Football Nigeria -- Eagles Etcetera

We now arrive at an evaluation of forwards in order to complete the Nigerian G.O.A.T players. If you read the first two volumes, you would note that the team consists of the following (see below), prior to naming the forwards. After naming the forwards, we would have the final volume (Vol. 4) that names the G.O.A.T Coach with an Assistant Coach. ________________________________________________________ Starters GK:  Vincent Enyeama D:    Uche Okechukwu D:    Christian Chukwu D:    Stephen Keshi MF:  Sunday Oliseh MF:  Mikel Obi MF:  Muda Lawal MF:  Augustine Okocha Honorable Mentions My choice, admittedly subjective, are Emmanuel Okala, Yisa Sofoluwe, Taribo West,  Haruna Ilerika, and Henry Nwosu. ________________________________________________________ The G.O.A.T Forwards This is an area where it could become sentimental coming up with a list of G.O.A.T. players. But in the end, one has to s...

This is the second volume of selecting the greatest of all time (G.O.A.T) of Nigerian players. On July 18, I came up with the G.O.A.T. that included the goalkeepers and defenders. Below are players who made that list ( Details can be found here ): _________________________________ Selected Starters GK:  Vincent Enyeama D:    Uche Okechukwu D:    Christian Chukwu D:    Stephen Keshi Honorable Mentions My choice, admittedly subjective, are Emmanuel Okala, Yisa Sofoluwe, and Taribo West. _________________________________ This is now the time to select the midfielders, using the indices that were used for the July 18 selections. Our task is to select the four best midfielders of all time. The players that we considered are the following: Muda Lawal, Jide Johnson, Mikel Obi, Augustine Okocha, Sunday Oliseh, Henry Nwosu, Daniel Anyiam, Sam Garba, Haruna Ilerika, Chibuzor Ehilegbu, Sylvanus Okpala, Etim Esin, and Sam Okwaraji. All a...

From time to time, the media select the Greatest Of All Time (G.O.A.T) players of Nigeria but often this selection is based on recollections and subjectivities. Frankly, it is difficult to select such teams without relying on subjective factors and I do not deny such reliance, on my part, to select the team. To be sure, I have been privileged to watch most Nigerian national team players in action. The only set of players that I have not watched were the set that wore Nigerian colors prior to the explosion of multiple international games in the 1960s but even then I have researched the national team from its inception in 1949 till date. This reality, I believe, puts me in an important position to pass subjective judgments beyond the statistics. However, for this particular exercise, I will do something unique in the sense that I do not solely rely on subjectivities but also use available statistics in selecting the G.O.A.T.  The Subjectivities Before I commence, I state belo...

Gernot Rohr may have Nigeria knocking on the door to the finals of the 2018 World Cup but he has not yet debuted an impressive talent in any critical position for the Super Eagles. For nearly 12 months and counting, he has depended on players previously debuted by previous coaches. Sure, he has debuted a few players but none has claimed a major starting or impactful role. That inability to unearth special talent in critical positions will now present a challenge for him in the upcoming and crucial games against Cameroon, barely a month away. First team goalkeeper, Carl Ikeme, was diagnosed with Leukemia a few weeks back and the hope of all Nigerians is that he recovers from it, football aside. Ikeme has been very good for Nigeria and whether he is available in the future for the country is not the focus for him or well wishers. The focus is his recovery. However, his absence remains a huge challenge for Rohr. It is a challenge that has always been there since Rohr took over as...