African Football Discussion Thread {Male & Female} Current Topic: 👉 WAFCON

[Fiatless]

Honestly, apart from us here in Nigeria who will be watching from home I don’t really think our absence in the coming World Cup will even be felt or noticed, not like we have been making much impact in recent World Cup tournaments. However qualifying is the first step to having these big dreams then we can go on to dream and cheer our team to fulfilling these dreams. Let’s hope the team can qualify to compete in the world cup.

Not Having Nigeria in the world cup will actually be felt mostly by Nigerias especially we who will be watching from home like you rightly mentioned and probably some other African countries who would have loved to see Nigeria at the world cup but I think away from these mentioned,  others may not really get to be concerned because there's no spectacular impact in the long run actually.

Nigeria is the most populous African country and a well-known football nation. The Super Eagles' absence in the World Cup will be a surprise since it can boast some of the best players in the continent. Nigeria also has a huge population in the US, which means more ticket sales for FIFA.

Regarding its effect on the international football stage, Nigeria's absence might not be felt. The competition has many top countries, I am not sure that a country that is ranked 44 globally will be missed in the world cup.

[Docnaster]

Honestly, apart from us here in Nigeria who will be watching from home I don’t really think our absence in the coming World Cup will even be felt or noticed, not like we have been making much impact in recent World Cup tournaments. However qualifying is the first step to having these big dreams then we can go on to dream and cheer our team to fulfilling these dreams. Let’s hope the team can qualify to compete in the world cup.

Why do you think the absence of an African football nation like Nigeria will not be not felt in the FIFA World Cup? Nigeria is tye most populous black nation and have contributed so much in African football over the years and at the moment, the Super Eagles of Nigeria is believed to be the most talented national team outta Africa so telling me that you don't think their absence would'nt be felt I think is another way of telling me your knowledge about Nigeria is very limited.

[Coyster]

I strongly believe in him as I have no choice than to accept his appointment and hope he does something extraordinary to get us to that world stage.

You couldn't have put it any better, we need something extraordinary to qualify for the world cup, the boys have to be impeccable in all of the remaining 6 games, i am talking about 6 wins, or prolly 5 wins and a draw. Anything short of that and qualification becomes impossible for Nigeria, i will get behind the boys and i think i will watch some of the games live in the stadium, that is the best i can do, they have to do the rest.

Why do you think the absence of an African football nation like Nigeria will not be not felt in the FIFA World Cup?

We would definitely feel it back here at home, but let's be honest, in the world stage it would not be talked about that much.

[DiMarxist]

Honestly, apart from us here in Nigeria who will be watching from home I don’t really think our absence in the coming World Cup will even be felt or noticed, not like we have been making much impact in recent World Cup tournaments. However qualifying is the first step to having these big dreams then we can go on to dream and cheer our team to fulfilling these dreams. Let’s hope the team can qualify to compete in the world cup.

Why do you think the absence of an African football nation like Nigeria will not be not felt in the FIFA World Cup?

Not now again and it was before. When a country lost it reputation and dignity, nobody takes that country serious again. I could still remember when Nigeria was absent in one of the World Cup in 20 years back and then I was a kid and I was following my uncles to watch ball and the impact was heavy landed to the fans of Super Eagles as of then. But now nobody cares, Super Eagles has lost their glory. In 2022/2023 World Cup, Nigeria Super Eagles was knockout at the Group Stage which was better off not qualifying.
So if Nigeria didn't qualify in this World Cup, I don't think it will affect anyone again even FIFA will not be affected again because the fans that were supporting Super Eagles has drastically reduced so the number of fans that follows them to Stadium is not like before again though FIFA is still making money from them but not like before again.

[Lida93]

Ahead of the FIFA World Cup qualifying games that'll be coming up next month, Super Eagles new manager Eric Chelle is talking tough already.

I would have loved a link to the article to see better if they mentioned the exact ex-Super Eagles coach making this statement. I will like to see the result he had with the Super Eagles when he was coach.

I don't see the essence for this bias analysis or statement @Rruchi man. Rwanda is a side the Nigeria Super Eagles should be anywhere and as such we shouldn't give excuses about anyone calling for their must win against Rwanda. The former coach who seem to be anonymous may just be expressing his concern for the Super Eagles to make sure they qualify to the world cup because it's very crucial they do.

The calibre of players the Nigerian team has is beyond that of Rwanda, so whether or not the ex-coach that's calling for Eric Chelle to ensure a win in that game gave a stellar performance in his time as coach isn't important. What's important is that Eric Chelle should deliver on his mandate which is to secure a place for the super eagles in the next world cup competition.

Does it really matters? Wether it's an ex international, an ex coach or a fan, the key thing is that they have no excuse not to win this game against Rwanda because in my own opinion, it's a must win game, and due to the controversy surrounding the acquisition of this our present head coach, he has no reason not to qualify our super eagles to the next world cup, because it would be very easy to call for his sack once things aren't going as planned, so in other for him to win the heart and soul of the Nigerian fan, he must start strong by winning our upcoming games convincingly, so as to keep his critique short, if not, they will start calling for his head if they draw, I haven't even talked about them losing this game.
As for what his critiques are saying, in my own perspective, they are right, their is not a single excuse they can give that will be ok not to win this game, because the calibre of players in this two teams are far apart in quality.

There's nothing much to say but that the two matches left to play to qualify Nigeria for the world cup next year is only a secured win  from the two different games that can provide us the window for qualification. Nigeria didn't make it to the last world cup  in 2022  and it was very embarrassing that with such quality of squad we weren't found among the African teams that graced the competition and that is what most of the concerned compatriots are calling on Eric Chelle to make sure this time Nigeria gets there.

[CryptopreneurBrainboss]

Why do you think the absence of an African football nation like Nigeria will not be not felt in the FIFA World Cup?

We would definitely feel it back here at home, but let's be honest, in the world stage it would not be talked about that much.

Is he forgetting that we weren't in the last world cup at Qatar that Argentina won. There are some nations that when they're not in the world cup, it will be felt and one of those nations is Brazil. I don't know for others because I believe the tournament wouldn't miss any other nation. In Africa for the world cup stage, we aren't the best so African mightn't even feel our absence. It's more in the country that things will be looking so wired because there's no Nigeria representative but I don't wish that on us as I want us to qualify so we can go over there and represent well.

[Dunamisx]

Why do you think the absence of an African football nation like Nigeria will not be not felt in the FIFA World Cup?

We would definitely feel it back here at home, but let's be honest, in the world stage it would not be talked about that much.

Is he forgetting that we weren't in the last world cup at Qatar that Argentina won. There are some nations that when they're not in the world cup, it will be felt and one of those nations is Brazil. I don't know for others because I believe the tournament wouldn't miss any other nation. In Africa for the world cup stage, we aren't the best so African mightn't even feel our absence. It's more in the country that things will be looking so wired because there's no Nigeria representative but I don't wish that on us as I want us to qualify so we can go over there and represent well.

It's true indeed that the absence of the super eagles may not be felt on the world cup if they didn't make it, but come to think of this, should countries like Brazil, Morrocco, Tunisia and even Egypt be better than the super eagles, this has to be viewed in another dimension, because it is better they step up from the way and pattern to which they are playing games  before their relevance in games and pride in Africa as a whole becomes diminished completely, if they can struggle like this in AFCON, what will be the expectations for world cup.

[CryptopreneurBrainboss]

because it is better they step up from the way and pattern to which they are playing games  before their relevance in games and pride in Africa as a whole becomes diminished completely, if they can struggle like this in AFCON, what will be the expectations for world cup.

Not in the world cup are we going to say, it's better they don't go if they'll just go there to waste their time. It's better they go there and waste their time than not to go at all. The world cup is a different thing all together. Nobody saw Morocco doing what they did the last time and shocked everyone after having an awesome campaign but before the world up, no one would had expected such a performance from them, the same thing might happen in our situation, nobody knows so we have to go there first and that should be the goal.

Excluding Brazil, the rest I don't think they should be better than the super eagles but we're far from being compared to Brazil, that's a world cup winning nation not just once but multiple times (highest).

[Promocodeudo]

Honestly, apart from us here in Nigeria who will be watching from home I don’t really think our absence in the coming World Cup will even be felt or noticed, not like we have been making much impact in recent World Cup tournaments. However qualifying is the first step to having these big dreams then we can go on to dream and cheer our team to fulfilling these dreams. Let’s hope the team can qualify to compete in the world cup.
[/quote]

You're very much right in what you've said so far, I think what we should be concerned with the qualifications aspect which you have mentioned already, as a matter of fact, they have made this things look very unattractive to people, the NFF has made things look very timid, I don't forget, I can member when we were very small how football was seen in this country especially when it comes to watching the whites encountering Nigerians in football, we go to an open place to watch this match in black and white tv very happy.

Buddy we won't be missed or noticed in any way as you said because the Nigeria football that the world knows before is not what it is right now, Nigeria senior team is struggling reason being that they aren't taken serious by the people in the helm of affairs, I don't blame anyone in the team or even if they don't qualify I won't blame them because there welfare is not been taken serious, so how do we expect things to go rightly in the country football in general, you've said many things as they are so I wouldnt be making any further comment regarding this again, you've said it all and i think we ahsrr the same sentiment as far as this issue is concerned.

About the qualifications, if they qualify fine but they don't I won't be making issue out of it or disturbing myself as if don't know what's likely to happen.

[Marvelockg]

After Our African footballer of the year, Ademola lookman failed to score in a crucial champions league penalty and they where eventually knocked out of the champions League, this is what the coach came publicly to say;
“Ademola Lookman is one of the worst penalty takers I’ve ever seen”.

“He wanted to take the penalty after scoring a goal, he took the ball despite Retegui and De Keteleare available to take it… I didn’t like what Lookman did”.
This for me looks very harsh and disrespectful most expecially when you consider that lookman has been the hitman in the team that has helped them stay top in most of their game. In response to such level of public insult, lookman has this to say.

It might have been a hurtful moment for the coach that might have led him to making this sort of open criticism but it was definitely unprofessional of him to fail in controlling the kind of hurtful statement he allows go out to his key player. 
Let's just hope that things goes well between them going forward.

[Dunamisx]

because it is better they step up from the way and pattern to which they are playing games  before their relevance in games and pride in Africa as a whole becomes diminished completely, if they can struggle like this in AFCON, what will be the expectations for world cup.

Not in the world cup are we going to say, it's better they don't go if they'll just go there to waste their time. It's better they go there and waste their time than not to go at all. The world cup is a different thing all together. Nobody saw Morocco doing what they did the last time and shocked everyone after having an awesome campaign but before the world up, no one would had expected such a performance from them, the same thing might happen in our situation, nobody knows so we have to go there first and that should be the goal.

Excluding Brazil, the rest I don't think they should be better than the super eagles but we're far from being compared to Brazil, that's a world cup winning nation not just once but multiple times (highest).

I got your entire points here and still believe in the super eagles, and that's only if all these being said can be evident in their performances, I wonder what's going on, most of the players were part of the best top of their respective clubs, but when it comes to playing together as a country, the zeal, performance and dexterity for winning isn't there as they put much effort on club matches, could the pay they receive from their home country be one of the reasons to this or what do you think.

[Cryptoprincess101]

After Our African footballer of the year, Ademola lookman failed to score in a crucial champions league penalty and they where eventually knocked out of the champions League, this is what the coach came publicly to say;
“Ademola Lookman is one of the worst penalty takers I’ve ever seen”.

“He wanted to take the penalty after scoring a goal, he took the ball despite Retegui and De Keteleare available to take it… I didn’t like what Lookman did”.
This for me looks very harsh and disrespectful most expecially when you consider that lookman has been the hitman in the team that has helped them stay top in most of their game. In response to such level of public insult, lookman has this to say.

It might have been a hurtful moment for the coach that might have led him to making this sort of open criticism but it was definitely unprofessional of him to fail in controlling the kind of hurtful statement he allows go out to his key player. 
Let's just hope that things goes well between them going forward.

That is just the problem with coaches and fans, when a player is performing well, they praise them so much but just on a single mistake they will start criticizing the player almost immediately which is a very bad habit. Since the coach altered such a bunch of Blatter, had it been Ademola Lookman scored the penalty would it have given them the win? If the game had ended 3:3 and he come to say that the penalty Ademola Lookman missed was what caused their elimination from the Champions League, it could have been reasonable but yet anyone can miss a penalty as the chances of scoring and missing a penalty is equal. They should not allow a repeat of what happened to Victor Osimhem in Napoli to happen to Ademola Lookman in Atalanta because they are still same Italian teams. When Ademola Lookman won the Europa league title for the club they didn't criticize him, now he missed a penalty in the Champions League playoffs against Club Brugge and the coach is coming out to say nonsense.

[Zackz5000]

After Our African footballer of the year, Ademola lookman failed to score in a crucial champions league penalty and they where eventually knocked out of the champions League, this is what the coach came publicly to say;
“Ademola Lookman is one of the worst penalty takers I’ve ever seen”.

“He wanted to take the penalty after scoring a goal, he took the ball despite Retegui and De Keteleare available to take it… I didn’t like what Lookman did”.
This for me looks very harsh and disrespectful most expecially when you consider that lookman has been the hitman in the team that has helped them stay top in most of their game. In response to such level of public insult, lookman has this to say.

It might have been a hurtful moment for the coach that might have led him to making this sort of open criticism but it was definitely unprofessional of him to fail in controlling the kind of hurtful statement he allows go out to his key player. 
Let's just hope that things goes well between them going forward.

Sometimes most of this couches says things out of anger I will still say that because Ademola lookman is a black man, same senero has happened to Victor Osimhem when he miss a penalty for SSC Napoli but that's a bad one from Atalanta couch to Ademola lookman anybody can miss a penalty, Ademola lookman has been a good player for Atalanta he has helped them win several game I think he is even one of the best player in that team so he shouldn't be treated in that way so for the couch to make such statement it could be that he never needed Ademola lookman in the club again.

[SatoPrincess]

After Our African footballer of the year, Ademola lookman failed to score in a crucial champions league penalty and they where eventually knocked out of the champions League, this is what the coach came publicly to say;
“Ademola Lookman is one of the worst penalty takers I’ve ever seen”.

“He wanted to take the penalty after scoring a goal, he took the ball despite Retegui and De Keteleare available to take it… I didn’t like what Lookman did”.
This for me looks very harsh and disrespectful most expecially when you consider that lookman has been the hitman in the team that has helped them stay top in most of their game. In response to such level of public insult, lookman has this to say.

It might have been a hurtful moment for the coach that might have led him to making this sort of open criticism but it was definitely unprofessional of him to fail in controlling the kind of hurtful statement he allows go out to his key player. 
Let's just hope that things goes well between them going forward.

Yes, it seems disrespectful looking at the manager’s comment from one angle but from another angle he was stating the fact. Lookman knows he is not the team’s designated penalty taker so he should have let the penalty takers do their job. I guess he was hungry to be on the headlines and stepped up to take it and threw the team’s chance to qualify for the next rounds, he should know that his decision would have consequences if he missed but the coach also should have controlled his temper when talking to the media about his players.

[Zigabel]

Honestly, apart from us here in Nigeria who will be watching from home I don’t really think our absence in the coming World Cup will even be felt or noticed, not like we have been making much impact in recent World Cup tournaments. However qualifying is the first step to having these big dreams then we can go on to dream and cheer our team to fulfilling these dreams. Let’s hope the team can qualify to compete in the world cup.

Why do you think the absence of an African football nation like Nigeria will not be not felt in the FIFA World Cup? Nigeria is tye most populous black nation and have contributed so much in African football over the years and at the moment, the Super Eagles of Nigeria is believed to be the most talented national team outta Africa so telling me that you don't think their absence would'nt be felt I think is another way of telling me your knowledge about Nigeria is very limited.

It's okay for you to think my knowledge about Nigeria is limited because I mentioned that their absence at the world cup wouldn't be of a huge impact thereby not felt so much by others except  the Nigerian nationals and the fans of the Super Eagles,  I want to believe that if you understand global football well enough and had carefully red my first comment,  you wouldn't even attempt to counter otherwise with points like Nigeria the most populous African nation,  but again everyone is entitled to their opinion so I will assume it's just fine.

[Promocodeudo]

That is just the problem with coaches and fans, when a player is performing well, they praise them so much but just on a single mistake they will start criticizing the player almost immediately which is a very bad habit. Since the coach altered such a bunch of Blatter, had it been Ademola Lookman scored the penalty would it have given them the win? If the game had ended 3:3 and he come to say that the penalty Ademola Lookman missed was what caused their elimination from the Champions League, it could have been reasonable but yet anyone can miss a penalty as the chances of scoring and missing a penalty is equal. They should not allow a repeat of what happened to Victor Osimhem in Napoli to happen to Ademola Lookman in Atalanta because they are still same Italian teams. When Ademola Lookman won the Europa league title for the club they didn't criticize him, now he missed a penalty in the Champions League playoffs against Club Brugge and the coach is coming out to say nonsense.

Some managers are very funny with their behavior and I believe it may be because of their emotions towards what they are protecting which is their jobs but there some act that's not encouraging, I think there should be worl ethics, there are things we should make known to the public atleast to protect our organization and the interest of the people involved in that organization, managers to should learn how to react badly just because of their mindset, scoring a penalty doesn't make anyone a football star, as a matter of fact I will even want to know a particular player or very pronounced player that has not missed a penalty, I condemn the reaction of the manager in its entirety, it is very unfair to treat the young man that way.

I don't think the manager was really thinking straight when he made such statement, so was he thinking that of they had gotten 3:3 with ademolas goal may be there would've been a possibility of them wining the match, if those were his mindset, then he must have been in a long thing, for me am not taking the managers words serious because such utterances seem to be coming from a frustrated person.

[Marvelockg]

I don't think the manager was really thinking straight when he made such statement, so was he thinking that of they had gotten 3:3 with ademolas goal may be there would've been a possibility of them wining the match, if those were his mindset, then he must have been in a long thing, for me am not taking the managers words serious because such utterances seem to be coming from a frustrated person.

even though you are frustrated as a manger, you should know that the players and entire team is as frustrated as you are. people they were already behind and should lookman score that goal, it was never a guarantee that they were going to win that game. should you show how poor you are in managing your anger and make such a derogatory statement to your key player? that was totally unnecessary from him and hopefully after receiving trolling from the media backing that lookman has, he will learn to choose the kind of fight to engage in.

clubs like arsenal, Manchester united and even Manchester city that will be doing an overhaul of players will need a brilliant winger like him and instead of wasting his time with a coach that doesn't value his contribution, he better exits the club and go find a place coaches know show to protect her players in the worse of time.

[Cryptoprincess101]

Some managers are very funny with their behavior and I believe it may be because of their emotions towards what they are protecting which is their jobs but there some act that's not encouraging

Whatever be the reason of the manager for uttering such nasty words, i think it's uncalled for because this is basically a player that has contributed greatly for the success of the club so why say such careless speech simply because the player missed a penalty. I'm just worried about how this Italian clubs are treating Nigerian players after they have helped the teams achieved success because it was also as a result of missing a penalty that Napoli made a mockery of Victor Osimhen which made the player not to be comfortable at the club till now. Anyways, Ademola Lookman has already reaffirm his decisions of leaving the club by the end of the season. I think he rather leaves than continue with a coach that only recognizes him when he is performing well but when he doesn't, the coach starts criticizing him and it's so bad of the coach.

[Princess Leah]

After Our African footballer of the year, Ademola lookman failed to score in a crucial champions league penalty and they where eventually knocked out of the champions League, this is what the coach came publicly to say;
“Ademola Lookman is one of the worst penalty takers I’ve ever seen”.

“He wanted to take the penalty after scoring a goal, he took the ball despite Retegui and De Keteleare available to take it… I didn’t like what Lookman did”.
This for me looks very harsh and disrespectful most expecially when you consider that lookman has been the hitman in the team that has helped them stay top in most of their game. In response to such level of public insult, lookman has this to say.

It might have been a hurtful moment for the coach that might have led him to making this sort of open criticism but it was definitely unprofessional of him to fail in controlling the kind of hurtful statement he allows go out to his key player. 
Let's just hope that things goes well between them going forward.

Yes, it seems disrespectful looking at the manager’s comment from one angle but from another angle he was stating the fact. Lookman knows he is not the team’s designated penalty taker so he should have let the penalty takers do their job. I guess he was hungry to be on the headlines and stepped up to take it and threw the team’s chance to qualify for the next rounds, he should know that his decision would have consequences if he missed but the coach also should have controlled his temper when talking to the media about his players.

The Italian Serie A league coaches are not really being fair with black footballers, especially Nigerian footballers first it was Victor Osimhen who got disrespected by Napoli after helping them to win the league when they've stayed years without lifting the trophy and now it's Ademola Lookman who's also got disrespect by his coach as well after helping them win the Europa League,  Gasperini shouldn't have made such statement, it's unprofessional as a coach since he knows that it could cause a dressing room issue.

 There's no footballer that's above mistake, great players like C Ronaldo, Messi and so on have missed a penalty kick talk more of Lookman, he's a good player and just one error shouldn't trigger such statement instead he should rather be encouraging his player to do better, I know the made the statement out of emotions cause he got kicked out of the Champions league but it's not Lookmans fault that they got kicked out, moreover if he didn't want Lookman to take the penalty he would signaled him to hand it over to his preferred choice.

[Lida93]

After Our African footballer of the year, Ademola lookman failed to score in a crucial champions league penalty and they where eventually knocked out of the champions League, this is what the coach came publicly to say;
“Ademola Lookman is one of the worst penalty takers I’ve ever seen”.

“He wanted to take the penalty after scoring a goal, he took the ball despite Retegui and De Keteleare available to take it… I didn’t like what Lookman did”.
This for me looks very harsh and disrespectful most expecially when you consider that lookman has been the hitman in the team that has helped them stay top in most of their game. In response to such level of public insult, lookman has this to say.

It might have been a hurtful moment for the coach that might have led him to making this sort of open criticism but it was definitely unprofessional of him to fail in controlling the kind of hurtful statement he allows go out to his key player. 
Let's just hope that things goes well between them going forward.

Yes, it seems disrespectful looking at the manager’s comment from one angle but from another angle he was stating the fact. Lookman knows he is not the team’s designated penalty taker so he should have let the penalty takers do their job. I guess he was hungry to be on the headlines and stepped up to take it and threw the team’s chance to qualify for the next rounds, he should know that his decision would have consequences if he missed but the coach also should have controlled his temper when talking to the media about his players.

The Italian Serie A league coaches are not really being fair with black footballers, especially Nigerian footballers first it was Victor Osimhen who got disrespected by Napoli after helping them to win the league when they've stayed years without lifting the trophy and now it's Ademola Lookman who's also got disrespect by his coach as well after helping them win the Europa League,  Gasperini shouldn't have made such statement, it's unprofessional as a coach since he knows that it could cause a dressing room issue.

 There's no footballer that's above mistake, great players like C Ronaldo, Messi and so on have missed a penalty kick talk more of Lookman, he's a good player and just one error shouldn't trigger such statement instead he should rather be encouraging his player to do better, I know the made the statement out of emotions cause he got kicked out of the Champions league but it's not Lookmans fault that they got kicked out, moreover if he didn't want Lookman to take the penalty he would signaled him to hand it over to his preferred choice.

Am just having the feeling that this is not just a penalty miss that  would triggers such a reaction from Gasperini, their is more to that, because Ademola Lookman is not the first player  in the history of football that has miss a penalty when it really matters that he scores, I feels like this is more of personal hatred or something else, i just love what the hierarchy of Atalanta did, which is, they told him to render a public apology to Ademola Lookman or he resign, because what gasperini did was a higher level of unprofessionalism.