Football Nigeria -- Eagles Etcetera

Recently, an explosive debate has gone on about whether players in Nigeria's local league are good enough to make the national team squad. The debate has generated so many opinion that the Federation has publicly indicated that it plans to include in the national team coach's contract a requirement to intensely scout the local league. The fact remains, however, that many Nigerians have developed several unpleasant myths about the local league. Here are some of the often repeated myths about players in the the elite league in Nigeria. We examine each of them below. 1. These are poorly skilled players unworthy of playing for the Super Eagles. This myth has existed since the mid-1990s when the Super Eagles dominated Africa with a team that was made almost entirely by foreign-based players. In fact, at the time, the team starters were all based outside the country. Although the national team continues to constitute players drawn from outside the country, two squads built duri...

When Nigeria lines up for two AFCON qualifiers against Sierra Leone late this month it will mark an unspoken test for Nigeria. Nigeria's team, since a disappointing World Cup two years ago, has been rebuilt into a team that most Nigerians feel may be the best in quite some time. The squad has interchangeable players and no one player can be designated a star that the team depends on to thrive. But yet it is also a vastly different squad from any in the country's history. In 70 years of international football, Nigeria has never featured a squad that is so dependent on players with dual citizenship, many born outside Africa. That very characteristic is claimed to be the biggest asset of this team. The fans believe that players bred in Nigeria lack appropriate football education required to compete with the best in the world. But the rough and tumble of African soccer may well challenge that claim and that is where the Sierra Leonians step up. African soccer is not, at times...

On July 18 of 2013, I ran some numbers to check on the integrity of the elite league in Nigeria ( Click here ) and they revealed serious questions regarding integrity of the league. The 2013 data compare the league in Nigeria to those in Ghana, South Africa, and England on percentages of home and away wins. Nigeria's percentages were aberrant compared to the three other leagues. Nigerian home teams won 77% of their matches, an incredibly huge percentage. Moreover, home teams were awarded 100% of the penalty kicks most of which came in the second half. Then 2013 was compared to the Nigerian league of 1979. The difference was stark. The 1979 version was statistically similar to other non-Nigerian leagues. In essence, it demonstrates how decadent the Nigerian league has become since the credible years, several decades ago!  Seven years after that 2013 blog, I now use the Sofascore website to check on the same issues. The data are accessed March 1, 2020. This time, I compare the ...

The method that the Confederation for African Football (CAF) has set up for the 2022 World Cup tournament qualification assures a difficult path for every African team. The first hurdle on that difficult road will be the group games. The next and final hurdle will be the draw for the play off between the group champions at a later date. Of course, this assures that Africa will arrive in Qatar with five teams that have passed very difficult tests. Of the ten groups made known today, the most difficult group is surely Group D based on the most recent FIFA ranks (December 19). Group D has the highest average rank when compared to the others (see Table 1) and the two top ranked teams in that group have the smallest differential of -8 (see Table 3) signifying a tough battle between the top two teams. Top teams with differential of -27 or below are most likely to face grim battles to finish top. The differential of -27 is an arbitrary figure based on differential between Senegal (Ranked...

Nigerians may be raving about results from recent international friendlies against two of the World's Top 10 teams and two consecutive wins to begin the 2021 African Cup of Nations qualifiers late in 2019. However, beneath all of that is a shaky defense that has only one clean sheet in its last nine  (9) games (see below). It has become routine to expect the Nigerian national team to concede a goal or two whether at home or away and whether it is against a top notch defense or against nondescript teams. Recently, Nigeria gave up two goals against Lesotho in a game that Nigeria largely dominated. In several of these games, the goalkeeper was hardly at fault in spite of the belief that Nigeria's problem is suspect goalkeeping. This frailty, clearly, go beyond goalkeeping. It is squarely an issue with the defense. Nigeria's Last 9 Games (Team A) 0-2 v Madagascar   June 30, 2019 3-2 v Cameroon      July 6, 2019 2-1 v South Africa   July 10, 2019 1-...

The grade of C earned by Nigerian football in 2019 is the lowest in four years and it denotes a steady trajectory of decline. Last year, it graded C+ after grades of B- and B in the previous two years. The overall grade of C follows a year of two C- grades in two categories and C grades in two other categories. Only one category (The Super Eagles) received a grade of  above C. It received an A- grade, an upgrade from B which it earned in the previous year. The Super Eagles -- the country's flagship team -- has never received a grade less than B- since the Annual Report began in 2016. This year's A- represents the excitement surrounding the team after a disappointing 2018 which had ended with a gloomy World Cup. Below is a look at each graded category. Youth Football Both the U17 and U20 teams participated at the FIFA World Cup with their peers. For most countries in the world, that participation would have been something to celebrate. However,...

Maseru, Lesotho -- Victor Osimhen played an incredible game today with two goals and two assists as Nigeria overcame Lesotho's challenge 4-2 in an African Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualifier. Osimhen's performance was spectacular and will be difficult to replicate in the future, that much is not arguable. That it was against Lesotho makes little difference. Some of his colleagues could not cope with Lesotho as they encountered a poor field, altitude, and the fact of African football, pressure on the ball and tough tackles. In a game, thoroughly dominated by Osimhen's display, it is time to point to some milestones for the day as well as the rating for each player. 1.  Osimhen's two goals were the first and second goals that he has scored in open play for Nigeria. 2. This was Nigeria's most goals in an away game during Gernot Rohr's tenure. 3.  Daniel Akpeyi, despite having no blame for the two goals conceded by Nigeria, is having a torrid career in Nigeria...