Guest Howaythetoon Posted June 17, 2018 Share Posted June 17, 2018 I was first introduced to Nigeria at USA ‘94 and I thought they were brilliant and have always had a soft spot for them based on that, but over the years they have lost some of their identity IMO and their performance last night was rather pathetic. Maybe it’s just me, but there doesn’t seem to be a distinctive style among international teams these days as the game becomes more global and players become more like robots, all training the same, eating the same, coached the same and of course paid the same (most are millionaires). Watching Nigeria last night they could have been any other team from Europe and not this African side that used to have flair, energy and their own distinctive style. If find that a shame. They made an aging Croatia look dangerous and while they have some good players, and play some good football, the space Nigeria gave them and the lack of pressing and motivation to at least compete attacking wise, made it a very easy game for the Croats. They need to pull off something special against the other two teams otherwise it’s good bye! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
STM Posted June 17, 2018 Share Posted June 17, 2018 Good post HTT. African nations used to have an enigma about them, not now. Seems to me that it's your Japan's etc that provide a mystery factor to the world cup these days. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Segun Oluwaniyi Posted June 17, 2018 Share Posted June 17, 2018 I disagree because a normal European side would not be anywhere near this naive and stupid. The vast majority of the team came to Europe as fairly young teenagers, but the team fails to do things average Euro sides do easily, such as dealing with simple set pieces or maintaining possession. Regardless, 3 of the 5 African sides to qualify this time are Arab, and the Arab style is extremely European. Despite my anger, I don't think Nigeria's World Cup is done, fwiw. If you remember in 2014, their first match against Iran was one of the single most wretched matches in the entire history of this tournament (an embarrassment on the same level as last night) and we still qualified out of the group, improved each match, and ended up giving France a tough match really could have gone our way but for a few referee decisions. For the last three World Cup we have shown up looking wildly under-prepared and subsequently improved. Iceland is beatable and the same exact players ripped Argentina's defence quite well only 7 months ago. Rohr just needs to dump this "sit deep, absorb pressure, and hit long balls to Ighalo" approach. We are not Stoke. It's ok in Africa, but will not work against European teams that are more trained in that style. Just drop Ighalo, play Iheanacho who can actually score goals and play Nigerian football on the front foot, especially against Iceland who have far inferior talent, whatever their other merits. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Howaythetoon Posted June 17, 2018 Share Posted June 17, 2018 I disagree because a normal European side would not be anywhere near this naive and stupid. The vast majority of the team came to Europe as fairly young teenagers, but the team fails to do things average Euro sides do easily, such as dealing with simple set pieces or maintaining possession. Regardless, 3 of the 5 African sides to qualify this time are Arab, and the Arab style is extremely European. Despite my anger, I don't think Nigeria's World Cup is done, fwiw. If you remember in 2014, their first match against Iran was one of the single most wretched matches in the entire history of this tournament (an embarrassment on the same level as last night) and we still qualified out of the group, improved each match, and ended up giving France a tough match really could have gone our way but for a few referee decisions. For the last three World Cup we have shown up looking wildly under-prepared and subsequently improved. Iceland is beatable and the same exact players ripped Argentina's defence quite well only 7 months ago. Rohr just needs to dump this "sit deep, absorb pressure, and hit long balls to Ighalo" approach. We are not Stoke. It's ok in Africa, but will not work against European teams that are more trained in that style. Just drop Ighalo, play Iheanacho who can actually score goals and play Nigerian football on the front foot, especially against Iceland who have far inferior talent, whatever their other merits. I’m talking more about the style of football Baba which you could once identify Nigeria by. I do hope they progress though, unless they stink out the tournament. I’d love to see an African team win it. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Village Idiot Posted June 18, 2018 Share Posted June 18, 2018 Nigeria's goalie plays in Spain's third division. The lad seems decent but I was surprised they didn't start somebody more experienced. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Segun Oluwaniyi Posted June 18, 2018 Share Posted June 18, 2018 Nigeria's goalie plays in Spain's third division. The lad seems decent but I was surprised they didn't start somebody more experienced. For this cycle, the first choice would have been Ikeme, but he is injured with blood cancer. Enyeama managed to get himself exiled from the national team under the previous manager and then exiled from Lille as well, so he is unavailable. I don't think this keeper was a problem against Croatia, anyway. The older options (who play in Africa for the most part) are not really better at all and Uzoho is definitely the most talented despite being extremely young. I disagree because a normal European side would not be anywhere near this naive and stupid. The vast majority of the team came to Europe as fairly young teenagers, but the team fails to do things average Euro sides do easily, such as dealing with simple set pieces or maintaining possession. Regardless, 3 of the 5 African sides to qualify this time are Arab, and the Arab style is extremely European. Despite my anger, I don't think Nigeria's World Cup is done, fwiw. If you remember in 2014, their first match against Iran was one of the single most wretched matches in the entire history of this tournament (an embarrassment on the same level as last night) and we still qualified out of the group, improved each match, and ended up giving France a tough match really could have gone our way but for a few referee decisions. For the last three World Cup we have shown up looking wildly under-prepared and subsequently improved. Iceland is beatable and the same exact players ripped Argentina's defence quite well only 7 months ago. Rohr just needs to dump this "sit deep, absorb pressure, and hit long balls to Ighalo" approach. We are not Stoke. It's ok in Africa, but will not work against European teams that are more trained in that style. Just drop Ighalo, play Iheanacho who can actually score goals and play Nigerian football on the front foot, especially against Iceland who have far inferior talent, whatever their other merits. I’m talking more about the style of football Baba which you could once identify Nigeria by. I do hope they progress though, unless they stink out the tournament. I’d love to see an African team win it. Fair enough. The style of African sides has changed significantly since 94 with the vast majority of serious players in Europe from a young age, but football as a whole has evolved so much in those 24 years that it is hard to really compare, imo. The bigger issue for Nigeria, in particular, is that it has not produced a world class player in this century despite having a pipeline of talent that rivals any other country in the world. We need to address why. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
joeyt Posted June 18, 2018 Share Posted June 18, 2018 Kalinic sent home from Croatia squad after refusing to come on as a sub on Saturday Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flip Posted June 18, 2018 Share Posted June 18, 2018 Kalinic sent home from Croatia squad after refusing to come on as a sub on Saturday It's insane that someone would do something like that. How can you refuse to come on as a sub in a World Cup? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SEMTEX Posted June 18, 2018 Share Posted June 18, 2018 was going to mock gdm cos he has him in the sweepstake, but his 2nd player is Ronaldo Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
gdm Posted June 18, 2018 Share Posted June 18, 2018 was going to mock gdm cos he has him in the sweepstake, but his 2nd player is Ronaldo Haha just seen this Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
54 Posted June 19, 2018 Share Posted June 19, 2018 99.6% of the population of Iceland were watching the Argentina game apparently. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
triggs Posted June 19, 2018 Share Posted June 19, 2018 99.6% of the population of Iceland were watching the Argentina game apparently. 99.6% of those who were watching TV at that time Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
joeyt Posted June 19, 2018 Share Posted June 19, 2018 Feels like Argentina play Nigeria in every World Cup Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
joeyt Posted June 19, 2018 Share Posted June 19, 2018 Just checked and in the 6 World Cups Nigeria have played in they've played Argentina in the group stage 5 times. That's a bit mad Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrmojorisin75 Posted June 21, 2018 Share Posted June 21, 2018 another decent article on the messi shambles In reality there is little in football history to suggest a player such as Messi should be able to turn a moderate team into World Cup contenders. The obsession with the power of one might insist otherwise but this is not how it tends to play out. Diego Maradona is the exception, George Best the rule. Football remains, defiantly, a team sport. unless they suddenly pivot to playing a proper team game they're going nowhere imo https://www.theguardian.com/football/2018/jun/20/lionel-messi-sun-king-argentina-blind-world-cup Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Collage Posted June 21, 2018 Share Posted June 21, 2018 Very interesting game tonight. Should be a good one. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Village Idiot Posted June 21, 2018 Share Posted June 21, 2018 I know Iceland was very good at frustrating them, but I really hope that Argentina are better than they showed. No chance to beat Croatia if "pass it to Messi" is all they have. Even Di María, who always used to give a very good alternative attacking outlet, was pretty dire. The midfield is still shite. No matter how many managers they try, every time I watch an Argentina game is all the same. It's like they haven't moved forward in all these years, and nowadays they don't have a strong defence to rely on. I know "Dybala and Messi can't play together" is some sort of mantra, but given what was on display I'd hoy him on. Move Messi to the right, he thrived at Barça when Suárez came in and Lucho moved him to the right. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ponsaelius Posted June 21, 2018 Share Posted June 21, 2018 Agreed. It seems absurd to have two world class players in Dybala and Messi and not find a way to get them in the same team, playing together. Messi is fine on the right. Let the playmaking responsibilities be shared, especially when there is a lack of it from central midfield. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sixx Posted June 21, 2018 Share Posted June 21, 2018 I know Iceland was very good at frustrating them, but I really hope that Argentina are better than they showed. No chance to beat Croatia if "pass it to Messi" is all they have. Even Di María, who always used to give a very good alternative attacking outlet, was pretty dire. The midfield is still shite. No matter how many managers they try, every time I watch an Argentina game is all the same. It's like they haven't moved forward in all these years, and nowadays they don't have a strong defence to rely on. I know "Dybala and Messi can't play together" is some sort of mantra, but given what was on display I'd hoy him on. Move Messi to the right, he thrived at Barça when Suárez came in and Lucho moved him to the right. I just don't buy this sentiment at all. That world class players X and Y can't play together with their national teams. Just sounds like a laughable cop-out at least to us who are from and support a small nation Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mole_Toonfan Posted June 21, 2018 Share Posted June 21, 2018 another decent article on the messi shambles In reality there is little in football history to suggest a player such as Messi should be able to turn a moderate team into World Cup contenders. The obsession with the power of one might insist otherwise but this is not how it tends to play out. Diego Maradona is the exception, George Best the rule. Football remains, defiantly, a team sport. unless they suddenly pivot to playing a proper team game they're going nowhere imo https://www.theguardian.com/football/2018/jun/20/lionel-messi-sun-king-argentina-blind-world-cup Even Maradona is somewhat a myth, true in a sense he had a lot of offensive responsibility but they were still very good defensively and definitely a team in every sense of the word. No player has ever dragged a shit team to that level of success, it's always been a team sport it's just most people are obsessed with the stars and undersell the contributions of the "others". Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrmojorisin75 Posted June 21, 2018 Share Posted June 21, 2018 Agreed. It seems absurd to have two world class players in Dybala and Messi and not find a way to get them in the same team, playing together. Messi is fine on the right. Let the playmaking responsibilities be shared, especially when there is a lack of it from central midfield. exactly what i said, if they make this move they'll become a different team imo Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sbnufc Posted June 21, 2018 Share Posted June 21, 2018 Rojo/Di Maria/Biglia out Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ikon Posted June 21, 2018 Share Posted June 21, 2018 Croatia 2-1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geordie Ahmed Posted June 21, 2018 Share Posted June 21, 2018 Argentina team looks incredibly average, I reckon Croatia win this by a couple of goals Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mole_Toonfan Posted June 21, 2018 Share Posted June 21, 2018 That Argentina team Why is he ignoring clearly superior options. Messi will have to carry them to a win and i really don't see it happening. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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