important to get Chukwuemeka and Uzochukwu asap.
A MF of Iwobi/ Chukwemeka and Ndidi/ Onyeka is likely the best we can get.

We’re not that far behind. The much criticised Sanusi’s reserve at Porto, Wendell started for Brazil

[jungle-jawara]

[1] Nigerians are still savouring the improved display of the Super Eagles against the Black Stars on Friday

[2] In the first half of that game, we managed to keep possession of the ball and knock it around a little. We have not done that in a long while

[3] Maybe had Victor Osimhen been playing we would have won that match by three or four goals as Cyril Dessers was very wasteful

[4] As we wait to see what the team will offer us when they face Mali, I cannot but compare our match to yesterday’s England vs Brazil game at Wembley

[5] Brazil played with a very new and youthful team. Five players made there Selecao debuts yesterday

[6] Match winner Endrick is only 17. He is said to be the next big thing in Brazilian football

[7] As per England, watching Jude Bellingham run with the ball was like observing poetry in motion. He was simply a delight to watch and very pleasing on the eye

[8] Also, the cameos from England’s 18 year old Kobbie Mainoo were simply delightful. Both teams have very promising youngsters. Can Nigeria say the same?

[9] One other thing that struck we about the game was the way both teams closed down as a unit. Brazil in particular, simply did not let England shoot on their goal

[10] Yes, we played a lot better on Friday then we did at the Nations Cup but we still have a long way to go if we are serious about competing for the 2026 World Cup

Wow!!! This I most agree is my favourite write up from AY in a long minute. Other times, the potential is their but the writing, in my own opinion, seemed to be more of comic relief than passing concrete information.

[jungle-jawara]

[1] Nigerians are still savouring the improved display of the Super Eagles against the Black Stars on Friday

[2] In the first half of that game, we managed to keep possession of the ball and knock it around a little. We have not done that in a long while

[3] Maybe had Victor Osimhen been playing we would have won that match by three or four goals as Cyril Dessers was very wasteful

[4] As we wait to see what the team will offer us when they face Mali, I cannot but compare our match to yesterday’s England vs Brazil game at Wembley

[5] Brazil played with a very new and youthful team. Five players made there Selecao debuts yesterday

[6] Match winner Endrick is only 17. He is said to be the next big thing in Brazilian football

[7] As per England, watching Jude Bellingham run with the ball was like observing poetry in motion. He was simply a delight to watch and very pleasing on the eye

[8] Also, the cameos from England’s 18 year old Kobbie Mainoo were simply delightful. Both teams have very promising youngsters. Can Nigeria say the same?

[9] One other thing that struck we about the game was the way both teams closed down as a unit. Brazil in particular, simply did not let England shoot on their goal

[10] Yes, we played a lot better on Friday then we did at the Nations Cup but we still have a long way to go if we are serious about competing for the 2026 World Cup

Wow!!! This I most agree is my favourite write up from AY in a long minute. Other times, the potential is their but the writing, in my own opinion, seemed to be more of comic relief than passing concrete information.

[Tobi17]

England were dire yesterday, if Brazil were more clinical in front of goal that would have been an embarrassing scoreline for England...overrated team.

[Ayo Akinfe]

England were dire yesterday, if Brazil were more clinical in front of goal that would have been an embarrassing scoreline for England...overrated team.

Jude Bellingham was the best player on the pitch yesterday

[Bigpokey24]

We all saw Senegal and Morocco defeat Brazil in friendlies, but some folks on CE are disrespecting teams like Nigeria etc, because they say, England lost to a very poor Brazilian size currently rebuilding. smh

[mcal]

[3] Maybe had Victor Osimhen been playing we would have won that match by three or four goals as Cyril Dessers was very wasteful

...as if Osimhen was not wasteful at last real match.
Abeg allow these guys to play.
They miss they learn.

[Ayo Akinfe]

We still have a long way to go when it comes to keeping possession, closing down as a team, being creative in the last third and launching swift counter attacks. We showed some improvement against Ghana but can we do that in a high tempo match?

[EMIR KONGI JAFFI JOFFA]

Will somebody tell Ayo that the “playmaker” role in modern football is dead and buried. Your opponent will not show up to watch plays directed by Nollywood on the green grass. He will be snuffed out like onku 1Naira in a millionaire’s club.

[YUJAM]

We should stop shrining these teams. They aren't much better than Nigeria. Just a few months ago, Senegal beat Brazil quite handily

[Bigpokey24]

[Bigpokey24]

[Bigpokey24]

[Bigpokey24]

just more for the clueless CE ,members here, who are weak mentally and when they see a foreign team they salivate

[Ayo Akinfe]

Do we have two teenage kids in the local league of the quality of Odiah and Babayaro, who can lockdown the fullback positions?

[Enugu II]

Do we have two teenage kids in the local league of the quality of Odiah and Babayaro, who can lockdown the fullback positions?

Ayo,

How much do you know about the local league? If you did, you may know that there are players emerging on a conveyor belt. European scouts know that already and that is why they scurry down to Nigeria to move those boys to Europe where they quickly emerge to the A squad of European clubs and ahead of numerous academy players in Europe. Even at that, those scouts are barely scratching the surface. Nigerian scouts barely know who these players are because the scouting system locally is inadequate. However, in spite of this, the conveyor of such talents continues to produce and produce. What needs to improve is a scouting system that does a more effective job in locating these products.

[Ayo Akinfe]

Do we have two teenage kids in the local league of the quality of Odiah and Babayaro, who can lockdown the fullback positions?

Ayo,

How much do you know about the local league? If you did, you may know that there are players emerging on a conveyor belt. European scouts know that already and that is why they scurry down to Nigeria to move those boys to Europe where they quickly emerge to the A squad of European clubs and ahead of numerous academy players in Europe. Even at that, those scouts are barely scratching the surface. Nigerian scouts barely know who these players are because the scouting system locally is inadequate. However, in spite of this, the conveyor of such talents continues to produce and produce. What needs to improve is a scouting system that does a more effective job in locating these products.

I am talking about quality here not quantity!