Football Nigeria -- Eagles Etcetera

Finally, the long awaited World Cup qualifier against Cameroon arrives. In a space of a week, Nigeria's Super Eagles will host Cameroon's Indomitable Lions in Uyo and then head to Cameroon for the second encounter. Nigeria needs, perhaps, to win one of those games to have one leg into the 2018 World Cup finals in Russia. The Nigerian players have publicly spoken on beating Cameroon and heading for Russia. However, the time for the "Big Talk" is over. It is now either Nigeria backs up the talk or tuck their tails between their legs and rue missed opportunities to get to Russia. I watched Cameroon huff and puff in a home draw against Zambia in a World Cup qualifier last year. Cameroon was dreadful in that game. If Nigeria had walked into that game on that day, Nigeria would have easily taken the three points. However, Nigeria will now face a very different Cameroon team. A team now overflowing with confidence, playing reasonably well, and coming into the game as th...

In the last few weeks, I have dedicated space to write-ups on Greatest of All Time (G.O.A.T) players and coaches of Nigeria based on accomplishments in the senior national team. With this final piece, there are now five volumes of write-ups. In this final volume, I do not identify G.O.A.T. players or coaches. Those already identified can be found by clicking on this link . Instead, this final volume is predictive i.e. it predicts who may be a future G.O.A.T. and those who are current G.O.A.T. but likely to fade in the future. Those likely to Fade Clearly, the G.O.A.T. list is never permanent. It changes as new players come of age, old ones fade away, and new guys outdo achievements of the old. This dynamic process means that the list of G.O.A.T players and coaches in 1995 cannot be the same in 2005 or in 2015 and, thus, the expectation is the G.O.A.T today will surely change in the future. In any case, I want to examine those who have been listed as G.O.A.T starters or hono...

Nigeria senior national team has a remarkable history of numerous managers, several barely lasting a few years at the helm. Sifting through the list of managers and their accomplishments is not especially difficult because Nigeria has won very few championships at the senior level. However, it has to be noted that winning championships, though important, is not the only criterion used in determining the G.O.A.T. among Nigerian coaches. It is important to look at their efficiency scores, particularly in competitive games and games played away from home. Finalists The initial list for G.O.A.T included the following: Shuaibu Amodu, Josef Ember, Otto Gloria, Stephen Keshi, Jorge Penna, Jelisavcic "Father Tiko" Tihomir, and Clemens Westerhoff. Each finalist distinguished himself in one way or the other. Either he was consistently good with the team or won a championship or performed remarkably in a tournament with the team. There are coaches like Eguavoen and Bonfrere who h...

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...