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Obafemi Martins, Femi Ajilore are early birds

Martins, Ajilore are early birds

Posted: 2010-08-30 08:06

Obafemi Martins and Femi Ajilore became the first of Nigeria's foreign legion to arrive the country ahead of this weekend's 2012 African Nations Cup qualifier against Madagascar. 

Fifteen players from Europe and 11 domestic players have been called up by stand-in Nigeria coach Austin Eguavoen.

Of that number, only three of the local lads had reported by Sunday night, with the rest expected to turn in early in the week, according to NFF Media Officer Robinson Okosun.

"We expect the majority of the players to be in camp by the beginning of the week," Okosun said.

"They all called in to say they would report right after their matches this weekend.

"So far, though, Martins and Ajilore have arrived and should train with the home-based players later today."

One player who will not be reporting is Joseph Akpala, who picked up an injury playing for his club.


His place has been taken by former Under-17 starlet Stanley 'Little Messi' Okoro. 

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kaac: 2010-08-30 10:30

obodo has started playin again, ighalo is a young striker, he should be called up too, including ideye brown that scored a beautiful goal this weekend!

kcee: 2010-08-30 11:31

@Kaac,

Anyway,you are entitled to your opinion. But if i may suggest to your comment. I think we need Rashidi Yekini too. He is playing in Ibadan.

On Ighalo, Has he improved??? He singled handedly crashed out the Flying eagles when he was last invited to the last junior tournament

kissy: 2010-08-30 11:55

please i begging the nigerian NFA to forget about YAKUBU AYEGBENI. they should not call him to the super egles quad again. he is more than stupid. he should not play for nigeria again. i am praying that his club should sack him.
from chimaobi

kaac: 2010-08-30 11:55

@ kcee

didn't haruna do the exact same thing at the junior tournament?

the team cant get any worse . .as it is, those strikers are the future, aswell as Musa

Sarah: 2010-08-30 12:11

My brother YAKUBU is allready know that he is no longer in SE again,so dont worry yourself,let us give MARTINS one more chance.
ODEMWINGIE,ENERAMO and MUSA will help us for goals,they no bether than YAKUBU

kaac: 2010-08-30 12:12

as well as Chrisantus, he is playing like a Totti roaming in the attackin midfield, and then linking up as a striker, including chukwuma akabueze

really, an entirely different team should be used, one of the most populous country in the world keeps on calling the same squad, there is a very very very wide selection to pick from
only playing against madagascar, and they are calling oba martins, what is the sense in that?

young talents needs to be groomed and disciplined in these matches before the bigger stages, unless they want the happening of sani kaita to be relived.

Niceguy: 2010-08-30 12:25

Congrats coach for the inclusion of Stanley Okoro, that a good example of what we expect from the new coach to inject our young stars in SE, We have more young stars than Ghana but they were able to make good use of their young stars and which we refused to do due to our bad management. If we can be able to put things together and make good use of what we have I belief the sky will be our limit. We need a coach that will bring our youth players both home and abroad together which I think Siasia is capable of doing. I believe with Siasia as the SE coach we will see improvement and good performance from the SE in no distant time.

Sarah: 2010-08-30 12:29

1 Vincent Enyeama


2 Chidi Odiah --6 Danny --5 Joseph Yobo-- 3 Valentine Nwabili


4 Etuhu--

10 Mikel
7 Uche-- 11 Martins

9 Odemwingie-- 8 Eneramo

vicosa: 2010-08-30 12:50

why is the result of heartland match aganst ismali of egypt not here

udndafia@yahoo.com: 2010-08-30 13:36

vicosa, Heartland win the match 2-1

Kerewa: 2010-08-30 13:40

@Vicosa, the news is not here bcos mr Udoh maybe watching the MSL so he has not heard the news yet. Dont worry, it ended 2:1 in favour of heartland.

Obi: 2010-08-30 14:09

Hope Owoeri was also invited for the Madagascar match. He was in scorching form for Heartland against Ismaily yesterday, and he's the type of player that is rare in world football these days: they type that can run at opposition defenders with the ball at his feet and force them into error!

Agbe: 2010-08-30 16:13

@Sarah, this your team are in trouble whenever they lose the ball o, the only recognize defender in the team is a man that even you, few weeks ago, said should not be invited to the eagle again. Odiah is not in the plan of his club, Danny as not plaid for a long time, we don’t need Yobo anymore, a vice captain that can hide injury to play in the world cup, I don’t know why we are not talking about that. We need to turn a new leaf in this country, there is no need for heavy players anymore in the eagle, because young and quick players who are not afraid of them psychologically will run them down and dance around them for fun. Am happy with the inclusion of Okoro, I also saw chrisantus play yesterday, guys, his on his way to becoming the real article, a proper central forward, he links up well and always on the shoulder of the last defender, am really impress with him, although I think his still behind Idaye brown in the pecking order at the moment, but not for long.
Don’t get me wrong, am not saying Okoro and Chrisantus should start playing for eagle straight away but they should be in the group getting use to their environment. We should go back to picking players base on their technical ability and not there size or because they do a job for some lowly club we now think they can do a job for eagle.
We need players who can control the ball quickly and completely, pple who can deliver killer passes, pple who can make things happen, intelligent guy’s not just big, huge and heavy guys.

Kolawole1: 2010-08-30 19:11

I agree with @kaac. We need fresh blood in the Super Eagles. While a sudden wholescale overhaul of a national team might not be feasible, Calling up the like of Yobo and ****tu who has not played any club football for almost 2 years now really discourages the upcoming youngsters. Even a Martins that has played 6 games in the lowly Russian league without a single goal to show for it. They should be left to discover their form and shape.

We have some exciting young players coming through the ranks and games like these should be used to introduce them into the Super Eagles.

My Future Super Eagles should look like this:

........................Enyeama(C)...................................


.....Onuoha..........Adeleye..........Apam................Echiejile.....



..................Obiora Nw.ankwo.....Mikel Obi.....................




.........................Haruna Lukman...............................



..........Odemwengie.......Eneramo/Ideye.................Nsofor......

ohenhen1: 2010-08-30 19:12

@Sarah, Yobo injured his thigh during training for Everton, he is highly questionable to feature against Madagascar.

Enyeama, ****tu, Sodjie, Nwabili
Mikel, Ajilore, Etuhu
Martins, Enemaro, Osaze

will most likely be the starters.

objective bibby: 2010-08-30 20:12

@ Kolawole, while i tend to agree with ur set up for the future, i dont think Etuhu can be left out of the team. Did u see him over the weekend? He is a box to box midfield player. Fine, he might have had some bad days in Eagles shirt, but, surely, he is an asset to the team.

Sarah: 2010-08-30 21:23

MY PEOPLE THIS IS WHAT WE ARE EXPECTING FROM SIASIA.

Something different could happen in Nigeria, where there are very many good talents.So many exciting young prospects in the big leagues in Europe and also playing locally.It is time that players like Yobo, Martins, Rabiu Afolabi, ****tu, Utaka, Odiah,
Yakubu, Uche and Etuhu make way for the young players.We should start planning for Brazil 2014 now, as it's done in Europe.

The problem in the Super Eagles is the lack of organization.Nigeria should have a serious plan.They should give priority to the Home Based National Team until December 2012.After this period, Nigeria will know if local players can play at competitive
level, and then incorporate foreign talents to the National Team.

Daniel Adejo, Lukman Haruna, John Obi Mikel, Harmony Ikande, Victor Obinna,Muhammad Shagari Victor Anichebe, Solomon Okpako, Ahmed Musa, Osas Idehen,Terna Suswan, Sani Emmanuel, Fortune Chukwudi, Deji Joel,stanly Okoro and Ramon Azeez are the future Super Eagles.

Nigeria needs players who are proud to defend the national colours.There are so many potential Super Eagles players waiting to answer the national call.

Segun: 2010-08-31 01:32

Sarah, sarah, why are you plagiarizing, name your source: Zapata, allnigeriasoccer.com, lol. Just joking

sly1: 2010-08-31 09:33

sarah, when I read that comment and noticed that the english was correct, I knew something was wrong. Like Segun said please give credit to Mr Zapata. Go back to school before it is too late. There may still be hope for you yet

Didier: 2010-08-31 11:24

A whole lot of expectations from SiaSia.Who knows if this NFF or NFA will even appoint him?If they do it will be great because what our team really needs now is a coach with a big heart.Once who will pick players based on Merit and not because he has a "Godfather" in Government.Afterall, Amos Adamu admitted.This is the reason why most Nigerians glamoured for foreign coaches in the past but they have not proved to be different.

Hablo: 2010-09-02 13:47

Please what time would the match commence?