5ASIDE: Nigeria’s Golden Generation at a Crossroads | beIN SPORTS - video Dailymotion

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00:00Nigeria. On paper, perhaps the best African team in the world. The greatest African stars. I think

00:09when people think about African football, they picture Nigerians first, maybe then after that

00:13Ghanaians and then maybe after that Egyptians. But the Nigerian team is, at least in my opinion,

00:19the best African team on paper with the likes of Oseman, Iwobi, Lukman, Basi, the list goes on.

00:26So, what does this mean for Nigerian football? And the comparison I want to ask you guys is,

00:33can we kind of compare them to that Belgian generation of golden players that didn't

00:37really do too much in terms of the trajectories that they reach? Is this a wasted team for Nigeria?

00:43It's a good one. I'll definitely start off real quick, you know.

00:46I'll also add, the average age of the Nigerian starting lineup that lost to Congo at the next

00:52World Cup will be 30 years old. Exactly. And so, it's one of those things where obviously

00:56this is a golden group that was able to, you know, get to the African finals last time.

01:03What's going on? Yeah. And to be honest, we look even, even though they did lose to the host nation,

01:09on paper, they probably should have beat that team, you would think, as well. So, I think it's just a

01:15colossal failure to not be able to qualify for a World Cup, which is the first ever with 48 teams

01:20with nine direct spots for Africa, and now this playoff additionally as well.

01:25How is Nigeria not in the top 10 best African nations? From the fan standpoint, the federation

01:30standpoint, the play of the coaches is simply unacceptable. You've heard legends like Joan

01:34Obi Mikkel, how he talks about this squad. Like, you have to do it. You have to do better.

01:37You're not top 10 in Africa, and you're the largest country in the continent, too. You have to do

01:43better. Yeah. I mean, I think it comes down to the immaturity of the players, unfortunately. Like,

01:49we saw from the beginning of qualifiers. Snapchat, flight. Snapchat in the locker room,

01:55the jokes on the flights, the jokes in the hotel room. And like, at first, it was kind of fun and

02:00like, oh, like, look at the younger generation kind of showing us what it's like to be in those

02:04camps. But like, you genuinely didn't see that from other teams. You know what I'm saying? You

02:09might see a meme pop up here and there or like somebody dancing in the locker room, but you didn't

02:13see the volume of like, playfulness that was coming from the Nigeria camp, which I think

02:18unfortunately showed like, either they were like a little immature or just overconfident. You know,

02:24they felt like this was going to be a breeze. You know, they play in England, they play at the highest

02:28level, they're going to come and cook everybody. And it showed that like, it's not that this is not

02:33that you know what I mean? So yeah, it's unfortunate for them, but fortunate for everybody else that

02:39really put everything into the qualification process. For sure. And it's a big example,

02:44too, of like how important chemistry is at the national team level. You cannot just be a

02:49collection of talented players that are balling out at the club level. Once you step on that pitch,

02:53you have to be able to be a cohesive unit. And especially in that second half and overtime

02:57against Congo, they did absolutely nothing with the ball. And then there's coaching decisions,

03:03subbing off your front three, which has Lukman, Chukwese, and Osima, and just a lot of bad decisions.

03:07And there's a whole Federation issue. So they're gonna have to figure something out.