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Odion Ighalo continued his impressive scoring run as he got on the score sheet to help Al Hilal to a 1-0 win away to Al Ittihad in Saudi Arabia on Thursday, Completesports.com reports.
Ighalo scored the only goal in the 12th minute to return Al Hilal to winnings after they drew their last two league fixtures.
He has now scored in his last five league league and takes his tally to eight in 12 fixtures.
Also, the former Premier League star has netted six goals in his last six games in all competitions.
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His latest strike means he is in second place and just one goal behind Al Nassr’s Brazilian star Talisca.
Thursday’s win move Al Hilal to third place on 25 points, with Al Nassr sitting top on 26 points.
23 Comments
To call a spade a spade, Ighalo is far better than most other Super Eagles striker even though he plays in Saudi Arabia.
Heaven bless Odion Ighalo and all deserving Super Eagles players.
If he is that Good then why didn’t he win us the Afcon?….. osimhen was grounded on the bench for him throughout the tournament and he couldn’t lead us to the trophy….let others too try and fail too like he has done……Life is. Turn by turn…… National team caps is limited and it must go round to everyone who is a Nigerian and playing top level football…… Ighalo has tried his best let other to try their best.
If osimhen is good why didn’t him qualify us to world cup? At least ighalo qualified us 2018
Osimhen is still young and still has some time to try and give us results…..Then if he fails to give us what we want we move to an even younger upcoming striker…. Nigeria will always produce talents my dear friend don’t be scared.
The whole idea is moving forward my dear friend….I don’t root for any player…..I only root for forward movement and progress of SE.
Ask him, please. 180 minutes against Ghana gave rise to meaningless bicycle kicks and offside goal from AKP’s Osihmen.
If osimhen fails to deliver we move forward to a better and younger striker not going backwards to ighalo…thats my point.
Of course @ABO HE is far BETTER than most of them…
Even the GREAT VICTOR OSIMHEN, once called HIM HIS MENTOR…
Even Emmanuel emenike who spear headed the attack that won us our last Afcon left the national team when he saw that he was blocking the development of upcoming strikers which Ighalo himself benefited from…..Now Ighalo who did not win anything for Nigeria wants to hold the national team to ransom because he is giving some crumbs to people to promote and hype him……We know he is better than all the strikers we have in Europe but he should leave the stage for other strikers to develop just like others left for him to emerge…….We know Ighalo is the best but we want to see Moffi Osimhen and Others in full tournament mode with all the support and game time Ighalo enjoyed then if after a couple of years they are no longer playing top level football we look elsewhere for even younger strikers……We keep on looking forward until we get to the dream striker that would win us something and make everyone happy….. That is how football should be played not hanging on the same players for many years and stalling the development of younger upcoming talents….. players come and go…..SE need to evolve
Stop spreading fallacies here. Emenike was humiliated into retirment from the national team by Sunday Oliseh, he didn’t retire for any “young strikers”.
Let your “young strikers’ retire the old ones by themselves. Let them battle with them in trianing for starting shirts, earn starts and score goals, or come from the bench and score goals. Let them force the old ones to not to want to come and get humiliated by some “little children”. Nobody should be forcefully retired for anyone.
We didn’t retire anybody for yekini
We didn’t retire anybody for Amokachi
We didn’t retire anybody for Ikpeba
We didn’t retire anybody for Aghaowa
We didn’t retire anybody for Yakubu
We didn’t retire anybody for Ik uche
We didn’t retire anybody fo Emenike
Neither did we retire anybody for Ighalo
If the so called young ones cannot retire the so-called “dead and finished” old ones by themselves then they aren’t even worthy of the national team in the first place.
Your young nuclear bomb wielding strikers were all no where to be found in 270 crucial minutes that have now had disastrous consequences for our football.
The dead and buried ighalo came on in just the last 10 minutes of those 270 minutes to fashion out an opening in a hitherto impregnable Ghana defence only for your “young” striker to bicycle kick in the same direction he was facing. So much for “blocking the development of young strikers”
Ighalo has been raining goals in the same league where Vincent Aboubakar became Cameron’s top scorer at both AFCoN and the world cup, yet he isn’t good enough to play in the same super eagles that got booted out of afcon and world cup in disgraceful manner, according to agents of confusion….what sort of antithesis is that…?
A proven goalscorer is a proven goalscorer anyday anytime…..anywhere he finds himself, he will still shake nets.
I love the very beautiful “stop-talking-trash” response Agbo chimezie gave up there. Thumbs up to the lad.
Did Ighalo start to deliver from his first cap?…..I know it took him at least 10 caps to get to start bringing results…..Then why judging the younger players so harshly with a game even the older players partook in….. Nobody ask anybody to retire anybody for anybody…..It’s how it’s done in international football…..Verdy was not retired for Rashford…..Milner was not retired for Bellingham…..The two are still active in their clubs playing top level football but they chose to bow out and give others the chance to do something new(mind you I never said something better)……I know Ighalo is better than all of them but let him give way for the younger strikers to do something new(mind you I never said something better)….. Maybe that new something this generation brings to the table might bring results due to some element of surprise just like 2013 in SA….. Nobody knows but we must keep trying new things….If osimhen and co have their time to the fullest and they don’t bring results then we move to the next generation of young players……We should not move back…… please no insults just constructive arguments.
Hahahaha!
Dr Drey, I need not say more. The AKP guy responded to one of my posts with unusual angle last year which I just elected to ignore.
“Emmanuel Emenike left the national team when he saw he was blocking the development of younger strikers”
My shoulder dropped from its socket after I read that fallacy!
Sorry if I offended you last year but it’s a new year and old things are past away…..let love lead us this year as we are all after the good of the team we love so much…..Weather Emenike was humiliated or chased away is not the point…..the point is that Emenike got the message and the hand writing on the wall and he bowed out……To me Ighalo has been shown the signs many times to leave the scene which he did but suddenly he reverse his decision using a popular demand that he created himself as an excuse…..I love Ighalo because we are from the same side of the country but I love my team more that him…..If my enemy is the right person to bring back the glory of my darling SE then am in for it……We must keep moving forward…..if osimhen and this new generation don’t give us the glory we want we move to the next generation of young players…… Nigeria will always produce talents…… once again am sorry that my comment offended you but please let it go and do well to forgive and forget….. football is a man’s game…..men forgive and forget
Na wa o!
So a BRONZE MEDAL is nothing for NIGERIA?
And then a R16 AFCON EXIT in the hands of an ALGERIA B TEAM is something?
Or is it a WC QUALIFICATION FAILURE in the hands of the WORST GHANA TEAM in over a DECADE that is something?
Or maybe a 4-0 THRASHING by PORTUGAL is something for NIGERIA…
@APK can you honestly mention please just honestly mention those player odion is blocking in the se. I Awóníyì, kelechi, Sadiq, deser, Denis and osimeh. Why because all these players have had their fair chances and we know their ability.
Please can you mention gaannn who ighalo is blocking?
How many caps have you given to them(apart from osimhen) for you to have known their abilities so fast?…..How many caps did it take Ighalo and musa to show you their super ability?…… please answer this two questions honestly with your conscience…… And moreover if this young strikers you mentioned are not doing rfwell is it wise to return to our vomit…… I think it’s wiser to look forward and shop for even younger strikers not going back to the old ones.
Hooooo @ APK we would have given them 1milion cap before we can know their ability in se Abi ni.You guys should stop mouth retiring players that are still active and functioning.
How many cap did amunike, aghowa,eminike,Yakubu,osaze,obafemi,I can continue to mention.
Some of the so call young strikers of nowadays are just average players and should not be overhype as to allow them immaturelly and completely displace all the experience players all at once most especially when those expirience players are still very active.
For me I see no players odion is blocking here because I don’t see any new thing all those players awo,Sadiq, terem peter olayinka, kelechi, etc will perfome other than what we have been seeing.
Moffi has 9 caps
Sodiq has 7 caps
Awoniyi has 5 caps
Dennis has 8 caps
Osimhen has 22 caps which is the highest among them all but Osimhen has 15 goals to show for it……If Osimhen can do this with 22 caps them am sure his other younger colleagues I highlighted up there can also do something simcilar if given more chances…..,How can you say you have seen their abilities with just a hand full of caps?……that’s not fair at all…… Let’s give them more caps….let’s give them more freedom….let’s give them more playing time….let’s give them more confident…..let’s give them our believe……do this before judging them.
Modric,Ronaldo, Sylva,,Messi are all over 35 and still playung for thrir coubtries. It’s only in corrupt Nigeria that a 33-year old Ighalo is banished into retirement
Modric is playing in Real Madrid
Ronaldo was just of recent playing for Man utd
Messi is playing for PSG
I don’t know the particular sylver you are referring to but am sure he plays top level football to even go close to the national team he plays for.
Please who among our old players is playing top level football that can match the Belgian league?…..so we should dump Epl,SerieA, Bundisliga,Laliga,lig1 players for them because of experience?…..If this old players are playing top level football it’s another store entirely but this guys are old(real age and not football age o) and they are no more playing top level football…..haba….. think am na……Let not be sentimental here.
Salutation to @Akp, you one of the few progressive minded fans on this platform. Leave our people alone, they won’t listen so would continue to suffer heart ache after heart ache. Sentiments is the black man’s kryptonite. Na here we dey, we would witness it together! After now, some deluded fans will say we can match Morroco’ s record.
@ Akp. You ‘re making some points but not in totality. If Ighalo is still firing consistently irrespective of league, then he can still be valuable to SE.
But VALUABLE at what stage? should be the bone of contention. I personally wouldn’t advice he or any of the temporarily retired guards should be brought in during PESEIRO’S building stage/qualifiers, except in a case where the team is seriously struggling to score/perform.
But in the tournament proper, if same Ighalo is burning opponents’ net with reckless abandon, then it will make all sense to bring him for experience sake which is always going to be needed at some difficult moments in tournament games.
@Akp, you must be a Chelsea fan as only one Chelsea fan can argue with 50 people.
But the truth is you have your points and I’ll support you.
Peter Utaka was once banging goals in China, Saudi and all these leagues even Ogbeche and they are still active. Some of our home base players are even still finding the opportunity to play where those two players are currently playing their trade but they can’t find it. Martins back then was banging goals too in MLS, later China but nobody look their sides because we needed to move on. Osimhen, Moffi, even Eagles wannabes, Folarin Balogun and Akpom, Onuachu even Maja are not really doing badly. I once remember one person on this forum calculating close to two years for Ighalo without scoring a goal for Nigeria back then before he fought it and became our main weapon.
Leave Ighalo to be cashing his money. Retirement is looming.