Cyriel Dessers and Leon Balogun were in action as Rangers secured a penalty shootout win over Fenerbahce in the second leg, round of 16 of the Europa League on Thursday.
Super Eagles right-back Bright Osayi-Samuel was in Fenerbahce’s starting line-up after returning from suspension.
Rangers lost the return leg 2-0 at Ibrox with the scoreline at 3-3 on aggregate but went on to win 3-2 on penalties.
At Old Trafford Manchester United hammered Real Sociedad 4-1 thanks to a hat-trick by Bruno Fernandes.
The Red Devila, whose other goal was scored by Diogo Dalot, went through on a 5-2 aggregate win.
Also, Lyon and Tottenham Hotspur sealed qualification into the last eight following wins against FCSB and AZ Alkmaar respectively.
While Lyon recorded a 7-1 aggregate win thanks to a 4-0 second leg win, Spurs came out tops 3-1 at home to with an aggregate scoreline of 3-2.
5 Comments
This squad selection is an absolute insult to logic, common sense, and everything football stands for. Let’s break it down.
Somehow, in the infinite wisdom of the NFF and Eric Chelle, Onyebuchi of Enugu Rangers in Nigeria is now a better center-back option than Leon Balogun of Glasgow Rangers—a seasoned international with years of experience playing at the highest level. Meanwhile, Tolu Arokodare, a striker with zero international experience is deemed a better choice than Cyriel Dessers, who, despite his ups and downs, has at least proven himself on the big stage.
And just when you think it can’t get worse, Nathan Tella, a natural winger and striker, gets injured, and instead of calling up another attacker, we get… wait for it… a DEFENDER, Jordan Torunarigha! Meanwhile, an actual winger, Chidera Ejuke, arguably one of the most skillful dribblers Nigeria has, is wasting away in Spain, overlooked like he doesn’t exist. What kind of selection logic is this?
It doesn’t stop there. Yusuf Abdullahi, with just three competitive games in the MLS, is somehow considered a better midfield option than Frank Onyeka, who has 22 Bundesliga appearances in one of Europe’s toughest leagues. And to put the final nail in the coffin, Papa Daniel of Niger Tornadoes, a player who has been inactive for five weeks, gets a call-up ahead of Dele Bashiru, who is shining for Lazio in Serie A and in Europe.
And this isn’t for some meaningless friendly or an experimental tournament. These are crucial World Cup qualifiers! Matches that will determine whether we make it to the biggest footballing stage or sit at home like we did in 2022, sulking over another national failure. We’re watching a squad list filled with absurd, indefensible decisions that scream politics, favoritism, and outright negligence. Must we bring godfatherism into everything we do in this country? Must we? Why is someone like Very Dark Man not screaming injustices like this on his platform? Why is Berekete Radio not exposing this form of national disgrsce? The NFF is too comfortable getting away with these ridiculous behaviors. It’s do annoying.
We say we want to be like France, Brazil, and England, but how do we expect to compete with them when our squad selection is based on connections rather than competence?
Let’s be very clear: if Nigeria fails to qualify for the World Cup, the blame falls squarely on those making these disastrous decisions. And when the consequences come—dropping more points in matches we should dominate—no one should act surprised. This squad is a ticking time bomb, and we all know exactly who to blame when it explodes.
That is the Anatomy of Eguavoen’s Call-ups…!
It’s a recurring decimal by local coaches…..14 quality call-ups based on merit and 9 backup dancers based on the weight of brown envelopes offered (or to be received afterwards)
Only a novice wouldn’t be able to tell Eguavoen drew up the list. He gave us an initial 39-man list to act like he was serious and douse tensions, and boom….1 week later, without any training camps, without any major rigorous selection process, he drops a 23-man squad that reeks of nepotism.
Sounds like a replay of his 2022 AFCON pre-tournament stunts.
In all of these, It is Chelle I pity.
The earlier Nigeria gets rid of Eguavoen as the TD of the NFF, the better for our football….!
I think the time is ripe now for us to now start clamouring for the employment of foreign technical directors for the NFF
My 1 cent…!!!
The squad in my opinion was picked on merit my friend @PapaFem..
Onyebuchi was selected based on his solid performances both for the home eagles and Rangers international respectively…Wasn’t just some random pick or bias based,the lad is good i have seen him play.Besides the gaffer has seen him from close range,friendly against Sunshine stars of Akure and training matches..
The issue with Balogun has to do with his age and injury problems,he only play few games for Rangers,previous managers overlooked him too.Though i wish he’s part of the team,i am a big fan of Balogun but i will respect the managers judgement he’s the professional so should know better..
You mentioned Tolu,well stats is there for us to peruse..Dessers has a good stats too this season but has failed to deliver for the national team..Remember Dessers featured for the super eagles in our friendly loss against Mali,incidentally Eric Chelle was the manager of our opponent,sadly Dessers was awful in that game missed a sitter,struggled to impose himself in short his performances was extremely bad and i’m sure Eric must have played that tape over and over again and come to the conclusion i’m not having this fella leading my attack NO WAY!Tolu could be a dark horse,until he debuts you never knows what he brings to the team,but his form this season can’t be overlooked,he could be that player who is built for the national team,based on current form he’s good enough,younger and deserves his place..Of the two strikers one has failed with the national team whereas the other has yet to feature,if you sack someone for inefficiency,the likelihood is to employ a younger staff with a good cv hoping he does better in the vacant position or a good fit for the position…
That of Nathan for Jordan,i think the coach has weighed his options and come to the conclusion he has 8 attackers with players able to play in different positions in the attack..So the absence of Nathan can be effectively covered by two or three forwards,if that’s the case why not let’s have one more central defender to give us balance in that area.I think Eric Chelles was too ambitious naming 8 attackers and 3 central defenders,so Nathan’s unavailability gave him the opportunity to rectify and balance that part of the team..
You also mentioned Dele Bashiru’s ommission,i want you to go back timeline our last encounter against Rwanda,a half fit Dele was part of the starting 11,he was a shadow of his former self and one of the reasons we lost at home to Rwanda and i don’t think you want a repeat of that neither does the manager..Frank Onyeka was dropped for tactical reasons according to news from the media..The gaffer prefers ball playing midfielders,he wants to have control of the midfield,the likes of Papa Daniel whom the coach has seen from close range as well tapes from the last chan games to have come to that conclusion,so it isn’t about profile rather how the coach wants the team to play and players suitable or a fit to the system.
I will conclude by saying i subscribe to your verse knowledge and always love reading your post,i’m only interpreting what must be going through Eric Chelle’s mind which i concur to as well,i could be wrong…Anyway’s let’s pray and hope that in the end we would qualify for the world cup,the players picked should be able on paper to see off both Rwanda and Zimbabwe respectively..Let’s keep fingers crossed and hope for a much better future!
The end, they say, justifies the means. No Super Eagles list will please all of the fans all of the time. Controversy has always been the name of this game.
Should Coach Chelle succeed, it is the same people that sullied his squad selection who will end up shouting his name from the rooftop of delight.
For me, it has become ad-nauseam to bang on about about corruption in our football. The NFF was corrupt before I stepped foot on this planet and will likely stay corrupt long after I have cashed-in-my-chips.
That never stopped us for witnessing some unbelievable highs in the 1990s and beyond as Super Eagles fans.
What we have now is a coach taking on the biggest assignment of his life under inclement administrative circumstances.
Why not just give him a chance rather than flogging a tired narrative horse to death!
For me, the list is fair-to-middling.
It has a mixture of the tried-and-tested and (admittedly) some who wet-behind-the-ears.
But all these players are hardened warriors and professionals with that never-say-die Nigerian attitude, regardless of where they are born or regardless of which players names were left in the cutting-room-floor.
I believe every player on that list is a steady-hand-on-the-tiller. They have earned their spots.
And this is good enough for me.
The list will never make everyone happy, for me let watch and see, something tell me that we sing the praises of Chelle at the end