Yeah. The big event is around the corner. Starting Friday, football's greatest show, and the world's biggest single-sport event, would kick off for the very first time in African soil. I must say that I have never seen a world cup where so many start players were "sacked" by injuries at the last minute. It is sad, really. Any footballer's ultimate dream is to play in the world cup, and prepares hard for years and prays for it. Then to lose out this way at the last moment is unfortunate. This list includes Rio Ferdinand, Robben, Drogba, Mikel, Pirlo, Ballack, Essien, Cardozo, Nani, etc. Lets hope, for the good of the game, that the likes of Drogba and Robben, who have a little of hope getting better, overcome thier injuries.
So, the favourites? Personally, I feel it won't go beyond the usual favs - Brazil, Argentina, Spain, Italy. This is not discounting England and France, as they also have the pedigree to go all the way.
For Nigeria, I just hope we don't get disgraced. But football being what it is, the lads might just put up a fight and do a decent job.
So, here's for a memorable and exciting World Cup. Lets go 2010 8)
For health and Psychological reasons i would advise Nigerians to not put too much hope in the Super eagles.
If they win fine,but if they get disgraced then don't be too sad. The world cup is a game of professionalism,endurance and tactics.
My worry is that Yobo and Echiejille are traditional players that chase the ball wherever it goes. They seem to forget what the coach asks them to play. Once they enter the field and hear the crowd roaring they get confused.
My prediction is we will draw against Argentina,beat Greece and loose against south-Korea.
Argentina will beat Greece and south Korea.
South Korea will loose against Greece.
Argentina and Nigeria will qualify :)
Wow1 So you got the whole matches figured out? ;D Well, I don't know about how the result would pan out, but I also have a sneaky feeling the Eagles may just make it from the group. Which would be a small miracle considering how poor the team is.
My predictions have been proven to be incorrect.
The super eagles performed beyond expectation. Our goalkeeper did very well in the match.
I hope and pray we will scale to the next round.
Germany is a team to watch after their 4-0 defeat of Australia.
England wasn't too good but france is good.
You can see how bad Nigeria's football is now. We lost, but we still happy that the team tried. Kai! I think Lagerback showed that with a good coach can squeeze out something extra even from a bad squad. But it evident that Enyeama was solely responsible for the 'respectable' scoreline. It could easily have been 7-0 :o ;D
Har yanzu ban ga wani team din ya burge ni ba. Damadama Germany. Lets see Brazil, Spain and Italy play, may be they would up the standard of the matches.
I can understand the call to ban the vuvuzelas!! Noisy, distracting and just nuisance. But this is Africa, we do our things differently ;D
Goga - that "jabulani" ball is giving players wahala. I don't like it.
Yes indeed.
The 'Jabulani' is a flop. Its too fast and really it bounces too much.
It is also bad for free kicks as all the free kicks i have seen are poor and its because of the ball.
They should go back to the original ball.
They call the jabulani the roundest ball ever and it seems all they wanted to achieve is the roundness and not the efficiency of the ball.
Quote from: gogannaka on June 14, 2010, 05:20:00 PM
It is also bad for free kicks as all the free kicks i have seen are poor and its because of the ball.
Thank you. Exactly what I told my friends. All freekicks taken so far were bad, as the ball always just flew wayward or skyward.
Did anyone watch the Kickoff concert?
SA has really tried.
I learnt that the songs 'waving flag' by Knaan and 'waka waka' by shakira are blasted everywhere in South Africa.
Do you think Nigeria can give such a magnificent hosting?
I missed the concert. I really wanted to see it because I have a feeling SA would do well. Kai ma dai, how can Nigeria organize something perfect like that?
That was a rubbish game by the super eagles. Although one can say the red card contributed a lot to make it difficult for the team in the game. Sani was simply stupid.
Lucky i didn't watch the match.
Mathematically we still have a chance because Argentina dares not loose against greece while south Korea beat us.
We need to trash south Korea with as many goals as possible and then sit back and hope argentina trashes greece.
Purely mathematical.
As for me,as i have said earlier,for health and psychological reasons,i don't expect the super eagles to go farther than the 1st round.
Nigerians should not even worry they didn't celebrate reaching the semi's. We have a N10billion celebration coming in october.
Did anyone watch the Ivory coast Brazil Match?
It was full of drama.
Brazil's second goal had 2 handballs in the buildup to the goal.
The yeye referee was,after giving the goal,asking the goal scorer 'shebi u use you chest to control abi' and pointing to his chest.
There has been bad officiating so far in many matches with too many undeserved red cards.
There were bad refereeing decisions but the brazil-cote d voire ref was the worst. Fabiano used his hand to control the ball, used his hand agains to bring the ball down and scored >:( And the stupid, useless was foolish enough to go meet him, point at this arm and both oif them laughed. Did the fool forget about the cameras? I wait to see what FIFA would do about it. But then again, I fear nothing would be done. Dama Ghaddafi had already accused FIFA of being a corrupt organization.
About nigeria - Sani Kaita had received about 1000 death threats in his email. The NFF had written to the Sport ministry and federal govt on the issue. honestly, this is just madness. Kuma yan kudu nan ne, kasan basu da hankali. Ina mamaki irin halin su. Balle ma gashi "mallam" ne culprit din. Faduwa tazo daidai da zama. Makancewa suke kawai in har wani abu ya hada da arewa. Mahaukatan banza kawai. Kuma abin takaici sai kaga mu muna kin namu, muna son su. Wai mu masu "gaskiya" da "objective" ::) >:(
Nigeria finally out.
Yakubu blew the best chance away. The miss is now officially the worst miss in world cup history.
The referee wasn't good also.
I think the underdog team to watch is the USA.
Of course. It was what we expected, so no wahala ;D
That Aiyegbeni miss was the miss of the century according to the commentator. I really really hope the likes of aiyegbeni would never come close to the national team again.
Italy are out. Wow! The defending champions. Although everyone saw it coming. The was in bad shape and the coach refused to listen to protest in Italy as he left many better players at home.
Not to talk about France.
The French team is worse than the Super eagles and even kanoonline 11 can beat them.
Ba discipline.
Hi Goga n BKGZ it seems like you guys and me are intrested in d world cup.....
Hmmm that game with greece was devastating, a team that qualified for the world cup for d first time...
or so i heard.
I must say the man of that game for super eagles was kalu uche, he was on it.
Sani Kaita oh my days that man got carried away, the ball was thers anyway, so why
try fly kick the guy and get sent off for something sooooooo stupid.....
Obasi why d heck was he put on, he was acting confused.....
Shittu was like the big guy and he also was like "where shud i kick the ball or who do i pass to?"
Our goali was gud he saved the shots he can.
Yakubu men, i dnt even know what to say.......
I dint even watch south korean match, i just waited for sum1 to update me.
All i can say is that super Eagles were Super back in the days of Amokachi, Oliseh, Okocha, West etc etc.
So only 1 african team left if am rite ghana...What a shame
Algeria did well against england cos they kept it at 0-0 although they wud have wanted to get a goal,
i guess rooney shut his mouth at the end of that game, cos he said something about "its only Algeria" well
they manage to prevent any goal entering.
Portugal had some easy game with i think north korean where it was 7-0, poor koreans
Amira nice to see you back.
Ghana has really impressed the world.
At least Africa has some little hope. Wish them luck against Uruguay.
Still on records,i think the super eagles are the only ones that have done a foul throwing in this world cup.....lol
Haba da'allah.
Quote from: amira on June 26, 2010, 02:38:01 PM
Hi Goga n BKGZ it seems like you guys and me are intrested in d world cup.....
Hmmm that game with greece was devastating, a team that qualified for the world cup for d first time...
or so i heard.
I must say the man of that game for super eagles was kalu uche, he was on it.
Sani Kaita oh my days that man got carried away, the ball was thers anyway, so why
try fly kick the guy and get sent off for something sooooooo stupid.....
Obasi why d heck was he put on, he was acting confused.....
Shittu was like the big guy and he also was like "where shud i kick the ball or who do i pass to?"
Our goali was gud he saved the shots he can.
Yakubu men, i dnt even know what to say.......
I dint even watch south korean match, i just waited for sum1 to update me.
All i can say is that super Eagles were Super back in the days of Amokachi, Oliseh, Okocha, West etc etc.
So only 1 african team left if am rite ghana...What a shame
Algeria did well against england cos they kept it at 0-0 although they wud have wanted to get a goal,
i guess rooney shut his mouth at the end of that game, cos he said something about "its only Algeria" well
they manage to prevent any goal entering.
Portugal had some easy game with i think north korean where it was 7-0, poor koreans
Wow!! What an analysis. Gaskiya I'm impressed. Nice to see a lady in house talk football like a veteran football fan ;D
Quote from: gogannaka on June 26, 2010, 10:41:40 PM
Amira nice to see you back.
Ghana has really impressed the world.
At least Africa has some little hope. Wish them luck against Uruguay.
Still on records,i think the super eagles are the only ones that have done a foul throwing in this world cup.....lol
Haba da'allah.
Kai goga! Ban da sharri mana ;D
Well, the germans really taught england footballing lessons today. Dama can ingila sai surutu, amma basa iya tabuka komai. The team look disjointed. No creativity in the midfield while the backline appear nervous anytime the germans attack. One would have thought guys like gerard, rooney and lampard would at least produce some moments of individual magic even if the team as a whole failed to click.
Nice discussion. I wish I'd been contributing: but dat I'll soon, God's willing.
Before then, I'm quite happy with d way things are going in dis World Cup, though not happy with ma country n Africa, generally. Alas Brazil dey! Up Brazil!
Kai an yi wuta a world cup din nan.
Germany massacred England. It just reminded me of the MTN advert where one boy was singing 'two wars won and one world cup,ENGLAND ENGLAND!' and they entered a lift full of germans. They boy started the song inside the lift and the father quickly shut the boy's mouth with his hand.
Thats exactly what happened. They dared not boast in front of the germans.
4-1 was the score and the germans dominated the match. Although Lampard's denied goal affected the morale of England.
In the Portugal Vs Spain match, the referee wasn't fair to Ronaldo because he was fouled many times but the ref refused to blow.
Xavi, Iniesta and Villa were just wonderful in that match.
Gaskiya the level of refereeing errors these days (not just this world cup) is embarrassing. I believe FIFA is being too lenient to the refs. Agreed that they are human and can therefore make mistakes, but some of the errors are beyond comprehension. Amma da haka, I don't support the call for video evidence to be introduced in football.
Africa's only representative, the Black Stars of Ghana; and Africans' most favourite team, the great Samba (Brazil) were both knocked out. Too bad!
Kai amma dai Germany basu da mutunci ;D Haba! See how dem dey disgrace countries for dis world cup. Dem give Australia 4-0, come give England 4-1 and finally carry the mighty Argentina do chewing stick with dem for 4-0. I dey fear for Spain on wednesday.
Back to naija. Jatau Mai Sa'a was so pissed off about the the Eagles' performance that he suspended the country's national teams from international football for the next two years. Me, I support this move 100%.
Ai Wani calculation ya nuna cewa Germany will win the world cup.
They contained Argentina completely. Their secret lies in their youthfulness and teamwork,not individuality.
Take a look at how Sweinstieger unselfishly passses the Ball instead of attempting to score.
@ Muhsin,ai Brazil da rufin asiri suka zo. They weren't that spectacular.
What annoyed me most was what the 'own-goal' scorer did to Robben. Very unsportsmanlike. It was worst than what Kaita did.
In football what he did is called 'Zafin ci'.
Robben is a machine too.
That Suarez of Uruguay should be banned from ever playing football. FIFA should come up with a rule that if a player intentionally handles a ball that is surely going inside the net with his hands then the player should be given a ban and the goal allowed.
Quote from: gogannaka on July 06, 2010, 10:47:33 AM
That Suarez of Uruguay should be banned from ever playing football. FIFA should come up with a rule that if a player intentionally handles a ball that is surely going inside the net with his hands then the player should be given a ban and the goal allowed.
You echoed my thoughts. In fact I've heard several people voice the same opinion. And the guy keeps on celebrating the act shamelessly. Ba laifin sa bane. FIFA ne shirme. They are always very slow to react to situations. What he did was very bad for football. Now he's telling everybody to catch the ball with his hand the moment it's heading inside the net.
Eyya!!
Allahsarki African teams, they all got kicked out even the
black stars we had hoped for were sent back to their motherland......
Germany kam sun haye, they on the roll they just keep thrashing people
like its some sort of training day lol.
Suarez joker, its all about the hands forget the feet when it comes to saving the
goal, O well they out too!
I think the Deutch Germans are gonna win this world cup, cos they seriously on it!
Anyone else heard about the "Octopus" and its prediction? Apparently Spain will win this world cup. Lets wait and see.
Quote from: bakangizo on July 06, 2010, 04:29:54 PM
Quote from: gogannaka on July 06, 2010, 10:47:33 AM
That Suarez of Uruguay should be banned from ever playing football. FIFA should come up with a rule that if a player intentionally handles a ball that is surely going inside the net with his hands then the player should be given a ban and the goal allowed.
You echoed my thoughts. In fact I've heard several people voice the same opinion. And the guy keeps on celebrating the act shamelessly. Ba laifin sa bane. FIFA ne shirme. They are always very slow to react to situations. What he did was very bad for football. Now he's telling everybody to catch the ball with his hand the moment it's heading inside the net.
As painful as watching Ghana's exit was, I think the rules are fine as they presently stand. Awarding goals for balls that do not cross the line because they are 'adjudged' to be heading in that direction b4 illegal stoppage simply opens pandora's box to a nightmare of officiating decisions. The immediate red card and penalty award would be enough in most cases. If Gyan had put away his penalty we would not even be talking about this now. Kudos to Ghana though; they fought hard but ran out of luck in the end.
As for Suarez, he got his due punishment. I wouldn't go overboard in bedeviling his character. Think about it: its the last minute of a hard-fought game, your goal is under siege, your keeper is out of position, and the ball is heading into the net, effectively knocking ur team out of the World Cup and you can't stop it by any legal means - wetin you go do? The guy instinctively took a giant gamble and unfortunately for Ghana it paid off in the end. What I don't like is his excessive celebration of the act and insensitive comments about "the hand of God and virgin Mary'. Frankly the Uruguayans should have been much more sober about winning a match in such an awful and arguably undeserved way. But in any case, I'd rather get a red card this way than our
kaitastrophic way. >:(
I get your point, but seriously awarding a goal for such clear, blatant "volleyball" like the Suarez case isn't gonna pose any problem. And like you, what gets me real annoyed about the issue was his shamelesslly open celebratioin and boasting.
Quote from: Suleman on July 07, 2010, 01:13:05 PM
Anyone else heard about the "Octopus" and its prediction? Apparently Spain will win this world cup. Lets wait and see.
I heard about it. Says it predicted five matches's results. For me Germany is the fav, but it won't be out of order if Spain won.
Quote from: amira on July 07, 2010, 01:04:15 PM
Eyya!!
Allahsarki African teams, they all got kicked out even the
black stars we had hoped for were sent back to their motherland......
Germany kam sun haye, they on the roll they just keep thrashing people
like its some sort of training day lol.
Suarez joker, its all about the hands forget the feet when it comes to saving the
goal, O well they out too!
I think the Deutch Germans are gonna win this world cup, cos they seriously on it!
Yeah, the germans are on a roll. I would want them to win it, cos they have the best team (forget that most of the stars in the team are foreigners ;D). I can't remember the last time a country goes on foru-goals-bashing streak like this in a world cup.
@ Lionger,i see your point.
@ Suleiman, the octopus only predicts German matches. He should come to naija. He will make it big time!
Finally the Germans have been defeated.
Spain hasn't been so spectacular in the world cup but they contained the Germans comfortably.
I think their strikers are not so good and they miss alot of opportunity.
I didn't watch the match. Imagine the Kano airport didn't put on the TV to show the match. Its a pathetic airport wallahi.
They just put on wani freedom radio...Hissssss! Ana world cup.
I tip Netherlands to win the cup ;D
Kai mallam, ya kake kushe mana iyapot din mu? Our one and only international 'port? ;D
Gaskiya the germans disappointed me last night. I really them to win it, seeing as they have the best team out there and have played the best football in the tournament. I was really surprised ( and impressed) by the way the Spaniards contained them. The German midfield was completely neutralised. I think the absence of Muller was greatly felt by the Germans, but even wiith him, I doubt if he can do much. Spain played as a tight unit, leaving the germans no room to manouver.
Spain is my bet for the trophy. Nethelands may have reached the final, but I'm not too taken by their play, even after beating brasil.
Spain has finally clinched the title. That goal by inesta was a wonderful finish.
Robben had the best chances. Puyol deserved a red card for that tackle against robben. Iniesta too deserved a red card for assaulting an opponent. Robben deserved a second yellow for intentionally kicking the ball in the net after the referee has blown offside.
The referee was a bit confused.
He also gave Iniesta 2 yellow cards but forgot to give him the red.
In all,Paul the Octopus has won. Bokaye sun ci galaba.
I think the best goal of the world cup was Diego Forlan's second goal against Germany. Boy that was and advertisement goal.
He deserves to be the best player of the tournament.
I wish he had scored the last minute free kick.
Amma gaskiya South Africa has really really tried.
It is the world cup that had the best camera coverage.
The attendance was excellent also.
Kudos to south africa!
Allah ya kai mu next one.
Puyol does not deserve a red card because Robben wasn't brought down. He was pulled, yes, but he broke free, believing he would score. At the end, he failed to beat the 'keeper (even stamped on Iker). You can't expect the referee to call back the foul. It was a dirty game plan by Netherland to frustrate Spain's free-flowing passing game. It is a shame really, bcos this was the dirtiest final ever played, thanks to the Netherland. At the end, the best team won. I agree Forlan deserves to be the best player of the tournament.
I heard Paul the Octopus was invited in Spain. ;D Kudos to South Africa. They did Africa proud. Excellent organization.