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Nigerian International Team <-- more overrated than England.


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I loved watching Nigeria in '98 but I've been underwhelmed by them ever since. Africa as a footballing continent does seem to be getting better mind, Ivory Coast and Ghana both looked decent at the last world cup, Egypt impressed me in the ACN last year as well. Cameroon have got Sammi Eto'o too, must be fairly good.

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Guest westamfan

Think of the players who have burst onto the scene from Nigeria over the years, particularly the last 10 or so,

 

Daniel Amokachi

Tijani Babangida

Celestine Babayaro

Nwankwo Kanu

Garba Lawal

Jay-Jay Okocha

Sunday Oliseh

Taribo West

Chinedu Obasi

Victor Nsofor Obinna

Victor Anichebe

Obafemi Martins

Nwankwo Kanu

John Obi Mikel

Taye Taiwo

Joseph Yobo

Finidi George

Julius Aghahowa

Victor Ikpeba

Yakubu

Augustine Okocha

 

 

 

that's because they all lied about their ages

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Wow there's a few blasts from the past in that list. Lawal, West, Babangida, Finidi, Ockocha...

 

I'll always remember that Sunday Oliseh goal against Spain to knock them out in 98'. You missed out Mutiu (sp) aswelll, I seem to remember him being a canny player.

 

Is Augustine Ockocha and Jay Jay Ockocha not the same person?

 

Anyway to critisize them for not winning the ACN every other year is a silly and uninformed view. There are plenty of good teams in Africa. Cameroon, Senegal, Tunisia, Egypt, Mali, South Africa, Ghana and The Ivory coast have all had good squads that could easily match Nigeria's over the years. African football has done well for a continent blighted by War and unstability aswell as most countries being 3rd world Africa has produced some of the worlds finest players.

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Think of the players who have burst onto the scene from Nigeria over the years, particularly the last 10 or so,

 

Daniel Amokachi

Tijani Babangida

Celestine Babayaro

Nwankwo Kanu

Garba Lawal

Jay-Jay Okocha

Sunday Oliseh

Taribo West

Chinedu Obasi

Victor Nsofor Obinna

Victor Anichebe

Obafemi Martins

Nwankwo Kanu

John Obi Mikel

Taye Taiwo

Joseph Yobo

Finidi George

Julius Aghahowa

Victor Ikpeba

Yakubu

Augustine Okocha

 

 

 

that's because they all lied about their ages

 

:lol:

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Um, correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't Okocha's name Augustine "Jay-Jay" Okocha? So listing him twice is a bit like putting Pele and Edison Arantes do Nascimento on the same list as different people?

 

 

:lol: What a numpty.

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So when did England last win anything ?

 

1997

What on earth did England win in 1997?

Think of the players who have burst onto the scene from Nigeria over the years, particularly the last 10 or so,

 

Daniel Amokachi

Tijani Babangida

Celestine Babayaro

Nwankwo Kanu

Garba Lawal

Jay-Jay Okocha

Sunday Oliseh

Taribo West

Chinedu Obasi

Victor Nsofor Obinna

Victor Anichebe

Obafemi Martins

Nwankwo Kanu

John Obi Mikel

Taye Taiwo

Joseph Yobo

Finidi George

Julius Aghahowa

Victor Ikpeba

Yakubu

Augustine Okocha

 

 

 

that's because they all lied about their ages

You know something man...I hate you. I've seen like two of your posts and my dislike of you is greater than any other member on this forum, even NE5. I'm sorry. Honestly.

 

Out of the players on the listed...a couple ring out as obvious age cheats, but for the most part age cheating is something that is not as prevalent among the top African nations anymore, especially now as the boys are leaving for Europe at very young ages.

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La Tournoi. :lol:

 

Daft thread IMO, most of the players in the original post are pretty shite, and even the better ones are highly erractic types. Hardly the foundation for world domination now is it?

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Nigerias ministry of sport?  :lol:

 

Crap infrastructure with no real commitment to really achieving anything in sport in general, which is just not taken that seriously.

 

They will never put any money into sports when it can go into their pockets. It's the last thing they will support.

 

Players are completely disillusioned and only really show up for the national team because if they don't they won't be able to show their faces in their country anymore.

 

A huge shame really because the talent is there in abundance.

 

If we spent a tenth of the money England did we would likely have won the world cup by now. Easily.

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Before the call-up, West had been playing for years in what was then National First Division league for various clubs, notably Sharks, Obanta United, Enugu Rangers and then Julius Berger. In the course of our thorough investigations, we found that three of the players licences from different clubs endorsed by the NFA League Department bore three different dates of birth. We also found out, based on NFA documents that for the player to be 18 at the time, he would have been playing top class football in Nigeria at the age of 12.

 

Here I found this real quick (about Mr. West being called up to u-20 squad) :lol:

 

The culture has changed though as football on the continent has progressed. I will admit a significant number of players in the generation before utilised this.

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Guest Alan Shearer 9

Nelson Mandela's got a call up to the U17s vs Cameroon

I hope Peter Ramage bums you tbh.

 

It'd be very dull, his ball control is non existant

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http://www.davie.me.uk/images/likes/fonejacker.jpg

 

"You want Nigerian soccer player? He only 37, err, 21, yes. You transfer the monies to my account now, yes."

 

:coolsmiley:

 

Don't hate me though baba, it's only a harmless joke based on stereotypes I do not personally agree with. Though now the joke is ruined as I have explained it, damn you, damn you!!  :angry: :razz:

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There's a paper by George Onmonya (2007) which discusses age in Nigeria, although I understand that the NFA are looking into tackling this problem and trying to find out real ages. It isn't just related to the African countries, but I know that there has been more coverage since Phillip Osundo was caught lying about his age in Belgium. A player called Michel Schmoller (Brazil) who joined Figuirense in 2004 stating his DoB to be 10/6/1990, but a confession from his father stated his DoB to be 11/11/1987. It is interesting read Onmonya thoughts, but there isn't much in terms of sources.

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The age cheating debate is an interesting one.

 

Not long ago I was told of 3 players that are heavily suspected of age cheating. Bartholemew Ogbeche, Ni Lamptey, Isaac Asare were the names. Only Ogbeche is still playing (valladolid?) I think. Most of the suspicsion is though brought about by the fact that at the youth world championships theres always African players that look capable of having the potential to become great yet normally fade away into nothingness once they've been signed up by European clubs. Who knows, maybe African boys are just more developed at a younger age...

 

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The age cheating debate is an interesting one.

 

Not long ago I was told of 3 players that are heavily suspected of age cheating. Bartholemew Ogbeche, Ni Lamptey, Isaac Asare were the names. Only Ogbeche is still playing (valladolid?) I think. Most of the suspicsion is though brought about by the fact that at the youth world championships theres always African players that look capable of having the potential to become great yet normally fade away into nothingness once they've been signed up by European clubs. Who knows, maybe African boys are just more developed at a younger age...

 

Well Isaac Asare and Nii Lamptey are Ghanians so I'm not too familiar with their careers, but I can tell you that Ogbehce was suspected of age cheating because he came out at such a young age and performed (Never was anything great though. That he played for the 2002 WC team was more an indictment of the poor management and general lack of talent that plagued the team more than Bart's real ability). After the WC, he really struggled to make an impact at PSG and ended up being shipped to the Middle East seemingly never to be seen again. However, as you say, he has managed to find his way out of the wilderness and back to a top flight team in Spain. I understand he is not first team regular, but he's been pretty good when I've seen him. So, I don't know what to think. In Nigeria he was written off as an age cheat because he disappeared, but those were only ever rumours.

 

Is Berti Vogts still in charge? One of the most hopeless managers I have ever seen.

He's gone. Worst manager in the history of the National Team. I keep hearing European sources saying that he "couldn't come to grips with the trials and tribulations of African football." Bulls***! He can't cope with anything because he's absolutely s*** at his job. Manages Azerbaijan now. About his level.

 

http://www.davie.me.uk/images/likes/fonejacker.jpg

 

"You want Nigerian soccer player? He only 37, err, 21, yes. You transfer the monies to my account now, yes."

 

:coolsmiley:

 

Don't hate me though baba, it's only a harmless joke based on stereotypes I do not personally agree with. Though now the joke is ruined as I have explained it, damn you, damn you!! :angry: :razz:

:lol: It's all good man.

 

*I was going to insert a stereotyped Norway joke here, but then I realised I don't know a f***** thing about Norway and their stereotypes tbh.

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While I was in South Africa, some of the people I talked to felt racial tokenism was very strong in their footballing ranks.  They have to enforce quotas for cricket and rugby but they basically form the national team from blacks only despite the fact that, especially at younger ages, they don't include the best white players in the national setup.

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