African Football Discussion Thread: {Current Topic: 👉 AFCON 2027 ⚽⚽}.

[DubemIfedigbo001]

If Guinea Bissau had a more better pitch, why didn't they make use of it?

I feel the Guinea Bissau players already mastered their home stadium, that is how they could comfortably defeat the Super Eagle, all of it feels like a deliberate action to mess the game and favour the host side.

Nice job banning that stadium, what a disgrace to African football, more alike stadiums should be banned as well.

It just that the Guinea Bissau has a poor infrastructure let call it what it is, how sure is it a secret home advantage plan, I think their federation are still struggling with funding and maintenance of the pitch which is so sad of them, it such a shame to see such prioritize poor pitch more than quality why is it all about cheating and grappling, the pitch should not matter, but the supper Eagles have played on worse pitches across Africa and won so they shouldn’t be any complain of grass…one thing some players need to understand is about tactics and motivation….

The greatest blame goes to CAF for allowing such important match on that pitch. The local pitch in my area where our junior team trains is far better than that pitch. If they used the pitch to gain obvious advantage, then it could as well be seen that CAF had a hand in the cheating because they saw the field and approved the match to hold on it despite it being very substandard. CAF is a disappointment already, I don't expect any better from them.

[Alpha Marine]

The question that you are trying to ask is already self explanatory, the reason is that when a player knows that his place in the super eagles is secured no matter how badly that he plays will not give out his best and will play, with no real level of seriousness. Because he knows that at the end of the day he will still be called up to the national team no mater what. Because from what we are seeing we are doing a recycling process with the types of player's that are been invited to the Super Eagles team. There is no competition and so no geal and hunger to coming from the part of the players.

People say this a lot, but I don't believe it. No matter how Lamine Yamal plays, he will still be called to the national team. No matter how Rodri plays, he will still be called to the national team. They have no competition in the team. They will always be starters and very important players, but the lack of competition doesn't make them play badly. They still bring out their best for the national team.
Lack of competition is not the problem. The problem is the whole system. Everything about the Nigerian national team is wrong. The management and the way players are scouted are all mediocre, so there is no way that kind of mediocrity won't translate to the pitch. It's similar with what is going on with Italy.
If they change this set of players and bring new players, it will still be the same thing.

[Comeacross]

People say this a lot, but I don't believe it. No matter how Lamine Yamal plays, he will still be called to the national team. No matter how Rodri plays, he will still be called to the national team. They have no competition in the team. They will always be starters and very important players, but the lack of competition doesn't make them play badly. They still bring out their best for the national team.
Lack of competition is not the problem. The problem is the whole system. Everything about the Nigerian national team is wrong. The management and the way players are scouted are all mediocre, so there is no way that kind of mediocrity won't translate to the pitch. It's similar with what is going on with Italy.
If they change this set of players and bring new players, it will still be the same thing.

I agree to this. Lack of competition is not the problem affecting our super eagle players. Our main problem revolve around the system in general. How other countries treat their players is not the same way Nigeria treats her players. Foreign countries including some African countries have a structure that works fine and their players feel honoured to play for them. Our own is the opposite here and our players perform as if they are being forced to come and play. I don't know if their salaries are being paid regularly but we have seen them complaining about bonus and allowances delay. The players have their own problems too but the management is the genesis of the entire problem.

[Roseline492]

People say this a lot, but I don't believe it. No matter how Lamine Yamal plays, he will still be called to the national team. No matter how Rodri plays, he will still be called to the national team. They have no competition in the team.

Every player is only useful when their performance is very productive to their national team but the moment it changes that's also how your relevance will drastically fall in the club and on the coach so actually Lamine Yama is also subject to this because anytime his performance is below the players he usually bench the coach will replace him with a suitable person, a country with a lot of players as Spain does not give a preference to any players that would negatively affect them, the only reason nobody compete him and Rodri is because they have not lost form, even in super eagles if Osimhen is on a state were they wouldn't need him on their match they would still bench him, already is the same thing that also happen to Boniface.

[Marykeller]

People say this a lot, but I don't believe it. No matter how Lamine Yamal plays, he will still be called to the national team. No matter how Rodri plays, he will still be called to the national team. They have no competition in the team. They will always be starters and very important players, but the lack of competition doesn't make them play badly. They still bring out their best for the national team.
Lack of competition is not the problem. The problem is the whole system. Everything about the Nigerian national team is wrong. The management and the way players are scouted are all mediocre, so there is no way that kind of mediocrity won't translate to the pitch. It's similar with what is going on with Italy.
If they change this set of players and bring new players, it will still be the same thing.

I agree to this. Lack of competition is not the problem affecting our super eagle players. Our main problem revolve around the system in general. How other countries treat their players is not the same way Nigeria treats her players. Foreign countries including some African countries have a structure that works fine and their players feel honoured to play for them. Our own is the opposite here and our players perform as if they are being forced to come and play. I don't know if their salaries are being paid regularly but we have seen them complaining about bonus and allowances delay. The players have their own problems too but the management is the genesis of the entire problem.

The NFF has always been the genesis of the problem we see in the Super Eagles. It is not a new thing that Super Eagles players complain bitterly about how their bonuses and allowances are delayed. I feel this is a recurring issue; you don't expect players to continue to give their all when they know that the NFF's attitude is not encouraging. The players are paid when they are called up, not when they aren't called up. It's like a business of the day; after representing the country, they get paid immediately, not given an excuse. It's annoying to be called up, to be left with nothing after leaving your club side

[Cityhunter34]

This is absolutely not an excuse at all, because we have seen it from Super Eagles. There is nothing to hide anymore, because even if the pitch was as good as they wanted, they would have still played the same way. So they shouldn't talk about it twice, because they are not doing what we expected from them.

Sometimes I used to wonder if they are the same ones that we normally see in the premier League and other Leagues, because they don't usually show the same effort in the Nations League.

You can never see the super eagles without excuses. Should I blame them no, why, because they are not taken as priority by the NFF. How many times have the players been complaining of unpaid wages? Forget the fact they are blaming the field this time, we have always know that has been the major problem why these players are not performing at their best. You want the players to play with everything in them and possibly get injured along the line and lose their place in their club starting lineup. Once we get the leadership of NFF right, the players will start performing at their best.

Don't you think that even if all the necessary things are done for the Super Eagles, they would still give us excuses when they lose a match? Of course, they will definitely find something else as an excuse just to cover up their mistakes.

Let's be honest with ourselves and say the truth, because it is becoming a tradition for the Super Eagles, which is not longer funny anymore, because they often have one or two excuses every time.

[Asiska02]

I agree to this. Lack of competition is not the problem affecting our super eagle players. Our main problem revolve around the system in general. How other countries treat their players is not the same way Nigeria treats her players. Foreign countries including some African countries have a structure that works fine and their players feel honoured to play for them. Our own is the opposite here and our players perform as if they are being forced to come and play. I don't know if their salaries are being paid regularly but we have seen them complaining about bonus and allowances delay. The players have their own problems too but the management is the genesis of the entire problem.

The African countries management of their national players is always different, this should be seen from Nigeria as they call themselves the giant of Africa. The players should always feel proud and energetic to want to play for their country and not the opposite of what we are seeing now. The NFF cannot be given the entire blame even though they also do not treat this players well, the players should feel proud to be called up for their natural team and represent their country because it improves their relevancy in their club side also.

Players not called up for international game by their countries always feel down because if there was not a player than them, they would have been called up to represent their country. I don’t think the Nigerian players are proud so much of representing the country, unlike the past players who play passionately and have the countries best interest at heart when playing.

[el che]

...

Most of them still believe more on foreigner they think that foreign coaches has more experience in coaching jobs because i don't see why they will be neglecting what they have available at home and going out side to look for it and also pay them higher amount of money, while the home coach wouldn't even need such amount. African coaches who are coaching in their countries are doing well i wish all African teams will have their citizens as their head coach i believe this will be part of self development.

A lot of federations still suffer from a colonial mindset, automatically assuming that a foreign manager means higher quality while overlooking the talent they have right at home. Not only do local coaches understand the culture, players and local mentality way better, but investing in them also builds long term self development and stability for the entire football ecosystem. Paying massive salaries to foreign coaches who often leave at the first sign of trouble just doesn't make sense anymore, especially when local managers have repeatedly proven they can get the job done on the biggest stages.

[Nightwatchmare]

I don't want to quote a specific post but seeing the discussion about hiring a local coach versus a foreign coach, I just don't understand why national teams keep choosing foreigners. You can see that Senegal won the last AFCON with a local coach and Morocco is doing great on all fronts with a Moroccan coach. Also if you look at the last three World Cups, they were all won by teams with a native coach, from Spain to Argentina and France.
I feel like having a local coach who speaks the language, understands the culture and truly cares about the team is a huge plus. So I still don't understand why countries do not hire local coaches especially when they already have quality options available at home.

I am totally against the NFF hiring a foreign coach instead of local coach which knows the players very well and know the perfect strategy to us on them and effectively win games. You should not even use Senegal and Morocco as examples how the NFF should hire a local coach instead of a foreign coach, because the super eagles has won the Africa cup of nations with a local coach. The main reason countries do not hire local coaches is because they believe foreign coaches have more experience and strategies to get good results with any national team.

[Tonimez]

I don't want to quote a specific post but seeing the discussion about hiring a local coach versus a foreign coach, I just don't understand why national teams keep choosing foreigners. You can see that Senegal won the last AFCON with a local coach and Morocco is doing great on all fronts with a Moroccan coach. Also if you look at the last three World Cups, they were all won by teams with a native coach, from Spain to Argentina and France.
I feel like having a local coach who speaks the language, understands the culture and truly cares about the team is a huge plus. So I still don't understand why countries do not hire local coaches especially when they already have quality options available at home.

I am totally against the NFF hiring a foreign coach instead of local coach which knows the players very well and know the perfect strategy to us on them and effectively win games. You should not even use Senegal and Morocco as examples how the NFF should hire a local coach instead of a foreign coach, because the super eagles has won the Africa cup of nations with a local coach. The main reason countries do not hire local coaches is because they believe foreign coaches have more experience and strategies to get good results with any national team.

Hiring local coaches does not guarantee that the coach will know the players very well because he hasn't managed the team before and also not their team mates. What the super eagles n ed is a good manager, not a local manager. A good manager can be found in Nigeria or diasporas. If you insist on using local coaches instead of looking at their records, you may not be as lucky as the 2013 tournament when Stephen keshi led the team to a victory against Burkinafo in final of the AFCON.

Foreign coaches are not also bad because the super eagles have been reaching the third place for sometimes under the foreign coaches and even finals. The search must not be local, but care should be taken not to politicise it.

When siasia was given the privilege, he had no much achievement as he couldn't qualify for the 2012 AFCON. What about Finidi George? He also didn't succeed, Olise and so on. So it's not about being a local coach, the question is, can he deliver?

[KingsDen]

...

Most of them still believe more on foreigner they think that foreign coaches has more experience in coaching jobs because i don't see why they will be neglecting what they have available at home and going out side to look for it and also pay them higher amount of money, while the home coach wouldn't even need such amount. African coaches who are coaching in their countries are doing well i wish all African teams will have their citizens as their head coach i believe this will be part of self development.

A lot of federations still suffer from a colonial mindset, automatically assuming that a foreign manager means higher quality while overlooking the talent they have right at home. Not only do local coaches understand the culture, players and local mentality way better, but investing in them also builds long term self development and stability for the entire football ecosystem. Paying massive salaries to foreign coaches who often leave at the first sign of trouble just doesn't make sense anymore, especially when local managers have repeatedly proven they can get the job done on the biggest stages.

I continue to question the ideology of the African countries that hire foreign coaches, I mean mediocre level coaches. If they hire Mourinho, Zidane, Tuchel, Ancelito, Kloop etc, I will know that they hired world class coaches. But no, they instead still hire foreign coaches at the level of our local coaches and continue to feed the bloated system.

I can simply call this inferiority complex. The black man has refused to understand that no one will save him if not his fellow black man. It is high time CAF, NFF and more have a good rethink and fix the rotten system that promotes mediocre clothed in white.

[Kelward]

People say this a lot, but I don't believe it. No matter how Lamine Yamal plays, he will still be called to the national team. No matter how Rodri plays, he will still be called to the national team. They have no competition in the team.

Every player is only useful when their performance is very productive to their national team but the moment it changes that's also how your relevance will drastically fall in the club and on the coach so actually Lamine Yama is also subject to this because anytime his performance is below the players he usually bench the coach will replace him with a suitable person, a country with a lot of players as Spain does not give a preference to any players that would negatively affect them, the only reason nobody compete him and Rodri is because they have not lost form, even in super eagles if Osimhen is on a state were they wouldn't need him on their match they would still bench him, already is the same thing that also happen to Boniface.

If a national team coach is fielding a perticular player who is no longer in form because of their past glory such a coach is not fit for his job, it means that he is a puppet to the authorities that wants certain players to be fielded no matter their current form. Lamine Yamal and Rodri, are exceptional players to their country just as Osimhen, is to the Super eagles, if such players are not called up in their national teams or they are benched people will not be happy and they will ask questions. Anything that the glory of these players starts to gradually diminish I believe that over time their automatic call-ups to their national teams would reduce, that is just the way it is, no player can continue to remain relevant, as new stars are rising the older ones will be fading.

[Davidvictorson]

If a national team coach is fielding a perticular player who is no longer in form because of their past glory such a coach is not fit for his job, it means that he is a puppet to the authorities that wants certain players to be fielded no matter their current form.

Hold on, bro it too harsh. I am literally laughing reading your comment. I don’t think we should conclude that the coach is not fit for his job because he chooses to feature a player who seems to be out of form. There may be 1001 reasons why and that is between the coach and the player. However, I do get your point and I think we have other players who have as much potential as Victor and they should also be considered.

[Son Of Blockchain (SOB)]

Edited..

Hold on, bro it too harsh. I am literally laughing reading your comment. I don’t think we should conclude that the coach is not fit for his job because he chooses to feature a player who seems to be out of form. There may be 1001 reasons why and that is between the coach and the player. However, I do get your point and I think we have other players who have as much potential as Victor and they should also be considered.

The player he's referring to isn’t completely out of form he only had a temporary injury that kept him out of the team. Moreover that's the current best player of the Nigerian national team, his absence is always felt cause he's the goal getter but until a better replacement is found the team would mostly suffer to score when he's not available.
 What i expect the management to do is to scout good Nigerian attacker from the national level or the ones playing for International club cause they can't keep relying on Victor alone then suffer when he's not available. One day he'll retire and when he's no longer available to play for the national team, how would they cope? That's what they should be worried about.

[Spaceman1000$]

Edited..

Hold on, bro it too harsh. I am literally laughing reading your comment. I don’t think we should conclude that the coach is not fit for his job because he chooses to feature a player who seems to be out of form. There may be 1001 reasons why and that is between the coach and the player. However, I do get your point and I think we have other players who have as much potential as Victor and they should also be considered.

The player he's referring to isn’t completely out of form he only had a temporary injury that kept him out of the team. Moreover that's the current best player of the Nigerian national team, his absence is always felt cause he's the goal getter but until a better replacement is found the team would mostly suffer to score when he's not available.
 What i expect the management to do is to scout good Nigerian attacker from the national level or the ones playing for International club cause they can't keep relying on Victor alone then suffer when he's not available. One day he'll retire and when he's no longer available to play for the national team, how would they cope? That's what they should be worried about.

I've been having this same thinking too, overreliance on Victor Osimhen is taking a negative tool on the super Eagles, we should be able to have other players that are competing on the same level as Victor, at least a striker that might not exactly have the same energy as Victor  but has similar qualities, just take a look at some of the games he wasn't featured, we had to struggle to score goals, Akor Adams is good, but is finishing level and that of Osimhen are far apart. Ademola Lookman is one good attacker, but it's not a striker or top 9,  he is  good at forcing attack and helping to do finishing if he is positioned well.

[Different patterns]

People say this a lot, but I don't believe it. No matter how Lamine Yamal plays, he will still be called to the national team. No matter how Rodri plays, he will still be called to the national team. They have no competition in the team. They will always be starters and very important players, but the lack of competition doesn't make them play badly. They still bring out their best for the national team.
Lack of competition is not the problem. The problem is the whole system. Everything about the Nigerian national team is wrong. The management and the way players are scouted are all mediocre, so there is no way that kind of mediocrity won't translate to the pitch. It's similar with what is going on with Italy.
If they change this set of players and bring new players, it will still be the same thing.

I agree to this. Lack of competition is not the problem affecting our super eagle players. Our main problem revolve around the system in general. How other countries treat their players is not the same way Nigeria treats her players. Foreign countries including some African countries have a structure that works fine and their players feel honoured to play for them. Our own is the opposite here and our players perform as if they are being forced to come and play. I don't know if their salaries are being paid regularly but we have seen them complaining about bonus and allowances delay. The players have their own problems too but the management is the genesis of the entire problem.

This is the truth honestly, because the way we treat our players is poor compared to other countries and maybe that's what has resulted in their performance as a team, most players will not want to perform well when they are not well taken care of and when they feel they are not important. But when the structure is fixed from the management, they can hold the players accountable if they don't perform well in a game which is needed to help them perform well in the coming games. But to be sincere, we need to quickly do something regarding the situation of the super eagles because they have been underperforming as a team and now their chances of qualifying for the afcon is very slim even though they have the ability to win from that group convincingly. We need to do better honestly.

[Ronsbit]

If a national team coach is fielding a perticular player who is no longer in form because of their past glory such a coach is not fit for his job, it means that he is a puppet to the authorities that wants certain players to be fielded no matter their current form.

Hold on, bro it too harsh. I am literally laughing reading your comment. I don’t think we should conclude that the coach is not fit for his job because he chooses to feature a player who seems to be out of form. There may be 1001 reasons why and that is between the coach and the player. However, I do get your point and I think we have other players who have as much potential as Victor and they should also be considered.

The coach knows what best is good for the national team and I don't think there is anything bad in whomever he fields for the game. He has the right to do so as long as that player is okay to go with. All the players that were featured so far are all fit even Kelechi that has not been called up for quite a long time and I believe it is not Kelechi you are talking about because he is fully in form and as a matter of fact, he is really performing in his new team.

[YOSHIE]

I continue to question the ideology of the African countries that hire foreign coaches,

I agree, football teams, especially African ones, should not hire or hire foreign coaches, unless the national team coach is not available, that's another story.

In my opinion in the world of football, in general I think that when a foreign coach comes in, it will certainly cause bad effects and risks to the players, this can be caused by language barriers or poor communication.

In this situation, when foreign coaches continue to be forced to train national/local teams, but most of them often see that the teams they train often experience bad things, especially in the early season, The reason is that foreign coaches find it very difficult to understand the characteristics of local competition.
What's more, in African football, we often see coaches being fired due to poor performance.

[Rockstarguy]

I continue to question the ideology of the African countries that hire foreign coaches, I mean mediocre level coaches. If they hire Mourinho, Zidane, Tuchel, Ancelito, Kloop etc, I will know that they hired world class coaches. But no, they instead still hire foreign coaches at the level of our local coaches and continue to feed the bloated system.

I can simply call this inferiority complex. The black man has refused to understand that no one will save him if not his fellow black man. It is high time CAF, NFF and more have a good rethink and fix the rotten system that promotes mediocre clothed in white.

You shouldn't be surprised by this because it is common in Africa, and it is not just a matter of coaching. Africa doesn't know how to support its own, and when building their own, they feel there are some other people who know better and can give their best.

I have seen African coaches who are doing well professionally, like the Senegal coach and even a former Nigerian coach, the late Stephen Keshi of blessed memory, and there are many other coaches who are doing well. Africa needs to develop its own because no one can do it better for Africa than Africans.

[Audrey Simmons]

Hold on, bro it too harsh. I am literally laughing reading your comment. I don’t think we should conclude that the coach is not fit for his job because he chooses to feature a player who seems to be out of form. There may be 1001 reasons why and that is between the coach and the player. However, I do get your point and I think we have other players who have as much potential as Victor and they should also be considered.

Instead of saying the coach is not good for the job, I will rather say he needs to amend and adjust with his decisions, all decisions from the coach cannot be perfect, even great coaches in top leagues take actions that are sometimes unyielding. The ability for a coach to understand and correct himself where he is lacking, is what makes a good coach, didn't the coach brought players that made their debut.