SportsNigeria3

SoccerTalk by Mumini Alao: As a Nigerian, I think it is proper to be proud of the Super Eagles performance in the game against England at Wembley  on Saturday . It was a game of two halves. In the first half, England were utterly dominant and could have drowned Nigeria in a sea of goals. They scored two and dominated the game throughout the first half. On the basis of their first half showing, I will score the Super Eagles one over 10. However, in the second half, Gernot Rohr showed why he’s the real MVP of this team by switching from an ineffective 4-3-3 formation to a 3-5-2 system which paid huge dividends for the Super Eagles.  They clearly dominated the second hald and deserved more than the lone goal they scored in that half. They scored a five out of 10 for a cumulative six overall which is not a bad result. Now, by their performances in that game, the players have given the coach very interesting choices to make. In goal, Francis Uzoho showed how ...

Nigeria has been to the FIFA World Cup 5 times in her history – 1994, 1998, 2002, 2010 and 2014. I have been to every one of them, but never as a player. That may be the most painful part of my football career that had everything great and beautiful in it, except that aspect of showcasing my talent before a global audience. Probably, in order to compensate myself for that void that will never be filled again in my life, I  ensured, come rain or shine, that I went to all the World Cups involving the Nigerian national team since 1994, in one capacity or the other. Before then however, my story with the World Cup was a catalogue of failures. My World Cup Failures Twice I was an integral part of Nigeria’s national team, the  Green Eagles  that got to the final hurdle of qualifying for the World Cup, when FIFA had only one slot for the entire continent but failed to cross it. Both experiences have left very painful memorie...