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

[SatoPrincess]

I know Russia was banned, but even when Russia wasn't banned, they weren't a strong team, so I don't understand why the Nigerian national team doesn't make an effort to play friendly matches against strong European teams. Playing against weak opponents like Russia, even in friendly matches, doesn't allow the coach to test the full potential of many of the national team's players.

- The last time Nigeria played Argentina was in 2018

- The last time Nigeria played Brazil was in 2019

- The last time Nigeria played France was in 2014

- The last time Nigeria played Italy was in 1994

- The last time Nigeria played Spain was in 2013

- The last time Nigeria played England was in 2018

It's been many years since the Nigerian national team played against these big teams, something that shouldn't happen, since Nigeria is a big African team. They should be constantly playing against the big teams from Europe and America.

I am a strong believer in the the school of thought that football and politics should not mix. Whatever differences the world has with Russia should not concern sports. Football should be a means to bring people together. I still feel a way about Roman Abromavich being forced to sell ownership of Chelsea FC to someone else. I think we can find better ways to resolve international conflicts.

[Pokapoka124]

Russia is banned from football because of their invasion of Ukraine so the Russians senior national team was band and so they will not be participating in the next world cup but apart from that I don't think that Russia would not have been able to qualify from their group so because the Russia national team has not been doing great of recent



Russia should invest more into their sports especially in the age grades competition as it will help grow young talent and developing them so in the nearest future  They will be of benefit in promoting Russian football at the international stage by competing favorably in international competitions

Russia have a good team and good attendance history in the World Cup and I am confident they  would have made it if they were allowed to compete for a place in the World Cup qualifiers. Russia's national and domestic teams have been suspended from FIFA and UEFA competitions since the country's war against Ukraine, no one knows how long this ban will last.

[IceLincoln]

I honestly can't understand why Nigeria chose Russia to play in the friendlies, since Russia doesn't even have any relevance at world level in football when it comes to the national team. When a team really wants to achieve great things at world level, that team should try to play against very strong opponents such as: Spain, France, England, Germany, Brazil, Netherlands, Italy, Portugal and Belgium.

because that way the Nigeria coach could have a better idea of ​​what to expect if Nigeria qualified for the World Cup, even if the coaches of these national teams did not put all their best players, it would still be worth playing against these great national teams.

Russia is under a competitive football ban, which has made it not to feature in any FIFA-organized competitions. But they have been actively playing friendly games. They have played with lowly rated teams like Syria, Belarus, Brunei, Grenada, Qatar, Cuba Iraq, Vietnam Serbia, and Iran in the past few years. The Russian side have won seven of their last game showing that they are a formidable side. The Nigerian Super Eagles should just use the match as a preparation for other important games. I also be that it is difficult to secure a slot for a friendly match with these top European countries since they will be very selective.

I know Russia was banned, but even when Russia wasn't banned, they weren't a strong team, so I don't understand why the Nigerian national team doesn't make an effort to play friendly matches against strong European teams. Playing against weak opponents like Russia, even in friendly matches, doesn't allow the coach to test the full potential of many of the national team's players.

- The last time Nigeria played Argentina was in 2018

- The last time Nigeria played Brazil was in 2019

- The last time Nigeria played France was in 2014

- The last time Nigeria played Italy was in 1994

- The last time Nigeria played Spain was in 2013

- The last time Nigeria played England was in 2018

It's been many years since the Nigerian national team played against these big teams, something that shouldn't happen, since Nigeria is a big African team. They should be constantly playing against the big teams from Europe and America.

You're right because playing only weaker teams cannot help the team improve but when they meet stronger countries that have tactical and more experienced players, it will boost the teams morale to strive to also learn how to play like those players and that is what makes a team become formidable when they face hard opponents even if they lose but there is a mentality that the players will start having unlike when they play teams that are not too experienced and win them, they won't even push to learn more because they will feel so full of themselves thinking they have given their best performance. If the Nigerian Super Eagles want to improve more, they should be playing friendly matches regularly with teams like Argentina, England, Spain, France, Italy and Germany because this teams have a lot of professional players that they can learn from.

I don’t know how you people rate football and Countries saying a country that is better than you is not a strong team and lacks the experience and tactical prowess. This same Russia is higher than you in the FIFA rankings has done more than you in the World Cup stage yet you think they’re not a strong European Nation. They beat Egypt 3:1 in the last World Cup they were in knocked out Spain and drew with Croatia to lose on penalties at the quarter finals stage.
Friendly is like a competitive training match, to experiment on your tactics and game plans, but I’ll tell you this, our current squad cannot defeat Russia even the so called small teams in Africa we’re finding it difficult to win. Why do you want to play a big team to improve when you’re struggling with very small teams. You want to fly when you’ve not walked.
Playing Russia is a good choice for both teams cos they’re looking to stay in form while we’re looking to recover our form, it’s a good start before you can think of the Big Boys or you want us t play Spain or France and lose 3-5:0 what wil that do to the morale of the team.

[Fiatless]

I am a strong believer in the the school of thought that football and politics should not mix. Whatever differences the world has with Russia should not concern sports. Football should be a means to bring people together. I still feel a way about Roman Abromavich being forced to sell ownership of Chelsea FC to someone else. I think we can find better ways to resolve international conflicts.

Political influence on football is usually frowned upon by FIFA. This is why many national teams have been sanctioned or banned from competing in FIFA-organized competitions. But the problem is that FIFA is also influenced by some powerful nations. The UK football regulatory organization claims that Roman Abramovich was a close ally of Vladimir Putin, but they didn't come up with substantial evidence. If the seizing of Chelsea was done by a developing nation, FIFA would have reacted.

And because FIFA is controlled by Western powers, the ban on Russia and confiscation of the sports assets of Russians were accepted. Why has FIFA, not sanctioned other countries that have been killing innocent civilians?

[SatoPrincess]

I am a strong believer in the the school of thought that football and politics should not mix. Whatever differences the world has with Russia should not concern sports. Football should be a means to bring people together. I still feel a way about Roman Abromavich being forced to sell ownership of Chelsea FC to someone else. I think we can find better ways to resolve international conflicts.

Political influence on football is usually frowned upon by FIFA. This is why many national teams have been sanctioned or banned from competing in FIFA-organized competitions. But the problem is that FIFA is also influenced by some powerful nations. The UK football regulatory organization claims that Roman Abramovich was a close ally of Vladimir Putin, but they didn't come up with substantial evidence. If the seizing of Chelsea was done by a developing nation, FIFA would have reacted.

And because FIFA is controlled by Western powers, the ban on Russia and confiscation of the sports assets of Russians were accepted. Why has FIFA, not sanctioned other countries that have been killing innocent civilians?

Yeah I don’t know much about the politics of the Russian-Ukraine war but I know football and FIFA banning Russia from football has confirmed that there is no organization that is truly independent. There are always interests whether political or financial interests that influence the decisions of bodies like FIFA. They won’t accept that their decision is motivated by lobbyist or certain interests

[Obim34]

I am a strong believer in the the school of thought that football and politics should not mix. Whatever differences the world has with Russia should not concern sports. Football should be a means to bring people together. I still feel a way about Roman Abromavich being forced to sell ownership of Chelsea FC to someone else. I think we can find better ways to resolve international conflicts.

You are making sense, politics and football shouldn't be missed, there could be a way to separate the two countries to meet when playing international games that will be better than disallowing them from playing. Russians may not have the best players to mention, at least they do have few playing in different clubs and are longing to make the National stage for their country. The US ban on Russia is an incentive to end the war, which i don't feel will add anything or change anything related to the war.

[Ndabagi01]

I am a strong believer in the the school of thought that football and politics should not mix. Whatever differences the world has with Russia should not concern sports. Football should be a means to bring people together. I still feel a way about Roman Abromavich being forced to sell ownership of Chelsea FC to someone else. I think we can find better ways to resolve international conflicts.

This is very true and when we begin to take sport for what it is actually, what it actually depicts, we can have a safer world and a peaceful one for that matter. Since Abramovich sold Chelsea, it has become the downfall of the team and till now, Chelsea as a team are yet to pick up and be the best that they’re like during the time of Abramovich. Politics and sports are two different things and if we begin to join them together, it defeats the aim of sportsmanship and many will be affected by this decisions like we’ve seen just now. Russia-Ukraine war should not affect their participation in sports, maybe I’m wrong on this but what is their best reason for doing this?

[Agbe]

I am a strong believer in the the school of thought that football and politics should not mix. Whatever differences the world has with Russia should not concern sports. Football should be a means to bring people together. I still feel a way about Roman Abromavich being forced to sell ownership of Chelsea FC to someone else. I think we can find better ways to resolve international conflicts.

This is very true and when we begin to take sport for what it is actually, what it actually depicts, we can have a safer world and a peaceful one for that matter. Since Abramovich sold Chelsea, it has become the downfall of the team and till now, Chelsea as a team are yet to pick up and be the best that they’re like during the time of Abramovich. Politics and sports are two different things and if we begin to join them together, it defeats the aim of sportsmanship and many will be affected by this decisions like we’ve seen just now. Russia-Ukraine war should not affect their participation in sports, maybe I’m wrong on this but what is their best reason for doing this?

I agree with you that sport and politics should not be mixed together as both parallel lines that don't touch each other because while politics is one thing that causes disunity among the citizens sports is a universal currency that brings people together even enemies come to agreement when it involves sports so politics should be separated from sport for the growth and stability of sport world wide

[Marykeller]

I know Russia was banned, but even when Russia wasn't banned, they weren't a strong team, so I don't understand why the Nigerian national team doesn't make an effort to play friendly matches against strong European teams. Playing against weak opponents like Russia, even in friendly matches, doesn't allow the coach to test the full potential of many of the national team's players.

- The last time Nigeria played Argentina was in 2018

- The last time Nigeria played Brazil was in 2019

- The last time Nigeria played France was in 2014

- The last time Nigeria played Italy was in 1994

- The last time Nigeria played Spain was in 2013

- The last time Nigeria played England was in 2018

It's been many years since the Nigerian national team played against these big teams, something that shouldn't happen, since Nigeria is a big African team. They should be constantly playing against the big teams from Europe and America.

The Nigerian national team is not as strong as it was a few years ago. There should be an agreement between both teams before the match is fixed. These nations you mentioned would also want to consider the quality of the team before according to play with them. Nigeria would have gotten offers from top teams if they were performing well. I think the Russian national team is not bad for the Super Eagles to play with. After all, they are ranked higher than Nigeria in the FIFA male national team rankings.

What you just said is exactly what's in my mind I wanted to voice out. We can't begin to compare Nigeria's team of years back with the current one. There are lots of differences in squad formation of a team that wants to play for their nation with their whole body and strength and the ones that are doing it for formalities sake, to fulfill all righteousness.

The Super Eagles team of the old always gives their all to the team. This current one we can't say that about them because of their inconsistent performance leading to match losses.

As far as friendly matches are concerned, teams challenge teams that are almost in equal quality performance with, not far gap with, in performance.

The Super Eagles squad currently gats to face off a team they are almost on the same level with, not the ones that are far above them. That's what the coach thought of, and it feels right for him to choose Russia for the Super Eagles to play against. You wouldn't expect him to choose a tough team to invite open disgrace to the Super Eagles, whereas the Super Eagles are not yet stable in having a good match play.

[CryptopreneurBrainboss]

You are making sense, politics and football shouldn't be missed, there could be a way to separate the two countries to meet when playing international games that will be better than disallowing them from playing. Russians may not have the best players to mention, at least they do have few playing in different clubs and are longing to make the National stage for their country. The US ban on Russia is an incentive to end the war, which i don't feel will add anything or change anything related to the war.

Russia aren't the only country fighting but the US just wants to control everything. They want to be incharge of when it's okay to fight and when it isn't okay. The players aren't the ones fighting so why are they getting denied from playing like others.

Politics and entertainment shouldn't clash, who knows maybe from the game they can bring peace when the two nations embrace eachother instead of the picture of wars and fighting going on.

Football has ended wars before as I remember when Drogba used his influence to end the civic war in his country. The big guys only use this to best suit their interest. Russia can still be allowed to participate in sporting events irrespective of the war going on. It would definitely send out a different message that the exact opposite of what they're doing now.

[Justbillywitt]

I am a strong believer in the the school of thought that football and politics should not mix. Whatever differences the world has with Russia should not concern sports. Football should be a means to bring people together. I still feel a way about Roman Abromavich being forced to sell ownership of Chelsea FC to someone else. I think we can find better ways to resolve international conflicts.

You are making sense, politics and football shouldn't be missed, there could be a way to separate the two countries to meet when playing international games that will be better than disallowing them from playing. Russians may not have the best players to mention, at least they do have few playing in different clubs and are longing to make the National stage for their country. The US ban on Russia is an incentive to end the war, which i don't feel will add anything or change anything related to the war.

But the US doesn't control FIFA, when it comes to football I don't think it's the US that placed a ban on Russia from participating in international football. Russian players aren't ban from participating in football activities in their various clubs, but the national team is owned and funded by the Russian government is what has been banned from playing international football. There is no way they would allow them to play when some of their government officials will be in attendance whenever they are playing matches. Some fans can get emotional and attack them. It is more like a precautionary measure that FIFA had to adopt, to avoid any potential threats to lives. If you value football so much, end the war and get back to football it's very simple to understand.

[Roseline492]

But the US doesn't control FIFA, when it comes to football I don't think it's the US that placed a ban on Russia from participating in international football. Russian players aren't ban from participating in football activities in their various clubs, but the national team is owned and funded by the Russian government is what has been banned from playing international football. There is no way they would allow them to play when some of their government officials will be in attendance whenever they are playing matches. Some fans can get emotional and attack them. It is more like a precautionary measure that FIFA had to adopt, to avoid any potential threats to lives. If you value football so much, end the war and get back to football it's very simple to understand.

Yes they don't control FIFA but they have the power to stop them from world Cup since the cup is only comprises of countries, although reasoning from the same angle as you are, you are right because even if they had allowed them to play it could have been a disaster on the stadium against some Ukrainian because if on a normal day a fan or someone who hate another player will throw stones or even jumped on the field to attack the player, somebody who had lost loved someone wouldn't control themselves if they sees people that comes from that country, but however they should try and resolve this because is taking years now. Though this observation wasn't done by the FIFA it was because of the banned imposed by USA that made it so if not FIFA wouldn't have taken such decision on their own while they allow the other side, that wouldn't be fair.

[Obim34]

You are making sense, politics and football shouldn't be missed, there could be a way to separate the two countries to meet when playing international games that will be better than disallowing them from playing. Russians may not have the best players to mention, at least they do have few playing in different clubs and are longing to make the National stage for their country. The US ban on Russia is an incentive to end the war, which i don't feel will add anything or change anything related to the war.

Russia aren't the only country fighting but the US just wants to control everything. They want to be incharge of when it's okay to fight and when it isn't okay. The players aren't the ones fighting so why are they getting denied from playing like others.

Politics and entertainment shouldn't clash, who knows maybe from the game they can bring peace when the two nations embrace eachother instead of the picture of wars and fighting going on.

Football has ended wars before as I remember when Drogba used his influence to end the civic war in his country. The big guys only use this to best suit their interest. Russia can still be allowed to participate in sporting events irrespective of the war going on. It would definitely send out a different message that the exact opposite of what they're doing now.

Russia aren't the only country fighting war, Pakistan is also not allowed to play international games, all excuses are war concerns but it is not helping why not divert to another peaceful settlement. To the best of my knowledge the US, Russia and China are dragging for world power, since everything is still under the US, Russia has no choice than to give in, not an encouraged move from the US, this case can be looked into before next world cup.

If we are comparing, what Drogba did and what is going on with Russia and Ukraine one goes to be more intense, if Drogba is from Russia i bet he has nothing to contribute even with him pleading for peaceful settlement, why did Drogba get the audience because Ivory Coast was able to qualify for the world cup, it was a huge victory on their side, worse that Russia don't have the chance of playing.

[Mayor of ogba]

I honestly can't understand why Nigeria chose Russia to play in the friendlies, since Russia doesn't even have any relevance at world level in football when it comes to the national team. When a team really wants to achieve great things at world level, that team should try to play against very strong opponents such as: Spain, France, England, Germany, Brazil, Netherlands, Italy, Portugal and Belgium.

because that way the Nigeria coach could have a better idea of ​​what to expect if Nigeria qualified for the World Cup, even if the coaches of these national teams did not put all their best players, it would still be worth playing against these great national teams.

Russia is under a competitive football ban, which has made it not to feature in any FIFA-organized competitions. But they have been actively playing friendly games. They have played with lowly rated teams like Syria, Belarus, Brunei, Grenada, Qatar, Cuba Iraq, Vietnam Serbia, and Iran in the past few years. The Russian side have won seven of their last game showing that they are a formidable side. The Nigerian Super Eagles should just use the match as a preparation for other important games. I also be that it is difficult to secure a slot for a friendly match with these top European countries since they will be very selective.

I know Russia was banned, but even when Russia wasn't banned, they weren't a strong team, so I don't understand why the Nigerian national team doesn't make an effort to play friendly matches against strong European teams. Playing against weak opponents like Russia, even in friendly matches, doesn't allow the coach to test the full potential of many of the national team's players.

- The last time Nigeria played Argentina was in 2018

- The last time Nigeria played Brazil was in 2019

- The last time Nigeria played France was in 2014

- The last time Nigeria played Italy was in 1994

- The last time Nigeria played Spain was in 2013

- The last time Nigeria played England was in 2018

It's been many years since the Nigerian national team played against these big teams, something that shouldn't happen, since Nigeria is a big African team. They should be constantly playing against the big teams from Europe and America.

So many strong teams won't want to fix a friendly match with the Nigerian team because they see the Nigerian team as a team that is not strong enough for them to play against, and they believe the Nigerian team can't be a strong test for them if they play a friendly match with the Nigerian team. Nigeria team is a big African team in name and not in playing good football, and that's the reason why the Nigerian team is finding it difficult to play a friendly match with strong teams in the world.

[Oluwa-btc]

So far so good, I'm impressed with how African players have turned up for their various clubs this season. I've said a lot about Victor Osimhen already who recently won their Turkish Cup and should most likely win the league come Sunday if they win. Mo Salah could also end up as the premier league player of the year IMO with the recent nominations. Furthermore,  the 30 years old Desser playing for Rangers is also the highest goal scorer for the Scottish league. The absence of Victor Boniface still bothers me. A massive change from last season. WYT?

[SatoPrincess]

So far so good, I'm impressed with how African players have turned up for their various clubs this season. I've said a lot about Victor Osimhen already who recently won their Turkish Cup and should most likely win the league come Sunday if they win. Mo Salah could also end up as the premier league player of the year IMO with the recent nominations. Furthermore,  the 30 years old Desser playing for Rangers is also the highest goal scorer for the Scottish league. The absence of Victor Boniface still bothers me. A massive change from last season. WYT?

Mo Salah is definitely going to win the Premier League Player of the Season award, I think he might have won more than if Liverpool had made it to the finals of the Champions League. Salah would have been a strong contender for the Ballon d’Or. Much love to Victor Osimhen. He has done a great deal to put Nigeria on the map and I love him for that. I’m happy to see that Ademola Lookman is also on the list. As for Victor Boniface, his performance in the national team is nothing to write home about but he is an amazing striker in his domestic club.

[Callido]

So far so good, I'm impressed with how African players have turned up for their various clubs this season. I've said a lot about Victor Osimhen already who recently won their Turkish Cup and should most likely win the league come Sunday if they win. Mo Salah could also end up as the premier league player of the year IMO with the recent nominations. Furthermore,  the 30 years old Desser playing for Rangers is also the highest goal scorer for the Scottish league. The absence of Victor Boniface still bothers me. A massive change from last season. WYT?

Mo Salah is definitely going to win the Premier League Player of the Season award, I think he might have won more than if Liverpool had made it to the finals of the Champions League. Salah would have been a strong contender for the Ballon d’Or. Much love to Victor Osimhen. He has done a great deal to put Nigeria on the map and I love him for that. I’m happy to see that Ademola Lookman is also on the list. As for Victor Boniface, his performance in the national team is nothing to write home about but he is an amazing striker in his domestic club.

Mo Salah will be the player to win the Golden Boot, he has more goals than Isak with 2 games left to decide, 28 goals currently for Mo Salah, 23 goals for Isak, and one more from this season to tie Thierry Henry record for the most Premier League Golden Boot.

Last season it was Lookman who was on top, this season we have Victor Osimhen with a great performance, before any transfer this is the sort of performance that is needed to increase market value of a player, i believe Osimhen will be worth the price requested previously.

[snipie]

So far so good, I'm impressed with how African players have turned up for their various clubs this season. I've said a lot about Victor Osimhen already who recently won their Turkish Cup and should most likely win the league come Sunday if they win. Mo Salah could also end up as the premier league player of the year IMO with the recent nominations. Furthermore,  the 30 years old Desser playing for Rangers is also the highest goal scorer for the Scottish league. The absence of Victor Boniface still bothers me. A massive change from last season. WYT?

I think that if these players and other talents play as good with their national team as they played in their European leagues then African nations will be fine. If we talk about the origins of these players then European nations will have a hard time winning anything since many teams rely mainly on them.

[Cryptoprincess101]

So many strong teams won't want to fix a friendly match with the Nigerian team because they see the Nigerian team as a team that is not strong enough for them to play against, and they believe the Nigerian team can't be a strong test for them if they play a friendly match with the Nigerian team. Nigeria team is a big African team in name and not in playing good football, and that's the reason why the Nigerian team is finding it difficult to play a friendly match with strong teams in the world.

So are you trying to say that all the countries that plays friendly games with the big countries are all bigger than the Nigerian national team? Even countries like Luxembourg, Malta and some other weak countries still plays friendly games big teams like England, Germany, Spain, France. I just feel like there might be a condition that is attached when playing friendly matches with those bigger countries because i can still remember countries like Morocco, South Africa and some other African countries still plays friendly games with the big countries in Europe and South America. Nigeria should find a way to play friendly games with bigger countries so that it can help them learn and build a better squad when they imitate their play patterns.

[Davidvictorson]

The absence of Victor Boniface still bothers me. A massive change from last season. WYT?

I am very surprised that Victor Boniface is just no where to be found on this football league. He was the shining start together Osimhen last season all of a sudden he's missing in action. He should also be on if the players making Africa proud. I hope he bounces back and strong. I also hope that Osimhen is in light for a long time to come. I say congratulations to him in advance.