No it isn't.
That's not what you said above. Yes, they were 90 minutes away from a semi-final, but first they had to win the next match (against England). They didn't.
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[Football] WC: Croatia v Nigeria
- Thread starter Beach Hut
- Start date
I thought our man looked pretty decent amongst some absolute dross. He was certainly one of the only Nigeria players to show any desire.
Easy 10
Brain dead MUG SHEEP
Horribly mistimed header from Balogun when Croatia got the pen (not that it was anything to do with that), and he did give it away a bit cheaply a few times. I can't say he's stood out to me yet, and the PL will be the steepest of steep learning curves for him. But I have a lot of faith in our scouting team these days, and CH, so I'm confident he won't be a dud. Might just need to be afforded a period of adjustment, as did most of our foreign signings last season.
HastingsSeagull
Well-known member
Balogun looked promising and as someone said didn't seem to have a man to mark. I thought he was out of position a few times but COULD have been with him being the best defender he was tasked with covering /backing up everyone else. A difficult job and an odd one if true.
I wouldn't particularly trust him stepping in tomorrow given the level we now play at (would have in Champ and could be biased by his hybrid RB/CB nature) but he could be the ideal guy to learn for a year now he dare I say it isn't a big fish in a small pond (team wise). I know we're at the bottom of the PL and he was playing lower end of Bundesliga plus for Nigeria, but I'd take Dunk and Duffy plus CH as examples and teachers over previous peers. If he doesn't have to be the main man, it could help him improve or help him fit and grow into a new defensive system.
I wouldn't particularly trust him stepping in tomorrow given the level we now play at (would have in Champ and could be biased by his hybrid RB/CB nature) but he could be the ideal guy to learn for a year now he dare I say it isn't a big fish in a small pond (team wise). I know we're at the bottom of the PL and he was playing lower end of Bundesliga plus for Nigeria, but I'd take Dunk and Duffy plus CH as examples and teachers over previous peers. If he doesn't have to be the main man, it could help him improve or help him fit and grow into a new defensive system.
1066familyman
Radio User
- Jan 15, 2008
- 15,235
You speak like he's a youngster. He's 29.
Connor Goldson on the other hand is 25.
I know which player I'd rather have in our squad.
But hey ho, Goldson wants regular football, and that's totally understandable. And I'm not going to write Balogun off on the strength of seeing him play in one and a half matches.
Weststander
Well-known member
Weststander
Well-known member
It was said sarcastically, as with all NSC comments lamenting Ryan's height.
Blue Valkyrie
Not seen such Bravery!
I don't think Balogun is the direct replacement for Goldson - so it was never the case of either/or between them in the squad.
Seems more of a utility defender, who covers many defensive positions, and, as such, should be viewed as replacing Rosenior.
saafend_seagull
Well-known member
He wasn’t a first team regular for Mainz who only just survived in a poorer quality league. Can’t expect too much.
No they weren't. We ended up going behind in the second half, and of course we were worried about being knocked out, but we were the better side, and once we equalised we knew we'd be favourites to go on and win.
I'm not saying it was easy, I remember shitting bricks in that game.
Agreed.
If Pele had said 'an African winner isn't hugely far fetched', we'd have agreed. He said they'd win it by 2000.
That's naive. It's a really difficult tournament to win, and it also takes a long time to get a country to be good at football. China have more people and resources than anyone else, and they want to do well at football, but they can't even qualify.
Me too, but Balogun was free.
ManOfSussex
We wunt be druv
I agree with you on Cameroon. There was a really good documentary on The History Channel a little while back 'Return to Turin: Italia 90' with Gary Lineker, Terry Butcher and Paul Parker. The Cameroon game was covered at length.
The best African team ever at a world cup was Nigeria in 1994 who should have beaten Italy in the 2nd round.
What did the documentary say? I haven't seen anything about the game since I watched it. I remember practically dying inside when we were behind with 10-15 minutes to go (ah, the good ol' days when I cared about England results). I remember huge relief when we equalised. I don't remember if Cameroon had many good chances after that, but I thought we were the better side.
ManOfSussex
We wunt be druv
As you and I remember it mostly. Cameroon did have 4 players out injured or suspended though. The 2 interesting things from it were apparently before the game the Cameroon players were singing in French in the tunnel that they were going to win as they were waiting to go out and Bobby Robson said to the England players 'Come on boys, we're going to win this easy' which was then heard and translated to the Cameroon players who then sang even louder! Butcher said he looked over and was stung at how big and physical they looked.
The other one was the night before the game when Lineker was practising penalties at the stadium Robson approached him and said Cameroon had a spy somewhere in the stands watching him, so he then hit all his practise penalties to the right. When he took that penalty with 7 minutes to go at 2-1 down (and it was a massive pressure kick as we remember) he saw the Cameroon keeper already moving to his left as he ran up and put it the other way to the keepers right. For the second penalty in extra time Platt offered to take it but Lineker said 'no chance' and drilled it down the middle. We deserved to win the game according to them, which was how I remember it as well, but it was a close run thing.
1066familyman
Radio User
- Jan 15, 2008
- 15,235
Tom Hark Preston Park
Will Post For Cash
- Jul 6, 2003
- 72,366
Dreadful lack of technique by both sides in this game 
- Jan 18, 2009
- 4,890
I disagree, i think as the african populations of european counyries increase so will the rate of players going through their european countries national youth team/professional structures. Wifried Zaha is a good example but there are plenty of others. The larger this cohort becomes there will be more african players with sound technical/professional attributes. This cohort will enhance the local african countries player base. African coutries have increasing populations, they have a lot in comon socially and economically with Brazil. It really is only a matter if time.