SE team of the year

[EMIR KONGI JAFFI JOFFA]

These are the best performing 11 players of 2024 in their positions for both club and country. Starts Jan to date and includes Afcon games. If a player missed Afcon, WCQ and Afcon qualifiers but was healthy most of the season, his performance during the season was used to determine his place in the team.

433

Okoye

Aina
Bassey
Troost
Onyemachi

Iwobi
Ndidi
Onyeka

Lookman
Simon
Vic

Honorable mention to the following players.

Nwabali - Had an excellent Afcon but injuries have limited his appearances after Afcon. Okoye has played more games and performed at a higher level consistently until he too got injured. Both are worthy.

Chrisantus - yet to be capped but certainly one for the future. I believe his arrival to SE will be distrustive to the team when he finally gets a call. He’s going to have to play at somebody’s expense.

Dele Bashiru - Eased into SE effortlessly and he’s performing for his team, another player the the SE will have to accommodate regularly if he keeps it up.

Cyril Dessers - scored 16 goals in the SPL and also scored in the CL

Boniface- Yet to score for SE but he’s talent and consistency for Bayer is not in doubt.

Ojediran - Tenacious MF whose time will come soon if he keeps performing. Similar game to Onazi, tough tackler, covers the pitch well and passes well. Very good debut season for Lens.

Onyedika - Another MF performing for well for his club but is yet to get a regular run of games for SE.

Summary

A year ago it seemed like we were overloaded with strikers that we couldn’t find playing time for , form and injuries have finally sorted that out to the point that we might need to start looking for new talent up front. Sadiq, Nacho and Awoniyi have failed to find form, injury took out Moffi and Boniface is struggling in the gwg. We literally can only rely on Vic, he too is injury prone.

There’s also a need to find a long term replacement for Troost who’s likely in his final year as a SE player unless we qualify for the WC. LB is another position we’ll need depth in the coming year. Onyemachi needs competition since Sanusi doesn’t seem to be the same player since his injury.

Finally, the most important battle coming up in the next yr will be in MF. All of a sudden we have about 8-10 DM/CM who are all quality players that’ll fight for 3-4 spots in MF assuming Iwobi and Ndidi are guaranteed spots. Unfortunately, only FSB can be considered an attacking MF, a position we’ll desperately need help with. Tough decisions await whoever coaches the team for the WCQ.

Decisions on player selections, style of play and general team make up of the team will have to be made in the next few weeks if we’re to qualify for the WC. Will the coach stick with the core set of players we’ve had over the last year or will new players be brought in to form a new core. Thats the million $ question.

[bret- hart]

What kind of INEC list is this? Nwabali >>>>> Okoye. While Okoye ran from the SEs, Nwabali that only had 1 cap for Nigeria prior took over and made the #1 spot his and helped Nigeria get to the AFCON final and was a Goalkeeper of the year nominee.

[ANC]

good list

[EMIR KONGI JAFFI JOFFA]

What kind of INEC list is this? Nwabali >>>>> Okoye. While Okoye ran from the SEs, Nwabali that only had 1 cap for Nigeria prior took over and made the #1 spot his and helped Nigeria get to the AFCON final and was a Goalkeeper of the year nominee.

No doubt. Nwabali just hasn’t been as active since Afcon due to injury.

[wanaj0]

What kind of INEC list is this? Nwabali >>>>> Okoye. While Okoye ran from the SEs, Nwabali that only had 1 cap for Nigeria prior took over and made the #1 spot his and helped Nigeria get to the AFCON final and was a Goalkeeper of the year nominee.

No doubt. Nwabali just hasn’t been as active since Afcon due to injury.

You are the only one that can put Okoye ahead of Nwabali for SE in the year 2024

We saw Okoye play for SE this year and his performance confirmed that Okoye has little to worry about as far as the Number 1 shirt is concerned.

[Babalawo]

What kind of INEC list is this? Nwabali >>>>> Okoye. While Okoye ran from the SEs, Nwabali that only had 1 cap for Nigeria prior took over and made the #1 spot his and helped Nigeria get to the AFCON final and was a Goalkeeper of the year nominee.

No doubt. Nwabali just hasn’t been as active since Afcon due to injury.

You are the only one that can put Okoye ahead of Nwabali for SE in the year 2024

We saw Okoye play for SE this year and his performance confirmed that Okoye has little to worry about as far as the Number 1 shirt is concerned.

Okoye is better than Nwabali.

[Damunk]

No doubt. Nwabali just hasn’t been as active since Afcon due to injury.

You are the only one that can put Okoye ahead of Nwabali for SE in the year 2024

We saw Okoye play for SE this year and his performance confirmed that Okoye has little to worry about as far as the Number 1 shirt is concerned.

Okoye is better than Nwabali.

I don’t know whether it was a Freudian slip but it seems wanaj0 is agreeing with the both of you.

[EMIR KONGI JAFFI JOFFA]

No doubt. Nwabali just hasn’t been as active since Afcon due to injury.

You are the only one that can put Okoye ahead of Nwabali for SE in the year 2024

We saw Okoye play for SE this year and his performance confirmed that Okoye has little to worry about as far as the Number 1 shirt is concerned.

Okoye is better than Nwabali.

I don’t know whether it was a Freudian slip but it seems wanaj0 is agreeing with the both of you.

It’s an open secret. Everybody knows that Okoye is the better of the 2 goalies but their bias and nationalism won’t allow them to acknowledge the obvious. Nwabali is a very good goalie, one of the best in Africa if not the best. However, he’s not as vetted as the younger Okoye against the best players in the world.

[wanaj0]

No doubt. Nwabali just hasn’t been as active since Afcon due to injury.

You are the only one that can put Okoye ahead of Nwabali for SE in the year 2024

We saw Okoye play for SE this year and his performance confirmed that Okoye has little to worry about as far as the Number 1 shirt is concerned.

Okoye is better than Nwabali.

I don’t know whether it was a Freudian slip but it seems wanaj0 is agreeing with the both of you.

It’s an open secret. Everybody knows that Okoye is the better of the 2 goalies but their bias and nationalism won’t allow them to acknowledge the obvious. Nwabali is a very good goalie, one of the best in Africa if not the best. However, he’s not as vetted as the younger Okoye against the best players in the world.

The SE number 1 shirt is far away from Okoye so he should not worry himself about it

Okoye was tested against the 'best' in Africa and he came short! Fact not Feelings

Again we are talking of the SE here

[niyi]

What kind of INEC list is this? Nwabali >>>>> Okoye. While Okoye ran from the SEs, Nwabali that only had 1 cap for Nigeria prior took over and made the #1 spot his and helped Nigeria get to the AFCON final and was a Goalkeeper of the year nominee.

No doubt. Nwabali just hasn’t been as active since Afcon due to injury.

Did you mean to type Nwakali?

[olu]

If we are looking at performances for both club and country then I'll take Nwabali over Okoye. However, if we are looking at just club performances, Okoye gets the nod.

Other honorable mentions are Onyedika, Osayi-Samuel, and Arokodare based on their club performances. Tho Onyedika and Osayi-Samuel have been decent in their limited minutes for the SE this year.

[TonyTheTigerKiller]

There’s that inferiority complex cropping up agsin. Okoye plays in Serie A therefore he must be better than Nwabali even though Nwabali’s performances for the national team have been significantly better than Okoye’s


Cheers.

[EMIR KONGI JAFFI JOFFA]

There’s that inferiority complex cropping up agsin. Okoye plays in Serie A therefore he must be better than Nwabali even though Nwabali’s performances for the national team have been significantly better than Okoye’s


Cheers.

There could also be some cognitive dissonance going on. Everybody that knows football in the world knows that a goalkeeper for a top 10 club in Serie A is invariably a better keeper than a keeper in the lower ranks of the South African league . It’s not possible to be better than your competition unless you’re putting up consistent, not occasional performances at the top level. Afcon is great but it’s levels below what Okoye face week in week out.

[TonyTheTigerKiller]

There’s that inferiority complex cropping up agsin. Okoye plays in Serie A therefore he must be better than Nwabali even though Nwabali’s performances for the national team have been significantly better than Okoye’s


Cheers.

There could also be some cognitive dissonance going on. Everybody that knows football in the world knows that a goalkeeper for a top 10 club in Serie A is invariably a better keeper than a keeper in the lower ranks of the South African league . It’s not possible to be better than your competition unless you’re putting up consistent, not occasional performances at the top level. Afcon is great but it’s levels below what Okoye face week in week out.

For starters, you should go look up the meaning of cognitive dissonance because it very clearly does not apply here.

Secondly, your assumptions are grossly incorrect and that can be easily demonstrated with specific examples. Consider that Vincent Enyeama transferred from Hapoel Tel Aviv to Lille where, at some point, he was recognized as one of the world’s best keepers. Do you think Lille sought his transfer for any reason other than the fact that they recognized his tremendous ability? Clearly, they went after him precisely because he was better than what they previously had.

Thirdly, it is quite delusional to think that playing against the likes of Salah, Osimhen, Lookman, Mané, Mahrez and Hakimi, to mention just a few, is playing at a level below what Okoye faces in Italy. If that were true, it would suggest that any Serie A player can walk in to any African national team. That kind of thinking aptly demonstrates the inferiority complex I spoke about earlier


Cheers.