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Episode 11 | AFCON Special
28 Plays5 months ago
We take a comprehensive look at the 2026 Africa Cup of Nations, reviewing the tournament’s key storylines from the group stages through to the semi-finals.
From early shocks and surprise eliminations to dominant favourites finding their rhythm, we assess which nations have impressed, which have disappointed, and the players who’ve defined the competition so far. There’s discussion on standout tactical trends, emerging stars, and how squad depth and game management have shaped the knockout rounds.
We also focus on Nigeria’s run to the semi-finals, analysing their balance of physicality and attacking quality, the influence of key individuals, and how their tournament experience has shown in tight knockout games. Have the Super Eagles finally found consistency, and do they look like genuine contenders for the title?
With the semi-finals set, we reflect on what this AFCON has revealed about the current balance of power in African football — and what to expect as the tournament reaches its decisive phase.
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Transcript
Introduction to 'Don't Blame the Ref' and AFCON focus
00:00:39
Speaker
Hello, good evening. Welcome to another episode of the Don't Blame the Ref podcast. Now you have the Najab boy, Iman, and the Ghana man, Dom.
00:00:56
Speaker
um This week's episode is going to be focusing on the one and only AFCON competition.
First AFCON Memories and Cultural Elements
00:01:03
Speaker
um So for me,
00:01:08
Speaker
I think my earliest memory of like watching AFCON would have been with my dad.
00:01:15
Speaker
And then I remember just Nigeria failing, just failing. Literally, yeah. was going to say exactly... yeah yeah yeah I was trying to think like when we were planning on doing this part probably trying to think like what is my odliest memory I think it's just my dad just shouting at the TV bro just going crazy pure faith pure failure non-stop and it was just it was honestly think obviously as a kid I'm just kind of like
00:01:50
Speaker
feeding into my dad's passion, really, just kind of copying him, whatever. um But then I'm, you know, trying to get some glory and have a team and support a team that um I can boast to but with my friends, but then I get to school and we've lost.
00:02:10
Speaker
um But the good thing AFCON was, like I enjoyed the drums, I enjoyed the culture and show, I enjoyed the the expressions of every team that would get there.
00:02:26
Speaker
You know, even African countries at World Cups, you know, there's some legendary dances, moments. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, to this day, I will always remember Tashabala, you know, I probably butchered his name, but left-footed guy banging it into the top corner. First goal. That is a moment and I'll never forget it. And then the Vuvuzela's in the background, like,
Unpredictability and Unique Gameplay of AFCON
00:03:00
Speaker
bro. Even the Boe, bro, the Jabalani, bro, the whole thing was amazing, bro.
00:03:07
Speaker
And that for me is... you know I get the same feeling with AFCON. um and you know Watching D-Day Jogba cry and not win AFCON. like that's cut that and you know I'm a Chelsea fan, so you know watching him and Yaya Toure going into Ivory Coast thinking, yeah, you man are just going to win it.
00:03:28
Speaker
But the great thing about AFCON, giant killers. It's a giant, giant killing competition. All those guys in their European hubs, they're coming to Africa where the pitch ain't as nice and the weather's hot and, you know, things aren't, you know, as organized as they would have liked. The hotels aren't as nice. Everything isn't as, you know, all the, you know, i they and they're just, they're slightly more uncomfortable. And then now they have to perform.
00:04:00
Speaker
And only the tough, only the tough, only the brave succeed and most fail. And that chaos and just not knowing who's going to go and win, that chaos, I loved it. I genuinely loved it.
00:04:15
Speaker
um Yeah. the thing The thing is with AFCON, for me personally, is like the the best part about it is the unpredictability. Like you can literally, especially this tournament, you can literally just watch like...
00:04:28
Speaker
Comoros versus, don't know, I can't even remember who was in the group, but Comoros versus like, Marley or something. And maybe you might know one or two Premier League players if you're not too well versed on like, African football in general. You'll get one player from like a Basuma and then a Duh, and then a Duh, and then, um but the quality of the game is,
00:04:49
Speaker
still... You're, like, on the the edge of your edge of edge of your seat. It's not managers, like, over-complicating with tactics and all that. A lot of the time, bro, your centre-back is taking shots from near the halfway line, bro. Yeah, yeah. But sometimes, but you for some reason, he's got a good shot on him and and he's just smacking the crossbar and blah, blah, blah. But then he's got to take 20 shots a game. Like, it's just... Man of a just doing whatever...
00:05:13
Speaker
they want to but they're still within that you still have these gems like obviously i've been watching ivory course because it's ghana yeah i got a musts go No, no, not in it. So I'm just, I'm backing my boy Ahmed, isn't it? Like in the... Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Social Media Impact and Global Perception of AFCON
00:05:33
Speaker
But I'm watching the left winger, Diarrande. I'm thinking, oh? Yeah, yeah. He's electric. He's electric. Obviously, United were linked to him like loosely like over the summer and for the last year, i think. But I'm looking, I'm thinking, hmm...
00:05:50
Speaker
We could do it one of those. We've got no different environment. I'm just Atcon and I'm thinking like, ooh, okay, you, you, yelled i'll tell okay you i grab be but um yeah, yeah. But, yeah, for me, Atcon, unpredictability, man. That's the best one ever Wasn't it Cate Verde where the striker was a right-back in the second division of Spanish League and he banged like three, four goals? the thing is it's different you know you know that pride that pride for your country yeah yeah sets in differently it's like bro listen i'm the only one that plays like professional bull but put me up front man let's not let's not play around but put me up front and he's clapping i remember cape verde were good they were good they were good for they were good yeah anyway um
00:06:39
Speaker
yeah anyway ah
00:06:46
Speaker
Oh, what's man saying?
00:06:52
Speaker
But yeah, you you always get that, innit? You get that with um African Cup of Nations. And obviously, I feel like so slightly disappointingly, I don't even know that's the word, but like it's slightly turned into like a meme tournament. Now, it seems like everyone's just trying to catch the meme and not really focusing on the football too much. I'm seeing an AI generated like videos of people in the crowds and like just I'm like bro like that's not what this competitionposition competition is man this is like big African bull like this is the best players from Africa like coming and just like showing out and like you said like not the best quality pitches not packed up stadiums not all that but they just they don't they don't care is 100 miles per hour bro I'm playing every game even if I'm half fit I'm playing like let's get this cracker yeah yeah and that's
00:07:42
Speaker
yeah I saw that a lot in the last... I feel like, obviously, haven't seen an AFCON with social media so rife in our society.
00:07:54
Speaker
so the last AFCON, for me, was the most memorable in terms of you know social media, the presence of social media in all of daily lives, and the competition.
00:08:05
Speaker
Obviously, the competition getting more eyes on it. So you know other people are tuning in now, but They're now trying to turn it into a joke. And don't get me wrong, like, I think i think the rawness of it and, you know, the mistakes and I think it was there was ah there was a clip of, like, on the last half, the goalkeeper trying to save something in and then he gets, he literally falls and gets caught in the grass and his face is in the grass. Like, it's funny. you remember the referee blowing the whistle five minutes earlier?
00:08:34
Speaker
like let's be honest we don't help ourselves in it there's this a hundred percent and for me i don't mind that i don't mind that turning into a funny moment because that brings eyes on it what i don't like is the disrespect that follows so yeah you know the oh look at this competition it's a joke um comments that you get from certain people and it's like not too long ago it wasn't there the whole jamie carrigan thing where he said it's not a major tournament and Michael Richards tried to do clean up and then he didn't clean it up and he just made just doubled it. You get what I mean? And like obviously that has a wider effect on how other people perceive it.
00:09:12
Speaker
You get what mean? What do you mean it's not a major tournament but Copa America is and the Euros is but Africa is one of the biggest continents. It's the biggest continent. It is the beat.
Scheduling Conflicts with European Clubs
00:09:23
Speaker
You don't it. You know what mean? It's just like little things like that but it's all like part and parcel with it. and Yeah, go ahead.
00:09:29
Speaker
And then, like, exactly exactly as you said, then, those moments are what I can't get with. And it's, and look to not to get political, but the lack of respect for African football is a, it just, it's a microcosm of where we are in society and everybody's views of Africa.
00:09:52
Speaker
Like, there are people in the Western world who generally do not know that Africa is the biggest continent in the world. They generally don't know. they They think it's small. They think it's not many people. So it's disregarded. It's not as respected.
00:10:10
Speaker
So the competition isn't as respected. um So it is what it is. It is what it is. But focusing on things, you know, bit more positive, actually not necessarily positive, but So there's always been a um ah fight between the European clubs and the African federations. um and And there's always been a power struggle between calling up players for AFCON because AFCON is usually mid-season.
00:10:42
Speaker
Now, before we continue, let's talk about why AFCON is in... mid-season It's because Africa is one of the hottest continents on in the on a planet. um And if you... In a lot of the countries in Africa, if you do a if you do football in the summer, it is too hot.
00:10:59
Speaker
Right. So... They've tried to, I believe they did AFCON in the summer once, didn't they? Or or did they may never successfully do it? I can't remember. for I ah can't remember if they did that. remember the talks about it but i don't know if it was ever actually. Okay. So they, from what I remember, but they initially booked this AFCON for the summer.
00:11:23
Speaker
So this was going to be the first AFCON that was going to be in the summer. Yeah. Yeah. There was already loads of concerns about it, but there's too much pressure from European clubs to FIFA, who then FIFA are now put in a lot of pressure on on CAF, the the African Football Federation.
00:11:41
Speaker
So yeah it was agreed that it would happen, but then FIFA introduced the Club World Cup. So FIFA was like, whoa, we've got this big competition that we want to make loads of money on.
00:11:53
Speaker
You might have got to move it back to the to the winter. And then that created a little bit more friction. The clubs weren't happy. um So what ends up happening is the players were meant to join this AFCON.
00:12:08
Speaker
um I believe it was about... initial time should be about two weeks before the tournament starts or 10 days before the tournament starts. FIFA agreed and CAF agreed that players only had to join up five days before the tournament started.
00:12:25
Speaker
Crazy stuff, man. no room for organisation, no room for um you know any friendlies for a lot of these big clubs, um no room for the managers and players to get to know each other and and settle in and you know build some chemistry.
00:12:42
Speaker
And you've never heard of that on any tournament. you know No. You've never, you never, ever, ever, ever. yeah If it was a European country calling up a European player... Mm-hmm.
00:12:55
Speaker
there is no comment Look how many international friendlies we get throughout the year that are completely pointless. But when it comes to a major competition with AFCON, the players can't even go like even 10 days beforehand so everyone can know what what where you're training, what what the plan is, the schedule, and who's playing what, that how to am manage everyone's fitness. They've just been playing for the last five months and now you need
AFCON's Move to Quadrennial Schedule
00:13:20
Speaker
to work out like who's actually fit enough, proper you don't you don't get that opportunity. It's just five days before that call, you can go.
00:13:28
Speaker
So, fair play to all the clubs, sorry, all the teams at AFCON. um From what I've seen, I missed a lot of the group stage, but from what I've seen, the quality of football's actually, it's gone up another level.
00:13:42
Speaker
Genuinely. um Across the board, I genuinely think it's gone on ah another level. The quality of goalkeeping, Honestly, think that's taken a major step. I don't know whether it's... I don't know why, but to me, it seems like the quality of goalkeeping has really... as You're getting less and less of the, like, comical errors of, like, basically goalkeepers throwing the ball into the net and then, like... It actually seems a lot more coordinated and like, like you said, just just a better quality. I don't know if that's just because they're actually getting a lot more African goalkeepers are playing at a higher level or possibly look scout in the scouting departments are actually going to these games and watching the goalkeepers, seeing what they're doing and saying, right, cool, we're calling him up.
00:14:27
Speaker
Right, we're calling him up. It could be both. It's a bit of both. It could be. it So, what all all of this has now resulted in, it's been announced that AFCON has now been moved from um every two years to every four years.
00:14:46
Speaker
So that initially I was outraged. I'll be honest. Initially i was thinking, you can't do this to Afcon. This is what Afcon's built on every two years. You know, it's something we, I get to look forward to. um African players get to look forward to the continent gets to look forward to, like you know, it brings in money for the countries that are hosting these competitions, um you know, and it's such a big thing for the people of Africa.
00:15:16
Speaker
You know, yeah you've got millions of people traveling across the continent um to go and see, you know, their favorite players, their favorite teams um compete against each other. And now you guys have just reduced that.
00:15:30
Speaker
But once I, you know, took a step back and looked at it holistically, you know what This probably alleviates some of the the annoyance, some of the you know negative feelings that clubs that European clubs have towards it because it won't be every two years. It won't to disrupt them as often. They're and they're keeping it in winter.
00:15:58
Speaker
It will be one winter, from what I saw anyway. and It will be one winter every four years rather than every two years. um and Hopefully in the future it doesn't... It removes an issue for people to argue about...
00:16:16
Speaker
um And at the end of the day, Copa America, Euros, they're also every
Accessibility and Economic Challenges for Fans
00:16:21
Speaker
four years. So can really complain? I think if we want AFCON to be taken as a major tournament, it has to follow the trend of the other major tournaments. Maybe because it's so frequent that, like you said, other clubs just see it as an annoyance rather than the actual, like, oh, yeah, you're going away to represent your country and all that kind of stuff. But... But then but then you feel back yeah but then but then that annoys me.
00:16:47
Speaker
That annoys me. they love the The seriousness of AFCon is not dependent on what you Europeans think. I'm sorry. It's true. It's what it means to the African continent and the African players themselves. Exactly.
00:17:00
Speaker
and that's And that's the part that really annoys me. It feels like we're bending backwards to fit them. um maybe you know Maybe it's a pride thing from from from me. and But it does actually annoy me.
00:17:12
Speaker
It does. I think there are some changes to AFCON that should be made in order to make it a much more of a bigger spectacle amongst the world. Like, remember, know remember the last tournament where they didn't even have TV rights for it to be shown in the UK until, like, just before the tournament. Like, literally the day before someone's I won't buy it then. It was like... um yeah It was Sky Sports. It was Sky Sports. There was no commentary. There was no halftime talk. There was no... It was honestly... It was horrible. And credit to Channel 4...
00:17:51
Speaker
Credit to Channel 4. They've taken it on this time. And they from the knockout stages, they've actually had, um you know, journalists. dick the prop That Nigerian journalist from The Athletic, JJ Kocha. They've had prominent people come on. Yeah. Mikel's been um like a pundit on it. Like, they've been getting some prominent figures to come and speak about. I think it's good. Like, just just like...
00:18:17
Speaker
allow Allow it to be the competition that it is without people talking crap on it, every opportunity they get. like Don't get me wrong, you get the few things here and there that could always be improved. Everything can be improved. Even for me personally, one of the things for me that bothers me about AFCON is the accessibility for the African people, right?
00:18:40
Speaker
So, yeah um the fact that you're watching games and it's not a packed-out stadium bobsles me, but isn's yes obviously it's hard to get from, like, the money doesn't stretch as far as it should in Africa. We all know, like, the Kano, all of that history and all of that kind of stuff, but I feel like ah a lot of FAs do have like certain levels of corruption for what or they could be doing more to make sure that people get to go watch their team like like ah if I'm running yeah but yeah
00:19:15
Speaker
I'd love to know how much it how much it costs. um And, you know, Africa is so big. It's so big that it takes two... Don't let the globe fool you. Yeah. Don't let the globe fool you. Africa is way bigger than what it seems on the map. It will take you time. If we get to one place, don't know what.
00:19:36
Speaker
And the thing, I'm pretty sure, I think, Nigeria has three times the surface area of the UK. Yeah, like, come on, like, bro, like, I didn't even expect to, do they even, like, obviously you've got intercity airports and probably intercity flights, but it's not enough to cope with the demand that will be and then the pricing. Like, the other day, we were having a chat in our group chat, and I was like, you know what, let me see how much tickets are to games, isn't And obviously, like, most of the main tickets have been sold from, like, the main sources, and I'm only looking at resale right now.
00:20:13
Speaker
it's like 200 pounds to to go watch group stage game. I'm not saying that's not affordable for the but but by them. But is that from here? Would it change? Would the price change if you're like a local? Maybe. Maybe it's true. Maybe I should have put my VPN on. From a neighbouring country. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Who knows? But obviously, do you have to factor in at hotel, travel, tickets to see as many games as you want to see? like yeah it' It's going to run you up a lot of money. like Obviously, I've got a couple of people who flew down to Morocco to go watch the series. I think a couple of them are still there now.
00:20:50
Speaker
And it's to them, obviously, from coming from the UK, from London, working your jobs, like your good jobs and whatever, it's not really that much of a pocket hit for you to go do all that. But for a lot of the African locals, that might be like monthly wages, like two months of wages to get there to watch one game.
00:21:10
Speaker
And then where you stay in, it's lot.
00:21:14
Speaker
it's It's hard. like Obviously, have like I give them some grace because it's not something easy to like just fix, especially if not everyone's on the same page. Really, what should happen is all the FAs within Africa come together and find a way of making like tournaments more accessible for the continent. But like you said, you're going to have your host nation and then they want to host the whole thing because it brings like all this um revenue and like money for the country and all that.
Players' National Representation Choices
00:21:43
Speaker
But But then... fact that when we get there, right, it's... Yeah. Do you think leading up to the game, let's say two hours before the game, they should just slash tickets to get the locals in? I think they should. To just... To just get... Try and drive all the locals in. Try and drive all the locals in because...
00:22:04
Speaker
And maybe it's difficult to convince a Moroccan to now go to a game of Cape Verde versus Congo. Do you know what mean? I don't know, you know, because, like, bro, like, football's... Football's the biggest sport in the world. Like, you know what I mean? If, like... let's say I'm Moroccan and I'm just chilling in one of the, I don't know what they have, it's not bars, but like one of the lounges, like just chilling off, whatever. And then one of my boys calls me and said, yo, you want to go watch Cape Verde versus blah, blah, blah. I've got free tickets or I've got tickets that cost the equivalent of £20, like come, let's roll.
00:22:37
Speaker
And you just pull up and you just go. Like oh I would wouldn't see why you wouldn't do that just for the experience of it. But obviously that's, but thens some about I've got work and then it's like, yeah,
00:22:48
Speaker
yeah would would Would that have much effect on the atmosphere though? Because if they're not like Congolese fans or Cape Verde fans I think There's like one clip that always goes viral It's like don't know if he's Northern African or like Spanish or whatever But like he's lighter skinned and he's in the crowd full of black people I think it's like Cameroon or something And they're all dancing together, it? He's just joining in because, like, bro, like, man, I'm in the crowd, isn't he? Yeah, like, vibes, isn't it?
00:23:19
Speaker
But, yeah, it's true what you're saying. It might take away from the atmosphere. But then what what do you do? Do you just reduce the stadium size? Like, what how do you how do you make it look more of a spectacle? Like...
00:23:32
Speaker
for the people watching because if you're someone from the UK not saying that the Western one need to love it before people take it seriously but if you're from the UK and you turn on Channel 4 because there's football players and you're seeing wait I don't know what recall I recalls got some good players and then they're playing against Egypt oh more Salah and that all right cool and then you're looking at the crowd you're like hmm um what thought it was different beginning it's like a quarter final like yeah like obviously that's a whole other thing but yeah if we if we take the western world out of here if you have 20 000 people in a 20 000 um seat of stadium the atmosphere in that is going to be better than 20 000 sitting in a 40 000 stadium where everybody's spaced out and you can't really hear them cheering you on to it would still have a positive effect on the atmosphere and just having stadium size that's relative to the team or the team that's playing and what crowd they can attract. But I don't know. I think these are a lot of big issues that they are probably trying to fix that are probably very different. Hopefully they are.
00:24:47
Speaker
I think as... as I pray as, you know, one day as Africa, you know, breaks these shackles that it has and it has more economical, international weight in the future, I hope that you know, as our GDP continues to grow, I hope that these problems alleviate itself and the locals in general across all African countries, hope they have a bit more deposed disposable income. And I think naturally, if once that happens, if it ever does happen, once that happens, think... All we can do be positive on that kind of stuff, isn't
00:25:29
Speaker
So once that happens... Yeah, just um one more thing i want to speak a about before we get to Nigeria, because obviously, just because Ghana, it's not that we can't speak about Nigeria, but I do like the stance lot of African countries are taking when it comes to African in terms of like, you know how you have these players who are like... um expats or the diaspora and yeah they don't choose to play for the country until it's like we qualify for a world cup and like oh yeah like I'm ready for the cool a of the coaches have kind of come out and said
00:26:06
Speaker
Yeah, you can come on the next one. you help us qualify, you can't just jump in because it's convenient to you. I respect that because lot of the time, it kind of just seemed like as soon as a player said ready to play, they'll just accept them. I'm thinking about all the players who...
00:26:23
Speaker
sacrifice in season time to go qualify and now I'm not going to get to play because my man plays for Leeds and he wants to come play louder. I feel like it's hard to convince young players from the diaspora to go and play for...
00:26:40
Speaker
and their like heritage countries just because like you're growing up in like let's say you're from England you're probably playing under 12s for England you're playing under 15s for England all your boys are English you're growing up through thing and then what I'm supposed to expect you at 18 years old to go oh man's playing for Nigeria like it's it's a hard decision to make you probably don't speak the language you don't you probably haven't been to Nigeria yeah yeah but yeah obviously the ones who do it i respect i respect it highly like especially if you're not born over there like you're born here you like you're not no that's mighty but i would like to see that a bit more but i obviously i'm not in that position it's all easy for us to say from the outside looking in that why would you play for england look at the way they treat their black players and oh why would you pay for france the court they do to the friends like but
00:27:29
Speaker
It's just common sense and that like it's it's not an easy decision for 18-year-old to make. For me to expect Kobe Manning when he's on the verge of actually getting into the England squad for him to go... yeah I've got to play for Ghana still. Like, it's not really. And obviously playing for England comes with all the, like, you don't get, you might not get paid directly from them, but you get all this, like sponsorship. You get this, you get push with that, you get access to this and then blah, blah, blah.
00:27:56
Speaker
It's all a bigger play in that. But, yeah, so moving. Yeah, go ahead. Just before you move on, speaking on your first point about... um you know, at these teams not bringing in players, you know, after they've qualified for World Cup or things like that. And then, think basically the African countries want players who actually want to play for us. Like, it's five it's it's fine if, okay, your first option didn't work out, but,
00:28:25
Speaker
join us at the beginning of the qualifiers and help us rather you know, trying to jump on bad way. And like you said, I think what people need to remember is, you know, football isn't,
00:28:38
Speaker
luxurious in every single country. So some of these players from Ghana and Nigeria, they're playing in Belgium, yeah Ukraine, Russia, probably not Ukraine, but my point is that they're not getting paid as well as some of these other people.
00:28:55
Speaker
So they could be on to two to five K a week. That might be a decent wage, but it's still, my point is that these people come into now represent their country they were the first choice.
00:29:08
Speaker
And they're putting their heart and soul in it. And they're risking their livelihood. This is what they live for. This is what they live for. and and And if they get injured representing their country, that affects their livelihood.
00:29:23
Speaker
Because if they if they've got two years left on their contract and they can't get renewed contract because they got injured during AFCON, that is a risk. And they're not getting paid as as you would do. Already, these countries are looking at them sideways because, yo, I'm saying that African players are going to disappear at AFCON and then he gets injured. That's it. It's done. Exactly. So yeah so for them to so for them to now, you know, successfully get their team to a good position,
00:29:51
Speaker
And then you're going to now come and say, oh, I'm going get dropped for for for my man whos who wasn't even sure. He didn't even want to shoot with us in the gym. So, look yeah. Look at, um so the key examples I can use from my country is um Eddie Nketiah Callum Hudson-Odoia.
00:30:10
Speaker
The FA have been trying to get Odoia to play for us from when he was back at Chelsea. Like breaking into squad. I remember they took him to Ghana. They did the whole song and dance for remember. Trying to get him to thing. I remember. And he playing cage ball with like the kids and all that. I remember. him And then he just didn't do it. Now, because we qualified for the World Cup, now it's like, he's considering that. Now, for me, don't even remember. Was that true?
00:30:34
Speaker
Do you think those things were true, though? What about him wanting play? Was it just like a rumour? Did they actually... Because how would that have looked? How would that have looked? what Would they have just called up a representative in the in the FA and been like, oh, yeah, so yeah, do you man want me? Do you think that actually happened? Yeah, yet I think it's... Because obviously you look at someone like... would look at Callum Hudson-Odoi. Actually, whichever one, Eddie Nketi or Callum Hudson-Odoi. Yeah, they're not going to represent England.
00:31:07
Speaker
They're not. England have better options, bro. Like, this this um age group of English players, bro, there's a lot of talent. If they're not starting for a top club, you're already at the bottom of the pecking order. Like, Chou, you're not in the forest. You're not really lighting it up right now. It's different if you're, like, cooking. But then we've got Semenyum, who dedicated from Madjunk.
00:31:33
Speaker
Early. He's been, before he was popping up Bournemouth, he was no, I'm Ghanaian, I'm representing Ghana. Now he's popping, they're telling me they're going to drop him for you to just come in. And see and this and this and this and this version of Nketi, of Semenyo, who's now built himself up to a level. Exactly. If if he was if you if he said, in if he pledged to it England, yeah, They'll be calling him He'll be starting. Yeah, facts. They need a wing. 100%. 100%. 100%. he made his choice early. And then you look at Eddie Nketiah. He's a bench player at Crystal Palace.
00:32:10
Speaker
And he was hoping, i don't know what he was hoping, that Kane would fall off and then he would be next to the man. But you've got Oli Watkins. You've got Dominic Solanke, even though he's injured there. You've got Harry Kane still there. Obviously, the ages are sort of getting on now.
00:32:23
Speaker
But he's not a favourite in his current squad. So how are you going to be next in line for the England squad? It's not really going to work.
Corruption in Football Federations and Player Impact
00:32:30
Speaker
To be to be to be fair, to be to play devil's advocate on the other side of the coin, not everybody, but some of these... um our FAs don't have the best rep.
00:32:43
Speaker
Yeah, 100%. You know, we've we've we've got stories like John Obi, who said he's had to pay for hotels, flights, because the Nigerian Football Federation didn't sort it out or refused to pay or whatever the issue there. There are people post-competitions.
00:32:59
Speaker
Apparently, there are people post-competition from like 2000s who are still who still haven't been paid for for for their bonuses for representing Nigeria competitions so yeah like and even speaking about that like and there's something that happened this tournament with the Nigerian football team like they were almost on the borderline refusing to pay because of um the players are not getting paid like this is something that happens quite often sadly but So when when when when you see and hear these things going on, and let's not even talk about, I'm i'm going to talk about it, but let's also include when, you know, these players at youth levels, you know, a Nigerian representative is coming to visit them, visit their dad, have a chat, visit it and then they tell their dad, oh yeah, give us X, Y, and Z.
00:33:50
Speaker
so that you can you can come, we'll we'll call you up to Nigeria. On the other side of things, France aren't doing that. UK aren't asking for any piece. Mbappe's mum said that he they wanted him to support to represent Algeria.
00:34:06
Speaker
Was it Algeria? Cameroon. Cameroon. They wanted him to represent Cameroon, or they had a meeting with Cameroon, and they asked for money. Yeah, so like it's you just missed out on the generational talent because you guys were trying to finesse some money out of someone like, come on.
00:34:22
Speaker
So my point is we don't help ourselves. So I don't think we build the best picture that would now encourage somebody to come and represent us and and work with us and and think, okay, they're walking into an organized um institution.
Nigeria's AFCON Strategy and Player Performances
00:34:37
Speaker
So it it it is what it is. It is what it is. I just want, ah want my national team to have the people that want to play for my national team. I don't need names because we've seen at AFCON, it's not about names.
00:34:52
Speaker
yeah It's about passion. It's about passion. Who's going to run the hardest? Who's going to tackle the hardest? Who's going to shoot the hardest? Like, it's about passion.
00:35:03
Speaker
And you represent your country with passion for those six, seven games and see if you can win it. And you know what? Great segue. And that's what I believe we have done now.
00:35:15
Speaker
Yeah. Like, I walked into this AFCON, looking at the list of names. ah I was like, oh, ain't tuning into this. I don't know anyone. Generally, I felt into that chat. I looked at it. was like, I don't know. all this. Nigeria.
00:35:32
Speaker
I was like, who are these people? i was like, what? Where's Ola Aina? Where's this? Where's that? I was like, where's my centre-back? He's now retired from national duty. What's his name, Ekong?
00:35:46
Speaker
Yeah, Ekong. I was like, no, we are finished. But What I've now seen is, and credit to the staff that's working, not to the Nigerian Football Federation, because I know they didn't do squiddly squat.
00:36:02
Speaker
um Credit to the manager, credit to the technical staff who have gone out and picked. And the great thing about it is I can see you have gone out and you have picked players based on your idea and your way of playing.
00:36:17
Speaker
Not on names, not on status, not on money. You've just gone out, you've actually watched these guys and you've gone. With Ola Aina injured, i was thinking we are flipped. We are like we are so cooked at right back.
00:36:34
Speaker
We've got this Esai, Osai guy from Birmingham and he plays in a championship. I've never seen him play, but generally watching him play in this AFCON, that guy is going to be in a championship.
00:36:45
Speaker
I promise you. He is so good and I've i've just never seen him before. Fair play to him. um Left back. Left back has always been an issue for us. i But in my head, I'm thinking, don't we have a left footy decent left back somewhere in the world?
00:37:02
Speaker
Surely someone! Bro, like do if there's one thing you can guarantee, yeah, there's a Nigerian in every country of the world. Like, let me tell something. I've been to, like, I just got back from Trinidad, yeah?
00:37:14
Speaker
Yeah. I've been in Trinidad for last, like, five weeks and just got back um on Saturday morning, yeah? Bro, I go to this food festival, yeah? How long's that flight, by the way?
00:37:25
Speaker
The flat is eight and a half hours, i think. Okay, okay. Yeah, yeah. Why is there what? Why is there suya stand in the middle of Canada?
00:37:36
Speaker
Listen, the Nigerian people selling suya and junefas the middle of a Caribbean country. They are everywhere.
00:37:47
Speaker
I did get to try the food, so I can't comment in it. but and you even you know you Even me, I went to Northern Cyprus, you and if you know the history the history behind Northern Cyprus, it's actually not, it's technically not recognised country. So they don't have a lot of good trade deals and things like that. um How is it i'm gone I've gone there?
00:38:11
Speaker
Bare Nigerians! I was like, wait, wait, what are you man even doing here? And I was speaking to a few of them. They were just like, yeah, just, you there's a university here.
00:38:24
Speaker
A lot of us go there and then a lot of them work in hospitality. Bro, so is like... You can find any any position you need. There's a Nigerian somewhere, bro. Yeah. So they've done their scouting and they found a guy called Bruno.
00:38:41
Speaker
I'm not sure. I've got to find out. Maybe he's Portuguese, Spanish or something. Bruno. An Nigerian called Bruno. Let's be serious, man. Let me even check. Let me even look at him. i have
00:38:57
Speaker
Yeah. oh And you know what? the the the Where does he play? He play, sorry. Yeah, Portuguese. I knew it. Of course, bro. No one to fit in with the crowd, bro. Just change my name to, bro. His middle is Bruno. I can't even, I'm not even going pronounce his first name, bro. Let me not lie. I'm African, but I can butcher names, know Nigerian lock-back and you'll see it. Sopu Chuku. Sopu Chuku. Something like that. Come on, man. And the man just stuck to greener in the middle, bro. on. Let me see. I should be guided. So, and you know what? there' Things like this, that gives you, that gives your team balance. It's not about a left-footed player at left back.
00:39:48
Speaker
I don't want a white foot, like, um Just to fit in their name Just to fit in their name It's like U-Man used to do it when Shaw got injured or whatever Like instead of playing Carrera who now plays for Real Madrid um Instead of playing the the young G I'm promoting him because to have a balanced team and to have left-footed player at left-back, you play Dano at left-back.
00:40:16
Speaker
but And you killed him, you killed the team. And you didn't give a ah young player who had the potential to play for Real Madrid a chance. Like, and my point is that now the team has balance.
00:40:31
Speaker
and Yeah, and the other thing about Najou as well, not even just the balance thing, but I don't know if this is even adding to it. So I feel like your star players are stepping up and that might actually be a byproduct of the team having balance and not having to do more than what they need to do.
00:40:46
Speaker
and That's it. Luckman has been great. Obviously, I've watched a few games here and there. Luckman, he looks just as good as he's always looked. Victor Osherman, you're getting the Victor Osherman experience.
00:40:58
Speaker
Sometimes good, sometimes crap. But one thing he's going to do, he's got a bag. He's got a net. He's got a net. I can't remember what group stage game it was. He missed the one-on-one so badly. I was crying. And then next thing on, my man scores. He scores.
00:41:15
Speaker
He scores. he's ah He's a chance machine, Chance will just keep falling to him with his headers, left foot, right foot. It don't matter. He's always going to be in the right spot, bro.
00:41:27
Speaker
this is where This is where I praise the manager in the sense that he... this is the Honestly, like I'm not even trying to... you know, have recency bias, but this is the most comfortable Nigerian team I have ever watched in my lifetime in terms of how fluid we are in attack, how strong we are in defence.
00:41:50
Speaker
Like, even if we don't win AFCON, I'm so impressed with how he has organised this team and how he has picked and selected these players. um Even goalkeeper, I was complaining about goalkeeper, yeah?
00:42:04
Speaker
And then there's this 24-year-old Nigerian guy who plays for Wrexham and he just he just saved two penalties to send Wrexham to the next round of the FA Cup. So I was like, why don't we call up this guy?
00:42:15
Speaker
I googled the guy's name. The manager's already been in contact with man. He's already... That's what saying. He already went to visit him and he's going to be called up for the after AFCON. um His passport couldn't get sorted in time for this AFCON. So after AFCON, he's getting called up. So seeing stuff like that, I'm like, mate, I'm applauding.
00:42:35
Speaker
I'm like, yeah, this guy's on job. This guy's on job, man. um And I i really hope whether we win or lose, I don't want no mad, outrageous reaction to us losing and just be happy that the team is looking gelled and good and let's keep the manager. don't i don't care if we lose.
00:42:56
Speaker
Keep the manager. Keep it going. Keep it going. Let's have some consistency. I think um one of the key things for me that's quite commendable for Nigeria is obviously after your disappointment at not qualifying for the World Cup, it's like you guys have kind of banded together and gone, bro, the least we can do is give them a half count, bro. Let's make this tournament mean something. if you guys walk away with your AFCON championship and you're around the summer you don't get to watch your team play again all is forgiven all is forgiven you can sit there and watch all the teams play struggle win
00:43:33
Speaker
um And now it's every four years. You're holding on to that for four years. You're not holding on to it for two. You're the African champion for four
Predictions and Expectations for AFCON Matches
00:43:41
Speaker
years. Yeah, that's right. I really need to win this one. Come on, Naila! speaking speaking of AFCON as well and Nigeria's chances of winning, what do you think? You guys have got Morocco on the 14th of Jan and this pod will be oh and the pod will be out before the next set of games which is Wednesday so yeah I think ah I think it's tough because workers Obviously, Morocco is one the strongest teams. um
00:44:12
Speaker
I put them on the list. I think Senegal are the best. I do think Senegal are just, they're just a powerhouse. um But Morocco i have lot of threats. Technically, across the team, they are really good. A lot of their players are playing in top leagues and their chemistry is just, it's just next to none. And Brian Diaz, yeah, he's coming up for that play at the tournament. He's coming.
00:44:34
Speaker
He's coming. He's coming.
00:44:38
Speaker
So um' i am I am very cautious about um the semi-final and i do think we can do it. I really do think we can win. um It's just I know Morocco are good and we'll see how it goes, man. We'll see how it goes. I think their main... Hakimi's always going to be a threat from right back. um I don't really want to... We've just got to be... When we defend, let's just be composed. Let's not give away any silly free kicks and around the box because we know Hakimi can't bang those in. So...
00:45:11
Speaker
um It would hope be so great to beat Morocco on their own on their ground, honestly. Oh, yeah, they're going to have the whole... if if We've been mentioning about um stadiums not being packed. Trust me, that one's going to be full.
00:45:24
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. We've got all the key players to step up and make sure everything's all good and make sure don't go to pennies because, hey, you man.
00:45:36
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, it's...
00:45:40
Speaker
I can't lie. I don't think he depends on me. don't think he depends on me. That pressure there, oh my God. It's not even a pressure. I like the senior man in goal, but he doesn't dive low well. He doesn't really move with swiftness.
00:45:59
Speaker
Try to get it done even before penalties or even before extra time. to try get Yeah, yeah. Facts. Obviously, I'm disappointed Garno didn't make it, but we're well into the World Cup. It's a shame because i I do think you guys are ah building a really strong team now, um yeah especially after your your disgrace of an AFCON last time. I can't remember. All it is is, bro, I need them a you, brothers. It's enough, man. We get your dad's a better pelle, bro. It's enough. It's actually enough, bro. I know we want to wrap up soon, yeah. I watched, them you know that when we did that, what was it, the Uni Cup?
00:46:39
Speaker
Was that the thing that was in London? Yeah, yeah, yeah. I went to watch Ghana versus... Was it Nigeria game? Yeah, it would have been the Ghana-Nigeria game. Yeah, the semi-final bu before, yeah. What tell you? Jordan Ayew does not give a crap. He does not care to pass to nobody. Manon will dribble in the circle for a good 30 seconds if he just plays a simple pass. I'm like, bro, obviously he's a friend.
00:47:01
Speaker
But what's the point that? He's the Ronaldo of your squad, bruv. No one can tell him anything. No, we got winger. We got Fatou from Leicester. We got a Semenyo. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And obviously Kudus is injured right now, but he'll be back in April. So hopefully he's going to the... So wait, wait, wait. You've got Semenyo, Kudus, and who did you say? Fatou. Fatou. Who's up top?
00:47:29
Speaker
Well, we play Inaki Williams and we play someone else as well, but Inaki Williams, ugh. Forget him. He's good. And he's another one. He's another one. Representing Spain, his own career, trying to switch over. And then he just tried to shift last second, bro. Get out of here, man. You know what mean? Get out of here, man. Let's keep it serious. But yeah...
00:47:50
Speaker
um be a um Yeah, we've got we've got a good talent squad. like Obviously, if if you want to talk to someone about African football, maybe the next time we do an African pod, we need to get Albert on, bro. Albert on, yeah, yeah, yeah. He's the African specialist. Hopefully we've done it justice because this guy, I know he's going call us in the group chat. Yeah, but he's the one who's clued up on it. so next time we do, we'll talk about...
00:48:18
Speaker
got um any sort of afcon related stuff which i get him on the episode but yeah yeah um let's before we come off let's um let's get our don't blame the breath moment um oh my god i had one two we just we just gave just gave those algeriots a
00:48:47
Speaker
You know what? You know why this win was so great? In my head, yeah, I was building it up. i was like, oh, Gini are good. They're defensively strong. was like, oh, it's the first like proper big team that we've we were playing against. was really worried.
00:49:01
Speaker
They didn't have nothing. We gave them nothing, bro. They didn't have their shot target until the second half. And we were just creating chance after chance after chance. I was like, is this the Nigerians? I don't know this Nigerian. Who are they? I don't know them.
00:49:19
Speaker
And anyway, point was trying to make is, they're now complaining about the refs. I said, what? I said, what? The same team that didn't have a shot on target until the second half.
00:49:33
Speaker
I even think they had two two two or three shots the whole game. And now they they were saying that Nigerians have paid the ref. um if If we paid the ref, that would have been a waste of money because we dominated the whole game.
00:49:48
Speaker
Take your L, Algeria. Take your L. Hold that. wound Yeah. Masha, don't blame the ref moment.
00:49:58
Speaker
ah don't blame the ref moment.
00:50:01
Speaker
I don't even know, you know, I'm trying to think. I had one, but there was one game I watched. Which team was it? I can't remember for the life of me. It was the last stage, but yeah, I can't lie. I don't want to do African wars, but it's North Africa versus... Listen, Senegal, Nigeria, do something. Right?
00:50:29
Speaker
right
00:50:33
Speaker
because Let me not say too much, but I've had some experiences in Morocco that i wouldn't like to repeat, innit? well Bro, bro, don't even get me started. Don't even get me started. Honestly, honestly. I'm not making the accusations, I just leave it as that, innit? You know what, but don't blame the ref moment.
Closing Remarks and AFCON Semifinals Encouragement
00:50:51
Speaker
I'm going to pre-empt it. Morocco, don't blame the ref when it's just...
00:50:58
Speaker
and we give them a bad listen listen that woke up what semi-final quarterfinal was nice and all but listen you're about to you're about to learn something you're about to look you egypt is the most sunny thing to save these you can save your country all right what's what what's your predictions all right senegal egyptian egypt what's your scoreline prediction Sadio Mane's got one more thing for Salah, bro.
00:51:27
Speaker
I tell you that. I'm saying, I'm saying, are playing horrible. I don't care. Egypt are playing horrible. All they're doing is playing coward attack in football, bro. It's actually disgusting. The only reason why they beat um Ivory Koso, because every shot they had, this win in bar they know what was going on. Bro, they literally didn't do anything. And then, oh, one coward attack, pass, pass, pass, go.
00:51:46
Speaker
I'm like, oh, this is a bitch, bro. Anyway, my my prediction, Senegal, 2-1. two one oh that's conservative 3-1 to them I'm a
00:52:23
Speaker
You're forgetting this is the spirit of Egypt, bro. This is the Egypt of old. This is the Egypt of old. This is the way they... remember being 14, watching Egypt play and just play horribly. Just horribly. And they would just span their way through the penalties.
00:52:45
Speaker
the wind this is the spirit of egypt they've gone back to their roots so that's why they're going to beat senegal even though senegal are the best team i think they're going to beat senegal and i predict egypt on pens egypt on pens it is such an egyptian thing to do i'm and i'm i'm gonna get vexed when they do it as well i'm gonna get so vexed so egypt on pens and then nigeria morocco oh heart just dropped I don't even know oh my days I think oh obviously I've got to say we're going to win but I'm not sure really I hope that we win I hope that we win free one nice and comfortable 3-1 is optimistic
00:53:34
Speaker
yeah free one's optimistic Listen, man, all all you can do is be optimistic, bro. It's AFCON. You never know what's to happen. As long as you don't don't get no stupid red card, bro. Just play the full night with full players. Yeah, that's true.
00:53:47
Speaker
That's true. I hate when that happens. But yeah, anyway, make some decisions. think you guys are going to get two pods this week. So um yeah we're treating you because we did miss a couple episodes over the Christmas break. So we're just trying give you guys what you've been asking for. So...
00:54:03
Speaker
All right. Thanks for tuning in, guys. um And make sure make sure you tune in to the semifinal of AFKON. Both of them. Both of them. It's going to be lively. think it's going to be really good. So I'm really looking forward to it, man. Look after yourselves.
00:54:20
Speaker
Peace. Peace.