What do we do with super Eagles?

At last Nigeria's super Eagles arrive the point we all have been praying it dosen't get to. We have been bashed severally by various national teams and yet we have remained steafast hoping and praying that our dear team improves. But what do we do now? Now that we are very sure the eagles have become definately the weeping boys in African football? Against Ghana many a fan of the super eagles thought it was a fluke. But against Uganda? We have played at home and away and in both games, the Ugandans had a upper hand. What do we do now?

Football Suffers Another, As May 29 Handover Draws Near

Yesterday was one of those days i had more reasons to stand by my believe that football in Nigeria is not about to take a turn for the better. It was an eclectic atmosphere at the Abuja National stadium. A novelty match organised as part of activities to mark the May 29th 2007 handover and as usual politicians, business Business men comprising mainly the who-is-who of coperate Nigeria converged at what was supposed to be an epoc making event. Behold it turned out to be another event organised only to showcase the vastness of our leaders' ineptitude.

One would have expected that in such a high profile event, what ever form of recreation organised should be one that can keep one hoping it never came to an end. Like in many countries where things are done properly, the football match would have matched the event. That was not to be as the organisers went ahead to organise a mock football game in an event on live telecast and on National TV. For the time the event lasted, i kept thinking 'what a game this would have been if this was featuring the super eagles and another world class football nation'. I kept watching a differnt match while something else was actually what was on TV.

This brings us back to the question of why we always fail to seize opportunities as a nation when they present themselves. At least a week before now, most of the super eagles players have rounded up games in their various leagues. So it wasn't the usual excuse of the players being very busy. It aslo can't be due to lack of funds to organise a high profile game that suits the occassion. I am saying this because after all, we shall be presented with large figures and sums of money and told all that was expended on organizing that single event.

Could it not serve a good opportunity for the super eagles to prepare for the forth coming game against Uganda? It is only in Nigeria that such a low profile team can be presented in such a high profile event. I have nothing against developing our youth teams but one should only think of what such an opportunity for a high profile game could possibly contribute to our World Cup/Nations Cup qualifying Bid.

Viewing Center Business: A Goldmine.

Football, apart from being Nigerians’ favourite pastime and greatest unifying factor, it has in recent times brought about a fast growing business which side by side has been blooming with same popularity of the game. You’ll hardly walk a hundred meters in Nigeria’s major cities without coming across a place with the trademark black wall scribbled on it, different match fixtures for the coming weekend.

More and more people are fast realizing how profitable the business could be that we can only expect it to get better especially with the high prices of Direct-to-Home television services in the country making football lovers to opt for these viewing centers. A typical viewing center has between 40-100 viewers and spots can sometimes boast higher patronage especially if you can offer dual view where viewers can watch two matches at the same time. Such places charge a minimum fee of N30, while some places can charge up to N50. I have paid N70 and N100 and I’m sure most of us have too.

It’s a beautiful thing that the country’s economy has so opened up that anyone serious about making honest money doesn’t have to wait too long. All you’ll probably need is a 23`` television, a satellite TV subscription which ranges from N6000 to N10000/month depending on which DTH you are using. You’d need some good benches and maybe one or two ceiling fans. A good space that can contain at least 5 to 7 long benches, a small generator just enough to power your TV, fans, bulbs and the decoder then you are as good as done. Some centers make as much as N10, 000 every week. Imagine that you are charging just N50/person/match and you have 50 viewers which is very modest, you’ll make N2500 as in most days where there is at least two premiership matches and say one seria A and another one La Liga matches, you’ll be talking four matches a day. That goes to about N10, 000. You still have Sundays and in some cases midweek matches come handy when the UEFA Champions league games are on. You can make in one week alone N20, 000 and that runs into N80, 000 per month. Let’s say you spend N9, 000 for TV subscription and N6000 on fuel for the generator and maybe N5000 on rent which in my opinion the last two are inflated. You still have N60, 000 left per month. That’s not bad for an extra income. Is it? You are also sure of recouping your investment in your second month. Note that I have not included International friendlies, world cup and nations cup qualifying matches etc. If you have a little money and thinking of what business to invest it in, this is one business you can start earning good income from the onset.

Champions Chelsea

Chelsea just played a fast one Manchester united this evening by waiting till the last 4 minutes of the 2nd half of the extra time before pulling the carpet off Man U's feet.

An encounter characterised by boredom the entire lenght of the first half saw real action in the second half. Though both teams had good chances to over run the over severally, Man u's played was mared by poor maskmanship which saw them bungling a handful of opportunities. Betwen Wayne and Giggs alone, the game should have taken a different dimension.

This brought back bad memories of the FA cup final between MAn U and Arsenal, where Man did the playing and Arsenal stole the game by a penalty shootout.

Chelsea played their usual style, uninspirational waiting for e break many times. Arjen Roben was particularly inspirational for the Blues but as usual it was always going to be Didier Who will take the most decisive action. The game ended 1-0 in favour of Chelsea which means they end the season with a double. Wether their season is justified with this or not is something for Abromovich to dedcide.

Please you comments. Thanks

Admin
Naija Football Fans Forum

Man U: one in the bag one to go

MAn U made good their promise yesterday when they lifted the title at the expense of thier bitter rival chelsea. Arsenal came 4th, liverpool 3rd place and we have the traditional big four arrangement again. Man U and chelsea still have the FA cup and Liverpool the champions league.That makes Arsenal's season the worst among the big four.

What ever happens at the FA Cup, champions league, truth remains that this season has been one of the most competitive in recent times. With United having to wait for the last days to be sure they have won the title and 3rd and 4th places decided just yesterday after Arsenal played 0-0 against portsmouth.

At the table bottom, the drama was more intriguing with west ham escaping at the expense of Shefield and Watford. Though many thought they deserved to stay after all of Tervez's heroics in the last days to rescue his team from relegation. It was all fun!

In the weeks to come, we look forward to African nations/world cup qualifiers, Euro cup qualifiers, the under 20 world cup and the Female world cup. Good thing is that, there is always enough action the world of football to keep us busy. I hope all these could serve as enough fun in the forum in the weeks to come.
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Drogba Upstages Eto'o

With Accra Ghana totally agog in expectation of the Glo/CAF African Footballer of the year award, Didier Drogba succeeded in upstaging Samuel Eto'o Fils and deny him a record fourth staight tittle.

Wether it was a deserved one or not one can't fail to commend Globalcom on a proper and highly hyped award. It can argueably be said to be the best in recent times. It goes to show that the knew sponsor means business.

If this kind of seriousness is transfered into the local league here in which sponsorship right is held by the same globalcom, with as much poblicity as what the Glo/Caf award has enjoyed in recently then football in Africa would have arrived atlast.

It goes to say that football in Africa can never be said to be developed when the standard in Nigeria is still abysmal. The latest FIFA ranking notwithstanding.

Today in the forum we look into the merit or demerit of the award as awarded to Didier.

Obafemi Martins shows Class

Before his rosy escapade in the English league was a trial period in which even the player almost lost confidence in him self. I remember very well I was one of those who kept faith with the pacey striker on the grounds that he was saddled with a team that had a serious problem with play making. I remember suggesting that he should leave if Newcastle United failed to do something about the midfield which I thought needed to wake up from it’s slumber if the f10m splashed on him was to be justified.

From every indication, it seems that the coach and the fans finally knew where to channel the blames and stopped expecting an over night Allen Shearer. What we saw yesterday was a spectacle and a world-class striker living up to his bidding. By scoring an equalizer against Spurs and assisting the winner away from home Obafemi has finally justified my long term believe that the English league was the best place for him. Obafemi martins is one striker that touches me as one who given the right team and teammates will go places.

His business-like approach to every game stands him out and that is a deviation from the natural Nigerian instincts. Most of our teams are always good enough to win most of the competitions they take part in but usually never do so simply because of a lack of the right attitude to matches. The reason I felt badly for him when Nigeria couldn’t make it to the world cup after so much personal sacrifice. All I can say now is go Obagoal. You are Nigeria’s best striker at the moment and soon you’ll get your reward. Don’t be discouraged. In the forum today, Nigerians debate on Is Obafemi Martins Nigeria’s Best Striker at the Moment

Berti Vogts As Super Eagles Coach

Berti Vogts is the former Germane and Scotish national team coach and when mentioned in the circles of football heroes, he can easily be said to be a big name. This is what Nigerian football fans across the world has been clamouring for. In the past when coaches are about to be changed we werew fond of going for anything in white skin (no racial prejudice meant). This was the height of inferiority complex and an act that pepertually kemt us in state i call mind slavery. We needed this kind of outcry to save ourselves from ourselves. I am satisfied that atlast the NFA has gone for a coach we all believe is worth his onions. Wether he finally gets the job or not shouldn't matter as for me we have won by nmaking the NFA begin to look for real world class coaches not just unknown riffraffs eager to make a name for themselves and hoping to use the Super Eagles as a spring board. Who is this man Vogts?

*Hans Hubert ("Berti") Vogts (born 30 December 1946 in Büttgen) is a former German international football player and manager.
[edit] Playing career
Vogts joined the boys' football team of local sports club VfR Büttgen in 1954 when he was seven, staying with them until his 1965 transfer to Borussia Mönchengladbach. A right-side defender, his tenacity earned him the nickname "Der Terrier". He was one of the key figures during Borussia's golden years in the 1970s, when it won the Bundesliga five times, the German Cup once, and the UEFA Cup twice. Vogts made 419 Bundesliga appearances for Mönchengladbach, scoring 33 times. He also appeared 64 times for the club in European competition, scoring 8 goals. Vogts remained with Mönchengladbach until he retired from playing in 1979.
He was also a member of the German national team that won the 1974 World Cup. Overall he played 9 international boys' games for West Germany, made 3 appearances for the under-23s team, and has 96 senior caps, making him one of Germany's most capped players. He was captain for 20 of the senior games, and scored one international goal.

[edit] Management career
After his playing career ended, he became a coach for Germany's under-20 national team, and continued in that role until 1990. Starting in 1986, he became an assistant manager of the senior national side. In 1990, he was promoted to manager of the national team, leading Germany to a EURO 96 win. He stepped down as manager in 1998 after Germany's shock quarter-final exit at the World Cup finals in France. After some time out of managing, he was appointed manager of Bayer Leverkusen in November 2000. The following May, despite earning Bayer Leverkusen UEFA Champions League qualification, he was fired. He became manager of the Kuwait national team in August 2001.
After six months with Kuwait, Vogts resigned to assume the position of manager of the Scottish national team. During his 2½-year tenure there, the Scots' international record was poor, with home defeats by Norway and Hungary, and a humiliating 2-2 draw with the team of the tiny Faroe Islands. Although some football pundits[attribution needed] credited much of the squad's performance to the low quality of the player pool from which Vogts had to draw, he nonetheless took the brunt of press criticism. An October 2004 draw with Moldova essentially put paid to Scotland's hopes of qualifying for the 2006 World Cup, and Vogts came under renewed pressure to quit. He resigned the following month, with a year and a half remaining on his contract, citing "disgraceful abuse" from the fans and the media. He later vowed never to return to football management following this "abuse" although has not ruled out a return to football on a coaching basis. Worse was to come for Vogts when Walter Smith took charge of Scotland on 2 December 2004 and the team saw an immediate turn around in fortune; many high profile players including David Weir and Barry Ferguson spoke to the press saying that the team under Vogts suffered from "lack of direction" and "poor man management".[citation needed]
He has recently been linked with the Nigerian national team, the Super Eagles. According to recent BBC news reports, Berti Vogts is the leading name among those interviewed for the position of the Super Eagles' boss. If successful, he will not have much problems managing Nigerian footballing talents who ply their trade in Europe. This has been a major problem with indigenous national team coaches in Nigeria.

*Wikipedia

South Africa 2010: Africa Gets 6 Slots

Africa's chances of winning the 2010 world cup in South Africa has just been boosted. This follows the increase of the3 number of slots for Africa from 5 to 6.

This means that apart from south Africa who has authomatic qualification as host, four other teams will have the opportunity of donning their country's Jerseys at the Mundial.

Many think this might be the chance Africa was waiting for. But will it be properly utilized? The previous edition saw Africa being represented by feeble contenders. I do not try to say that they shouldn't have been allowed to represent Africa because
I must respect that.

However, one can not say that Africa's representatives in the previous edition, was goog enough to be proud of. But Africa should seize these opportunity as host and having 6 reprentatives for the first time in History to put smiles on our faces.
With six representatives, can Africa make an impact? Comments please.
www.naijafootballfans.com

Man U and the Larsson Coup. Can It Ease The Title Race?

We all woke up the hear that Sir Alex Ferguson has secured a Loan deal to bring the Former Barcelona FC ace to the Theater of Dreams. For me this is a coup as he didn;t want to wait for January. A good move you may say owing to the fact that Man U is in critical need of options at the bench. But can this give the much needed assurances for the title race? Larsson to many is a spent force. Sir must have been convinced by his last minute heroics at the last champions league final. It sure takes an excellent player to do that. But can he still pull such stunts? He has been relatively quite since exiting Barca. What's your opinion?Let's hear you at the Forum.

http://naijafootballfans.com/index.php?topic=64.from1165174999;topicseen#msg116 .

Globalcom Outbids MTN for Premier League Rights

Good times seems to be here for the Nigerian League at last. This is interesting. Many thanks to MTN. I bet Globalcom wouldn't have offered what it is offering now if MTN did not come up with that threat. Our people says " If a son does not pretend to want to sleep with his father's wife, the father wouldn't get him his own wife'.

While i am hailing MTN's alleaged threat, i am happy that the current sponsors have finally seen a reason to up their bid.

From what i heard the Communication giant is ready to up MTN's offer by 10%. Yhummy!

But it is now time for all to put hands together to force the NFA to do something usefull with the amount they would get from this deal.
I hope they will.
This dicussion still hots up in the forum.

Should Obafemi Martins Leave Newcastle

Should Obafemi Martins Leave Newcastle after all this criticism? I think no. But let's look at it.The truth is that, newcatle as it is now is doing everything but help Oba's carrier. Martins who before now was regarded as one of the hottest young strikers in the world is now being made to look ordinary by the English press.

In my Opinion, if any improvement should be made, it should be by the club.

How can one run a club without good midfielders and yet still expect miracles from the striker?
A player like Obafemi, will do wonders in arsenal even in the current 4-5-1 formation. He's got the pace, the strenght and the skill. Above all he is a business man on the pitch.Very serious!

Newcastle as far as i am concerned is a midiocre club side this season and should expedite action to bring in quality players to man the middle.

Obafemi is not Allen shearer and besides Allen shearer did not become a Legend in just one season. People should stop expecting him to become an Allen over night! Period.

He has so far shone like a million stars in the few matches where the middle lived up to expection. Live Oba alone. Do you have an opinion? Join the forum and have your say!

BREAKING NEWS !!! THE NIGERIAN FACTOR IN FIFA HOUSE?

BREAKING NEWS !!! THE NIGERIAN FACTOR IN FIFA HOUSE? « on: Today at 07:39:58 AM »

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Hello naija people, today as i was going through a couple of post on the forum, i came accross this.. 'I would have titled it 'A Post of A biwildered Fan'. But i think i like the title.
Read on..................

It is no longer a new phenomenon that only Nigerians amongst the black race in the world work wonders when you least expect whether in sports or politics.Thanks to our God-given ingenuity(if you tag it mago-mago na u sabi).

Certain criteria have been slated for choosing the African Footballer of the Year until not-too-long-ago CAF introduced some tricks in favor of the Francophones,that has seen our heroic erstwhile skipo JayJay denied the prestigious award in his hay days.

Playing friendly matches amongst other criteria has been used over the years by FIFA in determining how well a national football team would fares in the World FIFA ranking.To my amazement ,our beloved nation is now ranking 9th position rising two steps upward despite the fact that we've barely played any friendly since God-knows -when.whereas countries like Ghana, Ivory Coast etc. that at least played one or two friendly(s) were ranked below us.

I guess FIFA have introduced the NIGERIAN FACTOR into today's ranking criteria or perhaps they're just mocking our football governing house(NFA) who will see every reason to become more lukewarm than ever,since we're still the numero uno in Africa betterstill among the top nine in the world.

Anyway sha Congrats!!! jare abi how we go do?
By User Jaydee on the Forum.

African Players On A High In The World's Best League

The English Premiership is getting more and more exciting for football lovers in Nigeria as well as football fans in the whole of Africa.

The league is not just awash with African Players but is currently being made thick by them. From the biggest club to the smallest, from the table top to the bottom, every team that has ever made an impact this season must be doing so on the impressive run of its pool of African Players.

Chealsea fans in Africa of course have increased in number following the run of their compartriot Didier Drogba and John Mikel Obi.

Arsenal is perfectly anchored by Africans no doubt.But apart from their impact in the teams, Africans are palpably dominating in perfomance.They seem to be the driving force of the premiership. A cursory look at the scorers table conspicously has Kanu Nwankwo at the top, followed by his compatriot Didier Drogba in a league where the likes of Thiery Henry and Andry Schevechenko also ply thier trade.Whether this is only for the time being is not an issue.

In the midfield department, Micheal Essien is arguably the best for now as shown by his recent heroics that has not only help chelsea win some crucial matches this season but has helped the Blues triumph over their European arch rival Bacerlona Fc of Spain.

The premiership heroes can not be talked about without talking about Arsenal's duo of Kolo Toure and Emmanuel Ebuoe. This two have become a fixture at the heart of Arsenal's defence.

Others include but not limited to Obafemi Martins of Nigeria, Yakubu Ayebgeni, Benjani, Lua Lua, and have so far put up perfomances that give hope of a reneissance in African football especially now that the continent prepares to host the world come 2010. African football fans can atleast have something to look up to.

It is worth celebrating as this fits have not been achieved playing in any mediocre league but the world best. Yes! The world's best. In my opinion, there couldn't be a better way to qualify a league that has produced two champions league finalist in two consecutive seasons and won once. To buttress this fact, you only need to take a look at the list of nominees for the world footballer award for this year where a good chunk of them are players from the English league. The highest from any league.

It is high time the world starts giving African Footballers the respect they deserve.This should reflect in sign on fees. Wasting so much money to buy a player like shevy who, f30m later, has scored just 1-2-3 times in the same team with a player like Drogba brought in at an amount, a far cry from this can't just stop scoring is unfair.

African players are the ones making all european leagues thick and should be compensated arcording? Any contrary opinion. Let's here you at the forum!

Best 5 Funny Football Goals of all the Time

Great Goals! This na for all my readers to carry relax. Enjoy jare!