Nigeria is worse than Ghana (slightly, ofcourse its a heated derby so predicting a winner head to head would be almost impossible) but due to the difficulty of their groups Nigeria has a much greater chance of reaching the round of 16
You stated that having better players is less than it's cracked up to be. He is implying that Nigeria, despite having good players are lacking in other areas (a good FA, teamwork etc) and so suggests that as a team they should be considered the worst of the 5 CAF teams. I see what he means, but I don't agree.
I suspect we will again have only one african side advancing....I'll put my money on Nigeria or Ivory Coast. I don't think Ghana makes it out of group G, but obviously I am a bias american haha
LOL. His logic is still beyond me. Nigeria's teamwork under Keshi is topnotch, the FA is turning a corner, and so on... And they have a vast talent pool that is just waiting to be properly utilised. Like the most dominant and talented youth team in U17 World Cup history - the Naija team of 2013. This Nigeria team is based mostly on unproven talent, so to an extent its less 'heavy' than Cote d'Ivoire or this Ghana squad.
again, you stress that there are good individual players. while this may be true, nigeria dont even have quality all over the pitch. only in certain areas such as central midfield and forwards. on what basis are you saying nigerias teamwork is topnotch? and damn, if Irans u17 dominated the best u17 team in history i guess our young players are very good.
Irans u17 squad were dominated, they went down 4-0 before scoring a consolation goal in the 84th minute. Nigeria's squad is filled with much more talent and has more mental strength going into this world cup than theyve have in more than a decade. It would be a major dissapointment if they didn't qualify from their group That being said, Ghana is still marginally better
once again, you make wild statements without backing them up, and when you are called out for it, you respond in an immature and even less in depth manner.
if you watched the match, Iran u17 dominated nigeria u17 in all aspects except scoring. anyways, this is not about u17 world cup. that is an irrelevant event. yes ghana is better, and yes nigeria have some quality in SOME areas of the pitch, nigeria do not have experience, and no nigeria do not have good teamwork. these facts will cause their downfall.
Shouldn't we wait and see about this? The Nigeria I saw at the Confed Cup was really erratic, and played exactly the same kind of dumb, selfish, shoot yourself in the foot soccer that the '10 World Cup squad did. The '02 edition got bad luck in the draw, so not sure if its fair to say too much about that failure, Argentina didn't make it out of that group either, but with Nigeria having fumbled away a ticket to World Cup '06 with a bunch of hair brained crummy results (losing and drawing Angola, drawing Gabon), and having played like idiots in '10, and then just showing a lack of professionalism and seriousness in that Tahiti game, and finding a way to lose to Uruguay, I'm not sold at all. I buy the idea that Nigeria could surprise, indeed I have them advancing for now, but they have to show us, before they deserve the plaudits. They won the Nations cup? Big deal, so did Zambia, so did Egypt, what did they do? I'm much more impressed by Ghana's consistency in the Cup of Nations and the World Cup, then I am in the champions of the Cup of Nations: Just take a peak: 2008: Semi-Finalist 2010: Finalist (giving ammo to my argument that the 6-1 beat down they gave Egypt was an outlier, Egypt beat them for the Crown in the '10 Finals) 2012: Semi-Finalist 2013: Semi-Finalist Compare that to Nigeria: 2008: 2nd in group, lose in quarters to Ghana 2010: 2nd in group, beat Zambia in quarters, lose to Ghana in semi's 2012: Crashed out in qualification after tying Ethiopia and taking only 1 point off Guinea in 2 matches. 2013: Champ after beating Burkina Faso I think it's more than reasonable for fans to simply not buy the Nigeria hype until they show they can handle the pressure of a major tournament, and play exceptionally well and focused soccer. I think they're more than capable of this, but I think criticism of Nigeria for now is very warranted. I will add that Nigeria got really lucky in terms of their draw (runner up status is very attainable), in particular in regards to their knockout draw. They could not have got a better pairing for a runner up team, based on the draw (not the play), than what they got, which was the weakest group, and the weakest seed. After that though, it doesn't look pretty. Still, a run to the quarters is there for whomever takes the runner up slot between Nigeria and Bosnia and Herzogovina. After that, it's likely Germany in the quarters, and good night now, but what a nice tourney it could be, if they show up.
The problem with the current squad is that there is no quality in depth. With Emenike, Onazi, Moses and even the ouf-of-form non-playing Mba out suddenly the squad was filled with hare-brained players, not the hardworking team effort of the African Cup of Nations. You can't analyze Nigeria historically. Keshi introduced a blanket revolution - basically the only players from the World Cup 2010 squad that are left in this squad are the goalkeepers and a couple of players that were bench players. And Cote d'Ivoire, which was their best and most important game last year. The problem with this team is that past the first team Nigeria is looking very frail. Subtract some of Nigeria's key players and they struggle. Keshi has the quality back-up players, but he's been experimenting so much that he prefers to call up a Serie B bench-warmer over Lukman Haruna, arguably Nigeria's best attacking midfielder. Keshi has one friendly, but arguably needs to change almost the entire bench.
the confederations team was missing nigeria most important attacking players; moses, and emenike. Maybe it was a bit rash of me to throw the '02 team under the bus the way i did. but it is incredibly improved from '06 and '10 and if Keshi makes the correct squad decisions they should be able to qualify from the group.
Will be interesting to see if you guys are right. I'm looking forward to it. I loved Cameroon, and Nigeria's runs in the nineties, and enjoyed Senegal's run to the quarters in '02. I have always enjoyed watching the Sub-Saharan African squads in the cup, not so much the fans in these forums (tend to be a bit too homerish for my taste), but the teams have always been fun to watch.
Its funny because a lot of so called experts I have seen predict that no African teams will progress. That seems almost as bold a prediction as one who would say an African team will win, because CAF has not been shut out from the knockout stages since 1982 I believe. It's not a very good bet, I'd say its much more likely to finally have more than one CAF team in the knockouts than none, especially considering the relatively friendly draw. I am predicting that there will be at least 2 CAF sides in the knockouts and possibly 3. I think Brazil will favour CAF sides.
I don't see any of the African teams, not even Algeria, as hopeless. I just don't see any of them a sure, or even a 50/50, bet to advance.
Add the percentages (BTW it's not like AFC or CONCACAF teams have a sure or even 50/50 chance to advance either)... The real question of the title should be: Will more than one African team make it out?
The proper question would be something like: How many African teams, if any, will make it out? And the right answer is possibly none, although more likely at least one and perhaps 2. Even if all have a chance.
Cameroon: I'm sure Mexico is better, and Croatia may be, though they have card issues, and an idiot that got suspended. I don't really have a clear view of how good this Cameroon side is. Ivory Coast: Landed in a really unusual group. I think anyone could grab 2nd place in that group. There can be reasonable arguments made for anyone in there. Ivory Coast has a really interesting schedule as well. Nigeria: I go back and forth between them and Bosnia. I think it's a toss up. Bosnia's had three straight quality performances in UEFA qualifying, and has some great attacking players too. Nigeria? That Cup of Nations crown, and their backers say this is their best team in a decade. In my view, this is probably the team with the best shot, this or Ivory Coast. Ghana: Have a better shot than many suggest, I put them and the US as nearly even with Portugal, just a touch behind, but Nigeria, and Ivory Coast have easier paths. Algeria: For a mediocre team they got a great draw, but still, everyone in that group looks better than them. Belgium should pound them, S. Korea has really gotten comfortable in tourney play, and Russia is better, even if they don't always play like it. I'd put the odds at: 5: 1% 4: 5% 3: 10% 2: 30% 1: 35% 0: 19% Just throwing that out there. Btw, asked this in another thread, but I've kept a close eye on Zambia and Burkina Faso for the past few years, but out here I never actually get to see their games. I've noticed them really climbing slowly but surely up the rankings (Gabon to a lesser extent, and for a while in '07 I was excited about Gambia), and in quality of performance. What would be a fair and reasonable accounting of their quality as a team, how they play, and where'd they fit in the world. Zambia is 89th ELO/49th SPI, while Burkina Faso is 71st elo/46th SPI, another reminder of why the ranking systems seem to spontaneously combust anytime they have to interpret CAF results.
Zambia - they had a strong period of play under Herve Renard, but they've sputtered out. No real stars like Kalusha Bwalya in the 90s, so it was mostly a question of the coach getting the best out of the players. Still a decent team, but they are regressing now after the one-off burst. Burkina Faso - have a very good generation with Alain Traore (IMHO the best AM from Africa, unfortunately hampered by his injury history), Abdou Razack Traore, Prejudice Nakoulma, Jonathan Pitroipa (patchy at club level, but a perfect tournament player), Charles Kabore, Bakary Kone. A lot due to recent investment in youth development in the country. With Bertrand Traore a potential APOTY (and possible Ballon d'Or nominee in the coming years) and most of the current players pretty young this Burkina Faso team will be a force to reckon with at least for the next 10 years.
Interesting, I was heart broken when Burkina Faso let in a goal against Algeria, once that happened, and they couldn't win by 2, I figured it was a lock they'd miss the cup, I hoped I was wrong, but Algeria always seems capable of locking the door in home matches . I really wanted to see them at the cup, I have zero interest in seeing Algeria again after watching their act in '10. Really defensive, and tedious soccer. Props to them for playing some great soccer in recent years, but Burkina Faso is just a lot more attractive to watch. As for Zambia, it seemed like they did a nice job in qualifying, beating Ghana at home is an accomplishment. The two draws on the road weren't terribly impressive though . Was hoping they'd be a good side. Are there any other legit up and comers we haven't seen on the world stage yet?
I am amazed by how easily Iran is ignored in discussions about Group F! I don't get it at all. We have a group that is pretty much tailored made for Iran to do well. We have a UEFA side that is a World Cup debutant and who have lost to us 4 straight times conceding 14 goals to us in those games. I don't think there is a team outide of the AFC that Iran has played as often as Bosnia, even if our last match in Sarejevo was in 2009 when Bosnia finished runner up in a group with Spain, Turkey and Belgium and then failed to make the World Cup after losing to Portugal in the playoffs. As I have said to Bosnian fans, that record is no guarantee Iran will defeat Bosnia in the World Cup, but it seems entirely ignorant to talk as though Iran doesn't even exist in this group when you have that kind of a record in front of you! As for Nigeria, yes, they are the CAF champions, but they are also a team that finished last in a similar group in 2010. A team that ELO and FIFA both rank behind Iran right now and even your favorite, SPI, doesn't rate so much better than Iran to ignore Iran's chances against them. Of course, even in this group, we are still going to be rated the underdogs, but I know for a fact and without a doubt that Iran could get results against both Nigeria and Bosnia. That doesn't mean we will in this upcoming World Cup, but to pretend you can have an intelligent assessment of the chance of either Nigeria or Bosnia in this group without considering Iran seems absurd.
It's certainly one of the better draws you could have, I just don't think much of anyone expects much of Iran, it may be because everybody's foolish outside Iran, or not. If nothing else, a path does exist for advancement. You could have done far, far, far worse than that draw.
I would say Senegal. If you selected an elite Ligue 1 best defence for this season it could arguably be entirely Senegalese: Papy Dilobodji (CB), Mustapha Sall (CB), Issa Cissokho (RB), Pape Souare (LB), Lamine Sane (DM), Idrissa Gueye (CM). And that's without Cheikhou Kouyate (CB), Pape Diop (DM) and Salif Sane ((DC) who are among the best players in their positions in their leagues. Add in the good attacking players (Moussa Sow, Demba Ba, Papiss Cisse, Henri Saivet, Mame Biram Diouf) and you can see how good this team could potentially be. Their key player Sadio Mane, who is arguably the best player in this years Europa League, is arguably set for stardom. This current team setting is fairly new and is now strongly based on the Olympic squad of 2012, that ran a Suarez and Cavani-led Uruguay team off the field. They have yet to utilize other superb players from that team like Pape Moussa Konate (currently at Genoa, but not performing, still he has some time on his side) and Ibrahima Balde (great season with Stuttgart so far). When the coach introduced these Olympic players in the second leg vs Cote d'Ivoire they looked superb at times. In my opinion the best African team not to make the World Cup.