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Former Nigeria international Daniel Amokachi has revealed that some players should not have been in the Super Eagles squad to the Brazil 2014 FIFA World Cup.
Amokachi made this known in his radio programme “Bull’s Pit”.
However, the USA 1994 and France 1998 World Cup star however said Brown Ideye should have been in the team.
Also Read: Amuneke: Why I Opted To Play For Zamelek Instead Of Moving To Europe
Ideye was a member of the Eagles team that won the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations in South Africa.
He also featured in some of the qualifiers which saw the Eagles pick their fifth World Cup ticket.
Other players who were shock omissions from the squad to the World Cup include Ikechukwu Uche, John Ogu, Sunday Mba, Nosa Igiebor and Nnamdi Oduamadi.
“Some players had no business going to the 2014 World Cup
“One player who should have been part of the team is Brown Ideye unfortunately he was dropped for some players who shouldn’t have gone to the World Cup.”
“But truth is I wasn’t the coach, I was not in charge of picking the players.”
The Eagles were drawn alongside Argentina, Iran and debutant Bosnia and Herzegovina in the group stage at the 2014 World Cup.
They progressed into the round of 16 alongside Argentina after finishing second.
But in the first knock out round, they lost 2-0 to France.
23 Comments
True talk. You are very correct, Amokachi. Super Eagles squad to the 2014 world cup was tinged with some junk players.
But we’ve learned from that and moved on.
Lol.. I don’t know what Stephen keshi of blessed memory was tryig to do, but we have to admit, his player selection to that tournament was way below par. Anyway sha, e don pass, that’s why I appreciate Gernot Rhor. The man sabi pick players wella. A little improvement to his technical side will see the super eagles go places only dreamed of.
In my opinion this Amokach’s declaration is one the dumbiest i have seen for a long time now. Reason is that now that he mentioned the players he felt could have been in that squard what stops him from mentioning the players thst were not supposed to be in that squard with that we can really access them against his own squard. Next time pls don’t be afraid to mention names
Just the only reason they wanna force Rohr out, so they can continue business as usual. Just how late Keshi completely killed every trust football fans will ever have in homebased coaches. Don’t blame the fans but blame football authorities n the local coaches.
Amokachi is a back stabbed. You were in the team. Why didn’t voice your concerns during that period ? Is it because Stephen Kesha is dead you are trying to raise dust .? If Keshi was alive would have the nerve to say all these? You are just an ingrate. The team failed woefully and all of you in that Team should take full responsibility. What kind of human are you ? When you guys won Afcon prior to the world cup , the entire team got a pat on the back from all Nigerians, now, they performed below par at the world cup , you trying to shift blame. You are useless Amokachi.. Keshi will be turning in his grace after all these you have said . Be a man and take full responsibility of your dismal outing that makes you a man. You puppet ..
you shouldn’t curse Amokachi, he said his boss selected the team, yes he may have internally discussed with him, and big boss sticked to his own plans which i personally respect, his hand is up, my boss choosed it, and now its in the past, abeg lets move on.
Amokachi, a back stabber and a betrayer.
Shame on you.
You can never fit into stephen keshi’s shoes.
Go and sleep.
You’re still learning.
I will name names….sorry.
Kunle Odunlami, Azubuike Egwuekwe, Reuben Gabriel, Juwon Oshinawa, Michael Uchebo (they dropped Brown Ideye for this guy…Jesus) and Chogozie Agbim.
Some would include Michael Babatunde; however the guy did fantastic in the match against Argentina which we lost 2:3. Some others would include Shola Ameobi; but one could (at a stretch..a real stretch because of his lack of quality) make an argument for his inclusion based on his experience.
Ah, that squad selection was really poor.
Lest I forget, the coaches dropped Ike Uche from the squad because of a personal quarrel from the nations cup camp; and at the time he was a decent striker in La Liga.
The midfield was so bereft of quality that Onazi got injured in the match against France and there was no decent back-up defensive mid on the bench to replace him. I think they brought on Reuben Gabriel. John Ogu was left at home.
We lost 0:2, and many of these so-called young players have not been seen in the national team since then.
Juwon oshaniwa justified his inclusion in that squad, he was a hard working full back he covered well for the injured Echiejele..
Reuben, Azeez, Uchebo were not suppose to be on that plane..
Players that can’t rise up to expectations
that is d reason why they want 2 frustrate GErnot Rohr,as he didn’t allowed them to b run business as usual.
1 Vincent Enyeama (captain) goalkeeper, Lille
2 Joseph Yobo defender, Norwich City
3 Ejike Uzoenyi midfielder, Enugu Rangers FC
4 Reuben Gabriel midfielder, Waasland-Beveren
5 Efe Ambrose defender, Celtic
6 Azubuike Egwuekwe defender, Warri Wolves
7 Ahmed Musa forward, CSKA Moscow
8 Peter Odemwingie forward, Stoke City
9 Emmanuel Emenike forward, Fenerbahce
10 Mikel John Obi midfielder, Chelsea
11 Victor Moses midfielder, Chelsea
12 Kunle Odunlami defender, Sunshine Stars
13 Juwon Oshaniwa defender, Ashdod
14 Godfrey Oboabona defender, Caykur Rizespor
15 Ramon Azeez midfielder, Almería
16 Austin Ejide goalkeeper, Hapoel Be’er Sheva
17 Ogenyi Onazi midfielder, Lazio
18 Michael Babatunde midfielder, Volyn Lutsk
19 Uche Nwofor forward, Heerenveen
20 Michael Uchebo forward, Cercle Brugge
21 Chigozie Agbim goalkeeper, Gombe United
22 Kenneth Omeruo defender, Middlesbrough
23 Shola Ameobi forward, Newcastle United
Have your say:-
Who and who do u think is on this square from backyard?
I can only count 12 players who indeed merited being at the WC…the rest where just “market”. LMAO. And this is very typical of Nigerian Coaches….remove the first XI and one or two other players from their team and you will be scratching your head imagining how the rest made it. They Nigerian Coaches can drop a player because he ‘doesn’t greet well’ and pick another player ‘because he picks bottles from the pitch after training’. Lolz
We took this team of sub-standard players to the world cup at a time when youngsters like Ezekiel Imoh, Abdul Ajagun, Micheal Olaitan, Abiola Dauda, John Ogu were really in-form in Belgium, Holland and Portugal not to talk of other experienced ones like Martins, Taiwo, Ideye and co.
Majority of them (who claimed to be in their early 20s then) have neither progressed, signed for better clubs, nor set their feet in the National team ever since.
Those are the “fake raw diamonds” they want Rohr to waste time and energy on. Raw diamonds that refused to become polished for years at the expense of the progress of other players who really merited their places in the SE.
Hahahaha… Raw diamond indeed. Lol
For me i concur with the late stephen Keshi i disagree with the goal keeper’s department, apart from Vincent eyeama, what if his joker worked just like Emmanuel Amuneke’s one did under Westherhof, don’t forget he learned from his bosses, what if they Gabriel Rubean worked like Mba, the story will be different, so i agree, only the reserve goal keepers.
I am sure the coach had a deal with their agents.Some of them didn’t play the qualifiers but made in to the world cup and never featured again for Nigeria.Does that mean those players were only good enough for world cup?I learnt most of them had same manager.Lol
These are the players. Azeez. Babatunde. . Odunlami. Uzoenyi. Agbim.Egwuekwe. Oshaninwa. Uchebo . Reuben. Nwofor. I was disapointed by keshi then. i wonder why he dumped our best players then. The likes of martins. Ayila. Ideye. Taiwo. Uche brothers. Igiebor. Utaka. Ayenugba. Nwankwo.
Ideye reveals why he was dropped from 2014 World Cup squad
By Our Reporter On Apr 14, 2020 0
Former Super Eagles and Aris Thessaloniki forward Brown Ideye has opened up on why he was blacked out of Nigeria national squad to the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.
Ideye was one of the surprising omissions from Super Eagles squad to the 2014 World Cup, despite his impressive performances at the 2013 African Cup of Nations and FIFA Confederation Cup in South Africa and Brazil respectively.
The former Ocean Boys forward’s exclusion from the squad, however, caused several debates in the media, with reports from some quarters insisting he was dropped due to injury and loss of form.
The 31-year-old forward has now refuted such claims as he revealed his omission from the team was far away from football reasons.
“I was not really worried because I already heard the rumor that my agent told Keshi to drop me from the team.
“At that point, I sacked my agent because he was one trying to stop me from moving to West Bromich, so I have to fire him and get a UK agent who made the move successfully and he was upset about it and I guess that was why he did what he did,” Ideye was quoted as saying by Lagos-based Brila FM.
He admitted he was initially hurt after missing the biggest showpiece, but he was delighted to complete his dream switch to West Bromich Albion in the English Premier League
“I was a bit down, but as soon I signed the deal with West Brom, I was kind of relieved and forgot everything about the World Cup and was more focused on getting myself ready for the season.” he summed up.
Can any agent conspire with Gernot Rohr to drop inform player from his team prior to major competition. Keshi’s attitude spoke volumes about the local coaches in Nigeria. The horrendous and others disrespectful attitudes towards players from indigenous coaches are detrimental to the improvement of our football. A qualified coach who knows his onion will not descend so low in conspire with agent or given flimsy excuses to drop better player. It is simply blemish for our local coaches in taking bribe from players and agents coupled with incessant loggerheads with players on trivial issues. I hope they equip themselves with good epithet and technical knowledge of the game in order to take their rightful places in Nigeria. God bless Nigeria
So many noise here and most of the people doing so were still the same ones shouting then on KON for uchebo and the rest to be invited, some were even sharing his wonder goal from YouTube.
They later started calling him flavour nabania after he failed woefully.
Stephen Keshi qualified Nigeria to second round of the world cup the same level our 1994 set were knocked out, so there’s no shame there.
We are waiting for oga Rohr to beat that record.
The bull, be man enough, your caption was “Some Players Had No Business In The Eagles Squad To 2014 World Cup”
You ended up listing players that should have made it and not the ones that shouldn’t have,
The most shocking is the continued complicity of the Nigerian football media in national team selection scams.
Instead of querying the inclusion of questionable players, they support the scam because they’re paid by agents to market their players in the media.
Not one single Nigerian journalist wrote about Rohr continuing as Super Eagles coach, it was left to the fans to call for his continuation in the role.
Hmmm! its quite funny how coronavirus is bringing out truths from hiding corners, anyway its normal for him not to call names of those player that are not surpose to go with the team bcos that will sound unprofesional and insane by doing do. As for martins and utaka keshi tried both players in his team and they didnt deliver. Ideye was dropped becos he floped at the confedrations cup, could have been invited to the world cup but that guy wasnt scoring goals despite playing many games, uchebo i think won his place after scoring the equaliser against scotland in a friendly game. Reuben gabriel was a great midfielder during qualification to afcon, Keshi didnt play him at afcon becos he had chiken pos, but keshi trusted him though the guy failed us but it wasnt his fault imagine a player who didnt play for a longtime coming in for onazi against france in second half oboy before the guy got warmed france don score one. Uzuenyi was explosive during afcon for afric turneo before the worldcup thats why he was reinvited for injured echiejile. Mba according to late keshi wasnt showing seriousness and commitment. I think the players that would have bin useful to keshi at the worldcup was the likes of oduamadi, ike uche, dike, fegor ogude, etuhu. Amokachi may have voiced after the wcup bcos i noticed after the worldcup him and keshi wasnt that cool. As for Naija coaches or politicians meeeen they are greed too much and its so unfurtunate for a Nation after alot salary and properties they still they do yahooyahoo for football games may God bless naija